Chapter 2: Arlo

Damon was a hot-blooded young man. The woman was stunning, a knockout with a figure that turned heads.  She was slim with all the right curves. Her breasts got right up in his face, and his nose started to bleed.  His heart revved like a motor, and his muscles tightened like steel. He couldn't help himself. He pulled her closer, harder. His breath steamed like it came from boiling water.  A faint smile glinted in the woman's eyes. "He's just a kid. That's easy." She thought. "I'm so scared!" she cried, and as she sobbed, her hand slid under Damon's clothes.  Her touch was silk-smooth, and she knew exactly how to arouse him.  With each sweep of her fingers, the heat in his blood surged higher.  He lost his grip on reason. "What's this? Are you wearing a piece of jade?"  The woman's hand found the small, round jade pendant at Damon's neck.  It looked expensive, but she wasn't after money.  Her eyes gleamed with excitement. It felt like the right moment. Damon's blood was at a boil. The woman kissed him, sealing her mouth over his.  Damon jolted from head to toe.  He felt a pull. Something was siphoning strength from him.  The pull only stoked his excitement, and his whole body shuddered. Right then, his nosebleed dripped onto the jade pendant.  Light flared, sudden and fierce. What was happening? The woman gaped and tried to leap back, only to find she couldn't move. An old man's voice rang out from the jade pendant.  "You fiend! How dare you prey on people with your charms? Think you can drain the positive energy? I'll make you cough up every last bit!" The woman was frozen. Who was speaking?  She soon noticed the voice came from the jade pendant. The pendant sank into Damon's body and vanished, leaving only a red string around his neck. At the same time, a chill streamed from the woman into Damon.  He flinched, then moved again.  He had already lost his senses. Lust took over.  Guided by pure instinct, he hauled the motionless woman to the moss-slick stone slabs by the pool. Later, he had sex with the woman.  The water rippled, wave after wave, each lift and fall sending shivers across the surface.  With every move, Damon drew another cool current from her, chill energy racing through his frame, fortifying flesh and bone in a heartbeat. His body grew stronger, and his movements grew wilder.  The woman weakened. She sobbed.  What was happening? A country bumpkin was forcing her, and her strength was draining away. At last, after an hour and a half, Damon came to his senses and looked down at the beauty beneath him.  She was all tears, a weeping wreck. "Huh?" He stared, startled, and stopped. The old man's voice appeared in his head.  "Boy, hurry up! Drain her power completely!" "Holy crap!" Damon yelped, sprang aside, and rolled away. The woman sprang up, tail tucked tight, and bolted. "Holy crap!" Damon blurted at her fleeing silhouette.  "She's wearing a tail? No way. Seriously?" "Boy, what do you mean by wearing a tail? That is her tail!" The old man shouted again.  "You stirred her so badly she showed her true self!" A real tail?  Damon wanted to check whether it was genuine or a prop.  Instead, he took a breath.  Better figure out where the voice had come from. It sounded like an old man. "Old man, where are you? Where are you talking to me from?"  He turned in circles and saw no one. "Don't bother," the old man said coldly.  "If I hadn't helped you, that fox demon would have drained your blood and energy and left you a husk." "No way," Damon muttered.  "There are no fox demons in this world. Old man, don't mess with me."  He kept looking around and found no one. "Where are you, exactly?"  Was the old man a ghost? "You're the ghost!" the old man snapped.  "How could I be a ghost? I am Arlo, the forefather of your ancestors." "So you show up just to insult me?" Damon bristled.  "Old man, where are you? Come out." Arlo's tone softened only a fraction.  "Listen up, boy. I left the jade pendant. Your blood fell on it and woke me. Only the blood of my descendants can wake me. If I'm not your forefather, then who am I?" Damon sucked in a breath.  He felt for the pendant at his neck, only to find it gone. The red string alone remained. "Stop looking," Arlo said.  "The jade is inside you. Close your eyes and feel." Damon obeyed. Instantly, he sensed it resting in his lower abdomen.  How could that be? A solid piece of jade slipping into his belly?  It kept radiating power. "Boy," Arlo urged, "try it. You just absorbed that demon's strength. See if you've grown stronger." Damon would rather not test it, but disbelief had run out of road.  Had he stumbled into a miracle?  He bent his knees and sprang. Whoosh! He jumped close to eight feet up. "Whoa!"  He landed clean and steady. "Holy crap! I'm a real badass now. Who am I supposed to be afraid of?"  He clenched his fists, brimming with confidence, then shivered.  He was cold. He looked down.  His clothes had been torn to shreds and drifted on the water. "No way. My clothes! My phone!"  He rushed to search, and of course, there was no phone to be found. "Boy, listen," Arlo said again. "I don't have much time." Damon stopped. "You got more for me?" "Of course." Arlo's voice came clear.  "That jade is my life‑bound talisman. It holds my legacy. To get it, you'll have to reach each level of strength to unlock it." "So much hassle," Damon grumbled. "What hassle?" Arlo went on. "Find your own path. Don't expect me to do everything for you. My time is up." "Hey, hey, don't leave so fast!" Damon called. The old voice fell silent. Gone. "Is he gone?" Damon frowned.  "If I'm this strong already, maybe I can kill a big wild boar." He picked up the rucksack, tore open the bottom, looped it around his waist as a makeshift skirt, and strode deeper into the mountains.