Ted returned after a few minutes, carrying a suitcase like he was a protagonist from an old neuro-stim movie trying to smuggle ludicrous amounts of paper bills. He set it upon the table, looking meaningfully at me before unclasping it open. The moment he did, magic washed over us, spilling out of the sealed container in a small gale of energy before dispersing in the air.
What remained was the soft, yellow glow of monster cores. I recognized them, and unlike the strange shield around the warehouse, I knew very well where they came from.
"These are the cores the elf woman gifted to the club at her induction," I said, a bit worried. "Are you just giving them to me?"
Ted shrugged. "The treasurer is part of my little coup to seize control of the club," he said. "And besides, that woman is a plant from the Freebuilders Association. They thought we wouldn't notice, but we did." He grinned. "They think we are stupid, and so we are going to milk them for all they have got."
He closed the suitcase again, and offered it to me. I had Zery pick it up instead, after which she left in a great hurry, ducking through the damaged wall and venturing into the dark forest of the night. She didn't take to the skies only because our mana was dangerously low after transmuting all the stone, but still she was the quickest of us, with her long stride and draconic stamina.
"Soon," she sent through the bond, "we won't be able to do this anymore."
Instead of it being said as a negative thing, she was positively giddy about it. The other girls as well, with Vespera positively turned on by the thought of us not being able to stand being separated from one another. There was a sense of connection, of belonging that bordered on possessiveness. They didn't want for us to even stand being apart from each other.
They wanted for it to be painful, both in body and mind, utterly unthinkable of.
The connection that was already a thick, twisted knot between us, deepened. We hadn't even done the deed yet, but already I imagined how it would be, and in turn we felt much closer to each other. Not to mention, there was also the little dragon magic we pulled off the other day, and it made me very aware that the girls were mine. I was never a possessive guy, but my past life wasn't really a life at all, was it?
And the girls. Hells and heavens the girls. They were aroused by the notion, by the thought that they were mine and mine alone. Sure, they also had each other, and they did love each other a great deal. But I was the center of this web we were building, and they wanted nothing more than for us to get tangled up even deeper until it became impossible to unravel it. And the pleasure? I could make it so that they would be able to pleasure each other in my absence, but they were adamantly against the idea. Why bother, if we never planned to be apart any longer?
In fact, as we waited for Zery to return, we decided that already the thought of one of us being away was too much. No more. Next time, we'd figure out another way, even if it was bothersome, because this was our life we were building, filled with the kind of sticky, messy love that binds and doesn't let go.
Was it unhealthy? Was it obsession? Maybe.
But it's our obsession, Vespera supplied. Obsessed with each other. Broken, but together. So what if the world thinks we aren't normal? Fuck 'em. I don't think they are normal either.
I do not want to be normal, Elyra said. If normal means being like them.
A while later, I decided to ask Ted if he knew how to make our strange, twisted fantasies into a reality. I opened my mouth to speak, but right then, Vespera decided it was time to be a little naughty. She began to touch Elyra in all the inappropriate places, half-hidden by the stacks of stones while Ted was distracted, getting rid of the evidence of his stealing.
"What are you doing?" I whisper-shouted into the bond. I felt the two horny idiots, and soon after two more sources of distraction joined in.
"I couldn't resist," Vespera said, shrugging.
"You can't even get off!" I sent back.
"Then you better hurry, spacer boy. I'm getting quite pent-up here."
I swallowed, deciding to wait for Zery before doing anything. After she arrived, however, the teasing didn't diminish at all. It bled into the bond, sending my mind spiraling with desire and need. Steeling myself, I approached Ted with what I hoped was a passable power face. He looked at me strangely for a moment, but then shrugged and returned to his stuff.
"We brought back the… uh, computers and stuff," I said.
The dwarf chuckled. "That bond of yours really is strange. You look like you were the one running all the way to your tree and back."
"Don't I know it," I said with a weary sigh. "These girls run me ragged. Anyway, here."
I showed him the goods. All the computer stuff, salvageable or not, plus a generous amount of Green. We had noticed that the System replenished the Green by consuming energy, and with the newest influx of cores, we figured we could spare some. Of course, that had been among the last rational thoughts before the girls all turned to teasing each other, lust and desire clouding our minds.
I didn't know whether to be thankful that they couldn't get off without me, or not. I certainly didn't want to live through a bond-induced orgasm while I was talking to Ted!
The girls were very aware, and it only excited them more. Beyond saving, the lot of them.
"Good stuff," Ted said. "Thank you, lad."
"I hope it will provide you with good enough leverage in your power games," I said.
The dwarf looked at me with amusement. "Don't pretend you're not also in these games now."
In my mind, I heard giggles and Vespera whispering that I could be partaking in far more pleasurable games, if only I hurried.
As if, I shot back. In fact, I'm not going to hurry at all. I'm going to enjoy seeing you squirm. You'll see.
Then, out loud: "Sure. Still, you're the mastermind here. I'm just helping. Speaking of help."
"Ah," he said. "I was wondering when you'd start asking. Whaddya need, lad?"
"Nothing too bad, I hope. I need help finding a certain ritual," I said.
His face brightened into a knowing smile. "Let me guess! Birth control, am I right? I got a tome right here just for the occasion. Been waiting to see if you actually needed it or not."
I stood there awkwardly as he gave it to me. "Actually," I said. "Well, uh, yeah. Thank you for this."
In my mind, the girls RIOTED. They were already planning a mutiny where they burnt down that wretched book. We were going to have to have a discussion later. Perhaps while I denied them release from the mounting pressure of pleasure. Good idea.
"What else?" Ted asked, misinterpreting my silence. Or, perhaps, knowing full well what my silence really was about. He knew about the bond, after all.
I breathed in, searching for the right words. "I told you Calla is in contact with the System, right?"
"Something along the lines, yeah, right…"
"The System doesn't know everything, but it knows there is a certain ritual that can deepen our bond. It's a sort of curse that makes standing apart from each other unbearable."
The dwarf frowned. "Let me guess, you want to curse yourselves."
I nodded shamelessly. There was a moment of silence, and then he roared with laughter.
"Of course you do! You sick fuck!" he roared some more, slamming me in the back. It hurt a little despite his casual movements, hinting at who knows how high stats. "Good shit, lad. Good shit. Alright, I'll ask around. Ah, and you should also consider formal marriage while you are at it. Why not disrupt the fucking city utterly and completely, am I right? Last marriage was between Chasmers, two centuries ago, before the System lost that particular ability. How about you show all the idiots down there that you, an outsider living on the surface, can do what they cannot do anymore? With your quote-unquote slaves, to boot! Man, it's gonna be gold. You can do it, can you not?"
"After I fix the System, probably."
"Then you'd better get at it. Leave everything else to me. A month from now, how does it sound? That'll be the perfect fuel for my coup. And then…"
He began to mutter to himself, something about leaving and journeys. He asked me if I was amenable to leaving the city, a good way of removing a chaotic variable after the marriage threw a wrench in the carefully aligned city cogs and gave him the opening he needed. I considered it, then told him about my need to find elemental sources for the ritual, and his grin widened.
"Very well. Let me think about it some more, and I'll hit you up once I have the ritual tome. Do use the birth control one, though. Or… not? I mean, you are getting married in a month, so why not go ahead and be even MORE disruptive? Go forth and multiply, lad. Make waves. Change is, after all, inevitable."
His last sentence sent a shock through my brain, powerful enough to make even the girls stop fooling around for a moment. But before I could ask, the dwarf excused himself, and all but threw us out of his warehouse, humming strange tunes as he began his work on the blackstone, getting it ready for tomorrow.
◈◈◈
Ted's parting words followed us all the way back to Calla's tree and to the System's control room underground. There, however, they slowly receded to the back of our minds.
The tree and the underground caves that were ours and only ours—shared with the Skitterpedes but not with civilization, allowed us to insulate ourselves. From the mysteries, from the drama, from the shitty reality of this place, from the fact that everything was subscription-based, from debt and poverty.
We enjoyed the safety of the shield. We ate the food from the monsters and animals we hunted and drank the tree's ambrosia. We didn't need to pay for shelter or partake in the twisted life of the city unless we wanted to. We had money now, for gear and for bribes like Bib's mod to our guild token. We could relax and unwind. We had a whole month before any other big plans, after which presumably Ted would have news of the ritual tome and maybe even some manner of detecting where we could go about gathering elemental magic for the reagents.
We could take it easy.
Sort of.
The cracked battery hummed with leaking power. Next to it, the suitcase full of appropriated monster cores responded in kind, the magic almost eager to rejoin the source, if only it wasn't damaged.
"I guess it's time," I said. "We can't procrastinate it any longer. We can't deliver the cores to the cracked battery, which means no levels and no fixing the System."
"No marriage either," Vespera said. "What? I asked Calla."
"Are we serious about marriage?" Elyra asked. "From what Ted said, it is bound to be a huge event in the city. There will be a lot of eyes on us. Do we want that?"
"Heavens yes," the demon said, puffing out her modest chest. Her eyes sparkled with the red haze of desire and power.
"It does tickle my draconic pride," Zery said.
Calla shifted in place.
"You too, eh?" I asked her. She blushed.
"Alright," I said. "Let's get the new battery up and running, then."
NSFW preview:
Vespera looked at me with sultry, half-lidded eyes clouded by lust and desire. "Not so fast, mister."
She licked her fangs, winking at me before turning around. Her armor barely covered her decency, revealing the whole expanse of her mighty ass to me. I took it all in, salivating at the prospect of what was to come, watching her tail sway hypnotically with her hips as she walked towards Elyra. I had to remind myself: the plan was to make them squirm a little as punishment for being naughty while we were at Ted's.
Oh, I know, spacer boy. I know, she thought seductively.
She literally jumped at Elyra, assaulting the poor girl from behind. She draped her arms around the little angel, burying her face in her ethereal wings, groping at her tits.
"Mmm," she moaned. "Feels good."
The angel tried to protest, but she quickly lost the battle against the constant teasing. Her breathing grew ragged and short, and little moans escaped her lips as one of Vespera's hands reached into her combat trousers and brushed against the thick bush growing on her pubic mound.
Both angel and demon were broadcasting their sensations into the bond, fully open, letting us all feel them as if we were the ones both doing and receiving.
Continues