[Edited] Chapters 53-55 (Patreon)

53 - Hidden in Plain Sight
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“Mia! Mia… we need… a spell!” I panted, exhausted from being made to sprint… again.

If there was one thing I had to have gained in this latest Dungeon foray, it was skill-ups in Running. Not that I had been keeping track—to Mia’s vexation—but I just could not bring myself to care about such mundane skills. So, call it an educated guess.

“‘Snail-biting shit on a stick!" Arx swore. “Why doesn’t she answer?!”

I spared a moment in my gasping for breath to glance at her. She looked and sounded furious, but I knew she was simply venting her frustration.

“She got stressed out from all of us triggering her tics. Said she was going to take a nap,” I reported.

With a snarl, she swiped her claws through some nearby upholstery which gave up a satisfying puff of feathers.

“But she’s Faen! What does she need with sleep?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, Arx.”

“This is her entire reason to exist! What good does it do us to have a replacement for Bline if she just… fucks off all the time?!”

I took a final, steadying breath and straightened. “Arx…”

I was not sure what I could say in Mia’s defense… or even if I wanted to. She could be a bit of a headache. But at least with her, I did not feel as if I were some puppet being made to dance for an invisible audience.

And it was not as if any of us had been given a choice. She was just as much an unwilling guest in my head as she was uninvited.

However, before I could articulate any of that, Jax’s distant shout interrupted us.

“Here it comes!”

Arx quickly shoved me forward. “Go! Go, go, go!”

I groaned but lurched into motion anyway, clutching the hem of my robe to my chest—and exposing myself down to my boots in the process.

“This is never going to work.”

“Less talking. More running!”

Gritting my teeth, I shifted into high gear. I knew from experience that the now-apparently-mobile entry hall would be on us pretty much the instant I got up to top speed, and from there, I would barely have a split second before it was gone and past us again.

Faster… faster…

The doors on my left where zipping along so rapidly, I might as well have been running on a treadmill. They looked like cars on a freeway. And here I was, streaking along beside them like a half-naked maniac.

About then, Arx came into my periphery, effortlessly keeping pace with me. There was something in the way she moved. Her knees kicking high. Her pumping arms. The snowfall of hair streaming in the wind. Even the tail held stiffly behind her, steadying and directing her every move. It all came together in a special sort of way that spoke to grace and competent beauty.

And next to me? Well. She might as well have been an Olympic-level sprinter casually jogging beside a red-faced child.

A glowing flash of green swept past.

There goes the lamp! Here goes…

Before I could blink, Arx shoved me as hard as she could toward the spinning wall.

I took one stumbling step…

A gap opened.

A step more.

The stairs flew past.

I dove.

The side wall of entry foyer—and the few cushions we had managed to toss in front of it—slammed into my ribcage, and I ricocheted off…

…and out again.

As I rolled to a stop, clutching my side and sucking wind, Arx skidded up beside me. “Donum! Master! Are you alright?”

“I’ve been better,” I wheezed. Those 12 points in Toughness were certainly proving their worth today.

“Did he …ke it?” Jax called, now even more distant.

Arx turned to look over her shoulder. “No. I told you it’s too fast.”

I could not quite make out all of what Jax said in reply, but it was mostly swearing anyway.

Arx just grimaced, then reached between her thighs. “Here, Master. Eat. You need to heal yourself.”

I did not bother to fight it.

“Is it weird that it tastes better when you’ve been running?” I asked, licking the few remaining drops from my lips.

Not that she was sweating. She was barely even out of breath.

She smiled softly at me. “Is it weird that I want to straddle you right now? Watching you run gets me all worked up.”

“Funny. I was about to say the same thing.”

Her smile broadened, but instead of escalating, she flicked my nose. “Good. If you can flirt, that means you’re not too injured. But heal yourself anyway. Your pain tastes awful.”

I quirked an eyebrow. And here I thought I wasn’t going to learn anything new today.

My ol’ reliable came easily, and I laid there for a few moments more while the soothing waves of it passed over me, stitching together my battered ribs and the various aches and pains that came with it.

This had turned into quite the aggravating quandary. Whatever mechanism was causing the inner part of the mansion to start spinning, it was showing no signs of running out of steam. Or even slowing down.

Of course, it was not ‘spinning’ exactly. That was just how my brain was trying to make sense of a wall and all its doors zipping past an infinitely looping hallway. Otherwise, teleportation or some other physics-defying bullshit would have been at play, and there was no sense going down that rabbit hole.

So it was spinning.

In any case, it had quickly become clear that this was one of those scenarios meant to challenge a party by targeting a specific one of its number. Everyone else had enough speed and Agility to make the jump. Even Lynnria, though it had taken her quite a few tries to get the timing down.

To put it into D&D terms, I needed a nat 20 to pull this off, and judging from my many failed attempts thus far, my luck was standing in line at the soup kitchen.

Shame there’s no such thing as dice-jail for real life.

Just as I was sitting up, I spotted a shock of purple hair approaching from my right, dutifully pushing, tugging, and wiggling every piece of furniture in her path. I noticed she had pulled the bundle of crystals she had been towing up and over her head so as to let its weight settle over her forehead and drape down her back—kind of like a grade-schooler might carelessly drag around a backpack.

“Anything yet?” I called.

Lynnria threw her hands up. “Nothing. No obvious catches or hidden levers. If there is anything in this hallway that’ll stop it, I can’t find it. Maybe there’s a button under one of these tables? Or a chair?”

Arx shook her head in frustration. “It’ll take us weeks to search that much. We must have missed something.”

“We try… …gain?” Jax’s shout was nearly inaudible, she was so far down the way.

The three of us turned our heads. “No!”

“…ta shout. …ink I… …king deaf?!”

Arx slumped dejectedly onto a nearby ottoman, then pulled her tail into her hands. The tip really was just like a second head of hair, wavy curls and all, and it had gotten a bit windswept from the recent action. So she began to pick at the knots.

“It’s really too bad you haven’t grown any extra parts, Dearest,” she mused. “I’m sure you could make it, if you had one of these. They’re so useful for running.”

“Aren’t they?” Lynnria agreed, launching the bundle of crystals into a high-backed chair—and consequently slapping my face with her own feather duster of a tail. “Especially when you’re changing directions. I can’t imagine trying to make that jump without one.”

I had no idea what she were on about. How was a tail supposed to help one change directions? Jax was certainly doing fine without one… for all that she would have preferred otherwise. But as that was a body part I did not have, I might as well have been a blind man wondering how green could possibly be relaxing.

So, instead of challenging her on the matter, I opted for deflection.

“You didn’t have one like two days ago,” I said, expelling a puff of air into the violet puffball.

“So you say. As far as I remember, I’ve always had it.”

“Were you ever teased about it growing up?” I asked. I knew it to be an artificial memory, so there were bound to be some cracks in there somewhere.

Lynnria frowned pensively. “No… now that you mention it. And I definitely would have been. By my cousins if no one else. They teased me about everything else.”

“There you go.”

Arx released her tail abruptly and stood. “I’m glad for that, at least. I don’t like the idea of people teasing you. Least of all for your tail. It’s lovely.”

Lynnria glanced up with a surprised yet guarded expression. “But… you tease me all the time.”

“I’m allowed,” Arx informed her. “If anyone else gets in your way, you just tell Auntie Arx. I’ll make sure they regret it.”

Lynnria eyed her warily for a few moments. “Are you… flirting with me?”

The question brought Arx up short.

It did me, as well. At first.

However, ‘mating within the Clan’ had been discussed as a Dolilim trait, and it was not like either of her elders had been shy with their offers. So it made a kind of sense…

That said, one did not ever need to ask when Arx was flirting with you. You knew.

The gray-skinned beauty folded herself at the waist, close but not quite touching Lynnria. Almost like she was sniffing at her.

“Do you want me to be?” she asked finally, the tip of her tail twitching like a cat eying a canary.

Aaaand here it comes.

Lynnria pulled away slightly. “No…?”

Arx’s eyes narrowed a touch and she leaned in closer, pursuing her. “Are you sure?”

“Yes?” Lynnria swallowed back her rising panic—and more than a little uncertainty—as she edged backward. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because I can taste lies,” Arx replied, blunt as ever. “You’re not fooling anyone.”

“What… what lies? I—I’m not… not trying to fool—”

“Hush,” Arx breathed huskily, inching closer. “Silly little girl… Don’t you understand? It’s not me you’re fooling. It’s yourself!”

“I—I… don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lynnria stammered weakly.

Arx inched closer still, her voice a whisper, her lips nearly caressing the girl’s cheek. “You’re not you, anymore. Or not quite. Your body doesn’t behave like it used to. Its wants are not what they once were. They are more… mysterious. Or so they my seem… at first.”

She paused a moment, letting her eyes rove about the girl.

“You’ll not know why, but seemingly out of nowhere at all, there will come a sudden flash of heat from between your legs. Aching to be scratched. And you’ll find yourself staring at… strange things. Things that never meant anything to you before. The curve of a hip. The sweep of a shoulder.” Arx’s hand began to drift upward, close enough for the tips of her fingers to drift over the fine hairs along the skin of Lynnria’s body. “Wisps of purple hair curling about a delicate ear.” She pressed her nose close to the side of Lynnria’s face and inhaled. “The soft flush of your skin… The lust… wafting from your every pore.”

Lynnria glanced at me wide-eyed, obviously seeking help. However, by that point… well, I might have been sitting down, but I was definitely standing up. So to speak. Besides, I was pretty sure Arx would not push things too far.

Pretty sure.

“Mmm~ I can feel it… building in you. It calls to me. Don’t fight it. There’s no need. I’ll make you come. I promise. Until you beg me to stop…”

“That’s…” Lynnria licked lips gone suddenly dry. “That’s not necessary.”

Arx stared intently at her for several long seconds more, a lioness eying a particularly succulent calf. But then she simply straightened.

“As you wish,” she purred with a self-satisfied little grin. “And now you know what’s its like when I flirt.”

For all the stiffness of her spine, Lynnria almost blanched. And for a moment, her eyes flickered from her to me then back again. “What? What just happened?”

I flicked a finger at my gloating companion. “I believe that’s called teasing.”

“Oh, no.” Arx shook her head quickly. “I meant every word.”

“Testing the waters, then.”

Lynnria stiffened even further. If that was possible. “My waters are quite chilly, I can assure you. Positively frigid.”

Arx snorted, but she did not bother to argue. Instead, she merely turned to me. “And I suppose you’re planning to let that go to waste again.”

I met her eyes steadily. Neither of us glanced toward the object of her query, for once mercifully hidden.

Tempting. However…

“I’m rebuilding my stores,” I informed her.

About that point, I caught sight of Jax coming to rejoin us at an unhurried jog.

“We ain’t never getting Donum back in that entry, that’s clear,” she called, slowing to a walk. “Not like we’s doing, anyhow. Maybe, we should switch, Arx. I’m fast enough and stronger’n ye. That away—”

She stumbled abruptly, and her eyes zeroed in on me. “Or is we stopping for lunch first?”

“Not much of one,” Arx informed her dejectedly. “Barely even a snack.”

Jax did not respond at first, instead taking the time to carefully observe both the scene on display and sort through the invisible web of emotions she had just stumbled into.

“I see,” she said finally, eying the cold shoulder Lynnria was still presenting. “We don’t all come to it the same. Ye think I were ready to admit what were what in a day?”

Arx sighed. “No, I know. Irritating as it is.”

“Irritatin’… aye.”

Another beat passed while Jax thought—and occasionally stole glances at the hidden erection I had yet to conquer. It had to have been killing her not to react to it, but for once, she was behaving. Arx too, for that matter.

But then, they could feed just fine from a passing chuckle. Whether they cared to admit it or not, neither one of them actually needed sex as their primary food source. They just preferred it.

The same could not be said for our newest member, hence my need to ‘save up,’ and the source of their irritation.

Slowly, the corner of Jax’s lip began to twitch upward. “Lynnria?”

“Not. Interested,” she proclaimed to the empty air.

Jax only chuckled. “Nay, lass. Ye can untwist yer knickers. Were just wondering if’n ye had a song or two in yer noggin.”

“A song?” Lynnria turned slightly, still cautious. “What kind of song?”

Jax gave an easy shrug. “Oh, ye know. Sommat catchy maybe? What might put a skip in a step? Or just sommat ye liked and wanted to share.”

Lynnria searched our faces briefly, not quite knowing where this was coming from or where it was going. But then, neither did I.

Some kind of camaraderie thing? That was the only thing I could think of—for all that it made no sense whatsoever. Jax had never been the type for building bridges. Rather the opposite.

“I… I don’t… Well, the only song I really know is the Epic of Farhwellin.”

“That dusty old thing?” Arx suppressed a laugh. “I haven’t heard that one in ages.”

“Ye know the whole of it?” Jax asked with surprise.

“No,” Lynnria admitted. “It takes a day and a half to recite. I only know a few of the battles.”

I perked up. “That sounds pretty cool, actually.”

I had attended a party or two themed around Lord of the Rings marathons. Extended cuts, of course. Not that I had ever finished one. They might have been masterpieces of cinema, but twelve hours of movie was an endurance trial even with good food and company.

But to listen to the battle of Helm’s Deep in song form? After a long day of adventuring? Yes, please.

“Kind of sounds like the Iliad and the Odyssey. Or Gilgamesh. Couldn’t imagine trying to get through any of those in a sitting, but the first few hours would be a blast.”

Lynnria stared at me curiously, but the other two were at least a bit used to my alien cultural references.

“Aye…” Jax agreed slowly. “Might be a touch longer’n what I were looking fer. What about ye, Arxie-love? Got a personal favorite ye’d like to share?”

“Me?”

The tallest of the three began to pull at the keyhole over her cleavage while casting furtive glances my way. I could tell from the way she had parted her lips that she was sensing at me. For some reason.

“It doesn’t have to be your all-time favorite,” I put in, hoping to put her at ease. I had yet to put together the point of this conversation, but it was welcome diversion.

Maybe that is the point.

“Uhm… what’s yours?” she asked evasively.

Odd reaction. It’s almost like she’s too embarrassed to answer. I decided to play along. “Hmm… That’s a tough question, actually.”

I did not have a ‘favorite’ per se. Just a collection of well-liked tunes amongst a wider array of those slightly less well-liked and outward from there. So more of a pool of favorites, any one of which could have taken the central spot on a given day.

Just as I was about to offer up a random selection, I caught the look in Jax’s eye, and I suddenly became aware that it was more than a little important that I not answer yet. Critical, in fact.

Though, I had no clue as to why. Or how I knew that.

“You first,” I said instead.

Arx grimaced and continued to fidget another few moments—appearing as though in genuine distress. But finally, she offered, “I don’t know if you could call it the best song out there…”

I nodded, encouraging her.

“There was this place I used to frequent as a… well, before. And my uh…” Her face contorted a bit as though struggling to find the words. “I… wasn’t supposed to go there. Got in trouble for it quite a few times, actually.”

She chuckled at some private nostalgia but with a hint of sadness creeping in at the corners of her eyes. She got that way sometimes—usually when the topic of her family came up. However, the process of becoming what she was had sort of carved those people from her mind and replaced them with us, leaving only vague scars behind.

Not for the first time, I wondered if I should pick at them. It seemed to have helped Lynnria to get things out in the open. Emotionally, at least.

Whether it would help us or not was another matter. To know something like that had happened to someone you cared about? Jax had not said anything, but I knew she would be looking for retribution. I knew it, because I felt it as well. Deep down. Suicidal as that impulse might have been.

Fortunately, Lynnria had been reticent to reveal the name of her old Clan. I could not say why. Perhaps out of embarrassment. Or anger. Perhaps she was too sickened by what they had done to sully our ears with it.

Whatever the reason, it had blunted the blade of her hatred, preventing it from piercing us fully. I had little doubt we would learn the truth eventually, but I hoped our vengeful impulses would die down before then.

People did a lot of stupid things when they were angry.

“Anyway,” Arx continued, “the women who worked there used to sing these beautiful little songs from the windows to the people below. I didn’t understand what they were about until much later, but… they sort of call to you. You know?”

“Then, I would very much like to hear one,” I said. “If you can still remember the words.”

She smiled faintly and, after another few seconds of hesitation, took a breath.

What emerged was not the maudlin tavern song I had expected. It had none of the hallmarks of the gruff and unrefined stuff I usually heard from her.

Instead, the tune was high and clear. Shockingly so. Almost a clarion. Dreamlike and pure. Something you might hear from the mouth of a child. Or a Siren…

At least in tone and mood.

The lyrics on the other hand…?

From what I could tell, the song was all about a young woman who kept seeing a wild, unkempt man out in the woods. I had to suppose she found him mysterious or attractive. There were a lot of descriptions of his hands and the way his muscles moved beneath his skin.

The second verse was all about trying to tame him, tempting him closer day-by-day with offerings of food, until finally culminating in a night of passion beside a riverbank. Or so I assumed. If not, the songwriter had included a disturbing number of cannibalistic references.

Regardless, it came together beautifully, and I found myself spellbound from the moment my Siren opened her mouth. The hallway whirred along behind her, providing a mesmerizing backdrop to the already hypnotic chant. Pulses of green zipped by. Over and over. Each seeming to flash through the reflecting pools of her eyes.

And when it was over, I simply sat, basking in the serene fog of a heart full from the truly sublime. I wanted that moment to stretch to infinity. Just me. And her.

It was a simple kind of happiness that had nothing to do with lust. A pure love. Silent. Unconditional.

Her eyes shone with it, mirroring my own feelings in infinite regress. Slowly, those iterations began to fall past me, ripples gently washing past while I stood together with her in the dark. Drifting on flotsam in a sea of our own making. Each wave pulled me closer. And closer.

“That were real nice,” Jax said quietly, and we both jerked.

“What?” we said at the same time, then glanced at one another, chagrined. “Sorry. You go ahead.”

Again, speaking in perfect unison.

Lynnria scurried forward, clapping her hands together excitedly. “Ooh, they’re doing it again!”

“No, we’re not.” We folded our arms awkwardly.

And quickly unfolded them in faultless synchronization.

Jax narrowed her eyes, glancing between us curiously. “Well and well now. This… ain’t exactly what I were, uh…” She trailed off then twirled a finger at us. “What be this?”

“I don’t know!” we replied with a shrug before sharing a frustrated glance.

“No idea, either.” Lynnria’s eyes shone with eagerness. “But they were doing this for a while during our escape from the maze. It’s almost like they’re one person!”

We shook our heads in quick denial. “It’s not the same. That was like sharing a space between our minds while having two… separate…”

Our explanation stumbled to a halt. It was really freaky to hear your own words echoing out of a second pair of lips. Especially when you yourself did not quite know what you were trying to say.

“…anyway. I can’t sense [his/her] body right now.” We straightened and pointed accusatory fingers at one another. “Ooh! You said [her/his]!”

“One person, be it?” Jax murmured. “Funny. Special-like after that dream…”

I quirked an eyebrow. Whether Arx did as well, I did not notice. However, it was Lynnria who asked the question.

“What sort of dream?”

“Dunno. Flamin’ weirdment, it were. Helped me sort some things, though,” she replied absently. “Were trying to make use of it, but… weren’t expecting this.”

Lynnria began to bounce on her toes excitedly. “Your dream may have lead to unlocking a special Clan ability. Like that Inventory thing we have!”

Jax nodded along. “Could’a done. Dunno what use it be, though.”

“I’m sure we can figure out something.” Lynnria seemed optimistic.

The red-head only grunted. “Right then. First be first. Let’s see about breaking the spell…”

Without any other warning, she strode up to me, grabbed my hand, placed it rather firmly on her breast, then yanked me by the collar so as to kiss me to within an inch of my life. When we finally came up for air, she only pulled away just far enough to study my face.

“That sort ye?”

I swallowed, very much aware of the hand she had kept pinned to her chest. And there goes little Donum again. Just when I’d gotten him back to sleep, too.

“Y-yeah,” I began, and thankfully no echo came from Arx. “I’m good. Thank you.”

“What fer?” she replied with a quick glance downward. “Kissing ye be me second favorite thing.”

No need to ask what tops that list.

“Can I try it next?” Lynnria was hopping from foot to foot like a child waiting to go down a water slide.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Lynnria,” I said quickly, having noticed the snarl growing a few inches from my face. “There’s supposed to be an established order to new… uh… well, let’s call it intimacies. And Arx sort of jumped the line.”

“Sorry,” Arx said immediately.

“Nay be sorry, ye clatty bastard. Just show yer First how ye done that. Once I’ve had a go, then we’ll see about addin’ lessers to the queue.”

The Siren grimaced apologetically. “I’m not sure I can. The only reason it happened in the first place was because of that whole mess after he was forced to revive me.”

“Not keen on repeating that experience,” I added.

However, Lynnria was undeterred. “But surely it has something to do with your ability to read minds.”

Jax glanced back at her briefly, but she addressed me. “Yer reading thoughts when ye couple, now? Not just emotions?”

“Just bits and pieces,” I admitted, still a touch uneasy about the whole thing. “Impressions. Images. That kind of thing. But uh… it wasn’t from ‘coupling’ exactly. Lynnria and I just kissed a few times.”

There was a moment of silence while she digested that information.

“It could be some sort of nascent ability that’s still developing within his Core,” Arx suggested. “These symptoms we’ve been noticing could simply be its early stages.”

“In my Core, huh? You don’t think Mia had something to do with it?”

Jax shook her head. “Nay. Seen signs of this long afore that one showed up. But I’d bet me left ti—“

She sent Lynnria a contrite glance, who favored her in turn with a half-smile and a bit of a nod.

“…arm… that one’s got her finger in it.” Something of a pensive frown crossed her face, and she whispered, “‘We’s all of us Donum.’”

I frowned, not seeing how that was relevant. And even if it had been, there must have been a better way of saying we were all part of the same Clan.

Why does it sound so familiar, though?

There was no ready answer to that question. But from the look on Arx’s face, she was either still mirroring me, or she recognized it, as well. I honestly could not say which I preferred.

All I could do was pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh.

“Well, we’ll just have to ask her when she wakes up,” I said. “We still have a puzzle to solve.”

Arx nodded, then turned toward the spinning hallway. “I still think we’re missing something.”

“You’re probably right,” Lynnria agreed, coming to stand next to her after having resettled the weight of her pack along her waist. She toyed with it for a few seconds, idly clinking the hexagonal cylinders together while she thought, before glancing down at it. “Hey… Weren’t we supposed to be looking for a third set of these things?”

“Now ye mention it, aye,” Jax said with a snap of her fingers. “What color were them supposed to be again?”

“Green,” I replied… just as another green lamp passed us by. “Ah, chebs…”

Jax elbowed me sharply in the ribs.

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54 - Rough Flight
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Have you ever tried to knock out a street lamp by tossing a baseball bat from the back seat of a moving convertible? Neither have I, but that was the closest equivalent I could think of to what we were attempting.

To be fair, Jax’s broad ax was about as well-balanced a throwing weapon as a concrete cinder block and every bit as heavy. It was fine over short distances and could even be quite deadly, but for an something like this, the timing necessary was just too precise. Even with the aid of my accuracy spell and her peak-human Strength levels, she had thus far remained unable to combine the two into that perfect throw.

There had been a couple of near misses, though. She had even given one of the passing green lamps a solid jostling, which was impressive given the cavernous height of the blasted ceilings and the main reason we were still at it. Nothing like an almost to keep your hopes alive.

Of course, Jax was not the only one at work.

The situation had afforded Arx the opportunity to get in some much needed practice with her arrow, though the odds of her knocking a lamp loose were practically nil. Half the time, she was doing good just to hit the correct wall. Arx might well have demonstrated how lovely her singing voice could be when she put her mind to it, but with how sensitive this particular skill was, any deviation from a clear, precise tone had the potential to send the arrow flying wildly off-course.

However, with enough time and experimentation, she was eventually able to pick up a few of the basics. Up and down were guided by pitch, left and right by volume, and both relative to her starting point. Meaning that if she wanted to exercise any level of control, it was important to initialize the variables at a nice, happy medium.

Which is all well and good, but even aiming length-ways down the hallway, her arrow would usually ricochet off a random surface or perforate one of the many bits of furniture scattered about before she had enough time to course-correct. It simply moved too quickly.

And if there was a way to adjust for speed, it had thus far escaped us.

Meanwhile, Lynnria had been relegated to the sidelines, to her dismay. She had argued fiercely that her wand had every bit as much a chance at knocking one of the lamps loose as any of the other methods but, given its Life Energy requirement, using it was simply untenable. I was not so replete with the stuff as to waste it frivolously.

Something many thousands of wadded-up napkins would have found hilarious.

As for her latest skill—the aptly named Finger of Corruption, it turned out—we had agreed to leave it be for now. We did not know if the fired bolt had any sort of force behind it or even how many shots her current storage was holding. If she accidentally emptied it out, she ran the risk of disrupting the precedent she had recently established—and her chance at reclaiming her stolen femininity.

…that we knew of, anyway. When… or ifI bound her properly, there was a good chance it would heal anyway, but at least this way, she was assured a degree of conscious control over the situation.

And while she was not completely opposed to allowing the Dolilim to donate a bit of extra Life—as long as she did not have to actually touch said donation—to preserve the runes she had put in place, the risk of swelling had been mentioned, and we had agreed it best not to explore that eventuality while her tank was still attached to her wrist.

So she had busied herself with some shadow fencing—against Jax’s literal shadows—with the intent of cobbling together some sort of melee technique involving her Luck Rune. Ironically, she had been having almost no luck in this thus far… mostly because her fencing partners seemed much more interested in teasing than fighting.

As for myself, I was mainly providing buffs, heals for the occasional bump or scrape, and shouts of encouragement. But between all that, I was using the downtime for a bit of my own spell-casting practice.

About an hour into these proceedings, Jax had finally gotten tired of fruitless ax-chucking and just started attempting to scale the ‘hackit gaff.’ Her words. I assumed she was referring to the spinning interior wall.

She did not do too badly, considering. With her claws and the ability to shift her mass into shadow, she made for an excellent climber. And once she got a running start, she had even managed to fling herself upward a fair distance by catching a passing doorframe. If there had been anything at all for her to latch onto, she might have made it, but smooth, vertical surfaces are daunting enough when they are not actively trying to gallop away from you.

Still, even in failure, she certainly made it look cool. There was just something about watching a woman in a party dress launch herself through the air like some kind of superhero. It was alluring in a visceral kind of way. Just watching her move, the raw physicality of it, did more for my libido than any amount of flirting, cajoling, or posturing ever could.

Hmm… maybe that lunch break wasn’t such a bad idea, after all.

The thought had scarcely flitted through my mind than Mia’s voice lanced through my consciousness.

“Phew. What a slog. You wouldn’t believe how persistent a trowel can be when it wants something. Blasted thing had been rubbing at my ankles for—”

The sound of Jax’s descending form colliding with a high-backed chair—and the subsequent bout of cursing—interrupted her momentarily.

“Dare I ask why that just happened? And… I’m sorry, is that wall moving or is it just us?”

“Pretty sure it’s the wall,” I informed her, then pointed toward one of the passing green lamps. “Those are the last component of that crystal puzzle we’ve been working on.”

“Ah.”

What more needed to be said?

“Did you say something about a trowel?”

“Oh~ Lord Master! You’ll make me blush…”

I inhaled to speak, dozens of questions on my tongue, but quickly decided that way led only to sadness. Instead, I went with, “I thought you were taking a nap.”

There was a bit of crackling, then her translucent form appeared. She was still wearing her Elvira gown, though it had picked up a few rents and tears and was liberally smudged with some sort of mud… or possibly grout.

She couldn’t have been serious about that trowel thing?

“Figuratively speaking, yes. I am capable of entering periods of inactivity, but they are not required,” she explained. “I was simply taking some time to catch up on a little housekeeping.”

“Taking some time… meaning away from all our questions,” I filled in.

She only smiled.

Of course, what she had meant by ‘housekeeping’ was anybody’s guess. She may have looked like she had just gotten home from a construction site, but it was not as if my head felt any clearer. So I decided to change the subject.

“I think I’ll be needing another spell. Some kind of speed buff, probably,” I began. Appropriately enough, the entry hall zipped past at precisely that moment. I nodded toward it, tracing its path with my eyes for her benefit. “Even after we figure out how to get those lamps down, I’ll need a way to get back into the hub area there without killing myself.”

“A wise choice,” Mia agreed. “Speed is very useful for combat. However, in the short term, I might point out that your levitation spell could easily solve both problems.”

My eyebrows bunched together. “I’m not so sure about that. Its okay once I get going with it, but its not what I’d call fast. Not enough to catch up to the wall, anyway.”

Mia stared at me. “My lord, forgive me. But I should remind you, that spell only applies acceleration as a secondary effect. Its primary function is weightlessness.”

I nodded slowly. Always hints with this one.

“Right. I suppose that would be implied by levitation, but if you’re trying to push me toward something, I can’t see—”

Then it clicked. Literal hours had gone by with the Dolilim and I bashing our heads against this thing, and here Mia had shown up with one little hint. It was so obvious, too.

Push.

“Of course.” I sighed. “I am such a dunce.”

“As you say, Lord Master.”

*****

“T’ain’t fair!” Jax exclaimed sourly. “Ye’ve let Tits and Titless have a turn.”

I winced. That’s a low blow.

“Hey!” Both Arx and Lynnria glanced at one another, but it was Lynnria who spoke. “I thought we had an understanding.”

Jax rounded on her with a sharp jab to the chest. “Oh, aye. We’ve an understanding, a’right. Ye can talk to me when ye’ve had to go a day or two solid without even a lowpin’ knob in yer gob. Until then, shut yer geggy!”

Mia gasped, scandalized. “Our master does not have crabs! I would know.”

I badly wanted to ask precisely where in Jax’s diatribe she had conveyed that information. And how Mia could possibly know that. Are lice a Status Effect?

Jax threw her hands in the air. “Whatever! Figger o’ speachin.’ The point being, it be my turn to fly. I’s supposed to be First! Not last.”

I sucked in an irritated breath. “Jax, I promise you will get your turn with it eventually. But this is something I’m actually capable of doing, for once, so I’m gonna do it! Besides, you guys always get to do the cool stuff.”

Yes, it was petty… but this sounded fun! And anyway, Jax’s own rules of hierarchy stated that I stood above all. Who does she think she is, arguing against me? I tried not to roll my eyes at my own line of reasoning.

Jax folded her arms and glowered at me.

And I glared right back. “Jax, you will take Arx and Lynnria, and you will wait for me in the entry hall. Or so help me…”

“So help ye what?” she growled.

Good question. I had not expected her to actually call me on it. However, inspiration was soon in coming, and I had to suppress my grin.

“I think someone might just need a spanking!”

Her eyebrow twitched, but she did not otherwise react.

“Donum.” Lynnria scoffed. “This is a silly argument to begin with. Must we also lower ourselves to childish threats?”

Jax ignored her. “Ye won’t.”

“I will.”

“Ye will not,” she pronounced, spitting to one side to punctuate her doubt. “Yer chicken.”

Arx sucked in a breath and oohed like we were a bunch of grade schoolers… which drew a withering glare from Lynnria.

Well. Time to put up or shut up.

“Jax, if you are in that entry hall waiting for me by the time I get back, I will bend you over a knee and paddle you.”

“Donum…” Lynnria held up a finger. “I think you meant, ‘not in the entry hall?’”

Neither of us so much as glanced at her.

“Right.” I began to advance on Jax slowly. “In front. Of everyone.”

“Ye promise?” she said breathlessly. It was all she could do not to squirm, and her eyes had taken on a fiendish gleam of anticipation. “Ye’ll not just swat me the once? Ye’ll tan me red?”

Lynnria’s upraised finger wilted slightly. “I’m sorry. What?”

Arx just started elbowing her excitedly.

“Until you beg me to stop.”

My red-headed goddess stepped close in challenge but with a fierce grin on her face. “Ye’ll ne’er make me beg.”

I reached up to cup her jaw, and casually slipped my thumb between her lips. She could not help but to instantly pull it in and begin suckling at it, the heat from her breath brushing sensually against the back of my hand.

“We’ll just see about that,” I said in a low voice.

It was faint, but I could just hear a girlish squeal escaping from her throat.

“Come on, ye bonnies,” she announced brusquely, swiveling on the ball of her foot. “The Master’s gave us a task. Let’s be about it.”

As she sauntered past me—with a noticeable sway to her hips—I heard the others whispering.

“I’m lost. Did he just—?“

“Hush.”

“No, seriously—”

“‘Snails, would you leave it?”

I just grinned, watching them go.

That had been refreshing. Even if we had only been fooling around, I felt a sort of relief having stood up for myself. I felt seen.

Mercy’s breath, but I did love that woman.

Female? Creature? Ah, whatever. Words were hard.

“My lord, before you begin, I would like to discuss the skill I’ve prepared for you.”

My grin faded. If it was not one thing, it was another.

“I don’t think I’m quite ready to cede control of my libido just yet.”

“But my lord, this is important!”

“Will whatever this skill is help with our immediate situation?” I asked, letting some of my frustration bleed into my voice. “Will it benefit me at all when I have to deal with Xhinn? Help persuade Her to leave us alone? Or at the very least, help us endure Her presence?”

For a moment, my questions overwhelmed her, and I had to wait for the sensuous moaning and shivering to die away. But then, I had known she would react that way. I had chosen my phrasing deliberately.

The upcoming meeting with the Lady of the Dungeon had been looming large in my mind. Once I retrieved those crystals, there would be nothing standing between myself and yet another encounter with divinity.

And having done so twice already, I could confidently say there were few things in life one might look forward to less.

Perhaps that had been why I had taken so long in getting to this point. Meandering and puttering about. Getting lost in conversation, sexual jousting, and whatever petty—and not-so-petty—bullshit my girls came up with to divert my attention. I had been delaying the inevitable.

So, I was in no mood for niceties.

“Likely… not,” she admitted finally, panting.

“Then it isn’t important. And I’ll thank you to remember that.”

“Yes, Master.”

She was not on-screen at that moment, however it had sounded like she had said that behind a grin every bit as fiendish as the one Jax had sported not a minute prior.

I decided against comment.

“Incidentally, I assume you would tell me if there was some skill you could craft which might help with enduring divine presence. It can be a bit… overwhelming.”

“I could tell you, yes. For all the good it would do. There is quite a bit of difference between ‘might help’ and ‘be effective against,’” she replied, all business once again. It was kind of amazing how quickly she could compose herself. “The effects of a resistance ability such as that would be negligible against the extreme presence the Five can bring to bear, making it practically useless for anyone with skill-levels below the Mastery range and, compared to the rest of your choices thus far, its actual usage would be quite niche. Normally, I would assume you would prefer something more flexible.”

I grunted. That was a fair point.

“And besides,” she continued. “You already have a method for countering Status Effects.”

My face went flat. “Mia… are you trying to tell me it’s possible to—?”

“Certainly not!” she interrupted quickly. “Nor should you try it under any circumstances. If Xhinn imposes Her presence upon you with any seriousness, and you attempt to counter it with that skill…”

I waved her concerns away quickly. “No, you’re right, of course.”

One madness was very much like another, after all.

“But let’s back up a second. You did say ‘extreme presence.’Implying there might be others who could exert pressure. Even if it isn’t as strong.”

“Why, yes,” she replied, relaxing. “I did say that, didn’t I.”

I waited, but it seemed that was all the explanation I would be getting. Not that much was needed. Presence was some sort of Status Effect. What more did I need to know?

Still, it was strange I was just finding out about this now. Normally, I would have gotten a prompt the moment I had been affected by it. I had seen Lust, Asphyxiation… even Hypothermia. But never this one. I did not even know its name.

But then, we were talking about divine presence here. It was possible Bline—as the one responsible for disseminating that sort of information and a divine Herself—would not have wanted me to have that kind of knowledge. It was also possible that since such a presence was so strong, there was no need to inform me. What would I have even done about it? Besides, this world seemed to operate on an RPG-like set of rules, and they often concealed status information from players when the difference in level was too great.

I could think of a host of other possibilities, as well. Other goddesses might have been able to block my status windows. I had actually been in Bline’s presence the once, and it seemed unlikely she would bother with it in that case. The point being, who really knew?

All I could do was sigh and move on. Business as usual.

Besides. I was delaying again.

“Best buckle up, Mia.” I pulled my hat into a rakish tilt and rolled up my sleeves. Or tried to. They were fairly stiff.

“It’s time to fly.”

“My dress does not have buckles,” Mia informed me dryly. And completely missing the musical cue. “Nor do I see the relevance. Do you imagine them somehow effective as a means of buttressing your Will?”

I rolled my eyes. Read the room, woman!

“Never mind. Just go radio si—er… I mean, switch off for a bit. I’m about to use your flying spell.”

“Aww… You don’t want to listen while I—?”

“No!” I interjected quickly. “No, I’m good. Thank you.”

She tisked, clearly disappointed.

“Don’t give me that,” I groaned. “You knowhow distracting it is.”

“Oh, yes?” she purred, her discontent vanishing in a puff. “Well, I wouldn’t want you to be… distracted.”

Her throaty chuckle was interrupted by a sharp click, signifying her departure. Finally.

I rubbed at my temples. With the way I was constantly fending off these girls, you would think I was a Benedictine monk living above a whorehouse. I was not even celibate!

Maybe I need to lay some ground rules. No flirting on the job!

Boundaries were a thing. Besides, who was the master around here, anyway? I nodded firmly and pounded a fist into my palm.

Maybe that was why it had felt so good to ‘fight’ with Jax earlier. I had needed a pressure valve. Some sort of release. I needed to exert my influence. Stand up for myself!

And while I recognized how weird it was to be coming to this realization in response to a constant—and ever-increasing—barrage of women flinging themselves at me, my whole situation was anything but normal. A rueful bark of laughter forced its way past my lips. Who knew a guy could get tired of sex?

Eh… maybe that’s a step too far. It was just the constant propositions that were wearing at me. Or more specifically, having to say ‘no’ all the time. I did not want to say ‘no.’ I hated the look of disappointment that lit my Dolilim’s eyes every time I had to say it. But saying ‘yes’ every thirty minutes—or less—was quite simply beyond me.

I needed space. I needed time to let all the romance chemicals build up in my brain. I needed foreplay, dammit!

Cool air sank into my lungs, and I held it there a moment. The girls and I were going to have to have a nice, long conversation, that was plain. But not right now.

I had shit to do.

Mia’s Levitation came to my lips easily enough, telling me by feel if nothing else that it had crossed into High Novice territory. My Faen had neglected to mention that. However, other than this one detail, nothing else had changed, so she must have judged it too trivial to mention.

Which was fair. I had been insisting she keep her information dumps to the most relevant data, after all. So I chose to dismiss the matter in favor of focusing on my enunciation.

Geez, this spell is clunky.

I could not say what basis I had to claim something like that. It was not like I had any idea what I was saying, and none of the individual sounds I had to make were all that much more difficult than those of my other spells. It was just that they had been combined in a much more… streamlined sort of way. Perhaps even with a hint of poetry?

This one, meanwhile, felt more like reciting something from an instruction manual. There was this one sequence of syllables in particular that featured a kind of gargling noise sandwiched between a pair of glottal stops and a cheek click that was throwing me. Which might have been okay, except it happened twice in the same damned spell.

Maybe this is what Mia was referring to when she said she was missing the standard forms. If Bline was able to create spells and abilities solely through a giant catalog of earlier reference material, it would be quite easy—especially given how long She had been around—to create something approaching elegance and simplicity within this Language… as far as a person could with it, anyway. I always felt like the whole thing had been created as a deliberate joke, and there was some asshole out there giggling like a maniac every time I tried to use it. Regardless, Mia had been left fiddling around with what amounted to assembly code. So it was no wonder it felt clunky.

Eventually, I managed to clown my way through it and gently floated into the air—though ‘gently’ might not have been the best description. If there was a means of describing weightlessness but heavy, I did not know it. It was contradiction in terms for all its accuracy.

It was that old, eight-hundred-pound gorilla again. The dragging remains of the spell my Will was simply incapable of shoring up, leaving my back—and Mia—with the task of shouldering its burden.

Still, there was a noticeable difference. I had gained a Layer and a few key stats since the last time I had used this spell, so it felt as if the gorilla might have shaved off a few pounds. It would not be too much longer before I could use the ability without complaint.

Okay, then. First, let’s pick up a bit of speed.

Kicking upward, I drifted to a stop about halfway to the ceiling, then turned to align myself with the spinning wall. My flight naturally began to accelerate simply by staring ahead, however I was not content with that.

I was weightless. Unbound by gravity. All I needed was some form of kinetic energy to propel me along. Whether that came from an opposing force, the spell itself… or the wall beside me, it did not matter.

With a glance to my left, I shifted the spell’s reference-frame toward the wall just enough to allow me to touch it, then began to lightly drag my fingers along its surface so as to allow its momentum to carry me along. It felt like running my hand over a dangerously-out-of-control conveyor belt. Every bump, ripple, and minor imperfection along it scraped against my fingers like sandpaper, forcing me to jerk my hand away almost immediately.

Even so, I had managed to gather a decent amount of speed and was floating along fast enough already to feel the air wafting through my beard.

Okay… lets not grab hold with our skin, shall we?

With a flick of my wrist, I gathered my sleeve into my fist and began to gingerly allow the rough fabric to catch at the wall. It would have been an excellent way to wear a hole in the brand-new garment, but I did not much care. For an adventurer, any and all carried items were fair game when it came to solving the problem at hand, so I would have done the same even if we had not paid for the self-repair feature.

Like I was testing for heat building on a griddle, I gingerly brushed my sleeve over and over against the rampaging surface, keeping my eyes fixed on a spot well ahead but still along the wall so as to maintain the friction pressure. Before long, I had built up sufficient speed to allow for longer holds, and my momentum began to multiply by leaps and bounds.

The furniture below me passed by faster and faster, refuse left on the side of the road. The windows to my right became as interior lights on a train speeding by, each cabin revealing strange and unfamiliar worlds far-too-large to ever exist within. All of these blurred through my periphery, unnoticed. I had to maintain my focus.

However, when I caught sight of the girls, I could not help but have a bit of fun.

Just as I sailed by overhead, I raised a fist and yelled.

“Falcoooor!!!”

“…wha…?” Their voices drifted after me, fading almost before the sound reached my ears.

Psh… bunch of heathens. Not that I was riding a dragon or anything. Still, I was going to have to remember that story for the next time we were gathered around a campfire.

Then the brim of my hat caught in the wind, and I had to scramble to keep it secured to my head.

Focus, Donum. Focus…

By that point, I had enough speed going to catch against the wall fully, and the racing surface seemed to grind to an unwilling halt. It was kind of weird, actually. With the wind blasting against my face, I almost felt like Atreyu gripping the tree while the Nothing tried to carry him away.

Appropriately enough.

But then, it made a kind of sense, too. One does not feel speed. One feels acceleration. And now that I was not accelerating, the only evidence I had that I was moving at all was the wind and the outside world passing me by.

It was the wall that was still.

Reference frames. Gotta love ‘em.

I took a moment to orient myself and soon caught sight of the nearest lamp. Conveniently, it was only some several dozen paces to my ‘left’ and ahead of me, and I slowly began to crawl my way toward it, keeping my gaze primarily fixed on the wall ‘below’ me so as to attach myself to it as firmly as I was able. The wind was an issue, but with my heavy, felt sleeves to grip at the wall, I managed it without losing much ground.

And before too long, I had a hand wrapped firmly around the post affixing the sconce to the wall, allowing me both to relax and catch my breath. Maintaining the spell was its own special kind of hell, and I could feel my heart beginning to pound within my chest.

But I was not the beginner I had once been. My saliva did not thicken upon my tongue. No acid built in my throat. My heart might have been beating away, but it was the powerful, slow beat of an organ just warming up. Regardless, I did not want to take too long.

Let’s see here…

A cursory investigation revealed that the crystal had been screwed in rather like a light bulb via a coppery belt affixed to one end, and it was the work of a moment to detach it. I deliberated whether I should simply let it fall to the ground but decided against it. It was not the lightest thing to tuck under my arm, but it was better than trying to find it again in the miles of open hallway.

Okay… two more to go.

My next hurdle involved figuring out how to get to the second lamp fixture. Forward was a non-option. At best, I could only manage the slow crawl from before and, even with unlimited endurance, that would have taken me hours. But how do I fall back?

I knew from experience that wind-breaking was an easy trick, but if I allowed myself to decelerate too much, I ran the risk of overshooting. So I decided to take it slow until I got the feel of it.

My first attempt, I tried pushing gently away, keeping my body in line with the wind and my eyes fixed on the wall. However, even that brief separation from my anchoring caused me to fly away like a detached wind-sock, and I ended up dragging myself to a halt some dozens of paces back.

After that, I tried simply letting go of the wall in brief spurts. That ended up much more manageable, and before long, I had assembled a bit of a technique where I was sort of bouncing along in a hand-over-hand back-crawl. It felt like I was making speedy progress, but I could also feel every second that passed.

The weight of the spell would not let me forget. So by the time I had arrived at the second lamp, I was definitely sucking wind.

“Come on, Donum,” I muttered as I tucked the crystal into a sleeve and rerolled the end into my fist. “You can do this.”

Stopping to rest was a last resort. If I had to start over again, timing my next flight and getting back up to speed to coincide with the passing of the final lamppost would be close to impossible without a huge amount of trial and error. Not the end of the world but still a massive time-sink.

Right when I let loose of the second lamp, I zoomed over the girls’ heads once again, but they did not look up in time to notice me. They were mainly focused on helping Lynnria make her jump into the foyer. She would need a couple of attempts, but I already knew she could make it. So I dismissed them from my mind.

I had plenty of other things to occupy it. My breathing was already becoming erratic even as a vague sense of soreness built in my every muscle. The end of me was fast encroaching. Caution was no longer an option.

Quickly, I flared my sleeves out, allowing my momentum to slow by leaps and bounds. I now had a much better idea of how far apart each lamp was, and I knew that as long as I could still see the previous one, the next was nowhere nearby. I just needed to make certain to drag myself to a halt before then.

A little further… a littler further… Now!

Catching the wall again with both sleeves, my arms shot past my head the second I made contact, and my robe almost jerked loose from my body… which would have been hilarious in hindsight. But entirely counterproductive. I could just see myself, naked to my boots and watching my only garment flutter to the ground… a scene I had little doubt that would have been fondly and oft remembered by my teammates had they been close enough to witness it.

Naturally, that was the point the third lamp chose to make an appearance.

Oh, shit! Already?!

The black iron bar was headed for me at an alarming rate, leaving me with the awkward quandary of whether to catch it or dodge.

Nothing for it…!

Slapping both sleeves down once more, I dragged as hard as I could against the wall, enduring the agonizing, constant rip of felt scraping away. My chest was heaving. Bile rose in my throat. My heart was on the verge of exploding.

Still, I held on. The texture of the wall passed before my eyes slower. And slower…

… and with a tap, my feet settled gently onto the bar.

Yet celebration was not in the cards. Almost in that exact same instant, the spell slipped from my exhausted mental fingers. Gravity reasserted itself, and I had to clutch at the fixture with arms and legs before I fell to the ground.

Unfortunately, the smoking felt of my robe—which had worked so beautifully to catch at the wall—was doing jack-all to keep my limbs attached to the smooth metal. I might as well have been trying to grip a greased flagpole with silk gloves. Very… very hot… silk gloves.

Okay… that’s a new kind of pain.

Not only was I having to shake my arms out every few seconds to keep them from acquiring second-hand friction burns, I was also attempting to grip an inch wide bit of wrought iron with my bare legs. Sure, going commando underneath the robe felt kind of nice. It was freeing… in a unique sort of way. However, when you are in situations like these, there is really nothing like a pair of pants.

Right… just… just gotta endure it. Ease out there. Careful, Donum.

The world spun along beneath me as I extended my legs, inching along atop my perch and reminding me of a certain adventure ascending a handrail all those eons ago. To be sure, this was not on a slope, but my balance beam was considerably narrower. And there were the highway winds to contend with.

Another inch. The lamp was just within reach.

Without warning, my weight slipped just a hair to one side, and I had to clamp down with all my might before I fell… much to the dismay of certain of my body parts, and I was forced to arch my lower back away from the offending surface.

Careful, I said! My bruised anatomy would doubtless have choice words prepared for me at the next staff meeting. And the multitude of cigarette-lighter burns I was gathering along my forearms were gripping their baseball bats with a grim determination.

I took several deep breaths to steady myself, then stretched that final bit toward the end of the pole and carefully eased myself along until I could reach the lamp.

After that, the rest was easy enough, and I soon had the final crystal in hand.

“Nice!”

I gloried for a moment in my victory, holding the hexagonal stone aloft like some kind of trophy. It had been hard-won, after all. It was just too bad no one had been there to see my victory.

There was just me, spinning away on an out-of-control lamp post with nothing but a bunch of useless furniture as witness.

“Ah, well. Now… how am I supposed to get down from here?”

My still-smoking sleeve replied by bursting into flames.

=====
55 - The Door to the Sun

note: you may have noticed the addition of the burning sleeves. Just a bit of color I decided to add on my most recent readthrough. Went pretty well with some of the elements already there.
=====

With a panicked squawk, I began futilely waving my burning sleeve about, perhaps hoping I might be able to convince it to go out if I jerked it around enough. However, it was then that my  balance slipped again.

In less than a second, I had to choose between clamping down to save myself, extinguishing my sleeve, or keeping hold of the heavy crystal I had just worked so hard to obtain. Naturally, I chose all of the above, and just as naturally, I managed to succeed in exactly none.

A breathless few moments passed while I scrambled to catch the smooth-sided bauble once more, juggling it from hand to flaming hand, and before I knew what had happened, I was in free fall.

Whatever chips I had left to my name were cashed in as I hit a passing divan like a cruise missile, and I rag-dolled across the floor, taking out the legs of a coffee table and several other unnamed furnishings along the way. Whatever they might have been, my aching flesh took notes.

I eventually came to a stop just in front of a quiet monstrous wardrobe with a vase on top—which gave a couple of precarious wobbles before toppling over, spilling its contents directly into my face.

My sleeve sizzled in protest as it went out.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Mia opined cheerfully.

*

I honestly could not tell you how long it took me to put myself back together, recover the crystal I had lost, and summon enough mental energy to recast my flying spell. However, by the time I managed to crawl my way back over the wall and flop, still dripping and gasping like a fish, into the entry hall, I was well and truly exhausted.

Also quite starving.

So when I caught sight of Jax hovering over me—waiting in the foyer just as I had demanded—with arms crossed and an expectant little grin on her face, I did not know whether I wanted to tell her to shove it or bend her over and do it myself. Either way, the paddling I had promised was about the last thing on my mind.

However, when I saw the grin fading away to be replaced, not by her customary scowl or even the expected I-told-you-so’s, but by hurt acceptance, my resolve melted.

“Can I at least get a hug first?” I asked, shaking the trio of crystals loose from my sleeves. Most of the fire damage had vanished by that point.

A shadow of her smile returned, and she knelt solemnly in front of me. “Anything that be mine to give, I give it freely. Ye’ve but to ask. Master,” she whispered.

Then, she folded herself into my lap and for a long while, we simply rested.

***

Eventually, the much-needed cuddling session ran its course. Jax and the girls wanted to know all about my private adventure, and I regaled them with the story of my flight down the infinite hallway in a little nook beneath the stair, though I did smooth over the rougher edges. Neither of my bondmates were fooled, but they were kind enough not to spoil things for Lynnria.

Then, talking turned to petting, petting to fondling, fondling to kissing, and things escalated from there. Strangely enough, not once did I have to tell them to back off, slow down, or really much of anything. I could not tell you how or why but, now that I knew exactly what it was I needed, they seemed to have sensed it and adjusted accordingly.

It was so natural and so easy. As if there had never been a problem in the first place. Not with them.

It had been me all along. I had not known what I wanted.

And yes. I did finally give Jax the ass-whooping she had so desperately craved. I felt ridiculous and more than a little guilty to be striking someone I cared so deeply for, but she was so into it. No matter how much force I put into the blow, she only ever reacted with greater and greater enthusiasm.

But she never once begged. However great her pleasure, however many times she clutched at my leg, quaking, however much my name was called in ecstasy. Not once. She only stared at me, hungry for more. Wanting. But never asking.

Ultimately, it was my stinging hand that admitted defeat. Her backside had achieved glory. Of course, her Toughness was a lot higher than my Strength, so that was to be expected. Still, I enjoyed the experience, if only because I got to watch her blissing out.

But we could only delay the inevitable for so long. What Life we had, we had shared. Our quests were done. Our tasks complete.

Above us was the landing, and from there, the balcony which converged into a second, central staircase leading up to the next floor.

We hesitated only briefly. This was the only place left untrod within the mansion. Every other door was locked, barred, or otherwise unopenable. But we had left hesitation behind, and so too did we leave our familiar surroundings in favor of the new.

And new we found. Once gathered atop of this final set of stairs, our eyes beheld a brilliant glow of light pouring through a grand set of double doors.

The solarium. A place for the sun.

The door was quite large. A small elephant could have passed through that portal and with room to spare. But much more spectacularly, it was entirely composed of wrought iron, bound and interleaved by the clear glass through which the light streamed and scattered.

Or perhaps it was crystal? That would have been appropriate.

Either way, the metal was woven into an intricate pattern. Spirals and whorls wound their way up and around the great arch seemingly without rhyme or reason. Yet in the center, split by the seam of the doors, there was the unmistakable outline of a faceless woman. And having seen it, the randomness of the patterns behind her revealed their secrets:

A pair of horns crowning her head. And a majestic pair of wings, unfurled and raised as though to take to the sky. Twos on twos.

“Even numbers…” I observed dully, recalling Arx’s warning about such things from our first Dungeon foray.

Arx nodded. “I see them.”

“But only one o’ Her,” Jax countered.

What we were supposed to take from that was unclear. The Dungeon often featured such installations—random bits of art, statues, and the like—whereby you could get a hint at your fate were you to mess with them. Odd numbers were generally safe. Even numbers were not.

The last time we had encountered this—when I had been paying enough attention to notice it, anyway—had involved a water fountain situated just in front of a room containing the plant monster from which I had ultimately obtained my Detonating Sap Varnish. In that case, the fountain’s carvings had been an indication that its waters contained a cure for the Tongue-Flower’s poisons.

Meanwhile, the stained glass of this door seemed to be delivering a mixed message. As if to say, beyond here laid doom. Or salvation.

If only I could split the difference somehow. Whatever passed for a normal… boring encounter with divinity would be an absolute godsend. Goddess-send? Whatever.

Lynnria stepped forward, close but not quite touching the light spilling to the floor. There was a bit of a sitting room just in front of the doors, containing yet more examples of the useless furniture that had been sprinkled all about the mansion. Her eyes danced between them quickly, perhaps looking for signs of traps or other dangers. “Even numbers, huh? Grandfather always said that was just superstition.”

“It’s true more often than not,” Arx said defensively.

Lynnria turned to look at her. “So not always.”

Arx scowled, but she could not deny her own words. “‘Snails. It’s not like this changes anything. We have to go through.”

She was right, much as I hated to admit it. If it were not for the gigantic, black spot nestled right between by shoulder blades, I  would have turned, then and there, and never looked back.

“Anyone see a doorknob?” I asked. “Or a place to put these crystals?”

Eyes began scanning every which way. From the door itself—bare of any sort of handles, catches, or knobs—to the floors, the walls, and even the ceiling. Nothing obvious called for our attention. There were no slots, no control panels, no hidden compartments. We could not find a thing that might open the door.

Eventually, Jax tried the portal itself, but it was every bit as locked as we had anticipated. As for smashing it open, her ax merely bounced off. It might have looked delicate, but that door was solid as granite.

“Demon Queen, my arse,” Jax grumbled, peering through the glass in frustration. “Queen o’ cowards and teases, be more like. Locked Her ownself in there tight enough, we’d need a battering ram to get through.”

I scratched at my beard in thought. Every step of the way, we had been met by puzzles, traps, and tricks, so it came as no surprise there would be one final hurdle. One might have thought a goddess that actually wanted to speak with us might have made things a little easier, but of course, She had made it plain enough that She had little choice when it came to things like this. I might as well have complained about the sun being hot.

Still, how were we supposed to solve a puzzle we could not even find? It was like She was deliberately trying to keep us out. Yet another mixed message. Ugh… By that point, I was well and truly tired of these games, ready to rip the Band-Aid off, and put all these goddess-fueled shenanigans behind me.

But then something caught my eye. Down on the floor, there was a peculiarity right on the edge of the shadow Jax was casting behind her. Like a slightly too-bright spot peeking around the corner of a building.

“Jax…” I murmured. “Move a little to your right, would you?”

“Like this?”

Soft gasps came as her silhouette moved, revealing what I had seen. Truthfully, I was not even sure what I was looking at… or well, no. I knew what it was. There was a hexagonal patch of light sitting right in the middle of Jax’s silhouette.

It was the how of it that was eluding me. There was nowhere for the light to have originated from. Even when we began waving our hands over it, nothing we did obscured it in the slightest. It was only when the light from the door overshadowed it that it was hidden… if ‘overshadowed’ was even the right word.

“Huh,” I sounded, mystified. “Do you think it could be coming from beneath the floor?”

I reached to tap at what looked for all the world to be solid wood paneling, however Arx instantly snatched my hand away. She did not scold me, but the exasperated look on her face said plenty. Instead, she began to hum.

For several long seconds, her eyes scanned the room, taking in every detail while the haunting melody drifted through the air, until finally landing on the illuminated geometry before us. There she stopped, the tune left unfinished.

“Well?” Jax asked. “Sense anything?”

“Danger,” she replied shortly.

I pulled away from the spot cautiously. There were no obvious signs of traps that I could see, but I was just the wizard. My eyes had not been trained for such things. Hers had.

“From where?”

She glanced at the door and swallowed before focusing on me again. “Everywhere.”

I sighed. This is sounding worse by the minute.

“That ain’t real helpful, love,” Jax observed from the door, crossing her arms.

Arx could only grimace. As a Scout-typed Class, her role was to be our guide, but she was just beginning to fill those shoes. It had to gall, being unable to provide more than simple generalities.

“I only know there is a single correct answer. And a lot of wrong ones.”

“And I presume we don’t want to guess wrong,” I filled in.

She did not reply. But then, she did not have to.

Jax spat to one side. “Bloody typical.”

“Did you find any hints before you found us, Donum? Anything at all that might help here?” Arx asked.

“Some riddles,” Lynnria provided before I could. “I still have one of them on me, if you’d like to look. Never bothered to throw it away.”

At Arx’s nod, she untied her fanny pack and sighed with relief as the contents spilled to the floor. Besides the nine crystals we had painstakingly collected, there was a simple card, crumpled and misshapen from having been stored amongst what amounted to a pile of rocks.

“I’ll be glad to finally be free of this garbage,” she muttered. “This pack has to weigh like… three or four stones now. I don’t know if my back will ever recover.”

“I would have thought you’d appreciate a bit of Strength training,” I quipped with a smile, trying to lighten the mood. “You wanted to be a Warrior, remember?”

She flashed me a sour look. “Yes. A Warrior. Not a pack-mule.”

“Well, y’ain’t neither, no how. So stop yer grousing,” Jax groused. “Now, ye gonna read that card or not?”

“Don’t know how much good it’ll do,” I said, reaching to grab the now-decrepit card stock anyway. “It’s an old clue from that puzzle-chain I broke by setting Arx free.”

Arx nodded sympathetically. “And this is the end of that chain. It might still be relevant.”

I shrugged then, after straightening the paper over a knee, began to rehash a poem I had hoped never to look at again. It had only ever caused me misery.

“Three by three by three.
In yellow. In blue. In green.
Six for one. Seven for two. Eight for me.
In light. In dark. In between.
Three by three by three.”

A thoughtful frown pulled at the corners of my mouth as the penultimate line emerged, and I glanced at the little, glowing hexagon.

Between light and dark…

Initially, I had taken that as meaning one light maze, one dark maze, and between the two, this final door. However, there was a certain ambiguity. And it would be fantastically appropriate for an emergent puzzle to have a clue that could apply to multiple situations.

But how to interpret it…?

“There’s only the one spot,” Jax pointed out.

“There’s only one so far,” Arx countered.

Lynnria glanced at her. “You think we haven’t found them all?”

“Maybe.” Arx’s eyes danced about the room again. “We found a light spot hidden in light. Maybe there’s a dark spot hidden in dark.”

“And how would we find that?” Lynnria asked. “If we needed a shadow to discover the light spot, wouldn’t we need a light to discover a dark one. But we don’t have a torch and, even if we did, I haven’t the faintest idea how we could start one.”

Jax smiled. “I do.”

Arx and I straightened simultaneously. “No fires indoors!”

Then we glanced at one another.

Jax ran a speculative tongue over her fang. “Leavin’ that by the by, what else can we do? There ain’t no light save what’s coming from this here door.”

“No, there’s two lights,” I pointed out. “There’s the one from the door, yes. But there’s also this other one hidden inside it.”

On a hunch, I quickly reached for the yellow crystals.

“See, the clue about six, seven, and eight doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Except for one thing. I found another clue—uh… it’s actually written on that clock back on the landing, if you want to read the whole thing. But the gist of it was that these crystals are weighted.”

Lynnria cracked her back. “I think that’s been established.”

I favored her with an apologetic half-smile. “More importantly, they’re differently weighted.”

For a moment, I juggled the three prisms in my palms before singling one out.

“Arx, how heavy would you say this is?”

She rolled it over her fingers briefly, considering. “I’m not as strong as I used to be, so my judgment might be off. But… maybe five? Six mina?”

That was the first I had ever heard of a mina, but I decided against asking. The only other unit for weights I had heard of in use around here were the ‘stones’ Lynnria had mentioned earlier… but then, I did not know how much those weighed, either. From context, I assumed there were several mina to a stone and, having gained an appreciation for the way things tended to work around here, I had a pretty solid hunch that relationship would be something stupid like eleven or twelve to one.

But then, I was used to the Imperial system, and that was ludicrous.

“Well, that’s the lightest of the three yellow crystals,” I revealed. “So I’m guessing six.”

Arx nodded slowly. “Six… for the one… in light.”

“And yellow is listed in parallel within the clue. Unless there’s something we missed, that has to be our starting point. I say we put this crystal on that light spot and see what happens. I doubt it’ll open the door, but if I’m right, we should at least reveal the next part of the puzzle.”

I had thought of a second interpretation, as well. There was the distinct possibility that I was reading too much into the clue, and all we needed to do was slot the heaviest of the green crystals into the light to directly open the door. This was the ‘between’ place, after all. And ‘green’ was in parallel with ‘me’ and ‘eight.’

However, that would have meant we had schlepped the rest of the crystals all across the Dungeon for absolutely no reason, and I was not quite ready to admit that possibility.

“Sounds good to me.” Arx exhaled sharply. “You guys stand back. If this goes wrong—”

“Let me,” Jax argued. “I got the most Toughness.”

Arx shook her head. “Not by much. Besides, I’m a Scout-type. This should be my job.”

“Sure it should, but what skills have ye got fer such?”

“After finding the trap? None. But I do have a couple of skill-points saved up, so…” She glanced at me hopefully.

“What? You don’t need my permission.”

“No, I know, but…” She began wringing her hands. “Please, choose for me?”

And suddenly the self-confidence vanishes. “Arx, you’re not a drunk anymore. You’re perfectly capable—”

“No, no… ‘Stits, it’s not about that.” She hesitated just long enough for her breath to catch then leaned forward with a fervent light in her eyes. “I want you to mold me! Make me a vessel for your intent. I want to feel your fingers through every scrap of me. Please? Master, please?!”

I had to lean back somewhat. For a submissive, she was awfully aggressive about it. If submissive was even the right word.

“Yeah, o-okay, Arx. I will. But you’re at a ten right now, and I’m gonna need you to bring it down to around a five.”

Her eyebrows bunched together, momentarily confused, but she backed off. “Sorry. It’s just… the points have been sitting there, and…”

“And you’ve felt neglected?” I finished for her.

Ordinarily, I would have sighed and reflected on how put upon this kind of thing made me feel. However, she had just flat out told me this was not coming from some lack of confidence. I was a master making decisions for a person whose delight was in the time I had taken to do so. It was a form on intimacy. She literally craved my feelings of possessiveness.

I might not have understood why she desired this. But then, I did not need to. It was her kink, not mine. To love her was to accept her for who she was. And while I might not have been into this type of thing, I had been just as willing to enter into this relationship as she had. I owed it to her to keep up my end.

My hand cupped her cheek softly. “I’m sorry, Arx. I’ve been too absorbed with… what’s coming… to think about these things. We’ve been on the back foot for so long, I guess I just got in the habit of picking skills as we needed them. But you’re right. Hoarding too much potential does more harm than good… and it doesn’t give me the opportunity to mold you in the way I had envisioned.”

She moaned ecstatically at my final words.

“It’s alright, Dearest… now that you understand.” She smiled breathlessly into my palm. “My points are yours to spend when and where you choose. I was only reminding you.”

Sure, Arx. Sure.

“Well, let’s see, then,” I mused. “You can already sense danger when traps are near, so… I guess next would either be disarming them or avoiding the ones you accidentally set off.”

Lynnria cleared her throat, having kept silent during the earlier exchange—likely from embarrassment. Arx had just admitted to some fairly kinky shit. Not that Lynnria had a lot of room to talk. I might have lacked confidence as to my labeling of Arx’s particular brand of degeneracy, but I did at least have a label. What would you even call Lynnria’s mind-melding fetish?

A vulcanist? No… I’m pretty sure that one’s already taken.

Our lesser Dolilim gestured toward the geometric patch of light. “I… doubt disarming this is possible without magical aid.”

“I dunno. I’ve seen people with some pretty crazy skills,” Arx argued. “But they were old hands with this sort of thing.”

I nodded. “It’s probably best to start with avoidance anyway. Mia?”

“My lord,” she responded immediately.

Eavesdropping, were we? Well, I would take it over getting herself lost in my head again.

“We’re going to need something like Spidey-senses, I’m thinking.”

“Pardon?”

Right… you knew better than that. “Uh… it’s like an intuitive danger sense that lets you know when you need to duck for cover or just get the hell out of the way.”

There was a moment of dead air. “But… she already has a skill for that. You just watched her use it.”

“Yes, I know that, Mia.” Frustrated, I stood and began to pace. How to explain this? “Help me out here, guys. I’m sure there’s plenty of good trap-avoidance skills.”

Jax shrugged. “Don’t ask me, mate.”

I nodded absently. She had been a Bandit most of her adult life, and thus unable to even speak with the Lady of Power. She would not be informed about these sorts of things.

“I never studied up on anything but Warrior builds,” Lynnria provided unhelpfully. “And fire magic, but… Well, never mind that. I do know of several combat skills which might help a person with dodging or parrying, but I doubt they would be much use against traps.”

“Right, no.” I sighed. “What I’m talking about—well, it’s more of a sudden feeling you get when danger is imminent. Then, it’s like you get this massive Agility boost for a split-second, and you can just… jump clear.”

“Stat-boosting magic is—”

“—not available in the Foundation Layers,” I finished. “Yes, I know.”

“But…” Arx held up a finger. “Sometimes you can get away with things if you put enough restrictions on it. For instance, Mia already said I have the danger sensing part taken care of. What if this skill only works while I’m humming?”

“Linking the one to the other? Well… so long as the bonus was—getting your tits fucked!—uh…” She chuckled. “Actually, that might be quite nice.  But no!  What I meant was… as long as the bonus was quite brief. And significantly less than ‘massive.’ The luck component would also be quite useful as a limiting factor. The clarity of the original skill’s prescience can vary wildly from one moment to the next, so it would not be reliable enough for combat without a decent amount of skill.”

“I already have plenty of skill in combat,” Arx said confidently.

I nodded, having seen that firsthand. “Combat utility would be nice to have eventually, but this is mostly just for evading traps right now. So the boost would not have to last all that long. And besides, the skill should be more about how to dodge than any Agility boost it provides.”

“Is that so? In that case, I believe I can make it work. Anything else? She still has another point to spend, my lord. As do you, should you wish.”

“Hmm…” I glanced at the study in wrought iron and glass before us. It might have been bright and welcoming, but if a lifetime of gaming had taught me anything, you always look at particularly large sets of double doors with a degree of suspicion. That was always where the boss lived. “This is supposed to be a dinner party, but… you think She might be tempted to throw something at us?”

My question was met with a resounding silence.

“Yeah… I was afraid of that.”

The Demon Queen’s letters had seemed reasonable enough, so there was still some hope this would end amicably. However, She had also sounded more than a little upset when She had summoned me. It was only good sense to prepare for the worst.

It was just that this particular worst was rather more substantial than any I could conceivably prepare for.

I tapped my lip with a thumb. Well, I’m going to have to come up with something. “You know what? Go ahead and get that first skill ready for Arx. I need time to think.”

“My lord.” I could almost hear the slight bow as she excused herself.

While we waited, I resumed my restless pacing. What does Arx really need to fill out her current build?

She could sense danger. She could handle Status Effects through our skill synergies. She had a nice, if unorthodox, little translation ability. She could do a bit of limited crowd control with her Beguilement—always helpful and worth expanding upon. We had just purchased a skill that could eventually be made into a defensive, dodging ability, and she had the one offensive ability… though her arrow was still extremely unreliable.

Actually… that’s got to be the biggest hole in her arsenal. The whole point of that skill in the first place had been to gain complete control over a projectile in motion, but the thing was so difficult to use, we had wound up with the exact opposite.

“Okay, we’ve established that skills can be used to modify or enhance others, and right now, I honestly think that the best thing we can do is to try and fix the control issues Arx is having with her arrow,” I began, really just thinking out loud. “From what I’ve seen, the problem seems to be arising from the need for a projectile to bea projectile. To do any damage, it has to be moving with enough velocity to penetrate whatever you’re aiming at, and that is prohibitive to any sense of in-flight control. Correct me if I’m off-base here, Arx.”

She shook her head, “No, that sounds about right.”

“I be glad yer thinkin’ so, sister mine,” Jax quipped. “I ain’t understood half o’ what ye just said, Master.”

Lynnria nodded along. “You really need to use smaller words if you want to pretend to be a commoner.”

I just glared at them both.

However, before I could continue, Mia returned. “That should do it. I hope you were not enamored with my predecessor’s taste in nomenclature, however I simply could not bring myself to scribe that particular genital dysphemism in reference to your latest skill.”

I pointed at my own head. “See? See?! That’s how nobles talk.”

Their nods of agreement did not even border on sarcastic.

“You know what? Screw the lot of you!”

Lynnria held up a hand. “Sorry. Mia, what were you saying about genitals?”

“I… think she was referring to the name of my humming skill,” Arx said, speaking just loud enough to cover Mia’s helpless swearing. “I could be wrong. All of my skills are at least a little suggestive. Though, that one is… more explicit than most. But since this new skill is supposed to be linked to it…”

“Correct,” Mia took over. “Normally, a skill that modifies another makes reference to its parent skill in some manner within its title. However, that skill was already crude enough without my adding to it. So I’ve entitled your latest ability, Idle Avoidance.” She paused. “Because of the humming?”

Jax scratched at the back of her ear. “Were that supposed to be a jape?”

Barely. But explaining the joke was certainly not going to help it. Still, the hint of vanilla was a welcome alternative to the constant bouquet of ass-sweat and gimp leather we tended to get around here.

“Uh… more a play on words. Clever, Mia.”

It was a sparse complement, but still enough to elicit a pleased little sound from my Faen.

However, Jax was shaking her head. “That ain’t what I were talking about, Master. We be Dolilim. What power we got only works when we’s in tune to that.”

“I agree,” Arx said, nodding. “You don’t have to be crude, Mia, but the names of our skills should at least reflect our nature.”

I got a sense of eyes rolling somewhere within my mental dimension. “Fine… I suppose the parent skill does require a certain frame of mind, so your objection is not without merit. Perhaps you would favor something more like… Ditch the Itch?”

I had to take a step back. “Wow. That is… just, wow.”

“Oh, come off it! Ye gotta be taking the pish,” Jax said with a chuckle. “Ye’ve had that one ready to go from the start. Admit it!”

Mia hummed with amusement. “I do enjoy the occasional bit of witty repartee. The parent skill was so bluntly worded, I must have come up with about a thousand alternatives in passing.”

“What is the parent skill called?” Lynnria asked. “If you don’t mind saying.”

Arx barely hesitated. “Cock Helps Me Think.”

Lynnria had to squeeze her eyes shut a moment. “Oh. Um… well, does it?”

Arx only smiled.

“That… explains a lot, actually.” Lynnria stared dazedly at the ground then shook her head to clear it. “I’m still not getting the joke, though. I mean, I understand ditching something as meaning to dodge it, but ‘Ditch the Itch?’”

“Reverse the word order,” I explained, addressing the ceiling tiles.

“You mean… Itch the—” Lynnria’s mouth slowly formed into an ‘O.’

All I could do was sigh. The name might have been less blunt, but it was by no means less crass. Almost ingeniously so.

“That’s…” It was a struggle to force the rest of the words out. “…perfect, Mia. Thank you.”

“Thank you, Dearest,” Arx said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I will treasure it.”

I nodded, more from wanting to move past the situation than anything. Those last two skill points were still sitting there unused, but I had yet to decide on what I wanted for them. In the meantime, I could direct Arx toward something more productive—namely disarming the trap guarding the door. Actually opening it would have to wait. “You can treasure it if it actually works. Let’s the rest of us move back. No telling what’ll happen if this is the wrong crystal.”

As we began shuffling back down to the balcony, Lynnria quickly tapped Arx on the forehead with her pinky. “For luck. Hopefully, you won’t need to diddle your way out of this one?”

Arx laughed heartily at that and delivered a playful swat to the younger woman’s backside—to which the other growled but ultimately let it slide. Playtime was over.

The gray-skinned beauty stood tall atop the stairs, rolling her head about her shoulders and loosening her limbs. All of which sent wondrous reverberations through her anatomy, but I was too nervous to appreciate it. She could not die for real of course, but that did not mean I enjoyed watching it happen. Sometimes there were chunks involved.

More than that, though, with us having to keep Lynnria fed, we were only just maintaining an equilibrium. A setback here would put the entire burden of Life Energy generation on Jax for a full twenty-four hours, putting us at a significant deficit that would require even more time to recover.

Not an altogether unpleasant proposition, I grant you. However… well, I might have expressed some reticence for going into such an important meeting smelling like a brothel, but quite frankly, that ship had sailed, caught fire, and exploded.

But setting all that aside, there was no way we were going anywhere close to that door without Arx beside us.

My Siren began to circle the little spot of light, humming for all the world like a pampered dandy, yet her expression was deadly serious.

Here, for the first time, I wished I had more control over our newly-discovered linking ability. I badly wanted to know what she was feeling. What she was sensing. What dangers she had gleaned. All I could do was stand in the background, watching and waiting.

Still, it soon became clear there were several places along the walls she kept returning to. The way she stared at them, you would have thought there were dragons sleeping just behind the paneling. Unseen and unheard but for the faint whispers of their breath.

Eventually, she must have deemed it safe enough, and cautiously bent at the knees. The golden crystal dangled from her fingertips, gleaming in the light like a frozen drop of amber, descending down. And down. But before she could touch it to the floor, she hesitated.

“Huh…”

“You sensed something?” Lynnria asked half a second before I added, “You think it’s the wrong one?”

“Yes… and no,” she replied absently. “Stand well clear. I’m going to have to do this fast.”

“Do what fast?” I called, nervously scuttling backward.

Instead of answering, she took a deep breath and began humming once more, this time with a nervous edge. But she did not hesitate. With the decisiveness of a chess master giving check to king, she slapped the crystal down.

From my vantage below, I could not see what was happening save that for the space of perhaps three seconds, she stared intently at the floor before her, as if to hastily memorize its every feature. Then, without warning, she snatched up the crystal and back-flipped away.

With all the build-up, I had been expecting… well, I don’t know. Perhaps a hail of arrows? A jet of fire? Maybe even a summoned monster or twelve? But this…? I honestly could not tell you what happened.

Somewhere about the time her toes crossed the plane from room to stair, the room just sort of… blinked. For a split-second, it transformed from a place of four walls, wooden paneling, and furniture to one of white heat and horrific, ear-splitting sound.

Then nothing.

It was as if someone had neatly cut away a cube right in the center of an ongoing nuclear explosion, momentarily fitted it within the sitting room above us, then transferred it back less than a microsecond later with none the wiser.

“Fuck me sideways,” Jax grumbled into the deafening silence left behind. “When ye asked if’n She’d throw summat at us, I did nay expect the whole flamin’ sun!”

“You ain’t just dick whistling,” Lynnria agreed.

I agreed, as well. Which was mostly why I was letting that one go. I was still too busy wrestling my heart out of my throat to worry about the difference between dicks and Dixie.

Curious to see what might remain of the room above, I took a single step upward, but Arx slapped a hand to my chest.

“Can’t you hear the ticking?”

I looked at her. “Ticking?”

Then the room exploded again.