by Eric Vall
“Not yet,” I admitted.
“It’s odd you’re one of the old gods, and yet you seem so new sometimes,” the strawberry-blonde mused as the wind whipped through her long hair.
“I’m sure all gods have plenty to learn,” I told the fairy.
She got a strange expression on her face, though, so I wasn’t sure I’d said exactly the right thing, and I realized she probably thought the old gods were supposed to be all-knowing.
Maybe this was true, but it certainly wasn’t the case with me. I hardly knew about my own life, let alone the lives of the beings my little fairy was accustomed to.
“Ahem, so, I suppose I’ll just start collecting a load of rock.” Aleia cleared her throat after a long moment. “It’s better to begin now, right?”
“Yeah… but, Aleia, I wanted to tell you something,” I said to the fairy. “I really, really want to spend time with you tonight.”
“I keep waiting,” the strawberry-blonde teased. “But I’m not jealous you’ve visited the others, don’t worry.”
“Oh, Aleia, you’re so gorgeous,” I admired. “I honestly can’t wait to put my hands all over your sweet, innocent body.”
“Am I still innocent after the other night?” the fairy wondered. “Is that possible?”
“You looked so shocked at most of it,” I laughed gently.
“Well, I have something to tell you,” Aleia practically whispered, and her face was already hot pink. “I think you’re going to like it, but I’m not sure.”
“Yeah?” I responded. “Aleia, you can tell me anything.”
“I thought about what we did the other night,” the fairy began, “and then I put my hand between my legs and touched myself.”
“Fuck, Aleia,” I groaned as I started to get a throbbing sensation in my phantom groin. “I did not expect you to say that… Now I want you to go to sleep right this instant.”
“I thought you would like it,” the fairy giggled. “Anyway, I was afraid my sisters would hear me, so I was very, very quiet.”
“Would it matter if they heard you?” I asked because I wanted to make her blush even more.
“Oh, yes, master, it would matter,” Aleia insisted.
“You wouldn’t ever want to put on a show for me with Penelope and Nicola?” I asked.
“I would do… whatever you wanted, my lord,” the fairy said as she bowed her head shyly. “I will always obey you. If you want me to… kiss my sisters, I will do it for you.”
“But it wouldn’t be your preference, right?” I asked.
“I just want to be with you,” Aleia whispered. “I want you to make love to me and hold me.”
“So, I can’t flip you around at all?” I teased the fairy. “It’s just so tempting.”
“Maybe a little.” The strawberry-blonde looked up from under her lashes. “Like I said, I’d do anything you want.”
“I’ll see you in only a few hours, I swear,” I said to Aleia. “But this time, we’re actually going to do everything you want.”
“Okay…” the fairy giggled in a nervous tone. “I’m not sure what that means.”
“It means I want you to tell me what you imagined when you were touching yourself, and then I’ll make it come to life,” I explained.
“I will,” Aleia said in a shy, quiet voice. “I’ll definitely be thinking about it. Sooo… should I carry some rocks now?”
“I suppose that’s a good idea,” I sighed. “I do like talking to you, though, Aleia.”
“I like talking to you, too, my master,” the fairy said with the hint of a smile on her face. “I’ll see you later.”
“With some ideas ready for me?” I asked.
“Yes, with some ideas.” Aleia blushed and flew toward a large pile of rocks, and because I couldn’t even look at her little body anymore without fantasizing, I turned back to the other priestesses.
“How’s it going with the trench?” I asked Penelope and Nicola.
They’d completed about ten feet of digging, and I was impressed at how large the trench already was. Penelope was going apeshit for her current turn with the shovel, too, and she chucked each load of dirt off to the side with so much zeal, I wondered if I was being too protective before when I worried so much about my pregnant lover before.
“It’s going great!” Penelope chirped through panting breaths. “Do you see how much we’ve already done? We’re so good at this, Jack!”
“It looks fantastic,” I praised the two digging priestesses. “Just keep on doing what you’re doing. I’d say you have this all under control.”
“Penelope, it’s my turn,” Nicola pointed out with some impatience.
“Uh-huh!” Penelope agreed, but she kept on digging. “Just let me finish this next foot of land. Maybe two feet…”
Nicola smirked and rolled her eyes, but then she started stretching her muscles so she’d be primed when the naiad finally eased up off the pedal.
As Aleia continued to fly back and forth and delivered several more loads of stone from the quarry, Penelope and Nicola dug around forty more feet of trench.
After a several hours, though, I could tell they finally needed a bit of a pick-me-up. They’d done so much back-breaking work with so much enthusiasm, it was no wonder they were tired.
The dark-haired woman sat on the ground as she poured water from her canteen onto her head, and while the naiad was still digging, she’d started to sweat profusely.
“How are you feeling?” I asked the two women. “I’m glad you’re taking a break, Nicola. Penelope, make sure you’re feeling alright before you do any more.”
“It’s been a long day,” Nicola sighed from her position in the grass. “Penelope is amazing, but I’m already getting tired. I need to eat, and I was wondering if I should go check that trap.”
“That’s a good idea,” I responded. “Hopefully, you caught something fresh today.”
“That would be nice,” the dark-haired woman said as she stood up, pulled her thick hair up off her neck, and tied it into a knot. “I’ll walk over to the woods now. I could use some time in the shade, anyway.”
Nicola soon disappeared in the direction of the forest, so I decided to chat with Penelope on her own.
“Penelope, how can I help you?” I asked the naiad.
“I don’t think I need anything, my lord,” the cerulean woman replied as she shook her head. “I’m fine digging for the time being, although if Nicola gets some meat, I wouldn’t mind eating, either.”
“Um, you’re really…” I trailed off because I didn’t want to offend Penelope, but I decided I just had to go for it. “You’re really sweaty? So, you want to make sure you drink enough water.”
“I know, Jack,” the naiad groaned. “I’ve been taking care of myself my whole life, and I still know how to take care of myself now, don’t worry.”
“I know you’re tough,” I assured her as she threw another shovelful of soil into a pile. “Just look at you working. But, since you’re carrying my child, I can’t help but think about you a lot right now.”
“Oh, my lord, that’s kind of you.” The pale blue beauty’s eyes misted up. “I like when you pay attention to me.”
“I always am,” I told her. “And if you need to go to the stream to refresh yourself, go right ahead, and bring Aleia and Nicola, if you want. This is a huge project, and you’re all going to need to take care of yourselves. See, it’s not just you I’m worried about.”
“I secretly like when you worry about just me,” Penelope pouted.
“Well, I secretly like a lot of things about you,” I responded. “I secretly like your skin, and your hair, and your smell, and your boobs, and your--”
“I think everyone knows you like those things,” the naiad laughed. “Everyone around here, at least.”
“Well, I was going to say I really, really like our daughter growing inside you,” I said. “And I really wish I could kiss you--”
“Hi, Penelope,” Aleia inte
rrupted me as she carried another huge load of rocks over to the area where the naiad was working and set them down on the ground. “Brought another batch for us, and I still haven’t even broken a sweat!”
“Nice work, sister,” the naiad said as she looked up with interest. “Wow, that’s a lot of rocks. What kind of stone is all this?”
“It’s limestone, which solves a couple of our problems,” I explained. “It gives us enough materials to make all the mortar you’re going to need, and it can also be used for building.”
“Limestone?” Penelope wrinkled her nose. “I thought we used shells to make the cement.”
“You can use either,” I informed her. “They’re made up of similar chemicals.”
“So, I don’t get to look for shells anymore?” the blue woman asked with a slightly sad look on her face.
“You can always look for shells if that makes you happy,” I laughed. “We’re just going to use something else for the cement.”
“Where did Nicola go?” Aleia asked as she looked around the kitchen area. “Wasn’t she here digging with you?”
“She went to check her trap,” Penelope explained. “We might have meat for lunch… something different than cougar meat, that is.”
“There’s no reason to eat up all the smoked cougar if you don’t have to,” I told the two priestesses. “You should save it for times when you can’t get meat, and I know it’s not your favorite, anyway.”
“It’s great!” Penelope chirped, but the slightly disgusted look on her face gave away her true feelings.
“I love how positive you are,” I laughed. “But I know it can’t be that good.”
“It needs spices,” Aleia sighed. “But now we have some from the gnomes!”
“What did they give you?” I asked. “Are you excited to cook with them?”
“They gave us some dried herbs, like basil, and parsley, and some black pepper, and some fresh garlic… a lot of other things, too,” the fairy told me. “I looked at them earlier today.”
“Oh, my stomach is rumbling,” Penelope groaned. “I hope Nicola is back soon.”
“Were you talking about me?” the dark-haired priestess asked with a proud smile as she walked up to the other two women. Then she held up the giant rabbit in her hands, which had to weigh twenty pounds. “It seems I only caught this guy a couple hours ago. Isn’t he huge?”
“It’s a monster bunny,” Aleia marveled. “The animals around these woods are so much bigger than anything I’ve ever seen before. The bear, and the cougar, and the fish… everything is gigantic!”
“It’s bad when we have to fight it but good when we get to eat it,” Nicola laughed. “Jack, can we take a break to cook and eat?”
“Of course,” I replied. “You’ve made such good progress on the trench, anyway.”
The priestesses had done as much as they could for the day, but it was definitely going to be slow going. I wanted to level up as soon as possible, but the game, or simulation, or whatever this life was, certainly wasn’t making it easy for me.
Still, coordinating the women’s efforts for such a large project was an intriguing challenge. I just hoped the gnomes would come help like they’d promised. Having four more sets of hands on the work, even tiny ones, would really make the job go faster.
The women walked back over to the living quarters, and the fire was basically down to ashes. Aleia quickly set up firewood in the stone circle and lit the tinder with the propane torch, and soon the flames were roaring again.
Nicola butchered the rabbit on a rock, and she looked at the skin with interest.
“Now that I know the gnomes can prepare hides, I think we should make sure to give all the fur from the animals we hunt to them as soon as we harvest it,” the brunette suggested. “We don’t have clothing right now for any season other than summer, and we could make a lot of winter garments with fur, especially since the animals are so big around here.”
“Good idea,” I praised the dark-haired woman. “We’re definitely going to have to get you some new clothes sooner or later.”
“You don’t like our robes?” Penelope asked as she spun around in a circle. “We designed them to please you, master.”
“You know I do,” I chuckled. “But fur might be a little more practical come winter.”
Nicola was done cutting the meat up into big chunks, and she began to put them on skewers. She smashed a clove of garlic against a rock with her knife and peeled it, and then she rubbed it all over the rabbit flesh. She sprinkled some of the other spices onto the meat along with salt, and then she passed a skewer to each of the other two women. They held their meat over the fire for several minutes, and then they began to eat.
“Wow, this is sooo good,” Penelope moaned as a thick stream of juices ran down her chin. “Although I hate to admit it, Balabar was right. We needed spices.”
“The garlic is amazing,” Aleia agreed. “This is the best thing I’ve eaten in a long time. All we need is some potatoes to go with it.”
“Aleia, why did you have to say that?” Nicola asked in a playful tone. “Now, I want potatoes, too.”
“I just want meat,” Penelope said as she took another huge bite. “That’s what the baby wants.”
“Then I’m happy the snare worked,” the brunette said with pride. “I set it again, so we should be able to have fresh meat quite a bit.”
“We’re going to be eating well, especially with these seasonings.” Aleia smiled.
“And I’m going to plant my seeds very soon, sisters,” Penelope reminded the other women. “Then we will have crops to eat.”
“You are all doing so well,” I complimented the priestesses. “I’m glad you’re eating better than when all you had was apples.”
“I’m not sick of apples anymore,” the naiad laughed, “but I was for a while. I’m glad there are still a few left on the tree after the storm, and I might even want to eat one later.”
“Do you want us to dig more tonight?” Nicola asked.
“You don’t have to,” I told the dark-haired woman. “In fact, I might prefer it if you finished your weapons tonight. Why don’t you each make a spear?”
“That sounds better than digging,” the pale blue woman yawned.
“You know what sounds even better?” I asked. “If the gnomes would show up in the morning and make our lives easier. Digging would be a perfect job for them because they’re so low to the ground. They won’t be able to help much with building higher up in the air, unless they use the ladder, I suppose.”
I wished I could text them to bring shovels.
“Gnomes on a ladder,” Aleia laughed.
“Wilfrim said they used to have a really nice house,” Nicola reminded the fairy. “You probably don’t remember because of the tea. They must have used a ladder to build that, and I bet they’re good at construction in general.”
“Yeah, all their stuff is really nice,” Penelope agreed. “Also, I love Elowise so much. She’s like a new mother to me, and I wish I could tell her everything about the baby.”
“You can,” Aleia said in response as she laid down on the grass.“You can tell anyone you want.”
“I just don’t want Balabar to be strange about it,” the naiad sighed.
“He already knows,” Nicola reminded her. “He heard you say it after the troll battle, and he was talking about it again last night.”
“It was pretty amazing when he said he wanted to come pray here,” Penelope sighed. “I do want more followers at our convent, but I wish they didn’t have to be such…”
“Douches?” I suggested.
“Yes,” the blue woman laughed. “Exactly right.”
The three women cleaned up from their meal, and then they decided to go to the stream for a little while. I was disappointed it was too dark out to catch my usual glimpses of their damp bodies when they walked back to their living quarters, but I knew I’d be visiting a certain sexy fairy soon.
The priest
esses completed the new spears quickly that night, and I was impressed by how much their woodworking skills had improved since I’d first gotten there. They were more than exhausted afterward, especially Penelope, so all of the priestesses decided to get in bed so they could talk. I tuned out their conversation for so long that I didn’t realize Nicola and Penelope had fallen asleep until I heard a whisper.
“Jack, I’m ready for you now,” Aleia murmured.
Chapter 10
“I’m coming to see you,” I whispered. “Go to sleep now so we can be together.”
“Okay,” the fairy breathed. “Just let me get comfortable.”
The petite, winged woman curled up on her side, and I took a couple moments to gaze down on her. Her reddish-blonde hair was curlier than usual from the stream, and her long lashes fluttered as she snuggled up in her blankets. She was completely still after a few minutes, and when her breathing slowed, I focused on entering her dream.
As usual, there was a flash of white light, and when I could see again, I was down at floor level. I was barefoot and bare-chested as I’d come to expect, and Aleia was alone in the room, but she was still curled up in her blankets.
“Aleia?” I asked. “Are you awake?”
I walked across the room’s dirt floor and knelt next to the fairy, and when I bent down to stroke her face, the strawberry-blonde turned to me with wide-open eyes.
“Jack,” she whispered, and her freckled face broke out into a delighted smile. “You’re finally here, and you’re so beautiful.”
Aleia turned to me and ran her fingers through my hair, and then she moved her hand down my chest and toward the waist of my pants.
“You’re beautiful,” I told the fairy. “If I’m a god, I’m nothing compared to you. You’re a fucking goddess.”
“My lord, what do you even mean by that?” Aleia giggled, but then her face grew somber as she stared directly into my eyes. “Jack, I have to tell you something. I’m… I’m still a little scared.”
“I know,” I said in a soft voice. “I can tell you’re still shy around me.”
Hearing the fairy speak so vulnerably with me made me feel more human than god all of a sudden, and as I considered how nice this was, an intense fantasy bloomed in my mind.