by Prax Venter
Sasha was still facing Amina, so Mark couldn’t see her eyes, but there was no way she could ever cry now without him knowing it.
“I greatly regret what I did,” the wilting succubus said. “I’m no noble hero, Chieftain. But Mark is right about who we are now, and what we fight for.”
“You expect us to fight the god of gods?” Princess Verrelle asked.
Jezebel answered. “While it is true that I did not directly create the content of this universe, I set up specific conditions and left them to develop on their own. However, I have made some considerable custom changes to the rules. Now that Maliah is awake and active once again over her domain, she will not stand for your world’s existence. If she gains control, she will start over, erase all of you, and probably torture us for the equivalent of eternity.”
Amina looked from Sasha to Mark then to Jezebel.
“If you are so powerful, why not simply wield these intelligent hammers you used to create my history to write your own victory?”
Mark felt acceptance snap into place within the Awysai warrior’s mind, and he knew she decided to brush most of this off as nonsense yet vowed to be more watchful of these powerful creatures. Her one and only goal was to protect the last of her people. Nothing else mattered. And, so far, Mark and his group of strange women had only ever acted to help her do just that.
Yet a lot of what they were claiming bothered her. Especially since it rung true.
He shot her a smile, pointed to Abby, and then started to walk backwards.
“Want to know why we’re weakened and stuck? Ask this little one right here.”
Everyone started following him again, and the abyssal horror told her side of the story.
“This simulated reality we are traversing is currently running within Jezebel’s physical hardware. That hardware is powered by an advanced device called a fusion reactor. I and my two sisters were sent here by my world’s administrator- an entity type similar to Maliah but administering a different set of rules. For example, pleasure was not something I was allowed to experience. Feel fortunate your world can be so endlessly magnificent.
“It was my role to attack Sasha while one sister attacked Jezebel and my other sister changed a single rule to trick Jezebel’s custom changes. One simple command severed all access to what you call intelligent hammers, Chieftain. All of us not of your world are locked out of high-level functions.”
“That is,” Mark added, “until I absorb all 108 Crystal Heart shards.”
“Another mistake,” Jezebel said. “We may be powerful, but it’s more apt to say we were children who had access to very dangerous toys.”
“Is entity Maliah restrained by the same 108-shard condition?” Angel asked.
“Likely,” Abby said, reaching out to caress the power droid’s armored back. “Because we all still exist. An intuitive question.”
“And both Sasha and I disabled many of her system calls,” Jezebel said, sounding distant as her black hooves collected blue dust. “We… tore apart her mind.”
He felt a burst of dread from the emerald-eyed AI at the hefty price she could pay for her part in mishandling the built-in Helper Fairy.
“So, that’s mostly it,” Mark said casually after a few steps. “I know it sounds like a lot, and we haven’t even touched on the fact that I got here mostly as a hostage/bargaining chip paid by a duplicate of me. Believe it or not, I am only a copy of a human. Apparently, I’ll die a horrible death if I left the safety of your world before my mind was ready. We have a lot more in common than you think.”
They walked in silence for what had to be twenty minutes before echoes of Verrelle’s physical discomfort grew unbearable in his mind. He looked over his shoulder to see her thick pink tongue panting out between her toothless muzzle as she lurched onward.
“Time to rest,” Mark said, stopping. “But not for long, and not you, princess. I want to see what we can do about how all that down there is working.”
“My new legs?” she said, leaning heavily on her tail.
“Your movements are inefficient,” Abby said.
Amina held her eyes on Mark’s face for a moment longer and then turned to her alternate universe counterpart.
“I would say it differently, but Abby is correct, princess. This is a new action for your body. Developing these new muscles correctly is important. I would also listen to Mark, the first outsider to wield the Goddess Echo’s power.”
Mark held up his hand. “The truth is, it’s beyond amazing that you’re doing as well as you are. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to learn to walk, but there has to be a better way to use all that energy at your disposal.” He gestured to her vibrant red poles. “Is that all of your pool?”
“My pool?” Verrelle repeated but seemed to understand what he meant. “I think so. This is very new, and I am more than willing to try any suggestions from anyone.”
Mark summoned a rod of his own energy to his hand and attempted to force the solid red power to form a hinge in the middle yet was unable to do so. He could shape it to look like a hinge but making it bend required the top part to pivot independently.
“Well… either we can’t make joints, or I don’t know how yet, but my idea is already no good. Anyone have any suggestions?”
“Other shapes,” Abby said quickly. “Also, do not feel constrained to forming only two legs when four to eight might be advantageous.”
Jezebel stepped closer. “Rounded ends would be a small change that might help smooth your gait.”
Mark chuckled. “Princess Verrelle, you are surrounded by sharp-minded ladies. I’m sure we’ll figure something out.
A flicker of anxiety came from the glossy combat droid nearby, and Mark turned to face her.
“Jump in, Angel,” he said with a wave. “Your beautiful walking-sticks are fascinating to watch.”
Her pixelated eyes hopped around the group before settling on Princess Verrelle.
“My lower legs are designed for physical combat, aerodynamics, and microgravity field manipulation, yet I am interested in this locomotion puzzle. I have a query if I may.”
The Blazar princess blinked at the Lunar Power Droid.
“Ask,” she said after a moment.
“I have observed Mark grow his energy outward. This is also the same when the Awysai summon their weapons. Query, can you alter the length of your shafts?”
“Oh, that’s a great idea,” Jezebel said, her emerald eyes going wide.
Verrelle’s anxiety skyrocketed with everyone staring at her, and she suddenly felt way over her head. Perhaps telling them the truth about her existence wasn’t the best idea.
“Like this,” Mark said gently as he held up his palm. Instead of bursting out a mace or a sledgehammer, he slowly formed a basic cylinder until it hit about six inches and then sucked the solid projection back into his hand. He was basically holding a functional piston made of energy.
After a few seconds passed with everyone focused on the rhythmic pumping of his red rod, a flash of inspiration filled his brain.
A moving image from whatever space-marine shooting game he played with Sasha years ago appeared in his imagination, and Mark watched from her perspective covering his flank as the power-armor he wore triggered thick metal pistons under his boots- launching him across the battlefield.
Mark, Jezebel, and Abby all turned to face Sasha.
“What?” the sultry succubus said with a half-smile. “Oh, come on, my head isn’t only filled with sex.”
“Jump boots?” Mark said, grabbing her by her shoulders. “Sasha, you’re a genius!”
“If it works without snapping your ankles, Lover,” she whispered then pulled him in for a deep kiss. Her lips were magic.
“I feel lost again,” Verrelle said behind him.
Angel’s digital voice answered. “It is understandable. They are passing information telepathically.”
Mark forced his face away from Sasha’s. The lidded look she gave him d
id nothing to help the fight against his incessantly swelling shaft. He cleared his throat and then pointed at Princess Verrelle’s legs.
“Use your tail for stability and try to suck those glowsticks back into your body. Pretend they are two cocks. Take them in slowly.”
Verrelle’s eyes went wide before she nodded.
“I cannot believe I am in this situation- talking to captivating new people who may or may not be more powerful than any force I can conceive, all while under the domeless sky. I have Oral Sex Goddess energy coursing through my body currently forming the legs I’d been born without and you just instructed the Princess of the Blazar to suck them into her pelvis like cocks.” The tight-bodied salamander leaned back on her tail causing the part of her bathing suit armor to pull against her crotch, and Mark couldn’t help but stare at her protruding clitoris pressing into the luxurious material.
Princess Verrelle continued.
“Yet everything you say is honest, good-willed, and insightful.”
With Mark’s informal mental framework, he felt the Blazar royal fully accept the journey she had started. Before they left, there was a point where he didn’t think that her parents, The Lord and Sovereign, were going to allow her to temporarily join Mark’s battle harem. But it had been the Royal Advisor Urtanion who fought for her the most in the end.
The young princess struggled for only a moment before she relaxed her mind and began sinking down as her new ethereal legs shrunk. Then, her left leg stalled, and her right side sunk quickly.
Yet Verrelle’s tail was strong, and she seemed to have an excellent sense of balance. The Blazar princess widened her three-point stance, and after a few shaky breaths she willed them both to level out again.
“I am pleased,” Amina said, laying her thick, three-fingered hand on Verrelle’s shoulder. “All you need now is practice.”
“Speaking of practice,” Mark said, taking a few steps back, “I have a new trick of my own to try out.”
Jezebel sprouted her virtual wings. “I think we should test your new fall-mitigating pants first before you try launching yourself into the air. The wording feels off to me.”
“How so,” he asked, frowning down at his new magic pants.
Jezebel morphed into a buff doe-centaur before she answered. “What does ‘fall damage’ cover exactly? It’s vague.”
“Did you ever experience any other human virtual game worlds?” Abby asked as she moved to rub Jezebel’s solid round hindquarters.
“Not really,” she said, looking over her shoulder. “I get the concept, but no one can argue that we shouldn’t field-test any new abilities.”
Mark responded by mounting his stunning doe scientist.
“You keep practicing, Princess,” he said to Verrelle. “Jezebel and I are going to try and shatter my shins. Be right back!”
He slapped Jezebel’s leather-wrapped ass and expected her to launch into the air; instead, her pointed doe tail shot straight up, and her libido spiked.
His flying mount’s curiosity about the experiments she envisioned won over and cleared her mind. Mark sensed the impending launch, so he wrapped his arms around her firm stomach an instant before she leapt into the air.
“Regarding the wording,” Jezebel continued as she raised them about three stories into the air. “Tell me, what do you think would happen if you landed on your head instead of your legs?”
Mark looked down at the hard, dry earth below them. In a stark contrast to the soft, grassy hills of the Lagomorph home universe, the Wrongside’s topside was coated in thick dirt plates as if the whole surface was an ancient dried-up sea.
“Well,” Mark said, puffing out a breath of air as he psyched himself up for what came next. “I think running tests is the smart way to go. We absolutely need to know the limits of our superpowers before we rush into whatever bullshit will eventually get in our way. I also have undying faith that the Goddess of Oral Sex will protect my junk.”
With that, Mark pushed his hands down into her armor and vaulted backward into the open air.
- 3 -
Mark forced the feral fear out of his mind and tried to tell his stomach to grow a pair, but the dry blue dirt came up to meet him before he had a chance to really work it out. With a grunt, he came to an instant stop.
Small cracks radiated outward from where his right knee struck hardest, and his left hand was covered in blue dust, yet he felt only exhilaration.
“I’m fine,” he shouted. As he stood, he noticed Sasha jogging up to him with her heavy teardrops of pink flesh straining to be contained by her stretchy black top. Behind her he saw Abby and Angel focused on helping Verrelle, yet Amina’s red eyes remained locked on his.
“I know you’re fine,” Sasha said as he dusted himself off. “That was fucking awesome. You have no idea how much of a load off my mind these pants are for me.”
“Us,” Jezebel corrected, landing more gracefully than he did. “Your safety is on our minds constantly, Lover. Ready to hop on and try a much higher drop?”
“Me too!” Sasha yelled and used her leather wings to give her a boost. The bright-eyed succubus wrapped her fingers around the doe-centaur’s round breasts from behind before motioning with her horns for Mark to join her.
With a grin splitting his lips, he vaulted over the thick rear of his Enthralled Druid and buried his face in Sasha’s short vanilla hair. Mark let everything else fall away and exulted in the moment.
“You artificial intelligences really fucked up when you picked this particular game to keep my virtual mind sane.”
“Given our track record,” Jezebel said as she functioned as their elevator. “I think Amina’s intelligent hammers phrase is more fitting.”
“Yeah,” he said as their ride came to a stop in the still, red sky. “But you gals sure are some sexy hardware.” He then kissed Sasha’s neck before whispering, “Race ya,” and once again pushed himself off Jezebel’s armored backside.
Mark couldn’t claim to be afraid of heights and even went so far as to relish the soaring strapped-in exhilaration of rollercoasters. Exploring the feeling now, he closed his eyes and turned his mind toward embracing gravity as it violently yanked everything downward. Time seemed to slow again as Mark made yet another subconscious step toward acclimating to the fantasy world wrapped around the instincts of his real-world brain.
In truth, this virtual existence was consuming him. It started with his wiped memories, then his eye, and then irrevocably binding his heart to his three AI Enthralled. Fighting it was stupid, counterproductive, and-
When the solid ground eventually slammed into his back, that human brain of his trained with a millennium of built-in instincts immediately erased all thought and projected massive damage that didn’t exist.
Yet, Mark sat up feeling fine and found himself in the center of a small impact crater.
“You did that with your ass!” Sasha called out, and he looked up to see the red sun filter through her six-foot wingspan. She flashed him a wild, fanged-tooth grin then forced him back to the dirt with her rough landing. Her lips were on his immediately, and her silky blonde hair fell over his cheeks.
“We need to be careful,” Jezebel said as she landed nearby. “If you fell from orbit, you could cause serious collateral damage- that is, if this world and/or any of its many dimensions exhibit Earth’s 1g…”
Mark felt the presence of the others as they approached and once again fought the urge to ignore them and fuck Sasha right now. They would all probably enjoy the show, and he had a nearly full tank for her. Points were points, after all.
Sasha’s soft nibbling lips curved into a smile then she sat up, her crotch still squishing down on his swelling cock.
“When we finally let you pop, it’s going to be a gusher.”
“Such legendary feats,” muttered Princess Verrelle, and Mark turned to see the black-and green salamander’s torso now connected to four poles of red energy, two from each hip.
“You look p
retty legendary yourself, your grace,” he said.
Verrelle glanced down at the Goddess-given energy. “I feel absurd, but I am overwhelmed with excitement, so they seem to cancel each other out.”
Abby wrapped her tentacles around her narrow green stomach.
“Enough rest. Both Mark and Verrelle can practice their newly discovered forms of travel as we proceed.”
As his voluptuous succubus lifted her irresistible body off him, he noticed Abby’s visceral desire tugging on the universe to get back to their home dimension’s moon. He gazed into her yellow eyes and sent sympathetic agreement. Soon.
“I’ll get a little bit ahead,” Mark said as he dusted the blue Wrongside dust off his new red pants again. “Then I’ll try that pushing energy trick to launch me into the air. With no fall damage, who cares how I land? Oh man- if this works…”
The women tied to his heart felt his need for concentration and pulled back- quietly observing from a distance.
The ground of this world was pure dirt, but the top layer had been baked eternally by a noon-locked sun and if he formed wide enough pistons, they shouldn’t simply push into the soil.
The faint concepts of surface area to mass calculations leaked into his thoughts, and Mark looked over his shoulder directly into the emerald eyes of System Host Jezebel. With a nod, he let her know he was opening his mind to welcome as much expertise as she could project.
She nodded back, and a new type of channel opened between him and his brilliant research scientist.
“Mm,” Mark mused as he rubbed his chin and swapped out his original mental construct for a much wider footprint. Their imaginations danced together, caressing each other’s ideas while gently weaving in their own as they built the concept of energy-piston configurations giving him practical combat advantages. His instinct was to create a harness or chair to absorb the upward thrust, yet Jezebel replaced that use of Salivis energy with just bending his knees. The doe-woman envisioned his ethereal rods pushing straight down out of his heel, and Mark slanted the energy at a slight angle so he could lean into more of a forward motion, attacking.