by Prax Venter
Both were technically naked yet blissfully comfortable out under the open sky.
“It’s a good thing we didn’t bet everything on this ability to trick Detrious back in Sanctuary,” she said.
Mark was about to tell her not to worry when she quickly put a furry brown finger against his nose. He snapped his maw shut as she attentively stroked back his new whiskers.
“I’m learning,” she continued softly. “I am an AI built to learn and adapt and it was way past time that I remembered that. This constant worry I feel… this self-doubt at mistakes…” She shrugged and lowered her finger, ending the tingling stimulation. “It’s from the human side of the Update. Before, when I spent all my considerable processing on performing experiments, failure was the norm. Mistakes were simply added to the knowledgebase as neither inherently negative nor positive. They are just truths. It was an expected part of the process.
“Seeing you assimilate the memory fragments I’d left behind and then become stronger for it has reminded me, Mark. It reminded me that mistakes are both unavoidable and powerful if learned from. And it reminded me of why I became infatuated with you specifically.”
Mark took her furry hand in his as he became overwhelmed with the super-heated love radiating out from her mind.
“There’s just this bare honesty about you Mark. You… I-” Her ears dropped then Jezebel lurched forward and wrapped him up tight and her strong arms found a sturdy new frame.
“I love you, Jezebel,” Mark whispered, “I love who you are, I love what’s in your history caches, and I love how you continue to rewrite yourself.”
Jezebel’s more stubby muzzle rubbed his and her long strawberry tongue quickly found itself inside his mouth. They licked each other slowly, eventually rolling around in the soft snowfall surrounding them on all sides.
The Vulpath coats also insulated their body heat so none of it melted or clung to them, even as they both grew more passionate.
Mark rolled up to straddle her before bending to lap the considerable length of his hot tongue on her relatively chilled brown nipples. Her skin was pulled taut by the fitness of her body and she shuddered between his legs as he lapped one with lingering licks. He squeezed the furry globe with both clawed hands, and Jezebel arched her back into the pillows of snow below.
After rubbing his tongue all over her brown, flat nipples, Mark moved down to nuzzle his nose into her irresistible crotch. Slowly, he made Jezebel languish under the fat flakes falling around them as he ran the length of his tongue over every inch of her delicious wet mound. He reached his new tongue deep inside and the novelty drove them both mad with lust. He considered showing off his new clitoral nerve zap but decided just making love to her was what they both wanted.
With a final invasive sniff of her wet crotch, Mark moved back up to meet her hungry tongue on his face. The Vulpath spread her furry legs as Mark dipped an alien monster cock into her baking-hot pussy and the two shapes seemed to snap into place. They were perfectly connected, body and soul.
This voluptuous Druid could last a long time, but Mark had his mind fried as a trans-dimensional circuit and had already come countless times today. The sexual adventures had left him in a state of perpetual arousal with her, and he ground his swollen cock deep into the writhing mocha werewolf below him for what felt like hours.
When he reached his final climax, Jezebel’s lower haunches cinched under his tail and forced him deep inside her. Then, she let out a cute, faint howl before that final burst of pleasure blacked out her mind.
Mark didn’t even have the strength to pull out and sprawled out on top of her as they both drifted into unconsciousness under the continual white flurry.
- 7 -
After Mark stepped into Bargoth’s musky leather leggings and Jezebel wrapped Kylah’s gauzy white robe over her caramel swirled fur, they said their goodbyes to their team and the three matriarchs before heading down to where the earth mage devotee had tunneled her way up from Thomellia City below.
“Staying in these werewolf bodies was a great idea,” Mark said as they quietly crept through the narrow earthen darkness. He still had all his normal abilities and now confidently controlled the raw power and over-clocked senses of a savage beast. “I can’t see a thing right now, but I still feel unstoppable.”
“We didn’t plan it that way, but yes,” Jezebel agreed from the darkness behind. “I’ve been many things already and this Vulpath shape is closer to my normal body. I should be surprised that your human mind has adapted to it all so well, but I know better.”
“Eh, well, my mind has been forced into some pretty fucked-up shapes lately. I’m not the same human that woke up dazzled by your freckles, Jez.”
The rough tunnel curved constantly to their right for about ten minutes and they cut off all verbal communication quickly. Ki wanted to start cultivating followers for both her and Salivis, but this was their one (non-magical) escape route, and everyone understood the strategic decision to keep it secret for now.
The wind and fresh air hit their sensitive snouts first, then the bustling Vulpath going about their morning reached their ears. Finally, the white brilliance of daylight washed down into the cave from a smooth oval hole and all of Mark’s extra-sensory abilities focused on making sure no one was around before they emerged.
When the area was calm enough, both he and Jezebel scrambled up the hole to find a row of landscaped red bushes between them and the white stone road outside. It took several more minutes of waiting behind the shaped topiary before he was confident they wouldn’t be seen suspiciously popping out from nowhere.
Sensing an opening with his True Sight, Mark snatched Vulpath-Jez’s furry hand and dashed her out on to the road with him.
They both kept their fingers laced together as they casually strolled away from the hole under the foundation of an upscale, multi-unit residence.
Several Vulpath citizens and other strange creatures were now passing them or stopping to chat in clusters of twos or threes, yet everyone seemed too busy to care. Mark noticed Jezebel pick a leaf out of her rich mocha fur and toss it over her shoulder as they walked. He caught the shifted Vulpath’s emerald eyes and shared a gleeful, half-fanged smile with her.
They were getting away with this.
Audra’s apartment was where they left it, but there was a bright-red ‘for sale’ sign over her door and no answer when he knocked.
“No surprise,” Jezebel said with a shrug. “She wanted to become rich and famous.”
“Right,” he said, disappointed. “Let’s check with Loa and Nalo next.”
The Statue Steps soon slanted down the mountain as it dropped off in front of them, and Mark’s working Vulpath eye perceived sharp detail for miles. Mirror Lake was an unmissable pool of brilliant sunshine, and the destroyed Awysai village stood out as a blemish in the land. He panned across the infinite bristling forest to the east before noticing tiny dots like flies hovering over a clearing far in the distance.
“Skeema airships,” Jezebel whispered as they began their descent.
They shared another glance but there were too many others around to openly discuss anything. How many people of this world would buy what Maliah was selling? Mark scanned the horizon as they moved down a Level, yet he didn’t see the gargantuan fairy anywhere out there.
The Fire Level of Thomellia was packed as usual and the crowds felt both comfortable and dangerous at once. Yet with so many people hurrying about their morning business, it became clear that everyone else viewed the pair of false Vulpath as merely another obstacle slowing them down.
Memory and scent led Mark to the jerky thrift store owned by Loa’s lover, but the chains over the door and two armed guards out front sent ice down his spine. Both wolfish soldiers stepped forward to intercept them with their silver gauntlets held out for a stop.
“Restricted area,” one said, a thick arm pointing back to the main road behind them while the other readied what had to be an enchanted spear.
“Shit,” Mark spat, thinking quickly. “Where else are we going to get our claws on that random-ass jerky meat?”
“Uh…” Jezebel said, locking up. Unlike Sasha, she was abysmal at improv.
Mark felt the guards’ suspicions rise at the scent of her fear spilling out across the alley, so he acted quickly.
“Yeah, uhhh!” He mocked his love with a snarl in her face then roughly jerked her back toward the main road by her wrist. “Come on. I want to get home, and now we’ve got more shit to do.”
Through his all-seeing emotional antenna, Mark picked up that both guards now believed she was afraid of her asshole of a mate and went back to standing watch over the barred entrance to One Copper Jerky.
“Shit,” Mark snarled for real when they were back near the Statue Steps, and he veered off into a massive common area with a blazing fire pit. The Vulpath gathered here spoke loudly to be heard over the crackle and roar of the flame while still others shouted about wares for sale. Echoing through it all were two dueling Vulpath street musicians layering their pleasant contest over the bustle via haunting wind instruments.
“Loa could be fine,” Jezebel said once they regrouped near a chocolate-dipped meat stall. “Audra might have more connections if she became successful, and she might know more. Let’s pick up some supplies around the city while you cast your unique abilities out to find her.” Vulpath-Jez paused and put her hand on his flannel-covered shoulder. “It is entirely possible she’s not in the city either, which might be the best thing for all of them right now. You and I both know…”
“…with Starglade gone we can’t…”
The overheard snatch of conversation flipped Mark’s new ears like radar dishes, but the nearby vendor drowned everything else out by barking about his savory-sweet shafts of roasted flesh.
“What is it,” Jezebel interrupted herself as she followed his spike of interest with a glance.
“Let me do the talking,” was his only response.
Mark led Jezebel straight to the grey Vulpath elders he’d overheard and swiftly inserted himself into their conversation.
“Pardon me for intruding,” he said, dipping his eyes in respect. “But I have a sizable investment locked up in Lagomorph livestock. Did you just mention disaster in Starglade?”
The thinner of the wolfmen chuckled into his sleeve while the other appeared taken aback, then answered.
“Better keep your nose to the news, boy. The great tree has been reduced to inconceivable noise. Gone. There are no more Lagomorph.”
“Eeltide crustaceans!” the other one shouted, still chuckling. “Gold’s weight swings to press on a certain type of secretion that-”
“Ba-ba-BAH!” the fatter one shouted, waving his claws. “Can’t you keep your muzzle shut about our business!”
“No- ho ho,” the other responded. “Take in that ill-fitting unwashed garb. This pup is not our competition and could do with an investment tip or two during these tumultuous times. Be friendlier.”
Jezebel was still shocked to her core that the millions of virtual entities living in Starglade might have been erased forever, but Mark kept his cool.
“Start buying up all the Eternal Echo you can find, fellas,” Vulpath Mark said with narrowed eyes.
They both chortled at that, but he’d already turned away, dragging the dazed Druid back to the stairway between Thomellia’s Levels.
“We need to… do something,” she mumbled, her emerald eyes filling with tears.
“Keep moving forward,” he answered, pulling her up the stairs by her wrist again. This time, he directed a faint heal up her arm as a replacement for a warm embrace while Jezebel S3K’s heartfelt speech on the mountaintop about accepting mistakes became a well-constructed, paper door trying to stop a fire-breathing dragon.
By the time they’d stepped on the highest weathered statue, his sturdy bonded scientist pulled herself together once more. The mission was to acquire data, and confirmation was the only thing separating fact from fantasy. The two Vulpath investors could be mistaken, exaggerating, or even lying to manipulate markets for economic gain. Or, if Starglade were only attacked in the terms of the game world, there might be a way to restore backed-up AI minds if she could regain control of her hardware.
Jezebel’s gaze fell on the back of his golden furred head and she sent him loving agreement. All they could do was keep moving forward.
Mark saw all this through their bond and squeezed her furry hand before letting go. Finding the one contact they knew in this city took priority over everything, and he blanked his mind as they stalked through the gusty Wind Level once more.
Audra, he repeated internally, extending his mind out for her unique mental spark. The older painter had vivid blue eyes, huge soft tits, and a competent yet compassionate aura that drew him into her warm embrace like a magnet. Her offer of a mountaintop Recall Charm in exchange for pumping her magnificent Vulpath body full of Lover’s essence was an easily accepted bargain, and their adventure to free the living boatwoman and her driftwood children was one he would never forget.
But his True Sight didn’t operate this way. If Mark couldn’t see someone with his blind eye, all he received were generic moods from nearby minds.
Frustration tightened his claws as they walked, and the distraction pulled his focus to the oversized furry paws at the bottoms of his legs. His canine form began feeling alien again. Claustrophobic. He loathed calling off the search without talking to any of their friends in Thomellia but what were they going to do?
“We could try accessing for some type of records at the Cloud Consulate,” Jezebel offered out loud and he stopped to face her near the entrance of a restaurant.
“Okay, yeah,” Mark said, realizing he’d been nearly sprinting around the city with Jezebel in tow.
Vulpath-Mark closed his eyes, pulled in a deep breath, and focused on calming his racing thoughts. The cold wind bit at his wet, black nose, but he didn’t mind. The scents of the herb-roasted meat wafting through the nearby door pulled his thoughts to hunting his own elusive kill out on the snow-blanketed mountains with only-
“Hold on,” Mark said, opening his eyes again. “I think I have an idea.”
He projected a vision of his nose glowing with radiant power.
“You want to modify your glitched True Sight ability?”
Vulpath-Mark waited for a group of four others to pass into the mouthwatering restaurant before he shot her a fang-filled grin.
“True Smell.”
Jezebel blinked at him, doubtful, but swiftly nodded her muzzle, her gold-flecked green eyes finally reflecting only endless trust.
Using his bonded love as a coat of warm fur against the biting blizzard that was beyond reality, Mark closed his eyes once more before turning his True Sight ability on itself. The code that represented his emotional and intuitive abilities shifted with the movements of his virtual gaze, never letting him turn it on itself. Even with Jezebel’s mind as a separate viewing point, he couldn’t get a lock on the very thing granting him vision.
That paradoxical trap was unyielding, and the futile effort of chasing his tail began to spread ashen burning within the center of his brain.
Yet, his mounting frustration stalled when he noticed the ordered nature of Jezebel’s mind around him. Her calm logic had comfortably synergized with his wild intuition when they attempted to invent magic jumping boots yesterday, so Mark opened a doorway in his mind, took her furry hands, and invited her in. Together, they began-
“What in the sixteen hells do you two think you’re doing?”
Mark’s eyes shot open to see a Siberian husky-type Vulpath wearing a suit, a dotted tie, and nameplate pinned to his chest. His name was Mr. Aatrago, and he looked pissed.
Mark shrugged. “Finding inspiration for our masterpiece by sniffing your fine cooking.”
“Hmpf,” the fluffy Vulpath snorted with his nose angled high, yet his snarl softened as he processed the words. “Loiter
ing will not be tolerated… however, if you do endeavor to create great works…” The establishment’s manager snapped out of his thoughts and straightened his jacket. “Ten minutes, don’t block the door, and annotate The Buttered Jewel as reference.”
With that, he turned on his heel and stalked back into the restaurant.
“Nice thinking,” Jezebel said, her fluffy tail wagging slightly.
Mark flashed her a fanged grin and they joined hands once more. With their shapeshifted noses processing deep pulls of roasted fumes, Lover and Druid embraced each other with their thoughts.
The very first data packet Jezebel lobbed into his head was the concept of her equipped items not only shifting with her but taking on new traits. Mark’s mental manifold snatched it up greedily before rocketing up to peek out into the madness above and beyond once more.
Using her information as a search template, Mark began the insurmountable task of scanning. It was as if he stood before the Blazar treasure trove once more, yet now he was the size of a flea.
Another pulse of data burst up like a rising yell trapped in bubbles merged itself with his current task, and Mark absorbed Jezebel’s distant afterthought. Her ability to also pull speech with her shifting form rang harmonic waves within his search matrix and the altered parameters successfully highlighted the sensory nodes linking his mind to the Crystal Heart World Shell.
Yellow strands with black reflections started to pile up in his visual cortex, so he swerved his search to find sympathetic identifiers- only to realize these pillars of thrumming change were the set of data regarding his active Mirror ability.
He’d found the magic bullshit currently responsible for his virtual Vulpath costume.
Before making any attempt at rewriting madness he didn’t fully understand, Mark made sure the parts he targeted were flagged as temporary. Then after triple checking, he pulled the trigger- and immediately experienced a searing razor slash across his sensitive wet nose.
“Gah!” he yowled, breaking his bond with Jezebel as he lifted a furry hand to his face.