by Prax Venter
Channa looked at the other board members, who all nodded once, then she turned back to Abby.
“As you know, we are at war with the Centaur Technocracy. The vile abominations of nature invaded our lands and took the portion of Starglade Nation that contains The Orb of Stars- a tremendous arcane power source fixed to that one spot. The centaur constructed a metal wall around the perimeter and have held what is ours for many years. It is beyond time we take it back.
“We have sent armies, several clandestine groups, and even other Collectors to infiltrate this wall and acquire the ethereal frequencies that control their gates. None have come back.”
“You’ll give us all seven remaining shards for these frequencies?” Abby asked, her tentacles coiling on the polished wooden table with excitement.
“We will give you one,” Retis said firmly. “Afterward.”
Mark’s brow came down. His first instinct was to argue, but he remembered how Loa handled a shady dealer and channeled her now.
Mark pushed back his chair and stood.
“Let’s go, ladies,” he said. “Plenty of other shards out there, and I don’t want to waste any more time sitting around.”
“Hold,” the reserved Kline said, and Mark turned to face him. “Mark, Guild Master Noma submitted in his report that it was your destiny to gather them all.”
“It is. But we’re not going on a suicide mission for one.” Mark shrugged. His apathy was easy to project because he wasn’t really bluffing. For all he knew, they just needed to grind through bad guys and transfer essence until he became powerful enough to force his way out- Crystal Heart Shards be damned. Mark pushed in the curved wooden chair and locked eyes with CEO Channa. “Perhaps we’ll just swing back and get yours last.”
“Mark,” Channa began as she also stood, “before you go, may I ask why you wear the sigil of House Nightwater around your neck?”
She laced her hands behind her back and pressed her breasts outward.
“Because I just received it as a quest reward,” he answered carefully. She was obviously up to something.
“Are you saying have no loyalty to Mosan, your Royal House backer?”
“We have a strong fondness for his daughter, Cel,” Sasha answered, narrowing her eyes at the black-petaled woman.
“If you leave now,” Kam Beanpod said quietly, “House Nightwater could experience a shadow that might take generations to grow out from.”
Mark had reached his limit with the stupid shards, and he was done being jerked around.
“That would be terrible for them, but honestly, I don’t give a fuck. I can see your mega tree city thriving all around us. You have miles of land, hundreds of castles, nearly infinite berries bigger than me, rabbits to milk, traders flooding your roots to load up on goods… The Kalorplast don’t need this power source. You want it. And if you are going to throw a tantrum because you can’t have your toy back, I really don’t care.”
He paused, and CEO Channa sat back down. The attractive plant creature was stunned by his brutal honesty- something she wasn’t used to.
“You don’t need those red shards either,” Mark said fiercely, pressing his advantage and unaware that he was now pointing directly at them further down the tree. “They are sitting in a museum, clearly useless to you. If you agree to trade them all, I and my badass team of unique warriors will go get your door-opening frequency. That is my offer.”
Quiet settled over the glass bubble of a Board Room, and Mark watched the sharply dressed plant-people shoot each other looks.
“I accept,” the yellow gourd that was Kline said.
“I as well,” said the older elf lady, Zeris.
Retis turned to stare at CEO Channa, and Mark knew he would only commit after she did.
“I’m assuming this isn’t a majority vote,” Jezebel said, crossing her arms.
“In matters such as these,” Zeris answered, “we must all agree, or there will be no deal.”
The pretty plant-woman with black petals for a face began to nod slowly.
“I enjoy your candor, Mark,” she said, looking down at her wooden tablet. “It’s refreshing. And it is true that the Kalorplast don’t need the Orb of Stars to survive, or even to flourish, but the audacity of ‘stealing our toys’ cannot go unchallenged. It is simply what you do with bullies such as the centaurs or they will be encouraged to trample your garden.”
Channa paused and turned her sharp pink eyes up to his.
“I have one final question before I approve this arrangement,” she said.
“And that is?” Mark asked when she remained silent.
“What will happen when you absorb all the Crystal Heart Shards?”
Mark pulled in a deep breath as he grabbed the back of his chair.
“That’s an excellent question,” Mark said. “I’m not certain, but we feel as if the four of us don’t belong in your world. We believe that once we have them all, we will be returned to somewhere outside everything you know.”
It was the truth, as far as he knew it and could explain.
Jezebel nodded. “I believe we are destined to ascend, madame CEO. Every crystal Mark absorbs fills him with essence and makes all of us stronger.”
“There is a reason Mark has no Collector Class,” Sasha added, “despite him being an unfathomably skilled Lover.”
Mark could see the scale Channa used within her mind to evaluate trade negotiations begin to tilt under the weight of a potentially powerful ally. Her eyes danced around the information tablet on the table, then to each of Mark’s Enthralled. Eventually, she settled back on him.
“I want to feel this unfathomable Lover’s power,” she said.
“What?” Retis said, standing up. Mark only shot a glance in his direction, but he was almost bowled over by the small elf’s jealousy.
Channa stood up too and smoothed down her stretchy slacks over her thighs, bending over slightly and flashing her impressive cleavage. Mark had only seen flowers or curved leaves where breast would typically be on these short Kalorplast plant-elves, but this one seemed to have smooth, pure-black flesh covering her ample chest.
“Sit down, Bellfruit,” she said. “Scans are one thing, but experience is another. I would feel the power this Techno Succubus professes. You’ve already taken one of our eight shards, Mark. You owe this much. If your healing ability impresses me, I will agree to grant you the remaining seven Crystal Heart shards after you return with the information we want.”
“Her logic is flawless,” Abby whispered into the silence that hung over the room.
Mark felt acceptance from all the women bonded to his heart, but he made sure to get a nod from each before committing.
“Deal,” he said, “but I believe light contact will help- mmm, give you the full ‘Legendary Mark’ experience.”
He was confident that he could target his Heal on abstract portions of her mind, and it alone would be enough to do the trick, but if he could also employ the erotic energy he gained from the Oral Sex Goddess… He would absolutely wilt this alluring flower-woman.
Channa nodded and moved to the end of the table nearest Zeris of House Janglewart. Mark moved with her, and they met in the open area between the enormous table and the curved glass wall.
All the Board Members and Mark’s AI teammates turned to watch.
“Are you ready?” Mark said, holding out both palms. She had to reach up a little, as she was about 2/3rds his size, and he felt the weight of her small jet-black hands lightly rest on his. She turned those sharp, pink irises up to his and licked her lip petals before nodding.
“Hold on to your cute little ass,” he said just before diving deep past her wide eyes.
- 17 -
CEO Channa had lived longer than Mark expected by her appearance, and he combed her sprawling mind with his empathic ability, searching for that one spark of desire. A creature this beautiful and powerful should be able to find close comfort with virtually anyone she chose, but Mark quic
kly learned that she spent most of her free time alone.
Far in the distance and past the swirling numbers detailing commodity and textile exchange rates was a thick spidery veil obscuring something private. So, Mark pushed directly for it.
It was difficult breaking through the sticky strands, but he forcefully sank deeper into the small plant-woman currently standing motionless before his unstoppable sightless eye. Waves of shame began to radiate out from whatever was buried here, and Mark contemplated backing off and finding something else, but he’d gone too far and-
He saw a sharp vision of a fully nude CEO Channa held suspended by vines and it reminded him of the milking chamber with pregnant rabbit women. Green ropes of vegetation pulled her arms and legs outward as red slurping plant-lips suckled her ears and her tiny black nipples while two others wriggled deep inside both her pussy and her asshole.
The black-petaled woman tossed her head back as she used her Kalorkinesis to swell the size of the vegetation rooting around in her body, and she groaned, taken by bliss.
Channa was not interested in any relationship that could distract her or be used against her, but she didn’t want anyone to know what she did to relieve those primal, lustful urges in private. Was getting into a milking machine considered taboo by the Kalorplast? It didn’t feel that way. It was only something she desired to keep secret.
Mark blinked, snapping back to his mind and knew what he had to do.
He started with a light healing trickle, and her eyes rolled back into her head as the sparks fell around the black petals on her stunning face. It was only a distraction because he didn’t really want her to pay attention to what he was going to do next.
Forcing the ethereal energy he usually used for weapons into other forms was still tricky, but it was becoming more natural every time he practiced, and Mark took this opportunity to once again test the limits of his newly increased stockpile.
Sliding his fingers closer to her wrists, and under the cover of her sleeves, Mark willed his manifested power to travel up her short arms.
The CEO of Starglade snapped her eyes open in shock an instant before the intense pleasure made her small mouth fall open.
Mark cranked up the intensity of his Heal as he directed his growing tendrils of goddess-given ecstasy over her body and down toward the holes located at the bottom of her torso. He tried to make the solid energy as small as possible so no one would notice what was happening under her pants.
One tendril found her tight slit and the other pressed into her anus, and Mark realized that he would never have been able to do this if he hadn’t searched her mind to retrieve the images of her suspended erotic adventures. His goddess-given energy was practically flowing automatically, mimicking what his mental antenna had already discovered.
Channa locked up, her eyes completely white as they rolled back, and Mark pressed his advantage. With surprisingly little effort, he plunged the magic tendrils up into her body and began to slowly swell their size as he ramped up the healing.
She tried to scream, but only a tight-throated gurgle came out, and the other Kalorplast Board Members stood up.
“He’s killing her!” Retis shouted and began tapping frantically on his tablet.
“He’s not killing her,” Sasha said calmly. “He is melting her floral brain with his Lover’s magic.”
“Mark,” Jezebel said, alarm in her voice. “I think they are calling security.”
He pulled in a breath, squeezed Channa’s small hands and then unsummoned his projected energy.
As soon as the erotically charged tendrils vanished and his Heal ended, the pretty plant-woman fell to her knees.
Retis and Kam rushed to her side as the others moved away from Mark.
“She asked for it,” he said with a shrug and a half-smile.
Then there was a flash of blue light, and he was immobile. Just like before with Penda, a ridiculous smirk was locked onto his face.
“Take them!” Retis shrieked, and Mark assumed that the security he’d called was now in the room and using their magic wands. “They attacked the CEO.”
“Nnh- Hold…” Channa mumbled, coming around and weakly pushing off the others trying to help her up. Mark still couldn’t move, but he saw multiple plant-elves moving in his periphery.
“What’s going on in here?” a deep voice said from behind. “Have you been harmed, my CEO?”
“No,” she said, swallowing hard and getting up. “It w-was a mistake. These n-negotiations are of great importance, and Retis was only being overprotective. I am fine, Captain.” She took a deep breath and stepped away from the others. “False alarm.”
“As you order,” this Captain person said. “Release them.”
Mark felt control instantly return to his body, and he turned to check on his Enthralled. Sasha’s tail snapped in frustration, but everyone was safe.
He caught a glimpse of five leaf-wrapped warriors stepping into the blue crystals of the teleport chamber and then they were gone.
“That might have been the most intense…” Channa never finished, and Mark noticed a small wet spot on the crotch of her pink trousers.
“I take it we have a deal?” Jezebel said.
The CEO took one more shuddering breath and then moved back to her seat at the center of the wooden table. The others shared uneasy looks before they followed suit, and each went back to their respective positions. Channa took out her signature block and pressed it to her tablet, and after an intense glance at Retis, he did the same.
“It is done,” the black-petaled Kalorplast said. “Thank you for that… demonstration, Mark. It was enlightening.” She moved her bright-pink eyes from his to Sasha. “I’ve felt a Lover’s heal once or twice, but- you three are truly fortunate to be bonded to… whatever Mark is.”
The flustered leader of Starglade looked down at her tablet and tapped a few more times before looking back up.
“On to the business at our roots. I have summoned one of our military mages to this chamber. Klax will fill you in on the details of the mission as he escorts you to the Druid Masters in the Smoke Branch. I wish you the best of luck, and I am glad we were able to come to an agreement that… satisfied everyone.”
Mark smiled, but before he could respond, another blue light flickered behind him indicating a new arrival. Standing among the transport crystals was a new Kalorplast with black robes and a hooded pumpkin head.
“You summoned?” he said, sounding much younger than Mark expected.
“Yes, Klax,” she said. “Did you bring a primed Absorption Glyph?”
“I have,” the pumpkin-man said as he lifted an orange hand out of his dark robes and held up a simple gray rock. Even his skin seemed to be made from pumpkin rind.
CEO Channa smiled. “This is Mark, a Collector, and his three Enthralled. They will be making an attempt at recording the centaur perimeter gate frequency, and I need you to fill them in with what we know. Also, you will escort them to the Druids Grove. This pretty satyr, Jezebel, is a shapeshifter and we’ve authorized a centaur Force Shift. Jayna is aware you are coming, and I want you to work with her on this.”
“As you order,” he said with a slight bow of his ponderous head.
Channa nodded then turned her pink eyes back to Mark.
“Take your time, gain the centaurs’ trust, and come back to me with the arcane frequency. However, if after 100 days you haven’t returned, we will be forced to issue a detainment warrant and all of you will be flagged as enemies of Starglade.”
“If you’ll all please come with me,” Klax said as if he’d heard the warning a hundred times.
With a simple nod to the group, Mark turned to follow the hooded military mage and hoped it sure the hell wouldn’t take 100 days to do this quest, but getting his hands on those seven shards was substantial- especially since after all this time, they still only had five.
Mark gazed longingly at the list of destinations once he was inside their magic transit system but
ended up checking the group transport option yet again. After the now-familiar sense of elongation and speed, they all arrived in another enormous wooden hallway.
“You guys sure like to go big,” Sasha said as she panned her blue eyes over the glass windows hundreds of feet in the air. Robed Kalorplast wearing every hue in the rainbow moved in steady streams back and forth along the hall’s staggering length, and Mark noticed a hazy smoke swirling around their movements.
He pulled in a sniff of air and detected a tangy scent- like some type of citrus and burning leaves.
“The Druid Grove is this way,” Klax said and looked over his shoulder at them for the first few steps to make sure Mark and his team were following before hurriedly merging into the throng of people.
Jezebel clicked her hooves faster until she was parallel with the pumpkin-man.
“Klax, is it?” she began. “What can you tell us about the Centaur Technocracy?”
“I can tell you a great deal, and I get the sense that you four don’t know much regarding the subject.”
“Top-half human, bottom-half horse, right?” Mark said, still not entirely sure of anything anymore.
Klax nodded his big head. “And most of them are also half-machine.”
“That’s too many halves,” Abby said quickly.
“Regardless, they are an abomination to nature. They have perversely merged their flesh with the madness of metal and twisted the arcane energies of this world to power everything from their personal implanted dynamos to horrendous crushing engines of destruction. They would see the land covered in pistons and gears instead of grass and trees.”
Mark’s brows came down as he detected a bit of hyperbole coming from this enthusiastic mage.
“So, wait,” Mark said as they walked and tried to focus on the conversation and not the room full of bizarre caged bird-things they were passing. “First, how are we supposed to infiltrate these abominations, as you put them. Do they accept visitors?”
Before he could answer, Jezebel blurted out what was going to be Mark’s follow-up question.