Descend- Coming Together

by David Burke

  Meikiyo looked at him and had that same look of hurt upon her face. “I trust you, Jay. I don’t want to move into the dungeon, but my trust in you is greater than my fear of the dungeon.”

  Amelia’s expression was inscrutable. She was only staring at him and hadn’t said a word. She didn’t even look to the other girls as they so often did. Jay realized she could have been having four different telepathic conversations at the moment and he wouldn’t have been able to tell, but he didn’t think that was the case.

  In fact, Jay was pretty sure he knew what was going on in her pretty head. He had almost made two catastrophic errors. Just an hour ago he had first truly come to the realization that he needed to stop sitting back. It was time for him to truly take control.

  So, he shrugged and sighed. Missteps and backsliding were likely inevitable but not so close to first truly understanding his role here. “I’m sorry,” he spoke the words out loud but barely loud enough to be heard.

  No one said anything in response as they waited to see what he was talking about. “I’m sorry that I am struggling so much with growing up. You trust in me, but I trust in you to keep reminding me of my duty to all of you. Please don’t grow tired of reminding me, like I won’t grow tired of fighting for you.”

  If he thought he had their attention before, then they were now all focused on him like the edge of a razor. They each had moved closer to him and he clearly had the stage. “I came to the realization that I have not been doing everything that I could for you all. This realization has come in phases over the past few weeks that we have been here and another important piece fell into place this morning.”

  “It all began when Amelia pointed out the need for a team. How I couldn’t act alone, nor could I treat everyone equally. If I am the center then there are going to be circles out around me. The closer circles will of necessity be smaller with each circle out expanding more. The inner circle is you. The ones I love and trust, the core of Team Jay.”

  “The next circle will be those that we bring into the team but who are adjunct members. They may eventually earn a spot in the inner circle. I can’t predict the future, well at least not like that. Then there will be a greater circle around that, which is all the rest of humanity here in this experiment. Team Jay will fight for them but we won’t be dictated to by them.

  “The second realization came from Huong when I realized that it was okay to be loved. It was okay for someone else to take care of me. I don’t have to be stoic in my approach, and her tender attention to my needs has reminded me it is okay for me to be cared for. “

  “Next came a particularly harsh lesson which Meikiyo taught me. She showed me that even if I am the leader and even if I believe all the weight rests upon me that does not give me leave to treat you as less than. You are bright, independent women who deserve to be heard and trusted as equals. We are all stronger together.”

  “Jessie’s lesson to me was a reminder that those on the outside may yearn for what we have. They may think that we are keeping them away on purpose. I need to be open to expanding the team and I need to look for those who are already going beyond in their efforts. She was willing to put her life on the line fighting those barbed beetles the night of their first attack. She wasn’t part of the team. She could have gone and hidden. In fact, she had every reason to want to do so. I had pushed her away moments before that. Still she almost paid with her life fighting to protect us all.”

  “Finally, in chasing Mia tonight, I realized that despite training up the team, I have still been failing to utilize the resources that we have. There are a number of other girls who are willing to join the fight, but they need to be invited by me and yes, that likely will mean more of them sharing my bed. I didn’t make the rules and truthfully, I would condemn this sort of behavior back on Earth as impractical and perhaps even out of the cult leader’s playbook. This isn’t Earth and those old rules don't apply. So I determined this morning to do what is necessary to recruit the rest of the girls who are willing and able to participate.”

  “I know that it sounds like I am just trying to bed more girls, or at least that is what I hear when I say that.” Jay paused in his speech. He was sorta surprised that he had been allowed to go on for so long but also emotional about laying out both his shortcomings and his commitment.

  “For all my jokes about dibs, I have always known this day was coming. The attack by Kenley only made it clearer. Then lately the incompetence of Tyler and even Miguel have shown that only if you truly take charge can we have any sense of security. So, no, we don’t think you are just being a horn dog,” Amelia said before pausing briefly.

  “And while if you were my fiancé back on Earth telling me you were going to recruit more girls to sleep with, you might not feel safe falling asleep if I had access to a pair of scissors, yet here I acknowledge this is just the life we have been dealt. As the dungeon said when we first left it, ‘Welcome to the rest of your life’,” Amelia said.

  Jay smiled at her. “Thank you for that. Now there is one other thing and it may make some of you unhappy. I didn’t lie but I did sorta hold something back.” With that he explained about the fusion and about what they were doing at the moment of the reset.

  He didn’t hold back, explaining the huge stat buffs that they had gained and how she had gained Enhanced Speed from him while he had gained Empathetic Bond from her. It was clear to see that they were jealous of her gains but more so of her connection to Jay. It was however equally clear that they appreciated his honesty.

  “So, can you fuse with me?” Amelia asked only to be echoed by a chorus of “And me’s”.

  “I have the skill now, so it is possible. I don’t know if it was a fluke. I don’t know if it was because of what we were doing, although that doesn’t seem likely since I have shared orgasms with all of you. Maybe it was because of the reset occurring at that exact same moment.”

  “I volunteer to test out the theory, no matter how many times we have to try. I mean in the interest of science,” Huong said. She added the last part once the others were all glaring at her.

  Amelia mumbled, “Slut,” but didn’t add more. Huong smiled. By now she was taking that slur as a compliment.

  “There is more,” Jay said and then he explained the warning about the risks of attempting further fusions. That didn’t seem to dissuade the others though who were already trying to devise a system for who got to try it first.

  Jay coughed to interrupt them jockeying for position. A part of him felt like he was a horse and they were competing to see which of them could ride him the hardest. Normally that might be many a guy’s dream but he needed to keep them focused.

  “Enough, we will discuss this later. I need you all to respect my wishes on this. Now, can we see what they have crafted?”

  That was all the invitation that Huong needed in order to take center stage. She showed three fairly massive suits of beetle carapace armor clearly meant to be worn by Amelia, Meikiyo, and herself. The carapace had been cut down into leg and arm guards, body armor and even boots, gloves, and a helmet.

  Each piece had two or more slots that were filled by the PSI crystals that Mia made. A larger crystal in each piece then led through channels carved in the carapace to the smaller crystals. Huong explained that these crystals were formed to either hold PSI or Stamina and that the smaller crystals were formed to be able to hold a specific skill or ability within them.

  They asked Jay to channel Enhanced Strength and Enhanced Speed into two of the smaller crystals that were in each side of a set of boots. A few crystals were broken and had to be reformed by Mia, but eventually they learned that he could only put the equivalent amount of skill equal to the level of her crystals which were sixteen despite the fact that his skills were at a higher level.

  Once they figured this out it didn’t take long for them to figure out that anyone could charge the Stamina into the larger crystal. It looked like the battery crystals, which is what they took to callin
g them, could hold exactly 20 points of Stamina per level of the crystal or in this case 320 Stamina points.

  Amelia then volunteered to try out the boots. Once she had them on it took her a moment to figure out how to activate them, but then she was able to run and leap with a great level of speed and skill. Certainly far beyond what she could normally do.

  One limit that they learned was that the abilities activated in the crystals had a passive low-level effect which made the user faster and stronger in terms of their walking, running, or jumping. The passive level seemed to drain Stamina from the user at about the same rate that they could naturally regenerate. Which Huong pointed out made sense given that Amelia was level 16 now and so were the PSI crystals.

  The second limitation that they learned was that the abilities in the crystals could not be activated beyond the third level of activation. The first level drained stamina at double the normal rate. The second level doubled that drain and the third doubled it again.

  The result being that Amelia was able to keep both strength and speed active at level one for approximately 16 minutes. Level two was half of that and level three for a mere four minutes. Moreover the crystals didn’t passively recharge, but could only be filled if she stopped moving and rested. Then she was able to fully charge within 10 minutes.

  For the next hour they worked together to help create and fill all the crystals. Amelia’s armor was most charged with her own shadow-type powers, with the exception that one of the chest and head gems were filled with Hardened Body Gems and one of the gems on the hands were filled with Strength crystals. They took to using the term gem and crystal interchangeably.

  The end result was that they had three sets of powered armor. Meikiyo said they were almost like mechas. Huong and Mia were understandably proud of their creations and wanted to be able to make more combinations but needed more scavenged materials.

  It was mid-morning already and Jay pointed out that the rest of the camp was being a bit too quiet. He was worried that something else was going on. They discussed a plan and formed a list of who they thought were the best candidates to bring on as adjunct members and then they split off to go and try to recruit them.

  If all went well, Team Jay was about to swell from six members to twenty-two members. Each of the girls were sent out to recruit two or three more members and explain what it would mean to be an adjunct member. Meikiyo laughingly referred to them as concubines but Jay couldn’t tell how serious she actually was.

  There were a few members who were felt to be more significant to the overall future strength of the team, and so Jay was personally sent to recruit those three, with everyone having instructions to avoid Jasmine as much as possible. Once they controlled a clear majority, they would confront her. Jay very much wanted to find a way to save her but wondered if her own power had corrupted her too much.

  Chapter 24- Tribal Council

  The team spread out to try and find the various girls they were looking for. Of those on his list, Jay only managed to find Charlotte and Madison. They were once again practicing. It was extremely re-assuring to him that they were a good fit for the team just based on how seriously they were taking their practice. At this pace, they would cross the second threshold in a few days.

  When he walked up to them, they both got a funny look on their faces before Charlotte asked, “Is it time already?”

  “Time for what?” Jay asked back.

  They exchanged glances and Madison said, “I thought we were having like a tribal roundtable this morning.”

  Jay was confused now. “Oh, I suppose we are, but who told you?”

  Again with the nervous glances before Charlotte answered, “Jasmine said she was going to hold a meeting.”

  Suddenly that made sense. Jasmine must be making her play. He kicked himself for being so slow to realize what was needed of him. All that was left was for him to try to determine if this could still be salvaged.

  “Actually, Team Jay is calling a meeting this morning. It is our intention to offer adjunct spots to most of those who remain. I want to personally ask you to join the team.”

  “Oh, but you didn’t talk to Jasmine already? She said she was gonna make it so we could all be on an even footing with you,” Madison said.

  At the same time Charlotte asked, “What do you mean by adjunct?”

  “To answer your questions, no I haven’t talked to Jasmine yet about this. As far as what adjunct means, I think that it will help if you think of Team Jay as one of the bulls-eyes that you carve into the trees for target practice.

  “In the very center there is me. Around that is the closest circle that constitutes the core of the team, then there are outer rings that represent the level of connection that an individual has with the team. Adjunct means that you are on the team but are not part of the core.

  “That doesn’t preclude you from moving up at some point based upon fit and need, but there can likely only be so many who are the closest. The outermost ring represents the rest of the people in the experiment. We will still be working to help them and will try not to come into conflict with them, but they are not part of the team and the team will always come first.”

  “Oh, so it’s like second-class citizens. Jasmine warned us about this. I suppose that the core members would have more rights and authority than the adjunct members,” Charlotte said.

  “Well there would be a command structure of course. We are effectively in a war for our survival. That doesn’t mean that I think of anyone as a second-class citizen.”

  “Oh so we would get to sleep with you? Or is that reserved for the core members?” Madison asked.

  Jay couldn’t help but feel like she was bitter about this. He again wondered if he had waited too long. Honestly, the idea that gorgeous women such as Madison and the others were bent out of shape because he hadn’t let them join him in his bed yet was still a bit much to wrap his head around. He had to remind himself again that this is not Earth and a different set of rules apply.

  “If that is something you want. It wouldn’t be forced on you.”

  “Oh so it’s like a pity fuck?” Charlotte asked.

  “No, nothing like that. You are both beautiful women and I have enjoyed every bit of my time training with you. I am constantly amazed by how lucky I am to be around women like you and trust me, I live in a perpetual state of being turned on.”

  “Just not turned on enough to act on it. I don’t see you having that problem with Amelia or the others,” Madison said. The snappiness in her voice told Jay that everything he was saying was making this worse.

  Thankfully, he heard voices behind him and thought maybe the rest of his team had come to rescue him. When he turned to look he saw the entire cluster there. They were all walking towards him. His team seemed to be in on it, although Meikiyo had a very concerned look on her face.

  In the front of the group was Jasmine with Daphne and Huong on either side of her. Tyler and Miguel were a bit further back with their own little harems as Amelia called them. The rest of his team and the girls they had been sent to recruit were boxed in by Jasmine on the front and the other guys’ groups on the sides.

  This didn’t bode well. For a minute he wondered if Huong had betrayed him, but then discarded that thought. She had worked closely with Jasmine in the past and seemed to be very susceptible to her influence, but Jay didn’t believe for a second that this was a willing betrayal.

  Jasmine called out, “Oh good. There you are. This is everyone so we can have our tribal council now. There are some decisions that we need to make about our future.”

  “Yes, I know. I was going to come find you but needed to talk to some people first,” Jay replied.

  She had a dangerous half-smile on her face. As Jay took her in, he noticed that she was taller than she had been the last time he saw her. She must have crossed the second threshold. What he couldn’t figure out was how she did that without ever going in the dungeons.

  Then it dawned
on him. Danger wasn’t inherently required to improve skills or force awakenings. It certainly helped, but what was truly necessary was pushing yourself. She must have been pushing herself and developing her power non-stop.

  Which meant that she had been at a minimum influencing people and at the worst outright controlling everyone. He supposed that included an element of risk and a need to properly time the powers. There was a tactical element to it.

  “No, Jay, I think the time for private meetings is over. We are all calling for an official tribal council and you as the leader need to hear the wishes of your people. Isn’t that right?” Jasmine said. Jay tensed himself as he felt the surge of emotion wash over him even with his Iron Will at level three. He could maintain it indefinitely there, but not if he pushed it to level four.

  “So what is it that you are asking for?”

  “Simple, name me as your first wife and co-leader, then agree to take on the rest of the unaffiliated girls. If you don’t do that, then we will have to look to Tyler or Miguel as a leader,” Jasmine said. Confidence just oozed off of her and was probably warranted by the nodding of heads behind her.