by Prax Venter
Sasha slid her arm around his waist, and as he turned to face her, she pressed him in tight against her voluptuous body again. Her soft curves felt amazing molded to his, and her short-cropped hair smelled like vanilla.
“It’s true, Mark,” the sex-demon spoke near his ear with the husky, sensual voice he had picked for her so long ago. He did vaguely remember the cute yet strange satyr saying something about him being a copy when he first opened his eyes in this fucked-up world, but at the time he easily dismissed it as part of the game, or nonsense. Hearing it from his trusted assistant, Sasha, made it much more real.
He patted Sasha on her back. Her distracting physical form did wonders for his sanity, but he needed more answers. He pushed away and turned to Jezebel.
She was watching their embrace with jealousy burning behind her emerald eyes. Mark knew closely bonding with his Enthralled would supposedly help them all grow stronger, but he felt… forced onto this woman that he didn’t fully trust. And Jezebel clearly didn’t trust Sasha. What a messed-up team this already was. He thought about another version of him out there somewhere and had no way of processing what that really meant. According to these two AIs, they were trapped in this world until they ‘beat the game’. He might not see his clone for a long time.
“How much of me did you erase?”
Jezebel nodded. “It was part of the deal. You contain no memories after you entered the ChronoMind for the first time.”
Should he be upset about that? Besides the memories of repeated deaths, did he have any way of knowing what was taken? Did it matter? He felt like himself, generally. The blind eye was a bit worrisome, but now that they had started to plan out their party and had a direction, a part of him was beginning to look forward to the adventures here. His eyes panned down Jezebel’s pink shirt stretched tight by her round breasts. She was standing in a direct beam of sunlight, and he could see the hint of large, dark areolas just below the thin fabric. The long top barely covered her crotch- it was as if she were wearing a nightie. Below that were doe legs with sleek brown fur and white dots patterned into her thick haunches. Another part of him was looking forward to some of the other things this world had to offer as well.
“You seem to have some knowledge of how I’m supposed to turn out… the kind of person I become. How much did you take? How much of my memory was rewound?”
Jezebel dug her dainty, black hoof into the dirt. “Well, you lived tens of thousands of lives trapped by the AI that kicked Sasha out of your home system, and you were only able to keep subconscious memories of the time spent there… there’s no quantifiable whole number I can give you. But in physical Earth time? Only about 6 hours.”
He knew she was telling the truth but quickly shook the sensation off. Mark was beginning to instantly trust these hyper-empathic feelings, and he needed to figure this out. He thought about his ability to sense lies and came up with something to try.
“Jezebel, I’m going to ask you three questions. I need you to randomly pick one to answer with a lie. Can you play along for me?”
Her eyebrows came down, but she nodded a slow response.
“Is your shirt pink?”
She looked down, her brow now touching her nose in confusion.
“No, it’s blue,” she said with only a small amount of hesitation. His eye sent a burst of shadowy whispers into his mind, and despite the obvious visual information his good eye was showing him, he was getting a clear result back from the new one. She was lying.
“Do you have my best interests at heart?”
The satyr nodded sharply and said, “Yes.” There was no hesitation, and a gentle tingle told him she was being honest.
“Why?”
Her cheeks flushed red again as she protectively crossed an arm over her stomach, and a small smile played at the corners of her mouth. She had wide, flat lips that Mark was growing fond of.
“Humans fascinate me, and you’re one of the really good ones. As a result of our earlier meeting, I know you intimately. I know your tremendous untapped potential. You are capable of great things, Mark. You are beyond-”
Sasha let out a short laugh. “Do you know how much of a mindfuck that is to put on a person? You didn’t interact with a lot of humans, did you?”
“No…” Jezebel said, looking to the forest floor. “I’ve studied them a lot, but I only personally knew one.”
Mark noted that she had only spoken the truth since the shirt question. He was able to see into Jezebel’s core being again, and it was as if Sasha had kicked sand over the small flames fighting against the rain. The succubus had seriously hurt her.
Mark stepped up to the doe-legged beast-woman with the pink shirt. Without hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her, and she stiffened from the surprise contact.
He pulled her hourglass body against his, taking in a deep breath of her scent. She smelled like strawberries. The tan-skinned satyr returned his embrace and sighed contently. After just holding her for a while, it felt like he’d recharged some of her emotional batteries. He broke the embrace, grabbed her shoulders and looked into her green, gold-flecked eyes.
“Jezebel, would you like to come on a fun adventure with me and Sasha?”
He saw her large eyes well up with tears, and with this act and these words, he felt his connection to the devastatingly cute satyr grow as strong as Sasha’s.
Jezebel gave him a series of short, excited nods. “Yes,” she said, then sucked in a breath as if Mark had pulled her above the surface of a body of water.
Both horned women wanted similar things- to be intimately close and build a life with him. Having two AI monster girlfriends that didn’t seem to trust or like each other was going to be tricky, and he felt in over his head, but when he looked into the lustful satyr’s emerald eyes... some of those problems seemed less important.
“Good,” Mark said, stepping back and nodding into the forest. “Let’s keep moving and get that first shard. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”
Sasha swatted his ass and said, “Mmm, and I’m looking forward to getting worked.”
Mark flashed her a grin. As they walked, he remembered the sassy succubus needed to choose a class, and apparently, it was an important decision. According to Jezebel, their lives could depend on how well their party fought together.
“Sasha,” he said, “did you get a chance to read over your skills?”
“Yes. I’ve narrowed it down to two Class Paths. Once you pick a path, you need to pick one of two starting abilities. There is also the option of just upgrading my basic kick attack.” She slapped her solid metal thigh to demonstrate.
“Okay, what are the Classes?”
“As a Techno Succubus, I have access to Seductress or Destructor. The first one is a Hexer-heavy build that will allow me to sleep, charm, and receive some surprisingly high damage bonuses with whip-type weapons. The second is more of an in-your-face warrior with some potent lightning attacks.”
Mark considered the options. Seductress sounded cool and would give her some control over the battlefield- but Destructor sounded cooler. Apparently, he wasn’t an in-your-face warrior, and Jezebel already had some control with her ranged snare magic…
“What do you think, Sasha? Do you have a preference?”
“I want what you want,” she said as if it was a silly question.
“If you say so,” he said, sort of happy he got to live vicariously through Sasha regarding character builds. “What two starting skills does the Destructor have?”
“Charge. I rush a target with my horns, dealing damage and knocking them back. And then there’s Arc Bolt, a short-range electrical attack. High damage with a small chance to stun.”
Mark tapped the knob of his primitive club into the palm of his hand as they moved through the forest, considering. He was distracted by the fact that he could actually feel the gnarly mass of wood with his fingers, and his thoughts turned to the pizza vending machine that had robbed him of his sense of touc
h. The terrible electric shock he’d received had done some considerable damage.
“I vote Arc Bolt down the Destructor Path,” he said. “If Jezebel is going the tank route, I don’t want you rushing into a group and pulling everything on to you.”
“Great choice,” the blonde succubus said. “It’s got a 15-second cooldown, but once you pump me full of your delicious essence, I can upgrade the skill. Damage, recharge rate- eventually we’ll unlock all sorts of devastating options.”
Mark nodded in approval. “What do you think, Jezebel?”
“I-”
“Doesn’t matter,” Sasha interrupted whatever the tan satyr was about to say. “I already locked it in.”
Sasha was a bit ahead of the group, so she didn’t see Mark shoot Jezebel a sympathetic look. Their rivalry needed to end sooner rather than later.
“It’s a fine choice,” Jezebel answered anyway, staring daggers into Sasha’s backside.
“Shh- something’s coming!” the succubus yelled and squared her hooves in the forest floor, her thin spade tail whipping back and forth.
Two of the same skinapede forest monstrosities that chased him earlier wove their unsettling, long bodies around two thick tree trunks and went directly for Sasha.
Both beast-women acted at the same time: The faun-like satyr cast her snaring vine spell, and the Techno Succubus held out her hand, sending a thick bolt of lightning into the ensnared creature.
Unfortunately, that left the other enemy completely unhindered as it blitzed forward into Sasha. As soon as Mark realized that both AIs had attacked the same monster, he started moving to intercept the other one. But he was just a step too slow.
“N-ah!” the blonde succubus cried out as it crawled up her leg and bit into her stomach with its yellowed, human-like teeth.
Mark brought his club down on its back with both hands, and he heard a satisfying crunch indicating he’d broken one of its many ribs. Yet the creature was still fighting to bite at Sasha’s face. One of her powerful legs kicked forward as she struggled to hold its snapping teeth at arm’s length, but the long skinapede creature had bowed out its midsection to avoid the reach of such attacks.
Jezebel had joined them now and stomped down on the creature’s lower body from the other side. Mark was almost distracted as her movements exposed the darkly colored intimate folds of her crotch to him, but his blind eye showed him something new, and he was pulled back to the fight.
A point on the creature’s arched-out middle exhibited a faint red glow that wasn’t there a moment ago. Even though he’d be attacking towards Sasha, smashing that illuminated spot with his club seemed like the best idea ever.
He wound up and put all his weight into swinging his weapon like a baseball bat. When the gnarled ball of wood at the end of his primitive club struck the glowing point, there was a loud crack, and the creature spasmed once before falling off the sex-demon. Mark had apparently crushed a section of its spine.
The creature still twitched on the forest floor, its horrible mouth opening and closing, but Sasha acted quickly and kicked its head in with a sharp black hoof. A rush of what must be essence flowed into him from the kill.
Mark noticed his AI assistant succubus holding her side where she had been bitten, red blood oozing from between her fingers. With unwavering concentration, he focused on her pain and willed it to be healed. It didn’t happen right away, but soon enough he felt the universe respond, and her puncture wounds sealed shut.
The sensation was accompanied by small golden sparks raining down over the area, and Sasha let out a low moan of pleasure.
The healed succubus locked her sultry blue eyes on his, and Mark knew there was very little keeping her from sexually mauling him on top of the monster corpse sprawled out between them.
Jezebel quickly took one step toward him. “Hey! You know you can heal yourself, right? Have you tried healing your eye yet, Mark?”
“Huh, I never even thought about it,” he said. Why wouldn’t he be able to heal himself? Mark held up his Class ring and attempted to focus on the imposter of an eye, but there was a specific emptiness inside his mind that must have meant his ability needed to recharge first.
“Don’t forget about the cooldown,” Jezebel said what he had just figured out on his own and in a way that he was coming to find abrasive.
Mark hefted his basic wooden club onto his shoulder. “Yeah, and while we wait, why don’t we talk about teamwork.”
“Agreed,” Jezebel said quickly before turning her gaze to Sasha. “Don’t zap foes trapped in my Vines next time.”
Mark watched Sasha’s thin tail flip once and her leathery wings spread out slightly. Her wings seemed to never move, and he felt another screaming match coming on.
“Jezebel is right,” Mark said, cutting off debate, and Sasha’s reddish-black wings folded back to their resting position. He pointed to the charred, almost-human face of the monster they both hit first and continued. “You one-shot that bastard. Fucked his face up good. Next time we fight a group, wait for Jezebel to hold something before blasting away. Do you think that makes sense?”
The succubus bit her lower lip, exposing one of her tiny fangs and nodded.
“Awesome. Now, Jezebel.” He turned to face the smug-looking satyr. “Do you need to hold still in order to keep your Vines- uh… doing their thing?”
“I need to hold still for 3 seconds until they are fully formed. Then they last for 15 seconds. Stronger enemies can break free- that is, until I also get some of your stored essence.” Her tan, freckled cheeks flushed again.
By mentioning it, Mark was forced to observe the ethereal reservoir he held for them. There seemed to be a limit to how much he could store before possibly losing out. He smiled. Well, he’d just have to empty it regularly.
“Come on, let’s keep moving,” he said, leading them forward. “I have a lot of essence to collect, and maybe we can find someplace nicer to… rest- other than those mud huts.”
“I bet that place is sticky,” Sasha said, wrinkling her nose.
It occurred to him that they should probably find a larger town to call home base for now. That’s what adventurers did. Find an inn, rent a room, sell loot, and buy potions and stuff at the shops.
“Maybe we should get out of these woods and follow a road or something,” Mark suggested.
“Sure, but I don’t remember seeing one,” Jezebel said, catching up to Mark.
“Great place to start an adventure.” Sasha’s words were dripping with sarcasm.
Mark pulled his eyebrows down. His AI assistant seemed to have changed completely. Not only was she acting more like a real person, but a real bitchy person.
A tingling behind his eyes alerted him to the fact his heal had cooled down and was ready to use again. A large part of him just knew this wasn’t going to work, so he didn’t try that hard. As they walked through the forest, Mark targeted the strange scar and blinded eye that had taken residence in his head. The throbbing had stopped, and he became aware that there was no more pain.
With a shrug, Mark attempted to heal his eye, but besides the slight tickling and a small shower of sparkles falling over the left side of his face, nothing else happened.
“Heal didn’t work,” he said out loud, and both beast-women silently acknowledged the fact.
“Maybe after you grow more powerful,” Jezebel offered after a few steps. He looked over at the curvy satyr. She was checking her footing as she tromped through the forest with her doe legs, and he could practically see her unshakable faith in his potential.
Mark nodded but began to question whether he wanted to get rid of his cursed, truth-seeing eye just yet.
- 4 -
After twenty minutes and an uneventful trek through the forest, they came upon a rusty metal dome. The colossal structure had to be the ruin the lucky amphibian was talking about. The noonday sun beat down on the corroded reddish surface, casting beams of light through jagged, weather-beaten holes. The thing l
ooked like Swiss cheese. It was as big as a stadium, and Mark led the group around its edge as they searched for a way in.
“I’m seeing circuitry on its surface, and that looks like a damaged radio-antenna,” Jezebel said, pointing to a rusty pole protruding outward from the dome.
Mark had been trying to get a good look inside as they walked, but he could only see shadows.
“Ancient technology in the middle of a forest…” he said. “This game is not what I expected it to be.”
Jezebel turned to him. “The virtual world you are in was randomized from a custom set of instructions and left running for thousands of years. It was designed to produce the unexpected. What fun would an adventure be if there was nothing new to experience?”
A quarter turn later, they came to a large opening flanked by metal columns. They looked like totem poles with stylized heads stacked on top of each other. As Mark approached the entrance, he noticed that his new eye started to throb uncomfortably again.
He pointed into the dimly lit interior with his bulbous club.
“Let’s get this thing and get out.”
Both beautiful beast-women nodded and clomped up in unison behind him. The ground quickly transitioned from dirt to metal, and their solid hooves echoed in the crumbling metal hallway, making more noise than Mark was comfortable with. So much for a stealthy party.
The ruin’s interior was relatively dark, but once his good eye adjusted to the filtered light coming in from the corroded holes, he was able to see well enough. Mark led them to the left of a split in the expansive hallway, and they began the search for their first Crystal Heart shard.
He rubbed his throbbing eye and cast a sidewise glance at the curvy satyr.
“So, there’s 108 of these shards, right?”
“Yes.”
“How long do you think it will take us to find them all? A few weeks, months… longer?”
Jezebel looked down at her split hooves. She took a deep breath before answering.
“I programmed the worldbuilders to establish the shard’s locations and then fast-forward time ten thousand years. I wanted a rich, living adventure to explore with you, but the plan was to only play until you were ready to face the real world as a digital mind.” The satyr turned her emerald-green eyes on his before she continued. “I really have no way of knowing how long this will take us. It’s possible finding each and every shard could take years. It’s also possible huge clumps of them have already been assembled by the people and nations of this world.”