by J. Sselxuyt
“When you changed back yesterday, the wounds you received from that blue dragon were still on you.” Lisa sounds as if she’s on the verge of tears. “My wound will be there when I come out. I knew what would happen when I elbowed him, Lyden. I was trying to give you a chance to get away without me. To save yourself.”
No! I won’t accept that! I can’t leave anyone behind. My eyes grow bleary with tears, but I refuse to stop. I won’t lose you!
“I can feel how much you love me, Lyden, and I thank you for that. We knew the dangers of this plan last night. Let me go, Lyden.” Her voice definitely hitches at the end, and I see my car not too much farther ahead of me. I also hear helicopters coming up on us from behind.
But shouldn’t you be healing up while in me? I ask, desperately hoping for something.
“It’s her body’s mass you absorbed, son,” Shemhazau’s voice breaks in. “Our souls aren’t mixing right now.”
Dammit! I swear angrily, trying to pour all my anger and hurt at the situation into that one expletive. Dammit, dammit, dammit! I repeat, still not feeling any better.
Can I spread the wound around, so that it doesn’t kill anyone, when we separate? I ask, needing a better answer.
“If it had happened while we were together, then yes, but. . . .” he trails off. He doesn’t need to finish the statement. The wound in my foot can be split up among us or given to one, but her throat had been slit before we joined together.
As soon as I reach my car, I realize I have a problem. I’m too big to fit through the door. Not only that, but I’m so tired from using my strength and from the loss of blood, that the act of changing back will knock me out. I don’t even know if I have the strength in me to shrink my mass down enough to go in.
I hesitate for only a moment, hearing the helicopters growing closer, before screaming out in anguish, my head rears back and white-hot flame shoots into the sky. Closing my mouth, I drop my head in defeat and change back into a human. My last thought before passing out is making sure that Emmet takes the full wound from my foot and hand.
* * * *
“You really like to sleep, don’t you?” Lisa’s voice floats over me. I open my eyes to look up into her beautiful blue orbs.
“You’re alive!” I gasp, sitting up and pulling her thankfully towards me.
Laughing, she collapses into my arms and hugs me tightly.
“Oh, Lyden, I’m so sorry. I love you so much, but I only have a bit of time before I must go,” her words are half mumbled into the side of my neck.
“Huh? I don’t understand. Go where?” I ask, thoroughly confused.
She pulls away from me, searching my gray eyes, and I see a tear break free from hers. Only then do I look around, and realize that we’re in the Mens Mundi.
“But how are you here? Are you still inside me, or did you come out with everyone else?” I can feel a lump forming painfully in my throat as I try to control my voice.
“Does it matter?” she asks me, pulling me back to her. “We’re together for now, and that’s all that matters.”
“But won’t you heal, since you’re here?” I ask, still not willing to accept the facts.
“It’s already too late,” she tells me softly, shaking her head. Suddenly she pushes me away and looks fiercely at me. “Are you going to sit here and waste what little time we have together moping over what can’t be changed, or are you going to take advantage of it?” She pauses for a brief second before raising one eyebrow and adding, “Or of me?”
“But I am—“ she presses her fingers to my lips, silencing my protest, and then uses the pressure against them to shake my head.
“You need to move on, Lyden,” she informs me firmly. “I won’t have you moping around like you did after Angela left, or your father died. Do you hear me?” I open my mouth to reply, but she keeps her fingers against my lips. “Do you hear me?” Her fingers force my head to nod in agreement, until I grip her wrist, and pull her hand away.
“I love you, Lisa,” is all I can get out before I choke up, and that painful ball lodges fully in my throat, cutting off anything else.
“I know,” she tells me, pulling my head to her chest. “I love you too. You have always been so kind to Becky and me. Take care of her. She’s going to take my passing really hard as well. You two will need each other over the next while. You need to be strong, Lyden. Promise me you’ll be strong.” It’s not a question, but an order. I nod my head, still unable to speak as tears pour from my eyes.
“Good!” she continues. “Now then, I really don’t want to waste any more time. Get naked.”
Shocked, I pull away, swallowing hard to try and speak. “I-I don’t think . . . Now really isn’t the right moment. . . .”
“Haven’t I taught you anything?” she demands of me, standing up and removing her shirt. “If you always wait for the right moment, it’ll never come. You have to make it happen; and quite frankly, the last thing I want to remember us together by, is you making me scream out your name in ecstasy. Now are you going to get undressed, or are you going to ignore my final request?”
Even though my heart is still heavy with the thought of losing her, I can’t help but smile at her uplifting attitude. Trust Lisa to be able to cheer me up, and push me on when I’m down. The world is going to be a darker place without her.
Shaking my head to clear it of the gloom that I know will only disappoint the martial artist; I stand up and remove my shirt, before remembering that I can just think my clothing away. Lisa giggles as I become suddenly nude, and I find her mirth infectious. I just can’t help but smile as I see her beautiful blue eyes twinkling with a combination of joy, desire, and an undeniable pleasure at just being with each other.
“Things are controlled with our minds here, right?” She asks me, and I have to look up from her firm breasts to answer her.
“Yeah, we’re in our minds, so imagination seems to be the only limit,” I tell her, thinking of her body slowly floating through the air towards me and grinning at her shocked expression as her feet leave the blank floor.
“And this is what you picture?” she asks me, recovering quickly from her surprise and waving at the emptiness around us.
Blinking, I realize I’d never really thought about it before. My surroundings have never been that important to me, always more concerned with whom I’m with.
Lisa lands softly in my arms, and I tilt our world so that she’s lying on top of me. Laughing, she kisses me softly on the lips, but the kiss doesn’t stay soft for long. Hungrily, I press my tongue against her lips, until she opens up for me. I can feel her cheeks turning up in a smile as her arms slip under my neck and she straddles my hips, pulling us tighter together.
“How’s this?” she asks me, breaking the kiss but still holding me with her slender body.
“You’re an awesome kisser,” I tell her honestly, not entirely sure of what she’s asking me.
“Well, thanks, but I was referring to around us,” she giggles again. She feels delightful, our nude flesh pressed against each other.
Looking around, I see what I should have seen and heard when she pulled away. A large tan tent surrounds us, and we’re lying on a blow up mattress with red blankets. I can hear running water in the distance, and the clean scent of nature fills the air.
“My dad used to take me camping all the time,” she answers my questioning look. “Since he died, I’ve never been back, but I miss it. I’ve never told you this, but you remind me of him in some ways, with how kind you are, and how respectful you are to everyone. I just thought. . . . I just thought it might be nice.” I don’t know what to say in response, touched by her words, and I see her growing uncertain at my silence. “I’m sorry, it was a foolish—“
I cut her off with a firm kiss, pressing our lips together, before pulling away. “It’s perfect,” I tell her, smiling. I almost add that I wish I could have had the time to take her fishing, but decide not to ruin the moment.
The air ma
ttress squeaks as Lisa molds her body fully to mine, her cheek presses to mine, and happily I hug her to me. I truly feel at peace for a few moments as we do nothing more than hold each other tight. I know that the future will come, and more hardships will happen, but right now, right here in this tent in the Mens Mundi, I’m at peace.
“Lyden?” Lisa’s voice is soft as she speaks directly into my ear, her sweet breath tickling my earlobe.
“Yes?” I ask, my eyes closed and enjoying the sound of the running water outside.
“Make love to me,” her request shocks me only by its simple sincerity. She’d already made it clear she wanted to have sex, but the way she asks me this time, I know what she’s after.
Gently rolling us over, I plant soft kisses along her neck and up her jaw line, until I reach her tender lips. Her hands slip between us, until she can grasp my hard phallus, and I moan quietly as her fingers begin a steady rhythm up and down my length.
Moving my hands around her sides, I use my elbows to support my weight, until my fingertips brush along her nipples. Breaking the loving caress of our mouths, I slide down her body, and squeeze her firm breasts together, using my thumbs to turn the nipples inward. I latch onto both stiff rubbery nubs.
Her hands move to the back of my head, her fingers digging into my hair as I tease her sensitive areolas with my teeth, tongue, and lips. Her hips start to grind against my stomach, and I press my torso against her to give more friction, enjoying the increase in the volume of her moans.
Her breathing grows heavy, and I know she’s coming close, so I release one breast, and move my hand down to her already wet crotch. Her clitoris is easy to find in her aroused state, and the second I apply pressure directly to it, she gasps and shudders, climaxing.
Lifting my eyes without letting go of her nipple, I smile at her, and slip my middle finger into her tight hole. She sucks in her bottom lips at the pleasure I’m giving her. Transferring to her other nipple, I slip my ring finger into her, and she begins to buck against me, closing her eyes and moaning softly. I use my thumb to rub her clit, and just as my wrist starts to get uncomfortable in this position, I feel her inner walls clamps down, and her voice fills the tent with her wails of bliss.
While she’s still shuddering from her orgasm, I move the rest of the way down her body, until I can plant my mouth on her still quivering sex. My tongue immediately delves into her pouring hole, tasting her juices from the source, and driving my own levels of lust higher.
Wrapping my arms around her legs, I suck hard on the sensitive nub at the top of her vagina, and pull her body back, while simultaneously getting into a sitting position. Her shoulders are now resting on my calves, her lower back pressed up against my chest, and her ass under my chin, while I sit and continue to taste her pussy. Moving my hands down, I massage her breasts, enjoying their soft firmness, while I continue to alternate between shoving my tongue as far into her as I can, and nibbling gently on her clit.
“Oh, Lyden! Holy shit, you are the best at that! Oh, oh, oh LYDEN!” Lisa cries out. The power of her climax and the strength in her core muscles is such that she’s able to force me to lie back, and we end up tumbling off the air mattress.
Laughing, we pick ourselves back up, and I go to hug her, but she pushes me back onto the mattress.
“Enough foreplay, my love,” she tells me hungrily, crawling up the mattress over me. “We need to fuck, and I need to feel you inside me.”
“Anything for you,” I tell her honestly.
When her face is above mine, she drops her head and pelvis while arching her back, both sets of her lips making contact with me at the same time. Her tongue dives forcefully between my lips, and I meet it with my own as they dance playfully at first, but growing more insistent as her slit slides up and down my cock without penetrating her.
Timing her movements just right, I tighten my lower muscles and drop my hips, then drive forward and penetrate her to the hilt.
“Ungh, oh fuck,” she grunts, breaking the kiss, dropping her slight weight fully onto me, and hugging my head to hers. I drop my hands to her tiny rear, and pull her up slightly, while dropping my hips again. I hold like this for a couple seconds, only a couple inches inside her, then shove her down and thrust up, making her grunt again.
Her arms tighten around me, and I move mine up around her waist, but keep up the movement with my hips. Our bodies are tightly pressed together, only a slight sheen of sweat lubing us as we slide against each other in our lovemaking.
“I’m coming close, Lyden,” she moans to me. “Cum with me, please. I want to feel you fill me up.”
“Anything for you,” I repeat, a tear breaking free from my eye.
Picking up my pace, I concentrating on her pleasure, and trying to drive my own enjoyment higher. I feel that familiar tingling in my stomach, and know I’m about to explode. Just because I know it no longer matters, I also think on making my sperm potent and virile. I want to give her everything I can in these final moments together.
Her velvety inner folds alternate between caressing and gripping my cock as she cries out incoherently, and I let loose with rope after rope of my semen, pouring it into her along with my love, and sorrow at her passing.
Bittersweet are my feelings as I convulse beneath her, my scrotum tightening, forcing out my seed, into a slowly fading Lisa.
“Don’t be sad, my love,” I hear her whisper to me from what seems like a great distance. “You have made me very happy, and I need you to be strong, because there are still many others who need you now.”
That painful lump is back in my throat, and all I can do is nod. I refuse to blink as the martial artist that has always cheered me on and been able to lift my spirits slowly fades away.
Not until she is completely gone, do I close my eyes, roll over, and weep.
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Chapter 28
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The Earth Mother
A slight buzzing sound becomes insistent, growing steadily into alternating noises, which in turn become voices speaking insensibly. After a bit, the voices become understandable.
“. . . been asleep for over a day.”
“The Pillar of Earth is expecting us.”
“I tried to see if he’d let me into his mind while sleeping, but instead I just had nightmares about that mountain stronghold.”
“He needs to recover from saving us. It took a lot out of him. I don’t know how he’s going to handle Lisa’s. . . .”
I’m not ready to hear the rest of that yet, and force myself deeper into my own consciousness.
“You need to face it sooner or later,” an unknown, but slightly familiar voice informs directly in my mind.
“What the—“ I sit up, looking around. It takes me a bit to recognize the inside of the Orange Bubble due to a couple changes. A burbling fountain is new, and there is now a large metal cage in one corner, Emmet huddled up in the bottom, hugging his knees, his foot heavily bandaged.
“You’re awake,” Brooke says carefully, leaning over me in the large bed, and placing the back of her hand against my forehead. “How do you feel?”
A piece of something I’d heard floats through my mind, and I answer, “Like I’ve been asleep for over a day.” Gently I brush the assassin’s hand away, and begin rubbing my temples. My whole body aches and my head throbs, but I force myself to deal with it. I have more important things to do right now.
“Lyden. . . .” Brooke’s voice trails off hesitantly, and she refuses to look at me as I crawl out of bed. Someone had at least seen fit to put me in a pair of boxers.
“I know,” I tell her. “Lisa’s gone.” Walking over to the wardrobe, I’m glad I decided to restock it with some normal clothes as I get dressed. “Areth, when does Gaia expect me?”
“She told me to come when you were ready,” the pixie states, poking her head out of the pool at the bottom of the fountain. Even she seems to be walking
on eggshells around me. Is she worried that I’ll be angry about her changing my car even further after I’d told her not to? Angela abandoned me again. As long as the only changes are necessary, then I can’t find it in myself right now to object. Part of me wonders what the succubus felt when the fountain was created inside a portion of her soul.
“Look everyone—“ I start, but Brooke cuts me off.
“Lyden, you need to grieve. Acting like this isn’t healthy.” Brooke’s hand grips my shoulder and she tries to pull me into a hug.
Pulling away, I hold her at arm’s length.
She’s right son. You need to take some time—
“I’ll grieve when I have time,” I tell her firmly, and mentally cut off the voice of my father. “Lisa asked me to be strong. I know I’ve been a bit down and hard to live with at times, but thanks to Lisa, I realize how selfish I was being.”
“Lyden, no—“ Jennifer states, stepping forward.
“Stop, all of you, just stop,” I state, raising my voice, trying to stamp down the emotions that are threatening to overwhelm me. “Inside I’m torn up and empty at losing Lisa. I loved her, just as I love all of you. I’ll deal with that loss when I have the time. Right now, Aldol is trying to destroy both worlds, and I need to meet with Gaia in order to get her help in stopping it. What is it, Areth?” The whole time I’d been speaking, she’d been trying to interrupt.
“Gaia wants all of us to go, not just you,” the golden fairy informs me, taking to the air and dripping water below her.
I glance at those around me, noting that everyone who’d been a part of the ordeal with the Paladonic Knights is here. Jewkes and Jennifer are standing next to the cage with Emmet, guarding him. Brooke is slowly moving her hand through the water in the fountain.
“But the laws against humans going to your world. . .” Becky states, talking for the first time since I woke up. Her eyes are bloodshot. It’s obvious she’s been crying a lot. Walking over to the short brunette, I pull her into my arms. Her arms pull me tighter to her as she presses her face against my chest. Brooke frowns at me, and I realize I’d turned away her hug. I know I’m going to pay for that later. As Becky cries silently, I look to the fairy, waiting for an answer to Becky’s question.