The Eros Expansion

by Prax Venter

  After what seemed like hours, Mark could see a tightly wrapped cocoon of string ahead of them, suspended off the ground.

  “That's it,” he called out. “It's her.”

  As soon as he spoke, the metal onslaught stopped. Ahnix, Mark, and Vale exchanged uneasy glances before they moved to their destination.

  Mark felt Ahnix send the question of whether she should use her claws to open the cocoon and nodded in response. He saw no other way. But the moment the cat-girl touched her claw to the eerily still, white cocoon, all of the string flew away from the center in a silent explosion.

  When Mark could see again, his mind froze with what he saw right in front of him. It was Roo, naked and without her mask.

  She tilted her head, her eyes just pure black pearls surrounded by red cotton stuffing, and Mark had to fight not to look away in horror.

  Her puffy, red mouth stretched too wide and let out an ear-shattering scream as iron chains appeared from below, wrapping themselves around Mark, Vale, and Ahnix, holding them tightly. Roo channeled pure, primal rage through her bond to them for forcing her to leave her safe place.

  Mark focused on that tenuous bond along the golden chain and ignored the iron ones. He sent a pulse of emotion back, promising that he would take care of her, just like the first time they met, pouring his reserves of willpower into the message.

  He found that the chains loosened enough to allow him to move his legs, and he strode forward to the fabric creature before them- her fists closed in constricting anger.

  As he drew closer, she locked her dark orbs on his eyes, lifted her hand and sent a single needle entirely through one of his legs. Mark winced at the incredibly sharp pain from the hole in his thigh but pushed past it. He told himself that this place was the least real of all the realities he had experienced. It was enough to allow him to continue forward.

  A brief moment of shock caused this primal, mask-less Roo to straighten and tilt her head again. The moment didn't last long, and she sent another three-foot needle through his other leg and one right through his stomach. Mark snarled in agony but continued to move forward, throwing off the chains and embracing the enraged and frightened fabric-creature in front of him. Nothing from this universe or any other was going to stop him from saving Roo, even herself.

  He pulled her close to his chest and whispered in her white fabric ear.

  “I made a promise to you, and I will always come find you when you are lost. I need you Roo, your light keeps me sane, and I will not be able to live without your perfect smile.”

  Mark began to flood their bond with his own primal emotion, and a second later, he felt the snap behind his eyes.

  Just like with Ahnix in the cargo bay- he had enthralled Roo for the second time.

  - 14 -

  Mark coughed and inhaled deeply as he sat up quickly, trying to remember where he was. He looked down and saw Roo's stunningly-beautiful, masked face blinking up at him. She instantly wrapped her soft arms around his back, pulling him back down on top of her.

  “I had the most terrible dream. I was... hurting you.”

  He nuzzled his face into her soft neck, under her lilac hair, and gave her a deep kiss as they embraced.

  “It's okay. We're all safe now,” he reassured her.

  Vale sat up and, shook her head clear and then slid over to Roo's side and joined the embrace.

  “Are you okay, Roo?”

  “I'll be okay. That was quite the shock from those creatures. Nice shot though. Oh! Guys, get off- where's that treasure?”

  Ahnix stood up, dusting sand from her fur. “She's fine.”

  “The finest,” Mark said, pushing back onto on his knees and helping Roo to her feet as he stood.

  “Glad you're alive,” the skeletal crewman, Porter, said from behind them.

  “How long were we out?” Mark asked, spinning toward him.

  “Out?”

  Mark looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was relatively in the same place.

  “Never mind. Go collect that treasure of yours, and let's get out of here.”

  The skeleton nodded and walked over to the lavishly ornate, blue and gold steamer trunk sitting in the sand where the creatures dropped it.

  He was looking down at it when Mark and his girls arrived to watch.

  “The traveling merchant that sold the map claimed it was cursed. Appears the bastard was right. If it weren't for you, I'd have never found this.”

  Mark patted the man's shoulder bone. “Well, now you have. Open it.”

  Porter squatted down, flipped open the front latch and lifted the lid. A moderate amount of essence entered Mark from the environment while everyone leaned in to see what riches had caused them so much trouble.

  Mark's eyebrows furrowed when the chest appeared empty, and he leaned in closer.

  Porter reached his skeletal hand in and pulled out a handful of papers each covered by a child's crayon drawings.

  “This can't be it...” the skeletal crew member said, tossing them over his bony shoulder to search the chest further. Mark bent down to pick up a stack of the discarded works of art. The first one he saw was a side view of a crudely drawn, gray elephant. It only had two legs and one big eye with a large teardrop leaking from it. Mark shuffled through the colorful drawings as Porter tossed more out of the trunk and onto the rolling sands of The Dunes.

  “What is this?” Vale asked, picking one up off the ground.

  “Someone's treasure...” Roo said softly, looping her arm around Mark's and pressing in close to look at the drawings with him.

  The pictures were mostly of various animals, but the last one in the stack he was holding depicted a house with three people. They were clearly a family standing outside together, holding hands.

  “It's trash,” Porter said, looking into the empty chest. He stood up abruptly and kicked the hollow, wooden container with his bony foot. “Well, that's what I get. Captain was right all along.”

  Mark nodded, letting the papers he held fall back into the chest. “Head back to town- to the Slog and Grog and join back up with the Captain to earn some honest booty.”

  Porter nodded his skull, and without a further word began to trudge his skeletal feet through the sand back toward town.

  Vale slid forward and added the drawings she had picked up into the chest and turned to Roo.

  “I'm so sorry, Roo. That won't happen again.”

  “It's okay, Vale.” Roo pulled away from Mark's side as she tilted her head up and smiled into the giant naga's violet eyes. “You blasted them all. Those things hurt like nothing ever-”

  She was cut off when Vale surged forward and wrapped her arms around Roo, pressing her masked face between her dark, cloth-wrapped breasts.

  Vale caught Mark's eye, then Ahnix's, and said, “Yeah, still. I never want to see you hurt like that again.” She let Roo out of the bottomless pit that was her cleavage and tapped the gem on her forehead, deploying her armor. “So, we need to head to the north. If we circle around from here, along the coast, we should be able to find the last of Helgin's crew- without having to go up and down mountains and through jungles.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Ahnix said, intentionally turning her exotic, half-lidded eyes on Mark.

  He gave her a nod and sent her a message of solid agreement. He initiated combat with an unknown enemy before forming a plan. And they probably would have had plenty of time to talk it over, too.

  The infinite blue ocean was to his left, and a dense tropical jungle was to his right as they traveled around the edge of the island. Looking down at his boots trudging in the sand, Mark wondered if he would be able to- what should he call it? Could he double enthrall Vale? It seemed like his girls had to go through some serious mental trauma before it was possible. He would seriously not like that to happen to her.

  Mark had yet to test to see if he’d opened up a similar mental channel to Roo as he had with Ahnix but wanted to wait until he was alone with her first. Sh
e didn't seem to remember what happened when she was unconscious- he stopped himself. Not remembering is a big part of being unconscious. Mark had wondered why this space station expansion wasn’t killing them over and over, but he rationalized it with the insane amount of essence he had from restoring the Crystal Heart or that this game was meant to be played with a fresh character- but they had just almost lost everything. Mark’s eyes switched from the sand at his feet to Vale’s swaying backside and realized how much better they did when she called the shots.

  “There's a cave up ahead,” Ahnix said, pointing to a pile of rocks spilling across the beach and scattering his thoughts.

  “Good, Vale said matching pace with the cat-girl. “We needed to get something called Blood Vine to finish Kirk's shopping list.”

  Mark and Roo followed behind as they all veered inland, toward the dark hole leading into the mountainside. Standing in front of the mouth of the cave, Mark could see light spilling far enough back to illuminate a whole underground biome of mushrooms, moss, vines and long-legged plastic bugs.

  “There,” Ahnix said, squinting her eyes and pointing to something near the back. “Those red vines.”

  “Yes,” Vale said, putting her hand over her eyes to help cut down the glare. The giant naga started to slither into the darkness when Ahnix slapped the furry back of her hand against Vale’s armored stomach, stopping her.

  “Let me check it out first.”

  Vale considered it then nodded. Ahnix activated her stealth ability as she padded forward into the living cave. A few silent moments passed until one of the larger, black mushrooms made a popping noise and filled the air around it with spores. Ahnix became visible back at the entrance, and Mark realized she must have teleported out.

  “That was close,” Ahnix said, checking the fur on her arms and legs. “That fungus must have somehow sensed my proximity before going off like that.”

  “I could burn it,” Roo offered, a tiny flame in her hand and her eyes twinkling with excitement.

  Vale crossed her arms. “No. We could set the whole place up and burn the ingredient.”

  Mark mentally cycled through all the unique abilities they had at their disposal and started to form an idea.

  “Well, the spores are probably toxic, right? But other than that, do they pose any other danger?”

  Ahnix's tail flipped once. “I wouldn't recommend breathing it in. Smells... odd, in there.”

  “Or getting it on your skin,” Vale added.

  “So, what if I put a purify bubble over the mushroom?” He raised his eyebrows and looked up to Vale for her input.

  “Hmm, could work.” She nodded, a small frown on her elfish face as she considered. Vale turned to Ahnix. “We'd need your teleport on cooldown before we try that.”

  The cat girl shrugged. “It's ready now. I'll walk to that first mushroom again and wait. Then I'll get close on your signal.”

  “Got it,” Mark said.

  Ahnix stalked forward again slowly but remained visible this time. Mark waited until she was fairly close before he popped up the biggest purify orb he could manage over the tip of the mushroom. The fleshy fungus started to vibrate slightly, and its unnatural movements made Mark feel uneasy.

  Ahnix moved closer and closer until she was standing right next to it, and the mushroom kept vibrating like it was being shocked with electricity.

  The cat-girl moved quickly past its toxic range and stopped once she was a safe distance away. Mark let out the breath he was holding and allowed his purification ball to fade. The mushroom stopped quivering and remained motionless.

  “Let me know when the cooldown is up. I think I can reach some of these vines after I get past one more of these things.”

  Mark nodded.

  “That is assuming that the vines are not toxic, as well,” Vale said, with just a hint of sarcasm.

  “Porter would have said if...” Mark trailed off. “Yeah...” He raised his voice for Ahnix. “Be careful in there!”

  The short cat-girl crossed her arms, a small smile playing on her mouth.

  “I'll just slice my own hand off if it's toxic. You can grow me a new one with a heal, Mark.”

  “Wait... that gives me an idea,” said Roo. The velvet girl looked down at her hand and formed an iron tool that looked like a small rake. She held it up for everyone to inspect its five perfect prongs.

  Ahnix's tail flipped once and then she appeared next to Roo. The black and gold cat-girl said, “Thanks,” snatched the tool, then Retracted back to where she started.

  A few minutes later, Mark signaled his ability to form his purify orb again and popped it up as Ahnix closed the distance to another black mushroom. Mark had to take a few steps into the cave so his ability could reach, and tried not to get distracted by the many-legged bug moving across his boot.

  Ahnix reached around the quivering mushroom and scraped a large portion of the Blood Vine onto Roo’s hand-rake. She secured a clump then teleported out.

  “Great work, team!” Vale said, grinning from ear to pointed ear.

  “I can hold that if you want,” Roo said.

  Ahnix passed her the gardening tool with what looked like red licorice candy wedged between the tines and nodded.

  “Onward to Shadebottom Shelf,” Vale said, pointing north. “We almost have everyone.”

  Ahnix looked over her shoulder at Vale as she walked toward the beach.

  “Don't forget- you still need to box that Big Toe tonight... unless you want out.”

  “No,” Vale said, a serious look in her eye. “I could use a few rounds in the ring.”

  As they curved around to the north side of the island, Mark noticed the sun start to travel down toward the ocean behind him. It wasn't long before Ahnix pointed out a tiny unmanned rowboat, out in the water.

  As they got closer, they found a simple tent and small campfire on the beach directly in line with the boat. Near the tent, Mark saw a pair of fishing poles and an open, metal box containing an assortment of brightly colored lures.

  Roo squatted down to look into the tackle box and said, “Those are some great hooks.”

  Ahnix and Vale searched the area, looking for Helgin's final crew member.

  “Maybe he wandered off?” Ahnix said.

  “How did the boat get way out there?” Vale asked, sliding toward the water’s edge. “We should probably check it out.”

  Ahnix's black tail flipped once and cast her exotic eyes onto Roo. Mark could feel the dread radiating out of the velvet girl- she did not want to get wet.

  The giant naga dropped her shield and huge shotgun on the beach. She then tapped the gem on her forehead, and her armor started fading out from her tail upward. Vale stretched her muscular arms into the air as the hot sun reflected off her tight, dark skin on her now exposed back. Mark saw her huge, round breasts sticking out to either side of her fit torso and instantly wanted to reach out and touch this magnificently sensual creature. The essence inside him always had a way of altering his thought patterns as it collected in his reservoirs.

  Vale turned to face the group. “Keep an eye on me, while I check it out.”

  “Wait!” Mark called, pulling off his boots. “I'll come with you. Besides, the water looks great. I'd love to cool off a bit.” After his footwear was off and his crossbow unequipped, he joined Vale at the edge of the water and noticed that the sand faded to smooth rock that quickly dropped off into the black depths below.

  “Hope there's no sharks...” Mark said, smiling up at Vale.

  Ahnix's tail hopped a few times before she walked up to the edge of the ocean next to them. “I'll stay here at the camp with Roo while you two splash around.”

  Mark turned to see Roo creep up next to her cat-girl friend. “Thanks, Ahnix. And I'll skewer any sharks that mess with you guys.”

  Vale turned and dove headfirst into the water, her long serpentine tail slurping under behind her. Mark watched as she quickly curved around and broke the surface with a splas
h. She flung her long, white, wet hair back and smoothed it against the sides of her head with her hands.

  As the naga princess swirled her tail to tread water, Mark just stood there gawking as the orange, low-hanging sun lit up her elfish face and massive buoyant cleavage.

  “You coming?” Vale said, giving Mark a half smile.

  He blinked off his stun, skipped taking his tight silk clothes off, and jumped in feet first. The temperature was much warmer than he expected. It was like bathwater. Mark kicked his feet until he broke the surface, blinking away the stinging saltwater.

  When he could see again, Vale's violet eyes were right in front of him, and he felt the tip of her tail slide between his thighs.

  “You know,” she said, her voice low. “We could go much faster if you rode me.”

  Mark had never thought he would ever ride a giant naga around in the ocean, but he grinned when Vale spun around and tapped her shoulder. He reached out and pulled himself against her tight, charcoal-gray back.

  “Hold on,” she said playfully, and Mark's fingers almost slipped off her muscular shoulder when she lurched forward. He gripped his legs around her waist and grinned like an idiot as she sped through the water towards the wooden boat.

  Vale moved low in the water, pressing her arms back over Mark's ankles. The giant naga’s snake half wove in tight curves just like when she was on land - but in the water, her tail pushed the water with a smoothness that felt exhilarating.

  She took the long way around, making a wide arc and approached the boat from the side. He got a handle on Vale's wiggling movements, and as they zipped through the water, Mark was able to let go one of his hands and wave at Roo and Ahnix watching from the shore.

  Ahnix playfully sent him an image of himself riding Vale through the water on her front instead of her back. The message included detail of him holding on to her silver nipple rings while the giant naga's meaty pussy clenched onto his dick as she wove her long body through the warm water.

  His growing erection became instantly ignored when a white splash of water obscured Ahnix and Roo, washing over them like a tidal wave.