Enthralled: Book 2: Picking Up the Pieces

by Prax Venter

  He slipped his arm around her slender waist and pulled her close. Roo had already put on the leather armor she purchased in Hanno, and the buckles and zippers poked into his bare chest as he squeezed her against him.

  He pulled away and took one of her soft hands in his, holding it palm up.

  “I had to use your iron heart to escape the Zookeeper. I'm sorry. Think you can make me a new one?”

  The velvet-girl smiled, and tilted her head to the side, causing her straight lilac hair to brush her shoulder.

  “Of course I can. I have a better idea though. Just enhance me a little.”

  Mark reached his other hand up to her soft cheek and ran his thumb down the side of her hard, white mask. He closed his eyes and channeled energy directly into her through his fingers.

  She sucked in a breath as the erotic force washed over her body. She gave him small, wicked smile before taking a step back and concentrating on her cupped hand.

  Her pure black eyes squinted as she focused intensely on her creation. Mark watched with fascination as a chain emerged from her hand, one link at a time. After she was happy with the length, a new, iron heart slowly began to form out of her fabric skin. This one was a little smaller and more flat than the last one.

  When she was finished, she closed her fist around her creation and held it out to him, her eyes twinkling.

  He put his hand under hers, and she opened her fist, letting the necklace drop. Mark felt that one side wasn't as smooth as the other and looked down to see that something engraved into its surface.

  He inspected her gift closer and noticed that she had added the faces of his Enthralled. One had two, triangle ears over their head, one had pointed elvish ears with long hair, and the last one was definitely wearing a mask. They were simple line drawings, but the images clearly represented Ahnix, Vale, and Roo.

  “Roo... this-” He clutched it to his chest. “I will treasure this always.”

  Her face broke into a big smile, “Now you can carry us with you everywhere you go.”

  Mark pulled the chain over his neck, and the heart rested in the middle of his muscled chest. She stepped in and looped her arm around his again.

  “The others are waiting,” she said, bumping her hip against his. “Let's go get that last piece.”

  They moved back into the main room, and he showed Ahnix and Vale his new necklace. They both liked it very much. Mark felt the interconnecting bond between the four of them pulse once and grow even stronger.

  - 21 -

  “It's safe,” Vale said, moving away from the door. Mark stepped out after her and looked around. They were standing on a hilly dirt path with weathered, wooden fences running along each side. Rows of leafy, green crops stretched away from him as far as he could see. A bright blue sky with a warm sun helped to complete the peaceful and serene landscape.

  He pulled out his compass to check it's reading when he felt Vale tense up. He looked up and saw a rabbit-woman wearing a floppy straw hat pushing a cart full of carrots the size of his arm over the hill.

  Focused on not dumping her cart on the downward slope, she didn't seem to notice them yet. Mark and Vale just kept their eye on the rabbit-woman as she got closer. Mark cleared his throat when she was about ten feet away, and she stopped, her eyes growing wide as she processed the scene before her.

  Mark and a giant naga in epic armor stood in the road in front of a magic door to another dimension with a cat-girl and Roo's masked face peering out. The rabbit-woman's soft, gray ears lazily flopped out of two holes in her straw hat, but now they perked up in a slight panic as she backed away from her cart.

  Mark spoke first. “Hey there, we aren't going to hurt you. My name's Mark, what's yours?”

  The rabbit-farmer was on the short side, about four and a half feet tall, but the shape of her breasts and wide hips under her blue overalls hinted at above average curves. Her tiny pink nose twitched as Roo and Ahnix stepped out of the door, closing it behind them.

  “Merph,” she said, looking like she was about to bolt.

  Vale waved at her. “Nice to meet you Merph, I'm Vale, and this is Ahnix and Roo.”

  Mark wasn't so sure if that was her name or if she was just grunting. Roo stepped forward, and the bunny-woman's eyes darted to the fabric-girl.

  “That's a really pretty hat,” Roo said, and Mark noticed that there were bright, yellow flowers tucked into a red ribbon that encircled it above the brim.

  The carrot farmer's shaded eyes looked up to her hat and then back to Roo.

  “What do you folk want?” she asked, nervous about the answer.

  Mark held up his heart ring. “I'm a Collector, and these are my Enthralled. We're here looking for the biggest tear you've seen. Do you know where we could find the closest one?”

  The bunny's eyes narrowed. “All kinds of strange folk coming round looking for that place.” She raised one of her soft paws and pointed down the road the way she was headed. “Old Hope's Edge is about a half-a-day that'a way.”

  Mark's eyebrows furrowed at the name of the town. It sounded familiar but he couldn't quite- then it hit him, and he felt a strong blast of vertigo.

  “Where it all started...” he mumbled to himself. He looked down at the compass and sure enough the glowing red needle was pointing directly behind him.

  “If you please, what do you mean, 'all kinds of strange folk'?” Vale asked.

  “Eh, strange- wrong. Bad people all gatherin' for somethin'.”

  Mark put the compass back in his pocket. “We're sorry to startle you, ma'am. We'll be on our way. You have a nice day, okay.”

  They all moved through the magic passageway in the middle of the dirt road, and Roo gave her a final wave before closing the door.

  “Hope's Edge,” Mark said, looking at the map. “It's where I entered this world. I forgot all about that place. I can't believe it's where we're going to end up.”

  The concept that his real body was lying in a sleek, neural interface machine slammed into him. The goal of waking up and getting out of this virtual world seemed distant and ridiculous now. He looked around into their beautiful faces and panic began to rise as he wondered what would happen to them if he saved himself.

  Ahnix's eyebrows came down over her exotic eyes as she moved over to him, and laced her warm, furry fingers through his.

  “What's wrong?”

  “I just never want to lose you.” He looked up to include Vale and Roo. “Any of you.”

  “And you won't,” Vale said, seriously.

  “Together, we can do anything,” Roo added, her head tilting. “Remember?”

  He took a deep breath. “I have no idea what will happen to me after we defeat Sasha. There is a chance I may be ripped from this world, but believe me- and I know you can feel my emotions, my unstoppable passion will bend every reality to get back.”

  Tears began to well up in his eyes, and his Enthralled descended on him, surrounding him with their warmth and love. He drew strength from them and took a shuddering breath.

  Vale was the first to speak. “Mark, whatever happens, I know that this is our destiny. I have never been so sure of anything.”

  “And I know everything will be fine,” Ahnix spoke quietly. “There is no way you'll be taken from me again.” The force of her will tugged on their bond so strongly that he felt himself physically drawn tighter against her.

  He knew the only way was forward. After a short while, they split apart and he asked Roo to open a door down the road from Hope's Edge.

  They stepped through the doorway, and Mark saw the massive, swirling tear nearly filling his entire field of vision.

  “So this is what happened after I left,” he said, sounding distant.

  He felt Ahnix stiffen nearby. “Mark,” she said squinting her exotic eyes. “There are people up ahead.”

  Mark put his hand on his brow to shade the hot sun and take a better look. He could see some black dots that might be people, but against the white-noise ch
aos, it was hard for him to make out anything.

  There were only gentle rolling hills surrounding the tear with no real stealthy way to make their approach.

  “Wait here,” Ahnix said, stepping forward and fading from vision before anyone could say anything.

  Vale sighed. “It's the right move- if rash.”

  As they waited on the small hilltop for the invisible cat-girl to return, Mark noticed the new sword attached to Vale's hip again. Her celestial armor left a little hole for the leather sheath wrapped around her waist to remain outside.

  “What's the story with the sword, Vale?” Mark asked.

  The giant naga looked down and patted it with her hand.

  “Nothing special, really. I like the whip, but during our assault on the Zookeeper's compound, I realized I needed something for short range combat. I found it there.”

  “Does it do anything?” Mark asked, hoping it shot magic or something.

  “It stabs.”

  A flash of lighting by the tear drew their attention, and Ahnix appeared in front of them, hissing.

  “What happened?” Vale asked.

  “They sensed me. There's a lot. And they're... wrong. Like the ones we saw in the temple where we met.”

  Mark targeted the burn on her shoulder where the energy attack hit her and soothed it with a focused heal. Pure, yellow fur closed in around the singed flesh, and she was back to normal.

  She turned her keen senses back towards the tear, her tail hopping around behind her.

  “They're coming.”

  Vale slid forward to the edge of the small hill and looked for a better strategic position. Mild frustration radiated out of her when no better options presented themselves.

  “We wait here. The top of this hill will give us a slight high-ground advantage. Stay behind me. Roo, try and soften them up with your metal rain. Mark, blast them. Ahnix, you know what to do, just don't get hit by friendly fire.”

  They all nodded and got into position. A few moments later Mark saw a mixed group of beast-people all rushing towards them. He saw a wolf, a few giant naga, a turtle, and even squirrel. When they were close enough, he noticed a red feathered bird-woman who seemed to have a mismatched head. She had blonde hair with blue highlights and black horns curling out from her temples. Mark knew right away who's head that was.

  Most of the other creatures were wearing hooded black cloaks, and he counted about twenty-five. Various limbs randomly glitched into pixelated versions of themselves as they charged across the hills towards them.

  Roo held up her hands and called out, “Metal Rain!” targeting an area in front of their attackers. Sewing needles began to appear in the sky and hurtle down into the crowd, and she killed four and wounded a few others. Mark launched an energy ball from his crossbow into a nice, juicy clump, and he disintegrated a few more.

  Roo held up her hand to fire off her basic attack when the bird woman that had Sasha's head held out a hand as well. Mark felt a strange tingling all around his skin and instantly just knew they had to move.

  “Get off the hill, now!” He shouted and sprinted to his right. Ahnix moved along his side and, Vale and Roo rushed forward.

  Mark looked over his shoulder and saw an explosion of corruption envelope the whole hill and then just freeze in place. The high-pitched screeching sound caused by a new tear ripping apart the world severely hurt his ears, and he heard Ahnix hiss next to him.

  Mark turned his attention back to the bird-woman with Sasha's head just in time to see a needle lodge in her chest.

  The creature's original, bird-like head instantly reappeared before she fell to the ground, dead.

  A group of attackers rushed toward him, and he saw Ahnix teleport right into their midst and activate an Assault Rush. Her surprise attack, combined with her enhanced claws ended the lives of five more. She Retracted back to his side just as a cluster of crackling energy blackened the ground where she had been.

  “Run!” she shouted, and Mark was right behind her, sprinting away from the attackers.

  They met up with Vale and Roo on the other side of the hill and followed the giant naga as she led them up another grassy slope.

  Once they had reached the top, she held out her black pearl ring and began a haunting melody while Roo added lyrics.

  “Horrible Hooks!” She called out, and a lion-man with a glitching left leg was pulled to the ground by an unfortunate hook to the face.

  Mark watched as a pink halo appeared over the turtle-man's head. He stopped moving forward and proceeded to blast a red-hued giant naga, right in the back, with arcs of lighting from his fingers.

  The charmed turtle was able to hit an orange fox-woman with another bolt of lighting before a small, localized ball of corruption engulfed his head.

  Mark noticed the squirrel that he had seen before was holding her hand out towards the decapitated turtle man, but more importantly, her head had been replaced with a glitchy version of Sasha's.

  It looked like she was hopping from person to person as they took them out. His thoughts were scattered when a bolt of lightning hit Roo in the chest, and the velvet-girl went down on one knee.

  “Hit me, Mark!' Vale yelled as the remaining attackers were closing the distance.

  Torn between healing Roo and enchaining Vale, he went off instinct and picked Vale.

  He closed his eyes and time slowed to a crawl while he opened his heart to his protector. He flooded her with energy, giving himself to her beautifully tactical mind.

  She grunted as ecstasy filled her from the inside, but wasted no time bending that new power into an augmented Hateful Sting. Her voice reverberated out from the top of the grassy hill, striking all the attackers with a perfect pitch then modulated her song into a fist-clenching scream.

  As one, all of Sahsa's remaining minions swiveled their heads to focus on the giant naga.

  Vale looked over her shoulder at Mark. “Get away from me!”

  He swallowed and started to back away from her. She waited until the last second before zipping down the hill and crushing her massive shield into the skull of a beefy looking minotaur.

  Vale drew her sword and prepared for close combat while Mark pushed a heal into the wounded velvet-girl. Her jet black eyes turned up to him, and a rare frown pulled down her soft lips.

  Without standing, she launched a needle right by Mark's leg into the chest of a human male with Sasha's head. He was holding his arm up towards Vale, and Mark knew they had to stop her, all versions of her, or Vale would be in grave danger.

  “Always kill the blond one!” Mark yelled as loud as he could. Both Roo and Ahnix seemed to understand what he meant. The cat-girl vanished and eviscerated a weasel looking creature with Sasha's head. And, just like before, when the attacker died its head returned to normal. Mark saw Vale try and block all the incoming strikes from the hexed minions. They were forced to use their fists instead of their lighting attack while under Vale's spell, so it could have been worse, but she was getting overwhelmed.

  Mark launched a bolt of energy into a cluster where he saw Sasha's head appear and took out two more as a lucky bonus. Between Vale's puncturing sword thrusts and another of Roo's piercing needles, they brought the count down to two.

  Ahnix ran down the hill and sliced into a fish-man with shining blue scales, while the final attacker, an antelope-woman, gained Sasha's head and started to sprint away on swift legs and fleet hooves.

  Ahnix noticed the last attacker getting away and her tail flipped violently. She sprinted up the hill and slapped her hand on Vale's shield, standing off to the side.

  “Incoming!” the cat-girl yelled, before teleporting in front of the fast-moving elk-woman and intercepting her.

  Ahnix activated Retract, and they both vanished. Vale slammed her shield into Sasha's snarling face the moment they reappeared, knocking her roughly to the ground. The technique and timing was a thing of beauty.

  They all stood over the creature with Sasha's glitching hea
d, and she began to bray out cackling laughter. Mark saw madness in her deep blue eyes, and he knew she was going to self-destruct. He could feel a new tear opening up around them and was about to tell his girls to run when Roo launched a needle into Sasha's head at point-blank range.

  The laughing instantly stopped, and the tingling on Mark's skin faded away. They looked up at Roo who still had the frown on her face.

  “What? I really don't like her.”

  Vale turned her violet eyes on Mark. “So that was Sasha? The one who hurt you and is destroying this world?”

  “Well, I think she is kind of everywhere.”

  Vale looked back down at the elk-woman, her punctured head back to its original state. He felt disgust and frustration wash over him from the giant naga.

  “How do we fight something like that? How do we stop her?”

  Ahnix crossed her arms. “The world broke, and she gained power. We keep moving forward and restore The Crystal Heart. Then go from there.”

  Vale nodded and sighed. “You're right. This was the first time we've met resistance at these places. She was trying to prevent us from getting the final piece.”

  “Okay, ladies,” Mark said, looking around the landscape. “Let's fix these tiny new tears first and then go bring down that big one.”

  They spent a few moments sticking their arms in the swirling holes in the world, and Mark felt a bit of essence pour into him with every restoration.

  After a short hike down the dirt path, the four of them stood before the enormous wall of white-noise and wrongness. They all held hands and stepped forward confidently. Their bond had never been stronger, and Mark could feel the thick web of their love and need for each other flair out and consume the wall of corruption with ease.

  The barrier of swirling chaos split apart in a flash of light.

  The small town of Hope's Edge became revealed, and Mark quickly noticed some changes since the last time he was here. The ground was tainted a bruised purple color, and the buildings were stretched and twisted into impossible shapes. Even though the wall of corruption had been brought down, he still felt an eerie wrongness waft across his skin.