Guardian

by Jack Porter

  “I might have been, yeah.”

  Layla sighed contentedly. “It feels so right being here in your arms. At the same time, it feels right to let the other girls be with you, too. I can’t explain it, exactly, but then everything about this island is weird, isn’t it? It’s as if we’re meant to be here, and have been from the moment we left on this trip.”

  I squeezed her hand. “I feel the same way, weirdly enough.”

  “So, who comes next?” she asked.

  I didn’t have to ask what she meant. A mischievous smirk curled on my face. “Oh, Hannah comes next. She and I have a little score to settle.”

  Layla grinned. “She’s been gunning for you from day one. We all thought she would definitely win.”

  “She almost did,” I admitted. “But I wanted you to be the first. You deserve it after waiting on my slow ass for an entire year.”

  “Yeah,” she sighed, then chuckled. “It was worth the wait.”

  I smirked.

  We went quiet for a time, just touching and caressing each other. I thought about the tapestry, and the knowledge I had gained. If I was now a god—I snorted and had to stop myself from laughing—then since we’d had sex, Layla should transform into one of those goddesses, right? Despite my healthy dose of skepticism, I watched Layla for some time, waiting for something to happen. But it didn’t.

  Then, finally, we both fell asleep.

  But it wasn’t long before we were jarred awake by the sounds of loud crashing and mayhem coming from just outside the safety and warmth of our tent.

  Bleary eyed, I opened the flap and came face to muzzle with a giant monster.

  Thirteen

  Chaos ensued as Hannah, Piper, and Megan all came out of their tent to investigate the noise. Once they saw the creature, they began shrieking. I didn’t fault them.

  The monster had a long black serpent body that stretched the length of the room, knocking over statues and plummeting through the temple walls with its thrashing. However, where a cobra’s head should have been, rested the scaled, demonic face of a goat instead.

  It was the ugliest creature I’d ever seen, but I recognized it as one of the temple guardians depicted on the tapestry. Although, this one was surrounded by a dark mist, something that had been absent on the tapestry except for in the panel with the dark god.

  Looks like the story was at least partially true.

  Fuck.

  Glancing down at my crystal, I noticed that the blue glow was brighter now. Had this called the guardian here?

  A sinister profile of twisted horns entered my vision as the guardian shifted one slitted red eye toward the girls. There was no time to question the grim turn of events, or to find my clothes. With force, I flung myself out of the tent and kicked the soft jelly of the eye nearest me. The strength of my kick surprised me, as did the monster’s reaction.

  The guardian flung its massive head and torso backward, sitting up in a striking position with a mouth wide open to reveal large fangs and a forking serpentine tongue. But at least its focus remained solely with me.

  Making a decision, I sprinted naked toward one of the winding tunnels, intending to draw it away from my companions. “Girls, take what you can and get out of here!”

  I hoped they weren’t too frightened to obey. The infrastructure of the ruins was beginning to cave from the guardian’s thrashing. Bits of dirt and rubble crumbled at my feet as I picked up my pace. The whole area would cave in. It was just a matter of when.

  The guardian followed me swiftly down the tunnels. It had to pause as I darted left and right into separate branches, the long body struggling to push its way into the smaller sections. This kept the creature from striking and swallowing me whole, and also led the guardian farther away from the hot springs, allowing the girls time to escape.

  One time a fang clipped me, dragging a deep wound into the flesh of my arm before tearing away again.

  When I didn’t immediately fall over and foam at the mouth, I thanked the goddesses that it wasn’t poisonous.

  Sweat peppered my brow as I continued winding deeper into the maze of the temple. I couldn’t keep this pace. Something had to give, and I had a feeling it wouldn’t be the guardian.

  I picked up my crystal. “This is all your fault,” I growled at the inanimate object. “Fix it.”

  Only the moment the crystal's smooth surface touched my fingers, I felt the tickling warmth of light flow into me, as if the crystal wished to transfer some of its power.

  The power change was swift, and soon the crystal dimmed to its usual blue-white light. A heady mix of adrenaline and strength flushed through my system. My muscles bulged with the crystal’s power, growing as if I were Popeye eating a can of spinach. Except they bulged everywhere, not just my biceps. I felt unstoppable, alive like never before.

  And I felt I could do some serious damage to even a creature the size of this one chasing me.

  I spun on my heel, facing the guardian head on while it wormed its powerful body through the tunnel. It was destroying the walls with each inch closer to me and, I grimly realized, collapsing every tunnel it passed through.

  I couldn’t go back the way I’d come. Not that I was sure I could have found my path anyway once the guardian was dead. I had lost count of how many turns I’d taken since leaving the girls.

  Sensing victory at hand, the goat opened its gaping maw, ready to take another chunk out of me. This was what I’d been waiting for. Before the guardian could strike, I propelled myself forward and took hold of one sharp fang. Its smooth surface fit perfectly in my hand. Not too big, not too small.

  Before the guardian had a chance to react, I snapped the fang clean off.

  There was no room for the monster to rear back in pain, but it didn’t have to suffer long because I spun the fang in my hand, tip first, and brought it up to stab the guardian directly in the middle of its horned forehead—killing it instantly.

  The large misty body slumped.

  Breathing hard, I touched its long scaly snout, to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating it.

  A white-blue light, like the crystal’s, began to branch out from the wound just above my fingertips. The entire misty darkness began to dissolve into nothing from the beast’s head all the long way down its tail. The light felt right. Healing almost. Like somehow, I’d been given the ability to—for lack of a better word—purify the guardian’s spirit. It was the only way I could describe it, and at the same time, I wasn’t sure how I knew, but I knew I was right.

  Maybe I had absorbed more information than what was immediately available on the tapestry.

  I took a single moment to feel relieved, then sprinted away. I didn’t have much time left before this tunnel completely caved in.

  Now that the guardian was dead, I could feel the way the entire underground labyrinth system groaned and trembled under the straining weight of the guardian’s damage.

  So, I zigged and zagged in the direction I thought was most likely to lead back toward the hatch. The girls hadn’t done much exploring of the tunnel system, but Layla, with her knowledge of all things ancient, seemed to believe that the entire thing circled around itself.

  For my sake, I hoped she was right. I was also glad I’d been paying attention when she said it.

  By the time I hit several dead ends and had to backtrack, entire chunks of dirt and limestone plowed both in front of and behind me.

  I didn’t feel them when they hit me. Or at least, not as much as I should have. The power the crystal had bestowed upon me was akin to becoming Superman. Even as the air filled up with dust to the point no human should have been able to survive. But somehow, I did.

  It was both welcome and surreal at the same time.

  Finally, I hit the main tunnel and found my way to the familiar hatch. Dread filled me. Had the girls made it out? Were they back in the hot springs room? I had told them to grab what they could carry. What if they’d misinterpreted that into attempting to gather everything toge
ther before making their way out?

  But also, what if they were up there waiting for me?

  I could try to get them from the pool room if they were there. But glancing down the disintegrating path to the room, I knew it would be too late even if they hadn’t made it out. Likely, it was already blocked.

  Choice made, I flung myself up the rungs of the ladder with record speed. Narrowly, I pushed up and out of the hatch before even the ladder slipped loose with the dirt and crumpled to fill in the cavern space.

  “Girls?” I called.

  “Here, Dexter,” came Layla’s voice from beyond the ruins, which appeared to be sinking further into the earth with each passing second.

  Worry kickstarted my heart again and set my feet running toward her voice. Layla, check. Piper, check. Hannah, check—

  My tight shoulders sagged with relief when I saw Megan there too, holding a single blanket in her trembling fingers.

  “The room began to cave in as soon as you and that thing were out of sight,” Hannah explained. “We snatched what we could but dropped some on the way.”

  “That’s not a problem. You girls are alive and unhurt, and that’s all that matters.” The temple continued to sink into the earth, and I hurried the girls away from the ruins, in case anything caved in and swallowed us whole.

  We finally made it a safe distance away, when the girls stopped for breath and turned to me with wide eyes.

  “What happened to the monster?” asked Layla at the same time Piper said, “You look different.”

  The girls were silent for a moment, considering me.

  “Taller,” said Layla. There was a pinch of worry mixed in with her appreciation.

  “Broader too, as if he needed it,” retorted Megan. “I mean just look at those guns!”

  Remembering the wound on my arm, I glanced down to survey the damage—it surprised me that Piper hadn’t spoken up about it already—only to find that there was no blood, no gash. In its place was one long pink scar to prove that I hadn’t hallucinated the guardian’s strike.

  And something else—brand new, black tribal tattoos scaled up my arms from wrist to shoulder. Odd. I flexed my arm. The girls were right. I’d gotten bigger.

  Deciding to kill two birds with one stone, I quickly filled them in on everything weird that happened with the crystal while I was running away from and fighting the monster. When I was done, they were all crowding around, each admiring my new physique or attempting to get the crystal to unlock their full potential as well. I was still naked, but the girls only made appreciative noises, and didn’t even try to hide their gazes. Layla’s mouth opened in a silent oh when her gaze slipped to my groin.

  I glanced down and saw that while I’d never had complaints in that department, I had increased considerably in size. I winked at Layla and then asked Piper for my crystal back.

  When the crystal didn’t grant the girls a single pinch of power, I knew that this crystal was only usable by me. My crystal.

  Thinking back, I remembered the other temples in the tapestry. Other crystals. Were they still there? Could they grant the girls the same abilities I had been bestowed with?

  Something in my gut told me yes. I knew because when I concentrated, I felt the pull of the other crystals. Like a far-off siren’s call, beckoning me to hurry and join with them. The pull of the magic was weird, but no longer shocking. Too many odd things had happened to us for me to be surprised at them anymore.

  I wanted to go find those temples and crystals, desperately needed to, in fact, but glancing around at our meager supplies—only a knife, a blanket, the cooking pot, and the canteens—I knew there was a lot of work to be done tonight.

  Today. I corrected myself, seeing the faintest bit of gray to the east. Well, at least Layla was able to grab my pants.

  Fourteen

  With no tents, butane stove, or any other comfort really, the girls and I were forced to move farther toward the mountains to find another camp that would protect us from the howling winds and rain that rolled in every couple of days.

  It was three weeks until we did.

  However, during this time I would come to know later as peaceful, we talked, joked, and took comfort and pleasure in one another’s presence. It was three weeks of bliss, and exploration.

  Although, it appeared at first that my payback for Hannah would have to wait.

  I quickly discovered my member was now too large to safely fit into any of the girls. Which put a damper on the budding new relationship we had forming between us. When the girls had asked who I’d sleep with next, I’d had to explain the problem. They’d pouted and begged me to let them try. And with them being nearly naked around me, having left the temple in only their undergarments, I was more than tempted. But I knew what I was now capable of. I’d been testing my limits every day, lifting tree trunks with one hand, bench-pressing felled trees, and leaping over large boulders. The experience was exhilarating.

  But if I got carried away with one of the girls in the heat of passion, I didn’t want to fracture any pelvic bones. Nor did I want to cause any of them discomfort, despite their insistence on “trying me on for size.”

  Still, there were other ways to give and receive pleasure.

  One warm, sunny morning, Megan came up behind me while I was letting the bottom of the pan sizzle strips of deer meat, and tapped me on the shoulder.

  “Hey, beautiful, what do you need?” I asked, using my fingers to flip the meat.

  She and I were the only ones around camp at the moment. The other girls had taken off to find a chilly stream to bathe in, but since Megan was constantly jumping into rivers—she never strayed from a ‘good workout’—she didn’t feel the need to accompany them.

  Glancing behind me, I saw Megan blushing prettily at the compliment, looking up at me from stunning hazel eyes under dark lashes. “I’ve been thinking,” she began, trailing first a finger around my solid chest, teasing me, and then maneuvering the rest of her body until she stood in front of me.

  “That’s dangerous,” I mused. “What about?”

  Her hand dropped from my chest to my cock. “This right here.”

  I inhaled sharply. “Megan, I’ve told you—”

  “I know, I know. I’m not trying to get you to put this inside me, Dexter,” Megan breathed, giving my member a squeeze. Her fingers barely circled around one edge, but still, it throbbed with desire and began to harden.

  “Then what?”

  “I want to try giving you a blowjob.”

  That had my full attention. “I’m not sure. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

  It was a battle already lost. Megan was undoing the strained button of my pants and slipping down my boxers that barely held me in.

  “Well, I’m sure you don’t. And if it’s too big for me to handle, well, at least we know.” Megan unhooked her bra and massaged her petite breasts in her capable hands, letting out a long moan that sent desire straight up my spine.

  “You weren’t kidding, it's huge!” she gasped as she took my now fully hard cock between her small, warm hands and began rubbing the shaft. She licked it up and down, paying special attention to sensitive areas. “Even bigger than after you came out of the ruins. Although… that might be its response to me, huh big boy?”

  Finally, she attempted to fit me between her lips. It was tight and warm and I was losing my mind, wanting to thrust forward into that heat. But I held myself back as she managed to get only the head in.

  It was enough. Reaching down with one hand, I stroked my shaft while she sucked and slurped beautifully at the end of my cock.

  When I came, her eyes widened at how much I released, but she swallowed every last drop. The look of rapture and need in her eyes undid me.

  Then an idea struck. “Megan, we can make this work for you too.”

  When I explained, she stood and leaned against my chest. I yanked off her underwear, careful not to rip them, and spread her legs wide.

  Sh
e was ready for me already. I held her with one hand and dipped my hand down with the other. Then I slid my longest finger inside her, cupping my palm slightly so she could rub her clit against it each time I thrust into her.

  Apparently, her shy demeanor didn’t reach the bedroom because she rocked and moaned and growled her pleasure as her insides quivered around my fingers. She came five times this way, one after another.

  Later, she bragged to the girls about what she and I had done, and then every one of them decided which days they would have me.

  No one seemed bothered by our arrangements, and indeed, it was as if the island had caused our inhibitions to fall away. Not that I was complaining.

  Piper described it better than I did. “I think we all have an attraction for each other, and especially you, Dex. And if we hadn’t all crashed here, I think something would have come from it anyway, as if we were destined for one another. However, landing here on this magical island has only accelerated our desires. We are still destined to be together, but perhaps the island has succeeded in taking away all the barriers for us.”

  I thought Piper might have been on to something, and then I thought about the tapestry and the way the woman had transformed into a goddess after sex, but nothing happened to my girls.

  Except, well, a good time.

  Hannah, Piper, Megan, and Layla all took their turn each night before bed. We grew more comfortable in our bodies around one another and had a great amount of fun despite the situation.

  Tonight for the first time, Megan and Hannah had taken a turn together, pleasuring each other as well as me until we all found our world-shattering release.

  Now they were all fast asleep. I didn’t need to rest nearly as frequently as I once had. And I found the cold didn’t bother me much either. I was faster, tougher, and more energized than I’d ever been before.

  The girls found it somewhat annoying at times. Especially when I interrupted their sleep with my bored humming.