Portals of Infinity: Book Two: The God Game

by John Van Stry

  “You’re just jealous ‘cause Joseph is hotter than you!” I said and went back to laughing. All things considered, it was pretty funny after spending the last day being chased by killer cattle.

  “You think so?” Joseph said looking at himself like he’d grown a third arm or something.

  “Well, I’ve had enough!” Cenewyg said and shifted to his champion form.

  “What, can’t stand being a woman?” Came a rather masculine voice. I turned and there was Stephanie. I could tell because she or now rather he was wearing the same clothes as before. Which didn’t fit at all well. Especially the bra.

  “Whoa,” I said looking Stephanie up and down, “You look like one of those male models from the cover of a romance novel!”

  She / He smiled, “You like?”

  “It looks good on you, Steph. How do I look?”

  “Like a movie starlet. Now strip.”

  I laughed again, “But I’m not that kind of a girl!”

  “We need to swap clothes. I can’t be seen in this getup, and trust me, with a chest like that, you’re gonna want a bra.”

  I shrugged and started taking my clothing off. “Can’t argue with logic. What about Joseph?”

  “I’m with Cen on this one,” I heard him say and glanced over, he had turned to his champion form as well.

  “Well, I guess I’m kind of stuck,” I said as I peeled off my shirt and tossed it at Stephanie, “If I change, I’m going to stand out rather badly.”

  Stephanie had already shed her clothes so I started to put those on as she dressed in mine. I noticed that both Joseph and Cenewyg were watching me rather closely, thought their eyes didn’t seem to make it up past my breasts.

  “Eyes up here guys!” I said, then started to laugh all over again as they both actually blushed.

  “Now you know what its like,” Stephanie sighed.

  “Actually, now I know what its like to have a bra two sizes too small,” I grumbled and took it back off. “How does that thing work where you tie the end of the shirt up in a knot?”

  Stephanie laughed and showed me.

  “How the hell did someone like you end up with such a hot body?” Cenewyg grumbled. I had to laugh again, for someone who didn’t want to be a woman, he sure was jealous enough about how he looked as one.

  “His Mom was a fashion model,” Stephanie supplied. I remembered having mentioned that to her back when I dated her as Jennifer.

  “Well, this is all well and fine,” I said, my own voice sounding a bit funny to me, I’d have to get used to that. “But do you three handsome gentlemen think you could find this poor little girl some nicer clothing, and maybe a nice warm bed to spend the night?” I tried to pout and bat my eyes at them.

  “You’re enjoying this way too much,” Stephanie said smiling.

  Joseph laughed and Cenewyg just grunted. I looked around, it was dark and we were on the side of a hill, with trees scattered around us. Not too far off I could see a sea of bright lights and hear what I think was music. Definitely a town.

  “Well, let’s get going. I wouldn’t mind some nicer clothing, a good meal, and a place to stay myself.” Cenewyg grumbled and started off down the hill.

  “What’s wrong with him?” I asked Joseph.

  “Look in a mirror first chance you get,” he whispered to me.

  “Hey, now that I’m a woman, can I like, tell you what to do?” I whispered back.

  “Sorry, I know the real you.”

  “Well shucks,” I said and pouted causing him to laugh again.

  The walk to the town took about four hours. I could definitely hear music, and it was pretty good. It kept getting louder as we got closer, I guess there was a big outdoor concert going on someplace as after an hour or two it stopped and then different music started. When that stopped, which was when we finally approached the outskirts of the town, none picked up to replace it. I guessed the show must have ended for the night.

  The town itself was different somehow, but I couldn’t place it. We were in what I guess were the suburbs, there were major streets and side streets and it looked like a lot of small parks at the end of every street. There were some people out, but most seemed to be going home due to the late hour, and there were some cars, but most were vans of some kind or other.

  “Why is everyone singing?” Cenewyg asked.

  “Probably just came from the concert,” I replied. “And they’re not all singing.”

  “What are we going to do for money?” Joseph asked.

  “Find a money changer to convert some of our jewelry to cash obviously,” Cenewyg said.

  “This time of night? Also, haven’t you been paying any attention to the shops we’ve been going by? They all seem to be instrument or music related. I haven’t seen a single bank.”

  “Well that looks like a food store up ahead,” Stephanie said. “Let’s go see what it’s like.”

  We all nodded and followed Stephanie inside.

  “Hello!” The girl by the cash register actually sang the word to us.

  “Hello,” Stephanie replied, singing it as well, which made the girl smile.

  “You all spend the day in the mosh pit?” She asked but didn’t actually sing it to us, but still her voice sounded rather musical.

  “Worse, we had to clean it!” I said grinning and trying to talk in that same musical manner. Surprisingly it was rather easy.

  Stephanie scowled at me, which made me grin. “Actually,” she said, “we were camping out in the hills and got caught in some freak flood. We lost most of our stuff.”

  “Eww,” the cashier said.

  “So know of any place we could pawn a few things?”

  “Got any instruments?”

  Stephanie shook her head, “Just some jewelry and stuff.”

  “Oh well, there’s a pawn store a few blocks over from here. They’re open all night. Go try them.” She said and gave us directions.

  Stephanie and I thanked her and headed out, Cenewyg and Joseph had been browsing the aisle, they followed and we went off to find the pawn shop.

  The pawnshop was interesting; it only had musical instruments, other musical equipment, stage equipment, costumes, and jewelry. I’d never seen a pawn shop that catered only to performers. I wandered around a little while Stephanie dickered with them over the price of some of the necklaces she was trying to pawn; we’d each contributed one.

  I picked up one of the guitars there and checked the tuning, it was a little different from what I had learned back when I was in school, but surprisingly I was still able to find the right chords instantly. I guess that stuff translated with language as well.

  “You know how to play that?” Joseph asked a little surprised.

  I nodded, “It’s actually not much different than back home.” I played a little tune and had to admit I was surprised at how easy it was, it felt like I had been playing for years and I was suddenly able to recall every note of the song.

  “Okay, that’s weird.” I said softly to Joseph. I noticed also that a couple of the guys working the store had looked up curiously.

  “What?”

  “I was never that good and I haven’t played in years, but suddenly it’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”

  "Huh, must have something to do with the way things work here,” he said.

  “Hey, play something!” One of the guys behind the counter said smiling.

  I shrugged and looked at Stephanie who nodded. I put the strap on and decided to play ‘Sunny Afternoon’. I’d played it as a kid in elementary school, and maybe a few times since.

  It was like I’d played it only yesterday and I could remember every single word as well! So I sang the lyrics and played whole song. To be honest, I couldn’t help myself, and the feelings I was getting deep inside were indescribable, things were happening that felt really good. I started to wonder if this was what a woman felt like when she got excited. I’d have to ask Stephanie because I knew nothing about being a girl.r />
  When I finished, I know I was a little flushed and all of the guys in the shop were staring at me. Then they all clapped and I’d swear I must have had an orgasm or something.

  “I’ve never heard that song before, did you write that?” The guy behind the counter said looking rather interested.

  “Umm,” I blushed.

  Stephanie walked up next to me and put an arm around me, I couldn’t help but lean into her male body. “She’s very talented.”

  “You know, I could get you a spot on the play list tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, but we still need to replace the stuff we lost, maybe a few days from now?” Stephanie said.

  “Well ask for Mike when you come back. We don’t get much new talent here in Lionesnesc, we’re just a small group of Sireens after all. But we send enough of our own performers to the big amphitheater down by the coast.”

  “Thanks, I’ll remember that,” Stephanie said.

  “How much for the guitar?” I asked softly.

  “I don’t think....” Stephanie started and I stepped on her foot. She shut up and scowled at me.

  “It’s five hundred.”

  “I’ll give you three and tell everyone where I bought it from.”

  “Deal!” He said and I took off one of the three necklaces I had left and had Stephanie take care of it.

  “We didn’t need that,” she grumbled at me as we left the shop. There was a case to go with it, thankfully, but they had put a big sticker on the side with the shop’s name.

  “I needed it.” I said and smiled up at her. “But I have a sneaking suspicion about this place. Where are we anyways?”

  “I’m not sure; we were supposed to sail by this place, not actually land here.”

  “Can we still get to our next portal?”

  “Yes, but it will take a while. We have a ways to go. I don’t know exactly where the sea is, much less the portal we were aiming for.”

  “Let’s get some food and find a place to sleep,” Joseph said and yawned.

  “Yes, let’s,” Cenewyg agreed.

  I nodded and Stephanie agreed. We returned to the food store, bought a bunch of stuff, and then got directions to a small motel-like place not far away. When Stephanie asked for four rooms I kicked her and said ‘three’ while she scowled at me.

  “What was that for?” She growled. I had to admit she made a pretty good man.

  “I need someone to explain to me how all of this works,” I said and motioned towards my body.”

  “This from the man with two wives.”

  I grabbed her hand and put it on my chest, “Pants feeling tight yet?”

  Stephanie looked down at me and then reached down to ‘rearrange’ that new part of her own anatomy. “Okay, you have a point, but it can wait until morning. First food, then sleep!”

  I agreed with that, so she handed out the keys, then we went and sat down and ate most of the food in the room Stephanie and I were sharing. After that the other two went to their own rooms.

  I hopped into the shower, cleaned up fairly quickly, and took a few minutes to examine my new body in front of the mirror after I was done. That old joke about if a man got tits he’d never leave the house was almost true, but Stephanie interrupted by coming in and showering next.

  Joseph was right; I was stacked and had a nice body and a truly lovely face. I turned to look at Stephanie who was in the shower and unsurprisingly, she was doing a little self examination of her own.

  “Damn, sure feels weird having one of these,” she said and looked up at me.

  I smiled back and felt an almost instinctual response down in my guts again. Naked and in the water like that, she... he was hot, incredibly hot. I’d never been attracted to a man in my life, but suddenly I was. Of course now I was a woman and when I reached down to my crotch I found I was rather damp down there.

  Stephanie saw this and then looked up into my eyes. “Let’s go to bed,” she growled.

  All I could do was smile back, “Yes, lets!”

  She toweled off rather quickly and we spent the next several hours learning all about the opposite sex, only this time it was a first hand experience. I used my knowledge of the male body to drive Stephanie crazy and she used her knowledge of the female body to do the same to me.

  “Wow, that was different,” I said much, much later.

  “Definitely,” Stephanie sighed and pulled me close and gave me a kiss.

  “Do you know how to play any instruments?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “Playing that guitar and singing was an almost orgasmic experience. I’m curious if it will have the same effect on a male.”

  “Well that at least explains why you were leaning into me!” Stephanie laughed.

  I gave a little shrug and pulled the covers up to get warm. “I think this change of sexes isn’t the only thing that is affecting my thinking; I think there are some serious changes to the way people think as well. Music seems to be second nature here, as natural as breathing.”

  “Do you think its part of the laws in this sphere? Or does it come with the natural body of this place?”

  “I don’t know. Can our champion bodies be affected by rules changes?”

  “Normally no, but I’ve never seen a zone where people changed sexes either.”

  I yawned, cuddled, and fell asleep then.

  I was in Fel’s Inn again, wearing my champion form.

  “You do make a pretty cute girl, you know that?” Fel teased.

  I sighed, “How’s Dezba doing?”

  Now it was Fel’s turn to sigh, “No idea. She has a number of realms to pass through before she gets to her god. Until she turns up there I won’t know.”

  “Several realms?” I asked surprised.

  “When you die your spirit travels back via the same portals you travel by. You spend some time in each of them, and that slows things down if there isn’t a direct connection. The place you are all in seems to be an ‘isolated’ segment so to speak. Inside they’re all joined together in a number of different ways, but you have to go through the Ithaca sphere to get to your home world, which appears to be its only connection to the rest of the greater reality. It’s very strange; I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  I shifted uneasily in my chair, “Does that mean Dez is going to have to deal with that vicious god in Ithaca?”

  “Probably not. We know that there is at least one other goddess in that sphere, so as she’s just passing through she should hopefully be able to avoid everything. It’s only when you die in an area that is controlled by a god in another sphere that it becomes an issue. And even if she couldn’t, as her spirit is just passing through her time there would be less than a day.”

  “Sounds complicated.”

  Fel nodded, “It can be.”

  “So why the social call?” I asked curious.

  “Mostly I just wanted to make sure you didn’t feel forgotten, you’re far enough away that the things I can do for you are going to start getting less. I also wanted to make sure you were aware of that.”

  “Which things?”

  “Healing primarily, I won’t be able to send you as much of that, and it’s going to get worse as you get farther away.”

  “Are the others going to be affected the same way?”

  Fel nodded. “Those abilities based on your body shouldn’t be affected, but anything that comes from me will start taking longer to replenish. So use those things carefully.”

  I nodded. “Anything else?”

  “Yes, your wife has been asking to talk to you, so I thought I’d dump you in the middle of her dreams tonight.”

  “You can do that?” I said surprised.

  Fel laughed, “Of course I can! I’m a god, Will.”

  “So how do I...?”

  He pointed to one of the doors. “Just go right through there.”

  “Thanks, Fel!” I said and ran through the door almost immediately.

  Rachel’s dream was interes
ting, and rather enjoyable. We did talk, but we also did a lot of other things as well. For the first time in quite a few weeks, I woke up feeling rather happy.

  Six

  We spent the next day getting clothing and other basic supplies. When we got back to the room, we discovered a few things, the first of which was that Cenewyg would not assume the local form no matter what. Apparently being female was something he refused to do. Joseph was willing to do it, briefly, and during which time he could both sing rather well, and claimed to remember how to play the piano, as well as every song he’d ever heard or seen.

  When he switched back to his champion form however, he lost almost all of that.

  I myself found that in my female local form, I could sing and play quite well. As a champion I could already sing okay, but I could barely play anything. Stephanie exhibited the same as well.

  We had also noticed, because you really couldn’t miss it, that the show at the amphitheater had started. It started fairly early in the morning and it sounded very much like classical. Around noon, it seemed to change more to country or folk of some sort, moving to rock and roll around dinner, and turned to heavy metal as it got later. When I asked someone about the ‘schedule’ they told me that it was pretty standard, and that after the metal show it would go to progressive, which here apparently meant anything not already played during the day.

  “So everything here is based around music,” Stephanie said as we sat around the table in her room, “and as far as I can tell, performers are the first-class citizens, those that support them directly, by either working on the stage or making their instruments, are second class, and everyone else are pretty much serfs.”

  “So any idea where we’re going next?” Cenewyg asked.

  “Nope, not yet.”

  We all looked at her in surprise.

  “None?” Joseph asked shocked.

  “Getting thrown off course as far as we did, got us lost,” Stephanie said looking around at us. “The portal we were supposed to go through was out on the sea. Fortunately Aryanna knew the locations of a few other portals, so we grabbed this one as it was closest.

  “However the next portal is also out to sea, and she doesn’t know of any others. Or even where it is, as we don’t know where we came out in relation to the portal we were supposed to go through.”