by Reed James
I felt so helpless as Ealaín slammed her weapons down at the undulating blob. My hands went to my chest. I didn't have any sort of weapons. I had no way to fight. To help save Theophil's life. What could I do. My body shuddered. The amulet I wore around my neck brushed my hands.
I clutched it, squeezing the gem. All I could do was make illusions. I could paint something, but would that work against the blob? Did it even see? Could I use my dazing spell on him? Would it work on the thing? How did a massive blob of jelly see?
A twinge shivered through me. I had to do something.
~ * ~
Ealaín
My armor glowed brighter as I raised the two weapons of pulsing light. They felt weightless in my hands. What could I do with this armor? I felt it brimming with power. It held potential, but what could I do with it?
Could I save Theophil?
He thrashed inside the formless blog. I raised my weapons and swung hard, crying out. Shadows flashed around me as my weapons blazed brighter. It shed golden light across the blob, illuminating Theophil thrashing inside.
His body dissolved. The thing digested him.
My weapons landed against the blob. They slammed into the gelatinous surface. It rippled and jiggled like a bowl of jelly. I shuddered at the undulations. My skin crawled witnessing it. My weapons rebounded off of the elastic surface. The force made me stumble back.
The surface of the monster flowed suddenly. It gurgled as it moved. I gained my balance, shifting my feet beneath me as a bulge formed before me. It swelled like a bubble rising to the surface of a tar pit. Then it shot out at me, a battering fist of jelly. I swung my hammer, slamming into the protoplasm appendage. It slammed to the side.
My ax swung in at its body again. I shouted with all my might. I felt the power brimming in my armor swell into my weapon. It glowed like the sun. The light arced down at the appendage. I slammed into the narrow tentacle. My blade bit an inch into it. The appendage contorted and contracted. It shot back into the monster.
A gurgling snarl echoed. The entire surface contracted and rippled. Then more bulges formed.
~ * ~
Princess Ava
I grabbed the sobbing Carsina and tugged her away from the doorway, from her poor master trapped in that hideous monster devouring it. Sven's words rang in my mind. He wanted Carsina to protect Aingeal and me. He knew what we would do. That we would be vulnerable.
And he knew that Carsina was unarmed and didn't have any way to fight. He was protecting her, too. I had to get to a safe place so I could sink into the feyhound proxy with Aingeal. We needed the swift movement of the proxy mixed with Aingeal's magical powers.
“No, no, no,” Carsina sobbed as I hauled her away. I gripped the diamond hammer in my other hand. It throbbed and pulsed in my hand. I could feel it reacting to the power flowing through the armor. I could feel my family fighting for their lives.
“CORRUPT MY DAUGHTER!” my father boomed, his voice ringing like a bell.
How was he here so fast? Did that even matter? No.
“In here!” Aingeal shouted. Her pink butterfly wings fluttered as she threw open the door to Carsina's workshop.
“No, no, we have to save him!” Carsina shouted. “It's eating him!”
“We are saving him!” I shouted at her. Did I used to be like her? Panicking during danger? I felt so helpless when the assassin ambushed my family in the Forest of Lhes after they appeared from Faerie. I thought I was weak. That there was nothing I could do.
I'd learned there was always something you could do.
“You need to watch over us,” I added. “Protect me. For Krab.”
“What?” Carsina asked, her blue eyes wide with tears.
I hauled her into the workshop. “I'm going to imbue. My body will be vulnerable. There's monsters around. You need to watch over us.”
“We're trusting you,” Aingeal added, her purple eyes flashing to me then rolled back in her head in exasperation. “Okay?”
“O-okay,” Carsina said, her words tight, hoarse.
I sank to the floor. Aingeal joined me. She grabbed my hand, smiling at me. My proxy pulsed and beckoned. I thrust my soul out at the feyhound, seizing Aingeal's with me. We hurtled together in a bodiless rush. We hurtled through that void.
We filled the vessel. Aingeal and I became one.
~ * ~
Zanyia
I sprang to the right and...
Purred with silent delight at how far I jumped. I hurtled through the air jumping four times as far. It was amazing. The air rushed past my ears. My tail swished behind me while my mane of tawny hair flowed. I landed with grace before one of the monsters. It was a hideous thing, looking like a massive dog. But it buzzed and hummed. Its entire body writhed and twitched.
“You look tasty,” the monster spoke. Its voice didn't come from its muzzle, which didn't move, but like its entire body had spoke, resonating with the same voice.
I shivered as I asked, “Do I? I'm so scrawny. Not much meat on my bones.”
“An appetizer before I enjoy the others,” the monster said, advancing on me.
Annoying anger surged through me. “Ooh, that's so insulting. Appetizer? I am the complete meal!”
The triangular katars formed from the leather wrappings of my armor. The punching daggers thrust from my knuckles, the blade's base thicker than my fist, each narrowing into a sharp point. I smiled at the extensions to my body. I slashed with my new “claws” at the monster.
I sprang beneath its muzzle and struck it in the chest. My blade bit deep into the monster. I cut into its flesh, slashing through it with ease. I purred in delight at the wound I left in the monster, a deep strike to its chest and...
It didn't bleed.
No blood gushed out of the deep wound. Instead, dead insects spilled out to rain on the ground, carapaces and wings severed by my attack. I frowned at that. I looked at the monster and realized... it was a massive blob of insects that had formed into a body, their segmented bodies squished together to fashion the “scales” of its flesh.
“Yes, yes, such a morsel,” the monster said before it exploded apart into a humming swarm of angry insects.
“Las's putrid cum!” I hissed as they surged at me, buzzing with hunger.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Iron Fury
Prince Meinard
Anger boiled inside of me. This foul, loathsome thing touched my step-daughter. He corrupted her purity. He made her into his slut. Shadows trailed after him as he flowed past my attacks. My iron body creaked and groaned. I swung my sword as his shadow rapier prodded my body without effect. He danced around, a fly buzzing around my greatness.
“She is mine.” I snarled, my sword slashing at him.
“Really?” he growled. “Yours? You had to enchant her to make her wet for you.”
“Because you polluted her!” I whirled to track him as he moved around me. I changed directions, slashing at him as he rounded my body.
My sword slashed at his chest. He wouldn't get out of the way this—
“Las's putrid cum!” I snarled as he moved like smoke. His body blurred into black streaks. How did he move so fast? “Las's putrid cum and Illth's poxed boils! Stay still!”
“So you can carve me up?” Sven asked, a sneer to his voice. “Do you think that will make her love you?”
“She would love me if you never stole her from me!”
“Stole her?” He blurred around another sword stroke, his blond hair flowing about his sneering face. His blue eyes glinted with a mocking light. “She came to my bed so willingly. She slid in, so lithe and breathtaking. She ached for it. She was so eager for what I gave her. She gave me everything. She surrendered herself to me with every ounce of her passion. How did she come to your bed?”
I snarled, fury pounding through my soul.
“Right, you cast a spell on her to make her so horny she couldn't think about anything but satiating herself the only way she could.”
“She was
so eager for me!” I growled and thrust my sword.
He stepped aside with ease, his rapier flicking out and poking my iron body, scratching across the surface. Doing nothing to me. He couldn't hurt me. I just had to hit him and his damned black, shadow-bleeding armor. I would cut him in half.
“Right, right, soooooo eager,” he sneered. He paused, staring at me as I raised my weapon. “That's why she fled you. That's why she came to me. She begged me for help. Together, we broke your damned spell. You don't have any hold on your daughter. But I do.
“She's pregnant with my child.”
My iron teeth ground together. The rage built and built in me. My body quivered. I gripped my hilt. Metal scraped on metal as I focused on his hateful, young face. He confused my daughter's young heart, tricked her into thinking he was what she desired.
Not me. Him!
And now he stole my heir. He usurped her womb!
I swung my sword with every ounce of strength I possessed. I slashed it down at him. I would cleave him in twain and have my step-daughter back.
~ * ~
Aingeal
Our souls settled into the feyhound. I quivered, gathering my bearings. Ava controlled the body, but I could feel it. We rose, the wooden, wicker-woven body creaking as it moved. Ava shook us as she settled into control.
“Let's go!” I thought at her. Our souls were almost one in this form, our emotions surging between each other.
“I know,” Ava said. She sprang towards the door. “Little help!”
We were in our room in the Temple of Rithi. Ahead, the wooden door was closed. In the form of the feyhound, that proved a problem. How to open using doorknobs? I knew how. An excited burst shot through me as I reached out to the spirits that dwelled in the room, the abstract representation of magic and energy.
I grabbed the evocation spirits. I gathered them before me. The orange balls of light danced before me. A purple aura sprang about them, channeling them as beam. It slammed into the door. The wood splintered in an explosion a moment before Ava hurtled us into it.
An acolyte gasped in shock, her blonde braids flying as she jumped out of the way as we hurtled down the hallway. Another priestess stood in the way, gaping at us in her pink robes. She pointed at us, her mouth working.
I seized her with more spirits and yanked her out of the way. She let out a squeal as she thumped into the wall. We had to move. We had to go. Ava ran us as fast as she could down the corridor, our wooden feet slapping on the stone.
Shouts rose around us as more priests and priestesses scrambled out of our way. I blew open another door, splinters dancing around us as we leapt through the ruin. Ava controlled our body with ease. She moved it with grace, changing direction to race through the main sanctum, past the great works of art as we howled for the exit. For the daylight.
“Faster! Faster!” Ava shouted. “We need to go faster!”
“Right!” I shouted back, my soul quivering. Those monsters were hideous. I couldn't get the image of poor Theophil writhing in the gelatinous mass out of my mind.
We had to get to him. We had to save him. We had to get to our family.
I grabbed enhancement spirits as we burst into the evening. People screamed. Crowds were running down the street from the direction of the Temple of Krab. The green enhancement spirits surged down at us, striking our body.
Speed burst through us. We hurtled out into the street. Ava roared as we charged into the mass of fleeing people. I sent out abjuration spirits, forming a shield before us, pushing aside the panicked mob. We raced down the street.
We had to get there before it was too late.
~ * ~
Kora Falk
I squeezed my amulet and shouted as Ealaín crashed back from the monster, struck and sent reeling by the undulating tentacles that lashed out from the gelatinous thing. The formless slime gurgled as it raised its appendages and slammed down on my muse. Light burst from her armor. She rolled to the side, almost propelled by energy coming out of her.
I had to distract it. I had to stun it. I plunged my hand into my robe. I needed to power my magic. My fingers plunged into my pussy, gathering my juice as I shouted, “Rithi, paint an image of profound beauty for his appreciation!”
My magic surged out at the formless thing as my hand squeezed tight about my amulet. The power rippled through the air, pulsing through my body. I would daze it with an image of pure beauty. It would stand there in a stupor.
The thing gurgled. It contorted as my magic hit it. Its appendages quivered for a moment. Giving Ealaín a chance to gain her feet. She rose with grace in her glowing armor. She brandished her weapons forged of light. The formless slime rippled. It quivered and shook while poor Theophil died inside of it.
But it kept moving. It recovered. Somehow, it wasn't distracted by beauty. Because... could the thing even see? It had no eyes? How did it sense the world? By just feeling the air vibrations? Or did it just not have the intelligence to appreciate beauty? Was it too mindless for it to work?
I hoped illusions would work. I hoped it could see. If not... I was useless. I couldn't help Ealaín save that poor man.
~ * ~
Ealaín
I was back on my feet, hacking, slashing, doing nothing to help the poor man dying in there. Such a welter of frustration surged through me as my hammer and ax landed with no effect. It was like striking water. The formless blob absorbed my impacts but I didn't do anything to it. I couldn't cut it. Whatever little mars to the surface my ax left melted away the moment I pulled back.
My heart sank. I couldn't save Theophil. He didn't thrash inside anymore. He was drowning and dissolving. He was dead. Failure pierced my heart with cold heat. I groaned as around me, other battles raged.
Greta fought an emaciated bear-thing, sweeping waves of water at it from her sword, the young girl backing away, out of her depth. She had magical armor, but she didn't know how to fight. Flames crackled as Nathalie battled a segmented centipede abomination that scuttled across the ground in the corner, snapping at her with sharp jaws while Sven danced around Prince Meinard's swings. Insects buzzed, a swarm chasing Zanyia as she bounded along the perimeter.
I felt so useless. I couldn't help Greta as she shrieked and threw another panicked wave of water before her with a wild swing of her sword. The ooze lashed out with its appendages again, recovered from Kora's spell. I battered down the plunging limbs, driving them back. They melted into its body only to reform and fire out at me from other directions. Its beige form crept at me.
I felt it... hungering for me. It wanted to wrap about me and dissolve me.
“Damn your creator!” I howled. “I hope Dauthaz punishes Biomancer Vebrin's soul with razors and hooks!”
It quivered and gurgled, “Amulet. Amulet. Father!”
I shuddered at the words as it oozed towards me. It reared up, arms reaching, lashing out at me and... No, at Kora. It wanted my radiant. She had the phylactery. This thing must have spotted it about her neck.
“Rithi's inspiring art!” I cursed as I knocked back another appendage. Its creeping progress forced me to retreat. The thing could just swallow me with its bulk. “Kora! It's after you! Run!”
The creature burbled and then surged forward at me.
~ * ~
Sven Falk
Prince Meinard swung with reckless rage. I felt the passage of his iron sword. Lights burst from Ealaín. Fires crackled from Nathalie. All I could do was dodge and flow around Prince Meinard. I couldn't hurt him.
So, I needed to immobilize him. Somehow.
I had to lure him out of here. The wild swings of his sword hissed through the air. Other fights raged. My women danced and fought the Biomancer's foul creations. The quarters were growing too tight. I couldn't defeat the bastard in here, and if I stayed, his brutal attacks might harm one of my wives.
He wouldn't steal another person I loved from me.
I retreated for the battered open doors of the temple. Prince Meinard cha
sed me, his metallic face brimming with fury. His body groaned and creaked as he swung. Every step was heavy. His body must way a hundred stone or more. So much weight. Could I use that? Could I lure him somewhere that would collapse?
“She! Is! Mine!” howled the berserk prince. “MINE!”
“Then why did she cum so hard on my cock while begging me to breed her?” I asked, grinning at him before I flowed back a few feet towards the door.
Shadows danced at my feet. They writhed and undulated. I seized them. My armor let me do such interesting things. I remembered fighting the assassin. He used shadows effectively. To blind. To distract.
Could I do the same?
I'd find out.
“Her pussy milked my cock for all my seed,” I taunted. “She worshiped me with her body.”
“She WORSHIPED me!” he bellowed, his voice ringing like a mighty bell.
“Did she? Or did she just submit to your lusts to spy on you?” I asked. “Did she play the dutiful daughter because she was feeding me information about your patrols? Your activities?
“Your lodestone?”
He quivered for a moment.
“That's right. I destroyed your army. Your ambition. I stole it all away with her help. When your daughter rules Kivoneth after you're dead, I'll be standing at her side!”
I backed out of the temple as he charged after me.
~ * ~
Prince Meinard
Shadows danced and swirled about the thieving bastard. A rage I hadn't felt since my wife's death filled me. That impotent fury that compelled me to curse the gods and turn my back on them, to forge my own path to conquest.
Never would he rule my kingdom. Ava was mine. She was my sweetling. He bewitched her. Befuddled her innocent mind. No wonder she was so skilled at sucking cock and so eager to take my dick in her asshole. She was corrupted by him. He stole her virginity. Her purity. He turned my step-daughter into a whore.