“How much?”

“Like I said.  Two silver.  Flat.  And that’s for one of the males,” the surly-looking man returned, folding his massive, yellow arms irritably.  I still did not know what his species was called, but at least this one was not another Bandit.  “Wha’dja expect when a Mouth swallers a whole bloody lake?  We ain’t got no fish nor the fisherfolk left to catch ‘em, and there ain’t many with the skills to trap the kinda monsters what you can eat.”

I sighed tiredly and moved to scratch at my regrowing beard… only to be met with the bandanna tied over my face.  With Ahnbe’s gift, the few Layers I had managed to obtain within the Dungeon had already pushed my Charisma to dangerously high levels, and I had slept since then.

It was 19, now.  One point from twenty… and hopefully another clue as to its role in my ability to use the Words.

Which I would be putting off until we skipped town.  As it was, I had already been forced to cover myself from head to toe.  There had been a few women—particularly amongst the laoi—to react a tad forcefully at the sight of me.  But with my face covering and wizard’s ensemble, I had thus far managed to avoid attracting any more stalkers.

Self-conscious, I smoothed my mask and glanced around, but I could detect no sign of rabid fans or followers.  I knew at least two of them would be out here somewhere.  We had heard rumors of an impromptu arena springing up, and Jax had been beside herself at the prospect of finding it.  Meanwhile, Lynnria had spent almost every waking hour since our escape seeking any mention of her missing grandfather.  So I had taken the initiative for a little outing of my own.

“Fine…” I groaned, fishing a pair of coins from my purse.  “I’ll take the black one there.”

The man nodded curtly as he reached for the cage in question.  “You’re sure you wouldn’t rather have one of the females?  Even the scrawniest one will lay a pretty good-sized egg every third-day.  Not enough to keep the hunger off ya, but it’ll keep you alive through the winter.”

A gust of wind blew in a light sprinkling of snow to punctuate his words, making me glad of my heavy robe for more than just its subdued color.

“Better yet,” he continued.  “Buy the pair!  Wouldn’t take long before they’s mated up.  By spring, you could have—”

“Not necessary,” I said quickly, forestalling him.  “I’m not buying it for the meat.”

The giant looked me up and down like I was not quite all there.  “Whatever you say, pal.  It’s your money.”

I just grunted as I accepted the cage and its furry denizen.  There was no use in trying to explain.  That would just make things worse.  But then, you had to expect to skeeve out the occasional shopkeeper when you were a wizard.

Turning, I began to retrace my steps but hesitated on discovering Lynnria nudging up along the edges of my senses.  It would not do to be discovered out on my own.  Not when I had promised not to leave the inn, but a man can only take so much.  So, I ducked behind a row of tents, keeping out of sight until her presence faded.

“Why did you buy the black one?” Mia griped as I scanned the lane for shocks of purple hair.  “The one with the polka dots was so much cuter.”

“Because he was charging almost two gold for it!” I hissed under my breath.  “Champion egg-layer, my ass.”

“You wouldn’t have needed to pay anything if you’d just taken one of those women who kept following you.”

“Out of the question!” I said just a little too loud, then straightened guiltily at the startled looks I received.  Clearing my throat, I stepped back onto the road—more a beaten down strip of semi-frozen mud and grass than anything—and resumed my journey with a nonchalant swagger.  “Bad enough I had to leave them lying there,” I continued under my breath, “but we both know what would have happened if I’d healed them.”

“Of course.  Such is your power, my lord,” Mia agreed reverently.

I rolled my eyes.  “Where was that subservient attitude when I was pleading for you guys to stop beating them bloody?  Jax almost went for a brick the last time!”

Mia had not actually participated in the physical sense, of course, but that had not stopped her from viciously cheering the rest on.  A couple of people sent horrified glances my way, and I hurried my steps past.  

“How else were we to persuade them they held no place within the hierarchy?” Mia replied, fighting back an inappropriate moan.  “Besides, they had designs on your person.  Be grateful we agreed not to discuss it in front of Xyn.”

I grunted.  The less said about that, the better.  Unfortunately, it was a problem looming larger with my every step.

As I rounded the final corner toward the inn, I had little choice but to marvel at the only building left of Raialie.  It had sustained some damage along the edges, and the roof was in serious need of repair.  However, Tips had somehow managed to keep the thing pretty much intact through his stint within the Dungeon and come out the other side with it… the details of which had been changed and embellished so often already, I doubted any clear picture would ever emerge.

But for all his love of spinning yarns, he was at least the sort to honor his agreements.  We had paid for a week prior to this whole debacle, and we would be receiving it.  Never mind the current value of a room… which was disgusting.

With some relief, I pushed into the common room and took a moment to absorb both the wave of heat and the noise that came with it.  The Leg was close to the only game in town for hot meals, and the only place featuring both an escape from the cold and a dining area.  So it was completely packed.

“An Average?  Per day?!” a woman’s voice yelled loud enough to be heard even over this crowd, but hardly anyone bothered to look.  It was a common enough refrain.  “Have you lost your mind, Pimar?”

I just grunted irritably and began threading my way through the tables, clutching my cargo to one side so as not to jostle anyone… and hopefully escape the bartender’s notice.

“Eithne, I’ve only got the twenty-five rooms, and that’s counting the kitchen.  Even at those prices, I’m triple-booked for the next three months—oh, Donum!  Master Donum!”

I deflated.  Damn.

“Tips, for the last time…”

“No, I know, sir.”  Tips began wringing his flabby hands apprehensively as I approached, especially once he caught sight of what I was carrying.  “It’s just that… well, the price you payed was only for the three people, you know.  A-and I’ve had a few… complaints.”

I quirked an eyebrow.  “Are you asking for more money?”

Tips’ fat rolls wobbled in indignation.  “Of course not!  It’s just… well, I don’t exactly have a lot of help right now, and keeping tempers in check isn’t so easy for a tired, old Quester like me.  Perhaps if you were to… reconsider letting one or two people bunk with you, it might help smooth things over.”  He eyed the cage again anxiously.  “And quash some of the rumormongering.  I could even split the uh… th-the uh,” his lip twitched as though unwilling to let the rest go, “the prof-profit.”

My second eyebrow joined the first.  Not that his argument was all that persuasive.  That ‘tired and old’ bit was not fooling me for a second.  Still, to offer a split of the Gems?  That was the kind of thing to make a person sit up and take notice.  Even me.

Especially me.  With the way my Clan kept growing, we had actually accrued a deficit of Gems from our recent Dungeon experience, forcing us to live off our savings from the previous run.  But I could at least console myself with the table scraps Lynnria had snatched up on our way out.  Otherwise, the only things we would have to show for our efforts would have been her wand and the Word that had necessarily drilled itself into our brains on the way out.

‘Be,’ as it happened.  Which, for a self-styled wizard like me, was worth far more than any amount of monetary gain.  It was pretty much the language equivalent of an equals-sign.

However, before I could be tempted any further, the noise from the crowd died down just enough for me to become aware of an erratic thumping and scraping coming from overhead.

Make that three things… damn it.  What is she getting up to now?

“I’ll think about it, Tips,” I promised in that universal code for probably not and began edging toward the stairs.  “But I’ll have to okay it with my uh… wives.  You understand.”

Some of the blue drained from the man’s face.  “Right…  Of course.  Please send my apologies to Jax.  Adja isn’t normally that sort of girl.”

I resisted the urge to scowl.  Neither of us needed a reminder of that incident.  That poor waitress…

“Now wait a minute,” the woman cut in, chasing after me.  “I’m one of the few guards this town has left, and I’ll be damned if I have to spend one more night out in that weather.  If you have room, I demand a—”

For a brief moment, our eyes met and she shuddered to a halt.  I had met this person somewhere, I realized.  But with her hair all matted down from the helmet now tucked under her arm, I was having a hard time placing her.  What had Tips called her?  Eithne?  Why did that sound familiar?

However, before I could connect the name to its face, the woman abruptly dropped to one knee.  “Forgive me, my lord!  I had no idea it was you.”

My scowl deepened.  Oh, what fresh hell is this?!

I had been trying to avoid attention.  The last thing I needed was for rumors of a town guard kneeling before a masked man in a funny hat to circulate back to Jax.  And from the stares I was beginning to collect, that seemed likely.

“That’s… quite alright,” I replied uncomfortably as another solid thump resounded from the floor above.  “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

I paused just long enough to stare down the crowd—and grok the contemplative frown I was getting from Tips—before twirling on a heel and marching stiffly up the stairs.  It seemed the universe was conspiring to make me into some sort of noble no matter what I did.

“Care to explain what that was all about?” I said under my breath, hastening my steps once I was safely out of sight.

“Hnn~?  I wouldn’t want to presume,” Mia moaned evasively.  “Though, I believe your First might have some idea.  The dreams of kind are rather… weak.  Are they not?”

“The sweaty hell is—no, you know what?  Never mind.”  Trying to drag a proper explanation out of Mia was like pulling teeth.  I would have to ask Jax about it the next time I saw her.  “Xyn is awake.  I just hope she hasn’t managed to work her way loose.”

“That is a possibility,” Mia replied.  “I cannot access Arx’s mind at the moment.”

“Fantastic,” I muttered as I came to the flight above then scurried down the hall like I was about to wet myself.  She had barely been alive a day, and now I had to worry about her getting shanked in her sleep by a deranged psychopath?  “I swear.  You sneak out for three minutes…”

However, when I came to my door, I saw no signs of tampering or damage.  It was even still locked.  Cautious, I pressed my ear to the wood, but the noise from earlier had gone silent.  So I eased my key into the slot and turned it as quietly as I could manage.

Not quietly enough, though.

“Mmmph!”  The muffled shout was accompanied by a clanking rattle and the scraping of wood against wood.  “Gmphn bphud!  Gephn he n phug me!”

Groaning, half in relief and half in despair, I pushed through the door, cautiously eying our ‘guest’ to make sure I was not in for any undue surprises.  The chains were still intact… though the bedposts looked to be splintering from the strain.  And the bed was now in the center of the room instead of where I had left it by the wall.

“Looks like you’ve been busy,” I said conversationally before setting the cage on a nearby dresser.

Xyn’s eye widened on seeing what it contained, and she began to growl.  The little rabbit-thing ignored her.  It seemed content to chew its bone.

With a sigh, I set my hat over top of it and began untying my bandanna.  “I would appreciate it if you could keep it down.  They can hear you downstairs, you know.  The last thing I need is another incident.  And with the economy the way it is, I don’t even want to think of the price of replacing that bed.”

Xyn replied with a lot of muffled shouting.  However, from her expression—and the way she kept thrusting her hips at me—it was pretty easy to get the gist of it.  I’m definitely going to have to replace those sheets…

“You should try to go back to sleep,” I advised, rounding the bed to where Arx was huddled on the floor.

A quick examination showed that she was perfectly fine.  The poor thing had been on guard duty from pretty much the moment she revived, and once Xyn had finally passed into her own fitful and unfortunately-brief slumber, exhaustion had come knocking.  Which had given me the opportunity for some much-needed fresh air.

However, the sheer amount of Gem-power Arx still had saved up had slipped my mind.  I blamed the stress.

Torpor, huh?  Well, that explains that.

I turned to Xyn once more.  “I don’t have anything that really helps with Lust.  You’re just going to have to ride it out.”

She started in with another bout of shouting, but I quickly held up one hand.

“Now, now.  That’s enough of that.”  Coming around to the foot of the bed, I began maneuvering it to where it belonged by the wall.  “We both know it won’t really help you, but I’ll do it.  Only if you promise to keep quiet, though.”

Her expression instantly turned to gratitude and she nodded hastily.

“Good.  And if you try to breathe fire on me again, I really will make you suffer through the rest.  I won’t even let the girls play with you.”

She shook her head in quick denial and again thrust her hips toward me.  I had to admit, she really was quite the specimen.  Blonde hair.  Blue eye.  Bounteous… assets.  And the cleft between her legs was positively glistening.  

I could smell it, too.  In fact, the room was so awash with the aroma of caramel, I was surprised the only complaints had been about the noise.  But as usual, that seemed to be something only I was aware of.

For the rest, she was close to fully recovered from our recent battle.  All that remained of the gaping axe wound was a fading line of pink, and the bruising along her face was long gone.  Even her hair had completely grown back… which was quite impressive as healing abilities went.  My own might have been faster, but it was far less thorough.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I pressed my knuckle between her legs and patiently allowed her to pleasure herself against it—while studiously recalling D&D spell-tables.

“Mphma?” she asked.

I shook my head and tugged the gag from her mouth.  “What?”

“You like that?” she said again, rolling her hips.  “I know I do.”

“It’s… not the worst thing,” I admitted.

Her eye flashed eagerly.  “You could do more… please do more.  I want it.  I want it so bad.”  Her back arched uncontrollably for a moment, sending her ‘assets’ pleasantly skyward.  “Mother above… I’m so horny, I could die.”

“I know the feeling,” I replied, chuckling gently.  “But no, thank you.  Tempting as it is, that wouldn’t be appropriate.  You aren’t in your right mind right now.  And for all I know, that thing could be rigged with explosives.”

“Oh, it’ll rock your world alright,” she said, from her expression, teasingly.  However, I was fully prepared to take her at her word.  If there was one thing I had learned from my recent adventures, Faen could say little and mean a lot.  I was just going to have to satisfy myself with the sensation of her slipping over my knuckle.

…when grease appears, each character standing in its area of effect must succeed a Dexterity saving throw or…

I shook my head.  Let’s skip over that one.

“How did you lose your eye?” I asked, trying to navigate toward safer waters.  But my own question brought me up short.  “Actually, hold on.  Didn’t you say you were only recently enrobed?  Why would your brand-new body—?”

“—be missing one?” she filled in, pausing her self-pleasure to grin mischievously.  “Because it isn’t, of course.  One eye belongs to me.  And the other…”

A chill of premonition rolled up my spine, and I surged forward.  But it was too late.  She had already scrubbed her face against the pillow, disturbing the patch and revealing what laid beneath.  A perfectly healthy—and totally black—eye.

“…belongs to me,” she finished.  Except it was no longer Xyn’s voice.  It was Hers.

With supernatural strength, she jerked her hand loose of the chain to wrap about my throat almost before the sound of the bedpost giving way could reverberate through the room.  The next instant, my back crashed to the far wall.

“Hello… sweetums!” Xhinn snarled into my face, becoming taller with every passing second.

Actually, all of her was steadily growing larger, as though Her power could not quite be contained within so tiny a vessel.  And I do mean all of her.  Even her hair was starting to grow out, but black at the roots.  Yet for all of that, her presence remained relatively insignificant.

“Hiya, Xhinn.  Have fun playing with your sis—tut!”

She squeezed my windpipe like an overripe banana, closing off the rest of my glib reply.

“No,” she hissed.  “I did not.  Have you ever had a tentacle shoved so deeply into your ear that it tickled your brain?”

“Ahn—beck!”  Her eyes flashed in warning, and I had to slap at her wrist a few times before she would allow me the breath to speak again.  “Your… sister… gave you a wet willy?”

She snorted.  “I wasn’t aware the practice had a name.  Perhaps you would like to experience a sample before I—”

A timid knock sounded at the door, interrupting her.

“Master Donum?” Tips’ muffled voice called.  “I heard a crash.  Is everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine,” Xhinn said in my stead.  And in my own voice.  Which was beyond strange coming from such a feminine throat.  “We’re just experimenting with a some rough foreplay.  Nothing to worry about.”

My eyes goggled, but Xhinn only smiled, well-pleased to have caused me some discomfiture.

“Ah…” Tips replied, clearly embarrassed.  “Well, then.  I’ll just… leave you to it, then.  Though, might I ask that you try to keep it down?”

Xhinn’s smile turned devilish.  “I’ll do my best to muffle their screams…”

A loud sigh filtered through the thickness of the door.  “See that you do.”  Then, as his footsteps receded, “…have to start charging a deposit.”

Xhinn waited several seconds before allowing me to speak again.

“Was that really necessary?”

“Far less than you deserve,” she replied.  “Now where was I?”

“Ripping my soul out?”

“Ah, yes.  Now, hold still.  This will hurt, but death will come quickly.”  She pointed the claws of her free hand toward my chest.  “Try not to scream too much.  I did promise the innkeeper…”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Good.  Now—”  She paused, then glanced up at me once more.  “You’re taking this rather well.  Mortals are usually at least a little upset when facing their demise.”

“Oh, I would be,” I assured her, “if you planned on actually going through with it.”

A long moment passed while we stared at one another.

“Presumptuous,” she said finally.  “But you have my attention.  Elaborate.”

I took a breath.  “Well, first off, we aren’t exactly alone.”

She followed my gaze toward the seemingly-innocent leporine in its cage, which had paused its gnawing to stare at us.  “Is that the reason you bought that?” she asked dismissively—but with a noticeable stiffness.  “She cannot see through every monster’s eyes at once, you know.  And even if she could, what of it?”

“Because you lost.”

Her attention snapped back to me.  “Now that’s a bold claim.”

“Hardly.  The Demon Queen versus the Mother of Monsters?  In a direct confrontation?  Not a chance.  You’re a tactician, not some musclehead.  Unless you had some hidden tricks up your sleeve…?”

Her face remained impassive.  Which was conspicuously not the gloating one would expect had she come out ahead.

“I thought not,” I said with growing confidence.  “And besides, people on the receiving end of wet willies are not usually considered the victor.”

She huffed loudly.  But she did finally let me go in favor of restlessly pacing about the room, taking the fragments of the chains still attached to her ankles with her.  “Not a musclehead?  A tactician?  I would very much like to know how you arrived at that conclusion.”

I could only shrug.  “You’re the Lady of the Dungeon, aren’t you?  You’re a crafter of riddles.  Puzzles.  You’re an artist.  Punching people in the face just isn’t your style.  In fact… I wouldn’t be surprised if you had everything planned down to this very moment.  Including your own loss.  Why else would you implant yourself within your own lilim’s eye?”

She favored me with a bit of smirk in passing.  “What a lot of wild speculation.  You never had a prayer of defeating her, and you know it.  It was only by sheerest fluke that you survived.”

I folded my arms and began shadowing her steps around the room.  “Oh, it was no fluke.  You were the one to craft her body, after all.  Do you really expect me to believe you left her vulnerable to Lust by accident?  She can’t even burn it off!”

“You know my limitations perfectly well,” she shot back.  “I must leave vulnerabilities.”

“Sure, when you’re playing by the rules.”

“I’m able to skirt the Purpose now?  What other grand fantasies would you like to regale me with?”

“Oh, I think we left that behind when you decided to personally lift your hand against me.  Mia even said it, unless you forgot.  ‘This is forbidden.’”

“Bline, you mean,” she snarled.

“Merely a fragment, my once and future sister,” Mia said, speaking up for the first time.  “She tried to deny what must be.  Thus am I.”

“What must—?”  Xhinn paused in her increasingly agitated pacing just long enough to frown.  “I?  No part of the Fourth would ever refer to herself as ‘I.’”

“Your guess is as good as mine.  She’s as bad as you sometimes with her riddles.  But she dropped all that ‘we’ stuff when she became Faen,” I provided, moving to the window.  There was only about a finger-width of sunlight left.  I needed to wrap this up before the girls got back.  There was no telling what Xhinn might do if they were to interrupt us.  “Or so she claims.”

“You don’t believe her?” Xhinn addressed my back.

“I’ve learned not to take things at face value,” I said, turning.  “Whatever she is, she isn’t Bline anymore.  That’s certain.  Even down to her personality.”

“Fine.”  Xhinn folded her arms beneath her breasts and advanced on me once more.  “Let’s say I did leave that vulnerability on purpose.  Let’s say I intended for you to defeat my Xyn the whole time.  How could I have known you would then kidnap her?  How could I have known you would bring her to the mortal world?  Answer me that.”

“Because it was your own suggestion,” I answered easily.  “I was supposed to be your eyes to the outside world.  Your own words.  If I had any hope of ever making things right, how could I do less than find… at least one to replace them?  Though, I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so literal.”

A gorgeous eyebrow lifted in incredulity.  “Glad to have left you with at least a few surprises.  So then, master detective… I suppose the game is up.  I have lost.  You win.  What now?”

I shrugged.  “Whatever you want.  I can’t exactly stand in your way.”

She smiled prettily and twirled one foot.  “Stand in my way?  Whatever do you mean?  What do you imagine I will do with my newfound freedom?”

“What you’ve been doing this whole time,” I replied, folding my arms and leaning casually against the window frame.  “Trying to get into my pants.”

She froze with her back to me.  I had her undivided attention now.

“I beg your pardon?”

“There’s no use in playing coy.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned since coming here, its how to tell when a woman is flirting with me.”

Also, Jax had been quite insistent.

She turned just enough to watch me from the corner of her eye.  “Flirting?  Funny.  I thought I was trying to kill you.”

“Only once you thought you had lost me.”

Her eyes flashed dangerously.  “You presume much.”

“Not at all.  I know you Xhinn.”  I pushed off the window to advance on her slowly.  “Through your works if nothing else, and I’m not talking about the Dungeon.  I’m talking about your other creations.  The ones you had complete control over.  With no grand Purpose to guide your actions.  My lilim.  It was you whispering in their ears.  You were the one stoking the fires inside them… and living vicariously through them.”

She visibly shrank at that.  In the literal sense.

“That’s just how lilim are,” she tried deflecting.

“You mean, that’s just how you are.  They are fragments of your own soul, after all.”

She whirled.  “No, they’re fragments of yours.  You made sure of that when you cast me out!”

“I had nothing to do with that.”

“So you claim!”

And that was when was when Arx sat up.

“We have met the Boundary,” she announced… to no one in particular.  And scaring me half to death.  She was just staring straight ahead of her, every bit as unblinking and zombie-like as Jax had been.

“Well,” I muttered after I had managed to swallow my heart back down.  “That’s… convenient.”

Truthfully, I had lost track of Arx’s Layers somewhere along the way, so I had not anticipated her coming up on the Boundary like this.  Especially when the very person who most needed to see it was standing right in front of me.

Xhinn cast a suspicious glance toward me before stalking around the ruins of the bed frame.  “’Convenient’ is not the word I would have chosen.”

“Go easy on her,” I said, taking a few moments to recount the last time this had happened for her benefit.  “She’s not exactly conscious right now.”

She snapped her fingers a few times in front of Arx’s face.  “Hmph.  The way you talk, you’d think I was about to rip her head off.”

“You did exactly that less than two days ago!” I said hotly.

Or Xyn had.  But it amounted to the same thing.

“Then we agree, I should have no reason to do it a second time.”  She turned just enough to fix me with a glare.  “Or have I misinterpreted your words?”

I sighed, casting a brief look at our apparently indifferent witness, but the little monster seemed to be dozing off.  “I’m… just trying to keep everyone happy here.”

“But you did not turn from me,” she persisted.  “You took no hand in severing our bond.  You swore no oaths.  You’re certain?”

“No one’s asked for an oath,” I returned.  “Ahnbe just staked her claim and sent me on my way.  But all She wanted was for me to improve myself so that we could…” I meshed my fingers together awkwardly, “get to know each other.  I didn’t find out about this ‘Chosen’ business until later.”

Xhinn’s glare sharpened.  “And Bline?”

“Technically, we did strike a sort of bargain.  She wanted to be able to ask me whatever questions she wanted—which all seemed really important to Her, but it was just a lot of inconsequential nonsense.  And in return, she said she would help guide me toward immortality.  But then she—”  

I paused.  Whatever it was that had happened with the Lady of Power, I certainly did not want a repeat of it when I was just starting to make some progress with her sister.  So I decided to leave out that particular detail.

“Well, the short of it is, she freaked out on me, shoved this Faen in my head, then disappeared.  Neither one mentioned you at all.  I didn’t even know your name at that point.”

Xhinn grimaced prettily.  But then every face she made drew me to her like a magnet.  “A rare miscalculation on my part.  I had thought I would have more time to play with you before the others became a problem.  Still, to grant such boons with no oaths behind them?  That is surpassing strange.  And now this…?”

She gestured to the oblivious Arx.  

“Disappeared, you said?  Seems fairly obvious where she has gone.  Come out of there, Bline.  You’re the only one pretentious enough to refer to herself as ‘we.’”

“Pretentious, indeed!” Mia replied in a huff.  “You know perfectly well the reason behind it.  And I’m still over here, I’ll have you know.  I’ve been completely locked out of her mind.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not the rest of you.”  

Xhinn hauled Arx to her feet roughly, giving me the chance to look her over.  She was completely naked, of course.  Her hated pimp-jacket had been discarded almost the instant she had reformed, and it had remained in a pile with the rest of her clothes ever since.

As usual, it was hard to pinpoint exactly what had changed since her last Layer.  Her hair was perhaps a touch thicker and glowed with a healthy shine.  Her breasts were a tad fuller.  Her horns and tail, just that slightest bit longer.  In short, completely beautiful in every sense of the word.  

She paled next to Xhinn, of course.  Though… not so much as she probably should have.  However this manifestation worked, it seemed to restrict the Demon Queen’s presence dramatically.

“Answer me, thief!  What have you done to my children?”

I stared.  “Children?!”

“You house my soul.  Thus you are my child,” she explained quickly, not bothering to meet my eyes.  “Now, hush.  Mommy’s talking.”

I opened my mouth to argue anyway.  She had been ready to kill me not five minutes ago, and now this?  Why I had to be the chew-toy for a bunch of nutbag goddesses was beyond me.

Regardless, if this woman thought I was going to go along with whatever Oedipus-related fantasies she harbored, she had another thing coming!  Assuming I had a choice…

My mouth snapped closed in irritation.

However, Arx did not respond to the provocation in the slightest.  Her head just wobbled a bit from the shaking.  “We have met the Boundary,” she said again.

“And we heard you the first time,” Xhinn said impatiently.  “Don’t pretend you cannot—oh, why do I bother?”

Exasperated, she pointed a finger at Arx’s forehead and began to utter some sort of spell… which seemed to draw some of the black hair she had sprouted back into her scalp.  But it did finally provoke a response.  Of a kind.

My second turned her shark-like eyes toward Xhinn, though her focus was still about a thousand paces beyond anything in the room.   “Access denied.  Non-adjunct to local expansion point.  Pith connection required.”

Xhinn glared daggers at the walking coma patient before turning to me, but I could only shrug.

“Did you forget your password?”

“Save your glib.  Explain this, Faen.  I can hear you smirking from here.”

“I am not smirking,” she retorted.  “I am simply a proud servant of my lord.  Which you are not.  Yet.”

“Mia, please don’t antagonize the nice goddess,” I said through my teeth.

However, Xhinn waved me off.  “No matter.  Her meaning is clear enough.”

“You understood that?”  Then, I gestured to Arx.  “And that?”

“Not all.  But from her phrasing, she seems to have connected to…”  She glanced at me.  “…something old.”

“The Watcher?” I hazarded.

But Xhinn shook her head.  “Father never speaks to us.”

“Didn’t you say he gave me to you as a gift?” I asked, frowning.

Xhinn hesitated.  “…indirectly.  But never mind that.  Whatever has seized our child’s mind will not allow me to make requests until I reestablish myself within your Pith.  Which is nonsense.  That model was phased out over a hundred-thousand years ago.  I can only assume it’s referring to your Core.”

Hold on.  If Arx is our child… and I’m also her child.  I had to grimace.  There was way too much implied incest going on for my comfort.

“Phased out?” I asked instead.  “What?  Was there a flaw in the design?”

She chuckled.  “There have been many, and I’m sure we will discover many more.  The path to our Purpose has yet to be laid.”

Noted.

“Choose the paths,” Arx echoed distantly, almost as if our conversation had reminded her there was something she was supposed to be doing.  “The first is that of form.  We are Dolilim.  To deepen the bond, we must grow.  Choose.”

I nodded along to the familiar refrain.  “This is similar to what happened before.  The bond stuff is new, though.  Jax never mentioned that.”

“And you used the opportunity to grow them tails?”

“Not on purpose,” I replied saltily.  “Whatever is controlling her can read minds.  Besides, don’t think I didn’t notice the little addition you’ve tacked onto yourself.”

“Oh?” she returned, feigning innocence… though the topic of our discussion had begun teasing the hem of my robe.  “Now why would I specifically design the lilim I meant for you to abduct with something like that?  I wonder…?”

I rolled my eyes.  “Tails aren’t all that special.”

“Really?  What if I do this?”

So saying, she spun on her heel and began waving her reptilian appendage back and forth, subsequently setting her glorious backside to wobbling with its every pass.

Fuck me…

“That has yet to be decided,” she said, just as smug as could be, before glancing once more toward Arx.  “Now, let’s see.  What to do with you…?  Improved eyesight?  Better reflexes?  Perhaps we could even—”

“Wait, just like that?” I interrupted.  “Don’t you want to know what this is?”

“The what has already been revealed,” she returned.  “It’s the why and how that need answering, and for that, I will need to investigate on my own.  And I will.  Have no fear of that.  I don’t like others mucking about with my toys.”

“I’ve noticed,” I said dryly.

She patted my cheek patronizingly.  “You enjoy it.  Don’t forget, this body can feel your every emotion.  You crave the scent of my loins.  Your hands ache to fill with my breasts.  With every passing moment, the desire to plunge the meat between your legs grows within—”

“That’s enough of that,” I said stiffly, quite aware of all of those things.

“I will say when it is enough,” she growled, then instantly shifted to a flirtatious purr.  “Besides, I thought you wanted me in your pants.”

“That is not what I said.”

“It amounts to the same.  Else why mention it?”  She began stalking toward me.  “Do you know… you have quite the interesting scent yourself.”

I swallowed.  Uh oh…

“Wow, is it ever getting hot in here.  Let me just get the window…” I suggested as I tried moving around her, but she effortlessly pushed me to the wall.

“Do you know… I still think about that kiss sometimes,” she whispered, pressing her softness against me.

“Kiss?” I said, trying to look anywhere but at her.

“Under the Eye?”  She looked at me searchingly.

I was about to ask what she was on about, but something about it stirred a faint memory.  And not a pleasant one.

Her eyes narrowed, and with how close she was, it was impossible to miss the contrast between the black and the blue.  “So you do remember.”

“Not… exactly,” I said hesitantly.  “Look, you really shouldn’t stand so close to me.  There’s something about my scent that—”

“Don’t change the subject!  That kiss…  it meant more to me than you can imagine.  I was devastated at the idea that you had betrayed me.  That you might not remember me at all?”

I licked my lips.  “Devastated?  I thought I was just a—no, never mind that.  I’m being serious here.  Your sisters completely flipped out when they caught a whiff of me.  Bline especially.”

“And you would seek to protect me from it?”  She chuckled throatily.  “How sweet.  But you needn’t worry your pretty head about such things, my Donum.  It’s only my Father they smell on you.  You bear his Mark, after all.  I scented Him the moment our lips first crossed.  How do you think I knew it was He that gifted you?”

Before I could stop her—not that I could have anyway—she buried her nose into my chest and inhaled deeply.  “Mmm~  Even after so long, that scent… I almost want to cry.  Exquisite.  Absolutely—”

Suddenly, her hand crashed against—and nearly through—the wall, knocking some dust loose from the ceiling.  Her expression had gone totally flat.

“…and there it is.”

“Uh… okay,” I said into the growing silence.  “Let’s all try to remain nice and cal—”

“Choose,” the distant voice controlling Arx reminded me.

I shot her a look.  Not now!

Some unreadable emotion flickered across Xhinn’s face.  Whatever it was, I could tell her prodigious mind was absolutely racing.

“—n-nice and calm.  There’s an awful lot of innocent people down—”

Abruptly, the door slammed open, but it was not the face of the exasperated innkeeper I had been expecting that stumbled through.  

“Donum!” Lynnria shouted excitedly.  “Jax found the arena!  You have to come and—”  Her eyes widened in horror as she took in the scene and instantly went for her wand.

“No, don’t!”

Xhinn barely even looked at her.  She merely uttered a single Word, and Lynnria fell bonelessly to the floor.

“What did you do?” I yelled.

Xhinn did not reply for a moment.  Her expression had become guarded.  “I am getting very tired of betrayal.”

I hesitated uncertainly, then risked a glance at Lynnria.  Still breathing…

“Okay?  Whatever is going on, I certainly had nothing—”

“Confusion.  Uncertainty.  Panic.”  She interrupted, thinking aloud.  “Good.  Not by your hand, then.  Tell me, my supposed gift.  Are you happy to house my soul?”

I licked my lips.  “As long as you’re happy, I’m—”

“Stop talking through your fear,” she barked, then continued in a sedate tone.  “Do you love me?  Or hate me?”

I hesitated for several long breaths.  That was not a question a person could just answer off the cuff.  Nor could I hope to come out the other end of it particularly healthy.  Either way I answered.

“You’re… a force of nature, Xhinn,” I said slowly.  And very carefully.  “You and your sister, both.  I hate the things you do.  The casual disregard you have for mortal lives.  But its like railing against a hurricane.  I can try to understand you.  Even respect you.  But love?  Hate?”

I shook my head.

She tilted hers to one side, accepting that for what it was.  “And if you could become a hurricane yourself?  Would you seek to destroy me?  Or join me?”

“Xhinn…” Mia said in warning.

“Be silent, Faen,” she hissed, her mismatched eyes flashing.  “That is what you know best, after all.  Or do you think me still unaware as to the cause for your gloating.”  Her gaze fixed upon me again.  “Well?  Answer.”

“Uh…” I began intelligently.  Once again, I had been tossed into the deep end of subtext without so much as a floaty.  “Assuming you’re talking about my continuing on as a Quester?”

She did not reply.  She merely waited.

“…and I actually get that far.  Which is very much in doubt.”

“Very,” she agreed.  To my sorrow.

“Then…” I sighed with exasperation.  

I knew what I was supposed to answer… if I was some kind of storybook hero.  That I would strike her down.  That I would end her tyranny.  Free the populace from her evil.  Except… she was not evil.  Not exactly.  And I was not anywhere close to that stupid.

Just as I had said, she was like a hurricane.  She brought death and destruction, yes.  But also rain.  Life.  Wealth.  Prosperity.

Like it or not, she was a part of this world.  It was beyond fucked up, but nature was fucked up.  There were whole organisms whose entire life-cycle depended on eating out the eyes of children.  Spores that forced the insects that ate them to dance mindlessly in the hope of a bird snatching them up—and infecting their stool in turn.  Hell, I myself, until very recently, had existed solely through consuming my own myriad of victims, and short of becoming a plant, there was nothing I could do to change it.

“Choose,” Arx said again.

I just grimaced.  “I’m… too ignorant to make a choice like that.  I don’t even understand why you’re asking me this question.  Or what might happen to me if I answer it wrong.  So… I guess I would try to make whatever choice did the least harm.”

Xhinn took a deep breath and sighed.  “A measured response.  Wise even.  But from a mortal’s point of view.”

I let out a sigh of my own.  “What do you want me to say, Xhinn?”

She jerked her thumb at my unblinking companion.  “What of her?  Do you love her?”

“You know I—”  I paused.  “Ah… I see.”

It would not be today.  Or even a hundred years from now.  But if I were to live long enough, I could imagine a day when I had become numb to the plight of those around me.  When suffering became a wash of background noise.  As old as she was, I had little doubt Xhinn had been there for ages already.  She would not care for lives that could be measured in a few handfuls of years.  She could not.  That way lead only to constant torment.  

By her own admission, she had been seeking to cultivate me.  To grow my power.  She wanted me to flourish.  For her own benefit, of course, but I could not expect anything less.  If she were to succeed, this was the kind of relationship that might span eons.

That was too grand a thing for someone like me to really understand.  And so she had sprinkled pieces of herself in my path, hoping I might come to love them.  Yes, those pieces had grown and, in a way, consumed the lives of those they had landed upon. But that was just nature doing what it did.  Life from death.

She had infected me like a fungus.  A very… very sexy fungus.

“Maybe,” I conceded.  “Eventually.  Bit by bit.  Assuming you lay off the whole smiting-me-from-on-high routine, I could come to love you.”

She began to smile.  Breathtakingly.

I turned away quickly and cleared my throat.  “Now would you mind explaining what this is all about?  What is it you smell?”

“Your true nature,” she replied cheerfully.  Which answered nothing, to the absolute shock of no one.

I sighed in exasperation.  “And this upsets you?”

“Of course.  Don’t you get upset when you find out you’ve been jerked around?”

My head began to bobble vaguely in the affirmative… as though powered by the steam coming from my ears.

She patted my cheek again.  “Poor thing.  Don’t you worry.  Momma’s not upset at you.  Papa, on the other hand…”

She dragged her claws through the wall by my head like it was softened wax.

I made a pained expression.  “You realize I’m going to have to pay for that.”

“Oh?” she returned, feigning dismay.  Then, she casually lifted her hand and spat a ball about the size of a copper into her palm.  “This should just about cover it.”

I blinked a few times once I realized what it was.  Mostly out of disgust.  “Is that a pill?”

“Naturally.  That was quite the healthy dollop of Lust you saddled my poor Xyn with.  And then you barely even touch her?  You horrible man.”  She tutted with disappointment before transferring the moistened ball into my hand.  “Here.  I give it back to you.  It should be about Rank III.”

I pulled a face.  “Thanks…”

She waved it away.  “Unnecessary.  Now listen closely, Donum.  I cannot explain much, but your scent is… unique.  Father’s Mark covers it yet, but it cannot mask it forever.  This is the sort of thing which grows with your own power.  And it will be coveted.”

“People will want my scent?”

“What it represents,” she clarified quickly.  “They will not understand what it is they want, but that matters little.  In their ignorance, there will be many who would kill you in the hopes of obtaining it.”

“And you’re not going to tell me what ‘it’ is?”

“Have you heard the expression ‘ignorance is bliss?’”

My face fell.  Wonderful…

“Okay.  So what do I do?”

“Stop fighting your own nature, of course,” she explained.  “Your Faen understands… even if her greater part could not come to terms with it, the prude.  And as usual, Ahnbe’s instinct was spot on.  It’s no wonder she would come to blows with me…”

She chuckled ruefully.

“Ahnbe’s instinct?”  I frowned.  “Wait.  You’re not suggesting…?”

“Oh, yes.  And as frequently and widely as you’re able.  The stronger the Mark, the better.  It’s a shame you’re still so weak.  My sister and I would have been enough for a very long time, but as you know… Wisdom alone is not enough to withstand us.”

I began to furiously scrub at the bridge of my nose.  Every word out of this goddess’ mouth was settling on my shoulders like a brick.  I just wished some part of it would refuse to line up, but it was not to be.  I did not know the whys but, as she had said, the whats were falling into place rather succinctly.

“Now then,” she continued.  “Much as I would enjoy tending to that myself, you lack the strength, and the Dungeon calls.  Before I leave, I must ensure the one I leave behind has her priorities straight.”

Her hand clamped over my shoulder, and she grinned.  “I’m sure you have some idea of what comes next?”

 With that, she held a finger aloft and began to mutter under her breath… until the digit began to glow with divine light.

“Aw, man… not again.”

 

*****

 

“Master?”

Someone began shaking me gently awake.  The voice sounded familiar, but hearing that word out of the mouth it had to have come from was beyond disorienting.  It was the kind of nonsense only my dreaming mind could come up with.  However, the shaking did not abate, and I was eventually forced to open my eyes.

“Master?” the blonde called again, clearly concerned.  There were even the beginnings of tears in her eyes.  “Are you alright?  Is there any lingering pain?”

I shook my head slowly, both to answer the question and in disbelief.

Xyn… had filled my eyes completely.  She was practically glowing with beauty.  I could find no air to fill my lungs.  I wanted to gather her into my arms and hold her forever.  To scrub the dampness from her cheeks, and whisper sweet nothings into her ear.  Promises of adoration.  Eternal devotion.

Quickly, I squeezed my eyes shut and jerked away.

“No!  Don’t fight it!” she said urgently.  “I’m sorry!  I’m so sorry, but there was no other way.  Your guardians would never have tolerated my presence after lifting my hand against you unless you had accepted me completely.”

“Not by my will…” I gritted through my teeth.

“I can be,” she argued, sounding almost desperate.  Hurt even.  Which hurt me all the more.  “Just let go.”

“It’s wrong.”

“Wrong?” she cupped my face beseechingly.  “Wrong doesn’t enter into it.  I must protect my master.  I must protect you, my love.”

My heart almost burst on hearing those words, and my resolve cracked.  Timidly, I allowed myself to look at her through my lashes.  “She forced it on you, too?”

She winced, clearly pained by the question.  “It’s… not the same.  I’ve always loved you.  From the very first moment I laid eyes on you.  And now that my soul belongs to you, I don’t have to fight it.”

My eyes opened completely at that admission.  The situation being what it was, it was tempting to cast her words aside, but I did not doubt her.  I knew them to be true.  It was like an intuition.  A sixth-sense.  But more than that, I had seen how beside herself she had been at the idea of killing me.  She had bent herself backward at every opportunity just to give me one second longer, hoping I could find some way to defeat her.

“And Xhinn?  Does this mean I… I lo—”  I clamped my mouth shut, as though saying the word aloud might make it more true.

However, Xyn shook her head.  “No!  No, of course not.  Mother knows you will come to that eventually.”  She tapped at a spot just over her perfect breasts.  “Bit by bit.  Isn’t that what you promised?”

“Yes…”  My heart surged painfully in my chest at the admission.  The desire to give in was overwhelming me.  “But I didn’t mean it literally.”

She frowned.  “What other way could you have meant something like that?”

“Gradually!  Over time!”

“Oh… Well, either way, this was a necessary step.  So Mother decided to cash in your first bit all at once.”  She spread her hands.  “And here I am!”

I could only groan.  I mean, it was not as if I were unhappy with the situation.  Being suddenly thrust into total infatuation made certain of that.  And to be fair, I had somewhat anticipated being permanently saddled with this beautiful creature, and perhaps one day cutting through her hostility toward something softer.  But not like this!

“I take it you were able to hear our conversation, then?”

She nodded, and with a triumphant little smile, began to straddle my hips.  “Of course.  It’s my body, after all.  Only the one eye belongs to Mother.”

Funnily enough, it was only then that I realized the patch had been replaced.  I had been too distracted by everything else to notice, and with her starting to grind against me, it was getting difficult to think of anything else.

“O-okay, but… how does this work?  I mean… are you… still connected to Her or… or what?”

“I am Her,” she explained easily.  As if that somehow explained anything.  “Just as I am now you.  Think of me as the bridge between.”

“But… what happens if you die?!”

“Don’t ask silly questions,” she said, punctuating the reprimand with a playful swat to my chest, then began working the robe between us upward.  “Did Bline’s creature not grant you a spell for just such a situation?  Now, help me get this ridiculous thing off you.  I want to—”

“Choose.”

Xyn turned to glare at Arx, who was still waiting on someone to guide her Boundary… thing.

“—consummate our love!” she finished loudly.

“Hmph!”

Both of us turned the other direction toward the new sound, only to discover that the door was still open, with Lynnria still collapsed just inside.  But whoever had made the noise of contempt had already moved past.  “…bunch of degenerates.  Bad enough they have go at it every hour of the day.  Can’t even close the…”

Xyn tutted.  “Oh, that’s right.  I almost forgot about Jax.”

As quick as that, she climbed off me and began straightening her hair, now completely devoid of the black from before.  “Don’t just sit there, my gift.  Didn’t you hear?  She found a contest to get past her Boundary.  We have to go support her.”

“We… but…”  

I stared at her—and not just because of the delicious things her ministrations were doing to her body.  I began to gesture helplessly toward the many items still left hanging.  Arx was only semi-conscious, if you could even call it that.  Lynnria was still in a heap from whatever our collective ‘matron’ had done to her.  And I was so hard, I could have used my dick as a club.

“Since when do you care about Jax?!” I finally managed.

“Again with the silly questions.”  She sighed.  “Jax has explained this to you so many times, yet still you ask.  How can I not love what you love?”

My mouth worked for a moment more.  It seemed we were past convincing me to go along with this insanity and moving straight on to marital bliss.  Which, I will admit, was doing glorious things for my mood, despite the lingering confusion.  My brain had not quite caught up with whatever Xhinn had done to my heart.

“Uhm…” I tried again, still floundering but coming to my feet anyway.  “What about Arx?  I can’t just leave her like this.”

Xyn pursed her wondrous lips together and twisted them to one side in an adorable expression of deep thought.  Fuck… I’ve got it bad.

“Maybe something like this?” she suggested, gesturing to herself.  

A second later, the black scales decorating her body formed together into a semblance of clothing.  Or more accurately, like one of those models wearing nothing but body paint.  But it did at least create the illusion of modesty.  

“I’ll never understand your hangups about nudity, but at least this way, you can provide them with something they won’t despise.  And it doubles as armor.  Your choices so far have left them disgracefully vulnerable.  Something I mean to fix.  If you only knew just how much I was holding back during that fight…”

I nodded along, not doubting that for a second, and glanced once more toward the discarded—and painfully expensive—pile of laundry.  “That’s… a fantastic idea, actually.  Although, I was kind of—”

“Form accepted,” Arx announced.

“—going for more of a feline theme!” I shouted quickly, but I knew before the words were even out of my mouth that it was too late.  “Motherf—”

“The second path is that of function,” Arx continued, undeterred.  “This one is an Elusive Siren.  This one could be more.  Choose.”

I just scrubbed at my eyes tiredly.  I could feel a headache coming on.

Xyn came up behind me instantly and wrapped her arms around my torso.  Which I did not hate.  The scales covering her chest were surprisingly warm.  “It’s alright, my gift.  She will be beautiful, no matter what happens.”

“No… I know,” I sighed.  “It would just be nice not to have to put up with the constant bullshit for like… an hour?  Maybe?”

“It’s better than the alternative,” she said.  “You could be stuck in a giant, wooden automaton, trudging through a pitch-black maze for days on end in hopes of finding anything to alleviate the boredom.”

I turned to stare at her.

She returned it innocently.  “What?”

“Are you serious?”

She pouted.  “Well, somebody had to do it!  We couldn’t very well use one of Auntie’s creatures.”

“Auntie?!”

“You might want to hurry this along, my lord,” Mia cut in.  “Jax has finished one bout already.  She will need healing before the next, or else she will be at a disadvantage.”

I grit my teeth.  “Damn it.  Fine.  Uh… do you think the changes we’ve already made will trigger a Boundary trial?”

“For obtaining natural armor?”  Mia audibly shivered with pleasure.  “Oh, yes~!  Undoubtedly.”

I nodded, ignoring her panting.  “In that case, let’s just stick with Elusive Siren.  No need to make it worse.”

“The paths are chosen,” Arx announced.  Then slumped to the floor.

I clapped my hands together, barely giving it a second thought.  “Cool.  Xyn, if you could carry her, please?  I’ll grab Lynnria.  Hopefully, they’ll wake up along the way.”

“I can carry them both, Master,” Xyn protested.  “I’m quite strong, you know.”

I let that pass without argument.  That horse-cleaver she was swinging around the other day was all the proof I needed.

“That works for me.”  Quickly, I snatched up my hat, but hesitated on seeing the little rabbit-monster.  “Uh… Mia, I know I promised you a new body, but—”

“There’ll be time for that later,” she assured me.

“Ah ha!” Xyn crowed, already cradling Arx’s naked body under one arm.  “I knew there was no way you could have thought that far ahead.  You were just bluffing!”

“It’s called thinking on your feet,” I said indignantly then pointed to the corner.  “Clothes?!”

She rolled her eyes, and trudged over to retrieve them.  “Still, to think you would threaten Mother with Auntie like that?”

I just put hands to hips.  “Whose side are you on, anyway?”

“Did I say I disapproved?”  She rolled her own hips to one side and growled seductively.  “Clever boy.  Mmm~  Are you sure we don’t have time for just a quick—”

“Her next fight is in five minutes.”

“Damn it, we’re going to have to run,” I said, darting out the door.

“But Master!”  Xyn grimaced before hurriedly snatching up Lynnria in her other arm and hooking the door closed with her foot.  “Wait!  I still owe you a blowjob!”