Had the Bag of Holding survived the battle with Kaze, it would have been a simple matter to store the potions inside. Instead, Kalista was tasked with carrying the chest in its entirety. The moment the last member of their group stepped out of the portal, it began to bend and wane, collapsing inwards on itself, leaving a small floating orb at the center.

“Do they always come back within the day?” Peter asked, recalling the third dungeon.

“Always less than a week, which is a good thing. Any longer and people would be fighting over the remaining dungeons and stepping on each other’s turf.”

“Didn’t stop Zilas,” Peter scowled. “Come on. Let’s get back.”

When they arrived at the fort, Rand’s Harpy, who by now Peter had learned was named Topaz, flew down to greet them. “Berry nice, berry pass!”

Peter shook his head and revealed empty palms. “Didn’t gather any this time around. There’s hardly any left nearby, we’d picked most of the forest clean for the festival.”

“Awww!” Topaz tap tapped her chin with her wing. “Hmm, leave your friend behind?”

Peter swallowed. It had been on his mind all the way back. He’d told the others to hold onto the truth, but internally he was in turmoil. There were two paths available to him, and both he feared might end poorly. 

Deception might be preferable in the short term, but how long could he keep the truth hidden away? Even Erst could slip up, and it would all fall apart. Perhaps it would be better to just get it over with. Collect whatever virtue honesty might deliver him and pray the price is not as severe as his deepest fears. “Kaze-”

“-died, you know?” Gaia interrupted. “It was awful. The final wave of the dungeon… There were sooo many ferals. He tried to take them all on. Even almost succeeded. But that fool. Got angry, started shouting some nonsense about dungeon rewards. Only to then walk into a trap, and die.” Gaia shook her head. “If only his brain was bigger than his ego, he might have survived.”

The air hung silent for a while, Peter gauging Topaz’ reaction, who stared at Gaia for what felt like an eternity.

“Damn! I didn’t ask for a whole ass obituary!”

It was hard to understand how the serious Rand kept Topaz around. Though her behavior might explain why she’s constantly away on guard duty…

Topaz flew around to the other side of the wall and unlocked the side entrance, and the group quickly funneled inside.

“Kalista, hide the chest in the basement near the boiler,” Peter whispered. He then knocked on the entrance to Rand’s home.

What followed was a series of crashing and thumping noises that made it sound like an explosion went off inside. Peter patiently waited. Finally, the door cracked open slightly. “Yes?” an annoyed voice responded.

“It’s Peter. The Fourth group has returned. The Dungeon was conquered.”

“I’ll send Topaz to verify. Be on your way.” The door quickly shut. Not wanting to waste an easy escape, Peter quickly caught up to the others.

“We’ll keep the potions down here for now. I’m going to try on the armor.” Peter grabbed the black garb and headed up the staircase to the office. With only a desk, it had ample enough room for him to change clothes.

As he pulled his shirt up and off, he leaned down and placed his hand on the desk. “Huuuh,” he sighed, closing his eyes. It was still hard to believe. Kaze had irked him in many ways, but the thought of outright killing him had never occurred to Peter.

Not until he’d threatened his primals, anyway. At that moment, Kaze chose his own fate. And what frustrated Peter was that the threat the hero posed to his primals lingered on even after his death.

Unsanctioned violence was messy, in more ways than one. Whenever Ferals are involved then the blame immediately shifts to them. Primal on human? Primals were always in the wrong. 

Human on human? The most complicated. And the fight against Kaze was a mixture of human and primal against human. And throw in that a member of the church was involved, and a hero at that, and there was no telling what would’ve happened had he spoken the truth like he’d been considering. 

He’d have lied, he was sure of that now. Gaia spared him from doing that, and brilliantly so. With a well-crafted ‘truth’. Later he’ll ask her to repeat what she’d said just to ensure he said the same.

With another sigh, Peter released his grip from the desk and prepared to remove his trousers. A wooden floor’s creak behind caused him to jolt.

“Oh! Hello, Gaia.”

“Hello, Peter,” she said standing in the doorway with an odd smile. “I thought I’d check if you needed any assistance with the armor.”

“Oh, sure.” When he removed his pants and went to grab the upper portion, all he managed to find was wood.

“Mmph, sorry.” Gaia said. Peter turned to see her wiggling with the upper portion halfway on, stuck around her jutting chest. “Just wanted to try it on. I didn’t think it’d be so… tight,” she said while exhaling. “Can you help get it off?”

Peter gasped. His hands slowly hovered towards her giant mounds, then hooked underneath the strained leather.

“O-Oh,” Gaia gasped. She began to wiggle back and forth as Peter pulled upwards. “Nngh,” she groaned. Using both arms, she stretched the opening for the head out slightly and through both their combined efforts, managed to remove it. “Phew. I guess I don’t have the body type for armor.”

“Not this kind, anyway,” Peter chuckled.

“Here, turn around,” Gaia said. Peter did as he was told. Looking upward, he saw Gaia’s dainty hands holding the piece above him. “Hands and head~.” Peter smiled and lifted his arms. Gaia suddenly lurched forward, pressing into his back while guiding his arms into the sleeves. When it came time to pull the armor down, she spun him around and brought him close. Slowly, she stretched and tugged on the armor, her body jiggling against his with every motion. 

When she finally managed to get his head through, she helped pull the armor down, accidentally rubbing his cock along with the final tug.

“There,” she said, sounding proud. She began to rub her arms around his chest and back, straightening and pulling it taut where necessary. 

“Now for the pants.”

“I don’t need to try them on to know they won't fit,” Gaia giggled. As she grabbed the leather pants the attached metal plate banged against the desk startling her. The pants slipped out of her hand onto the floor. She bent down to pick them up, presenting her marvelous rear. Peter glanced toward the entrance before clasping her hips with both hands and running them along their edges.

“I don’t think you came here to help me put the armor on.”

“No?” Gaia replied coyly as she straightened then stepped backwards, jamming Peter in between the desk and her ass. She slowly began to grind her cheeks on his cock, still stuck beneath his briefs. “I might have meant to help you take the armor… off.” Gaia turned around, releasing his penis from her meaty buns to bend down and draw her face close. Rubbing her cheek on his member, she used her head to bend it towards the side, straining it even more against the thin cloth. “Mmm,” she planted a small kiss on the clothed shaft. “But first you’d have to be wearing it.”

With that, she jumped to her feet and held out the pant-holes high with a grin. A frustrated Peter lifted up his knees quickly and plunged his feet inside. Once again stretching it slightly, Gaia guided his legs through, and as she pulled the pants up, she stopped just around the thighs.

“Now now, this won’t do,” she scolded. “Hardly any room for your… weapon,” she said while motioning towards his cock.

Peter rolled his eyes. “Is there anything you can do to make it fit?”

“Let me try.” One hand gripping his cock, the other moved to the back of the black leather pants and pulled them up. She began to stroke gently while tugging the front portion of the legs upwards. Angling it toward his right leg, Gaia held down his penis and finished pulling the pants upwards.

“Ah,” Peter winced. That wasn’t what he had meant.

“Oh no,” she said while covering her mouth. “There’s barely any room for the poor thing,” she said while stroking two fingers along the leathery bulge. “How are you going to walk around, or do anything, in this?”

Peter stood up from the desk and tried moving. Indeed, sporting an erection in this armor was quite annoying. But he had to admit, he felt… powerful. Strong. He grabbed the sword poking out of the sheath on his regular pants and held it high, marveling how the red and black matched with the dark leather covering his arm. “No great power comes without cost.” Had anyone besides one of his primals been nearby, he might have died of embarrassment, the shameful words now echoing inside his head.

“Ohh, I disagree,” Gaia said while slowly wrapping her arms around Peter’s neck and shoulders. “I can make this great power cum for free.” Peter blushed. Gaia guided him back over to the desk, yanking the pants down and causing Peter to wince again. His briefs went along with them, and for a moment, he was stuck standing with both coverings around his ankles, groin exposed.

“Hop on,” Gaia instructed while jiggling the pants. Peter did as he was told, now sitting atop the desk. One moment he was staring down at Gaia’s massive cleavage, kept only in check by the leafy bra she wore. The next, she pounced.

Instantly standing up while grabbing Peter by the ankles she surprised him by shoving him backwards, knocking him onto his back. “Wha-?”

Before Peter could say anything else, Gaia hooked her arms beneath his legs and around his thighs, then gripped his hips and yanked him towards her. In the same movement, she briefly rose then crashed her chest upon his defenseless cock, smothering it against his own stomach.

“Huuuh,” Peter let out a confused growl. He tried to move his legs, but between the pants still wrapped around him and her arms locking his thighs, he couldn’t budge.

Gaia’s dainty fingers quickly picked up Peter’s cock and secured it tightly between her splaying chest, a breast avalanche held tightly together between the valley formed by his thighs.

“Tell me,” she said. “What’s tighter? The pants? Or…?” Gaia squeezed her breasts together, a knowing smile forming on her face.

“Gods,” Peter groaned. He watched as Gaia slowly kneaded her chest, providing the briefest relief from her tight chasm before crushing him again. And again. And again.

Gaia continued to squeeze and press her tits around his cock. Peter’s arms reached for the side of the desk and gripped tightly, trying to keep himself steady. Each passing second felt like an eternity. Peter moaned and groaned, his head rolling back and forth in a daze, the pleasure overwhelming his ability to speak.

“Tell me,” Gaia repeated.

Peter whimpered. “It’s-”

“Tell me,” she interrupted, now pumping his cock even harder. Peter’s chest jumped as his body stopped listening to him, running off of pleasured instinct. “Entangling Vines!” Gaia shouted. Peter’s eyes shot open as a set of vines began to grow from the wooden desk and wrap around his neck. Not choking him, not tight at all in fact, but no way for him to escape now. Giving him enough slack to look at what Gaia was doing, but nothing else.

“TELL ME!” Gaia shouted angrily, furiously picking up the pace. For a moment, a brief moment, Peter felt… fear. The room was suddenly not an office. It was… a makeshift shack. He was deep in the forest. Alone… but not truly. Trapped with a lone Dryad. Whose behavior, even when feral, to her own prisoner, could be described as timid. Perhaps even– kind.

Strange. So preoccupied at the time with his own survival, he simply viewed it as a small miracle and thought no further. Has he ever come across a true feral with such behavior since then?

He was a prisoner, yes, but the other Dryads would walk in, have their way with him, then leave. She’d shown restraint. Fed him. Cared for him.

Ferals – mad with rage and lust. Yet as primals… still lustful, but completely different temperaments otherwise. If so, then…

The memory shattered. Peter was in the office once more, and he looked up to see Gaia still voraciously choking his penis between her bountiful breasts. Her wide and focused gaze intensely bearing down on him paired with a smile tinted with a hint of madness. “TELL ME!!!”

It was suddenly hard to think. Peter’s legs began to tremble, and his words raced against his orgasm to leave his body first. “It’s yo-uuu-uu!” Gaia’s hands dove beneath Peter’s lower back, and she stood while yanking him upwards. Still nestled between her breasts, she plunged her neck into her own cleavage and caught the head of his cock with her lips. Having found her mark, the next step was easy. She dived as hard and as far as she could. Every spurt. Every shot. Every drop. Gaia greedily devoured it all, only the slightest amount of drool escaping her mouth as the sounds of her vicious sucking and outrageous gulps filled the room.

Peter’s body twitched and shuddered, his neck straining against the vine now as the orgasm ripped through him and wore his muscles out.

A loud Plop. Her soft tight lips loosened their grip. Peter thought it impossible, he was fairly certain he was still cumming, but he’d sooner judge his own body a liar than think Gaia would let anything go to waste.

Delirious and dazed, he slowly looked up towards Gaia, still scrunched between his legs, tits cradling his cock. Somehow, beneath her crooked smile. Her happy panting. Excited trembling. It was not with his eyes, but through their bond - his heart. A horrible emptiness completely unlike the one he was experiencing just now.

“That’s right.”