My vision swam for a few moments as I reoriented myself. The last thing I remembered, I had been tackled to the ground by an extremely enthusiastic—and exceedingly topless—Jax.
I swear… one of these days, those girls are going to get me lynched.
Slowly, I spun on a heel just to take in my surroundings. Though vaguely familiar, there was not much to look at. It was just a room like you might find in any office building. Drop ceilings. Off-white, laminate floor tiles. No windows. Several nondescript doors. And not a single label in sight.
I exhaled tiredly. Great. Just what I needed.
I had thought my escape from the maze would lead to some much needed rest and relaxation. Maybe even a light nap, but it seemed the world was not done with me yet.
On impulse, I glanced down at my hands. They looked normal enough. Nice, long fingers. Flat nails. I gave them a wiggle. Still functional.
Why had I thought they might be otherwise?
Unexpectedly, there came a click from behind me, and I spun in time to catch Mia entering the room. She looked absolutely filthy, too. Like she had just arrived home from working in a coal mine.
Her eyes widened on seeing me, and she immediately dropped to one knee.
“My lord! Forgive me! If I had known you were coming, I would have prepared myself properly and—” Mid-sentence, her brain caught up with her mouth, and her head snapped up again. “You’re here! I—I mean you’re fully here. How are you here?!”
“Uh…” I replied intelligently. “I think I may be in torpor. Jax must have accidentally knocked me out once I opened the door.”
“Oh. She must have made it out then. That’s good,” she murmured. But then an indignant look crossed her face and she sprang to her feet. “Wait a minute! That should not have necessitated your full manifestation. I could have easily guided you through the process now that I have had time to acclimate.”
I held up my hands in defense. The way she talked, you would have thought I had some control over any of this. But that seemed like way too long of a conversation. And implied I had some grasp on the topic.
Instead, I just went with, “Okay.”
Fortunately, she seemed far too invested in the puzzle to note my dismissive attitude.
“Hmm, if you really were knocked into torpor, then it could be…” She cast a pensive glance at the door behind her and began chewing at her thumb-claw. “Yes, I suppose that makes a kind of sense. Though, it might not be all that stable. How lucid are you right now?”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. Mia seemed to have the unique ability to put my brains into a spit-roast. But I was also way too exhausted to care.
“I feel like my head is full of gauze.”
She chuckled. “Well, that’s understandable. You’ve had a busy day.”
“And you have an uncanny knack for understatement,” I observed dryly.
She crinkled her nose at me.
The conversation lapsed into one of those silences where both parties are waiting for the other to say something, but nobody realizes it until it’s already gotten awkward. As it drew out, my eyes began to naturally drift downward… as men tend to do when around attractive women.
I had never actually stood face to face with her like this, I realized. Or at least… not without also seeing the background behind her. Despite her dubious claims of citizenship within my inner kingdom—or what-have-you—she still looked almost identical to Bline. There were no signs of her turning into a copy of me any time soon. Thankfully.
Quite the opposite. She was easily one of the most gorgeous women I had ever laid eyes on. Even through the grime. If anything, the light sprinkling of sweat and dirt covering her cleavage lent her a sort of cave-woman-esque vibe. All she lacked was a torn bodice and a scrip of leather over her groin, and there would have been no way John Richardson picked Rachel Welch over her. And that was saying something.
Beyond that, of course, she had taken on a number of familiar secondary characteristics. Fangs. Claws… Antlers. Those were somewhat unique. They had grown out to six points by that time, and each were sharp as daggers. Then there was the fully developed tail. Which I quite liked, come to think of it. It suited her. It even had the same red highlights as the hair on her head.
Wait. How long has that been there? It’s not new… No, I’m sure I’ve seen it at least once, haven’t I? Ugh… no more thinking.
The short of it was, in every way that mattered, she was indistinguishable from a ‘Dolilim.’ So either her little theory was completely off-base, or there was something about me pushing her that direction. It could have just been my Class…
Then again, there was my recently discovered ‘dietary restriction.’
I looked down at my hands again, just to be sure. Still human.
Mia had been fidgeting under my scrutiny and, with my brief moment of inattention, she had taken the excuse to smooth her dress and run a few claws through her hair… subsequently causing her to realize the absolute state she was in, and she gasped in horror.
“No! Just look at me. And of course, you would show up now. Oh, I must have the luck of the void!” She slapped a palm to her forehead and sighed. “Forgive me, my lord master. I am unfit to receive you.”
I waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. What were you doing in there, anyway?”
She inhaled sharply through her teeth and held it for a few seconds. “Just… a little housekeeping,” she managed shakily.
“Sorry.”
“No, it’s al—fucking touch me! Now!” Her head jerked to one side as she fought with the uncontrollable impulse.
I smirked slightly, fighting with my own impulse to comply with her demand. No matter their content, a tic should never be taken as a true invitation, nor anything else beyond the involuntary spasm it was.
Then again… a bit of light-hearted teasing never hurt anyone.
Keeping my face carefully neutral, I lifted my hand and extended it toward her, fully intending to stop before anything happened. However, when I saw the look in her eyes… the slight hitch in her breath, the way her shoulders bunched together, her lips parting in anticipation, somehow I forgot I was only pretending.
As gently as caressing a flower petal, I traced my finger across her cheek and drew a lock of hair over her pointed ear.
“As you wish,” I murmured softly… before cringing almost to death.
Oh, you absolute dork!
Mia seemed to take it pretty well, though.
Stepping close, she looked up at me and purred, “Oh, here and what a disgrace, I am. I’ve gone and gotten your finger all dirty… my lord.”
About a dozen follow-up comments sprang to mind, ranging from asking how dirty a girl she really was, to wondering exactly what it was she had gotten my finger dirty with. And had I not been so self-conscious, I might have.
Instead, I quickly turned to one side and coughed into my fist. “Uh… so. Housekeeping, you say. I can’t imagine what you must have found in there to leave you in such a state.”
The tip of her tongue parted her lips as she suppressed a smile. “That way leads to your Core, mine sovereign. Your activities today have put quite the strain on it. I’ve needed to use some… creative storage solutions to contain that Gem your precious little Dolilim fed you.”
I nodded slowly. “Right. The Grand Rank III. That actually happened?”
“Oh, yes…” she breathed.
Moving on. “So, my Core, huh? I think I’d quite like to see that.”
“Myeah~?” she replied a tad too excitedly. But then she realized what I was actually asking and plastered herself across the door. “I mean, no! No, that isn’t—a goat-fucking thunder-pus—puss-possible.”
“And that would be because…?”
Her eyes widened and she shivered at the question, but then she turned her gaze from me. Firming her lip, she shouted, “Don’t you dare! Your honeyed words will not sway me. Only I may enter your Core. It is my place. Mine and mine alone!”
I was about to pursue the question—she had hardly answered it, after all—but then something else occurred to me.
“Your birthright.”
She started to nod, but then she looked at me sharply. “You remembered that?”
“Maybe… some,” I replied softly, considering. “Not that it explains much.”
She grimaced, then took a deep breath and held it. “I am sorry. Just… please do not ask to look inside. I—I cannot… I cannot stand against you, if you push. And were you to go in, I’m not sure I could pull you out again.”
“So it’s dangerous.”
A nod.
“Then you should have said that,” I said reasonably.
Which seemed to relax her somewhat. “I am sorry. Again. It is an old argument, and there have been… incidents. People think I hide secrets, or that they can unlock untold power. Even those that listen assume a simple accumulation of Wisdom can protect them. They do not understand. Only I was created to handle Mania. Not even—”
She stopped short at that. But it was still enough to give me plenty to think about. “Mania, huh. As in Manic Energy and all that?”
She moaned slightly and arched her back toward me. Then bobbed her head almost as an afterthought.
Good grief. If I had not been so tired, I doubted I could have resisted the urge to question the Faen into a coma of her own. But I was. And I was honestly struggling to sort through the hundreds of quandaries dribbling out of my ears.
“Huh,” was all I managed. Then I yawned.
Mia shot me a quick look, then plastered herself over the door a bit more dramatically. “No, my lord! You mustn’t ask me such questions! I fear you are not prepared to hear the secrets behind Manic Energy.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I mumbled. “So uh… I guess we should get to distributing my stats or something.”
She made a strangled noise in her throat and then deflated. “I assume you want the same arrangement as last time? Wisdom and Toughness?”
“Sounds good.” Probably. It was good enough for my past self, and the current me was having a hard time thinking of why it might not be.
Mia’s expression slowly began to crumple and, from the way her eyes were shifting about, I could tell she was struggling to think of something to say. But then she brightened.
“Oh! Uh…” She delicately cleared her throat. “You have had such an awful day, and here I am nattering on like a loon. And so filthy, too. I really must draw myself a bath. And this dress! Absolutely ruined…”
She took a few steps around me before slowing to look over her shoulder.
Some of the fog began lifting from my brain at the mention of a nice hot soak, and I sucked in a deep breath. “A bath, huh? Man… that does sound good. Does that mean you’ve found the bathroom again?”
She stumbled a bit at my thoughtless questions and had to grip the doorknob to the exit to keep from falling. “Ah~hum… my aching puss-pu—pretty sure I can find it. Yes, my lord… if you’d like to… join… me?”
Mia’s suggestive question petered off as she stared into the now empty room. To say she was non-plussed would be a mild understatement.
“Gone?!” she exclaimed. “No, you can’t be… I was just about to… argh!”
Seleroan
Hey folks!
Here's the standard plug for the Patreon. I know, I know. How tiresome. But I've got bills to pay, and starting out as a writer is not so easy.
But, hey. Extra content, right?
Or, if you just want to help out as a one-time thing, why not buy a mug?
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My vision swam for a few moments as I reoriented myself. The last thing I remembered, I had been tackled to the ground by an extremely enthusiastic—and exceedingly topless—Jax.
I swear… one of these days, those girls are going to get me lynched.
Slowly, I spun on a heel just to take in my surroundings. Though vaguely familiar, there was not much to look at. It was just a room like you might find in any office building. Drop ceilings. Off-white, laminate floor tiles. No windows. Several nondescript doors. And not a single label in sight.
I exhaled tiredly. Great. Just what I needed.
I had thought my escape from the maze would lead to some much needed rest and relaxation. Maybe even a light nap, but it seemed the world was not done with me yet.
On impulse, I glanced down at my hands. They looked normal enough. Nice, long fingers. Flat nails. I gave them a wiggle. Still functional.
Why had I thought they might be otherwise?
Unexpectedly, there came a click from behind me, and I spun in time to catch Mia entering the room. She looked absolutely filthy, too. Like she had just arrived home from working in a coal mine.
Her eyes widened on seeing me, and she immediately dropped to one knee.
“My lord! Forgive me! If I had known you were coming, I would have prepared myself properly and—” Mid-sentence, her brain caught up with her mouth, and her head snapped up again. “You’re here! I—I mean you’re fully here. How are you here?!”
“Uh…” I replied intelligently. “I think I may be in torpor. Jax must have accidentally knocked me out once I opened the door.”
“Oh. She must have made it out then. That’s good,” she murmured. But then an indignant look crossed her face and she sprang to her feet. “Wait a minute! That should not have necessitated your full manifestation. I could have easily guided you through the process now that I have had time to acclimate.”
I held up my hands in defense. The way she talked, you would have thought I had some control over any of this. But that seemed like way too long of a conversation. And implied I had some grasp on the topic.
Instead, I just went with, “Okay.”
Fortunately, she seemed far too invested in the puzzle to note my dismissive attitude.
“Hmm, if you really were knocked into torpor, then it could be…” She cast a pensive glance at the door behind her and began chewing at her thumb-claw. “Yes, I suppose that makes a kind of sense. Though, it might not be all that stable. How lucid are you right now?”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. Mia seemed to have the unique ability to put my brains into a spit-roast. But I was also way too exhausted to care.
“I feel like my head is full of gauze.”
She chuckled. “Well, that’s understandable. You’ve had a busy day.”
“And you have an uncanny knack for understatement,” I observed dryly.
She crinkled her nose at me.
The conversation lapsed into one of those silences where both parties are waiting for the other to say something, but nobody realizes it until it’s already gotten awkward. As it drew out, my eyes began to naturally drift downward… as men tend to do when around attractive women.
I had never actually stood face to face with her like this, I realized. Or at least… not without also seeing the background behind her. Despite her dubious claims of citizenship within my inner kingdom—or what-have-you—she still looked almost identical to Bline. There were no signs of her turning into a copy of me any time soon. Thankfully.
Quite the opposite. She was easily one of the most gorgeous women I had ever laid eyes on. Even through the grime. If anything, the light sprinkling of sweat and dirt covering her cleavage lent her a sort of cave-woman-esque vibe. All she lacked was a torn bodice and a scrip of leather over her groin, and there would have been no way John Richardson picked Rachel Welch over her. And that was saying something.
Beyond that, of course, she had taken on a number of familiar secondary characteristics. Fangs. Claws… Antlers. Those were somewhat unique. They had grown out to six points by that time, and each were sharp as daggers. Then there was the fully developed tail. Which I quite liked, come to think of it. It suited her. It even had the same red highlights as the hair on her head.
Wait. How long has that been there? It’s not new… No, I’m sure I’ve seen it at least once, haven’t I? Ugh… no more thinking.
The short of it was, in every way that mattered, she was indistinguishable from a ‘Dolilim.’ So either her little theory was completely off-base, or there was something about me pushing her that direction. It could have just been my Class…
Then again, there was my recently discovered ‘dietary restriction.’
I looked down at my hands again, just to be sure. Still human.
Mia had been fidgeting under my scrutiny and, with my brief moment of inattention, she had taken the excuse to smooth her dress and run a few claws through her hair… subsequently causing her to realize the absolute state she was in, and she gasped in horror.
“No! Just look at me. And of course, you would show up now. Oh, I must have the luck of the void!” She slapped a palm to her forehead and sighed. “Forgive me, my lord master. I am unfit to receive you.”
I waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. What were you doing in there, anyway?”
She inhaled sharply through her teeth and held it for a few seconds. “Just… a little housekeeping,” she managed shakily.
“Sorry.”
“No, it’s al—fucking touch me! Now!” Her head jerked to one side as she fought with the uncontrollable impulse.
I smirked slightly, fighting with my own impulse to comply with her demand. No matter their content, a tic should never be taken as a true invitation, nor anything else beyond the involuntary spasm it was.
Then again… a bit of light-hearted teasing never hurt anyone.
Keeping my face carefully neutral, I lifted my hand and extended it toward her, fully intending to stop before anything happened. However, when I saw the look in her eyes… the slight hitch in her breath, the way her shoulders bunched together, her lips parting in anticipation, somehow I forgot I was only pretending.
As gently as caressing a flower petal, I traced my finger across her cheek and drew a lock of hair over her pointed ear.
“As you wish,” I murmured softly… before cringing almost to death.
Oh, you absolute dork!
Mia seemed to take it pretty well, though.
Stepping close, she looked up at me and purred, “Oh, here and what a disgrace, I am. I’ve gone and gotten your finger all dirty… my lord.”
About a dozen follow-up comments sprang to mind, ranging from asking how dirty a girl she really was, to wondering exactly what it was she had gotten my finger dirty with. And had I not been so self-conscious, I might have.
Instead, I quickly turned to one side and coughed into my fist. “Uh… so. Housekeeping, you say. I can’t imagine what you must have found in there to leave you in such a state.”
The tip of her tongue parted her lips as she suppressed a smile. “That way leads to your Core, mine sovereign. Your activities today have put quite the strain on it. I’ve needed to use some… creative storage solutions to contain that Gem your precious little Dolilim fed you.”
I nodded slowly. “Right. The Grand Rank III. That actually happened?”
“Oh, yes…” she breathed.
Moving on. “So, my Core, huh? I think I’d quite like to see that.”
“Myeah~?” she replied a tad too excitedly. But then she realized what I was actually asking and plastered herself across the door. “I mean, no! No, that isn’t—a goat-fucking thunder-pus—puss-possible.”
“And that would be because…?”
Her eyes widened and she shivered at the question, but then she turned her gaze from me. Firming her lip, she shouted, “Don’t you dare! Your honeyed words will not sway me. Only I may enter your Core. It is my place. Mine and mine alone!”
I was about to pursue the question—she had hardly answered it, after all—but then something else occurred to me.
“Your birthright.”
She started to nod, but then she looked at me sharply. “You remembered that?”
“Maybe… some,” I replied softly, considering. “Not that it explains much.”
She grimaced, then took a deep breath and held it. “I am sorry. Just… please do not ask to look inside. I—I cannot… I cannot stand against you, if you push. And were you to go in, I’m not sure I could pull you out again.”
“So it’s dangerous.”
A nod.
“Then you should have said that,” I said reasonably.
Which seemed to relax her somewhat. “I am sorry. Again. It is an old argument, and there have been… incidents. People think I hide secrets, or that they can unlock untold power. Even those that listen assume a simple accumulation of Wisdom can protect them. They do not understand. Only I was created to handle Mania. Not even—”
She stopped short at that. But it was still enough to give me plenty to think about. “Mania, huh. As in Manic Energy and all that?”
She moaned slightly and arched her back toward me. Then bobbed her head almost as an afterthought.
Good grief. If I had not been so tired, I doubted I could have resisted the urge to question the Faen into a coma of her own. But I was. And I was honestly struggling to sort through the hundreds of quandaries dribbling out of my ears.
“Huh,” was all I managed. Then I yawned.
Mia shot me a quick look, then plastered herself over the door a bit more dramatically. “No, my lord! You mustn’t ask me such questions! I fear you are not prepared to hear the secrets behind Manic Energy.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I mumbled. “So uh… I guess we should get to distributing my stats or something.”
She made a strangled noise in her throat and then deflated. “I assume you want the same arrangement as last time? Wisdom and Toughness?”
“Sounds good.” Probably. It was good enough for my past self, and the current me was having a hard time thinking of why it might not be.
Mia’s expression slowly began to crumple and, from the way her eyes were shifting about, I could tell she was struggling to think of something to say. But then she brightened.
“Oh! Uh…” She delicately cleared her throat. “You have had such an awful day, and here I am nattering on like a loon. And so filthy, too. I really must draw myself a bath. And this dress! Absolutely ruined…”
She took a few steps around me before slowing to look over her shoulder.
Some of the fog began lifting from my brain at the mention of a nice hot soak, and I sucked in a deep breath. “A bath, huh? Man… that does sound good. Does that mean you’ve found the bathroom again?”
She stumbled a bit at my thoughtless questions and had to grip the doorknob to the exit to keep from falling. “Ah~hum… my aching puss-pu—pretty sure I can find it. Yes, my lord… if you’d like to… join… me?”
Mia’s suggestive question petered off as she stared into the now empty room. To say she was non-plussed would be a mild understatement.
“Gone?!” she exclaimed. “No, you can’t be… I was just about to… argh!”
Seleroan
Hey folks!
Here's the standard plug for the Patreon. I know, I know. How tiresome. But I've got bills to pay, and starting out as a writer is not so easy.
But, hey. Extra content, right?
Or, if you just want to help out as a one-time thing, why not buy a mug?
https://the-quest-of-words-merch.printify.me/products
