“Those in our tutorial found one another fairly easy,” Genevieve said. They were only going about 60 mph, so the wind wasn’t too bad. They were flying Southeast over the greenery of France. Asher kind of remembered where he was going, but that was a long time ago, and the scenery was different. The Earth was vibrant now, in the Roktai trial the outsiders must have messed with the mana leylines to make the place barren.
“There were spiders everywhere, so there was a lot of screaming going on,” she said.
“I bet,” Asher said. She was leaning against his back, but didn’t have her arms wrapped around him. Her hands glowed with mana to stick to the Glider.
“We met up, and Pierre took charge since he was our tutorial instructor. It was good at first. I played around with my System. Leveled quickly. We found a guild charter fairly early. And we all joined. That’s when he started making passes at us younger girls,” she said. Asher gritted his teeth.
“Harmless at first. But a few days before the end of the tutorial I caught him in a compromising position. He was more than implying things with one of the younger girls.”
“How young?” He asked.
“16,” she admitted.
Asher’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. “And he was running the conference back there?” Asher asked.
She let out a long sigh. “I was the vice-guild master. I was one of the few in our group with a Custom System. Everyone knows Spiderman’s skills, so I was looked up to. I confronted Pierre. We were able to cast a vote and kicked him out. He spent the rest of the tutorial banished from the group. When we got back it wasn’t a big problem. We moved to Paris since that was where a lot of the population had moved to, and it was great for recruitment. But Pierre came to Paris as well. We recruited, as everyone did. Many of those we recruited were either manipulated or were his friends.”
“What’s his System?”
“Some kind of psychic,” she said.
“Yeah, I saw him using Mind Mana on the crowd. But forgot to say something,” Asher said with a frown.
“Yes, not surprising,” she said. “I didn’t realize, but he started his own guild. Since his guild wasn’t formed before the tutorial ended he wasn’t part of the System run conference last month. After we set this up he made a move. Many of Rouge left. There were questions on if we were really justified in kicking him out. I’m not the greatest leader, and people forgot quickly. Before I knew it, he was leading the larger guild and took over this conference.”
“Does he deserve death?” Asher asked.
“Why do you ask?”
“Did you see any of my interviews before the tutorial?” He asked.
“A few,” she admitted.
“I told people if they took advantage of people I’d kill them when I got back,” he said.
“And will you?”
“If it’s justified,” he said. They were quiet for a time. Slowly she released the bike and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“What will you do?” He asked.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. They left it at that. Asher sped up the Glider. Raising their elevation he noticed a mountain range in the distance. He wasn’t sure if that was new or not. He veered North since it wasn’t familiar.
“Incoming,” he said. There was a flock of large birds headed their way. They appeared to be very big man-size crows.
“What do we do?” She asked.
“Go through them,” Asher said. As they got closer he noticed they were only level 30. He gathered mana in his chest and cast Intimidation with a roar. The birds veered around them.
She snuggled up closer to his back. Studying the ground he hadn’t seen many monsters since coming back to Earth. There were talks of giant tigers and boss-size dolphins and sharks, but nothing too dangerous. Right now the real dangers were other people.
“There,” Asher said. He recognized a rock formation. He had spent a day resting there during the Roktai trial. He was quickly trying to retrace his steps. But he had been in the ship while it flew away. By the time it was close to dark he was ready to give up. But a fire in the distance caught his eye.
They slowly approached. He thought maybe it was the right place. But there were a lot more trees now. Coming to a halt outside of the tiny forest they got off the Glider.
“You think this is it?”
“Oh this is it,” a voice said. She was an older woman, like before. Maybe a few less wrinkles, but Asher recognized her. “You’re late, Lawful Good.”
“You said that last time,” Asher said. She had the Future System. Fate and Time mana was still foreign to him, but with Joon as his fiancee it wasn’t too much of a stretch that others could see into the future.
“I say it everytime,” the old woman grumbled as she walked into the trees. Asher and Gen followed. The silver trailer was the same as Asher had seen in the trial. A fire at the center of the clearing there was an old rocking chair already set up. Asher cast Identification on her.
????
????
“Won’t work,” Leonora said. “I have some interesting items now. Thought it best to keep people guessing.” The old woman sat in the rocking chair and stared at them.
“So what?” Asher asked. “Are you from the future?”
The old lady smiled. “Maybe,” she said. “But more like my mana is.”
“How does that work?” He asked.
“You’ll know eventually,” she said. Smacking her lips she asked, “are you going to ask me or what? I know what you want, but if you don’t ask, I can’t answer.”
“I need a favor,” Asher asked. “Do you know what it is about?”
“Your wives? Yes, I know.” She studied him. “You know how the System works boy. Take and give. Many times the reward isn’t worth the effort.” Asher didn’t like where she was going. “To do what you ask, you will need to help me with a quest.”
“What kind of quest?” He asked.
“A long one,” she said. “That’s all I can say, because that’s all I know.”
“What kind of quest?”
“A red quest,” she said.
Asher gulped. “Who do I have to kill?”
“No one as far as I know.”
“But I thought-“
“Red quests are from the System. They are really just high priority quests. If they were kill quests they’d be called kill quests. There aren’t many, but when a red quest comes out that doesn’t involve killing, it’s important,” she said. Asher bit his lip.
“If you answer my questions enough to get my wives out of their rut, then I will do it,” he said. It was worth any effort to make them happy again.
“I know you will,” she said. “But you won’t like it. If I don’t warn you now. You may resent me. This quest will not be easy, or short. It will take a long time.”
“Will it interfere with the Guild Dungeon Race?”
“I don’t know,” she said truthfully. “Think of me like a post-initialization Administrator. I know who needs to do the quest, but not the details. Unlike old administrators, my requests don’t come from the current System. They come from the System in the future. Somewhere down the line it deemed you specifically necessary to complete this quest.”
Ash didn’t like the thought of that. The System may or may not want him dead. Was it sending him toward that? But what did it matter if his wives weren’t happy? He’d much rather risk another fools quest than see them sad.
“Fine,” Asher said. “If you tell us the real problem. I won’t blame you for the quest.”
“I know,” Nora said. “I simply wanted you to say it.” She got up from her chair with a groan. “Shall we?”
“Where to?” Asher asked.
“To your wives,” Nora said. “Unlike the System, I pay before the quest is complete. Let’s go figure out what your problem is.”
“You can drop me off-“ Gen tried to say.
“Oh no,” Nora cut her off. “You jumped on his bike. You’re part of this now, spider girl.”
—
It was slow going back to civilization. Asher in front, Leonora behind him, and Gen at the end using her mana grip to keep from falling. Nora yelled and cursed when he got it above 60. Though they went in a straight line, it was still past midnight before they came back to the ship. They landed near the Ethership, and the trio headed inside.
“First time?” Asher asked Gen as the platform raised them to the main level.
“It’s everyone’s first time,” she said with a sneer, but was soon smiling as the platform stopped on the main floor of the Starburst. Leonora wasn’t too impressed, but Genevieve’s reactions were worth it.
“There you are Asher,” Joan said walking in. “Woah.” Stopping at the entrance to the platform area she studied his companions. She didn’t give Gen any scrutiny, but she studied Leonora. “You like the mature women too, eh Asher?”
“Age is just a number,” Ash said with no shame. “On official business. Ignore that you saw us.” She rolled her eyes, unsure if he was joking. Asher took the long way to the captain's quarters. Luckily no one else saw them.
“Open,” Asher said outside his door. The door didn’t budge. “Starburst unlock door, captain's order, acknowledge.” The door beeped and slid open to show the girls having a good time.
Tiffany and Zora were being eaten out by Joon and Amanda. From the looks of it all of them were connected to each other through Tiff's Sharing is Caring skill. The skill linked all of their nerves together so that the pleasure was shared and multiplied. They moaned, gasped, and came as one.
“Break time,” Asher announced to the room.
The girls stopped with his voice. They turned to look at him hungrily. “Finally,” Tiff said.
“We’ve been waiting,” Zora said. They began to crawl toward him, ignoring the 2 women behind him. “Oh, good, you brought the red head.” Asher was wrong, they just ignored the older woman. Asher could practically feel Gen shake behind him. Fear or excitement, he wasn’t exactly sure.
“Wait,” he said, but it was no use. They came at the trio hungrily. Asher draped all 4 in 100% pheromones. It took a second for them to scream and cum together. 4 orgasms hitting them each at once they passed out as their screams became louder.
“Sorry,” Asher said to the 2 women. “They uh, get a little in the zone.”
“You know, I’ve seen much,” Leonora said. “But never this.” The 2 women’s eyes were locked onto the naked bodies of the 4 girls.
“Starburst lock door,” Asher said. The door shut, the others knew better than to worry about some screams from his room.
—
It took 15 minutes for them all to wake up. One by one they did, and reluctantly put on clothes. Asher cast Cleanliness to wipe up the stains. It also helped with the smell. They had been going at it for a while without him there.
“Everyone,” Asher said as they sipped coffee or water. They were seated in chairs making a circle at the foot of the bed. “This is Leonora Hearn. I met her in the Roktai Trial. She can see into the future or something.” The others stared at the older woman.
“Psh, I can do that,” Joon said.
“No,” Nora corrected. “You have memories from a possible future. One that is no longer possible because things have changed too much.”
“How do you know that?” Joon asked, a little offended.
“Because I see it all around you,” the older woman said. Asher didn’t notice her using mana, so he was curious what she was actually seeing.
“First,” Nora said. “Does anyone not want these answers? You, Amanda,” she pointed at the curly haired woman. Asher had not introduced any of them, but he ignored the fact. He was quickly understanding that Nora was outside of the norm. “Your fate has already strayed from the path of these kids. Do you want to stay?”
“My fate has strayed?” She asked, in a weak voice.
“Yes,” Nora said. “It is not a bad thing, child. We all make choices. And our fate moves along with it. You can stay and learn a little. But it may affect the path you’re on and change it. Of all of them here, you can still choose.”
Amanda looked around to everyone. Slowly she answered, “I would like to stay.” Nora accepted the answer with a sad nod.
“Can I go?” Genevieve asked a little meekly.
“No,” Nora answered. “You made your choice. I could offer to let you go, but you’d stay.”
Gen got up from her chair, moving toward the door she stopped mid-step. With a blush she walked back and sat back down. “Maybe I’ll stay.” He couldn’t leave if he wanted to, or was this woman controlling them somehow? Asher was a little freaked out. He was starting to think destiny was a thing.
“Destiny is and isn’t real,” Nora answered for him. Her gray eyes stared at each of them one by one. Finally she landed on Tiff and Zora. “Your husband came to me to figure out why you aren’t getting pregnant,” she said without shame. Zora blushed, but Tiff nodded. Almost excited to hear the answer. Asher too was expectant. Maybe he could learn something from all this.
“You should know, this answer doesn’t come cheap for him,” Nora said. “He has agreed to a quest that he knows nothing about.”
The girls gave him a look. He wasn’t sure if it was a happy or sad look. “We will share in his burden,” Tiff said.
Nora chuckled. “As you should.” Closing her eyes she began to cast mana in the air. It wasn’t mana that had to be seen with Mana Sight. A blue ethereal glow in the air, it was like watching visible wind blow.
“Let’s pretend this is what we call Fate Mana,” Nora said. The blue mana wrapped around Genevieve. “This mana is in most everyone. Some have a low affinity, some a high. A very select few have none and aren’t affected by fate. But let’s ignore them for now.” The representation of mana moved from Gen to Asher. It became thicker and darker. “You are a Hero System, Asher. The System doesn’t assign this to you. Your fate mana causes your System to upgrade to that of a hero.”
“Fate mana causes it?” He asked. “But-“
“Questions at the end,” Nora said. He nodded. “Despite what you may think. You don’t have control of your mana. Mana is in the air you breathe. Your body acts as a filter, and though you don’t see it, you’re always expelling Fate and other manas. This Fate mana affects the world around us, as well as ourselves. Every decision we make leads the Fate mana to act in certain ways to help us in reaching our destiny.”
“Sometimes this fate mana joins forces with other people. Latching on to those that are connected by Fate. I would call these people soul mates,” she said. The thickened blue mana grew bigger and connected Asher, Tiff, and Zora.
“Hey, what about me?” Joon asked with a frown.
“You are included as well, but you aren’t trying to get pregnant are you?” Nora asked. Joon shook her head slowly. “Then be quiet.” Everyone stayed quiet, watching the mana move between Asher, Tiff, and Zora.
“Right now, all 3 of your Fate Manas are connected, causing your inability to conceive,” Nora admitted. She cut him off from asking another question. “Before you ask, it’s because you are all fated to do something.”
Asher, Tiff, and Zora looked at one another. “Then we aren’t getting pregnant because…” He didn’t want to finish the thought.
“Because you would be making a life. A life that would cause an issue with your fate,” she admitted.
“Then will we ever?” Zora asked, tears in her eyes.
“For all I know, of course,” Nora said. “The fate you are being led to could be anything. Your fate could be guiding you to make a very specific child. A one in a billion child for you that can only happen at a certain time, or won’t appear until you are a higher level. Your fate mana could also know that if you had a kid now it could lead you to not make that specific child. Or you could have something important to do that a kid would get in the way of. When that event is over the fate mana will stop interfering.”
“What if we stop?” Asher asked. “What if we run away, and go off to some unknown place? No worries or these problems.”
“It may work, it may not. Like I said your decisions change the fate mana. You could swear to never pick up a weapon again. Then when you don’t fight certain people your fate could change as your destinies do. And you could be pregnant the next week. But with your current path, your Fate mana will keep interfering until it’s ready.”
Asher thought about it. He had never heard of this before. He thought that he was in control of the mana, but now it was in control of him.
“Exactly,” Nora said in answer to his thoughts. “What will you do?”
Asher looked to his wives. “Whatever they want.”
“No,” Tiff said angrily. “You will tell us what you want.”
“I want you,” he said without hesitation. “I want our kids. But I’m not in a hurry. I just want to give you what you want.” He thought on it more. “We have made promises, and I would break every one without guilt except those I made to you. If our fate is to wait on kids, then so be it. But I can’t go on if you 2 are upset that it’s not happening when we want.” Tiff and Zora held hands as they stared at him. Both fought tears. “If we have to do something specific to have kids. I guess we will just have to do it sooner rather than later.”
They studied him, but that was all he could say. Those were his truths. Finally he was able to put a face to what was causing their problems, so now he had an answer. As one, Tiff and Zora got up and dived at him. Knocking him to the floor they sobbed into his chest. He kissed the tops of their heads as they did. It took a while but eventually they looked up.
“Fine,” Tiff said.
“We can wait,” Zora finished.
Asher smiled at them. “You’re my soul mates,” he said. “I knew it, but it’s nice to have confirmation.” They smiled up at him as he kissed Zora then Tiff. “I love you now more than ever.”
“Ditto,” Tiff said, wiping her eyes. Zora leaned her head against his chest, humming happily. Asher looked up to see Gen dabbing at her eyes as she turned her head away.
“This is bullshit,” Joon whispered. “I don’t remember any of this. Kind of dumb that the System and now mana can be controlling us.” Asher agreed. “Now I want a kid, just to spite the mana.”
“Yes, yes, life is unfair,” Nora said. “Let’s get to the reason I kept everyone here.” Asher stared at her, confused. It was odd to make Joon, Gen, and Amanda sit through their emotional revelation.
“We will talk on this more later,” Asher promised. The girls nodded as they got up, but as he sat down they each sat on one of his legs. He hugged them close as they leaned against his chest. The girls held hands as they watched Nora. The old woman frowned at them but continued.
“Even I am controlled by my Fate,” she said. “My 2 main mana affinities are Fate and Time mana. In addition to the explanation, for your efforts in my quest I will give you each a glimpse into your possible fates.”
“Really?” Joon asked excitedly.
“Yes, you are all tied together. Whether you like it or not,” Nora said. “It may be different for each of you, most sad, some good, all possible. I will not make anyone watch if they don’t want.” She looked around but no one made a move to leave.
Nora exploded with mana. Swirling around her it moved slowly to each of them. Asher didn’t feel anything at first, but without warning he saw it all. He was thrust into a trance as image after image assaulted his mind. At first it was familiar things. The birth of Lyola’s son, Tillie's birth of their other son. He felt the joy of each in a heartbeat and was thrown to a new vision.
Most he didn’t understand, but some he did. A small box exploding. Being buried alive. 2 twins with red eyes and black wings staring at him. Lyola crying at a funeral pyre. Asher jumping from a ship as mana beams were fired at it. Imprisonment. Torture. Then more peace. He fought fight after fight. Monsters and sapient species. Some he recognized, most he didn’t.
He saw faces of lover after lover. Then Tiff was dying in his arms. Then Zora. Then his eldest son. He wanted to scream but the visions kept coming.
A room filled with blue women as their minds were controlled. A man that controlled beastkin. Asher’s heart in the man’s hand as it was crushed. A statue of a beautiful woman. A six tailed silver fox. A place filled with hundreds of dungeon portals, but only a few were black. Most were gold, red, green, blue and all colors imaginable.
A black door opening as a glowing key flew from his hand into a small keyhole. A land of clouds and winged gods. He watched as Dragon Slayer tore through them one by one. His vision focused as he saw Deacia crying on the cold hard floor as black smoke escaped her body. Tiffany’s dead body as she clutched a small baby girl. Lyola casting Meteor on a planet with a giant metal ring around it.
None of it was in order, but it was all there. Joon’s death, Lyola’s death, Tillie. Tiffany being dropped into a pit of despair. Zora crying with a small girl in her arms. Their empire rising and falling. Their people chased to the ends of the League. Then his rise up from the ashes as he laid waste to those that had killed his loved ones. Planet sized ships were destroyed with a wave of his hand as he strived for revenge.
Nothing was safe. People begged and pleaded for mercy but it only made him thirst for their blood more. And at the end of it all he was facing the Avatar of the System. His sword sliced through the small boy only to have it actually strike through Asher. With that scene he woke up.
“Those in our tutorial found one another fairly easy,” Genevieve said. They were only going about 60 mph, so the wind wasn’t too bad. They were flying Southeast over the greenery of France. Asher kind of remembered where he was going, but that was a long time ago, and the scenery was different. The Earth was vibrant now, in the Roktai trial the outsiders must have messed with the mana leylines to make the place barren.
“There were spiders everywhere, so there was a lot of screaming going on,” she said.
“I bet,” Asher said. She was leaning against his back, but didn’t have her arms wrapped around him. Her hands glowed with mana to stick to the Glider.
“We met up, and Pierre took charge since he was our tutorial instructor. It was good at first. I played around with my System. Leveled quickly. We found a guild charter fairly early. And we all joined. That’s when he started making passes at us younger girls,” she said. Asher gritted his teeth.
“Harmless at first. But a few days before the end of the tutorial I caught him in a compromising position. He was more than implying things with one of the younger girls.”
“How young?” He asked.
“16,” she admitted.
Asher’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. “And he was running the conference back there?” Asher asked.
She let out a long sigh. “I was the vice-guild master. I was one of the few in our group with a Custom System. Everyone knows Spiderman’s skills, so I was looked up to. I confronted Pierre. We were able to cast a vote and kicked him out. He spent the rest of the tutorial banished from the group. When we got back it wasn’t a big problem. We moved to Paris since that was where a lot of the population had moved to, and it was great for recruitment. But Pierre came to Paris as well. We recruited, as everyone did. Many of those we recruited were either manipulated or were his friends.”
“What’s his System?”
“Some kind of psychic,” she said.
“Yeah, I saw him using Mind Mana on the crowd. But forgot to say something,” Asher said with a frown.
“Yes, not surprising,” she said. “I didn’t realize, but he started his own guild. Since his guild wasn’t formed before the tutorial ended he wasn’t part of the System run conference last month. After we set this up he made a move. Many of Rouge left. There were questions on if we were really justified in kicking him out. I’m not the greatest leader, and people forgot quickly. Before I knew it, he was leading the larger guild and took over this conference.”
“Does he deserve death?” Asher asked.
“Why do you ask?”
“Did you see any of my interviews before the tutorial?” He asked.
“A few,” she admitted.
“I told people if they took advantage of people I’d kill them when I got back,” he said.
“And will you?”
“If it’s justified,” he said. They were quiet for a time. Slowly she released the bike and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“What will you do?” He asked.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. They left it at that. Asher sped up the Glider. Raising their elevation he noticed a mountain range in the distance. He wasn’t sure if that was new or not. He veered North since it wasn’t familiar.
“Incoming,” he said. There was a flock of large birds headed their way. They appeared to be very big man-size crows.
“What do we do?” She asked.
“Go through them,” Asher said. As they got closer he noticed they were only level 30. He gathered mana in his chest and cast Intimidation with a roar. The birds veered around them.
She snuggled up closer to his back. Studying the ground he hadn’t seen many monsters since coming back to Earth. There were talks of giant tigers and boss-size dolphins and sharks, but nothing too dangerous. Right now the real dangers were other people.
“There,” Asher said. He recognized a rock formation. He had spent a day resting there during the Roktai trial. He was quickly trying to retrace his steps. But he had been in the ship while it flew away. By the time it was close to dark he was ready to give up. But a fire in the distance caught his eye.
They slowly approached. He thought maybe it was the right place. But there were a lot more trees now. Coming to a halt outside of the tiny forest they got off the Glider.
“You think this is it?”
“Oh this is it,” a voice said. She was an older woman, like before. Maybe a few less wrinkles, but Asher recognized her. “You’re late, Lawful Good.”
“You said that last time,” Asher said. She had the Future System. Fate and Time mana was still foreign to him, but with Joon as his fiancee it wasn’t too much of a stretch that others could see into the future.
“I say it everytime,” the old woman grumbled as she walked into the trees. Asher and Gen followed. The silver trailer was the same as Asher had seen in the trial. A fire at the center of the clearing there was an old rocking chair already set up. Asher cast Identification on her.
????
????
“Won’t work,” Leonora said. “I have some interesting items now. Thought it best to keep people guessing.” The old woman sat in the rocking chair and stared at them.
“So what?” Asher asked. “Are you from the future?”
The old lady smiled. “Maybe,” she said. “But more like my mana is.”
“How does that work?” He asked.
“You’ll know eventually,” she said. Smacking her lips she asked, “are you going to ask me or what? I know what you want, but if you don’t ask, I can’t answer.”
“I need a favor,” Asher asked. “Do you know what it is about?”
“Your wives? Yes, I know.” She studied him. “You know how the System works boy. Take and give. Many times the reward isn’t worth the effort.” Asher didn’t like where she was going. “To do what you ask, you will need to help me with a quest.”
“What kind of quest?” He asked.
“A long one,” she said. “That’s all I can say, because that’s all I know.”
“What kind of quest?”
“A red quest,” she said.
Asher gulped. “Who do I have to kill?”
“No one as far as I know.”
“But I thought-“
“Red quests are from the System. They are really just high priority quests. If they were kill quests they’d be called kill quests. There aren’t many, but when a red quest comes out that doesn’t involve killing, it’s important,” she said. Asher bit his lip.
“If you answer my questions enough to get my wives out of their rut, then I will do it,” he said. It was worth any effort to make them happy again.
“I know you will,” she said. “But you won’t like it. If I don’t warn you now. You may resent me. This quest will not be easy, or short. It will take a long time.”
“Will it interfere with the Guild Dungeon Race?”
“I don’t know,” she said truthfully. “Think of me like a post-initialization Administrator. I know who needs to do the quest, but not the details. Unlike old administrators, my requests don’t come from the current System. They come from the System in the future. Somewhere down the line it deemed you specifically necessary to complete this quest.”
Ash didn’t like the thought of that. The System may or may not want him dead. Was it sending him toward that? But what did it matter if his wives weren’t happy? He’d much rather risk another fools quest than see them sad.
“Fine,” Asher said. “If you tell us the real problem. I won’t blame you for the quest.”
“I know,” Nora said. “I simply wanted you to say it.” She got up from her chair with a groan. “Shall we?”
“Where to?” Asher asked.
“To your wives,” Nora said. “Unlike the System, I pay before the quest is complete. Let’s go figure out what your problem is.”
“You can drop me off-“ Gen tried to say.
“Oh no,” Nora cut her off. “You jumped on his bike. You’re part of this now, spider girl.”
—
It was slow going back to civilization. Asher in front, Leonora behind him, and Gen at the end using her mana grip to keep from falling. Nora yelled and cursed when he got it above 60. Though they went in a straight line, it was still past midnight before they came back to the ship. They landed near the Ethership, and the trio headed inside.
“First time?” Asher asked Gen as the platform raised them to the main level.
“It’s everyone’s first time,” she said with a sneer, but was soon smiling as the platform stopped on the main floor of the Starburst. Leonora wasn’t too impressed, but Genevieve’s reactions were worth it.
“There you are Asher,” Joan said walking in. “Woah.” Stopping at the entrance to the platform area she studied his companions. She didn’t give Gen any scrutiny, but she studied Leonora. “You like the mature women too, eh Asher?”
“Age is just a number,” Ash said with no shame. “On official business. Ignore that you saw us.” She rolled her eyes, unsure if he was joking. Asher took the long way to the captain's quarters. Luckily no one else saw them.
“Open,” Asher said outside his door. The door didn’t budge. “Starburst unlock door, captain's order, acknowledge.” The door beeped and slid open to show the girls having a good time.
Tiffany and Zora were being eaten out by Joon and Amanda. From the looks of it all of them were connected to each other through Tiff's Sharing is Caring skill. The skill linked all of their nerves together so that the pleasure was shared and multiplied. They moaned, gasped, and came as one.
“Break time,” Asher announced to the room.
The girls stopped with his voice. They turned to look at him hungrily. “Finally,” Tiff said.
“We’ve been waiting,” Zora said. They began to crawl toward him, ignoring the 2 women behind him. “Oh, good, you brought the red head.” Asher was wrong, they just ignored the older woman. Asher could practically feel Gen shake behind him. Fear or excitement, he wasn’t exactly sure.
“Wait,” he said, but it was no use. They came at the trio hungrily. Asher draped all 4 in 100% pheromones. It took a second for them to scream and cum together. 4 orgasms hitting them each at once they passed out as their screams became louder.
“Sorry,” Asher said to the 2 women. “They uh, get a little in the zone.”
“You know, I’ve seen much,” Leonora said. “But never this.” The 2 women’s eyes were locked onto the naked bodies of the 4 girls.
“Starburst lock door,” Asher said. The door shut, the others knew better than to worry about some screams from his room.
—
It took 15 minutes for them all to wake up. One by one they did, and reluctantly put on clothes. Asher cast Cleanliness to wipe up the stains. It also helped with the smell. They had been going at it for a while without him there.
“Everyone,” Asher said as they sipped coffee or water. They were seated in chairs making a circle at the foot of the bed. “This is Leonora Hearn. I met her in the Roktai Trial. She can see into the future or something.” The others stared at the older woman.
“Psh, I can do that,” Joon said.
“No,” Nora corrected. “You have memories from a possible future. One that is no longer possible because things have changed too much.”
“How do you know that?” Joon asked, a little offended.
“Because I see it all around you,” the older woman said. Asher didn’t notice her using mana, so he was curious what she was actually seeing.
“First,” Nora said. “Does anyone not want these answers? You, Amanda,” she pointed at the curly haired woman. Asher had not introduced any of them, but he ignored the fact. He was quickly understanding that Nora was outside of the norm. “Your fate has already strayed from the path of these kids. Do you want to stay?”
“My fate has strayed?” She asked, in a weak voice.
“Yes,” Nora said. “It is not a bad thing, child. We all make choices. And our fate moves along with it. You can stay and learn a little. But it may affect the path you’re on and change it. Of all of them here, you can still choose.”
Amanda looked around to everyone. Slowly she answered, “I would like to stay.” Nora accepted the answer with a sad nod.
“Can I go?” Genevieve asked a little meekly.
“No,” Nora answered. “You made your choice. I could offer to let you go, but you’d stay.”
Gen got up from her chair, moving toward the door she stopped mid-step. With a blush she walked back and sat back down. “Maybe I’ll stay.” He couldn’t leave if he wanted to, or was this woman controlling them somehow? Asher was a little freaked out. He was starting to think destiny was a thing.
“Destiny is and isn’t real,” Nora answered for him. Her gray eyes stared at each of them one by one. Finally she landed on Tiff and Zora. “Your husband came to me to figure out why you aren’t getting pregnant,” she said without shame. Zora blushed, but Tiff nodded. Almost excited to hear the answer. Asher too was expectant. Maybe he could learn something from all this.
“You should know, this answer doesn’t come cheap for him,” Nora said. “He has agreed to a quest that he knows nothing about.”
The girls gave him a look. He wasn’t sure if it was a happy or sad look. “We will share in his burden,” Tiff said.
Nora chuckled. “As you should.” Closing her eyes she began to cast mana in the air. It wasn’t mana that had to be seen with Mana Sight. A blue ethereal glow in the air, it was like watching visible wind blow.
“Let’s pretend this is what we call Fate Mana,” Nora said. The blue mana wrapped around Genevieve. “This mana is in most everyone. Some have a low affinity, some a high. A very select few have none and aren’t affected by fate. But let’s ignore them for now.” The representation of mana moved from Gen to Asher. It became thicker and darker. “You are a Hero System, Asher. The System doesn’t assign this to you. Your fate mana causes your System to upgrade to that of a hero.”
“Fate mana causes it?” He asked. “But-“
“Questions at the end,” Nora said. He nodded. “Despite what you may think. You don’t have control of your mana. Mana is in the air you breathe. Your body acts as a filter, and though you don’t see it, you’re always expelling Fate and other manas. This Fate mana affects the world around us, as well as ourselves. Every decision we make leads the Fate mana to act in certain ways to help us in reaching our destiny.”
“Sometimes this fate mana joins forces with other people. Latching on to those that are connected by Fate. I would call these people soul mates,” she said. The thickened blue mana grew bigger and connected Asher, Tiff, and Zora.
“Hey, what about me?” Joon asked with a frown.
“You are included as well, but you aren’t trying to get pregnant are you?” Nora asked. Joon shook her head slowly. “Then be quiet.” Everyone stayed quiet, watching the mana move between Asher, Tiff, and Zora.
“Right now, all 3 of your Fate Manas are connected, causing your inability to conceive,” Nora admitted. She cut him off from asking another question. “Before you ask, it’s because you are all fated to do something.”
Asher, Tiff, and Zora looked at one another. “Then we aren’t getting pregnant because…” He didn’t want to finish the thought.
“Because you would be making a life. A life that would cause an issue with your fate,” she admitted.
“Then will we ever?” Zora asked, tears in her eyes.
“For all I know, of course,” Nora said. “The fate you are being led to could be anything. Your fate could be guiding you to make a very specific child. A one in a billion child for you that can only happen at a certain time, or won’t appear until you are a higher level. Your fate mana could also know that if you had a kid now it could lead you to not make that specific child. Or you could have something important to do that a kid would get in the way of. When that event is over the fate mana will stop interfering.”
“What if we stop?” Asher asked. “What if we run away, and go off to some unknown place? No worries or these problems.”
“It may work, it may not. Like I said your decisions change the fate mana. You could swear to never pick up a weapon again. Then when you don’t fight certain people your fate could change as your destinies do. And you could be pregnant the next week. But with your current path, your Fate mana will keep interfering until it’s ready.”
Asher thought about it. He had never heard of this before. He thought that he was in control of the mana, but now it was in control of him.
“Exactly,” Nora said in answer to his thoughts. “What will you do?”
Asher looked to his wives. “Whatever they want.”
“No,” Tiff said angrily. “You will tell us what you want.”
“I want you,” he said without hesitation. “I want our kids. But I’m not in a hurry. I just want to give you what you want.” He thought on it more. “We have made promises, and I would break every one without guilt except those I made to you. If our fate is to wait on kids, then so be it. But I can’t go on if you 2 are upset that it’s not happening when we want.” Tiff and Zora held hands as they stared at him. Both fought tears. “If we have to do something specific to have kids. I guess we will just have to do it sooner rather than later.”
They studied him, but that was all he could say. Those were his truths. Finally he was able to put a face to what was causing their problems, so now he had an answer. As one, Tiff and Zora got up and dived at him. Knocking him to the floor they sobbed into his chest. He kissed the tops of their heads as they did. It took a while but eventually they looked up.
“Fine,” Tiff said.
“We can wait,” Zora finished.
Asher smiled at them. “You’re my soul mates,” he said. “I knew it, but it’s nice to have confirmation.” They smiled up at him as he kissed Zora then Tiff. “I love you now more than ever.”
“Ditto,” Tiff said, wiping her eyes. Zora leaned her head against his chest, humming happily. Asher looked up to see Gen dabbing at her eyes as she turned her head away.
“This is bullshit,” Joon whispered. “I don’t remember any of this. Kind of dumb that the System and now mana can be controlling us.” Asher agreed. “Now I want a kid, just to spite the mana.”
“Yes, yes, life is unfair,” Nora said. “Let’s get to the reason I kept everyone here.” Asher stared at her, confused. It was odd to make Joon, Gen, and Amanda sit through their emotional revelation.
“We will talk on this more later,” Asher promised. The girls nodded as they got up, but as he sat down they each sat on one of his legs. He hugged them close as they leaned against his chest. The girls held hands as they watched Nora. The old woman frowned at them but continued.
“Even I am controlled by my Fate,” she said. “My 2 main mana affinities are Fate and Time mana. In addition to the explanation, for your efforts in my quest I will give you each a glimpse into your possible fates.”
“Really?” Joon asked excitedly.
“Yes, you are all tied together. Whether you like it or not,” Nora said. “It may be different for each of you, most sad, some good, all possible. I will not make anyone watch if they don’t want.” She looked around but no one made a move to leave.
Nora exploded with mana. Swirling around her it moved slowly to each of them. Asher didn’t feel anything at first, but without warning he saw it all. He was thrust into a trance as image after image assaulted his mind. At first it was familiar things. The birth of Lyola’s son, Tillie's birth of their other son. He felt the joy of each in a heartbeat and was thrown to a new vision.
Most he didn’t understand, but some he did. A small box exploding. Being buried alive. 2 twins with red eyes and black wings staring at him. Lyola crying at a funeral pyre. Asher jumping from a ship as mana beams were fired at it. Imprisonment. Torture. Then more peace. He fought fight after fight. Monsters and sapient species. Some he recognized, most he didn’t.
He saw faces of lover after lover. Then Tiff was dying in his arms. Then Zora. Then his eldest son. He wanted to scream but the visions kept coming.
A room filled with blue women as their minds were controlled. A man that controlled beastkin. Asher’s heart in the man’s hand as it was crushed. A statue of a beautiful woman. A six tailed silver fox. A place filled with hundreds of dungeon portals, but only a few were black. Most were gold, red, green, blue and all colors imaginable.
A black door opening as a glowing key flew from his hand into a small keyhole. A land of clouds and winged gods. He watched as Dragon Slayer tore through them one by one. His vision focused as he saw Deacia crying on the cold hard floor as black smoke escaped her body. Tiffany’s dead body as she clutched a small baby girl. Lyola casting Meteor on a planet with a giant metal ring around it.
None of it was in order, but it was all there. Joon’s death, Lyola’s death, Tillie. Tiffany being dropped into a pit of despair. Zora crying with a small girl in her arms. Their empire rising and falling. Their people chased to the ends of the League. Then his rise up from the ashes as he laid waste to those that had killed his loved ones. Planet sized ships were destroyed with a wave of his hand as he strived for revenge.
Nothing was safe. People begged and pleaded for mercy but it only made him thirst for their blood more. And at the end of it all he was facing the Avatar of the System. His sword sliced through the small boy only to have it actually strike through Asher. With that scene he woke up.
