by Prax Venter
“I might have a way,” Mark said, holding up his hand. Trying his best to mimic the shape of a coil, he forced his energy into that of a thick whip and it felt right, but there was some resistance to his pool of energy- as if he was getting resupplied through a smaller inlet. Did he forget to invoke his goddess’s presence during the heaps of oral sex the other day?
Or maybe it was this looping bubble of reality itself. They still didn’t know a lot about this place. Either way, he put the minor distraction aside and tried to focus his mind on the frightened creature before him. It locked its eyes on his ethereal blue coil and hovered forward a few inches.
Mark had never done something quite like this, but there could be a way to see the Truth in the magic seahorse’s mind and pulse that pattern through his ethereal energy. He shut everything out and tried to see around the alien nature of its thoughts and further onto its emotions.
His mental antenna could only read and not force words into anyone’s head- unless it was with his bonded Enthralled. So even though he was picking up snatches of random fear, they weren’t going to get anywhere without two-way communication.
“He’s young,” Mark said. “I believe the translator was his guardian. Or owner?”
“Xetron,” the psychic voice said, and Mark felt a flash of an image, but it faded before he could discern its contents or its meaning.
“Oh yeah,” Meegon said quietly, fascinated by this new attempt. “He says that too, rarely. We hoped it was his name, and since we didn’t have one…”
Mark turned random sections on and off up his translucent coil of blue energy, and the seahorse slid forward again. It was suddenly very interested. The creature’s strange body swirled with patterns containing every wavelength of visible light, but way too fast to comprehend.
For now, Mark tried to just mimic the patterns. It took a moment to sync up with the pulse and ripples, but he must have done something right a sharp spike of both hope and depression burst from Xetron. Mark’s ability to control the goddess’s energy was still growing, but he could tell that the missing colors were important. That, and the reduced flow from the orally obsessed deity forced him to be more frugal with his use of energy. Whatever it was, this creature was now at least perceiving muffled nonsense instead of just “silence”.
“Acknowledged. Affirmative.” The psychic voice was much louder than before and Meegon uselessly put his hands over his ears.
Sasha sighed. “It’s not working, is it?”
“No,” Mark said. “If I spent a long time trying, I might be able to-” Abby sent them all a clear emotional spike along their bond that they needed to come see what she found. “-figure something out,” he finished as he shared a knowing look with his bonded succubus and satyr.
“We should get back outside,” Jezebel said, turning to the doorway, “Perhaps Detrious is ready for our Sanctuary lesson.” It was a well-wrapped lie. She wanted to go to Abby, but Mark felt the dark whispers of untruth.
“By all means,” Meegon said, extending his arm out to the slanted corridor. “You have eternity if you wish it, but I believe you are wasting the gift of eternity by trying to break it.”
Mark and Jezebel left first, but Sasha lingered next to Meegon as they moved back through the wrecked airship.
“This eternity is hell to that beautiful monster back there,” she said, “and until Mark showed up, it was hell for Doc too. You don’t feel your repeating day comes at the cost of others?”
“You show me a part of this world, and I will show you a person or a creature that suffers. It is no different inside here than it is outside. Personally, I’m at peace with the things I cannot control.”
Mark shielded his eyes from the sunny day splashing down on them after spending a few minutes in the cramped, smoky darkness and then found Abby waving her appendages in the air near the front of the airship. Chorra was standing nearby and stopped whatever she was saying to look their way.
As he and his group walked along the edge of the ship, they approached the bizarre trio of snooty devil, scaly entertainer, and eager servant headed the other way. They passed each other without a word and barely a nod.
Movement to his right pulled Mark’s attention to Detrious and Doc strolling through the grass toward Abby. They were all going to reach her at the same time, but Mark was able to see that she was standing over the fleshy silicone ass of the face-down robot he’d noticed that first day.
“Observe the keypad,” Abby said with a grin as his group stepped up to the bot.
“It’s still strange to see tech like this in here,” Sasha said quietly.
Detrious looked over to her. “It’s a Lunar Power Droid. Rare, but not unheard of. Have they stopped manufacturing them in the present day?”
The dark-haired man’s words were important, but Mark couldn’t help but open-mouth stare at the exposed, nine-button panel in the small of the robot’s glossy white back.
It was the same mesmerizing keypad they’d seen on the mysterious black cube on the moon.
“Not sure if they still make them,” Sasha answered. “But we’ve never seen one of these before.”
“I want to talk to Audra again,” Jezebel muttered to herself.
“It’s unfortunate that we don’t know the wake-code,” Chorra said. “She could be another Visitor for all we know.”
Detrious crossed his arms. “I’ve tried many, many combinations, but without knowing the length of the sequence it’s difficult to guess. Even more so, when I only have my memory to store previous attempts.”
A growing tingle of electric eroticism pulled Mark’s attention away from the multi-hued, neon panel to a space over the cracked-open airship. There, he once again noticed the pair of air elemental Visitors. Their lovemaking caused the smoke particles above the wreckage to rub together and create erotic static electricity. A literal example of the power of love.
“Speaking of things being different in the present day,” Jezebel started. “Can anyone here tell us anything you know about a race of rabbit-people called Lagomorphs?”
The group of people looked around at one another before Detrious answered for everyone.
“No, it does not appear that anyone does.”
“What about the glowing red shards of the Crystal Heart?” Mark followed up quickly. “Anyone know where we could find more?”
Meegon nodded. “That Lady Maliah’s message mentioned you were looking for those, correct? I’ve heard rumors about mysterious red shards of crystal popping up in dark and evil places, but never heard of The Crystal Heart, specifically. As a poet focusing on the abstract, I tried to keep myself informed on the subject of the mysterious.”
Chorra held out her feathered arm. “I heard one of the tribes in my homeland discovered something matching that description. However, The Forged Talon clan are dangerous and violently territorial. An outcast group among the Nest of Clans.”
Detrious frowned. “These Crystal Heart shards must have been discovered after I entered Sanctuary. I’ve never heard of them.”
Doctor Cordin waved his hand at Mark and his Enthralled. “And you four hail from the present day outside this time loop- as Detrious put it?” The older man narrowed his eyes, looking for any trace of deceit.
“That is correct,” Abby said. “This is the fourth morning Mark has healed your wound.”
Chorra turned to Meegon. “Remember when we knew the count of our days?”
He gave her a warm smile and nodded slowly.
The dark-haired man with the onyx amulet held out his palms to the group.
“Well, unless there are any further unrelated questions, are we all ready for a lesson on currently understood nature of this magical anomaly?
The balding man in the white robes turned to leave while Abby got down on her knees and began stroking the keypad with reverence.
“I will stay here and await a summation of the lesson,” she said. “There is something about this artificial humanoid that great
ly intrigues me.”
The Lunar Power Droid looked to be Abby’s height and wore glossy, white plates of armor over her arms, legs, head, and back. Some type of skin-like, firm substance covered her ass like the android sex workers he’d seen around the city. Except the bot’s form and armor were more akin to a sci-fi fantasy soldier.
“And I’ll want a summation from you,” Jezebel said, and he could feel her desire to study both the puzzle of Sanctuary and this mysterious android at the same time.
“Good luck,” Mark said to his bonded abyssal horror and then gave his full attention to Detrious.
The other man shrugged down at Abby before placing his hands behind his back and strolling toward the white rectangle of light indicating the portal back into the outside world.
“It all started with a bang,” he began. “The Gilded Breeze was on the fourth day of a leisurely eight-day journey from Bauxite Peaks to the glinting blue sands of the Saline Dunes when an internal explosion destroyed the engine room. All manner of unique, rich, and powerful passengers were onboard, one of which I believe was a member of the Time Walker race. Based upon my long experience and mystical tests, I am certain that this Time Walker was murdered right on this spot here in the Serpent River Canyon and their death was the catalyst for Sanctuary.”
- 6 -
“The first five minutes were interesting,” Sasha said to Abby as they approached her, still crouched alone near the now unearthed and equally petite combat android. “Then the next two hours was Detrious droning on about Aether Theory and the nature of curses…” The succubus rolled her eyes. “I was expecting- I don’t know. More of a murder mystery.”
“I thought it was all endlessly fascinating,” Jezebel said with a deep sigh. “I know the initial rules for abilities and magic were set by existing game world systems, but I set those to be fairly malleable to a degree and allowed for change with the whims of the entities living in here. From gods to insects. That the consciousness within this complex universe running on one of the most powerful machines on Earth have made such progress on cataloging and studying this potent and reactive force of nature-” She paused to take a breath. “Well, it’s damn fascinating! Besides, understanding magical theory leads to informed forensics and might help us with other situations.”
Abby looked to Mark for the summary she was promised. He couldn’t help glancing over to the dirty face of the Lunar Power Droid. Everything from just above her lower lip was encased in black reflective glass and her full pouty lips were made from the same hardened glossy material that made up the rest of her fake skin. He tried to extend his mind into this inanimate machine to find some broken part or some unknown information, but his True Sight only returned the dormant hum of an electrical sleep.
“They’re both right,” Mark said, shifting his attention back onto Abby. “There’s a certain truth to the way both he and the Doc were talking about peaks and valleys stacking and interfering. It gave me a new way to possibly interpret some of the sensations I get from this gift of yours.” He flashed a finger at his milky, blind eye before continuing.
“And I think I believe him about the events causing this airship wreck. I got a good look at his well-ordered emotions. I think he is very old. Older than any creature I’ve seen here and way older than Meegon. He may have witnessed the crash itself and was a Visitor since the first cycle.”
Sasha shook her head slowly. “Imagine rushing to a random car accident and then dedicating forever to freeing the survivors.”
Abby shrugged. “Perhaps he had nothing to lose on the outside. Regardless, did anyone make progress toward breaking the cycle?”
“We learned about the existence of Time Walkers,” Jezebel answered. “An ancient race of nearly extinct people who have apparently bonded with some goddess of time called Pendula. It sounds very similar to what we know of the Awysai.”
Sasha crossed her arms. “I was thinking that it also sounds similar to what we know of the Wet Dream Queen of Thomellia. If this Time Walker was murdered with a similar plea of intervention by their chosen deity, it could result in another ‘cursed area’. Another willing soul cutting a deal to fill some purpose.”
Jezebel snapped her emerald eyes on Sasha. “That’s what I was just thinking!”
Mark nodded. “Yeah, we’re all on that same wavelength. It also makes me feel like we’re not going to be able to affect anything here without the intervention of another powerful being. Dealing with the Thomellia banshee was a convoluted series of events, mistakes, and luck- and all we did was alter the nature of the curse by letting in some interdimensional sex-cloud-creatures. I don’t think we have what it takes to break something as old as Sanctuary, even if we did understand it.”
“I’m starting to agree with you,” Sasha said. “I know I’ve been the one who’s been most fixated on breaking this curse. Oh, and that beautiful terrified seahorse we saw only makes things worse.”
“Beautiful seahorse?” Abby asked, a thin black eyebrow raised.
“Inside,” Sasha said, indicating the broken ship behind them with her horn.
Mark waved his hand over the group. “We need to move on and grow strong. If we can find more shards or just kill some tough monsters, who knows what any crazy abilities any of us will unlock. The good news is that we can always come back to try again later.”
“If we can exit the simulation,” Jezebel added, “we will have system-level access and the freedom to change anything we want.”
“What did you learn about Sleeping Botty here?” Sasha asked, looking down at the sleek android sitting next to Abby.
“Chorra believes that it is not damaged, and that it would take more than the crash to do so. No one here knows what the symbols of the ancient Lunar language mean, and my random guesses at the correct sequence were unsurprisingly futile.” Abby stood, then stretched out her calves and back as she continued.
“It is unfortunate...” Her yellow eyes lingered on its glossy casing once more before she snapped them up to Mark’s. “I suggest we fight, cuddle, then tomorrow we leave these puzzles for when we are better equipped to solve them.”
“Think fast!” Sasha said before sending her metal shin up with a Side Kick aimed for his jaw.
Mark and his loyal Succubus were so deeply in tune there was no way she could surprise him- and they both knew it. Relying on his True Sight, he summoned a short club to block her under-powered, playful attack.
The energy in his Awysai Goddess pool surged out of its reservoir into his palm- and then was gone. He formed a translucent yet unbreakable pole for only an instant before Sasha’s strike whiffed right through and cracked him in the side of the face.
Shock from the empty pool of energy compounded with the considerable knock to the head and his world shuttered down to distant pinpoints of light. Everything spun for a few seconds, but he stayed on his feet.
The first thing he noticed was that Sasha was now in his face, crying.
He worked his jaw around and winced. It wasn’t broken, but it wasn’t as if that mattered anyway. With a thought, Mark poured his healing ability into his own skull and all physical damage was erased.
“What the fuck is wrong with you!” Sasha yelled, shaking him by the shoulders. “I know you could have blocked that.”
“Hey, hey, hey!” Mark said, grabbing her arms. “Something is very wrong here. I’m getting no power from the Oral Goddess.”
Sasha’s angry face softened as Abby stepped up close. “I can assist with an offering this very moment.”
Detrious and Chorra both started approaching the group, probably drawn by the scene they were making in the middle of everything. Turning his attention back to the empty pool in his mind, Mark could tell his connection to the power source was different. The space was completely sealed off.
He looked down at Abby. “I don’t think our offerings are the problem.”
“Oh no,” Jezebel said, putting her hand to her mouth. “What if the Vulpath or Skeema
come looking for us in the places we were seen? Your ability not functioning could merely be an effect of this place or it could mean the Awysai are under attack.”
“Either way, we’re done here,” Mark said. “Now.”
“Leaving Sanctuary so soon?” Detrious asked, stepping up to the group and overhearing the conversation.
“Correct,” Abby said. “There is a substantially high probability that we will return when-”
Before his bonded abyssal horror could finish, Detrious lifted his palm and completely obliterated every part of her green flesh and long black hair with a concentrated flash of pure, violent energy from his amulet. The sensation of having one of their bonds eradicated from existence twisted their hearts and shattered their minds before unquenchable rage filled that void. Mark, Sasha, and Jezebel all moved as one to strike down this monster in hiding.
But Mark was stunned once again when he realized that no energy swelled to obey his command for vengeance. Helpless again, Mark watched Sasha and Jezebel rush forward only to strike a solid wall made of glittering light.
“She’s not gone,” Detrious said calmly from the other side, his dark eyes locked on Mark.
Sasha unleashed a thick bolt of lightning into the barrier as Jezebel sprouted her glowing wings and attempted to fly over it.
Chorra the pink and teal bird-woman was backing away, horror written clearly on her large eyes. Mark walked up to the wall of light in a daze. Was this man trying to keep them here? Why hadn’t his eye whispered any hint of this deception? His focus shifted to the amulet around the other man’s neck as he bent the barrier of light over his head to protect him from enraged Enthralled.
Jezebel roared in the sky in her bear form and held out a paw before glowing vines reached up from the ground to ensnare him. Sasha kicked the wall repeatedly with violent strikes from her sharp hoof, but other than a bright spot repelling her attacks, nothing was getting through.
