by Noah Layton
All of a sudden he was face to face with the creature, staring it in the eyes. Its dead black eyes were like that of a shark, soulless as it gazed back at him. Its mouth was gormless for a moment before changing into a huge grin atop its fat, wobbling body.
Choose.
He had one arm free, and that was enough.
‘Catch it!’
Looking to his right he saw Elena throw him the axe. She couldn’t command the axe – to her it would be nothing but a steel blade.
But he could.
It seemed to move in slow motion, swinging around like a pendulum before the bound handle landed perfectly in his palm. James closed his fist around it just as the behemoth began to open its jaws, raising him up to its mouth like a candy bar.
The blade of the axe lit up incredibly in an instant, and with an almighty swing James brought it down upon the creature’s wrist.
The yell of pain was deafening. James fell, not from the behemoth’s grasp but still in it; its hand had cut off entirely, he and it falling onto the ground together roughly, the huge fingers still wrapped around his torso.
James scrambled from its twitching, deadened grasp as the behemoth stumbled about aimlessly, clutching its arm desperately as blue blood sprayed out from its severed stump and onto the grass.
‘Holy shit!’ James shouted, reuniting with Elena, ‘That was insane!’
Elena smiled quickly. Her face suddenly dropped, her wings unfolding again, but there was no time. She pushed James to the side just as he heard the almighty, sharp roar that sounded out next to them, and then both of them were gone.
James had mistaken the behemoth for a perpetually slow creature, but in that instant, enraged at its lost limb, it slammed into Elena and sent the pair of them flying through the air across the park. James could do nothing but pull himself back up, staring with his mouth hanging open in pure terror.
‘ELENA!!!’
James sprinted in their direction, both of his goddesses now out of sight.
He only had to follow the noises of struggling until he reached a spot by the lake. The creature was atop Elena, pinning her to the ground as she desperately tried to summon a fireball but was too weakened to do so.
James sprinted harder and harder, but he knew it would take too long for him to reach her.
Arifa was nowhere to be seen.
There was only one option.
He brought the axe back in his grasp, measuring the distance. Throwing had never been his strongpoint, but it was do or die.
He launched the axe from his hand, the flaming weapon swinging through the air. The behemoth literally didn’t know what had hit him, failing to look up even at the sound of the air cutting right by him.
SLAM.
The blade caught it in the shoulder with enough force to take of a sheet of flesh, sending the creature flailing back with another brutal scream.
Elena staggered up, hurrying away from the behemoth.
But it still wasn’t done.
Leaping up, it began its final run towards him.
No axe, one goddess regaining her strength and the other nowhere to be seen.
This was it.
James readied himself. It was weakened, but its stagger would outrun him easily considering the size of its steps. Finally arriving, James readied his fists, the only thing he had left. The creature brought up its remaining hand, smacking it down atop James. He grasped its claws in his hands, pushing back against the sharp bones as hard as he could.
Steadily it was forcing him backwards where it would crush him and eat him, not necessarily in that order.
There was nothing but the grunting of the two of them, the groaning and the struggling, until-
A high war-cry sounded out somewhere overhead. James’s grip relaxed for the briefest of moments, giving the creature several inches before he pushed back again… Until the behemoth’s strength suddenly slipped entirely.
It coincided with a jolt that ran up his arm from the behemoth as its body seized up entirely.
James looked up to see Arifa stood atop the head of the creature with the blade of her sword planted straight through the middle of its head. She looked like a revolutionary planting a flag into a monument for a moment, the moonlight turning her into a silhouette, until the monster let out a final, pained groan and stumbled backwards, landing lifelessly on its back.
Arifa hopped off to the side as it did, withdrawing her sword and looking down from the nearby grass proudly at her work.
Elena joined them, her wounds already healing quickly, although her clothes were muddied and torn all over.
‘Where the hell did that come from?’ James asked.
‘Was that not amazing?’ Arifa shouted, grinning. ‘For a second there I thought we didn’t have him…’
‘We almost didn’t!’ James shouted. ‘We could have freaking died. Next time would you mind sharing the plan before we go chasing a monster from another dimension?’
Arifa’s face fell, her head dropping a little.
‘I’m sorry, master… I just needed him injured before I put the sword into his head. They’re like, uhh… What’s the creature from your world called? Chickens! They’re like chickens. They’re so stupid that you can cut the head off and they can still walk around and live for a while afterwards.’
The three of them shared a look as they panted for breath, before bursting out into a torrent of laughter.
‘Chickens, huh?’ James said. ‘Remind me of that next time we fight one… And I’m sorry for being upset. I know its in your nature to do it independently just… Let’s make a plan next time before we do anything crazy, okay?’
‘Of course!’ Arifa smiled enthusiastically. ‘But… Crazy? What about that was crazy? Killing it was awesome, true, but…’
‘You forget,’ Elena replied, laying an arm over her fellow goddess’s shoulder. ‘Our master has only just been introduced to this world. There is much that he has yet to see.’
‘Ahh…’ Arifa shouted. ‘In time, in time…’
‘Indeed.’
‘All right,’ James smiled, ‘thanks for the casually patronising comments. One question – where the hell is my axe?’
***
They found James’s weapon sitting just beneath the water on the shore of the lake. Finding the bag was pointless, so he settled for wrapping it in his jacket, maintaining hope that it wouldn’t spontaneously ignite during the journey home.
By the time they arrived back at the apartment, they were all still full of energy – but a different kind to the one that had filled all three of them during the fight at the park.
‘That was fucking amazing!’ Arifa shouted, slamming James’s apartment door behind them.
‘Usually I’m one to say things like they are,’ Elena added. ‘But I’ve got two thoughts on the matter. First, exactly what Arifa said. Second, let’s not talk right now.’
James had never gotten undressed so quickly; less than a minute later his goddesses had pulled off their clothes and stripped down to nothing, their naked bodies prancing ahead of him to the bathroom. Before he even had a chance to catch up with them they had both leaned around the door, beckoning him to join them.
Do I really still look like I need encouraging?
‘We’re waiting, master…’ Elena chimed, turning and taking Arifa by the hand as they disappeared into the bathroom.
James checked one last time that none of this was still imaginary before joining the girls, crossing the apartment shamelessly in his muscular, naked new body. By the time he reached them they had already turned the shower on, steam spilling up into the room as he walked in to find his goddesses running their hands over each other’s wet bodies, smothering each other with hot, soapy water.
Moving under the heat of the water, James let it run over his head and over his body, washing off the dirt and the blood that scuffed his skin from the fight. Elena wrapped her arms around him from behind, running her soft hands up his toned abs and
up to his chest while Arifa pushed her body against his, pressing her soft chest against him as he ran his hands down to her tight, perky ass.
In no time his hands had found both of them, and their shower turned into total hedonism; their bodies pushed together, fucking hard beneath the steaming water. They became one force, replenishing each other desirously as James filled them both up passionately.
He couldn’t get enough of them. It had been only hours since they had left Arifa’s caged dimension, and already he wanted to take them again and again. Another monster killed, another fire of confidence and energy that exploded within him.
Exhausted once again after having gone several rounds in the shower, the girls gave each other a look and pushed themselves together, dropping to their knees and taking turns pleasuring him with their mouths, playfully fighting over who could take him into their mouths the deepest. Arifa eventually moved behind Elena as his demon-goddess raised her firm, huge chest and wrapped her breasts tightly around his cock. Arifa pushed them together as James thrusted his hips, fucking her chest indulgently as his goddesses worked continuously to pleasure him.
‘We need it, master…’ Arifa moaned, working Elena’s chest for her. ‘Give it to us…’
Even with how much he thought they had emptied him this far, the perfect sensation of the softness of Elena’s breasts was too much. The girls smiled happily, opening their mouths as James finished on them, groaning with pleasure at the final explosion of pleasure and the sight of his seed falling upon their tongues, moans of desirous approval escaping them greedily as they drank him down. Arifa took his shaft in her hand, squeezing out anything that may have been left as they replenished James’s energy, in turn taking it for their own.
His energy may have returned, but the slaying of the monster and the relentless fucking of his goddesses had finished James off completely. Towelling off and heading back into the apartment, they slumped into James’s bed and curled up together, drifting off to sleep quickly.
Chapter Twenty
My Dear
‘Entirely fucking useless.’
Ascevious looked down at the park from his rooftop perch with a grimacing scowl. The behemoth had been a sure call in his mind, a starting point at which to stop the goddesses and whoever this imposter was who was wandering around the human world with powers that did not belong to him.
‘You… There you are.’
He laid eyes upon the young man in his early twenties, hopping the fence of the park nearby with two attractive girls by his side. They would have blended in nicely with the city were their clothes not torn and their bodies not covered in scratches and scuffs and mud.
He spat out into the night, coughing viciously as he watched from his spot atop the building.
His body was beginning to fail him. With his soul separated from himself, Ascevious was beginning to feel the toll of the separation upon his physical self.
But the events that had just taken place hadn’t been a complete failure. He knew who this imposter was now. He could track him.
And there was one more trump card on his list that he could play.
One for this exact situation.
There was no possibility of attacking; the imposter had demonstrated his powers, and being in possession of two godly souls had given him powers beyond what any human should have possessed… Or deserved.
But there was an alternative… One that he could now finally resort to, now that he knew the identity of the imposter.
Ascevious gnashed his teeth at the thought, shaking his head. In his mind, this man, this thing, was pathetic. Nothing more than a waste.
Reaching into the pocket of his cloak, he retrieved a glowing grey stone. For a moment the god held it between his thumb and forefinger, examining the jagged shape.
‘Sharp to the touch, both within and without,’ he smiled, coughing once again. Then, in a swift movement, he threw the rock against the ground, where it smashed to pieces.
An explosion of grey smoke flurried out from the shattered remains. Before long it had formed into a figure, who stood before him panting and shaking.
‘Is it time?’ The woman said.
‘I’m afraid not, my dear,’ Ascevious growled with a smile, approaching the woman and holding her in his arms. ‘It was not my intention to bring you back into this world while it was still stained with the blight of these disgusting humans, but these are desperate times. A part of my life force has been taken by a human male, locked within his bastardised form. I know that you are weak, and until now I had no desire to bring you back… But you are our only hope of succeeding.’
‘I would do anything for you master… Anything. Direct me to this male.’
‘Follow me, my dear.’
He stood from where he was crouching, walking the ledges of the building with the woman in tow, following the trio as they walked through the night, lost in the illusion that they were safe.
Chapter Twenty-One
Breakfast
James awoke ahead of the girls in the pale 11am light. He strived to remain caught in the blissful thoughtlessness of sleep, but eventually found the thought of everything that had happened so far to be more attractive than just staring absently at the ceiling.
More had happened over the past few days than had happened in James’s entire life so far; accidentally unleash two gods and restart a centuries old conflict, take on parts of their souls in the process, take on godlike strength and regenerative powers, steal and wield a magical stolen weapon and use it to slay two ancient creatures, summon not one but two goddesses, fuck them both in the sexiest ways imaginable, and after all of that be sleeping with the two of them in his bed.
With Ascevious’s attempts weakened, all we have to do now is find him, James thought, Elena and Arifa sleeping peacefully either side of him. Once we take him down… Who knows? I haven’t actually done a whole lot of thinking about all of this… Not that I’ve had any time to.
Finish college in case all of this turns out to be an elaborate hallucination constructed by some remote part of my brain going haywire, that’s the first thing. After that? Before the goddess consortium went to shit they were trying to do something positive in this world. They were trying to change it for the better. Shouldn’t that legacy be continued?
James felt his heart beat a little faster at the thought. He had been so enraptured by the chaos since opening the locket that any notion of the future had fallen to the side, but now that he had a second to consider it the idea had excited him beyond belief.
Save the world… Then build a life for myself. More money. A better home. More power… Then expand that power. I have to keep myself in check, true, but the girls can help me with that. Power messes with everyone’s head, no matter who you are. But I can’t let this gift go to waste. People would kill to be able to do what I can do.
The thought continued to excite James as he laid awake. He felt the same way as he had done two nights ago, when he had gone running across the rooftops of the city in search of something to satisfy the hunger for adventure in his soul.
And, like any other story about gods and men, just as he desired it, so did it happen. Adventure came knocking; quite literally, but not in the form that he wanted or expected.
Turning his head in the direction of his front door, the girls shuffled awake and looked over in confusion.
‘Who’s that?’ Elena asked. ‘A friend of yours?’
‘Maybe,’ James said, sitting up and shuffling out of bed wearing nothing in the slightest. He picked up his axe, his heart pounding even faster now as he moved steadily towards the door, the flame of the blade igniting.
‘Be careful with that, master,’ Arifa said, ‘without any clothes you might hit something that we’d all hate to see go…’
He shot the pair of them a smile before his face naturally returned to the concerned expression that he had had ever since that wrapping against the wood of the door had sounded.
Who the hell
is that? There’s no way he found us… Ascevious…?
James readied his axe, gripping the handle tightly as he looked through the peephole to see-
Not Ascevious. Not a god or a monster or even law enforcement. But it still sent a jolt of shock through him.
‘Shit…’ James whispered through gritted teeth, drawing back and hurrying over to the girls. ‘It’s my dad!’
‘I keep forgetting that you humans have parents…’ Elena said casually. ‘Well, I would love to meet the father of our master, and I’m sure Arifa would to.’
‘Maybe he’s even hotter than James,’ Arifa agreed.
‘Are you fucking serious?’ James said quickly and quietly. ‘He can’t catch me in here with you two!’
‘I know you humans are supposed to be monogamous, but wouldn’t he be proud of his son for having so many women? You haven’t gone through that ceremony that humans have.’
‘Marriage?’ Elena replied.
‘That’s the one. I keep forgetting’
‘I can’t believe I’m having this conversation,’ James said, finally deciding to play the role of master. ‘You both need to get in the bathroom and hide in there.’
‘James?’ His father called out from the door. ‘Are you up, bud? It’s your dad.’
‘In the bathroom,’ James repeated. ‘As your master, that’s an order.’
The girls, both still naked, slid out from beneath the sheets and slinked sexily into the bathroom, prancing in the same way as they had done last night. James quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and crossed to the door.
‘Just a sec, dad,’ he called out, on the verge of unlocking the door when he remembered the axe, propped up against the wall just feet away. He scrambled to hide it, shoving it beneath the kitchen sink before returning to the door and unlocking it.
‘What are you doing here?’ James asked with a smile as he threw the door wide. His father laughed deeply, opening his arms up as father and son shared a brief, encompassing hug.
