by Gabi Moore
I could hear him yell, but he couldn't see me, and thanks to the magic of the labyrinth, he would never find me unless I walked out.
You can wait there all day, my friend...
Another twenty feet, and I had arrived.
The gate was little more than a fountain, covered in moss and lime deposits. The fountain clearly hadn't been in operation for some time. To my satisfaction, the area around the edges of my little clearing was covered by a dense thicket.
Reaching behind me, I snagged the envelope out of my pants, and opened it up. Inside was a sheet of paper, and a holograph from the Intel Department. I took the image out first, and allowed it to unfold in front of me.
A figure of a man sprang out from the slip of paper and rotated around me in the air.
I narrowed my gaze, and strained to pick up the details of the image. Stretching the holograph out in front of me, I was able to get a good glimpse at the man's physique. I could also read the DNA Readout and Sociological Inquiry that was inscribed on the lower right hand corner of the holograph.
“You've got a great body for a human, but this psyche profile is ridiculous. Believes in both Faeries, and Aliens...”
Well, he'll get proof enough on the first, but ... humans are so gullible.
No sooner had I finished committing the details of his face to memory, when the holograph incinerated before my eyes.
"Fuck!"
I backed off, cursing Thane for nearly taking my eyebrows off. The rest of the briefing was straight forward enough. The human's name was Erol, and he was apparently swimming in a quagmire of esoterica. The basic parameters of the mission were easy enough to manage.
First and foremost, make contact with the subject. Second, undermine and redirect research to achieve personal aims. And lastly, save the Fae Realms.
Not too difficult.
I let out a long exhale, and rolled my eyes while the contents of the note began to glow and catch fire as well. Shaking my head, I dropped the paper to the ground and watched while it too ignited. This time, the fire didn’t stop at the end of the paper. With amusement and absent-minded fascination, I watched as the fire transformed into a blue light. The flare expanded and became a perfect oval, placed just over the base of the fountain.
I took another breath to sturdy myself, and then stepped into the portal.
Chapter 4
I tripped over something in transit, and landed face first in the mud. It was an unceremonious drop which brought a curse to my lips, but that curse was never uttered.
I extended my arms to examine the ground, and I discovered that my skin had changed both color and texture. My hands and arms were scaled and red. My skin looked like the basin of a desert. Thin black lines working their way through deep amber scales.
I reached out one hand to touch the other, and I found that I also had nails that extended out from my fingertips like claws. The nails were black, and shone like perfect obsidian. In the reflection of my own nails, I could see horns had emerged from either side of my head. In shock, I looked down at a placid and undisturbed section of ground beneath my feet. The area of the muck that had not been disturbed by my fall offered me a perfect reflection along the surface of the ground.
My Gods... I have both wings.
The urge to fly overwhelmed me, but there was something else preventing me from fully indulging in this realization. I recognized myself, but the image was some twisted form which I had only dreamed of previously. I was a creature of the lower planes, both sexual and deadly. The eyes were slit and my nose had been flattened. My tongue had been elongated, and my wings were no longer light and translucent, but dark and leathery. I saw that the tar had stuck to the side of my cheek, and I reached over to wipe it from my newly pronounced cheekbones.
What is this place?
The mud stuck to my fingers like tar. The substance was long and viscous. I moved my shoulder over to the side of my face to wipe the gunk off of my cheek, and it ended up sticking to my shirt as well. I looked down and saw that my breasts, while still there, had decreased in size. I was lithe and reptilian in form.
When I looked around me, I had to squint my eyes from the harsh light overhead. There were no trees, and the air was rank like pitch and sulfur.
This is wrong, I shouldn't be here...
I looked about, trying to get my bearings. I could see no major landmarks around me. There were no hills in the distance. No vegetation. No signs of life anywhere. I knew that the portal had been directed to take me as close to my target as possible.
What I did not understand is how those directions had been somehow subverted so that I would end up here. All I could feel was the mire beneath my feet, and the glaring orb of fire in the sky, casting its hateful gaze down at the world below.
I felt the slightest shift under my feet, and lifted my boots up one at a time. The tar clung to one of them, and my foot pulled right out of the boot. Even the physiological structure of my feet had been modified. I let out a sharp exhale of frustration, and then proceeded to bend over and bother about putting my foot back in its correct place.
Just as I had finished, I felt a vibration making its way through the ground. I could feel the movement initially on the soles of my feet, but soon the sensation transferred throughout my whole body. The wave brought the hair of my neck on end, and I shook my shoulders out.
The magic that opened the portal must have had some foreign element in it…
I was trying to parse out how this could have happened. In all of the times that I had used the portals, I had never experienced anything similar to this. My sensory awareness spiked, and an instinct to flee overtook my body.
Approaching my position from the left, the tar began raising up from the ground like the crest of a wave. My feet were planted firmly in the muck. A sense of dread overwhelmed me, and I instinctively squatted down to prepare for a powerful launch into the air.
The strength of my wings took me by surprise. With wings like a bat, I was able to launch off of the ground with incredible vitality and speed. I leaped straight out of my shoes, and flew up into the air toward safety.
In mid flight, as I soared into the unforgiving heat above, a black serpentine form shot out from the tar beneath me. Like a whip, it coiled around my ankle, and clung tight.
I strained to break free, beating my wings furiously against the air, but there was no freedom to be found. I only began to feel the pull in my ankle, as well as the pressure from the creatures grasp. Thinking to strike it, or tear it off from me, but it grabbed a hold of my wrist as well.
One after another, black, inky tentacles from the pitch below shot out at me from the ground. The tendrils slid inward along my body toward the center of my body. With each tug, they drew my arms and legs farther apart from one another. Their hold was tight on me, and it seemed that any amount of struggling on my part only increased the tension of the creature.
I tried to relax, wondering if it was responding with tension to my fight, but it only reached a tentacle out and wrapped itself around my throat.
A searing pain began to radiate all over my body. The areas of contact immediately reacted in a bright blue rash, spreading out in all directions from the creature. I let out a scream, crying out for help, even though there was no one around. The tentacle poised over my mouth, ready to suffocate me, and then something changed in the environment.
I was pulled underneath the surface of the ground.
At first, I thought that death had finally arrived at the hands of a vicious tentacle demon, but I was wrong.
On the other side of the black pitch, there was water. But the strangest thing was that I was still able to breathe. I looked down and saw that the demon had penetrated my mouth, though instead of an inky black creature, I saw a translucent passage providing me with oxygen. Its nature had fundamentally changed.
Once more, the atmosphere around me began to change. A brilliant light flashed through the water and I found myself once more in-b
etween realms.
Much to my dismay, the tentacles that had coiled themselves around my body had been replaced by a thick briar of blackberries. The portal had deposited me square in the middle of a maze of thorns, and my clothes and skin were suffering for the contact.
Fuckin' hells...
I took a deep breath, and then realized that things were not as bad as I had initially thought.
At least it's not fucking me...
My skin was soft and vulnerable compared to the hardened scales from the previous world. I didn't need a diviner to tell me I had finally made it to the human realm.
Cursing, I began the laborious task of unweaving myself from the briar patch. I found that if I dropped down toward the ground, the briars got thicker than up at top. This meant that the thorns were longer and more uncomfortable -- but at least there weren't an overwhelming number of elements to contend with.
I ended up getting some deep cuts along my arms, and thighs, but nothing too severe. My clothes on the other hand were in absolute shreds, and I had completely lost my boots.
On the other side of the berry patch, I reached a break in my frustration. I let out a long sigh, and let my eyes rest on the vegetation which surrounded me. There were huge redwood trees, all around me. I was along the edge of some sort of clearing, though the forest extended in all directions that I could see.
While the previous dimension had seemed utterly barren, I got the opposite impression from this place. I was in a wild and untamed environment, rich with life. Birds and insects were so present that it was difficult not to notice the songs of their lives.
Brushing my hand across my forehead, I wiped a stray spiderweb from my hair. I stuck my arm out to investigate, and along the scratches from the briar patch, walked a spider the size of my thumb.
Shivers caught me, but then I remembered where I was and relaxed.
There you go...
I watched as the spider disappeared into the debris on the forest floor, and continued to stare into the earth.
My mind went back through the portal. What the hell was that? Apart from the fact that I recalled the physicality of the experience, I could have sworn that the entire experience was a dream. Even in dreams, I have touched, and been touched in a way which was convincingly real. The part that I couldn't wrap my head around was that my fucking shoes were gone.
Toes wiggled in the air as I stared at the relentless proof that I had been elsewhere, regardless of where that place might have been. I felt confused, betrayed, and totally out of sorts. When I tried to think of the possible reasons why I could have experienced something like that, I grew fatigued. There was a total loss of will on my part to devote any energy toward thinking about why I had ended up there, or how I had gotten out.
The images would be burned into my consciousness, that much I knew.
My body had been different, and what's more, I had gotten my wings back once again. I swear, I could still feel the sting of the creature that had pulled me underground, but only while my eyes were closed. When I opened my eyes up once more to examine the source of the stinging, all I could see were thorn scratches.
Well, at least I'm here... not too bad looking in this form. Absolutely human.
Frequently, when Fae crossed over into the human realm, they magicked themselves up to be beautiful. The men more so than the women. However, this beauty charm, or ‘Glamour’ was not a necessary aspect of the transition into the material world.
If I were to go about the material realm in my actual form, there would be chaos. I would be captured and put into a sexualized circus for sure. That, or I would have to bring the lives of a few humans mercilessly short, and escape.
There wasn't any inherent danger in being in my true form, or Fae form, within the material realm, its' just that it was grossly impractical. How was a person supposed to get any work done while the rest of the world was too busy staring at you to provide a coherent response or maintain a conversation?
Absolutely not. I had to be incognito in order for this to work, but fortunately, there was something about the cross-dimensional travel which made that all work out.
I had heard of others, other Fae who had somewhat arrogantly decided to magick themselves into their original form while on the material plane, but I wasn't nearly that prideful. Not anymore.
In spite of it all, I was pleased to discover that I was actually fairly good looking.
I had more muscle and substance in my human form. Instead of one wing, I had intricate tattoo lines splayed downward along the side of my body. Through the torn fabric of my clothes, I could see both muscles and tattoos along the surface of my skin. I had both healthy tone and solid muscle definition. Much of the time, in the Fae Realm, I didn't consider much of my physical appearance. At least not since I was on active duty.
I was glad to know that whatever fates were involved at least had a sexual inclination for the way my body adapted to the change between realms.
I stood up and admired myself for a moment, trying to assess how much damage had been done to my clothes, and what sort of form I would be working with in order to complete my mission.
Tits and Ass for days, and a solid athleticism too. ‘Bout fucking time something went right.
I wasn't prepared to go anywhere just yet, and for the moment, I allowed myself to indulge in some stretches. It felt good to release some of the tension in my muscles. I was disoriented, but pleased to discover that I could at least function well enough in this form. My balance was on point, and after about a half hour of meditation, my focus was solid as well.
Unfortunately, I realized during my period of adjustment that I would have to deal with all of the problems that came along with adopting a human body.
Humans, as a general rule were more susceptible to illness and fatigue. Their brains required more effort to prevent them from losing focus. They were hungrier, more often, and due to their shortened lifespan, they had a much higher sex drive than the fae.
I had been on the material plane for less than an hour, and already my mind was swamped with desires and 'urgent needs' of all kinds.
I don't understand how they manage...
Shaking my head, I set about to clear my focus once more. I needed to create a Meta Map Spell in order to figure out where my target was supposed to be located. Casting spells in human form is easy enough, but you need to clear your mind of other preoccupations first, and sometimes, that can be more difficult than not.
Two critical components of the magic which operates portal technology are proximity and intention. These are highly subjective, and are therefore left to the efficacy of the magic itself in order to integrate these variables into the spell itself. The end result is that the user is theoretically transferred toward the exact, or approximate, location where they requested to be. The portal opens, and deposits the traveler across both time and space. When they arrive, all that they should need to do is be relatively observant, and their objective should make itself apparent.
All of the rules of magic, and especially the rules governing inter-dimensional travel are speculative. The study of magic is like every other pursuit of knowledge. A working model must be accepted until it is proven wrong. Unfortunately for me, I had already been through one major systemic anomaly.
It would be nice if my target was around, but it was pretty obvious that I could count on nothing.
Just standing there, I managed to get hungry and aroused and fatigued all at the same time. My attention waned, and I was unable to complete the Meta Map Spell. The frustrations left me feeling defeated and trapped by my own baser instincts. I couldn't tell if I wanted to fuck something, eat a raw fish or fall asleep.
Better hurry up and get out of here ... this place is harsher than I remember.
Yet another undocumented theory about inter-dimensional travel involves the supposition that forms tend to retain themselves as a matter of convention. If a Fae were to assume a human form for too long, they might forget
how to access their native form. The obvious danger here is that they would lose touch with their magic, and consequentially never be able to cross planes again.
Being this fucking horny for no damned reason is about as exciting as it is frustrating. A temporary walk-in to the human form might be an enjoyable experience, but I'm not sure I want to make that kind of long-term commitment.
I looked around to see if I might be able to get away with masturbating for a bit, and saw nothing more than forest. I was excited to try it out, but before I could take my new nervous system for a spin, a man appeared from the tree line right in front of me.
Blushing, I pulled the tattered remains of my clothes over me, and then relaxed once more.
Shame, I thought. That was weird.
“Hey there... sorry to interrupt, just passing through."
Erol? I thought, scanning my memories for his characteristics. There you are...
"Actually, I'm all fucked up by this briar patch."
"Do you need some help?”
Well that was easy.
Chapter 5
I wanted to wrap this whole thing up as quickly as possible. If this quest were up to me, I would straight take this guy's will and then force him to follow through with whatever plans Thane had in mind for the guy. I was in no mood for games, and I figured that if I was going to enjoy my time away from the Fae realm, it needed to be after my responsibilities were taken care of.
A sense of urgency overtook me, and I decided that I would charm him. I would move forward with as ruthless tactics as would be allowed.
No sex, and no seizure of free will, I thought to myself. I can work with that.
I brushed a leaf from my hair, and pretended to be very concerned with removing some imaginary thorn from my pants. Standing up, I was able to catch a glimpse at him as he approached. He looked like a total square.
"I've fucked with beings that are stronger than you," I silently swore, and then offered a nod of acknowledgment and a disarming smile.
