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A Second Life
Chapter 30: First Hunt

Chapter 30: First Hunt

“Here, try this.” Laulaia tossed me a wet bundle of clothes, as the pale white glow slowly faded from her hands.

Catching the bundle mid-air, I unceremoniously shook it open to examine it. Two simple, flat cloths, with long strings atop both sides of each, made the most basic of denim loin cloths. Tying the two pieces high around my hips, the cloth was long enough to almost reach my knees, while solidly covering my hips and front. It’s not a fashion that I enjoy, but it’s one that I should be able to utilize in either form.

Forcing my body to glow pink, I noticed one obvious flaw immediately. The moment my body shifted into that of a woman, the damn loin cloth fell right off my ass and crumpled to the ground.

Casper’s laughter echoed in my head, as Laulaia whistled tauntingly. It wasn’t some stupid restriction, or limit, of a God’s; it was simply gravity at work. My brute-body is probably at least twice as wide as my rape-body. When the damn thing is tied around my man-waist, it falls off my woman-waist, and if it’s tied around my woman-waist, the damn strings will break when I change to a man.

It doesn’t matter if the damn clothing is a style that’s interchangeable – my damn body shape isn’t!

“Screw it.” Stepping out of the crumpled bundle, I kicked my frustration out on the cloth, sending it arcing back into the pool. Not bothering to shift back into my oversized male form, I stomped off upstairs, heading after Alaina and Shadow, just as naked as the day I was born.

“Hey! Do you want me to come with you?” Laulaia yelled behind me, but I completely ignored her. I simply wasn’t in the mood to be bothered to respond.

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Arriving outside, I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. “Alaina! Shadow! Are you two out here?” Yelling out in my soft feminine voice, I was surprised by how weak and feeble I sounded. As a woman, I wasn’t even strong enough to shout properly in this form!

“We’re here, my lord-husband!” Coming around the side of one of the ruins, Alaina waved cheerfully, completely at ease being just as naked as I was. “Or should I say, ‘We’re here, my lady-wife?” Laughing, she couldn’t help teasing me, while I was in my womanly form.

“Baawow wow!” Barking excitedly, Shadow ran out from a different crumbling building, and rushed over to run circles around my legs.

“So what are we doing up here?” Dripping wet, and just as naked as everyone else, Laulaia eased up the steps while wringing out her massively long hair.

“We’re going to hunt a damn boogyman.” No matter how grim and serious I tried to sound, all I could do is come across as bright and cheerful with my sing-song maiden’s voice.

“Sounds great,” Alaina replied, cheerfully. “So what’s the plan, boss-lady?”

“Who the hell has a plan? We’re naked. We don’t even have the protection offered by a g-string, and yet we have to purify ten man – and woman – eating monsters,” I snorted, utterly disgusted. “What we have to try, is to pull one monster at a time to the temple grounds here, then somehow immobilize it long enough for me to purify it – and all without relying on man-muscles!”

“Wouldn’t the best plan be to just wait until sunset?” Laulaia asked, innocently. “As long as Alaina can get a few above the temple here, before dark, can’t you just purify them when they’re sluggish and inactive?”

“Ummm… Sure, we can do that, if you like doing things the easy way.” Blushing furiously – damn my overly cute womanly reactions – I can’t believe I didn’t think of something so obvious. What can I say? It must be that time of the month!

“Then why don’t we see what else is down in the temple, while we wait? We haven’t checked out what’s behind any of those doors down there,” Alaina reminded me.

“I tried,” Laulaia admitted, snuggling her damp body close against mine. “The doors just won’t open for me or Alaina. They probably require a priest to unlock them.”

“Does a Chosen One count as a priest?” Honestly, I wasn’t certain if I held the proper qualifications to do anything in this new world, except be pestered by a stinking, annoying goddess.

“I’d think it should,” Laulaia laughed. “In fact, if you’re going to be teaching the Lady of Life’s priestesses, then you should technically outrank them. If anyone can open those doors, you should be able to, in my opinion.

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Well, it turns out Laulaia’s opinion might be that of a rich, knowledgeable lady’s, but it’s still just as worthless as anyone else’s. “Sorry,” tugging on the handle of the last set of double doors, on the other side of the entrance to the pool, accomplished jack nothing. “No game. These damn doors won’t open for me any more than they’ll open for the two of you,” I apologized, shrugging slightly.

“I would’ve sworn you should be able to open them.” Biting her lower lip poutingly, Laulaia mused over the problem, while soaking in the hot waters of the pool once again. “All I can suggest is asking the Lady of Life what it takes to open those doors, and if there’s anything beyond them that can help us,” Laulaia sighed, slumping her shoulders in defeat.

“Well, what of it, oh-so-mighty goddess of ass-pains? Why the hell can’t I open these doors and steal all the good shit from behind them? Whatever the heck that might be,” I muttered out loud, moodily.

“You don’t hold enough inner essence to break the wards my older children set, when they abandoned this home,” Casper told me, chuckling once more over my total lack of respect. If some jackass ever tells me they managed to insult and anger the Lady of Life, I’ll bitch slap them for being a complete lying ass. The worse you speak about her stinky ass, the funnier she seems to find it – much like how a human would be amused if a pissant insulted them.

“Maybe you should go and try getting yourself raped a few hundred times,” Casper suggested, tauntingly. “It could help you to understand more of my Daughters’ beliefs better. Perhaps if you thought more like they do, then you’d be able to sort out how they do the magics they do; and then you can undo what they weave, and break the wards for entry.”

“Screw off, hussy.” Snorting, I splashed down into the pool to relax and soak with the girls. “You’ve already told me that this place was sealed ages ago, and the darkness is something new that’s spread to the realm. Learning to think like your current children would do nothing to help me learn to think like the older ones who set the wards for this place.”

“Well, that might be true as well,” Casper admitted, laughing wildly as she slowly faded out of my mind once more.

Even the damn gods will lie to you, in this stupid world! As long as they find something amusing, then saying or doing anything appears to be fair game, as far as the gods are concerned. Honestly, I truly do believe they mainly see us mortals as just some form of inferior life, like a pissant. You might find a pissant you like. You might use your magnifying glass to shine rays of burning destruction down upon your favorite ant’s enemies. You might gift them good soil, fresh food, and an easy existence – but they’re never anything more than a favored pissant. Lie to them, betray them, squish them between your fingers – they’re not your equal, and never will be.

Pissants are pissants, no matter how you look at them, from a human perspective, and from a god’s perspective, there’s very little difference between those pissants and people themselves. A pissant is more than a microbe, but nobody gives a rat’s ass about either one. A person is more than a pissant, but from the perspective of a god, it’s barely enough to think about.

I’ll definitely have to keep on my toes and take everything I learn from the gods – even the sacred Lady of Life herself -- with a grain of salt.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Not privy to my inner conversation with Casper, Laulaia swam over and snuggled tight against me, while waiting for me to fill her in on what was said.

“Apparently I just don’t hold the inner essence to break open the seals on the doors – whatever the heck that means,” I muttered moodily. Feeling Laulaia’s soft womanly warmth pressing tight against my own feminine form was rather disconcerting. With a body built for passion, by a damn goddess, the warm feeling of her soft flesh pressing tight and slippery against mine was enough to ignite an unnatural heat in my loins and chest. I couldn’t help but squirm slightly as warm moisture began to leak outward from the slit between my legs, and my nipples stood firmly erect atop the large, round mounds that were my breasts.

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Giggling lightly, Laulaia motioned for Alaina to come join her, as she slowly began to suckle teasingly from my left nipple. Trapped by my promise to feed the girls my milk for now, all I could do is endure as Laulaia rubbed one hand all across my body, while gently tugging my left wrist up above my head. Struggle as hard as I might, I couldn’t even put up enough resistance with my woman-form, for her to even notice that I was attempting to tug my arm loose from her grip.

Eyes sparkling happily, Alaina splashed over to my other side and mirrored Laulaia’s actions, until she could pin both my hands together above my head with one of hers. With her other hand, she gently tugged my right leg wide to the right, until she could trap it with her own. As Alaina passionately assaulted my breasts with her lips and tongue, Laulaia giggled and now took her chance to mirror her actions. At this point, I was sprawled out, pinned down, and completely helpless to avoid the girl’s lesson in passion that they were so intent on me receiving.

Sure, I could always change back to my brute-form and spank them both, but that’d be admitting defeat and breaking my word. I did promise them both that I’d feed them, to stretch our food farther, and technically, they were both eating during this time. And, if I’m honest with myself, their touches and kisses are anything but unpleasant. They’re both women. I like being with women. Is it really such a big deal being with them as a woman? So what if I’m a lesbian? I can live with that.

As I was struggling to sort out my feelings, Laulaia’s fingers moved in and out to expertly explore the insides of my womanly cave. Fire built to an inferno in my loins, and I lost the battle before I’d even realized it’d even began fully. My first orgasm as a woman was long, intense, and left me weak in the knees as both girls giggled happily together and nuzzled on my breasts.

I can’t say the experience was unpleasant, but it was disturbing on many levels. Raised all my life as a man, my mind simply wasn’t prepared to interpret the signals and emotions it was receiving as a female. Closing my eyes, I simply floated and relaxed in the pool, basking in the afterglow and trying to sort out exactly what the hell had just happened. I mean, I know what happened, but what the hell just happened?

Knowing something, and being able to process what one knows: those can sometimes be completely different things, as I was currently learning.

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There is one advantage to being a 100-pound woman, compared to being a 400-pound brute – my need for food is about a fourth of what I consume as a man.  A single handful of nuts and berries was enough to curb my hunger – though whether that was my natural appetite, or an effect from the energy in the pool itself, I couldn’t be certain.  And, the energy of the pool was definitely having an effect upon my woman form.

For starters, simply soaking in the pool for an extended period of time, made me overly energetic.  It was almost like an electric sugar rush, slowly leaked from the water and infused the core of my being.  Dreariness and exhaustion quickly faded in the pool, as the warm vigor slowly seemed to seep into every nook of my essence.  It didn’t take long for me to see why Laulaia enjoyed being in the water so much.

After a few hours of a nice long soak, electricity began to ripple through my body, going from “warm and pleasant” to “hot and painful”.  Apparently, too much of a good thing is too much, and my body was warning me to expel some of the energy that it’d taken in.  Tugging Alaina over, I prayed for the goddess to cure the poison in her body, letting out a sigh of relief as the pink glow pulsed from my hands into her body, relieving me from the intense heat that was consuming me. 

An hour later, the feeling returned, and I had to repeat the process once again to remove any illnesses from her body.  Under the influence of the pool, a process which normally took all day for me to recover from channeling the goddess’s power, was reduced down to only a few hours!  Truly, I can see why a wizard like Laulaia wants to take the opportunity to soak in the water as much as possible.  The effects if must be having on her magic growth must be astonishing!

As the day slowly passed, and we leisured the time away, I managed to fully purify both Alaina and Shadow – and Laulaia once again, just for practice and good measure – and still have plenty of time to rest up and recover before the moon slowly set that night.  Around about an hour before sunset, Alaina took off outside, in an attempt to lure one of the boogeymen back to the temple grounds before they went inactive.  Laulaia and I soaked nervously inside the protection of the pool, keeping Shadow with us so he wouldn’t accidently get in the way, and simply waited for her to return.

The moon was out and shining brightly, before Alaina came stumbling down the steps bloody and bruised.  “It’s done,” she laughed, giving a thumb’s up.

“Alaina!”  Splashing out of the pool, Laulaia rushed over to check on Alaina’s wounds.  “Are you okay?  Stef!  You need to fix her!”

Dripping water, myself, as I rushed up to join her, I was nice enough not to yell back that there wasn’t any need to shout; I was right beside her.  “Lady Casper, channel your power through me and heal Alaina from her wounds,” I prayed slightly, still feeling somewhat like a fraud.  Somehow, every time I prayed to Casper for her magic, I felt like one of those charlatan faith-healers who claim to be able to speak to god, back in my world.  Sure, I really do speak with god, but that doesn’t change the way it makes me feel inside when I do such things in public!

“I’m fine,” Alaina assured us, flashing a bright and energetic smile.  “I didn’t know that some of those damn boogermen have thorns, or that they can spray them outward like arrows.  The little bastard caught me off-guard.  I won’t let it happen again,” she promised, seemingly unphased by all the small cuts and gashes that lined her arms, side, and legs.  Apparently, she’d turned her body when the creature unleashed its attack, and it only grazed her a glancing blow along her side.  From the way she looked, a direct hit probably would’ve been fatal!

“You’re not fine.”  As the faint pink glow slowly faded from my hands, some inner instinct screamed to me that something was still wrong.  The cuts closed and healed up nicely, not even leaving a scar behind as proof that they were ever there, but some tingle in the back of my throat almost made me want to throw up. 

“Kind Lady of Life, please remove any poisons from this young lady as well,” I prayed, figuring the problem had to be either a poison, or a disease of some sort, and poisons are usually the faster acting and most dangerous.  As the pink glow formed around my hands and settled back into Alaina, I could tell that nothing had changed.  I’d guessed wrong; whatever was affecting her wasn’t a disease.

“And you’re still not fine.”  Sighing, I gently pushed Alaina over into the pool.  “Laulaia, give Alaina a nice bath and help her soak.  The water from the pool will help to treat her exhaustion and relax her muscles.”  At least, I hope it will.  What the hell do I truly know about any of this stuff?  Still, the girls look to me as being some sort of Chosen One healer now, so all I can do is fake it and try to ease their minds. 

“I’ve got to rest for a short while to recover some of my energy,” I told them, feeling the drain on myself from working both the healing and poison removal.  “Alaina, you just sit and take it easy for now.  You’ve earned it, you have a disease of some sort infecting your body,” and I just pray it’s not contagious.  I didn’t say the last part aloud, but it tumbled around in the back of my mind worrisomely.

“Rest until you can work your healing again,” Casper suggested, in my mind.  “In fact, you should rest until you can work it several times upon her.  Learn the way that the illness feels in your heart and mind.  That’s Thornrot – a slow acting disease that will corrupt and destroy bone over time.  Most healers won’t notice it until it’s in the later stages, where it’s already started to affect and break down a patient’s joints.  You have at least a few weeks before it progresses to that stage,” Casper assured me, “so take the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the way it feels.

“With practice,” Casper promised, “you’ll eventually be able to distinguish between dozens – perhaps even hundreds – of various poisons and diseases with just a simple diagnostic healing.  It may save you lots of work in the future, or even be able to help you identify a threat or an enemy.  Knowing the difference between a simple common cold and a magically induced disease like Thornrot, could be the vital piece of information that saves your life sometime.”

“Got it.”  Sighing, I smiled weakly over at Alaina and apologized.  “Sorry sweetie.  According to the great Lady of Life,” – might as well talk her up and place all the blame on her shoulders – “you’re suffering from something called Thornrot.  It’s one of those very slow acting diseases,” I assured them both, seeing the sudden look of alarm flashing across Laulaia’s face, “and it’s nothing I can’t cure.  Unfortunately,” I couldn’t help but grimacing as I said the words, “I can’t remove it from you just yet.  Mother Life says I need to use you as a guinea pig, and practice my healing until I learn the feeling of the sickness.  Then, I can cure you.”

“Well that’s fine!”  Waving her hand dismissively, Alaina didn’t seem the least bit concerned.  “I feel fine, at the moment,” she assured us, “and I don’t mind my lord-husband making me wait to be healed, as long as I can be useful to him.”

Dammit!  When you say it like that, it makes me want to say screw the practice!  How the hell am I supposed to make someone that sweet and loyal suffer, just so I can learn how a disease feels?  Why the hell does this damn world always seem to want to make me feel like such a lowly heel?

Sighing deeply, I closed my eyes and floated free in the pool, trying to recover my energy as quickly as possible.  The sooner I could channel another prayer, the sooner I could learn, and then the sooner I could finally fix Alaina.

“Don’t forget to cleanse and purify the plant she lured above,” Casper chuckled, reminding me.  “You don’t want her hard work to go to waste, if the creature wanders off when the sun rises later tomorrow, now do you.”

Dammit!  At this rate, it’ll be late tonight, or probably even tomorrow, before I can actually remove the Thornrot from Alaina.

This damn world is trying its damndest to turn me into a complete and utter ass!

Feeling almost like crying – it has to be the damn woman hormones at work in me – all I could do is float and try to draw in the energy from the pool as quick as possible.