'I'm sorry Dana.. It's just too much.. There's no way I can ever go back to normal after he's made me feel this good..'

A pleasant shiver ran up my spine, and I let out a sigh of contentment as the elf slowly worked his way up, firmly kneading and gently caressing my thighs from behind.

'Raynolia's just way too amazing at this, I'll definitely have to learn this from him so I can teach Dana. If I had known he'd be pampering me like this by massaging all the right spots like this, I wouldn't have hesitated at all.'

My tails curled in pleasure around the elf's arms, feeling an urge to pull him closer to my rear, as he left my knees weak from the pleasure of having him thoroughly massaging my thighs.

"Raynolia.. I have to ask, where'd you learn to a handle a girl's body so well? It's the best, nobody's ever done me like this before."

The elf left me feeling like putty in his hands as he worked my legs, paused his quiet humming, and replied to my question while giving me a gentle squeeze.

"Practice with Luci. The two of us have been doing this sort of thing for a long time, so I'd say I've learned to be pretty good at it."

'That'd explain it. I guess I'll need to find a good masseur or two, getting pampered like this along with Dana would be the best.

Although, given how Raynolia's working his way up my thighs, then won't he soon be giving my ass this same sort of treatment?'

My tails curled tighter around Raynolia's arms at the thought, as my growing arousal began to mix with the pleasure of the massage.

The elf continued kneading and caressing my thighs while he began speaking, and I impulsively gave his arms a gentle upward tug towards my rear.

"I'm somewhat curious, what kinds of things do outsiders do for fun in the outside.. Hey, Arata, don't rush, relax and enjoy yourself."

"Well.. A good massage has always been one of my favorites.. And uhm.. Raynolia. If you don't mind, could you teach me how to give a massage like you do?"

Raynolia continued tenderly lavishing my upper thighs with attention, softly replying to my question as I savored the pleasure of his touch.

"While Luci and I can certainly teach you how I do it, Arata, it will have to be later. For now, hold your right hand out behind your back for me, and keep your tails still."

I turned my ears back towards the elf in curiosity, doing as he had ordered, while I began to eagerly anticipate what Raynolia would do next.

He let go of my thighs, sunk the fingers of his other hand into the left side of my rump, and continued speaking while beginning to fondle my rear.

"Extend one finger, and bring it to the side I'm not fondling, and I'll help you in activate the runes of your mark."

Raynolia grasped my hand, tenderly pressed it against my rump, and I nearly jumped up with a startled gasp as he began to guide my finger across my skin.

"This, Arata, is your first rune, Gyfu, I'll speak them slowly one time so you can clearly hear how to say them, Gie-fvu. The second rune is Jeraz. Yer-Az."

With the slow stroke of my finger across my rear, a gleaming, but translucent, emerald green line appeared in my vision, and as he continued, it extended.

Moments later, with a second stroke, it became a rune with the appearance of an ex, and Raynolia began tracing my finger across other rune on my rump.

I blinked as the first rune moved left across my vision as the second rune began to appear in my sight. Stroke by stroke, the rune was formed, as he began to speak.

"Like I've mentioned earlier, the combination of these two runes means bountiful harvest. Which is kind of amusing, because of where your arcana mark is located..

..Done. Up from the table, look around, it's your first time experiencing this, so you should savor it."

The completed runes flashed, forcing me to blink, and Raynolia gave my rear a sudden hard slap while finishing his sentence.

"Raynolia! Could you not randomly spank.. Me.. Like that? Huh?"

I reopened my eyes and blinked a few more times at the sight that greeted me, entirely unsure of what I found myself seeing.

Glowing transparent threads, turquoise, ruby, amber, pearly, and golden, were coiled around some of the plants, while the air around me was filled with vivid violet aurora.

"Beautiful, isn't it, Arata? Regardless of what your arcana is, or what magic it has, while you use it, you can see the aurora rivers everywhere magic is in use.

My irritation towards the elf vanished, leaving me with a mix of wonder and arousal, savoring the majesty of the sight as I slowly lifted myself off the table.

"..This is amazing, that's what it is. Raynolia, why didn't you tell me it was this gorgeous? And what are these strings around the plants that I'm seeing?"

The elf chuckled, and I found him smiling while holding out a hand to me as I turned to face him.

"Now, it's not like it's something you can really put into words, and it'd spoil both of our fun if I told you about it in advance. It's better as a surprise, don't you think?

And besides, if you were looking forward to the aurora, you wouldn't have enjoyed getting the massage like you did, and I would not have gotten to enjoy giving it as much."

I shrugged and replied to Raynolia, reaching out to take his hand as I spoke, tails aflutter, while continuing to take in the sight.

"Well, I guess I'll agree that it's better as a surprise. But I totally disagree that it would take any enjoyment out of the massage. I have to admit, though, the way you handled my legs.. And rear, was pretty great."

The elf smiled, clasping my hand with his own as he replied, and swung his free arm out in a wide gesture.

"Glad to hear that you enjoyed it. I thought you'd enjoy it, since beyond your tails and ears, the bodies of werebeasts aren't usually that much different from that of an elf.

Now as for those threads that you're seeing.. It's what your runes do. Bountiful harvest. The threads are only wrapped around edible plants, and the colors let you distinguish things by taste."

I looked around for a long moment, before quietly speaking, my tails writhing as I tried not to feel embarrassed while I asked the elf a question.

"As pretty as they are.. I feel somewhat awkward being surrounded by these.. Rivers, of aurora. There's not anything wrong with them, but it just feels weird since I'm not used to them.

This probably sounds silly, but since you spanked me when you were activating it, would spanking me again deactivate the runes?"

My ears twitched and I pouted as the elf burst out into laughter, tapping my fingers on my thighs while I waited for him to finish.

"That's adorable, you silly vixen. I could certainly do more of that if that's what you want, but you'll still have to wait for the krion to run out. The ones that don't require krion to run out are few."

I firmly squeezed Raynolia's hand, expressing my displeasure while poutily replying to the elf, swishing my tails back and forth with my steps.

"You didn't need to laugh that much, I was just seriously asking a question.. I guess it did sound really silly, but.. Well, what I'm trying to say, is.."

"That the aurora are distracting and make it hard to see? Or that I didn't satisfy you, and you want me to continue playing with your derriere?"

The next thing I knew, I had suddenly found myself being caught in the elf's arms, as his unexpected quip caught me entirely off guard.

"Are you alright? Can you walk? I knew everyone sees them differently, but if the auroras make it that hard for you to see where you're going, I'll carry you."

I shook my head and climbed back onto my feet, trying to keep my embarrassment from showing on my face as I replied to Raynolia.

"No worries, I'm perfectly fine, walking is not a problem. You took me by surprise and I missed a step, that's all. No big deal, just a bit of a stumble.

And, uhm.. Raynolia, my trying to keep a straight face really doesn't work, does it?"

The elf shrugged, his ears flicking up and down as his shoulders rose and fell, replying with a smile as he held my hand once more and resumed speaking cheerfully.

"Not at all. Your body is far too honest to attempt to hide them like that, but it does make you look quite cute when you're trying hard not to reveal your feelings."

With a sigh, I folded my arms under my chest, resting the weight of my bosom on them while turning my ears towards the elf to listen as he continued.

"One thing I've always been curious about.. Arata, how does having your ears caressed feel like to you vixens? I've also heard that your foxy kind enjoys having your chin scratched. Is that true?

Besides that, what would you like to do next? Look around the garden for a few a few minutes before leaving, or head out to see the sights of the village?"

I shrugged, unsure of what I wanted to say in reply to the elf's questions, shaking my tails back and forth as I gave him my response.

"Having my ears stroked.. Feels good I guess? And nobody's scratched my chin before, so I don't actually know about that.. You can go ahead and be the first if you'd like to try, Raynolia.

And heading out to the village seems good, it's a little hard to appreciate the view of the garden when the aurora are everywhere."

With a growing curiosity towards the elf's question, I raised up my chin, giving the elf an opportunity to freely scratch it as he pleased.

"Go right ahead, you've already gone and made me all curious about what it feels like, so you might as well follow up by going through with it."

He responded with a shrug and reached out, gently grasping me by my chin as he began tenderly scratching the underside with two fingers.

'Woah, having my chin scratched like this feels way better than I expected, it's actually a pretty great feeling.'

The next moment, I found myself quietly purring while relaxing into his grasp, as my tails happily began wagging with an overwhelming sensation of contentment.

"I'll take that blissful smile and your wagging tails as a sign that it feels really great for you then, Arata?"

With a flick of my ears as acknowledgement, I basked in the sweet sensations of the elf's gentle caresses.

"And that's about enough for now, we've got places to be. We can continue this with Luci later, alright?"

I pouted and nodded as Raynolia released my chin from his grasp, tails remaining wagging happily while I began walking behind the elf.

'Now that I'm thinking about him.. It's a little embarrassing to admit to myself, but Raynolia is kinda charming. Though he's definitely a pervert, since the first thing he did was fondle my ass..

Despite being a total pervert, he's a pretty nice guy overall.. Actually, what do you vene call an elf? Do I call a male elf a guy or.. Well, whatever. It doesn't really matter anyway.'

As I treaded barefoot across the cool loam and through the soft grass, I turned an ear towards the elf to listen as he began speaking.

"It'll take a little while to walk from here to the village, so, is there anything you would like to talk about as we walk? Like, things about the outside world, or questions about the lands of Hel."

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With a swish of my tails, I quickened my pace until I was walking alongside the elf, and replied to him with piqued curiosity.

"I'm cool with talking about whatever, and, uh, I didn't mishear that, right, Raynolia? What're those lands of Hel that you mentioned? ..It was lands of Hel, right?"

"The lands of Hel? Well, all the lands that sit beneath or surround the Helvegen. Helvegen is the proper name for that tower that blocks half the sky from view."

With my ears perked up from interested, I spoke, tails swishing from side to side as the growing curiosity towards the foreign world crept over me.

"If Helvegen is the proper name for that.. Monolith, then that means there's an improper one too, right, Raynolia?"

The elf glanced at me with an odd expression on his face, his ears waggling up and down with some emotion I couldn't recognize, and shrugged as he began replying to my question.

"Not really. There's a lot of names for it. But Helvegen is the most common one. La Grande Voie de L'affliction. Monolitul Suferintei. Tukreko Ko Mutu Dharhara. The Tower of Shattered Dreams."

My ears twitched as I tried to keep a straight face while I listened to him, finding my self torn between amusement and bemusement.

"..It sounds like a rather.. Unpleasant, place. So, uhm, Raynolia, why exactly does it have a lot of ominous sounding names?"

"You said it, Arata. It's a unpleasant place. It's also the source of krion, the only source. As for exactly why it's unpleasant.. That's both a short and a long story."

My ears perked back up with growing interest as I listened to him, and shrugged, before replying a moment later.

"I've got plenty of time if you're up to telling me about it, Raynolia, it sounds really interesting, like an adventure."

Raynolia stopped, turned his head and gave me an odd look and an expression I couldn't read, before turning away and continuing.

"Well.. If you insist. The inside of the Helvegen is divided into regions, and every region is seperated by near endless silver corridors.

And no, before you say anything, you can't take away the silver. Plenty of have tried before, Arata."

My tails and ears drooped with disappointment as I pouted, to which the elf responded with a chuckle as he resumed speaking.

"There's two ways to traverse between the regions of the Helvegen, the first of which, is by walking through the corridors. The second way, is by ascending the bridges of black stone, which allows you to reach higher regions.

And this is where things start to get unpleasant.. Nobody's quite sure how or why it happens, but the locations of the regions will sometimes change randomly with other regions of the same floor.."

I spoke up after a minute of silence, feeling mildly annoyed that it felt as if the elf had suddenly decided to leave me on a cliffhanger while speaking.

"That can't be the entire reason why it's got several ominous names, right, Raynolia?"

"Of course not. While that alone is unpleasant, it's nowhere near enough to earn the Tower so many names. There's a lot of inconveniencing things, frustrating things, infuriating things, and some things that may just break your heart.

And on the topic of regions, every region is different, and every region works differently. For example, there's a region where up is down, a region where no sounds can ever be heard, a region that's a tremendously frustrating maze, and many more."

After a moment of silence, I slowly spoke up, while looking off at the somewhat distant village that had begun to enter into view.

"That does sound pretty unpleasant, though, I'm still not sure why that'd earn it something as nasty as the title of the Tower of Shattered Dreams.

But, it sounds like it gets worse in various ways, doesn't it? Raynolia, so it's, like, mining those.. Krion crystals by hand? Is it really that horrible of a place to go?"

The next moment, I felt his hand gently land between my ears as the elf unexpectedly reached out and patted my head.

"In and of itself, the Helvegen isn't actually that horrible, in the nicer regions, it can actually be pleasant. However, if you truly wish to ascend the Helvegen.. Well, let's just say only the most stubborn can ascend the Helvegen, though, nobody has reached the top yet.

The first two floors have no restrictions, but the third and beyond do, and the regions of each floor past the first two get more difficult the higher you go.

But to be able to reach the third or higher, you'll have to prove your determination by singlehandedly hunting down either a behemoth or leviathan using a magical weapon. Which, while possible if you're determined, is no easy feat, to say the least."

I relaxed as the elf stroked my head as we walked, tails fluttering with content as I savored the pleasant feeling.

"So, uh, Raynolia, I've been wondering about something for a while now.. Is there some sort of special meaning to my mark.. Well, the mark below my navel, not the one on my rear.

I remember you saying that one meant bountiful harvest, or something like that? Anyway, is there any kind of special significance to the mark on my navel?"

As we began to near the village, I found that what entered my view was significantly different from my expectations of what it would be like.

'While it's not the tree houses and giant trees I expected from an elven village.. They look somewhere between asian and european, and they're so vivid..

Now that I think about it, I didn't pay any attention to the outside of Raynolia and Lucious's house.'

"Well, Arata, in a few minutes, I'll be introducing you to a friend of mine, but don't be too surprised when you see him. He's rather.. Big, in several ways. You'll see what I mean when you meet him."

I gave the elf a funny look as I heard him, feeling somewhat surprised by what it sounded like he was saying.

'What's Raynolia trying to say.. His friend is huge down there and he's recommending that I.. Try him out? Raynolia's already really big, and it does sound a bit unlikely that he'd be suggesting that I bed a friend of his, but..

The elves are weird after all.. Probably shouldn't make assumptions about what is unlikely for them to do though, these elves are way too unpredictable for that.'

My ears twitched as the elf continued speaking, not seeming to have noticed the funny look I was giving him.

"As for your question about your awakening mark, well, both marks have special significances, though in different way. A person's marks are a reflection of.."

He trailed off with an odd tone of voice, then the next moment, turned his head away and sneezed, before continuing while brushing his long hair from his neck.

"As I was saying, a person's marks a reflection of themselves. Also, when you achieve a complete awakening, the weapon you used will be marked with it and be bound to your card."

I gazed with curiousity at the emerald green mark on the back of his neck that had been hidden by his blond hair, studying the symbol while speaking up.

"Uhm, what's a complete awakening, and why does it need a weapon? Also, your mark.. It's.. Totally different from mine. Since you call mine the mark of desire, what's your mark called?"

"My awakening mark? It's the mark of purity.. Is something wrong? Why are you making such a strange expression all of a sudden, Arata?"

I blankly shook my head as I tried not to laugh at the absurdity of it, ears and tails twitching as I desperately tried to keep them from showing it.

The elf gave me a puzzled look before continuing speaking, his ears waggling as he turned away from me, and resumed walking.

"Not sure what you find so amusing about my mark being the mark of purity, but I assume your reaction is because of how we met?

While you could definitely say it was a bit unusually intimate for a first meeting, there wasn't anything impure about that."

The next moment, I barely stopped myself from falling forward while walking, staring dumbfoundedly at the elf as his words echoed in my head.

"Raynolia.. Are you serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be? Not that many of your kin from the fox tribes, and very few elves, would be bothered by a bit of hands on time in a situation..

I guess the outsider tribe you're from is a little less approving about you and your foxy kindred getting intimate with people outside the tribe when not in season?"

With a sigh, I gave up on trying to make sense of the Raynolia's worldview and mutely nodded, ears drooping with a feeling of defeat.

As we entered into the village, I found that it was entirely different than what I expected of it. Sparse wooden and stone buildings, and few elves in sight.

"Y'know, Raynolia, I don't mean to be rude, but.. I kinda expected the place to be.. A bit more lively, I guess. There's a lot less people around than I thought there'd be."

Raynolia chuckled, gave me a pat on the shoulder, and replied as I looked around the tranquil hamlet with a slight feeling of disappointment.

"You silly fox, what were you expecting? It's just a little elven village on the border of Retz, nothing anywhere near as large as something like the elven town of Lyon."

I shrugged and gave a helpless smile in response to the elf, replying with swishing tails as he gave me an amused smile in return.

"Food stalls, a lot of elves and others being around, stuff like that.. Well, it's not like it's a bad thing, I'm just a little disappointed since it's totally different from what I had imagined it'd be like."

Raynolia shook his head with a wry smile, his ears waggling up and down, and I shrugged again as he spoke up.

"You don't need to be so disappointed. While we don't have food stalls like the big towns or cities since it's a small village, we do have an inn, a small market, and a communal dining hall."

I turned my head with a raised eyebrow and gave the elf an inquisitive glance as he gently grabbed my hand.

"A dining hall? Like, uhh, an elven restaurant of some sort? Also, Raynolia, what's that tall stone building with a really big door over there, and why does it have a weird statue on its roof?"

"Oh, that's the local smithy. It also happens to be our destination. If you want to know about that odd statue of theirs, you'll want to ask Erik about that. Erin complains about it whenever someone mentions it."

Raynolia shrugged and combed his hair back with his free hand as he replied, his pointed ears perking up as he spoke. As he finished, a moment of silence fell before I hesitantly asked him a question.

"So, uhm.. I guess that friend of yours that you were suggesting I should try bedding.. Is one of those two, right?"

The elf burst into laughter and I felt embarrassment creeping over me as I suddenly felt the urge to dig a hole and hide in it.

"When did I say something like that, you silly vixen? Luci took a liking to you, and you were obviously perfectly happy to join us the other night.. So why would I ever send a cute, happy, and more than willing fox who's company Luci enjoys to someone else's bed?"

I was left speechless by the elf's unusual and bizarrely logical statement. My tails came to a halt as I found myself at a total loss for how to feel besides embarrassed.

My silence continued until I found myself climbing up onto the smithy's stone porch, awkwardly standing alongside Raynolia, who quietly spoke as he placed his hand on my navel, and gently stroked it.

"Arata.. There's nothing shameful about having strong desires. Your desires are a big part of what makes you, you. Your mark is a reflection of who you are, a lovely and passionate girl who desires affection.

So don't make such a lonely and ashamed expression like that, you're so much more beautiful when you smile. Your desires are beautiful and so are you, so smile, be proud of your desires, because they make you even more lovely."

As he reached up from my navel to caress my face, I found that my heart was racing and my tails were a flutter with a unusual happiness.

"Raynolia, you.. Saying stuff like that, are you trying to seduce me? If you are.. Well, I guess we can both tell it's working, you're pretty charming at times.. Not that any seducing was needed though, as you can tell by my behavior last night."

My face warmed even further with a mixture of happiness and embarrassment as I spoke, and I quickly found myself wanting to hide my face as he continued caressing it.

"Come on in already, ye damned heartless elf. Could ye kindly stop seducing the lasses on our porch, or were ye planning on bending her over the rail and doing her here and now?"

As I startled from the unexpected voice, the massive door swung inward. I craned my neck to look up, as the person opening it was revealed before my eyes.

"We haven't got all day, Raynolia, Erik's waiting in the back for ye. And I take it this is ye first time meeting a titan, aye, lassie?"

I nodded mutely while I looked up at the redheaded titan, as my earlier conversation with Raynolia suddenly seemed to make perfect sense to me.

"Erin, this is Arata, a lovely outsider. Arata, this is Erin, Erik's younger brother, and one of the two smiths who run this smithy. If there's something cheap in the store that you like, I'll spoil you a little.

If you fancy something that's not, you can pay the titans with your body. They'll be more than happy to accept that. Especially Erin."

As we stepped into the store, I blinked a few times while looking back and forth between Erin and Raynolia the moment what the elf had said registered in my mind.

The sight of the blushing titan made my ears twitch with amusement, and I felt an urge to reach out and gently caress the giant's muscular thigh as a mischievous impulse came over me.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Erin. You're surprisingly cute for being such a big guy.. Also, that offer about payment Raynolia mentioned.. Is that true?"

I barely suppressed the urge to laugh as the titan visibly froze in place, before giving him the most sultry grin I could manage as I finished speaking.

"..Could ye not toy with a titan's feelings like that, lass? Me poor heart, for a moment there ye made me think ye were saying that seriously."

The blushing titan closed the door, replying very quietly as he turned his horned head to look away, gesturing with his hand toward me and Raynolia while he did.

"Ye already know the way through to the forge, ye damned heartless elf, so take the lass on in to sightsee and show her around, ye might as well do so while ye talk shop with Erik. And feel free to tease him as much as ye like, lass."

I waved to the titan and winked, feeling somewhat smug as well as immensely satisfied by Erin's embarassed reaction to my spontaneous teasing.

With wagging tails, and bubbly feelings of victory, I followed Raynolia through the giant smithy's storefront, glancing at the various wares on display as I walked by.

As I followed Raynolia through a pair of tremendous curtains, I found an astonishing sight that I had never expected to encounter in my life.

Before my eyes stood a redheaded, scantily clad, incredibly well toned titan with three horns, and he was standing in a bizarrely comical pose that accented his muscular abdomen and arms.

"Så Raynolia, du har kommit, och med en fin liten räv också! Låt mig presentera mig själv, jag är Erik, smeden, jag är säker på att du redan har träffat min yngre bror. Kan du inte förstå norra språket, kvinnoräv?"

I looked toward Raynolia with a confused expression, to which the titan responded with laughter as he assumed a more normal stance.

"Ehem, sorry, I assumed ye could understand and speak the Northern tongues like this elven lad here. Anyways, I'm Erik, and it's a great pleasure to be meeting ye, lady..?"

"This lovely outsider, Erik, is Arata. She's been staying with me and Luci, and she's new to the lands of Hel, so don't tease her too much. Anyway, Erik, there was something that you were wanting help with?"

The titan blinked a few times, before reaching down to pat my head, leaving me momentarily confused by what I heard as he spoke to me.

"Aye, it's coincidence, but ye've already done what I wanted yer help with. Lady Arata.. Arata.. Lass, can I just call ye Arami instead? Yer name is a little hard for me to pronounce.

Anyways, lass, since ye're a newly arrived outsider, ye don't have any weapons, right? If ye don't, would ye like a spear? It's complimentary gift from me."

A feeling of suspicion crept up on me from the titan's strange offer, but I nodded out of curiousity as I began wondering what the catch to the randomly offered spear was.

"Great, great, thank ye Raynolia. I had asked Luci in the hopes that ye would know someone who might want it, but I hadn't expected ye to conveniently bring an outsider lass in here."

I raised an eyebrow at the titan, and unhesitatinly spoke my mind, while giving him an inquisitive look.

"So, while I appreciate the kind and generous gesture of goodwill, I would assume that giving someone a complimentary spear.. Isn't quite something normal for a smith to do, right?"

"..Aye. It's a one of a kind, a masterwork. Ye can be sure there's none other like it in the world.. But.. Ye see, lass, it's far too small for us titans, and unique spears aren't easy to sell.

A thrice damned bastard commissioned it, and paid half the fee in advance. So I toiled for three months to gather all the rare materials he requested, and then a full week forging the spear..

When I went out to delivier it, that wretched, insufferable cur.. He rejected it. Not for another titan's work, but a sorry excuse for slag from an orcish factory. It's a disgrace, I tell ye, a disgrace. Nothing's more insulting to a smith."

I stared, dumbfounded, as the titan who had suddenly went ranting on a tangent, let out an incredibly long and depressing sigh while walking over to a rack.

"Anyways, lass, here it is, yer new weapon. The spear is called Gungnaegg, which means Wavering Edge in the common tongue. I hope ye will put it to good use in yer adventures, outsider lass.

And if by any chance, ye meet the bastard who calls himself The Legend Twenty Seven.. Do me a favor and give him a taste of Gungnaegg's edge, would ye?"