Book 2: Dirt Diver’s Dance
The Two Pronged Crown Ch: 25
In the trackless, endless ether, where space, time and matter are dimly understood concepts, there were many, many ‘places’ to hide. On the shady underside of a nebulous cloud of semi sentient proto minds that might just develop into a conscious being in a few eternities, a shivering, slippery being was busily taking stock and considering new thoughts and ideas, while squirming deeper into the concealing morass of almost beings.
To be ephemeral, to have an ending… the idea shocked and horrified her, she was eternal! No local godling or pack of mortal witches could do what they had claimed… despite the rumors circulating in the ether.
She shivered and exuded a new slime coating to reassure herself, luxuriating in the slippery, snottiness of it. Every immortal among the rifts and voids it seemed, knew someone, who knew someone who had ‘died’ in some impossible, mysterious way.
“Impossible…” She whispered into the empty void around, only the senseless, drifting fragments were around to hear.
“I can start over in some other domain. There are other worlds to enjoy…” She sighed, as her newly discovered fear made up her mind.
“Hi there, Thereissq…” Ward said softly, as he slowly coalesced in the little patch of hazy nowhere she was skulking in.
“You can’t hide from the dead, ‘mighty slug matron’... Certainly not after creating so very many of them, with your despicable spawn.” He crooned as his vast shadow loomed over her and began to blot out the twinkling and swirling vista of the void.
“The body controlling, slimy, slug parasite trope is a reliable choice; nasty and uncreative, but hey… You do you, mucus and eyestalks will get you pretty far with most folks, just on the yuck factor.”
“I know…” He smiled, as he stepped fully into being before the slug demon. “Upsetting, isn’t it? You’ve been silenced by my Will. That’s the difference between a god, operating within his remit and a slimy, sneaking demon. An outsider demon who foolishly, has been playing with my toys; in ways I do not condone… not even a little.”
He shook out his glorious bat wings and took a dramatic pose against the endless backdrop of the eternal nothing.
“I need a rocky prominence to stand on heroically for this scene…”
He shook his head happily and grinned with a large number of very sharp, white teeth. “See that nebula over my shoulder? That’s a friend of the family; the Devourer of Souls. You played games with mortal souls once too often; now you’ve been caught with your pseudopod in the cookie jar.” He paused, as if allowing the silent slug creature a chance to speak, but only for a moment, and only to be infuriating.
“I know! It hardly seems fair… Mortals, they’re so fleeting; while we are eternal. What’s the harm if you wipe out a few…?” He smiled that cold hungry grin again.
“Welcome to the place where those who fuck around, get to find out… Welcome to… The Twilight Zone.” He giggled madly and sighed.
“I can’t resist a cheesy line.”
The slug began to exude the toxic, intoxicating, spiritual mucus her kind were known for, while squealing for aid in frequencies of magic unavailable to those with skeletons. She did her best to slip into a tiny gap between worlds, only to find the passage barred to her.
“You can’t escape that way anymore, I’ve touched you with my shadow and sealed you in this place. One of us is going to visit the Devourer before this is done, Terry.” Ward chuckled darkly… which, under the circumstance was pretty darkly, indeed.
“Yeah, that’s what’s happening… I can call you Terry, right? Here’s where things get interesting.” He leaned on a lamppost that didn’t exist, until summoned by his Will and chuckled.
“You can’t escape into one of your numberless spawn, anymore, you spineless slimeball. Body jumping is forbidden to you now, forbidden by my Will.”
He giggled a little, when the thing’s peepers shot out to the end of its goopy eyestalks in sudden horror and realization.
“I’m a demigod of Death, Vengeance, Justice and Golden Figs; not Murder. My patron goddess hasn’t passed judgment on you, so I can’t just butcher you myself... She has some strict rules about these kinds of things and I only get my hands dirty under special circumstances. You just aren’t that special, snotball. My second cultist’s sacred beast will do my murdering for me.”
As the humanoid god spoke, a yard long, glossy black serpent slithered out of his sleeve, crawled down his body and slid toward the trembling, glistening slug demon. It tried to flee, first through the ether, then into a physical realm that was ‘nearby’ as travelers in the void considered such things.
Despite her mighty struggles, she remained fixed in a single point in the endless expanse; frozen under the ‘eye’ of the ancient and inscrutable Devourer of Souls.
“My serpent friend is still unnamed, but he needs no name to do this work.” Ward remarked as his pet slipped across the void toward the imprisoned immortal. The snake grew as it slithered across the nothing, becoming a huge, fearsome, jet black monster adder; its silver eyes and fangs glinting redly in the Devourer’s light.
Too swiftly for even the immortal’s eyes to follow, the serpent struck, sinking long, silver fangs into the translucent, glistening slug. Venom poured into the creature; like ink dropped into a glass of water, the dark, shadowy venom spread and billowed through the being of mostly transparent goo.
“I get it…” Ward crooned to the writhing, dying slug, while the serpent returned to him, silent, swift and terrible.
“The mortals are just sitting there, living their lives. That’s not very entertaining, is it? Well, now you won’t be just stuck watching and meddling; you’ll be a full player in the endless drama of life and existence.”
Ward continued, as the snake diminished and returned to his sleeve once more. “That should be exciting for you; except you will be just another fresh new mortal soul, scrubbed clean and ready to be born into some world… somewhere.”
The slug jiggled and wriggled pitifully, as the venom swiftly spread, curdling its amorphous, moist and nearly transparent orange flesh to a dry, dusty, black husk.
“Anticlimactic, I know; but that’s how most lives end. You simply aren’t that special.”
The god murmured to what was left of the slug matron.
“Your spawn will no longer be undying, slime queen. Without you to sustain them, they are all just squishy, mortal slugs now. Consider that as you begin your new life as whatever you turn out to be…”
In the soft, shuddering energies of the dying slug demon’s passing, one of the more developed nodules of drifting, almost soul in the pale, luminous nebula chimed and rang in harmony, absorbing a few traces of the ambient discharge from an unending life, finding an ending.
“Well… what’s this?” He wondered idly, giving the little thing a poke. “You don’t belong here… not at all!” With delicate care, he extracted a battered, damaged, slightly mangled soul from the morass of drifting fragments and tucked it away in his shadow, among so many others awaiting rebirth.
Ward didn’t enjoy ether travel, nor did he relish the endless and timeless nothing, as it spread in every ‘direction’ including time and some brain achingly complex, time related dimensions and phenomena. He shook himself all over to banish those concepts and boogied for the nearest path home, where his sexy dryad infested, forest moon waited.
“Home sweet home.” He whispered to his bat familiar, Xyll as they slipped back into his little slice of almost heaven.
#
Together, the expedition team marched in good order, down the rough unimproved trail to the fissure in the mountainside that hid their goal. No hideous beasts came charging forth, no alien horrors lurked in the shadows, it was just a mostly barren, rocky vale with little to recommend it.
Count Liam called a halt, just outside the cleft in the mountain. A warm breath of wind escaped from the yawning darkness, constant and silent.
“Double check your gear, then check your neighbor’s… We could meet anything on the other side.” He said quietly. “I’ll go through first, stay close and don’t get distracted. We’re just taking a look; fall back in good order if there’s trouble.”
“I should go first, Liam.” Dannyl said softly. “I’ve done this a few times before. Everybody, put a hand through a knot and hold on to the cord, no matter what.” He had a length of spidersilk rope in his hands, with several loops knotted at regular intervals.
“When delvers say they ‘went through the void’, normies think they’re being dramatic, but that’s literally what will happen. Sometimes there’s no noticeable effect; but often, you get flung through a tunnel in the never. It can be terrifying for the uninitiated…”
He smiled at his closest friends and laughed just a little. “We’ve all been there before, haven’t we?”
“You think this is one of the weird ones?” Liam asked his younger brother.
“Almost certain it’s not, but maybe it is… I don’t think any of us would lose it and panic…” The small, ginger lad smiled weakly at his comrades. “I’d rather feel overly cautious on the other side, than lose any of you in the void.”
“You’ve done this before? Really?” Ivy demanded, as she put her hand through a loop beside Tallum.
“Yeah, I don’t blab it around, but I’m kinda well known in delver circles.” He mumbled. “It’s pretty embarrassing.”
“How many of these have you gone through?” Liam asked hotly.
“A few dozen. Most lead to barren, monster plagued wastelands and empty, forgotten, haunted cities, castles, crypts and tombs.” He shrugged. “Rarely, there’s people, or even actual cities there, but they are always super weird and unpredictable.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“What does that mean?” Tallum asked, in his low, rumbling voice.
“There’s a few civilized places, out among the weird and surreal reflections of our world, but only a few are safe to visit. Magic can be very different on the other side; though your gifts will behave normally. Ritual magic can be a little unpredictable…” He smiled at Ivy and Shai, the two mages in the group and shrugged. “Usually, it works, just be careful.”
“And you didn’t tell us this before, for a good reason?” Liam asked gently.
“Partly, it’s the delver’s code… We are not supposed to give any details about the passage to first timers, until we’re at the gate. It’s safer that way.” He hung his head a little and sighed.
“And, Ward ordered me to keep silent, cause he doesn’t want Gary getting any weird ideas. He’s worried Gary might…” He held up his palms in the universal ‘who knows’ sign.
“All right, so what else can you tell us?” Liam demanded.
“Not much, just relax. If it’s a bad one, it might look and feel a lot like the sky in Gary’s old house on the moon… weird, creepy and unsettling.” He said firmly. “Close your eyes if you need to, but don’t let go of the rope. I’ll make sure we get there.”
With that, he squared his shoulders, patted his trusty leather whip case, double checked that everyone was roped up and grinned.
“Let’s go on an Adventure!”
#
“No, king papa, we’re going on an Adventure!” Daisybelle grumbled. “We don’t wanna wait around for uncle Hermit to wake up.”
Gandree was too busy noodling on his new guitar to pay much attention… He had new and exciting things to learn and master. It was pretty nice…
Strings of groundworm tract and braided spidersilk sang sweetly under his fingers, as he danced up and down the ogre bone frets, flinging music out into the barely rising sun.
“Well, where are you headed, then. At least tell me that.” The king grumbled sourly. “A few of the others want to meet him too.”
“We’re going to Port City, on Turtle Island, papa. Hermit can’t go there.” She answered smugly. “We will be back and then you can scheme, once my boy has seen some things and knows more… And me, too.”
“So be it. Come back safely, Daze.” He sighed. “Do you need anything? I have plenty of human coins and some jewels lying around somewhere.”
She waved her father away, shaking her head in denial. “We have what we need… and Gandree boy has a fat pouch of coins now.” She glared at him suspiciously, while he continued to explore a sweet, melancholy melody he called ‘Autumn Leaves’.
“I sold some stuff… trinkets, beads and combs. Your sisters liked them so much, I guessed that I could sell them in town… I was right.” He answered smugly, without pausing his music.
The king joined in, his flute lifting the music into the sky, as dawn approached. Daisybelle produced her ogre skull drum from Nightshade’s ruff, and began to dance and tap along, her sinuous and nimble body entwining and swaying hypnotically. They carried on until full sunrise, savoring a moment of pure and simple Joy, among themselves...
Gandree’s fingers stumbled and flailed, as the first rays of the morning sun poured in through the window, along with a torrent of birdsong, joining their performance.
The local wildlife held up the young dwarf’s part seamlessly, as something warm, unexpected and deeply pleasant exploded in his chest, detonated by the sunrays on his skin.
He sank down off his stool, forming a comfy puddle on the floor, beneath his now silent instrument, with a wide, goofy smile on his face. A scant second or two later, a warm, comfy body poured down on top of him, silently giggling in foolish mirth.
Daisybelle’s lips found his; in a sweet, lingering kiss.
“I think goddess SmileyFace just kissed us both.” She murmured into his mouth.
The king sat there for a moment, awkwardly wondering what the protocol was, in this situation.
With a helpless shrug, he reached in and plucked the boy’s guitar out of the tangled mess of sleeping kids and sat down for a little Ghnash time; while they snored on the livingroom floor, in a blissful heap.
#
Gandree woke up with his face pressed between Dasybelle’s boobs, as usual. He’d given up fussing about his ‘personal space’, since that only made her more clingy and cheerfully, irritatingly cute.
Her boobs were also super soft, warm and smelled awesome.
Less comfy, soft and awesome was the livingroom floor they were asleep on, alone. The king had disappeared at some point and his guitar was hung on the wall, dangling from a padded cradle made just for his new instrument.
He slowly extracted himself from paradise, rolling his cuddle buddy over gently, onto Jasmine. She could snuggle the enormous wolfhound until she woke.
Gandree had some thinking to do and something new snuggled close to his heart. The sense of increased vitality and burgeoning power he’d felt growing, since leaving Dwarfhold had blossomed into something radiant and filled with… Joy.
The goddess had finally taken hold and become a part of him… and he suspected, in Daisybelle too. He went through his morning workout, stretching in the bright sunshine and savoring every moment of it.
First, a few minutes of careful, full body stretching, then finger, palm and wrist exercises. That was followed by a warmup on the flute and guitar and some diligent practice in the garden.
Music, soft and tranquil, drifted in the quiet mid morning air; bringing birds, frogs and insects out to play along in tweeting, croaking and buzzing harmony. He played around with this new ability, drawing on his internal forces and his Will to subtly manipulate his new friends’ musical contributions.
He looked up at the sound of bare feet on the grass behind him and found Daisybelle, dressed in a very scant outfit, dancing to his music.
Flimsy, white silk shorts and a loose, flowing, sleeveless top did little to contain or conceal her bouncy, distracting body.
As she danced, she wielded her oar shield and long obsidian knife against an imaginary foe, fiercely stabbing, slashing and bashing, to the rhythm of a cheerful song from somewhere else and long ago.
There's a dark and a troubled side of life,
There's a bright and a sunny side too.
Though we meet with the darkness and strife,
The sunny side we also may view…
Keep on the sunny side,
Always on the sunny side…
Keep on the sunny side of life!
He watched her easy, precise movements as she swayed and spun; butchering unseen foemen with ruthless and elegant grace. He found his eyes focused on her movements, as well as the delicious peeks and glimpses her loose, flowing costume provided. He smoothly shifted into ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ to keep her dancing for him as long as he could.
Eventually, she sank to the lawn, sweaty, exhausted and with her filmy garments plastered to her sweet, verdigris curves in ways that the poor lad was poorly equipped to deal with.
She looked up into his glazed, wondering eyes and grinned a predator’s smile. “Yes, boy… I like dancing for you. Today, you begin to learn my dance and how to fight. Once I’ve had a bath and a nap with you.” Her smile became more eager and hungry. “Then, tonight… we begin our journey, you and me.”
Her tiny, dusky green hand took his, stilling the music at last. She gently led him away to the baths, her pert green bumcake jigging, as she pulled him along and giggled.
“I’ve been talk talking with Sabrina and my sisters about your problem, boy of mine…” She purred, while unbuttoning his long canvas coat in the changing room.
“I don’t have a problem…” He grumbled weakly, during the brief and very one sided battle over his pants. Before he was even fully aware of what was happening, the dwarf lad was in his underthings and hard pressed by a quick, nimble and highly motivated, little green laundry thief.
“No problem at all…?” She purred happily, slipping herself close to him and pressing her body to his. She was still wearing the thin, clingy outfit… but that was no help at all!
The almost sheer, white silk vanished against her dusky green skin; becoming an enticing sugar glaze on a sweet treat that he desperately wanted to taste.
Her touch and scent aroused a terrifying hunger he was unfamiliar with... Just as her touch sent strange, furious sensations raging through his body and mind. He twitched and squirmed under her wandering hands, enjoying her touch and paralyzed with fear at the same time.
Her slim hands wandered over his bare chest, back and flanks, exploring his bulky and corded muscles, while giving voice to happy little snuffles and squeaks of delight when she found a crease or curve in his abdomen that pleased her.
“Yes, no problem at all, my boy.” She almost growled that last, as her hands darted to the waistband of his undershorts and dropped them to his ankles with one brisk motion.
Before he could move, those swift hands clasped him firmly, by one of his firmest parts… and began dragging him to the bathing pool, a wicked and hungry smile on her lips and hunger in those sparkling green eyes.
“My sisters all say to wait and be patient with you, my Gandree…” She purred, while he put up very little resistance to her gentle tugging and soft giggles.
“Your sisters seem very clever…” He gasped when a twitch of her wrist changed his course.
She pouted just a little, sweetly gazing at him through her eyelashes. “But…” She whined and pleaded just a little, while grinning and doing things to her meaty double handful.
“Sabrina said I should just pounce on you and gobble you up… Her advice is wise and excellent excellent!” She purred, as she pushed him gently down onto the lawn beside his hotspring pool.
“Please… you shouldn’t… we’re not supposed to…” He gasped, as she playfully batted him about, swatting his tender parts aggressively enough to almost cause him pain, but gently enough to feel amazing anyway.
“And why not?” She growled softly, around a mouthful of his shoulder muscles. She gave his collarbone a little chomp and tightened her grip on his cock, just a mite, when he didn’t answer promptly.
“I’m not…” He stammered. “I’m… because…” He mumbled and sputtered, unable to say it.
“Nobody ever touched you, boy… Nobody there wanted you… ‘cause they are all double stupids and dumb beardos.” She growled fiercely. “Dumb dumb dwarfy rules are double stupid too.”
“I’m a foundling…” He sobbed in her arms, as her delightful handful went all squishy and sad in a few heartbeats.
“I’m not right… can’t you see? They all saw it, how wrong inside I am…!” He flung his huge, meaty arms around her and pulled her close, pressing his body to her as he shook and wept.
“I want you, boy of mine.” She whispered and rocked him back and forth for a while on the lawn, until he fell asleep in her arms; still gently sobbing in his sleep.
“Hmph… I should have gobbled him up like Sabrina said.” She sighed in his embrace. “I’m holding on to this, for safekeeping.” She whispered into his ear, with some of his most entertaining parts cupped in her hands.
#
Gandree woke up with a pleasant and very comfortable warmth enclosing his bits and pieces. Daisybelle was curled up in his arms, smiling so sweetly that the idea of disturbing her made his heart hurt. Making matters more complicated, she still had both hands around some things that no one had ever touched before… And it felt good. It felt so good, that they started to stir and squirm in her grip.
“Mmm, wakey wakey…” She mumbled happily, giving him a few gentle strokes and pats. “I’ve waited ‘til you’re ready… Gandree boy; but you’re mine and I’ll make sure you know it.” She growled and gave his cock and balls a firm, gentle squeeze; before slipping away from his hungry embrace.
She stood on the lawn, her eyes on his for a long moment, before the green, lucious girl began to sway and dance, just for him.
She slowly stripped off her flimsy garments, casting her short, silken shirt aside with a sinuous wriggle that made her plump, perky, dark nippled breasts jiggle and bounce.
The scanty shorts followed soon after, she dropped them to the lawn and sent the filmy, brief scrap of silk flying at his face with a nimble flick of her toes, followed by a giddy, ringing laugh of pleasure from her throat.
Daisybell high kicked, twirled on her toes and danced around him for a few timeless minutes; slipping close enough for a caress, before prancing out of reach again.
She took a final, giggling twirl, spinning on quick and agile toes, until she bent double and held her scandalous pose indecently… With her broad green rump aimed right at his face, peering coquettishly at him from between her own ankles.
Her green eyes flashed merrily at his shocked expression of stupid surprise and desire; his own foolish eyes flicking between her merry, wicked emerald jewels and the soft, supple secrets she was revealing to him.
Her own shy smile was vulnerable and gentle, almost pleading… crying out for acceptance, for love, for him. That tugged at the boy in ways that complemented the other ways her performance was tugging him.
He sat there, lost in numb shock, stunned by her saucy, wicked, demure beauty. He spent a few moments marveling at the perfect, delicious wonder of her. Smooth, dusky green skin shaded to a perfect kissable coral pink at her sweet, plump, nearly hairless valley and at her puckered little pink flower, nestled between her sweet round buttcheeks
The poor boy’s breath caught in his throat as his heart lurched and thrashed in his chest, crushed by desire.
She met his eyes again and grinned more confidently. “Now you’ve seen all of my places, wicked boy. Peeping at me in the bath so naughtily…” Her scolding tone of mortified embarrassment would have been more convincing if she wasn’t still bent over like that and smiling at him.
“I don’t…” He mumbled, his face red and blazing with a heat she could feel, wherever his eyes landed. “I’ve never…”
“I know, sweet boy… neither have I. We’ll learn this together… though Sabrina did have some good suggestions on how to start.” Her sweet, chubby cheeked face vanished from between her ankles, as she brought one foot around in a smooth, graceful pirouette.
In an instant she was on him, her lips crashing down on his and her body pressed close, despite the obstacle poking her in the tummy.
With a few wriggles and a little creative mauling, She had him poking in the right place, or nearly so. He halted at her gasp of pain, when he pulled her close.
“Did I hurt you?” He stammered in horror, beginning to wilt again even while she tugged him back toward her tender places, by a rapidly softening handhold.
“No… Gandree.” She whispered desperately. “You didn’t hurt me… not any more than you should, anyway. Sabrina says that it will hurt a little… the first time.” She purred and cooed.
“She says that the pain is worth it… and then some.”
“But…” He mumbled softly, as he began firming in her hands. “But…”
“No, no… This is too big for my butt…” She cooed, increasing her stroking frequency and firmness, until he growled deep in his chest and grabbed her, drawing the goblin maiden to himself with those mighty arms.
“Daze…” He gasped hungrily. “I want… I don’t wanna hurt you… not even a little…” His soft moan of need sent sparks flying through her, as his hands closed around her plump green breasts, caressing and kneading her with surprising gentleness. Too gentle…
She raked her short, blunt nails up and down his back, drawing more growls and rumbles from her mighty boy.
“Best you stick it where I say, Gandree… and firmly too! Lady’s choice!” She whispered in his ear, before clamping her teeth down on his shoulder to muffle her cries of pain, pleasure and happiness.
#