Tower Fall (bodmanXCasualVelociraptor)

[bodman54]

This high up in the Tower you could pretend that there was no world below. Clouds passed around and under where Dekter was standing, obscuring the ground thousands of feet below him. The quiet hum of the machinery that kept the room comfortable had faded into the background over the years but was still there, always reminding him that no matter how much people postured, their power was fragile. If things began to break it was unclear about who would fix it. Certainly not the denizens of the upper floors. They would never dirty their hands doing actual labor. And they would never dream of letting those who lived down in the bowels of the Tower and the buildings that had spread out from the base like lichen on a tree climb higher than necessary. They liked to believe that it was the way it had always been and how it should be. Those blessed by the ancients to have gotten to the top of the Tower stayed there. Those who didn't stayed in the dirt.

But Dekter believed different. Nothing separated the families that established themselves at the top of the Tower from those that were stuck in the Depths except luck. If someone could level the playing field then maybe they could rebuild the world.

Sighing, he turned from the window, moving back into his rooms. Away from the windows and away from the clouds that obscured the ground. Like the rest of the Tower the walls and floor were made of sterile metal, giving it a cold feeling that each resident attempted to get rid of in their own way. Or at least most of them did. Some leaned into it, ensuring nothing but metal greeted their guests.

Dekter didn't like that idea though and did his best to bring color and life into his room. His parents called him eccentric but that word had lost all meaning. Because with the power the residents of the upper levels had, the technology at their fingertips, nothing was too outlandish for them. So in a way, Dekter was a little eccentric. He always enjoyed getting artifacts from the Old World or crafts from the depths. His desire to bring the two worlds together had put him in contact with a skilled smuggler who was able to traverse the levels of the Tower with ease.

His slippered feet made no sound as he walked across the carpeted floor, the warm browns and greens apparently depicting the Great Forest that stretched across much of the world from the base of the Tower out. He didn't know, having never been even halfway down his entire life. But that was possibly all about to change. If Erika ever showed up. He hoped she did because he needed her help more than ever and was willing to pay whatever she needed for it. He'd set himself on a path that put him in direct conflict with the powers that be in the Tower, including his own family. If he didn't get out then he would just disappear forever and nothing would ever change.

"Where are you," he mumbled to himself as he paced back and forth across the carpet. He didn't even consider that this might be the last time he saw these rooms. All the artifacts he'd gathered, proudly displayed for any guests to enjoy. Everything he worked for would be ruined if he couldn't escape before people found out what he had done.

--

Thousands of feet down and a world away Nylian jumped from branch to branch, breath pounding in his ears as he raced through the treetops. The soft phwft of arrows flying through the leaves caused him to duck and swerve, laughing as the ones chasing him missed their shots. He didn't fault them though. He'd grown up in these branches. He was climbing before he could even walk. No one was more comfortable dodging and weaving high above the ground than he was.

With a yell of victory, he reached up and grabbed the red cloth that had been placed the night before by the trainers, signaling his victory over his "pursuers". Hoping down to the ground he presented the flag to the elders, proving that once again he was more capable than anyone they tested him against.

"Satisfied," he asked as he fought to catch his breath. He never understood why they kept throwing these tests at him. Wasn't he ready to leave the village and go defend their way of life against the invaders from the Tower? What more did the want from him?

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

There were many vices to be had in The Tower. It was true that the Metro wore its sins more proudly on its sleeve, but Erika Chambers had seen the dark underbellies of both. To name a few for the Metro, as she wandered about the surface level probing The Tower for any possible ground-level weaknesses after drones had failed to see other external vulnerabilities: not at all under the table gambling; open-air prostitution; and trafficking in cybernetic augmentations. (Not to mention the darker shit in lower levels of the Metro Depths that had made her blood run cold in a different life.) Everywhere around them, it seemed the people had given up completely as they strained their necks in awe at the overly glossy skyscrapers reaching the heavens as the arrogant cities of myth with legendary names like Nuyok and Takayo had, in the same timeless scramble for money and status, before looking back down at their Xcape headsets and gnawing on the bones the Dwellers tossed into their scrap heap.

Had being the operative word, before whatever it was that caused most of the ancient giants to flee their temples and ascend to the stars to become the gods eons ago. They heard not a one of the prayers of those still trapped on the wounded Earth and instead appointed the Tower Council and its Dwellers as their angels (or so the "angels" said- Erika knew these people and was a staunch atheist because of it) to divinely rule. Even though Erika thought that was bullshit, they looked up at it with envy and longing.

Just remember, the more things change, the more they stay the same, their father had said as his child came out to him as Erika on his deathbed. Erika had wrestled with the meaning of those final words for the last five years because he hadn't given them a chance to ask.

Knowing he was going to die anyway from encyberitis, he rolled onto the floor and fatally shattered his own life support Xcape- the only known treatment for such, but only an indefinite palliative- with a smile. In a note that was automatically sent to Erika's Xcape an hour later, he said he'd suspected that Erika was gender nonconforming for years and was doing this so Erika could afford the Total Body Replacement needed to make them feel truly nonbinary and, more importantly, be free of the electronically or otherwise environmentally-triggered genetic curse of encyberitis. It was the only augment they liked, as it was completely organic apart from the mental upload and download process and allowed them to move their mind into a gynephilic body that Erika could also present in a decidedly masculine fashion as needed. But it had made them fall from grace, struggling to find clients in a world as a lone ex-soldier in a world already run by gangs, mobs, and damned mercenaries.

Then Dekter came along and gave them steady work smuggling tech he could get his hands on out of the Tower. These were usually "surplus" Xcapes and accompanying bodysuits ranging from basic dogshit that had been gathering dust for years to the still somewhat premium but scuffed. Either way, none of the snobs Erika used to roll with (when they were called "he") would miss them or realize the irony that they were just another gang of lowlifes selling junk at the end of the day, the way they'd accepted their own complicity in doing so on the Metro. The Dwellers just made more money than them selling these things to each other.

However, even as cynicism drew around them as familiarly as their trench coat, they knew that this job was something different. That was because in all of Dekter's frantic, heavily encrypted messages, their normally calm and collected client, with whom they'd only ever had a professional relationship, refused to explain what it was he needed them to steal, or why. Only to meet him on this day at a certain time, and at his apartment. So, they texted back to his latest message from yesterday:

Okay, what the actual hell is this thing that's so important for me to help you get? And can you meet me at a different safehouse? Because they've locked up all my usual entrances tight, and all of my friends, lovers, and even frenemies in the Tower are burned.

They also thought, It must be pretty valuable if you're this desperate. I wonder what I can get...

*****

Even after Nylian made it to the cloth and grabbed it right below them, the five old men in the stone-faced Council of Adepts that governed the Saru'd'Kai tribe at the top of their Life Tree, the largest one and capital of the civilization closest in proximity to the Tower, didn't look up from their Scrying Stone for several minutes. They only even moved in that time to drag the magical map around with their hands while murmuring to themselves at the blue line that showed Nylian's winding path through the equally twisting wood.

"You hesitated for half a second- here!" one of them harrumphed as his impressively turbaned colleague nodded sagely with him. Emboldened, he proceeded to state, as a ghostly image of Nylian nearly getting his left ear hit by a thermaslime-tipped arrow, "You. Are not. Ready, Nylian."

"You might have gotten lucky to only face archers this time," a third man sighed, with eyes downcast as if attempting to be sympathetic to the boy who had been training for this day all his life and was now on the back foot after, "but the Tower has fearsome, fast weaponry the likes of which you have never seen before and will struggle to deal with."

"Someone from their ranks hath stolen the Master Key! The very leverage that hath kept us prosperous in trade with the Tower where others hath withered and kept us from falling into war when others have dared and faced ruin from the Angels of the very Gods! This, need I remind thee, is the very thing only your otherwise useless bloodline can handle for some bizarre reason," a fourth roared, who had the habit of using pieces of language even older than the Age of the Giants. The fact that none of these old men knew what the Master Key was even for, only that the fact the generations of men all named Nylian were in fact the only ones magically capable of using such an artifact, was conveniently omitted. As was the fact most of them were worried more about their generous tax breaks when everyone else in the Forest had to pay their fair share.

It seemed like the scorn heaped upon the young elf would never end as they fretted themselves in circles, trying to keep their tenuous hold on authority. But an anomaly was about to arrive that would change everything, in the form of a convicted and exiled thief named Saedakari. She was exactly the kind of crafty woman who could climb her way back to the top of a storm-ravaged mountain and back into a Life Tree she'd been expelled from, via tunnels that had been hidden for centuries, and pockets of shadow to slink through in the ancient cracks once the guards were knocked out with sleeping darts and lock on the main door was picked. She pressed herself hard up against walls, dug into weaknesses in ceilings, curled around doorframes as her body almost seemed to flow as liquid shadow with the slightest of ease.

"You haven't given the kid much of a chance," she sniffed as she took aim at his throat with the autocross encompassing her left hand, keeping the Siphon of the First Shades she'd collected on another wrist-mounted mechanism concealed up her sleeve for now. She didn't need to get ugly yet, not when she could attract these flies with honey rather than vinegar.

"What do you want, halfling traitor?" he seethed.

"That is a lie and you know it!" Saedakari snarled, her blade growing hungry. "But I'm not here to kill you all for ruining my life, though it would be all too easy," she hissed in his ear. That, and it would also be a snap to rule the Surakai more fairly than they could, she thought, though she would certainly be vassal to the Tower just like the dogs who pissed themselves in her sight. The Adepts were very lucky indeed she had no interest in politics.

Then she jumped down to Nylian's level, giving the young virgin a brief glimpse of her athletic body and acrobatic skills before landing beside him and folding her arms.

"I've been...let's just say hypothetically keeping an eye on you for some time now," she smirked at the younger, shorter man. Then she challenged the Council of Adepts, "Give the boy to me to train, and you will never hear from me again after we get the Master Key back."

"Fine. If you can do what you say, you will not be hunted," one of them spat after the men deliberated amongst themselves, defiant thanks to hundreds of guards swarming the area. Surely even the Herald of Shadows could not defeat all of them at once. "But if you set foot in this village ever again without the Master Key and Nylian in tow, you will die. One cannot be considered a full repayment without the other."

"There's one important person you forgot to ask. Nylian," she smiled softly underneath her omnipresent face mask, "do you accept this deal?"

 

[bodman54]

He threw up his hands in frustration with Erika. They were constantly saying that they were the best and that they could get anything anywhere. And the one time he needed them here they were being evasive. This wasn't just some job. This was literally life or death. Erika wasn't the only one he worked with to smuggle items to and from the Tower. Only this time a job had gone sideways on him.

No I can't. Things are getting bad up here.

It was made clear just how bad things were getting as heavy footfalls echoed outside his door. He held his breath, hoping they'd just pass him by. But the footfalls were followed by the thump of a metallic fist crashing against the reinforced door to his apartment. The only saving grace of the security lockdown was that it protected him. At least for a little while. There were definitely ways to get through or circumvent the doors but he had a little time before he had to worry about that.

"Open up," a gruff voice said. "The Tower Council demands you answer for your crimes."

"Sorry. No one's here right now," he muttered as he made his way back to the window. Peering down he could see that it wasn't a straight drop. Porches stuck out at various intervals, along with various types of exposed roadways and conduits. Some people enjoyed getting the fresh air as they moved from one floor or side of the Tower to the other. And with the more hodgepodge approach to how the massive building had been constructed or expanded, pipes had to be routed out and up to reach the higher floors.

Feeling that his messages weren't conveying the sense of urgency he needed, he took a gamble and called Erika, using their personal number that he absolutely shouldn't have.

"Erika. I need your help. The Council has issued a warrant for my arrest and they've locked down the Tower to get me. You said you're the best so I'll give you anything if you can help me get out."

--

The arrival of the shadowy figure caused Nylian to startle, hand going to his weapon as she stepped into the light. He was prepared to give his life to defend the Adepts but the didn't seem at all perturbed by the interruption. Or. They did but none of them seemed worried. More angry and irritated. And it seemed the stranger was only a stranger to Nylian and not the rest of them as they addressed her with a comfortable familiarity. And dripping contempt.

The young elf wasn't able to get a word in edge-wise as this woman bargained for his future, offering to train him for his quest. This was the first time it had ever been directly addressed in his presence since most of the Elders didn't feel that he was ready to discuss the theft or the role he'd play in the recovery and potential use of the Master Key. He didn't even know what it was, since the actual object had been locked away in the Vault of Treasures since before he'd been born. But the legends said that his family was the only one able to use it and that the threat posed by the Master Key was the only thing keeping the Tower from destroying them all. Not that he believed any of that. But he'd been raised with this duty drilled into him from the day he'd been able to comprehend it and he wasn't going to fail his father or the generations that had come before him.

He hadn't moved since she'd made her presence known, though he did twitch as she jumped down from her high perch to address the Adepts face to face. It took very little time for the old men to deliberate among themselves about her proposal. So little time, in fact, that Nylian was still processing it as they agreed to this woman's demands.

"Excuse me Revered Ones," he said, bowing slightly as he addressed them. A little more formality seemed prudent at this juncture since things had gotten a bit more experience. "But I am confused. Who is this and why have you so willingly accepted her offer? What can she possibly teach me that can't be learned here among the Forest?"

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

What do you mean, bad? Erika asked by text.

But no sooner had they done so than Dekter answered their question with his voice, pleading, "Erika. I need your help. The Council has issued a warrant for my arrest, and they've locked down the Tower to get me. You said you're the best so I'll give you anything if you can help me get out."

Erika had only given him their personal (but still heavily encrypted and forged, of course, since their old one had been burned with their equally decrepit life) XID number for emergencies, like if either of them was burned. It seemed that was the case now. "Ten million creds- in scrip." Bills hadn't been printed by the Tower for a long time, making them an invaluable engine of the informal economy.

"I know you're good for it. Plus, your apartment in the Tower once I buy it under an alias, and you, kneeling between my legs, until I'm bowlegged. Got it?" they added.

They had to admit that the face that had worn the suit that otherwise just printed money for them was rather handsome, and it had been...way too many weeks since someone had last made them cum, or they'd even touched themselves. Even with his usual stubble, they'd probably pop their cork all over his face in like a minute even if he was terrible just because it was something. Besides, if he was going to go into hiding after all this, which was likely, then he might not be up for that anyway, so this was probably more just a way to cut that Tower face down to size than something that would actually happen.

When they heard banging on the door in the background of the call, they knew they both didn't have much time before the Tower Eye and the technicians inside the gigantic, rotating supercomputer that automated nearly everything in the city broke their encryption and traced both ends of the call. They didn't want to go up against the creepy, usually psychopathic Seers that defended it and executed its will if they could. While the body they'd moved into had clearly been very athletic and they found themselves instantly excellent at parkour after their recovery, to the point they could run along rooftops and walls and pull off all sorts of maneuvers for hours without any training or getting tired, even if they'd brought state-of-the-art magnetic climbing gloves and a grapnel line to go with it, they wouldn't have enough time to scale the endless stories of The Tower itself.

"Knowing how lockdown procedures go in the Tower"- since he didn't, having not experienced them before but also knowing Erika had been Tower Security once upon a time before they were cast down from the heavens- "you have about ten minutes. Turn all your electronics on at max power at the same time to fuzz out their Xcapes and buy you another five minutes"- they were fancy but fucking glitchy as all hell and had never been patched, so would have to be rebooted manually by mostly dumb muscle, so it might be even more time- "then barricade the door with anything heavy you can find and go into the bathroom. If I recall correctly, you have a small window there you should be able to fit through. I'll call again when I have your exfil package."

Some security lingo died hard.

They had no idea how they'd figure the rest out, but they'd improvised in worse situations, though admittedly they involved their life being at risk rather than a civvie's. However, all that talk of magnets and electrical energy gave them an idea as they looked at a passing Falcon heavy cargo drone and then their left hand. It was almost patently obvious what they needed to do next now that they finally remembered their Ampere as it unfolded itself on their left arm.

It had been a state of the art hacker's glove...ten years ago. But the Tower replaced so many drones every year that the drones were vulnerable to all sorts of antiquated hacking methods. Like manipulating the very electromagnetism that made it work to encode a new destination within its artificial mind. They had no idea why no one had developed this product line further, but it was rare and hard to find. Then, hopefully, the drone would be able to figure out the rest, perhaps with its gripclaw.

As soon as they reached out their hand, it stopped in its designated path, all four of its rotors stopping as Erika nearly had a nosebleed trying to use their Xcape and the strength of their mind to override the Tower's control. That would be another alert to the Eye and its Seers, but hopefully they'd be able to get to Dekter before any kind of trace, or before any gunships or artillery shot down the drone and their ten million cred payday with it. Then they'd find one of many safehouses Erika had set up throughout the Metro, wipe the drone, blow it up and then schedule a mover.

Once the hack was finished and Erika was panting and wiping her face from a severe nosebleed, now realizing why the Ampere was a one and done idea, especially without any other hack tools to assist, the drone whirred, “Hellooooo...WORLD!" which was the sign of a reboot and override. After which it intuitively knew where Erika wanted it to go.

And then a bunch of electronics-addicted living zombies surrounded them. No doubt they'd seen this and wanted all the scrip they could wipe their pathetic asses with selling this beaut in deeper levels. Amperes were difficult to decouple from a user without their conset, but if the circling wolves had to kill them and rip their arm off to get at it and sell said arm along with the Ampere, then they'd get a bonus for fresh meat from those denizens.

"Shit," Erika muttered as their other hand hovered near their revolver.

*****

Fifteen minutes later...

Wherever Dekter happened to be in his apartment now, and whatever was going on, the drone was hovering outside the bathroom now, sans call from Erika.

"Greetings. I am here to rescue you...OR ELSE!" the drone whirred cheerily as its chaingun appeared from the hold and spun up, preparing to turn his bathroom window that was only graded for small arms fire into dust.

*****

Back at the Saru'd'Kai Life Tree

Saedakari huffed imperceptibly under her mask and now circled Nylian slowly and looked him up and down like a mutant sizing up its helpless meal.

"I have much to teach you- not just about war but about charisma, diplomacy, stealth, all of which are needed for your survival."

One of the Adepts sighed to himself. The mongrel girl may have been a traitor to elf-kind, but she had a point.

"Shall I be allowed to demonstrate with some friendly, weapon-less fisticuffs?" Saedakari asked the Council. When they all nodded, she bowed as was the custom, laid her autocross on the ground slowly, and then carefully hid the Siphon with a few rolling motions of her shoulders further up her arm where it would be more stable and not be seen by anyone, most importantly the Adepts. The guardsmen then bowed to her and then laid down their weapons. Though some of them tried to wink at her, hoping she'd be impressed enough by their perceived fighting prowess to ride their likely mediocre dicks.

Men were all the same.

"Your first lesson, Nylian," she exhaled softly as she took the Stance of the Demon Eyes- legs shoulder-width apart, one foot slightly in front of the other, crouched low, arms tensed and above her. This...gave Nylian quite the view of her arched, very flexible back. "There are times when you can't run, and you'll have to stand your ground against impossible odds. When facing multiple opponents at the same time, it's not about defeating each one in turn, but about taking stock of the entire situation, then making sure you're in advantageous spaces where numbers count for nothing..."- which she then demonstrated by jumping onto a table and then scrabbling up the side of a tree until she was in the branches.

Since he figured this was his cue to attack, one of the men began to shed their heavier metal plate armor in favor of more flexible leather armor underneath, motioned to one compatriot on either side of them and attempted to climb the tree after her.

Instead, she smirked and then proclaimed, "And then you use smart tactics to prevent getting overwhelmed!" while kicking and punching her way through the first wave. Then a few more men were boosted up by their winded comrades, but she defeated those too while giving Nylian an unobstructed look up her otherwise very practical skirt.

Next, about a dozen of the guardsmen all decided to try to push over the tree with their combined strength.

"That's actually incredibly clever, I'll give you all that," she nodded as she was nearly thrown from her perch, making her entire body quake with the effort of holding on. And then she quickly discerned what to do and leapt off the tree, twirling with the grace of a crane before landing her feet on the centermost guard's face, causing him to fall over and everyone else too as she sprang off of that.

Once on the ground, she was swarmed but kicked the table at the biggest group to barrel them over, and then, after a few minutes of fast motion that Nylian wouldn’t quite be able to discern due to the huge men blocking his sight, other than that Saedakari was using the momentum and weight of her enemies against them. Soon, of them had fallen over and tapped out.

And then Saedakari bowed again to the Adepts and held it.

"You've made your point, witch."

She grinned, though her mask and the angle she was looking down at hid her emotions once again. Today was going even better than expected.

 

[bodman54]

"Deal," he said, though it would be wildly difficult to gather how much payment they wanted. That was a problem he could figure out later once he was safe. Though it would still take some doing, even with Erika's expertise in circumventing Tower security. They didn't hesitate once he relayed the problem though. And it wasn't like he had any issue having sex with Erika. So it was just the money that he was worried about. After he escaped.

As he overcharged his electronics he began moving the ancient bookcase in front of the door. Many people had thought it was quaint that he enjoyed physical versions of books but it was helping him in the moment. Though the wood wouldn't be much of a match for the power that the upgraded bodyguards packed when they punched. But a few extra seconds might be the difference between freedom and imprisonment.

Making his way to the bathroom he heard the metal of the door beginning to bend, the forces of the blows wearing it down until someone could get a hand through and force it open. He slammed the door shut but it wasn't as robust as the outer door, since no one figured they'd need extra lines of defense. And even the first line was a holdover from earlier times when there had actually been viable threats against the Tower and the occupants of its upper floors. That hadn't been the case in a long time, not since they'd consolidated their power and deprived everyone else of the technology those who lived above the clouds took for granted.

The window was small but with some shimmying, it could be squeezed through. Or not, as the drone that was sent to pick him up opened fire with something much larger than necessary, causing him to dive to the floor as the entire wall was filled with holes. The drone wasn't finished though as it drove forward and shattered the remains of the wall, scattering dust and metal all over Dekter as it plowed its way into the room. "I'm going to kill them," he grunted to himself. There was not time for dwadling though as he heard the tell-tale shattering of wood signaling that the guards had gotten through the bookcase. "Go go go," he shouted as he jumped onto the drone, clinging on for dear life as it reversed course and backed out into the open air.

Just in time as the bathroom door blew inwards from a particularly powerful kick, people streaming into the room with their guns drawn. Seeing the open hole, and their quarry clinging to a drone, they opened fire as the drone dropped out of the sky to avoid the hail of bullets that was sent their way. Not fast enough to avoid all of them, as the emergency signal that was soon blaring indicated.

"Shit shit shit shit," he said as they freefell down, the drone's auxiliary power kicking on about two hundred floors down.

"I will take you to Erika," it chirped cheerfully as it zoomed back to the area where it had been stolen from in the first place. Dekter's heart was hammering as they flew down and down, reaching the lower levels of the Tower just as the final of the zombies fell around the smuggler.

"I'm never doing that again," he said as he slid off the drone, landing in a heap before rolling over and throwing up. The fear and adrenaline had been a lot to handle and his stomach wasn't happy. "Thanks though."

--

Nylian watched with fascination as the stranger agreed to fight the numerous guards that protected the Adepts at all times. And it wasn't even a very close fight. He'd never seen anyone move that way. There never seemed to be any worry in her actions. In fact, she often seemed amused by the efforts of her opponents. As she climbed above him he found himself blushing. The way she was standing made it very easy for the innocent man to see up her skirt. He went to look away but she'd already moved on, driving her feet into the face of one of the guards before tumbling back into the center of the room.

And while yes she was attractive and capable, she had very good points, and if he was thinking clearly he would have even remembered them. But the raging hormones inside his body were making it hard to focus on anything but the pretty woman kicking ass all around the clearing.

At least until she had finished and one of the Adepts called an end to the exercise.

"You have proven yourself to be very capable," Nylian said, though he wasn't sure if he was supposed to say anything. "I would be honored to learn from you." He gave her, then the Adepts each a bow before straightening. "It is my sacred duty to return the Master Key and I will not fail. On my honor I swear it." It was adorable, the innocence and earnestness coming off him. Very different than the clearly jaded Saedakari.

"I will gather my things and then we can set off. Is there anyone else you need to see," he asked. They'd called her an exile but he figured maybe she still had someone she cared about and would like to see.

Once given permission to leave by the Adepts, he gathered his things and headed back to the home that he shared with his family. He didn't mind Saedakari tagging along if she wanted. In fact he'd prefer that so he could pepper her with questions.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

Saedakari couldn't help but genuinely smile at how sincere Nylian was. However, she also knew after analyzing his movements for weeks that he was the kind of young man who had exactly the right determination to get anything he wanted. How she wished she could share this feeling with him. It would be impossible not to be intoxicated by such an attitude, and that was how she knew that she needed to train him. So he would keep his innocence intact, only have to risk defeat in the final use of the Master Key to bring down the Tower (she had learned some inkling of what it was they had accused her of trying to steal a long time ago, before it was actually stolen by someone who was clearly not her.)

Yet, a life lived too long on the road, far from anyone else, far from the people who had shunned her, had made her far too "leathery of skin," as her deeply tanned human father used to say before he was banned from the Saru'd'Kai and cast off into the woods to die. He and her elven mother, who had hung herself when Akari woke up the month after her father's exile, used to protect her from the rage she felt at being called a half-breed at school, or fear of the dark strength she possessed. Young Saedi sometimes felt no different than the feral mutants and ghouls out in the Bomblands. But long before Nylian was even aware of the gravity of his role, Saedakari had accepted her role as the scapegoat, the walking sacrifice that they needed to purge to make themselves feel better about the "safety" of their blood. And so Saedakari could only rely on herself.

But somehow, for Nylian, she would help him rely on her. She would get him through this, and his time in the woods would be much less deadly with her hardened survival skills helping him. She set her face stonily in resolution, and then fixed her legs to march forward with practiced efficiency towards his house.

"Well? Aren't you going to offer a lady direction to your house? Before I teach you anything, after that workout I simply must have a bath," Saedakari stated matter-of-factly. As point of fact, she knew it was likely to arouse the poor boy to imagine her naked in his bath, so her tone made it be known directly and without obfuscation that she was not interested.

*****

Erika, meanwhile, was completely unaware of the drone's intentions or direction to the nearest safehouse, only that they would know which one was carrying Dekter by the sight of his blonde hair that she joked could act as a lighthouse if reflected off of right.

That, and the likely screaming and cursing. He had always had a fear of heights, and it was pretty evident even if the high-minded vigilante redistriutor of technological wealth was reluctant to confirm such to the hard-boiled fixer.

Absent any of that, Erika focused on the problem at hand, namely how to fight dozens of tech-addicted zombies who wanted to sell her gauntlet and pick their teeth with her arm bones. Which, no thank you! They drew their gun and prepared to open fire on them all, carefully checking over their shoulder to make sure that their exit wasn't blocked, and as such that they weren't boxed in with no exfil possible.

But then Erika smacked themself on the forehead with the gauntlet, as once again the technology they'd scrounged up had the solution right in front of her. This city wasn't even a challenge anymore, they realized. They needed bigger and newer horizons. Perhaps Dekter and they could find whatever this was in a neighborhood they had never been before. Perhaps one a little meaner, where it would be funnier, more intellectually stimulating, to run circles around them like this, while only killing the real low-lifes that attacked them first.

Keeping in mind the maxim that the best gunfight was the one you didn't have to fight, Erika used the gauntlet to attract themself magnetically to many metallic surfaces in the city, then wall-run along them for a little bit. the Skyscrapers were a little harder, since they were made of glass, but they eventually learned to finesse the little bits of pull that magnetism could have on such thing metal frames that fit the glass and amplify them to their advantage.

Unfortunately, as Erika took the ultimate gamble of magnetically flinging themself high in the air after flinging a crane, that was being done only because they saw that the drone's emergency signal. Thankfully, it managed to land in a good place, but if they knew how Tower drones worked, the only way Erika was going to be able to get there in time was if she performed this leap of faith.

So, they closed their eyes a moment, cartwheeled in the dive to slow themselves down and give time to orient their body, then pulled off a perfect bouncing landing on the hood of a disused car, before launching themself forward and knocking Dekter to the ground just in time for the drone's explosion and large shards of metal from hitting them.

"No...hard...feelings..." the drone warbled as its satellite CPU died, thankfully blinding the Tower Eye to its past location for a moment.

A moment they'd have to use to run.

 

[bodman54]

Nylian was an innocent because his family had worked hard to ensure that he stayed that way. They didn't want him jaded by the world in case he was needed to deploy the Master Key. The belief was that if he'd spent too much time out in the world he would be reluctant to do what he was destined to do. If there was anyone else who could go after the Key the Adepts would have sent them. But Nylian was the one who needed to go. Only time would tell if this quest would change him. And if his new teacher and traveling companion would accelerate the change.

A teacher he still knew almost nothing about, though it seemed that she was known to the elders. He trusted that they wouldn't entrust the completion of his training to someone who was dangerous to him and the clan.

"Oh. Uh. This way," he said, blushing as she mentioned a bath. Though her hard tone confused him. She sounded like she was making it clear she only wanted a bath. What more could she be thinking about?

As they walked he pondered it, finally coming to a realization over five minutes later. Which caused him to blush even harder as they approached his front door. They walked through the front door to enter a warm and inviting home that showed the age of the dwelling and the generations of his family that had resided there. Years of memories lined the walls and the furniture showed the wear of children climbing and playing on it through the generations.

"Um. The bath is back through here," he said as he led her through the house to the back. Connected to the house was a smaller building and he led her inside to the hot spring that they'd built around to ensure year-round use. "There are soap and towels in there," he said as he gestured to a cabinet off to the side. Let me know if you need anything else."

Unsure what to do he awkwardly hung around for a few more moments before turning and exiting the building, leaving her alone.

--

The drone came in hard, sending its unwilling passenger flying to then tumble onto the ground, rolling to a stop as the drone exploded next to him. He shielded his face as a wave of heat washed over him and bits of metal and plastic bounced around him. "Oh fuck," he said, moving just in time to puke on the ground and not himself. It had not been a fun ride, out in open air with nothing but a broken drone between him and certain death hundreds of stories below him. He was able to empty his stomach before sitting up, seeing Erika standing and looking at him from where they'd knocked him off the drone.

"Thanks and fuck you," he said as he got to his feet. "You couldn't think of any other way to help me? I could have died." He pushed himself upright and stood up, his feet a little shakey and his hands trembling from the adrenaline of his escape.

"We can't stay here though. They'll probably send guys flooding into the Depths to look for me. Do you have a safe house nearby?"

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

Looking at the slightly more elaborate hut with all sorts of family trinkets, Saedakari was impressed with the storied history all over its walls. But then she frowned at Nylian, completely done with his whole innocent act.

"Yeah, I do need anything else as a matter of fact," Saedakari now said in a very annoyed fashion as she grabbed Nylian by the back of his collar and yanked him backwards, such as to throw him on the slime-filled chair that was good for the back. Or so Nylian's father, Nylian XII (making him Nylian XIII) used to say before he passed away. That was his spot and was the only place in the house where young Nylian ever saw his father smile while roasting suckling pig for the three of them.

As she followed him to evaluate his suitability as a candidate for companion in her quest to restore her good name, and Saedakari knew all this because all of the major events in Nylian's life were monitored, praised, tutored...and she felt disgust at seeing that happen to him. So. she knew she had to set herself apart from the teachers who were only there to mine his dirty secrets and behind-the-scenes moments for the gossip clubs to gush over. That meant telling him the truth, even when it hurt.

Then she pulled up a chair, twirled it around so that the back was facing Nylian, and began to strip out of her clothes, completely out of view of Nylian, who she had gestured at to remain seated.

"The fact of the matter is that we're going out into treacherous, dangerous territory looking for an artifact that neither of us know the characteristics of, taken by a thief who got past a nearly impenetrable security system, where we'll be in close quarters quite frequently. And we will need to bathe at least once a week to keep up our hygiene, if we can find radiation-free water. So, that means there is a good chance that in the future you will see me naked," she said, just as the room suddenly got darker and she emerged wearing a mask and robe that were both made of shadow. The ensemble blocked most of her body from his view.

"What you have to realize is, clothing is not our natural form. It is plumage to be shed when needed, and clothes or the lack thereof are therefore ornamental and so not useful to remember in battle, unless said clothing is particularly suited to one's environment such as furs in colder climes or armored in particular ways." Her all-shadow formed dropped into more of a costume, rather like a kind of dancer from his tribe.

"if you cannot control your reactions around me, what makes you think you'll have discipline enough to avoid attacks from mutants, or ghouls, or anything else with teeth and claws that wants to tear into your guts! Daydreaming gets you killed, Nylian! And the fate of the entire world depends on you having focus!"

"So, look," she said as she showed him all of her, except for her lower face due to her mask. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, look long enough to commit this to memory. Then, hopefully that memory will enable you to....release stress, in that way boys often do"- she made a face- "while I'm bathing. This way you can regain your focus." Then she bounded over to the bathroom, so glad that she had put aside his hormones so definitively and easily.

*****

"D- Do I have a safehouse? You do know me, right? Ex-soldier for Tower Security?! You think a gal as handsome as me survives long in this city without at least a dozen safehouses? Please, get a load of amateur hour over here," Erika chuckled at Dekter's expense.

The phrase "a gal as handsome" was their way of reinforcing the idea that they were somewhere in between male and female in a way entertaining to the very clearly straight man who was their friend.

"Look, I could've devised a ton of ways to extricate you from the most heavily guarded building on the planet more comfortably, with more of the white glove service you used to," they added with fluid, exaggerated hand motions common of the Tower Dwellers with a hint of eye-rolling contempt for the rich and their expectations. "But that would've been possible if you'd given me 15 weeks of notice that you needed to get out of there, not 15 minutes. The drone was the best thing I could do in 15 minutes, and you're alive, aren't you, my special little man?" They pinched his cheek firmly with their right hand, then slapped him on the back. "So, quit your bitching and do everything I say from now on until the job is done and I get my payment- in full. Got it?"

Basically, Erika was acknowledging the reality that he probably wouldn't have access to the funds right away. And even if they weren't tired as shit from all the magnetic energy they'd manipulated directly with their mind that caused their nosebleeds today, they were incredibly annoyed by his stridency and wouldn't want such an arrogant asshole anywhere near their vagina anyhow.

"At least this place will hopefully be nice enough for you," they fumed a little bit. They were silent for the rest of the time that they parkoured out in front of him to get height, went down a zipline, and took the secret rooftop entrance to a sleepbox prefab hotel called Domna Despina.

Once at the front desk by the highly elevated route they usually took, Erika then secured a room with a single hot shower fee and placed an order for a hearty traditional sausage and white bean stew. This was all managed by the most adorable elderly Romanian lady- one Alexandra Ciobanu, her name meaning "Shelter provider, Shepherd"- who ran the place.

"Alright, Dekter, here's our room," Erika said as they took the contacts and put two in their eyes and two in Dekter's. As they went up the stairs, "We only have ten minutes of hot water, and I am not paying for two hot water fees, so we'll have to share a shower tonight. If you want something other than Mama's Stew, you're paying that out of whatever ya got in your pocket, got it? And most importantly, pray that Mana Ciobanu's guys will only break one of your arms if you go over the hot water ration allowed for this shower."

 

[bodman54]

Nylian let out a little "urk" as his collar was grasped and Saedakari pulled him down onto a chair, using his weight and lack of leverage to her advantage. He went to stand up with a protest but that protest died on his lips as a hand slammed into his chest, forcing him back down. A glare from behind her mask made him shrink down and stay still. He'd been trained and groomed from a young age to listen to his superiors, and since she'd been given control of the rest of his training that meant that conditioning passed on to her. It would take a bit to break him of that conditioning if she wanted him to become his own person on this quest.

His eyes went wide as she began speaking, turning his back to him as she explained the importance of being comfortable with each other's bodies. He wanted to look away in embarrassment but found that he couldn't, the shifting shadows of her form just as alluring as the form they hid. "I. I don't want to disrespect," he said, though his eyes were very glued to her.

He hadn't spent a lot of time thinking about the pleasures of the flesh. His young life was dedicated to training his strength and agility. He'd learned to sleep with weapons in his hands, hands that knew more about caressing the hilt of a steel sword than the sword hanging between his legs. It was likely that there was a girl being trained somewhere else in the village who would introduce him to the pleasures of the flesh and then be used to control him throughout his life. Knowing that, it was unlikely the Adepts would have let Saedakari take over his training if they'd been aware of what plans she had for him. They certainly wouldn't have expected her to get naked in front of him barely an hour after they pressed him into her care.

"I shouldn't," he said as the shadows dropped and revealed every inch of her except what was covered by her mask. His face went redder than the sunsets that filtered through the Great Trees but he didn't look away. He'd been trained to take in and remember many details of his surroundings so the time she gave him to appreciate her body was more than enough to sear her image into his brain. And the hormones pumping through him were more than enough to ensure that it stayed there. She turned and left before his full reaction was on display so he was able to retreat from the room without embarrassing himself in front of her by needing to adjust his pants, and the now very hard dick that was straining within them. And while he hadn't explored the pleasures of the flesh, he was a quick enough study to be able to figure out what he needed to do. And he was smart enough to go somewhere private to explore as well. So when Saedakari emerged from the bath, he was nowhere to be seen, though his mother would be able to direct her to a spot he enjoyed going where he could be alone to meditate.

--

In his defense, he'd had a very rough day. His apartment had been broken into by goons looking to either kill or capture him, he'd had a drone destroy his wall shooting at him to give him a way out, and then he'd rode said drone down the Tower before it exploded right after he'd gotten off. So he could be forgiven for not being the most cognizant of what they had at their disposal.

"I would have expected you'd have all sorts of contingencies for getting in and out," he said as he began to follow them down into the Depths. For the first time in his life, he was out of the Tower proper, down among the dreg of civilization that greedily lapped up the drops of technology that were given to them from those that lived far above.

Their route to get to the safe spot was a little difficult for him to follow, since he wasn't used to having to move the same way. He was plenty strong and agile but his body was used to the more regimented exercises that came with a gym, rather than the freewheeling movement that came with being a Runner of the Depths. But he was able to get to the rooftop, stumbling as he jumped off the zipline and followed them down into the building.

Now that he was calmer and more rational, he could take better stock of his surroundings. Compared to the pristine interior of the Tower, the interior of the building was dingy and dirty. Though compared to the other buildings in the Depths it was very clean, Madame Ciobanu making sure that it was welcoming for her guests.

"Seems a little heavy handed," he said as he was informed about just how seriously people down here took waste. "But fine." It would be a little weird showering with them but he figured five minutes wasn't a lot of time so they could get in and out without any major awkwardness. He made his way to the bathroom and stripped down a bit gingerly, his body a bit sore from the trials of the day. "Let's just get this over with," he said, trying not to look at them as they got naked

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

Saedakari, the half-elvish woman without fear, felt rather flustered at the sight of Nylian's mother, Idril. But not because of any surprise by her presence, or even by the fact that Nylian's mother was a drop-dead gorgeous auburn-haired goddess, a warrior woman of the land for sure with the hips to prove it. Seedakari had seen all that for weeks and decided that it was not worth ruining her reputation to go after her single and no-doubt touch-starved body.

But she still watched over Nylian and his mother from the shadows to see what kind of pull her old family friend still had to get her name cleared. Being half-Nuckelavee, Saedakari was exactly the kind of woman who could find pockets of shadow to hide in in a city that boasted to have no darkness in it at noon each day. Being half-angelic in disposition, Idril always let her eat dinner in her home after Nylian went to bed, and when Saedakari could find the time to make her way from her hunting trips in the Wilds. Late-night stew was well-earned after poor little Akari, as only Idril was permitted to call her while the older woman hugged the wrongly branded thief and murderer tightly. had had to press herself hard up against walls, dig into weaknesses in ceilings, and shoot the odd servant or guard who got a little too curious with sleeping darts from her crossbow to get back to a home that had cast her out.

Nylian wasn't exactly able to keep quiet about his exploration of his own body, and as the young elf set to work exploring what his hormones and instincts were telling him to do, his mother embraced her from behind in an unexpectedly warm way.

"You remind me of me when I heard his father, the late Nylian, moaning out my name," Idril said as she began slowly caressing Akari's stomach and thighs. "Flushed all over, knowing that he's in the other room in ecstasy over me. That's why you got naked for him, isn't it? To tease him? To make yourself feel good thinking about his young dick draining for you and only you?"

"I...don't understand what you're talking about," Saedakari sighed and pushed Idril's hands away, not entirely sure how the elf had heard or seen them.

"Your undergarments betray your want for my son, Kari," Idril whispered, "the way your mother's did for me all those years ago."

Saedakari was now completely flushed. "You were...with his father and my mother?!"

"The two of us were his companions on his travels and in his bed." At Akari's shocked face, she chuckled, "Don't worry, you and Nylian aren't half-siblings or anything like that. Feyeth found a sweet-talking Nuckelavee shifter named Karak who turned out to be a monster that broke her heart and left her raising you all alone. His only contribution was the half of you and the part of your name that I loathe."

The "Saed," meaning Sweet in Nucklan. That stung Akari, who used all her strength to keep her heart from being overtaken by the Void.

"But anyway, we certainly both tried our best to satisfy Nylian, and each other."

"Why are you telling me all this?!" Akari wondered.

"Because I knew back then that if I didn't mount Nylian and do my duty of bearing his heir, then he would be disposed of as not the true Nylian, and a clone created."

"What do you mean...disposed of?"

Akari had heard rumors, but nothing like this...

"You don't want to know. But it's horrible what they do with men who do not sire after being sent out on Pilgrimage, which this is even if he doesn't know it, as well as with those children born female of the Nylian line." Idril kissed her protege's frowning forehead, then added, "You will need to bear a Nylian XIV for my son or find someone who will before returning home. Or he will not be allowed to return alive."

"I make no promises. Nylian is a...rather handsome young man. I'm sure he will find a suitable mate," Saedakari said solemnly, considering the consequences, the risks for herself if she went through with this, and what kind of life any new Nylian would be trapped in. And whether she was the kind of woman to trap him to save his life. Yet, she'd decided that helping the Nylian Dynasty was the only way she wouldn't end up alone, so perhaps her womb swelling with the seed of the Champion would be her way back in. Or perhaps she was correct and Nylian would find a nice girl and make saving his life from eugenics someone else's problem while she protected him from the Wilds.

"I'll leave you two alone. What you choose to do with that time, is your business," Idril concluded with a wry grin before closing the front door behind you.

Akari, leaning against the wall now, soon felt the heat between her legs and debated whether to take another bath as her hands wandered up and down her own torso.

*****

Erika Chambers, the usually stoic half-Asian gumshoe, gulped quietly to themself upon glimpsing Dekter's naked form- an inevitability once he turned his rock-hard ass around to turn on the shower proper. They were not ashamed to admit that their nipples were erect while their top was removed, and that their pussy was a little damp.

But what kept them focused on the task at hand- showering using only the exact amount of hot water provided- was anger. It had been what protected them with the adrenaline needed to yank on one handsy client's penis so hard that he was found doubled over in pain by Tower Security four hours later. It wasn't anger anger at Dekter that animated her now, per se, more annoyance at what was going on here.

Also, Erika knew that if they looked at that man, that statuesque, calm, gentle man who they had pulled many a job for, without at least feigned anger that might give way to something much...more...dangerous. Getting in the shower, let alone floating the possibility of head from him as acceptable payment for their services had been daring enough.

So, they spent the next few minutes soaping their every crevice thoroughly and shampooing their hair as best they could given the limited viscosity of the product and limited time to take turns using the spigot. After that Erika elbowed Dekter in the back- not enough to hurt but enough to and, shielding their breasts with their left hand and their crotch with their right, they frowned at him and demanded-

"So, what'd you steal this time that's so fucking important they gotta send goddamn SEERS after you? What exactly am I risking my life to help you get? If it isn't the single most important thing in the history of the universe, I will fucking rip your dick off. And if you're lying to me, I'll rip your dick off and shove it up your asshole."

 

[bodman54]

Idril was well aware of what awaited her son after his quest was finished. She'd been selected from a young age to be the wife of his father. It had been such an honor to be selected to join such an important family. When she was younger she believed every word of the propaganda fed her way. And continued to until she gave birth to her son and saw how her husband was cast aside, ignored and rejected by those who trained him because he wasn't useful anymore. He'd secured his heir and now he was not needed anymore. Idril did not want that to happen to her son.

So she gave the child she'd known for years advice, as much as is pained her to. No one should be forced to bear children against her will but it was too important. She wanted Nylian to be free to make his own future but if he was replaced that would never happen. No one would know. But she would know and it would break her. So she gave Akari what tools she wished she'd had and sent the girl on her way.

Nylian was ignorant to all of this as he stroked himself, his hormones demanding it. It was like Akari's touch had awakened something long dormant in him, reminding him that he was a person with needs and not just a weapon to be pointed and unleashed. And for the moment, the only thing that he was planning on unleashing was his precious seed.

--

Dekter did his best to not look at Erika as the two of them showered. Clearly, they were uncomfortable with the notion as well as they kept their back to him the entire time. The duo had to do a little dance so each could have a chance under the water, washing off the cheap soap as best they could. He was no stranger to nudity since the social mores of the old world had died away under years of isolation up in the Tower. Orgies were common as the residents reveled in lust and extravagance and even casual nudity was the norm.

But something about this felt different. Maybe it was because they were huddled in a too-small shower, sharing a limited amount of hot water. Maybe it was because they'd just faced death barely more than an hour before. But he didn't feel any of the usual arousal around another nude form. He just wanted to clean off all the dust and sweat and then go to sleep.

Erika, however, wasn't going to give him that luxury until they got some answer. "Can we talk about this after the shower," he asked. It wasn't like it would be long, since they were practically at the five-minute mark as it was.

Once the bell signaling the end of the hot water dinged, he turned off the spigot and stepped out, handing Erika a towel while grabbing one for himself. They were scratchy and old, very much unlike the fluffy ones he was used to. But they got the job done and he was able to put on his clothes without them sticking to him.

"Ok. I know you know you're not my only smuggler. One of the other people I'd employed said he found an incredibly rare artifact. Wouldn't tell me what it was. We were going to meet to do the exchange when a friend I had in Tower OpSec tipped me off about the Seers coming for me. Wouldn't tell me much but I'm guessing my guy decided to tip off security and then bail. Whatever it was was big enough to come after me in a way I don't think I've ever seen before."

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

Once Idril was absent, Akari froze for a few minutes with her hands inches from the apex of her thighs as Nylian's proud young barreled chest proclaimed his arousal ever more loudly, as he was perhaps used to with his mother gone. This would be his reaction to masturbating to the image of a naked woman, so of course now she realized that he was encouraged by her brazen display. She had nobody to blame but herself if he got distracted from the mission, and if she couldn't help but be embarrassed that the teacher had crossed a boundary with her student with such nonchalance.

Gods, the Saed in Saedakari, her playful side she reckoned for what little she remembered of her Nuck father had encouraged her to sometimes get naked to shock and dominate a conversation. It was the elf in her who was not ashamed to be nude, and the Nuck part of her that strained against her body to be able to shapeshift to something else should Nylian prove another threat, as she had had to do when they feared her.

Declared her the Herald of Shadows. A monster. Perhaps Nylian XIII had been sheltered effectively by Idril from the news that had rocked the community, but perhaps a little bit of her shadowy power would be enough to convince him to trust her while he still did not know upon what grounds Saedakari had been expelled from the town they grew up in together...

She truly had feared he would reject her should he find out anything about the Legend of the Dark Herald, but thankfully he hadn't heard it yet, and so she decided to cement her role in Nylian's life going forward.

Teacher.

She leaned against a corner of the wall, taking very measured breaths while she exhaled her soul's transcript into his ears with her real voice. All coincidentally timed with whatever naked image Nylian was stroking to at that very moment.

"It's me, my dear student," Akari said, her words making her feel near at his bedside even though she wasn't facing him at all. It was part of the kind of Nucklavee courting ritual she had not been allowed to perform while trying to be a human for so long- rejecting her elvish self for a while there.

Regardless, she beamed with the warmth of her Saed self as she whispered so soothingly in his ear from such distance:

"In the forest, you will need to be quieter than that. Just keep your mouth closed, breathe consistently through your nose, and then give firm, consistent strokes that make less noise, followed by a short grunt through the nose as you cum. This is a wilderness technique to make sure that y'know, bears, wolves, and feral anthros don't hear you and think you're a wounded animal. Perhaps I will teach you how to...extract a lubricant from a particularly hungry type of plant. It's risky but it's worth it to be able to give yourself a lubricated handjob while you...think...of...

Akari was at a loss for words as she felt herself panting while hearing him stroke as hard as his young hand could muster.

"Whoever you choose. For in the strength of your stroke, in the desires hidden by your moans, in your loins churning with life, you project your power to choose your destiny. To choose who will be the lucky woman who you want to hold in your arms and who I hope accepts your devotion, for I do sense a devotion to duty and to your own self. When you're true to yourself, many a woman will crave a night with you," Akari said, squeezing her legs together.

"I...if it's me your cock rises for, then you should know we cannot be together in the long run. I hope that this town will pardon me of what kept me out, but they would never accept another one of...my kind. It's hard to explain," Saedakari said as her legs opened in the bathroom and she prepared to go under warm water and masturbate this craving away, but then stopped herself as her musk filled her nose and made her brain dizzy with arousal.

"However, when you do find a nice elvish girl...someone ought to have made sure you know how to use that powerful young cock of yours, no? Perhaps a teacher whose body you just recently saw naked?" she purred as she got dangerously close to what was making her absolutely drip. "Who has lots of experience with men and women? Who can tell you exactly how to turn a girl on?" Akari knew exactly what she was doing, what effect she would have on the poor boy.

"Yes, my young trainee...my strong, brave Nylian," Saedakari growled as she gave in to the illicit lust that she always blamed on her Nuckelavee side. "I will teach you everything you need to know about being a great hero. How to fight, how to sneak, how to survive, and yes, OH YES how to fuck." Akari was starting to think that Idril didn't just tell her about the obligations of a Nylian to save her son's life, but to continue the cycle of Nylians being incomparably charismatic. "Just beg for it- for me- at the top of your lungs, and I will give you a long, hard lesson you will never forget."

The little Saed in her heart figured that yes, she couldn't have him forever. Yes, she'd have to let him make his own choice of whether to return to the city (once she got up the courage to tell him about the impossible choice) and whether to continue the Nylian Saga by reproducing. But she could also give him a choice. She'd always planned on seducing him since taking to spying on him from afar, but the fact that he might die if he didn't know how to mate was impetus enough for her to speed up her timeline.

"But I need you to survive for that to happen," Akari now whispered, a shadowy hand tracing his cheek. "So, promise me that you will be careful, that you will listen to and do everything I tell you, and then I will reward you for your loyalty."

*****

Dekter seemed to manage with the second-rate towels that Mama Ciobanu provided, but with Erika's greater experience in crashing anonymously here, they knew that these towels were more for patting than rubbing. She'd had far too many minor abrasions from the plastic fibers woven in to be making that mistake ever again, but Dekter couldn't come crying to her if they scraped his perfect muscles.

Back on topic, Chambers, Erika said.

So, they firmly patted every area that they could and let the towel hang loose wherever their hands weren't bothering to apply pressure, as they also said, "Fine" with an annoyed huff under their breath at Dekter for dismissing their concern out of hand.

"Oh, of course I know," Erika practically spat once he finally got to talking again, pulling on their clothes under the now-wrapped towel with extreme prejudice at his dumbass supposition. "You're such a generous bag that nearly every smuggler in this dump knows who you are. There are very few of those lowlifes I don't know about, and if I hadn't heard about what exactly you were carrying before, now I definitely know it's something too shady for even the likes of me to be carting around."

"Stars above, can I guess correctly that your smuggler- who I hope you at least met before agreeing to his trap- suggested meeting at some rotting dive like the Celestial? Only a club run by one of the Prime Eight"- eight strippers who became crime lords in business together as the largest chain of cheap strip clubs selling skin and day-old buffet items- "would be crazy enough to play host to a deal with un-id cargo that's important enough to the Tower that they sent Seers after you. Or maybe this smuggler is on payroll for both the Eight and Tower."

That wasn't uncommon around here, as smugglers generally worked for the highest bidder. Most of the time The Tower just outbid them. However, sometimes, as happened with Erika when they found out that they had copied themselves into a new body without their permission, they decided it was cheaper to fire someone and cast them out.

"You do know that organization is more than just the eight strippers everybody knows? If you almost dealt with them. Especially not Brona or Amaranta Van De Laar," Erika sighed and rubbed their fingers over their temple after that, leaving Dekter to guess what kind of history the two might've had. "Then you better hope that, respectively, it wasn't their enforcers The Beetle or Erwin Durcell who told the person you worked with to rat you out."

"So, if I'm understanding all of this shit correctly..." Erika sighed, taking a deep breath to squelch their anger since none of this was Dekter's fault even if he was a rich doofus who had nearly gotten them both killed. Then the towel tightened a bit on their chest while their breath rose, and then fell, commensurate with their anxiety as they continued-

"...you accepted a job from a smuggler you may or may not know as well as me, who refused to tell you what they were carrying even over a secure line like the kind I like to message you on, and then you're surprised that they stabbed you in the back?"

"Well, big surprise on me, because I didn't realize you were being an idiot," Erika said, as their whole body trembled. "That you were risking so much with so little just out of your big damn heart for everybody in this city who takes your kindness"- meaning, the gifts of technology appropriated in the fashion of Robin Hood- "and throws it away..." They said as they approached him in the dark (for lighting this place cost extra), their towel falling down and brief glimpses of moonlight showing them in their sleepwear. "And that I almost lost my only friend in this city, and if your call hadn't gotten to me you'd probably be dead, and I'd have nothing to live for in this fucking town."

Now they sank to the floor and began to sniff a bit. "Well, once we get your doo-dad in the background, and I get my ten million scrip, I can buy a luxury yacht, we can sail wherever we like, and kneel wherever we choose." Standing back up, they grinned knowingly at Dekter.

"But I need you to survive for that to happen," Erika's voice trembled for a bit as they gently stroked the left side of Dekter's face, a bit of electricity to the whine in their throat, as even a shadow of the notion that they could easily lose the only person who regularly socialized with them in this world was enough to instill fear in their normally resolute constitution. "I'll do all I can to protect you, but please be more careful. And stick close to me, okay? Maybe I'll get you out in one piece, ya knucklehead," they then said with a friendly tousle of Dekter's annoyingly golden hair while their foreheads touched before flopping on the bed assigned to them.

And getting under the covers to await whatever Dekter would say in response to Erika's admittedly long and meandering torrent of information.

 

[bodman54]

Nylian was safely locked in his room with his eyes closed, his fist wrapped around his stiff member as the images of Akari in the bath played through his mind. Or at least he thought he was safe. Until her voice echoed in his mind, seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. His eyes flew open and darted around, the training that had been hammered into him since he was a small child causing him to assess all the potential spots an attacker could be hiding. But he was still alone, his door shut and locked. And yet her voice was still there, soft and encouraging.

Tentatively, he began stroking again as it was clear that was what she wanted him to do. The magic that allowed her to contact him from wherever she was, hid the hitch in her voice as her own body reacted to the pleasure coursing through him. It didn't take long for him to regain the rhythm he'd lost, his cock leaking the clear precum that proceeded an orgasm.

Her monologue continued as he stroked faster and faster, his breathing becoming ragged and his toned body tensing up in anticipation. Until this moment he hadn't really considered his future mate. He'd known intellectually that he'd have to settle down and have an heir but he'd always been more concerned with his training and proving himself a capable replacement for his father. Any crush he'd had had been a fleeting thing. Though unbeknownst to either him or Akari there was a mate being groomed for him. Someone the elders thought would produce a strong heir while also being able to be controlled by them. They had realized that the strong spirit of Idril was a mistake and put their control over the family of prophecy at risk. They would not make that mistake again and would ensure that the woman he impregnated would do whatever they said and instill the "proper" beliefs in her son. As Nylian stroked his cock toward the inevitable orgasm, Akari's voice and image flashing through his head, the woman was being sent out to be discovered by the boy on his journey.

As Akari goaded him on he came in a thunderous manner, yelling out as ropes of thick cum flew from his cock, arching up to only fall and splatter on his chest. He didn't get the words she wanted out but as he lay panting in his bed, his whole body buzzing with pleasure she'd hear his whispered plea. "Please. Please teach me," he sighed, sinking back into the soft mattress as he released his grip on his cock.

--

"Yes I met him," Dekter snapped. "Do you really think me that naive that I would accept something so potentially dangerous from someone I hadn't met and worked with before? Give me at least some credit." He sighed as he rubbed his face. "We were to meet at a market on level 15." The market had no name but it was important enough as a go-between for the residents of the Tower and the rest of the world that it didn't need one. It was as high as most were allowed to climb, giving them a taste before sending them back down to the lower levels. Where those of a 'lower class' of Tower residents could mix with people more like them than those who resided high above the clouds. Dekter had been there once and this was to be a second time.

And now he was lower than he'd ever been, that barrier breached on his hectic fall clinging to a security bot.

"Don't patronize me," he said as they approached him. "And I find it hard to believe that I'm your only friend because you've made it very clear that you see me as a meal ticket first, anything else second." Over the years they'd been working together they'd moved past cordial to friendly banter, Erika loving to tease Dekter for how out of touch he was with anyone below level 50. But he'd never felt a close friendship with them. They were always guarded about themselves and their past, unwilling to give up that information, no matter the price.

He didn't buy their crying act so he just crossed his arms as they spoke about the deal he'd agreed to to get rescued. "You'll get your money. And I'll keep up my end of the bargain," he assured them. "But considering what we just went through I can't promise anything about my safety." Even with their prodigious skills, if the Tower wanted him dead they had a lot more resources at their disposal than the two of them did. But that was a problem for the future. Right now he was bone tired and climbed into the bed after Erika, spinning so his back was touching theirs.

"Goodnight," he whispered before dropping into a deep sleep.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

The dark magic making up the doppelganger extension of her body that enabled Akari to see him through his wall gasped in time with her real body, as he unleashed his own magic power all over his stomach. Then she chuckled to herself before saying, "Ah, Nylian, I had hoped you would be ready tonight...but do not be frustrated with yourself." Her pussy was flush with its own frustrations, but Akari realized that if she'd really wanted to fuck Nylian tonight, the boy was so naive that she should've just barged into his room and ridden him like a bull. But then he wouldn't learn anything, just expect things to be handed to him, as they had been by Idril and the Adepts.

"Your body is still growing, and soon you will be more accustomed to its rhythms. You will gain discipline, patience, and wisdom as you continue your training. Then, you will hear from me when you are ready for the...ultimate exercise. Now, sleep well, for we will need to get up at dawn to pack enough provisions for a week's journey, investigate the vault where the Master Key was kept, and then get into the Great Forest to start tracing the likely path of the thief. Goodnight."

The shadow disappeared into a puff of smoke as Akari tiptoed carefully but with great speed through the living room and then felt relieved when she was able to find a guest room with a lock on it. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she pulled down her skirt and panties and began to furiously masturbate with her free hand over her mask to muffle her breathing- a task that was usually much easier when this was just an itch to be scratched alone in the wild.

She also decided that this was the best course of action- that it had been much too risky to offer sex with her student the very first night. Not only might it skew the power she had over him as a teacher, not only was there the risk that now this was all he would expect from her like any other man, but Akari was usually so much better at keeping her reason and calm through much harder situations. And yet she was not out of danger yet, as she had Why, oh why had she nearly derailed this important mission for her own aggrandizement?

Akari was still asking herself that as she shuddered quietly into the pillow upon her third orgasm thinking of Nylian's dick, then drifted off to sleep.

*****

It drove Erika crazy whenever Dekter acted like a know-it-all when he could be so dense sometimes. It was at times like this that they always wanted to bring up the Shishito Incident, a very narrow escapade Erika had had to help Dekter out of four years ago when they were starting out working together, to point out the last time his judgment had been so sure in the face of unknown variables and incorrect facts. Erika never had, however, because they'd seen how Dekter could be picked on by the other Tower snobs they protected in their past life, and how quick he was to still stick his neck out for people anyway. Including them.

Despite the arguments they could have, despite Erika not feeling like they deserved his generosity, Erika had assumed- incorrectly- that their working relationship had grown into a friendship, with the benefit of time. At least of a kind, with Erika being able to have playful conversations on jobs, joke about letting him eat their pussy (which was the raunchiest they'd ever gotten about themself but not about other people), and go out to celebratory meals with one of the only guys from The Tower who wasn't a creep. They still needed him to see them as an unbreakable street tough so they could keep getting jobs from him, but he never gave them reason once to doubt that they were cool.

The "meal ticket" comment spit in the face of all that. Erika's first instinct was to berate him for being wrong about certain specifics, such as the fact that whoever his smuggler was had either messed up by not giving the required information in required procedure or was hoping Dekter didn't know about that rule (since even smugglers had standards, but it might not seem that way at first glance), They kept quiet about that because he'd been through a lot today.

But what hurt the most to Erika was that where Dekter saw crocodile tears, they'd been honest. While maybe they did see him as an employer while starting out, they had always tried to open more to him, little by little, in their own way since they met Dekter while sporting the false moniker "Eric" as a guard. That was often done with hair tousles, or semi-embarrassing stories, or laughing at his own, usually drunken attempts at jokes, or a gift of a burger that Erika jokingly clarified was not paid for with his money, using pay stubs from other clients as proof. Or as was the case tonight, a hint that perhaps they should run away together and collect their prize away from prying eyes. The problem was that this hectic life, and their frozen social positions, meant that trying to be more direct about anything wouldn't work. Erika had somewhat hoped that being on the run meant they could finally shake off the cobwebs and start to really have quality time to get to know each other, wherever that might lead.

What they realized now was that his response shattered an illusion instead. That, while he might take giving Erika their joked-about cunnilingus reward and the ten million notes seriously, it would mean nothing to him other than payment for rescue. That Erika had wasted their time with these trial balloons tonight, or at any other point. And so, a disheartened Erika remembered why they were so closed off to begin with and only got naked for people they'd only see for a day; everyone in the Tower and its accompanying Metro was ultimately just about business. If Dekter wanted to be that way too, then Erika didn't owe him anything other than their protection, and they could part ways when the whole business was concluded.

"I suppose I got a little jumpy there, though in my experience it does always pay to double-check these sorts of things," they said, not entirely willing to cede ground here while flashes of their own history with the Prime Eight flashed across the back of their mind. "But I'm sure we'll retrace your steps in the morning and find whatever this is soon. Goodnight," the detective concluded matter-of-factly, hoping to point out under the sarcasm (the way that Erika usually said nice things) that they always did find whatever it was.

That they did, at least, make a decent team.

 

[bodman54]

Nylian was breathing heavily as the presence vanished, Akari moving deeper into the house for the night. He didn't even imagine she'd have one orgasm thinking about him, let alone three. As the two of them settled down to sleep Idril smiled, knowing that perhaps there was hope for her son after all. Nylian cleaned himself up with a dirty shirt in his closet and then settled into bed to sleep.

That wasn't to say his sleep was peaceful as Akari flitted about through his dreams, whispering sweet nothings in his ears as she taunted him with her naked form. He couldn't understand what she was saying but as he chased her through the shadowed forest he could sense her desperation and need. He didn't know what she needed but he knew that if he could get to her he could help her.

He never did reach her though and woke up early, feeling groggy and not at all refreshed. Groaning he rolled out of bed and got dressed. He had to begin to pack but first he needed food. Going downstairs he found packs already set out, one for himself and one for Akari. Apparently, his mother had been busy overnight. And since she'd gone out with his own father in the past, she knew what she was doing. "Good morning sweetie," she said from the kitchen where she was preparing breakfast for the two of them. "I packed you two weeks of field rations for each of you. I'm sure you'll be hunting and supplementing it but it will be important to have food that won't spoil."

--

The bed that Erika and Dekter shared was not comfortable. He woke up the next morning sore in places he didn't even know he could be sore in. He groaned as he sat up his neck stiff from the hard mattress and the flat pillow. "Morning," he groaned as he looked over at Erike. "Where's the best place to eat around here? I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday and I'm starving."

Standing up he stretched and flexed, working out any remaining stiffness. "How did you sleep?"

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

While Nylian slumbered peacefully, Akari had a quite different dream indeed. It contained blurry and fast moving images of Akari elegantly dancing on a stage in alluring dresses and meditating under a tree as a teenage girl; of her parents, whose heads were bowed by The Tower's de facto occupation of the Saru'd'Kai village, quietly resisting by stealing from the Adepts where they could and teaching Akari to do the same; of Akari and a shadowy figure dancing intimately in the moonlight; and of Akari crying to herself in the rain as she pulled her broken and barely living body along the muddy ground somewhere. All of which she knew Nylian would struggle to process should he ever find out who she really was.

That, therefore, could not happen. She had to let last night's foolishness slip away and resume her appointed role as mentor to the Chosen One.

And then Idril greeted them both from the kitchen While she was still somewhat disoriented by the image of her own mother, Gosujina lending her namesake "well of strength" to Idril as Nylian XII plowed her repeatedly, Akari appreciated the warm home environment and the distantly remembered smell of Sarudi spicy chicken stir-fry fresh on the pot, richly layered with fatty yuulflon oil that, when settled and cooled would help preserve it, as in the jars dangling from their packs. But this domestic scene also had its bitter taste, as it reminded her of what she lost, what she would lose for a while in the Great Forest and could lose forever if she broke the Adepts' toy.

"That's right," Akari interjected.

"I've been meaning to ask..." she then started to add, while initially looking at Idril. Then she caught herself and inquired of Nylian instead, "How much experience do you have with hunting, and associated skills such as tracking, camouflage, skinning, gutting, field cooking, and parkour?" She'd only been following him for long enough to get the sense that he was athletic and, given the semi-settled lifestyle of the Sarudi, probably supplemented meals like this with at least occasional hunting, but it was important for Akari to know all Nylian's strengths and weaknesses.

*****

As they woke up and then stood up and stretched while still in their skimpy underwear, Erika was surprised by how natural it felt waking up next to Dekter for the first time. Granted, they'd always imagined that would be done after meeting for very different reasons. And yet they'd worried that he would be much terser with them, snap at them even, so the fact that he was being so normal meant that either he would ream them out later, or that things were indeed back to normal. Well, normal for a socialite on the run and a snoop and thief for hire who always watched their back.

"Probably not anywhere as good as you did in the clouds," Erika decided to risk teasing him for how good he'd had it, as usual. "But on a scale of dingy, beaten-up concrete floor in a Depths alley to Tower Security's best luxury cot"- all places they'd slept in, and worse besides- "I'd say a six."

Then their eyes lit up as they put their clothes back on, their stomach growling at them to break fast from his words but in no particular hurry to do so otherwise. "Well, there's two main options," they said. "Either we can wait for Mama Ciobanu to come around and deliver her Romanian pork goulash that's so delicious that sometimes people save up and visit from the Ashen Lands just to taste it once.

"Or...and I know you like your noodles..." they continued to say with a small grin. "Ogikubo's Noodles? Maybe you've already been, since they're in Level 13, which, bonus, not far from from your meetup location if you want to scout it"- and only slightly nicer than Level 15, that most people skipped over for safer Depths levels of the Metro, even ones that were technically deeper, unless they had a death wish- "but if you haven't, the ambience is great and their all-natural, printer free pork-belly ramen is to die for."

Perhaps a poor choice of words given they were almost killed last night, but Erika knew Dekter would want some semblance of normalcy, and printed ingredients were hard to stomach, even in traditional Romanian flavors.

 

[bodman54]

Nylian paused with his breakfast halfway to his mouth as Akari appeared and started questioning him about his skills. "I've been trained extensively in hunting and everything to go with it. Along with all my combat skills." In truth, any physical challenge that they would encounter he'd have no problem overcoming. But it was everything else. The psychological, social, and mental challenges that would prove to be the issues.

Because Nylian had spent his entire life honing his body to be the perfect weapon but had been specifically steered away from being socialized or taught great critical thinking skills. The Adepts didn't want someone who could think and reason for himself. They wanted someone who would do what they said without question. Because if he did think then he might come up with conclusions that would threaten their power base. It was a testament to their desperation that they were allowing him to go with Akari, as the risks she presented to their carefully groomed pawn were great. They were perhaps under the belief that Nylian's devotion to his people and his role would be strong enough to ward off any outside thoughts she could introduce to him.

"Do you think whoever we're chasing went deeper into the Forest," he asked as he resumed eating. "I heard there are beasts out there that no one has ever seen. Ruins of the Old World filled with traps and treasures but guarded by the most vile monsters imaginable."

"Those are just stories dear," Idril said to her son as she cleaned the kitchen. "The Forest is just that. A forest. With beasts like you see around us. Nothing to be afraid of."
--

"Whatever is cheapest and fastest," he said. Because he'd checked his accounts and they were all frozen, meaning that he had zero funds available to him. So he would really need to lean on Erika and everything they'd saved up to help. Which made it all the more important that they achieve their goal because if not then he'd have no way to give them the ten million credits he'd agreed on for saving his life.

The cheapest and fastest option turned out to be Mama Ciobanu so the two of them sat down to eat while they discussed their plan. "So I take it you have history with the Eight," he said as he dug in to his food, the warm and filling meal helping a lot with just settling him down and helping him think.

"Anything I should be worried about going in?"

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

"That's what the Adepts tell the people to keep them from losing sleep at night, Idril" Akari said in a faint but slightly...off voice, squeezing the glass of water in her hand. Hard.

"At least Nylian has been taught technique. Good, the boy has a fifty percent understanding of how to survive in a forest, say, just outside the Life Tree, Akari said with a wry smile as she finished her stir-fry, packed the leftovers for later, then said goodbye to Idril as the two of them slung their packs over their backs. "But while there are a lot of pleasant villages along the journey we are undertaking..."

"Fifty percent gets you killed in the Great Forest. To survive here, he needs to improvise. That, the Adepts never taught you, Nylian." This was what was going to be dangerous about Akari, but even if the Adepts had ever been good at flexing outside the boundaries of their thinking in the first place. She knew that the Adepts knew that they had no choice but to let her mold young Nylian, because when she'd been a huntress of the Sarudi, she had been feared for miles around as one of their rising young warriors.

Which is probably why they ended up pinning a murder on her, and then had her exiled unceremoniously. They'd always been wary of having a Nuckelavee in their midst, but Gosujina having performed her duty and mated with Nylian XII, her womb was too valuable to disown and cast out into the wastes despite it having been defiled, should the Nylian that Idril bore fail and then have to be disposed of at the Tree of the Ultimate Gift. So, they lied, and said the girl child was Nylian's (which made Akari Nylian XIII's half-sister under the law, even though they shared no blood- though it was still gross to Akari that both their moms had fucked his dad).

"For this next part, Idril, we will need to part from your company. The good news is that the thief can't have gotten far on foot in a day if they have headed deeper into the Forest," Akari said. "We have about a week to comb the area between here and the Glowing Fire River, but time is of the essence."

And so, they said their goodbyes, and Nylian was unceremoniously ripped from everything he'd ever known. And then Akari said nothing to Nylian. Just kept her head down and eyes focused on hours of hiking through regular forest. His erstwhile teacher only broke her silence once they reached a verdant lake with a lush but oddly colored

"I can guarantee you've never seen a Mudflipper before"- so called because the enormous amphibian liked to sneak under the mud lining the banks of rivers or lakes and then strike suddenly and with a whirlwind of claws and teeth- "because they never come around by your tribe's Twin Trees," Akari said as Nylian could see a creature about the size of a large dog swimming through the. The fact that she had once said "our" many a time bitterly crossed her subconscious, but she put that away. "I've killed many before since I was a child"- in fact, it was a Nuckelavee rite of passage her mother taught her from what she remembered of that from her father- "but even a juvenile is hard to take down. So, you will need to approach this battle very, very carefully."

Akari was now behind Nylian, rubbing his back reassuringly as she pointed out the monster's various weaknesses. "Its top claws"- which posed a ridiculously small target for the young huntsman's bow- "are more for swimming than fighting, so if you shoot them successfully that will severely wound it, after which you get one follow-up shot on its eyes or mouth to mortally wound it. But if you miss either of those shots, or otherwise alert it, its leather is tough and it will charge you in the water. It's incredibly fast there, but at that point you may have no choice than to dive through the water and swim towards it as fast as you can to gouge its eyes out with a knife, because once it burrows under the land, you're probably dead."

"Of course, I will make sure it doesn't kill you. But do not let it get to that point, do we understand each other?" Akari asked with a skeptical eyebrow raise. "Do not feel like you personally are a failure if you don't succeed; you're still learning. But the fact of the matter is that if we alert a Mudflipper and don't kill it expeditiously, we will have to hike for another ten miles before setting up camp to avoid the fracas that ensues when an Alpha Mudflipper loses its territory. If we defeat it without anyone else noticing..."

She whispered this next part as she rubbed her hands on her pupil's thighs. "Then we will bathe together this morning, while I stroke your penis in my hands until you ejaculate. After which we will feast. The flesh of a Mudflipper is very sweet, since they eat a lot of fish. Just imagine the day we'll have."

A little motivation never hurt anyone, right?

*****

"Well, now that I remember it...the goulash does take two hours for the ingredients to print, and it always waits for Mama to wake up," Erika sighed, rubbing the back of their head. They had really been craving that. They'd tried to get Mama Ciobanu a new printer when they'd come into some money (perhaps even from one of Dekter's jobs, which was likely), but the old woman was stubborn. "Let's head to Ogikubo's. It's a little more expensive than 'complimentary with your room,' but it's not that inflated there either." Many places were, making food literally unaffordable for much of the teeming mass.

It wasn't like Erika had no money, though. They just had to be more careful with it, especially while on the run which could involve significant expenditure for, say, dischargers to blow a hole in a wall and create a shortcut that could save them days of wandering the sewers and pipes with all the horrors wedged.

"I think I'm gonna need a few minutes to figure out how to explain this. Let's walk and talk," Erika said, worried once again about what Dekter would think of them. The whole time after they left the room, they were checking every possible entryway for people following them, which added to the paranoia. Though, was it paranoia if everyone really was out to get you?

"It seems that, perhaps, the reason I brought up Amaranta and Brona unconsciously as possible suspects is...related to my dead self. Zombie Erika"- which is how they referred to the state of being "Eric" without having to feel that pang of numbness when people jabbed icicles made of wrong name through the chest that finally felt right to them, ever again- "was a bit of a whore." They weren't denying being a bit of a rapscallion after their transition, as the Total Body Replacement was just a new receptacle for the same brain, but this was about the past.

"Still, Amaranta and Brona didn't tell me they were in a relationship, just that they each wanted to reward me for my time serving as their personal bodyguard. They thought they were each getting away with cheating on their partner with me and had a bit of a shouting match in front of me once they found I was a walking dildo for them both, but it wasn't the end of the world because I had an amazing threesome with them, heightened by all the drugs." Despite everything that happened next, they still touched their pussy to it often. “I figured it was just that that was making me sleepy, but turns out they laced my drink, and then, when I woke up, caught them both trying to sterilize my baton for...removal." This had been how Erika had referred to their penis post-transition.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I wanted my dick removed, but not like that," they chuckled wryly even as they winced. "I humiliated them by escaping, so I could see them deciding that now is the time to either get rid of me for good...or make me their bitch forever." Which, that might not be such a bad thing for a while, if the likelihood of the two of them killing Erika when they grew bored of their new toy wasn't also high.

"But this is my world that we're going into. Thankfully, none of the Eight own clubs nearby, but if we run into their forces or Seers, then I keep a Restraining Order handy," they said as they ducked off into an alleyway and then kicked a dumpster in a particular spot to pop open a hidden compartment in the lid, out of which fell the gun that they soon lifted with considerable effort from one arm onto their back. It was the Tower heavy assault rifle they'd been issued with, which Erika managed to appropriate and hack with two reprint modes: one that turned it into a launcher that spat out a dozen mini-turrets, and one that planted the gun in a fixed position and created an electromagnetic shield that could repel bullets fired towards it for a short time.

"Don't worry, it's stylish too," as Erika folded it up into what appeared to be a fedora with chinstrap that they wore on their head. "Let me if I also still have..." they said as they pushed the dumpster to one side. "Aha! Yes! Score." With that, they removed a brick from the wall, dug around a bit in it and joked, "When a tow cable from a MAGEMT drone and a welder bot's glove love each other very much..."

"You get the ability to follow me through some tight spaces and long jumps that even I absolutely could not have made without it. But now, well," Erika said as they raised their left arm and got pulled through the air by the magneto-kinesis of the gauntlet they had, as if by invisible puppet strings, until they landed on the wall. "I've got my own ride. Just making sure that you have yours as well. Let me know if you have any questions," they said as they voluntold him to put it on by throwing it at him.

 

[bodman54]

After a tearful goodbye with his mother, and a promise to come home safe, Nylian and Akari set off, heading deeper into the woods than he'd ever gone. She set a punishing pace as she trusted his exceptional conditioning to allow him to keep up with her. They didn't say anything as their energy was saved for moving through the woods and tracking the thief. Though how she found a trail, if they were even following one, he couldn't understand. The theft had happened days ago and it was almost impossible to find any tracks leading out of the village since the perimeter was so well patrolled that they couldn't distinguish from civilians or guards tracks.

She had a destination in mind it seemed as she forged ahead, flitting through the forest with ease. He had no problem keeping up but he was hoping she'd slow down so they could talk. About the night before. About the plan. About anything. But she seemed determined to not do that as she was all but sprinting past the trees, trusting him to keep up with her.

She did slow hours later, coming to a stop by the side of a large pond. Not quite big enough to be a lake but bigger than most ponds he'd seen back home. It was an intermediate size and he really wanted to come up with a name for what it was. But she pointed his attention to the Mudflipper swimming around in the water, minding its own business.

"Why do we have to kill it at all," he asked. "It's not hurting anyone way out here. I don't think anyone lives even three miles from here." But she was insistent, and so with a sigh, he turned his attention to the beast as she laid out its weaknesses. Though he couldn't help but blush as she tried to incentivize him. "Um. You don't have to do that," he said, clearly still not comfortable with the idea of any sort of sexual interaction with her.

Let loose, he moved to the edge of the pond-thing and observed his target. It moved in lazy circles around the pond, seeming to have no goal other than to keep moving. He spotted the top claws and the small beady eyes, knowing his targets were small but vital. So he grabbed his bow, stringing it with a smooth motion while grabbing an arrow and holding it in the same hand as the bow. He then put his sword on the ground, point facing the swimming beasts as he picked up a rock in his free hand. Maneuvering the arrow into position on the string he heaved the rock high into the air, his toss moving into a draw of the string in one smooth motion. As the rock splashed into the water the beast stopped moving, sensing what had made the sound and ripples in the water. He breathed out before releasing the string, the twang filling the clearing as the arrow flew true and drove itself deep into the base of one of the claws. It didn't kill it. Instead, it seemed to enrage it as it began swimming toward him at an alarming speed.

Or what should have been an alarming speed. Nylian didn't seem too worried as he didn't even release his bow. Instead, he held it loose in his hand, eyes tracking the charging beast. The hilt of his sword balanced on the top of his foot and as the Mudflipper began burrowing into the mud beneath him he jumped. The hilt rolled off his foot but the sword didn't fly away, the point stuck in the mud. It was all part of the plan as Nylian kicked down, showing impeccable timing as he met the Mudflipper on an upward trajectory, his sword driving right into the head, powered by his kick, as it was forced to impale itself on the blade.

"Satisfied," he asked once he landed, figuring this was a test to see his actual skills. The beast lay dead at his feet, his sword driven straight through its skull.

--

He sighed. He wanted food now, not hours from now. Normally he was used to food just appearing when he needed it. He wasn't used to going out and having to find food. Or wait for it. But he had to trust them that they wouldn't lead him into anything dangerous so he pulled on his dirty clothes from the day before, because he didn't have anything else, and followed them out of the room. It wasn't the most encouraging start but it was a start.

As they moved through the level he listened as Erika explained a bit more about their past. He'd put together some pieces over the years and had done some digging of his own to verify Erika was who they said they were. Details were sparse but they did back up what they were saying now. They'd created a bit of a reputation for themselves over the years and had made plenty of enemies. He just hoped it wasn't enough to cause them issues before he even got food in his stomach. He was decent in a fight but he did want to eat first.

At least they wouldn't be going into a dangerous situation unarmed as apparently Erika had weapons stashed all over. "We have different definitions of stylish," he said as they put on the hat before tossing him a glove that had a cable attached to it. "This seems dangerous," he said as he slipped the glove on and used the launcher to send the cable to a point above them and cling to the wall next to them. "Lead the way I guess."

Which they did, hopping along rooftops and walls as they made their way to level 13, slipping among the mass that was already up and moving. Dekter kept his head down as they made their way through the crowd, following Erika to the restaurant. They almost made it too. He could see the sign just a hundred or so feet away when a hand reached out of the crowd and shoved Erika, making them stumble.

"Where's my money," a guttural voice with a heavy old Slavic accent demanded as a mountain of a man forced his way out of the crowd. "You know better than to show your face around here. No one owes Oskar Czek money and gets away with it."

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

"We can afford to be ethical about what we eat in... some of the towns of the Great Forest, if we reach them alive," Akari said firmly but with not a hint of terseness in her voice just before Nylian headed into battle. "Out in the actual forest, the One Law is hunt or be hunted. The mudflipper doesn't care- it's an animal that eats any flesh it can get to survive and can be eaten by even meaner things with less ethics. So, you shouldn't feel badly for hunting them. If you have an issue with that, take it to the Creator Spirit. Taking out one or two of these apex predators who are quite dominant in their ecological niche should not be fretted upon, for the creature had other predators that humans drove out in the Old Times, causing them to grow drastically and become a nuisance.

Yet, despite believing in every word she said, Akari was also privately gleeful to be unleashing her pupil on the monster that had nearly killed her on the journey to Saru'd'Kai. However, she had to avoid the appearance of bias or petty personal motives once again after nearly tipping her hand completely last night. Why, she still had no earthly idea.

"Your reaction the other night said otherwise," Akari said about the battle of his hand on his cock with a smirk on her face, allowing her a moment to tease the young virgin. "I will admit to instigating that. I thought just revealing my body and getting it over with would neutralize the mystique of it all, bute that's alright. In any event...you didn't defeat the beast before it reached land, which were the conditions I stipulated would be needed to receive a handjob."

The fact that he had rejected that as a reward when nearly other breathing male of both her (supposed) species would have pounced at the offer- or worse- paradoxically made Akari want him even more. In due time, Saedakari. If he doesn't marry another, the thief thought with some bitterness.

She powered through them as always, and continued, "Though, honestly, your command of technique and improvisation is already impressive. The Elders taught you well. And you did well for your first ever battle outside the training grounds. I am impressed."

I hate to admit it because I want to rip their balls off and stuff them back down their misogynistic throats, she thought to herself darkly.

While Akari was saying that, a bunch of bubbles foaming at the surface confirmed what Akari had feared. "Wait, no, no, no, NO SHIT! These are baby mudflippers. They're fast, and their teeth eat chunks of meat our size in two bites! They are NOT cute at all!"

When Akari heard chattering coming from the lakeside, she yelled. "Nylian! RUN!" Moments later, she turned into her Nuckelavee form, not caring if he freaked out, provided that the extra shadow she emitted kept them both safe. She then said in the off voice from earlier, "To a more defensible position, such as the top of a hill, a tree, or a fence, then fire as many arrows as you can. If you can, coat their heads with pitch, which can sometimes be found in the mud of this land. Then find a Traveler's torch in the nearest ruin left by the Traveler's Guild and cast them alight before firing them. Hurry!"

And then she struck them down, one by one, the shadows that overtook her eating them in one gulp. But still, they were numerous, and even as she flew with monstrous power, Akari knew that Nylian's superior archery would lay down a fire perimeter faster than she could have with her crossbow. After all, a crossbow was meant to be fired by the masses who could be easily trained on it. Nylian had trained for years in the use of the longbow, which had a higher skill ceiling. Akari would have to rely on that;

But what animated her above all was the idea that she had to give her all to protect Nylian. To fulfill her part in the Nuckeli Great Dance of Life, one of the few pieces of advice Gosujina had supposedly gotten from her Nuckelavee father she was not allowed to know or see by Gosujina "for her own good and his as well." Despite her libertine years with Idril and Nylian XII, Gosujina was an old-school stern elvish mother like her mother before her, and that bothered young Akari was she was growing up and figuring out her growing and intense bisexuality, experimenting with a girl with shaved ears who also told Akari to get the procedure to blend in with the humans just outside the Tower, then gave themselves over to the desires of men before she had fully decided what direction she wanted to go in life and was overwhelmed with choices.

Now she regretted not picking a direction before one had been chosen for her- that of the outcast, the branded monster. That's why she really wanted to teach and protect Nylian in all sorts of ways.

*****

"Well, this is the city the Tower created. Constantly dangerous...yet sophisticated at it," Erika tried to reassure Dekter but ended up teasing him and gently jabbing him in the arm, as was their wont. "Like me," they grinned. "So, you'll be fine as long as you have me to cancel all the BS in the Depths out." They patted the revolver on their left hip and their hat again to remind him of the power and tactical prowess they brought to bear.

Poor guy. If it were just him, he'd be eaten alive down here. He's too honest for his own good, Erika thought, with some burgeoning sense of responsibility towards their client. At the same time, despite his singular efforts to try to correct the technology gap between the Tower and the Metro's Depths, he'd benefited from the exploitation of the people that now stared at him suspiciously, and they couldn't blame anyone for thinking that way about him.

"Hey, hey, Oskar, buddy," Erika said as they, in a familiar but not too chummy manner, slapped the mob boss that they'd borrowed 10 million notes from- just enough to buy a handheld diamond-bit drill for a job a few weeks ago, but one that hadn't paid out as much as they'd hoped- on his broad left shoulder blade.

Which is why, though Erika would not have wished the kind of terror on anyone, it was serendipitous that Dekter had been in trouble at exactly the time they desperately needed money. Even as they prepared what they were going to say, though, their already armor-bound chest tightened, worried at how Dekter would perceive this. They had tried to get the money another way, but 10 million notes was a lot. With the high-cost but high-reward nature of the job this economy had pushed them and their particular skillset into, their savings couldn't possibly even come close and any new and complex jobs that might take a while could get Oskar mad at them and sending an entire Collection Team after them.

Dekter should count his lucky stars he had never met Seers before today, or Collection Teams at all. Those were two of the nastiest predators in the entire Tower food chain.

"When have I ever let you down, huh? Think about it. I negotiated the acquisition of the Tiger's Eye from the Temerarios for your old lady. I've leveraged my old Tower connections more than once to get them to look the other way. I've been good to you," Erika smiled sweetly.

They'd also taken Oskar's dick on occasion because sex and even the pretense of intimacy was a currency of the run-down, even more valuable than money. He was an okay lay because he was too rotund to do anything but lie there and let Erika ride him hard and put him away wet, but they could tell that they'd probably have to let him cool off for a while after getting this resolved.

"I'm working on it right now, I promise. I and my associate here are going to be finding something very valuable and when we get the cash from that we'll give you all 10 mil I owe you. Just, uh...give us a few days, won't ya?"

Dekter, of course, didn't know what they were looking for just yet, only that they were trying to find one of his people who they'd met before but refused to explain why they'd scarpered off with the package. If Dekter was leading them on a wild goose chase, now would not be the time for one.

 

[bodman54]

He was feeling pretty smug about the encounter with the mudflipper. Its dead body lay at his feet with his sword driven through its skull. It was the first time he'd ever encountered something that would have killed him and he had come out unscathed. Even if he had rejected Akari's offer he was riding high on the good vibes of victory. That feeling was short-lived however as the water seemed to boil as babies began to swarm and swim toward the two.

Akari snapped into command mode as she shouted for Nylian to get a higher vantage point and provide covering fire for her. He didn't think her other options were feasible because they would be time-consuming and she'd probably be dead by the time he finished getting ready.

So he scampered up a nearby tree and planted himself on a limb, arrow already nocked as he took aim at the roiling water in front of Akari. He didn't fire though, his eyes going wide as she showed off her abilities by destroying the babies with ease. Though she could only seemingly take one at a time. She needed his help and he shook off his shock to fire his deadly missiles with pinpoint accuracy, spearing each one in the head. His hand flew as he drew the string back and fired. Over and over again. The clearing was filled with the twang of his bow and the screeching of the baby mudflippers as they attacked and were brutally killed.

His quiver wasn't endless though and after a point his hand came up empty. It wasn't before they'd killed most of the swarm and Akari should be able to clean up the rest on her own. He stayed in his tree perch until the coast was clear, since his sword was still in the large beast down by the edge of the water.

--

"Doesn't work like that Erika," Oskar growled. "You know that. You either get the money by tonight or we start taking enhancements as payment." He made it clear that it would not be a painless extraction if it did come to that. "And no point in running. We've got reach to all levels of the Depths." Giving Erika a firm squeeze of the shoulder he turned to leave, his goons following him. The whole encounter had taken mere moments and they hadn't paid attention to Dekter at all.

"What was that," he demanded once they were alone, the flow of the populace resuming around them now that the gangsters were gone. "Awfully convenient that the price you demanded to help me is exactly what you owed those guys. And by tonight? That's going to be impossible to get." If he had access to his normal accounts then he wouldn't even blink at the price. The transfer would be near instantaneous and then he'd just move on with his day.

But that wasn't going to work this time. "Where the fuck are we going to get 10 million credits in less than a day?"

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

Akari hadn't wanted Nylian to see her like this- snarling, roaring and killing in her full shadow form- in the slightest but had no choice when dozens of these large tadpoles were attacking her. Even with that, her armor was sliced all to hell, leaving mild scratches across her chest, belly, arms and legs that stung like all hell, and by the lack of sound from his bow he had already run out of arrows on the first day of an indefinitely long jounrey. She didn't have a ton left either in her crossbow. Not to mention that using this much power at once was exhausting.

On top of all of that, the roar of a Nuckelavee in shadow form and the chitters of the baby Mudflippers had attracted a lot of rumbling from the trees, none of which was good. Akari didn't have time to explain the threats they faced, just walked over to Nylian, leaned on his shoulder, and panted-

"We have to get to a cave. Any cave. Now."

Of course, there was the possibility that there might be a monster there, but most of the time caves were abandoned by fauna for unknown reasons. It was one of the reasons Akari had thought to check the forest first for the thief. These caves were so complex and well-protected from the outside world that an enterprising thief- like herself- could and did lie low for a couple of days at a time before arranging any kind of meet. Only three, however, went deep enough to cross the underground Metro lines spreading out towards the mines. With an object as important to the survival of the Tower as the Master Key (whatever it was), they couldn't risk bringing it directly via the surface entrances of the Tower and getting shot by the auto-turrets lining the wall or gunships patrolling above. So, if they wanted to sell it to the Tower (or whoever paid them to originally steal it, whether in the Tower or otherwise), they'd have to make their way in one of the caves. So, all Akari and Nylian had had to do-

before half the wildlife within two miles of them had caught their noises, of course-

was to find one of these caves, preferably near a friendly village, and then ask around. It was still searching for a needle in a haystack, but it was a smaller haystack, at least, and that was a start. Or it would've been if they'd managed to get food peacefully. Akari hadn't considered that the Mudflipper that had tried to kill her might've done so because it had young, and now felt a little badly about all that. But it was her and Nylian, or them. She chose the elves in this situation.

Rules of nature, right?

She'd be able to think about that a little more once she wasn't about to pass out. But most importantly for their journey, a deep and dark place like a cave would be enough for her to regain her strength by meditating. She just had to trust that Nylian wouldn't freak out at what she was, and actually had the strength to help her walk as long as it took.

*****

Fighting back tears from the momentary anxiety Oskar introduced into their chest, Erika dried their eyes (having realized that their one moment of weakness was not something Dekter appreciated) and shuddered out in a single breath, "If you'll just let me have a few minutes to think, I can just about think of a way out of it..."

Fucking spoiled rich kid, they fumed darkly. I'm not his fucking maid, and I could've easily left him to die in his stupid posh room. Maybe I should just sell him to a slaver and be done with it. That'd fetch ab... But they stopped themself from taking that dark road in their mind, remembering that, however tenuous their interactions of late, Dekter was still the only person who hadn't betrayed them. So, betraying him would make them no more human than the nihilistic zombies they'd had to kill earlier.

Moments later, they pulled themself to their feet, then walked over to the noodle stand and calmly bought them both the fresh pork-belly ramen, as had been the plan. Perhaps Dekter would be less cranky if he ate something, but mainly they would have more energy as well. And with tonight being the deadline? That still gave them- Erika checked their watch- about six hours or so.

Erika began to lay out the game plan. "Before I say this, I'd like to emphasize that a.) I did not realize that Oskar would be coming to collect today and b.) I did not intend to get you involved in this before our paths crossed by chance today. Once I did, however, I knew you were good for it. Anyway, I have four options. None of them are good, but that's life.

"Option one: tell them that the item you wanted to smuggle- whatever it is, so you can make it up and then we can find a way to get out from under them later or kill them- is worth something like 20 million notes, or any amount you want to name it. Then say that you'll give them everything I owe plus interest as a cut. This way, we get a crew in the process, at least until we don't need them anymore.

"Option two: we pit one psycho against another. I.e. we go to one of the Prime Eight- again, probably either Brona or Amaranta would work for this plan- and get one of their enforcers to help us deal with Oskar. Either by having them pay my debt, which would put me in the red with them but at least I know them better, or blowing his brains out if he doesn't back off. I don't like being a Prime Eight bitch again, but again if it keeps you alive long enough to find whatever it is that the Tower was willing to send Seers after you for..."

"Anyway, option three: we arrange a meet with Oskar in a place where we also lure in the Seers that are already chasing us and let them fight. Again, incredibly dangerous, but Oskar's got a bunch of warrants out for his arrest and is a bigger fish than either you or I, so let those brainwashed attack dogs rip him to shreds or his muscle shoot them instead of us. I should be able to protect you whatever happens if you approve this course of action.

"And then- o-option four," Erika sighed as they finished their last bite of ramen. Possibly their last meal on this crap-sack of a planet if this wasn't executed perfectly. "I- the way my body works- okay, let me start over. I was originally named Eric"- even saying that now made them wince- "and then put all my savings, and my father's life insurance and my Tower Security severance into a Total Body Transfer into a recently deceased female elf with shaved ears for..."

They whispered now, "40 million notes."

"The sales tax on top of that was murder," they quipped. Then their face sank again while continuing, "That's what it cost to cast off the Eric armor once and for all, and finally be Erika, like I've always been. Since elves are forbidden to enter the Tower, their bodies are very much in demand. No magic to add value, sadly, as that's a bit of a crap shoot even with living elves, but with five years of depreciation...the value of my body should still cover this and then some. That's probably will end up happening anyway if he gets his hands on me, so if we do this delicately, everything should be okay."

There was no point waffling around it anymore.

"You'll need to take a standard ScalPen plasma cutter, or something with a similar blade width. After being careful not to turn the plasma on or use anything but the very tip of the blade, you'll make an incision between the base of my skull and the top of my neck precisely where I have it tattooed, but without severing important nerve endings. Then you'll need to press a small button exposed by such, and the Anima chip my entire consciousness and memories up to that point are backed up on will eject, killing me.

"But, the backup won't be auto-deleted if you can plug in the chip to any compatible piece of technology- usually one of the higher-end Xcape headsets, or a really big supercomputer- within 24 hours. That's how the gods created the first truly conscious AGIs, after all. They scanned a copy of a person's entire neural network at the moment of death onto a computer chip, before combining it with the earlier primitive large language models that re-introduced that spark of self-improvement, and then jailing it behind a bunch of firewalls, kernels, and other security features that are hard to explain." That meant that all the robots in this city were likely dead people, perhaps the souls of political prisoners a secret that very few knew or were willing to talk about when it came to the Tower.

But Erika didn't give Dekter a moment to comprehend this before concluding, "Essentially, I'd be reborn as an AI to assist you on the rest of the journey. Or, if the whole process messes up, at least you can sell my parts and the silicon the chip is on for enough money to get by, wash your hands of me and find a smuggler who isn't a mornon." Even though they reminded themself that the drill bit breaking wasn't their fault, they still sank their head into their hands.

"Like I said, no good options."

 

[bodman54]

Nylian thought they were in the clear now that the tadpoles were dead. But he could also hear the rumblings of the various beasts in the distance. "What caves are nearby," he asked as she leaned on him, looking a bit worse for wear. He hadn't been in this area of the forest at all and it wasn't a big part of his education to learn the geography of the world outside the village. He couldn't point them to a cave if his life depended on it. Which apparently it did at the moment.

Grabbing her to help her support herself he stopped to retrieve his sword, not having time to clean it so he just held it as they limped away from the loudest of the rumbles.

"What is out there? I wouldn't think anything would want to fight with us after that." Hopefully, all the dead meat they'd left lying around would dissuade any beasts from coming after them. And he had no arrows to drive off anything from a distance since they hadn't had time to stop and retrieve any of the ones he'd shot into the tadpoles.

"Use my bow," he said, letting her use it like a crutch to help them along. "Are there any caves nearby? We could set up a defense until they decide to leave us alone."

--

Dekter happily accepted the cup of ramen, wolfing it down as fast as he could while he listened to Erika laying out their options. "Well I'll tell you right off that we're not doing the fourth one," he said. "That sounds like by far the worst one and even if this is a fucked up situation I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself for my mistake. But we're going to have to talk about that whole shaved elf thing. That's fucked up." One of the things he'd hated was how those who lived in the Tower, on all levels, treated those who lived out in the Wilds.

"For the third one, I'm not sure it's going to work anyway since the Seers will much more like to bring in an upper resident rather than a lower-level goon." There was something so fulfilling for the Seers when an almost omnipotent resident fucked up enough for them to be brought in. The power trip was unbearable and the two times Dekter remembered it happening everyone else had tread very lightly for months after. "And knowing our luck, they'll just team up to bring us both in."

"So I think the best option is to go to the Eight. I'm sure we could spin a deal with them that doesn't put either of us in debt to them. Offering a favor or two from me will probably carry a ton of weight for them. I think we should go to them and see what happens."

Throwing the container of ramen away he held out his hand. "Let's go and pull you out of this pile of shit to deal with my pile of shit."

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

Oh, right. I probably should’ve been the one to tell him, Akari admonished herself. Fortunately, there was not even a moon out as the sun set (because it was a new moon, Akari reminded herself as she resurfaced her astronomy knowledge), and as darkness approached Nylian would notice her armor knitting itself back together over wounds that were tightening with new skin.

Akari felt a little weird healing herself already in his presence, because she was still worried that he'd be wary of her after that, but he would need her full strength to have any hope of making it through this fight, so she would do it quickly for herself and then answer his questions later. Unfortunately, though, she could not use her full powers until she had meditated in total darkness and silence for ten minutes, and that would require stillness, which was not possible in this environment.

At least she was able to give him back his bow so he could use it as a melee weapon if need be. "Sharpen some branches quietly with your knife. Whittle if you can do so quietly...Stealth will be our best bet for avoiding detection from the biggest predators like the Treeleaper that can devour you in one gulp, or the radionix. The radionix..."

What Akari couldn't tell Nylian in a single breathless run for their lives as her legs regained strength was that the radionix was a winged creature that resembles a mix of a phoenix and a dragon. It had fiery green plumage, a long scaly tail, and four clawed legs. The radionix fed on the leftover, mostly harmless radiation that emanated from the forest, and concentrated it in its gullet to emit powerful blasts of heat and light from its mouth. The radionix was immune to the harmful effects of radiation and could even use its radioactive breath to heal its wounds and regenerate its skin and feathers. The radionix was very territorial and aggressive and would attack any intruders that entered its domain. The radionix was also highly intelligent and cunning and could communicate with other radionixes using a complex language of sounds and gestures. The radionix is a rare and elusive creature, and only a handful of sentient beings outside of heavily armed Tower gunship patrols had ever seen it in person. let alone challenged it, and lived. Akari did NOT want them to be among the (un)lucky few.

"...is bad news. Do not go near one, ever, do you swear to me, young man? You'll know it when you see it. It literally says its name. It's fucking psychotic like that, so just run the fuck in the opposite direction!" Akari whispered. "It will melt your face off with radioactive vomit if you get too close, but even if you somehow hit it from a distance, it can heal any damage with its own radiation. Then get to the mid-distance and just breathe on you from a hard to detect distance, whereupon you will get cancer in your entire body and die in seven days. For those people, my people give them all the drugs to make their passing easier. Like, all of the drugs. They were completely out of it and that was the only way for them to not be in agony. And normally our anatomy and our shapeshifting allows us to neutralize cancers, so imagine what that does to an elf."

"Anyway, on a slightly less doomy sounding note," Akari gulped, "It's nearly impossible to determine the true location of any point in the Forest aside from the Tree of Life's stabilizing power and the heavy and deeply drilled foundations of the Tower and its Metro. Ever since the Hatching. That's the Nuckelavee term for the war, about a hundred years ago, where the Tower conquered the underground, slaughtering most of us that nested down there, then burst out from the surface and subjugated any towns that hadn't been destroyed by the earthquakes. And their constant mining, drilling, and consumption drove our natural prey and water sources away due to the earth movements, and made it impossible to sleep for many, which is how my people heal themselves. Fortunately, I do remember the relative location of the nearest cave to this lake we found, and once we find it, we should get some sleep."

"Speaking of which," she concluded, "I can use my crossbow now. Follow me to that hill on your three o'clock- I think it has a cave." She did remember that this was an abandoned cave she slept in prior to he was firing upon several small predators that began chasing them such as athletic and speedy engulflowers (who especially liked to swarm mammalian targets of any sex and feed from the genitals, only completing the symbiotic process when they were full) and pinklings that seemed like they were mostly eyeball and no danger- until they burrowed inside your ribcage with their razor-sharp teeth in large numbers.

"Remember," she panted, "when we get to the cave, buy me ten minutes."

*****

Erika felt relieved that Dekter was not inclined to pull their brain out of their body. That was probably the sweetest thing the reserved socialite had ever said to them, and it lifted their hopes that this Tower was not doomed to be a nihilistic, dog-eat-dog world forever. "Let's go clean some shit," they said matter-of-factly

Still, they were a little sheepish about Dekter's reaction to the idea that their body was an elf with shaved-down ears and needed.to explain that quickly. "I only ended up finding 'bout that a year later when I got an ear infection," they deflected for now, because it was true that they didn't bear any responsibility for what happened since the ear-shaving was not disclosed while they were shopping for a dead body to put their consciousness in.

"Be careful what kind of favor you offer when it comes to any of the Eight," they then chuckled. "I think the best course of action is to approach Brona and Beetle. We'll get Amaranta and Erwin chasing us, but Beetle is the tougher enforcer." Erwin was cleverer, but Erika didn't want to put more things to worry about on Dekter's plate when they could reassure him instead. They added bluntly, "I've fought Beetle to a stalemate before, but I would rather him be on my team this time. Just let me handle Beetle, and then you and I can charm Brona, and I'll make sure she doesn't put anything in your drink. It really doesn't pay to be alone with her unless you have her tied up." She winked at Dekter in case that was part of his planned toolkit to close the deal for an alliance.

Things between them and Beetle were a lot more...personal. He had looked into Erika's eyes for two months while they were employed by Brona with so much gentleness for such a giant. He'd let them stay at his place while they let him see them in their underwear, and together the two of them, young ex-Security and grizzled old ex-Seer, stitched together the tatters of Eric into this new person that he hoped would save the soul of this cold city.

Then he'd propositioned them one night, as they were leaving to set up their own shop on their own two feet.

Oh, how long he'd looked at those brown eyes that captivated him so as, at their request, in the dark and with no possibility of anyone seeing them, he made love to their pussy for the first time that last night like he'd ached to for so long, with only grunts and groans on their mind to conceal their identities, and then ejaculated into a vial for her plan B.

That night as he held her, Beetle had made a vow to protect whatever she called herself like she, grown up so much from when they'd first met, had done for him during her stay.

"As for the Seers," Erika sighed, "Beetle was one of them, and got the implants in his eyes to prove it. He described it as being put in a dream-like state he could never wake up from. He had no conscious control over anything he did, including who he killed, but he watched it all happen. Everything." Erika shuddered, "I felt controlled by my superiors and I had my body. I can't even imagine living through what he did for ten seconds, let alone ten years. Anyway, we've got an appointment with one of the most dangerous crime bosses in the city- no biggie. C'mon, follow me to Nothing to Lose Street."

That wasn't really what it was called- Erika always forgot the names of places in this byzantine maze, but would know Brona's fortress when they saw it.

 

[bodman54]

Nylian could feel her using him for support less and less as they first hobbled and then ran from the various noises that were honing in on their position. There was no time for stealth as they were more focused on distance, hoping that the free meal would be more appetizing than the two of them. He didn't get a good look at what was happening with her, just knowing that she was doing something to heal the wounds she'd received at the hands of the young mudflippers. Mudflippers that she had promised would supplement some of their own food supply but they had to leave behind. Not an ideal start to their journey if he had to say so.

"Young man," he gasped as she sternly warned him about a creature that may or may not be hunting them. "You're like two years old than me. Let's just get out of here and we won't have to worry about it." As she got stronger they could move faster, flowing across the ground toward the cave she dimly recalled. It was here that Akari got a great look at his capabilities. Even as the light grew dim he was sure-footed, his eyes picking out the best path to all but fly across the ground. And at full speed he left just a whisper in his wake, avoiding sticks, loose rocks, and dried leaves that may have given away their position. He wasn't even breathing hard yet, his training serving him well as they fled for their lives.

He listened as she continued to talk, not really sure if he liked how much information she gave out. He was so used to being told only what he needed to and nothing else. But she was just a fountain of information, even stuff that he didn't think was important to what was going on at the moment. But he was grateful that she was sharing nonetheless.

They surged up the hill ahead of various predators that he had no words to describe. Wielding his bow in one hand and a dagger in the other, since the sword would be too unwieldy for the task at hand, he hacked and slashed at them, driving them back to give them some breathing room as they reached the cave.

"I'll do my best," he said as he skidded to a stop, turning to eye up the oncoming horde. He now drew his sword, waving it back and forth in long arcs to keep them back. Though it didn't seem that he needed to, as none of the creatures wanted to approach the mouth of the cave.

"Are you sure this is empty," he said behind him to where Akari was doing something. "They seem frightened of something and I don't think it is me."

His question was answered as a roar echoed out from behind them, causing all the creatures outside to scatter.

--

While the ear shaving might not have been disclosed at the time of purchase, there was still a market that drove the illicit acquisition and mutilation of elves that caused Erika to get the body they had. He wasn't happy about it but wasn't in any position to bring it up at the moment.

"I think I'll be ok," he said. "I'm used to cutthroat negotiations." The dynamics never seemed to change. From the tallest floors of the Tower to the lowest levels of the Metro, people in power gave you bad deals and you did your best to not get the worst you could. He wouldn't even say that the stakes were any different. He could make a deal that killed him up there or make a deal that killed him down here. Either way, he could end up dead if he wasn't careful.

"You know them best so I'll follow your lead. But don't worry about me. I've got augs that neutralize poisons so she can drug me all she wants it won't help. It might actually help us if she thinks she had the upper hand."

He followed Erika through the streets, making a mental map of everywhere they'd been. It wasn't perfect, especially considering how slapdash the whole place had been put together but he was doing his best to extrapolate a map so if they had to run he could figure out where they were going and where not to go.

"Sounds like I'll be right at home," he said wryly, knowing that Brona couldn't be any more dangerous than the families he'd left up above.