Kink University - Ch. 17 - Help

It would be a stretch to say that Daava continued to constantly jizz up the back of my shirt for the next couple hours of our trip. It was, however, an ongoing affair. Such that by the time we caught a distant glance at the village we were sent to help, my back had several more damp spots and cum dripping down my crack. I'd also been rewarded each time with another piece of the milk candy, leaving me both horny and craving more sweets.

The group came to a stop ahead of us, so we ceased our secret games while we caught up to them. Once we did, I was confused for a moment as to why we had slowed down. Then I heard it, a distant and guttural cry to the right of the path—from a rocky outcropping adjacent to grazing fields.

"That's us," Faublien said with a heavy sigh as he made eyes at the bulltaur. He reached into his bag and pulled out a lasso. With a single flick of his wrist, it made a slight whipping motion and then wrapped itself into a knot. This lasso was clearly enchanted, and it made me happy that Faublien had decided to consider my idea for winning the bulltaur over. He continued, "Yes, we'll have the missing farm animals tied and rescued out of that cave in a few hours. Maybe ... you would all like to accompany us back to the school when you've finished your task?"

The bulltaur watched the lasso, and I noticed an eyebrow raise.

However, it was the student Mystery was making eyes at that spoke up first. In a southern drawl that surprised me, also being from the South, he said, "Thank you for the invitation. We would have loved to, but we're likely going to be around here for a couple days."

"Oh?" Mystery said, clearly trying to cover up a grimace.

He nodded. "We took a quest here because we heard rumors that some villagers spotted someone who looked like an ancient dark lord. We knew we had to check it out. But if y'all like, we can meet up another day?" He glanced at all of us.

I felt a low grumble from Daava that couldn't have possibly been heard by the group.

However, it was Mystery who spoke up first, "We would love to, Caid. Daava and Lilly as well!" So that was his name, I repeated it a few times in my head to try to remember.

Faublien gave the others a wave, "Best of luck, Freja, Bubbles ... Boros."

The four of them waved back and continued their trek down the road, this time staying closer together. I was sure they were talking dark lord stuff or something equally important. And I found myself glad that I had nothing to do with it.

Boros is so funny," Faublien said, a pink glow briefly lighting his otherwise blue face.

"And Caid is so hot," Mystery added, biting their lip. "All serious and in command like that. Going out to fight some ancient power."

"irritatingly perfect little..." Daava muttered under her breath.

I giggled.

"Hm?" Mystery asked, seeming genuinely to not have heard.

"It was nice to enjoy a quiet walk," I interjected, leaving out that the bits that had been nice about it had had nothing to do with our travelling companions. Fortunately, both Mystery and Faublien seemed perfectly content with this answer. They most gave longing looks in the direction of the other group, before Daava gave a gentle squeeze to my ribs—signaling me to begin walking. She directed me toward the woods by my earring reins, and the others quickly began following behind us.

As we walked, I noted the smell of sea water ... meaning we weren't far from the coast. I noticed a few rusted minecarts sitting out in the field, along with a broken pickaxe handles abandoned on the stony ground. A bit of grit got stuck in my sandal from the dusty ground and I had to casually kick to get it out. It was another minute before I heard another guttural scream come from the direction in which we were headed. This sound echoed a lot between the growing number of rock-faces we now saw.

"Hold," Daava said, pulling gently on my reins. She waited until we heard the sound again before signaling me to continue walking. This went on for a few minutes, until we ended up at a mine entrance with rusted tracks and long-extinguished torches. Sure enough, the sound seemed to come directly from it. Daava gave me another candy (which I eagerly ate from her hand) and said, "This is our entrance."

"It's ... a bit dark," Mystery said, voicing my own similar concerns.

"I've got that covered," Faublien said with a grin. He closed his eyes for a moment. Gradually, his skin took on a shimmer ... before beginning to outright glow! It wasn't long before the shade from our position at the mine entrance was dissipated by his light. Faublien shrugged and said, "What can I say? Our travels have left me with plenty of extra magical reserves."

"Fuck yeah," Mystery said. They reached into their canvas backpack and pulled out their heavy wand. Again, their eyes shimmered. It took a moment, but I gradually noticed movement from the cave. Shadows added texture to the rock walls and ceiling. It took Faublien reaching a glowing hand toward the mine for us to see that the walls and ceiling were now lined with cave-crickets—all staring at Mystery.

Mystery smiled excitedly and said, "I'm doing this!"

I smiled for them.

"Are you able to get a read on what they are sensing?" Daava asked, taking a gentle teaching tone that reminded me of how the professors at the university spoke.

Mystery wrinkled their face and then said, "Maybe? It's ... like an itchiness in a certain direction. Like they are aware of a place in the mine where there's a noise but no food. At least, that's what I think ... it's hard to tell. They don't think like us—like at all."

"It's a good start," Daava said and then gave my sides another squeeze.

I swallowed and took my first few steps into the mine. Unlike what I had seen in adventure movies, the most striking thing that occurred to me about the mine was how narrow it was. I felt a bit claustrophobic for the first few minutes of travel through a corridor that felt barely wider than I was. The crickets travelled with us—which didn't help matters either. I pulled my shoulders in as much as I could to avoid touching them.

Eventually, however, we reached a place where the mine opened up a bit. My guess was that this was a natural cave that had been tunneled into—at least judging by the stalactites and stalagmites. From the cave, there were a few exits—some seeming natural and others not. As I waited for another cry to tell us which direction we were supposed to go, a loud clanging sound made me jump.

I turned around, startled, to see Mystery standing very still and in an awkward pose. Their heavy wand was outstretched and resting against the wall they had struck. Directly beneath their weapon was a humanoid skeleton. Bits of skull were at the skeleton's feet ... which were twitching. Twitching?

Only as the rest began to moved that I noticed that the entire wall was covered in skeletons of various shapes and sizes—all standing at attention. They had been hidden from our immediate view by pressing themselves to the wall adjacent to the entryway we had entered through. They also seemed to be covered in a layer of dust that was the same color as everything else in the cave. Now, they began to move quickly, blocking the only way we knew to be an exit.

"What the fuck are those!" Mystery screamed, swinging their weapon at yet another skeleton reaching them.

Daava nudged my sides urgently, and I began to run toward one of the tunnels. Firmly, she said, "Whatever you do, don't stop moving!"

"Agreed, we're right behind you," I heard Faublien call out. "Why the hell would they send us on a first quest against boners!"

I couldn't think long enough to enjoy the pun. My heart raced, my limbs and face felt hot, my skin itched. Definitely the start of a panic attack. I wasn't ready for any of this. We were in real danger. Tunnel vision took over my sight, and suddenly, the world became more distant.

"... hear me? ... you ... horns! What's ..." I heard scattered words, mostly from Daava. I tried to hear them more closely, but that was the best I could make out. The pulse in my ears was drowning out almost everything else.

Then I saw the skeletons ... or "boners" in front of me. One was trying to cut off my escape into the next tunnel! It reached for me. My vision faded and I realized only too late that I was holding my breath.

But Daava stood from her saddle on my back and landed a flying punch into the boner's skull. The boner shot back—striking hard against the back of the cave. Rocks crumbled and buried the skeleton ... but it did not stop there. The cave began to rumble, and its shaking overtook the sound of hostile boners marching toward us.

What ... what could I even do?

Suddenly, I felt palms on my ears. They drowned out most of the sound. I felt one of the palms lift only slightly, and then heard Daava whisper, "It's okay, Lilly, it's okay. I know you're scared. But I need to trust me and keep running. Can you trust me?"

I gave my best nod, my eyes watering. Trembling and fighting everything inside of me, I continued to charge as fast as I could.

"Can you tap into your powers?" Lilly asked, briefly uncovering my ear again when she spoke. "You've been such a good little cow. And you know what cows have to defend themselves."

Magic? Right now? I didn't think I could, especially with how scared I felt. But then I felt Daava begin to stroke my ears and gently penetrate them with her cool, smooth claws again. It wasn't arousing by itself, at the moment, but it did bring to mind all the fun we'd had on the way here. I tried hard to focus on it ... tried to focus on my shape ...

Without warning, however, the ground beneath me crumbled under my feet. I tripped forward as the ground disappeared beneath me. I briefly saw Daava fly off the saddle before my body struck the crumbling stone—knocking the wind from my lungs and what working thoughts I had left in my brain. Then there was dark as I began to just free-fall into darkness.

What I supposed I might have expected next was something along the lines of horrific pain as a crash broke every bone in my body. That, or maybe an end to existence and consciousness itself. What I didn't expect was a sudden splash.

I was ... alive? I could see nothing, but I could taste salt-water. For a moment, I was just stunned. Vaguely, I could feel myself moving and even submerging. Then, like a light, my desperation for survival kicked in. I swam desperately in one direction, trying to feel for anything I could use to climb out of the water.

"Lilly!" I head Daava shout from far above. When she called a second time, her tone was more of a frantic scream. More than that ... it was already more distant.

I tried to call back, but water just flooded into my open mouth. I had to get out! I had to grab onto something, anything! My hands found a grip on a very cold and slick rock. I grabbed desperately.

However, my body did not stop even briefly. The current ripped me away—and I felt the rock slice into my hands. Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck ... I could feel heat in my hands. I could tell even without seeing that they were badly injured. Still, this was secondary to my desperation to get free of the current. I reached out again.

"Stop," said an unseen voice, which I could hear perfectly even through the splashing water and my head again dipping under. It was feminine; and it was rather ephemeral—a quality that I could only describe as if the speaker knew how to speak perfectly but had never had the chance to do so.

But what it was saying ... stop? I couldn't stop! If I did, I knew I would drown. I tried to reach again ... only to have my knuckles battered brutally by a rock jutting from the rest. I shouted it pain—my mouth filling again with water. This time, I knew I swallowed some.

"Land creature, I know that you're scared. But if you don't stop, you will drown," said the voice again.

My eyes burned with tears and I tried to scream, "Help me, please!" through the water tugging me under.

"There's a place near the end where you can get free, but I'm unable to pull you from the tide until you reach it. You have to survive until then for me to help." The voice replied, still coming through the rushing water perfectly.

Survive? I couldn't do that. I wasn't strong enough. Not for this current, not even enough to keep from swallowing more water. How was it that even brought to a world of so much more ease—a second chance from the life I had before—I still managed to be so weak as to be killed by it almost immediately. I began to shudder from my fear ... and the cold. Suddenly, I felt something that was as old and familiar to me as it was unwelcome—something I had spent countless weeks in therapy to deal with. It came about in my darkest moments—a pressure, as if a balloon were being blown in my skull. I called it my trauma bubble. It displaced everything else, making all thoughts of survival feel squished against the sides.

"Smaller creatures than you have made it out," the voice said, now far more distant than before. "Just listen to my instructions, and you'll at least stand a chance."

My teeth chattering, my lungs desperate, my hands throbbing, my body aching, my eyes burning, I tried to consider her words.

There was no willpower left, though. All that remained was the trauma bubble ... and some vague desire not to hurt her feelings.

I gave a zombie-like nod. I wasn't even quite sure what I had agreed to, but I didn't think it would matter for too much longer.

"You have to float," the voice said. "You can't fight the current, so let it take you. You'll avoid most of the jagged rocks if you're not dangling yourself beyond the necessary edges of the stream. Rest your body, let it take you."

Even in my daze state, the idea of this terrified me. Was I really supposed to give up what little control I had left?

The voice seemed to hear my thoughts. "You have no control of the water, land creature. You are not the god of this place. You are a mortal, and the only control you have is of yourself."

Oh no ... she was right. I gritted my teeth—waves of new terror washing over me as I did my best to do as instructed. I had never been good at floating on the water. Much less so with it now splashing on the surface. Still, I tried. At first, it still felt very much like I was drowning. And it was only when I had barely realized that I wasn't sinking when a rock struck my back. I screamed and was unable to keep myself from losing my floating pose. Again, I was struggling—now with my back in agonizing pain."

"You managed to keep that from impaling you. Keep going. Float again. Even as the rocks strike, hold on as best you can."

How in Kavtagro's stretched ballsack was I listening to this person I couldn't even see? I didn't know she was telling me the truth. I didn't even know that she wasn't the result of whatever concussion I had probably endured before falling.

But ... I had otherwise been ready to die. What was it that I was afraid of losing?

The only answer that came to me was, bizzarely, the phrase, "rest in peace." This was anything but peaceful. And I knew that if I continued to struggle, there would be more pain and more terror. It would last longer ... and only for the chance of hopefully surviving with more trauma. Was I really willing to give up my "in peace" for that? At the moment, I really didn't think so.

But I remembered how scared Daava had sounded as she screamed my name.

My limbs trembling, I forced my body to open up again and float. I was rewarded with a splash of salt-water up my nostril. It hurt, and it was all I could do not to thrash in fear when it happened. Then I took another breath ... and then a third. A sharp rock caught the top of my foot, and I felt it rip. Immediately, I could tell that there would be permanent damage from that. My body and the thoughts squished to the side of my brain by my trauma bubble. And my instincts ached for me to grab my foot and at least try to stop the bleeding. To fixate on that pain ... and the pain in my hands ... and in my head ... and in my body ... and in my brain from how hard it was to manage all this fear.

"You are doing well, land creature," The voice said, encouragingly. "Just a bit longer."

I cried out loud with every breath I was able to get. I didn't think I could do this. I didn't think I could bear the fear and the pain. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to. Yet, for a reason I could no longer remember, I used the very last ounces of will I had left to stay floating.

"Now!" shouted the voice. Then, I felt a slippery hand clasp mine.