Labyrinth of Lights

He didn't even think about it as her long, shapely legs locked around his hips, controlling his movements, controlling his shaft. Her arms wrapped around his chest, and he felt her perky nipples poking right into him. He felt so warm right now.

Her moans became his soundtrack, her eyes his only visual. The cold faded away until her warmth, her touch, was all he felt. The lights flashed and blinked as she gasped and cried out, kissing him with an incredible hunger.

Lust was pouring into him. She clutched him close, kissing all over his face, smothering him in sensation. She used her hips and legs expertly to pump him in and out of her, stoking his heat with overwhelming intensity.

"Good boy," she whispered once more, and then her pussy contracted once more around his throbbing erection, and he came.

Good boy.

Good boy.

Good boy.

Bliss swelled inside him and made him scream. He barely understood where he was anymore—they were still moving up, but slowly, ever-so-slowly. She soothed him in his orgasm, even as her pussy milked his cock expertly with pleasurable squeezes and slick undulations.

She rolled her hips, stroking his dark hair lovingly. "Shh," she whispered, kissing his cheeks, his eyelids, licking his face like a mother cat licking a newborn. "Shh! Good boy for Esca. Such a good boy..." Her words sank into his pleasure-drunk head, making him feel as light and fluffy as a wisteria in bloom.

And he came again. The afterglow hadn't even faded completely yet. He moaned and babbled incoherently in pleasure, his eyes wide as he stared adoringly into hers. She squealed and eagerly milked him, wriggling and bucking, clutching him so, so tight. "Good boy," she cooed, "good and nice and safe! So nice and safe with Esca! Esca loves her good boy!"

Alrek just whined and bucked, giving her an idiotic smile. She giggled, eyelashes batting. "See? When my eyes flicker in front of you, you just. Can't. Think!" She punctuated her words with sweet kisses on his cheeks. "And it just feels so good! So-so good. Mm-hm?"

"Mm..." He stared into her gleaming golden eyes, totally entranced. And he came again. He could barely even feel surprise at how quickly these orgasms were coming—the afterglow consumed what little brainpower he had left after the experience. All he could think about was how good it felt, how good it felt to finally cum, to finally be a good, good boy...

And she was not going to let that change. Esca wiggled and writhed, clutching him tight and safe. To his amazement, she seemed totally unaffected by the speed with which her pussy was sliding over his cock. She seemed to be in a constant state of ecstasy now, now that he was inside her, caught within her embrace. Caught. "Oh," she whispered, "she's gonna love you."

"She?" he managed, before she beamed and seized him in another mind-numbing kiss.

He didn't care. He would willingly lie here in her arms forever, safe and sound and warm in the grip of his Esca as she poured orgasm after orgasm through his body. She seemed to be so, so full of pleasure—it was so kind of her to share it with him. Gratitude swelled within him for his wonderful, beloved Esca.

It was intoxicating. It was addictive.

"Well, well, well." The voice was silky and light, like molten glass. Alrek felt a gentle ticklish touch on the back of his neck. "What little minnow has my Esca caught? What little nibble have I reeled in?"

Alrek couldn't think about the voice, or the touches. He was still lost in Esca's eyes. He felt smooth hands rubbing his shoulders, grazing delicately around his throat. "Goodness," murmured the voice, "So muscular. My Esca has been a good, good girl."

"Good boy," Esca gasped, breaking off the kiss. Alrek realized she was panting now, actively humping him with a newfound abandon. "G-good boy, good boy—"

"My Esca has earned herself a big reward," cooed the voice, and a new face came into view. She had an ashen gray skin, and her hair was short, straight, and black. Her eyes were a pale silver. She had a strange tendril protruding from the back of her neck that seemed to wind around to Esca. She caressed Esca's cheek, and Esca turned with wide eyes.

"L-Lasi," Esca whimpered, even as her legs pumped Alrek in and out, "Esca was... a good girl..."

"Keep your eyes open, my Esca," Lasi cooed, leaning in to kiss her. "Let him watch us."

Esca moaned loudly as she kissed Lasi. And then she started to throb and pulsate, buzzing, vibrating around Alrek, and she started to scream, and he realized that Esca was cumming.

And he came as well with a scream. Pleasure drowned him, submerged him, as he watched their embrace. Esca clutched him to her even as Lasi clutched her, forcing her to draw out the orgasm as long as possible. And Esca looked... radiant. Like she had seen a goddess.

The pair broke off the kiss only when Esca had stopped trembling. She still looked dazed, and continued to look at Lasi with pure, endless devotion. Adoration.

Sort of like how Alrek imagined he was looking at Esca right now, staring into those gleaming, golden eyes.

Her eyelids fluttered, and the lights flashed, and his mind strayed.

And then the light... dropped away. The warmth around his cock slipped away, as well, and he found himself suddenly unsatisfied. He blinked, confused, realizing that Esca had pulled off of him. He looked down, following her.

Her eyelashes fluttered up at him as her lips hovered teasingly over his cock, half-open, blowing warm breath onto it. The gem allowed him to feel it all. He was so glad he still had it.

"My Esca's just going to suck your brains out for me," Lasi hissed in his ear, grinning. Her teeth were sharp. But she pursed her lips and kissed him, and he accepted the kiss unthinkingly. Her lips were not as soft and plump as Esca's, but she carried a strange mastery that made him melt inside. "You can just lie in her embrace forever." She licked his cheek fondly, as if surveying a prize. "Oh, I never get toys like you. Usually dear Tidae or Scinti get them first. Oh, such a good boy!"

His dick twitched. She smirked. "And she's trained you so well already! Are you ready to be my good boy, then?"

Alrek stared at her. The light from below still flickered into his vision, and he knew how close Esca's lips were from his cock head. "Good boy," he whispered. "G-good boy." He looked at the mermaid's eyes, then at her breasts, pale and smooth as ivory. He swallowed. She was especially large—more like the surface mermaids he'd seen during his journey here. But there were no starfish covering her pert nipples, her dark charcoal areolae.

Her eyes followed his. She, too, seemed to swallow, then lick her lips. "I think... I think I must indulge a little."

She swam upwards, and Alrek dimly watched the tendril extending from her neck to Esca. He saw the tendril rising up from Esca's pert ass, almost like a tail. Of course they were connected. He should have known. Just like the other deep mermaids had been connected to their orbs. She was... the woman about to suck his cock was a...

Escas plump lips kissed his cock head once, twice, then slipped over, and she began to daintily suck.

Alrek started to pant immediately, bucking helplessly into her—but she only pulled back, keeping his head only just within her warm mouth. She controlled him expertly, with just her lips and tongue, playing with him, messily reducing him to a whimpering mess in moments. Her tongue swirled slowly over his glans, causing him to tremble with pure lust.

At the same time, Lasi swam back down. She grinned at him, holding up one breast towards his quivering lips. "Go on, boy," she cooed. "If you're to be my good boy, let's see what you've got."

He stared at her as Esca's eyelashes batted. Lasi bit her lip.

Alrek obediently took her pert, pointy nipple into his mouth. He played with the nipple, licking and suckling. He clutched her breast with both hands, kneading it roughly, as she encouraged him with moans and cries. It felt so good to make her moan.

"O-oh!" she squeaked. "Good boy! Oh, you're good at—oh, yes! Such a good boy! Suckle me, you weak little stud!"

Esca was moaning. Alrek was moaning. The praise felt almost as good as Esca's mouth, and he was overwhelmed, mentally and physically.

"I'm gonna—aah!—make you do this all the—all the fucking time, you sweet little toy!" Lasi clutched his head to her breast, practically smothering him. He suckled and licked with abandon, obeying unquestioningly as Esca lapped and suckled over his cock. Lasi was so, so sensitive. It felt so good to make her feel good.

But even as his orgasm began to build and build, a strange feeling began to rise in his chest. He stared at Lasi's smooth gray skin, lost in darkness. His cock started to throb.

He could no longer see Esca.

"More!" Lasi cried, her whole body writhing. Esca was moaning, too, licking him faster and faster—"MoremoremoreMORE—"

Alrek's mind was breaking free. He needed to get out of here. Needed to escape. Needed to... needed to...

"Cum!" Lasi squealed. "Cum for Mistress!"

And Alrek came into Esca's whimpering mouth. Esca sucked it all down, her soft, warm lips sliding rapidly up and down his shaft, drinking him. Milking him. But he didn't see her. All he saw was Mistress.

Was Lasi.

Even as the orgasm overwhelmed Snatch's mind, his forgotten will started to rise again. He clutched Lasi to him, continuing to lick, desperate to avoid looking back at Esca—at those shimmering eyes. Lasi gave a surprised giggle, but her moans indicated she didn't recognize what he was doing. She just thought he was submitting.

But Esca was still sucking him off. And another orgasm would come soon enough.

He had to escape. But all thoughts of escape just seemed to dribble out of him with every loud slurp. It felt so good to suckle at Mistress's breast, to hear and feel her little gasps, whimpers and whines as his attentions started to overwhelm her. Esca started to slide deeper and deeper, practically deepthroating him. She was as good at milking him with her mouth as she was with her pussy.

His eyes widened. He was submitting.

And, oh, it felt so, so good...

"Oh!" Lasi let out a hoarse, satisfied, half-moaning chuckle. "Y-you... so eager to submit... to be my slave..."

No! Alrek fought with all his might to...

Slurpslurpshluckshmack.

To...

Shluckshmackslurplick. Esca giggled around his shaft.

"To b-be my good boy," Lasi whimpered, hugging Alrek tightly.

And with a throaty purr of triumph, the mermaid climaxed. Lasi shook and screamed, clutching Alrek to her bosom. Hot, salty nectar flowed into Snatch's mouth, and he couldn't help but swallow as he felt his mouth starting to tingle. Esca started to moan louder, and then she was cumming, her tongue running over his glans over and over and—

And he came.

All thoughts of resistance fled Snatch's weakening mind. He squealed and whined, sucking and drinking hungrily, his lust igniting like fireworks within him. Bliss filled his head, crowding out all thoughts of pride and dignity. He was a good boy.

He was Lasi's good boy.

Mistress's good boy.

It felt so good to just accept Esca's love and be a good boy. Good boy. Good boy.

"A-and just think," Lasi husked, stroking his hair and shivering beneath his tongue, "I caught you wh-when you were headed st... straight for the... the V-V-Vaultsoohhhgoddess...

Good boy. Good boy. Good... good... the...

... Vaults?

Vaults!

Alrek shoved Esca away from his cock. She let out a faint mewl, but he resisted her needy sounds—

—and kicked her in the chest with all his might.

He heard, rather than saw, the mermaid lure go flying back through the water, and heard her shriek turn garbled as she breached the hole in the tunnel roof.

"Ah!" Lasi jerked back, tugged by the line. Snatch realized, numbly, that Esca was now dangling through the hole. Lasi fell away from him as Esca hit the dungeon floor with a thud. "Oh, shi—"

Lasi was yanked back through the hole. Unlike Esca, she managed to catch herself. Lasi clawed wildly at the area around the hole, struggling not to slip through, but gravity was working against her. Esca's curves made her heavy. The tendril was taut.

"L-Lasi!" he heard Esca squeal. "I'm s-sorry!"

Lasi desperately clutched at grooves in the roof, struggling to pull herself back. She wasn't very strong, Snatch realized—but she was stronger than she should have been.

She was recovering. Given time, she would be able to pull Esca back out. And when Esca was back in eyeshot, he would be done for. He would submit. He would beg to submit.

He glanced around, then picked his knife up off the ground where he'd dropped it. The adventurer advanced, gritting his teeth.

Still gripping the edge of the hole, Lasi stared up at him with the eyes of a creature that had never been in danger before, and didn't much like it.

Then the world warped.

Snatch fell backwards with a cry. Everything was mirroing itself. The crystal... the fucking crystal!

He couldn't see anything. It was too dark already, and now, with the prismatic kaleidoscope effect, the world was chaos. Fractal madness. He needed to get away. Needed to flee.

Now.

He half-ran, half-swarm awkwardly in the direction he thought he'd been going, trying to go parallel to the hallway. All he could hope for was that there was another hole along the way, another way back into the dungeon. If not...

Snatch and Luck had a complicate relationship, and things had been pretty off-and-on so far in this endeavor.

This was one time Luck threw him a bone.

Using his sense of direction, Snatch was able to stumble along the "roof" of the dungeon, slowly fleeing the scene. He heard Lasi calling out for him, knew that they were no doubt already recovering and pursuing him...

And his foot slipped on air, and he tumbled down into the dry hallway once more.

He hit the bumpy stone floor hard. His knee throbbed furiously as it made landfall. He groaned in pain, clutching it, praying nothing was broken.

After a long moment, he staggered to his feet. He took a deep breath. Everything seemed to be in... relatively sound repair.

He hoped it was the same hallway. He'd fallen through another gap in the ceiling, but he was practically blind now. natch grabbed onto the wall, willing his eyes to adjust as he stumbled forward. For all he knew, he was going in the opposite direction from the Vaults, and he was screwed.

At least when I was getting hypnotized I could see, he thought mulishly.

But his eyes did adjust. Light filtered into the hall, and he recognized it instantly. He was still heading in the same direction, thank the gods.

He heard Lasi and Esca calling to him, and he knew that if he turned around he'd catch Esca's hypnotic glare. It didn't matter. In fact, privately, he was grateful. She was giving him some light to see by. Soon, she would rise back up, leaving him in the dark. But in the meantime, he could study the dead end he'd arrived at.

The pantsless adventurer whipped his thieves' tools out of his pack and went to work. He'd seen plenty of invisible doors in his day. This one would be a piece of cake.

He knew he had to be close now.

~~~~

He hadn't even thought to check for the pit trap.

Snatch had a moment of total clarity as he hung there, suspended in midair, aware in the darkness that the floor he had so naively trusted no longer existed beneath his bare, bruised feet.

He used some of this moment to wonder at why his source had been so vague. Why they had given him the faulty gear. Why they had parted with the location of this vault so cheaply. He used the moment to wonder if this was it. If this was the point where everything went wrong—truly, inescapably wrong.

He mostly used the moment to wish he'd thought to check for the fucking pit trap.

Snatch fell with a splash. Instantly, he was thrashing, struggling in the cold water for the edge of the trap. But already he felt cool, slick tentacles latching onto him, sucking at every available inch of skin as they wrapped around his legs.

"Oh, dear," breathed a voice as soft and calm as falling feathers. "What have I caught?"

Snatch gripped the wall of the pit, fingers locking into little vesicles of the stone, and pulled with all his might.

"Oh, Scinti," cooed the horribly familiar voice of Cera, "it's a lovely plaything! How careless of him to fall out of the dungeon! And after he gave us such a chase, too."

"So careless," Tidae agreed.

"Almost as if he wanted to be caught," Cera said, laughing.

Snatch ignored them, or tried to. The lights behind him were at least illuminating the way. He kicked wildly, like a caged animal, clawing upward and upward. He was so close. With one fervent shake, he narrowly freed one of his legs. He pulled himself up, almost breaching the water when—

—when... the gem malfunctioned, one last time.

And he saw the lights.

It was beautiful. They were beautiful. Snatch's jaw went slack as he staggered at the thousands of glimmering, shining stars. He managed only a slight moan as his whole body went limp, and he slipped back down into the water.

Very dimly, a part of him finally grasped why he had been given this stupid, flawedgem.

"Good boy," cooed a voice that sounded slightly surprised but very delighted. He felt soft hands touch his cheek, and then a warm body wrap around him. He hadn't realized how cold he was until he felt this embrace. He whimpered, leaning into it.

"Let's make him pay," hissed Tidae. "He cut off my tendril! Do you know how long that's gonna take to regrow? Because I do not." In a smaller voice, she added, "They grow back, right?"

"Now, now," soothed Cera, "plenty of time for denial later. You know as well as I do that it is easiest to kill a pet's will with kindness..." She planted soft kisses on Snatch's face. "We're gonna make you feel so good, my good boy." She started trailing the kisses down his chest, moaning softly with each one.

Snatch wriggled weakly, still lost in the lights. Sweet pleasure was filling his whole body as the tentacles wrapped around his form. He felt a new pair of lips—thinner, but still tender—kiss his cheek. "Well, then," whispered the feathery voice, and Snatch could vaguely make out a petite, pale humanoid form before him, "I cannot help but wonder how he gave you such difficulty, my darlings."

Snatch could only whimper as he felt Tidae's tongue licking his cock delicately. Or was it Cera's? A second tongue joined it, mooting his curiosity.

The face of the petite form before him grinned. Her teeth were not sharp, but her skin was patterned with gleaming gold streaks like tattoos that glowed brightly before his eyes. The whole chamber was full of the lights. It was like being inside the sun, or inside a galaxy.

As the kaleidoscoping effect started to recede, Snatch desperately tried to recover his will, but it was too much. Too much pleasure from the licking. The tentacles gently suckled his arms, his feet, his belly. Everything just felt so, so good.

"I know you seek to fight, my brave boy," the pale woman murmured. "But why? Do not the lights make you wish to pleasure us? Do they not fill you with lust, with desire for their makers?"

"Mm." Snatch twitched, lost in the ecstasy of the licking.

"How are you so strong?" the woman murmured. She stared at his chest, lost in thought. "It must be a magical trick. An... amulet, perhaps..."

And to Snatch's limp horror, the woman—who he was beginning to realize was a squid maid, albeit quite a small one—delicately removed the amulet from around his neck.