Vortex Quest Bk. 04 Ch. 06

== VORTEX QUEST 4-6 ==

== FUN HOUSE OF TEMPTATION ==

Receiving a chest with some 4000 obols and a bunch of pearls, let Diego pay Lord Lelthnu for his services as well as the Heart Rippers' Urrk who would plot vengeance for losing half his men if it wasn't for a juicy donation.

This had left Diego ultimately with little choice but to entrust the safety of his lair, his slaves and memorabilia to the pantheon.

After a half-serious discussion about whether to rob the place, burn it down and bail, the demigods decided to entertain themselves with their new friends -- the demonling Scourges who'd come along with them.

Getting fucked by any demons never failed to be awesome, but there was something special about an arm-sized muscle dick, able to expand and contract like a giant biceps, basically punching Xane's walls from every direction. He'd never thought of himself as having 'walls' but now his dick was a distant memory, nectar injection flooding him with gayer thoughts than he knew possible.

Best part, there were enough Fiends for everyone, letting him fully milk the demonic balls that slapped against his.

The orgy ended with a demigod cuddle amidst the slaves they had sucked off while getting pounded.

"Want me to braid it?" Xane asked Goro whose little spoon he was.

The berserker drove his fingers through the now shoulder-long mane rolling off his broad mohawk. "Nah, I'm going with the original length for now. I got some finer healing control, so I can keep it that way."

"Looks good," Marcus said. He was draping himself over Goro from the side. "You got some cum on your face, by the way."

"Me or him?" Goro asked, rubbing his cheek.

"Uh, both," Marcus said. "Man, I hate to say it but I could get used to this."

Xane magically gathered dried cum off his face. His butterflies trailed lazily overhead, shedding sparkles at his command to pretty up the view of the cracked ceiling. "We've been going for hours and I could totally do another round. We still got nectar buds. Wanna fist them into each other?"

Chay was threaded into their collective legs, casually stroking the utterly smooth thighs beside him. "We should save those. And I wish I wasn't always the one who's got to be the wet blanket. And apropos Goro's healing, congrats on the upgrade, Xane."

The wizard got confused glances from the two tallest team members and made his motes line up on his arm. "Count them and weep."

The now *seven* colorful insects fluttered off as he let them.

He reached across the room and magically grabbed the four new jockstraps Diego had left them. "Do we put those on? I feel like they're a bit too suggestive. And can we tell him to stop calling us bottoms?"

Marcus chuckled. "What would you suggest? Temporarily embarrassed pussy lovers?"

Chay sighed. "He's useful and it's not like we'd say no to sex. Anyway, if it helps you to rebel a little, get a different aegis-cover."

Goro stirred. "I'll tear up a curtain for fundoshi. Who'd like one?"

Xane slapped his massive buddy's pec. "Always the reliable tailor -- at least for men's erotic underwear."

===***===

Diego returned via ward-bubble to find Chay and Marcus in the prepared white jockstraps while Xane and Goro wore black fundoshi. The 'unauthorized' clothing was no less revealing but Xane registered a small frown on the devil's face, much to his satisfaction.

Diego threw a glance at the half naked, snoozing Scourges, then stepped aside and welcomed the guest he had brought -- Lord Lelthnu.

The dark blue skinned Reaper towered even over the devil, his flowing toga held on his slim hip with a belt full of scrolls.

"Lovely to see you again, little divine slaves," Lelthnu said with a grin that shoved off his sharp teeth. Xane felt a slight ball-tug, as if his open signature had been teased.

"Likewise," Chay said and held out the bronze tablet. "I assume you're here for this?"

"Yes, the decoder. I'll start work on it immediately. Also, I'm here to bring you to the astral void where the schism hid an invocation ledger."

"And you know about it because..." Chay said, suggestively.

Lelthnu shook his head. "I won't ask how you got the decoder, you won't ask about my past allegiances. Any more preparations?"

"Uh," Xane said and turned to his friends. "I'm kinda thirsty. We should take care of that."

"We haven't drunken water," Goro reminded, "so it's going to taste... strong."

"I can filter it," Xane said and let his motes 'filter' through his fingers.

"No need," Diego said, "I keep my slaves well-watered."

The devil gestured and four, then eight, slaves stripped and closed in. Xane could have done without the 'help' but he didn't want to acknowledge that he had looked forward to being between Marcus' legs again. Just to continue their little jostling rivalry, of course.

Having the dick of a man in his mouth no longer fazed Xane and neither did the stream down his throat, especially since his buddies were kneeling beside him. In fact, it was easier because he was drinking from a slave he hadn't ever spoken to.

To ready for the journey, the demigods lined up at the edge of the terrace, hands behind their necks, and let their stronger piss run down in wild streams, spraying on them before finding the way to the street far below where a single streetlight flickered.

"Could have totally filtered that," Xane mumbled and glared at one of Diego's Guard-Noggins that floated by with burning eye holes. "At least we're rid of him for a bit."

"Ready?" Diego asked, shoved himself between them and summoned a long 'plank' of ward-magic, ushering them onto it.

Stepping onto something much like glass, this far up, made Xane's stomach drop, even though he knew falling was no problem for his heavenly might.

Lelthnu behind them was chanting. A breeze picked up loose leaves along the overgrown wall.

"You're coming with?" Chay said, honest surprise in his voice. "Don't you need to make sure the Scourges don't-"

Diego waved him off. "Lelthnu's going to send them toward the nearest dark chantry with open spots. He'll defend my lair while my Urrk it out recruiting."

"And you trust him?"

The 7'2'' tall, horned ex-human laughed. "It wasn't cheap but if there's one person a demon won't betray it's the highest bidder. I couldn't miss this opportunity to go on an adventure. Oh, and I'll be holding this for you." Diego demonstratively tucked the nectar bag into his broad belt where the tinder whip dangled.

Xane met Chay's eyes, getting a minor shrug for his questioning look.

The fluttering leaves assembled to a sort of flying carpet underneath the ward. It took the shape of a single, giant leaf, hovering on the breeze.

Lelthnu wished them 'good luck' with one of the many backhanded, ominous, double-meaning compliments the pandemonic language was so fond of and the demonblooded man dropped the ward.

The patheon and their ally fell onto the leaf and it took off so fast, Xane nearly rolled off.

They flew as if riding on a storm. The leaf zoomed higher and higher just to drop, then repeated the process until they shot out of the canyon. Marcus was shouting "Whooooooo!" and grabbed Xane while Goro took a tranquil cross-legged seat and spread his arms, eyes closed.

If Xane had had anything but piss and cum in his stomach, he would have been sick. With every muscle in his body clenched tightly, clinging to the shouting animus-fighter, he cursed in his mind until he ran out of words.

===***===

The rootpath magic carried them with amazing speed across the jungle and -- aside from rollercoaster mischief -- fairly straight at an astral void where purple light and cold wind leaked into Mockery.

"Research station Gamma," the devil started, "was largely sucked into limbo when Jnessos went mad. It's been plundered to some extent but obviously that's dangerous. *If* Lelthnu is right, we'll find the ledger with a quick in and out."

Cold air seeped from the rift in reality. The shifting, starry void of limbo behind it was littered with broken walls, hanging off each other at gravity defying angles. These buildings were not simple concrete, but marble and stone, shaped into neo-classical structures with enough fluted pillars to make a Greek temple jealous.

Research Station Gamma was labeled as such with a carved stone sign above an archway.

The 'leaf of leaves' let them hop off in a lobby. Purple light flooded in from the missing walls ahead, where a trail of shattered wall lead into limbo.

Stairs lead up to an area labeled Administration. Something big and shiny moved above.

"Glitzers," Chay said. "Weary and alarmed but not hostile."

"Maybe we can ignore them," Marcus said. "Do we need to go up there?"

"No," Diego said and looked at a scroll, then to the sides.

The corridor to the left carried the label Heavenly Artifact Research. Before it was a display case, containing a star shaped crystal on a stupidly ornate gold socket. Xane found it suspicious nobody had stolen that yet. Probably better not to touch it.

On the right was a corridor to Computation and Mechanics, which the devil pointed at. "Follow me."

Diego summoned a flat ward covering them as they walked under the stairs to Glitzer territory. The right corridor was mostly intact, neon tubes in alcoves throwing indirect light at the ceiling where they still functioned. Most rooms to the right had dropped into the void but the left side seemed intact.

The demonblooded man hummed. "Up past the electronic brain, should be here." He glanced into room that contained boxes with blinking lights. In the middle hung a round, black chassis, big as a cabin, off a dozen thick cables.

"Holy shit," Marcus said. "They have computers?"

"Had," Diego said. "It was one of the last things the king introduced before going crazy. Some think they were the last straw. And nobody could figure out how that make that one stop running so it's still on. Anyway, the stairs."

They rose to the next level. The staircase was mostly shattered but magic made the traversal trivial. The entered Slave Improvement, which was mostly ruins.

Xane stared at the rows of vats filled with desiccated corpses. Well, corpse *shapes*. The demons had tried to capture human souls in something other than ectoplasm. Between the vats were silver, mechanical men, statues frozen in simple poses.

There were a bunch of substances in tubs, mostly dried up or overgrown with mold. "Creepy as fuck," Xane said. "I don't want to imagine what the abyss would look like if science didn't make gods go gaga. Any reason wh-"

"Watch out!" Diego yelled and a ward manifested in front of Xane. A scalpel bounced off the transparent barrier.

The silver machine-men had come to life with jerky motions, beginning to encircle them. Xane readied one mote to become chain lightning, another for metal melting heat, a third for entangling force. He listened for Chay's voice.

Saws, drills, tiny jackhammers. The robots closed in with buzzing, screeching noises. Xane tried to see which way to best shoot past the ward.

Instead the ward shoved him backward. Diego was right by his side and grabbed his back, ushering Chay away at the same time. Robots took leaps at them and bounced off the shifting ward. Xane felt his fundoshi string get cut and start to drop. He held onto it but it was pulled from his hand in the tangle of limbs and muscle as Diego collected the other demigods.

"They're just custodians," the devil said, out in the corridor, "Don't know what triggered them but they shouldn't follow. Ah, Xane, they cut off your thong. Good thing I brought this."

Diego pulled a jockstrap from his belt.

"Thanks but I'll keep my balls out," Xane said. "Very thoughtful of you though."

"If you change your mind..." Diego said and shoved the strap back into his belt. "Okay, around that corner and we're there."

They continued on their way and Xane used his freestyle magic to give himself a dick where the aegis was, just to drive home that he was staying naked out of protest. He fell back to Chay, groped the leader's hole with one hand to have an 'innocent' reason to stick close and whispered, "Did the demi-demon rip my fundoshi on purpose?"

"Wish I knew," Chay whispered back, giving Xane's ass a grope for plausible deniability. "I wasn't paying attention at the moment but it seems unlikely that a robot cut it without cutting your body. And he brought the straps."

"Not that big a deal, I guess."

"Yeah... maybe."

"Man," Xane groaned, "now you fingered me horny. Hey, do you think we can walk with your fist inside me. I'll mage-punch your hole right back."

"Would be an awkward waddle," Chay said. "But now that you've put the thought into my head that's so fucking hot. I hate you."

"Hehe. You're welcome."

Goro and Marcus up ahead were moving fast. Xane heard someone yell "Flayhorror" and sensed pure panic sent in. The horror was hitting them with paralyzing fear. Xane's heart was racing fast enough to make him dizzy from the sudden blood pressure change.

Diego grabbed him just as he started firing. The Flayhorror hung from the ceiling, dripping in through cracks. Pseudopods littered with razor sharp spikes slammed down. Diego created a ward over Marcus and pushed Xane under. The thaum-mage had to turn off his fire spray to keep it from breaking their protective barrier. He grunted, frustrated by the anti-synergy.

The spiky outgrowths lifted for a new swing and Diego opened the ward to toss Goro in. The berserker was covered in rapidly closing cuts, his fundoshi gone.

Chay shouted, "Xane, use ice. Diego drop the ward in three, two, now."

Xane sent three red butterflies. Having spells to waste felt great. Marcus' chakram had stayed outside the ward and drilled a pseudopod apart. One ice blast dug deep into the Flayhorror's interior before it went off in a cone of frosty doom. The other butterflies found other growths to attack and turn into car-sized icicles.

"Ward!" Chay shouted as three arms came down and pummeled the newly established dome. Diego flexed his arms as he touched the dome, pumping more power into it.

The massive, gooey creature retreated.

"Okay," Chay said. "Gone."

After calming down for a moment, the pantheon arrived at an archway labeled Projection. Beyond it was a maze of mirrors and crystal sheets at wild angles, covering walls, floor and ceiling.

"I can't follow you in there," Diego said and Xane suppressed a sigh of relief. "Curses triggered by demon blood. But it's just a mirror hall and I have something else to do anyway. See you in the lobby when you're done."

The crazy beefy, horned guy walked off with a spring in his step.

"Chay?" Xane asked. "You don't look as confused as the rest of us."

"He's been up to something since we got here," Chay said. "He stashed something here, or knows where something is he didn't grab sooner. The way he glanced at Heavenly Artifact Research... But he's right." Chay pointed at the mirror tunnel ahead. "We can just grab that fucking paper and leave this shithole behind."

At a slow but steady pace, the pantheon wandered into the tunnel of mirrors and crystals, which turned out to be somewhat of a maze but with few dead ends.

"Like a fucking funhouse," Marcus mumbled and flexed in a mirror that distorted him to look broad and short. "Hey Xa-"

"Bitch, don't you dare!"

Xane shoved Marcus along before the lean, tall swimmer could make comments about his stature. Marcus blew a raspberry and walked after Chay.

The thaum-mage pumped free magic between his hands, forming a new mote. Oddly, it failed to coalesce into a butterfly. Normally, the new companion took shape after a ten seconds, slowly filling out with colors and patterns.

Xane continued to pump to no avail. Something was disturbing the formation. He let go and-

The collected magic got zapped into the surrounding mirrors as if vacuumed. "Oh shit."

The funhouse activated.

On every surface appeared runes that said "Projecting".

Chay jumped back, making them all slam into each other. "Hold still. It's... calibrating, I think."

Clanking and jittering, the mirrors gave way to- No, they stayed in place but showed scenes with incredible clarity. Is was as if the demigods stood right in their college lecture hall.

It showed Chay in a lecture on nuclear physics, the blackboard full of diagrams.

Other students and the lecturer were only present as vague phantoms. Xane tried to spot the female phantom outlines just to find his brain-melting horniness wasn't triggered by the sight of blurry boob shapes, rather by the broad shoulders of athletes. He *forced* himself to imagine fucking girls, which was still easy. But riding the guys just seemed... better.

"I've never been in that lecture," Chay said, pondering. "I *considered* physics but-"

The scene faded, giving way to a Goro with cropped hair in camo pants. He was playing darts. The background resolved to a barrack where phantom guys in olive clothes mingled.

"Hm," Goro made. "Army was my backup plan." He looked down on his pecs and smirked. "Funny I got bigger than this dude," he added, his chin pointed at false-Goro.

The next scene was Xane's turn. In his room at home like it had been during high school, in his bed, some 40 pound lighter. To his delight false-Xane was fucking a blond chick, another, redheaded one getting ready to sit on his face.

"Fuck yeah," Xane said and crossed his arms. "No matter what universe, I'm a motherfucking winner."

"I don't think," Chay said, glancing around, "these alternate pasts are real. This... machine is projecting backward."

"Don't matter, still a..." Xane stopped as he recognized the phantoms. "Wait, you're telling me I had a *chance* with those chicks? High school me could have had a threesome with models? Fuck, why didn't I shoot my shot?"

Marcus gave him a sarcastic pat on the shoulder just as the scene faded to reveal false-Marcus in a green singlet.

"Huh," the animus-fighter made. "Wasn't *that* serious about wrestling once I found swimming but I guess that makes sense."

False-Marcus in wrestling gear, struggling against another guy on a mat, cheered on by phantoms, was hotter than the outlines of the naked models in the previous vision. Xane pressed his thighs together to fight the searing urge in his crotch. He wanted to ram his dick into Marcus and jump onto a fist and also get a Hellion dick ballsdeep down his gullet.

The mirrors switched back to Chay. A different false past, where he had joined a gang and was robbing a store at night.

"Wow," Marcus said with a grin. "Who knew you had in it y-"

Xane's mage-hand poked the blabbermouth in the side. Chay looked highly uncomfortable.

"We should keep going," the leader said and walked ahead.

More visions. Goro absurdly skinny, playing video games competitively in a dark room. Xane in a high school in Florida, living with his dad instead. Marcus working at Disneyland. Chay, at church in some kind of cult.

The visions began to come so fast, they overlapped. Xane stayed focused on himself whenever a false-Xane was in sight as they rounded corner after corner. He wasn't sure how to feel about the versions where he'd gone all out on steroids from the start, posing on stage with a bloated gut and serious acne. He hadn't thought it likely he'd fall down that rabbit hole but it showed up a few times in the mirrors.

Before he could ponder what this meant -- was he a version of himself relatively more secure in his self-image? -- the maze went dark.

"Welp," Xane made and turned on his aegis' radiance. "Looks like the juice ran out. Anybody want me to feed it some more, hehe?"

"Decline," Chay said. "Except it doesn't look like we have a choice."

Xane had very little sense where his stored spells were fluttering at any given moment but he could feel his control over one of them slip. He reached out but the butterfly turned to mist between his fingers, getting hoovered into the floor.