Two women, a hunter and a thief, venture into a dungeon known for its olden tale pertaining to lovers seeking a place to escape. However, these two are anything but lovers as the hunter relentlessly chases after her mark. Deep below the surface, a force thrums in the dungeon that will bind these two together no matter how much they’d rather it not.
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Vertigo Union
They called it the Lover’s Vault. No one really remembers why it was built, just that it was built over a crater still smoldering with star smoke. Perhaps that dark gray stone was stacked atop to hide away this wound in the earth? But the dungeon did hide something; two women who loved each other more than anything.
Here was where they hid when their love became too much for two people to hold, for mortals to keep hidden. Nestled deep within the dark tomb of a star did they meet. Nyla of Crystvia, and Sariah the Princess of the rival house, Allenrevt. Armor was peeled away and lips met for the first time naked, for the first time unhidden. Their romance was deep in the first night they ever held uninterrupted.
When the knights journeyed into the dungeon they were never found. The worst was assumed. The dungeon lost its name and from then on was referred to as The Lover’s Vault.
Of note was what Sariah brought with her for her love. An enchanted necklace of incredible value…
Moonlight shimmered off the metallic reflection of the ornate lock. Deft fingers dodged the little shimmering lines of enchantment, small traps that’d catch any other rogue but not Lyana. Her pick deftly darted through the pins inside. Setting 1… 2… nothing on 3… and 4 went smoothly. Click.
“Yesss…” She slid her pick out and pulled on the handles. The reinforced gate opened and the old entrance to the dungeon waited ahead. She was impressed by how much work was done to guard this place. The barricaded walls surrounding the stoney precipice of the dungeon were studded with iron and made of wood. Should the wood burn, the iron inside would withstand it and make absolutely sure that no one ever came inside this terrible place. At least, that’s what she figured the architects were thinking when they made this place. Oh well, it wasn’t going to keep her out. She slipped past the gate and then opened the old stone door to the dungeon below.
This was just the above ground portion of the dungeon. It was carefully laid out brick work set aside as an entrance for those who would need to get to the holds inside or repair the stonework inside. Lyana had done some research in a few forbidden archives… she knew whatever was going on here originally before it was Lover’s Vault was something that required consistent repairs. Wagons of stone and adhesive and talented masons and mages would be brought in at great expense and this place would be kept repaired in secret. It was interesting, but to Lyana this was likely a leftover from an era of superstition and paranoid kings with more coffers and worries than clear minds and charity.
Lyana could relate. She had someone who drove her paranoid too…
She twisted her index finger and thumb over her armlet. The golden band lit up with a low clear light, illuminating the way forward. With this she was able to spot the stairwell ahead. “Two goals…” She whispered to herself. “Find the necklace and lose her.”
Lyana was referring to someone she only knew as The Bounty Hunter. However, this woman was much more than that. She was a disgraced knight turned huntress. Dutybound and hardened, her dedicated and determination had cost her. Away was her place in the knight’s hall, gone was her status. All she had left was a shield she had crossed out the sigil of her house and the armor she used to wear now heavily modified complete with additional belts for holding her gear and crossbow and a shawl to hide the worn insignia and as well provide basic comfort.
The Hunter scoffed as she found the lock was picked. “She really is going for it,” She huffed. “Not often rats fetch their cheese in barrels of poison.” She figured Lyana would die down there. A shame, then, that The Hunter would never settle for that. She wanted the bounty, and she wanted her pride back. She entered the front door of the dungeon and ignited her torch. Stairs drew her attention right away.
Armor creaked as she bent over to examine for a trip wire. When nothing was seen she delved deeper. The stairs echoed the sounds of her boots and her gear rattling in her belts. She wasn’t going to be able to be subtle so she would have to make sure to be decisive in her approach. Swsssh, her blade was retrieved from the sheathe on her back and held in her other hand. The second she saw the rogue, she was going to pay.
Patiently… she took steps into the dark, vanishing into the bowels of this old, rotted place.
. . .
At some point the stone had changed colors. Lyana slid her lockpick in to the iron gate, diligently twisting her pick through the muscle memories of mechanisms until a part of the lock didn’t react to her actions where she then deftly twisted her wrist to steady her motions. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t noticed the changing of the walls. At the top the masonry was this dark uniform grey, and one level lower in the actual dungeon it was only a bit darker, but here in second level the difference was much more apparent.
A slight tint ate into the stone the nearer it was to the ground as if some light was being cast transparent through the floor. Purple stone rose to dark grey rock in a rotten gradient. Clear, small dents and cracks were visible in the rock. In the silence she was accustomed to in order to transcribe the taciturn pin percussion of her lock picking she could make out a subtle sound. Groaning. Low and then high. A certain rise to it, a warble that droned and resonated. She could almost hear the stone bricks becoming loosened and falling from their places.
The lock clicked open. She slung her lockpick back into her pack and sighed. “I just don’t like this place…” She slid through the opened gate and calmly walked onward, following a slight slope downward. It would be impossible to build the stone like this, to introduce this unnatural steady decline like traversing the side of a dune. She wiped her eyes clean but at some point during her walk the downhill had vanished and she was flat footed again.
She raised her bracelet and the light bit through the shade ahead. A dark bulging onyx stared back at her. Her breath hitched until she realized it was a door. But it was very difficult to discern that. If it was a door then a volcano had blown through it. Bulging organic looking plumes of dark stone oozed out the sides and edges of the doorway. Her light reflected off the hued mirror of the off purple black basal.
With a moment of analysis, Lyana then reached for her armlet and activated another mode by tapping with two fingers twice. It began to vibrate on her arm. She brought it near the stone and instantly it began to rumble. Cracks formed in the ancient, rapidly the growths became undone. Stone and smoke filled the room and filtered aside and there was the door with its ominous glow drawing her in. She reached for the handle—
A crossbow bolt whizzed past her head and instantly exploded into a plume of ice, covering the doorway entirely. Lyana turned and instantly recognized who was here. “Was waiting for you, Huntress!” Lyana ducked, anticipating the next bolt before she could see it. It snapped past her and exploded into another pillar of ice. Lyna plucked a dagger from her boot and tossed it forward. It was emerald in color and featured an eagle statue on the cross guard. It ignited into a thick plume of emerald smoke and glow and it snatched Lyana to that location in a flash, a bolt striking where she had been.
Lyana was crouched facing away from her foe. She twisted on her ankles and faced her: The Huntress. The Huntress now wore her metal knight helmet over her face, guarding it from her foe. She lunged her crossbow forward as she twisted to face Lyana, another bolt already prepared! She snapped her finger down and shot it out. Lyana kicked the crossbow up and struck the ceiling creating stalactites of ice. The Huntress shoulder pressed through the ice and tackled into Lyana. Caught off guard, Lyana was pushed to the ground, her foe on top of her.
“Oh, hello!” Lyana smiled smugly, her face lit by her armlet’s constant glow.
“Brigand!” The Huntress snarled. “Your bounty has risen: You are coming with me!”
“I am starting to think you like me!” Lyana found the dagger with her searching hand. She flicked her fingers to flip the dagger into the air. The Huntress deflected it with her shield, smacking the eagle dagger against the wall. A dagger that quickly became the exact position of Lyana. Lyana’s back hit the wall and the Huntress fell forward on to the space where Lyana used to be.
The Huntress lifted her blade from its sheathe and swung for Lyana. Lyana took the blow with her bracer and tapped two fingers beneath on it. The vibrations ignited and The Huntress’s blade exploded into a dozen shards that fell to the floor. Lyana pivoted in the confusion and darted down the hallway, escaping at last!
Until she tripped over something. She felt her heart race! Lyana hoped beyond hopes it wasn’t what she thought it was, but when she saw the spark of magic and then the net suddenly appear and wrap tightly around her… she knew it wasn’t good. She was held down by the infinitely heavy net and her vibration armlet didn’t work on it either! The Huntress approached and threw the handle of her blade to the side.
“That… was the blade I held through all of my duties as a royal guard. And you just broke it, thief.”
Lyana huffed and twisted in the net that had captured her. “Good, you can finally get a new one. Any sword that breaks like that really wasn’t worth keeping around, squire.”
The Huntress huffed and adjusted her helmet back down on to her head. She walked up and lifted the net, Lyana shocked to find this woman was strong enough to just carry her like that! “We’re leaving now. And your bounty is being claimed.”
“Really?! Just like that? I’ll get out of here soon enough and you’ll regret it!”
Lyana’s heart was beating lightning fast. If they got back outside that was going to be it. The second they were on horse back and riding away… Lyana tried everything she could think of. She left the Eagle Dagger back in the hallway she had ran from, her armlet wouldn’t work on this either!
Against her will, she was marched up the stairs and steadily headed for the exit. Ideas weren’t coming and her movements were constrained. The net squeezed in tighter whenever she struggled too much and pushed in to her body. She could feel the red marks forming in her skin and had no choice but to manage her writhing and limit it to moments she felt she could make an escape.
They were getting close to the exit. Lyana made a concerted effort to escape! She pushed as hard as she could, trying to fall from the Huntress’s back. She was able to do it, kicking off her armor and falling to the ground. She squirmed away but The Huntress snatched her back up before she could cut into the rope or much else. And…
There was no exit.
The Huntress marched over and over, closing the loop twice, marking the walls with tiny shards of ice with her extra bolts to leave a trail. When she finished the loop without finding any stairs she smashed her fist into the ice and scowled. This continued.
Absolute. Exhaustingly certain. The Huntress bashed her steel fist against every wall, hunting for a mechanism or hidden door. No stone yielded answers. When she exhausted every stone she laid Lyana on the ground and tightened the net as deeply as it would go. Lyana couldn’t keep air in her chest and could feel her heart beating through her neck the wires of the net were so tight. When The Huntress returned she had retrieved her blade and set her pack down on the ground.
“We’re camping here.”
“You can’t be serious…?!” Lyana replied. “Is this a joke, some kind of sick revenge? Just get us out of here!”
The Huntress scowled through her helmet. She lifted it from her head, her long flowing brown hair freed from the armor. Then, with the empathy of a stone wall, she shook her head. “We camp. The exit has shifted somehow. In the morning we’ll look again. For now my only choice was to either search until I exhausted myself or take a short rest to renew my strength.”
“And how do you know I won’t just stab ya?” Lyana grinned. “Just let me go, I’ll find the exit, get my necklace, and we’ll never have to talk about this ever again.”
Another stern head shake. Lyana’s heart sunk into her stomach, so icy it made her belly boil. Her red marks ached. The Huntress said “No. When I awaken we will discuss what we can do.”
“… Fine.” Lyana hated to admit it, but she was probably right. The dungeon was empty, no monsters or anything. The door missing might be a part of a time based mechanism or something insane that they simply weren’t seeing. The unstated truth was what came before the dungeon. They both had travelled a long way here and ended up having an exhausting battle. If The Huntress slept on a cold floor she’d certainly be tried, but Lyana was sleeping in literal bondage. There was no way The Huntress wouldn’t have a certain advantage once she awoke.
The Huntress tugged a magic strand from the net and pushed it into the wall which swallowed it up and hardened it. Lyana was leashed in place. A part of Lyana wanted to say how kinky it was but the jest would be lost on this brute. She sighed. “Good night then…”
Hours passed. The Huntress unrolled her sleeping roll and laid in her armor, likely so used to it and comfortable that this didn’t perturb her in the slightest. Lyana was starved for stimulation, left to ponder which red mark hurt the most and running through prison escape scenarios in her mind after her little rival here finally cashed her in. “So… do you have a name?”
“I do, like most women my age,” The Huntress cracked her neck as she adjusted her head against her pillow.
Lyana leaned closer, tugging her leash to its limits. “Well be a good girl and share it? C’mon, I need something to carve into my jail wall and later my dagger when I escape.”
A heavy sigh left the former knight. “Once you are imprisoned, we will never meet again. I intend to leave this place and settle somewhere quiet with the gold I will earn from your return.”
“That’s bullshit,” Lyana laughed. “You’ve hunted me relentlessly all these years and you think you have it in you to just relax? Stubborn people like you fetch a scent and need less motivation than a cat in a fishery to start fetching after that thing. You’re mad, and that madness will have you like a fly on a horse’s ass after some other criminal or evildoer or…” Lyana was shocked how little her words were moving that stiff pale face. She sighed and looked away. “You are as little fun as possible.”
“Next time I capture you then, I promise to make it more fun for you.” The Huntress turned to her other side and faced her back to Lyana. Lyana hardly noticed the difference and closed her eyes to try and fall asleep.
. . .
Soundless sleep undisturbed was eventually ruined. Lyana awoke the way all people do in a strange new place. Her eyes scanned the dark corners of the unlit halls with a tangible fear of the unknown. When did she get here? Why was she here? Questions stirred in her mind like storm clouds resolved by the wind of sickly sleep stained memories. She was captured here, this was the Lover’s Dungeon. Ugh… her head ached from sleeping on the ground and her neck was so itchy. The air was sickly sweet, a strange sugary aroma thick in the air. Her nostrils widened…
Why was it strangely nice? It made it difficult to stay awake, like a nostalgic scent. Candles burning away their last inch of wick, rain falling outside on fallen leaves and smoldering the final smoke puffs brewing in the chimney… and over it all was a thick pastry so sweet it’d rot the windows of this cabin she was laying in.
Her eyes shot open. She was as awake as possible. Something cold pressed against the back of her head. She panicked and tried to bash her head backwards but she was paralyzed. Was it the net? But it was too fast and she didn’t feel the squeeze. A slithering sensation rose up her rapidly numbing neck and reached her head just in time. It felt like confirmation of all her worse fears but nothing else at all as the numb overtook. Her head went limp as she looked ahead.
A slight purple glow. Something crawling on The Huntress’s head, circling her ear. And then her vision went blank.
And she awoke with another start. The Huntress had bashed her fist against her shield, filling the air with a bell tone. “Wake up.”
“Huh… huh?!” Was that a dream? Lyana didn’t remember going back to sleep but here she was waking up. Her head ached so bad. Sleeping on the floor made it feel like someone had shoved knots of iron in her forehead. The pressure was killing her, and she couldn’t even rub at her temples for relief. With that much aggravating pain Lyana couldn’t even spin a quip. Her tired eyes looked glassy and dark as she stared up at The Huntress who was already awake and equipped. Her emotionless helmet reflected the light of her lantern that now filled the area around them in a low grainy light.
“We’re looking for the exit now.” The Huntress said plainly.
Lyana was annoyed by the tone. “Oh, so now we get to look now that you’re done with your nap? And how do you intend to do that with my tied up, huh?”
“I will untie you if you assist me.” The Huntress stated.
“And how do you know I won’t just cut you down the second I find it, huh?” Lyana translated the pain to rage, voiced her indignation furiously. Cats in cages still batted at their keepers when untamed. When The Huntress didn’t reply Lyana furiously kept swiping. “Far as I’m concerned, I have no incentive to help a bounty hunter like you.”
The Huntress sighed like a kettle getting heated. “I have decided to let you go.”
A pause followed. “Are you serious? You tracked me for all this time and you’re just going to let me go? I don’t buy that for a minute.”
The net came loose and after hours of being held in bondage, Lyana was freed. The Huntress placed her shield on her back. “My pride is restored. I have captured you, proven you fallible, flawed, and just defeated. I don’t mind letting you free, for I will capture you once more, and then the bounty shall be even higher for my patience.”
“As if,” Lyana cracked her knuckles and pushed her hands into her half tilted neck. Her neck cracked so hard she groaned and rocked her head forward quickly. She lifted her arms up and pushed her slim belly against her attire. “Second I am out of here, I’m selling that necklace when I find it, and with that amount of coin I’m vanishing someplace far away. You’ll never get me again, and you can count on that.”
“Then you have no reason not to work with me, and I no reason to hurt you.” Suddenly, the net returned. A collar wrapped tight around Lyana’s neck and The Huntress tugged on it, showing Lyana how easy it would be to reign her in.
Lyana slung her fingers against the magical collar and tugged then at the magic leash, felt the off-heat of the throbbing magical rope against her palm until it was too hot to keep holding. “You can’t be serious. A leash?!”
The Huntress turned and began her patient walk. Lyana rushed to keep up. Even feeling the pressure of a taut leash once would be enough to make her die of the indignity. Wordless, she kept along her path with her metal helmet scanning along the walls.
“Hey! You really can’t be serious?! You’re going to tug me along on a leash?… Are you getting off on this?”
“I don’t care for women,” The Huntress insisted.
“Somehow that’s worse, damn it!” Lyana grumbled, her cheeks flaring red as she looked away. She was… truly a touch disappointed by that statement. She grabbed the glowing rope for warmth and caught up to The Huntress’s side. “So, what’s the plan? We circled this floor for a few hours yesterday until your travel tires caught up with you. Didn’t see anything and neither did I.”
“Today, you are not in a net and are actively helping,” The Huntress said. “You’ll give this top floor one more look. Then, we’ll check the lower floor. If it isn’t there, we will go through that door you unlocked and delve through this dungeon until we find the answer.”
And that was what they did. At first Lyana wasn’t sure how exactly they were going to get out or frankly where the exit had gone. Despite a few rumors and a couple tall tales myth-weaving some terrible spell haunting these halls, Lyana had yet to see any monsters nor confirmed spell. The only thing she had seen that even lightly concerned her were the purple tints of the brickwork laid in the following floor below. Perhaps there was some malevolent force at work deep below; maybe the rumors of this dungeon’s constant reconstruction were well earned, but Lyana had yet to see anything that would truly concern her. Thus, as she searched the bricks she began to wonder how she would make her escape.
She hated The Huntress for what she had done. Sleeping on the floor like a dog, captured like some herbivore chewing on its leaves in the woods… Lyana had never suffered this way. The leash was the last straw. She could feign her search and instead hunt for a stone to bash her rival’s head in? Alas, The Huntress was still wearing her damn helm so that wouldn’t work. One floor lower her Eagle Dagger was still resting. She could toss it, teleport them—Though it was likely that the leash would cause them to teleport together—and then use the confusion to escape somehow?
That was the thought anyways until the search on the first floor was dry and brought them back to the second. Lyana checked the familiar stone and discovered the spot where she kept the dagger was empty. She must have snuck out while I was sleeping, Lyana realized. While I was out she grabbed my dagger! Maybe that was why she even bothered setting camp so she could do some security work while Lyana slept. Ugh, that frustrated her even more.
But nothing frustrated her more than this throbbing pain that just wouldn’t go away! It was this throbbing headache like nothing she’s even had before. It was just like those precision pressure headaches whenever the storm clouds got really grey and really hot but they were moving. It was miniature quakes of hyper distracting pain that spread unevenly across the wrinkles of her mind like the teeth of a rake pushing through the dirt. At times it would pierce through a root and the pain would make her lunge forward and hit her head against the wall.
Whenever The Huntress wasn’t looking she’d rub her head for relief. Pushing her fingers against her temples gave her temporary release like lifting the lid lightly from a boiling pot. But whenever she rubbed the front of her head it was even better, lifting the damn pot off the heat entirely and just letting that rolling boil settle and the steam disperse. She couldn’t do this for long since she couldn’t really appear to be looking while doing this and she frankly didn’t care to hint to The Huntress that this pain was even happening.
After an hour of searching, The Huntress turned. “We need to go deeper.”
“Fine by me. That’s towards the necklace I was looking for anyways!” They both turned and made their way to the door and its broken black stone that had bulged through it. The Huntress opened the door, revealing the other side was that same purple grey stone but with a strange suspended black volcanic stone unevenly dispersed throughout.
Maybe that was why the dungeon had been repaired so often, some sort of volcanic activity? The passage behind the stairs steadily declined. The two of them walked down the stairs for… too long. How deep were they going? The Huntress was disturbed. Anyone else her little flinch, her half second too long looking would’ve gone unnoticed. But Lyana was sharp and she was vitriolic.
When the stairs went on a bit too long Lyana had to take the frustration out on someone. “Why do you keep that shield, anyways?”
“It is from my service,” The Huntress said.
“Really? So you were a knight?” Lyana asked.
“For a time,” The Huntress sighed. “I guarded a princess. I was good at it. Nothing made me happier.”
“And then…?” Lyana grasped the ladle and started to stir. “You must’ve been pretty shit at it since you’re bounty hunting now and instead of protecting bounties.”
“I was good at it,” The Huntress stated in decisive defense.
“What happened then? Why are you in a dungeon with a dirty thief on a leash like some sick slut? What drove you to here if you’re so good?”
“I was framed for something that happened to her. She was kidnapped, I went to rescue her. I came back without her.”
“See, weren’t that good after all,” Lyana barely finished the sentence. The Huntress turned, raised the shield and swung it at Lyana. Perfect. Lyana braced herself… She had been walking closer to get more of the glowing rope to work with. As the shield swung for her she moved her neck to send some of the rope swinging. She made a looping lasso. The Huntress swung her shield into the snare and entrapped herself and quickly drew the rope taut with her movement.
Lyana squeezed her eyes but was happy that the rope wasn’t coming any tighter around her neck, but the sudden tug did hurt her. She used the momentum and tackled The Huntress. “All the good that shield did you– !!”
The Huntress’s armored back hit the stairs first. Clang clang! Lyana balled herself on top of her and grabbed for The Huntress’s neck, trying to grasp and hold her down as well as weigh them down enough to stop them from swirling out of control or swapping who was on top of who. The Huntress couldn’t react in a meaningful way. She raised her knee but ended up bashing her shield against the stairs awkwardly and knocking the wind out of her movement. Every step was another clang and another dent in the back of her armor.
With the shield awkwardly placed, they ramped off the last few steps and went flying. The Huntress’s armored back loudly grated against the dark purple stone of the lower floor. Lyana was on top, hissing down at her.
“Who’s going to spare who now?! Huh?!”
“Let go of me, thief!” The Huntress flung her shield to the side and lunged for the leash. She tugged on it, trying to bring the rogue to heel.
“Bite me! Bite my throat you reject! Stop pretending you’re a knight, you’re a head collector in costume you theatrical miserable paladin wannabe! Go sob about your armor in a confessional or to your precious princess!”
All Lyana could see was one of The Huntress’s eyes, utterly glaring at her. Lyana felt the pain only grow worse in her head. The front of her head was burning with so pressure she couldn’t see straight. The Huntress tugged the lead again and Lyana drooled. Lyana growled at the tug and lunged for the helmet. She lifted it and tugged it aside. The Huntress was now bare faced, her brunette bangs flowing over her face.
Lyana thrust forward and grinded her forehead against her.
The Huntress wrapped her hands around Lyana’s throat and spit venom. “You are a thief. An outlaw. You rob, you steal, and you are the reason mothers hide knives under their pillows and pay mercenaries to guard their cattle. Lawless swine like you deserve justice.”
“Tug me to your courts then, summon your wardens! Think I’ll get what I deserve? Do you look at graveyards and feel elated at all the justice being hashed out?!”
“I’ll deliver justice here and now!” She squeezed tighter. Lyana didn’t flinch and pushed in closer. Their breath clouded together into one.
“Do it!” She yelled.
Their eyelids lowered. Lyana’s vision went blurry from the pain in her forehead. Something in one of them went limp but neither would be able to tell who went first.
They kissed.
With everything they had they kissed as furiously as they could. Their lips massaged angrily and their tongues lashed without any hesitation. Their kiss was wet and long. They panted and moaned and The Huntress never let go of the rope.
A sound deeper in the dungeon disturbed their moment. Lyana broke from the kiss and turned to look. She groaned, squinting hard. The greatest pain yet struck. Someone threw water in her eyes and salt in her wounds. She groaned and grunted then through her gritted teeth. The Huntress watched as her lantern crashed into the corner of the room illuminated the silhouette.
Bulging, burgeoning, a bump pushed out of Lyana’s forehead. Two of them, identical. They pushed and pushed until they had reached two inches. Lyana slowly turned to face The Huntress, revealing her purple antenna with bright fuchsia stripes. They were both slightly thick at the base, thinner in the middle, and then ended in a thick bulge at the end. They looked like a snail’s eye tentacles.
The Huntress gasped and threw Lyana off in the confusion, backing away frantically.
“Ugh, damn it…” Lyana rubbed her forehead… and was shocked how little of the pain remained. “Finally, the headache calmed down…”
With a moment to herself, The Huntress darted for her helmet and hurriedly pressed it back on over head. She also retrieved her shield and her lantern. She looked for her crossbow but could already see wooden shards trickling down the stairs. The descent had utterly destroyed it.
She turned to Lyana who still hadn’t noticed. The Huntress sighed. “Your forehead.”
“Huh?” Lyana pushed her fingers against the same spot she had been pushing for relief. When her fingers brushed over those tentacles she eeped out in sensitivity. “Huh?! What… what are these?!”
“Some sort of aberration. Pay it little heed but we must leave quickly and see you to a healer or a chirurgeon immediately before it seeds any deeper.”
“Wait wait…?!” Lyana gasped. “You think something is corrupting me? But there are no monsters in here.”
“The air is thick with their presence,” The Huntress grasped her helm on either side and bluntly rotated and adjusted it down. “Breath shortly, just enough to fill your lungs. There is some sort of corruption in the air and it is effecting you and soon me. Find your necklace and seek the exit.”
Lyana took a moment to gather herself and took her scarf from her satchel and tightened it around her mouth. Her new tentacles were incredibly sensitive. They took in stimuli and offered it to her mind. In this low light, whenever she was too far from The Huntress’s lantern, it was her new tentacles that offered her vision. It laid overtop her mortal vision. Where the darkness began, the antenna on her head traced out thin purple and white lines that showed her where everything ahead was. It meant she could get a little ahead of her captor who had at this point abandoned the premise of the collar—The affliction was motivation enough to avoid further confrontation.
As was the kiss.
What exactly was it anyways? The Huntress pondered it furiously. Who had started it? The Huntress had half a mind to end her foe right there and then and consider this place her tomb and she was certain that the rogue was thinking just the same. And yet their lips met it was not confusion but spark they felt. They found comfort and passion in that moment and it overtook them furiously.
Rumor and myth was of no interest to The Huntress. She heard these tales and discarded them save for their practical aspects. Calling this place Lover’s Cave was to lend tragedy to the fabled figures who vanished away, and yet now it was the only word blossoming in her head. Does this place make lovers? Why would they kiss so passionately? The Huntress hadn’t done so in…
“I thought you didn’t like girls?” Lyana asked ponderously. The Huntress was frustrated by the premise of the question but at the very least her thoughts were already orbiting that.
“I see you’re thinking about it too, the kiss?” The Huntress tried to lay down the working to broach the subject.
“I was. Thinking maybe that’s why they call it the Lover’s Cave?” She snickered to herself. “Did you… want to kiss me?”
“I don’t know.” The Huntress said. “We needn’t make anything of it.”
The path ahead was certainly perilous. The rogue was on a constant search for any tripwire or trap, scanning the stone work below and patiently turning anything that seemed off. There couldn’t be much longer to go before they found the bottom. The Huntress adjusted her helmet, struggling to find comfort as she was certain the miasma would soon strike them again.
And yet her mind drifted again. A thought came to her right away, it felt good. The Huntress couldn’t deny it, she’d like to do it again. Truly? An interrogative thought. The Huntress brewed and truly thought so. The kiss was nice, pleasant. It excited her, made her feel something she hadn’t in a long time.
Lyana paused.
The Huntress stopped. “What is it?”
“…?” Lyana turned back to The Huntress. Without a word, she turned and continued to walk. The Huntress sighed, her adrenaline settling.
Are you sure you liked it? The thought returned. The Huntress pondered it and returned to the thought. Yes she did, she knew. It made her feel something so deep and needy. She had few before who could bring her so close to arousal, and only one had ever brought her to it, had seen her naked. Always armored, always ready to go.
Lyana suddenly held her arm up. “Eisobel, stay back!”
The Huntress paused in place. Lyana ducked down and undid a trip wire, raising it up. She sighed. “False alarm. Thought it was an active trap, but it was a decoy. We’re probably getting close to wherever the necklace is—” She felt a firm hand on her shoulder. She stood back up and was forced to turn to face her.
“What did you just call me?”
“Huh?…” Lyana felt ice in her veins and a trickle of fear. She struggled to recollect, it was so sudden. “I thought I heard someone call you by it, so I figured it your name. You are Eisobel, yes?”
“I was!” The Huntress shook her head, her armor clanking as she did. “But after my service as a knight, I stopped telling anyone of my name. Everyone who knows my name is in my hometown or were a part of my banishing. Where, then, did you hear my name?!”
“I don’t know!” Lyana grunted, squinting her eyes, her tentacles growing longer. “I don’t know! I just knew your name was Eisobel dammit! Only fair since you know my name from a hundred posters and—” Lyana froze. “Eisobel, your helm!”
Eisobel pushed her hands to her helmet. She felt them. Tentacles of her own, growing out through the top of her visor, growing too big to be held back. She threw her helmet aside and ran her armored hand across her front. They were there, sprouting, just the same as Lyana’s.
The stared at each other. The lantern’s grainy light shimmered, rising and falling, and in the falling moments their crystal clear lines of dark vision overtook filling the grain in with perfect recollection albeit monochrome. They saw each other and how they had been changing. Lyana slid her glove off. Her fingers were smoother, slicker, a strange wetter skin material overtaking her. Eisobel did the same and found she was changing just as quickly.
What is happening…? A thought came to Eisobel’s head. She shook her head, she had no idea, but she’d have to take her armor off to really get a good idea. There was a long pause but the thought returned. …I’m not wearing any armor. Eisobel was confounded by that. Yes she was? No, I’m not. Eisobel suddenly rose her head back up and stared at Lyana. What’s my name?
Eisobel, she thought.
Lyana shook her head and began to shake. No… no… i-it’s… Lyana…
Eisobel’s eyes shot wide. Lyana put her hands to her mouth. “How are you…?!” Eisobel squirmed as another strong headache overtook her. Her eye tentacles grew out even further, wider, moving nearer to her brow. She drooled and struggled. Her armor became tense, and she could look to Lyana to see why as her top filled with her growing breasts struggling against her attire.
Minutes passed. They spent time to recover, sat back.
… Can you still hear me? Lyana thought.
I’m sorry, Eisobel replied.
Shit… Lyana shook her head. This is your fault somehow. What the hell happened? Was this…? I thought it was a dream but while I was tied up something crawled on my neck. I think it was on you too! I tried to scream but the thing on me just… it…
Please, Eisobel sighed aloud. Can we stop talking in our heads. I can feel them… She pointed at her eye tentacles. “I can feel them thrum. They enjoy it too much. It’s corruptive to use them.”
“Is it?!” Lyana screamed. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, “Gods damn it! I should’ve just…” She shook her head. “We need to keep moving.”
They did. They both rose and reorganized what was left of their belongings. Lyana led the way deeper, not minding using the tentacles so much whereas Eisobel elected to put the helmet back on. It was a struggle to keep her eye tentacles inside but it meant she wouldn’t use them as much. Her old reliable human eyes would guide her through this place.
Deeper and deeper still… The brick here grew more and more disturbed until there was a steady purple glow through the spaces between the now black bricks. It felt like a terrible place, like something world ending would emerge from here. Maybe, Lyana thought, there really was some sort of meteor that crashed here…
“Please,” Eisobel sighed. “Control your thoughts.”
I’m sorry, Lyana shook her head. You kiss nice…
Please, Eisobel shuddered. That was a very different please. She focused and controlled herself, trying to pay her loins no mind as they thrummed. Would those change as well?
They might, Lyana replied.
Eisobel squeezed her hands but didn’t reply. Their hearts both beat as they turned the dark corner and found a strange site. It was some sort of central room, a place more purple than anywhere else and in the center of the room was a necklace placed patiently on a stone table atop a red pillow.
There it was, Sariah’s necklace. Eisobel grabbed it before Lyana somehow. Lyana pouted. “H-hey! Come on, I came into this gods damned place for ONE thing! Can you just let—”
Eisobel leaned in and pushed it over Lyana’s neck and slowly laid it down. It looked so nicely on her. “Here. You may keep it…” Eisobel’s thoughts pushed to Lyana, it looks good on you Nyla.
Lyana blushed fiercely. Eisobel! Did you just call me Nyla?! Haha, that’s who Sariah got the necklace for originally that… that’s so cute! Lyana giggled as her tail sprouted beyond just a little purple nub above her rear and thickened into something beautiful, eggs swirling around inside.
A red blush rushed over Eisobel’s face. “D-did I call you that?”
Yes you did, Lyana cooed in her thoughts. I’ve wanted this necklace for so long, Sariah. Thank you…!
Before either could make sense of their thoughts they met for another kiss. This time… it was so much deeper. Their tongues turned fuchsia as they met and began to emit a low glow. Their spit thickened and their kiss grew beyond what normal people could achieve. They were gasping and moaning. That feels so good, Eisobel thought. Except…
“Did…?” Eisobel gasped. “That wasn’t my thought but it was my voice…”
“What…?!” Lyana muttered. “I didn’t mean to I just…” They leaned in for another kiss, a passion spurt that was dispersed and patted away like beating a fire with a towel. You taste so good, Lyana thought… or at least she hoped that was her. Is this me?
Or maybe this is me? Eisobel stirred. “S-stop this…” Eisobel muttered. “You’re…”
Lyana moaned and slid her shorts down. Her loins had turned that pale purple her hands had. Her legs parted to reveal a pair of tendrils growing and throbbing. Eisobel stared in disbelief. She tried to speak but her words kept getting caught in her throat. She groaned and manifested her thoughts, thinking through Lyana. Lyana, Lyana! This is Eisobel! Please, the corruption has spread too quickly. You need to get some control.
I don’t want to be controlled, Eisobel thought. Eisobel undid the straps on her chest plate. Her breasts heaved free from the compress and bounced in the air for a moment. The relief was instant. I want to be with her, with my Nyla.
Y-yes! A thought returned from Nyla. Sariah! Please… please I need you so bad.
Eisobel suddenly was struggling to see. Did her lantern go out? Lyana grabbed the helmet and tugged it aside. Eisobel could see again once her tentacles were out. Her hair was black as the stone around them with glowing purple dispersed throughout the longest lengths. She looked at Lyana and saw her hair was the same and grown long enough to hide her eyes.
“I had been wearing my scarf over my eyes,” Lyana said aloud. “I noticed,” Lyana said for Eisobel. “Nothing gets past you, former knight. But I see it now… how strong you are, how loyal. You really were just like the lovers. You hear them… right?”
Eisobel nodded. “They’re here. All of them. Behind the walls, deeper than the human dungeon. A hive.”
“A hive,” Lyana parroted.
A hive, Nyla thought.
A hive, Sariah parroted.
Eisobel the knight was stripped of the last of her clothes. She spread her thick thighs and let Lyana’s cocks inside her plump folds. The purple glow inside was contrasted with the walls of feelings that grabbed for the tendril cocks and pulled them deeper. They were deeply seated together, locked so tight.
The dungeon thrummed with light and power. Their moans tempered the air until their voices were the same. Their bodies swayed until they moved the same. The other girl’s tentacle cocks pushed forward and locked inside. They rolled together, taking turns on top, until finally someone was on top, but neither knew who it was.
A purple glow ignited the entire room and they could see the glowing star snail parasites emerging from the ceiling to watch their newest converts ignite. Everyone shared the bliss, from the star dotted creatures at the top of the room, to the humanoids locked in pleasure below on the floor. And they felt the heart.
Below the floor there was something larger than any person, than any being, and wiser as well. Desperate to convert, to help, it reached out slowly, steadily. It changed its dungeon and lured people in. Were the tales even true or just written to lure people like Eisobel and Lyana in? Neither of the lovers cared as they finished inside each other, swelling with the certainty of eggs.
Poems and words were wasted on air beneath them and breath spent on passion. They thrummed with resonance shared.
I love you more than anything in the world.
And I love you too.
And a third voice, a chorus of a thousand celestial angels bathed in purple and stained in darkness, echoed back: I love us all.
Above, the stars bleakly sung. Their words were swirling fires and vibrations so indistinct that their thrums overlapped as tightly as the lines of sinew in muscle or the veins patiently joined in chorus from heart to heart. And they echoed back this love as the dungeon stirred.
. . .
Lyana’s wanted posters still decorate taverns where the most stubborn bounty hunters frequented. Word had spread that at this point she was considered just as lost as the lovers who had earned the namesake of that horrible dungeon. Further pursuit after The Huntress failed to return as well earned it a grizzly reputation.
Did they duel? Who escaped? Both were the sort to vanish after they found what they were looking. Lyana would retire with coffers gold lined from reselling that necklace and The Huntress would use her bounty funds from the infamous Lyana’s warrant to find a quiet cabin far away from the world that had scorned her.
However, deep and off to the side someone noticed something. A robed figure, strangely beautiful, strangely alluring. The figure would assure the person who drew near about the story she had been asking patrons of. Lyana and The Huntress, believe it or not, had found love. Something true, something passionate. The dungeon had lived up to its name.
“How the hell would you know that? Are you her?”
The figure’s eye tentacles glowed, a sigil on her face joined in the purple glow. “I suppose you could say that.”