faerie rift chronicles 01 - faerie rift (5 page)

One after another, black, inky tentacles from the pitch below shot out at me from the ground. The tendrils slid inward along my body toward the center of my body. With each tug, they drew my arms and legs farther apart from one another. Their hold was tight on me, and it seemed that any amount of struggling on my part only increased the tension of the creature.

I tried to relax, wondering if it was responding with tension to my fight, but it only reached a tentacle out and wrapped itself around my throat.

A searing pain began to radiate all over my body. The areas of contact immediately reacted in a bright blue rash, spreading out in all directions from the creature. I let out a scream, crying out for help, even though there was no one around. The tentacle poised over my mouth, ready to suffocate me, and then something changed in the environment.

I was pulled underneath the surface of the ground.

At first, I thought that death had finally arrived at the hands of a vicious tentacle demon, but I was wrong.

On the other side of the black pitch, there was water. But the strangest thing was that I was still able to breathe. I looked down and saw that the demon had penetrated my mouth, though instead of an inky black creature, I saw a translucent passage providing me with oxygen. Its nature had fundamentally changed.

Once more, the atmosphere around me began to change. A brilliant light flashed through the water and I found myself once more in-between realms.

Much to my dismay, the tentacles that had coiled themselves around my body had been replaced by a thick briar of blackberries. The portal had deposited me square in the middle of a maze of thorns, and my clothes and skin were suffering for the contact.

Fuckin' hells...

I took a deep breath, and then realized that things were not as bad as I had initially thought.

At least it's not fucking me...

My skin was soft and vulnerable compared to the hardened scales from the previous world. I didn't need a diviner to tell me I had finally made it to the human realm.

Cursing, I began the laborious task of unweaving myself from the briar patch. I found that if I dropped down toward the ground, the briars got thicker than up at top. This meant that the thorns were longer and more uncomfortable -- but at least there weren't an overwhelming number of elements to contend with.

I ended up getting some deep cuts along my arms, and thighs, but nothing too severe. My clothes on the other hand were in absolute shreds, and I had completely lost my boots.

On the other side of the berry patch, I reached a break in my frustration. I let out a long sigh, and let my eyes rest on the vegetation which surrounded me. There were huge redwood trees, all around me. I was along the edge of some sort of clearing, though the forest extended in all directions that I could see.

While the previous dimension had seemed utterly barren, I got the opposite impression from this place. I was in a wild and untamed environment, rich with life. Birds and insects were so present that it was difficult not to notice the songs of their lives.

Brushing my hand across my forehead, I wiped a stray spiderweb from my hair. I stuck my arm out to investigate, and along the scratches from the briar patch, walked a spider the size of my thumb.

Shivers caught me, but then I remembered where I was and relaxed.

There you go...

I watched as the spider disappeared into the debris on the forest floor, and continued to stare into the earth.

My mind went back through the portal.
What the hell was that?
Apart from the fact that I recalled the physicality of the experience, I could have sworn that the entire experience was a dream. Even in dreams, I have touched, and been touched in a way which was convincingly real. The part that I couldn't wrap my head around was that my fucking shoes were gone.

Toes wiggled in the air as I stared at the relentless proof that I had been elsewhere, regardless of where that place might have been. I felt confused, betrayed, and totally out of sorts. When I tried to think of the possible reasons why I could have experienced something like that, I grew fatigued. There was a total loss of will on my part to devote any energy toward thinking about why I had ended up there, or how I had gotten out.

The images would be burned into my consciousness, that much I knew.

My body had been different, and what's more, I had gotten my wings back once again. I swear, I could still feel the sting of the creature that had pulled me underground, but only while my eyes were closed. When I opened my eyes up once more to examine the source of the stinging, all I could see were thorn scratches.

Well, at least I'm here... not too bad looking in this form. Absolutely human.

Frequently, when Fae crossed over into the human realm, they magicked themselves up to be beautiful. The men more so than the women. However, this beauty charm, or ‘Glamour’ was not a necessary aspect of the transition into the material world.

If I were to go about the material realm in my actual form, there would be chaos. I would be captured and put into a sexualized circus for sure. That, or I would have to bring the lives of a few humans mercilessly short, and escape.

There wasn't any inherent danger in being in my true form, or Fae form, within the material realm, its' just that it was grossly impractical. How was a person supposed to get any work done while the rest of the world was too busy staring at you to provide a coherent response or maintain a conversation?

Absolutely not. I had to be incognito in order for this to work, but fortunately, there was something about the cross-dimensional travel which made that all work out.

I had heard of others, other Fae who had somewhat arrogantly decided to magick themselves into their original form while on the material plane, but I wasn't nearly that prideful. Not anymore.

In spite of it all, I was pleased to discover that I was actually fairly good looking.

I had more muscle and substance in my human form. Instead of one wing, I had intricate tattoo lines splayed downward along the side of my body. Through the torn fabric of my clothes, I could see both muscles and tattoos along the surface of my skin. I had both healthy tone and solid muscle definition. Much of the time, in the Fae Realm, I didn't consider much of my physical appearance. At least not since I was on active duty.

I was glad to know that whatever fates were involved at least had a sexual inclination for the way my body adapted to the change between realms.

I stood up and admired myself for a moment, trying to assess how much damage had been done to my clothes, and what sort of form I would be working with in order to complete my mission.

Tits and Ass for days, and a solid athleticism too. ‘Bout fucking time something went right.

I wasn't prepared to go anywhere just yet, and for the moment, I allowed myself to indulge in some stretches. It felt good to release some of the tension in my muscles. I was disoriented, but pleased to discover that I could at least function well enough in this form. My balance was on point, and after about a half hour of meditation, my focus was solid as well.

Unfortunately, I realized during my period of adjustment that I would have to deal with all of the problems that came along with adopting a human body.

Humans, as a general rule were more susceptible to illness and fatigue. Their brains required more effort to prevent them from losing focus. They were hungrier, more often, and due to their shortened lifespan, they had a much higher sex drive than the fae.

I had been on the material plane for less than an hour, and already my mind was swamped with desires and 'urgent needs' of all kinds.

I don't understand how they manage...

Shaking my head, I set about to clear my focus once more. I needed to create a Meta Map Spell in order to figure out where my target was supposed to be located. Casting spells in human form is easy enough, but you need to clear your mind of other preoccupations first, and sometimes, that can be more difficult than not.

Two critical components of the magic which operates portal technology are proximity and intention. These are highly subjective, and are therefore left to the efficacy of the magic itself in order to integrate these variables into the spell itself. The end result is that the user is theoretically transferred toward the exact, or approximate, location where they requested to be. The portal opens, and deposits the traveler across both time and space. When they arrive, all that they should need to do is be relatively observant, and their objective should make itself apparent.

All of the rules of magic, and especially the rules governing inter-dimensional travel are speculative. The study of magic is like every other pursuit of knowledge. A working model must be accepted until it is proven wrong. Unfortunately for me, I had already been through one major systemic anomaly.

It would be nice if my target was around, but it was pretty obvious that I could count on nothing.

Just standing there, I managed to get hungry and aroused and fatigued all at the same time. My attention waned, and I was unable to complete the Meta Map Spell. The frustrations left me feeling defeated and trapped by my own baser instincts. I couldn't tell if I wanted to fuck something, eat a raw fish or fall asleep.

Better hurry up and get out of here ... this place is harsher than I remember.

Yet another undocumented theory about inter-dimensional travel involves the supposition that forms tend to retain themselves as a matter of convention. If a Fae were to assume a human form for too long, they might forget how to access their native form. The obvious danger here is that they would lose touch with their magic, and consequentially never be able to cross planes again.

Being this fucking horny for no damned reason is about as exciting as it is frustrating. A temporary walk-in to the human form might be an enjoyable experience, but I'm not sure I want to make that kind of long-term commitment.

I looked around to see if I might be able to get away with masturbating for a bit, and saw nothing more than forest. I was excited to try it out, but before I could take my new nervous system for a spin, a man appeared from the tree line right in front of me.

Blushing, I pulled the tattered remains of my clothes over me, and then relaxed once more.

Shame,
I thought.
That was weird.

“Hey there... sorry to interrupt, just passing through."

Erol?
I thought, scanning my memories for his characteristics.
There you are...

"Actually, I'm all fucked up by this briar patch."

"Do you need some help?”

Well that was easy.

Chapter 5

I
wanted to wrap this whole thing up as quickly as possible. If this quest were up to me, I would straight take this guy's will and then force him to follow through with whatever plans Thane had in mind for the guy. I was in no mood for games, and I figured that if I was going to enjoy my time away from the Fae realm, it needed to be after my responsibilities were taken care of.

A sense of urgency overtook me, and I decided that I would charm him. I would move forward with as ruthless tactics as would be allowed.

No sex, and no seizure of free will
, I thought to myself.
I can work with that.

I brushed a leaf from my hair, and pretended to be very concerned with removing some imaginary thorn from my pants. Standing up, I was able to catch a glimpse at him as he approached. He looked like a total square.

"I've fucked with beings that are stronger than you," I silently swore, and then offered a nod of acknowledgment and a disarming smile.

He approached looking concerned, and a bit unsure of himself.

"So
glad someone found me,” I said. “I might have been stuck here for a while."

"Looks like you might not have been too bothered."

*Astute and conservative.*

*Interesting.*

*Divert to the physical.*

"You wouldn't believe how deep some of those scratches go..."

*Blush.*

"Hiker?"

*Sensual thrust diverted into contextual small talk.*

He had closed the distance between the two of us by that point, and I noticed how easily my body responded around him. My body drew nearer to him on a subconscious level. I could feel my own heartbeat, as well as an increased level of heat flow through my entire system. My own impulses were fucking with my focus. The body I was in couldn't distinguish the difference between intent and reality.

I was ready to pounce him and strip his clothes off then and there. I had to breathe deeply and restrain myself.

"Actually I was climbing in some of those trees. Really just trying to get some solid exercise in, and my foot slipped. Fell straight down into that briar patch."

"Ouch," he winced.

"Really fucked up my clothes. If I didn't know better, I'd say these vines were trying to get in my pants."

I stared at him, catching his eyes directly within my own. I wanted to know whether or not he would respond to the imagery I had offered. I caught another blush, and moved to close the distance between the two of us once more.

"Ha ha... okay, well you look like you're doing all right now."

His stance shifted, and he looked to the side. The embarrassment only lasted for a moment, but the seed had been planted. He would have little choice at this point but to move forward with me in a context which had already included sexual conceptualization. He regained his footing and met my eyes as I moved closer.

If I could get close enough for contact, I could cast a touch based charm. He would retain enough autonomy to be useful, but every suggestion I had to offer would assume the position of primary directive in his mind. Naturally, to minimize damage to others in his life, he would still be able to function as usual.

I had no use for mental slaves, but I did need this man's help if I was going to achieve the reason for my visit to the material plane.