Getting More Features than I Bargained for: A Forever Game and Forced Feminization in VR! - Chapter 6 - AsterAfterDark (2024)

Chapter Text

The light washed away once more. My eyes flew to the vague figures hidden in the transition to the nearly dark outdoors I hadn't adjusted to yet. Allegro was the only choice. The smooth stone underneath made a good platform for running, the escape pathways between the buildings were numerous, and some of them were... storefronts? All around us, lower stories dimmed as they shut down for the night. The ground dropped a few steps away into a circular pit too, one with a subtle sense of gravity informing me of the potential bound at its center. Erodel's main plaza. Anima sent us to a safe spot?

No one paid us any mind. Adventuring business might've been done, but the nightlife wasn't. Owners slipped away through the narrower streets or met up with the chatter of scattered groups gliding through the plaza on their way elsewhere. As if the city itself knew, pools of enchanted lights grew in clean intervals along the smoothed, pale flagstones of the city's base and spiraled up into helpful and amorphous streetlamps. Around the amphitheater in twos and threes were a dozen or so players, the blue-red diamonds on their hands moving as they all swiped open a menu to a screen full of text.

When Dawn got a head start on whipping out our new note, I jumped to do the same.

"This is... bad," Dawn said.

Understatement of the century. The promise of more punishment lodged itself in the gears of my thought process. "Participation doesn't sound like it's forced. That's nice. We don't have to fight anything. I'm sure there's absolutely no consequence whatsoever to kicking back on the sidelines. Good for us!"

"Dude, work on the delivery if you want to make me a spiteful pacifist."

"Do you want to get punished? I already told you. Y- you know."

The grimace on her face confirmed it. How could she not know it? I told her. Yeah, I avoided the misconception that I had eight-f*cking-teen anal org*sms of my own will, at the cost of being the weakest I've ever had to be with anyone. Dawn was simultaneously the highlight and embarrassment of the catastrophe that was me in this game. Despite the same energetic twinkle, her presence somehow felt warmer than it had when she had my back in other games. Probably because she thought she had to play mama dragon to her (mostly) helpless partner. I haven't achieved a single thing to impress her so far; I've done the opposite if anything. Hell, the only kills I've had are low-level slimes.

Dawn responded after checking the rules again. "What do you think happens to the last fifty percent?"

"I, well..."

I didn't want to think about it. Think about how Dawn was right, and our only option to avoid being here forever-- something I wouldn't mind as much if it were just us-- was accepting our place as arena fighters.

A nearby, hooded player copied the anxious turn of my head. At least, I thought it was anxious until I felt the antagonistic gaze pressing in. The drive of competition.

"You don't want to be trapped in a city with monsters breaking in, do you? Besides, it's our element! We have the skills. Next, we need to find out where all those pearls went, scrounge a ton of gold for gear, which is a lot, but I'm sure there's a cheese method for..."

Dawn's impromptu and petering-out pep talk went on for an extra sentence before a cutesy voice butted in.

"Nice to see you two pop up here! How'd the escape plan go?"

Partway through another portal on the ground, Lumi propped herself up on her elbows and steepled her hands. She peered up from near our knees, her hat's veil obscuring her facial features. The most I could glean aside from the hint of an impish smile and straight black hair were her eyes, bright and scarlet.

"Since someone's saved me the trouble of tracking you down, let's talk favors. How does two sound?"

I copied Dawn's automatic step backward. "Nope, no thank you."

"How about you don't run and save us both time? As you can see..." Lumi gestured to the swirling black below her stomach. "I'm pretty quick on my feet. Remember how I didn't have to cover for you? I do. From what I heard, your friend's been treated quite well so far."

"Look," Dawn said, "you seem like a great person, but can we talk for a sec about how you were the one to push us off?"

Lumi's smile grew wider. A layered reverb covered her next sentence, one I had the intuitive sense would restrict and bend the world to their meaning. A whirling void replaced everything as the ground swallowed me bottom to top. Darkness rushed by like intermingled layers of liquid without weight. Seconds later, the disorientating rush worsened when gravity curled up on itself.

Shooting out sideways, a flash of a rowdy, lit interior met my eyes, and then momentum kept me spinning. A smooth, laminated wood surface supported my landing until the thick table leg I tumbled into stopped me with a sharp squeal as it dragged along the floor. Dawn's body pressed a similar impression out of me as it barreled into my backside. A dizzy but steadier view of the environment did my settling stomach no favors.

An expansive and well-decorated tavern hall lay ahead. We were at the back wall after crashing into an expensive dining table at the back, and the safety of the exterior doors on the far end out of reach through a messy throng of people. Wide-eyed serving staff, a mix of humans and wispy, pale folk I didn't recognize, had been rushing with plates and drinks between ragtag groups of beastmen at the raise of a hand. All wore a scale-like chestplate of mixed metals, and carnivores and omnivores made up the lot of them from frilled reptile to the stout tusks of a boar to the big cat players in the animal kingdom to a familiar pair of black and grey wolves.

Conversations died, heads turned, and a claw hand scrapped the back of my neck before yanking my coat collar and me upward without any trouble. My face would've been slammed into a collection of cleared and yet-to-be cleared plates if not for a well-timed portal. Tumbling out again, I passed Lumi, and Dawn stopped me this time.

"Now, now," Lumi said. "Is that how you treat guests?"

The response was refined but slow, as if the speaker's first language were somewhat removed from English. "I didn't invite more than you. You're ruining our meal."

Not quite sized for the smaller furniture, Half-Ear and the commanding beastman in the field were two of the three at the table we crashed into. What I'd thought was the commander's crown of horns was a true set. Multiple sets. The mix of straights and curves framed the sturdy visage of what I might've called a white-furred lion if not for the demonic twinge in his features. In addition to what looked like a complete scale set on his armor, multiple necklaces carried other polished squares of metal, gently twinkling as he shifted to take in us party crashers.

With a nod toward Chloe, squished between the other two at the table, Lumi said, "I thought Mr. Chimera liked company."

Half-Ear growled and bared his teeth. "Respect, witch. Learn it."

Chloe was attempting to be as small as possible, her darting eyes briefly meeting mine before following Lumi and "Mr. Chimera." The seared meat and honeyed fruits stacked in front of her, all untouched, would've seemed like a nicer gesture if she wasn't equally decorated to be enjoyed. Plus a metal band around her throat, the purple strips of sheer cloth draping her upper half did more to entice than discourage onlookers.

A spike-ridged tail flickered from behind Chimera as he stood. "Poor thing. I think magic's eaten away at your common sense." He chuckled from deep within his chest, an act copied by others in the watching crowd.

"But I forgive you," he said before gesturing to the tavern staff for extra chairs. "A broken wall, a feast for you... and your uninvited guests."

Lumi pressed in behind me and Dawn, a hand at our backs. "Oh, excuse me, sire, Wildfather, whatever. These are entertainers, not guests. I'm offering their services."

Both Dawn and I shot Lumi a look as we spoke in unison. "What?!"

She said it slower, as if we didn't hear. "Entertainers. Since we aren't on the same page and all."

The weight of the stares in the hall grew heavier as this Wildfather turned the word over syllable by syllable. "Entertainers." Taking slow, thunking steps on his bulky hooves, he approached with the desire of fresh food in his eyes. He treated me like a side dish, closing on Dawn with hushed elation under his breath. "And a female draco? Such a unique, unconquered breed..."

"I can stick them outside the walls whenever you like."

His tone and word choice did horrid things to my imagination. He wanted her. Every patch of cloth between her and him ripped to shreds. Rutting her however many times it takes to force her mind into submission. A sloppy, brain-rotted smile on her face as her excess cum overflowed from her stuffed puss*. Enslaving her as his personal cumdump while I had to watch and satisfy every beast who doesn't get a turn. Anything Lumi had planned was a mercy.

My words rattled off, quick and quiet. "I hear you, same page, two favors, got it."

Lumi hummed an unconvinced tune. "Really? You weren't so sure before."

"Tell us," Dawn said. "Somewhere else. Now."

The Wildfather reached down for Dawn's throat. "Don't be hasty, little dragon."

She flinched back, but she didn't have to. With another utterance of arcane speech, Lumi stopped him. His hand had vanished into the small portal now hanging in the air.

The Wildfather turned his head to Lumi, his voice calm but his eyes expressing all the hostility. "You're testing my patience, witch."

"Sorry, can't let you manhandle the new help," Lumi replied. "Can I catch up with you at lunch tomorrow?"

His nostrils flared as he snorted a hot, damp breath towards her and, by extension, us. "Get. Out. Before I test if the damned rules don't care about you if I move my claws slow enough."

"Loud and clear! Maybe we can see how hard you fail to hit me another time."

Despite the daunting height difference between them, Lumi seemed to relish bathing in his simmering glare and, only after doing so, spoke another portal into existence behind us. At the same moment, Chloe risked jumping from her chair. With a messy hop over the table that threw food everywhere, the brief determination on her face flipped backward when Half-Ear's outstretched hand jerked the back of her strips of decorative clothing, ripping off the top half in the process.

And the Wildfather's attention was all hers now. "You promised you would be good. And I gave you a chance."

Jeers and comments came from the animalistic part of the crowd.

"Yes!"

"Been waitin' for her to try something."

"Let us at 'er, pops!"

Chloe's scrambling along the floor put her back against a table leg. "It's not what you think! Y- You see, I was just-"

Several feet away, I flinched from the force of his stomp on the poor excuse of a skirt around her waist. Using one hand to grasp both arms of this scrambling mouse of a girl, the rest of Chloe's modesty fell to the ground as he raised... raised her into the air.

Dawn pulled at me. "Hey."

My mind specified the pronoun without consulting me, which didn't bode well with some of our shared characteristics. It would've been better if Chloe were a full girl, because I could reason to myself that I wasn't without worry. Except, that was a petite combo of dick and balls, hardly able to hang downward, in open view of everyone. Even worse, she did have a bare hint of breasts heaving fast and hard on chest, and those were full ass cheeks which Half-Ear walloped once to groan-inducing effect.

I couldn't. I couldn't end up like that, right? Chloe ended up like that because she first picked her gender as sissy, didn't she? Or she ran into a terrible, terrible set of Milestones. Or the beast pack did something that poor Chloe was going to go through again.

Dawn pulled me a step back. "C'mon!"

The Wildfather lifted Chloe for them to be face-to-face. Raising his voice for all to hear, he said, "Every street in Erodel's going to see your pitiful sight. Then, we will teach you your place!"

A chorus of cheers and mugs banging on tables filled the air. Half-Ear laughed at Chloe's failed attempts to wriggle free before taking a large sniff of the air. Maybe it was to enjoy a different sense of her floundering, but he stopped cold. All his attention honed in on me.

"You." His chair clattered to the floor as he shoved it back and stepped closwer. "I know you."

Dawn didn't wait for my legs to remember to move. She latched both hands onto me and hauled me behind her into the portal.

Our next steps were on a stony path on the grounds between the spears of a wrought iron on stone fence and the window-dotted walls of a castle-style manor repeating itself into the distance. In the way of Castletown's closest entrance hall was Lumi, of course, her white outfit fairly visible under the now night sky. The casual Sunday stroll attire of her bell skirt and loose chiffon top did not match at all with the invisible mass her presence posed.

"Just so we're clear, both of you are onboard, right?" Lumi asked.

I failed to swallow the lump sticking in my throat. "Two favors is great."

Dawn wrestled with her answer longer than I thought. "Yeah, two favors, and we'll repay one right now by letting you call us whatever you want. Servants? Loyal devotees? Um, slaves?"

"Don't give her ideas..." I said.

"Aw, good try," Lumi replied, "but owning slaves isn't really my thing. I'll let you know when I think of something good for you two."

On a normal person, the whimsical behavior might be cute in a teasing sort of way. This was nerve-wracking.

Dawn seemed to be faring better than me though. "Sorry, what? You don't know what you want?"

Lumie shrugged before waving us along. "If it's Novin owing me favors, I need to make them good ones. C'mon, I'll walk you home! Can't let something happen to my new favorite helpers when so many dangerous folk have found their way in lately."

At the giant, already open and welcoming doors of the entrance hall, Lumi "held" one open for us. The inside was largely empty except for one of the Ember's inside the threshold. The red-skinned demon maid leaned on the entrance, a scowl on her face and her spade tail poised behind her legs like a snake hiding to strike.

The instant we passed her, Ember stepped in behind us and eyed Lumi down. "Here's how this'll work: You. Are going to leave. The end~"

"Oh!" Lumi clutched her chest in mock offense. "You say that like I'm a savage. Can't I see them safely to their rooms?"

"Take one step inside, and you'll regret it."

I couldn't tell whether the tilt of Lumi's head pointed to her curiosity or her indignance. Either way, step forward she did, and her form blinked out of sight. Completely and utterly. I whipped around, expecting her to show up behind us as if it were a trick.

Ember faced us, a fresh, comforting grin on her face. "She won't be bothering anyone in here."

Dawn was checking around as well. "What did you do?"

"I moved her downstairs for a nice, long lesson she won't forget anytime soon. Prime said we can't lock them up forever though, so that's a bummer." While her grin remained, except it was like a shift in the light revealed a shadow of what might be joyous sadism in its edges.

"Uh... Noted," I said. Specifically noted: get on the good side of as many magic users as possible. "How does this place work with portals though?"

"Portals?"

"Lumi, that woman. She makes portals. Shows up wherever she wants."

Ember said a few words in the same off-putting magic-speak as Lumi, spent a few seconds studying the floor, and finally nodded to herself. "I have an eye on her, but thanks for the heads-up."

Dawn squinted. "You have an eye on her. I've been meaning to ask, but are you a hivemind or something?"

"Hivemind adjacent? I dunno. If you count some telepathic perks, maybe, but I like doing my own thing too. Can't tell you the amount of times I've caught myself goofing off on the job. Funny thing about staffing yourself everywhere: everyone knows each other's favorite lounging spots."

"Well, as long as you're playing bouncer."

"No problem! And, from what I've heard, you have a predicament going on. Lots of stuff about getting trapped in Erodel with no resources, right?"

"Yeah," I said, "and a goddess that has it out for us..."

"I guess a few people have mentioned a fake Anima running around. What's up with that?"

"Fake? She was definitely not fake."

"Of course she is. She's dead!" At our unconvinced reactions, Ember continued. "Alright, not dead dead, but functionally dead. So many of you Novin act like you were born yesterday. Is that really true?"

"It's been a few days since we joined the game," I said. "World. Hespira? That one."

Ember sighed. "Wow. Well, you're definitely wrapped up in more than a game here. Which reminds me: I want you guys to have a nice time here, so I took the liberty of sprucing up your rooms! Just some basics and a little bonus."

"Yeah, thanks. Do you know anything else about Anima? The Not Anima."

"Wish I could, I'm flattered really, but you've got the wrong demon if you want anything past 'Anima's not here, the end.' You should try chatting up one of the heads of the Astral Collegium or reading through their main library. If you can stomach all the stairs, that is. What's your lineage? With the Aestus."

Dawn named Kolona, and I named Amare.

"So, the heads for them are Valen and Sybil. Valen's out of town on business last I heard, but-"

The second name made me perk up, finally being able to add to the conversation. "I know Sybil."

"Mhm, that's great. And do you know where she is?" Her raised brow hinted she knew a negative was coming.

"I know her building." And I didn't pay a lick of attention to anything but where the nearest clothing store was when I left.

Dawn asked, "I know she helped you, but is seeing a random lady going to help us that much?"

Ember showed a silent gasp at the comment. "You do realize you're talking about the most accomplished modern magicians of the celestial divinity, right? Wisdom for the ages, spells unbound, hell, they convinced Prime to cut a deal when she got too uppity for their liking."

"What about Milestones?" I asked.

"Oh, that divine metamorphosis stuff? Yeah, why wouldn't they?"

If Sybil had info on how to get more Milestones, that was a resource I couldn't afford to pass up. With the initial plan made, my thought process skipped a track as the details of Naughty Boy came to mind. I rubbed goosebumps away as my memory made me feel the phantom masses of goo which gave me the Milestone encasing everything between my legs. Nothing like that. I'd ask all about the good Milestones specifically.

When I asked Ember for the address, Ember launched into an extensive set of overly detailed directions in a one-way exchange that Dawn and I pieced together with a couple post-lecture questions: Use the north end of the Ring Road forming the Rainbow District's borders. Hit the main strip of the Prism Heights where official city folk did business. Sybil's place, officially titled the House of the Everblossom, had a giant tree out back apparently. Afterward, a second Ember came up to take door watch off of the one we'd been talking to. Dawn and I took the break in conversation as an opportunity to head out. We agreed to meet up here tomorrow and exchanged a quick pair of goodnights before taking the nearest dimensional door, a thankfully less nausea-inducing trip this time, to our respective rooms.

Courtesy of Ember, the decor had, in fact, undergone a mild facelift. The colors were a bit bright for my liking, but the addition of a couple of lounging chairs in the corner and a messy, paint-patterned rug was nice. The first thing I did was slide shut the new drapes in the pair of windows and check that they were latched tight. Because one of the last things I wanted to find out was if one of those beastmen could loophole Ember's door magic by breaking through a glass-covered hole in the wall. Not that a teeny tiny glass pane would stand up against the bundle of fur and muscles they were... At least I was on the third floor.

The next morning, I found Dawn in the entrance hall, her legs up in a lounging position after having flopped over a dark couch's armrest. Something was off the second I called out. Flipping onto her feet in a casual one-arm display of athletics, she cut around a guild-like ensemble of bulky beastkin players that were an uncomfortable reminder of the Wildfather's gang and hurried over. Serious face aside, her scaled tail made for an easy gauge. It was held stiff behind her legs where I'd become used to seeing it perform a wiggle or flick to accent her sentences. I assumed it was from her human brain not knowing how to handle an extra appendage attached to her simulated nervous system. It was a cute quirk, in all honesty.

Before I could ask if something happened to her, she showed the back of her left hand. Her hand HUD showed an icon of a red droplet of blood imposed over a strong outline of a chain. "When did we get this?"

"When?" The same icon had decided to break the rules to appear on my hand as well. "We didn't do anything!"

As helpful as it was legible, which was not at all. An equal uncomfortable thought came to me. One person might be able to break the rules.

"Dawn, what are the chances that the one person we pissed off was actually a goddess?"

"Fake goddess. Ember said so."

"Who else can teleport us on a whim and mess with the damn game functions?"

"Maybe it's a dev?"

"Who hasn't been arrested?"

Assuming society hadn't imploded over which country gets to establish a research station around Jupiter's Ganymede first, it should've already happened. Kidnapping wasn't the most visible crime, but however many thousands of people at the same time under the same circ*mstances? It wasn't traditional kidnapping either! Our real bodies were stuck in bed either at home or one of those high-tech neural hospital's. If no one's figured out what went wrong by now...

"Alright, whatever," Dawn said while she squinted at her tooltip. "I'm still not going to call her a goddess. Can you read any of this?"

I spent a forty-five second session doing what felt like decrypting ciphers by hand before I swiped it all away. "Do you feel any different? I don't."

"Not really."

"Great, then we don't need to worry about it right now."

"What if it screws with combat? I think the duration's tied to doing matches too."

"I'm sure Sybil could figure it out with a spell."

Saying "I hope" at the start would've been more accurate to how positive I felt about this. Dawn was right to worry about it, and the threat of punishment hanging over us would feel all the heavier until it's gone. On a brighter note, she was also right earlier about another thing. An arena was our element. We might be down three people, the great mage of the party might be stuck in Lian's support class template, we might be low-level casters without knowledge of every spell in the game, and there might be a horrifically biased referee behind the scenes, but it'll be fine. Strategy and opportunity. That'd help. 'Of course, it'd help a lot more if I could blow things up like I normally would.

A short stroll past Castletown's black iron gates and a descent down a lengthy cobblestone path brought us to the city proper. Ember's directional descriptions really were too long. We hadn't known the name, but we'd passed over the ring road a few times before. Hard not to when it was a thoroughfare three times the average road size, curving a roughly circular path through the city blocks.

Navigating it was as much of a rush as it was before. In addition to the combined streams of player traffic and NPCs on their daily business at side-street food markets or delivering carriages of cargo to any number of colorfully decorated storefronts, these crowds carried a new sense of paranoia around town. Wary eyes checked over shoulders. Fidgety hands clutched bags and coin pouches tight. What had been solitary, bored guard positions were bolstered into pairs patrolling with a tight grip on their polearm or sheathed blade. Not that the new visitors that'd rolled in over night were worried. The beast gang weren't the only ones to learn about their enforced pacifism privileges.

That said, the reality of it almost ran into comedic territory. The swarms of monsters and criminals running ramshod, taking anything and everyone they pleased didn't exist. If anything, it was like watching a scattered array of obnoxious tourists. We spotted a black bear and a smaller white hound pair of beastmen lording themselves over the guards, taunting and jeering the whole while. They started doing the same with a woman as we slipped by, but the method involved penning her in, threatening and moving to get handsy but not quite committing. At another point were a pair of hunched gargoyles come to life, their twisted bat faces having an uncomfortable staring contest with people at random. I thought they were following us for a minute until they leapt and clambered up and away onto the rooftops.

Those same roofs became loftier as even the one-story buildings of the presumed Prism Heights stood tall enough to match the name. A convenient entrance was harder to spot since this stretch of the city's uneven landscape put another smooth rock shelf between us and it. Technically, another tunnel was heading into the district, but we didn't check it since the last one of those led us down and into the watch of a stone beast.

The next upward path was a dual set of stairs unused by everyone. Cut into the earth, a two-tier stone fountain separated the two at the base landing and showered thin sheets of water on its occupant. Said occupant was a lamia soaking in the sun and water. A large one. Dressed in a series of loose shawls, she was a collage of light and dark purples stretching from where her tail blocked one stairway, to wrapping around the fountain's base, and further to the edge where her closed eyes rested against the metal spear in her arms on the fountain's edge.

I took a cautious step toward the open stairs as the lamia shifted her head. "Maybe she's sleeping."

Dawn leaned in with a hand on my shoulder. "No, I think she's looking."

She led us further aside. A few seconds passed until the lamia shifted again. On my own, I would've assumed she was nestling in a cozier spot. Yet, her being positioned to face us was uncanny. I couldn't tell from this distance whether her eyelids were fully shut or not.

"Well, they haven't been hurting anyone," I asked. "So they can't do anything, right?"

"Let's be casual about it."

I led the first steps nearer, an act that earned me a heart attack as a flash of scales and steel cut me off. A twin-tipped spear almost bit my toes off as it blocked my path with a savage crack of the stone surface. Dawn caught me as I jolted backward and pushed me behind her.

When the scratchy rumble of the lamia's scales slid to a stop, she'd raised her body up and up until she force us to angle our head back to keep track of the slits of her fire-colored eyes. She watched, not saying a word. A forked tongue lashed out to taste the air, and she bared small and likely venomous fangs in a scornful smile.

After my heartbeat counted twelve seconds into the standoff, Dawn whispered under her breath, "I got this."

Straightening her back, Dawn made a show of rolling her shoulders, cracking her knuckles, and putting a strong edge in her voice as her foot fell one step closer. "Are you gonna move or not?"

The lamia pulled back her spear, a shaft taller than either of us, and held it in an off position. "What exactly is the lesser serpent going to do, hm?" Each sentence brought on a huskier tone as she continued. "I see it in your eyes. Haven't finished a hunt. Never sank your teeth into your prey's neck. Don't know how their body squirms in your coils. Too weak to make them beg. Why, you haven't even marked your human pet."

"Pet?!" The rebuke that shot to the front of my mind wasn't my best material. "I- I'll have you know I have over three hundred confirmed wins in-"

Dawn's elbow knocked the breath out of my ribs. "I'm looking for a big catch as my first, you little danger noodle. If you wanna be it, how about I test how many punches it takes to knock the toothpicks you call fangs out of your mouth?"

True threat or not, the lamia raised her brow. I thought Dawn cowed her into silence for a second until she began a low cackling as if they just shared a great joke. Dawn and I exchanged a look, not knowing how to take it. Turns out, we didn't need to make a backup plan on the spot.

As her laughter died down, the lamia's lower half shifted to reveal a path. "You can hold a conversation. Not bad."

Before I could follow up on defending my dignity, Dawn grabbed my hand and marched us past. The reflexive sentence of how I didn't need to be led faltered before I could start it. Hands. We were holding hands! Did this count as handholding? Probably not romantically... but, still, this counted for something. Who cares about a random snake lady anyway? That pet insult was from her big ego hanging out in the clouds, not Lian's looks.

Dawn let go at the next landing, a new set of crossroads ahead of us. "Okaaay, wasn't sure that would work."

"Seemed like it worked well to me," I said, rubbing my palm that held her fading warmth. I'll remember that for a while. "When did you get good at pulling off intimidation checks?"

"Was it that good? I got a Milestone that makes me more imposing, but I didn't know if the mental effects would work."

"You got that from the nuckelavee fight too?"

"The Original Apex, yeah."

"That's not what mine's called."

A quick cross-check of our Milestone screens showed the difference being our races, my human versus her dragonkin. Both of us agreed she had the cooler sounding name though. And a higher cap for level-ups on it, but that didn't matter bug me. If imposing-ness let Dawn talk down as big a monster as that, I only needed to put on the ol' fake confidence to get back some of my mage persona, striking fear into the masses of mobs at the other end of my totally terror-inducing fan! If my sky-high Charisma was good for anything, it'd be influencing people.

The more even-ground perspective on the Heights helped us spot bundles of pink blossoms above the roofs nearby. A couple blocks later, the House of the Everblossom and the pointed arch of its main white brick building came into view. Climbing the ring of steps around the porch was nice to do on my own two feet this time around. With the knocker on the front doors, Dawn pounded the knocker tree times and stepped back.

She glanced to either side at the many segmented windows running down the wings attached to the main structure. "Do a lot of people live here?"

"Just Sybil, last I checked."

"Mm. You decided on your free room decoration yet? From Ember."

"I haven't looked through the book. Why? You saw something I'd want?"

"Well, no." She paused for a moment. "What I saw was a renovation section where we can add a walk-in closet for clothes storage, secret compartments, stuff like that. It's technically not an item, but Ember said two rooms could be joined together too if both people say yes and pitch in."

"Neat." I fully processed the order of those words after an additional second. I almost couldn't believe it. Scratch that, I could believe it, but Dawn being the one to ask? "Are... Are you saying you want to share a-"

"A two-bedroom suite," Dawn said as she launched into what sounded like a rehearsed sales pitch. "Ember took care of Lumi." She glanced over her shoulder at the calm street behind us as if the name was enough to summon the woman. "But we don't know how long that'll last. I'd hate myself if she portaled you somewhere on your own, and you got knocked out, and it's just a better idea to stick together when we can, isn't it?"

Silly me. For a sec, the conclusion my brain jumped to was that she'd offer to share a bedroom. And she was sneaking her way around saying I needed help when things go down. Not that I minded the idea itself. Not even minded, I liked it a lot. All the same, how was I supposed to work my way around sounding overly eager?

Relying on my old instincts for banter, I slapped on a cheeky smirk. "I get it. Big rooms can get lonely. Maybe Ember'll throw in a stuffed animal to decorate the place for you."

Dawn's face dropped into an unamused stare. "Alright, one: stuffed animals are awesome, and two: if the mister's happy with a room alone-"

"No, no, hang on! It's a good idea. I swear I wasn't trying to knock you for liking cute stuff." As it turned out, my instincts might be sh*t given the unfamiliar territory.

She gave a self-satisfied nod. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Yeah, it's a yes."

A mild silence followed. When I peeked at Dawn in my periphery, the subdued annoyance I was dealing with had vanished without a trace. A twitch in her cheeks signaled she was hiding a grin of her own. She didn't just play me, did she? Or did I play myself here?

We had to step back then as the doors flew back and three party's worth of demonic, elven, and human players poured out.

"-Way longer than I thought."

"Told ya we should've bailed."

"All we got was a few tips and lecture!"

"The lecturing was kind of hot though."

"Use the horny brain cells you have left to strategize, moron."

I singled out the last demonic guy, a pastel-red tiefling who had simple leather gear over his clothes. "What are you guys doing?"

"Trying to get leads," he said. "But, you should definitely skedaddle before she gets all 'authority this' and 'responsibility that' on you." With that brief warning, he hurried to catch up with a pair of light elven girls at the bottom of the stairs.

Inside, we were greeted by a rich, lacquered wood floor catching the rosy-tinted rays of light coming through the stained glass windows on the upper rear end of the converted main hall. Sybil sat on the edge of the centerpiece banquet table, running a hand through her black hair as she put a lackluster smile on.

"Hello, dear, it's... good to see you."

While she had been piecing the pause together, her attention hit me hard, focusing into an uncomfortably fine point that made me check behind for a person that wasn't there. It had vanished when I turned back, so swift I wondered whether I had imagined it. It wasn't me, surely. She'd just dealt with what sounded like unwilling students, and the only thing to change since we last met was my clothes.

"Yeah, you too," I said. "Weird question, but are you doing alright?"

"I'm fine, thank you." In one graceful movement, Sybil was on her feet and clasped her hands in front of her. "I like to consider myself a teacher, but I may have bitten off more than I could chew trying to wrangle that group in." With a wistful look to the side, she added, "Ah, if only everyone could be like that moon elf..."

Dawn paid less attention to her words than she did moving around for a view of Sybil's tails. "You have three tails?"

"All the oddities in this city, and my tails are one of them?"

"Yeah, but you're a kitsune, right? That's three magic tails."

Sybil's face lightened with a more genuine expression, her tails doing a sideways wave. "Well, aren't you a sweet one~"

After the two exchanged names, I said, "Could you check the status we got? And point me toward the good Milestones?"

"I most certainly will... and I suppose it's impossible to deny at this point that the situation is grimmer than most. None of you have secured your Crown of Stars."

Both of us blinked at her, but Dawn spoke first. "Is this about the monsters in the city? 'Cause it seems like it's not a complete disaster or anything."

"Not the point, dear child. Novin appear in great numbers whenever the current age is suffering a crisis, and right now these crises are parading about the city while Erodel's best can do nothing about it."

"I mean, I'm sorry, but we're strapped on everything too. We were all kidnapped by someone who thinks she's a goddess, hates our guts, and-"

Sybil narrowed her eyes. "There's no one alive who should be able to claim that title."

"Exactly," Dawn said. "Said her name was Anima, but that's a fake name, apparently?"

"Apparently?" Sybil scoffed. "Historic desecration at its finest, and you don't even-" Her head dropped into a brief sigh before pulling back up. "Excuse me. I haven't forgotten your request, but I'll have you trade your attention for it. If you'll listen, I'll keep it brief. Deal?"

We nodded, out of obligation more than anything else.

"Anima, the true one, was the bedrock of existence." Of the framed paintings hung around the hall, Sybil gestured toward a canvas reminiscent of empty space, its harsher blacks morphed and folded to make faint outlines of multiple humanoids. "She split herself into pieces-- new entities, the ten Aestus-- to avoid a hom*ogenous world under her design alone. Amare, Lian, was her heart."

""What about Kolona?" Dawn asked.

"Kolona, the Pillar, was her bone." The next painting Sybil pointed to was a vast horizontal piece, a mess of days and nights cutting across each other like the chaos and armies depicted under them. "Kolona and Ferros crafted the dragons, but they were too chaotic, the world shifting and upending wherever they moved. So the work wasn't wasted, Oriane and Amare split draconic essences into the elementals and draconic bodies into pureblood beastkin, respectively."

The armor wasn't there, but several of the painted combatants could've joined up with the Wildfather based on physicality alone. Thinking of them as cute fluffy beastkin would've made them less scary in my mind, but the "pureblood" attached at the front put a stop to that.

"Unfortunately, an Aestus among the other six, we don't know who, warned the beastkin of the wild nature of their kindred. Wars broke out, each Aestus accused another, and all fought until half the world had been wiped clean. They buried the strife beneath the earth, and started again with Matia and Arlum adding the elves by shaping the light of the sun and moon..."

Cutting herself off with a wave of her hand, Sybil said, "The short of it is this: the seven races rose and fell in conflict until the Aestus realized they were the erratic factor in intervening or offering wisdom that led to violence and conquest. Being the brazen family they were, they went a few more rounds before, tentatively, agreeing the world might fare better with the pieces they'd given it. They sealed themselves off from the mortal realm, and you Novin are extensions of their aid when needed. Except, it seems there's a false deity afoot, and you are without your crowns to fight her."

I peered through the painting, but none of the figures were anything resembling a king or queen. "You're making it sound like that's our key to something."

"A key to power. You're capable of much as you are, but the crown is something else entirely."

"Power sounds great. Where is it?"

"It's metaphorical. A series of boons claimed in combat against the surviving lineages of the warring age's chosen champions. Seven, to be exact, some corrupted, some not."

And now my dashed hopes included finding a magic insta-win button. "Great. If we didn't want to duke it out with other players, we can get our asses handed to us by the champions."

"Hear me out," Dawn said. "Champions aren't the worst. It's kind of like when we had to abuse a bunch of busted gear and exploits."

"Are you serious? You want to risk fighting and losing to get a single piece of a crown which won't help at all when the final boss is a reality-warping goddess?"

"What if the crown helps us get enough points to get out of here?"

"Then we'd need equipment that doesn't exist and insider knowledge on a new game that no one has."

"It can't be that different, can it? You think the chumps that made this mess remembered to fix stat stacking with the static teleport glitch?"

"Even if they didn't, that needs a teleport spell, a specific enchantment, and-"

Sybil loudly cleared her throat to grab our attention back. "Whatever the case, we must finish up so I can bring this imposter business to the other heads. Give me your hand."

When I returned the gesture of her outstretched hand, she clasped mine within hers. A brief surge of warmth passed between us, and then she pulled back. I was about to be impressed by how she didn't need a spell until the sight of the same blood and chain icon remained. Her next words hit like a bucket of cold water.

"This isn't something I can fix. I can't sense anything wrong."

"But you can see it right there!"

She showed a sympathetic frown. "I am sorry, truly, but it's as I said. As for your other request," Sybil motioned for me to follow her toward a sturdy door of dark oak at the back of the hall. "This information should remain in private in those of Amare's field. Dawn, if you wouldn't mind staying put."

"Well, that's a bust..." Along with a dispirited look, Dawn gave me a weak shrug. "Guess I'll be here, then?"

The promise of actual change kept me from being utterly dispirited as I lengthened my stride to catch up with Sybil. Power fantasies were a welcome distraction. "Can anything make my spells do more damage? Make me taller? How about-"

"Patience, child. Your answers will come."

Burning questions held themselves back on my tongue as Sybil opened the oak door in a silent arc. If anyone knew how to make me better, it'd be the head of the Arcane Whatever. Wrong name, but who cares? It'd be priceless to see Dawn's face after I grind out the biggest, manliest set of Milestones to turn me into an absolute ladykiller.

From what few impressions I've had of Sybil, the modest space suited her well, but the sight beyond the comfy furniture, personal library chock full of tomes and their decorated spines, and elegantly carved art piece of a desk was everything else. Past partially opened bay windows came the outgoing, lavish scent of nature, courtesy of a garden that seemed more like a small jungle than a garden compared to the comparably tiny displays of greenery ornamenting the city streets. On the windowsill was a tall sampling of one type of flower in a glass vase-- five large, curving petals in brush-stroked pinks, scarlets, and whites.

Sybil entered behind me with a gentle thud and latch of the door. "What does Amare mean to you?"

I stopped my journey to a comfy looking armchair to face her. "That doesn't matter, does it? We're supposed to be talking about how to make me stronger."

"We will..." She looked me down and up again. "But, we may have had a misunderstanding the last time we spoke. Judging by your preferred style, it seems you think you're a man."

The sheer nonchalance of the statement had me taken aback. "Of course I am! Maybe I don't look or sound like it..." Two details that would hurt my case more than make it at this point. "What does this have to do with anything? I thought you agreed I was a guy that morning."

"Not quite. Not to mention, you said you had a puss* the night prior."

A red flush came over me as I marked that third detail. "T- That doesn't matter! Are you going to help me or not? You help me; I beat up monsters, right?"

And my "fellow Novin" to get out of here, but I wasn't going to make the case derailing this conversation four points strong now.

Arms crossed, Sybil trailed slow steps to behind her desk with her head tilted down in thought. The pot of flowers, for whatever reason, had her attention captured, and it was to such a degree that the distant chirps and bustling of city life outside filled the room.

After much more than a handful of seconds, she said, "Did you know that, when a Novin is born, their essence is rather volatile? An unshaped, divine energy that refines itself under unique circ*mstances, including your ancestry. What I felt at the forefront of your soul just now was Amare's beauty and hedonism."

The lurch in my gut could tell where this conversation was headed. "Forget it. If you want to make this all about what I'm not, I'll figure things out on my own."

"I didn't say I wouldn't help you." Facing me, Sybil added, "In fact, I'm willing to give you all the personal attention you need to cultivate your skills."

In the midst of turning my back, that statement gave me pause, as did her satisfied expression of having formed some sort of clever idea. "There's a catch."

"Yes. To see one of Amare's own stray... concerning. If you'd be content taking lessons in the matters of femininity you seem so ready to scorn, I'd be more than happy to point you in the right direction for the power you seek."

I should've kept moving. Me and my old self wanted no part in this... except that same self stopped me with the ever so monumentally important detail of being trapped in the conditional game Anima's cooked up for us.

She put on a reassuring yet sharp smile. "From my perspective, this isn't a hard choice. We both know you need to develop your potential if we're to have any chance of combating this plague of enemies in the long term, and all you'll have to do is endure my lessons; you'll be free to do as you like with what I teach you."

Despite Sybil's vibe being more appropriately foxy than ever right now, like she knew she had a wedge driven into me, my instincts latched onto the last sentence as the most tantalizing. She wasn't entirely wrong, which was the problem. My desire for min-maxing and sense of self were arguing it wasn't a problem at all, and they made more sense than I wanted them to.

"Lessons" to get anything and everything I'd need for Dawn and me to speedrun our way up the ranks. It's not as if Lian's first impression wasn't already girly, so Sybil couldn't make that any worse. I knew what I was, so a lecture or two wasn't going to turn that idea on its head...

I heaved a sigh. "Fine. What's it take for a good, simple Milestone to boost my spells?"

"Becoming my pupil has its own price."

Sybil bent over to open an unseen drawer. A moment later, she hefted a wooden chest onto the desktop, about a foot long, with supporting straps and a lock of dull gold. With a spin of the base and crack of the lid, the contents sitting in the red velvet interior were half-hidden in four outlined nooks, one of which was empty.

What I picked up was less than the accessory my cursory glance wanted to see, and turning it over and around for examination found more of a stern construction of metal. A solid ring formed the base for a slender series of crisscrossed metal bars curving down into the shape of a round head. In the fair number of internet sites I'd visited in my alone time, I was pretty sure I knew what the dick-shaped curve of the device meant, and I couldn't believe Sybil was watching intently as if this wasn't a joke.

"You can't be serious," I said, staring at it in disbelief. Its length barely matched my index finger's. I knew Lian's dick was average at best, but it couldn't fit in here.

"As long as you're one of my pupils, that is mandatory." As I continued saying nothing, Sybil co*cked her head alongside a twitch of an ear. "You can have it removed at any time, mind you, but I simply won't accept your requests if you refuse to follow mine. I assume that's not too harsh of a challenge for you."

She was serious. All that internal talk I did expected something like makeup or walking lessons I could wash or toss off right after. This... I couldn't have the time of my life with Dawn if- if the chance to have sex came up. But that wasn't at all likely the way things were now. It was far from the most masculine equipment to wear. But no one else could see it, and I could remove it whenever.

"Well?" Sybil's question brought my focus to her. "I've stayed longer than I should've for you, but I don't have time for someone uncommitted. Give it here."

It took her bringing her beginning to pry it from my grasp before I snatched the chastity cage away. "Alright, alright!"

I took a moment to breathe, one where Sybil's raised brow also asked the full question of what I was going to do. If a little cage was the first step, I could handle it. How I was supposed to put it on was a separate matter I bypassed by equipping it through my inventory.

Without a millisecond's delay, the sense of tactile pressure on my dick spiked. A cool grip of metal fastened and crammed it down, forcing my body to put out an instinctive groan at the same time.

"Agh...! It's cursed? You said I could take it off!" My timid hands felt for where my dick used to be and found the docile weight of the cage sealed against my crotch.

"I said it could be removed," Sybil said as she packed away the chest. "Specifically, by me."

"You didn't say that before!"

"Because I can tell you are the type to shirk lessons as much as they can," Sybil said. She returned a pointed look to my sour one. "As I said, you can ask me to remove it whenever you please, but, as I said, I don't have time for one of Amare's own unwilling to undertake what she's set out for you. Now, we can argue about this until the moon passes by, or you can wrest your hands from your urges and listen to the help I have to offer."

"Ugh...!" I groaned, moving my hands aside. Poisoned deal or not, I was too close to something to let go here, for the time being at least. "Get on with it."

Sybil nodded and ushered my next awkward steps to the door. "It's good to see you've come around. As for a helpful Milestone, you should spend some time exclusively healing or supporting Dawn with your spells. And, assuming you want to unlock your full potential, the next spells you should manifest are Infuse, Energize, and Starlight."

She paused upon grabbing the handle, looking on with mild amusem*nt as she shut down the next request I was working on phrasing in my mind. "You didn't think I'd unlock you right this moment, did you? We'll talk about that next time."

"No..." I certainly thought I could try though. "When's next time?"

"Let's say a day or two, but you're still free to check in here whenever," she said as she opened the door. "There's no need to look down. All this is for your future, Lian."

I filtered the sharp sarcasm out of my words before I said them. "My future. Got it."

Dawn seemed to be playing amateur art critic to the warring painting Sybil introduced before. As she gave a quick wave and strolled over, I did my best to put on a fresh face. There was absolutely no world where I could let her find out about this.