Slumrat Rising

Etenesh offered her slender hand, ripping talons now long gone, leaving neatly trimmed nails in their place. Truth gently took it and pulled her into the room. He looked deep into her burning eyes and deliberately closed the door. Her ocher eyes widened, breathing faster. Truth lightly pressed his hand to her chest and pushed her against the wall. Etenesh raised her hands, fingers splayed as though she were pushing back, but she didn’t touch him. Her nose traveled along his neck, breathing him in but not touching. He could feel the heat of her, kindling a fire in the always cold core of him.

“Am I in danger again, Mr. Medici?” she asked, her voice rasping as he caught her thin wrists and pressed her hands above her head.

Truth leaned in, letting his breath tickle her ear. “I’m going to bite you now, right on the nape of your neck. I’m going to kiss it first, and then I will put my teeth to it and bite. I am trusting you to tell me when it’s too much. Can I trust you with that, Etenesh?” She shivered.

“Yes.”

Truth leaned in and gently pressed his lips to her skin, tasting salt and the faintest bitterness of oil. The sensation of her was overwhelming, and he gave into his instincts. Teeth met yielding skin and strong muscle. Feather-light, just feeling his teeth press against her skin. Slowly, achingly slowly, he began to bite harder. He smiled as she wriggled and gasped. Letting himself have this moment. Trusting her to say-

“Ah, Enough!”

He let go at once and looked at his handiwork. Two neat imprints of his teeth on the elegant curve of her neck. It felt right.

“Too much?”

“It wasn’t bad, but it got too much.” She nodded.

“So what are you going to do about it?”

He kissed her, and the world was a wonderful place for a few minutes.

Truth lead Etenesh to the tiny bed and sat down on it. He patted the spot next to him, and she sat, not quite touching.

“I see what you are doing, you know. I get that physical contact is a big part of life in Siphios, and this must be hard on you. So. Thank you.”

“It is hard. But worth it. It makes touching you so exciting. Every little touch becomes deliberate. Something to savor because it is so rare, and who knows when I will have it again?” She smiled up at him. “You know, I didn’t only lose today.”

“No, you did not.” Truth smiled back. He carefully set her hands back on her lap. She looked confused. “This is your prize. You may hug me just how you like. While you are hugging me, you can kiss me just how you like. I will probably shake sometimes, flinch, or look scared. Please don’t let go until I say when. I don’t know how this works. But I’ve wanted it for a very long time.”

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Truth was in a funny sort of mood as he shook his body loose. The portal was almost open, but the thoughts kept crawling around in his head. The image of Etenesh’s hand turning into a claw that could rip a man’s heart out. The feeling of that same hand pressed to the back of his neck, his chest, his spine.

“You entirely sure you want to do this, Tommy?” Jember called.

“Yep. Cut ‘em loose.” It had been excruciating and one of the best, most exciting things he had ever done. Etenesh had booked a double room tonight. They agreed that they wouldn’t get naked, but-

The portal burst open, bloody, skinless monkeys pouring out.

-he was pretty excited by the sound of “heavy petting” and the look in Etenesh’s eyes when she said it… okay, Demon time. GO!

The monkeys were small, about the size of a coconut, but there was an upsettingly large number of them, and they were fast. Truth rushed in and started slapping them away with a stick. This, of course, was about as effective as slapping away leaves with a stick during an autumn storm in a maple woods. The monkeys bounced back, clawing at each other to get to him.

Truth fell back before the horde, using the obstacles set up in the basement to break their rush. Of course, being monkeys, they saw no obstacles. Merely more opportunities to get vertical and launch themselves at his face.

Truth pushed himself harder. He focused on bodily positioning. His reflexes were vastly quicker than these demons. It was his body that was failing to keep up. So he pushed and pushed. He had been cultivating the Mediations carefully. The Worms had started helping. No way was he slower than these scrubs!

Pushing, pushing. He knew he was a physical savant. He knew his body knew where to be. He just had to be there, and the way to do that was to make full use of his capabilities. A claw scraped past his calf, just missing. A skinless, screaming simian tore through the spot where his head had been a fraction of a second before. Two little bastards leaping for his crotch certainly got his attention, and he lept back at speed.

“TIME!” Jember yelled. “SWITCH!” The skinless monkeys screamed in outrage as they were summoned back into the portal. Some tried to stay, reaching out to hang on to the newly summoned demon. There was nothing recognizably mammalian about this one. It casually demolished the impudent imps with flicks of its boney tentacle whips. They sprang out all over its exterior. Always two or three in the right place at any time. And it was fast.

The inexplicable horror writhed along the floor with dreadful, hungry urgency. The very smoothness of its movement created a sort of terror- as though the universe itself was dragging it closer to you, ever closer, inescapably closer, its boiling mass of bone whips reaching for you, its maw filled with inexplicable things to hurt you with…

Truth ran. It was the smart choice. But the demon was very fast, and very hungry. Truth ran as hard as he could, one hundred percent effort. He managed to keep ahead, but it was closing in slowly. He could feel the breeze as the bone whips almost grazed his back.

“TIME. SWITCH!”

The dreadful thing screamed, screamed in registers within and beyond merely human hearing, shaking the marrow of Truth’s bones as it was hauled back into Hell. The skinless monkeys were back, somehow even madder than before. Truth sucked in a gulp of fresh air and got ready to dodge again.

Ten agonizing minutes later, Truth lay sprawled on the ground, gasping.

“That was one of the maddest things I have ever seen. And I have seen you charge demonic outbreaks.” Jember said with forced casualness.

“I’m slower than I ought to be. My body is absurdly well cultivated, but I’m limited in what I can do with it by my own self-doubt. I am faster than I think I am. Now I just need to convince all the bits of me that that’s true and do it. Be it. Whatever.” Truth tried to grin up at dapper Jember, but it probably came out looking weird while he was lying on the floor.

“You already move like you are Level Four, maybe even Level Five. As a practical matter, you may be faster than them just because of your freaky reflexes. Which, damn. I am seriously rethinking learning Incisive for my next spell.”

“It’s a good ‘un,”Truth said, neglecting to mention that he hadn’t cast Incisive and relied purely on his body and his senses.

“Maybe I should look into body cultivation for Level Four. Keep looking pretty for decades to come.”

“Bet you a birr Merkovah has some good ones squirrled away.”

“No bet, I know he does. Getting him to part with them, however, might take some doing.” Jember grinned, seeming undaunted by the prospect.

“I have faith in you. Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to scrape together enough energy to crawl into the shower.”

“Want any company?”

“‘Fraid that ship has sailed.” Truth smiled fondly at Jember.

“Oh well.” He paused. “You are that serious about Etenesh?”

“Different cultures, remember? Although… she gets me.” Truth struggled to put into words what he was feeling, then just gave up.

“Damn. Good for you two. Alright, I’ll lay off.”

“Good for my ego, though.”

“To bad. No more for you.” Jember offered his hand. Truth grabbed it and pulled himself to his feet.

“No more?”

“None.” Jember shook his head with mock firmness.

“This is terrible. Just terrible.”

“Courage, Mr. Wells, courage. Etenesh isn’t that bad. Though I must say, I think of the two of us, I’d be more fun.” Jember grinned, then cracked up at the expression on Truth’s face.

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Truth was aware that he had Virgin-itis, a disease he first observed in his hornier schoolmates, then again in the Army. Basically, the first lover- boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever, was THE ONE. The big forever love. Their connection was unique, special, and perfect. And, of course, it wasn’t. Everyone else could see it but the poor bastards suffering the affliction. Having sex generally only intensified the symptoms.

Presumably there were other girls out there. Women who would get him, and could put up with his weird brain and his utterly violent life. But, to speak his truth, he didn’t want to go looking for them. He might have Virgin-itis, but he was determined to enjoy it. Safely.

He fixed the image of his Rough Patron in his mind. This guy didn’t have Virgin-itis. He had never had that disease. If he didn’t have a harem, it’s because he didn’t want one.

Truth was sitting on the chair in his little cell, breathing and starting to meditate. Not trying to run the Meditations. Just meditate. It was time to reach out to the worms.

The first challenge was finding the little bastards. The Rough Patron had that nine-worm tattoo on his forehead, so he started by directing his consciousness there. No luck. Might have been a little ambitious to think he’d be exactly like that ancient. Truth let his consciousness systematically work its way through his body, starting at the very top of his head and moving down, muscle by muscle.

It was calming. Relaxing. And useless. He couldn’t find the worms anywhere. Hey System, any idea where the worms are hiding?

Kinda sorta? Keep in mind that while I interfaced with them for a while, I won’t say I understand them. And yes, it is very weird to me that we have separate memories. I would say it’s time to start researching the nature of the soul, but I get the impression that’s a waste of time.

Truth waited patiently for the System to get back to the point. It seemed a little more scattered these days. Like it didn’t quite know how to be anymore. Truth got to go on a journey of self-discovery when that happened to him. The System didn’t have that luxury.

Your soul interacts with the universe on levels your body can’t. I am usually hiding out in your apertures, so I can safely say they aren’t hiding out in there. But keep in mind that’s only half a step away from your body. And you just checked your body, and it isn’t there. So… consider going a little higher through your soul. They hide out from me, too, by the way.

Huh. Well. That’s unexpected. Higher up through the soul? He had no idea how to do that. Merkovah presumably did, but that did not seem like a safe or smart choice.

I do have an alternative suggestion- call them. They worked on your body. They might turn up.

Truth slapped himself on the forehead and tried to get in touch with his soul. Tried to call forth the worms. Was it working? He had no idea. But, ever so faintly, he could hear angelic chanting. And they sounded furious.

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