Ariana

It started out like so many others. I was in Ilias Village. I woke up in my own bed again, the day before my big journey. Something felt off in the village, however. The people seemed skittish, always chose their words carefully. Given the easygoing nature of every other iteration of Ilias Village I had been in, it felt not quite right, although I couldn't really put my finger on what exactly was wrong. Despite the peaceful nature of the village, it had an atmosphere reminiscent of a totalitarian regime. Yet I saw no propaganda, no armed police knocking on doors. It still appeared fairly idyllic. I still hadn't figured out what was wrong when the alarm went up that a monster was outside the village.

I'd run into that situation a dozen times since meeting Lime, and I handled it the same way every time: I ran out to Lime as quickly as I could and offered myself up to her. As usual she was thrilled and quite nice about it. I'd also taken to meeting Alice during these kinds of jumps. It was interesting to see how things could have gone differently depending on small changes in our first conversation. Most of the time, it went exactly the same way as far as the end result. She would go to my home, and decide to travel with me. Other times, however, she would just go her own way. I never did quite figure out what I said that made her decide she wanted to travel on her own. Was it my breath? I suppose it could also just have been small differences in her personality in each world. There were some jumps where she never crashed outside Ilias Village at all. There were also no more Alberts lying in that crater, thank goodness. Not that he wasn't pleasant, but that had been weird.

I knew as soon as I saw her in that crater for what must have been the twentieth time that this was not the usual jump. It was definitely Alice, but she was different. Her markings, the ones that were mostly birth marks but supplemented with ink to improve them cosmetically, were rough and disorganized. Clearly there had been no cleaning up of the patterns. Her hair was shorter, shoulder length instead of the incredibly long hair I'd grown to love that went all the way down her back. The fine clothes I was used to seeing her wear were cheap, although at least well kept. There were no flowers in her hair. Her head was unadorned.

I stared at her, trying to figure out what it all meant, when her eyes popped open. I'd been staring and thinking so hard that it actually surprised me even though I'd seen it happen so many times. She popped up, as she usually did.

"Who are you?" she asked, not in the calm, authoritative demeanor that she normally did, but in an anxious tone.

"My name is Luka," I replied, then just answered the next question that I knew was coming. "You're just outside Ilias Village."

"Ilias Village?" she asked, looking confused. "She threw me that far? She just keeps growing more powerful!"

There seemed to be something more going on than Alice just being skittish. There was no air of royalty on her, that air that I should have noticed from the start but was simply too dense to see.

"Are you the Monster Lord?" I asked.

"Monster Lord?!" she exclaimed. "Do I look like the Monster Lord?! Why would you think I'm the Monster Lord? Are you the King of Sabasa, idiot?"

"Alice, I'm sorry, it's hard to explain…." That was a phrase I was sure getting used to saying.

"Alice?!" she said. "I don't even look like Alice! Why would you think I'm Alice?!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," I apologized, now extremely confused. "What is your name, then?"

"My name is Ariana," she answered. "I know this place is remote, but surely you'd know Alice if you saw her."

"Is she the Monster Lord?" I asked.

"Would anyone NOT the Monster Lord be named Alice? Is everyone from this village as ignorant as you?"

I was probably only going to be here for a few hours, maybe a few days. Very few jumps lasted longer than that. I decided to save myself from a gigantic headache and just go back home and wait for my next jump.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I don't…get out much. I was just confused. If you're okay, I'm going to go home."

"Wait," she ordered, and wrapped me in her tail. This, at least was familiar. It had been a bit of a game for me to see how often I could avoid having her either use her eye magic on me or avoid getting wrapped up.

She held me in her tail and looked at me for a moment. I wasn't sure how to interpret that look. Normally she'd just start hitting me with questions again, but instead she seemed to have wrapped me up without really knowing what she had wrapped me up for. In fact, I wasn't sure I liked the look in her eyes. It looked suspiciously like the look she'd give me when she was hungry.

"Are you an ally?" she finally asked.

"Um….. I'm not sure what that means," I answered very uncertainly. "I can assure you that I'm not your enemy. I have no problem with monsters. I'm friends with a local monster in fact, a slime girl named Lime."

"So you are an ally!" she said, relieved. "I wasn't sure about this place. I've heard the people of Ilias Village are very hostile to monsters."

"Most are," I said. "but I've always seen things differently."

"Join me, then!" she urged. "There aren't too many of us, but we're gaining followers all the time! It'll be dangerous, but if you believe in the new world like I do, and you want to fight for that world, come with me!"

I decided then and there that I was done playing coy. The only way I was going to get a real explanation that I could understand was if she explained things to me as if I had never been to this world before. Which of course, I hadn't.

"I'd love to join you!" I agreed, still wrapped in her tail. "I'm ready to leave with you right now! But we're going to have to talk about some things first."

"Sure, sure," she said happily, squeezing me gently but affectionately with her tail. "Oh, I'm so glad to find an ally here! We'll leave immediately, but first I need food. Would it be okay if I had some of your semen?"

"Right here?" I asked. This was very unusual. I could count on my fingers the number of times Alice had touched me outdoors. Being royalty and having standards, she didn't like feeding off me when I was covered in sweat and grime. She'd usually jump me right after I'd had a good bath. But since she wasn't the Monster Lord in this world, or even named Alice, I guess that made her a lot like other monsters, getting it wherever she could and not being too picky about it.

"Is there a better place?" she asked me.

"Well, I do need to get my stuff to go traveling, and I have a home. We could do… whatever you plan on doing in there."

"Enter a hostile human village? What kind of an idiot are you?"

"Can't you change into human form, or become invisibie?" I asked.

"Why would you assume that about me? No, I can't do any of that! First you think I'm the Monster Lord, then you think I can wield powerful spells like that?"

"You can't do magic?" I asked.

"I can do some," Ariana answered. "I'm pretty smart, so I've been really good at picking up what I can here and there. I had dreams of being a great magic wielder someday. My mother thought I had a gift. But with study of all but the most basic, practical spells forbidden, it's been impossible."

"Okay, how about I go get my stuff, you can feed as much as you need to, and then we'll rest here and get started tomorrow morning."

"You want me to trust you to go back into that village?" she said. "Now you must think I'm an idiot. I just met you. I don't need a company of soldiers out here hunting me down. No, if you are serious about being my ally, you'll feed me right here and right now. I'll carry you for the rest of the day. Don't worry about supplies, I've got supplies."

Indeed, I hadn't noticed what was most different about Alice. She was carrying a backpack with her own stuff! I mean, Ariana was carrying a backpack with her own stuff. She was even offering to carry me! I could see my Alice in her, but she was still quite different in so many ways. I agreed to her terms. I expected her to throw me down and get what she needed right away, but instead she furtively sniffed the air and began moving away from Ilias Village, with me still wrapped in her tail.

As Ariana moved along the ground, at a faster pace than I would normally have walked, she brought me over to her face, took down my pants, and slurped my penis as if it was a straw and I was the drink. I was being carted around like a bottle of water.

"So what was it you wanted to talk about?" Ariana asked, removing me from her mouth and moving me to her left side so that she could see where she was going.

"The most important thing is that I have no idea what's going on here," I replied. "I'm not from here. As in, not from this- oh! Wow! That's amazing."

Actually, it wasn't, it was pretty perfunctory, but just about any monster putting your dick in her mouth is going to result in your thoughts not coming out clearly.

"You were saying?" she said, as she moved me back to my position at her side.

"I'm not from this world," I finished.

"What does that mean?"

"The details will take time to explain, but the summary is that I have no idea what's what in this world."

"Sure," Ariana replied disinterestedly and brought me back for a little more slurping. "Fine. Whatever. I'll talk, you just be tasty. Obviously you've got mental problems, but at least you can be my lunch for awhile. And maybe a meat shield if I run into trouble."

She was all heart.

"So," she began. "I'm a commander in the resistance. I'm a follower of Justin Maddox, the prophet. He believes in a world where monsters and humans can coexist. Since you believe in that as well, you should like the guy."

"Resistance against what?" I asked. I had sensed the totalitarian atmosphere around Ilias Village, so Ariana's revelation, while not at all what I expected, was at least not completely out of left field.

"You really don't know?" she asked, bringing me back for a little more sucking. "Resistance to the Monster Lord! Alice?! You obviously have heard of her, you mentioned her! Confused me for her, somehow."

"There's a reason for that, which I'll explain as soon as- ohhhhhhh!"

Sensing that my reaction was even more appreciative than before, she took more than a few slurps, finishing me off. She swallowed my semen, intense bolts of pleasure shooting through me with every movement of her mouth and throat as I came. When I was finished, she returned me once again to her side.

"Wow, that was good!" she exulted. "You've got the best semen I've ever tasted! I'm definitely holding onto you for awhile. If that's okay,of course. It is okay, right?"

"Yes, by all means," I said.

"Cool," she responded, returning me to her mouth. I decided that I should probably wait to have this conversation when she wasn't hungry.

The conversation never resumed. She simply continued to carry me and slurp on me every couple of minutes. Eventually, I must have lost consciousness, because I woke up the next morning at camp, lying on the ground. Ariana was up already.

"Finally awake, I see," she observed. "You're the best portable lunch ever. You taste delicious, you come quickly, and you stay conscious longer than most guys. You know you don't have to be my lunch if you don't want to, right? Justin teaches us that we should never drain a man unless he says it's okay."

"This Justin, he teaches you about consent?" I asked. "I assume he's human?"

"Of course he is!" Ariana replied. "He's a man, what else could he be?"

"Like I said, I'm not from this world. I don't know what the deal is here. So this Justin, he's a prophet and he preaches coexistence between human and monster?"

"Yes," she answered. "he goes further than that. He teaches us that whether monster or human, we're all just one sisterhood under Ilias."

"Ilias?!" I blurted. "Ilias hates monsters! At least in every world I've been to."

"Stop speaking in nonsense," she admonished. "It's making it tough to have a conversation with you. What you're referring to is the old covenant. Justin has revealed the new covenant."

"The new covenant?" I asked. "You'll have to explain."

"Ilias once hated monsters because we were all followers of the Dark God," she explained. "Within our souls is nothing but darkness and evil. But if we follow the commandments of the new covenant, then that darkness transforms into pure light. Once we've achieved that purity, then we receive the benefits of the goddess' love, just like humans do."

"Do you feel that you've achieved this purity?"

"Well… no," she admitted. "I follow the first commandment unfailingly. I never touch a man unless he gives permission. I have more trouble with the second commandment."

"What's the second commandment?"

"We may only make love as humans do," Ariana replied. "That means I must never use my tail. That one is really hard on the fox girls."

"Is that why your technique yesterday was so….." I struggled for words that wouldn't sound insulting but was having problems. "so basic?"

"Oh, you mean my tongue?" she asked, sticking out her ridiculously long tongue. "Yes, we are forbidden to use monster sexual techniques that are impossible for humans. Our natural magic gives us more than enough of an advantage over human females. Justin teaches us that it's impossible for humans and monsters to truly be a sisterhood if monsters have too many unfair advantages over human females. You didn't seem to be complaining."

"No, and I didn't mean to be insulting, either," I said. "I was just curious, knowing what lamias are capable of."

"Sometimes when I'm really hungry, I'll cheat," she admitted. "I'm so gluttonous! Sometimes I just want it in like three seconds! I'm working on that. Justin says that gluttony is bad, too. I'm trying really hard. Justin teaches that humans fall short of Ilias' light as well."

"So what's the resistance?" I asked.

"We resist the Monster Lord, the spawn of the evil Dark God," she explained. "She's ruled over this world for over five hundred years. She uses her magic to spy on people, to find anyone who dissents and orders them be the first ones taken."

"First ones taken?"

"Are you just playing dumb for reasons I can't understand?" Ariana asked. "You live in Ilias Village. I'm sure you've seen the cullings. I'm surprised a delicious man of your age survived as long as you did. Usually someone like you would be taken before you turned twenty. You're almost thirty!"

"I keep trying to tell you-"

"I know, I know, another world, blah blah. Fine, do whatever you want. Don't tell me. Anyway, let's go. You get the day off from feeding me. That means you walk."

"Where are we going?"

"I got thrown all the way to Ilias Village, so we have to hoof it all the way to Sabasa."

"Thrown by who?" I asked. "Not Ilias, I assume?"

"The goddess? Why would the goddess throw me anywhere? No one ever sees the goddess! The Monster Lord threw me! Who else has that kind of power?"

"You attacked the Monster Lord?" I asked.

"She was visiting Sabasa," Ariana replied. "I made an attempt on her life. It was stupid of me, I know, but she killed my mother! I wanted revenge! She took me up into the air and threw me halfway across the world! It's a miracle I survived."

"You weren't even hurt!" I pointed out. "That's a little more than a miracle. Maybe you're more powerful than you think."

"Maybe," she conceded. "We echidnas are strong, even for lamias. My mother always said that I was special, but I guess all mothers say that to their children."

"You are special, Ariana, believe me," I assured her. "You don't believe me right now, but I'm confident that someday you will. You're the strongest person I know."

"You've known me for all of a day, idiot," she replied. "And half of that day was spent in my mouth. I've seen what critical ecstasy does to some men. Please tell me you're not in love with me or anything like that."

I was taken aback by that accusation and as had so often been the case over the last eighteen months of traipsing around the multiverse, I didn't know how to respond.

"Oh my goddess! You are, aren't you?" she yelled. "Damn my gluttony! When will I learn to control myself? One shot was all I needed, but once I tasted you, I couldn't stop! Now you're going to be following me around with puppy dog eyes for the next month!"

I still didn't know quite what to say to all that, so she angrily packed up our gear and we began our long walk to Sabasa.

Since Ariana couldn't disguise herself as human, we had to skirt Iliasburg. I asked her what city we'd be able to actually enter. I still wanted to get some supplies of my own, and I was extremely unhappy that my backpack with all of my electronics was back in Ilias Village. I knew that I'd probably never see them again. At least I never left my gold pouch unattended.

"Since you like monsters, we'll do a quick stop in Harpy Village," she replied. "I'm afraid that will be the only stop on this continent. And even harpy village, we'll still be sleeping outside. Port Natalia is tolerant of monsters, especially mermaids. I look mermaid-ish, so I don't usually have any problems there. If you want a comfortable bed, that's where you'll first get one."

"How do we get to that continent without going into Iliasport?" I asked.

"The resistance will take care of it," she assured me. "it won't be fun. Small, barely seaworthy boats, but we can usually evade notice. Usually."

"Black Alice's minions?" I asked.

"Oh, so you were pretending to be ignorant! I knew it! You slipped up there. I never told you that we call her Black Alice. Yes, almost all of the monsters of the sea are loyal to her. Humans don't venture out onto the beaches, so they get very few opportunities to eat. The Monster Lord assures their loyalty by giving them a good share of the cullings."

Since we were traveling to Harpy Village, we turned a bit to the east. No monsters accosted us. I'd expected a lot more running and being raped on this journey, but in over one hundred jumps, that hadn't happened very much. In part, that was because I was never around long, or out in the wilderness much when I was, and even then I was often accompanied by someone protecting me. The few battles I did have were in my brief times with alternate Alices reliving my original journey, where as usual, she would stand aside, invisible, as I fought. Since Ariana couldn't disappear, and she considered me an ally, no monsters bothered us. Echidnas were nothing to trifle with, even if she wasn't what she was in other worlds.

We were welcomed in Harpy Village by the familiar face of the Queen Harpy herself.

"Ilias' blessings upon you," she greeted us.

"And on you," Ariana replied. I was pretty sure I'd never get used to that. "My human companion here is named Luka. "

"Are you a follower of the prophet?" the Harpy Queen asked me.

"I…. I guess not, not yet," I stammered. "But I do agree with his message of coexistence."

"Then you are welcome here," the queen said, hugging me. "There are many human males here who believe as you do."

"Oh? You didn't kidnap them, did you?"

"Kidnap them?!" the queen asked angrily. "Who do you think we are? Quite the opposite. They seek protection from the cullings. We keep them safe."

"Black Alice has been trying to wipe out the harpies for a long time," Ariana explained. "they are formidable, and this place is remote, so they've been able to defend their independence from the Monster Lord for a long time."

"We will continue to do so," the queen added. "At least until she has taken care of the nearer thorns in her side. The revelation of the new covenant has made her rule more tenuous. We don't have the power to challenge her hold on power, but our numbers grow by the day. If Ilias wills it, we shall prevail."

"If Ilias is on your side, shouldn't your eventual victory be guaranteed?" I asked.

"Forgive him, he's an idiot," Ariana explained.

"No need to ask for forgiveness at all, Luka," the queen assured me. "Not all have heard the new covenant. No, our victory is not guaranteed. Black Alice is in league with the Dark God. The Dark God is equal to Ilias in power. Only if enough monsters accept the truth, can we join with the humans to defeat the Monster Lord and usher in a new era of peace, after these five hundred long years of oppression."

"If only!" Ariana scoffed. "The humans are as divided as we are. Half of them still follow the old covenant.They believe that Ilias will come and save them from the cullings if the just pray hard enough and abstain from sexual relations with monsters. We won't have a chance until the humans unite to throw off the Monster Lord's yoke!"

"There are other paths, child," the queen said calmly. "Remember the prophecy."

"What prophecy?" I asked.

"It's not important," Ariana insisted, cutting the harpy queen off. "I believe in Ilias, and I believe in the commandments, but the prophecy is Justin's wishful thinking. He thinks there will be an easy way out, that Ilias will provide if we're just good enough and believe enough. Everyone wants so desperately to believe that deliverance will come in their lifetimes. That's not how the world works. In the real world, even if the prophecy is true, it could be a thousand years from now! Even Justin admits that he doesn't know when the day will come. He just says 'soon!' What the hell is soon? Is it tomorrow, is it when I'm two hundred?"

"He is the prophet," the queen said serenely. "I know how angry you are. With all that you've been through, you have a right to be. Please do not take it out on the hopes of the believers. Of course, you are correct. Our deliverance might not come for a long time. But if Justin says it is coming, then it will come."

To Ariana's great joy, she was presented with two jars of Happiness Honey, which she proceeded to lick off her fingers. I started to stare, which caused her to roll her eyes, although she didn't stop eating. I made sure to look away, which annoyed her even more, as Ariana hated talking to someone who wasn't looking at her.

We camped for the night at the peaceful village. If we made good time, we'd make it to the northern coast of Ilias Continent late the next day.

We set out before dawn. Ariana wanted to make the northern coast by evening, in order to sail to Sentora under cover of night. She wrapped me in her tail, as she could travel faster carrying me than if I walked alongside her. Since she was carrying me, she also spent a lot of her time feeding as well. I didn't even try to make much conversation until she'd had a couple of loads and gave me a break to make sure that I stayed conscious. I had to admit, it was a great way to travel.

"How has Black Alice been alive for so long?" I asked.

"Shortly after taking power, she found the five rings," Ariana answered. "I'm not sure what those rings do, but they massively increase her power to the point where she's nearly equal to Ilias or the Dark God. They also stop her from aging."

"Was there no Heinrich on this world to stop her?" I asked.

"Of course there was a Heinrich!" Ariana exclaimed. "you really need to stop with the nonsense. You're not from here, but you know Black Alice and Heinrich. Your tall tales don't even make sense!"

"Did Heinrich fail?" I asked.

"If he'd succeeded, we wouldn't be where we are now, idiot. Heinrich was the humans' great hope to stop the Monster Lord. He made it all the way to her castle, but by then she had the five rings. He couldn't stand against that power, even though he had the spirits, an enchanted sword, and the power of angels behind him. Or so the legends say. The humans back then thought that they alone, with Ilias' blessings, could rid the world of her evil. Justin taught that only if monsters were brought into Ilias' light could there be any hope."

"Was your mother a follower of his?" I asked.

"She was," Ariana replied. "One of his first monster followers, and the leader of the resistance. Black Alice murdered her when I was ten. Justin says that while my desires for revenge are understandable, that darkness is keeping me from Ilias' light. I know he's right, but I don't think I'll ever be whole again until she's gone."

"She should be gone," I agreed. "But why you're doing something matters. Believe me, you won't become whole if you kill her. You have to find a positive reason to fight."

"What the hell do you know?!" she said angrily. "I like you better when you're moaning."

She brought me to her mouth yet again, this time making sure to suck frequently and intensely enough to draw three more loads out of me, resulting in my unconsciousness.

I awakened several hours later, having slept in her coiled tail. It wasn't nearly as comfortable as a kitsune tail. Not fluffy at all. The sun had just dropped below the horizon.

"Oh good, you're awake," she said. "Do you think you can walk? We'll be on a boat soon if I can just find the damn thing."

I nodded and she put me down. This part of the coastline was familiar to me. It had been where I had destroyed a force line to get rid of the telepathy and teleportation seals the Dark God had placed on her enemies. Ariana was looking for something among the trees near the beach. I followed her around, trying to keep an eye out for what she must be looking for. A boat, perhaps? If it was here in the forest it couldn't be much. She'd warned me that it wouldn't be much, but I'd been thinking of a small sailing vessel, not a rowboat or canoe.

"Aha!" Ariana yelled with satisfaction, uncovering some foliage to reveal a small rowboat. With no oars.

"We're going to take that across the sea?" I asked.

"No reward without risk!" she replied. "What it lacks in sturdiness it makes up for in speed. The propulsion spell on it does 20 knots. We'll be across in a few hours."

Oh, there was a spell. That was nice, at least. As long as we didn't run into an angry sea monster. I started to help her pull the boat out, but she waved me off, easily lifting it onto her shoulder and heading towards the beach with it. I knew Alice was strong, but had never seen her do feats of physical upper body strength before. Ariana was showing me sides of my own Alice that I hadn't known existed.

She placed the small boat on the sand at the edge of the water and gestured for me to get in. She then pushed the boat into the water and leaped in after me. The boat started moving by itself towards our destination, cresting the small waves with ease.

"So you ate an awful lot today," I noted.

"Sh-Shut up!" Ariana shouted. "You're already in love with me so I might as well eat my fill whenever I want."

I was and I wasn't, but that was too hard to explain and she'd already closed her mind to my explanations in any case.

"So what will we do when we get to Port Natalia?" I asked.

"Resupply and move on," she replied. "What else is there to do?"

"I don't know, maybe some people need things," I mused, remembering Maia.

"That's their problem," Ariana said gruffly. "Big picture, Luka! We need to get back to Sabasa, and Justin will decide how you can best contribute. Maybe you'll do scouting or something, or help him preach rainbows and flowers. I'm not sure what other uses you could possibly have."

"I'm more resourceful than you know," I said. "I might surprise you."

"Right. Weak human like you? You don't have brains or brawn. Your only virtue is that you're tasty. If we were the bad guys, we'd just use you to feed all the monsters in the resistance."

Wow. Ariana thought even less of me than Alice had early in our journey. At least Alice had liked me a little bit, even if she didn't respect me. Ariana was just bringing me along to join her movement in some minor role, and while she was going to the trouble, getting some tasty meals.

I'd thought of showing her my magic, but wasn't sure how she'd react to that. I'd long since grown past needing to be a showoff, like the time as a callow youth, when I'd charged right at the Heavenly Knight of Fire just because I wanted to prove I could use a sword. I didn't even have a sword with me, as my stupid sword had also been left back in Ilias Village.

We made it within a few miles of shore before we ran into trouble. Ariana started to get nervous as the shore came within sight, not liking what she was smelling in the water. Her fears were confirmed when tentacles reached out and grabbed our small boat, threatening to crush it. Ariana pulled out her knife and attacked the tentacles, causing the monster to withdraw. That had only been the opening attack. Several mermaids with tridents crested the surface and quickly approached us, some throwing their three pointed spears.

I caught one of them and used it to arm myself. She looked at me in surprise, but apparently decided to worry about my reflexes later, as there were more pressing matters to deal with. She spoke a quick incantation. The part of the boat I was sitting in raised itself out of the water as the boat became weighed down by a harpoon gun that had materialized out of nowhere. Ariana aimed it at the closest mermaid.

"No!" I shouted. "You'll kill someone!"

"That's kinda the idea, genius!" she yelled, and fired, missing.

I rushed forward and put my hand on the harpoon gun, pointing it downwards. "There's a better way," I said gently.

Ariana looked at me as if I was a complete idiot, so I decided to show rather than tell. I put my hands out and tried to repeat a trick that Gabriella had taught me. I grasped a small amount of my power and fired several small bolts out of my fingertips at the mermaids. When Gaberiella had taught me this use of my power, she'd done so by throwing marbles in the air. If I envisioned things correctly, I could hit every marble. Hitting several large mermaids was quite easy by comparison. All of them went down, back under the waves. I knew how strong mermaids were, so I wasn't concerned that they were hurt too badly. However much I'd damaged them, it was better than a harpoon.

Ariana shooed the harpoon gun away, causing it to vanish and the boat to return its full volume to the water's surface. She pointed at me, shaking her finger.

"You… you… you…you're the hero!" she said accusingly.

"I'm not really a hero," I stammered. "I never got baptized."

"What's baptized?" she asked. "Never mind, I don't care. You just…. Nobody but the Hero can do that! The prophecy is true! You're the hero! Oh my goddess! All that nonsense you were speaking about being from another world, it was true! The prophecy said the Hero would come from another world! I've got the damned Hero in my boat! And I…. I ate the hero! I'm not supposed to eat the Hero! Why didn't you tell me you were the Hero? Oh my goddess, I made the Hero fall in love with me! I have to ask Justin what this means!"

"Now that you're willing to listen," I said smugly. "How about we get into Port Natalia and discuss it all in a more comfortable and safe place?"

We checked into our inn, one that was familiar to me. In over one hundred jumps, I think I must have stayed in several cheap inns in every major city. Since most things were identical from world to world, I'd acquired some favorites and this inn was one of them. The food was good, the rooms were clean. Ariana especially appreciated the food part. I just realized that she'd never given me a chance to impress her with my cooking. She'd been so busy feeding off of me rather than letting me feed her the traditional way, that she didn't know what she was missing. I decided to make a point of correcting that omission as soon as we next camped.

There was a lot of story to tell, and we were up late in the night as I told her all the details I thought important. I explained that I wasn't really in love with her, but in love with a variant of her, a counterpart, who was the Monster Lord. I was trying to get back. I could fade out and move onto the next world at any time. She seemed alarmed at that information, given that I was her great hope. Well, I explained, if the prophecy is true, I'm sure that means I'll be here until I can fulfill it.

"The world you're trying to get back to is one where monsters and humans coexist?" she asked.

"It hasn't been that way long, but for the most part, yes," I answered. "I, along with my friends, worked hard to make that dream a reality."

"So you fulfilled prophecy on more than one world?!" she said excitedly. "That means you can't fail us here! It was all true! I can't believe it!"

"There wasn't a prophecy on the world I changed," I corrected. "This is the first I'm hearing of a prophecy. This world is very different from the others I've been to. In all the other worlds, Black Alice either died five hundred years ago or never existed. I guess her discovery of those five rings is what changed everything here."

"So what can you do?" Ariana asked, giddy. "Can you fly?"

"A little," I replied, smiling. I wasn't a showoff anymore, but I was enjoying the sudden change in Ariana's attitude.

"Are you invincible?"

"Not at all," I replied. "I'm afraid that's my biggest weakness. I'm completely human."

"And extremely susceptible to pleasure attacks," she noted. "I know Justin said the Hero isn't supposed to be touched, but I'm going to have to keep pleasuring you to toughen you up."

I smiled, knowing that there wasn't a world I'd seen where an Alice wouldn't take advantage of any excuse to fill her belly.

"Oh, thank the goddess you're not in love with me!" she breathed in relief. "You're in love with someone who looks like me and I remind you of her! But…. That's not important right now! We need to get you to the Monster Lord's castle so that you can destroy her!"

"I thought we were going to see Justin? Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves?"

"Sure, we'll go see him on the way, but obviously we're going to continue on! I'm going to take you to the Monster Lord's castle and I'll get to watch her die! I wish I could do it myself, but I'm just not powerful enough! I thought I was going to use you as a meat shield, but I guess that will be my role, now. I'm hard to kill, and you've got the firepower. Together we'll make a great team!"

She hugged me with glee. The complete reversal in her attitude towards me was something to behold.

"Now, hero, time for your special training," she said with a lascivious smile.

Ariana wrapped me in her tail and deposited me onto the bed. Still wrapped in her tail, she quickly removed my pants and plunged her vagina onto me, taking me all the way inside her.

"Horahorahora," she said. "Can you handle being this deep inside me so quickly?"

She received a gooey answer, along with my cries of ecstasy.

"Looks like the answer to that is 'no'," she chuckled. "As powerful as you are, you have a pretty big weakness. I simply cannot in good conscience let you walk around so vulnerable."

Her pussy squeezed me tightly as she slowly moved, causing me to gasp and moan. Then I felt her folds moving around, although not as skillfully as Alice's. Ariana had obviously not had Alma Elma as a trainer. Still, it was difficult to stand.

"I thought you couldn't use monster techniques?" I managed to gasp.

"This isn't for my own benefit," she rationalized. "The Hero can't fall because I failed to help him. This little thing that I'm doing is nothing compared to what Black Alice's minions or the Monster Lord herself will subject you to. Aaand, you just came again. Can you even move anymore?"

I could, but the only way I'd be able to break out of her hold would be to blast her. Without the spirits, I probably had no chance as soon as she wrapped me up. If I was to defeat this world's Monster Lord, I'd probably need those spirits. I must have been thinking aloud.

"Did you just say spirits?" she laughed. "I never took you for a pagan."

"I'm not," I said. "Just thinking about what I would need to break out of your tail."

"Still strategizing after two orgasms?" Ariana asked. "That's something at least. You already did stay conscious longer than most men I've pleasured. We just need to work on that quick trigger. It only takes one orgasm to take away most of your ability to resist. But three…."

She slammed down on her pelvic muscles, grasping my shaft tightly inside her, which caused another explosion. I began to lose consciousness.

"Have a good rest, my Hero," she said softly. "we have a long day tomorrow."

I woke up refreshed the next morning. Ariana had planned to take me to Sabasa at once so that she could inform Justin that the Hero had arrived. I had other plans. If I was to take on a Monster Lord, I would need the spirits. I tried to explain this to Ariana as we sat on the bed in our hotel room.

"The who?" Ariana asked.

"The spirits: Sylph, Gnome, Undine, and Salamander," I explained. "they are the spirits of the four elements. They massively increase my power so that I can have a chance to defeat Black Alice."

"Do you realize how long that's going to take?" Ariana objected. "You could fade out of here at any moment! We can't go running around looking for mythical pagan beings!"

"If we don't," I cautioned. "I don't even think I can get to Black Alice, much less beat her."

"But your power-!"

"It's not enough, Ariana!" I insisted. "It has limitations. All you saw was me give a little blast to some mermaids. The rest of your belief that I can waltz into the Monster Lord's Castle and beat her is based on nothing but what you've heard about this person that I might not even be."

"Okay, then explain it to me," she said. "Tell me how your power works."

"I'm not completely sure," I admitted. "But the way more knowledgeable people than me have explained it is that I can do anything I can imagine with it, with several caveats. First, I have to be able to imagine it, second, I have to truly believe that I can do it, third, if it's complicated, I have to understand it before I do it, fourth, nothing I do ever lasts any longer than I can concentrate on it, and fifth, I run out quickly. Black Alice can probably sling magic at me all day. If I don't put an end to her with one big blast, she'll kill me."

"Wow," Ariana breathed. "You just named five limitations, but they're all the same limitation."

"They are?" I asked. "How's that?"

"You're an idiot!" she replied. "Every single thing you just said can be summarized as, 'I'm Luka, and I've got godlike power at my fingertips that I didn't even have to earn, but I'm such an idiot that I can barely use it.' Do you know what I could do with that power?"

"The version of you that I know could defeat any enemy with a small fraction of it," I said. "But I'm not sure what you're saying to me."

"What part of idiot don't you understand?" Ariana said. "Okay, let me explain this slowly. You want to waste time looking for four spirits whose power you've already held within you, right?"

"Yes."

"Power that you are quite familiar with."

"Uh huh."

"Power that you have felt inside you, and know what it feels like to have inside you."

"The point?" I prodded.

She rolled her eyes. "If your power can do anything you can imagine, and you can imagine the spirits inside of you…..Hello! Is someone in there? This isn't hard!"

"You're saying that I could mimic the spirits' power as if they were actually with me?" I asked.

"You're getting warm," she said. "C'mon, let's go outside. Now I'm a damn magic teacher, too."

We walked outside the inn, into an alley for privacy. No sense alarming the citizenry.

"Now, you said you can already fly," she instructed. "Fly. I want to see this."

I lifted myself off the ground about five feet. My skills at levitating myself had improved greatly, although I still wasn't sure I'd call it flight. Something in my brain always kept me coming back down to earth, as if my conscious mind couldn't accept the violation of physics for more than a short time.

"That's not flying, but whatever," Ariana said. "Now imagine that the air spirit is with you. That's the spirit that should enable you to fly. Did you use her to fly in your past lives?"

"Not really," I conceded, still floating in the air. "I'd been told that I could use the power of wind to fly, but I'd never been able to pull it off."

"Bad example, then, but still, let's work with it," Ariana said. "Go ahead and do whatever you did to invoke the power of wind."

"Come, Sylph!" I said. Of course, Sylph didn't come.

"You literally called their names?" Ariana asked. "Look, skip that part. Just remember how it felt after you called her. Find that feeling. If you can imagine it, you can make it so, right?"

It did seem to make sense. I guess I hadn't really thought about using it that way. I tried to remember what Sylph's gale felt like. I grabbed onto a handful of my power, closed my eyes, and imagined that gale not only giving me more lift, but supporting my weight as well.

"It's working!" Ariana yelled.

I looked down. I was at least twenty feet high instead of my normal five. I'd gotten this high before, but I'd used a different way to imagine it. I'd pretended that I was Iron Man and using boot jets. But those imaginary jets would always cut out on me. For whatever reason, my imaginary Sylph's wind was more reliable. I decided to see what I could do with it.

Ariana laughed and whooped as I flew around, not exactly gracefully, but at least not falling. My arms and legs flailed wildly and I had trouble controlling exactly where the wind carried me, but I at least wasn't falling. Until I hit the side of a small building, that is. I bounced off and began falling, my wind gone. I tried imagining Gnome inside my heart. The familiar, safe feeling of Gnome's added strength and protection filled me just before I hit the ground. I looked up to see Ariana wincing.

"Are you all right?" she said. "That looked like it hurt."

"It did, but thanks to you, I don't think I injured myself. I imagined Gnome was inside me and I think it protected me from the fall!"

"Really?" she asked happily. "Is that the earth spirit?"

"It is!" I said. "And thanks to you, we can go straight to Sabasa!"