Chapter 3: Time to rub it out good!

Hysta and I arrived at the Bathing House. It was more like giant swimming pool, with a lot of tables at the left side. I guess that it was customary for the men and women to bathe together, because there was no dividing section for the genders.

Hysta looked a lot more comfortable than I did. Because she was talking about her brother, and how nice it is to have a hot bath before dinner. I was feeling really tired and the dampness of the bathhouse was dulling my senses even further.

''Well, mr. Big Shot Hero, time to get clean and proper before dinner.''

Hysta said and she winked at me.

''Time to take those dirty rags off, right now!''

I stared at her for a while, gazing at her form fitting tunic.

''After you, miss Big Shot Caretaker Lady.''

I folded my arms and kept staring intently. Hysta took the hint instantly and started to giggle.

''Wow, such a prude hero, I have not seen one of those for a long time, hihi.''

I was a bit startled by her response; but I was not willing to be naked while she was wearing clothing. After a short stare down, she gestured that I should turn around. I did as she asked of me and I heard her unbuckle her metal brooch.

I turned around. And saw that she was very slender, with tanned skin and perky breasts with pink nipples. After resisting the urge not to stare or drool, I took a deep breath. And took of the rags that would have been called underwear in every other situation. She checked me out without shame, grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the bath.

''You still have a lot of Dark Essence in your body. We have to be thorough, so I hope you can bear with the pain.''

I gulped; not because I was afraid of pain. Mostly due to the fact that this naked, slender, blonde girl was going to wash me from top to bottom.

The water was very warm, boiling almost. Although that could have just been my body responding to the presence of this nubile and fit girl who dive-bombed almost on top of me into the bath.

''We only have an hour for this, so we better not waste time on frivolities, hihi.'', she giggled. I swam to a part of the pool where I could sit down in the water.

The water smelled of herbs, of mint and vanilla. It made me forget about the weird situation I was in and I closed my eyes. On my skin I felt a hand caress the skin on my back gently.

Hysta gasped and told me that my skin was very soft. After massaging my back vigourously she started to scrub me with what felt like a sponge made of shark skin. I gritted my teeth and fought through the pain.

Hysta told me that she was sorry about the rough feel of it, and that it was the only way to extract the Dark Essence from my skin. When she was done with my back she asked me to turn around. I did as she asked and gazed upon her form in the water.

Around us was a black pool, almost like tar or unrefined oil. It came from my skin, which was dripping the stuff like resin from damaged treebark. I felt a bit weird when she started with my chest. She noticed and started to talk:

''You have such a toned body. The other heroes we had were mostly chubby or very skinny. How did you end up with such a physique? Do you work out or something?''

Her interest appeared to be genuine.

I told her that here I was part of a Scouting group before I was summoned here. The social interaction with the other boys was not really my thing. So I spend most of my time chopping wood at the campsite. It was a meditative chore for me, so I spent the entire saturday afternoon like that.

I also like Physical Education a lot and I had Physical therapy once a week at school. So I was pretty toned for a kid my age. Hysta really enjoyed admiring me, and she started working on my shoulders.

''So you are a lumberjack? They must be getting cold without you and your firewood, hihi."

I tried not to think about Earth too much and I looked away. She noticed and continued to scrub in silence. Hysta was now scrubbing my arms with the sharkskin sponge intensely.

I clenched my teeth even more then before. She looked me in the eyes to see if I was still capable of taking the sensation.

''You want me to slow down?''

I shook my head and told her to keep going. The pain will be gone sooner if she picked up the pace. She did as I asked and when she was done with my arms she started on my legs. My legs are very muscular as well. Hysta was really looking forward to have her way with them.

When she started on my feet she used a brush with barbed hooks. I looked at it with alarm in my eyes. And she looked back with her bright orange eyes.

''I will not enjoy doing this, okay?''

I nodded and she brushed the underside of my feet. I threw back my head in absolute agony. And thought of the many times when I was playfighting with my dad. When I was getting the upper hand. He would always resort to cheating in some way. Most of the time he used the handle of teaspoons to stab me in my footsoles.

I never gave in to the torment, because my mother would always break up the playfight when she did not see it as playing anymore. That made me smile. And when I looked at Hysta she was done with my feet. They felt like I ran a mile barefoot on hot asphalt during a summerday.

While scrubbing my calves Hysta broke the awkward silence.

''You mentioned that you have Physical therapy in your world, but that does not make sense! You are so fit and beautifully built. Isn't that kind of thing for the disabled?''

I understood why she was confused. As she was working on my knees I told her that I had been very sick as a child due to a genetic disorder that I have. My bloodtype is O negative, and my mother has O positive. Our bodies were not genetically compatible during the pregnancy, so we both got sick a lot during my childhood.

Hysta was scrubbing my thighs as I was telling her this. She rubbed very fast and intensely. When I told her about my bloodtype she suddenly stopped.

''That cannot be.. How are you still alive? What kind of sorcery allowed this to happen?''

She looked at me with utter fear in her eyes. And begged me to say that I was lying. I told her that I was telling her nothing but the truth. And that we had arrived at the last body part to be scrubbed.

We both stared in silence at each other. Neither of us capable of breaking the verbal and physical deadlock. We heard footsteps down the hall paired with someone calling our names.

''Hysta, HERO! Dinner's ready! The cook made us soup with meatballs as an entry! There is also sausage and the kitchen also prepared specially for us the biggest.. oh.. cock.''

Dya was not expecting us to be undressed, sitting in a shallow pool of pure blackness. With Hysta turned completely white while I was staring at her in total silence. Her hands resting on my inner thighs, just a few centimeters from my crown jewels.