Chapter 444: First, you survive

Mason woke feeling more relaxed than he could remember. And also slightly dehydrated. How many times, exactly, and for how long, Thea had tried to suck out every drop of his ‘magic’, he honestly didn’t know. And he was pretty sure he’d technically ‘won’.

At some point, the nymph had stood up and wandered off like she was drunk, diving into her pool without another word. Mason stumbled over and lay down beside his wife and ‘concubine’, falling asleep the moment he closed his eyes.

“Good morning, husband.”

He smiled as the dark-haired elf leaned on his chest and gave him an almost hilariously chaste kiss, considering the night before.

“How’d you sleep?” he asked.

“Almost too well,” she said, looking down shyly. “I hope we haven’t overstayed our welcome.”

“Oh I doubt that.” Mason sighed and stood, lifting Naya to her feet. He was a bit disappointed she was already dressed, then kind of hated himself for even imagining more.

Maybe it was time for a week of celibacy. Just to see if he could do it. Like some kind of sexaholics anonymous assignment. He was pretty sure he heard his dick laughing.

It didn’t help when his new elven concubine, ie, his beautiful and recently banged, young-looking mother in law, yawned and stretched on her moss-bed like a cat. She blinked awake and looked at him with a smile before she seemed to remember where she was.

Then she jumped up and started throwing on clothes, turning away as if embarrassed. Mason had no idea what to do to smooth over anything. Thea had definitely pressured them all into their situation, not counting the magic of the pool. Even Mason was feeling a distinct ‘morning after’, walk-of-shame kind of energy.

Except…they’d also signed a contract. So this was no ‘let’s all forget about it’ kind of ‘what happens in nymph Vegas stays in nymph Vegas’ fling. Ayet was officially Mason’s concubine, which involved a good page of legalese that (admittedly on a quick, layman’s read) amounted to her very nearly being his property.

“Morning,” he said, doing his honest best to seem cool.

Ayet half turned and put on a polite mask, nodding her head as she did her best to cover herself entirely with her silks. Naya went to help her, and the women exchanged at least slightly less awkward looks.

“Well. Let’s get you home.”

Mason was feeling increasingly desperate to go do something. Fortunately, there was a whole heap of things that needed his attention, so it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to get himself on the road.

“Wait.” Thea stepped out from behind a giant mushroom. She was thankfully fully covered in a dress that looked like fresh leaves. She smiled and walked to Mason, kissing him with an equally almost hilarious chastity on the cheek. “Thank your for visiting me, druid. It was nice to see you again. My sister is well?”

“Yes. Safe and happy,” Mason said, clearing his throat and avoiding looking at the elves. “Ready when you are, ladies.”

“Thank you, Thea.” Naya took a step towards the nymph, looking a bit reluctant and shy. “But…I feel no different than before. How will we know anything has changed? That we can…have children now? What should we do?”

The nymph closed the gap, lifting a hand to Naya’s stomach before flaring with a soft, green light. She smiled and slid a finger down the elf’s cheek.

“A seed will grow in you now, moon daughter. You need only plant it. Gaia’s curse is lifted.”

Naya nodded. She seemed ready to turn away, then threw her arms around the nymph and squeezed.

“Thank you. Thank your mistress for us. We will never forget her generosity, or where our ancestors came from.”

Mason winced, pretty sure Gaia had no intention of forgetting, either. Thea just nodded and walked towards Ayet with the same glowing green hand.

“I’m…sure it worked for me as well,” said the enchantress, pulling away.

Thea shrugged and walked towards the deeper recesses of her grove, waving at Mason with a twinkle in her eye.

“Feel free to bring more of the poor creatures, druid. I would be happy to help them. The world is better with more feykin. Even if they are distant relatives.”

With that the nymph was gone from sight, only Mason and his two lovers standing in awkward silence.

“I wasn’t thinking,” Ayet said, her face flushing. “I mean about what we’d say. To the others. There’s so many younger.” She put her hands through her hair. “So many without any children at all. I’m being so selfish. I wasn’t thinking at all.”

“They can’t all be Mason’s concubines,” Naya said. “We’re going to have to find other solutions. He can’t just…bring everyone here.”

Ayet frowned. “Why not? It would only be our people who knew. If it was kept…discreet. Secret. There would be no official dishonor. They could find husbands or lovers after, whenever they wished. No one would ever have to know.”

Mason looked between the women, trying and failing to find words. He was pretty sure his new elven lover was suggesting he quietly take something like fifty other elven women and jump start their wombs. With his dick. In a hidden sex grove.

Naya rolled her eyes, then looked Mason up and down and frowned, maybe the first traces of jealousy he’d seen on her face.

“I’d know,” she said. “We must share him already with the others. You’ll see soon enough. You’ll want him constantly but be forced to wait.”

“I’m right here, by the way,” Mason said finally. Naya sort of huffed and came forward, putting her hands on his chest as she met his eyes.

“You’d have to spend a whole night away. Taking the girls back and forth for who knows how many. I know it’s selfish, but we’ve just been married. I’ll never get to keep you.”

Some of the awkwardness was definitely blasting away with renewing heat from the night before. Mason took Naya in his arms.

“You’re in charge of this, alright? If you want me to do this, you tell me when and how. Or we can another way. I just want to help.”

Naya’s jealousy was clearly fading as she hugged him. Ayet came closer, shoulders sagging with a sigh.

“We all know what that nymph was up to in the night,” she said, making Mason freeze as she met his eyes. “Your new husband isn’t a normal human. I’m sure you could come with your people to avoid…missing anything.”

“Still right here,” Mason said, not at all concerned.

“That’s true.” Naya pulled back and looked up at him with a grin. “We could probably even do more than one at a time. But mother would need to help with the portal. Do you think you could get three or four of us through the fey at a time?”

Mason was definitely already imagining a repeat of the night before, this time with Ayet, Naya, and Kitya…or maybe that blonde…plus the added comfort of having already done it. With maybe some more degenerate creativity on his part…

He cleared his throat. No. Bad. They needed to at least find some alternatives. He couldn’t possibly do them all this way. And was Naya thinking her mother could help him teleport multiple people at a time? That seemed like the important detail here.

“We’ll see,” he said. “There might be other ways. I’ll only do it if you want me to.”

Naya nodded and hugged him again, Ayet looking far more suspicious behind her. It might have been a mildly disapproving look, but it also wasn’t unhappy. Mason tried not to get too excited.

“I’ll have to talk to some of my people, but…” Naya shrugged. “I think most would be willing to do anything to conceive. And…this certainly won’t be a hardship.” She gave Mason a look like he was a naughty boy caught with candy. “Most are virgins. We’d be there to help, of course. But you’d have to go easy on them.”

Cerebus, or possibly Mason’s evil, sex-addled libido twin was maybe laughing again. Blood was draining out of his brain, but he smiled and nodded.

“I’ll do my best.”

**

With Ayet’s help, Mason soon had his elven wife and concubine back in the Fey, moving the few steps towards Nassau. He could practically feel little lightning bolts shooting between him and Ayet when she was forced to step into his arm.

Naya was obliviously chatting away about how she might approach her women and what she might tell them. Ayet was looking up at Mason and fighting a speeding pulse, pulling out the fabric over her chest.

Mason wanted this beautiful creature alone. He wanted her stripped of all her masks and clothes, until she had nowhere to hide and nothing left to say as he claimed every piece of her. She could definitely sense it as she looked at him. As his hand slid down her back, her body reacted instantly.

“Will you put my mother in another room, husband?” Naya put a finger to her lips in thought. “I don’t think she’d be comfortable with the others. And a bed can only hold so many women. It’s already kind of ridiculous.”

“Sure,” he said, sliding a hand down Ayet’s curving lower back as he stepped to the shadow of the great tree. Naya smiled and went to give him another chaste kiss, but he pulled her in. She made a surprised little squeak as he gripped her.

“Whatever happens with the others, I promise I’m going to keep you both very happy,” he said, tempted to start then and there.

“Yes, husband,” Naya said breathlessly, Ayet still desperately looking away.

He Wyrdwalked them both back into Nassau, unable to fight the urge for another few gropes before he left them near his house in the Nexus.

“Get her settled in,” he said, eyes locked on Ayet as she pulled her silks over her hair and followed her daughter. They both turned back to give Mason one last look, the fight already draining from Ayet’s eyes. Mason shivered as he fought the urge to follow and get her in a room right then.

The elven women were like catnip to Mason’s new superhuman body. They smelled and tasted incredible, nevermind how beautiful and soft and feminine they were…

The idea of secretly sleeping his way through the entire group of them…with his wife and ‘concubine’ beside him every step of the way…it was definitely not what he needed to keep his mind focused on the game.

If he even understood the damn game.

It seemed impregnating elves was just as important to his objectives as anything else. Which was a hell of a good job to have. But it also made no sense in a world where human players were supposed to fight to the death.

He wondered again about his ‘immortality’, about the potential length this damn thing seemed to imply. It definitely didn’t make him feel better, and he tried not to think about it.

But even if he focused on the now—making a new army of half-elven babies made no difference if he wasn’t strong enough to keep them alive.

So it was time to gather his players, and light a fire. They needed to move out and explore the continent, finding every dungeon and useful piece of resource, as well as all the remaining players. And they needed to do it before the next crisis took over their time.

And before the eastern players started finding ways through. Mason would have liked to pretend that wasn’t going to happen soon, or maybe ever. But he was the ‘expect the worst, try not to die’ type.

With one last look at the women disappearing into his house, he walked down the Nexus bridges. RoboGod had told them from the beginning it was ‘biological imperatives’. And you had to survive before you could procreate.

Mason ran for the communication beacon, already filling with a different kind of restless energy. He couldn’t help but grin as his mind went through teams and objectives. His players were about to have a rude awakening. And hopefully a very long few months.