Chapter 70 Iris Redux
Chapter 70 Iris Redux
Feeling a little ambushed and spitful at Rincewind’s interrogation, I ordered two of every dessert on the menu. Since Rincewind was paying, it was my juvenile way of getting back at him. When the cart of desserts was brought up and laid across the table, I started on the gelato. It was coffee-flavored and amazing. I moved on to a caramel-apple-flavored mousse. Iris said I had to try the other mousse. I was reaching for it when I noticed a patient Dexter sitting with a straight back.
“Help yourself, Dexter. We don’t get to New York too often, and Iris has a bit of a sweet tooth.” Iris gave me a glare. She had just been sampling the desserts while I had been consuming the entire portion.
“Thank you, Mr. Silverhorn. Alas, I maintain a strict caloric intake regimen, and I have reached that for the day.” He waited while I just sampled the rest of the offerings like Iris.
Iris asked while happily rubbing her belly, “Do we have to sign or pay anything? Leave a tip?”
Dexter said, “Ms. Cartwright, the entire bill and tip is being taken care of by Archmage Rincewind. I hope you enjoyed the meal.” I stood, and Dexter followed, standing as well. I pulled out my wallet and left two $100 bills on the table for a tip; even though Dexter had said it was covered, I figured it was good form. My father always tipped 20% when we went out to eat, so I did it on instinct.
“Dexter, how long must we wait for the group that needs the portal gate open?” I asked. Iris was also collecting her things, and I could see her anxious to leave.
Dexter motioned for us to follow, “I sent them a message to get ready as soon as you agreed, Mr. Silverhorn. They assembled and have been waiting for 10 minutes while you enjoyed your dessert cart.” I think I caught Dexter smirking at our unadulterated enjoyment of the desserts.
We followed Dexter to a back stair, and he entered a code into a keypad. The door buzzed, and he opened the steel door. We descended, and the walls turned from concrete to smooth polished stone. Iris asked while brushing the stone with her hand, “How old is this place?”
Dexter spoke clearly, “The portal was found by the Dutch in the 1600s and was taken by the English in 1664. The English built this. The portal is quite valuable as it comes out near an elven-human city in the transit. This portal helped give rise to New York through trade, Ms. Cartwright.”
The stairs opened into a large chamber, and we moved across it. Crates, barrels, and sacks lined the walls, with a few men moving the items. I was on high alert but didn’t sense any danger. I noticed some train tracks leading into the adjacent chamber. We followed the tracks, and I could finally see the portal. I hadn’t looked up when we entered the restaurant, so I missed the thread going into the sky, marking the portal to my sight.
Ten soldiers surrounded the shimmering air that indicated I could open a portal here. My heart clenched, and I was ready to pull Iris out of there. But the soldiers were relaxed and lounging about. One of the soldiers walked over and addressed Dexter, “Thank you for setting this up, Dexter. We are ready. Is your Peter Pan strong enough to let us all through?”
Dexter turned to me, “Mr. Silverhorn, a Peter Pan is a slang term used to describe someone who can open a portal.”
I nodded, “So I assume these soldiers are called Wendys?”
The soldier looked at me, “Got yourself a comedian here, Dexter.” His serious expression soon cracked into a smile. Then he put on a huge grin and said, “Whenever you are ready, Dexter. We expected to be kept waiting for a while, but the men and I wouldn’t be opposed if we could get going now.”
I studied the soldiers. There were eleven now that counted, two of which were women. The two women appeared to be mages with stronger aether cores in my abyssal sight. I guessed them weaker upper-tier one mages. The leader yelled, “Ok, you freeloaders, get ready! Our gatekeeper is here!” The soldiers stirred and picked up very heavy packs. The two women just had small packs.
Iris asked, “How are they getting back?”
Dexter addressed Iris, “There are a number of people they can get to assist in opening the portal in this direction Ms. Cartwright.” The soldiers were in a neat, orderly line. Dexter motioned me forward.
I walked to the portal, touched, grasped, and emptied my aether, tearing a hole in the fabric. The leader yelled, “Move, boys!” The soldiers jogged into the portal, and I felt it destabilizing as more and more people went through. After eight had passed I thought the tare would close but it just wavered until the tenth soldier entered.
When all his soldiers entered, the leader followed them and said with some mirth, “Thanks, Peter!” Then he walked back into the portal and disappeared with the rest. The portal was very unstable, and I learned there was a cap on how many people could use an opening. I guessed that was why delve teams were typically six people. If shit was bad on the other side, they could always retreat before the portal collapsed.
Dexter nodded, “Mr. Silverhorn, thank you for your assistance. Do you wish for me to transfer the funds, or do you wish to be paid in cash?”
“Cash,” I said. I was thinking about making a go-bag for myself, but I also wanted to have funds on hand in my new house.
“Very good, Mr. Silverhorn. I will have it prepared and sent to your hotel. Where are you staying?” Dexter asked.
We gave him the hotel and information and then left. It was kind of eye-opening to see the operation. Iris talked while we walked, “I think the soldiers were on a trade mission, and then they were going to harvest some aether crystals.”
“How much do you think they will make on that expedition?” I asked, curious since they had paid me so much.
Iris answered, “I don’t know. I think a normal team of six or seven makes about one million per delve. Each member usually gets about $100,000 for the effort. At least, that is what I remember a guest of my parents saying a long time ago when they tried to get my parents to open a portal for them. I think they were an independent black team.”
As we reached our hotel, a man in a business suit approached, saying, “Mr. Silverhorn. Here is your payment.” He said, handing me a small suitcase. I took it, and he left without another word.
“Iris, we should mail this to your house before heading back to our room,” I said, getting my phone and looking for someplace open. I found a place just two blocks down. The process was relatively painless, and soon we were in our hotel room.
It was awkward for only a moment before Iris unzipped her dress and let it fall to the ground, leaving her in black lace panties and a bra. “You look amazing!” I said, removing everything but my Calvin Klein underwear.
I wasn’t sure why Iris seemed so nervous, but she just watched me undress. I moved into her and got one hand behind her neck and the other behind the small of her back to hold her as we kissed. We stood kissing for a long while her hands roamed my naked, muscled back. I broke the kiss and asked jokingly, “Do you want to do this, or do you want me to take you shopping?”
Iris pretended to think and then said, “Fuck first and then shopping.” She pushed me onto the bed and straddled my waist, rubbing her concealed pussy on the outline of my shaft in my CKs. Her lips attacked mine, and I could feel her wetness through both layers of fabric. My shaft was hard, and it gave her a firm rod to sandwich into her moistening camel toe. I checked her core and added my vortex. I would keep my aether sight active to make sure I didn’t do anything stupid.
Her hair cascaded around our faces as our tongues sought dominance. I started mixing in small doses of saliva, and her hips got more energetic, riding my length between her legs. The wet mound running along my penis felt amazing. I used my hands to reach around a release her bra, tossing it away. Her young mounds hovered with her areola tightening and nipples becoming hard with the rush of blood.
I pulled her hips forward to my abs so I could suckle her nipples. She fought me, trying to get her pussy rubbing over my shaft again. But I frustrated her and held her hips firmly. She started moaning as I applied small doses of saliva to her nipples and resided herself to rubbing her pussy hard into my abs. I sneaked off my damp underwear without her realizing it.
When she tried to take control again, I scolded her by biting her nipples somewhat aggressively. It caused her to squeak in a pained but pleasured yell. My tongue circled her nips, and I took large portions of her smaller breasts into my mouth. My hardness was poking her ass cheeks, and I still didn’t think she realized it was free. Iris was lost in the arousal of my saliva, so I pulled aside her underwear with one hand and lined up my tip by feel with her entrance.
When I was confident I was aligned, I took her hips and pressed her down onto my cock. She mewed in surprise and then delighted, realizing I was entering her. I teased her again by holding her hips with just my tip engaged in her pussy. The slick heat of her canal played delightfully on my glans, and she squirmed and reached her first orgasm. Her convulsion played well on my tip, and I checked her core and didn’t see anything to worry about.
When she started coming down from the pleasure, I pressed her hips down, entering her and probing her depths. The sudden expansion inside her caused her to whimper in surprised delight. She only took half of my length, squeezing and preventing me from getting deeper. Her hands were on my chest, and her fingernails tried to dig into my skin, but it was too tough for her to leave a mark.
Iris’s yelp mellowed and turned into panting, and she started riding half of my shaft. She started to mutter ‘yes’ over and over again, getting deeper and building to another release. My tip enjoyed sliding in and out of her tightness. Iris was getting deeper and deeper, and suddenly she collapsed on top of me, and I checked her core as her vaginal walls convulsed around my phallus in an orgasm. Iris’ body was thick with sweat, and my body heat kept her sweating.
She was panting loudly from her efforts and whispered, “Thank you.”
Her core was fine, and I hadn’t come yet, so I asked, “Are you done, or do you want me to do some work?” She looked at my face while I stroked her hair.
“I can go again. Just give me a second.” I rolled Iris off me and onto her back. I moved down to her naval and licked her belly button, depositing some saliva. She was quickly aroused and ready again. I moved down further and used my tongue to tease inside her folds to find her clit. Her hand grabbed my hair, and she started repeating the word ‘yes’ over and over again as I played my tongue around her clit. Her hips started bucking into my face in eagerness.
I moved up her body, and she spread her legs, eager for my cock to be inside her again. I hovered over her as I entered her and watched her face twist in pleasure. My own pleasure rose as I pumped Iris below me. Her core looked fine, so I came down and kissed her with some saliva before coming up and hovering over her again. I started increasing the power of my thrusts into her, reaching her deeper and taking pleasure in the sensation along my shaft and glans.
When she started to come again, I released deep into her—giving her my endurance seed. She shuddered as my elixir took hold of her. I came down and kissed her. She returned it with some fatigue evident. “Do you still want to go shopping I asked?” She shook her head no. “That has to be the first time a woman said no to shopping,” I grinned and realized my superpower of saying stupid things right after sex was still intact.
Iris fell asleep after a few minutes, completely satiated. I retreated to my mind space to get my eight hours of rest. My aether was under 100, so I couldn’t spend time practicing with Pandora. I needed to get into the transit in order to recharge my aether pool soon. I covered Iris and lay next to her while working on my phones.
My Apollyon phone just had photos from Amelia on the furniture she was selecting. She also asked to approve some additional work on the house. She wanted to change the tile in one of the bathrooms. She had a number of suggestions for the apartment of the garage as well. I said everything was fine and transferred another $20,000 to cover it.
My regular phone had a recent message from Paige. She was coming home Tuesday. She wanted to hang out before I went to Europe with our parents. Unfortunately, she was not bringing any of her teammates with her. She had texted ten minutes ago, so I texted her back, said I would be happy to hang out, and suggested the climbing gym.
The next text was confirming my date with Anya, the figure skater, for tomorrow. She had sent me a reminder and her home address. The address was in an earlier text, so I guessed she was nervous. Since Anya was a catkin, then I guessed she was under Jade’s jurisdiction.
The other texts were quickly cleared and responded to. It was 3:03 am, and Iris was still asleep. I went and took a shower. I was glad I had packed clean underwear and lay next to Iris in just my underwear. I checked on my life essence. 70/150. I harvested 14 from my session with Iris. I looked at the banner detailing my powers. I had promised to come up with more elixirs to help Abigail get into medical school.
I discovered a lot of enhancements as I explored the possible abilities I could add. Some abilities cost 500 and some cost 100. I distilled the list to only show abilities that would cost me 100 life essence to unlock.
Elixir Seed of Clear Thought
Lower
Tier 0
100 life essence
if your partner absorbs your seed they increase their reasoning
Elixir Seed of Quickness
Lower
Tier 0
100 life essence
if your partner absorbs your seed they increase their reaction speed
Elixir Seed of Recall
Lower
Tier 0
100 life essence
if your partner absorbs your seed they increase their memory
Elixir Seed of Constitution
Lower
Tier 0
100 life essence
if your partner absorbs your seed they increase their hardiness
Elixir Seed of Willpower
Lower
Tier 0
100 life essence
if your partner absorbs your seed they increase their mentalresiliance
Elixir Seed of Agility
Lower
Tier 0
100 life essence
if your partner absorbs your seed they increase their fine motor control
I was left with six elixirs that could enhance my partner’s physical and mental abilities. Pandora was standing next to me, admiring my work. I looked at Pandora and asked, “So what is the downside?”
She smiled, “Many things. First, it takes about ten aether to create your magic semen.” I looked up at the banner and had 79/1000 aether.
My aether pool had been almost full just a few days ago. I needed to go into a transit where my aether regenerated quicker. Or I could bypass harvesting life essence for just aether.
Pandora continued, “Unlocking the elixir creations doesn’t increase your life essence cap either.” She smiled at me, wearing a tight white tee shirt and tight jeans. She teased, “And unlike me, your investment in these women doesn’t mean they will always stay with you. They could leave you at any time.”
I looked at the banner, and the binding contract ability that cost 500 life essence to unlock seemed to pulse to bring it to my attention. I wouldn’t have enough life essence to unlock it for a very long time. The effect of the ability was vague… bind a servant to your cause, increasing their power. With all the elixirs, did I even need to learn binding contract?
Pandora spoke as I stared at the banner for quite some time, “I don’t think they can handle all the elixirs?”
I turned my attention to her, “What do you mean?”
“I think…well, you think there is a finite number they can utilize. You think the number is dependent based on their aether core tier.” Pandora explained.
“If that is what I think, then what are the numbers?” I asked curiously to Pandora.
“You need to experiment, of course! So get out there and go fire off some shots!” Pandora chuckled. “Go and figure it out!” I looked at the altar and thought about calling Andromeda, but she probably wouldn’t be happy to come here and answer this question.
“Best guess?” I asked Pandora.
Pandora rolled her eyes, “You are no fun! You think lower tier 1 aether cores can process one elixir. Each step up can either incorporate one additional elixir.”
I nodded, so I would need to unlock one more elixir to test my hypothesis. I could then try all three elixirs on an upper tier 1 subject and see if they all could be realized. Abigail had a lower tier 2 core now, so if she could handle a third elixir, then I would know about higher tier cores. So what would help Abigail the most in medical school…Reasoning or Memory? Medical school was both being able to remember everything and then using reasoning to apply the knowledge to diagnose. The first step was actually remembering—so memory. Elixir of Recall would be my next upgrade, then.
“Glad I could help! Before you leave me again, could you add a few things to my wardrobe? I wanted some things….” I spent an hour manifesting clothes for Pandora. More sexy women’s clothes. I was not even going to start down the road of psycho-analyzing myself. Why would my inner female subconscious want to wear sexy clothes around my mind space—definitely not heading down that road. I would just keep Pandora happy as she had been a massive help to date.
It was still early morning, and I watched Iris sleep for a bit before getting dressed. Iris woke around 7 am. We didn’t have time for morning sex as Iris had to shower, and we needed to get to the airport for our 10 am flight.
We made our flight, and Iris was anxious to talk to Vida. She wanted to find out more about the planet Mercanious. When the plane landed, Iris drove me home, and I briefly talked with my parents before changing and leaving for my study date. I told them I was going to study for a test…well, I was studying my incubus powers. I sat in my car and sniffed and then sniffed again. Smelled like Rob got lucky. It was feint, but my senses incubus could pick it up. Good for him, but I would get my car interior cleaned and detailed.