Day 8 – Between Two Shores – Part 8
“Go us!” Charlotte declared. “That was awesome! We did good, right, Alex? Alex?”
“One moment,” he muttered in response. “I am… feeling that call again.”
“Oh great, he’s getting even stronger,” he heard Tess sarcastically drawl. The sound was distant as if heard through a long corridor.
Alex was sinking into his soul. The first few times it had felt like he was in freefall and drowning simultaneously. This time, it was a controlled descent into that network of roots that was his bloodlines. What had once been a dark place filled with withered branches was now a pleasantly warm chamber where what was him and what could be him met.
The other him was also there, further away and yet closer than ever. The dividing line between them was breaking down. When would it be fully gone?
No answer to that question. Only a multitude of veins that offered him their power. Many entities looked at him from the outside, the original or current existences at the apex of their respective kind. Alex could see some of them blurrily. The radiance of the greatest of all angels. The twisting, self-devouring maw of the Demon Sultan. The enormous humanoid figure of the strongest Titan. Everyone else was a distant presence, less a corporeal entity than a shadow cast on a wall.
They were pleased with what he had done, for reasons that he could only guess at. However, they were not the ones bestowing him power. This awakening was his own. Like muscles grown through effort, so too did the supernatural might that was locked away stir in response to his achievements.
Alex pointed at a dried out vein. It was a deep purple, mixed with an infernal red. “That one,” he decreed and it swelled to life. Controlled, he rose from his own soul a moment later.
Moans greeted him back in reality.
Alex looked down. Infernal power was burning marks into the skin of his torso, all the way from his shoulders to his cock. It was a pleasantly tingling process. Considering how they shifted, the way his women wound where they sat, it must have been manifold more pleasant for them. A fragment of his newfound might found a willing place to settle in them, searing a mark above their wombs - his mark.
“Oh, fuuuuck, Master!” Selana moaned, her gushing cunt drenching his fingers. The brand rewarded them for agreeing for it to be placed on them. Such was the new magic Alex possessed.
“Wh-aaahhh-t is this now?” Tess was now actually hugging his leg.
“In—cubussssss?” Charlotte guessed.
“Accurate,” Alex said with a proud little grin, then reached out to the marks. He had an innate connection to them, which told him in what direction and roughly how far he had to go to find his women. Not a great benefit at the moment. All three that were immediately branded were pressed against his skin. The other ability of the mark was more fun. Extending his will, he reduced the sensitivity of his women to nothing.
“”Huh?”” All three voiced their surprise at the sudden clarity. Then, all three cried out in renewed pleasure as he moved the magic the opposite way. Twice, thrice, five times, eight times, ten times - that was the maximum. Every last bit of sexual sensitivity was elevated tenfold. Just the movement of the air made the women tremble.
He dialled it back down to normal levels. “I figured it was appropriate for my lifestyle,” he explained his decision and put Selana down. The three womb tattoos between them were not the same. Each was a masterwork crest of magic that Alex did not understand in the slightest beyond what instincts told him. It would shift in both form and colour over every single day. What would not change was that it would always decorate their lower abdomens, right above their wombs, and that they marked those wombs (and the women around them) as his willing property. Willing was the operative word. It was a sort of contract.
“Can’t say I disagree, Master,” Tess said.
“Fuck… fuck I have a womb tattoo… fuck that is so hot… fuck!” Selana was going through some kind of revelation of the kinky variety.
“It does look pretty hot,” Charlotte agreed. “Anything else ya wanna tell us that you are able of doing now, swirly chest?”
A weird nickname, but not entirely unfitting given the demonic marks on his own chest. They were purely decorative for him, as far as he could sense. “The more you swallow my cum, the more sensitive your throat will get.”
“...That’s a joke…right?” Charlotte asked.
He shook his head.
“THAT’S a joke, right?” the French tomboy asked, then laughed when he shook his head again. “You are face fucking me until I squirt, big guy!”
“Later,” he promised. The prospect of slowly making every last sex slave in his harem a comfort hole who did not just enjoy serving, but came both in the process of doing so and when they swallowed his seed was deeply pleasing. “8 days,” he muttered, then looked at the corpse. “Incredible how quickly things can change.”
“Right, let us put the pleasure aside for a moment - what was that?” Tess knew she would not get a proper answer, so she added. “Any guesses?”
Selana swallowed to get herself under control. It mostly worked, albeit a finger kept tracing the lines of her new brand. “To state the obvious: it was undead, it is involved in us not being able to get pregnant, and it probably was just possessing that deer?”
“It definitely was,” Alex told him. “The horns were outgrowths of two tendrils that came from the stomach.” He looked at the deer. “I want to check. Keep a hold of that rod in case an Alien jumps at me.”
“Always wanted to punt one of those,” Charlotte joked and kept the rod at the ready while Alex opened up the deer’s stomach.
It reeked. More things were rotting inside it. That not even maggots lived inside the stomach of that creature only made it all more morbid. What Alex was looking for, he found after some careful prodding with a stick.
It was a seed, of sorts. A rough looking thing, shaped like those found in an apple, but with a texture more akin to birchwood. It was grey. From the split top, the two tendrils emerged. Its size made it surprising the deer would have tried to eat it, but evidently it had. Either that or something forced it down the gullet of the animal. Alex was not sure which possibility was more terrifying.
“The Death Willow…” Alex muttered and glanced at his women. “I still don’t feel fertile - do any of you?” Shaken heads denied the question. “Which means this was just… what? A scout? A freakish breakout?”
“It said ‘everywhere my roots may reach’,” Tess thought out loud. “So we are almost certainly dealing with some kind of tree?”
“I definitely think so,” Alex confirmed, then sighed and got up. “No use to speculate too much. At the very least we know that something is deliberately denying births though.”
“Can we just leave this here?” Charlotte gestured at the whole corpse.
“I think so. Look.” Alex pointed at the severed head of the creature. He had dropped it in the grass a little bit away from the corpse. “Where the creature moved while it was alive, the plants withered. Everything around the head is still green.”
“Could just be inert?” Tess suggested, but none of them believed it. The dread was well and truly gone. “I wonder if the other dangerous wildlife is related to this?” That was also denied on intuition, although they could not be certain there. “What do we do now, Master?”
That was an excellent question.
“I suppose we just… go on with our day. Little of it as is left.”
________________________________________________________________
“That’s a pleasant surprise,” Charlotte said.
“Absolutely,” Alex agreed and gazed out at the tree. It was much closer than they would have hoped for at this hour. That stream that had delivered them across the strait in the morning must have continued throughout the day and now the tree was getting pushed along by it. Considering the amount of surface that the tree roots had, the effect on the slow-moving thing was quite impressive. “It will probably get here by nightfall. Looks like we won’t have to swim out.”
“Neato,” the swimmer declared. “Sooooooo can’t wait for them all to see all the stuff we roll up with today!” She gestured at Alex’ height, his new chest tattoos, the sword, her own womb tattoo, and the skull of the creature. After some deliberation, Alex had decided to keep it as a trophy. He trusted their eldritch servants to toss it out if it turned out to be a threat.
“What do we do for the rest of the day?” Tess asked, her tone as calm as ever. “Obviously the answer is: whatever you want, Master. Just wondering what the details on that are.”
“You are being extra submissive right now,” Alex noted
“Dude.” Selana gestured at all the things Charlotte just had. “Come on. This is the kind of day that actual legends are written about.”
“I suppose that is what we have Ashley for?” Alex wondered. “We should probably prepare to be needled with questions about the details.”
“Obviously we can all agree that I delivered the most important blow to the monster,” Charlotte fake-boasted. “Not at all Tess’ brave intervention that saved Alex from an injury and, let’s be honest, the man barely did anything anyway.”
“Women get it done,” the sarcastic drawl of the angelic goth had the other two women chuckle. “Anyway, what are we doing?”
A good question.
“Let’s just keep it relaxed and make sure this strip of coast is safe.” Alex rolled his massive shoulders. He was not quite yet over the base enjoyment of how big he felt - was. “We have done a whole lot in a single day. Do you still have that fairy seed by the way?”
Everyone looked to Charlotte.
“Shhhhhhhit!” the vixen cursed.
Disadvantage number one of having to carry everything with their hands was definitely that they could just leave things in the dirt by accident. It was no harm in this case, as Charlotte remembered dropping it when they had fought the Death Willow creature. Getting back there was barely an inconvenience, finding it easy, and then they went back to the shore. They sat, they patrolled, they made love, and they joked about how they should present the story for maximum effect.
The sun was setting when their house tree dragged itself ashore. One final step of the many roots and then the plant as a whole decided that it was done for the day. Burying itself into the sandy soil, the red-leaved tree let out a relieved sigh, like athletes did after putting the weights down.
Alex was seated against a big rock and waited. With the tree now planted in place, it was only a matter of time until his harem came out to stretch their legs. Spending an entire day stuck in there could not have been too awful, but besides sex, naps, working out, eating and chatting, there could not have been too much to do.
It did indeed come true that the first couple of haremettes left through the doorway. They poked their heads out, finding Charlotte, Tess and Selana walking up to the entrance. Smirking, Alex watched the conversation from a distance. He knew what was being said without hearing it. Questions were doubtlessly asked about the womb marks and only avoiding answers given. Tess used her leverage in the group to silence the questions. Instead, the message that they should come see Alex outside was spread.
Initially, only about half of the harem had come out to stretch. Once the word went around, it was all of his girls that moved towards the man of the island. “Alright, so what’s the big news?” Jane asked. Her eyes were already scanning him. She and everyone with her were already noting the new marks on his torso and forearm. Some of the more keen eyed haremettes, Ashley first among them, was clearly noticing more.
“Big news is an apt choice of words.” Alex put a hand on one knee and then, with deliberate slowness, rose to his new height. Eyes went wide when it dawned on them just how tall he had gotten.
Just when they started to recover from the surprise, the earth to Alex’ right cracked up. Handle first, his greatsword shot up from the gap. Effortlessly, the Titans’ descendant raised it with a single hand onto its typical place on his shoulder.
“I had a very productive day,” he told them.
“Our children will rule the fucking world,” Evelyn declared and fell to her knees in front of him. There was worship in that gesture, but mostly she did it to be the first to kiss his cock. Granted, she was less kneeling and more upright on her knees. His height really was something.
“I could suck that standing,” Ashley mumbled.
“I have to suck that standing!” Kiara realized out loud. The Irish dwarf’s head was basically on the same level as Alex’ crotch. “I don’t know if that’s hot or horrid?”
“Speaking of horrid,” the man of the island put the sword down. He needed one hand free to keep Evelyn from going full comfort hole. She was not that good at sucking cock yet, but Alex had learned earlier today that there was a way where there was arousal. His other hand reached for the skull that they had hidden behind the crest of the rock.
The view of the undead wood creature dialled down the growing lust immediately. Everyone was getting gradually more used to oddities. Still, there was a big gulf between large starfish/cute animal ears and misshapen undead monstrosities formed from grey wood and crimson amber.
“We’ll go through in order of what happened today,” Alex decided and everyone nodded. A gesture of him had everyone sit down in a large circle. Noticing Janette’s intense staring, the Titans’ descendant handed the skull over to her for inspection. “Anything you make of it?” he asked her specifically. Since she was another wood-horned entity, maybe she had some instinctual insights.
Janette turned the thing in her hands for a while, then shook her head. “No.” She handed it towards her seat neighbour. One after another, the women took a look at it.
Simultaneously, Alex recounted the events of the day. Landfall, the small meteorite, the big obelisk, the little patch of fae-blessed land, the box with survival gear, the giant crab and finally the dread thing that they had fought. He kept most of it short since it was that last point that really mattered.
“Our primary goal on these islands is clear then,” Evelyn spoke grimly. “Kill the Death Willow.”
Alex gave that a deep nod. “That seems to be what we should do, yes. If we can gather some more intel about who or what it is, then we will take it.”
Sara cleared her throat. “Fundamentally… I… uhm… do not think that anything screaming ‘no more births’ is likely to be a good moral agent.”
“We don’t even have to go there!” Charlotte said loudly. “You weren’t there, Sara, that deer thing was fucked. Like, it was arguably scarier before it grew the weird torso.” Everyone looked at her weirdly - everyone but Tess and Selana.
“No, no, this time she has a point,” the gothic tomboy defended her fellow athlete.
“Yeah, don’t get me wrong, that thing was dangerous.” Selana pointed at the skull. “It’s just that a sick deer with sharp teeth looks really, really wrong.”
“Ignoring what was worse,” Alex continued on. “The Death Willow is, I have no doubt about this, the enemy of life. I like being alive, especially recently.” He smiled at all of them. “Therefore it is my enemy.”
“Our enemy,” Jane stated, to universal agreement.
A short moment of silence, then Yahui switched the topic. “Forgive the question, but I cannot fail to notice that you have not yet mentioned the nature of those marks?” She gestured at the prominent brands on the women who had travelled with Alex that day. “What are they?”
“A surprise, for now,” Alex told them all and got up again. “First, I want to strengthen the tree. Then we will do further revelations. Janette, can you come with me?”
The martial artist nodded stoically and got up. Since she was the one closest bonded to the tree, he sat it as only appropriate to have her tag along while he took the fairy seed to the core of the tree. The pulsing crystal heart was located near their bed chamber in the canopy.
Offering the energy in the seed to the tree itself was as simple as pressing the former against the latter’s core. The seed turned into crystal, fused to what was already there. A shiver of delight went through the exhausted plant.
One shiver turned into a tremble and a tremble into a pulse. Janette placed a hand on the smooth wall of the chamber and showed a rare smile. “Grow,” she whispered encouragingly. “Beat strong.”
The pulses intensified, accelerated, and the walls creaked. Alex felt the growth of their home through his own connection with it. The chamber they were in expanded in equal measure to the tree at large. Willingly, gaps opened within the body of wood, creating more hallways and rooms, staircases and magical facilities.
It took well over 20 minutes for the transformation to finish and when it had, Alex and Janette stepped out into a corridor twice as wide and lit by amber crystals hanging from the ceiling in smooth teardrop shapes. Just making their way down, they could already see the great increase in scope. It was no longer a singular, spiralling corridor that went from the bottom of the tree up to the bedroom, but a great network of pathways. As soon as they had picked up the rest of the harem at the bottom of the tree, they explored.
Their home was now truly luxurious. Rooms that they were used to now had a facsimile of proper furniture inside them. Tables and chairs, sinks and countertops all could be found. Where water flowed, the tree reacted to the wished for temperature, offering a range from near freezing to body temperature.
Perhaps the most important change was the existence of additional bathrooms. No longer would they all have to await their turn. There was one on each of the five floors of the tree now and each floor also had its own smaller bedroom and a balcony door. Said balconies were woven constructs of twig, moss, and amber, nestled between great branches of the enormous, red leafed tree.
Going all the way down, they found a cellar. A room with only artificial light, cold and yet dry, it would be optimal to store certain things. Then, they made their way back up to the Master bedroom.
It was unchanged. The white sheets covered an area no larger than before and it was good that way. Any larger and they could have scattered out so much it would have qualified as a hall. Like this, under the dome, was perfect.
“And now, it's time for you to find out what the brands are about,” Alex announced.