== VORTEX QUEST 2-0 ==
== CHARACTER RECAP ==
Let's start the chapter with a recap of who our protagonists are – skip to the chapter break if you don't need one.
Chay (nearly 25) is a buff Thai guy with a baby face and a close cropped fade. As a cyclist his lower body is overdeveloped but he put effort into making his torso catch up. On his middle finger is a divine ring that serves as home to a `cake' (head of a cat, body of a snake, created when holy vapor untwisted an abyssal creature).
On earth he was a psych major, now he is the demigod of umbralism, which allows him to create mist, clouds or smoke – enhanced by a fan that catapults smoke across distances, rolled into a wristlet when not in use. But umbra-power also lends him an analytical gaze to spot desires, weaknesses and lies when others would be left guessing.
He has taken the lead, balancing the needs of the pantheon members while forging a path ahead for the salvation of humanity. He tries not to think about the way in which the abyss has altered his desires, just hoping to stay sane through the newfound craving for demon cum.
Xane (23) is a 5'4'' short, Korean bodybuilder and artist. While his greatest artwork is his sculpted body, he bursts with creativity in multiple disciplines. His hair is a messy, broad mohawk.
A mix between laid-back and short-fused, the vain gymbunny doesn't like being told what to do but is happy to have Chay's finished plans presented, looking only to inject his designer spark where he feels like it.
On earth he was always busy working out or digging himself into one of innumerable projects – some even got finished. He was granted the magic of thaumateurgy, the most versatile and complex godly gift, ranging from telekinesis to illusions and a myriad of ways to inflict damage. He can store huge amounts of power in `motes' which take the shape of butterflies.
He'd never thought he would want to touch another guy's dick, let alone ride dino and demon cock. But now that he can't help it, he is torn between taking the lead to prove his masculinity even in man-sex or to lay back until others have established the rules.
Marcus (21) is a tan 5'11'' Filipino with lithe muscles and broad shoulders. His hair is now in a pure white mohawk of half an inch. On his middle finger he has a divine containment ring holding a large amount of unicorn dust' aka slug shit' that makes you too horny to think.
On earth he was swim team captain and a decent martial artist. His biggest weakness is his lack of patience and self-control, his strength lies in loyalty and humor. He was given the power of animus, making him the most potent martial artist that holy fire can forge, including a chakram that can turn razor sharp or be camouflaged as a simple bangle.
Mostly worried about not appearing gay, he can't help but want to fulfill his horny urges the best possible way. He just needs excuses and reassurance to indulge without having to justify every dick ridden.
Goro (22) is a musclebound Japanese hunk of six foot height. He was a pure powerlifter until his friendship with Xane a few years ago turned him into more of a physique builder. His shoulder-long hair is a mullet turned mohawk and thanks to his healing it is impossible to keep cut for good.
Although he is as silent as can be, he is no stranger to attention, especially since his ex-girlfriend leaked his nudes all over campus. As much as he is annoyed by the violation, his exhibitionist tendencies make him ultimately enjoy the interest.
Studying media and engineering on earth, the quiet guy's flat demeanor can easily be broken when his friends are threatened. He loves to feel powerful, heroic and mysterious, which is exactly what mania-power allowed. A muscle beast, capable of insane destruction on the outside, with a `mark of madness' granting a kind of adrenaline-driven meditative calm on the inside.
Having always liked to sexually experiment, though strictly straight, he doesn't have much trouble adapting to his new desires for sex with guys, even if he'd much prefer to fuck cunt. He prides himself on pragmatism in every situation.
Oh, and they all wear tiny, solid chastity cages that make their piss and loads spray uncontrollably and glow when near any type of demon. They're also freed of the need to eat but suffer the `paradox curse' that won't let them pleasure themselves.
Now on with the tale in Book Two.
== VORTEX QUEST 2-1 ==
== THE CRYSTAL REALM ==
The pantheon emerged from the violent kaleidoscope of the crucible with minor scrapes at the end of a canyon which kinked from sight a quarter mile ahead, where a giant skull in the rock spewed purple plasm.
The realm Phivvinum was just as much of a sprawling network of city-sized cavern as Jheyr'Udd had been but shards of reflective silver poked from the ground, some erected purposefully like menhirs and hung with banners.
Dark blue shimmered along the far away ceiling, as a mistier aurora, tinging the area in an eerie glow, traced by ghostly white sparks.
"Everyone okay?" Chay asked.
"My panties didn't make it either," Marcus said, gesturing at his exposed cock cage.
"Take mine," Xane said. "I can cover up with an illusion if it glows."
Grateful for the reminder, Chay let a black cloud pour from his groin to obscure his naked nether region, in case they were already being observed.
While Goro helped Marcus adjust the fundoshi, Chay took in the surrounding. A flock of imps far overhead, the familiar chameleon slugs on the wall, thorny roots blocking a branching path.
Ahead by the large stone skull, people were moving. Fields of plants wrapped around hip high posts, a small heard of Varks grazed nearby, smoke rose from a bulbous hut.
Chay squared his shoulders. "Let's introduce ourselves. Phivvinum is supposed to be more, uh, cosmopolitan."
As they closed in, it became clear that the villagers were Goblins - smaller troglodyte cousins to the Trolls. Barely as high as Xane, the creatures' ranged from athletically bulky to inhumanly broad. Green, bronzed and bald, Goblins looked every bit like caricatures of bodybuilders as Trolls had.
Their faces were pig-like, small heads on short necks, dominated by tusks or fangs.
The village was made of giant, hollow gourds in pale orange or green, with opening carved into the dry pumping flesh. Two Goblins in thin leather harnesses were returning to the village, carrying chain leashes. One brought a tall, pale Figment – a human slave conscious of his surroundings – the other had two Shades walking ahead of him – catatonic humans who stumbled, drooling. The slaves were made to carry iron poles.
The first guy was important and relatively sharp for a troglodyte, not easy to intimidate but unlikely to question a display of power. His multiple earlobe piercings and gold neck-chain spoke of status.
Chay cloaked himself in bubbling clouds and floated a foot off the ground, catching the duo before they reached the village. Xane aided the effect with a flurry of menacing red specks.
"Oogaloo Boogaloo," Chay said in Troglo, Gobbo dialect. "We've come from another realm. Can you give us the lay of the land?"
The insanely broad mini-Troll stared at the umbralist. "Are you... a Cinereant?"
Chay let his fog flare instead of answering, invisibly observing the creature's face.
The Gobbo's pig nose twitched as he looked at the other demigods. "Are those your slaves?"
"They're not for trade. But we have power, if you have knowledge."
The Goblin pretended to weigh the offer, licking his fangs. Greenskins were notoriously impatient but not quite too dull to practice deception.
Finally the mini-hunk nodded. "I'm vice chief Holder Of The Big Stick. Come along. The village elders can tell you everything if you do work."
Chay detected no ill intent, only a hope to profit from the encounter. He touched down and walked next to the vice chief.
Other Goblins and figments worked on the Vark farm and in the gourd fields. The pantheon was led into a giant gourd. Furniture was pumpkins in every remotely possible shape – bottles, chests, seats. Light came from strongly luminescent cucumbers drooping from the hut's dome. Instead of indoor plants, there were potted crystals of smoky white.
They were pointed to an alcove and given a gourd full of water out of hospitality. Chay didn't know if Cinereants drank but neither did the Gobbos.
"Are we really going to work for them?" Xane asked after his share of hydration.
"Lazy ass," Marcus said with a theatric eye roll.
Chay, temporarily visible, shrugged. "Maybe, if they have enough intel for us to plan an assault on the vortex here. The King of Phivvinum is less sedate and the realm will reflect that. I don't think we'll find another fallen angel with all the right connections to get us launch codes and key stones."
They sank down to sit, two in red fundoshi, Chay in his shadow costume and Xane with an illusory dick.
The mage spread his bent legs with a grin. "Can't take your eyes off that thing, huh? Just wish it were real."
"Your real thing isn't that big," Marcus said. "Cheater."
Xane huffed. "It's really warm in here and you only saw my dick in limbo and even if I were using creative license it's ninety-nine percent accurate and you're just jealous that you'll always look tiny in that nub and-"
Goro poked him in the side, holding back a smirk. "I've seen you naked plenty." He nodded at Xane's crotch. "It's not nearly that big."
"Fuck y'all." Xane crossed his muscle-bulging arms and transformed his false dick into a loincloth.
Big-Stick returned. "Man of Ash, if you and your slaves do good work, we will let you speak to Oldblue."
"Who is that?"
"A sage of many tribes. She knows everything and everyone."
Chay didn't want to announce their arrival to the enemy but the Gobbo seemed convinced he was doing them a great favor. It was probably the best deal he'd get. They could bail anytime.
"Okay. It would be an honor to meet Oldblue."
"So, what can your slaves do?"
Chay grinned. "That's a long list."
===***===
Xane's ability to mend splits got him inundated with torn pouches, tattered sacks and chinked armor to fix.
The Goblins who had holey leather thongs to fix usually waited naked right beside the thaum-mage. Chay could tell Xane was highly distracted with cock and balls waving near his face, half-stressed, half lust-stricken.
Goblin dicks were just as ridiculously bulbous as Troll ones, if smaller. About six inches long and six inches across at the thickest part, the meat rockets pulsed as they rose horizontally. Xane requested they take it elsewhere.
The fighters worked construction. Goro lifted titan bones and metal pillars like a crane, while Marcus jumped on top and kung-fu chopped them into the ground in seconds, where hour-long hole-digging would have been necessary.
This way, they built a bigger, better Vark enclosure. The hog-like animals could grow to the size of SUVs and needed space.
Chay acted like he was inspecting Xane's work when the figment from earlier approached. The well-muscled human was as pallid as they came, with blue eyes. The total lack of head hair made it likely he was only a few days into this `rebirth' cycle.
He glanced around before approaching. "Y-you speak English, right? You're humans?"
Chay focused on him and responded in Finnish. "We speak every language."
"Oh, great," the man said in his native tongue. "I'm Yanik. Can you help me escape from here? Those... those creatures that called themselves Reapers said I won't be here for long and should just obey but... This is hell right?"
The figment was clearly not `all there'. It felt like talking to someone drunk or stoned. He was still many cycles off from being fully conscious, able to escape the Reapers' web.
"It's not exactly hell."
"Will you help me?"
Chay didn't have the heart to tell Yanik that he was already dead, had died many times before and was going to die many more times before truly moving on. He sighed. "Sure. Just... we'll try smuggling you along when we leave."
Chay heard the whimpering groan of Goro's voice accompanied by clapping and whipped around.
The berserker was leaning on a chunk of silver, legs far apart, ass out. A lean, deeply bronzed Goblin was working his plasm-slicked dick into the demigod's hole.
Chay walked up to the tallest pantheon member whose face contorted with pain and bliss.
"Taking a break, slave Goro?"
"The... stretching is..." The sentence ended in a whine as the bodybuilder's ass accommodated the full six inches of width. Seeing his friend's hole torn this wide and filled by monster cock was perverse beyond description.
Chay couldn't help the surge of horniness gripping him. He craved nectar – and the associated muscle, cum and man-sex flashes.
Xane and Marcus watched from their stations in awe as every fiber in Goro's body tensed with stretching at the limit of human capabilities.
Then the troglodyte started the fuck and Goro lost all control. Crying manly tears, the bodybuilder rocked up and down as strength left him over and over while pleasure pumped an excess of energy into his body.
Chay fingered his own hole and was cruelly reminded of the paradox curse. He formed a standing triangle with the other demigods and each man had two fingers in each other's asshole.
"I kinda," Xane started, "kinda wanna know. Is it too much? It's not that much bigger than what we've taken, right?"
"I'm not sitting on that," Marcus said, nodding toward Goro's top, breathing hard.
"Not yet," Chay half-joked. Goro's whimpers made him curious. The mutual fingering barely kept his urges plateaued. They needed nectar, or at least a monster dick not quite as massive as the ones available.
Xane finger-hammered harder, painfully even. "Ughhhh, fuck it. This is too frustrating. I can heal from anything anyway."
"Riding dick?" Marcus asked.
"Fuck you."
Xane left them alone and slapped the back of the Goblin whose armor repair he had abandoned for his break. "How about it buddy?" He said in Troglo. "Get it hard and slick."
Chay and Marcus laid down for awkward sixty-nine fingering. At least it left one hand free to rub and twist each other's nipples.
Xane's new friend sat down, fingering his own gold ringed nipples on the disproportionately broad chest. The six-or-so inch bulb pointed up from his crotch.
The mage had long stopped keeping the illusion up, rubbing his blatantly caged dick as he sat down. His face spoke of pain, surprise, realization and more surprise yet.
An asshole this wrecked would have taken hours to work up to but with magical healing, the Korean bodybuilder could force himself down within a minute. He grit his teeth at the half way mark.
Chay felt the eyes of mini-Trolls on him and pulled more shadow mist around him and Marcus.
"Er, don't like it," Marcus said.
"You need to see?"
"No it's just... weirdly intimate if it's just us two."
"Oh, right," Chay said and reduced the fog. "And right there, that's the spot, keep rubbing, harder."
"Go deeper."
"Okay."
Their fists slid fully into each other with some effort. Chay nearly blacked out at the intensity of pleasure.
Xane was crying breathily. He held still with legs apart and bent as far as possible while the muscle-Gobbo fucked from below. Xane didn't even seem to notice he was creaming all over himself.
Were those extra inches of spreading really that good? If Chay hadn't been skeptical his own healing couldn't keep up he would have tried.