Asher's Futa Chronicles

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Is Asher finally going to get out of this loop? Or is she just trading off with Remmi?

Enjoy!

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Chapter 8

ASHER

"Here's your pizza, ma'am." The guy's nametag said "Gabe," and he was looking tired as he stood in our doorway. Luckily, it was Gabe's last run of the night; I'd made sure of that. Now, I just hoped he wasn't as tired as he looked.

I relieved him of the greasy box and watched him fumbling for some paperwork.

"They told me back at the kitchen that your credit card was declined. Did you have another one?" Gabe asked, looking embarrassed.

"It didn't?" Remmi said as she came up behind me. "I'm sorry, that's the only one we've got. But I'm sure we can work something out--"

"No!" I snapped and tossed the pizza box. "Fuck this!" I barked. "TIM!"

This time, I didn't have to wait for my mind to shift timeframes. I knew who I was and when I was as soon as this scenario started. But, for some reason, a part of me wanted to go along with it.

"Well, that was kind of the point," Tim said as he shimmered to life beside me. "If you'd only waited a few more minutes--"

"That didn't happen!" I demanded, pointing at Gabe, my cheeks burning.

"Suuuuure," Tim countered. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

I glanced at Remmi, who was standing next to me, frozen in place by whatever power Tim had over this place.

"Where is she?" I growled and took a step towards Tim.

"Finally!" Tim said, his body sagging, and the world melted away around us.

Now I stood in darkness. I began to spin in place, at least I think I did. Everything was black, so I wasn't sure. As I continued to turn, a room appeared and wrapped itself around me. If it weren't for the circumstances, it would have been a cool effect.

A fire burned in a large stone hearth on one side of the room. Four sturdy-looking stone walls surrounded a small table and several oversized chairs. Several thick animal fur rugs covered most of the stone floor.

"I thought you'd never come out of it," Tim said.

When I looked, I found Tim sitting in one of the chairs by the fire. He had just finished lighting a strange-looking pipe and tossed the spent match in the fireplace.

I squinted at Tim and the blurriness faded, revealing a...boneman?

He wasn't a skeleton, at least, not a realistic one. This looked more like a comical, cartoonish...boneman. That was the best word I could come up with.

"Bone...man?" Tim said slowly, pulling the pipe away from his mouth briefly. "That's the best you can come up with? Really?"

Tim was dressed in a blue and black striped bathrobe. At first, I thought it was a mage's robe, but no. It was a common-type bathrobe that I recognized from back home. The red pajama pants and fluffy, powder-blue slippers added to the surreal character.

"Where is she, Tim?" I asked calmly this time. It seemed my surroundings had drained all the hostility from me. Now I felt calm and in control, like my usual self.

"She'll be along presently," Tim said and puffed on his pipe, which was pretty impressive, seeing as he had no lips. He removed the pipe from his mouth and pointed it at me.

"You have a lust problem, did you know?" Tim asked, his eye sockets blinking at me...somehow.

"I wouldn't consider it a problem so much as an opportunity," I said, a touch of my usual snark returning.

I'd been standing on the other side of the room a moment ago, now I was sitting across from Tim by the fire. While I hadn't moved, the sudden change still made my head spin.

"Problem," Tim said sternly. "Your hormones are off the charts. I've never seen someone so...to put it bluntly, horny."

"What's wrong with that?" I asked defensively.

"Oh, nothing," Tim said, waving his pipe at me. Then the pipe stopped, pointing once more at me. "As long as you can control it."

"What's that mean?" I asked. Talking to Tim was turning into a mental tongue-twister...or a brain-twister, I guess you could call it.

"Brain-twister, I like that," Tim said. "And what I mean is not everything can be solved by sex." Tim continued to point his pipe at me.

"How are you doing that?" I asked.

Tim looked at his pipe.

"I take my hand, hold the pipe out like so," Tim twisted the pipe until the pointy part faced me. "And then shove it at you like this."

"Ha ha, smart ass. You know what I mean," I said, smirking.

"Actually, not always true," Tim said. "But to answer your question, you're in my domain. You entered here freely, willingly giving yourself over to me. I can do whatever I'd like to you--and don't go there!"

Tim's snap stopped me mid snarky comeback.

"I've been in this place since the beginning," Tim said. "I don't get out much," he grumbled.

"So, that's why you enjoyed watching all my dirty adventures?" I suggested. "They scratch an itch for you or something?"

"Don't flatter yourself, child," Tim said. "I have access to the thoughts of every creature that's ever entered here. Do you truly think there's something you've done that I haven't already lived vicariously through someone else?"

"Then what was all that about?" I asked.

"To see if you could overcome your own desires," Tim said. "If you're to perform the duty..." Tim looked at me, waiting to see if I'd comment. When I didn't, he continued. "If you're to perform the duty, I must know what you're capable of."

"Wait," I said. "I'm confused. I was told that if I didn't defeat you, I was dead. Was that all just bullshit to scare people off?"

"Oh, no," Tim started. "That much is true. Candidates will either leave here capable of doing the duty, or they never leave here."

"Ominous..." I said.

"It's supposed to be," Tim said. "It's all part of the big, bad, scary Temple Master thing."

"Called Tim," I smirked.

Tim somehow managed to smile despite not having lips, and it terrified me.

"Well, how about--" I started, but Tim held up a single bony finger, interrupting me.

"A moment..." Tim said.

***Ω***

REMMI

"I think I'm getting good at this," I said as I pulled my knife from the corpse of the creature at my feet. The thing had dark, leathery skin and almost black blood. I had to double-check my blade to make sure the strange blood hadn't damaged it.

I'd had to go to a backup blade after our run-in with the metal-eating monsters on the third level. You don't expect the monster you're fighting to try to eat your weapon in the middle of a fight. I'd been caught off guard during the melee and lost one of my primaries because of it.

We hadn't seen another metal eater since we arrived on the fourth floor of the temple's labyrinth. Asher and I didn't know how deep this maze went, but we knew if we didn't get there soon, we'd run out of food. We'd had a small emergency ration pack on us when we'd left The Roadhouse; it was part of our standard kit now.

The temple entrance sealed itself behind us as soon as we left the Gestalt, locking us inside this nightmare. I just hoped there was another way out of here at the bottom. I knew we didn't have enough water to get back out of here the way we came. IF the entrance even reopened for us.

A thud marked Asher putting down the last of the monsters. They were quiet and liked to ambush, but they were no match for Asher's prowess. I was continually surprised by how well the two of us fought together. Aside from a few minor incidents, the only action we'd seen was during our practice sessions.

*That wasn't true,* I thought as I caught myself watching Asher. The sheen of sweat across her face as she tried to catch her breath easily caught the dim light down here. The beads of sweat that cascaded down her throbbing throat caused my own heart to skip.

"What?" Asher asked when she caught me staring at her.

I stopped staring at her neck and shook my head to clear the lusty thoughts that had begun to gather. We'd been down here a few days now, and both of us had been too on edge to "relax" with one another. The urges only got worse after each life-and-death fight we had. I wasn't sure if Asher was losing control of her "sex kitten" powers or if I was just plain horny.

"Huh?" I said intelligently and cleared my throat. "Oh, uh, nothing." I made a big show of cleaning my blade off on the creature's clothes.

"Well, I think that's the way down to the next level over there," Asher said, pointing at the dark corridor on the other side of the room.

We'd already explored the rest of this level, and the far corridor was the only place we hadn't been. We'd yet to find an intelligent soul down here. Everything we'd encountered was of the "attack now, eat them later" group. But, so far, once we'd cleared out a room, it stayed cleared out.

It had gotten to the point we'd started using the bodies of the fallen monsters as directional arrows to make sure we didn't get lost. I didn't want to think of what the upper levels smelled like by now.

"I say we pile up the corpses to block the way and get some rest," Asher said, stifling a yawn.

I nodded in approval. It had taken what seemed like most of a day to clear this level out. But when there's no sunlight to gauge time, days got kinda wonky. Regardless, the deeper we went, the longer it took to clear a level.

It only took a few minutes to secure the room as best we could. Once our grim task of barricading the hallway was complete, we lay out our bedrolls and broke out our meager foodstuffs.

We ate and did maintenance on our gear in silence. After fighting for so long, I knew my mind was scattered. I glanced at Asher to see if she was feeling as out of sorts as I was.

Ash was staring at the pile of bodies, but her eyes told me she wasn't seeing them.

"You OK?" I asked and nudged her with my shoulder.

"Huh? Yeah, sorry," Asher said and glanced at me with a little smile. "Just sort of zoning, you know?"

"I do. My head's been spinning since we came down here," I said. "You think this place goes much deeper?"

"I hope not," Asher said. "My nerves are shot with the whole 'constant alertness' thing, you know?"

I smiled to myself. Asher really was tired. She would start repeating herself when she got run down.

"Your leg still bothering you?" I asked as I pushed her gently so I could get a look at the back of her leg. She'd taken a hit that had glanced off her armor and cut into the back of her thigh yesterday. Luckily, we'd had the first aid kits Patty made for us. I'd disinfected and bandaged the wound the best I could.

"Hey!" Asher cried out in protest.

"Oh, shut up, you big baby," I said as I replaced the bandage with a fresh one. The slice seemed better, but I wasn't sure. I was just happy it wasn't worse. The cut had been pretty deep, and Asher had bled for some time before it finally subsided. She'd probably need stitches if we ever got out of here.

"Besides, I know you like the rough stuff," I grinned.

Asher looked back at me and rolled her eyes.

Finally done with redressing her wound, I let my hands move up to her rear as she lay there awkwardly before me.

"What are you--" Asher started, but fell silent when I shushed her.

I let my fingers slide gently back and forth from her thighs to her butt and back.

"I take it you want something?" Asher asked me with a small twinkle in her eye. "You know, this isn't the right time, right?"

"Uh-huh," I nodded, but didn't stop rubbing.

Asher sighed and sat up, pushing my hands away. Before I knew it, she had me pushed back against the wall and was kissing me quietly.

Her lips were warm and caused that lusty fog in my brain to thicken. Then her fingers were sliding down my breastplate and finding the laces of my pants. With expert quickness, her rough fingers sought out and found my clit.

I gasped as her fingers began to work me over.

"Slow down," I said in a harsh whisper.

"No," Asher whispered back and slipped inside me. Her fingers stroked me with urgency, but my hand on her wrist made her slow down enough for me to enjoy her attention.

A warm flush rippled across my flesh, spreading up through my stomach as Asher continued to touch me.

Her fingers, now slick, returned to my clit and had me gasping into her mouth minutes later.

"How are you so good at that?" I groaned, our kissing becoming more frantic.

"I know you, luv," Asher said with heat.

"Fuck yeah, you do," I gasped, a deep shudder running through my body as it tensed.

"Like right now, I know your body is getting tight," Asher began. "You can't breathe because you know you're close. But you still make those little gasping noises that--"

I gulped down a lungful of air as my legs started shaking.

"Just like that," Asher said, her face cracking open in a knowing grin. "But I know you're not there yet because you haven't--"

I grabbed her hair and pulled her head to me. My other arm grabbed her arm and hung on for dear life as the first wave crashed over me.

"And there it is," Asher said with a small chuckle.

I didn't see her expression this time as my eyes were screwed shut as wave after wave of my orgasm threatened to drown me.

God, I loved this woman.

"Remember to breathe," Asher's whisper drew me back to the here and now.

I opened my eyes and saw her watching me with that mischievous grin she got whenever she made me cum.

"Wait," I said in alarm and sat up, pushing Asher away from me.

"What?" Asher said, spinning around and automatically reaching for her blade on the cleaning cloth. "Did you hear something?"

"This isn't right," I said. Now that my hormones were sated, my mind came into focus. And my mind knew this was wrong.

"We can't be here," I started. "How are we--"