Elegy for a Star

Mairaela was certain that her face was a deep, cherry red. She climbed back to her feet, brushing off her knees and wiping her mouth. It was bad enough that this state counted as her “being dressed.” The skirt barely covered anything and the tail plug was, if anything, only wedged deeper inside of her than before. Miren had such a cocky grin on her face and the others’ expressions were a mix of amusement and surprise.

“Better than being dead,” Mairaela groaned. Her attempts to appear composed likely weren’t working well with how much her cheeks were burning, “Ours couldn’t have been the only embarrassing one.”

Miren opened her mouth to speak and Mairaela shot her a glare. The Summer Fey didn’t know what Miren was going to say, but it couldn’t have been helpful.

Gwen nodded, “Tess got a lot of exercise.” The blonde was blushing and Gwen added with a chuckle, “Weren’t you there, Mairaela?”

Mairaela could only raise an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“Some copy of you. Tess had to fuck you.”

“What do you mean you had to,” Mairaela scoffed, “I am certain it was a pleasure!”

“I wasn’t allowed to cum,” Tess clarified.

“Oh,” Mairaela says, eyes widening a little, “Well, I’m sorry about that. Sounds like a mean clone.”

“Oh, she was trying,” Gwen added with a smirk.

“So you two were having sex,” Miren pointed toward Tess and Gwen. The vagueness of the statement caused the both of them to blush. “Mairaela had to cum while sucking my dick,” the level of detail caused Mairaela to blush. The Winter Fey pointed at Joyona, “What in gods’ name did you have to do?”

Joyona stared back at Miren in silence for a little while before replied, “I had to satisfy one hundred pussies.”

Mairaela quirked a brow, “One-hundred?”

“One-hundred.”

“Satisfy how?” Miren asked.

Joyona paused and then clarified, “With my hands. Occasionally with kisses.”

Tess’ eyes widened into saucers, “Your arm must be so sore!”

Joyona looked down at her forearm, stretching out her fingers and flexing a little. She nodded silently, “I survived.”

“You’ll have to show me that technique later,” Mairaela cooed.

Joyona just nodded her head, though there was a slightly pink shade appearing on her cheeks.

Wydwen interrupted the discussion, “We’ll need to go a little further for the second trials.”

“Hey, Wydwen,” Gwen asked as the group began toward the inverted, upside-down staircase, “Why are all of the trials perverted?”

“They reflect upon you, not me,” Wyden replied.

“That makes sense,” Tess said, hanging her head in mock shame.

“There is no guarantee that they will continue to be like this,” Wydwen added, “The trials like to run the gambit of different types of challenges. Though, who knows, maybe you are all just one big group of degenerates.” Joyona scooped Wydwen into her arms and gave him some scritches while they descended (ascended?) the stairs.

Mairaela let out a soft sigh and hoped that this group were perverted enough to have such, well, fun challenges. Granted she could do with a better partner than Miren, but this was preferable to a lot of what the Void could be making them do.

Just as it was the first time, Mairaela and company entered the next floor to see nothing out of the ordinary. Well, other than the whole room being upside down but they were growing somewhat used to that. Wydwen purred from Joyona’s cradling arms, “Ready for the second trials?”

“Yeah, I want to get back and get some more of Ellywick’s wine,” Gwen explained before getting an elbow in the ribs from Tess.

“You were a little too loose with your tongue last time,” Tess sighed.

Gwen rolled her eyes, “You love my tongue.” Tess’ face went red, as expected.

“So anyway,” Tess murmured, trying to change the subject, “Let’s get started, Wydwen.”

Mairaela shifted closer to Joyona, hoping that proximity had something to do with who you got paired up with. Still, Joyona didn’t get paired up with anyone. Maybe that part doesn’t really matter?

Wydwen hopped down from Joyona’s arms and positioned himself in front of the group. The rune upon his head began to glow, brighter and brighter until Mairaela felt hypnotized. The edges of her vision began to darken, narrowing more and more until she went to sleep.

It was the sun that woke Mairaela. She had to shield her eyes when she opened them, still sensitive to the light. She was lying in a field, embraced by the green grass with an empty, blue sky above, not a cloud in sight. Mairaela could feel the ground shake and she heard the sound of hoofbeats approaching.

Mairaela sat up, looking ahead to see riders approaching. Dozens upon dozens of them. There must have been at least a hundred.

The wind whipped at her clothing—her normal clothing, for which she was grateful—as she put her hands up at the arrival of the riders. They, however, rode directly through her, as though she weren’t even there. She felt nothing but a tingling, a swish of air as these riders passed through her like nothing.

Mairaela turned around, looking to see where they were going. A large tree stood not too far away. In front of it was a giant. A great, massive giant. His gray skin and white hair was so familiar, but Mairaela hadn’t seen him in decades.

Evig, and he was sobbing.

She watched the riders. One of them had short, golden hair. One had dark hair down to his lower back.

.

Leanna and Costentyn. They were supposed to be dead. They were killed by Evig; killed by this monster just in front of them.

Where was he? Mairaela ran toward the riders in a panic, ran toward the giant, trying to find the man she looked for.

She slipped through the horses like a ghost, striding forward to the front where Leanna stood, dismounted. By her side was a man in a blue cloak with long, blonde hair and blue eyes.

Mormerilon.

Mairaela knew what this was. She knew why she hadn’t been given a goal yet. She was simply supposed to watch. To experience. To live the moment that her surrogate brother died.

“Evig,” Mormerilon called out.

“No, don’t,” Mairaela begged, “Ride away.”

The giant raised his head to look at Mormerilon.

“We’re here to help!” Leanna called out.

“Stop it,” Mairaela said, clenching her fists so tightly that she could feel the cuts forming in her palms, “Please just go. He’s not the same Evig that we knew. Just go. Stop talking to him and leave!”

“Tell us what we can do!” Mormerilon added, stepping forward and holding his arms out to his sides.

Evig’s eyes opened slowly, tears dripping down his large cheeks, “There is nothing you can do.” He shook his head, “You can’t stop it. I can’t stop it.”

“Tell us what it is,” Mormerilon called out, “We can help.”

“You can’t help. You need help, and that’s what I do. I help. I’ll give you an end more peaceful than He will. I’ll help.”

“Evig,” Leanna whispered, “Evig, you aren’t making sense. Let’s talk this out.” She held up a hand signal to the rest of the riders. They began to ready their weapons.

“I’ll help you all.”