Chapter 95 – Cats
The ritual to send them into the Void was over and done with before Tess knew it.
Gwen, suddenly sober, groaned and stood up straight, “Did I vomit during the ritual?”
“Yes,” Joyona replied, “I think they’re going to have you clean that up.”
“Shit.”
Tess took a look around, finding themselves in a stone tower, decorated in a decadent manner, with an intricate rug, armoire, and a luxurious chair. The only problem is that all of these things were on the ceiling, and the party stood upon a stony… well, what would be the ceiling if this tower was to be flipped 180 degrees. There was a door leading outside the tower, but it was wrapped in a dozen different chains. Clearly that was not the way to go. Stairs descended from the ceiling, spiraling a quarter-turn around the wall until they led to an opening in the “floor,” leading to another level of the tower.
“Well, this is fucked,” Mairaela said.
“Yeah, everything’s upside down,” Tess replied.
Mairaela grunted, “Not that.”
Tess turned to see Mairaela pointing at the top of her head. Tess reached up and felt something furry. She pulled and off came a headband with two cat ears. “What?” She sputtered. Looking around at the others, each of them had a pair of cat ears on top of their head. Gwendolyn ripped her off, as did Miren, but Joyona elected to keep hers on, which looked quite funny when combined with her excessive armor.
Looking back at Mairaela, Tess saw that she didn’t have these ears, “Where are yours?”
“I, um..” Mairaela was clearly trying to think of a response, “I tossed mine already. I can’t believe this didn’t happen to anyone else, what the fuck does this Void have against me?”
“What is it?” Miren asked.
Gwen, who was standing to the side a little, said, “She has a tail.”
“Oh, wow! How does that feel?” Tess asked with a measure of amazement.
“...filling.” Mairaela grunted, “It’s not a real tail, so I need everyone to turn around while I… you know, pull it out.”
Miren couldn’t manage to stifle her laugh, but she turned regardless. Tess was wide-eyed though, piecing the puzzle together enough to say, “Oh, gods, I’m sorry, Mairaela. What a weird pocket.”
Gwen covered her mouth and turned around. Joyona had already spun around for the Summer Fey’s privacy.
Tess could only hear Mairaela’s shuffling behind her, presumably removing some clothing. There was a bit of grunting, a little moan, “F-fuck, why? I’m going to fucking murder this cat god. It isn’t lubed up, gods dammit, fuck this, I can’t pull it out until I find something to lubricate it.”
Miren burst into an all-out laugh, bending forward in a fit of humor. Tess turned around a little too early, seeing Mairaela pulling her skirt up and over her generous ass, pulling her tail accessory through the waist. The archer gave a sigh.
Speaking of which, Tess noticed everyone’s appearances were different again. Joyona’s armor was a little different, silver this time, with blue accents, but still looking mostly the same. Miren was dressed in leathers that showed off her delicate curves, with a half-jacket that parted enough to display a generous bit of cleavage. She had earrings and a black choker. “She looked pretty hot like that,” Tess realized.
Gwen wasn’t dressed scantily this time. She was dressed in common clothes, unarmored, looking like a confident swordswoman, like she often looked back at the barracks. She looked… comfortable, which Tess thought was nice. Tess looked herself over to find that she was once again in that same loincloth outfit, but this time it was blue. She gave out a sigh. This hid absolutely nothing. When she moved there was a pretty obvious outline of her thick cock hanging between her legs. She was definitely both a “shower” and a “grower.”
Tess caught Miren looking at it. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag,” Tess thought, groaning at the unintentional pun.
Mairaela, however, was affected the most. She was in a short skirt that barely covered half of her ass, a shawl that draped her neck and then fell down her right side, and… well, a bra. Other than her boots and the tail, that was all. Tess knew that Mairaela was comfortable with her body, but she couldn’t help but find humor in how severely the Summer Fey was affected by the pocket.
Before they could continue on, there was a small scraping coming from the floor below. Above? Dammit, it was below. A cat came walking up the stairs, except it was upside down, as though its pull of gravity was toward the ceiling. Right-side-up, Tess supposed. It jumped off of the table with a twist, landing onto the floor, sharing the same direction of gravity as Tess and the others. It was a disorienting sight.
The cat was some sort of long-haired tabby cat, with a full and luxurious gray coat, mixed with black tiger-like striping. Upon its head was a runic symbol, similar to many of the curling, weaving Courtish tattoos.
The cat sat down in front of the group, and spoke with a very human-like voice. Or a Courtish voice? To say human was very human-centric! Tess quickly shook the thought from her mind as the cat said, “Hello.”
“That cat just spoke,” Gwen chuckled, “I guess I should’ve expected that, huh?”
“Who are you?” Miren asked.
“My name’s Wydwen,” the cat replied coolly. Tess recalled that being the name of the god that they were here to kill.
Mairaela nocked an arrow, and Gwendolyn’s hand burst into flame as a fiery, blue sword extended from her palm.
“Please don’t,” Wydwen spoke softly, “I’m not here to fight. I want your help. Please.”
Miren held her hand out to the others, “Wait.”
Tess could see the irritation on Mairaela’s face as she glared at the back of Miren’s head.
Joyona stepped over to Wydwen, crouching beside him and giving him a gentle pat on the head. “He’s a good cat,” she said, “Let’s hear him out.”
“Then what do you want?” Gwen asked.
Wydwen pushed his head into Joyona’s hand, “Thank you all. I want your help in escaping this place. I do not wish to be a part of the Black Sun any longer.”
“What are you saying?” Tess asked, mouth agape.
“I’m saying,” Wydwen replied, giving a little purr at Joyona’s petting, “That I want to live on Auwra.”