Existentially Bound: Part 14
Unfathomable
Note: This story may contain sexual situations, strong language, images, etc...
Intended for mature audiences only. Reader discretion is advised.
Paige groaned and heard the same exasperated sigh come from her side as Emily appeared. The woman was naked, standing defiantly with her hands on her hips.
"Wait! Is that you? Emily, are you real? Is this another illusion?"
Emily rolled her eyes while tilting her head regarding Paige with seriousness. "Yes Paige, I'm an illusion, your final torment!"
A wave of relief came to the mocha woman, knowing the comment was more snarky than her brain could conjure. She took a step forward ready to embrace, but their unclothed appearance halted her. She looked down, blushed profusely at Emily's body-the first time she had seen her nude form since the wedding night. She was also suddenly very aware of her own openness. "Why are we always naked?"
Emily giggled. "It's a Djinn thing," she said matter-of-factually while seemingly searching for something.
"What are you looking for?"
"Your sister. Don't suppose you've seen her around here have you?" Emily asked.
At once the earnestness in her voice shocked Paige. "She... She's not with you? Inside you?"
Emily frowned. "I don't know yet. She was the one with all the answers... but she isn't with me now, and wasn't with me in that... hell."
Paige flinched. "You experienced the torment too then?"
"Naw. All I saw was a door. Mine was... um just a room with a door," she lied, trying not to think of the incestuousness and travesties she witnessed.
Paige took another step closer, catching the woman's obvious untruth, was about to press, when her foot mingled with the sand. She looked down at the finely grained powder, then bent down to inspect it closer. Emily did the same. Both running it through their fingers. In an almost microscopic size, the sand granules could be seen... made up of tiny golden coins.
Emily shrugged. "Well that settles it. We aren't in Tyria anymore, for certain. Did you read the door before you went through it? Ahdashim (or something!)… We're in the Djinn Realm."
Paige almost looked relieved, despite the circumstances. "Really anything is better than what I saw. The visions and... It was like everything I've ever feared or hated was in my face, along with every regret."
Emily tilted her head, almost reluctantly worried about asking the question that popped in her mind, but the words flowed out. "Was I there?"
Paige hesitated and shivered as the thought flashed in her mind. "You sure you want to know?" Behind the woman a flash of a waterfall appeared only briefly obscuring Harid and Emily embraced.
Both women spun around alarmed, but neither made out the image clearly.
"The hell was that?"
"I... um," Paige blushed and pushed the lustful vision from her thoughts.
"Whatever that was... I think we conjured it. In my vessel, I could... do things. Create things, toward the end..."
Paige looked up at Emily suspiciously. "Thought all you saw was a door?"
"I... uh... Let's focus on this. You think we can..." Emily bend down, scooped a handful of sand trying to imagine it to be ice cream. It shimmered only slightly before losing consistency and slipping through her fingertips as sand.
"Oh! Maybe you're right... Perhaps we can't change things but make them bigger?" She mimicked Emily's actions, but concentrated on making a single grain of sand-coin into an appropriately life-sized version. A moment of concentration later, the coin suddenly became giant, topping over Paige. She scrambled as the large disc fell, collapsing onto her, but just as it did, it exploded into sand, covering the woman in a golden shower of minute jingling coins.
"What?" Emily said between giggles. "It was funny!"
After a moment of pouting, Paige's face cracked a grin until she, too, began to laugh. Both women took in a deep breath as the giggles finally ceased and they collectively sighed. Emily glanced to Paige, her eyes looking over the woman's features. Paige caught her look and while embarrassed, used the opportunity to do the same.
"You look great by the way. Those adventures keep you tone, don't they?" The mocha woman found herself surprisingly forward.
Emily smiled, returned the compliment. It had been so long since she was able to know her own feelings about something. Since their merger, it was often difficult to discern where her own desires began and where Valandra's ended- and vice versa. Here though, now with her own thoughts, she could imagine herself back with a woman whom she'd shared her bed with. The thought floated on the air and traveled behind the puff-haired woman where the sands suddenly shaped to form a copy of Emily. The clone reached around Paige and groped her before suddenly disappearing. Paige let out a shriek, turned in time to see the replica before it faded.
"Did you... Were you thinking about that?" Paige asked, but the sudden flush of dark blue that came to Emily's cheeks immediately answered her question.
"Sorry," Emily apologized meekly. "Just been a while since I was able to think of you like that."
Paige blinked with doey eyes of a newborn deer. "May I ask you then... I was um... thinking about how we lost touch with one another since you and Valandra were..." An image appeared behind Paige, a distortion showing a scene of Ember and Paige on the wedding night. It quickly disappeared like a mirage in the desert.
"Since I suddenly became half of your half-sister? Yeah. It was weird." Valandra and Ember appeared in a distortion, undressing each other in a tent, dissolving as an audible moan could be heard from it.
Emily looked up, tilted her head at the blurry sight. "What… the hell?"
Paige scrambled to her feet, practically diving into Emily. "No! No! No No! Look away! Please!" she cried, desperately trying to think drakes or insects; anything else!
Emily toppled over, her eyes transfixed on the manifestation, when suddenly Paige's hand upon her breast broke her concentration. She shrieked in a pleasure-moan that seemed to echo that of the waterfall scene's before it reconstituted itself into Paige's thoughts of her with her childhood drake, Snapper. Both women looked back, at the image, almost immediately in tears at the site. The creature came clearer into focus, solidified, waddled up beside the two women, when, to their delight, the drake licked them both.
"S-Snapper? But… how? How are you here? Are you really here? Did you cross over from the mists?" Paige asked, sitting up, reaching to the drake.
Suddenly the creature vanished.
"I thought so too," Emily said, setting up. "When I saw Snapper back there, I… I believed her to be real. Maybe that's the key here: we have to really believe. It was like in the nightma- our vessels. Maybe… Maybe you can be my Valandra! You can help me concentrate. If we concentrate on the same thing… maybe then…"
Paige wiped her tears, considering. "You may be right. Maybe we're not powerful enough alone, but together we will have better results. But… What should we think about?"
"Think of… a path. A path that goes toward others here. Let's see where it leads. Come here. Let's concentrate. Try not to grope me this time," Emily said with a smirk.
Paige rolled her eyes, but kept a grin on her face. She sidled up beside the woman, ran her fingers through Emily's own and squeezed. She took in a deep breath, slowly letting it out, using a technique an asura teacher showed her from childhood, to calm herself and clear her thoughts.
"One… Two… Three…"
A vast assortment of azure incorporeal bricks suddenly fell from the sky, passing through Paige and Emily, assembling themselves into a brick road as they landed. The sand solidified, casting a bright blue from under them.
Paige grinned from the corner of her mouth at the path laid out before them. "Well, at least they're not yellow!"
Emily raised an eyebrow. "Why would they be yellow?"
"Just something I read once… There was a yell-"
Suddenly the path disappeared, much to Emily's chagrin. She cast a sharp glance to Paige, squeezed her hand. "We gotta concentrate for this to work! Clear your head of those stories for now."
Paige nodded at the scornful words, but knew them to be true. She took a few steps in the direction the path led, just around the cavernous bend, then glanced back. "We're going to need more than a brick road…"
Emily came to stand beside her and groaned.
They stood upon a mouth opening to a giant drop, a large grotto with perpetual sand-falls surrounding it. The ambience of jingling of coins could be heard as the tiny coins fell, adding to the covered floor below, creating a golden glow.
Paige was already working the problem in her mind. "Think a glider maybe? Something to slow our descent? Think of father's gliding lessons. I think we can probably manifest-"
Ember grumbled. "I didn't take his lessons! Besides, our track record isn't that good for keeping these illusion things going. We'd plummet!"
"Well, maybe something we both did collectively, so we can think of it together? You know, something fun you and I did on the weekends. Something like…"
"Okay, but we gotta concentrate to make it stay the whole way down. How do we do that?"
Paige grinned as she approached the beginning of the slide. "By remembering, silly. Remember when we were girls, sliding down this, screaming and laughing the whole way down!"
A pair of preteen girls appeared on the slide, laughing as they began to descend. Emily and Paige both looked at each other with the largest smiles perpetuated by the memory. Each launched themselves from the top, sliding behind their past selves, laughing and giggling the entire way in unison. It was unclear which was the first to do so, but by the end both were exclaiming "Weeeeee!" in the exhilaration and unbridled youthfulness the moment presented.
In a thud, both landed upon the sea of coins as the giant slide fell apart, returning to the sands which had created it. Both watched as it disappeared, then found themselves looking at each other and laughing.
"See? We can still have fun," Emily stood and in a very drake-like fashion, shook the sand off her person. As she did, two additional arms from her sides shook into existence.
Paige stared in bewilderment, tried to get up herself and realized she, too, had two additional limbs. "Em... What in Kormir's crack?!?" She fell back, began flailing her arms in panic. "I didn't imagine these! What's… What's happening?"
Ember couldn't contain her laughter-in spot of the current situation. She shushed Paige, came to stand beside her and offered two arms for her to grab onto. Unsurprisingly, Paige reached with her two normal arms, while the additional appendages continued waving around without purpose.
Suddenly one of Ember's four hands slapped Paige. "Calm down! This is what we are now: We are Djinn. They have four arms, you know?"
Paige stood, shocked and completely dumbfounded. She tried to catch her breath and calm herself, still surprised at both the slap, and Ember's reaction. "Yes but, I didn't expect this. It… It feels so weird!"
Ember giggled. "It definitely takes some getting used to. Honestly, it's only happened a few times to me. And really then, Valandra was-" The woman's voice wavered.
The hurt could clearly be heard in her friend's voice. Paige wanted to comfort her, but wasn't sure how. She took a step forward, rested her palms on the woman's shoulder. "I know. And, we're going to find her (or what happened to her!)."
Ember nodded solemnly, then frowned with a tinge of annoyance. "You mind?" she said looking down.
Below, Paige's additional palms came to rest upon Ember's breasts. Suddenly Paige flushed, attempted to command them to return to her side. Doing so, however, caused both hands to squeeze. Ember let out a moan which echoed in the cavern, before swatting Paige's hands away. Her moan continued until it combined with a small amount of laughter some distance away.
Ember raised her eyebrow. "That can't be good. Let's just stay on mission, yeah? We still gotta figure out where to go."
Paige nodded, quietly thankful to move on from the embarrassing incident. "W-Where do we go now? I wish we knew where Demitra was, or even Valandra. They've been here before. They-"
Suddenly the mystical bricks fell to create a path before the women. It fluctuated a minute, threatening to disappear quicker than either wanted. Emily wrapped two arms around Paige's, intertwining them and concentrating on the longing she felt for Valandra. The path began to solidify, glowing a bright azure as images of Valandra shimmered into view.
"That's it! Comeon, Okht! Let's go!" Emily said pulling Paige down the path.
Both women came to stand in front of a large swirling sand portal, where the brick path ended.
Paige tilted her head. "Well this isn't ominous or anything!" Absently, one of her extra arms picked at her belly button. She slapped it away scornfully.
"I mean, we've used sand portals before, yeah? This entire place seems to be all about sand (or coins… or whatever!) I say we take it. Can't be worse than-" Her own hand interrupted her as it scratched her behind. "Huh. Well, that was an itch, for sure. These could be… useful," she stated, trying not to let her mind linger on the lustful thought.
"Maybe if we could just preview…" Paige said, clasping her bottom hands together, while outstretching her top arms, palms toward the portal.
The swirling portals of sand shimmered a moment, showing what appeared to be the inside of an Elonian temple of some sort filled with large pillars. Momentarily, a few red flashes could be seen from what appeared to be battling deeper in, followed by more laughter, this time sounding almost giddy.
"As I said: that can't be good. But really, I don't think we have much choice. And this one appears stable; not like the one at the floating Djinn Sanctum."
"So? What does that tell us? If this one's active and stable… there must be other Djinn here, yes? Those vessels we saw shattered… Maybe they escaped here before that happened?" Paige deduced. The woman had studied up on Djinn lore after Demitra's disappearance, but had been pushing aside the unavoidable dread she felt at the destruction of the vessels within the Djinn Palace. This portal, however, provided a small amount of hope, and she was not about to deny herself it.
Emily grinned at the mocha woman's star-filled eyes. In many ways Paige's hope had helped her throughout Demitra's disappearance. While trying to understand her own nature and newfound existence after her merger with Valandra, Ember often thought back to Paige, and how the woman's faith in finding Demitra never seemed to waver. It was this faith that helped with the struggle to keep going, and it was this faith she loved about Paige. The two had spent time separated though, and hope as she might, Emily never knew how to tell her.
Whether through her quiet contemplation, or the images of herself manifesting, as seen through Emily's eyes, Paige's tears flowed. She slipped two hands into Emily's own and gave them both a squeeze.
"Come on then. We can do this. Let's go find then!" Emily exclaimed, jumping into the portal with Paige in tow.
The overbearing sickness that usually accompanied Djinn portal travel was surprisingly and welcomingly absent. Yet, as both women materialized from the swirling exit portal, they found themselves quickly meeting the dirt covered floor in a heap of nakedness. Emily pulled her head from between Paige's thighs to scan the new area. The mocha woman let out a slight whimper at the sensation then tapped on Embers bare behind which hovered directly in front of her.
"Emily do you mind?"
Emily laughed, stood up and helped her companion. At once they both came to the realization their additional appendages we now gone.
Emily felt her own ribcage, then much to Paige's shock, the woman's icey touch ran up her side. "Huh. Sad to see those go. I was really looking forward to... trying them out."
Paige's face darkened. "What were you going to-"
A louder bit of laughter came from deeper within the temple, followed by a flash of red and a wave of heat they could still feel some distance away. Emily took a step forward, only to be halted by the presence of an Awakened: a putrid abomination of Joko's undead barely-sentient creatures.
"The hell?" Emily exclaimed at the site, louder than she had meant to.
The Awakened's soulless eyes darted to the nude white-haired figure. It growled and moaned, began rapidly advancing to the couple.
Emily took a step back, raised a grasping palm upward and slammed it downward, calling forth a lightning bolt down onto the assailant. The bold split the Awakened's skull before its entire body inexplicably popped, turning to sand which fell to the floor.
"Okay, I'm fairly certain that isn't supposed to happen," Paige said, watching the event. Another Awakened shuffled toward behind her; Paige spun around quick enough to react. Magically calling forth skeletal hands to grasp the creature, they rose, clasped around the Awakened, only to find it pop and burst into sand. "I think these are… conjurations! Are we still back in our vessels?"
Emily showered another oppressor with ice shards, watching as they passed through the creature, which fell to a pile. "No. We're not in our vessels still; we walked through the door! But you're right: these things aren't like Joko's normal lackies. These are made from the same stuff as everything else here. Like the slide, and like our memories…" Several additional Awakened drifted in from between the pillared sides. Ember frowned, then let out a roar as she channeled lighting through the line. Like a chain, the bolt arced to each member in succession which quickly popped into sand. As they fell, however, each was replaced by additional conjurations which formed from the sands of their comrades.
Another laugh came from further down the hall, its bright red flashes getting closer as heat waves continued emanating from the source.
"Okay, I think we have to get to the source. Something's creating these-" Without warning another Awakened flanked Paige, rushing at her side. She shrieked, leaped forward to Emily and quickly raised a protective barrier between them and their enemy. The Awakened pounded on the shield, yammering on about Palawa Joko. It was joined by another, and another, until the couple stood in a field of Awakened, protected only by Paige's magical shield.
"You can't keep this up. We have to find-" Emily stopped short, staring through the forcefield in what little area that didn't contained the attacking Awakened. Through the gaps in their numbers flew a large boulder, set on fire. The meteor was aimed directly at the couple, with the hysterical laughter of a woman ringing above the flames. Emily's eyes widened. "Oh shit! Reinforce the shield, Paige! Hurry before-"
The meteor crashed into the shield, exploded outwardly in a shockwave that passed through the horde of Awakened, popping them back to the sands they once were and crystalizing the grains they came from. Their shield shattered, sent Paige and Emily to the ground in a heap, then scrambling to recover.
"V-Valandra?" she gasped.
"Sister?" Paige echoed, both women staring in awe of the site.
The woman looked down as her eyes returned to a dimmer red and the fires both inside them and around her were quelled. "Ahai," she said with a smirk. "Oh, how I have missed this!"
Emily rushed the woman, frozen tears upon her face. "Valandra! You're… You're here! And… you're me now!" She babbled as she wrapped her arms around the woman. "I… knew! I knew you were here! I just… I thought that maybe-"
Valandra embraced the smaller woman fully, lifting her up to kiss her deeply before she uttered another word. Paige tilted her head inquisitively at the action, a million mysteries arising from it. She was about to interject, when Valandra pulled from the kiss and winked at Paige, in an even more mysteriously playful manner.
"Ahai to you as well, sister; though I doubt the reception is mutually felt. Careful with stray thoughts here though." Valandra said, as she offered her hand to Paige, with Emily still clinging onto her person.
Paige accepted the hand, stood, and dusted herself off. "It's… um… good to see you. Where… Where have you been?"
Valandra tilted her head a moment and slightly grinned, then patted Emily's snow-covered hair. "I have been inside her."
"That's not what I… Nevermind," Paige blushed profusely. Behind her and image of a stray lustful thought almost appeared.
Emily's lips were on Valandra's cheeks, caused the woman of fire to giggle. "I missed you too, Emily… you fool!" She turned to regard Paige, still dusting herself off. "It does seem I always manifest when you two are nude."
Inadvertently, Paige's face again flushed, with a slight attempt to cover her privates.
"I forgot you were so tall! (Or did I shrink?) Oh Gods, I never thought I'd hug you again! Like… the real you!" Emily continued her euphoria.
Valandra giggled, kissed the smaller woman's forehead causing a bit of steam. "I am happy to have my height back, indeed," she pulled the woman into a deep hug, her chin resting on Ember's head.
Paige cleared her throat. "Can we just… focus on why we're all here?"
Emily's hand snuck down the woman's lower back, came to rest upon her shapely rear. "Wait; Why do you get to be clothed?" She asked at the realization.
"I've had… experience here. The question is: Why do you still wish to be naked?"
Paige tapped her chin a moment, stared off into the distance, trying to visualize an outfit she'd had. Clothing around her form began to shimmer into existence, but struggled to remain coherent. She closed her eyes and tried again.
Emily pulled back at another thought. "Does this mean… we're truly separated?"
Valandra poked Emily in the belly, then pinched a bit of skin. The woman giggled. "You feel that, didn't you? Well, I did not! It is my understanding that we are indeed, no longer connected… At least, not in the elemental or ethereal sense."
"Makes sense," Emily considered, then a large smile came back to her face as she wrapped her arms around Valandra. "I missed your explanation, your forethought… I just… missed you so much! The hole that you left… it's filled now, but I missed you so terribly!"
"As I have you," Valandra said with a warm smile and slight not. "Our time together… It has been… Well, words do not adequately express."
"You… won't leave though, will you? Now that we're apart… are you going to…"
The woman of fire again lifted the woman of ice and kissed her deeply and passionately. She pulled back to stare into her eyes. "No chance in all of the realms. We are bound, you and I, Emily Thaljia; elementally, eternally, and-"
"I did it!" Paige exclaimed, practically bouncing. Upon her person was an outfit which looked as though it were put together by a toddler- unmatched colors, uneven lines, and practically unkempt.
Valandra slightly giggled, but her tone was purposely soft. "There may be additional alterations, but, having just arrived, I would say it is quite-"
"Weird," Emily interrupted with an impish grin.
Valandra pulled back from the woman, looking over her nakedness. "Paige had created something and it is her first attempt to do so. There are many things you must understand about this world, Emily. Do not be so quick to-"
Emily rolled her eyes. "I know… I know. I was teasing. Here. Let me try," she said comically squinting her eyes. An outfit not much more stable than Paige's shimmered onto her body. She looked down, then back up with a sheepish grin.
Paige and Valandra simultaneously laughed, then glanced at each other, unaccustomed to sharing their joy.
Another shimmer around Emily had the outfit much more cohesive. "Ah! So the key is much more than picturing it. It's like… to feel the fabric on you…"
"And it is absolutely breathtaking on you, my love," Valandra said.
Valandra antagonized Paige with a wink. "Perhaps we will. But first, you should know… This is all my… 'room,'" she said gesturing at the grand hall and all the space therein. "This world is mine."
Emily blinked. "Are we inside your vessel?"
"No, not in the slightest. I traveled here, just as you did, through my vessel. We are, all three, in Ahdashim, the Realm of the Djinn; particularly in my manifestation. My personal place to wreak havoc on the lich and his army. Quite the opposite from the horrors I first witnessed within my vessel. (Before I learned to control my emotional state within it, that is-but I digress.)"
"Then what? You just… stay here and kill?" Paige said looking around at the frozen glassed over sands.
"A bit therapeutic, as it were," came Valandra's response.
"Okay, well, that's your prerogative, I suppose. But, question: You said this," she motioned around, in what could be perceived as a mocking mimic of Valandra's previous motion, "is your manifestation inside the Djinn Realm? So, wouldn't Djinn manifestations overlap? Or… do we each get our own spaces to play with?"
"I'm just glad you're happy," Emily said, squeezing Valandra. Paige's question prompted a sharp glance from her.
"What? I'm just trying to understand the rules here. I'm learning. A moment ago we didn't have clothes on!"
Valandra nodded, tapped Emily on the head, then turned as she spoke, prompting them both to follow. "This is my manifestation within the realm, this much is true; but this is only one world. Within the realm's borders, Djinn can manifest at will. There are not 'spaces' carved out for us to do this, but," she said, as they approached a ledge which overlooked a world beyond, a small village and in the distance a great wall. "This entire landscape is but a grain of sand within Ahdashim, and Ahdashim is the beach which the sands sit upon."Paige and Ember came to overlook the edge, the vastness stretching out far beyond eyesight with swirling colored skies in the distant horizon.
"What you see here is my village. It is displaced of course, along with the life I was led to believe was my destiny. It now sits adjacent to my personal place of horrors; my nightmare: the Bone Palace. Within lies my tormentor, Palawa Joko."
"Why?" Both Paige and Emily asked in unison.
Valandra took in a breath, let out a small puff of smoke. "As Djinn we manifest what we wish, both in our vessels and within this realm. To inexperienced Djinn this can be quite daunting, as you no doubt discovered within your own vessels. Most substantial emotions: our worst regrets, our carnal desires, our worst fears; these things are made manifest here. Even I, who was here for years before, still struggle with the effects." Valandra eyes flashed red as she stared at the bone palace. "Joko often appears to torment me," she said in low tones, glanced to Emily, "among other things."
Emily put her arm around the woman's waist, gave it a squeeze.
Valandra cleared her throat. "Collectively, and with enough skill Djinn the grains can turn as more will it so. Entire areas here are made manifest by collective wishes of the Djinn that roam there."
Emily looked at the swirls of colors in the distant horizon. "Yeah and somewhere on one of those grains-"
"Is where we find Demitra Naja Nyimah," Paige said taking in a hopeful, resilient breath.
[To Be Continued...]
