Chapter Seven

Six days later, I found myself waking up in a campsite in southern Illian. We’d had a remarkably quiet trip, and we only had one day until we arrived in Griffinsburg.

I glanced at the Mark of Solana on my hand, and Raina, who shared a horse with me, her arms wrapped around my waist and her massive tits pressed hard into my back, reached out and touched it.

“A symbol of a goddess burned into your hand. You truly are a wonder, Will Thompson.” Raina remarked.

“Thanks, Raina.” I said dryly.

“No, I’m serious. I foresee great things from you.” Raina insisted. Angelica rode her horse up alongside mine, and I looked to my sworn Vengar. Surrounded by knockout beauties like Raina, Rosalie, Clarissa, and Samara, I confess that I sometimes overlooked Angelica. But I shouldn’t, she was gorgeous in her own right. Lean and slender, she may not have pronounced curves or generous assets, but she was beautiful.

“The surrounding area looks clear, my king.” Angelica nodded. I nodded back at her.

Far ahead, Matthias rode alongside Tomas, with Rosalie following behind him, and the priestesses behind me.

We were moving through a forest, and traveling single file was the best way to do it, though most parts of the trail could fit two horses, which is how Angelica was now riding alongside me.

“Up ahead is the most harrowing part of our journey, the Mines of Misery.” Angelica said unhappily.

“That sounds cheerful.” I remarked dryly.

Raina laughed softly, and squeezed me a little. I leaned back into her bosom, and she pressed it harder into my back.

“The Mines of Misery are called that because of a cave in that killed thirty people. We won’t be descending into the mines properly, but we will be spending most of the day moving through a perilous underground tunnel. Many creatures live in the dark, abandoned mine. It is very possible we will face opposition.” Angelica said, and I nodded slowly.

“What kind of stuff are we talking?” I asked.

“Goblins, mostly. The tunnel isn’t large enough to allow for bigger creatures. Some orcs may be able to fit, but I’m not positive.” Angelica said, “We won’t be able to ride the horses through, either, we’ll have to walk.”

“Will we lead the horses behind us?” I asked curiously.

“Generally, yes, but we have three priestesses of Solana with us. They can give the animals a blessing that will send them to the Temple of Solana. It will take them a few extra days, but they’ll arrive in Griffinsburg before we are leaving, hopefully.” Angelica explained.

“Sounds good.” I said, and to my complete astonishment, Raina’s clasped hands around my waist slid lower, right onto my straining erection.

I stifled a groan and looked back at Raina, who was looking at me with her sexy teal eyes, which were dancing with mirth.

“I didn’t think you were this wild back at the inn.” I groaned, and Raina smirked at me.

“I was trying to make a good first impression.” Raina whispered hotly, and her hands moved a bit, rubbing my erection through my pants.

“Hold!” Matthias shouted from up ahead, and the horses all slowed to a stop.

“The Mines of Misery lay just ahead. Priestesses, if you could now place the blessing you spoke of on the horses?” Matthias asked, dismounting. I dismounted, too, and held up a hand to help Raina off the horse, which she took, and slid off onto the ground. She didn’t let go of my hand, but rather pulled my arm into the valley between her enormous breasts, and I rather enjoyed the pillowy sensation. Raina leaned her head against my shoulder, and I mentally smiled.

Six days of riding with Raina had brought us closer together, and I’d seen flashes of her teasing nature, but today was by far the most playful I’d ever seen her.

Clarissa and Samara divided the horses between them, and they touched each one’s head, whispered some words, and with a flash of golden light, the horse took off running into the trees. They all ran the same direction, I noticed.

“Well, are without our mounts.” Matthias said, and looked to the black entrance to the mines behind him.

“We must enter now, then, if we are to make it through by twilight.” Matthias said, and Raina and I stayed joint as Matthias drew his sword and led us down into the blackness.

———

It was pitch black down here in the Mines of Misery. I thought I’d known darkness, but it was a complete and utter void down here. If not for Raina’s tits wrapped around my arm, and her fingers laced with mine, I would feel entirely alone in this blackness.

I had no awareness of where anyone else was, though I heard sounds of walking. Someone ahead of me tripped, maybe fell, but no one knew. There was an odd silence in the mine, and no one wanted to break it, so we didn’t. We continued walking, assuming that whoever had fallen had gotten back up and rejoined us.

It was eerie down here, in pitch black with no talking. I found myself clinging to Raina, my only source of sanity. These mines were hell, I was quickly discovering. I had lost all sense of time. We could have been walking for minutes or days for all I knew.

There was no light ahead, no light behind, no light anywhere. Just blackness.

I felt a touch on my free hand, and nearly jumped out of my skin, until a soft hand touched my hand and a warm whisper filled my ear.

“It’s Clarissa. There is something behind us.” she whispered breathily.

I reached out an arm trying to feel where she was, and accidentally touched her hip. She moved so that my arm encircled her waist, and I pulled her close so we could whisper.

“How big does it sound?” I whispered. Clarissa’s lips brushed my cheek before heading up to my ear. We must be closer together than I realized.

“Not big, but I think there might be multiple things.” Clarissa breathed.

I resisted the urge to swear or scream, though every fiber in my being wanted to do one of the other. I picked up the pace, pulling Clarissa and Raina with me.

“What’s happening?” Raina whispered in my ear, surprised at the sudden haste. I turned my head to whisper back in her ear, but my lips met what I’m pretty sure was her jaw. I lifted my head more to whisper into her ear.

“We’re being followed.” I explained quietly.

“Angelica.” I whispered softly into the blackness as we walked, and like I’d summoned her with magic, she was with me. Clarissa gave up her spot so Angelica could move in close on my left side while Raina retained dominance of my right.

“Clarissa says there’s small things following us.” I whispered to my Vengar. She touched my cheek comfortingly.

“I will handle it.” she promised, and then she was no longer behind me. Seconds passed before I heard the wailing.

The priestesses behind me bumped into me, and they may have clung to me, or I to them, I don’t know.

Me, Raina, and the priestesses stood together as dying shrieks of inhuman creatures filled the cave, and the sound of metal whooshing through the air accompanied it.

“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” I heard Matthias speak from a few feet behind me, and that’s when I heard the screams of hatred.

They came from everywhere, and I stared, wide-eyed into the blackness as loud banging and clanking began to be heard from everywhere. It’s like they were inside the area I presumed to be walls.

“Run!” Rosalie’s voice came loudly, and the group obeyed. I heard Angelica’s boots beside me just briefly, and then we were all running full sprint. I had someone’s hand in mine, but I didn’t care who’s.

I had no idea if anyone was being left behind. I had no idea how long the tunnel was. I had no idea what the hell was happening in the walls all around us, or what Matthias had meant.

My world narrowed down to ‘keep running’.

Running full sprint through pitch black wasn’t easy. My body rejected it, too worried I’d bump into something, but the unholy chorus all around me encouraged me to fight past my body’s inhibitions. The tunnel was quite smooth anyway.

I heard faint screams from someone who sounded like a male human, but I had no idea where it was, these tunnels were too echoey.

Finally, long after my limbs were exhausted but they kept running anyway, the pitch black began to lessen, and the world began to brighten.

“Almost there!” Rosalie’s voice cried, and slowly I could distinguish silhouettes of people, and as we rounded a final bend, we barreled out into the sunlight.

The lot of us, excluding Angelica, dropped to the ground and gasped for air. I glanced to my side and saw the hand I’d been holding belonged to Samara, who, like me, was sprawled in the grass nearly catatonic from exhaustion.

“Where’s Tomas?” Angelica asked Matthias, who I realized had a nasty gash across his whole face, which was bleeding profusely.

“I was the one who tripped and fell. This fucking gash is from hitting my face on a rock. Tomas slowed to help me, and he was ripped apart by goblins. There were hundreds of them when we were running.” Matthias shook his head.

“I shouldn’t have killed those ones who were following at first.” Angelica said bitterly.

“No, you did the right thing.” Matthias assured her, “They would have killed us. We were dead if we didn’t kill them, and hunted if we did.”

“I can’t believe Tomas is dead.” I said numbly. I had never had someone I knew die before. It was so swift and unexpected, too, a **** in a black mine, with none of us the wiser.

“Me either. He has served me for 10 years.” Matthias shook his head and then buried it in his hands.

“Should we camp here for the night?” Rosalie brought up after a moment, “We are all exhausted and have no mounts.”

There was a ripple of agreement. No one even bothered setting up tents, we just staggered away from the mines and into the forest a bit further, and then we laid down around a fire Angelica started. I found myself laying sandwiched between Raina and Samara, but I was too exhausted to appreciate it.

My eyelids closed, and I faded into the welcome embrace of sleep.

———

When I opened my eyes, I was in the misty forest of Avandor again.

Rather than gold mist, the mist here was weird and vivid white.

I wandered into the thick mist, and it swirled up to greet me, enveloping me in an opaque cloud of it, before all the mist dissipated, and I was… back in my room.

On Earth.

“What the hell?” I asked in astonishment. Looking down at myself, I was no longer in my clothes from the other world, but instead in shorts and a T-shirt.

The door opened and my big sister poked her head in, smiling at me. She was 20, two years my senior and utterly gorgeous.

She looked just like Mom, with long honey blond hair, green eyes, and a generous bosom that I wish I could stop noticing. My sister and my mom were both busty ladies, and I, a 18 year old boy, couldn’t stop noticing that.

“Hey, little bro. You ready to go?” my sister Jessica asked me.

“Where are we going?” I asked. Jessica opened the door the rest of the way and stepped in so I could see her perfect hourglass body. Goddamn it, my sister was just too sexy.

“Will, you’re not serious?” Jessica checked, “We’re going to Disney World.”

“What? Oh… yeah, yeah, sounds good.” I shook my head in confusion.

Jessica walked closer and touched my cheek.

“Are you feeling OK, baby brother?” Jessica asked softly. She didn’t call me baby brother teasingly or playfully, she sounded genuinely concerned for me. That’s why I loved her, because she so genuinely cared for me.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just a weird dream.” I said, and reached out to pat Jessica’s arm, but my hand phased right through her, and she turned to mist, then my room turned to mist.

I gave a shout of grief and fell to my knees, sobbing unashamedly on the ground of Avandor.

I missed home so badly. This new world was insane. Tunnels full of goblins, armies invading kingdoms, a prophesied war between me and an unknown woman.

I just wanted to go home and finish high school. I just wanted to be with my family again, to actually be able to go to Disney with my sister.

The white mist turned golden again, and I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I looked back and saw Clarissa standing there. She knelt beside me, and wrapped her arms around me.

“Clarissa, how…” I trailed off.

“The power of Solana led me here, to you, her son.” Clarissa explained, “She sensed your misery.”

“I just want to go home. Back to my world.” I despaired. Clarissa squeezed me tighter, and I threw my arms around her and broke down.

I don’t know why I was so distraught, but seeing Jessica again had just destroyed me.

Clarissa didn’t act like a priestess there. She acted like someone comforting someone they cared about. She stroked my honey blond hair, and whispered soft assurances to me, while I grieved the life I had lost.