Warped sight

Darkness.

John couldn't see anything and wasn't sure where he was despite feeling perfectly conscious. He could feel things around himself, things he couldn't describe. His powers seemed to not work, and it was so dark that he could not even see himself. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't feel himself either...

He began to hear a whisper, the hint of a sound, in a direction that was of no matter with absolutely no point of reference. He felt attracted to this. Suddenly he came across something strange, some sort of golden thread floating in the dark space, that somehow seemed to exist in only one direction, only visible when looking to its destination.

The more he followed the thread, the clearer the sound became. It was sobbing, a girl crying and as soon as he understood what it was, he appeared in a room. A woman, wearing a long blue dress and sunglasses, sitting on a wooden rocking chair with a young girl (maybe 12 years old) wearing a school uniform on the floor next to her, crying in her lap.

"That's no fair, Mommy!! Lawrence called me a freak! He made fun of me in front of the whole class... I hate it, it hate it so much. Why can't he..." said the girl, breaking into tears before being able to finish her sentence. The woman, her mother, patted her head, trying to comfort her.

"We knew it would come. You remember what I told you about it. As you grow up you will change and life won't always be easy. Soon you won't be able to continue going to school with the other kids," she said.

"But, Mom... I... I love him! Why... How could he be so cruel to me... I remember his face perfectly from before... He made fun of my eyes, and when I had a... an accident in class, he wasn't even worried about me, he was just laughing... No one cared, no one will love me..." said the young girl, her speech cut by many sobs.

"I love you and the Lady loves you. Soon you will control your gift and unravel the secrets of the universe. Space and time will fold for you, you will see more than any eyes can see, and you will help protect humanity," said her mother, trying to give her hope and obviously missing the mark. John's presence had floated around the cozy living room to confirm that the young girl was actually Lorelei as he had immediately suspected.

"I don't want a gift, a blessing, a fate, a duty. I want a life! I want friends and love!" replied Lorelei.

"There is a ritual that is supposed to show you this. It's an old one, it will help you find your first lover. But you are not ready yet. Soon maybe..." said the older woman.

The room disappeared to be replaced by what was obviously a girl's bedroom, very spartan, with nothing in bright colors around and no mirrors. No light either, except for a ray of moonlight coming from the window and the embers of some burning coals in a small bowl on the ground. Lorelei was there, older, a lot closer to what she looked like now, wearing a white nightgown. A strange circle of powder on the floor in front of her, with symbols drawn in salt and reds drop staining it on a few spots.

A hand on the pages of an open old tome, Lorelei began to chant a melody of words John could make no sense of.

"It doesn't work! The language is vague and ancient, but it should work. It should show me the man who will love me." Lorelei sprinkled some salt on the burning embers, each grain vaporizing in a puff of a strange green smoke. After the third attempt she achieved something; she began to shake and mutter a string of words.

"In the blindspot where blinds see, wrapped in nothing, drowned in red, led by the broken circle, ravished by the purple and golden man," she recited. As soon as the tremors stopped, she quickly scribbled something on some piece of paper, using a strange alphabet. "By the Lady, what was that? I didn't see him or his name, it shouldn't do that. What does all this even mean? Visions are normally a lot clearer than that, only words without any visual... I guess it is supposed to make sense one day..."

"So, you knew. You knew from the start, this is why you agreed with my plan so easily, why you convinced the others to go with it. I guess it really does make sense in hindsight," said John to the second, older, Lorelei, standing behind him.

"It took me a while to understand that the ritual I performed was not about finding love or romance but something else entirely. I just couldn't understand why I couldn't see us here or who you were. It's because it happened here; I couldn't see anything in this place from the outside. It makes sense, given what happens here."

"We are in your head? A vision? This is somewhat disconcerting. How do we get out? We can't be **** too long, remember where we are," said John.

"You're right, perception of time is different in minds, little time should have elapsed. But we should go back," she conceded.

John opened his eyes. Lorelei was collapsed on his chest and a very eager Tryxie was looking at him from very close. He was in a small room, totally encased in the same red velvet, except for a door on one side. His clothes piled up exactly how he had left them made him realize the exact function of the small plush craters in the stadium sized cave. Each (or at least some of them) could be lowered and enclosed, giving access to a lower ground.

"My turn, my turn!" chanted Tryxie, apparently very excited at the idea. John wasn't sure how long he had been out but long enough for the alcove to go down and their hostess to strip naked. Lorelei was coming to her senses and shifting on top of it, no doubt sore from what had happened.

"Who says you get to have a turn?" he replied snarkily.

"You blew her mind so hard that you made everyone cum in a 20 meters radius. I want to try this!" she replied. John noticed that more than half of his mana bar was missing, without having any memories of having used any of it. It seemed that the feedback loop that he experienced having sex with Lorelei had climaxed in a pleasure shockwave so strong that it was felt by others.

"What is in it for me?" he added cockily. He wasn’t sure if his cover was holding, but he had decided to keep acting his role.

"Just little old me isn't enough? Well just tell me what you like," she said. Her flesh became more pinkish in color and her skin began to undulate, reshaping her face and body into a series of body types and trying to determine his preferences. She ended in a more roundish body with enormous tits. "I was told that it is something you would like; we were surprised by your choice tonight. But this was one hell of a cherry popping."

"What are you?" he asked her. Lorelei was tense; he would have really liked to know what she was sensing now.

"Nah nah, if you have to ask, you don't have the right to know. You are not ready yet. In fact I'm not sure you can think straight. Maybe you should go, before your friends worry and ruin everyone's fun. You are a member now, you can come back whenever you want if you want to have fun or learn more," explained the clearly not human girl. They knew, from the start they had seen through the cover and the operation, yet they had let him in. He was not sure it would be wise to have fun with her before knowing what Lorelei would have learned about her and the place. And it would feel really awkward to stay now; having sex with others just for his enjoyment wasn't in the parameters of the mission as he drafted it with the Order, especially now that maintaining an image was no longer a priority.

He used a few Clean spells to get both of them in order and got himself dressed. Rather than lift the alcove back up, Tryxie led them through a tunnel to the elevator, one floor lower than the large cave. Lorelei was hanging on his arm, almost as if to feel safe; she really seemed to rely on him to move around. Tryxie waited with them until the door of the elevator opened but didn't approach them or try to be physical with the young seer like she had been on the way down.

"Ohhh, already leaving? I really hoped you would stay until my shift ended. I'm jealous, Sis!" said Mora, who had come down with the elevator.

"Didn't miss much. They went a bit too far on the first go; it's better if they continue another time," replied Tryxie. The strange attitude of the hostess and her proposal that they leave for now only made sense if someone had contacted her to give her orders during their earlier conversation. John knew from experience that there was little that could dissuade a girl bent on riding him to skip her turn.

"Goody. And next time you won't be new, maybe we can all have fun together, me, sis, you and whoever you bring. After all, it's not like you have a limited choice," said Mora as the door of the elevator closed. They definitely knew a lot about him.

John messaged Moira, telling her to have the car ready. Strangely, Lorelei's cloak was here in the elevator rather than in the cloakroom.

Once up, they exited the building and almost jumped in the car waiting for them in the alley.
The small convoy of one car, one van and one bike took speed in direction of the manor for the post mission briefing. Lorelei had removed her hood and seemed really shocked.

"John... This was horrible, down there... I couldn't see... I couldn’t see a thing... This... Since I lost my natural sight, since I began relying on my powers to live, this has been one of my greatest fears. True blindness, absolute darkness. I don't know what is down there, but it can block my ability to look into it," she admitted, cuddling with him, even now that the mission was over. And John held her, trying to comfort her and to understand fully what they had achieved that night.