Restless Reprieve

After a minute of silently looking at each other, Ahsch and Kira looked away, then went to sit on the stairs of the temple. The mage quickly spoke with Mahat, who informed him that she and Michlas had reached Sarvas and were gathering a group to come and get the hrafthi and his companion out of the Canyon. Unsurprisingly, both Noeh and Dahil were coming, as were a few other experienced adults. But Ariin had also demanded to come along, and nobody wanted to tell her not to worry, not about her own twin brother. It also helped that she was a competent guide in her own right.

Mahat also explained that Ahsch had 'disappeared when he and Kira had entered the temple and met Phashak, though she had known that he was alive since she hadn't returned to the in-between that familiars went to when masterless. Most shocking though was that the two had been within Phashak's temple for over an hour!

All in all, they had at least another hour and half, maybe two hours, before the rescue party from Sarvas would reach the Canyon rim where he and Kira had fallen. The two agreed, in brief, unfinished sentences, to rest for a quarter of an hour before making their way back to the point where they had entered the Canyon, just in case the spatial magic that permeated the demesne delayed their progress.

As he took stock of the situation- and the events leading up to it - Ahsch realized with a jolt that the illusory drake was gone, and no growls echoed through the Canyon. Probably because we've met with Phashak and I passed her 'test,' whatever specific part of the past day that was, he thought.

"We need to test it."

Ahsch jumped when Kira's voice came from right behind him. He hadn't noticed the girl get up from her seat at the other side of the stairs. "T-test what?"

She glared at him, annoyed. "All of it. The influence of your orders, the..." she hesitated, blushing a brilliant red, "effectiveness of your control over my..." she trailed off, looking away, then took a deep breath and met Ahsch's gaze. "I need to make sure that I'm not... compromised."

The hrafthi nodded haltingly. "That's... that makes sense. So..."

"Just... give me commands. Start easy, simple, stupid things, and we can progress to... more **** orders."

He nodded again. "Okay, uh... close your eyes?"

After a second, Kira raised an eyebrow. "Command, idiot."

It was Ahsch's turn to flush. "I command you to close your eyes."

The girl's glare vanished, replaced by a startled expression. "Oh, okay, that's..."

She closed her eyes for a few moments, opened them, frowned, and closed them again. Several seconds later, the frown deepened. "Can you cancel this order now?"

"Uh, sure, you can open your eyes."

Kira opened her eyes, then made a thoughtful expression. "Okay, next?"

They tried a few more orders, keeping with simple, mostly silly things like 'stand on one foot,' 'pat your head,' and 'do jumping jacks.' Kira tested the limits of the commands, seeing what it was like to resist them, when she could stop, how it felt to stop, and if she could stop after a certain amount of time.

Then she told Ahsch to escalate the commands.

"What do you mean?" the hrafthi asked. Before she could berate him, he held up a hand and continued. "I know the general intent: you want to see if commands that go against your nature are easier to resist, but I don't know you very well."

A slight blush, different from that which came from her recent exertions, creeped across her face. "Try... embarrassing things." Assuming an arrogant glare, she crossed her arms. "Things that I'm sure your perverted boy-brain want, seeing as your Mana Generation Method is apparently to sexually enslave people."

Ahach flushed angrily. He'd known it was only a matter of time before she went back to being a spoiled bitch. "I didn't ask for this!" he growled. "I didn't want a thrall, let alone piss you off by having a fucking goddess interfere and make you one!"

Kira's blush deepened. "J-just give me some fucking commands!" she snapped. "Prove how much of a fucking degenerate you are!"

"Fine! Strip naked, get on your knees, and apologize for being such a fucking cunt!"

Her eyes widened, then narrowed in a grimace. Shifting her weight from foot to foot, she shivered. "Fuck, that's insidious."

"What?" Ahsch blinked, the anger quickly clearing from his system, mostly from the shock that such words had come from his mouth.

"Your fucking... it's making me want to do it. Almost like a voice in my head, whispering how good it will feel to obey."

The hrafthi frowned, trying to figure out what she meant, but then realized that the 'command' had taken root and... "Oh, fuck, I didn't... you don't have to do that, I rescind the order!"

Kira suddenly relaxed, then shivered again. "Gods, that's..." she was contemplative for a moment. "Try again, same command, but... I guess mean it less, this time? I want to test something."

Blushing, he nodded mutely. "What was... er... strip naked, drop to your knees, and beg for forgiveness," he quietly repeated, trying to keep from imagining it, the image Phashak had shown him of Kira's naked body flashing through his mind.

There was a slight shift in the girl's stance, but she remained thoughtful. "Okay, if you mean it, the command's influence is stronger. But even still, when you really fucking meant it that first time, and it was more like a persistent daydream than an inviolable order." With a triumphant grin, she crossed her arms confidently. "Alright, one more, command me to orgasm."

"Wait, what?" Ahsch had to fight not to shout, his voice cracking slightly.

"You heard me."

"Just... okay then." Blushing brilliantly, he cleared his throat. "Okay then... cum!"

Immediately, Kira's eye twitched. "Okay, like I thought..." she frowned for a moment, thinking, and Ahsch dropped the order. "Okay, be... more descriptive."

A blink. "What?"

"You know, give a more complicated command. Like, tell me the lead in to... that." She smirked. "What do you want to see? Tell me what you'd want me to do if you had that 'full control' you had before the goddess tweaked it."

Ahsch suppressed a growl. They had already established that she wasn't really controlled by his commands. They were there, tempting her to obey, but she clearly could ignore them if she wanted to. Then, a thought occurred, a way to do what she asked, but also make a point about using him like a guinea pig.

Forcing a confident look onto his face, the hrafthi stepped forward, catching his companion off-guard as he leaned in and softly spoke into her ear, "I command you to... do whatever it was you were imagining - what you were fantasizing - about me commanding you to do, make a show of it, and bring yourself to orgasm."

A surprised whimper tore free from Kira's throat, her face on fire and her eyes dilated. "F-fuck!" she gasped. "W-what... how..." She groaned, frustrated, but it also sounded almost... aroused? "Why is it so hard to resist?"

Ahsch blinked, quickly stepping away in surprise. He expected her to get upset, maybe see that lovely blush of hers go even deeper than it had before, but not for her to actually seem compelled!

Then another thought occurred to him. "I've got one more thing to test: on top of the previous command, I want you to tell me what that fantasy you seem so tempted by is."

That got her attention, her lips parting in another gasp. "Shit, I didn't think of layering..." another whimper, this one definitely aroused, came from her. "Fuck... okay, you made your..."

"You got me angry on purpose, didn't you?"

"Wh-what?"

The hrafthi crossed his arms. "Earlier, when I commanded you to strip and grovel for forgiveness, you made me get angry enough to say something like that on purpose. You were trying to rile me up." He squinted at her. "You didn't think I'd be willing to say something like that without you 'helping' me along."

Kira grit her teeth. "Nnng, yes, okay, you're right, happy? Now are you going to cancel the orders or what?"

"Actually, I think we have another test to do, but we should get moving. So let's go!" he patted his leg like he was calling a dog. "Come on now, we should get to the meeting point."

"W-wait! Aren't you going to..."

"Once we meet up with the rescue group, yes. But we should test how long you can resist a command."

"But... but that's..."

Ahsch smirked. "That must be a really good fantasy to have you so hot and bothered," he said over his shoulder, still walking away from the temple. "I can only guess, but it must be running through your mind constantly right now, the commands making you think about it, being so 'insidious,' as you said, that something you fantasized about, that you want to do, would be sooooo good to actually obey and do it."

He knew she would probably be passed to all hell when he removed the commands. He knew he might get in trouble over this. But at the same time, the combination of saving her life - twice over - and the truth of testing how much she could resist, gave Ahsch confidence that he could weather whatever consequences came of this... overstep.