A Unique and Regular Organism

“So, I have been thinking…” Rave started.

“What a rare occurrence.” John could not resist the obvious opening.

His first fiancée rolled her eyes at that, bumped her shoulder into his, then gave Momo’s butt a smack for laughing at the joke.

They had wrapped up the military meeting. All of that had gone off without a hitch. Military operations were underway, civilians were clothed and fed, defensive positions held, and communications with allies established. Rex Germaniae was scheduled to arrive first, as Lydia had been the first one to fully mobilize. After that, it was the Illuminati, then the Sons of Rome, while the Mandate of Heaven would simply arrive when they arrived.

Currently, the plan was simple. The Mandate of Heaven would hold the position in what had been tributaries until very recently. Ironic that they would protect them with all their **** right after relinquishing control over them.

While they held down the fort, Rex Germaniae would land in the Guild Hall, the Illuminati in New Orleans, and the Sons of Rome in Boston, while Fusion’s special forces would amass in Miami. They would plan further operations once those positions were established. There was no sense in making detailed plans past that point.

“If you’re done putting me down…” Rave continued.

“Never.”

“…I was wondering if ya could go by emperor instead?”

“…I only just started going by king and you want to inflate my ego even more?”

“Yeah, what the heck, Jane?” Momo came in on his side. “This guy doesn’t need more that balloons his pride.” She poked him in the left cheek. A confusing matter, considering she was to the right of him – and there was another person between them.

‘I’ll just chalk that up to the usual fairy shenanigans,’ John decided.

Rave’s sashay made her bodysuit stretch. For optics, she had decided to appear by his side during the public part of the gathering and to wear her battle outfit when doing so. It was the appropriate garb for the occasion, John had to agree. It also emphasized her bubble butt, its swing like the back and forth of the metronome of desire.

“But ya gotta understand how funny it’d be!”

“How funny what would be?” John asked, playing the usual game of trying to draw an actual explanation out of his first love. “Use your words, woman.”

“If you’re emperor, that makes me empress, right?”

“That would follow, yes?”

“And if I’m empress, like, full empress, then I’m a court rank above Lydia, right?” Rave grinned cattishly. “That’d be so funny.”

John blinked a couple of times, contemplating the question. The obvious weak spot was that emperor was a bit of an arbitrary title in 2019. To John’s knowledge, there was only one monarch, the emperor of Japan, on the mundane side of things who still called themselves one. There was some Spanish legalese where their monarch could technically call themselves the Holy Roman Emperor, but that was never actually used.

Technically speaking, emperor was a title derived from the Romans. It had long since been put through the grinder of history and emerged in a bit of a perplexing state. Widely, it was recognized to be above a king, although it was not entirely clear at which point a realm was big and prosperous enough to be called an empire.

On the Abyssal side, they had 3 ½ empires at this time. There was the Greater Empire of Romulus, with the German Empire inside of it (only further adding to the whole confusion of titles). There was the Mandate of Heaven in the eastern hemisphere and, finally, the Great Sultanate between them. Fusion was recognized as on-par with those states. Well, it had been before this current matter.

“We can consider that after we find out how much of a country we have left,” he said.

“…Yeah…” Rave let go of the topic.

An alternate matter presented itself conveniently a few seconds later. Delicia walked up the corridor in front of them. Her eyes lightened up a bit when she saw them. It had been a few hours since breakfast and, sometimes, she did display the affection she had for them without any of the bratty energy.

Moving up quickly, the shortstack stopped short of them. A skip in her step made her boobs bounce. John’s eyes were naturally drawn to her cleavage, then to the smug grin she presented. The bright-eyed affection was now beneath the usual bratty energy. John just smirked back. He enjoyed what he was seeing, love, boobs, and smugness all.

“Checking on the horny mushroom?” the alchemist asked.

“Why did that have to catch on?” John groaned. “Of all the nicknames… don’t you have any respect for what she is?”

“I would never say it to her face… well, not yet.” Delicia laughed and waved off. “The funny thing is that it bothers you.”

Momo looked down the corridor behind Delicia. “Since you come from the right direction… can I even say that with the way things work in the Palace?”

“Well, if Delicia was not coming from where we are going, our paths wouldn’t have run into each other,” John gave his explanation on the matter. “Not that I can claim that I totally understand this.”

“Ya keep thinking about that, brainiacs – So were you just hanging out with her or not?”

“I delivered her test results,” Delicia answered. “After you left for your court session, I decided to approach her. I wanted to check out her DNA. Mostly wanted to see how much of John, Lorelei and Hailey is still in there.”

“And?” John coaxed her.

“Same degree of overlap as a banana.” The alchemist maid pulled a tablet out of her inventory. “To joke less about it, I’ll take a while to actually understand what she is. Fact is that she tore your genetic materials into its building blocks and reassembled it as she needed to. She is human, kind of, but she’s also definitely a mushroom. There’s no real genetic familiarity left between her and any of you.”

“Well, the more we understand about her, the better. Good work.”

“That’s not the good part of the work.” Delicia scanned through the tablet again. “She is Lorylim, more so than the others, and we know her touch kills them dead. I’m researching if I can extract spores from her that would then kill the Lorylim in a person. It’d be harmful to the human parts of the body too, but-“

“Only about 50% as harmful,” John finished that thought.

“…How do you know?”

“35% is the effect of a Medium Aura of Humanity’s Bane on me, so I extrapolated it would be 50% for the real deal.” John had not encountered the debuff recently, but he also hadn’t been facing anything directly in his true body in the last few days. “So, this theoretical medication would be like chemo on infected people.”

“Any attempt to make a true medicine for the infected has been a bust. Once the body goes, the soul is done, usually. We’ll see if I can change that.” Delicia’s smirk was entirely wiped away, her expression focused, her eyes constantly reading the data. “I’ll do my part in all of this.”

John encouragingly put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up, smiled for a brief moment, then they exchanged a loving nod. A kiss followed, then they continued in their individual directions, she to her lab and he, Rave and Momo towards Lyndell. One more corner and they were at the door.

A simple wooden barrier separated them from the most ancient entity still alive today. Arguably, that was. One could have said that Lyndell was millions of years old. One could have said that Lyndell was born when Tiamat interrupted the sealed hivemind. One could also have said that she was born yesterday. A philosophical question made all the more difficult by the confusing state of her biology.

Pondering the question, John knocked on the door. There was no response, so he knocked again. “Probably just isn’t aware of the etiquette yet,” Rave provided her thought and pushed down the handle for him.

While the question of what she was may have been confusing, the scent that tickled John’s nostrils was anything but. Mixed with the earthy aroma of Lyndell’s musk was the sweetness of pheromones and the light sharpness of sweat and other bodily fluids. Rave pushed the door all the way open before Momo could intervene.

Before them was a guest room. It was simply equipped, a kitchen and bedroom rolled into one package, small by the standards of the Palace. The bed was positioned in a corner, a large thing with simple white sheets. On it, Lyndell lay.

The pale skin of the woman practically glowed, reflecting the artificial light that came in through the corridor. It was the only light source, all curtains in the room were drawn and all bulbs switched off. Her upper body was slightly elevated by a large pillow. The black veil that grew along with her hair was spread out on it. The back of her head and her shoulders pressed into the soft fabric.

Lyndell’s back was gently arched, her legs spread widely, putting her full nudity on display. Medium-sized breasts quivered with every subtle shift of her elegant curves, crowned by grey-purple areola and hard nipples. Her midriff was flat and taut, the posture stretching her skin over her ribs and ever so softly toned abs. The black that regularly covered her so much had diminished to decorative patches on upper arms and sides, like black flames painted on a grey-white canvas.

One of her legs was settled on the mattress, the other was sharply raised. Curled toes glided over expensive sheets, while fingers worked the swollen mound of her pussy. There was a pronounced redness to her mons, as if to highlight further that which already captured John’s attention. Pronounced wetness made her pussy and digits glisten. A damp stain marked the path of an explosive release that must have occurred just moments prior.

“Hello,” Lyndell greeted them. Her voice was as melancholic as ever, despite the undeniable heat beneath the serene surface. After the word had left her, her black lips remained slightly parted. Her eyes were only halfway open, yet focused on her visitors all the same. Her lower body pressed into her fingers. “Ah…” she moaned, so quiet, so erotic, as she brought herself to another orgasm.

She had a hair trigger and was a squirter to boot, John observed that passively. The gushing of her pussy added to the already large stain south of her gorgeously shaped rear. No, gorgeous was too little a word. Only a thousand word dissertation could describe it in full detail. To use a single one was to do it a disservice, but there was still one that sprung to mind.

Perfect.

‘By moon and midnight,’ he heard Momo’s groaning thought roll into his. “It’s generally considered bad manners to masturbate while people are in the room.”

“Is that so?” Lyndell panted in a controlled rhythm, riding out the rest of her climax. Only after did she halt in her motions. Three seconds of thought later, she removed her hand from her sex. “It does make it harder to concentrate.”

“Not quite the common reason why we usually do not do it in front of people,” John remarked. He was having a difficult time remaining straight-laced, what with Lyndell licking her finger’s clean. She had looked at them enigmatically for a moment first. Evidently, she liked her own taste. She only stopped after it was gone.

“I will find out if I care about common reasons.” Lyndell rose from the bed. There was a slow elegance to the way she moved. It reminded John a lot of Undine. Maybe there was something in lonely souls that taught them to move like that or maybe John’s brain was just tricking him into seeing it because of the gothic aesthetic the two shared.

The black patches on Lyndell’s skin grew until they resembled Rave’s bodysuit. Clothing that hid nothing and yet everything. John left that uncommented, instead following Lyndell to the table in the room. He did his best to ignore the sticking scent of female heat in the air.

Momo closed the door behind her, then flipped the light switch.

“Hmm…” Lyndell groaned when the artificial light hit her. It was an adorable sound, underlined even further by the way she glared up at the bulb through almost closed eyes. The rest of her body turned away from the light. “Too bright...” she complained.

John shoved down his ‘must protect’ instinct. He was looking at an adult ancient entity of power beyond most people’s comprehension. She was a light shy mushroom woman, not some adorable dork that needed to be rolled up in a blanket.

Momo turned down the adjustable light until Lyndell appeared comfortable enough. By that point, the bulb created little more than a minor gleam. Lyndell was on one side of the table, the three of them on the other.

“We came here to check on you,” John explained his reason for coming, “and to discuss your next moves. I assume you have made plans of your own?”

“I have not. Nothing elaborate, I should specify.” Lyndell bowed over the table. Without explaining anything, she grabbed Rave’s hand. The feline Lightbearer let it happen, then blinked in confusion when the primordial Lorylim let go of her palm nearly instantly. She stretched towards Momo next. She hummed, removing the blackness that covered her own hands, then attempted to pull at the fairy maid’s gloves. “It is skin?”

“It’s my metadermis, so effectively yes.”

“Mhm…” Lyndell continued to inspect Momo’s hands.

“So, what is your non-elaborate… plan…?” John had accompanied his words with a gesture. Before he knew it, Lyndell had grabbed his forearm. She gave the muscles under the sleeve a couple of squeezes. Then, she pulled his arm towards her breasts. “I appreciate the offer, but this is inappropriate.”

“Is that so?” Lyndell’s forlorn tone tugged at his heartstrings. She let his arm go. “Your hands are larger. I wondered what they would feel like. What makes it inappropriate? You are clearly not against surrounding yourself with females.”

Momo cleared her throat. “Lewd activities are typically reserved for loved ones. Most humans only make one permanent partner. John is a bit special.”

“I can feel that,” Lyndell said calmly. There were a thousand ways to interpret that and most of them were flirtatious. “How would one enter this relationship?”

‘NO! NO! NO!’ Momo shouted inside the mental connection, spreading the news through the network. ‘Why do we have to have a horny mushroom that chases him instead?’

‘Calm down,’ John told her. “At this time, I’m not sure if I want anyone to join us… I’m trying to live my life as best as I can, but I have gone through several losses recently. It’s a difficult time.”

Lyndell observed him, Rave and Momo for several seconds. Eyes directed to the tabletop, she bowed her head. “I fail to grasp your nuances. My heartfelt apologies.”

“It’s not the first time I deal with people that come from a different understanding of the world,” John assured her and smirked. “I can manage a lot of oddities. Your plan?”

“I will stick to you. The corruptor and the visionary have taken an interest in you. Eventually, you will lead me to them.” Lyndell’s lips curled into a tiny, hateful smile. “I will rip out Tiamat’s black heart and compost her entrails.”

“Ya got a lot of people competing for that honour.”

“Satisfying as it would be to deliver the final blow myself, as long as I play my part in her end, I am content.” Lyndell looked up, her grey eyes wandering between the three of them courteously. “Assuming that is a question on your mind, I cannot tell anything about the plans of Tiamat and Izha. I isolated myself from their minds to protect my individuality. I’m in the dark.”

“Disheartening, but not surprising,” Momo sighed. “You’ll stick to us and we can oblige that just fine. We’ll take to the field as soon as we have organized our next move. You’ll deploy alongside John.”

“I listen and obey,” Lyndell stated.

“It’ll be several days until then,” Momo continued on. “Considering what you are-“

“You wish to know if and when I will step out to the public,” Lyndell interrupted softly. “I intend to move amongst you. I must if I am to understand this body and your social norms. My suggestion would be that I be assigned to whoever you feel appropriate. I will observe quietly.”

“Pleasant to be on the same page,” Momo said, relieved. “First tip, do not grab people’s hands and pull them towards your boobs. Most men will just grab them.”

Lyndell shrugged, a slow and deliberate motion. “I only care about his hands.”

Momo screamed internally.

John chuckled – and also screamed internally.