Layover

We spent the rest of the night, morning, and the next day playing mostly single player games on my console. It took a while for Gemash to get used to seeing a world she lived in less than a day ago inside of a game.

While talking, Kofi and I realized something strange at about the same time. Some of the game mechanics, like skill levels and perks made perfect sense to Gemash, like those actually existed. Of course killing was a quick way to gain skill and perks could be gained by focusing on the ability during the rush of accomplishment. Our brief description of studying and intense effort with no natural reward was appalling to her. I explained that’s why so many of us on Earth play games.

I seriously considered going back to Skyrim for the possibility of gaining skills, perks, or material wealth. What made me reconsider was the scarcity and danger around every corner. Dragons are deadly to everything, even dragonborn, and Gemash told me that she highly doubted I was dragonborn by some cosmic coincidence.

Cyberpunk was out for a similar reason. It might look fun on the surface, but that could easily become hellish in seconds.

Finally, while it might seem grim, the world of Fallout 4 actually looked best to me. There are definitely dangers in the post-apocalyptic world, but most of those wouldn’t chase us very far. It was more empty than anything else, which could make some parts of the world perfect for setting up a settlement. Our goal could be to recruit people to our cause and experiment with transferring stuff between worlds.

This decision as the sun was setting outside led into a conversion about what we would wear into this new world. I was of the opinion that it didn’t matter, but Gemash thought we should acquire armor and weapons.

Kofi wanted to buy me a Geiger counter, insulated clothes, a first aid kit, and a shotgun. I just responded by asking if she actually had money for all that and knew how much the assortment would cost. I had to insist that her paying back a large credit card debt would actually be worse for me than me dying and losing a day. Besides, if the world was much like the game then it wouldn’t be too hard to find clothes in my size that didn’t make me look out of place. The same should go for weapons and armor, at least the simple kind.

I did agree to go back to Helgan for the stuff we left there. We could even test our hivemind between here and there. Kofi could go too, since she still managed to sound slightly skeptical even with voices in her head, a naked orc, and her own stretchy pussy as proof that I really did have all the powers I claimed to have. However, I was never going to give an order to try and fix this doubt. Down that road lies madness I told myself, better to not reshape every little thing I can until I forget that I’m not that kind of god.

“Ready!” Kofi announced to the room, back in her previous clothes plus shoes and a jacket. The synthetic jacket covered her arms, neck, and most of her torso. Her bottom half remained covered by only panties and yoga shorts. Not the most practical for where we were going, but it would do temporarily.

“Let us go quickly then.” Gemash encouraged. “Hopefully no one has found my armor over this last day.”

“Yep, you first.” I pointed at the wall and willed a blue portal into existence. This time I was wearing jeans, an athletic shirt, and a heavy jacket. I even had running shoes on.

Gemash nodded and strode into the portal. I could see the moment she touched it she sort of tumbled forwards, like she had just fallen into the hole in reality.

We waited for a few seconds before hearing her voice in our heads.

“I am on top of the tower, everything is still here.” It had an odd quality to it, like the distortion from listening to something far away.

I chuckled in response. It actually worked across dimensions, universes, or whatever this was. It just made me think of how fundamentally flawed our understanding of physics must be. Odd that communications is what made me think of that, not inter-dimensional portals. It was a problem for later though, and probably not for me at all.

I was about to gesture for Kofi to go next when I noticed her stepping through without any prompting. Figuring now wasn’t the time to get overly involved in metaphysical thoughts, I followed.

I felt gravity shift, a moment of darkness, then my front foot landed and I jerked to regain my balance. Blinking in the dim light, I looked around, feeling like my whole body had just stopped and restarted. I shuddered at the feeling. If what actually happened with the portals was what it felt like I had just experienced, I might have a reason to limit my dimension hopping.

I had to **** myself out of my reverie though. I reached into my pocket and felt the familiar shape and weight of my phone. Pulling it out, it didn’t respond, no light, nothing. Even with the power button, it just acted like a piece of glass with a metal case. That was less than I was hoping for but it matched with the other stuff that was already forming a theory in my mind.

“Everything is still here.” Gemash stated aloud, making me realize I hadn’t responded to her.

“Yeah.” I replied, looking around the tower. “And the hivemind actually worked, just didn’t think to respond.”

I was grinning now. Theory aside, this was still awesome.

Ah, and there’s Kofi, just starting to wake up on the ground. I wasn’t really concerned for her because that’s what I imagined I looked like the first time as well. Meanwhile, Gemash was similarly ignoring her and pulling on fur boots. I guessed they were both the most practical and the most sexy items to start with. It displayed both her increased breasts and her ass with how she bent at the hips to put them on. Her posture made me wonder if she was doing that specifically for me.

I spent the next minute just watching her buckle the various pieces on. Obviously, the top didn’t fit very well now. She tried putting it on, but she had to lift her breasts all the way above the cups to get it closed. After a valiant attempt to stuff her tits back in, she got her nipples within an inch of the top. This left her tits at least limited in their movement, but still jiggling all around on top.

Other than the now inadequate top, the rest still fit well and left large gaps to appreciate the chiseled form beneath. That this type of armor existed and maybe worked really said a lot about the world. I might have to test it out.

“So, do you believe me now?” I asked, looking toward Kofi.

“Sure.” She answered, peering over the crenellations at the moonlit surroundings. “This is still nuts.”

“True… Hm.” I walked over to look out next to her.

There was fresh layer of snow over most of Helgan, covering most of the worst signs of battle. I could still see the raised forms of the dead beneath the snow, but only the rubble and buildings were exposed. This might be a terrible sight to some, but for me it was disconnected. I had dreams about scenes like this in my old life, but corpses and war never completely repulsed me. They were just a natural result of competition at scale.

“Gemash, let’s start collecting stuff. Probably best for you to do most of it, but we can look around inside.”

“Agreed.” Gemash said while frowning and shaking her tits in the too-small bra. “I will find weapons for both of you and intact armor for you.” She finished with a nod, taking her hands off the bra and turning to begin her task.

Once she was down the stairs a bit, I turned back to Kofi and Helgan at large. “So… Let’s take a look around.”

We spent the next hour just walking around, looking at the destroyed buildings and peering out past the miraculously intact walls. A few minutes in, Gemash brought us sheathed imperial swords and belts to carry them. I may have some mechanical knowledge of swords, but neither of us were planning to try them against wolves or anything. She also got a cloak for Kofi’s exposed legs, which I suppose I should have thought of.

An idea Kofi had, probably in the interest of keeping me alive in the future, was to try sneaking around Gemash. We tried it, and while nothing happened at first, I began to feel like this might actually be working. Another hour later, while trying to simulate sneaking around and watching unseen, I felt an actual tingle. It could have been my dick recovering from the overstimulation of the last day, or it could have been me gaining a level in sneak.

Either way, I was enjoying our voyeuristic game enough to continue not actually collecting supplies. It went on for a while, the night being the perfect time for this, until I definitely felt something. It was tricky to pin down, but I was sure this was that moment of accomplishment Gemash mentioned earlier. I was about to focus on my sneaking to try to gain that entry perk, but I changed my mind and went for something more interesting.

I felt a bit foolish attempting to will fire into existence, but I tried. Nothing happened, which made me think. Why did I expect it to work? Well every character I played here just knew flames and healing by default. I guess I didn’t. Though I did happen to remember where a spellbook might be.

Giving up the sneaky charade, I asked Gemash for a torch and we went into the fort. It was obvious that there had been fighting in here as well, and it looked like the imperials lost. Reaching the dungeon, there were more bodies, but the cages and cells were all still locked. Inside one particular cage, there was a spellbook and initiate robes. I was going to pick the lock with the picks nearby, but those were actually missing. So I kicked the door.

That reminded me that I did in fact have inhuman strength, even if I hadn’t thought about it much. I took the book and robes about as gingerly as possible. Wanting a better place to check them out we returned to the entrance.

Opening the spellbook, it was like reading a dissertation in a foreign language. Maybe I could figure it out, but it could take weeks or months. Luckily, after a few minutes something clicked in my head and I put my hands against one of the figures on a page. There was a flash and the book vanished. I felt a slight jolt and realized it had worked like the game.

I looked at my hand and tried to generate sparks from it, producing a momentary burst of lightning. It lasted a second at most, before stopping as suddenly as it began. I actually cast magic. It wasn’t quite as special as it would have been a few days ago, but it still felt cool.

Now, it was obvious I had abysmal mana. So I doubted the usefulness of this, but it could probably ignite stuff. Back to “gathering supplies” then.

A while later, it came time to send Kofi back so she could shower and make it to work on time. I knew it was necessary and she was getting cold from being underdressed here. I had an idea before sending her back though.

“So, you know basically what I like, right? Well I also have this broad goal of taking over the world. Earth that is.” I looked at her seriously. “And I’ve been thinking about ways to do that, even before getting these powers. I want to try starting a movement, or a group, or something like that. It would start out with simple ideals like rational politics or maybe just women looking good. Then we could use psychological tricks to make people feel more and more invested and build themselves around it, basically founding a cult.”

“Wait.” Kofi looked at me incredulously. “Cults are not exactly well liked. If you get labeled like that it could really backfire on you. I don’t want you to get hurt by that.”

“But my cult would have an advantage no one else has. On the first of each month we can induct people and get them to care more about me than even themselves. Just trust me on that. One ritual, ceremony, whatever you want to call it on the first and they will support me and mine for life.”

“Okay…” She trailed off in thought. “But the image?”

“As long as we move slow and stay close to normal stuff, I don’t think it’ll be a big issue. Just keep the more out-there stuff subtle.” I reassured her. “It’s not like people haven’t done this before. Oh and make sure there are ranks or something that people can work towards. Everyone likes to earn things.”

“Okay, you know what you want, so I’ll do my best to make sure it happens. We want the same things after all.” She smiled now, nodding her head and looking determined.

She stepped forward and went to kiss me on the lips. Her lips were soft against mine as she pressed herself against me. I could only barely feel her small breasts through our multiple layers, but her pussy was much more obvious against my bulge.

“How about I take care of this before I go?” She pushed up against my bulge before backing off and leading me to a bed inside the fort.

I didn’t think much for the next few minutes, except that I was glad my first blowjob was with someone without tusks. I didn’t know if she was experienced, but it was honestly the shortest sexual experience I’d had. She didn’t pull away when I shot into her mouth, swallowing it all as quickly as I made it.

Then, it was time to send her back. I wanted to give her something first though. A focused moment later, she was on her way to growing a cup size with milk. I also gave her my phone and passcode, so she could keep up the facade of me being present on Earth. I wasn’t expecting this to feel like a big parting, but I guess I grew close to her over the last day.

One more check for everything that needed to go back to Earth and I opened the portal again up on the tower. With a cheeky salute and an imperial sword and cloak, Kofi stepped through. Half a minute later she confirmed she had landed on my bed and all was well.

Checking my portal power, for lack of a better term, Gemash and I could move on in a few hours. I looked out over Helgan to see that everything looked good in the pre-dawn moonlight. The fort was clear, the snow was mostly compacted, and there was an array of weapons and armor laid out in the shell of a building.

I went down to look through the stuff and found there was even a bag for all the coins and potions we’d found. They might be of limited use where we were going, but we would definitely bring them. As for armor, I decided to go ahead and pick out the nicest set.

It was an imperial officer set, all heavy armor with a very Roman look. It had gaps which I would have to be conscious of, but it looked the most protective. I spent a good half hour fiddling with it before I figured out how to decently buckle and secure the pieces. Sure it wasn’t complicated, but I had no idea how uncomfortable armor could be when it was just slightly wrong.

Next I picked out a shield, also imperial and adorned with a slightly misshapen imperial dragon. I actually got Gemash’s help to properly strap it on. Finally, I picked out a bow and took a quiver with 10 arrows. Honestly, a bow was the only thing here that I had used before, multiple times even.

Knowing I still had time before dawn and before we could portal on, I spent it in the way I knew best. I started walking around the ruins, pacing really. Alone with my thoughts after a day of being with Gemash and Kofi. I thought about my goals, taking over a planet, starting a cult to do it. It was heavy stuff with big ramifications. Considering myself, I had the self awareness to know I wasn’t entirely good, and things could go pretty badly for me and others.

The reasons I was doing this in the first place were simple and self-centered. I wanted to belong somewhere and have people believe in me, thus the cult. I wanted to keep these powers and uphold a promise, thus changing Earth. And I wanted to experience everything I couldn’t in a modern, secure society, thus traveling to other realities.

The one reason that wasn’t self centered was my natural empathy. I wanted to fix everything I considered wrong and unjust. If the cost was high in the short term, that would be acceptable.

I spent even more time on specifics, but eventually I was interrupted. I wasn’t sure what it was at first. Then I saw the skeever charging me from the very edge of my peripheral vision. I ungracefully spun to deal with it head on, raising my shield between us. I was barely fast enough to catch the bulk of it on the shield, claws reaching around to scratch at me before I pushed it off.

“Gemash! Skeevers!” I yelled as I backed up, not even thinking to reach for my sword.

Then I heard something moving behind me and felt teeth crunch into my right leg. Half of them were stopped by the metal greave, but half pierced the muscle on the back. I fell backwards from the impact and the sharp pain, bringing my closed fist down hard on the back of this second skeever. I felt its spine crunch, and my own fist throbbed with the impact.

As I went to hit it again, the first one came at me a second time. I caught it with my shield again, tossing it as far as I could. Knowing I would only get a few seconds, I grabbed the one on my leg. I got it by the back of the head and squeezed, pulling until it went slack. It came off painfully, but the adrenaline pumping through me dulled that to a nuisance.

Turning to address the remaining one, it was almost on me. Then it was knocked off course by the head of a battle axe being rammed into it. A second later, as it righted itself from the tumble, the same battle axe crashed down through it. Gemash pulled the weapon out and turned to survey the area.

I could feel that I was at half health, just like how I used to be able to feel that I was dehydrated. My bitten leg already hurt much less, but it still ached. Looking at it, there was a hole in the boot but little blood came out. If this was how all injuries worked here, I was suddenly less of a fan of Earth.

“You need a potion, now.” Gemash spoke with authority, reaching down to help me up.

I nodded and got up to follow. It was remarkable I could stand so easily, but it seemed normal for this world. Pain without disability, that was nice, I thought with a grimace.

Drinking the red potion she gave me, it didn’t taste good but it sure did work. It was only then, after the rush passed, that I felt that feeling of accomplishment again. I focused on my health and rudimentary knowledge of armor of course. Anything to lessen the danger of supersized rats eating me.

Once I was healed up again and wearing new boots, I directed Gemash to get everything she could carry, mostly the valuables and assorted metallic items. Looking at what we were leaving behind, I shrugged and opened the portal.

Gemash went through first, heavily burdened but still wearing her bikini armor beneath the cape separating the various sharp and pointy things from her green skin.