Light At The End

John stirred from slumber. Strangely, as he opened his eyes, all he could see was a pitch-black void. Bringing his hands up, he could feel that he wasn’t blindfolded. Trying not to panic he felt his way around which was when he touched the stone and gravel beneath him. A cool breeze brushed past him as he stood. Not being able to even see his hand from a few centimetres away, he attempted to manifest his draconic mutations.

When that failed he patted his pockets, trying to find his phone, without any luck. Then, finally, he tried going into his inventory to pull out one of the Luminite spears; the UI didn’t appear, and wondering if it was because of the darkness, he tried to will the spear into his hand. He let out an annoyed grunt before grumbling, “What the fuck? Is it just dark in here? Or have I gone blind? Where even is here?”

With no other option, he extended his arms and slowly began walking, trying to find a wall. The ground was uneven but he managed to move around without tripping or stumbling. He’d moved a little too quickly in his panic, however, and his fingers bent backwards as they collided with a hard cold stone wall.

“Where the fuck am I?” John’s voice echoed. “The last thing I remember…”

He felt panic begin to rise. “Ellie! Are you here?” he yelled, but the only response was his voice bouncing off the unseen walls. “Fuck! Please be okay… M-maybe I was teleported away? Maybe someone locked me up before I did anything and that’s where I am now? Maybe I managed to do something to get myself away from her before anything happened…”

He pounded his hand against the stone, causing him to growl in pain before letting out a loud huff of frustration. With no answers and no way of seeing at all, John tentatively crept forward, following the wall.

The darkness caused John’s body to go into survival mode. The longer he walked, the more jumpy and paranoid he became, even getting to the point where he wasn’t sure if what he was hearing was the echo of his own steps or if someone he couldn’t see was following him. Despite calling out several times, the only response he ever got was his echo.

The lack of light and being on edge made it hard for John to know how long he’d been walking, but it felt like hours. That’s when John noticed the sound of gravel beneath his feet had vanished, and he realised that the floor was much more even; in fact, it was completely flat.

As he wondered what was happening, he felt the texture of the wall change as he walked and dragged his fingers along it. Suddenly, there was a shape to it, blocks or bricks with rounded edges. He stopped and crouched down to feel the ground and felt similar large stone bricks lining the floor.

He stood back up and quickened his pace. “If there is an actual structure here, there must be an exit or something. I have been walking in a straight line this entire time, surely I’ll reach somewhere eventually,” he murmured to himself.

After running in a straight line for what seemed ten or twenty more minutes, John could see light, which caused him to pick up the pace further into almost sprinting.

The light was a small glowing orb that sat in an indentation in the wall. It was barely brighter than a small candle, and illuminated the stone bricks of the floor and wall around it. The hallway seemed to be roughly two and a half metres across and the light barely reached the wall at the other side. It almost seemed random that the light was here until he noticed the wall at the end of the tunnel.

It was extremely hard to see it, but straining his eyes, he could barely make out a wall with a black iron door in the centre. It looked like a small vault door, with reinforcements and bars that all connected to the door with large rivets. There were small patches of rust and one or two indentations, but something that struck John as odd was the lack of a door handle or any kind of leverage; it was like it was some kind of prison door and he was on the wrong side.

John clenched his jaw before walking over and slamming his fists into it, causing him to grunt from the pain. He rested his forehead against the door when he noticed the breathing; it wasn’t his, it was too loud, too deep and much more sporadic than his own, not to mention it came from the other side of the door and seemed to be slowly getting closer.

Despite not knowing what or who was on the other side of the door, his body screamed not to let it through the door. He turned around as quickly as he could, leaning against the door with all his strength when a loud thud thundered from the door, travelling down the hallway.

John felt his entire body lurch at the impact and his spine shook. The fear of this thing, whatever it was, getting through caused him to push harder and maintain his hold on the door.

The impact came again, then again, each time there was a minute or so between and it was relentless. John never budged though, standing strong. A roar that reverberated John’s chest echoed before he felt one last much stronger impact that caused the stone around the door to crack.

John’s eyes suddenly shot open; he was confused and disoriented. ’What was that place? Where am I? Wh-’ His train of thought stopped as he looked up.

On his left were stocking-clad legs that led up to a pair of light blue panties with white polka dots just visible under a knee-length kimono. On the right was a nice and familiar set of legs clad in thigh high socks, further up was a nice lacy set of red lingerie under a green plaid dress he remembered his beautiful girlfriend wearing earlier on.

The two were talking, though John didn’t pay much mind as he stared up, feeling like he’d died. He’d been sent to hell in the form of an almost unending hallway with some monster trying to get at him, then shot into heaven. He happily stared up in bliss.

Noticing he had a notification, he willed it into his vision, bringing up two achievements.

Achievement: I swear! I did it by mistake! - Look up someone’s skirt, without permission or their knowledge
+2 Libido

Achievement: Serial upskirter - Look up more than one person’s skirt without permission.
- Perv’s Sunglasses

As soon as he’d read the achievements, another popped into his vision

Achievement: Caught in the act - Get caught peeping.
- Schrödinger's Gift (Minor) x2

John noticed through the achievement screens that Ellie was looking right at him. She didn’t look pissed so to speak, slightly annoyed, maybe amused, but there also seemed to be a lot of relief.

She quickly dropped to the floor and pulled him into a hug. “Are you alright? How do you feel? Are you dizzy or seeing double or anything?” she questioned.

John cleared his throat before croaking, “I’m fine, just a little disoriented, is all.”

Ellie sighed in relief again before looking at him more seriously. “I should kick your ass, you know! How long have you been awake? How long have you been staring up my skirt?” Ellie interrogated.

John felt like he’d been caught by a teacher or something after doing something bad, before Ellie’s stern expression cracked and she smirked. John scratched his chin. “Uh… I’m not sure, I think my brain short-circuited a little.”

Ellie giggled. “I’m sure it did, looking up two cute girls’ skirts, while they’re both concerned about you waking up.”

He sat himself up, on the futon. Rubbing the back of his neck before taking his nose between his thumb and forefinger and gently bending it from left to right. Looking over at Primrose, she was blushing while hugging her tail to her chest.

Ellie flicked his forehead again, though this time he was awake to flinch at it. “You’re a dork and an idiot. Now say sorry and take a look at those items you got to see if one of them is worthy of being an apology gift,” Ellie ordered.

John looked at Ellie slightly confused, and rather than providing an explanation, she just winked and waited.

“Uh, yeah… I guess,” John said, still not sure what was going on. He brought the glasses out of his inventory and cast Observe on them.

Perv's sunglasses

(Enchanted item)
These glasses can be activated to create an illusion around the user’s eyes according to their instruction.

The illusion allows the wearer to change the user’s eye line, the colour and shape of their eyes, or allows the user to disguise the area around their eyes in order to get rid of things like black eyes (in case someone catches you peeping on them, perv).

While the enchantment is not in use, these glasses are very stylish and are not only UV protective but they are also polarized.

“Uh, those could be useful, maybe?” John commented, storing the glasses and removing one of the other rewards. A foot cubed box with a ribbon appeared in John’s hands before he cast another Observe on the item.

Schrödinger's Gift (Minor)

(Enchanted item) - Single-use
If shaken, the box will seem to change weight and sound like the contents are continually shifting.

Upon being opened the contents are finalised and will take the form of a gift the recipient would appreciate.

Contents of the box are mundane or have minor natural enchantments.

The box was quickly pulled from John’s grasp. “That will be perfect!” Ellie stated, turning to Prim. “Here, this is to apologise for John thinking… or rather not thinking.”

Primrose looked from John to Ellie, hugging her tail tighter and looking uncomfortable.

John sighed, pinching his nose. “Sorry, Primrose, I was a little disoriented and not really thinking about what I was doing. Ellie is right, the gift is for you.”

Primrose looked confused but nodded and accepted the box, before she turned to the living area and began to slowly walk. “Come, maybe it would be better if we talked at the table. I’ll make tea.”

John nodded and pulled himself and Ellie up onto their feet. The two followed Primrose into the living area. It was the first time John got to see it and the traditional Japanese aesthetic had an inviting feel to it. Primrose placed the gift onto the table before heading towards the kitchen.

John and Ellie walked over to the table. “Hey, it’s one of those Japanese kneeling table things. That’s pretty cool.” John smiled.

The two knelt in the legless chairs, trying to get comfortable while Primrose made tea. “So, do I get my gift too? I’m curious about them, and since you decided to perv on me, I think it’s only fair.” Ellie laughed and winked.

John laughed along with her, pulled out the second box and slid it over to Ellie. She quickly picked up the box; shaking it a bunch of times, she listened to the sounds as they rapidly changed, one moment the sound of glass, the next metal, then wood.

After she’d finished amusing herself with the gift, she placed it back onto the table. John looked at her with a quirked eyebrow. Ellie seemingly understood the unspoken question. “I think it’s only polite to let Primrose open hers first.”

“Alright… Oh! Prim, I have something else for you,” John said, willing the ten thousand out he owed. “Listen, I know I’m late but it’s not my fa-”

“John, we’ve already talked about it… and it’s, uh… not good.” Ellie winced. “Essentially, since you didn’t pay by yesterday, there isn’t anything we can do, and before you say it, I know you couldn’t pay yesterday, I was there and I’ve already argued that, but I read the contract and you’re kinda in deep shit,” Ellie explained. “Primrose said she has a solution that she wants to run by you, but it’s really not great.”

“Uh, okay…” John started, “I guess, let’s just wait for Prim and then I’m sure I can sort everything out.”

Ellie opened her mouth to reply but stopped herself, sighed and rubbed her temples.

Primrose knelt across from the couple, placed a tray on the table and used the cast iron teapot to pour three cups, sliding one to each of her guests.

John took a sip and grimaced, which caused Ellie to laugh. “Wow, you couldn’t have at least pretended to like it?”

“Sorry, I’ve never had this before, I don’t think I’m a tea drinker.” He coughed and spluttered.

Primrose sipped her tea before placing her cup back on the table. “It’s fine, it does take a more refined palate.” She smirked before winking at John.

Ellie giggled while sipping her own tea. John sighed, “Okay, how about you open your apology gifts and then we can move on to why we came here in the first place.”

Primrose smirked before pulling the gift she’d set on the table closer to herself. She lifted the lid and looked inside before her eyes widened. John couldn’t see inside the box from his vantage point. but whatever it was, Primrose seemed happy with it.

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