Below Ground: Chapter 1 - The Young And The Reckless (MF,oral,spank,nc/cons,fant)

by Dark Genesis (dante_dd@hotmail.com)

Starring: Michelle Trachtenberg, Leelee Sobieski, and Britney Spears

In a perfect world there wouldn't be things like war and hate. People would simply accept each other like they are and treat each other equally. All living things would find themselves a mate and live their lives happily ever after. Searching for this place, the humankind had opened a portal that had lead many lives into danger. No one knew what exactly had happened, but some things were for sure - people had gone missing, like vanished in a blink of an eye. Thinking that they had passed away, people took for granted that they were gone and were never coming back, so they stopped looking. In time more people vanished, one after another, and only the ones that had disappeared knew what was going on, in the depths of Earth, in places humans didn't know about.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The Non-Solis theater presents, a play by Lady LaDermot: The Young And The Reckless!"

The announcer was escorted off the stage by a swarm of applause, the crowd cheered as the curtain opened and the play began. Usually people didn't come to see plays anymore, but this was sold out, a play by the famous soap-writer Lady LaDermot couldn't be that bad, could it?

On the stage stepped Rufio, played by a local named Erik Clain, and followed by Laurel, played by the actress Leelee Sobieski. The setting was the local health center, where Laurel's friend was dying of cancer.

"Sylvia, my dear friend, are you alright?" Leelee took her co-star Michelle Trachtenberg by the hand. "I am far from alright, dear Laurel. But the illness in my chest is the least of my pain..." Eric approached the bed where Michelle was laying. "Laurel... Rufio... there is something I must tell you both..." Erik looked terrified and he backed away from the bed. "No, Sylvia! You mustn't!" He cried out. "'tis been hidden for too long, I must speak the truth... Laurel!" Leelee backed away from the bed, looking pale.

"I am pregnant! And the father of my child... is Rufio!"

The audience let out a loud stir and Leelee was stunned. "Rufio! This can't be the truth, is it not?" Erik turned away from Leelee, looking very surprised. "Yes! It must be the truth!"

Another stir came out of the audience and Leelee burst into tears. Seeing this Erik rushed to her, taking Leelee into his arms. "Do not worry, my love! My heart still belongs only to you! Not some lassie I had a romantic moment after ten bottles of wine!"

All the women in the audience sighed as Leelee replied to Erik's embrace. "Now it is time for Rufio to know the truth!" Exclaimed Michelle, jumped out of the bed, and pulled the scarf away from Leelee's head, revealing her pointed ears. "Rufio! Laurel is an Elf!"

Once again, the audience puffed and some of them even started sobbing. "You are crazy, Sylvia! Elves are just a legend, there is no way my fiance could be a..." He stared at Leelee's fake-ears and was over-startled, almost scaring the audience. "Heavens, Laurel! Is this true? No! My Lord, no!" Erik dropped down on his knees in front of the audience. "True it is, Rufio my love... but why should we let it stop us from being together?" Leelee cried out. "You have betrayed me as I have betrayed you... we cannot be together!"

He pulled out a dagger and impaled himself in the middle of the stage, the audience and Leelee let out a scream. "Here is my revenge for stealing the only man I've ever loved!" Laughed Michelle. "Ha-ha! I knew you'd do this, my old friend, so I took my vengeance on you before this happened! It was I who gave you cancer!"

The audience went crazy and they just cried and sobbed as the play continued. "You little witch! I shall murder you!" Yelled Michelle and tried to choke Laurel.

"What is the meaning of this?" Dr.Ramoray who was Laurel's uncle, played by a local doctor named... Dr.Ramoray.

"Uncle Ramoray! Please help, Sylvia killed my future husband and tried to kill me too!" Yelled Leelee, hiding behind the doctor. Michelle looked shocked by Leelee's accusation, and so was the good doctor. "My dear Laurel, that is impossible."

Dr.Ramoray walked in the middle of the stage, looked very over-dramatic and exclaimed: "I married him last week!"

The crowd cried out one more time and the curtain closed, along with the play. The play was a hit, every single man and woman gave them standing applause. The Young And The Reckless was based on a MT-show by the same name, where the same actors and actresses played their roles. MT was kind of like TV, just not powered by electricity but a power called Magic, the picture was projected into every home with a receiver, so it was kind of like live TV.

Later the same day, Michelle and Leelee were having a drink in a cafe in the center of the town, here people didn't really care about the celebrities as much as about the show, so they could act like normal people.

"And they actually bought that crap! Back then that kinda show would've had a shitty laugh and a half-season cut." Michelle took a sip from her mug. "As long as they believe it, we have a good job." Leelee pointed out.

"Evening, ladies!" A director of the plays in Non-Solis theater joined them in their table. "They call me Bosco, Master Bosco in the right circles, and I have the perfect job for you two!" The smile on that guy must've been a hundred feet wide, there was something fishy about this.

"Really? And what kind of job is that?" Asked Michelle, just to play along. "It is the most honorable work young women like yourselves in this business could do, join me at the palace later this evening and we'll discuss the details!"

It was hard for Leelee and Michelle not to burst out in laughter but they managed to control themselves until the guy left the table. "What the hell was he talking about?" Laughed Leelee. "I was so sure he was going to offer us a place in his own personal harem! What the hell could that guy be thinking?"

"Oi! You shouldn't be talking about the director of The Young And The Reckless like that, there are people in this cafe that will cut necks if you make fun of the play!" The waitress warned them as she removed Leelee's empty mug from the table.

"Lady, we ARE The Young And The Reckless." Smiled Michelle. The waitress just snorted and headed into the kitchen. "Wait a sec, we didn't have a director, did we?" Wondered Michelle.

"No way! We had to improvise all of the situations and go through it a hundred times before it sounded right." Said Leelee.

"Well, I wouldn't say it sounded right, but... maybe we should just check what's this all about, right?"

Leelee nodded and they agreed to go to the palace of Non-Solis, located behind the theater. The town itself was called Ferumi, it was located at the south-end of a big isle in the middle of a puddle of lava near the Earth's core. Many people who had come from the outer world had certified this but they still had no idea how they got there or would they ever get out. The heat itself wasn't that bad, for some reason it seemed that the warmth was avoiding this isle, but still warming it enough to keep it's inhabitants alive. Therefore light wasn't a problem either, the magma enlightened the whole environment 24-7, the only way people would get any sleep was going into buildings to hide from the light. The only way to obtain water was going to an old temple in the mountain in the middle of the isle, where the water would start flowing down to the towns and villages upon praying to a water god. But Leelee and Michelle for instance didn't believe in these kind of things, they believed that there was a rational explanation for everything and that there was no such thing as a water god, or magic for that matter. Yes, a hint of hypocrisy was in the air every time they mentioned the subject, after all they had no idea how they had ended up here, the only thing to do was to take it one day at a time.

As people started pulling back into their houses to get ready to sleep, the soap-opera stars walked the empty dirt road toward the palace. It was half humor and half boredom they even agreed to do this, but since they had nothing better to do at the time, they decided to take Boscos's offer and hear what he had to say. Arriving to the gate of the palace made of bricks and posters of the plays, actors and of course the directors, they stumbled on the guards demanding for their identity.

"What do you mean 'Who Are We'? We're Laurel and Sylvia from Lady LaDermot's The Young And The Reckless!" Michelle was obviously offended that she wasn't known throughout the whole isle, one of those diva-things you get when you become a part of the greatest show ever in the history of a small island.

"Ma'am, just calm down, please." The guard tried to ease her down, but with bad choice of words. "Ma'am? Who're you ma'aming here? Do I look like a ma'am to you?"

"No, miss, not at all, you go right in." The guard stepped away from the gate as it opened and let the actresses pass. The director was waiting for them in the hall, his eyes brightened as he saw the girls walking towards him on the red carpet.

"Wonderful, you showed up! Trust me, ladies, you won't regret this! Please, follow me." Bosco walked up the stairs at the end of the hall and entered the room with a large wooden door. Leelee and Michelle looked at each other and followed him without any specific suspicions. As they entered the large room, they came across many statues of men and women, seeming to be in some sort of emotional state. "This is my chamber! Here I keep the statues of the greatest people in the line of drama!"

As Michelle and Leelee looked through the statues, recognizing some of the names, Michelle's arrogance took control of her mouth. "Oh! You want us to be your next models, huh? It's a true honor to be placed in the midst of all these talented people. Bosco looked at her for a while, feeling a bit irritated. "Actually, not yet see..."

Leelee giggled at Michelle's misfortune, but stopped herself seeing that she had embarrassed her. "And I stress the word YET, my dear ladies. Let me explain you my plan..." Bosco walked to the big dark brown curtain at other side of the room, covering almost 1/6 of the wall. "For years I have been directing Lady LaDermot's plays right here in Ferumi, my plays are the only ones who get all the seats filled! I wish I could say that it's because of my directing, but I must give all the credit to the one who it belongs to..." All three of them knew that the director was full of it, in the end Michelle and Leelee weren't sure that Bosco knew it, but he hadn't been there for any of the rehearsals. The only thing he was doing was taking the credit for the directing which the actors had to do themselves. "Ladies... I give you... Lady LaDermot!"

As the director pulled away the curtain from the wall, both Leelee's and Michelle's eyes widened and their mouths almost dropped on the floor. "Yes! Witness the incredible beauty of the soap-queen!" The director exclaimed as the girls approached the painting, not believing their eyes. "I don't believe it! Is it her?" Wondered Leelee. "It must be, look at it! Exactly the same!" Smiled Michelle, feeling amused by the fact they had just realized. "What? You know Lady LaDermot???" Bosco's eyes almost jumped out of their sockets. They knew they couldn't reveal who it was, so...

"No, she just looks like my aunt... Marge Simpson..." Michelle blurted out.

Leelee eyeballed Michelle for a long time after that sentence, it was quiet for a while until the director broke the silence. "... Well, anyhow... Marge Simpson... that sounds familiar... whatever, I'd like you two to find me Lady LaDermot and get her here to direct the great finale of The Young And The Reckless. As you probably know, she has finished the last chapter where it turns out that Sylvia is actually Lauren's sister and the baby that she's carrying is from their father who died of a heart attack right after he had gotten Sylvia pregnant, and as it turns out, Lauren and Sylvia are actually half elf and half dwarf, everything ending up as clear as when the show began. Now, I've heard that she lives somewhere in the eastern parts, so what I'd like you to do, as the most important characters in her show, is to persuade her to give up her anonymity and show herself to the public. How's that sound?"

It wasn't exactly the job they were looking for, this was the first time they heard that there was an end to the show and it would be in the next chapter, so they would have appreciated a role in a new soap or something... but still, they were interested in meeting up with this Lady LaDermot. "Sure, whatever... and we get statues after the last chapter, right?" Asked Michelle. "Absolutely, you can count on it." Nodded the director.

After accepting the director's offer, they stayed at the palace for the night. Traveling to the eastern parts would be rather difficult, there were only two main towns there and they were very far apart. It was basically mountains and desert... not that the other parts of the isle were any different, not counting the northern parts where the water flowed continuously because of the constant praying of the priests in the temple, and because of it some plants and trees had started to grow. Anyway, the eastern parts were mostly mountains. In the morning Leelee and Michelle were supplied by Bosco and were sent on their way from Ferumi.

"I think this was a mistake, I'm tired already..." Complained Leelee. "Oh, come on! It'll be fun! Just us girls, hiking in the wilderness... no civilization in sight... no water for about 15 miles... we're so screwed..."

"How far was Calculus, anyway?" Asked Leelee.

"I dunno, I haven't left Ferumi ever since we got here... but I hear it's the town to be in if you're a talented artist."

"Yeah, I'm just wondering what kind of talented artist they mean..."

OK, so it was a little unclear what the message about Calculus said, but it was the town closest to Ferumi and after that it would be easier to travel, maybe rent a horse or some other vehicle. The stop at Calculus was necessary, since they would need to fill their storage of water anyway, and at this rate, they'd be pretty tired reaching the town. After a few hours of walking, they got to a fountain, these places were filled so seldom, but on the other hand not many people went through here, so there just might be enough water in there.

"Water-water-water-water---!" Leelee dived into the fountain of cool water in the middle of the wilderness. Both of them were exhausted by the heat caused by the walking and the warm ground that kept getting hotter and hotter as the hours went by from the morning. "Oh yeah... you gotta try this, I think we should spend the night here..." Mumbled the girl in the fountain. Michelle sat on the edge and filled the canisters. "You know, people drink from this place."

"I'm sure they won't mind that the famous soap-star Leelee Sobieski had taken a bath in their drinking water..."

"No, I meant that drifters and other tramps have probably stuck their faces in there and washed their sweaty armpits and dirty beards in there." She hated long baths anyway...

After sitting there and drying herself for few minutes, they stopped to think about Lady LaDermot...

"Why do you think she's anonymous?" Wondered Michelle.

"Don't know... maybe there could be an asshole size of Texas among us who got here by mistake that would sue her for using old ideas in a new world."

"Yeah, incest, suicides, mixing races, real original..."

"OK, so every soap in the world uses the same things but... maybe she just doesn't want to meet the old people in the new world... that's kind of sensible, don't you think?"

"... Yeah, I guess so. But living as far away from civilization as she could get? The eastern parts, you know... maybe she went nuts and started writing the stuff that crazy people write: soaps."

"That's a little too sensible... I thought of dropping acting as soon as I got here. Everything was so primitive and I thought it would be living hell performing in theater for the rest of my life."

"Come on, it's not that bad... besides you need to act live here, no late broadcasts on MT, remember?"

"Oh, right... that sucks."

They packed their stuff and headed toward the next town, it was still a long way to go, but they were getting there. The mystery of Lady LaDermot kept them walking and talking, not even noticing the hours passing by. Soon they saw the shape of the high towers of Calculus in the horizon, and behind it the great mountain of water, with the temple on top. Reaching the town, they found out it was indeed a town to be if you were a talented artist, but not exactly how they were hoping for.

"Glo---ry, glory LELLUHA---JA! Glo---ry, glory LELLUHA---JA! Spare some coins for the amazing band Aqua! The one band who worships the water god day and night in their songs! Come see the show tonight at the Bar de Fonta! Only a few coins to enter! Brothers and sisters! Now is the time..."

"Is that band what I think it is?" Wondered Michelle.

"I hope not... yuck..."

The place to be in if you want to be a professional dancer or singer. Not bad actually, if you can dance or sing, that is... Leelee and Michelle entered a tavern full of drunken workers, just gotten in from the mines. Calculus kept going with the wealth received from jewels, dug up from the nearby mines. Since most of the singers and dancers sucked, they didn't bring the city good reputation, but diamonds and emeralds... indeed.

"Thank God no ones singing here..." Mumbled Leelee, but the bartender caught the phrase with his sharp ears. "There will be in a few minutes. The best singer in town, if I might add, I think you'll enjoy the music, it's not the same shit that's on the streets or in a lower-class place like Bar de Fonta. Now what can I get for you ladies?"

"... Wow, that was impressive, what else do you sell?" Smiled Michelle.

"We sell water, Spikes, Flies and Hisky."

"... Say what?"

"Ladies and gentlemen... tonight's performance will begin soon, so enjoy your beverages while the Star of Calculus gets ready for the performance lasting the whole night."

A few drunken bastards in the front row gave the announcer a short clap, not really caring for announcements, but to see the singer upclose and personal.

"It's a riot, what's a Spike?" Asked Michelle. "Water, spirits and blood." Replied the bartender, Leelee was about to throw up, but managed to hold it in.

"Dare I ask what is a Fly?"

"It's dishwater, in a dirty glass. It's the cheapest drink and the drunks like it after a few Spikes."

"And the grand finale?"

"Hisky, spirits and water in a dirty glass, just to give it a little color... we kind of ran out of whisky since the guy who used to work at a brewery in Colorado got killed."

Now that was a showstopper. "Say what 'Rado'?" Asked Michelle in a lower voice. "Come on, I know you guys! I might have been poor but I still got cable!"

Yeah, amazing but true. The bartender used to be a guy working as a waiter in a small cafe in Denver. He had gotten this job easily, since he had experience handling booze every weekend. Not that there was much booze to handle, but still booze-handling.

"Man, that was the weirdest dream I have ever had! And then I woke up near this town, I thought what the heck, you play with the cards you're dealt, even if there happens to be joker like this between the cards."

"It was definitely weird, I can tell you that. Everything just came to a stop and puff, I was here. Just like that, a new life." Smiled Leelee, taking a sip from her Spike. "Maybe this was a good thing after all, maybe it was supposed to happen like this. And have we ever asked the people here where they come from originally? Maybe they're just like us, just transported here way before us, like... 1500 years ago?" Wondered Michelle.

"That would explain the primitiveness, it took a lot of smart guys to develop the 3rd millenia into the way it was. Here just... less people and less brains I guess..."

"Hey, wasn't the singer supposed to sing here? I'd like to see who's the best performer on this crumby island." Asked Michelle.

"She always takes her time, besides most of these people really don't care about her singing, they just want to see some prime-flesh."

"And here she is, ladies and gentlemen! The Star of Calculus! The bomb among bombs! Miss..."

"Yeah, I should've known." Noted Leelee and finished her drink.

'I used to be a girlfriend and I know I did it well

Oh yes you know its true

You'd call me Cinderella

All you had to do was yell

And I'd be there for you...'

"Yup, she's been singing here for a while now. The tables are always full and people get thirsty watching a half-naked girl on the stage, and we're always glad to receive new customers."

"Doesn't really fit in, does it? The music, I mean." Thought Leelee.

"Not exactly the Dark Ages-type with her face either... neither are we for that matter, maybe we should leave before we get dragged into an alley of something?"

"That might be a good idea..." Leelee agreed with Michelle and they left the tavern to look for a place to sleep. They decided to spend the night at a local inn, those places were completely empty, since everyone who was someone had their own house in Calculus.

Meanwhile in the bar, the singer was finishing up. In this place, it was customary for the singer to clean up the stage after the show, but in her outfit it was pretty hard without showing something to the people who were still in the bar. "Good job, Britney. The place was packed, you still up for tomorrow?" Asked the bartender.

"Yeah, anything to get enough money to get out of this town..."

No, a golden thong and bra weren't the best garments for a cleaner but as long as she was on the stage... Picking up the coins from the stage and bending over, she suddenly felt a slap on her butt and immediately turned around. "Good show tonight... real good." One of the miners that had watched the show was standing next to the stage, his eyes firmly on Britney. "Oh, thanks..." She mumbled to him, it wasn't the first time she had been treated like this, ever since she had gotten here, it was always something about her butt that made men want to touch it. She kept collecting the coins from the floor, feeling the miner caressing her inner thighs as she pretended like she didn't notice. "How would you like to make a little extra tonight? I can guarantee you a big load of cash if you say yes..."

Britney let out a sigh, she could use the money but she knew what the miner had in mind. "I'm not into that stuff, really... can you please go?" She took the rest of the coins and jumped off the stage, and was caught by the miner. She kicked and kicked, trying to get away from his grasp but she was powerless. "Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, we do it hard way, you won't get paid and you'll just suffer longer, say yes now and I'll give you a night you won't forget."

So, she was short on cash and with any luck, it wouldn't take longer than 5 minutes, so... "OK..."

The miner grinned and carried her back to her dressing room and slammed the door. Britney backed up near her closet as the miner dropped his pants, revealing his hard dick. "Come on now girl, daddy's got an itch..." He threw the large bag of coins on the table, just for the fact that he was going to pay her, but was it worth it?

Britney looked at the bag on the table and looked at the guy, closing in on her. "... No, I'm sorry, I can't do this..." He tried to leave but was grabbed by the guy again. "I already paid, sweetie! You can't go back with a deal, can you?"

"Take your money, I don't want it! Just let me go!"

The miner slammed her between him and the desk, locking her between his legs. He grabbed her bra and ripped them apart, after that he forced Britney's head almost against them. "Spit on them, girl. A drool if you have to, just get them wet!" She had no choice but to let her saliva run down to her big breasts, lubricating them for the guy who then pushed Britney down, his cock between her slippery boobs. He grabbed them and pushed them together around his big cock and started moving his hips up and down. "Oh, yeah! Baby! Your tits are so fucking perfect! Uuuhh!" Britney was forced to watch as the cock slid between her breasts, almost poking her chin with every push, she tried to break free but she couldn't. He started picking up his pace, fucking her tits like there was no tomorrow.

"Oh, fuck Britney! You're so fucking beautiful! Taste it, taste it for daddy... please?" He tried to ask her nicely, now that he had thought he had broke the ice, but no. "You're going to taste it! And you're going to like it!" He forced the shaft into Britney's warm and wet mouth, feeling her cheeks pushing against his cock. "Fuck! Fuck yeah! That's it Britney! Suck that cock!" She wasn't sucking, she just felt the guy moving the cock slowly inside her mouth, the tip was poking her tonsils and the shaft was almost ripping her jaw apart, his hands were fondling her hair, which felt kind of nice, but it didn't save her from the guy fucking her mouth. He started gasping and he started ramming Britney's head hard against the desk, forcing the cock into her throat, it felt like he was ready to cum. "Oh, shit! Keep this up and I'll cum any second! Oh... God!" Suddenly he pulled away from her and started jerking his cock in front of her pretty face. He lifted her up on the desk and ripped her thong off, setting his dick against her pussylips. He grabbed her face and looked at it with a strange look in her eyes. As the tip invaded Britney's innocence, the miner groaned of pleasure. "Ohh... you remind me so much of my daughter..." That was too much for her, she tried to break free with any mean necessary, she tried beating him but she was too weak, she bit him but he just moaned more and more, she tried to scream but there was no one there to help her.

"She did exactly what you did... screaming and kicking, but in the end she liked it... just like you will my little girl..." He pushed himself fully into her sweet cunt, lubricated by her saliva, at first she felt she was being ripped apart, the pain was unimaginable, but as he pulled out and pushed in, she felt like never before. The extreme pleasure of an oversized cock inside her, rubbing every part of her pussy with every thrust. As she felt her orgasm closing in, she decided to give this guy a ride for his money. "... Daddy... I'm coming..."

The miner looked at him with pleasure on his face as Britney played into his little game, the satisfaction was more than enough, he could die a happy man right there. "It feels so good, daddy... I've never felt this way before... please don't stop." She grinned as her orgasm filled her body with a wave of pleasure, lubricating her pussy pounded by the miner even more. "My little girl is now a woman... God, I'm so proud... It feels so good..." The miner pushed himself deeper and deeper, almost tears running down his cheeks.

"Daddy, that was fun, it felt so good... I feel so naughty, do it again?" She looked at him with her innocent puppy dog-eyes and the miner got more into it. "Do you know what we do to naughty girls, Britney?" Britney looked scared, feeling the hard dick pounding inside her, making her ready for seconds. "No, please! Don't spank me! I'll be a good girl, please!"

"Sorry, honey..." The miner pulled her body just enough on the edge to reveal her perfect ass and her sweaty buttocks, he raised his hand and started slapping her butt. "Ouch! Daddy, it hurts! Make it stop, please!"

*SMACK* "My bottom hurts! Please stop!"

*SMACK* "My little butt is on fire, daddy!"

*SMACK* "Daddy! I'm coming again!"

Britney's ass was completely red from the spanking she just had and her cunt spurted out a powerful orgasm, wetting the miner's balls completely. Even the miner shivered as he felt Britney's juices on him, making him push into her with force and making her squeal with pleasure. He could feel that he was close, not for long anymore, she would fill Britney up, right to the tip...

"I want your sperm inside me, daddy... please cum inside my soft and hot cunt, please?" The miner took a strong hold of Britney's butt and banged her hard against the desk, feeling the sperm inside him exiting his dick and shooting straight into Britney's innocence.

They collapsed on the desk, both worn out and satisfied beyond their wildest dreams. Britney got her money, unfortunately not enough for her to quit, but still some and the miner left like nothing happened.

As Leelee woke up the next day, she walked straight to the window. Opening it she felt something she hadn't felt in a long time... a breeze. "Michelle... you awake?"

Michelle crawled out of her bed and walked to Leelee, who was standing in front of the open window. "Not sure, kind of... wait a sec."

There was a large crowd in the middle of the street near the inn, some guy was preaching them about something and obviously scaring them. "What's that loony saying?" Wondered Michelle. "Let's find out..."

"The day of judgement is coming! The people have been worshipping the wrong god as far as anyone can remember! The water god has stopped blessing us with water!" As the old priest let out those words, some old women fainted and children started crying. "But there is still hope, young ones! People have spotted a new temple above the temple of water, only ones able to enter are those who find the stairs to this heaven! Find the steps and be saved!" The crowd scattered, almost in panic. Leelee and Michelle had listened to the whole show, were they running out of water and receiving air instead? They headed for the tavern they had been last night, it was almost empty, just the bartender packing some things on the counter. "Hey! Is it true that we're out of water?" Asked Michelle.

"Not yet, but we soon will be! I'm heading toward the new temple, maybe the god of air will be more merciful after all."

He threw some bottles of water into his bag and rushed outside, followed by the actresses. They followed him to the old stables at the outskirts of the town, only a few horses were left and they weren't looking that good.

"I was wondering when you'd show up. You with those nuts that went looking for some invisible stairs, aye?" Grinned the old horse trainer.

"Stop with the bullshit and give me the strongest one you've got! I'm gonna be the first one to find those stairs and I'll be the hero of this whole damn island."

The old man cackled amusedly, but gave the bartender the best horse he had. Before going his way, Michelle and Leelee stopped him. "You really believe there are some stairs leading to the temple of air?"

"... A few years back, I wouldn't have believed it, but here and now..."

He rode off toward the mountain, where the dark clouds were covering the temple of water. Above the clouds they saw an identical temple, just a lot higher, floating in the air. As far as weird things go, every weird thing seemed to make sense down there, if there were any cows there they would probably be able to fly.

"Wow, this is like a bad movie or something... as the old god perished a new one appeared. This goes way over my head..." Thought Leelee.

"I guess we should just believe what we see, that way we won't go as nuts we'd go by denying this whole catastrophe... the question is, what are we gonna do?"

"... Head back to town, return to Ferumi, maybe? It's gonna be a circus if we take the straightest road along the mountain, it'll be full of freaks."

"Well, we have to do something. I'm still up for finding Lady LaDermot and there's really nothing else for us to do, if she stops writing the show we'll be out of jobs, so come on!" Michelle started walking toward north, which was unclear for Leelee, since they were headed to the eastern parts.

"You still remember where we're going?"

"Don't worry, I have a perfect plan! Come on, step on it!"

After catching up with Michelle, Leelee was told the scheme how to avoid any unnecessary encounters with the worshippers of air and minimizing hiking in the mountains. It was clear that the shortest route would have been to head north-east from Calculus, but the circumstances had changed and they would probably take double the time by climbing the mountains than circling around them through the northern parts and traveling the green fields. Most of the towns in east were accessible through the fields and it was much nicer to walk a steady plain than the rough rock with bad climate.

Going through the western parts were the biggest problem, since they were full of bandits, con men, just scum, it was lucky to get out of the area without getting mugged or violated in some other way, but there wasn't much choice, either that or the mountains... maybe it was a bad decision.

"... Michelle, I think someone's following us..."

Michelle turned around to look, but she didn't see anything but the desert and a side of the mountain. "I don't see anything, are you sure?" She kept glaring behind them but didn't notice anything.

"I don't think they want to show themselves while you're looking at their direction, don't you think?"

"Oh, come on, would they be that smart? Since when did thieves get smart?"

"They might not be thieves..." Leelee frowned and carefully looked over her shoulder.

"OK, now you're giving me the creeps. Maybe we should shake them now before something happens... but if we speed up they'll know that we noticed them and they'll jump us..."

"Would you stop that? It's not enough that we have to waste time traveling through an empty desert followed by some outlaws, but you're starting to suggest that they're the worst kind..."

"Relax, there should be a town a couple of miles ahead, we'll be fine. Besides, after we get out of this desert you're gonna enjoy walking, soft grass, fresh air, maybe a creek..."

"I wouldn't be so sure about the water anymore... how could the water just stop?"

"... I just thought of something, were below ground, right? So basically we're under the ground water and everything... in theory we could get out of here."

"Yeah, we just build a big shuttle and blow a hole into Earth, what would happen to this place, not to mention out there?"

"... Just a thought, a screwed up thought, but still a thought."

Their tailer didn't seem to be that interested in them, he just kept following them until they reached the gates of Unda, after that he disappeared. This was good for Leelee and Michelle but they still wondered who'd be so interested in them, if not a thief? The city town of Unda was nothing like Calculus, it was more a village than a town, filled with miners and freeloaders, so far it had survived with water flowing down from the mountain the place was built onto, but now...

"Great, more miners. I wonder if there's a place besides Ferumi that doesn't have sweaty men walking around like they didn't smell?" Wondered Michelle, looking around for any guys who weren't covered with muscles covered with soot and sweat.

"I'd sure like to find out, I'm starting to think about my retirement days and so far that would be first place on my list." Leelee felt dirty just by looking at them, wiping her face with a piece of cloth.

"Don't think about retirement yet, once we get those statues into the palace there'll be more work for us than up there. Maybe in the theater or MT, I don't know... what do you think?"

"I think we should find LaDermot first before we start planning things like that, Michelle... so far we haven't had a trace of her ever being out of the eastern parts and if we have to climb those mountains... I'm not sure I can."

"Come on, you've made it this far, the rest should be piece of cake... here, this looks like an inn."

They stepped into the building and came to a room with a few tables, and in them, surprise-surprise, miners. The stench of dirt wasn't very appealing, the girls walked to the counter, hoping that the rooms upstairs wouldn't smell as bad as downstairs.

"Yes? A room, you want, no? Three rooms empty, you take one or two?" The clerk asked them with an odd dialect.

"Umm... two rooms, please." They were pretty certain that every room had only one bed, two of these miners in a very small room would knock out even a miner.

"Yes, here we pay first."

As Leelee dug up the last coins from her pocket they realized that they were completely broke and only able to pay for one night. The only option was to get work, beggars would just be thrown out of town and they wouldn't go far with a few coins.

"Excuse me, would you happen to know if there are any available jobs in Unda? My friend and I are in desperate need of money."

The clerk thought for a second and a smile rose upon his face. "Yes, we have job available, always job available here!"

"Great, what's the job?"

"It is job dependant on customers, customer give money and you do what customer tell you to do, sound good, yes?"

Well, they had it coming. Sooner or later if you happened to be female you'd be offered the same job, not that many women took it, but still it was worth a try to ask. Michelle and Leelee weren't interested in that job, they were actresses in a soap, not professionals in entertaining miners privately. So they said no, went up to their rooms and took a look at their equipment, finding out that they were short on everything. Presenting a part of The Young And The Reckless wouldn't do much good here, all these miners did was work and work, on top of that they probably wouldn't even pay, they'd just watch. So what now?

The next morning, Leelee woke up as the miners grumbled on their way to work. She got up and put her clothes on, taking a look outside the window. All the miners were headed to the eastern mine, where they were looking for the source of the water. Now that water seemed to be used up, they had no other choice but to dig faster and harder, someday they would find the source.

"Michelle? You up yet?" Leelee knocked on her door, but she didn't answer. Either she was asleep or she had left looking for a job... what could it help to take a peek? She walked into the room and noticed that the bed was completely untouched. Also, there was a burned out candle on the desk with a piece of paper that seemed to be a letter. She picked it up and read it:

To Master Bosco of Ferumi, Non-Solis Palace

So far we have made it as far as Unda, the miner town in the

western lands. We regret to inform you that our trip has been

delayed by shortage of money and we have been forced to

travel through the western and northern parts to reach the town

Lady LaDermot resides in. Now that the isle has supposedly

run out of water, we have no idea how to make it as far as the

eastern parts, I must ask you a favor, Master Bosco. In Ferumi,

you'll find a fam

The letter stopped there and the ink was a bit stained in the end. She must have left in a hurry then, no wonder the bed was so clean too, she must've got a job or something... "God I hope she didn't take the job from the clerk..."

Leelee rushed downstairs into the empty room with only the clerk, looking bored and patting the counter with a pen. "Excuse me, when did my friends leave her room?"

"Ah! You awake, yes? Your friend, eh? Hmm..." The clerk sure took his time thinking.

"Long brown hair, REALLY young, brown jacket, ring any bells?"

"Ach! Only bell ringing here is the dinner bell, little girl... let's see now... No, she didn't leave her room yet, not through here anyway. Maybe she jump out of window, eh?"

Leelee yelled in frustration at the clerk and headed outside. The clerk just shrugged and kept patting the counter. "Foreigners, miners, men with masks, whatever, eh?"

Leelee asked almost everyone she ran into outside, but without result. It was possible that she had been taken last night, so not many would even remember if she had been walking the streets. Usually people don't miss a girl that age walking by herself on the street, especially in these parts... unless she wasn't by herself, that is. Leelee had a terrible thought, who had their tailer been? Maybe he was a kidnapper or something, and now Michelle was gone, could it be? But why would anyone around HERE kidnap Michelle? Well, maybe these miners watched the show after all...

Leelee noticed she had walked into a dead end and was about to turn back, as she felt the same feeling she had felt in the desert. As she turned around she saw a shadowy character standing at the mouth of the alley, looking at her with black lifeless eyes. Leelee started backing up against the wall and fumbled for something from the trash to defend herself with. "Stay back, I mean it!" She yelled at the man who wasn't moving. Finally she got hold of a wooden bat.

"... Where's the other girl?" The coarse voice of the man asked her. Leelee was a bit confused at first, but was convinced that it was a trick. "Did you really think I would fall for that one? If you won't leave me alone and tell me where Michelle is, I'm going to have to hurt you!" As she said those words the man waved his hand with a black glove and the bat of wood flew from Leelee's hand to his. He dropped the bat and started approaching the girl. "I'll ask you again... where is Sylvia?"

Leelee realized that he was talking about their roles, do these weirdoes live here too? "Her name isn't Sylvia, her name is Michelle! And stay back!"

He kept closing in on her, his black cape swaying a bit with every step. "I must speak with Sylvia, Laurel... now."

From what Leelee could tell, the guy was a seriously demented warlock, all she needed to do was play into it and she'd go free. "... Sylvia was kidnapped." The man's eyes widened and his breathing got intense. "By whom?"

"I don't know... we were at the inn, I fell asleep and when I woke up, Sylvia was gone."

Looks like the plan worked, the warlock turned around and walked out of the alley. Leelee let out a sigh of relief and walked out too, but only to be grabbed by the man into a dark corner. "Don't scream, I know how to get Sylvia back... do you want her back?" Leelee just nodded, scared to death by the dark character holding her. He let go of her and dug up something from his pocket. It looked like a crystal of some sort, but only with different color glow. "This is a crystal of seeing, with this you can see where Sylvia is, but I myself cannot use it... here." He handed it to Leelee.

"... What do I do?" She held the crystal with both hands, it seemed very fragile and easily breakable. "Just think of her and you'll see her..."

Suddenly an image of Michelle appeared on the crystal. It was dark and damp and a sound of metal bashed against a rock, it was obvious that she was in a mine, but where in the mine? Michelle looked quite peaceful and bored, it looked like she was OK. The image disappeared and the glow from the crystal vanished. The warlock grabbed it from Leelee's hands and put it back into his pocket. "We must search the mines, Laurel. It's the only way to find her." He rushed toward the entrance to the mines, followed by Leelee who still hadn't completely figured out what was going on. At the entrance, the warlock stopped to wait for the actress who was already worn out by the run. "You look tired, are you sure you want to come with me?"

"Yes, I'm sure... just give me a breather..."

The man sat down on the ground as Leelee huffed and puffed. It occurred to her that she should probably ask him about who he was and was he the one following them, maybe this was a trap after all and she was playing right into it.

"So... you were the one who tailed us?"

The warlock nodded, looking into the dark mine where the tired miners worked. "What's your name?" Asked Leelee, now ready to continue. "They call me Cain, the son of the great warlock Master Sagitar."

"... Cain, Sagittarius..." Leelee started putting the pieces together, only confusing himself and the warlock. "What is Sagittarius?"

"Sagittarius? It's a combination of stars in the... you know, forget it, let's just go. And by the way, my name isn't Laurel, it's Leelee."

Cain was like he had never heard it, but it wasn't that important anyway, once she got Michelle out of the mine, they'd never see him again. The miners didn't notice as they walked by them deeper into the cavern, looking for water was pretty utopistic, since they all believed that the water god was the one supplying them with water. But they worked hard, if not for water, but because they had nothing else to do, unless you were a reject that did nothing all day long. The mines seemed endless, it was like every tunnel ended up in a dead end, after checking every tunnel that was in use, they started losing hope.

"How are we supposed to find her if she isn't here?" Whined Leelee.

"Calm down, Laurel. We still haven't checked the closed tunnel down there." As he pointed at the mine that had been closed for a while, Leelee banged her head against the wall just about ready to rip the warlocks head off. "Why didn't you tell me that there was a closed tunnel in here? Of course they're in there, you idiot! That's why anyone hasn't seen them around here, come on!" Leelee dashed into the tunnel, followed by Cain. But there was a reason why the tunnel was closed, and Leelee discovered it pretty quick. "... You OK, Laurel?" Asked Cain, looking down on her, hanging by a block of stone just about ready to drop into the bottomless abyss. "Will you please get me up from here!" Cain picked her up and they noticed that it was about 10 feet wide, and the only way to continue through.

"You wouldn't happen to know how to fly, would you?"

"Laurel, I am not capable of such thing and not most of the warlocks I know."

"I know, I was being sarcastic... I suppose we could jump across?"

Leelee backed up and leaped over the pit, leaving the warlock amazed. "I'm impressed, now how will I get over it?" Leelee looked around, the walls were pretty smooth and there wasn't much to hold on to in the ceiling. "Jump, Cain! Just jump." The warlock looked at the actress for a second, if she could do it, why couldn't he? He backed up, ran like hell and jumped across the gap, knocking down Leelee in the process and landing on her. "... You OK?" Asked the girl, the warlock just nodded. "Okay then, get off me."

"... Oh, excuse me..." Cain got up, and wiped the dirt off his cloak. "Fine, I wonder how they could even do a hole like that?" Leelee took a look at the gap, not seeing the bottom. Cain walked to the edge and kicked a rock down. They waited for a while to hear it hit the bottom, but it didn't. "Wow, I guess it really is bottomless, huh?" They were about to walk off as they heard a sound from the abyss. Leelee stopped but Cain kept going. "Hey, wait a minute..." Leelee kneeled down at the edge and threw some rocks down. She listened carefully and as the rocks finally hit the bottom, she realized that the bottom wasn't rock, it was water. "What do you think you're doing?" Wondered Cain as Leelee got up from the ground.

"Water, Cain. It's water." Smiled Leelee, advancing deeper into the cave. Cain took one more look into the gap, but thought that the girl had gone nuts. After a few minutes of walking they heard voices from the depths of the mine, it seemed like a man. Leelee and Cain stopped to hear what he was saying, but they were too far away to hear it, so they moved closer. They came to a mouth of a huge cavern which was well illuminated, for a mine that is. Inside they saw Michelle sitting in a table, eating. At the other side of the table they saw a man in a red cape, enthusiastically talking about something to Michelle. Near the table they saw 4 men, also in red capes, wearing silver masks.

"Who are those guys?" Wondered Leelee.

"That's Julio, a local lord of thievery... what could she possibly want from Sylvia?"

In the table, a rather unilateral conversation was in progress, Michelle was too hungry to really care what the man had to say, so she kept playing along.

"I loved your outfit in the 7th episode, the one with the dance at the ballroom of Ilia, it was beautiful! But Michelle, may I call you Michelle?"

"Mmhh... you can call me anything you want as long as you keep up this service!"

Leelee watched as Michelle kept feeding her face, not really listening to what Julio had to say, it made her mad. Not the fact that she wasn't listening, but that she was eating, without her. "That's it, I'm going in..." Cain tried to grab Leelee to prevent from endangering herself but too late.

"Michelle! There you are, I've been looking all over for you!" She walked to the table, leaving Julio and his henchmen amazed. "Leelee! How did you... never mind, sit down, have something." She sat down and poured some water into a mug.

"... Ah! It's Laurel, I didn't recognize you at first, please help yourself... but how did you get here?"

"Oh... I jumped over the gap, listen Michelle, if you ever leave like that without leaving me a note, especially to eat like a queen, I'm gonna strangle you, got it?"

"Come on, I didn't come here of my own free will... at the time. These guys just grabbed me and dragged me in here where I slept and after that, Julio here has offered me everything I've asked for."

"Excuse me, but how did you know we were here? This mine is closed." Wondered Julio.

"Oh, a word of warning to you, 'Mine Closed' is practically saying 'This Way', and you won't believe who our tailer in the desert was."

"You found the tailer? Who is it?"

"Actually he kind of found me... Cain! Get over here!"

The man carefully peeked into the cavern from behind the corner and stepped in. "Michelle, this is Cain the warlock." Leelee introduced them, but Cain didn't seem so happy.

"This wasn't the way this was supposed to happen but... I have a message to you." Informed the warlock, pulling a paper out of his pocket.

Michelle looked worried and everyone listened in. "I was supposed to give this message personally to you and only to you, but it looks like I have no choice, so..."

From Master Bosco of Ferumi:

I have heard of the commotion near the wall separating

the southern and eastern parts, I only hope that this reaches

you in time so you won't try to enter the eastern parts

directly from the south. At this point I cannot demand you

to continue your journey for it has become a much longer

than expected. However, if you still feel up to it, you could

try circling around the mountains through the western and

northern parts by foot, I know it sounds tough, but if you

would try, I would be more than grateful. I have arranged

a guide for you who will lead you through the northern

parts, but until then, you are on your own.

And one more thing, I just received the script of the finale

of The Young And The Reckless, but I won't start the play

without you girls, so don't worry about time.

Sincerely yours, Master Bosco.

Silence took over the cavern for a few minutes, only the crumbling of the paper made a few sounds as Cain put it back into his pocket.

"... Shit, am I glad we took the long road, or what?" Michelle pointed out.

"What kind of commotion?" Asked Leelee.

"The kind of commotion.. how do you say... war." Nodded Cain.

Julio started laughing hysterically, after all he was a thief and a war between southern and eastern parts was just too funny. "I can't believe it! They actually went to war because of a few drops of water! Oh, lord, I'm gonna faint!" He fell on the ground almost killing himself in laughter, the others on the other hand didn't understand what he was laughing about. "What so funny about a war, Julio? What do you get out of it?" Pressed Michelle.

"Not the war, my dear. But the reason... the south and the east have been fighting for years about the lost water, you see the water from the temple flows through the mountains in the eastern parts for both east and south, the south has been blaming the east for drinking from their creek! It's ridiculous, isn't it?"

"So, there's no stop to war here either..." Thought Michelle.

"There's another catch why I'm laughing, you see... it involves you two girls and your little trip."

Michelle and Leelee were all ears now, suddenly his speech had become interesting. "You can't get to the eastern parts, period! You see, the west has been fighting with north as long as anyone can remember, they don't let anyone through the northern gate anymore, and that includes southern people too."

Leelee collapsed on the table, but not nearly as shocked as Michelle. Cain was feeling bad to give such dreadful news, and Julio... he was just grinning, his kind would never understand something like this.

"So, this means you'll be spending more time with me then, no?" Grinned Julio.

"... No... we'll make it to the northern wall, we'll get through and we'll contact Bosco's guide. But for now, we'll get out of this cave..." They got up from the table and with Cain as their escort, headed toward the exit. Suddenly the henchmen jumped in front of it, stopping them from leaving.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that..." Said Julio, getting up from his table.

He walked up to them, waving a dagger in his hand. "You see, I'm a thief, you all know that... and this is my lair. And you've all seen it."

Michelle felt the hostility lurking up to them, getting ready to strike. "I am a huge fan of yours, Michelle, but I just can't bare to let you go and risk losing my hideout in the process... so if you'd just stay without any... commotion?" He smiled evilly as he said those words, the words that were seriously pissing Michelle off. If she had a knife she would cut the thief's throat out, but she didn't and all she had as help was Leelee and an inexperienced warlock, which wasn't exactly the best team to fight against a professional thief and his 4 henchmen.

"Please, sit down and finish dinner, later you can perform the latest episode to me, I missed it because of some problems at work."

They had no other choice, either be sliced up by the thieves or eat and try to figure out a way to escape. They quietly sat down and started eating, it wasn't every day they could eat this good anyway, in fact only thieves ate like this.

"Figure out something yet?" Whispered Leelee.

"Me? I can't do anything, I can't just wave my hand and make them disappear, that's a whole different book!" Replied Cain.

"A different book? Get real, there's only one book of warlocks and at your age you should be half-way through it by now."

"OK, I slacked a few lessons, so what? I only got to page 52."

"That doesn't sound so bad..." Thought Michelle.

"Michelle, the book of warlocks has 4065 pages."

"Oh... you suck."

"What are you whispering about there? You're not thinking of escaping before you can entertain me, are you?" Grinned the thief.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Julio." Laughed Michelle, lowering her voice afterwards... "I'm seriously thinking he's related to the innkeeper, we need to get out of here, now."

"Come on, Cain! Show us what you've got."

"I'm not a warlock I'm just an apprentice, I can move stuff around, make people hear things and after today, I can also jump over gaps, which is not very warlocky."

"... Hear things, huh?"

After dinner was done and nothing but leftovers were on the table, Julio got up from the table and stretched a bit. "Man, I'm full! Now would be the perfect time for the latest episode, everybody agree?"

The henchmen nodded away but Michelle, Leelee and Cain just sat in the table, like waiting for something. Julio walked up to them looking suspicious. "What are you kids up to? I want to see some high quality entertainment, NOW!"

The three got up from the table slowly and suddenly they heard a sound from the tunnel. Everyone was quiet until Julio gave the order to the henchmen. "Go check it, all of you! I don't want any interruptions when I'm watching my soaps."

The henchmen left the cavern, leaving Julio right where the three wanted him. "You know, Julio... now that those gorillas are gone, maybe we should get you some REAL entertainment, don't you think?" Smiled Leelee, forcing the thief to sit on the chair and sitting in his lap. "W-w-what? I thought you weren't like that..." He stuttered, nervously putting his hands on the girl. "You'd be surprised, it's really hard to be an actress in a small world like this..." Michelle wrapped her arms around him and pressed her lips against his neck. At this point, they had gotten the dagger off him and Cain was ready with the plan. "You know, I've always had this fantasy..." Leelee whispered into Julio's ear. "Oh, tell me all about it..."

In a few minutes the henchmen rushed back into the cavern, looking worn out. "Sir, we didn't find anything... sir?" They saw their boss on the floor, wearing a dress from the show, Michelle's ballroom dress from episode 7, his head wrapped with a scarf, making his cries of help seem like mumbling. As the henchmen tried to free their boss from the outfit, Michelle, Leelee and Cain were deep in the tunnel, approaching the gap.

"Are you sure you can make this jump, Michelle?"

"Don't know, we had a plank and I was carried the first time I went through here, but I guess we'll find out!" They didn't stop but just jumped over the gap like it was nothing. They stopped as they heard the thieves behind them, closing in on the gap.

"There they are, boys! Charge!"

Julio slammed the plank on the gap and the henchmen started crossing, not knowing what was coming. Cain concentrated for a second and the plank slipped away, falling into the abyss along with the henchmen. Their cries of terror were heard for a long time, until they splashed into the water at the bottom of the gulf. Julio looked at the warlock with fear and hatred in his eyes, he wouldn't make it past the gap with all the stuff he had on, his jewelry, the steel-reinforced cape and his...

"My dagger! Where's my dagger you barbarians?!" He cried out in fear, seeing Michelle waving it in her hand mockingly.

"Please return my dagger! Please! I'll give you anything, just give my dagger back! I can't live without it!"

Michelle walked at the edge of the gap and held up the dagger, ready to drop it. "You want it? Get it..." She was just about to drop it as Cain stopped her. "Don't... it looks like he'll jump after it for sure, that would be too easy for him."

Michelle looked at the weeping thief at the other side and decided that he was too pathetic to die now, so she put the dagger onto her belt. "See ya, Julio!" They left the crying master of thieves into the tunnel, only to be found by the angry miners that he had stolen from. Yeah, there were worse things than death, at least Julio knew it now.

The next night in the inn, Michelle and Leelee sleeping in the same room this time, Cain in another one, a new plan had to be pondered, to go back or figure out a different way to access eastern lands.

"So, thanks to your little kidnapping, we earned 3 full stomachs, a bag of coins and a ruby-decorated dagger... you should be kidnapped more often." Smiled Leelee.

"Well, not as often the kidnappers happen to be thieves, but wealthy thieves..." She kept playing with the dagger.

"Wow, that dagger must be something, that guy was ready to dive after it into the gap... maybe you should name it?"

"Yeah... why not?"

"Actually that was a joke... can we talk about the plan tomorrow? I'm kind of tired after all that food..."

"You don't mind sharing a bed?"

"No, I'm fine. Besides, it's much better to wake up next to you than with you gone."

They both laid down on the bed, covering themselves with a blanket. "By the way, what are we going to do with Harry Potter here?"

"Dunno... he's kinda cute." Smiled Leelee.

"Not the best place to be falling for someone, but yeah, why not..."

"Huh?"

"Nothing... I think I'm going to name the dagger after all... I'll just call it Dawn."

"Dawn? Isn't that a little egocentric?"

"Yeah, but that's how Julio was too so... good night Dawn."

Michelle set the dagger on the desk and they all fell asleep. It wasn't really about Julio or about Cain, but maybe it was time to start getting used to a life down here, and accept the fact that they weren't getting back up there... maybe ever again.

Below Ground: Chapter 2 - Beyond The Volcano (Mf,anal,cons,fant)

by Dark Genesis (dante_dd@hotmail.com)

Starring: Michelle Trachtenberg, Leelee Sobieski, Claire Forlani

"So, I'm an actress in a show called The Young And The Reckless, a soap written by a certain Lady LaDermot. I live in an island surrounded by magma, but people here act pretty much like people up on the surface, so I can fit in. Me and my friend were asked to find Lady LaDermot to bring her to our hometown, so she could direct the finale of The Young And The Reckless, unfortunately it seems that we have run into trouble already. We met a warlock called Cain as we spent the night in Unda, a town near the mountain where the temple of water is situated. Now we are in a dead end, all roads to the eastern lands where we were headed are cut off, so we must figure out an alternative way to travel to the eastern parts."

"So? Am I in?"

Michelle and Leelee looked at each other, the decision had been made last night, but they liked to keep him on his toes. "Yeah, you're in."

"Excellent! Now, when do we leave?" Smiled Cain, sitting in his chair at the tavern near the inn. "We don't know yet, I think it's pretty useless to go to the northern gate if we're just going to get pushed away, or worse... we need to get to the eastern parts through the mountain." Said Michelle.

"... Through the mountain? Did you lose it when you jumped over that gap, or something because we can neither go THROUGH the mountain, or jump over it for that matter, the steps to the temple of water take us to the temple, but we still can't get to the other side of the mountain."

"Let's just investigate the temple and find out if there's any other ways to circle around this mountain, agreed?"

Cain agreed in a heartbeat, but Leelee was still a bit uncertain. She decided to go with Michelle's plan anyway, it's not like she had a better one herself. That say, they prepared to walk to the temple of water, it was a long walk up the stairs to the top of the mountain. Especially now, that the temple of air had started emitting wind, the higher they got the colder it felt.

"Jesus! I haven't felt this cold in a very long time! It's like Alaska or something! Not that I've ever been in Alaska, but still..." Laughed Michelle.

"Where's Alaska?" Asked Cain.

"It doesn't exist she's just mentally unstable, don't worry about it!" Yelled Leelee.

"I resent that!" Their voices were muffled by the strong wind. But in time, they got to the temple, the wind couldn't penetrate the walls of the mountain, this place had been here for as long as anyone could remember, the legend goes that the almighty race of dwarves had built the temple for their friends the elves, who worshipped the water god, the dwarves themselves worshipped the earth god, who lived inside the ground.

"So... this is the temple of the water god..."

They looked at the beautiful carvings on the walls, there was a statue of the god at the opposite wall from the door, it seemed that the water god was a siren of some kind, playing her harp on a rock in the middle of a well. That well used to supply water to the people of the western side, now it was completely dry, not a single drop of water in it.

"So, technically we're just a few steps away from the door that leads to the other side of the mountain... that pisses me off." Frowned Michelle, trying to push the walls to find some secret passage. "We could just break the wall and walk to the other side, right?" Wondered Leelee.

"With what? And besides, break the temple of water? There's be a lynch mob right outside that door we're so anxious to get through... we have to figure out something."

Cain went through some of the markings on the wall, just for curiosity and came across something. "Hey, girls! I think you'd better have a look at this..." Both of them went to see what Cain had found. It was a picture of the mountain, with the temple marked on it. "So? It's this mountain, and the temple... I suppose it's one of those 'You Are Here' plaques?"

"No, not that, look down."

Michelle focused her eyes and looked at the markings very carefully. Just at the bottom of the mountain they saw a vertical line going down into a round cavern-like marking, Leelee understood what it was but wasn't too excited. "It's the gap in the mines... it's a passage deeper into the ground."

"A passage into the ground... hey, wait a sec!" Michelle called out at her as she was about to leave. "You can't leave now, this is big! Historical! We just might've found a way into the core of this island, who knows what we'll find there!"

"Yeah, a real adventure... we have no idea where it leads, we might end up there for all eternity and you're thinking about going down there?"

"... Hell yeah!"

Cain drew a sketch of the markings and they headed back to town. At the inn, Michelle tried to get the problem out of Leelee...

"Come on, what are you so worried about, if we get in, we can get out... besides I'm pretty confident that we can get to the northern parts through that cavern. On what Cain drew, I saw a small underground river flowing from the south end to the north end of the mountain, we'll find Lady LaDermot in no time!"

"It's not that, I just..."

She put the rest of her stuff into her bag. "I think you're losing it..."

"... Losing it? What do you mean?" Wondered Michelle.

"You suddenly turned into this girl who wants everything for herself... it started back in Non-Solis Palace when you saw those statues... after that you've wanted everything for yourself. It's like you lost your heart somewhere in the process."

"Is this what it's all about? What I'm trying to do here, is to get you, me and Cain to see Lady LaDermot like Bosco asked us to, I'm doing what I'm told and some more, is there something wrong with that?"

"I guess not... in your mind. Look, I have nowhere else to go, I'll follow you no matter how you act, but for now, could you just stay away from me?"

Leelee left the room, grabbing her bag along, leaving Michelle puzzled in the room. "Where the hell did that come from?"

Cain and Leelee were waiting outside the inn, as Michelle walked outside, Leelee headed toward the mines. "Did you get everything?"

"Yeah, lots and lots of rope, and some lanterns." Replied Cain.

"... Good." Michelle looked at Leelee, walking away from them in a hurry. She might have offended her but she was still her friend. They came to the gap in the mines where the four henchmen of the thief Julio had dropped into. This time they were equipped with ropes and after attaching them into a huge rock, started lowering themselves into the abyss.

"Cain, light a lantern, will you? It's getting dark..."

Cain lit a lantern and the small gap just big enough for the three was illuminated. The pit itself was pretty smooth, not varying much in size, it was more like someone had intentionally done it, rather than it had just caved in. After an hour of climbing they came to the big cavern, which was very well lit. There were big lanterns all over the cavern, enlightening it very well. "Let there be light, you can drop the lantern, it just disturbs your climbing."

Cain dropped the lantern into the river under them. "The rope doesn't quite reach the ground... how deep do you think the water is?" Asked Leelee.

"Just enough for us to survive if we jump, is that a plan?" Said Cain, ready to drop into the water.

"Guys! Stop! Don't let go, you won't make it!" Yelled Michelle.

"God, you always have to be the first one to jump, don't you?" Complained Leelee.

"No, you just missed what's moving in the water!" Noted Michelle, nodding toward the water. As Cain and Leelee looked more closely, they saw something moving below the surface. "It looks like a really big snake!" Yelled Cain.

"... I hate snakes... I can't go down, you guys... I can't..." Stuttered Leelee.

"No problem, we'll just swing ourselves onto dry land, right? It might break our legs but we'll still be alive. OK, on three..."

"Michelle, give Leelee a break, will you? She's been through a lot and she's not as tough as you!"

As she heard those words, she gathered up the courage to show them just how tough she was. She started swinging on the rope, slowly lowering down just enough not to give the snake a chance to bite her. Cain and Michelle followed, trying to get as low as they could without touching the water. Leelee was almost petrified as she saw the blue-scaled reptile moving below the surface, but she was almost to the ground, just a few more swings...

"... It's one of them, sea snakes! Really poisonous and really yucky, there's also something weird... it's stuck on something, and DAMN is it big!" Yelled Michelle, watching the 15 foot snake wriggling in the water. Leelee succeeded in swinging herself onto dry land and she collapsed on the ground, shaking and sobbing. "Leelee! You OK?" Cain didn't quite make it to dry land in his hurry to see what was up with Leelee, but landed just a foot away from the ground. Michelle was still swinging in the rope, trying to get a closer look of the snake, which was very dangerous, since she was pretty close to the surface and the snake might jump up. Suddenly they heard a loud splash and the snake darted out of the water, grabbing one of the ropes and trying to pull it underwater.

"... Oh, shit! You guys, a little help here! Cain, can't you do something?" She yelled in panic.

"Relax, it's not your rope!"

"It's not my rope but if you remember correctly, you'll know that all the ropes were tied into ONE big rock!"

"... Oh, shit!"

"... And if that rock falls, I go down with it, and right into where that snake is swimming in, and I don't think he'd like any more company!"

The snake kept pulling the rope furiously, Michelle could feel the rock moving above them. "Hurry! I'm not gonna last forever!"

"OK, I'm trying!" Cain started to concentrate as Michelle tried to swing the rope more powerfully. She could feel Cain's magic giving her a boost on swinging, but it wasn't going to be good enough, the snake had almost the whole rock at the edge of the gap.

"Almost there, you can do it, Cain!" Yelled Michelle, almost ready to jump. Suddenly Michelle felt the rock giving up and she fell right on the snake's back. As the blue reptile noticed this, it let go of the rope and dove back into the water.

"Michelle! No!" Yelled Cain, falling down on his knees. Suddenly the whole river was painted red by the blood, the rock fell into the river right on the spot where he had last seen her. Cain rushed back to Leelee who seemed hysterical. "I'm so afraid of snakes... I'm so afraid of snakes... I'm so afraid snakes..." She kept sobbing as Cain left her there to check if Michelle really was...

Then he saw a figure going with the current, the body of the snake that had been caught by a rock was now laying dead in the river, it's body swaying with the current toward the northern parts. Cain looked around if it would be possible... and there she was, climbing out of the river, completely wet with Julio's dagger in her hand.

"God bless that Julio, I'll never know how I'll live without him..." Moaned Michelle, setting the dagger back to her belt and squeezing most of the water out of her hair. "How's she doing?"

Cain was still stunned about seeing Michelle alive but was able to answer. "... She's in shock or something... I'm not familiar with these things, but I think she should get some rest."

"... Right..." Michelle's eyes were locked, shining with joy as she saw something no human had ever seen before. "What's that?" Asked Cain.

"Cain, I give you the village of the dwarves!"

The buildings had been built into the wall of the mountain, the lanterns enlightened the doors, the plants, everything, no natural light, just fire. As they explored the village more closely, they came across the old inhabitants, the skeletons of the dwarves. "My God... they did exist..." Cain picked up a skull from a bed and cleaned it a bit with his gloves. "I'll empty that bed, we need to get Leelee somewhere."

"Right..." Cain ran outside to pick up the unconscious girl and carried her into the house that Michelle had cleared of skeletons. As he set Leelee on the bed, he felt a shiver go through his body, he felt cold and helpless. "I don't feel so good either... I'm not sick, I just... I think it's something about her that makes me... I don't know..."

"Trust me, I know the feeling... she pushed herself too far, she shouldn't have jumped like that, we should've gone first, and been there to catch her, she isn't used to going by herself."

"... You're right, I've noticed that about her... big words..."

Michelle looked out of the window, looking at the cadaver of the snake in the river. "So... what do you think happened here? Why did the dwarves die?" Asked Cain.

"It's pretty obvious, they starved to death. One day this snake came along, got stuck in the bottom of the river and it drove all the fish away. They weren't strong enough to kill the snake, so they died... it's pretty tragic."

"Oh, that makes sense... what's a fish?" Wondered Cain.

Michelle let out a small laugh but tried to understand. "A fish is a living creature that lives in the water, people catch them and eat them."

"Oh, so they're like horses that live in the water?"

"No, they're much smaller... and they're a lot more numerous than horses."

Michelle took a couple of lanterns from Cain's bag and lit them. "Listen, can you go out exploring for a couple of hours? I'm gonna dry my clothes and wait for Leelee to wake up."

"... Sure, that's fine." Cain walked out of the house and headed toward the highest house in the village. As Michelle removed her clothes and placed them near the open lanterns, she looked at Leelee. She seemed to be asleep, but in reality she wasn't dreaming, it would only be a second for her when she wakes up. Michelle walked to her, kneeled down and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. "Sorry about this..."

She took a blanket from a closet next to the bed and laid down on the floor, wrapping her bare body with the warm rag, woven by an old dwarven lady. Meanwhile, Cain was exploring the village, discovering the most interesting things, besides the normal houses, there seemed to be only one building that differed from the others, it was filled with books, statues and markings on the wall, which was a perfect place for a starting warlock. One should always use his time wisely, and what could be more wise than looking up the book of warlocks from the large variety of books. There it was, as he had seen it in his father's room.

"Might as well read this through, now that I have time..."

He started going through the book from the part he had left off. The book of warlocks was filled with not only spells, but knowledge of the history of the isle, legends and myths among the folk about the four races that used to rule this island, the elves, dwarves, orcs and ikarians. These races have said to been overwhelmed by the human race, that won the war against these races, dwarves hid into the caverns, orcs hid into the mountains, elves vanished into the forests and the ikarians just disappeared...

"Erosa, ni'patala, tiroomn!" Suddenly a sphere of fire appeared in front of Cain.

"I did it! I can control the elements! I'm a warlock!" Suddenly the sphere burst into nothingness, leaving Cain pretty disappointed into himself. "OK, let's try this one..."

"Erosa, ni'patala, snemaa!" A sudden gush of wind closed the book of warlocks and vanished as Cain lost his concentration.

"Incredible... I didn't know it was this easy..."

Suddenly the book opened by itself and the letters and pictures left the book, starting to whirl around Cain's head. "What? I didn't do anything, did I?" The words, the images, everything in the book flashed through his mind, making him lose his consciousness and fall down. As the contents of the book were sucked into Cain's mind, the book itself burst into flames and after a while, there was nothing but ashes left. Cain came to and stood up, finding that the book was nowhere to be found.

"... What the hell?" He felt different, suddenly the questions in his head weren't there anymore. "What am I doing here? I must see if Leelee is alright..." He headed back to the house where he had left her.

Michelle grabbed some of Leelee's clothes from her bag, at least they were dry. Michelle was facing away from the door as Cain rushed in, not recognizing her at first. "Leelee, you're up!"

Suddenly Michelle turned around, but only to realize Cain had made a mistake. "No, it's just me... I borrowed some of her clothes, just until mine are dry. I'm not into sitting around anyway..."

Cain looked disappointed but nodded. "So, find anything interesting?" Asked Michelle.

"Did I?" The warlock smiled at her.

He showed Michelle the place he had found, she was amazed, even though the dwarves had been primitive, they were still pretty civilized. "Find any good books here?"

"... Yeah, I found the book of warlocks but... I kind of lost it somewhere..." Cain looked around just to make sure it wasn't anywhere.

"Too bad, also bad that most of these books are in a very weird foreign language, I can't read any of these books."

"It's Kerubian, the ancient language, they teach that in school when you're eight years old, did you cut class or something?"

"... Something like that..."

Michelle looked around for something she could read and discovered more markings, but this time on paper. "Look, this is a map of the isle! There's no one who's ever done a map of this place, ever! Looks like the dwarves did, huh? According to a rough translation of the images, by going with the current of the river we should end up at the northern lands, see? Simple." She grabbed the map and rolled it up, that one was a keeper.

"We can't leave before Leelee recovers... we have to wait." Noted Cain.

"... Yeah, I know... it's just that this practically ensured our entrance to the eastern parts, and finding Lady LaDermot, this map has the markings of all the main towns."

"This traveling is killing her, you know that?" Asked Cain.

"... Killing her? You've gone nuts, she came along of her own free will, she's been more than enthusiastic about every plan we've had, and now she makes this one mistake which she cannot control, and you say she's weak and helpless? She'd kill you if she'd hear that..."

"You know that she is... she isn't the type of traveling around and facing danger, she needs to be in a place she can call home."

"Cain, you have no idea how far she's from home, how far I'm from home, while you're the nearest to your home, where ever we go!"

"... Now I don't understand, you drive people crazy."

Michelle lost her temper and grabbed the map on her way out. Cain stayed in the library, if that was what you could call it. He kept reading for hours, finding out more about the knowledge the dwarves had, putting the pieces together in his mind, starting to figure out what had really happened in the history of this place.

Meanwhile, Leelee hadn't still woken up. Michelle got frustrated and put Leelee's clothes back into her bag. She put her wet clothes on and went to check out the rest of the place, exploring around, she found something very interesting: a hot spring, water flowing out of the wall onto a puddle that lead back into the river. It wasn't a spring as much as a waterfall, but still with warm water. It was pretty extreme in a situation like this, but it wasn't like anyone was watching. She looked around on more time and made sure there weren't any living things in the spring. After confirming it was completely safe, she got rid of her clothes and stepped into the warm shower. She let out a moan of relaxation as the warm water caressed her body, making it soft and tender for the first time in a very long time. She started washing all the dirt out of her hair, roughly rubbing it with her hands and squeezing the water out of it.

What she didn't notice was that there was a balcony near the spring, the balcony lead to the library where Cain was reading. As he started hearing these voices from outside, he went to investigate. Stepping onto the balcony, she couldn't help looking at the girl washing herself in the spring. He tried to refrain from looking any longer than just a look, but the look advanced into a long stare. He watched as Michelle washed her young naked body in the steaming water, gushing out of the wall, and couldn't help at feeling the lust building up inside him.

He couldn't take the torture anymore, he uttered a spell in low voice, lifting him up form the balcony and landing him softly near the spring. Michelle didn't hear a thing as Cain quietly removed his clothes and started approaching the girl from behind. Not even as he stepped into the spring she couldn't feel his presence, he was moving like a shadow. Then she felt his breath... the lusty breath behind her, ready to let out those feelings. Michelle didn't react much, she just stood there, letting the water flow and washing her body as Cain gave into his temptation and out his arms around Michelle. He held her tightly against his body, starting to kiss her neck washed by the warm water, now the only thing between them. As he continued kissing her, he felt his cock starting to grow, getting harder and harder while pressing against Michelle's thigh, they were both ready to do anything for this to go farther. Michelle leaned against the wall and bent over for him, Cain kept caressing her soft skin with his hands, hands that hadn't touched that many women were running through Michelle's body. She started to gasp as she felt Cain's hands brushing against her hard nipples, and her dick kept rising higher and higher, she reached down with her hand, guiding the shaft with her hand, not to her virginal cunt, but to her tight butthole.

As she let go of his manhood, the warlock started patiently pushing it into her, the intent wasn't to pound her to death, it was to simply satisfy an urge. As the tip slipped in, Michelle didn't even grin, but her gasping got more and more intense. The last of Cain's dick sank into Michelle's tight little rectum, making her only moan of pleasure, closing her eyes to enjoy it with everything she had. Cain embraced her body closely as he started gently poking himself into her ass. The pleasure inside Michelle started gathering up, when the time would come she'd feel exactly how a woman should feel. Their passionate gasping united in the soothing flow of the water, the girl felt her bottom being ravaged by the man who she had just fought with a while ago, but they wouldn't talk about this ever again.

"... Cain... don't tell Leelee about this, aahhh... it would... destroy her... God! Keep going..." She gasped as her sentence was interrupted by the sudden blasts of pleasure running through her body.

"Michelle... mmhh, we should never do this again... God, it's good... this is wrong, it's all wrong..."

"... Do you like it?"

"... What?"

"My ass... does it feel... good?"

"Lord, yes... God, yes..."

He took a firm hold of Michelle's body and picked up his pace, pushing himself faster and deeper inside the girl's soft and slippery butthole. Michelle's gasping turned into moaning, her voice turned Cain on more and more, making Michelle moan and keeping her under his control... it felt so good. Cain's hips started slapping against her buttocks, making them wiggle with every push, every time he pushed a little too far, the girl's butt clenched up, making the man moan of extreme pleasure. Who was controlling who?

"Fuck my butt... push it deeper... deeper, deeper, that's it... your cock is so big... I'm gonna cum..." Michelle squealed loudly, feeling her own orgasm closing in as Cain ravaged himself inside the innocent little girl. Her warm and firm buttocks were tightly squeezing around the cock that was strongly forcing itself in and out of the young girl's anus, his gentle poking had turned into violent shoving, making both of them enjoy even more.

Cain reached down into Michelle's crotch and started rubbing her clit, feeling her wet brown pubic hair in his palm, the pressure inside Michelle was ready to explode out of her, the warlock's hands rubbed against her very hard. The girl let out a loud cry as the orgasm that had been building inside her erupted on Cain's hand, he spread the juice all over Michelle's crotch and she sighed as his hand parted from her innocence. But she could still feel Cain's passion not giving up behind her, time seemed endless as he kept pushing and pushing into her anus and making her gasp as the cock poked the walls of her bowel.

Finally, Cain's fast pounding gave him a strong orgasm, filling Michelle's rectum with his warm sperm. He didn't pull it out, but laid against the girl under the spring, letting the water wash away all that sweat. Michelle smiled and was about to break the silence as she heard a familiar voice behind the buildings.

"Cain! Michelle! Where are you guys?" Leelee cried out, walking around near the river.

Panic came over the two, she couldn't catch them like this. They quickly got dressed and made sure that there was nothing around to prove anything, and returned to Leelee.

"Hey, you're awake?"

"Yeah... still a bit shook up, but awake."

"Did you see the cadaver? Pretty cool, huh?" Smiled Michelle. Leelee glanced at the snake in the river. "Yeah, I guess... what were you guys doing back there?"

"Yeah, there was a... hot spring, but I don't think we should waste our time into something like that, especially now that we've found a way out."

"Through the river?"

"Yup, it leads all the way to the central of the northern parts."

"... So, I guess you were right."

Michelle didn't reply as Leelee acknowledged that she had been right, she walked back to the house to grab her stuff.

"What was that about?" Asked Cain.

"Nothing, don't think about it."

Now the problem was to survive to the northern parts by going along the stream, that was going to be difficult, since they didn't have any boats and the water was quite cold. Cain, who didn't even know what the word 'boat' was, went to pick up some of the wooden shelves from the library, Michelle had a plan and it involved making a raft out of the shelves, it wasn't exactly waterproof but still a plan. Leelee and Michelle were gathering all the useful stuff from the village that they could find, blankets, ropes, everything that could help in making the raft.

"... Michelle, I meant what I said earlier... I'm sorry about what I said."

"Come on, let's just forget all that..."

"No, I can't forget about it. I'm just tired and I don't feel up to going any further... I think you and Cain should go see Lady LaDermot by the two of you."

"What?" Michelle knew that Leelee was tired, but to quit the whole trip? That was just too insane for her to handle.

"I know this comes at a bad time, but... I think I should rest in the northern parts for a while, I don't want to slow you guys down like I did today and I'd just be torturing myself if I went along anyway."

"... We don't have to go the eastern lands right away, we'll work something out with the guide. Do you really think I'd leave you in the hands of a complete stranger in a strange place? You've got it all wrong..."

"You're just saying that, but thanks anyway... we'll see what the situation in north is and then I'll decide. It's still my decision, right?" Leelee smiled sadly, Michelle replying to her with the same sad tone in her voice. "Yeah, your decision."

In matter of minutes, all the items needed to complete the raft were gathered. Now all they needed to do was build it and hope it would last long enough to get them out of the mountain. But the raft wasn't going to look bad either, Michelle made sure that Cain was making himself useful. "Cain, why don't you skin the snake?" She threw her dagger to him, Cain catching it just before it would pierce his hand.

"Skin it? Why the hell would you want to skin that snake?"

"Not me, you. I think those scales are strong enough to act as some sort of cover for the shelves, at least the water won't get through it."

Cain didn't think of anything else to do, besides he wasn't that comfortable on riding a wooden box through a river, so he dragged the monster out of the water and started skinning it with the dagger. The scales did seem strong, it was more like a metal of some sort than organic material, there was one more question this fact brought up, how the hell did Michelle kill the damn thing?

"You know, this skin reminds me of a material called steel, how did you take the life out of the snake?" Wondered Cain.

"... My hand was kind of inside the snake for a while... it tried to bite my hand with the dagger in it, thus impaling itself internally. What, did you think I'd be able to kill something like that without luck?"

"Oh, so that's what it was. I thought that you actually killed it by yourself, as it really commited suicide."

"Assisted suicide, thank you very much... besides that don't matter, as soon as you finish with that snake we're off."

"Do you really think that what's-it's-face will hold?"

"Don't worry, a very safe way to travel if you ask me. If the first sail goes well, there's no problem."

Leelee didn't say much of anything, she was still a bit shocked by the snake and now there was this thing that she wasn't going to go on with the original plan... what was she thinking, it was all she had left. After the skinning of the snake, the scales were set on the shelves so the water wouldn't rotten the wood, it was rather abundant, the skin of the snake, even after coating the raft they still had some of it left. Why to leave it there, since it wasn't that heavy and that durable material was hard to find, into the bag with that.

"OK, on three, jump into the boat, if you get left behind you'll starve like the midgets, got it?"

"The dwarves, actually." Noted Cain.

Michelle would've wanted to say something, but she let it be for now, they pushed the raft into the water and successfully jumped into it, letting the stream take them through the steady tunnel toward north. Going deeper into the tunnel, it got darker and darker, in a few minutes they couldn't see each other anymore. Lighting a lantern would've been a good idea, but it was also a good idea to save them up, who knew what was coming after the river? Maybe it would stop and they'd have to wander in an endless labyrinth of caves. Almost an hour passed by in the dark, the raft seemed to be moving forward, but could it take this long to get there? They could hear the water flowing forward and they felt like the walls of the cave were changing shape, but still it was like they weren't moving.

"... OK, that's it! Turn on the lantern!" Snapped Michelle and in a second, the lantern was lit. "I thought you'd never ask..." Groaned Cain, taking a better position as they could see around.

"Hmm, looks like we're moving, feels like we're moving and we're definitely moving. What's the catch?" Thought Michelle.

"Maybe it's just an endless circle, we could be stuck in here until we starve." Said Leelee.

There seemed to be no end to the tunnel, it looked like Leelee was right. Michelle felt the same wall she had felt before in the back of her head, they were going in circles.

"This isn't the way out, we've been here before... there's gotta be something that'll get us out of here, look around and light more lanterns."

Cain lit two more, now the cave was lit enough to actually see what was there, and it wasn't pretty... "You reading this?" Michelle stared at the walls, not rock, but dirt, with bones sticking out of them. "What are they? More dwarves?" Wondered Leelee.

"... No, they look like something else... they're taller and much slimmer. By the look of their bones, that is... if they're not dwarves, we're most likely in the northern lands." Cain tried to grab one of the passing bones but failed. The water had turned from pure to muddy, only a slightly visible current was pushing the raft forward, going around in a circle and getting dirtier as the dirt and bones dropped from the walls.

"... Right there, guys! Right there! Ready to jump!" Michelle pointed out an opening in the wall a bit further. They grabbed their stuff and jumped into the opening without knowing what was in it. They came to a room full of skeleton's like the ones at the river, but there was something else too, different kind of remains than the other ones, much bigger ones. The room had stairs running upwards to a huge gate, above them they saw light. "Yeah, that's the surface! All we have to do is get there!" Noted Leelee, starting to approach the stairs. Michelle wasn't against the idea of getting out of that graveyard as fast as possible, but Cain kneeled down before two skeletons. He detached a short sword out of one's hand and a club from the other's, it was clear to Cain what this place was, he had read about it in the library. Skeletons, weapons, a secret passage...

"What's wrong, let's get going!" Michelle tried to pull Cain up, but wasn't successful. Cain slowly got up by his own will, looking at the opening above them, feeling a gentle breeze reaching the bottom of the gap. "What is this place?"

"... I'll tell you later, let's just get to the surface..."

Didn't have to tell the girls twice, but before leaving, Cain looked up a certain skeleton from the mass and grabbed a ring worn by one of the smaller skeletons, that was proof that they had been there, the only way someone would believe him.

The stairs were not as long as the stairs to the mountain, but it was still tough to climb up with the stuff they had on them. Also the fear of something jumping up from the darkness would most likely scare them enough to lose their balance and fall down the stairs and break their necks wasn't helping either.

"I think this is a little too high for me here... I don't think I can climb any further..." Groaned Leelee.

"Come on, it's just a few steps away. Up there, we'll get a nice warm bed to sleep in and real food. You gonna miss that?"

"OK, it's not the climbing... it's just like with that snake, what if something just shows up? Like a goblin jumping in front of us, just before the top of the stairs? What are the options there, heart attack, falling down, getting stabbed?"

"Actually, Leelee... goblins don't exist."

"Yeah? That's what you said about dwarves."

"No, if it's something weird it's probably an elf, they used to live in the northern parts."

Ridiculous things had a way of sounding funny every now and then, it wasn't Cain who the humor had been blessed upon, which was unfortunate in many situations. "Fine... what about the trolls that were flying above Calculus and singing songs about the doomsday? What about those?" Grinned Michelle.

"Actually, trolls don't exist and only ikarians can fly." He corrected her sarcastic attempt of making Cain realize everything he was saying was nuts. "You're really walking the fine line with staying with this team..."

"FINE! I'll walk, I'll do anything if I don't have to see you guys start arguing..." Leelee continued walking up the stone steps, followed by her fellow travelers. The walk to the surface worked out well, no goblins or any other hostile animals interrupted their walk, but up on the surface, things weren't looking that good for them. The vegetation around the place was very thick, completely impervious. Trees, bushes, everything almost glued together, as if it was trying to stop anyone from entering or leaving the gap they just came in from, a secret passage protected by the nature around it, how to get out?

"I'm not sure if our situation just got worse or more pathetic..." Mumbled Michelle.

Leelee collapsed on the ground, groaning of her tiredness and frustration, sure they were in a completely hopeless situation, Michelle refrained from asking Cain for a chainsaw even as a humorous element to calm Leelee down, it would have just indicated how screwed they were right now. They didn't know where the nearest town was, how far away or at even what was it's name, it occurred to them more and more lately, how screwed could you get?

"I guess that's it, huh? No eastern lands, no northern lands, just a bunch of skeletons down that stinky hole we just climbed out of! The raft won't take us anywhere but around the loop, and we can't even contact anyone to get us out of here! I would KILL for a phone right now!" Yelled Leelee.

"I doubt that would do any good, the only thing remotely sharing a kinship with electricity is... magic."

OK, so it was time for Cain to show off, this was going to be very difficult and too dangerous to even try, by they didn't have any choice.

"So, what's our plan?" Asked Leelee.

"Umm, let me think... I suppose I could burn a path for us and aim the fireball to the nearest habitation, with the risk of burning it down and starting a fire that would kill most people in the northern lands... yup, that's it. What do you think?"

The next thing they knew was the forest burning with hellish flames, the trees crying out horribly as the wind enraged the fire to burn even more violently. The leaves burned in seconds and the trunks were falling down and turning into ashes as the travelers rushed through the black path cleared by the fireball heading toward a nearby village of Picea, just outside the kingdom of Chloros. The fireball stopped just before the village, they had arrived at time when the people of the village slept, so they didn't catch their attention with all the flames and heat. It seemed that there was no damage to the forest either, just seconds away from them leaving the woods, more trees grew rapidly, extinguishing the fire and wiping away all the ash. Some say that bad luck doesn't last forever, at least good luck anyway... the bad luck in the situation was that here the inns close as the people go to sleep, locking the doors on their way to bed.

"Well, at least we made it here..." Leelee slid down to the ground, leaning against the wall of the inn. "Yeah, you're absolutely right... we made it here and we can get to Chloros before the morning..." Smiled Michelle. A careful smile rose upon Leelee's face, Michelle was glad that she had gotten over the snake thing, being catatonic all the way back to Ferumi would've been nerve-shattering. Cold nights weren't known on the isle, so they all fell asleep next to the inn, tired and relieved that after this, it would all be easy... well guess again.

The next morning they woke up, refreshed and very thirsty, a little food couldn't hurt either. "Where was the guide supposed to meet us again?" Asked Michelle.

"The guide is in Chloros, but like Bosco said, no rush. We should just enjoy staying here for a while and not rush into the mountains right after we got out of underground." Replied Cain.

Leelee smiled by herself, she and Cain had secretly agreed about something, so far no troubles in paradise for her, at least anything she knew about. They didn't know how to contact the guide in Chloros, so what was the point in rushing there? Chloros was a busy town, unlike the villages around it, the little people stayed outside the town and the rich stayed in it, however the kingdom had it's own problems that could bring the northern lands down very quickly, if there would be someone to help them, they'd be very grateful.

"What I keep hearing is that the kingdom has been in a lot of trouble for the past years, rumors say that there's an old warlock in the forest that keeps the trees and all the life in it growing, eventually the vegetation will reach the villages and finally Chloros. Our queen has been fighting against the warlock with her army, but has yet to destroy this one problem the kingdom has... if the warlock isn't destroyed, all of north will be covered in trees and plants." The old man sitting in the table with the three explained them how bad the situation was, it was hard to believe that a mere warlock could do such things, but on the other hand, everything seemed to be possible.

"So, what you're saying is that the trees will crush all the buildings and the people will choke on the plants... irony sucks." Michelle snorted after finishing that sentence, but her disinterest just added more fuel into the man's engine.

"Miss, our whole isle needs someone to save it from the warlocks that keep destroying us, that's why I and many others have formed an alliance against any magical energy or items. You look like someone who could fight to save us from the evil of the warlocks, why don't you join us?"

Cain gave the man a fast glance but kept drinking his water like he didn't know magic existed. "How do you keep in touch with the outer world, then? If you don't use MTs, then how would you know if the rest of the isle is controlled by warlocks or that anyone who opposes them get killed?"

"Ah, that is why the great north restrains itself from the rest of the isle, you see? We are in war with the west until all the books containing magical incantations and other things related to the evil scum we fight against are destroyed. Our army is the greatest on the whole island and we will eventually invade all other parts unless our demands have been met."

"Sounds more like blackmail to me, so the queen opposes to the warlocks?" Inquired Leelee.

"Indeed, once we have the front in the west under control, we will invade the forest and put an end to this mess with warlocks! Once he is destroyed, the rest will understand that there's no use fighting against us, and we will be free of magic."

"Don't you think you're going a little too far? How many warlocks besides the one in the forest has hurt anyone?" Asked Michelle.

"... Magic is evil, it will not change."

"Interesting for a man your age, your story I mean..."

The man focused his eyes at Cain. "A person of your age should know that the race that controlled the north, was very thorough with magic. They sucked every bit of information and use out of it as they could get and made this land the way it is now. So why turn against them?"

"... Elves are just a legend, my dear boy... you have a lot to learn from this place we live in. The history of our home has been proved to be made up many times. Hundreds of men claimed to have seen the war between these elves and the orcs from the east, but has anyone showed us any proof of this? We are humans, not monsters, our heritage is different from a mere legend."

"Believe what you want, old man. We have seen the burial ground of the elven war and the dwarven village inside the mountain. Whatever that warlock is up to, he's working alone, not with the other warlocks..."

The old man realized who he was talking to, so without a word, he left the table. Cain didn't give the man a second thought, those types were at their best while being ignored.

"The elven war... so that's what it was. Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"I don't know... you didn't need to know, I guess... I didn't want you guys to know that we just passed by a graveyard."

"Wouldn't be the first time. Just say something next time, OK?"

Cain nodded at Michelle, he knew exactly what he was talking about. But it was still a mystery... where did the other races disappear? And when did humans come into the picture, for that matter. Who ever wrote those books?

"Hey, you awake?" Leelee waved her hand in front of Cain's face, catching him dazed.

"Huh?"

After finishing breakfast, they headed toward the center of the village, the market. If there was one place to hear everything going on in the village, it was the market. For now it was best to keep the fact that they had a warlock with them secret, the people might be a little shocked if they suddenly saw one walking among them. Unfortunately the place wasn't that rich in information, people mostly whispered if they had anything to say, it was pretty much useless to even try catch something. So, what was there to do after a long trip, other than rest? Going back to the inn, they noticed someone talking to the clerk inside, they could make out that they were talking about the strangers that arrived last night.

"Yes, they slept outside for the night and after booking rooms in the morning they went out."

"Are you sure they didn't say where they were going? Maybe you overheard something?"

"... I don't think so ma'am, I keep mostly to myself around here and try to keep out of the customer's way."

"Fine, thanks anyway..." The female character walked away from the counter, running into the three on her way out. Which was more shocking, seeing a famous actress in this place, or seeing her wearing the royal emblem of Chloros. The woman recognized the travelers in a second.

"... There you are, I was hoping to find you here. Sorry for the delay, but the word gets into the castle very late, I'm afraid. Would you care to spend the next night in Chloros?"

The invitation by Claire Forlani was a one that wasn't going to be ignored, not in this situation anyway. She ensured them that there would be time for questions later, and right now it was best to just get them to the castle so they were completely safe, apparently the word about Cain's powers had gotten out fast and of course his comrades were suspected as witches. The party reached the gates of Chloros shortly, inside they entered the castle where queen Kya dwelled. The queen was naturally very busy, therefore not ready to deal with them just yet, so they were left into the guest room.

"How did we end up in here?" Wondered Leelee, laying on the bed next to the window.

"I have no idea... under very weird circumstances, in result of a very complicated pattern of coincidences, and because of Cain here. Now they're gonna torch us like Joan of Arc in her time..." Thought Michelle.

"... Irony sucks..."

It didn't take long for the queen's advisor, that being Claire, to come talk about the meaning of this visit. It was quite weird how a woman of her profession would end up in a job like this, but on the other hand, everything was possible.

"You must have a million questions to ask right now, but before you start, we can assure you that we have quite a few for you to answer too." Claire started the conversation as she sat down on the chair near the beds.

"Like what, for instance?" Asked Cain.

"... Well, I think I should start from the obvious... how on earth did you get through the dwelling of the dwarves?"

Michelle dug up the snake scales from her bag and showed it to Claire, who like she had expected was stunned. "You killed the hydra? What did you use? A cannon?"

"Isn't a hydra supposed to have more heads than one?" Smiled Michelle, Claire just glanced at her, still feeling the scales in her hands.

"I'm getting off track again, what the hell is a cannon?" Of course, Cain wasn't that wise when it came to technology, especially something that didn't exist down here. Claire called for a servant who took the skin and rushed it out of the room.

"This is incredible..." Laughed Claire, apparently the hydra was a very dangerous creature, the people of Chloros hadn't been able to enter the mountain through the passage because of it, afterwards it had been trapped and starved the dwarves.

"So, whacha gonna do with skin?" Asked Michelle.

"Our smiths will work something out, those scales are almost unbreakable... you must've had a lot of luck."

"You might say that, now for our question. How did you end up here?"

"... Unrelated, but I guess we have enough time. Some time ago I found myself in a desert, north of Chloros. That desert is now trees, but that's not the story... I wandered into town and accidentally ran into the queen of this kingdom. My explanation of how I got here was apparently so interesting that the queen wanted to hear more about it, so I ended up in the castle. Later on they thought that I was smart enough to figure out what to do with the rapidly growing forest, so here I am. Still haven't figured it out, though."

"And let me guess... we're here to figure that out?" Cain frowned as he finished that sentence and got up from the bed.

"Actually... no. It's a lot more simple than what you think, it might be a shock too..."

Something about that didn't sound so good. "I trust that you had a guide to take you somewhere from Chloros?"

"... Yes, is the guide here?"

"Well... yes and no... he is dead."

So, it wasn't good, it was very bad. That man had been their ticket to an easy trip to the eastern lands, but now things had turned into much more complicated.

"He came to the castle, informing us that you were arriving here at some point, the only one who'd actually take care of something like this would be the queen, since all the foreigners are automatically accused of witchcraft and magic."

"Yeah, we noticed."

"Anyway, the guide was dying as he got here, said he'd been attacked by the trees in the forest, which wasn't a mystery to us at that point anymore. He wanted us to make sure you got here safe, you're from Ferumi, yes?"

"Yeah... we need a new guide to take us to the eastern lands, if you could just arrange us a guide we won't be troubling you anymore..." Said Leelee.

"Leelee? I thought you wanted to stay here... didn't you say that..."

"... Forget about all that, I say we continue as soon as possible." She cut Michelle off, wishing she had never felt so weak like in the dwelling.

"It will be difficult, but when you're ready to go, we can arrange a party to escort you through the forest to the entrance to the east, after that you're on your own."

After Claire's words, a servant entered the room and saluted the advisor. "Advisor, the queen is ready to receive her guests." Claire nodded to the servant and he quickly left the room.

"You can ask any other information from the queen herself, I still have the war in the west to think about." She got up and escorted the three into queen Kya's chambers, where the rather casual-looking ruler was waiting for them. Claire immediately pulled away to the royal barracks to solve the problems caused by the war.

"Please, sit down."

After obeying the queen's request, they explained their situation to them, starting from what happened in Ferumi, Cain filled in a few blanks by telling about the library in the dwelling of the dwarves. Of course, the queen also was interested in how they killed the hydra and bore with their story until they told about the graveyard near the passage...

"You've seen the field where the elves and orcs fought? I must say that I have never heard anything more ridiculous, I'm sure you've just mistaken them for human bones."

"... No, they were real. At the time I didn't know what they were, but afterwards Cain told us that it was the place where the war of elves had begun." Noted Michelle.

"Everyone knows the legend, my dear. The orcs tried to invade the dwelling to crush the dwarves, but as friends of the creatures, the elves set themselves in front of the passage, swearing that they would never let them pass. All the orcs and elves in the war died in that hole in the middle of the forest, and the dwarves were saved."

"What about the dwarves, then? Why do you believe in them and not in elves or orcs?" Asked Leelee.

"We have seen dwarves around, some of them hide in caves and some even in our cellars. They keep away from human eyes, but every now and then they appear. Unlike elves or orcs, and before you say that you can prove it, I must remind you that all the paths through the forest are gone, we can't enter the woods until my advisor finds the solution to our problem."

"Why not burn the forest down? With enough fire, maybe you could destroy enough trees to get to the warlock before he gets a chance to grow them back?"

"We don't have enough fire to do that, torches won't help in this situation, it would take a giant sphere of fire to do that kind of damage to the plants, and we don't have it."

"Problem solved, I have it."

OK, so Cain didn't have everything in his head quite yet, but he was getting there and he had done it once before. The queen was very skeptical about working with a warlock, but unfortunately it seemed that she didn't have any choice.

"Indeed... if you think you're up for it, we can try to arrange some of our more loyal soldiers to escort you to the hut where the warlock lives, but you understand that this is very dangerous, don't you?"

"Yeah, I'm aware of that. But someone out there is giving us warlocks a very bad name, soon it might spread through the whole island unless we do something about it now."

"... Yes, quite right. You can work with my advisor on this, and better to start right away. My servant will escort you to the barracks."

And so he did, Michelle and Leelee were left by themselves with the queen while Cain went to consult with Claire about a battle plan. The queen still had some questions for the girls though...

"There's still many things I must know before you head out, we will discuss them after dinner. Meanwhile, don't leave the castle and take a look around."

Michelle and Leelee were escorted back to the guest room by the servant, it wasn't every day you could live like a princess in a castle like this, but happiness is dependent on certain things.

Michelle fell on the bed looking happier than ever.

"Wow, I can't believe we'll be spending the day like a couple of princesses... I think I've never felt this..." Michelle noticed Leelee's grief, of course it was hard to let Cain go now, but it wasn't that bad, was it?

"Come on, once he makes it back, you can move in with him in Ferumi, or something. You'll have a bunch of kids and a nice house somewhere, anywhere you want."

"... If he makes it back..."

Michelle got up and walked to her, putting her hands on her shoulders and comforting her. "He'll make it back, trust me. If it's not the will to live, it's the chance of seeing your face again. He'll bash through those trees and rip that warlock's head off even without his magic just to see you again, so don't be mourning like that, got it?"

"... That sounded like a line from a very cheesy movie, just now..."

"Did it work?"

"... A little, yeah."

"Problem, solved. Let's go see him!"

Michelle tried to pull her through the door but she was resisting too much. "Come on, no point sitting in here!"

"I can't, what would he think if we just rush into the barracks with him speaking with some soldiers..."

"Don't worry about that now, we'll just say that you're his girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?!"

Michelle had to nearly drag Leelee to the barracks, but succeeded after all. Cain was in the room with Claire, looking at the map of the northern parts, making some markings on it as in best direction to attack from. They just looked at him from the doorway, Leelee's eyes brightening up as he noticed them.

"Hey, you wanna kill a warlock? Could sure use some help over here..."

"No thanks, we've got other plans." They walked over to the map to take a closer look.

"Well, you might as well know what he's facing. And you'll be going through the forest too so a little knowledge about the trees could be in order." Started Claire.

"The name of the warlock is Morsus. He controls the growth and strength of all the plants in the north now, we've tried everything to get this guy, but so far, we haven't even reached his hut. The part of the forest where you'll be traveling through is rather short, just about 500 feet, but still I recommend caution, these plants have a life of their own."

She pointed out a spot on the map, near the mountains and very deep in the woods. "This is where the hut is, Cain has agreed to burning a very wide path for our soldiers to walk through. Naturally, the warlock will have other tricks up his sleeve, so we need Cain on the field to fight against him with his magic."

"Are you sure you can handle it, that warlock might be too strong for you..." Noted Leelee.

"I can handle myself, don't worry about it." Smiled Cain, Leelee replying to him with a smile also.

"Let's just continue, after the warlock is defeated, we suspect that the fire will still be ongoing, at this point the trees and plants should be back to normal, so they burn a lot faster and hotter, we need to extinguish the fire very quickly, it might spread to some of the nearby villages if we don't work fast. Cain has agreed to take care of that too, a sphere of water detonating above the forest should take care of the fire... hmm, gives a new meaning to the term rain forest." Claire, Michelle and Leelee let out a small laugh, leaving Cain, once again completely out of it.

"... But, if something happens to Cain in the fight, we'll need the villagers to help out with their own water. This might cause some panic, since they've been living with their stored water for some time now, if we won't figure out how to get the water back, a serious drought will occur and everything, including fields and plants these people get their food from will die out, so this might be our only chance."

"How many soldiers will accompany you?" Asked Michelle.

"... Only six, I'm afraid..."

"Six? You have to be kidding, to fight a professional warlock, six footmen?" It was too much for Leelee that Cain was going in there with only six men helping him, she wasn't that confident about his powers yet, so in her book it was a suicide.

"Not footmen, generals, colonels, captains, every officer who can't afford to lose their jobs at this point. They're the only ones we can trust to work with a warlock, most of the footmen would go catatonic by a sight of a warlock, but it's OK, he'll be in good hands." Claire comforted Leelee, seeing that she was very upset about Cain getting into something this dangerous.

"To tell you the truth I'm a bit scared that I only have six men under my control, what if he conjures up something non-human, maybe a land-hydra, or something?" Asked Cain.

"And here's the solution, take this vest." Claire took the vest a servant just brought in and gave it to Cain.

"The scales might be a little loathsome, but there's no sword or claw that will penetrate it, I can tell you that."

"This is the snake Michelle offed?"

"Yeah, in real life she wouldn't have stood a chance, not that anyone has ever fought a hydra that close before, we just kind of threw spears at it."

"... You know, I just noticed something... how did the hydra get out here? It only moves in water, right?" Asked Michelle.

"Yeah, there used to be a river east of Chloros, but now it's dried up... isn't that the way you guys came through?"

They all just shook their heads, it seemed that there was another passage in the river after all, they had just gotten off at the wrong exit.

"Thanks anyway, I'm sure it'll come in handy." Cain accepted the vest and rolled up the map.

"So, the plan is set. All we need to do now is act, right?"

"Right, I'll have the soldiers escort you to the forest, they know what they're doing."

Cain was just about to leave the room as he remembered something... "Oh, Leelee..." He dug up something from his pocket, a ring. He handed it over to her. "This should help you convince the queen of what we saw." As he left the room he gave Leelee one last smile, she feared that it would be the last they'd see of each other. "Can you say 'heart attack'?" Claire walked up to them with a map.

"This will get you through the eastern lands, it's much more detailed than the one you found in the dwelling, and... the guide will be arranged by tomorrow."

"Thanks a lot..." Michelle thanked her and left the room, it was obvious that Leelee wanted to be alone for a while. Claire walked to her and set her hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll come back. I promise."

"... You don't know that..." Leelee left the room in a hurry, leaving Claire alone in the barracks.

The hours went by as Cain was preparing for the fight of his life, Michelle was so tired that she couldn't get up from her bed and Leelee... Leelee was standing in the tower of the castle, facing toward the mountain and the woods. Some vines were covering the tower with the wide window where you could see the temple of air. Come to think of it, if the mountain wasn't there you could see Ferumi at the other side of the isle, but you couldn't help that, could you?

Meanwhile in Ferumi at the palace of Non-Solis, Bosco and some of the cast of The Young And The Reckless were getting worried about the whereabouts of the young stars.

"I hope Cain delivered my message... the fact that they haven't returned must mean that they've gone ahead with the original plan, yes." Thought Bosco.

"Unless Cain was too late and they had gone ahead to the eastern gate, and that would mean..." Erik went quiet and didn't say the words.

"No, my stars are much stronger than that! They will not die as long as I live!" Declared Bosco.

"Well, there's a problem with that too, boss... you're about 10 years from dying now based on how much stress you're under."

"There's nothing to worry about, I've signed up as one of the leads in the finale. Success on the stage will surely dissolve the stress of directing every episode so carefully..."

That was bullshit, since he hadn't directed a single episode. Erik didn't say anything though, Bosco was better off thinking that he was a great director/actor, all there was to do for them was to pray that Michelle and Leelee would return with Lady LaDermot. Ramoray just sat there, looking at the picture of the lady on the wall, he wasn't far away from trance, but he was still awake enough to hear what the others were saying.

"Bosco... there's only four leads in the finale... Sylvia, Laurel, Rufio and Dr.Ramoray."

"Yes, Ramoray... I'm afraid that I'm going to have to make you step aside and make room for beauty and talent. I never liked your acting anyway, get out of my palace." Arrogance was an occupational disease, Ramoray had to go and Bosco filled in for him, the quality of the show would decrease, but at least the plot remained the same...

At the same time, just outside the front line of the war between the south and the east, a party searching for the stairway to the temple of air had camped out and were now looking around if they'd see the stairs somewhere.

"... Nope, I don't see anything. You see anything?"

"No, it's all empty... we're never gonna find the stairway like this... and besides, we can't go any further either, the war is kind of limiting our movement for now." The ex-bartender whined, regretting that he had left his life in Calculus behind.

"We'll find it, don't worry. And once we do, we'll meet the god of air and he'll grant us three wishes." Dreamed the other man traveling with him.

"Three wishes? Are you sure we're talking about a god here? And how do you know that whatever's up there will grant us those wishes?"

"I don't know... I just got that feeling like 'all your dreams will come true if you just follow the voice in your head'."

"... You following a voice in your head? Could you repeat that, please?" The bartender got very pissed, and no wonder too, he had gone with this lunatic just because he said that he had seen the stairs somewhere around here.

"Well I DID see something, it was definitely something glowing around here... ah, there it is!" He yelled and pointed at a light flying through the air in the battlefield.

"THAT IS A BURNING ARROW, YOU NO-GOOD SON-OF-A..."

"Hi guys!" The girl rode to the scene with her horse and jumped off her saddle.

Not that he wasn't angry, but seeing an old friend and a female for that matter too, he thought it would be better to forget about this fight for a few seconds.

"What up, Brit? I thought you stayed in town."

"Nah, I just found out that singing wasn't for me. I'm on a quest for myself now, need any company?" Asked the girl, sitting down near the fire.

"... Hell yeah!"

In the new prison of Rook, some way to the west from Unda, an old thief serving a lifetime of imprisonment was crying his no-good existence to his cellmate.

"... And-and-and then they just took my dagger from me! That's just plain mean, don't you think? I loved that dagger more than anything in this place, I deserve that dagger, it belongs to me... not to any rich lord that spends half of his money on security of his house... I stalked that guy for months, and I hid in his house for three days, without anything to eat, just to get that dagger! Do you see the wrong that has been laid upon me, my friend?" Julio turned his eyes to his cellmate, who was desperately trying to bite his wrist just to get a transfer to some other cell.

"What are you doing? If you're hungry just wait for dinner or demand for an extra meal or something. If you think hunger is difficult, you should hear what those mean girls did to my privates, I'll tell you and you will never feel hungry again!"

"HEEEEEEEEELLLLLPPPPP!"

Back north, a group of men, riding horses left Chloros, riding toward the living woods where the dangerous warlock lived. An evil gush of wind went through the northern lands, making the trees sway and some lose leaves dance in the dark forest. Up in the tower, Leelee watched as the soldiers rode onward, with Cain as their leader in the point, plunging into almost a certain death. But somehow, she knew... Cain was coming out of that forest alive, she was sure of it.

"I'm sorry we couldn't do more for him."

Leelee didn't bother looking behind her, she recognized the voice easily, besides she didn't want to take her eyes off Cain until he'd be out of sight.

"You've done enough, thanks... it was very generous to spare the lives of your men for a task like this."

Claire walked next to her to follow the movement of the group too. "I know this isn't Cain's duty, and not yours either... I must say that he's very noble. That's not a rare quality in the south or the west, but... here it is."

They lost the sight of the party as they disappeared behind the trees. "You're wrong about one thing though... this is Cain's duty. It's up to him to clear the name of the warlocks, it's the honor of all his kind he's fighting for."

"Even if it kills him?" Asked Claire.

"... Yeah, even is it kills him. But he's not gonna die, Claire. Not out there, not in the woods. Your men won't make it out, but he will."

"I figured something like that. That comforts me... to know that we can rest assured. We can always get more soldiers, but guys like that are very hard to find."

"Oh, I should probably give you this..." Leelee dug up the ring from her pocket and put it into Claire's hand. "You'd better give that to the queen, I think she'll understand."

Claire took a look at the ring, knowing very well what it was. "Yeah... this is gonna turn the whole kingdom around, but I'm still gonna show it to her."

As Claire put the ring into her pocket, neither one noticed something rising up from the forest, a sphere of light with something dark inside, starting to approach the tower. "So, what do you know about this Morsus?" Asked Leelee.

"Not much. He once appeared into the castle demanding for the queen to give up the throne, saying something about elves ruling this continent... which is weird, the word continent I mean. Everyone else always say isle or island."

"Could he know something that we don't?"

"I don't know... warlocks are pretty wise, I can tell you that. There's no guarantee that they're telling the truth, or lying. It might have been just a plan to screw with the queen's head. So far I've been able to keep her head straight, but nowadays..."

"I know... Cain didn't know almost anything when we left Calculus, but after the books in the dwelling of the dwarves... he seems to be on top of everything now. Sometimes he gives me this sad look, like he's saying that he's sorry, but I don't understand why."

"Must be guilt about something, maybe it's a thing you don't know about."

"Yeah, maybe... watch out!" Leelee pushed Claire down to the floor, just in time that the sphere of light didn't hit her. The shape inside seemed to be human, just covered in shadows and yellow eyes glaring out of the sphere.

"Leave her alone!" Yelled Leelee as the sphere started closing in on Claire. She grabbed a chair and tried hitting the sphere with it, only destroying the chair. The character jumped out of the sphere, revealing his rag-covered body and his face covered with scars. He grabbed Claire and quickly jumped back into the sphere, leaving the tower with his magical mean of traveling. Leelee watched as the sphere landed deep into the forest and the light disappeared.

As all the people involved with the incident were called into the tower, Leelee just stayed up there, waiting for the fireworks to start.

"What happened? Where is my advisor?" Inquired the queen. Leelee just pointed at the center of the forest, where they saw a ball of fire rushing from the outskirts of the forest.

"There? How could something get there that fast? And through the forest for that matter." Wondered the queen.

"It was Morsus... it had to be him, there's no other explanation." Said Leelee.

All the people in the room agreed with her, but how could they fight against him with other than the means that were already ongoing? The fire burned beautifully in the distance, scorching the trees and leaves, leaving no trace of smoke. The magical forest tried to gather strength to heal itself, but it had no chance but to let the soldiers and Cain pass to the hut of Morsus.

Below Ground: Chapter 3 - The Lion, The Warlock (MF,cons,oral,fant)

by Dark Genesis (dante_dd@hotmail.com)

Starring: Michelle Trachtenberg, Leelee Sobieski, Claire Forlani, Amber Benson, Britney Spears

"Back when we had left for this journey, it had all been about getting a famous writer to direct one of her plays. I thought that it would be fun to travel around this island that some unfortunate ones, myself and Michelle included, had mysteriously got into. After all kinds of weird things, thieves, snakes and way too many sweaty miners, we had ended up at the northern lands of this island, where suddenly our traveling companion, a very cute warlock by the name of Cain had been almost forced into going to the woods near the town of Chloros to kill the warlock residing there. According to the queen of Chloros and her advisor, Claire, killing Morsus, the warlock would stop the rapid growth of the forest, therefore saving all the people of the north... pretty lame I tell you, just when I thought I was getting some connection to the guy, he just gets sent into battle like there was some higher power wanting us to stay apart. And now Morsus had kidnapped Claire and was probably torturing her in his hut deep in the woods. What to do now was up to Michelle, she's the leader after all."

"I don't believe this, first Cain gets sent off and now Claire gets kidnapped? We're never going to get to the east like this..." Whined Michelle.

"... Would you shut up? I'm trying to get some sleep..."

"Yeah-yeah, I know. But think about it, will you? Everything that could delay us has happened, that just pisses me off, you know?"

"You know what pisses me off, Michelle? You!"

"Come on, you're just a little angry with your boyfriend riding to his death and all that, but seriously, wow!"

Leelee sat up in her bed. "Why the hell are you talking to me like this? And why are you calling him my boyfriend?"

"Oh, right. You're just friends, yup."

"... Besides, what's it to you if we're more than friends, huh? You would know too, since you're the one who's spent more time with him anyway..." Leelee laid back on the bed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Remember? When I was unconscious in the dwelling of the dwarves? God knows what you two were doing there while I was out of it..."

Obviously Leelee had said that with more humor than what Michelle took it, Leelee would kill her if she'd find out that she had slept with Cain.

"... Good night!" Michelle quickly pulled the blanket over her ears and continued her sleep.

As they were sleeping, the party of six soldiers and one warlock were heading to the hut of Morsus, through the black path burned by the ball of fire that Cain had conjured up. The path was long but straight, it didn't take them that long to get to the hut made of stone, covered in vines. All the soldiers backed away a bit as the door to the hut opened by itself, but Cain wasn't shocked, it was more of an invitation than a 'get out'.

"If you're not feeling up to this, I can take care of this by myself." He said to the soldiers calmly. As he didn't get an answer he expected them to be running a mile back by now, but out of curiosity, he turned around. "... Wow, I didn't see that coming."

The trees had grown back in a second right after they had entered the place where the hut was, and now in front of Cain, stood the skeletons of the former pride and glory of the army of Chloros. This wasn't a shocker either, a little odd maybe, but still predictable. Cain entered the hut, closing the wooden door behind him.

"You don't need to do that, I could have gotten that for you..." Groaned the man covered in rags, throwing some wood into the fireplace.

"You're Morsus, I presume."

The man faced Cain and walked up to him, staring at him with yellow eyes, almost emitting light. "Yes I am, and you are Cain, the son of the late Master Sagitar. He was indeed a powerful warlock."

He walked to the door next to the fireplace and as he opened it, a bright light Cain had never seen shone through. "Please, step into my garden. You are perfectly safe." Cain walked through the door, ending up at a beautiful park-like place. "I apologize about those soldiers outside, but I couldn't bear have them in my house. You know how it is with people who want to kill you and having them in the same room without anything between you."

"What makes you think that I wouldn't kill you?" Asked Cain as they walked deeper into the garden. "I am positive that you are more interested in what I can tell you, once we arrive at our destination, I will explain it to you."

"Explain what?"

"Everything, Cain. Everything."

As Cain was getting deeper and deeper into the warlock's dark and sinister world, at the other side of the mountain things were starting to look up.

"Missing stairs, missing steps, invisible... things? I'm officially thinking that this is going straight to hell." Moaned Britney, trying to keep up with the rest of the group that was attempting to climb the smooth surface of the mountain, hoping to run into the stairway leading them up into the temple of air.

"Have a little faith, will you? You're gonna infect us with your discouraging pessimism, Brit, and if that happens, we're all going to be broke, without a job and very VERY angry at the guy who's making us climb this piece of rock!" Yelled the bartender, overwhelmed with the frustration of searching for something that might not even exist, sure it had helped that Britney, his only friend he had in Calculus had joined them in this quest, but it wasn't enough. They needed to find something, and fast. Suddenly the head of the party, a disturbingly lively young man stopped and started feeling the surface of the mountain.

"... Ah, yes... now I feel it, yes... really? Hohoho..." The sounds he was making seemed more like something that was trying get out of a pool of mud, but the bartender could make out what he was saying, having been with the guy for a couple of days.

"Please tell me you found something..." He puffed as he struck a pick into the rock to stop him from sliding down.

"Yes, I found something. Very interesting I would say too, this might be it." The man grinned as he fondled the specific spot on the mountain. Britney climbed up to them, relieved that they had finally gotten some results, but as the bartender had guessed, there was something too good here.

"There's a crack here, see?"

Both Britney and the bartender leaned in toward the spot, trying to find the spot the guy was talking about. "What is it? Is it like a button or something, or maybe a keyhole that opens the staircase somewhere?" Panted Britney, starting to catch her breath. They had climbed for a very long while now, and were about half-way from the temple of water. Too bad the stairs could be anywhere, even a small hint where they were would help out a lot, but no. The group had to settle for the smart head of their leader, like in this case too.

"No, not a keyhole or a button. I think it's... yes, it's a mark left by a pick of some kind."

Stupidity wasn't really measured by anything around there, but sometimes they just couldn't help themselves, of course ensuring themselves first about what had happened just now.

"Dude, listen for a sec... you didn't by any chance hit your pick into that same spot, did you?"

"... Ah, yes I did! Silly me, this is just a mark left by my pick, should we turn back now?"

Sliding down the mountain, using the picks to slow down, Britney and the bartender decided that they were better off without their current leader, so...

"Funny, wasn't it? We just climbed almost half-way to the temple and we found nothing, weird isn't it... hello?"

As the guy noticed that the bartender and Britney were long gone with their horses and equipment, he felt that he was at his best alone too, but still, he wasn't the intellect by himself either...

"So, stairs not found up there... maybe I'll find the stairs... down there?"

He started digging into the sand with his bare hands, giggling by himself about something very stupid only he could understand. But many great things in all worlds happen by accident, and this man was a whirlwind of them.

Britney wasn't too satisfied with the decision of leaving him like that, they had taken some of his stuff too as they had left him to continue his search alone. "Do you think he'll be OK?"

"No, he'll probably end up like one of those skeletons in the abandoned mines near Calculus... you know, dead. But don't worry, I've got a perfect plan."

He managed to catch Britney's attention with the confidence in his voice. "Really? Care to tell me what?"

"Well, all the crackpots from the southern lands are searching for the stairs from the south, and from what I can tell, the eastern people haven't got the time to look for the stairs from their side, with the war and all..."

"Good thinking, but there's just one problem. How are we gonna get there? We're headed toward the front line." Pondered Britney, stopping her horse on the side of the mountain.

"Like climbing much?"

In the depths of a cave, near the town of Rowanbranch in the eastern lands, a woman of great magical powers took a look into her crystal. The jewel illuminated the whole damp cavern, revealing the great lion in the corner of the cave, staring at the crystal on the pedestal, situated in the middle of the room. The crystal started radiating a green light, creating an image of a beautiful garden in a place away from the isle, seeing two warlocks, conversing of times past and times to come, one of them filled with anger and cunning, while the other one confused and the feeling of betrayal. What the warlock was telling the other, she could not hear, but the noble animal in the corner, it could hear it. The woman saw the words of the twisted man in the lion's eyes, she waved her hands around the jewel once again and the glow changed from green to blue, giving her an image of the grievous girl, weeping in the tower of Chloros, feeling guilty about everything that had happened. A tear ran down the lion's face, and it's eyes were filled with sadness, this one was too innocent to feel such emotions. Although the woman hadn't met these people before, she felt the same things in her heart as she wiped the image away from the crystal. But there was one more to reach with the power of the jewel, she didn't even need to wave her hands as the strong pink glow filled the room with all feelings of good, accompanied by feelings that she wouldn't want to feel. The lion and the woman saw in the jewel, a girl looking out of a window in the bedroom of a castle. Desire of something she could never have was the one that caught one's eye, it wasn't anything that could be achieved and ironically, it was the only thing that would make her complete. The glow faded away and the cave darkened once again. "... Oh, Cyrus. Hear my call..."

The sun had been up for a quite a while now, Michelle had packed her things as soon as she had woken up, along with Leelee's too, she obviously wasn't in the mood to go anywhere, but if Cain had failed, this would be the last place they'd want to be. The queen had arranged a guide to escort them to the entrance to the mountains of the east, while Michelle was very grateful of this, Leelee hadn't said a word, just gone on her way and she was nowhere to be found, almost.

"Ready to go?" Asked Michelle as she entered the tower Claire had disappeared from, she walked to Leelee who was kneeled down in front of the window, leaning out of it and sobbing quietly. At first, Michelle thought it was just the fact that Cain hadn't come back yet, but as she looked out of the window, she found that the path burned down by the fire, was no longer there. Only the mighty trees were there now, and the hut of Morsus wasn't in sight.

"They said that... it's been like that ever since last night. The queen said that it means nothing, but... something's happened to him, I know it."

Michelle kneeled down next to her and wiped the tears off Leelee's face with her hand. "You know, that kind of mourning just makes it worse. You're right, I know Cain much better than you do, and I know something that you don't."

Leelee turned to Michelle. "Like what?"

"That he'll do anything to get out of there alive. He's got way too much to give up now, he's just started to understand what he is, what he can do, and what he wants to do. And on top of that, she's got these gorgeous two babes waiting for him to come back, who can resist that?"

Leelee let out a small laugh and wiped the remains of tears off her face. "You WERE talking about us, right?"

"Excuse me, ladies!" At that second, a rather clumsy looking short man entered the tower. "I'm sorry to hurry you, but her majesty insists that we leave immediately. After I've escorted you to the border, I have some official business with the mayor of Picea."

"You're our guide? Ever left the castle before?" It was completely appropriate to ask such a degrading question, since he was aware of what danger they would be facing on the way there.

"Umm, no actually. But I am completely aware of the areas since I've studied the maps of these parts very closely, I could lead you to the border blindfolded."

"No need for that, just get us through the forest and to the entrance to the mountains, that's all we need, thanks."

Leelee and Michelle got up, giving the forest one last look before heading down to their room to pick up their things. Although their guide, Dok was his name, wasn't that experienced in traveling, he was very aware of everything that could happen and what chances were for certain things to happen, in other words he was a theory of relativity waiting to happen, it was good that after surviving a lot of things, they didn't need to rely on their guide for guard.

As time passed in the outside world, behind the hut of the warlock, things were getting more interesting for Cain than he could have ever imagined.

"That's how your father was, in the old days. If he was here now, he'd support me fully with my plan to fill the whole continent with plants and trees, I hope what I've explained to you has given you a new perspective of things, Cain." Morsus stopped as he reached a fountain in the middle of the garden, the pure water was gushing out of the statue, made by the old race, ikarians. It looked like a human with wings, a life size statue to remember who humans used to be... Cain knew that now, Morsus had explained the whole history of this place to him.

"... I have been here too long, I should return..."

Cain was about to leave, but suddenly she noticed that there was no exit. "Here, time is of no relevance... you can leave whenever you wish... yesterday, a week ago, or maybe in a year? What you don't understand is that time doesn't exist in this place, it's like you and me, Cain. It's magic." Morsus washed his hands in the fountain, but the dirt in his hands wasn't coming off. "For years I have traveled through different ages, finding out what really has happened to our race and the others as well. It was us who lost their wings because we wanted to, the other races destroyed themselves, while we just gave up our only chance of true life in the real world."

"... The real world?"

Morsus let out a sigh and started removing the rags on his head, revealing his pale blue skin to Cain, giving him a glimpse of what true power does. "The real world isn't down there, it is up there with the humans. It took me all my life to figure that out, but now I know... we weren't meant to be here. This was the place for the other races and because of us, they were destroyed."

Cain was still too confused about his talk about the real world that he wasn't that sane in his head as Morsus kept explaining more. "We were put down here, and the ikarians thought they were supposed to be like that too. So they gave up their wings, the instruments that could have gotten them up into the real world where the giant sphere of light illuminates and warms the entire world with it's divine light! You have seen them, haven't you? The different people that are walking among us, plotting to get back up there and telling everyone about this place... Chloros is full of them! This whole continent is full of those ignorant fools who think they have a chance of getting back. Once I'm done with this isle of yours, I'll move on to the next one, where there's more of their kind and destroy their wishes of the better world that they were torn away from, Cain! Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Morsus walked up to the young warlock and held his head up, looking at him with those faintly glowing eyes. "You know who I'm talking about! These two you've been traveling with, are the real humans, Cain. You don't belong with them, you are an ikarian, just like me, Kya and all the rest of the good people on this island! Cain! Listen to me!"

Suddenly the whole garden withered away, all things in sight disappeared and left Cain and Morsus into a dark void. Cain collapsed on his knees, holding his head and trying to make some sense of what Morsus was saying. He knew he spoke the truth, things that no one but Michelle and Leelee knew about, strange words, things he didn't know existed, up there?

"... Yes, Cain. Think hard, I know what you want to do now, you want to return to your precious, don't you?"

Cain tried to get up but something was keeping him down. A red radiance began to appear around Morsus as he pulled someone from the emptiness to them. "Here, Cain! Witness the product of the real world."

Morsus let Claire fall next to Cain, her clothes torn and face dirty. "... Cain, snap out of it..." She moaned and tried to get up, but the power holding Cain down was strong enough for them both. "Tell them, my dear Claire. What are you? Where do you come from?" Morsus pointed his fingers toward her, lifting her up in the air, making her go into a calm trance. Cain lifted his head up to see what was happening. "Tell me, my dear... where do you come from?" The warlock grinned as the power guiding his actions went through her, giving her no choice but to answer.

"... I come from a far away place... up there... it's not like this..."

Cain started to get it through his head, there was something above them. A different world, where Michelle, Leelee and Claire had come from, and there were others, and only not on this island... not on this continent.

"Why are you here? Tell me!" Yelled Morsus with anger and enthusiasm, making Claire shiver with every word he uttered.

"I do not wish to be here... but I'm still here and I can't leave... I want to go home..." She groaned with agony as her trance started to fade away, making her feel extreme pain.

"... Let her go, Morsus..." Cain calmly got up and walked to the warlock, who was surprised he could even get up.

"How did you do that? No man or ikarian can resist my power, there's no one who can stand up against me!"

Cain uttered a few words in Kerubian and Claire fell down, and as her body touched the ground, the void around them disappeared, leaving them back in the timeless garden, Claire helpless on the ground, Cain standing up to the so called warlock. "You do not wish to fight me, warlock. I am much stronger than you think."

Morsus knew, even in his evil wisdom that it wasn't Cain talking now. "... Impressive... very impressive indeed." He started circling around the body of the warlock, flowing through the energy from some other source. "How could someone play with the sands of time if not in this garden, eh? There must be some thing even I do not know, then... who are you?"

"Leave now, warlock, or you will fell the same pain you have inflicted upon your enemies."

"Ah, a witch, yes? I've never met a witch as powerful as you before, would you like to meet up, I have some professional subjects to discuss..."

"One last time, Morsus. Leave the northern lands and never come back!"

As the man laughed at the threats of the body controlled by a witch of great power, Claire got up and pulled her dagger on him. "Cain? Are you OK?"

"... Cain is not here, Claire." It wasn't Cain talking, it was someone else.

Suddenly Morsus started to convulse, something lifting him high into the air and making him groan of unbearable pain he had made the people of the isle suffer. His body started revolving in the air, Claire could see the thousands of knives stabbing his body all over, the blood started flowing on the ground and the garden began to wither again. The cries of Morsus weren't heard by anyone but Claire and Cain, his body was now completely unrecognizable. As the revolving of pain stopped, Morsus fell on the ground, breathing heavily and his body covered in wounds. The sight was disgusting and the smell was even more horrible, Claire and Cain left the warlock into the garden and found their way back to the hut, where they closed the door behind them and sealed it tightly, making sure the warlock wasn't leaving the garden in that shape, and since time didn't pass there, he could only get worse. As Claire dragged the last piece of furniture in front of the door to the garden, Cain woke up from the state he was in. He fell on the floor, shivering with cold sweat covering his body, Claire rushed to him to make sure he was going to make it.

"Cain! Cain, stay with me here! Can you hear me?"

Cain could utter only a few words, but it was enough for Claire to know that he was going to be fine. She didn't know what had gotten control of him in the garden, but it had saved their lives, and the forest... Claire got a blanket from the floor and set it under the warlock's head, after this she got up and slowly opened the door outside, only to find...

"... No."

The trees were still there, swaying in the wind and making their escape impossible. There wasn't much to be done now, she needed to make sure Cain would recover his strength so he could get them out of the woods. Claire returned to the hut, not having any idea how long Cain was going to be like this... they couldn't go back to Morsus, and the forest was too thick to walk through. No way out...

Two days passed by, without food or water, Claire and Cain kept struggling for their lives inside the small cabin. Cain wasn't getting much stronger, the power that had controlled him had drained him of all his energy, and there wasn't much to do to replenish it. Cain kept thinking what Leelee and Michelle were doing right now... they had probably reached the eastern lands by now and were speaking to Lady LaDermot at that very moment. He couldn't be there, that was his biggest regret...

"Don't blame yourself, you hear me? This wasn't your decision, remember that."

"... Yes it was. I could have gone with Michelle and Leelee... and just ignored your cry for help. But I couldn't do that, it's not who I am."

"You did good if you ask me. You got rid of Morsus for good, the forest seems to have stopped growing now. You saved Chloros, Cain. Think about it."

"Yeah, with the cost of dying in the same hut where the vile forest got started from. Die in the same place with Morsus..."

"We're not going to die, you'll get better and get us out of here, remember?"

"... I can't and you know it... I'll never get strong enough without food or water, if we stay here we'll starve to death. I can't go anywhere, but you can still make it, you can fit through those bushes and make it back to Chloros without me. If you make it back here in time, you might just save me."

"... No, it's impossible. It takes days to travel through that forest. I've never seen anything like it in my whole life..."

"Well, then we're both going to die... besides, even if we could survive, I'm not sure if I could face my friends ever again... what Morsus said, I know to be true. As do you."

Claire looked at him sadly and laid down next to him. "You can face me, can't you?"

Cain didn't say anything. He just emptily stared at the door leading to the garden, now barricaded with a table, some chairs and a desk... yeah, Morsus wasn't getting out. He had restored the honor of warlocks, even though with an unknown power, he had restored it. This was the proudest moment of his life, realizing his victory over him. A gentle smile rose upon his face, seeing this, Claire knew that he was going to be OK. She took the weak warlock into her arms and leaned against the wall behind them. As they fell asleep peacefully, the gentle breeze running through the isle suddenly disappeared. The temple of air went silent and once again the flow of water was heard from the temple beneath it. The water started flowing it's old path down to the people of the isle, saving the lives of many people in villages almost destroyed by the drought. The stairs leading to the temple of air became visible, letting the people enter the sought building. There was something else... the ground seemed to be moving. The whole island was slowly moving in the ocean of magma. The people didn't believe it at first, but then they noticed the small things... the feeling of slight swaying of the isle. Indeed they were moving, but to where and why? Was it that there might be another temple somewhere? As the temple of water had stopped blessing the people with water, the temple of air had given them a gentle breeze to aid them in their doings. Was it time for earth to move? And what would happen when it was time for fire, was the bigger question.

"... Do you feel that?" Asked Cain, sitting up against the wall as Claire rushed back into the hut.

"Yes, the island is moving... I can hear the water again and the wind has calmed down. Life has returned to us, Cain. A small creek runs near the hut. I need a container of some kind..." She went through the drawers in the desk but didn't find anything.

"Here..." Cain took off his cloak and ripped it apart, forming a bowl. "This is waterproof, you should be able to carry the water in this." He gave the cloak to her and laid back on the floor, not that moved about the fact that they had water now. Claire didn't take it that lightly, she drank herself full from the creek and carried a bunch of water to Cain.

"Thirsty?" Smiled Claire, even in a situation like this, a little humor was appropriate.

"... Just give me the damn thing..."

He tried to take a hold of the cloak but ended up almost pouring the water on the floor, he was too weak to hold up the bowl. "Here, let me..." Claire took the cloak and held it up before Cain's face. "Does life get any embarrassing than this?"

"Trust me, it does."

Regardless of the situation, Cain drank the water, slowly. Claire had to hold the cloak for a long while, but she didn't mind. It was nice, taking care of someone else for a change, ever since she had gotten to the isle, she had to stake everything she had on herself to survive, and now here she was. "Want more? I can go get some more if you're still thirsty."

"No, I'm fine... you don't have to do this, you know. I'm pretty much strong enough to crawl to the creek by myself now. Think what I'll do tomorrow, we might me out of here by the end of the week."

"... A week?" Claire just noticed something she should have noticed a long time ago. On the surface, time is measured by the rotation of Earth around the sun. How would anyone down here know about days, weeks, months or years? "What's the matter? You look kind of broody."

"... It's nothing... I just thought about something."

Claire shook her head to clear such thoughts out of her mind and gave Cain a smile, moistening his face with the wet cloak. His face had looked so worn out for the last two days, now that it was back to it's best, it wouldn't hurt to wash it, would it? "You should consider washing up every day after this, I don't want to see or smell this again."

"Don't worry, I'm pretty far away from the miners in Calculus and Unda. Do your words mean that we'll cross paths again?"

"... Maybe. Just maybe... no one can predict the future."

As Claire was wiping the warlock's face, he gave her a look, a look not easily forgotten in this place. She didn't exactly know how to respond to that, or how to react for that matter. Maybe it was the look, maybe it was something else, but as Claire finished washing Cain's face, she gave him a soft kiss on the forehead.

His strength somewhat recovered, Cain took her initiative forward, pulling Claire against himself and starting to kiss her. They laid there kissing each other for some time, their tongues hungrily exploring each others mouths, letting their saliva mix up between them, the man's hands started undressing Claire of her clothes, easily sliding off the cloak from her and pulling her shirt up, revealing that braless chest of hers. Claire moved up, giving Cain the view of his life, she felt the warlock's tongue starting to softly lick her hardened nipples, while his hands went down her back, sliding inside her pants, rubbing hard against her buttocks. He slowly slid the leather pants off her and felt the heat in her grow, pushed Claire away from him and almost ripped his own clothes off, Claire set herself above the man, spreading her legs wide and guiding Cain's cock to her swollen lips.

As Claire slowly sat on his cock, Cain felt himself almost going into a trance, maybe it was the lack of nutrition or something else, but suddenly he got enough energy to start pushing himself into her. Claire grinned as the tip of his cock sank into her tight cunt, it's walls were almost like trying to push the thing out of her, but Cain bucked his hips up, sinking the whole shaft into her, making Claire moan as she felt it deep inside her horny pussy. The woman closed her eyes as she started moving her hips back and forth, rocking on Cain's dick, making it rub her all over in her, the wet walls of her hot twat were pushing themselves against the cock, making the warlock gasp of sexual tension. Cain put his hands on Claire's firm breasts, starting to massage them against her, she put her arms around him and started rocking even faster, as Cain kept bucking himself up with every ounce of strength left in him, sinking his hard meat into Claire's tight cunt that had been begging for a good fuck for a long time. The warlock grinned, closing his eyes and pumping himself into her vigorously, making her whine and squeal in his lap. But as Cain opened his eyes, he saw Leelee in front of him, smiling at him looking cute as usual, the breasts he was rubbing weren't Claire's, but Leelee's, and the cunt he was pounding... feeling even hotter and wetter. "Cain... do it to me..." He heard Leelee's voice inside his head, begging him to take care of her, giving him even more strength, his pounding became even more intense, ravaging himself into the girl, making her whine and almost cry in his lap, her skin waving with every push he gave her and her cunt getting wetter every time he slid inside her. He pressed his forehead hard against Leelee's chest, and finally he felt the girl's juices spreading on him, but as he once again looked up, he saw Michelle, gasping and looking satisfied.

"Fuck me, Cain... fuck my pussy..."

Now he was pushing his dick inside that virginal cunt of Michelle's, her brown pubic hair was rubbing against him and the cunt he was fucking was getting tighter and tighter, younger and younger... Cain pulled the girl hard against himself and kissed her lips passionately, the young girl's squealing quickly turned into the moaning of Claire, her eyes soaked by tears and her pussy wetter than ever.

"Oh God, I've never felt like that... fuck me Cain..." Claire moaned, begging for more.

Cain ignored the hallucinations he was having and took a strong hold of Claire, and knocked her over on the floor, jumping on top of her and setting her legs on his shoulders, pushing himself once again into her wet cunt, that almost sucked his dick inside. Violently he started pounding himself into her pussy, making Claire feel it deep inside her. Her whole body shivered as the meat sank as far as it could go, rubbing against the walls of her cunt hornily, his balls slapped against her buttocks and his hands were kneading Claire's beautiful breasts, making the star moan under him.

He started feeling like he was getting near to the end, he put the last of his strength into those last pushes, sinking the tip of his cock deep into Claire and shooting the load of semen deep inside her. Cain didn't have the strength to get up anymore, and neither did Claire, so they quietly decided to stay there until they could move again.

The next day, the two woke up to some sounds coming from outside. This was bad, since both of them were completely naked, what would happen if someone would walk in on them? Or maybe it was Morsus, who had found a way out of the garden, that would be even worse. "Come on, get dressed..." Whispered Claire, putting her clothes on in haste, this was more difficult on Cain, who was still a bit weak about spending three days on his back, on a floor of stone too. But both got dressed in time, surprisingly they heard a knock from the door as Claire was pulling Cain up. "I can stand... but I can't walk... open the door."

Claire armed herself with the dagger and slowly walked to the door, waiting for something to jump on her as she opened the door. She wasn't that far from the truth.

"Claire? You're alive!"

Both of them were surprised to see Michelle and Leelee walk through the doorway and seeing Cain in the situation he was in. "Oh my God... what happened?" Leelee darted straight to him to see if he was alright while Michelle made sure Claire was fine too. "Morsus... is he dead?" Claire hesitated for a second, but gave Michelle a small nod as a reply. Cain didn't oppose in not telling them the truth, since it would only disturb their minds on their way to the east, which reminded him...

"Weren't you guys going east?"

"Yeah, we were. Until miss-goody-two-shoes here struck our guide in the head with a very large stick. It was scary, you should have seen her." Smiled Michelle, kind of proud of Leelee in the back of her head, she had finally gotten some sense into that girl.

"I couldn't leave. Not without knowing that you were alright, you're a big part of the team."

Claire gave Cain a sad look, saying with her eyes that there was nothing after. Cain smiled at Leelee and tried to fight off many things in his head. Was this going to continue? Would he keep betraying Leelee like this or would he be able to keep himself away from these things. Maybe it was something about that they weren't really together, or the feeling he had about her from the beginning... that she didn't belong here and they didn't belong together. So far he had been attracted to the other women from the real world, but just in one thing deals... he didn't want her to become one too.

"What is it? You're so deep in thought..."

"... I'm just tired. Why don't we go back to Chloros to rest?"

"Yes, maybe we should continue in a few days, just to make sure that Cain gets enough rest." Thought Michelle.

"I'll be fine tomorrow if I get something to eat and plenty of sleep."

"Can-do."

It took a while to carry Cain back to Chloros, but it was worth it. There they were greeted by the royal escort to the palace, where all of them got enough food to go straight to sleep afterwards. Claire did have some business with the queen, who had suggested something Claire wasn't going to accept.

"Dok is trained for this mission, it's good for him to go on to the world, to see more places and experience something else than books, your highness."

"Yes, but now the situation has changed. Now the party consist of the two girls and the warlock that saved all of north, we can't let anything happen to them, that is why I think you are the best person for this assignment."

"Your majesty... I just can't, I don't think it's a good idea..."

Kya gave Claire a suspicious look and got up from her throne. Claire tried to avoid the queen's eyes, but failed. "Claire, let's forget that I'm the queen for a second here... why won't you go?" The queen kept staring at the woman covered by the dark blue coat, trying to look away from her.

"... You know why, Kya..."

"I thought so. But what you told me earlier you said that you weren't going to fall in love here?"

"There's a difference between love and passion, you don't know it yet, but some day, you will. I can't go with Cain, Leelee and Michelle, as much as I'd like to, I can't. It would break Leelee's heart if she'd find out what Cain has done."

"... You're wrong, I do know something about passion. But I think it's something about this warlock that's the problem, not you. Don't punish yourself for falling for something like that."

Claire didn't reply to her, but turned her back and walked away, leaving the queen into the throne room by herself. So, Dok kept as the guide for the group, although many people objected, including Dok. That blow in the head wasn't exactly the best thing to do to your guide when he's trying to navigate through a forest. Although the forest wasn't that thick in the spot they tried to go through, Dok managed to hold them up for some time, but in this time, they had decided to go back for Cain, not to let him do anything like this alone ever again. Through the night, Claire pondered over her problem, blaming herself about everything that had happened in the cabin. But still, was it possible that the queen was right? Was it actually Cain that had caused that attraction for a moment and just went where the tracks took him... yeah, she wasn't going to see him ever again. She didn't know the answer and she was too afraid to find out. The next morning, the party left Chloros, heading toward the mountains in the east, guided by the faint-hearted Dok, now too afraid to even give Leelee a look of any kind, even after she had explained what happened, he wasn't that sure about her intentions. After going through the damp forest, they reached the great plains of the north, up on a hill they could see a few villages and farmers working in the fields. The wind hadn't completely stopped, a small breath of air swept through the north, making the grain wave in the wind. Cain still hadn't told them about what Morsus had said, he was going to find out everything from his companion's mouth, he'd just need to make her want to tell the truth.

"You can see the mountains there, past the fields of Gorim. I'll leave you to the entrance to the mountain of Crows, after that you're on your own." Explained the guide, examining the map at the same time, while walking down the hill with the rest of the party.

"Mountain of Crows... near the mountain there should be the main building of the council of Kerubia. They are the very best and honored of all warlocks." Noted Cain.

"You've got a big chance of joining now, you defeated the evil warlock who was about to destroy the north. They'll let you in on the council for sure and then you can invite us to all kinds of secret meetings, right?" Smiled Leelee, but Cain wasn't that enthusiastic about the whole subject, the council wasn't what Leelee thought it was.

"The council of Kerubia consists of warlocks over the age of 200. They don't keep any secret meetings because officially the council doesn't exist. The warlocks in it are immortal and their power is beyond any of our comprehension."

"So... where is this building?" Asked Michelle.

"How should I know? That's why I stated 'near' and not the actual location. It's supposed to be somewhere near the town of Rowanbranch, the smallest of all the towns in all of east, the council is lead by a witch who is rumored to have enough power to destroy this whole island."

"A witch? Finally, I thought this was a man's world too..." Leelee's sentence was cut short by the push Michelle gave her, this wasn't the time to be talking about some world up there, above the ceiling of rock. "Too? What does that mean, Leelee?" It caught the suspicious Cain's attention immediately, but it wasn't that hard to come up with a stupid excuse for that kind of statement. "You know, in the south and west. Dirty male miners, stuff like that." Michelle corrected Leelee's error quickly and almost perfectly, Cain wasn't going to stop with his suspicions. "Funny... I thought that in Ferumi the women were always first, with all the acting and other non-physical jobs."

"Ferumi is different, after we left there, all we've seen is men who are always on top of things, women degraded and nothing done about it. And why would Bosco have sent a warlock instead of a witch, huh? Tell me that?"

"Because there's only one witch in this world, in the council of Kerubia."

"My point made, off we go!" Exclaimed Michelle, speeding up with Leelee, nearing the village just a few minutes away.

Meanwhile in the most southern parts of the east, the newly formed group, searching for the stairs, had finally the steps in front of them. But both the singer and the bartender were too exhausted to climb up.

"Too bad... that now we've found it... and we'll die of ammonia or something... but I was right, wasn't I?" Huffed the bartender, Britney nodding at him tiredly. The almost transparent stairs were identical to the ones leading to the temple of water, now the tired explorers used them to rest until they were strong enough to climb up, and if what their old leader had said, grant them three wishes... the first one gets it?

"Wait a minute... the three wishes you were talking about..." Panted Britney.

"Yeah, the first one to enter the temple gets them... the god of air is supposed to... Britney?"

It wasn't that shocking that the bartender was now looking at Britney's taillights, running up the stairs like a madman. He had no other choice but to run after her, he wasn't about to give up on the wishes now that he was this close. "Britney, stop now and I'll give you one wish, I have ways of making you stop!" He yelled at her, slowly catching up on her.

"No way, dude! I'm getting my three wishes and you aren't getting shit!"

The persistent bartender plunged up the stairs, getting a strong hold of Britney's legs, knocking Britney over. "Let go of me, right now!" She kicked and kicked but the guy just wouldn't let go. "Wait a sec! Let's just think this through like normal adults, OK?"

She stopped kicking and the bartender let go of her legs. "Now, we rest here for five minutes... and then when I say 'go', we run. The first one up top, gets the wishes, got it?"

"... Fair enough."

After a few hours of rest, the group heading to the east were a bit disappointed in their guide. "I say we go on without him." Suggested Michelle.

"Come on, guys! He's just tired and he's used to sleeping most of the day in the palace, cut him some slack, will you?" Cain opposed, of course. He was curious what they would have to say about that. Maybe they didn't want any more from this world to join their team.

"You're right, Cain. He is tired, and that's why we should go on without him. He's seen enough for this trip and he can make it back to the castle by himself, can't he? So, let us be on our way to the entrance of the mountain."

Cain wasn't sure what to say to Leelee's suggestion, opposing might hurt her and that was the last thing he wanted to do now. "... Fine. We go now, but at least leave him a message so he'll know what happened."

"Already did that, I knew you'd say yes." Leelee smiled at him, leading the trio out of the small village, leaving their at times useful guide to sleep at the inn. It didn't take long to reach the entrance to the mountain of Crows, the gates were open without any guard, letting anyone pass into the east. Not many dared to go through the mountains because of the council of Kerubia and some other vicious beasts living in the mountains.

They walked the paths of the mountains, fighting off beasts of many kind. Giant hawks, bears, gigantic snakes, all the things only possible in a world like this, as Michelle defended the unarmed Leelee with her dagger stolen from the thief, Cain conjured up the powers of magic, making some enemies run away and some run into their own destruction. Cain got more experience as a warlock and Michelle learned how to fight just by wounding the opponent and driving it away. Leelee's knowledge of some martial arts came in handy, leaving Cain once again stunned, this must have been something learned in the real world, he thought. It took time, and some sleepless nights to travel through the mountains, but finally they made it to the village of Rowanbranch, where they received a warm welcome by some of the fans of the soap that had made Michelle and Leelee famous.

"We just love everything you've done to the show!"

"Thanks. Thanks a lot, you wouldn't by any chance happen to know where Lady LaDermot resides?"

"Oh no, sweetie! If we knew, we'd be over there right now, suggesting what would happen in the show next. Oh! You probably know where she lives, don't you? I've heard rumors about Rufio leaving the show, it would just KILL me! Please tell her not to cut Rufio out, please?"

"Uh... yeah, I'll let her know..."

Michelle hardly got away from the hyped-up woman, almost stopping her from entering the inn. What would she do if she heard that they were stopping the whole show if she'd die if Rufio got cut out? Insane fans are a star's worst enemy.

"More of those and I'll hang myself..." Mumbled Michelle.

"Don't worry about it, once the finale is done with they'll forget about us in no time. After that we'll be forced to look for jobs that don't involve acting as much as flirting around in very little amount of clothes."

"Don't remind me... I don't want to end up like that, if my career ends here I'll be just like Lady LaDermot. Come up with a new idea of a soap and start writing it anonymously." Planned Michelle, she had thought about the idea of becoming a writer in this place too, but waking up near Ferumi, she had pretty much no other choice but to become an actress. Cain joined them in the table after booking the rooms for the night, the bar they were sitting in was built into the inn and was very different from any they had been in. There weren't any rowdy miners or drunken husbands who were angry at their wives, but normal people, sitting quietly and drinking ale.

"This is more disturbing than relaxing, I haven't seen a bar like this anywhere. I'm constantly waiting for some ten feet tall orc to grab us and throw us to that ravine down there." The village was next to a huge ravine, anyone who fell down there wouldn't survive, even with magic. Cain had tried to ask around about the council, but the people of the village didn't seem to know anything about it.

"So, we made it to the east, finally. Now what do we do?" Asked Leelee.

"... We find Lady LaDermot, that's what we do."

"How? She could be anywhere, couldn't she? Are we gonna go through every village in these parts to find her? I don't think we'll last that long, we can't keep fighting against those beasts out there, eventually we'll lose."

She was right, who knew where the woman lived, she might live in a cave if she wanted to, and they couldn't ask around for a woman of her description, for it would risk her identity. If the council of Kerubia truly exists, they would definitely know where the lady resides. "Ask the council, they must know in their great wisdom where someone like her would live." Suggested Cain. It wasn't a bad idea, but where was the council? "How many long ways around must we take? Will we ever find her? Here's a comfort: maybe she's already dead! We can't know for sure, can we?"

"All the ways we must, Leelee. You're never going to find your way home if you don't go by the path beneath you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"... It means that Ferumi is at the end of this path, but if you're not going to walk it..."

That wasn't exactly what Cain had meant, but he wasn't going to say it to their faces, he needed them to admit it. "Fine, so we find the council of Kerubia first. We seem to be the only people who know about it, so how are we gonna start looking?" Asked Michelle. "I don't know, but if anyone hasn't seen them around, it must be that they're hiding."

"No shit, how's that helping us?"

"How could anyone hide in a village of this size? There's no way a council of seven members could walk around without being noticed, so... we should search outside the village."

"Yeah, that'll help. Think about this for a second, Cain. These mountains are almost unclimbable, and these warlocks can probably teleport. So they could be inside a hollow mountain where no regular person could enter, am I right?" Michelle was right, only a warlock could find the council, so Leelee and herself weren't going to be of any help, Cain needed to find them by himself.

"Fine, I'll let you know when I find something." The warlock got up from the table and walked outside.

"... Michelle, I think he knows something." Whispered Leelee, seeing Cain still outside the inn, now walking away.

"What could he know? Sure, maybe Claire let out a few frogs from her mouth while they were trapped in that cabin, that's why she didn't want to see us before we left Chloros. He doesn't know everything, he wouldn't have gone with us if he knew."

Leelee nodded and looked into the ravine, opening just next to the window of the bar. While Leelee and Michelle had to avoid hysterical fans all day before going to sleep, Cain was trying to locate the building where the council meets up. It occurred to him that it might not be a visible building after all, but like Michelle had suggested, inside a mountain... somewhere where people didn't go, some place they didn't know existed... it was a bit too obvious, but things like that were easily ignored. As Cain approached the deep ravine, he felt dizzy and almost fell in. No wonder people didn't look there much, and that's why they hadn't noticed the entrance made of wood just in range of Cain's eyes, the perfect place to make a secret hide. Cain rushed into Michelle and Leelee's room, finding that they were both asleep, which was bad, because he was getting very impatient. He quickly wrote down a note of the location of the entrance and set it on the desk. Cain was sure as he floated down the ravine, that the power that had controlled him in the timeless garden, was from the witch that ran the council. He wanted to know why she did it, and maybe find out an answer to his other question. The warlock set himself down to the wooden mine-like entrance and walked into the darkness, not knowing what was inside. After walking a while in the dark tunnel, he started hearing something... it was like water, splashing against rocks at the dwelling of the dwarves, but a bit different.

He found himself in a large cavern, as he looked down he saw a pool of magma steaming below him, flowing around a giant high-built altar in the middle of the cavern. The bridge leading to it was rather narrow and hard to walk, he kept thinking that it might fall down, feeling that it was quite shabby. The wood was almost on fire because of the magma down there, but it endured the heat, like it always had. The altar Cain stepped into was full of markings, some of them he could recognize, some he didn't, but what he could tell, this was a place where the leaders of the four races had gathered at some point in time, the pedestals with statues next to them proved it, with the elves, a pedestal of water, the dwarves, the pedestal of earth, the orcs, the pedestal of fire and finally ikarians, pedestal of air. Each pedestal had markings of the powers of the element, water, earth and air were faintly glowing. They must be connected to the temples somehow...

"You are right, they are the pedestals of the elements." Cain heard a gentle female voice in his head.

"... Who are you?"

"I am the one who you think I am, you come here seeking answers, do you not?"

"Yes, I do. Do you have them?"

"Difficult to say, I must hear your questions first."

Suddenly another bridge appeared in front of Cain, leading to the opposite end of the cavern, where a passage opened. "Step forward and we'll see what of your questions I can answer."

Cain didn't think twice, he walked down the wider wooden bridge, feeling like it was just made, and just for his feet. As he entered the passage, it faded away along with the bridge. Cain arrived into a giant room, statues almost covering all the walls, immortal artifacts of all the races that exist, above and below. I the middle there was a round table, in it were sitting six elderly men with long gray beards, waiting for Cain to step forward. There was a sphere on the table, revolving around in it's blue, white and brownish colors. Cain walked to the table to look at the sphere more closely... inside the sphere a smaller yellow sphere with a few brown dots was staying completely still, he started to understand what Morsus was talking about.

"That's why you came here, isn't it?" Now he could hear the female voice in his ears, not just in his head. He lifted his eyes from the sphere to see the witch that was supposed to be so powerful... instead of a wrinkled old lady, he saw a young blonde woman, standing at the other end of the table. They looked at each other for a while without saying anything, the council of warlocks exploring the young warlock's mind. "There aren't any excuses for the ones who arrive from the outer layer, they just happened to get here."

"... You're one of them, aren't you?"

The young woman smiled and walked around the table to him. "Are you afraid of the outer world, Cain? You shouldn't be..."

"Morsus said that it was the real world, that this one is just a shadow of the one above us."

"Morsus won't be bothering you or anyone else ever again, he stays in the timeless garden, where he belongs, and he can't get out." The woman took a chair out of nothingness and instructed Cain to sit down.

"I think it's time for you to understand, like the warlocks present have done. This is the reason they haven't left this cave for some time now, and the reason they don't wish to. Are you ready for everything?"

Cain nodded and the woman waved her hands in a circular pattern, uttering magical spells under her breath. The sphere on the table rose up into the air and started revolving faster and faster, growing into the size of a human. Sudden bursts around the surface of the sphere started appearing, a cloud of smoke rising up and vanishing, leaving only a black mark on the surface. In time more of these marks began appearing, in some places, the blue began to cover the brown, transforming the sphere into nothing but a blue globe. Then the blue started to fade out, it's color thinned down, starting to reveal the scorched earth beneath it, leaving the surface completely out of life, and finally the surface withered away, leaving only the core, the yellow sphere floating in the air. The sun gave the ocean of magma it's warm welcome to the world outside the rotting Earth, a world free of eternal evil. The sphere grew larger again, giving Cain a good look at the whole island he was now standing in.

"... I can see Ferumi... Calculus..."

"Everything?"

"Yeah... everything."

The sphere transformed back into it's previous form. "That is the future, some day you will see sunlight. You don't know what it is, but you'll live to see it."

Cain looked worn out, he had just seen something that could destroy the whole island and everything the people on it believed in. Suddenly the life he had lived seemed rather meaningless, if there was something out there, so full of life, destroying itself by the minute... it was horrible. Cain got up from his chair and looked around. "Is there any place I can lie down?" The woman guided him through another passage, leading to a normal looking bedroom. "Rest here, when you feel strong again, we'll discuss the other questions in your mind." The passage vanished as the woman walked out. Cain laid down on the bed, thinking of what he had just seen. "... Amber, huh?"

After many hours, Leelee and Michelle were starting to wake up. It wasn't a big surprise for Michelle that Cain had found the entrance, but it was more of a problem of getting there for her. "Any suggestions on how to get down that ravine?"

"Don't know... maybe we should use a rope of some kind, or we could just fly there with our broomsticks. My money's on number one."

"No need to be sarcastic here, I'm just saying that there might be alternate methods on lowering down there, that's all."

"Really? Like what?"

In a few minutes they were standing at the edge of the ravine, looking down the steep wall. "You're not serious about this, are you?" Asked Leelee.

"Look, this wall isn't that sheer, we might just make it if we're accurate enough."

"Yeah, but this thing right here, it's got a lot higher mortality rate than a rope." She held up a wide board of wood.

"Of course we'll use a rope, are you nuts? Well just calculate the distance to the entrance... and tie the rope on our waists and slide down with the boards, simple."

Of course it was much more dangerous than just lowering down with the rope, but it was much faster and way too dangerous to pass. They tied the ropes into a nearby rock, this time into a rock that wasn't going to fall down with them and set the boards at the edge of the ravine.

"I never thought I'd be doing something like this, not even here."

"Stop whining and yell REALLY loud!"

Michelle pushed Leelee down the wall of the ravine, sliding down behind her. The boards almost broke into pieces, but luckily the walls were smooth enough to glide down on. The rope gave them a rough pull as the boards fell into the abyss, leaving the two hanging just a few inches from the floor of the entrance.

"Ouch, I think the rope just broke my spine..." Whined Leelee, trying to swing herself deeper into the tunnel, just to make sure she wouldn't fall down.

"If it's something it's your internal organs that just got squished by the enormous pressure... damn that hurt!" Michelle dug up her dagger and cut her rope, dropping her into the entrance. "... No, everything's intact. No bones ruptured and no internal bleeding... I hope."

"Who cares? Get me down from here! Now!"

Meanwhile deeper in the mines, Cain was waking up from his deep sleep he had on the sheets of the witch. "What did you dream?" He heard the voice again, and as he opened his eyes, he saw the witch in front of him. "I dreamt... a big forest, full of animals and different plants. Then a big fire comes along and destroys it all, and in the end, the forest is destroyed."

"It's your mind, reflecting what you heard yesterday. The forest is the representation of the Earth, the animals are the peaceful beings that live there, without any sinister or vile thoughts... the fire, you know."

"... Humans. I get it... aren't we who have been born here ikarians?"

"Some... but in other places, other continents, humans have started to breed and are starting to adapt into where they were forced to live in, just like up there, a long time ago."

"Is it good or bad?"

"... I don't know. Even I don't know that, it's too far away to be seen." The woman got up from the bed and conjured up a door, ready to walk through it.

"You're a human... Amber, is it?"

The woman stopped and the door vanished. "That's what I got, anyway. Was I right?" Asked Cain, trying to get some answers out of the witch.

"Yeah... you were right." She turned around to reply to his look. "I thought so... for some reason you were so open last night. I don't think you're like that always, am I right?"

Amber walked back to him and sat down on the bed next to the warlock. "No... I don't know if you know this already, but... I've been following you for some time now. Mostly because of Michelle, I'm afraid she's going to get into trouble."

"Oh, she has. She's a whole bunch of trouble by herself, there's nothing you can do to keep her away from herself." Smiled Cain.

"I knew her... in the outer world. Somehow she's made it this far in this place, and that worries me. She might not be so lucky next time something dangerous happens. And I trust that you'll be there to look after her, Cain... I trust you."

It didn't take a witch to figure out that Cain wasn't who he thought he was, there was something about him that made everyone snap. Was it the blood of the powerful warlock, or the powers he had received in the dwelling... Amber leaned down to give him a soft kiss, leading to another kiss, a much more passionate one.

"Amber..."

She stopped kissing him just to hear what he had to say, intending to go further. "The last time I did this... something happened. I'm not sure it was very healthy either, but I'm trying to stay away from things like this."

"... Things like what?" Smiled Amber, lowering herself down along Cain's body. Cain felt her hand going into her pants and felt them lowering as his cock kept getting harder as a result of Amber's fondling. Cain didn't even notice as his head started circling around while the young woman touched his dick with her lips. The tongue of the witch moved up and down his hardening shaft as she looked up at the man under her control. As his full length sank into Amber's warm mouth, Cain grabbed her head and started moving it up and down. Her lips were firmly attached to him as her head kept making him groan and shiver, her tongue circling around the thing in her mouth and wetting it all over. Cain kept pulling Amber's head against his crotch, feeling his dick sinking deeper and deeper into her throat, at times she'd pull away and start stroking it slowly, smiling at him wickedly, just for the heck of it. Cain would have done anything to make her continue what she was doing.

Amber sank the cock as deep as she could get it in her throat, Cain moaned at the pleasure of feeling the warm and slippery walls of her gullet. She started furiously sucking the shaft as hard as she could suck, making sure that Cain was letting out every single moan of pleasure he had in him, as she removed the cock from her throat and let out a small cough, she hungrily licked her lips, and making sure that Cain saw it. She started moving her tongue on the very tip of the veiny shaft, softly pushing it against his manhood and letting her saliva cover it completely. As Cain looked down, he expected seeing someone else right about now, but no. It was still Amber, and she was going to stay that way, maybe it had been just a one time thing with Claire and the hallucinations, but he sure was feeling like he had felt in that hut right now...

"That's it baby... lick it."

Her passion over him was getting stronger, it made her want to make him moan even more, which she was doing a great job already. Her tongue could be mistaken for a snake of some kind, based on how skillfully it moved on Cain's cock. She stopped teasing him and took a good hold of the shaft with her hand and took the tip into her mouth, starting to both her head and hand up and down. The slurping noise she was making made Cain almost rip the sheets apart as he was enjoying Amber's dedication to her colleagues, the saliva was running down his dick like from a fountain, she let it cover all of her own personal lollipop and then kept stroking and sucking it, not knowing how little away Cain was from cumming.

"Amber... do you feel it? I'm gonna cum soon... don't stop..." Moaned Cain, squeezing the sheets as hard as he could. Amber took it out of her mouth and stroked it from tip to root. "You gonna cum? You wanna cum in my mouth?" Gasped the witch, waiting for the shaft to shoot out it's sweet load. As Cain grinned just before his orgasm, Amber took the tip into her mouth, stroking the shaft as hard as she could, resulting in major pressure and leading to the fact that every single drop of sperm shot right into her throat, and the young woman didn't even gag. Whatever was left in him, Amber sucked into her mouth and swallowed it with the most of it.

As the feeling of sensuality left their bodies, an image of someone fighting their of lives on the altar flashed in their minds. They rushed from the bedroom, through the hall of the council to the cave of magma, where they saw Michelle and Leelee, fighting off a dragon. The beast had escaped the magma as the last temple had activated, and the fire had started to burn twice the hotter than it had before. Amber conjured up the bridge and they dashed toward the altar, with the risk of dropping down into the magma. As they reached the altar, Amber uttered a spell and a large cloud of rain appeared above the dragon, forcing it back into the magma with heavy rain. Both Michelle and Leelee had survived without any fatal injuries, but Michelle wasn't nearly as shocked about the dragon as she was about Amber.

"Amber?"

She gave him a warm smile and opened her arms for Michelle's embrace, old friends meeting in a place like this... they were more than happy. They left the altar and went straight into the hall of the council, now empty since the warlocks had gone about their business. It wasn't weird enough to find someone you knew in this situation, but now she had saved their lives too.

"I can't believe that you're really here! How did you end up here? And a witch too?" Amber had explained to them that Cain knew everything about the outer world, and that they were here for an unknown reason, making it free for them to talk.

"I found myself near an old shrine devoted for the worshipping of the god of fire, I was there in a very bad time, since six of the finest warlocks in this world happened to be there as well. Of course they branded be a witch right after they had seen me come out of thin air, and took me in. I learned about Kerubian and all the stuff a witch has to learn, and since being the only female who has used magic, they immediately put me in charge of their council that had existed for a very long time."

"How long did it take to learn this stuff?" Asked Leelee.

"... About 60 years."

That wasn't very good news, that would mean that she was around 85 for her age. "Wha--? How the...?"

"You've been here only for a short time, but soon you'll notice that you won't age anymore. Sooner or later someone will notice that and you'll be branded as witches too."

"That's impossible... this can't be happening..." Both Leelee and Michelle were out of their minds. They wouldn't grow any older from this? What else did that mean?

"You might notice that some things remain, your hair for instance keeps growing, if you get a wound it'll heal in time... but in other physical ways, you won't age."

"There's something I need to ask you..." Muttered Cain. "... Was it you inside me in the timeless garden?"

"Yes. My powers and the power of the lion, it was the only way you could have defeated Morsus. It was easy to let the power into your body, since your blood is strong in the ways of magic, but don't go on a task like that if you think you'll lose."

Cain nodded and looked at Leelee, still shocked about everything that was going on. "So... goodbye face lift, eternal youth in front of us, right?" Michelle tried to smile, but she would be trapped like that forever, there was no way she could smile sincerely yet.

"We came here looking for someone, a writer by the alias of Lady LaDermot. We thought that someone in the council would know her whereabouts."

"Yes, I know where she resides. I can show you on the map."

Amber conjured up a map of the east and spread it on the table. She showed them the exact spot of her house in the town of Freez, it was in the part where many warlocks lived, the perfect place to stay away from public, since not many warlocks were interested in a soap like the on she was writing.

It would take time, but they would get used to the idea of living forever... just time.

Below Ground: Chapter 4 - Soap (FF,oral,cons,fant)

by Dark Genesis (dante_dd@hotmail.com)

Starring: Michelle Trachtenberg, Leelee Sobieski, Sandra Bullock, Britney Spears

"I've watched over them for a while now, ever since they left Ferumi to find the woman who made them celebrities again. Even after traveling all the way around this whole island, they still wouldn't give up, and now they knew exactly where to go. But I'm still afraid, the warlock might turn on them any second. If they'd face enemies that were dear to him, he would have to choose a side, the ones that betrayed him or the dear memories of the past. I could have gone with them, but I think it would have made Cain feel even more guilty that he felt now, but it was his choice to either tell Leelee the truth, or not."

The warlock and two actresses continued their way toward the east, they left the village of Rowanbranch to finally meet up with the famous Lady LaDermot. Michelle and Leelee had been through one hell of a ride, their way to the east had been the longest way around, with something always getting in the way, the latest delay was to find the council of Kerubia, that consisted of warlocks superior to others, lead by one of Michelle's old friends from the surface, they had successfully found the council and found out the exact location of the writer, in the town of Freez, which only warlocks dared to enter. Well, the stars were with a warlock, that was enough for them anyway, on the path to Freez, there were no other towns and the path was long and dangerous, but fighting off the danger, the party kept closing in on the town high up on the mountain. For two days they walked the rocky path, without sleep or any rest, they just walked thinking that in time they would reach their destination, where they would stay for a long time to recover their strength. But only a day's travel away from Freez, they stopped into a cavern to get some sleep, Leelee was too tired to go on like this, and it wouldn't hurt for Cain or Michelle to rest either.

In the light of the fire, Leelee fell asleep on her blanket in no time. Cain and Michelle didn't sleep, they just sat there, resting their feet from the walking.

"So close, yet so far... we'll make it there by tomorrow, right?"

"What your friend showed us on the map, yeah we should be there tomorrow."

Michelle nodded tiredly and took a blanket out of her bag. "You're not going to sleep, are you?" Asked Cain.

"No, I'm just not gonna sit on a cold rock until the princess over here wakes up." She put the blanket under her and sat back down.

Cain looked at Leelee, her face glowing in the light of the dancing fire. "... Now that I think of it... how is it cold up here?" Wondered Michelle.

"... You're right, it's kind of chilly. Which is odd... the only place I've felt this cold was in the dwelling, and that was after we... well, it was the water."

"Right, but... the air here shouldn't be any colder here than anywhere else, in fact it should be a lot warmer since we're closer to the cocoon that keeps us from frying..." Michelle got up and walked to the entrance of the cavern, looking east toward the mountain they were headed to, seeing the ocean of magma flowing behind it. "I guess we'll find out more about that when we reach Freez, the warlocks might be behind it after all."

"No doubt..." Michelle returned to the cavern and sat down to warm her hands in the fire, the air did seem to be getting colder.

"So... what did you and Amber talk about?"

"Just stuff. What's up there, what's happening up there... pretty much just about the surface."

"... Really? What did she tell you?"

"Nothing that important, things are going well and we shouldn't worry about that place anymore, we live here and there's no way up or down." He didn't tell her about the final fate of the surface, though. It would have just made her worry, and besides she'd know when they would see the rays of the sun shining down on them. She was going to find out, one way or another, but he didn't want to be the one to tell her. "You seemed pretty weird back there... just like in the forest. You tend to get like that sometimes, I just can't figure out..." Michelle was quickly cut off by Cain. "I cheated on her..."

Michelle didn't at first realize that he was talking about Leelee, but once she did... "Are you out of your mind? What the hell were you thinking? No, forget all that, but with who?"

"Claire... Amber... you."

He had done it again, it was like he wasn't even in control of himself, it seemed more like his body was in control of his mind, the brain said stop and the torso didn't give a shit. Michelle looked at him, disappointed in him... and herself. She laid down on the blanket and closed her eyes, escaping the horrible reality into her own mind. Cain didn't sleep, he kept watch for some beast to show up, but he was left alone for the whole night.

Some people did get to their goal and see what they expected to see, and then there were the disappointed winners that didn't get anything, and they were very, very loud.

"Well... what can I say? The guy was mad after all..."

"SHUT UP!" Screamed Britney, sitting on the stairs leading up to a statue of the god of air, holding her head and almost squishing it from anger.

"That shouting ain't gonna help us. There's gotta be something of value in here, besides we were the first ones to enter the temple of air, Brit! Think about what that felt like."

The singer just looked at the bartender angrily, almost ready to claw him to death, but she refrained from that action, settling for getting up, walking up the stairs and starting to kick the statue of the ikarian furiously, screaming words that anyone didn't want to hear. The temple wasn't that different from the one dedicated to water, only some of the murals were different, there was only one door and of course the statue was different.

"Instead of ripping that poor statue apart, why won't you join me in trying to figure out what to do next?"

Hearing this didn't calm the singer down, it just made her worse. "Join you? How about 'fuck you'? I'm not going anywhere with you, where you're headed, or anything that has to do with you! I've climbed a fucking impossible-to-climb-mountain for the last few days just because you said that you have a plan! My clothes are all torn up, my whole body is sore as hell, my throat is hurting from the drought, because you forgot to bring along more water! So NO, get it? No!"

Suddenly the heard a loud sound, like a rock smashing into tiny pieces. A giant gate of stone dropped in front of the exit, blocking it completely. Britney didn't say anything, she just calmly walked back to the stairs and sat next to the bartender.

"Well... you were right about one thing. You're not going anywhere."

Britney sighed and dug up the last bottle of water she had from her bag. "Might as well finish this now, it was supposed to be our only way out, but now that we'll die in here..." She took a long swig from it and put it on the step.

"... How long have we been sitting in here?"

"I dunno... about half an hour maybe?" Calculated Britney.

"No... no, we've been here much longer, 'cause my ass is completely numb."

"Great, real charming, keep that up and you'll end up with a big flock of women..."

"No-no, I'm serious." The bartender got up from the stairs, and walked to the gate. He tried to push it off the exit but like he had thought, it was too heavy.

"That won't do any good... numb-ass..." Muttered Britney.

Suddenly the guy noticed something in the air... a foul stench coming from his bag. He opened the bag and took out a piece of bread. "How old was that bread we bought from that town again?"

"It was fresh, but that can't be the same bread, it should last for at least four days or so for it to go bad and it's been only a day since we bought it."

"Yeah, I noticed that. But it's the same bread and it's rotten..." The bartender looked at Britney, waiting for her to figure it out. "... Meaning... what?"

"... Time's running. Time is moving forward very fast." He looked around and walked to the statue.

"OK, calm down now. I know it's a cliche and all, but please stop using it here. 'Life is short' bla bla bla, what's your point?"

"No, not that. Time is moving much faster here than it is out there, don't you get it?"

Britney wasn't that sure he was that sane either, but she was willing to give him a chance or two. "And you figured this all out from... a piece of bread?"

"Yeah! It's amazing, isn't it? Of course it might mean that we're just going to die more earlier, but..."

Britney didn't care much for the brilliant ideas of the guy anymore, and she wasn't about listening to any general talk from him either, so she decided to lie down on the stairs and with any luck fall asleep until he'd figure out something that could actually get them out.

The next day, the party in the cavern near Freez started waking up. Cain had kept watch all night and wasn't even a bit tired, he was ready to go on, unlike the rest of his group.

"We're not going yet, sit down Cain." Ordered Michelle, taking some bread out of her bag along with a bottle of water.

"I think we should get going right now, who knows what will catch up with us if we stay here much longer."

"Yeah? Well, who knows what's walking behind that next corner, huh? Maybe it's a dragon again, just passing by until it runs into us and turns our bodies into a pile of ash, ever thought of that?" Smiled Michelle, she was definitely getting more hostile toward Cain, unlike Leelee who just smiled at him as their looks crossed.

"... Fine, but we'll leave as soon as she can walk."

"Oh, I could have walked yesterday, I was just a little drowsy, so I thought it would be for the best if we'd rest up a bit before we meet with the lady. We wouldn't want her to see us in a bad shape, would we?"

"... Or we could have just slept at the inn as soon as we got there and went to see the lady as soon as we got up? Didn't cross your mind?"

"Come on, Cain. Don't be so stuck up, what was the difference in sleeping here or at the inn... except for the cold wind..."

"Now that you mention it, I do feel a little cold... which is very unusual..." Leelee shivered a bit as she put the blanket back into her bag.

"I know, I noticed it last night. We should be warmer here than in the north, but instead we're just colder... maybe we should continue walking?" Suggested Michelle. The others went with her idea, it was getting a little too cold, and since the people of the island had always lived in a more warmers climate, their clothing wasn't that fit for a cold wind either.

They continued walking the path toward the mountain, with haste they rushed through the cold wind that was biting their faces, it was so cold that there weren't even any beasts in sight. As the path got more slippery, Michelle and Leelee noticed that it had some traces of ice on it, which meant that the warlocks were definitely behind this, ice or snow didn't normally exist here. Cain wasn't that surprised about the things he didn't know about anymore, but followed his companion's advice in walking more carefully, so he wouldn't fall down the mountain. Finally they had the gates of Freez in their sight, the flat top of the mountain was surrounded by a wall of stone and the gate seemed heavily guarded, but that wasn't the first thing that caught their eye, it was the snow that was falling down from the cloud above the town, covering the walls, buildings and all of Freez in the white feather-like flakes.

"I didn't think I'd see snow ever again... it's so beautiful." A small tear appeared in Michelle's eye, but it was quickly swept away by the harsh wind that blew from the west. "I don't think they're letting just everyone in, let me do the talking." Cain lead them through the blizzard to the gates where the sturdy guard halted them.

"State your business or be gone." The guard grumbled at them, looking pretty much frozen, he'd probably shatter into pieces. "That wasn't very polite, now was it?" Leelee snapped at the guard.

"Leelee..." Cain tried to calm her down.

"No, I'm not gonna take something like this from a guard as low as him, if we want to go in, we'll go in." As Leelee determinedly ordered the guard to get out of the way, Michelle felt like a proud big sister... although technically she would be the little one.

"OK, OK, sheesh. You would have gotten in without the shouting, miss. I just like to know why someone like yourself was traveling this far for..."

All of them were dumbfounded, wasn't he just shouting at them?

"If it's all the same with you, why the tone?" Wondered Michelle.

"If the young miss happens to have her eyes fully functional and her nervous system intact, you'll notice that we're in the middle of a blizzard. Sure it's much calmer inside the walls, but I have to stand out here without a fire or anything."

Cain waved his hand and a rather big campfire appeared in front of the gate. "Ah, thank you, kind sir. Those warlocks inside would have enough power to burn down the whole mountain if they'd want to, but yet they can't spare any of their magical energy to the man who keeps the beasts out of the town, that is if the mountain could burn, yes? Oh, almost forgot, go right ahead." The guard opened the gate and the party stepped into the white town of Freez, escorted by a gust of snow from the blizzard outside. The gate closed behind them and the feeling of cold slowly dissipated to almost warmth, obviously the snow was kept falling down by the warlocks, so no matter how hot it would get, it would keep snowing.

"I think we should find the inn before we even think about going to see Lady LaDermot, agreed?"

Everyone took Cain's advice and it didn't take long to find the inn from the center of town, as they had suspected, it was completely empty. No normal travelers would come this far unless after something very important, like Michelle and Leelee had gone to look for when leaving Ferumi. Cain was more than glad to have been a part of the group, he had learned more about the world, magic and the warlocks than he could have ever found out by reading books. Still he bore the thought about the thing inside him that he couldn't control, he shouldn't be left alone with the lady after they go to see her, if he'd lose control then... he cleared his head out of such things, and fell asleep in the warm bed of the Pink Bunny Inn. In the other room, Leelee and Michelle were fast asleep, but things were revolving in their subconscious... "What was the warlock thinking? What was he going to accomplish by sleeping around, or traveling with us for that matter... why had he gone with us in the first place?" Michelle didn't have any idea, but she was going to take care of Leelee as long as she could, and she wouldn't do something that cruel to her ever again. "Will she go with us? What if she won't and this whole trip has been in vain... she can't refuse, can she? But meeting Cain was definitely worth it. There's no way this has been for nothing."

The snow never stopped, even as the warlocks were asleep the flakes kept falling on the streets of the town, at the southern part of town, a woman was leaning out of the window, looking at the steady fall of the snow, a smile rising upon her face. "Tomorrow... noon. That OK?" She smiled and closed the window, returning to her bed to get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow would be an exciting day.

The next day, the gang was heading toward the house of the soap queen, but stopped just before entering the street she lived in. "Wait a minute..." Michelle stopped the whole party and started smelling the air. "Canine senses kicking in, Max?"

"She didn't have any dog in her, you should watch the show more carefully... smell that?"

Leelee sniffed the air a bit smelling the same as Michelle was, and this was a good smell. "Thinking?"

"Yeah... Italian?"

"Pizza!"

The girls ran straight into a shop where the smell was coming from, leaving Cain on the street by himself. "What the hell is that? Weren't we supposed to go to Lady LaDermot's house?"

"Yeah-yeah, you go on ahead, we'll catch up later!" Leelee shouted from the doorway, quickly pulled back in by Michelle. Cain wasn't so sure about going in to see her alone, in fact he was more frightened than excited, unlike the girls that were burning a hole in their purses right about now. But he wasn't going to listen to them screaming about some food he didn't know anything about, so taking the chance, he walked to the house of the lady. The door was a bit open, almost as if she was expecting them. So he just walked in, stepping into a cozy hall, connected to a living room. The MT was showing old episodes of The Young And The Reckless, finally they had found a way to emulate the live situation they had done in the first place. The lady of the house wasn't in sight, so he kept searching the first floor, only to find a kitchen and a stairway in addition to the hall and living room. He heard some noises from upstairs, so he went to check if the lady was indeed there or gone about her business, just forgetting to close the door. Of course, doing this he was risking a very awkward situation where the lady was just putting her clothes on or something... the second floor consisted only of the bedroom and the bathroom, out of which he unfortunately happened to enter the bathroom first, where he, like predicted, found himself in an awkward situation, with a naked woman in front of him, holding only a rag in her hand. "... I'm sorry, ma'am... I didn't mean to rush into your house like this..." He immediately started explaining the situation, after turning around of course, but the woman seemed more surprised than frightened. "I'm sorry... who are you?" She asked the warlock, doing something behind his back that he didn't see. "Umm, it's Cain. I've come here from Ferumi with my friends."

"Ferumi? I thought we were at far with... Ferumi, you said?" She pushed Cain away from the doorway and walked calmly past him, now wearing a robe, with the rag in her hand. "Yes, Ferumi... are you expecting someone?"

"Yes, but... I don't think the party had a warlock in it. Even a man for that matter... two girls, actually."

"That's funny, I came here with two girls. Maybe we're your party after all."

"Yeah, well... would you please come into the bedroom so I can see who I'm talking to?"

Cain didn't even notice, he was just standing in the doorway to the bathroom, he walked to the bedroom only to find the robe on the floor and a small pool, with the naked woman in it, which made Cain turn around, just out of good manners. "Well, obviously I might also be in the wrong house, I'm looking for Lady LaDermot, I was told that this was her house."

"Yes, I'm Lady LaDermot, and that shy state of yours is mocking me. That's not who you are, turn around."

Direct and to the point, much like the show she had written, Cain did turn around, but unwillingly. "Sit down anywhere you like." He followed the lady's orders and sat down on one of the chairs near the pool. "I'm not very comfortable with this situation, you must see that..." Noted Cain, but the woman just smiled at him.

"You're worrying too much, it might have something to do with... you've cheated on your wife, am I right?"

"... Does it show?" Cain was stunned by the fact that someone he didn't know could hit that close to the.

"Not to the normal eye, but to me, it seems that you're afraid of something. And by the way, that won't work on me."

Now Cain was even more confused. "What won't work and why?"

"Well, not anymore anyway... the mark of Amare Infractus. The one on your neck." She pointed a spot on Cain's neck, he tried to find some mark from his neck but didn't feel anything. He didn't even know he had a mark like that.

"Don't tell me you didn't know you had it." The lady let out a small laugh but settled for smiling at the warlock when she saw that it was the first time he had heard of it. "There's no mark on me, someone would have noticed. This is the first time I hear about a mark on me."

"Well, buddy... it's there, and it ain't coming off."

Cain looked at the woman feeling like he had just been beat up with a hammer. "On the other hand it's completely possible that the other people haven't seen it, since you never knew it existed, but they can still sense it. The mark of the Broken Heart is given to a child at birth, if your parents didn't tell you about it, it's because they were regretting to have ever put it on you."

"... What does it do?" Cain had a thought from the name of the mark what it was, but he wanted the whole story, not just something he thought by himself.

"It's a message, it has a certain attraction to many women, they don't see it, but they can feel it. Of course, your own feelings have something to do with it too. It's usually given to the only child of a family, to ensure that their blood remains strong through the ages, if you know what I mean."

Cain rubbed his neck, starting to feel the mark, now that he knew it was there. Something that small could do so terrible things... "Why won't it work on you?"

"... I have my reasons. Now I'm pretty sure that you belong to the party sent here by Master Bosco of Ferumi, where are the rest, then? No, wait a minute..." She closed her eyes and rubbed her hands together. Weirdly, Cain didn't feel the same thing he had felt with the other women with this one, she was of the outer world like Michelle had told him, but somehow the mark didn't affect her.

"Don't bother trying no figure out why the mark doesn't affect me, you'd just waste your..." Suddenly her eyes opened and a clarity could be seen through them. "Don't tell me that they stopped at that restaurant around the corner?"

"Touché."

"Ah, they won't be back for a while. There's was this guy in LA who made the best pizzas I've ever tasted, luckily he ended up here too so I don't have to eat the crap the locals eat... assuming that you know about the world above?"

"Yes, I found out recently..."

"Must be weird... might be the same kind of feeling I felt when I noticed that I was lying in the street half naked, it's a murder to be teleported somewhere when you're changing clothes. Speaking of which..." She leaned forward and waved her hand above the plate near the pool. The image from the MT downstairs reflected upstairs.

"Been following the show?" Asked the woman.

"Yeah, I've seen every episode. I saw the latest episode in Non-Solis theater, it's the biggest theater that the show has been transported from."

"Yeah, in Ferumi. I hear the people around here have been quite shocked by the fact that the show's over."

"Over? They think that you're cutting out Rufio and continuing with the rest of the cast."

"Oh shit, that's what I was afraid of, that's what happens when you don't state yourself clearly..." She grabbed the clothing from the floor and left the pool, slipping the robe on.

"So... you getting along with us outsiders well..." As she turned around she found that Cain was once again head toward the wall.

"OK, first of all, you have to cut that out, it makes me feel old."

After agreeing that there would be no more turning of any kind, they went downstairs to get some tea. The local tea was much better than on the surface according to Sandra, the name she had stated for Cain to stop calling her 'lady', but she was a little disappointed that there wasn't any coffee down here. Of course, Cain not knowing what coffee was, he didn't have anything to relate with the subject, but in the end they got along pretty well, even with Sandra wearing only the robe. It took a pretty long time for Leelee and Michelle to pull themselves together and get out of the restaurant, although a little nauseous, they still continued to Lady LaDermot's house, but very slowly. Who knows what a little movement in their stomach would cause.

"... So, then there was the episode where Sylvia suspects that Rufio is a crossdresser and buys him the dress, the red evening gown."

"That gown was very inappropriate I specifically noted in the script that the dress was supposed to be pink with some lace on it somewhere."

"... Lace?"

"Ah, that explains it..."

Michelle and Leelee walked into the house, finding Cain and Sandra in the living room, looking very cozy. "... I think I'm going to vomit..." Leelee rushed outside and Michelle didn't even bother to look, but Sandra and Cain noticed them and were a bit surprised about her behavior. "It's not what you think." Both Cain and Michelle said at the same time.

After a few minutes of cleaning up and getting rid of the expensive food that was now a big puddle outside Sandra's house, they got to talk about why they really came here.

"What did you expect? I've been living with rare meat and dirty vegetables for a while now, you must know what that's like."

"Well, actually no, when I moved here this old friend of mine had been running that restaurant way before I got here, I've tasted the local stuff only once and by mistake. Oh, let me check something, do you see a mark on his neck?" Sandra grabbed Cain's head and bent it back, revealing the mark he had on him.

"Hey, you didn't have that before, did you?" Michelle hadn't seen it, even with the incident in the dwelling, which proved that it hadn't been visible before, too bad she couldn't say anything.

"You can see it? Good, now forget about it."

What was the point in that? Both Leelee and Michelle were totally out of it when it came to the mark of Amare Infractus, but would it still work after Cain knew it was there? Well according to Sandra, it should, but who knows...

"Well, now that we've all done some weird things here, we should get to why we're really here. Master Bosco, who you probably know, has invited you to direct the final episode of the show, and you'd have to come with us to Ferumi in order for this to happen."

Sandra went quiet, she knew that they had headed here, but didn't know why. With the war and all it would be dangerous. Michelle started seeing the 'no' rising upon her face, and she wasn't going to take that.

"OK, here's the deal... we've been through hell for a very long time now. We went through every single obstacle we had, and when more appeared, ones that we wouldn't be able to go through, we circled around them, went under, above, and smashed the obstacles into tiny little pieces. If you say no, I can guarantee you... that we'll never leave here, we'll keep harassing and bothering you until you say yes."

"I didn't say anything yet... I'm not going to refuse, no matter what the case, but getting to Ferumi will be a problem. Do you have any connections that could get us through the southern gate?"

"... No, not really... actually we have no idea how we're going to go back. The war between north and west is still active too, and we can't go upstream with the boat, and besides we can't get up the hole we came down from. We're pretty much without a plan."

"That's what I thought, this means that we'll either have to wait for the war to stop, or come up with a different method of going south."

"Even the most powerful warlocks or witches can't fly, the nearest they can do is float. If we could get upstream from the dwelling of the dwarves, we'd most likely end up at the temple of earth, and from there we could dig our way through the mountain." Suggested Cain.

"... There's one more possibility. Sail the magma." Said Sandra.

"Yeah, that's really funny. Oh look, no ones laughing."

"I'm serious, I'll get the books."

She came back with a whole stack of books and she slammed them all on the table. "This will help us how?" Asked Leelee. "There's a reference to a vessel that could stand the heat of the glowing sea, that's the ocean of magma out there. It's somewhere in the legends of Kerubia..." She looked up a book and started going through it, ending up at a page with a picture of a ship. "Here, the Ikaros. It says that the surface of the vessel was made of stone carved from the depths of the island, that could withstand the heat of the lava, the elves cast a spell around it so the heat wouldn't kill the people traveling in it, and... the ikarians created huge wings on it, so it could move across the sea."

"All races, how were the orcs taking part in this?" Asked Michelle.

"Hold on a sec..." Sandra looked up the right row and there it was. "The orcs... they stole it."

"Naturally, gotta love those disgusting faces of theirs. And with any luck they destroyed the vessel by running it into a rock, am I right?"

"No, the Ikaros couldn't be destroyed, the blessing of the elves protected it from all evil, except the orcs of course, it doesn't say exactly where the ship was buried after they retrieved it from the orcs, but it's something about the altar of elements and there's a dragon guarding it. Simple, activate the elements and wait for the dragon to show up, and kill it. Who wants to be the dragon slayer?"

It was the altar near Rowanbranch, the vessel was buried inside the magma in the cavern where they had fought the dragon. Once the dragon would be killed, the magma would flow into the ravine and reveal the Ikaros, thus giving the slayer of the dragon control of it. Too bad that they weren't exactly equipped to kill a dragon, eh?

"I wonder if we could just throw some snow and it and stab it with knives? Would that work?" Thought Leelee.

"No way, the skin of the dragon can't be penetrated by any weapons, it needs to be killed by a magical being, otherwise it's useless to try."

"And my fingers are pointing at Cain, our arch warlock, always ready to face a fire-breathing slimy horror, aren't ya?"

"I'm not touching a dragon."

"Damn, what's plan B?"

"There isn't a plan B, Michelle. Cain needs to kill the dragon or we don't get forward with our story here, of course if Cain would be able to curse or bless a weapon of some kind, we could have some chances in getting it through the dragon's skin..." Suggested Sandra.

"Yeah, but we'd need like a sword or something, and the only one strong enough to wield one would be Cain, so why use brute force when you can conjure up a lightning or something on the thing from very far away?"

"Well, it doesn't need to be that big, it's just the problem with the weapon and the bearer, you see... in order for the weapon to be either cursed or blessed, it must have some significant importance to the one who wields it, and I don't see any weapons on you guys right now."

There the lady was wrong, Michelle did have the dagger of Julio the thief, and it had gotten her out of few very sticky situations, killed the hydra, cut some ropes, gotten her through a thick forest too, but was Michelle strong enough for a dragon?

"No way, I'm not fighting that thing again." Obviously she resisted.

"Come on, it's the only chance we've got. It's either that or we wait for the war to be over. And it'll be over quick, you just do like with the hydra, right?"

"Oh, you mean stick my hand into it's throat that breathes fire and wait for it to chew? Thanks but no thanks, Cain's gotta do it."

"We'd be a lot better off by the two of us, Michelle. I know you don't want us to be working that closely right now, but trust me when I say that it's over, OK?"

Michelle gave Cain a doubting look, Sandra understood the point, but Leelee was still out of it, although she didn't say anything. Michelle dug up the dagger from her belt and threw it to Cain. "Do your stuff, I'm too full to argue. But make sure it's a bless, not a curse, got it?"

"Yeah-yeah..." Cain left the house for the shrine of the warlocks near the inn. A blessing to a weapon could only be given at a shrine like this, once he would be done with it, the dagger would be able to cut through the core of a mountain. After the blessing, the blade was as cold as ice and stronger than steel, the jewels on the handle were emitting an eerie glow and the weight of the thing was feather-like.

"Wow, that was fast." Cain handed the dagger back to Michelle.

"It doesn't take long if you know what you're doing. Are we off right now?" He was about to walk through the door, but was stopped by Michelle's words. "Hold it, there's been a change of plans."

"We're going to stay here for a while. But just as long as it takes for us to get our strength back, remember?"

"... But that was the old plan, what changed?"

"See this new plan is a mix of the two we've had so far, we rest here and then we head for Rowanbranch and acclaim the Ikaros..."

"... Fine, fine... just fine..." Cain did walk out, but he wasn't going anywhere. The blizzard outside was getting rougher by the hour, the defense originally designed to repel the orcs who hated the cold had been intensified by the wind coming from the temple of air. It was still a mystery how the orcs had disappeared, some say that the beings were killed by other races that were tired of their evil and cruelty, some said that they went underground, hiding in their caves in the mountains of the east, but no one knew for sure. It was also an enigma how the Ikaros could be gotten out of the cavern where it was left, the cavern didn't have an exit that big for a vessel to get out of, that's what it looked from the picture, anyway.

After staying at Freez for a few days, they all started feeling much more stronger and getting the strength to face the dragon in the cavern. Of course the mountain of Crows being far away, they'd still need prepare for a long journey before heading out. Since Sandra hadn't left the town in her whole time down there, she was going to need something more appropriate to wear.

"This? It doesn't even look like clothes, it's more like a piece of very thin cloth that was meant for some dancer in a nightclub or something, one of the things I like about this town is that I can wear clothes that actually keep my body temperature at normal." She threw the shirt back to Michelle who looked quite bothered about what she had heard.

"You're gonna die of a heatstroke if you leave the east wearing that thick, furry... coat?"

"Actually it's a bear. Half a bear if to go into the details, and I'm not taking it off until we reach the theater, thank you very much. Besides, we'll still have a few days of traveling to Rowanbranch, right? It's you who's gonna die of something and it ain't gonna be a heatstroke."

"I know we have a long way to go, but when we get out of the east, you're going to need some other clothes to wear, you know? And trust me, sailing through an ocean of magma isn't going to be very chilly. What are you gonna do, strip naked?"

"I strip naked when I want to and where I want to, there isn't a law on this island that forbids it, remember?"

"My advice: try to refrain from it in other parts of the island, you might be mistaken for one of those girls who wear that thin cloth. They usually don't end up that great."

In the temple of air, the few hours they had experienced inside it, Britney and the bartender had been there for days. It started to look like there was no real way out, but they still managed to remain calm and thoughtful.

"Here. You know what this is?" Britney held up a disgusting and rotten piece of bread that she had soaked in water. "This is my opinion of the brilliant idea of yours to come up to the temple, a lump of shit. Here you go." The singer slammed the mushy lump right on his head. The bartender didn't react much, he was too busy staring at the gate that had locked them in. "Wow, I can't believe how calmly you said that. Normally you would have started mauling me into little pieces and mashed them into some filthy porridge that those miners eat."

"Didn't want to waste the oxygen, besides I'm not that good with cooking."

"... No offense to your intellect, but we are in a temple that emits air. And on top of that, I'm not feeling hungry or thirsty, like everything inside me had stopped."

"Nope, that's just because you've been sitting there too long, probably for a few days now."

"... Oh yeah, that's bad."

"Wait a minute... was that intellect-thing an insult?"

"... Yeah, I think it was."

"Shit, I'll punch you when we get out, right now I'm too tired to do anything."

The bartender laid down on his back, of course the stairs were a bit uncomfortable, but it was all they had. It didn't take long for Britney to follow the example, so there they were.

"Ever see that soap that's been going around down here? What was it, umm... The Young And The Reckless?"

"Yeah, a total rip-off. Why?"

"Not much, just that those girls that play Sylvia and Laurel happened to stop by the bar, just a day before you and I quit."

"Damn, you should have told me, I would've gotten an autograph or something."

"Yeah... what happened to you after that gig, I didn't see you anywhere..."

"A dirty old miner dragged me into the back and paid me a shitload of money for a fuck... well that money's gone now." Smiled Britney, the cash had went into the horse and some equipment to climb the mountain, those and food of course.

"Oh... life sucks, doesn't it?"

"Well, that depends on how you take it. Take it with lots and lots of humor, you'll eventually get by."

"... Maybe we should go to the theater together?" Suggested the bartender, Britney gave him a questioning look. "I'm serious, I hear that the last episode of the show is being transmitted from the Ferumi's Non-Solis."

"You would go and watch a soap opera with me?"

"Yeah, definitely. Why don't we go together? It'll at least give us something to aim for when we'll try getting out of here."

"... Oh yeah, that's due too..."

"... Right... we should probably be getting up now..."

"Yup..."

"... ... ..."

As the couple was resting in the temple, another group didn't have a moments peace, locked inside a carriage pulled by two horses, and with a long road from the west to the south.

"I can't believe we're actually going to the theater in Ferumi! Any of you fellows ever watched the show?" The glow in the thief's eyes was irritating the other prisoners, along with his voice. "There was this skilled thief in the show once, a real nasty one, he had impregnated his father's only son's sister once..."

"GUARD!" The desperate cry of one of the prisoners caught one of the guards attention. "How long until we reach Ferumi?" The tears of agony were running down his cheeks but no consolation was coming from the guard. "We'll be there shortly, but your situation isn't getting any better. They got some nice cells in Ferumi too, too bad there's only two of them, and one's being renovated right now, it won't be done for quite a while. But don't you worry, their nice soundproof walls are much cozier than the ones in Rook." The guard grinned evilly, returning back to his seat, leaving the sad sobbing of the prisoners un-noted.

"... I know it's sad, I do. Instead of getting the acceptance of their father to marry, they put him into prison, and then they put the sister walk down the aisle with some doctor what's-his-face, and afterwards the thief hangs himself in the prison! How cruel is that?"

The party that was ready in Freez was going to sleep on more night in warm rooms of the town. Their bags were packed and the only thing remaining was to have the courage to walk out of that gate, and head for the mountain of Crows, where they'd face the dragon, and hopefully, retrieve the Ikaros to travel back to Ferumi before Bosco would get impatient. Michelle and Cain had already gone to sleep, but Sandra and Leelee were still up, checking their equipment at the house. "No, your bag's just fine to travel through the mountains, it's all good." Sandra had asked Leelee to check if there was anything missing from her bag, since she hadn't been traveling much, but of course there were other reasons too to ask her over.

"Yeah, I thought so. Say, what's the deal with Cain?"

"... What about Cain?"

"You know, seems like a nice guy, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, sure... you could say that."

"You two going out yet?"

Leelee didn't exactly feel comfortable with a woman she had just met asking her this kind of questions, but it was pretty obvious that they weren't.

"Not really, it's like a yes and no situation. We never get the chance to do anything together, we're always coming or going."

"Sounds like a pretty standard foreplay, you'll be at the goldsmith's in no time. You have to look out for him though, a catch like that gets easily stolen."

"Not around here. Up there maybe, but at least Cain's had a lot more things on his mind and I can almost guarantee that dating or relations of that nature haven't even crossed his mind."

"Really? Is that why he's slept with three women during your little trip?"

Leelee didn't really have a perfect response for an accusation like that, at first she just thought that it wasn't possible and he wouldn't be so insensitive, but the truth started showing it's ugly face pretty soon. He had the time, he had the way and most of all... he had the right.

"... So what? Like I said, we're not really together..."

"That's what you and him would like to think, isn't it? Just to keep a safe distance in case you never meet again?"

"No, it's not like that. We just never get any time together, we've been apart so many times, the dwelling, the forest... the council..." The obvious started to reveal itself in Leelee's head... he would be completely non-sexual if he hadn't had sex with the outlanders.

"Don't do anything rash, now." Sandra tried to correct what she had let out of her mouth.

"Rash? My best friend is sleeping with him? What rash would I do? Maybe cut her throat with her own dagger, maybe..." She was about to rush downstairs and straight to the inn to let Michelle explain herself.

"It's not their fault, they didn't mean to! They didn't have a choice, you don't know the whole story."

"... You slept with him too, didn't you? And now you're trying to save your own ass, right? Maybe it wasn't Michelle at all, as far as I know it was you all along, you live in a town full of warlocks that could probably teleport you into their bodies or something."

"That isn't it either, would you just listen to me before you ruin all if this?"

Leelee wasn't going to listen for long, but she gave Sandra a chance to explain, and so she did. Leelee listened carefully the story about the mark on Cain's neck, but wasn't that understanding of Cain, or herself. "So what you're telling me is that Cain isn't attracted to me... and I'm just attracted to him because of some mark?"

"I don't think so, but that might be the explanation."

Leelee was feeling a little out of it, since she had thought to have been more than attracted to this guy and now she heard that it might have been because of some mark, and that because of that same reason, her best friend and two others had slept with him when she wasn't around for some reason. So, she felt very unhappy...

"So, this is where it ended... I thought that this was more than just a crush, but... I guess not after all."

"What do you think you'll do now?"

"No choice, I go on with this act that I've been a part of, and I'll go through with it with honor. That's what I'm good at and I intend to keep it that way, I won't tell Michelle about any of this and I won't make any more moves on Cain. I don't care what happens to him after we reach Ferumi, join the council, start a school for warlocks, or get married... I don't care."

Sandra nodded at her, looking relieved. Michelle would have beat her up if she had heard about what had happened in there. But after thinking that, she could recognize the look on Leelee's face, it was more of an invitation than a look actually, she smiled suggestively and closed the door to the bedroom. Sandra was embarrassed a bit, something that she had said was making Leelee do this and she didn't intend it at first... it was tempting but she needed to make sure Leelee was capable.

"Listen, I think you're great. And... maybe in the outside world we would have had something together, I've been like this for some time. But I think you're just confused or..." Sandra stopped talking as Leelee slid down her pants and took her shirt off, revealing her chest and her two plump breasts, her nipples hardening in front of her.

"... Or you would just be taking revenge on Cain for sleeping with the other outlanders... umm..." She started to have trouble talking as Leelee removed the last piece of clothing on her body, her panties. Her pussy looked so tempting as she walked by the pool and towards her bed where she was sitting. "Shit... you should be sure before you do something like this, otherwise it will haunt you for the rest of your life." Sandra backed up a bit on the bed, with her legs spread open for the girl, her skirt showing Leelee only her inner thighs. Leelee licked her lips as he climbed on the bed and started lowering her face between Sandra's legs.

"What I mean is... I don't know, it's you choice. Yeah..." As Leelee went down on her she closed her eyes and laid back on the bed, smiling at the pleasure that was up ahead. Leelee hadn't done this before, but giving some guys blowjobs was some help in this, she stuck her tongue slowly from between her hot lips to her wet cavity, she felt herself getting aroused too, so as she had suspected, she had it in for girls too. Sandra, who hadn't gotten into sex with the locals because of the nature of her sexuality, was more than thrilled with Leelee's tongue that was slowly rubbing the walls of her hole, being without anyone giving her head for years had really gathered the satisfaction into her, since masturbation didn't do it for her. She hadn't worn underwear ever since she got here, most of the time she was remembering the times she's go out and hit on young girls that thought they were gay, she could make them do anything they wanted and got away with it with a few kisses, but she knew that Leelee wasn't going to satisfy for giving head to her. Leelee's lips, moistened by Sandra's juices were pressing hard against her lips that were throbbing against her, she felt her clit pulsating under her nose as her tongue was rubbing against the walls of Sandy's gorgeous crack. The woman started having a convulsion with her head banging against the cloth on her bed and her legs almost crushing the girl's head between them, Sandy's hands were grabbing Leelee's head and pulling it hard against her crotch, feeling her tongue hard against her throbbing clit. It didn't take long, her juices escaped her body and ended up running down on the bed and squirting on Leelee's face, the flowing seemed to be unstoppable and eternal, being without an orgasm for this long was almost a hazard to her own life, not to mention the girl who was licking her.

Leelee just smiled as she felt the woman's juices flood her face, she gave her a few more licks just to make sure she'd be content with the treatment she gave to her. Afterwards she got up and crawled up to Sandra's face, giving her a wet kiss of her cum on her face. Sandra was more than good with Leelee letting her lick her juices off her face, she hadn't done it before since the young girls who had went down on her had almost thrown up after she came, but it was more than good, the taste of her own pussy. And now she was going to taste Leelee's, she grabbed her bare ass and pulled it her waist up to her face, having a look at the innocent body of hers that had avoided women for all these years. Men also though, when she had said that she was a virgin, a lot of people including Sandra had some disbelief toward her, but Sandra was proven otherwise, she put her middle finger inside her young cunt she felt the hymen in the tip of her finger.

"Don't break it, please..." Whispered Leelee, the ecstasy in her voice could be heard easily. "I want to save it..." Sandra smiled warmly at Leelee's decision, even now that she didn't notice it. It was more than honorable to stay as a 'virgin', even when she felt so horny that she felt like now. Sandra moved her hands up Leelee's thighs, pressing her hands against the tender skin of the girl and moving higher slowly. Her buttocks felt like two soft pillows covered with warm blushing skin, she gave them a soft squeeze while closing in on her virginal cave with her mouth that had licked so many young ones. What could be more cool than turn into a lesbian through Sandra Bullock? Nothing, she had said, that's a good pick-up line when talking to wannabe-lesbians, but Leelee was more than that, she was bisexual and now ready to acknowledge it. Leelee took a deep breath as the Miss Congeniality's tongue slid into her privates, and hornily started moving around inside her, but still carefully enough not to break Leelee's proof that she hadn't been fucked yet.

"Ever done anything like this before...?" Sandra said with her voice muffled by Leelee's young flesh. "... Not like this... I once kissed a girl, but that wasn't anything like this..." She grinned, feeling Sandy's warm tongue rubbing her clit inside her. "I tried to do it once with a boy when I was 14... that's the spot, eat me there, Sandy... ohh... the boy came as soon as his thing touched my insides... God!" Leelee grinned again, the woman between her legs was making sure she'd get off on this as much as she herself did, she rubbed her hands all over Leelee's body, from her back to her buttocks that were shivering of pleasure that her wet tongue gave to her cavity of love. She started gasping and shivering like Sandra had before and her first lesbian orgasm was closing in on her, her breasts shook violently with the rest of her body as Sandy gave her the treatment of her life, making her spill her stuff right onto her face. A wide area around her pussy was throbbing against Sandra's face as the cum was still running onto her face, she drank up all the fluid that came out of the crack in front of her and felt happier than ever, she had lesbian sex without the guilty conscience of getting eaten from young girls who weren't sure.

The girl rolled over from Sandra and on the bed, looking exhausted. In the back of her mind she was now even with Cain, but in her brain she had just the best sex she had ever had. Now it was only good to return to the inn, before she and Sandra would submit to a session that would last the entire night.

Leelee returned to the inn feeling much more sure and satisfied. If she was indeed on the free market, she was going to take everything out of it. She sneaked up to the room and crawled into the bed with Michelle, she didn't take her up or shave off her eyebrows, but just went to sleep, getting ready to start the next day as a new woman.

The Ikaros, the vessel that was built for the sole purpose to sail and explore the ocean of magma was at someone's reach in far too many years. It was a shame that the ship hadn't seen the ocean that much, since after it was retrieved from the orcs, the other races were too afraid that they might steal it again, so they had hidden it where they would never look, in their own land. What was to become of the Ikaros after the party would reach Ferumi, was still not decided, but they weren't just going to give something like it away. Of course, they had to claim the vessel before doing anything else...

"So, that's the cave down there, huh..." Sandra looked into the deep ravine, noticing the entrance to the cavern where the altar of elements was. "It's best if only Michelle and I go in first, we'll signal you when it's safe to come down, OK?" Sandra wasn't sure what Leelee would say to that, but she just nodded understandingly. Cain grabbed a hold of Michelle and floated down to the ravine. Sandra and Michelle watched as the couple slid through the air like some damn birds. "That probably doesn't mean anything, does it?" Wondered Sandra.

Entering the cavern where the glowing altar was, Michelle and Cain saw no sign of the dragon. Cain was constantly expecting Amber to conjure up a bridge and some in to help them, but he was wrong to think so, it was for them to kill the thing and she wasn't going to assist, which Michelle understood completely, unlike the warlock. They started walking the shabby bridge toward the altar, engaging a small conversation on the way.

"Would it hurt the witch to come help us with our little problem?"

"Yes it would, and if she'd get killed I would blame it on you. You're the one who slept with her..."

"Wait a second, I didn't sleep with her, she gave a, um... how did you know about that?"

"I didn't I just guessed, what's the thing with that mark on your neck, did the lady give it to you or something, 'cause it doesn't look like a normal hickey."

"I did not have sex with Lady LaDermot, OK? There was something odd about her, that way I mean..."

"Yeah, I noticed that too..."

They reached the altar and the magma under them started to move. "I guess it's coming, load up your spells because we're deeper in it than I thought..." The magma below them started rising up to the altar, and deep inside the burning mass Michelle and Cain could hear the dragon moving slowly towards them, hearing the growl of the beast as it rose up from behind them. Cain started casting his spells as Michelle was protecting him with the dagger that the warlock had blessed. The dragon kept trying to attack Cain, but was clearly avoiding the slightly glowing blade of Dawn that Michelle was pointing at the monster, what they didn't notice the two women walking into the cavern, but not walking to the altar just yet. Unfortunately the dragon noticed them and left the actual danger alone. "Where the hell is it going..." As Michelle and Cain turned around to see what the monster was after, they saw the dragon flying through the air to the ignorant couple that was standing at the entrance of the cavern. "Typical, they're gonna get themselves killed and we'll be sinking into a pool of lava... is it still rising?" Cain looked around and acknowledged that it was still closing in, the heat itself was too much to bare without feeling like ready to faint. "Can you throw that float-thingie of yours on me?"

Cain gave Michelle a long look, but agreed to her plan. If the dragon wasn't caring about them, they'd kill it with one swift move, although a dangerous one. Sandra and Leelee were the bait, and since the dragon was way too big to enter the tunnel, it was desperately trying to crush it's way through. Michelle climbed up on one of the statue's and prepared herself for a long jump, Cain waved his hands and an aura formed below her, giving her the OK to jump. She plunged through the air with the dagger in her hand, ready to sink it into the monster's back, and successfully landed between the red wings of the huge beast. The skin of the dragon was boiling hot, but Michelle could still bring herself to stab the dagger as deep as she could get it, the dragon growled in agony and started writhing violently, sending Michelle into an arch toward the wall of the cavern, leaving her floating above the magma. Cain tried to conjure up a squall of wind to bring her closer to the altar, but he failed and Michelle kept falling toward her death. It was very fortunate that the dragon died before Michelle got too close to the lava, as the life-force of the beast faded away, the magma started flowing out of the cavern, through a portal that the death of the guardian had triggered. Michelle let out a sigh of relief as she noticed that the magma was draining out faster than she was lowering down, unless Cain's spell would wear out, she noticed a transparent dome revealing from the magma from under the altar, that had to be the Ikaros.

"Guys, start dragging your asses down, 'cause the ship looks like it's about to break free!" She could move just enough to get above the ship, but for Sandra and Leelee, the lowering process was more difficult, Cain didn't have enough power to float all three down, only himself. It was easily noticed that the ship inside the dome was moving, as the last magma on the bottom started moving toward the portal, the Ikaros followed the flow. Michelle landed just before it started moving, Cain followed her shortly and looked up to see Leelee and Sandra tied to their roped and slowly coming down. They were way too slow, the ship wasn't under them for long, but almost at the portal that lead to God knows where, it wasn't looking very good.

"Can't you do something?"

"No... we can probably pick them up later somewhere... meanwhile they should worry about getting up, I don't think they're strong enough to climb back..."

So, it was a little help, but they wouldn't survive if she didn't interfere. The ropes were cut loose and the two started falling down, at first making all their hearts pound like crazy, but after falling down a bit, they were sent toward the ship in a slow arch and they safely landed in front of Michelle and Cain.

"Christ, which one of you did that?" Yelled Leelee, being as stunned as Michelle and Sandra, but Cain glanced up to the altar, not seeing anything. Yeah, it was her, even if he didn't see it, but it was her. The magma lead the ship through the glowing portal and made them go through a space-like dimension for a few seconds, after leaving the ship on the magma near the town of Chloros.

So there they were, the first humans to actually sail the ocean of magma, the dome that was protecting them from getting fried in the heat was moving forward with the ship and pushing the steaming mass away from the direction of the vessel. The ship seemed to be controlled by the orb that was floating in the air in front of the cabin. There wasn't much to say, the group gathered around the orb and Cain touched it with his hands, starting to guide the Ikaros toward Ferumi.

Meanwhile at the temple of air, a scream of joy was heard as the gate from the exit broke into pieces in result of pounding it with a block of stone. Britney and the bartender rushed outside, only to be almost instantly frozen. "We're out, baby! Yeah! I'm never climbing on a mountain ever again!" He yelled feeling free as he was released from the place he thought he'd die in. "Phew, boy that was fun. Now off we go!" Britney grabbed his hand and started pulling his confused ass down the stairs.

"Wait a sec, where are we going?"

"To Ferumi, remember? To see the finale of The Young And The Reckless, come on!"

The bartender cursed in his mind what he had promised her, he didn't mind walking around with Britney Spears but he did mind going to a theater to watch some soap. in any case, he didn't have a choice now that he had promised Brit to go. Many were coming to the show and expecting quite a masterpiece, Michelle, Sandra and Leelee would make it in time so the viewers wouldn't have to wait and the Non-Solis theater was up and running, all that was left was the last act.

Below Ground: Chapter 5 - Curtain (Mf,reluc,fant)

by Dark Genesis (dante_dd@hotmail.com)

Disclaimer:

You must be 18 to read this story, if you're not, stop reading. However, if you happen to be underage you're probably still reading this, it's nice to do something illegal, isn't it?

The celebrities that appear in this story would most likely never do any stuff like this, this is the work of my schizophrenic mind, so if you'd be offended by the actresses mentioned below acting way too sexually, don't read this story. There, I'm done.

Starring:

Michelle Trachtenberg, Leelee Sobieski, Sandra Bullock, Britney Spears

"We are heading toward the theater... this is where I'll make myself completely public, no use hiding behind my alias after that. But I'll still be Lady LaDermot, even if the play ends here. We left the Ikaros some way south of Ferumi, which we just entered, Michelle and Leelee are showing the way to the Non-Solis Palace where I'll direct my first and last episode of The Young And The Reckless... which is a total rip-off, as known by anyone whose from the world outside. But I made it in the new world a lot better than some people, I suppose... Michelle and Leelee stuck to their old profession, and as I heard from them so did Ms. Spears. So far the only ones that switched professions were Amber Benson and Claire Forlani, at least as far as I know, didn't know them personally either. It's weird how Michelle and Leelee got into this situation with Cain though, it's almost as complicated as the soaps Up There, not to mention what they went through to find me too. Well, that doesn't matter anymore, after this I'll have to get a real job in Ferumi, since there's no way I'm going back to Freez after this warm climate, I'm definitely staying in the south, maybe this Bosco can hook me up with something along with my friends, I've gotten my pay through some connections but now I could actually get them straight from the source... which meant nothing else but it wasn't getting cut in the process. I hadn't ever made a deal what my pay was, but I was getting it pretty well."

The group was now in front of the palace where Bosco was impatiently waiting for their return. He was quite surprised that Cain was still with them since he had just delivered his message to them. "Finally, my pigeons return to me! Along with the messenger too... Lady LaDermot, finally we meet." Bosco greeted the party, not so enthusiastically as Michelle and Leelee had thought he would, but it didn't matter that much. Also there was one thing the pair had forgotten about...

"So, you must be eager to see the work, yes? Come with me."

The four followed Bosco from the hall to the big room filled with statues, now next to the painting of Lady LaDermot, the statues of Leelee and Michelle stood there. The lifelike blocks of stone created as a mirror of the two actresses looked exactly like the real things, the setting of the modeling seemed to have been the episode with a ballroom dance where Laurel and Sylvia had met for the first time. Michelle and Leelee didn't know what to say, they just examined the statues amazed by the fact that this primitive people could do something like this, and with astonishing workmanship. Sandra smiled as she saw the speechless joy of the two, knowing that they now had left a permanent mark here too. "Well, we'll let you kids have a look at those while we discuss the last episode. Mr. Bosco?"

"Yes, of course Lady. Don't stay too late though, now that we finally have you here, we will go on with the finale as soon as possible."

The play was set for the next day, it felt a little soon for the party that had been traveling for so long now. But after this they would have a break, no matter what. Michelle and Leelee were working with the script so hard that they didn't do anything else for the rest of the day, the last episode needed to be perfect. Of course, with Sandra's directing on how things really should go would help them a bit in the rehearsal just before the play, but essentially they were on their own. So, it was finally the end of the line... for them.

Sitting on the top of the highest building in town and watching the ocean of lava to the south, Cain felt sudden urge to run to that cliff and jump off. Having lost the will to live after finding out everything about himself was too much for him to handle, he couldn't be anywhere around Sandra, Michelle... or Leelee. Yeah, her the most. The mark of the Broken Heart had gotten him a lifetime of experience, but that wasn't the way to live... everywhere he went all the women suddenly felt attracted to him like there was nothing else in the world they lived in. It was infuriating that he would have women pulling his sleeve all the time, he did enjoy it, but enough was enough... especially for a warlock like himself. His powers were destructive, and not totally in his control either. What if he'd get married to Leelee or some other woman? He'd snap in a few weeks and possibly kill a lot of people in a plain burst of anger. He was in a dead end. "What the hell am I supposed to do? Breed, like you meant me to?" He spoke up at the sky, or whatever was above him. All he saw was darkness, capturing the red and yellow colors from the magma wavering under it in a huge puddle near the earth's core. Death would be an easy relief, wouldn't it? "Yeah... so easy." He felt a gush of wind behind him, coming from the temple of air. He had made a difference... maybe it was time to go?

"Yeah... it's time to go." He grumbled to himself.

Meanwhile, in a prison cell only a few blocks away from Cain, a couple of the prisoners were playing cards and enjoying the nice and quiet atmosphere. "Ahh... I never thought I would enjoy silence this much, did you?" Asked the first prisoner from the other. "Nope, it's an unknown bliss to those who talk every day. And this game is amazing! I've never seen pieces of paper like this before. What did you say the game was called?"

"Poker. How many?"

"Uhh... just one."

"One, eh? You must be serious."

The prisoner dealt the other one card and two to himself. Although, the gag that they had worked around Julio, the skilled thief wasn't that strong to hold him for days. "My, my. Why would you gag me?" Julio whined while nailed up on the wall from his shirt. "My fellow mates, this is no way to treat a dishonored thief like myself, if we were out, I'd have your necks broken and your spines put on my wall! Not that I have a wall anymore, but anyhow."

"Darn, the gag didn't quite do it. What'll we think of next?" Asked the prisoner number two. "I dunno... just check your cards and we'll see who gets the earplugs for the next hour, OK?" The prisoner suggested, getting the consent of his friend.

"Come on, guys! Cheer up, we're gonna see the final episode of The Young And The Reckless tomorrow! How great is that? You know, I heard on the whisper, that Laurel is going to end up with, GYAAAHH!" A piece of cloth covered in gargantuan slime was slapped on his face, that wouldn't come off in a couple of hours.

"Thanks, man. That was for good cause."

"Yeah, no prob. Why don't you play blackjack next so I can join in too?" Another prisoner in the corner suggested. Giving a grin, the dealing prisoner chuckled with his cards in his hand. "Oh, baby! An hour of silence is mine, I can't lose!"

He slapped the full house on the table and grinned happily at the other prisoner who was surprised by his behavior. "I can't remember the rules again... how good is four jacks?"

"Eh?"

Back at the palace, things were getting a little difficult with some parts of the script. Of course, they had only so little time to figure out what to do with it, so they had to work it out right away. "How did Rufio's death come out? I thought these scripts weren't supposed to be revealed to anyone." Sandra wasn't that pleased that some of the information on the last episode had leaked out, of course for some people in the east didn't even know that the show was going to end, but they still knew about Rufio's death, that wasn't very good. "Ehm, well you see something always leaks out. The scripts come here in their packages completely intact, but afterwards they're opened here, something might... slip." Bosco laughed nervously.

"Yeah, like what? You're the only one that has access to these papers until you give them to the actors, right?"

"Yes, but there's this little devil living inside a bottle of Spike, yes? It always tells me to... tell."

"Ah, I know the feeling. But now the climax has changed, everyone knows that Rufio is going to die, we don't have much to work off with the rest of the plot. We need to make something up."

"Yes, but what?"

"Well, Sylvia is pregnant with her and Laurel's father's baby, she still thinks that Rufio, Laurel's fiancé is the child's father. We need to establish that they are sisters, half dwarf, half elf and somehow kill Rufio under very weird circumstances, he stabbed himself in the last episode and survived. Sylvia finds out that she doesn't have cancer and Dr. Ramoray... well, he'll just have to kill Rufio, Ramoray's current husband... did I cross the line somewhere?"

"No, no. Everything is perfect."

"Oh good."

Of course, there was some misunderstanding in some of the roles. "Hold on a sec, this doesn’t make any sense... Laurel gave Sylvia cancer, and she suddenly recovers from it, right? So now Dr. Ramoray whose married to Rufio, would like to kill his husband and impregnate Sylvia... who is already pregnant? How weird is that?" Thought Michelle.

"Sounds pretty healthy for a normal soap, don't you think?" Leelee stated her mind, making Michelle agree at the end. "I think it just got way too complicated between the three of them... don't you agree?" Asked Leelee.

"... Yeah, it did. They should have just been honest with each other, to avoid the whole thing. It could have gone a lot better..." Both just sat at their beds not saying a word, there was a certain relatedness to her, Michelle and Cain, and Michelle was going to confess it.

"... I slept with Cain."

"... I thought so, in the dwelling when I was unconscious. Under the waterfall, right?"

"Yeah... but it wasn't anything, I mean... it was just sex, you know that, right?"

"Yeah. I know, Michelle... I know."

"... I think he slept with Claire and Amber too..."

"... I know... but I can't help it. He's everything to me."

"... How weird is that?"

At the inn, another traveling couple had finally reached their destination... or the other one's destination anyway. "Wow, I've never actually been in Ferumi... I never left the bar, really. Isn't this great? They say that the show's gonna be a big hit tomorrow. Aren't you excited?" Britney unpacked her stuff while unknowingly irritating her bartender-friend. "Yeah, real excited about seeing a soap that's COMPLETELY original..."

Everyone was here, at Ferumi. All to see the ending to the famous play. After a long journey all of them got their reward, a moment to relax. Everyone except for Cain, who had too much on his mind to relax... but he had made his decision about what to do now. He was leaving, for good. He would never see his friends again, but it was for the best. He wasn't going to tell the other's yet, in case they'd need him for something on the play. Telling them about leaving would only bring them down.

"Ramoray left the show? Who's gonna fill in for him?" Sandra was a little surprised that Bosco had done something that radical without consulting her about it. Not that she was around to be consulted, but there were other ways of communicating. She wasn't that happy about the solution he had come up with either. "I am going to make my debut in acting as Dr. Ramoray! Everyone will be thrilled to see me on stage, they will say 'Breathtaking', 'Astonishing', they-they... no, just breathtaking, yes?"

"You didn't by any chance take Erik's role too? He says he's leaving town and never coming back?" Leelee and Michelle walked onto the stage, leaving Sandra furious to the so-called-director. "Eh? I did no such thing! Erik has been under a lot of stress lately, if he wants to leave, he leaves, no?"

"OK, that's it! It's all going straight to hell, there will be no final episode." As Sandra declared her opinion and order about cutting the whole project, like Murphy's law, Cain walked in on the commotion. "Something wrong?"

"Yeah, our old boss just cut off two of our main leads!"

Bosco was a little frightened about what Cain would do to him, after all he had gone through a lot just to see that play finished. For his advantage, Cain just shrugged his shoulders and didn't seem to care about it that much. "Hey, wait a minute... is that all?" Asked Michelle with a questioning look on her face. "We went through hell to get this play done and that's all you do? Shrugs?"

"What am I supposed to do, huh? I can't do anything about it if they want to call it off. Too bad though, a lot of people are going to be disappointed. And she's right, how are you gonna do it anyway? You've got one bad replacement and someone missing completely from the part, to me it looks like there's nothing to do but find someone else, or just quit."

All her senses tuned in, ready to rock at any second of her days here, LaDermot picked up something from between the lines that Cain had just let out. Was it intentional? No way. But would he help if it would save the play? Hell yes! "OK, I think we're done here. Cain, catch!" She threw a copy of the script to the warlock that out of habit caught the flying pile of papers, at this point he wasn't sure what he had said just now, but he was going to correct the director right there. "Hold on a second, I didn't agree to play anyone on this damn play!"

Suddenly Michelle and Leelee got sparks of hope in their eyes. "Awesome, why didn't we think about this before! Cain is so-going-to do Erik's part, he's like the real-life Rufio... in a manner of speaking." Michelle agreed to Sandra's suggestion. Leelee smiled happily as she got to keep Cain a little more closer than before. "No! If there's any higher being in this universe, it's telling us not to go on with this play. Everything that could go wrong with this play has gone wrong! The only thing that hasn't shattered is your roles in it, everything else is in pieces."

"But it's coming back into place, everything. We have Erik's role fulfilled, Ramoray's role... we can live with it, and we have the story and the director. It's all here, please say yes." Leelee's remarks made Cain think about it. After all, it wasn't that big a piece of his life and then he'd be off. He just had to delay his departure for a day, that's all.

"... You know what? Let's just get on with it. I won't be able to sleep if you keep banging on my door through the night anyway. But I'll leave if something happens that I don't like, got it?"

Everyone accepted Cain's proposal, now they all just had to play nice during rehearsal to keep him with it. Of course, everything wasn't easy at first, Cain hadn't acted in his whole life, Bosco couldn't get over himself to read the lines properly, Sandra was losing her patience with the old director and finally Michelle and Leelee were still tired from the journey they had gone through. But it had to be done, no questions asked. Only 9 hours to the play, they finished the last scene and with all the props in place for the real show in place, they went to sleep in their rooms.

"Can't sleep... can't dream... can't run away now... this is too much to handle." Cain almost crushed his head with his hands and grunted at the tiredness and heat he was experiencing while standing at the roof of a house at the outskirts of Ferumi. He sat down and put his head between his knees, trying to shake the feelings off, but of course it wasn't going to work. After a whole five seconds of sitting, he got up and started running. He ran across the town quietly leaping from a roof to roof, not caring if he would fall down. At the other side, he looked toward the great mountain rising up from the horizon. He could vaguely see some lights there too, probably from Calculus. But what did that matter? Pointless, vain, stupid... he looked down on the ground where he saw a few big and sharp rocks. Only a few thoughts away from jumping, he stopped himself and collapsed on his back. He looked at the emptiness above him and saw that it was completely different from the horizon what he had just looked at a second ago... at that second it wasn't that pointless anymore. Decision made... no questions asked... and finally nothing to stop him.

She opened her eyes and looked out of the window. Seeing two hours until the play, she jumped out of bed and looked around to check that everything he needed was there. She took off her pajamas and put her blue mini dress on and sat down in front of the mirror. She took the eyeliner she had accidentally grabbed along and after she was done with it, she threw it in the garbage. "Won't be using that after today, now will I?" After checking her hair and confirming that it was alright, she got up and took a deep breath. "Two more hours... I gotta do something." She rushed out of the room and walked to the stage where Bosco and Sandra were already checking that everything was just like it should. "Morning, is there a problem?" Michelle asked, only half seriously though. "No, if there was, we'd be so screwed right now... is everyone up yet?"

"I think Leelee's still up, don't know about Cain though... I don't think he slept at all, that's just the way he is."

"Well let's just hope that he's capable of acting, how shall we? Anyway, you remember all your lines, right?"

"Yep, all set."

"Good, the dress looks great. Maybe after this we're gonna have to get into something more extreme, yeah?"

Michelle wasn't quite sure what Sandra meant by that, but seeing that she was kidding it was unimportant. She looked around a bit and memorized a few lines and expressions she had to make. She didn't notice Cain walking behind her quietly, looking around the set too, wondering about what would happen during the play. "I'm so sure that this whole stage is going to come tumbling down and kill half of the cast." Michelle turned around and looked at him, a little amused that he could still spray that negative thoughts around. "Let's just hope that the half will be you and Bosco, now shall we?"

"I resent that accusation!"

Bosco's comment was pretty much unnoticed, but it did awaken some amusement in the other three. "Maybe someone should wake Leelee up, she should be up early so she's completely awake when the play starts." Suggested Sandra, having some objection from Michelle. "No, let's just let her sleep for a while now. She doesn't have to wake up in the next hour anyway, she'll be fine." They decided to go on without waking Leelee just yet, but going through the script once more, Cain did feel that there was something missing... something wrong.

"Wakey wakey, time to get up."

Leelee heard the voices next to her ear and sat up in her bed. "How many hours til the play?" Michelle took a look outside in the large clocktower in middle of town. "Just about one. Come on, we've got to get ready." Reluctantly, Leelee got out of bed and immediately put her character dress on. The red strapless silk top was just about enough to cover her cleavage and stop just above her bellybutton, she also wore a matching skirt going down to her knees. She stepped in front of the mirror to see how she looked. Brushing her hair into all shiny and beautiful, she thought about what would happen next. What now? After having it all figured out, she was now clueless. Maybe she would get married to Cain, who knows? A smile rose upon her face after coloring her lips with an extract of redberries. Yeah, that's exactly what she was going to do.

"Hey guys, ready to rock?" She walked down the stairs to the stage. "All set, let's open the gates and let the dogs out." About half an hour before the show would start, the Non-Solis theater opened it's doors for The Young And The Reckless for the last time. Like expected, the crowd started gathering as soon as the doors were opened. It didn't take long for the whole auditorium to get full and only fifteen minutes before the show, they started getting impatient. At the back of the auditorium, sat six sulking prisoners... and one more. "Look at that, did you see that? I think the curtain trembled a bit, did you see it? I saw it, didn't you? They're gonna start early, I know it! Because I am here! The greatest of all thieves, it is I..."

A little toward the front row, yet another couple sat and anxiously waited for the curtain to slide aside. "This is great, I'm so glad you decided to go with me to see this thing." Britney smiled and gave the bartender a kiss on the cheek, it brightened up his day a bit, but in his book, watching a soap in a room full of people who obsess over them, wasn't very good... it sucked. "Yes, Brit. Real nice."

"Now aren't you glad that we got out of that temple and ended up here? We don't need any wishes here, do we?"

"Yes, Brit. Real nice."

And finally, the red curtains slid aside, and with standing applause the set of a huge ballroom and the actors quarreling in middle.

"I recovered from the stab, my love. There's nothing standing between us now. I realized that something like a fluke can come between us." Rufio tried to calm Laurel down, but didn't do very well. "It's too late, Rufio... besides that fluke you told me about isn't the only problem." Tears started running down Leelee's face and she wiped them off with a tissue.

"I didn't know what I was doing, I was intoxicated by the substance that thief put into my drink that night! I didn't know that I was marrying Dr. Ramoray, you have to believe me!" Cain was more convincing in Rufio's role than Erik, he didn't have that overly dramatic look on him every time he said something. Although the plot itself was quite perverse, he could still pull it off. "Oh, really? Then how do you explain the life growing inside Sylvia, then?" Laurel pointed out, looking furious about her fiancé’s double deceit. "... The mistake I made with Sylvia... I cannot undo."

The crowd let out a sigh.

"But as your future husband, I promise that nothing like that will ever happen again. I swear loyalty to you and only to you." Rufio got down on his knees and kissed his bride's hand. Truly smiling to him, Leelee got a little distracted, but only for a moment. She immediately picked up on where they left. "... I wish I could believe that, Rufio my love. But how could I live with a man that has deceived me twice. Not once, but twice." Rufio turned to face the audience, looking a bit up from them like Sandra had told him to and shook his head. "Laurel... please forgive me."

Sylvia walked between the two and cried out. "Is that what I was? One fluke of undying pleasure, that has now left me with this burden for life? I cannot believe you! You should marry me, not Laurel! She's an elf for crying outloud!"

Almost stepping on Michelle's que, Bosco stepped up and exclaimed. "Are you anyone to talk about mixbreeds, Sylvia? The truth is much more worse than you think. MUCH, MUCH worse!" Sandra, who was sitting in the front row was quietly praying that he wouldn't screw the whole thing up. "What are you saying, doctor?" Asked Laurel, stirring the crowd with small pearls of tension. "Laurel... Sylvia... you are sisters."

Words cannot express how the audience reacted, the noise was just terrible. Screams, sighs, laughs all bleeding together, letting them recover from the shock, the actors were quiet long enough so the crowd calmed down. "Sisters? But that means..."

"Yes, Sylvia. You're part elf, just like your sister!"

Laurel and Sylvia looked at each other and backed away. "This cannot be!"

"Oh, there is more! You are also half dwarf!"

A couple of the women in the audience fainted at the start of the fuss they all made when hearing the tragic news. "No! My love, you cannot be a dwarf! I am a direct descendant of the race of Ikarians! I cut off my wings just to be with you!" The audience wept like they had never been crying in their whole life, Sandra was so excited about Cain's performance that she didn't even notice how the crowd reacted. "Yes, indeed quite a soup we are in, my young friends. It is I, who descend from a proud clan of orcs, that has hated all of your kind for life. I have now destroyed your entire families, broken all relationships and brought your industries and mentalities down! I have done it! GYAAHAHAHAAAA!"

"Dr. Ramoray! You must be out of your mind!" Laurel screamed.

"But I will not stop there, no! Being half elf, half dwarf, you have capabilities you do not comprehend, but I do! I shall breed with Sylvia and let her give birth to TWO babies! One elf-dwarf-ikarian, and one elf-dwarf-orc! And there is nothing you can do to stop me! GYAHAHAA!" Suddenly Bosco grabbed Michelle and slammed her onto the table in the middle of stage. Michelle was a little weirded out at first, since he was taking it so seriously... but that's how it went. She was still OK with Bosco lifting up her gown and revealing her pantyless crotch, since he wasn't going to do anything, so she kept quiet about it. She felt a little uncomfortable as Bosco was pretending to drop his pants and enter her womb, but she felt way less comfortable when she felt him actually doing it! Both Leelee and Cain were facing the audience, looking shocked and uttering words that suited the situation. Michelle looked at Bosco, who was actually now behind the table, facing the audience, who didn't quite see that what he was doing was real. "Jesus, Bosco. Take it easy, you're not doing the real thing here." Whispered Michelle, startling a bit when she felt the organ's tip rubbing against her privates. "It needs to look real, yes? I make it look real and we get smashing review, yes?"

"Yes, but don't you dare..." She didn't get to finish her sentence as the director pushed his semi-hard dick into her unprotected twat. She let out a loud yelp and Bosco grinned at the lovely feeling of her warm, young and tight pussy. The audience, Sandra, Leelee and Cain we're completely oblivious about what was happening behind that table, they all thought that it was because they were going all the way as actors, not all the way in THAT sense of the word. Michelle felt the cock inside her growing into it's full length and getting hard as a rock, as Bosco grabbed her tits and started kneading them against her, she thought that this was probably the last time she would be able to act... besides, being around here didn't really give her much on the men-department, so... the show must go on.

"Oh my god! What is he doing to poor Sylvia!"

"How can this be happening? How cruel can someone be?"

"Oh, Laurel. What can we do?"

"Do something, please! Take this crazy doctor off of me!" Michelle yelled as Rufio and Laurel were still thinking what to do to get the orc down. Her breathing got more and more intense as Bosco humped her hairy little cunt all the way in. The walls of her canal were rubbing themselves against him and almost cutting the circulation in the director's prick, his eyes rolled back as Michelle's excitement gave in and washed him with warm juice. She managed to keep the sounds to the minimum though, to keep the audience and the others away from suspicion. She did enjoy it to the end, Bosco gave her the ride of her life right in front of the citizens of Ferumi, not to mention her friends. Her slippery cunt wasn't going to let Bosco get away with this so easily, she used all her muscles to trap the meat inside her and like she had hoped she trapped the pulsating wand inside her. The director almost passed out when he felt himself being sucked dry and squeezed violently with Michelle's 17-year old twat.

"We must stop him, before it's too late, Laurel! She cannot give birth to this abomination's child!" Rufio cried out and pulled out his dagger.

"Yes, we must kill him now!" Laurel agreed and just before the two turned around, Bosco and Michelle both let out a grunt as the warm white ooze filled Michelle's pussy. Bosco quickly pulled away, still a little mesmerized by the strong orgasm she had given him, but he quickly realized where he was again. Michelle pulled her gown back to her knees and stood up. "Oh no! I'm pregnant with an orc-child!"

The crowd just went berserk! They just wanted to kill the director for such a foul thing. "You shaln't do harm anymore!" Cain yelled and attacked Dr. Ramoray with his dagger. Unfortunately, like Lady LaDermot had written the episode, the orc was more powerful than Rufio, an ikarian. So, he threw Rufio against the wall, impaling him with his own dagger.

"Rufio, no!" Laurel rushed to her dying fiancé with grief, while Dr. Ramoray laughed beside them, not noticing what was going on behind him. "Gyahhahahahaaa! Now I have done it! Your pitiful lives are completely done for! There's nothing that can stop my joy now! I..." *SMACK*

Dr. Ramoray fell on the ground after hit in the head with a large pot. "You're going to prison, you murderer!" Sylvia exclaimed and gave him a playful kick in the stomach, which wasn't in the script. The sense of realism that Lady LaDermot had brought into the play, allowed Rufio to die immediately, without any meaningful last words. "And so, the tragedy ended. Rufio had met his maker, leaving poor Laurel to her own misery. Sylvia was now pregnant with two children, all mixbreeds with all creations of higher beings. How will they survive? Will they be able to live without Rufio, and more importantly, will Dr. Ramoray stay in prison? The answer to these questions, is... yes."

The curtain slid back into place in front of the stage and all the moved people that had watched the play stood up and gave the ending outstanding applause. Sandra stood up and faced the audience, seeing her dream come true right there. Now, it was finished.

"Ey! Did you have to kick me in the stomach like that? It hurt!" Whined Bosco, holding his belly in his arms. "Nah, you'll get over it." Smiled Michelle as Sandra jumped through the curtain. "You guys were amazing! And the realism... let's just say that nowhere near this place! You did it!"

"Yeah, we did didn't we?" Smiled Leelee, happy about the result.

Of course, when this kind of happy occasions happen, you get distracted. All kinds of things can happen, some good some bad... for Cain, it was the perfect time to go. He quietly snuck out of the theater to the street, when the crowd came out of the theater, he used his abilities to blend into the shadowy alley. People passing by... talking about the play, made him think more, and still make him want to leave.

"You know, I knew that they were killing off Rufio."

"Me too, but the actor was different this time, wasn't he?"

"Oh, yeah! Something just made me want to jump on stage and give him a full treatment."

"Hell yeah!"

He sat down to wait for everyone to go and he still couldn't get rid of the voices.

"Come on! Say you liked it!"

"... It was OK..."

"See? I told you. We should go to the theater more often. Hey, maybe we should start a bar here? I can sing, you do the rest."

"Erm... I don't know..."

"Come on, you like the idea don't you?"

Cain tried to close his eyes and plug his ears, but he could still hear it... everything was so loud, every sound was a thousand times more louder, colors were brighter, he felt like he could ram himself through a stone wall and come out with a few scratches. He didn't want to hurt anyone, but right now he was on the verge of killing everyone and destroying everything in sight.

"Man, did you see that? Rufio got killed! The bad guy won! How wonderful is that? Listen mates... I've been thinking, maybe we should put up a theater of our own in the prison, whaddya say?"

"YYAARRRGGHHHH!"

"Hey, stop!"

The guards ran after the six escaping prisoners. Oddly they headed toward the carriage to transport them back... what good would that do? Unless Julio would escape... The thief tripped on Cain's leg when trying to hide from the guards. "Get out of my way, vagrant!" He yelled, seeing that he was in a dead end. Cain slowly got up and looked at the thief with burning eyes.

"... Eh? OH! Cain? Is that you? Heh, who would have known that we meet up like this, right? Um..."

The warlock approached the thief and reached out with his hands. "OK, I'll go to the cell! I'll go back! Please don't hurt me, please!" Cain was just about to fry him, but the guard walked back to the alley and saw Julio on the ground, praying for his life.

"Prisoner, what the hell are you doing?"

"Please don't... eh?"

He was long gone.

Meanwhile back in the palace, Michelle, Leelee, Sandra and Bosco were celebrating the end of the show. After some time of working on it, they deserved stiff drinks and lots of time to end it. "We got rid of it, we are officially free!"

"Amen to that!"

All four looked around just to see if Cain was there... but he wasn't, like they knew.

"... He's gone, you know." Stated Michelle. Leelee looked at her and nodded. "Yeah, I know..."

"But it's a small isle, you'll find him in no time, right?" Smiled Sandra.

"... No, he doesn't want to be found... and I think I know... understand why."

In the village of Rowanbranch, down the ravine, inside the cavern of Kerubia, the council was eagerly waiting for the return of the warlock. As Cain stepped into the hall and walked to the other members, he received many proud looks. "What am I doing here?" He asked the old men.

"You do what you please here, but you belong here. That is the only certain thing."

"Am I a powerful warlock? is that why I'm here, summoned to this council to join you?"

"You have always been a part of this council. You just didn't know it. That mark on your neck proves it. It's not only a drawing that attracts the opposite sex, it's our symbol. Any witch can tell you that."

Cain understood what he meant and accepted the mark on him. He sat down into one of the chairs and looked at the sphere on the table. "What do we do now?"

"We wait, my son. We wait."