Chapter 6 - Slaves and Adventures
So this was where the Queen came from?
It was a medieval village in MY game, in MY world, and it was a thousand times more advanced than mine. A fully armored Cleopatra and I were lying in the snow under a tree not to be detected while we went over our absurd plan once more, if it could even be called a plan. We were about to take a huge risk here.
"Are you sure about this, Cleo?"
"Yes. I'm the Sun Warrior."
"Yes, I know that. But still. This village is massive. I count at least two hundred houses. And look at how big that freaking castle is. There are even more people in there."
"I cannot be defeated."
"No matter how often you repeat it, it doesn't make it any more reassuring."
"I could kill them all."
"Aaand, that's a firm no. Stop asking terrifying things like this. Please."
"Fine. I accept. I will simply incapacitate our opposition."
"Alright. Let's go before I change my mind about this. Remember. We are only here to capture Aisha, and then we are out of there."
"Yes. Follow me closely, Evelyn, and I will protect you.
Two days earlier…
Sitting on the couch in Aria's cabin, I gave Lafia a blanket and a warm meal, not the evil deer and mushroom stew. I wasn't that mean. She was as pleased as she was suspicious, though, and I could sense that very well because of the way she looked at me. I was alone with her, yet, I didn't fear her. She was small and cute with this little wolf hat sitting on top of her head. And it was true that I believed her when she said she didn't mean us harm and just had a message from her Queen to deliver. Cleo's diplomatic skills were relatively low.
"Is this food poisoned?"
"No, Lafia. It's just normal food Aria made. I just want to hear what you have to say."
"As I said, my Queen wants to know more about you and also has an offer."
"Well, before I tell you anything about us, I want to know who she is."
"She is the Queen of Valhalla."
"I know that, but Valhalla is my world. What is she doing here?"
"Valhalla is her world."
"No, it's mine."
"…"
"…"
False start.
"Do you wish to become our queen, Evelyn?"
"Uh? No. I don't even know who you are. I just came here to build cool things and fish, but it didn't go as planned. And that's an understatement."
"Then you should accept our Queen's offer."
"What offer, Lafia? What does she want with us? We did nothing to her, and she sent that pack of warriors to slay us. She is a bitch."
"She wants you to come to our village and submit to her will. Your presence on her land won't be tolerated."
"… That's not an offer. That's a demand. Who does she think she is?"
"She is the Queen of Valh…"
"I know! Stop it!"
Well, it didn't take too long to figure out what her intentions were. It was pretty much what I had expected. Plain and simple, that Queen of the bitches wanted to absorb my friends and me for some obscure reason, and this wasn't something I was willing even to consider. I would prefer to log out and call the game company to see what was going on. I had so many questions, but the way this little AI wolf-girl behaved, I was pretty sure it would be hard to squeeze anything helpful out of her.
"Where is your Queen?"
"In our village. Across the frozen lake, on the other side of the big mountain."
"How big is it?"
"Relative to what?"
"… to mine?"
"Yours is little. Ours is very big."
"Very big… uh?"
Somehow, Lafia was a little bit like Nam, very good at explaining things in a blurry manner. First, she told me the location of her settlement, but there was no reason to believe her. And then she was evasive on its size, leaving me unsure about what I was dealing with. I watched her take another scoop of food from her lunchbox and wondered what would be the best way to handle this.
I could ask her questions all day long but would never get satisfied with her answers. At the same time, I had to be careful not to become too friendly and inadvertently let my guard down and give her some information that could be useful to her. Finding what was essential to discuss was critical before even deciding what I would do with her.
I scratched my red hair and attempted to find a topic of interest. Actually, there was one small thing that bugged me for a while. I had chosen to ignore it for a long time, but since I was dining with the enemy, perhaps she could shed some light on it.
"Lafia? You said that you knew that black wolf warrior, right?"
"Yes. That's our head warrior, Aisha."
"Who is she exactly?"
"Our… head warrior?"
"No, I mean. She's been around for a while?"
"Yes. A very long time."
"Was she there before you?"
"Yes. When I arrived at the village, Aisha was already there."
"Ah, so she's been serving the queen for longer than you, then."
"No."
"Okay… Wait… What!?"
I had inquired about Aisha because of the bizarre comment she made before leaving the battlefield after her unfortunate encounter with Cleopatra. I didn't think much of it at first, but it came back to my mind a couple of times recently. She had suspected I was not an AI character, which was quite strange. So far, all my AI companions have been unable even to understand the concept of player versus AI characters. To them, I was just a cool person to hang around and serve deer and mushroom stew.
So, why? Why did Aisha say that after Cleopatra kicked her ass? And more importantly, at the present moment, why did Lafia suggest that Aisha had not served their Queen before her if she had been around prior to her arrival. I was getting awfully curious about this black warrior.
"Lafia. When did the Queen arrive in Valhalla?"
"Oh, she was there before me, too. So I don't know."
"Really? So, how come Aisha wasn't serving her already, then? It doesn't make sense. Unless…"
"… The Queen became our ruler later on. She took over."
"Ah yes, that makes sense… So, who was your leader before her, then?"
"Aisha was."
Okay. This new information was as fascinating as it was troubling. The fact that Aisha has been around them for a long time reinforced this gut feeling that I didn't want to have, and the other unexpected fact that she was their leader before led me to ask a very straightforward and important question.
"Lafia!"
"What now?"
"Is Aisha a player?"
"A what?"
"A non-ai character."
"A what?"
Of course, I should have anticipated her answer. Again, Lafia was pretty much like my little AI friends around here. She couldn't make the difference between me and the others. To her, I was just a normal person. Realizing that I wouldn't be able to get any farther on that road, I attempted a different approach.
"Nevermind. Where is Aisha now?"
"I don't know… probably in the dungeon."
"The… dungeon?"
"Yes. I heard the Queen was pretty mad at her when she reported her defeat, and then nobody ever saw her again since then. Which usually means dungeon."
"Where is that dungeon?"
"Inside the castle."
"You have… a castle?"
"Of course. Our Queen needed a castle, so we built it for her."
"Is it… big?"
"Oh yeah. Massive."
Okay, now my little fetus-sized village felt even more pathetic. Not only did I have a competing party in my world, but on top of that, they had a big castle. Perhaps it would be wiser just to leave this game session and start a fresh one.
But Nam, Aria, the very hairy Cleopatra… I didn't want to lose them. At least not if I could help it. Plus, to be honest with myself, I was quite curious about this whole story, about the village and castle that ended up on my land. I knew I had chosen a bunch of random settings when I started my session, but still, this series of events seemed a bit too weird for me. If Cleopatra had not appeared after Bethany exploded, what would have happened then? I would have in-game-died. It seemed a bit too hard for a newbie who had never played this game.
"I'll probably end up in the dungeon too."
"Uh? Why do you say that, Lafia?"
"I was supposed to report to return to my camp a long time ago. I know the Queen will be furious because I made her wait. It's all your warrior's fault."
"Let me remind you that your people attacked us first. Where is your camp anyway? Are there other people there?"
"Why?"
"Because. I'm asking you."
"Just at the base of the mountain, and just another scout like me. She must have told the Queen that I hadn't returned by now. I'm screwed. I'll end up in the dungeon too."
It was interesting to watch. Lafia seemed to fear her Queen so much that she wouldn't dare to disobey her and was even apprehending what would happen if she were to fail her mission. That Queen seemed to have a bad attitude. For her to build a castle and a dungeon and use it on her own people to control them, she must have one hell of an ego.
"Lafia. If your Queen is mean, why don't you leave your village."
"Uh? No. I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"She doesn't like it when people complain. She would send her warriors after me and kill me."
"Stay here, then. Cleopatra will protect you. She is very strong."
"No. I must obey my Queen."
"No, you don't."
"Yes, I do."
What was I doing? This poor AI girl must have been coded to obey her leader, and defection wasn't part of her options. And anyway, could I really guarantee her safety? Yes, Cleopatra was strong, but she had only fought a relatively small pack of warriors so far. It was not clear to me how she would be able to contain an entire army.
I wasn't too sure what to do now or what my priorities should be. One part of myself wanted to work on my village and build cool things, but the other part knew that I would face more trouble as long as I didn't resolve this Queen of Valhalla matter.
And there was also that Aisha girl, former leader of her clan, now potentially turned into a prisoner in a dark dungeon. I had no real evidence supporting my theory, but it made me feel a bit bad. If Aisha the warrior-bitch was indeed a real player like me, and even if it didn't make sense because I had selected solo gameplay, then she could be in some serious danger.
To log out of the game, I had to go to my house, open the menu, click the button to eject my consciousness out of this virtual reality. But what would happen if I weren't able to do this? Like if my hands were tied or if I were held prisoner behind bars with no access to that menu. What would happen then? Did the creator of Dive even think about this? Were there any safeguards? Time was passing much slower inside the game than in real life, but it was still passing. In the real world, Aisha would need to eat, pee, and shower at some point.
Based on my experience, a full week in Dive was the equivalent of one hour in real life. How long could I stay in the game before I got in trouble physically? A month? Two months? Two months in Dive would be the equivalent of eight hours, so I would surely be on the verge of peeing myself and requiring a ham sandwich.
With this gauge in hand, I turned back to Lafia, who was licking the bottom of her lunchbox like a hungry kid.
"Lafia, when did you arrive in Valhalla?"
"Mmm… a while ago, why?"
"What is a while?"
"I don't know. A year or so. Can I go now?"
"No. Tell me one more thing before. Did you ever see Aisha leave for an extended period of time?"
"Yes. She goes on patrols all the time for hours with the other girls."
"Hours? No, I mean, did she disappear for weeks or months at a time?"
"Not that I'm aware of, no. She is always around every day. Except now because she failed her mission and was apparently sent to the dungeon."
Days. If Aisha had never left the game for over a year, it would mean that she had spent at least two days on her bed at home with nothing to drink or eat. As much as she had mistreated us, my concerns for her well-being were growing as fast as my curiosity. I silently hoped to be wrong about this and that Aisha was just another AI with a unique personality.
I stood up and tried to think, but I was not very good at it. Through the frosty cabin window, I saw Cleopatra sitting on a rock that was poking out of the snow, looking at the horizon; she loved standing guard. Her comforting presence helped my first decision. If this Queen was as nasty as Lafia had depicted her, then there was something I couldn't possibly let happen.
My eyes turned to Lafia, who had pushed her little wolf hat up so she could attempt again to lick the bottom of her lunch box. Her strange cuteness sealed the deal.
"Lafia. Stay here."
"I have to return to my Queen."
"No. Stay here. I'll be back."
"Pfff… I'm just a messenger. Let me go."
"We will talk about it in a bit. Just stay here, or Cleo will eat you."
"Pfff… Whatever. That's not cool, though."
I exited the cabin and went straight to Cleopatra. She looked at me with her yellow eyes, possibly wondering if I would finally let her slaughter our little scout. Unfortunately for her, I had a different plan in mind.
"Evelyn. Are you done with her?"
"Not quite. Listen. I was told about another scout camping on the other side of the lake. I would like you to go get her and bring her back."
"Alive?"
"CLEO! Yes! I told you a hundred times. No killing!"
"I know."
"If you know, then why are you asking again?"
"I'm the Sun warrior."
I shook my head. Cleopatra, my lovely lioness, was incredibly strong, but sometimes she reminded me of Nam. Her arguments were weak, and so were her justifications. It was hard to do anything else but rub my face with my hands and abandon my illusions that they were like me.
In any case, I wanted her to get moving.
"Alright, Sun warrior. Just do as I say. Bring her to Aria's cabin once you've captured her."
"Okay. I'll be back in just a moment."
She grabbed her spear and placed her armored hat on her furry head, and walked away, not anxious about her mission the slightest. I envied her for being able to live a life without fear or questioning.
With Cleo gone, I searched around for Nam. I needed my assistant to assist me here, even if she was not very good at it.
I walked around in the deep snow for a bit and quickly found her near the stockpile where she was transferring her mining loot.
"Hey, Nam!"
"Evelyn. I just removed a few more rocks from the land where we will build your mansion. We will soon be able to start building."
"Good job. But that is enough for now. I need you to help me with something else."
"Okay, we can have sex. I love having sex with you."
"No, not sex. We need to build a new cabin for Lafia and another scout that Cleo went to fetch. I want them to stay here with us."
"Oh, they won't like that."
"Well, how can we convince them that they will be safer here?"
"I don't know, Evelyn."
"There must be a way. Think! You are my assistant."
"I don't know. If someone were asking me to leave you, I would say no. I suppose they will think the same way about their Queen."
Mmm… It was not helping, as usual, but Nam had a valid point. Even if I were pretty convinced that it would be better for them to stay with us until we deal with this Queen of the bitches situation, my message would probably not be convincing enough. To them, running away from their ruler would mean being punished hard or, even worse, death.
Out of the blue, Nam wrapped her hands around my neck as if she was about to strangle me without actually doing it.
"Uh? Nam? What are you doing?"
"I wrapped my hands around your neck."
"I see that… but… why?"
"I'm pretending to enslave you."
"…"
That was it. Nam had lost it. Too many hours working in the cold weather had damaged her virtual brain. I had NO idea what she was talking about and was so puzzled by her comment that it rendered me speechless. What did this have to do with anything? Thankfully, she clarified her message.
"You could enslave them."
"… Enslave them?"
"Yes."
"… Nam?"
"Yes?"
"You are very bizarre."
"Aww… okay."
"What are you talking about? Did Aria make you eat one of her weird meals?"
Instead of answering me, Nam released my neck and opened her arm menu. She went to her inventory and scrolled through the list of items that she could create. That list had grown a lot during the past few days, and I didn't even have time to explore it in depth. Since I transferred some of my points to Nam to give her more autonomy, she had access to it too.
She pressed on one of the items and dragged it in front of her face. When she released it, it materialized and fell in her other hand. It was some sort of leather band.
"Uh? What is this?"
"A collar."
"A collar? Where does that come from?"
"My inventory."
"Yes, I know that… but what does it do?"
"It enslaves people that are not from your village, and you can assign them a role."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"So if I put one around Lafia's neck, she will stay and help us with our village."
"If that's her assigned role, yes."
"And, is it permanent?"
"No."
"Oh, good. I suppose that will do until we find a better solution. Enslavement is a strong term, but as long as I don't abuse those girls, I suppose it's not too bad. Come, let's go try it on Lafia."
"Okay."
While we walked toward Aria's cabin, Nam opened the collar menu and fiddled with its setting. She seemed to know what she was doing for once, but I still wanted to ensure her idea wouldn't turn against me.
"Nam, make sure you give her a good role for what we need, okay. I don't want her to sit on her hands all day and just eat all our food."
"Yes. I can do that. I'm your assistant."
"That's what scares me."
My blue-haired companion and I arrived at Aria's cabin, where Lafia was lying down on the couch, bored to tears. Before I let Nam touch her, I gave her one more chance to change her mind.
"Lafia, I'm asking you again. I want you to stay here with us."
"I don't want to stay here. The longer I stay, the more trouble I'll get into."
"But, that's the point. If you stay here, you won't get in trouble. If you go back home, your Queen will torture you."
"I know. I don't want that."
"Then, stay."
"No."
"But, it doesn't make sense."
"Yes."
I scratched my red hair as I realized that reasoning with an AI wasn't something very productive. It was better to use Nam's strategy for now and reassess the issue later. Cleo was probably about to return with another of her victims, so there was no time to discuss this.
"Alright, then. For now, I'll force you to stay here. Nam. Put the collar around her neck."
"Okay."
"Hey, that's not cool. That's an enslavement collar. I don't want to be enslaved."
Even if she was protesting the collar, an item that she seemed to have heard about before, Lafia didn't resist, probably understanding that there was nothing she could do about it. Nam attached it to the back of her neck, it didn't seem very secure, but that's all there was to it.
"There. You are Evelyn's slave."
"Darn. The Queen is going to be mad."
At first glance, Lafia's attitude didn't seem to have changed one bit. I wasn't sure what I had expected when Nam installed the collar on her, but probably not that. The wolf-scout was very aware of her situation and what happened to her. It wasn't clear to me why she had not reached behind her neck to unfasten the collar as nothing seemed to prevent her from doing so.
"Don't worry, Lafia. It's temporary. It's the only option I have for now. I will take it off your neck soon. I just don't want you to go back home and get tortured."
"Pfff… What will I do now?"
"I don't know. Nam? Didn't you assign her a role?"
"Yes. But you need to activate the collar yourself first since it's your world."
"From her collar menu?"
"Yes."
As I was about to do what Nam explained, I heard some yelling coming from the outside and knew exactly what they were. When the door slammed open, and another wolf-girl landed on the wooden floor, followed by a proud lioness warrior stepping on her lower back, there was no doubt in my mind about what kind of phrase I would hear next.
"I vanquished you. Stop resisting!"
"Let me gooo! I didn't even fight you!"
Definitely, Cleopatra was in dire need of adventure. A great warrior finding such satisfaction in a non-challenging activity was a good sign that someone was starving of real combat.
I walked to Cleo and pushed her off the poor wolf-girl. Dressed identically to Lafia, that one was a bit more tanned. That was pretty much the only way I could differentiate them. Why were the AI characters in Dive so similar looking? I helped her up.
"Hey! Let go of me!"
"Don't worry. I'm not going to harm you. My name is Evelyn and this is my village."
"I'm Safia. And I need to bring Lafia back home."
"Well, that's not going to happen. Nam, give me another one of those collars."
"Okay."
The new wolf-scout looked at Nam and me, quickly understanding where this was going. It didn't take very long for her to protest.
"Hey! What is the meaning of this? Are you going to enslave me?"
"Yes, but it's just temporary. Your Queen is not nice, and I need to protect you from her until we sort that out."
"I would prefer not to."
"Well, if I don't do that, will you try to run away and go back to her?"
"Obviously, yes."
"See… That's why I have to do it. I can't have Cleo run after you all day."
Nam finished setting up the new collar and wrapped it around Safia's neck. Again, it was very odd that despite having verbally opposed the collar idea, she didn't lift a finger to prevent it from happening. Similar to Lafia, Safia let out some disappointment.
"Drat! That's not cool. I wonder what the Queen will do now."
"Don't worry. She can't touch you here."
"I'm not so sure about that. If we don't return soon, she will send a squad. And if that's not enough, she will send a bigger one until she obtains what she wants."
"Well, we won't give her an opportunity to do that."
"What does that mean?"
Actually, yes. What did I mean by that? I had no clear plan to handle the Queen of the bitches apart from having the best warrior in the galaxy for friends. And even that was a big gamble. Who knew if the Queen had an ace up her sleeve and possessed an equivalent warrior who could potentially defeat mine. It wouldn't make any sense if only one player had such a hero in its ranks, as it would make the game quite unbalanced.
Deflecting the question was much easier.
"I will explain later… For now, let's activate those collars so you can get to work. Maybe you can help us build my new mansion. There is still some land clearing to do. That will keep you busy until I can release you safely."
"We don't want to do land clearing. We are scouts."
Not feeling like arguing anymore, I touched Safia's collar, and a small menu appeared. At the bottom, a flashing "Activate" button. Nam had already programmed the collar to match our needs and just needed my confirmation since it was my world. A formality.
I activated Safia's collar and then Lafia's one. All I had to do was wait and see what would happen next. Cleo and Nam, as usual, seemed detached from the moment as if all of this was normal and uninteresting. But then I grew suspicious when the two wolf-girls started glowing. It was usually happening when a character change was in progress.
I turned my gaze to Nam once more, but my blue assistant was still emotionless. Did I really let her program the collars without questioning her further? It smelled like a mistake on my part.
"Nam?"
"Yes, Evelyn?"
"You programmed their collars based on our needs, right?"
"Based on your needs, yes."
"I said based on what WE need."
"Oh? You did?"
"Yes, I did. Nam… what did you do? What role did you give them?"
"…"
Of course, she didn't answer my last question, and now, Safia and Lafia's glowing was at its apogee. If Nam didn't tell me, the answer would come in a few seconds, but I had a funny feeling about this whole enslavement thing.
It took another moment of spiraling light, but the new characters were revealed when the glow died down.
My hands went straight to my hair.
Goodbye, cute wolf outfit, and hello perversion. Both girls' outfits had changed from this feral look to what I would call a sadomasochist one; Black leather panties and bra, interlinked by silver chains, thigh-high leather boots, elbow-length gloves. As for their head, it couldn't be more explicit; they had this leather Catwoman-looking hood covering their upper face, and two cat ears sitting on top of their heads complemented everything. Of course, their leather enslavement collar was still well-attached to their little fragile neck.
Safia and Lafia looked at each other, up and down, and even touched their boobs to find out what kind of outfit they ended up with. Their cheeks turned bright red, and they were definitely making a strange face.
It was unavoidable. My eyes returned to Nam for a third time.
"Nam… What in the world…"
"They are now enslaved. They won't leave our village."
"I got that part… I'm more concerned about everything else. Why are they wearing such whorish outfits?"
"It matches their new role, I suppose."
"… And what would that be?"
"Oh… Don't worry about that."
"NAM!"
"Well… I did what you told me to do. Is that not good?"
Safia and Lafia were still silent, unsure about what to do about their new outfits. I needed some clear answers.
"Naaam. Tell me what role you gave them. Right now!"
"Alright… Alright. They are your new sex slaves. You love sex a lot, so I thought it would be in your best interest to be able to play with them that way whenever you wanted."
"NAM! Seriously?"
"Yes."
"You couldn't make them lumberjack or miner or something else?"
"I could have, but I didn't. Hot sex seemed a lot more important to you."
"Raaah!"
I reached behind Lafia's neck and tried to detach her collar. Nam's twisted mind wouldn't cause any more trouble for me today. Turning them back to general helpers would be a much better choice.
My fingers reached the buckle, but somehow, I couldn't figure out how to release it. The mechanism was there. It just wouldn't budge.
"Nam! How do you take this thing off?"
"Like, now?"
"Yes, now. How?"
"You can't."
"What do you mean, I can't? You said it was temporary!"
"Not now."
"Why?"
"An enslavement is valid for a period of one year. It cannot be altered until that time has elapsed."
"WHAT? Are you saying they HAVE to be my sex slave for the next year before I can release them? I told them it was temporary so that they wouldn't leave my camp until I deal with their stupid Queen."
"One year is temporary."
"Raaah!"
Unimpressed, I attempted again to remove Lafia's collar. But then, a pair of gloved hands wrapped around my leg, and a wet tongue slid on it. I looked down, and it was Safia, holding and licking me, with an overly erotic face.
"Mistress Evelyn…"
"…"
"It's… it's okay… we want to please you."
"W… wait a minute…"
Another set of arms wrapped around my sexy virtual waist, and I felt a gentle bite on one of my boobs, just above my metal bra. This time it was Lafia, hungry for my flesh.
"Please, let us make you feel good… We will do everything you want!"
"…"
I pressed my hand on her forehead and tried to push her away, not too roughly, but she was very clingy.
As I tried to make sense of what was happening and how to handle those two creatures that made me feel a bit too good with their soft caresses, the cabin door opened, and Aria entered, wrapped in a warm blanket.
"Woah! It's so cold today! But I did a good job and brought back plenty of food. Hi Evelyn. Aww, you got two new sex slaves. Does that mean I can keep Cleopatra to myself?"
"Hey! They are not my sex slaves!"
"Yes, they are."
"NAM! Stop this! Find a way to undo this curse."
"There are none. And it's not a curse. They are going to help you with your sexual life."
Safia was now licking my crotch, desperately trying to find a gap in my metal panties to please me some more. It was so awkward. Since my assistant didn't want to assist, I decided to inspect Lafia's profile further to see if I could do anything about this. I double tapped her forehead to open her menu.
It didn't take me long to confirm that Nam was correct, sadly. Pretty much all their settings were greyed out, and there was nothing I could change. Their new role seemed to be set in stone. The unlock date was clearly displayed as well, and it was a year from now.
The only thing I could do was delegate some rights to other AI characters so they could interact with them. Maybe sex slaves were a bit different and wouldn't behave in this disgraceful way with other characters without permission. That was slavery, alright. Like Aria and Cleo, my other characters could just decide to have sex with whoever they chose to and participate in other activities as they saw fit, even if their skills limited them. This was quite different.
I added Nam to the list. It was her own doing, so it was only fair that she had to deal with them.
"Nam! I added you to the handler list. Take them to our cabin for now. We will deal with this later."
"Okay. Safia, Lafia, come. You'll have a lot of sex with Evelyn later because she loves it."
"NAM! Stop saying things like that about me!"
"It's because you do love it."
My blue-haired assistant and her serious sarcasm accidentally showed me something. She pinched their collars, and when she pulled on it, a leash appeared. It allowed her to remove those two cats in heat away from me without any serious resistance. Even if I didn't comment on that new twisted feature, it was probably something I would have to try later if I wanted to get some sort of control over them.
They walked out of Aria's cabin. What a fiasco.
With them gone, I let myself fall on the couch. Immediately Aria did the same and shared her blanket with me.
"Hello, Evelyn!"
"Hi, Aria. And thanks for bringing back some more food."
"No problem. I'll cook more mushroom and deer stew for you."
"Right. No thanks."
What was I supposed to do now? I stole two members of an enemy village and knowing their Queen's temperament, it wouldn't fly. If I didn't find a bright idea quickly, we definitely would have some unwanted visitors. This situation could turn real ugly quickly. As much as I trusted my Sun warrior to protect us, avoiding an armed conflict was my preference.
My options were pretty limited.
One of the things on my mind was both intriguing and could also be the key to some of my problems. Aisha. First of all, if she was a real player like me, and if it was true that she had spent so much time in this game without logging out, she could probably shed some light on this Queen of Valhalla madness and why my world suddenly turned into a warzone.
Simply put, I needed to find her. If she were a prisoner of the Queen's dungeon, it would mean that a rescue mission was in order, even though it seemed impossible. The main problem wasn't hard to understand; I was the most unqualified person to plan such an operation. I was getting good at cutting down trees, spawning building cores, and having shameless lesbian sex with virtual women, but breaking in a castle wasn't really my specialty, particularly if a bunch of warriors wearing balto hats attempted to cut my virtual head off in the process. I had no idea what dying in Dive would imply but I wasn't too keen to explore that aspect of the game.
I looked up at my golden-armored warrior. If there were one person skilled enough to pull that off, it was Cleopatra.
"Cleo, were there other wolf-girls around the scout camp?"
"Not that I'm aware of. There were no additional footprints in the snow."
"Good. So the Queen is probably unaware that we kidnapped her scouts for now."
"It is a good assumption even though she might suspect it."
"How good are you at sneaking around?"
"I don't sneak."
"Hmmm… Well, let me rephrase that. Could we go to their village, break into a castle, kidnap another wolf-warrior, and return home without being detected?"
"No. I'm not a rogue. I'm a warrior."
"Urgh! Such a firm answer. So there is no way, then?"
"I haven't said that. We can do all of this while being fully detected."
"Cleo, it is a terrible idea. What if the Queen has much stronger warriors than the horsewomen she sent last time."
"I will defeat them all. I'm the Sun warrior."
"Aaah. I know you are strong, but we are talking about a potential army of them."
"Then the objective would be simpler. I will defeat a single army instead of multiple enemies. A single target."
Sometimes I wondered if my AI friends had mental issues. Cleo's self-confidence provided me with a great deal of comfort, but her shaky logic was cause for concern. The words coming out of her mouth betrayed some sort of insanity and an absence of self-preservation.
"So that's what you are suggesting, uh? Just walk in, destroy everything and everyone, and then walk out?"
"It's a good plan."
Aria clung to my arm with a smile, seemingly admiring Cleopatra's resolve without any worries about the outcome of such a reckless maneuver.
"Aria? Do you think this makes sense?"
"I don't know why you want to go there, but Cleo is very strong. I think it's a great plan."
"You guys are completely nuts."
Or were they?
During our battle with the Queen's horsewoman, Cleo had apparently defeated their best warrior, Aisha. If that were true, then yes, I was very confident that nothing could stop the Sun warrior because she didn't even break a sweat during that battle. But if the Queen was more resourceful than we expected, it could be troublesome.
That said, I wasn't sure of anything at this point. My theory about Aisha being a real player was just that, a theory. I had no solid way to confirm it except going on-site. Blaming the cowardly part of myself was justified, though. Login out and calling the game company to provide them with the full detail of my game and my concerns about a stuck player so they could make some verification on their end would have been a somewhat logical idea, but the fear of disclosing all the dirty stuff I have been doing in Dive along with the possibility of looking like an idiot held me back. And as childish as it sounded, I grew attached to my characters and my meager accomplishments, so if they were to reset my world, I could lose all of them forever. It would be very sad.
As if I was part of a bad sitcom, the cabin door opened again; Nam had returned.
"Aria was right. It is very cold outside."
My blue-haired assistance brushed some frost from her skin. Valhalla misbehaved again. It would be one of those deadly days prohibiting us from spending too much time outside. It wasn't a bad thing, though. It would give me an additional day to think about what I really wanted to do next.
It was dark and warm.
Compressed into this small oubliette designed to be uncomfortable for one person, Aisha shared it with two other girls. It was impossible to move further than sliding and arm here and there through a knot of slippery limbs. She had never spent this much time in such an extreme predicament. Her full hood kept her blind, and even if she had not worn it, she wouldn't have seen anything in this tiny room buried deeply under the castle, so far away from the sunlight. Her chastity belt prevented her from getting any relief as her companion incessantly played with her body. She could hear them orgasming endlessly and convulsing on her as they didn't have the same cruel restriction. Their pussy juice had covered their entire body over time, and the lack of airflow prevented them from drying. Nobody could talk, nobody could escape, and there was no hope that they would ever feel anything other than their slimy body rubbing against each other until the end of their life.
The Queen had possibly forgotten about them for good.
Did they spend days in this cramped inhuman prison, or was it a month already? Or perhaps only a few hours had passed. They had no idea. In this little confined world, Aisha was only allowed to breathe sex-filled air, hear erotic moans, and feel aroused; hunger wasn't a thing, thirst wasn't a thing, socializing wasn't a thing. She became a mere sexual organ used to please two other equally sexual girls who were unaware that she couldn't share their pleasure.
What would this do to her mind?
Most of the time, her sanity was absent. Her entire body felt like a giant wet clitoris that couldn't cum. She had long given up on the possibility of ever being freed.
On rare occasions, and it was less and less frequent, a simple question popped up in Aisha's mind.
What would such treatment do to her real body and mind?
The rest of the day was eventless. The extreme freezing temperature had limited our operations, but it was a good day just to relax and do simple things. I spent a lot of time in Aria's cabin, cuddling with Nam on the couch while our friend attempted to cook new recipes and hopefully uncover one that would provide us with some valuable perks, such as cold resistance. So far, no luck. But the upside was that those lunch boxes were darn delicious.
On her side, Cleopatra just walked around the camp. She was lucky enough not to suffer from the cold like we all did and could still do what she loved the most; standing watch and keeping us safe. It was improbable that the Queen's warriors would show up at a time like this not to sustain casualties because of the unpleasant weather, but I was still glad to have a reliable guard out there.
It was getting dark outside, though, and it was probably time to head to bed as tomorrow should be pretty interesting. About an hour ago, I had a final chat with my friends and decided to attempt to locate and perhaps rescue Aisha. Having my game reset or being killed in action would yield the same result at the end of the day, minus my head rolling on the floor. So I decided to place my trust in Cleopatra's capable hands and undertake this crazy adventure. Worst-case scenario, my first Dive experience would be over, and I would mourn my losses. But if we managed to pull it off, who knew what would happen next. Adventures weren't written before they were completed, after all.
"Nam, let's go to bed. Cleo and I are leaving early tomorrow."
"Okay. I need to bring some wood planks to the cabins before, so they don't run out of firewood."
"I'll help you."
"No need. I'll do it with Aria. You can go home."
"Alright. Thanks."
I got off the couch and stretched a bit. Nam wasn't wrong. I was very tired, probably due to all the thinking I had done today.
When I exited the Aria's cabin, it was still deadly cold. If the weather didn't improve overnight, I would have to cancel my excursion or maybe let Cleopatra go on her own, which wouldn't be ideal. Unsupervised, she could cause some carnage over there, which I would gladly prefer to avoid if I could.
After closing the door behind me, I saw my lioness warrior sitting on the big rock again, looking at the distance or perhaps at the stars, looking for her Sun. For a war machine, she always looked so peaceful.
"Good night, Cleo! I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"Yes. We will vanquish our enemy together."
She missed the point, still, but whatever. If we ended up needing her fighting skills tomorrow, it would be better if she was in her invincible warrior mood. I waved goodbye at her and headed to my cabin.
Stupid cold. So cold. I hurried my steps.
My cabin was still smaller than Aria's, and it would remain that way until my big medieval mansion was ready. It was cozy nonetheless, and it was my little lovenest that I shared with Nam every night. Sleeping quietly with her in my arms was one of the small guilty pleasures I experienced in a world dominated by weirdness and harshness.
I pushed the door open and stepped in, already feeling the warmth of this well-heated home on my perfect skin.
"Aaah! Home sweet hoooo… Crap!"
Two pairs of eyes looked at me with deep desire. Two pairs of hands slid on my skin with sensuality. Two pairs of boobs pressed on me without worrying about my state of surprise.
"Mistress…"
"Mistress Evelyn!"
With their tongue out, drooling a bit as they were trying to lick my shoulders and neck, I had totally forgotten about those two, Safia and Lafia, in their new sex-slave roles. Their behavior didn't leave much room for interpretation. They wanted to eat me alive after having been confined to my small cabin all afternoon.
With my back pressed against the door, I didn't have much room to maneuver. One hand reached my crotch and some other my waist and boobs. They couldn't do much since I had my bikini armor on, but my neck and face weren't as well protected. Lafia pressed her lips on mine while Safia nibbled my ear. Those two BDSM-looking creatures made of soft skin, leather, and chains certainly found a quick way to turn me on.
But it seemed a bit too much compared to earlier. It was as if they were a hundred times hotter than only a few hours ago.
"Heeey! Calm down… Calm down… I… I'll build you your own cabin…"
"We don't want one. We want to stay here and make you feel good."
"I… I know… but aren't you a bit too excited… I mean, I just stepped in… You cannot possibly be that hot already."
"But, we are. We kissed each other, but we needed you so badly. After we ate, it became unbearable. Please let us have sex with you."
"Wait… wait a minute… After you ate!?"
"Yes. Nam gave us some stew. She said you didn't like it and that we had to eat it and leave the other food to you."
"…"
It was funny how quickly pieces of a puzzle could come together sometimes. Of course, they referred to the very potent mushroom stew that sent their ovaries in overdrive. Thanks to Nam and her distorted assistant logic, she had fed them that cursed food and turned two sex slaves into pure nymphomaniacs.
They yanked me to my small bed and forced me to lie down on my back. One of them held my arm while the other made my own finger slide on my wrist to open my menu. I could have probably stopped them, but I was a bit mesmerized by what they were doing. Lafia grabbed my finger and made me press on my undress button, and before I could even react, I was naked and vulnerable to their attack. That was another thing the Dive creators needed to patch. I would have to send them an email about this later.
They didn't show any other interest than that. They wanted me naked so they could please me. The rest of my personal menu was of no interest to them. Lafia pushed her tongue deep inside my mouth, and Safia buried her face in my crotch.
How did that happen? Why didn't I resist? Was it just because they were freaking hot, and I actually wanted this. My body was burning with desire, and sexual feelings were traveling from my toes to my ears. They were only two, but they felt like ten. Dressed the way they were, it only fueled my erotic experience. They were hot, very hot, and emanated something orgasmic. Their behavior, the way they moved, the way they weren't ashamed to let their drool fall on my skin, all of this contributed to this pleasurable moment. They knew how to touch me, they knew everything already, or they were simply good at their role.
Nam didn't need to be taught mining, Aria didn't need to be taught hunting, Cleopatra didn't need to be taught fighting, and clearly, Lafia and Safia, as sex slaves, knew exactly how to have sex.
It took less than a minute for them to make me cum.
"Aaaah! Aaaah! This… this is crazy!"
"We love you, Evelyn! We want to give you more…"
"AAaaanh!"
Yes, please! I would take more. I had a shit day, and this could be accepted as a reward for my efforts. My hand reached Lafia's leather crotch and began massaging it. Thanks to the stew she ate, her juice poured from each side of her small panties. I couldn't help but think she would make an excellent meal.
"Lafia… Can you take your clothes off?"
"Aaah! No… you have to do it… from your menu."
"Mine?"
"Y… yes… Please, Mistress…"
A bit curious about that, I opened my profile again and looked for anything that could possibly achieve what she had mentioned. It wasn't very hard to spot a new tab that wasn't there before, flashing at the top of the screen. It was called, Slavery, and when I clicked on it, I saw two characters listed, Safia and Lafia.
"No way…"
I clicked on Lafia's profile, and my jaw dropped immediately. It was hard to focus and understand that menu because Safia was working hard between my legs, but it didn't take a doctorate to understand the basics; its goal was to control the assigned slave.
My eyes jumped through the various options, unsure about what I was looking for exactly. For now, I just wanted one thing. I clicked on Slave Outfit and selected the Naked option. Immediately, Lafia's slave gears vanished except for her leather mask and collar.
When I returned my hand to her smooth crotch, it was like a volcano had erupted in the middle of a swamp.
This night would be very interesting. Perhaps it was wrong for me to abuse my power after I told them that the enslavement was simply to keep them away from their cruel Queen, but they didn't seem to mind too much. Anyway, they were virtual girls, so I thought I could bend my morality a little, or at the very least, postpone that questioning to another day.
In any case, I was too busy trying to breathe when Lafia sat on my face and pressed her amazing pussy on my mouth as I was cumming for the second time already.
"See. You really needed sex slaves."
"Shut up, Nam."
"Okay."
Once more, she wasn't wrong, but I wouldn't admit it this easily. Lafia and Safia, exhausted by our scorching hot night and the sex stew Nam had fed them, were still sleeping, holding each other on the bed. Since my bed was busy last night, Nam decided to sleep with Cleo and Aria in the big cabin instead. I was pretty sure they had a lot of fun, too, because I had accumulated quite a lot of points overnight.
Since we benefited from a clement temperature this morning, Cleopatra and I decided to depart and put our idiotic plan into action. Our mission would be to go to that big village, sneak into the castle and find Aisha for some important questioning. We were about to commit nothing less than an act of war against an unknown enemy.
One thing that made me a bit nervous was that we were taking a risk here. Leaving Nam and Aria behind, unprotected, meant that if a single wolf-warrior showed up, they would be screwed. None of them knew how to fight or even throw a snowball.
"So, you are in charge while I'm away, Nam. You can continue working on the mansion, but at the first sign of a problem, I want you and everybody to run away and hide into the forest."
"Yes."
"I transferred you plenty of points that you can use to build a temporary cabin until we come back. Don't let anybody capture you."
"Yes."
"As for Lafia and Safia, stop giving them mushroom and deer stew. That wasn't nice. Make sure they don't get in trouble."
"Yes."
I hugged my unworried blue-haired assistant and walked out of my cabin, where a fully armored Cleopatra waited for me impatiently.
"Let's go, Cleo. I hope this village isn't too far away and that we can come back today."
"Let's march to victory!"
"Of course, Madame warrior. Lead the way."
I spawned a warm blanket, wrapped it around my shoulders, and walked toward the frozen lake, following Cleo's steps in the deep snow. After that, we would go through the mountains and finally discover a new part of my world.
No matter how this would end, Dive was definitely giving me a run for my money lately.
Back to the present…
What a stupid plan.
Cleo and I walked side by side through the amazing medieval village under the curious gaze of an all-women population of wolf girls. Despite us being strangers and Cleo being fully geared for battle, not a single soul talked to us or even attempted to interfere with our walk. It was pretty clear that the Queen, somehow, already knew we were coming and that our problems were just around the corner. Nobody acted normally.
Due to the size of the village, it took us a while to reach the castle's gate, but when we finally did, we understood how much trouble we were in. With their barbaric look on their faces, a massive number of wolf-warriors were waiting for us in front of the castle, weapons withdrawn and shields raised.
"Cleo… talk to me. There must be two hundred of them… That's… a lot."
"Two hundred and thirty-four."
"How about we go back home? I don't think we are quite ready to pick a fight with them, after all."
"Evelyn?"
"Yes?"
"I am the Sun warrior."
"… and you can't be defeated?"
"Correct. Place your hands on my back and follow me. Do not fall behind."
"… Ah, shit!"
As if it was another casual day at work, Cleo began a slow jog toward the army, gradually increasing her pace. What started as a slow progression quickly turned into a sprint. I kept my hands pressed on her back. There was nothing else for me to do but listen to what she would tell me and hope I didn't end up impaled.
I felt her filling her lungs with fresh air, and she began chanting…
"O Sun Mother. The darkness has blinded the warriors. Turn my shield into your strength and make them see the light. HELIOS FLASH!"
FLASH!