BONUS PAIRING: LABYRINTH OF LIGHTS
There was too much water.
Snatch understood, intellectually, that he was at the bottom of a vast ocean, sealed within dark, twisting vaults suffused with magic that somehow kept the rest of the ocean at bay, rendering narrowly survivable what had to be the third-worst dungeon crawl he’d ever embarked on since becoming an adventurer.
Still. It was really, really wet.
He glanced down at the device that had allowed him to make it this far—the flawed crystal amulet his source had lent him. It wasn’t exactly optimal, especially since the damn thing kept glitching out. Still, it wasn’t as though beggars or adventurers could be choosers. The only really “easy” way to get down here was through druid magic, and Snatch didn’t exactly know any druids who hired out to sketchy rookie adventurers.
He clutched his notched steel sword in one hand; his teardrop-shaped blue lantern in the other. Another loan from the lady who’d told him about the vaults. The lantern shed a weak and cold light, and every now and then it went off in these annoying clicky flashes (forcing him to turn it off to avoid alerting anything) but at least it let him see where he was going, and was waterproof. The light glistened off the slick cave walls as he made his way forward, feet splashing slightly in puddles despite his best efforts to be stealthy.
Too much water. He paused, trying to regain his bearings. It took him a moment; these “tunnels” wove through the water and ocean floor like tendrils, meaning he rarely even knew for sure whether or not he was underground or just a few feet of basalt away from frigid saltwater.
He’d taken... he’d taken a left, and then a right, and then gone straight twice. He ruffled his short, dark hair, slowly piecing together where that meant he was now. He wished he’d brought some yarn or something.
“Hello?”
The young adventurer practically jumped out of his mail coat. He spun around wildly, light flashing against the glistening walls. The voice had come from up ahead. Around the corner.
A faint golden glimmer turned his blue light green as they made contact. Someone was up there. Someone with a light.
Snatch took a deep breath to steady himself. Easy. Easy. He hesitated, then, after a moment’s thought, reached into his pack and drew out one of the few adventuring items he’d thought to purchase before making this trip: A small hand mirror.
He made his way forward, padding as much as he was able, wincing at every little splish. He really needed to learn to sneak better before the next mission.
As he approached the turn, he hesitated, then extended the mirror to peer, through it, around the corner.
A brilliant golden light filled his vision.
Snatch was barely conscious of much in that moment as heat filled his head, striking away any thought that was not golden. He saw a pool. In it was a very pale woman with very long dark hair and very big tea-green eyes. He stared at the mirror, and slowly leaned closer...
Some grain of will sparked through the gilded oblivion, and the mirror slipped from his fingers.
The resultant crash jolted his mind back to alertness. He lurched backwards as he heard a startled, “Oh!” from around the corner.
Snatch leaned back against the wall, breathing heavily. What the hell. What the fuck.
The image was burnt into his brain. The woman had been... beautiful. Strange, but beautiful. Her wide mouth had worn the most lovely smile he’d ever seen. Lips a bright bloodred against paper-pale skin, pendulous breasts offsetting a graceful poise. It took Snatch a moment to realize he hadn’t even seen her lower half.
Mermaid, he thought, swallowing. Has to be.
“Oh, excuse me?” called the voice from around the corner. “Who’s there?”
This could be good or bad. Snatch didn’t trust fey as far as he could throw them, but perhaps the creature would know where he had to go next. Snatch nodded to himself, mind racing. That would make this whole dungeon crawl a lot easier.
But then there was that light. And hadn’t there been something else with her? It was hard to think about, but he couldn’t shake a feeling. The image was still burned into his brain. Tentacles. Had there been a tentacle? He knew better than to trust anything with tentacles.
Snatch took a deep breath to steady himself, then shut his eyes tightly and stepped around the corner. “It’s just me,” he said, trying not to sound too rude.
Even with his eyes shut, he could tell he was in a very bright area now. He heard sloshing sounds in front of him. “Oh. A human. How interesting!”
“Yeah.” Snatch chewed his inner lip, feeling strangely bashful. “I, uh... came in through the... there’s a passage to the east.” A left, and then a right, and then straight twice.
“Oh! I forgot all about that one. Well, you see something new every day.” The voice sounded slightly amused. She had a nice voice, actually. Almost saccharine in its sweetness, but with a weight to it, too, like honey, or molasses. “And who are you, human?”
“Al—Snatch.” Snatch rubbed his eyes. Something about keeping them shut was making them strangely sore. He felt an odd tic.
“Snatch?”
“Y-yes.” He didn’t go by that other name anymore. And only his friends called him Alrek. Not many people called him Alrek.
“I see!” She sounded amused at this. Snatch felt a bit annoyed, but didn’t say anything. “But I don’t suppose I’ll have to use it for long, will I?”
“No,” Snatch agreed. “I’m gonna be heading out real quick. I just wanted to ask—”
He was cut off by a musical giggle. “That wasn’t what I meant.”
Snatch paused, still rubbing his eyes. “I... I dunno if...”
“Confused, pet?”
Snatch’s eyelids fluttered, but he carefully kept them closed. He couldn’t be too careful. He wasn’t sure what was going on here yet.
“If you’re confused, why not open your eyes?”
Snatch frowned, keeping his eyes firmly shut. Something about that didn’t sound right to him. Calling upon his more esoteric skills, Snatch carefully hardened his will. “I... was wondering if you knew where I could find the old vaults here.”
“You were wondering something?” The molasses voice laughed. “No wonder you’re so lost, pet. Wondering. Wandering. So confused. Hard to think straight, see straight, wandering around with your eyes closed.”
“Wasn’t...” Snatch’s eyes were really aching. He longed to open them, but something held him back. He was just getting so disoriented. She was speaking nonsense now. “They weren’t closed ’til now.”
“Why?”
“’Cause...” Snatch wasn’t sure if this was something he should tell the fey he was worried about possibly hypnotizing him, but he was having trouble remembering why he was so worried. Then he remembered, or, at least, thought he remembered. “I saw you. In the mirror. And you were... maybe gonna hypnotize me?”
He was surprised at the questioning tone he put at the end there. His eyelids twitched.
“And you came forward to ask me anyway?” The sweet voice giggled. “Seems a mite foolish, if you thought I was planning to hypnotize you. Are you so trusting, pet?”
Snatch’s head was starting to pound. Something told him that it was because his eyes were closed—that if only he opened them, he would feel much, much better. But he knew it was important not to do that. Because then he’d see the lights.
“You... might not...” he muttered, feeling embarrassed. Why had he come forward? Reckless of him.
“That’s right, pet.” Her voice was soothing and easy. “I might not! In fact, I would never do such a thing to you! So you needn’t worry.“
“Oh.” Snatch hesitated. “But... I saw you. And. You were. Hyp. Hypnotizing. Me.” It was like picking words out of letters in the clouds. He half-felt like he was making it all up as he went along. By the time he reached the final word, he realized he could no longer remember the first. “Hypnotic,” he repeated. That was the one concept that still felt firm. Hypnotic. She was hypnotic. He needed to keep his eyes closed.
“How so?” In contrast to his choppy, confused stuttering, her voice remained smooth and slow and sweet. It wrapped around him like a warm blanket, easing his headache, making him feel weak inside. His eyelids twitched.
“Um...” Some part of Snatch recognized the danger now. But that part of him was drowned out by the headache, by the sweetness in her voice. And it was so hard to think of what to say. He was just so confused. He couldn’t see anything. His only lifelines to tell him he wasn’t just drifting in an endless void were the coldness of the stone beneath his feet and the words of the mermaid. “I felt... dizzy looking at you.”
Yes. It was so much easier to remember now that she had asked, he realized. He almost smiled with simple relief—if he’d forgotten, it would have been a sure sign that he’d been hypnotized, right? “You were so bright. Golden lights shimmered around you from a... from a... a golden orb dangling over your head. A tentacle was holding the orb up. It’s flashing. Made me feel weak. Confused.”
“Aw. Poor, dear pet.” As her words filled his mind, the throbbing in his temple receded and died, just for a moment, like chewed tobacco on a bee sting. “But it sounds like you’ve got a rather active imagination. I haven’t got any tentacle. There isn’t any light.”
“Y... yes, you do,” Snatch muttered, clutching his head. “I saw it with my own eyes! It was... gleaming... filled me head... makes me wanna obey...”
“Well, I wouldn’t dream of asking you to believe my words over your own eyes.” Snatch couldn’t suppress a sigh of relief as her long, sensuously-spoken sentence applied extended relief to his aching temples. “So why not take a look?“
Snatch opened his eyes.
The gorgeous mermaid smiled at him. Oh, she was even prettier seen directly. Slim and tall, at least from the waist up—the tip of her dark fish tail splashed playfully out of the pool behind her. The light flashed and sparkled, absorbing his attention instantly. Looking at it, Snatch instantly felt so, so much better.
“There’s my good pet,” she said softly, beckoning with one finger. “Why don’t you come closer, then?“
“Nn.” Snatch hesitated, his toes dragging against the stone as he stepped forward. “Stop.”
“Stop what?” the mermaid asked, her voice as sweet as sunrays. The light flashed. “I’m not doing anything, as you can see. It’s not my fault if you’re feeling a tad... dizzy.“
Snatch swayed slightly. His eyelids fluttered, but did not close. They would not close, now that the light had them.
“Are you alright?” the mermaid asked, her supple red lips turning down in a frown. “You look a little tired. Maybe you should lie down.”
“Mm.” Snatch shook his head. The light felt so good, so perfect, it had to be a trap. Her smile was too beautiful. Had to fight it. Had to resist. “R-resist...”
“Resist what?” the mermaid asked, licking her ruby-red lips. “Come closer, pet, I can scarcely hear you.” The light flashed. “And you need a closer look. It’s so dark in here.”
“Nn...” But Snatch was stumbling closer, and he dragged his feet a little less with every step. “S-stop...”
“Stop what?” The mermaid smiled as he came to the edge of the pool. Oh, how he ached to give in to that smile.
“I...” He stared down at her. The light glimmered and flashed as the mermaid reached up, taking something from his left hand. He barely registered this, and barely noticed as the light around him grew a little less green and a little more gold. His thoughts had been almost totally split between two schools: The need to resist and the desire to submit.
And with every glimmer, a few of those thoughts changed sides. “Stop... f-flashing...”
A pause. A flash.
“Hm.” The mermaid raised an eyebrow. “Boy, you’re tough for a human. Most of them can’t even tell there’s a light by now.“
“L-light?”
After a moment, the mermaid grinned. She had very sharp teeth. “Okay, sweet pet,” she cooed, “I promise to be nice. No more flashing.” She winked.
Snatch blinked blearily. He felt a slight twinge of relief, along with a disturbing sense of longing.
“It’s not like I could hypnotize you anyways, " the mermaid said, giggling. “Why, you’re so strong-willed, I’d wager you aren’t even feeling the... Arousal Spell I cast earlier.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, a sly smile sneaking across her bloodred lips.
Snatch stared down at her. “A-arousal?”
“Yes.” She tapped his boot with one long fingernail, smiling coyly up at him. “Y’know, the spell I cast to make it so every word I speak makes your dick tingle a little.” She started fidgeting between his feet, but her eyes remained on him, big and pale and green. Her eyelashes fluttered. “The spell that turns any lesser human into a whiny little needy plaything. Reduces them to begging for my... tongue.” She licked her lips.
She had a very long tongue.
“Ah...” Snatch bit his lip. His cock was starting to harden. “I d-don’t feel that spell,” he lied, swaying slightly in place. Gods, he was so dizzy and confused. He needed to get out of here.
“Yes,” she said softly, “of course you don’t. Only really horny, needy humans feel this spell. Why, if this spell had affected you, it’d only be a matter of time before you couldn’t even remain standing.” The words oozed from her lips like rare delicacies.
As if on cue, Snatch’s knees began to quake. He swallowed. “G-guess the spell didn’t work.” This was bad. He had to go. Had to go. Go. Go.
“Yes,” she said, shrugging, “I suppose it didn’t! I mean, if it had, you’d be practically drooling over me. And, well...” She ran her hands sensuously over her body. Her hands caressed her neck, trailed down to her breasts, and descended to frame her waist, brushing her wet hair out of the way. “You don’t think I’m so sexy, do you?“
“N-nah.” Snatch’s heart was pounding. She’d done something to him. Cast that spell.
“I didn’t think so.” She beamed at him. “After all, if you did, it’d mean you were helpless to resist by now.“
He was helpless to resist.
“It’d mean you longed to give in to me.“
His lips parted.
“You’d be just about ready,” the mermaid cooed, “to beg me to suck that big cock of yours.“
“Ah...”
The mermaid licked her lips. Her lips were so luscious, so perfect, so easily capable of taking him in and reducing him to... to...
A sudden series of irregular azure flashes tore into his vision, making spots dance before his eyes. Instinctively, he clutched them. The mermaid swore, switching her gaze down towards where she’d thrown the lantern. “What manner of piece of shit gear—“
Clarity returned to Snatch in that moment. Hands still covering his eyes, he whirled around and made to run.
He practically fell flat on his face.
His boot laces had been tied together.
“Oh!” the mermaid exclaimed. He felt hands gripping him by the ankles, tugging him towards the pool. “Oh. Ha. We just... couldn’t remain standing, mm? Poor pet.“
“Ah!” Snatch struggled, but already he could tell that his mind was turning submissive again, because his protests were weak and minimal. The thought of those lips around his cock intoxicated him. Why not accept just once? Then he could be on his way.
He slowed in his struggles as the thoughts of the sensations flowed into his imagination. Yes. He could... could trade the location of the Vault. In exchange for letting her suck his cock. A tough sacrifice to make, but one he was certain he could bear. Just once.
His legs dipped down towards the pool, and then he felt himself being flipped onto his back. He was unable to resist this. He felt her pulling off his boots, and a momentary surge of indignation allowed him to grasp at his sword, but then she was taking that away from him, too, with a musical giggle.
A moment later, she beamed down at him, her head wreathed in golden light, long, dripping-wet black hair hanging around her cute face like curtains. The light flashed as she reached for his trousers, ready to unbutton them, to let his stiff cock spring loose...
“Wait,” he whimpered. He wasn’t even fighting anymore, he knew. It was a token effort. A last-ditch attempt at dignity. He was ready now. He was ready to submit. “W-wait.”
She stared down at his bulge, extending her tongue and breathing in deeply. She ran her long tongue over the bulge, making him tremble helplessly.
Then she glanced back up at him, bit her lip, and let out a long sigh. “So you’re still resisting? Well... I suppose can wait. I will have plenty of time to drink you dry later.“
Snatch blinked. She’d thought his begging genuine? She thought he was still able to fight, after all this? It was almost comical. His cock longed for that tongue. He bit his lip to stop from pleading for it.
The mermaid crawled out of the water, and he felt her slide over him, her smooth belly sliding over his bulge. He whined.
As her surprisingly smooth black fish tail flopped over his feet, one of his feet slipped into the cool water. But not even this coldness was enough to shock him out of the stupor.
She stared down at him, an eyebrow raised. Snatch stared up at her, wide-eyed, knowing that all it would take was one more flash, one more whisper, and he would willingly break for her.
But evidently she didn’t realize that, because she sighed. “Oh, how my lips long for a mortal’s orgasm. Tidae always tells me I’m too paranoid, but... I’ll be right back, pet. And I’ll be bringing a friend.” She leaned in and planted a soft, wet kiss on his cheek. “Don’t go anywhere. Unlimited bliss awaits my good pets.“
And with one last wink, she turned and flopped back into the pool. The water flashed once, twice, and then...
… darkness. Or all but darkness.
After a moment, Snatch felt a strange sensation on his throat. A tingling, buzzing feel. The amulet?
Oh. Of course. He was quite wet now, and the thing was so easily-activated. He felt the magic taking effect, allowing him to breathe, see, speak and hear underwater. So helpful of it. Despite Snatch’s tranquil, obedient state, he felt a prickle of brief annoyance.
And then the amulet glitched.
Snatch let out a groan of irritation as his vision suddenly warped hideously. What little glow came from the pool refracted and spiraled, like the reflection off a flawed crystal, like gazing into a kaleidoscope.
It gave him a splitting headache—not the fake headache caused by lights dancing before his eyelids, but a real, unpleasant throbbing.
Funny enough, the pain helped clear his head a little. Slowly, a single clear thought started to burrow past all the gilded thoughts in his mind, nagging, insistent, infuriated.
What the fuck was he doing here?
Snatch could hear, faintly, the sounds of something swimming down below. Or... somethings. The magic on the gemstone enabled that much. Oh, good. He found himself smiling. The mermaid was returning for her pet. And she was bringing a friend.
Wait, pet? No. He blinked, and the strange fractal landscape blinked along with him, rearranging into new bizarre patterns. He was... he was no creature’s pet! Was he?
“… anna make sure,” came the distant, garbled voice of his hypnotist. “We got sent a juicy one this time.”
“Oh, the strong ones are always my favorite!” sang a second voice from down in the pool.
Snatch’s heart started to beat faster as realization slipped in between the cracks. Hypnosis. He’d been hypnotized by these... these angler fish mermaids. He had to move. Had to run.
“I promised I’d suck him off,” husked the mermaid he knew. Her voice was getting closer. “But if you want first crack in exchange for helping me finish him off...”
“Ooh, yes. Hell yes. You know how good I am at breaking them quick.“
“I thought you’d like that offer. But remember, he’s my pet.“
Her pet.
Snatch felt his muscles relaxing. He was her pet.
But... no! He had to resist! They were getting so close! He tried to pull himself along, inch by inch. His foot rose out of the water and returned to land. The kaleidroscope effect started to fade, to his relief, giving him a better view of the world. The headache lingered. He could no longer hear the mermaids, but he knew they had to be close.
He managed to roll onto his stomach, gasping from the effort as he dragged himself along. Had to escape. Had to... Oh, fuck, he was so hard...
“Going somewhere, pet?” purred the voice of his mermaid mistress.
Snatch froze.
A long moment went by.
“Open your eyes, baby!” cooed the second voice.
“Nn.” Snatch fought the compulsion to obey. He knew how good they would make him feel if he obeyed. And he didn’t want that, for... some reason. He crawled forward another inch, covering his eyes with his arm to cover any light he might catch through his lids.
“Now, now,” chided the first mermaid. “Be a good pet for Mistress!“
A good pet for Mistress.
Snatch bit his lip hard and struggled to his feet. He stumbled to the side, leaning against the wall.
“Nice... try...” he gasped.
“Mm.” The mermaid sounded disappointed, but not as worried as Snatch might have hoped. “Well, sometimes it is so. Tidae?”
“You got it, Cera!” Tidae giggled, and he heard a splash.
“D-disappointed?” Snatch rasped, trying to buy his head time to clear as he stumbled toward where he was pretty sure he’d come from.
“You’ve done very well.” Cera laughed. It was a disturbing, almost alien laugh, compared to her musical giggling earlier. “Now run along like a good pet.”
Snatch was disturbed by the spring in his step as he made his escape.
He was a half-minute’s sprint away before he realized that he had left his sword. And his lantern. And his damn boots.
Snatch had taken a wrong turn.
He had no idea where he was anymore.
The adventurer squinted in the darkness. Years spent in windowless stone passages had given him a pretty good sense of himself in shadow—a kid didn’t exactly want to have to light a lantern every time he took a walk—but it was all-but pitch black in here. And that made him nervous. He had to cling to the walls.
To be clear, it wasn’t the fact that it was dark that made him nervous. He was at the bottom of the ocean. It would have been strange if it wasn’t all dark.
No, it was the “all-but”. Because there was some light down here. Somewhere in the cave, there was light.
He no longer had his mirror—that was shattered. This meant that his only way to check around corners was to listen very, very closely, and pray that he didn’t hear the sounds of dripping water. He was pretty sure he hadn’t come around in a circle to the anglermaid pool, but it was so, so hard to be sure when he was this confused.
As he made his way, though, he began to hear an encouraging sound. A new sound. It had been just about fifteen minutes since his near-miss when he heard the sound of flowing water.
He started to walk faster. What was it? A curtain of falling water? Had he found the exit? It wasn’t exactly what he’d been hoping for, but at least it was a way out of here. At least he could be sure that he hadn’t just come in a circle this time.
He could vaguely make out the area up ahead, and to his disappointment, it wasn’t the exit. It was a chamber—one that didn’t seem to have any other exits. Still, it was something new. Maybe it was even the vault! He slowed his footsteps, surveying what little he could see very carefully. The flowing sound was coming from a pool at the center of the room. Beneath it flowed a minute current, enough to create some noise and drag fallen leaves around, and not much else. Not that there were any leaves down here.
So he was in one of the winding pipe-like passages above the ocean floor of this strange dungeon. All around him was water—only the magic of the tunnels kept the sea from flooding in and flushing him out like a bug in a jug.
Snatch approached the pool warily, drawing his hunting knife—the only weapon he had with him now. The stream noises echoed in the small circular room.
There was, he saw, some writing on the pool. That made him hesitate. They didn’t look like hazardous script, but it was hard to be sure from a distance. Only one way to find out, unfortunately—in his adventuring experience, tiny runes were usually either a clever trap or a clever clue. And he really needed a clue right now.
The rookie adventurer decided to take the gamble. He slowly approached and crouched down to examine the fine print.
A moment later, Snatch was lurching to his feet and about to spin around when a brilliant flash suddenly came from the depths of the pool.
His foot froze in place. He struggled to free it, his own mind suddenly dazzled by the light. The word of the inscription hung in his head, mocking and terrifying in its pettiness:
Gullible!
And then she was in front of him. Not Cera. A mermaid he didn’t know—Tidae, maybe. She beamed at him. “And here’s our wayward minnow!” she cooed.
Snatch stared at her. The light made his head feel almost... numb. He could tell his eyes were glazing over, and consciously fought it this time, knowing her game. He couldn’t close his eyes, but he could try to hold off her control as long as—
“Down,” she commanded. The light flashed rapidly.
His knees crumpled.
He didn’t even have time to react. Instantly, her hands were on his groin, rubbing it through the cloth of his trousers and the leather armor. “Hard,” she whispered. The light flashed rapidly.
Snatch gasped as he felt his member hardening. Her touch was calculated and intense, only barely felt through the padding. But even those tiny touches caused little twinges of pleasure to spread throughout his body. He struggled, desperate to suppress the feelings of—
“Good boy,” she said, grinning as she started removing his belt and pulling down his leather leggings. With her other hand, she continued to stroke, now given much better access to tease him. “Good boy!” She timed the praise with the strokes, stroking just halfway through the ‘good’ so he knew it was coming. ”Good boy.” The light from her tendril blinked and flashed, making his eyelids flutter.
“N-no!” he cried, as his leggings were pulled off completely. He tried to lean away, but he felt that tendril snaking around his belly, around his chest, gripping him tightly—comfortingly—even as the orb came around to flash right in front of his eyes again. He was held fast in the light’s embrace.
She had undressed his lower half of armor in mere seconds. Now she began to fiddle with the buttons on his cloth trousers, whispering the same words over and over again.
“Good boy.” Stroke. “Good boy.” Stroke. It was incessant. She just kept pouring the sweet mantra into his ear as she leaned in and planted soft half-kisses on his face. But she never blocked the light from his eyes. Never.
“Get off, you—” Snatch tried to rally his resistance and stand, but then his trousers were down, too, down to his knees, and her fingers were around his cock. Only his underwear remained now, a coarse, feeble defense. She stopped stroking for a moment.
“Cera is such a silly thing,” the mermaid murmured in his ear, giving his neck a long lick. “So eager to... savor her conquests.“
“Wh...”
“Me?” The mermaid giggled, pulling back to lock eyes with him. Her whole head was framed by the brilliant light for just one second, just as Cera’s had, making her look like an angel. Her eyelashes fluttered. “I’m... to the point.“
And she started to stroke him in earnest. She squeezed him tenderly through the thin fabric, and he felt precum oozing out. The light began to blink in unison with her fingers, and he moaned and cried out, writhing within its tight embrace
“You have a tool,” the anglermaid whispered, accentuating her words with rapid little pets around the head of his cock that made him whimper aloud. “A tool designed to help you be broken. And that makes it such a useful tool for me and you.“
The light and pleasure combined were overwhelming. Snatch hung on only by virtue of his stubbornness, gritting his teeth to block the worst of the screams. But gods, it felt so good...
“You like it when I use your tool,” she said, beaming, “because it helps you submit to me. Helps you obey.” She ducked down, allowing the light to fill his vision again, and he heard her voice again, this time right by his cock. “And obedience is pleasure.”
And she gave his cock a tiny little teasing lick through the thin fabric.
“Obedience is pleasure.” Another lick.
“Obedience is pleasure.” Another lick.
Snatch felt his will collapsing. The longer he stared into the light, the weaker he felt. The more she licked him, the more he wanted to be weaker still. His underwear was wet from her saliva as she lapped right where the precum had leaked into it.
Gods, these creatures were irresistible. All he wanted to do was obey. The mantra was filling his mind as the light burned the rest of it all away. She had told him to kneel, and so he had. Told him to harden, and so he had. Her control was already absolute, inescapable. And that thought only turned him on more.
Still, he fought. He fought the tongue, fought the mantra. He would never give in. Giving in meant submitting, meant obeying to this creature’s every sick whim. Obeying her meant a life of slavery. Obeying her meant obedience. Obedience meant pleasure. Obedience was pleasure.
He shook himself frantically. But she wasn’t letting up. She was waiting for him to join her, to say the mantra. He whined with the effort of holding it in.
“Obedience is pleasure.” Lick.
“Obedience is pleasure.” Lick.
“P-please,” Snatch gasped. “Ple-pleasure...”
“Obedience...” She drew the word out with a long, agonizing lick.
“... is pleasure,” they said as one. “Obedience is pleasure.”
The mermaid giggled. With one hand, she tugged his underwear down, down to his knees. “Good boy,” she cooed, planting a big, wet kiss on the head of his cock that left a slight lipstick stain.
Oh. Oh. Oh, that felt so good. Snatch stared into the light, eyes wide, as a smile crept onto his face. Oh, he wanted her to do that again.
She was so beautiful. And she was making him feel so good.
“Obedience is pleasure,” he moaned, along with her. And she kissed him again. His hips bucked this time, making her laugh with delight.
Still, he felt conflicted. He knew some reservoirs of his were still fighting. There was a particularly loud part of himself that was trying to persuade him to use his right hand in some way.
He tried to pin down that thought, persuade it to focus on the light, and the pleasure, as the mermaid rose back up and stroked his hair, her eyes sparkling in triumph. “Good boy,” she cooed. “Tidae’s good, good boy.
“Obedience is pleasure,” he whispered in reply.
She grinned. “Oh, they’re going to love you. I can’t believe Cera had so much trouble with such a stud.” Her hand shot down and started to gently stroke again. “All it takes is a firm hand, doesn’t it, my sweet? None of that time-wasting seduction.“
She leaned in and kissed him deeply, moaning into his mouth as her tongue played over his. He shivered against her, reaching up with his right hand, feeling her swelling, heaving breasts. She gasped at this touch, but did not stop him.
He leaned into the kiss helplessly, moaning his obedience. Tidae’s hand gently pumped him up and down, overwhelming him in need, as she started ripping through his shirt.
And then he realized that, with her face up against his, he could no longer see the light. Only her pale green eyes.
And suddenly, the pleasure—and oh, it was so much pleasure—seemed just a little bit less overwhelming.
Snatch’s mind rallied. His left hand tightened.
And he slashed upward.
The tightness around his chest and stomach... faded.
Tidae gave only a little whimper. She pulled back from the kiss, staring at Snatch in shock. She slipped backwards a little. Her hands were shaking as she brought them up to her neck.
“M-maybe,” Snatch said, trying to resist the tiny twinge of guilt as he watched the flickering, fading orb fall into the water, along with the rest of the tendril. “But... at least she remembered to disarm me.“
He couldn’t even stand. That suggestion was still too strong. Hell, he was pretty sure if she called out to him now, he’d come back and willingly beg forgiveness.
But she didn’t call out to him. She didn’t say a word as Snatch rolled over and crawled away, pants and underwear slipping off his ankles. She just floated there in the water, shaking and staring after him. Not that he looked.
Snatch made it to the chamber exit, still crawling. He crawled for a minute after that before he found his feet again.
The pools were connected. There were holes in these pipes, and while the magic kept the water out, it did not stop the mermaids.
Snatch was in a labyrinth of lights.
Snatch stumbled through the darkness, his head pounding. He’d hit his head earlier on a stalactite, and the kaleidoscope effect had gone off when he’d slipped in a puddle—he really hated this defective gear.
He had no idea where he was. He was totally lost. Every now and then, he thought he heard a moan, or a giggle, or saw a distant flash. He couldn’t tell if it was in his head, so each time, he just turned around and kept walking.
Snatch was good at navigating caves, alleys, and sewers. He had a strong sense of direction that served him well—Theisa had often joked that he was part-dwarf. But he couldn’t shake the suspicion that every route out was blocked by at least one connected pool.
He’d seen more holes, too—gaps in the walls where water drifted past, as well as a few more pools. Plenty of angles for the anglermaids to catch him unawares.
He wondered if this was why his employer had given him the flashing lantern, the malfunctioning water gem. To protect him, as they had both (accidentally) done. But why not warn him of the perils? They had warned of giggle polyps, of typical pit traps and magic wards. They hadn’t said anything about fey in the area.
And where the hell was the Vault?
“Boy. You sure are strong-willed!”
Snatch jumped, looking up towards the voice. He instantly regretted it.
He found himself staring up into the big, friendly eyes of a third mermaid. For a moment, his heart raced, and he took a step back.
But this one wasn’t an anglermaid. She had a heart-shaped face and curly blonde hair, and her eyes were a particularly bright gold. Her mouth was small, her lips pouty. She smiled down at him. “How’s it going?”
“Um...” Snatch stared up at her. There was a hole in the ceiling—a hole where the water just hung suspended, unable to enter the warded area. Her head was poked through partway, and he wasn’t sure how she was keeping herself from falling down the rest of the way, since her hands grasped the insides of the gap. Magic was weird. “Been better. Who are you?”
She giggled, batting her eyelashes in a way that made Snatch slightly dizzy. “I’m... Esca. And you?”
“Uh.. Alrek.”
He blinked. Why had he just given his real name?
But she seemed very happy. “You want some help, Alrek?”
“Uh. I dunno.” Snatch scratched his head. “I need to get out of here. Or find the Vaults.”
“Vaults?” She blinked bright eyes.
“Y... yeah.” She really did have beautiful eyes. Abnormally large, maybe, but bright and gorgeous. “Where the treasure is.”
“Hm.” She pouted. Her lips were lush, and painted a bright, metallic gold that reflected the light wonderfully. “I’ve never heard of any Vaults, but... oh!” She blinked. Snatch swayed slightly. “The deep Vaults! Yes, of course I remember. But... What are you doing here, then?“
“Uh... aren’t they here?”
“No, silly!” Esca laughed. “You’re in the complete wrong area! This is the angler maze!”
“But the map said...” Esca batted her eyelashes. Alrek lost his train of thought.
“Sounds like you’ve been tricked,” she said silkily. “Or you got lost! Either way, you’d better get out of there, and soon! The anglermaids are irresistible! I don’t know how you lasted so long down here.”
“You’re telling me,” Alrek muttered. “I would’ve been done for sure, except...”
“Except?” Her eyelashes batted.
“I...” Alrek leaned against the wall. “I should just get out of here. Need to find the exit. I have a... a rope. Can’t swim good.”
Esca blinked, seeming confused. “Do you need help?”
“Uh...” His mind raced. “Could you take me to the rope? Or back to the boat?”
“Good idea!” Esca rolled her shoulders, then reached down. “Here! Take my hand! Esca can pull you out.”
Alrek stared up at the radiant beauty and took her hand. Her hand was warm, and buzzed slightly, which was... strange. She fluttered her eyelashes. “Good boy.”
Alrek blinked blearily. “What?”
She winked. “Hold on tight!” And using both arms, she started to pull him up. She barely even seemed to strain. She just... tugged... and swam upwards.
Alrek was pulled up, up into the cold water. He shivered as his head breached the surface, and started to instinctively curl inward as the frigid water immersed him totally. The gem helped him survive the chill, but only just.
She frowned, clearly noticing his discomfort. As he entered the open ocean with her, she scooped him up in her arms and kissed him on the cheek. Her body was warm and soothing against the chill. But he struggled. “Wha...”
“Shh.” Her lips trailed sensuously along his neck, planting warm kisses against his skin. She seemed to be shivering, too, actually. Which was strange. “We’re getting out of here, don’t worry. Just let me warm you.” She cuddled him closer. “Let me love you. See it as your reward for making it so far!”
He felt her hot breath on his shoulder. “Or... see it as Esca’s reward. For saving you.”
Alrek hesitated, his mind feeling oddly weak beneath her kisses. He grasped weakly at her shoulder. “I don’t... I’m...”
She straightened again and stared directly into his eyes. Her glowing eyes fluttered, flashing his eyes in golden light. “Needy?’ she suggested. Her hand crawled down his belly and wrapped around his cock, squeezing gently. “Horny?”
Alrek gasped as she started stroking up and down. There was something strange about those eyes, he thought, though his mind felt distant now against the backdrop of lust. Something... familiar. She continued to bat her eyelashes as her hand stroked him, building his hardness. “Good boy,” she cooed. “See Esca’s eyes. See how they... flicker... strobe...” Her hand pumped up and down in time with her words. “Making it so hard to think...”
Some part of him realized what she was doing, then. He breathed deeply, fighting to break free of the spell. “No...”
“Ooh, yes.” She leaned after him and kissed him, tongue sliding into his mouth and playfully wrestling with his. Her eyes were right in front of him, batting, flashing the golden light directly into his poor, tormented, horny mind. He’d been teased so badly by Cera, and brought so close to the edge by Tidae. It was too much.
Her lips kissed over his, softly, messily, as her hand guided his cock towards her warmth. The mermaid gave a knowing grin as her large breasts pressed against his chest.
He stirred weakly. Wait. Did she have a...
Her eyelashes fluttered just as his cock slid into her pussy, and the thought fled him. Her pussy was so tight, and so slick. It was like she was made for him. Made for his pleasure.
He moaned loudly into her kiss, losing himself in her pleasure. Her eyes crinkled slightly in amusement, then half-closed with bliss.
He didn’t even think about it as her long, shapely legs locked around his hips, controlling his movements, controlling his shaft. Her arms wrapped around his chest, and he felt her perky nipples poking right into him. He felt so warm right now.
Her moans became his soundtrack, her eyes his only visual. The cold faded away until her warmth, her touch, was all he felt. The lights flashed and blinked as she gasped and cried out, kissing him with an incredible hunger.
Lust was pouring into him. She clutched him close, kissing all over his face, smothering him in sensation. She used her hips and legs expertly to pump him in and out of her, stoking his heat with overwhelming intensity.
“Good boy,” she whispered once more, and then her pussy contracted once more around his throbbing erection, and he came.
Good boy.
Good boy.
Good boy.
Bliss swelled inside him and made him scream. He barely understood where he was anymore—they were still moving up, but slowly, ever-so-slowly. She soothed him in his orgasm, even as her pussy milked his cock expertly with pleasurable squeezes and slick undulations.
She rolled her hips, stroking his dark hair lovingly. “Shh,” she whispered, kissing his cheeks, his eyelids, licking his face like a mother cat licking a newborn. “Shh! Good boy for Esca. Such a good boy...” Her words sank into his pleasure-drunk head, making him feel as light and fluffy as a wisteria in bloom.
And he came again. The afterglow hadn’t even faded completely yet. He moaned and babbled incoherently in pleasure, his eyes wide as he stared adoringly into hers. She squealed and eagerly milked him, wriggling and bucking, clutching him so, so tight. “Good boy,” she cooed, “good and nice and safe! So nice and safe with Esca! Esca loves her good boy!“
Alrek just whined and bucked, giving her an idiotic smile. She giggled, eyelashes batting. “See? When my eyes flicker in front of you, you just. Can’t. Think!” She punctuated her words with sweet kisses on his cheeks. “And it just feels so good! So-so good. Mm-hm?“
“Mm...” He stared into her gleaming golden eyes, totally entranced. And he came again. He could barely even feel surprise at how quickly these orgasms were coming—the afterglow consumed what little brainpower he had left after the experience. All he could think about was how good it felt, how good it felt to finally cum, to finally be a good, good boy...
And she was not going to let that change. Esca wiggled and writhed, clutching him tight and safe. To his amazement, she seemed totally unaffected by the speed with which her pussy was sliding over his cock. She seemed to be in a constant state of ecstasy now, now that he was inside her, caught within her embrace. Caught. “Oh,” she whispered, “she’s gonna love you.“
“She?” he managed, before she beamed and seized him in another mind-numbing kiss.
He didn’t care. He would willingly lie here in her arms forever, safe and sound and warm in the grip of his Esca as she poured orgasm after orgasm through his body. She seemed to be so, so full of pleasure—it was so kind of her to share it with him. Gratitude swelled within him for his wonderful, beloved Esca.
It was intoxicating. It was addictive.
“Well, well, well.” The voice was silky and light, like molten glass. Alrek felt a gentle ticklish touch on the back of his neck. “What little minnow has my Esca caught? What little nibble have I reeled in?“
Alrek couldn’t think about the voice, or the touches. He was still lost in Esca’s eyes. He felt smooth hands rubbing his shoulders, grazing delicately around his throat. “Goodness,” murmured the voice, “So muscular. My Esca has been a good, good girl.“
“Good boy,” Esca gasped, breaking off the kiss. Alrek realized she was panting now, actively humping him with a newfound abandon. “G-good boy, good boy—“
“My Esca has earned herself a big reward,” cooed the voice, and a new face came into view. She had an ashen gray skin, and her hair was short, straight, and black. Her eyes were a pale silver. She had a strange tendril protruding from the back of her neck that seemed to wind around to Esca. She caressed Esca’s cheek, and Esca turned with wide eyes.
“L-Lasi,” Esca whimpered, even as her legs pumped Alrek in and out, “Esca was... a good girl...”
“Keep your eyes open, my Esca,” Lasi cooed, leaning in to kiss her. “Let him watch us.”
Esca moaned loudly as she kissed Lasi. And then she started to throb and pulsate, buzzing, vibrating around Alrek, and she started to scream, and he realized that Esca was cumming.
And he came as well with a scream. Pleasure drowned him, submerged him, as he watched their embrace. Esca clutched him to her even as Lasi clutched her, forcing her to draw out the orgasm as long as possible. And Esca looked... radiant. Like she had seen a goddess.
The pair broke off the kiss only when Esca had stopped trembling. She still looked dazed, and continued to look at Lasi with pure, endless devotion. Adoration.
Sort of like how Alrek imagined he was looking at Esca right now, staring into those gleaming, golden eyes.
Her eyelids fluttered, and the lights flashed, and his mind strayed.
And then the light... dropped away. The warmth around his cock slipped away, as well, and he found himself suddenly unsatisfied. He blinked, confused, realizing that Esca had pulled off of him. He looked down, following her.
Her eyelashes fluttered up at him as her lips hovered teasingly over his cock, half-open, blowing warm breath onto it. The gem allowed him to feel it all. He was so glad he still had it.
“My Esca’s just going to suck your brains out for me,” Lasi hissed in his ear, grinning. Her teeth were sharp. But she pursed her lips and kissed him, and he accepted the kiss unthinkingly. Her lips were not as soft and plump as Esca’s, but she carried a strange mastery that made him melt inside. “You can just lie in her embrace forever.” She licked his cheek fondly, as if surveying a prize. “Oh, I never get toys like you. Usually dear Tidae or Scinti get them first. Oh, such a good boy!”
His dick twitched. She smirked. “And she’s trained you so well already! Are you ready to be my good boy, then?”
Alrek stared at her. The light from below still flickered into his vision, and he knew how close Esca’s lips were from his cock head. “Good boy,” he whispered. “G-good boy.” He looked at the mermaid’s eyes, then at her breasts, pale and smooth as ivory. He swallowed. She was especially large—more like the surface mermaids he’d seen during his journey here. But there were no starfish covering her pert nipples, her dark charcoal areolae.
Her eyes followed his. She, too, seemed to swallow, then lick her lips. “I think... I think I must indulge a little.”
She swam upwards, and Alrek dimly watched the tendril extending from her neck to Esca. He saw the tendril rising up from Esca’s pert ass, almost like a tail. Of course they were connected. He should have known. Just like the other deep mermaids had been connected to their orbs. She was... the woman about to suck his cock was a...
Escas plump lips kissed his cock head once, twice, then slipped over, and she began to daintily suck.
Alrek started to pant immediately, bucking helplessly into her—but she only pulled back, keeping his head only just within her warm mouth. She controlled him expertly, with just her lips and tongue, playing with him, messily reducing him to a whimpering mess in moments. Her tongue swirled slowly over his glans, causing him to tremble with pure lust.
At the same time, Lasi swam back down. She grinned at him, holding up one breast towards his quivering lips. “Go on, boy,” she cooed. “If you’re to be my good boy, let’s see what you’ve got.“
He stared at her as Esca’s eyelashes batted. Lasi bit her lip.
Alrek obediently took her pert, pointy nipple into his mouth. He played with the nipple, licking and suckling. He clutched her breast with both hands, kneading it roughly, as she encouraged him with moans and cries. It felt so good to make her moan.
“O-oh!” she squeaked. “Good boy! Oh, you’re good at—oh, yes! Such a good boy! Suckle me, you weak little stud!“
Esca was moaning. Alrek was moaning. The praise felt almost as good as Esca’s mouth, and he was overwhelmed, mentally and physically.
“I’m gonna—aah!—make you do this all the—all the fucking time, you sweet little toy!” Lasi clutched his head to her breast, practically smothering him. He suckled and licked with abandon, obeying unquestioningly as Esca lapped and suckled over his cock. Lasi was so, so sensitive. It felt so good to make her feel good.
But even as his orgasm began to build and build, a strange feeling began to rise in his chest. He stared at Lasi’s smooth gray skin, lost in darkness. His cock started to throb.
He could no longer see Esca.
“More!” Lasi cried, her whole body writhing. Esca was moaning, too, licking him faster and faster—”MoremoremoreMORE—”
Alrek’s mind was breaking free. He needed to get out of here. Needed to escape. Needed to... needed to...
“Cum!” Lasi squealed. “Cum for Mistress!”
And Alrek came into Esca’s whimpering mouth. Esca sucked it all down, her soft, warm lips sliding rapidly up and down his shaft, drinking him. Milking him. But he didn’t see her. All he saw was Mistress.
Was Lasi.
Even as the orgasm overwhelmed Snatch’s mind, his forgotten will started to rise again. He clutched Lasi to him, continuing to lick, desperate to avoid looking back at Esca—at those shimmering eyes. Lasi gave a surprised giggle, but her moans indicated she didn’t recognize what he was doing. She just thought he was submitting.
But Esca was still sucking him off. And another orgasm would come soon enough.
He had to escape. But all thoughts of escape just seemed to dribble out of him with every loud slurp. It felt so good to suckle at Mistress’s breast, to hear and feel her little gasps, whimpers and whines as his attentions started to overwhelm her. Esca started to slide deeper and deeper, practically deepthroating him. She was as good at milking him with her mouth as she was with her pussy.
His eyes widened. He was submitting.
And, oh, it felt so, so good...
“Oh!” Lasi let out a hoarse, satisfied, half-moaning chuckle. “Y-you... so eager to submit... to be my slave...”
No! Alrek fought with all his might to...
Slurpslurpshluckshmack.
To...
Shluckshmackslurplick. Esca giggled around his shaft.
“To b-be my good boy,” Lasi whimpered, hugging Alrek tightly.
And with a throaty purr of triumph, the mermaid climaxed. Lasi shook and screamed, clutching Alrek to her bosom. Hot, salty nectar flowed into Snatch’s mouth, and he couldn’t help but swallow as he felt his mouth starting to tingle. Esca started to moan louder, and then she was cumming, her tongue running over his glans over and over and—
And he came.
All thoughts of resistance fled Snatch’s weakening mind. He squealed and whined, sucking and drinking hungrily, his lust igniting like fireworks within him. Bliss filled his head, crowding out all thoughts of pride and dignity. He was a good boy.
He was Lasi’s good boy.
Mistress’s good boy.
It felt so good to just accept Esca’s love and be a good boy. Good boy. Good boy.
“A-and just think,” Lasi husked, stroking his hair and shivering beneath his tongue, “I caught you wh-when you were headed st... straight for the... the V-V-Vaultsoohhhgoddess...
Good boy. Good boy. Good... good... the...
… Vaults?
Vaults!
Alrek shoved Esca away from his cock. She let out a faint mewl, but he resisted her needy sounds—
—and kicked her in the chest with all his might.
He heard, rather than saw, the mermaid lure go flying back through the water, and heard her shriek turn garbled as she breached the hole in the tunnel roof.
“Ah!” Lasi jerked back, tugged by the line. Snatch realized, numbly, that Esca was now dangling through the hole. Lasi fell away from him as Esca hit the dungeon floor with a thud. “Oh, shi—”
Lasi was yanked back through the hole. Unlike Esca, she managed to catch herself. Lasi clawed wildly at the area around the hole, struggling not to slip through, but gravity was working against her. Esca’s curves made her heavy. The tendril was taut.
“L-Lasi!” he heard Esca squeal. “I’m s-sorry!”
Lasi desperately clutched at grooves in the roof, struggling to pull herself back. She wasn’t very strong, Snatch realized—but she was stronger than she should have been.
She was recovering. Given time, she would be able to pull Esca back out. And when Esca was back in eyeshot, he would be done for. He would submit. He would beg to submit.
He glanced around, then picked his knife up off the ground where he’d dropped it. The adventurer advanced, gritting his teeth.
Still gripping the edge of the hole, Lasi stared up at him with the eyes of a creature that had never been in danger before, and didn’t much like it.
Then the world warped.
Snatch fell backwards with a cry. Everything was mirroing itself. The crystal... the fucking crystal!
He couldn’t see anything. It was too dark already, and now, with the prismatic kaleidoscope effect, the world was chaos. Fractal madness. He needed to get away. Needed to flee.
Now.
He half-ran, half-swarm awkwardly in the direction he thought he’d been going, trying to go parallel to the hallway. All he could hope for was that there was another hole along the way, another way back into the dungeon. If not...
Snatch and Luck had a complicate relationship, and things had been pretty off-and-on so far in this endeavor.
This was one time Luck threw him a bone.
Using his sense of direction, Snatch was able to stumble along the “roof” of the dungeon, slowly fleeing the scene. He heard Lasi calling out for him, knew that they were no doubt already recovering and pursuing him...
And his foot slipped on air, and he tumbled down into the dry hallway once more.
He hit the bumpy stone floor hard. His knee throbbed furiously as it made landfall. He groaned in pain, clutching it, praying nothing was broken.
After a long moment, he staggered to his feet. He took a deep breath. Everything seemed to be in... relatively sound repair.
He hoped it was the same hallway. He’d fallen through another gap in the ceiling, but he was practically blind now. natch grabbed onto the wall, willing his eyes to adjust as he stumbled forward. For all he knew, he was going in the opposite direction from the Vaults, and he was screwed.
At least when I was getting hypnotized I could see, he thought mulishly.
But his eyes did adjust. Light filtered into the hall, and he recognized it instantly. He was still heading in the same direction, thank the gods.
He heard Lasi and Esca calling to him, and he knew that if he turned around he’d catch Esca’s hypnotic glare. It didn’t matter. In fact, privately, he was grateful. She was giving him some light to see by. Soon, she would rise back up, leaving him in the dark. But in the meantime, he could study the dead end he’d arrived at.
The pantsless adventurer whipped his thieves’ tools out of his pack and went to work. He’d seen plenty of invisible doors in his day. This one would be a piece of cake.
He knew he had to be close now.
He hadn’t even thought to check for the pit trap.
Snatch had a moment of total clarity as he hung there, suspended in midair, aware in the darkness that the floor he had so naively trusted no longer existed beneath his bare, bruised feet.
He used some of this moment to wonder at why his source had been so vague. Why they had given him the faulty gear. Why they had parted with the location of this vault so cheaply. He used the moment to wonder if this was it. If this was the point where everything went wrong—truly, inescapably wrong.
He mostly used the moment to wish he’d thought to check for the fucking pit trap.
Snatch fell with a splash. Instantly, he was thrashing, struggling in the cold water for the edge of the trap. But already he felt cool, slick tentacles latching onto him, sucking at every available inch of skin as they wrapped around his legs.
“Oh, dear,” breathed a voice as soft and calm as falling feathers. “What have I caught?”
Snatch gripped the wall of the pit, fingers locking into little vesicles of the stone, and pulled with all his might.
“Oh, Scinti,” cooed the horribly familiar voice of Cera, “it’s a lovely plaything! How careless of him to fall out of the dungeon! And after he gave us such a chase, too.“
“So careless,” Tidae agreed.
“Almost as if he wanted to be caught,” Cera said, laughing.
Snatch ignored them, or tried to. The lights behind him were at least illuminating the way. He kicked wildly, like a caged animal, clawing upward and upward. He was so close. With one fervent shake, he narrowly freed one of his legs. He pulled himself up, almost breaching the water when—
—when... the gem malfunctioned, one last time.
And he saw the lights.
It was beautiful. They were beautiful. Snatch’s jaw went slack as he staggered at the thousands of glimmering, shining stars. He managed only a slight moan as his whole body went limp, and he slipped back down into the water.
Very dimly, a part of him finally grasped why he had been given this stupid, flawedgem.
“Good boy,” cooed a voice that sounded slightly surprised but very delighted. He felt soft hands touch his cheek, and then a warm body wrap around him. He hadn’t realized how cold he was until he felt this embrace. He whimpered, leaning into it.
“Let’s make him pay,” hissed Tidae. “He cut off my tendril! Do you know how long that’s gonna take to regrow? Because I do not.” In a smaller voice, she added, “They grow back, right?”
“Now, now,” soothed Cera, “plenty of time for denial later. You know as well as I do that it is easiest to kill a pet’s will with kindness...” She planted soft kisses on Snatch’s face. “We’re gonna make you feel so good, my good boy.” She started trailing the kisses down his chest, moaning softly with each one.
Snatch wriggled weakly, still lost in the lights. Sweet pleasure was filling his whole body as the tentacles wrapped around his form. He felt a new pair of lips—thinner, but still tender—kiss his cheek. “Well, then,” whispered the feathery voice, and Snatch could vaguely make out a petite, pale humanoid form before him, “I cannot help but wonder how he gave you such difficulty, my darlings.”
Snatch could only whimper as he felt Tidae’s tongue licking his cock delicately. Or was it Cera’s? A second tongue joined it, mooting his curiosity.
The face of the petite form before him grinned. Her teeth were not sharp, but her skin was patterned with gleaming gold streaks like tattoos that glowed brightly before his eyes. The whole chamber was full of the lights. It was like being inside the sun, or inside a galaxy.
As the kaleidoscoping effect started to recede, Snatch desperately tried to recover his will, but it was too much. Too much pleasure from the licking. The tentacles gently suckled his arms, his feet, his belly. Everything just felt so, so good.
“I know you seek to fight, my brave boy,” the pale woman murmured. “But why? Do not the lights make you wish to pleasure us? Do they not fill you with lust, with desire for their makers?”
“Mm.” Snatch twitched, lost in the ecstasy of the licking.
“How are you so strong?” the woman murmured. She stared at his chest, lost in thought. “It must be a magical trick. An... amulet, perhaps...”
And to Snatch’s limp horror, the woman—who he was beginning to realize was a squid maid, albeit quite a small one—delicately removed the amulet from around his neck.
Snatch moaned desperately, but a tentacle shot up to his face to gag him. He whimpered, helpless against the pleasure, as the tentacle suckers tickled and sucked at his face.
He’d just lost his ability to breathe. He was practically naked, at the bottom of a frigid ocean, unable to breathe—and somehow, he still needed to cum.
“Curious,” murmured the squid mermaid, though her voice was garbled, as he no longer had any special ability to hear or speak underwater. She examined the amulet, then absently donned it. She blinked at him. “Oh. Oh, how silly of me.”
He nodded desperately. He would yield, he would submit. He started to writhe as desperation for air kicked in, but the mermaids below only giggled, thinking it was still just out of lust, and held him still for their fervent lapping. He would do anything so long as Scinti gave him that back.
The squid maid reached up to undo the amulet, glancing back down at the anglermaids. “Well, then, I really don’t see how you—”
Snatch had never before seen the amulet’s efforts on another—when it ‘kaleidoscoped’, that was to say. He had never before seen the way their eyes sparkled and shone. Never seen the way they glazed over.
He watched as Scinti stared down at the anglermaids in mute wonder, her whole body going suddenly limp. “Ahhh...”
Snatch wriggled as her tentacles loosened around him. The mermaids below still gripped him fast, but he lunged for the amulet.
But at the same time, Scinti’s wits seemed to return.
More or less.
Her tentacles released him completely and Snatch desperately swam upwards, struggling against the mermaids’ slender fingers. Scinti’s eyes had acquired a sheen as she stared in worshipful lust... at Tidae and Cera.
The anglermaids didn’t even see the tentacles coming as the moaning squid maid grabbed them both. They squealed with surprise. The tentacles rapidly bound their bodies.
“Scinti!” squeaked Tidae, face already flushed as the tentacles ran over her sensitive skin. “W-what—”
“Good girl,” Scinti slurred, pulling the mermaids up into an embrace. “’m a good girl...“
Snatch watched for a moment, the power of the lights filling him with arousal. He was so, so hard, in spite of the cold, and he just needed... needed...
But his survival instinct won out at last, and he frantically swam for the surface.
Snatch breached the surface with a gasp, and his teeth immediately started chattering. He could hear the mermaids squealing and screaming in erotic bliss, and knew if he looked down, he’d see a powerful orgy taking place. But he’d also probably go back to join them. And then he would die, hilariously.
So instead, he climbed out of the pit trap—a process that took him embarrassingly long, all truth be told—and made his way to the entrance to the Vaults. He paused only to take his shirt off, as it made him even colder. It wasn’t so bad in the tunnels, at least. Hopefully he wouldn’t freeze to death now.
Because he had finally arrived.
Snatch wasn’t exactly the sort of man who gloated over his victories. Gloating was tacky. It was rude. And much more importantly, his mentor—a person he had never met, but had heard quite a good deal about—had always said that the adventurer that paused to gloat was the adventurer that fell behind and got eaten by the landshark.
And his mentor, while having been a very poor mother, had been a very good adventurer.
All the same, Snatch was quite excited, and a little bit smug, when he came to the Vault Entrance. It was a wide hallway, walled in by dark stone. Faint glimmering lights dotted the ceiling—he was pretty sure they weren’t hypnotic, but he tried to avoid looking at them, all the same.
Up ahead was a strange rocky depression that carved through the hallway, almost like a riverbed. The stones down there were smooth, and in the limited light, looked dark—perhaps a little bit green. Algae, maybe. The walls around the riverbed were gone, creating windows of water out into the deep ocean.
Snatch really had no idea how he was going to get out of here without the stupid, shitty gem. He’d cross that bridge when he came to it. Hopefully, the Vaults would contain something more useful.
At the far end of the hallway was a circular door. That would be a tough lockpicking job. Snatch was sort of looking forward to it. A chance to relax after all this... freneticness.
He did try not to touch any of the greenish stones as he walked past. But Snatch was still new to adventuring, and had not yet learned quite how agile he really was.
The answer was, ‘not very’.
The second he touched the stone, he learned another answer to a question he had not yet thought to ask: What, exactly, did these stones feel like?
They were very soft. Very slimy. Because they weren’t stones at all, of course.
The ‘stone’ opened up, revealing a hot pink anemone. An anemone with very long tentacles. The tendrils shot out before he could react, wrapping around Snatch’s feet and leaving very slight, very light stings.
Snatch’s eyes widened. His quivering lips parted.
“Heehee.”
He blinked.
Oh. Gods. No!
With a shriek of giggly dismay, the naked adventurer stumbled, immediately bumping into another anemone. More tendrils shot out, tickling and stinging his other foot. He clutched his stomach to contain the laughter and fought to keep his balance, but he kept awakening more and more of the creatures.
He moaned, remembering too late one of the few hazards his source had warned him about: Giggle polyps.
As the tendrils reached his thighs and started tickling beneath his knee, Snatch collapsed to the ground, giggling uncontrollably. Immediately, they were all over him, burrowing beneath his shirt, tickling his inner thighs and belly and ass and neck and face.
He clawed over his body, ripping the tendrils away. They fell away easily. Nothing bound him.
But he was writhing and giggling like a man possessed. And his cock felt so bizarrely... good as they stung and tickled it. It felt like delicate fingers were running delicately over his every available inch of skin.
It was humiliating. But Snatch, who had just narrowly avoided getting licked and sucked into mindless obedience four times over, was so turned-on, so horny and needy, he couldn’t help himself.
Moaning and giggling, he crawled for the other side, fighting every urge to collapse and lie there forever in delightful torment—or even start stroking himself, if he could manage the motion. He could only thank the gods that he hadn’t tried to recruit an adventuring partner. He would rather starve to death here—though he dimly recalled that the polyps could feed their captives, somehow—than be witnessed like this.
“Heehee! Oh, wow.“
Snatch looked up, eyes wide. Drifting through the water outside the hall was Esca, beaming ear to ear in pure, unadulterated delight. Lasi floated behind her, also grinning. He stared into Esca’s golden eyes, wide-eyed and desperate.
“Look at the mess our naughty boy’s turned into,” Lasi purred.
Snatch clutched at his arms as the tendrils stung him over and over, giggling helplessly. All he could do was moan, and pray that Lasi would want to save him for herself.
Luckily, she did. “Well, go on, my Esca,” Lasi breathed. ”Save our sweet boy.“
And Esca stepped through the gateway.
The tentacles attacked her soles for a few seconds, but did not, Snatch noticed, seem to affect her much, and they quickly abandoned the effort. Esca giggled at his confusion. “Oh, I don’t really feel that strongly. I’m more... I guess I’m an extension of what Lasi wants.” She beamed back at Lasi, who smirked. “I feel good when she feels good, and when she wants me to feel good. And when I have a lovely plaything in my clutches, of course!” She batted her eyelashes coyly.
Fragments of Snatch’s old teachings came back to him. His mind raced. She’s like an id construct. He looked over at Lasi, who was biting her lip as she watched the display.
“I...” He held back giggles through sheer force of will, only whines and whimpers escaping, “… I b-bet she’s pretty—p-pretty bothered by all th-this!” He collapsed back into tortured giggles.
“Oh, yeah.” Esca clasped her hands together, ignoring Lasi’s uneasy look. “Mermaids are super-super ticklish. Giggle polyps are basically our worst nightmare! And our best one.” She winked, holding out a hand.
Snatch reached up weakly, lost in Esca’s eyes. “I bet.”
And he grabbed her hand and yanked with all his might.
Lasi let out a startled shriek, but Esca almost sounded delighted as she tumbled into Snatch. Behind her, Lasi grabbed onto the edge of the wall, barly keeping from tumbling right into the mass. She panted, then started to pull herself out.
But, unnoticed to her, her big toe had just brushed by one of the stones.
“Hee.” Her eyes widened. “Oh, n—EEHEEHEEHE!” Forgetting her escape, the mermaid lunged down to brush away the exploratory tendril—a refledxive move which only exposed her swinging breasts to the giggle polyp’s depravities.
She fell with a cry into the mass of stones. Immediately, tendrils shot out to envelope her, but she was already lost. Snatch was amazed at the pitch of her squeals and giggles. They almost hurt his ears.
Esca smiled up at him as he rolled her onto her back. “Naughty boy,” she mumbled, wriggling with delight as Lasi writhed. With the last shreds of his willpower, he slipped his rolled-up shirt over her eyes, blocking that dangerous glow. “She’s gonna cum so hard.“
The tendrils were barely even acknowledging Snatch now. They seemed to have chosen their favorite target. The mermaid was quickly gathered into the center of the mass. Snatch stared, open-mouthed, as the tendrils began tickling the mermaid to oblivion—her neck, her belly, everywhere exposed. Her breasts were a particular target, and she was rapidly turning into a teased, crying mess. Pleasured moans were slipping in, making it clear just what kind of effect the tendrils were having. She would be here a while.
Taking a deep breath, Snatch started to rise—but Esca’s hand on his stopped him. She gave him a bright, adoring smile, golden lips glinting softly. “Why in such a hurry?” she whispered. “We have time. Oh, so much time.“
Snatch hesitated. His cock throbbed with need.
“She wants you to,” Esca murmured, reaching down and stroking his cock, guiding it towards her once more. “And... after she’s been so mean to you... I think we owe you some bliss.” The way she purred the word made Alrek’s cock positively pulsate.
Her legs wrapped around his ass, and she grinned.
The first time he slid into her, it was like returning to heaven.
Snatch bit his lip, feeling the pleasure swelling. He knew he couldn’t help himself. He needed release.
So he wrapped his arms around her. She let out a little coo of glee as he kissed her.
And then he started to pound in and out, and let the lust take him for a while. He was already cumming. Pleasure was already flooding through his body once again, and it was like a dam had burst. He could spare a day or so. Be her good boy for a short while longer. The Vault wasn’t going anywhere.
It wasn’t as though he was about to run out of water.
There was still far too much of it.
Snatch—known as Alrek to his scant friends—would spend the next three days in the Vault Entrance, fucking and suckling until Esca—and by extension, Lasi—made the most curious promise to help him break into the Vault and escape the ocean. He took a giggle polyp along on the return trip, just in case Lasi got frisky. After selling his winnings, Snatch made a solemn vow to never speak of the Labyrinth of Lights again.