Chapter 54 Pattern.

Chapter 54: 54 Pattern.

The previous day passed as usual.

We bathed, ate lunch, snuggled, fooled around, snuggled some more, ordered pizza, played video games, killed a monster, and finally went to bed—snuggling.

When I finally fell asleep, I came to awareness floating in darkness with the peculiar weightless feeling that came with dreams—well, some dreams. Or so I thought at first, but there was something uncanny about this one. Something different.

The misty void felt both unreal and hyper-real, like when you’re half-awake and can’t tell if you’re dreaming or not. It was like sleep paralysis, but in an empty, floating expanse.

Then I saw her.

She emerged from the fog like a painting coming into focus—first a silhouette, then details resolving with each heartbeat. And what fucking details they were.

From the waist up, she was stunningly beautiful with dark skin and sharp, striking angular features.

Physique-wise, she had a little more cushion for the pushing than both Ayra and Elsa, but her tummy was flat as could be, and she only had the softest hint of love handles. Most of the weight on her upper body had to come from her boobs.

No. I misspoke. These weren’t boobs. They were tits. Massive, glorious, healthy tits that shamed even the impressive racks both my girls boasted.

These things were absolutely oppressive choke-you-to-death honkin’ gazongas.

They were the kind of breasts that could double as weights for a squat work out—which isn’t to say they sagged, no sir. Perky wasn’t the word, really, but they were well-formed, round, shapely to a degree that only magic could explain.

As incredulous as I felt taking in the sight of her knockers, upon which I perhaps lingered a bit too long, the rest of her was even more jarring.

Thick, blood-red hair cascaded down her shoulders to the small of her back in spiralling curls. The crimson eyes that sought mine were vertically slitted in a reptilian sort of way.

She had ivory ram horns emerging from her head with golden ornaments like little horn caps fixed to the tips in decoration.

Her ears weren’t pointed, but they were pierced from lobe to tip at least five times each.

From her back emerged a pair of black feathered wings that didn’t look nearly big enough to lift her off the ground.

Below the waist, things got even less human. Her lower body was an enormous copper and black striped serpent tail that looked powerful enough to crush a car. It was long, maybe twenty feet, and thick the whole way through.

Her eyes scanned the void methodically until locking onto mine and widening in surprise.

"You can see me, can’t you?" Her voice was sultry, thickly accented in a way that reminded me of a Russian dialect.

I tried responding, but my dream-body wouldn’t cooperate. My lips wouldn’t move, either.

My vocal cords were frozen in place, like those nightmares where you try screaming but nothing comes out. Or, again, like sleep paralysis.

She understood my predicament. "Don’t waste energy trying to talk. Just listen. We don’t have much time."

I relaxed and let my panic subside. If listening was all I needed to do, I could handle that.

I’d gotten pretty good at lying on my back while crazy shit happened to me lately.

"I’ve been searching for my missing party members," she continued as her serpentine lower body coiled beneath her. "Elsa and Ayra—they’re with you, aren’t they?"

I tried to nod, but I figured she saw the confirmation more in my eyes.

"Good. I’ve been trying to reach them directly, but the connection keeps redirecting to you." Her puzzled expression remained determined. "I believe that means you... Anyway, I can’t get through the portal yet. The link needs some work."

She held up a parchment with a complex symbol—bat wings forming outer edges, mysterious but simple runes in an unknown language forming the center, all surrounded by a halo of small hearts.

"There’s no time to explain. If you are our Champion, then the three of you need this mark to strengthen the connection." She opened her robe with a blush, revealing her stomach with the exact symbol tattooed around her navel.

Unfortunately for her, she also revealed her ginormous fuggin’ boobs and a visible pussy that transitioned into scales in the snakey lower half.

Lord God, it was the fight of my life to stay focused on the important thing she was trying to show me while my erection was busy violently tearing down the walls between the physical world and dreamland.

"The girls need the full symbol," she went on, "but you need only the runes at the center of the mark to be marked over your heart."

She sighed impatiently at my confused and horny look.

"I don’t know why I can only reach you when I try for the others. I know that you must be our Champion, so I hope the other two are with you. If they are, this means that in order for us to be properly, permanently bonded to you, this mark is a necessary and important step." She studied me with her red, serpentine eyes, licking her lips with a forked tongue in a way that I didn’t think was particularly horny. "Find someone who can create permanent markings. A skinwriter."

Tattoo artist, I mentally corrected. Hopefully that would work.

"Once all three of you have the mark, the link between us should be strong enough for me to safely cross over." She glanced over her shoulder as if hearing something. "I’m out of time. I look forward to meeting you and seeing the girls again. When I reach out for them, they feel... different somehow. Sluttier, I guess, which is probably a good sign. Goodbye."

The mist swirled intensely around her.

"Don’t forget the pattern," she urged, holding up the paper once more. "Full symbol over their wombs, just the runes over your heart. Memorize them! Keep them in your mind!"

Then she dissolved back into fog like she’d never existed.

I bolted upright, heart hammering against ribs. My sudden movement sent both sleeping women tumbling—Elsa rolled sideways with an un-princess-like yelp, and Ayra nearly fell off the bed.