I looked out through the bars from where I sat on the bed, trying to catch a glimpse of the newcomer. “Whoa… This place is incredible!” the stranger said in a bubbly, yet clearly masculine, voice, his tone similar to that of an excited kid on a field trip. “Indeed,” the warden said evenly, before seeming to continue a conversation she’d been having with the stranger outside, “as the external access to the storeroom is unneeded for this shipment, I would have you bring in the cargo through the main entrance and leave it here in the central room.” The clicks of her heels silenced as she came into view. She stopped at the edge of the lounge’s carpet, then turned to face the stranger. The stranger followed her, his head swiveling around with wide-eyed interest as he took in Stone Lock’s main room. My attention locked onto him with intrigue equal to his curiosity in the strange prison. Tall and lean, the stranger had a youthful face and a head of pure white hair he wore short and ti
The bars to my cell sank into the ground as the entrance to Stone Lock groaned shut and the lock engaged with a powerful clunk. “Is he gone?” I asked, walking towards the warden, meeting her next to the neat stack of crates halfway between the entrance to the prison and the lounge at the center of the massive open room. “Yes, I watched his wagon disappear over the horizon,” she said, her voice and body softening with relief. “What was with that guy? One second he was all fidgety and nervous, then he got all weird for a second, then didn’t say a word the whole time he was stacking boxes. And why did you tell me to not look at him?” I asked, the thoughts that’d been building in me for hours finally spilling out. “I have a suspicion as to who he was, but I ask that you allow me to verify my suspicions first, as giving voice to my speculations would only cause unneeded worry…I’ve reached out to someone who owes me a favor in Platys about our visitor and we should have an answer before
I’d lost track of time sitting silently with the warden, but after a while my thoughts had started to align and the warden slid off of me, seemingly satisfied I’d returned to my usual state of mind. Between the couch and the table, the warden stood over me. “Come, Bryan.” She ran her fingers through my hair as she rounded the couch and walked towards the crates. I rose and went after her, coming to a stop beside her next to the cargo the stranger had unloaded. There were four stacks of crates, with each stack being only two wood boxes high. However, next to those stacks was a lone open crate; the one the warden had been digging around in when I’d woken up after getting a boot to my head. “After our guest left and I was forced to subdue you, I noticed that the lid of this crate was slightly askew. And upon closer inspection, I found it to be loose enough to open without the use of tools,” the warden said, simmering anger rising in her voice. “I suspected this crate to be purposeful
The warden retrieved a smooth, rectangular wooden box large enough to hold a railroad spike from the open crate and offered it to me. “What is it?” I asked as I opened the sleek box. Inside was a rod made from what looked to be dull silver that was about eight inches in length. One side ended in a fine point, while the other end was smooth and rounded. It’s like a fat metal pencil… “It’s a ‘rune stylus’. It’s what allows alchemists to create the runes which make amalgams and constructs possible.” “So… with this I could make something like a sun shard?” I asked, gesturing with the stylus towards the glowing crystal hanging above us, excitement rising in my voice. The warden nodded in reply. “And so much more,” she said through a grin. For the first time since the warden had taken off her button-up, thoughts of reaching out to grope her tits through her black sports bra or bending her over the crate completely vacated my mind. “What kind of limitations are there? Could any normal o
“The actual act of etching a rune is rather simple,” she said as she flexed her hand into a fist and crushed the flame crystalized spirit. The falling shards of the crystal disintegrated into the nothingness before hitting the lounge carpet. But the glowing red vapor that’d been within the crystalized spirit remained in her fist as wisps of energy leaked from between her fingers. I stared unblinkingly at her fist, transfixed by the process. “Once you’ve broken its crystalline form to release the spirit contained within, all you need to do is will the spirit into the rune stylus before the spirit fades away…” She opened her hand, and the luminescent red mist flowed into the metal rod held in her other hand. As it did, the tip of the stylus started to glow red hot. “Once the stylus is primed, you will have a few minutes to use the spirit you’ve channeled into it before it dissipates… which is as simple as…” She leaned towards the bullet and scrawled a small symbol into the casing. “.
As we crossed the large, open central chamber of Stone Lock, the warden swung by the couch to root around in one of the pockets of her coat. She fished out a simple silver chain with a few dime-sized, circular charms hanging from it, after which she carelessly tossed the black garment back to the furniture from whence it came. I looked over her shoulder at the jewelry. “What’s that?” “Echo chain,” she replied as she looped it a few times around her wrist and snapped the clasps at either end together. The charms jingled lightly as she lifted her wrist to rest atop her bare shoulder to give me a better look. “As you know, it allows for long distance communication… Unfortunately, though, I dislike wearing it all the time and keep it in my coat pocket for ease of access when I require it… as such I sometimes forget to put it on when I take off my coat.” “Do the charms mean anything?” I gently ran a thumb over one of the charms and inspected the symbol of a simple leaf etched into it.
In the dining room, the warden and I sat side-by-side at the long table. The light of the sun shard hanging from the ceiling like a chandelier illuminated the room in a warm glow. Our plates were mostly empty, while our cups of juice were still half full. And through infinitely smooth conversational navigation, I’d managed to turn the topic of conversation towards something I had mentally filed away the day I arrived at Stone Lock: The degenerate reputation outworlders have made for themselves in Thaessa. “I mean… it can’t be that bad, right?” I grinned at the warden, elbow atop table and my face resting against my knuckles. “I suppose it’s not any one thing, but more about how almost all outworlders are slaves to their baser urges,” the warden said through a quiet, chiming laugh. “Go on…” I said, half-jokingly playing into the outworlder stereotype by leering openly at her pushed up cleavage. She still hadn’t put on her coat, meaning she still only wore the black sports bra, tight
A pale blush rose in the warden’s cheeks when I’d teasingly asked her whether or not she’d join my harem if I started one. She looked away for a moment and lightly bit her lower lip in what appeared to be a seemingly unconscious reaction to the question, because in the next instant she hurriedly stopped biting her lip and remade eye contact with me. “For the sake of curiosity, let’s say that, hypothetically, I was interested in joining you in such an arrangement… What are these ‘ground rules’ you mentioned?” The corners of her mouth curled up into a small coy smile as she spoke, her tone quiet, but rich with tentative curiosity.Taken aback by the lack of giggling teasing in her response, I stared at her in stunned silence, heart racing. I honestly hadn’t thought all too much about being with other women while I’d been at Stone Lock with the warden. Being with her made me happier than I’d been in what felt like forever, and I would have been more than happy to fully commit to her al