Summoned by Monster Girls

“Liam! Are you okay?” Rieka’s voice was filled with worry and fear as she wrapped her arms around me before she immediately began inspecting my body for injuries. Despite hitting me at speed from an unexpected angle, the slight woman didn’t really have the mass to knock me over. Thankfully, I recognized my ‘assailant’ before I reacted instinctively to defend myself.

“I’m fine, Rieka. Are you two okay?” I responded while shaking my shifted limbs to remove as much of the blood from them as possible before shifting them back to normal.

The change from the hardened clubs into flesh felt good, and all my finger joints popped as a result. That was the only pleasant moment of the motion though, as my hands began to itch and burn a second later.

“We are fine, Liam. The creature never got close to us.” Rieka hadn’t unwrapped her arms from around my middle yet while she spoke directly into my ear. Kassandra slithered up next to us with an intense look on her face, like she was about to chastise me. That intense look changed to fear as she looked me over.

“Liam! Your hands, oh by the gods! Hold your hands out, quickly!”

I reacted on autopilot to the tone of voice Kassandra was using and held both my hands out towards her. A moment later, she dumped her water skin over them. The cool feeling of the water soothed the burning sensation that had been slowly growing stronger. As the water washed away, I was slightly horrified to see that my skin had begun to dissolve in spots, leaving exposed muscle behind.

Rieka saw it too and yelped in surprise, releasing me finally to fumble for her own water skin to repeat the process of rinsing my hands off. While she did this, Kassandra quickly chanted a healing spell.

The burning in my hands returned, but it was weaker now. The spell from Kassandra completed, and a chill from the icy spell raced up my arms. My exposed muscles and tendons began to knit, and fresh skin rushed to cover the injuries as Rieka continued to rinse my hands.

“What the hell was that?” Rieka demanded after her water skin was empty and Kassandra’s spells had finished mending my skin. My hands still felt tender and a bit stiff, but the pain was only a memory now.

“No idea. I just happened to glance down at his hands and saw some of his skin crumble off where the blood was smeared,” Kassandra responded, finally lowering her spell rod and lifting her eyes from my hands.

I could see a tumble of emotions in her slitted, brown eyes. There was worry, concern, love, and pride all fighting for dominance. I made it easier for her by squatting down and opening my arms to her.

Kassandra hit my chest like a cannon shot and nearly knocked me over. Despite barely coming up to my ribcage normally, her additional mass from her serpentine tail made my redheaded lover quite a bit heavier.

“Oof!” I grunted in surprise. I lurched, but was able to catch and cradle Kassandra’s soft form to my chest as she clung to me. Rieka stood at my back, one hand resting on my shoulder and her legs pressing into my spine while she also sought comfort, but clearly didn’t want to interrupt Kassandra’s moment.

Kassandra didn’t speak, she just clung to me silently for nearly a minute. I could feel her shoulder shaking every so often, and the coils of her tail shifted back and forth anxiously. So I just held her close and stroked her hair gently.

Finally, Kassandra pushed gently against my chest until we were separated. Her silver-rimmed spectacles were a bit crooked on her face, and she swiped at her runny nose before smacking me on the shoulder with one hand while she fixed her glasses with the other.

“Ow! What was that for?” I played up the injury and got a weak smile from Kassandra.

“Worrying me. I can’t tell which scared me more: When you dove at that creature, or when I saw your hands literally dissolving in front of me. I’m just glad that we could wash that stuff off and I could heal them.” Rieka made a cute grunt noise of agreement with Kassandra’s statement from behind me. The mention of the creature drew my eyes towards it.

The body had continued to dissolve as the blood ate away at it. All that was left was the glittering bones and teeth at this point, and they were sitting in a low cradle of hollowed stone while the blood continued to eat away at the ground. It looked like the blood was slowly being consumed as it dissolved the stone, thankfully. But there was something familiar about how the stone was just melting away. It was as if it was being erased by some cosmic-level artist with an oversized eraser, leaving behind a faint smoke that also vanished a moment later.

“I don’t know about you two,” Rieka said, heaving a long sigh before she continued. “But I want out of here. We’ve found more than enough to make this mission valuable, and I need real rest.”

Kassandra didn’t protest as she glanced around the savaged room. Her eyes landed on the glittering sigils of the partially preserved summoning circle and she sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly.

“I agree, but we should at least copy down this circle before we leave.”

“Just don’t get close to the body. I don’t want you to end up like Liam did, with the blood melting your body with a touch.” Rieka’s flat statement sent my mind spinning back down the paths of my memory before coming to a screeching halt on a conversation I’d had weeks before.

“A stranger who could melt me with a touch of her hand, no less. That I have no real way to defend myself against, after all.” I replied, attempting to sound flippant, though I wasn’t sure how successful I was.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that. I’m your case-worker, assigned to help resolve this whole situation for you. Also, I couldn’t melt you with just a touch. I’d have to spend a great deal more time poking away at you, given your size,” Cariad joked without looking up.

The only creature that I knew of who was capable of the level of destruction that I was seeing from the blood of that creature was Cariad, and to a similar extent her boss, Cerebaton. Daemons, creatures that existed inside of the volatile membrane that separated different realities by being antithetical to the existence of native matter. The similarities were there, and I was reminded of that smell. The nameless scent that was more of an absence of smell than anything. My mind jumped next to training with Cerebaton. That was where I’d smelled it before.

I don’t know if this thing was one of the daemons once, or just something from their home space. Either way, I need to let Cariad know, I thought while the girls talked.

We were all keyed up from the fight still, so we watched each other’s backs as Kassandra got her notebook out and began recording what she could of the circle. She also scraped up a sample of the silver material used to draw it from the smeared section.

While Rieka stood guard, I closed my eyes to send a message to my caseworker about my suspicions.

Liam

Hey Cariad, got a bit of an issue here for you. Was on a mission with the girls and we stumbled across an underground research facility that was being used by some of the ancient people from this world. Everything went well until we got to what the girls are convinced is a summoning research area. We ran into some kind of twisted monster whose blood is dissolving everything it touches, including its flesh. This is going to sound weird, but the creature kind of smells like Cerebaton does when we are sparring? And the way it’s dissolving stuff reminds me of how my cups never survive a visit from you two.

With the message sent, I opened my eyes to check on the girls once more while I waited. Cariad was usually quick to respond, so it gave me a moment to survey my surroundings.

The shallow pit where the dead creature’s blood had pooled was now half a foot deep, but only the skeleton and scattered teeth remained. From how they were arrayed, I had the sickening feeling that the creature would have simply enveloped someone with that mouth, like you would stuff a ham into a grocery bag. It took an effort of will to not think about the fate of a person swallowed like that. Instead, I focused on the bones. I was not surprised to see them continuing to sink, admittedly slower than the blood, into the stone.

“Okay, that’s enough of that. I just need Liam to come and translate this. The elemental targeting rune cluster is here, but I don’t have a clue what it means.” Kassandra’s tired sigh and words drew my attention back to her. She had moved about ten feet past the smeared section and Rieka stood between her and me, her spell rod held at the ready.

Ambling over, I studied the cluster of runes inside the elaborately drawn circle while I waited for my translation power to kick in. It took a moment, just like the rune clusters for darkness and light. But after a bit of time, the meaning became clear to me and I stiffened.

Entropy. That set of runes means entropy, the end of all things, I thought. I was about to answer Kassandra when the edges of my vision flashed to indicate a return message from Cariad.

Cariad

It did what now? That is bizarre to run into. Any other information you can give me to help figure out what it might have been? While it’s not common, caustic lifeforms do exist. Was anyone hurt?

I considered her question for a moment before responding while Kassandra waited patiently for my answer.

Liam

Yes, to both. Since its blood was caustic, my hands were hurt during the fight. Thankfully, the girls noticed quickly and got the blood rinsed off before it did too much damage and Kass got me mended up. As to clues? There is a summoning circle in the room we fought with it. It’s damaged, but Kassandra was able to locate the array that she says is the ‘elemental targeting matrix’. The runes in that state the targeted element were ‘entropy.’

Cariad’s response was nearly immediate.

Cariad

WHAT?! Liam, you need to get away from that area. Right now. Do not touch the body, do not touch anything else. I’m explaining this to Mr. Cerebaton as I write this, and he looks furious. Give me about a minute, then I need you and your girls out of there. Mr. Cerebaton is sending in a research team right now. The only thing that would have that elemental designation in a summoning would be creatures that exist within the barrier between realities, like us daemons do. Creatures that are antithetical to your reality. If there are any more of that creature, we will deal with them. This is an official DSR issue.

Liam

Understood. The girls and I were going to retreat to the entrance of the complex to rest. But if you insist, then I will have us vacate the complex entirely.

Cariad

Do that. Be safe, Liam. Make sure you seal any gates you go through and watch your backs. The fact you brought down something that sounds like it was from within the barrier between worlds is astonishing. I’m sure Mr. Cerebaton will want to talk to you about it later. Get moving. Mr. Cerebaton has a fix on your location and we can send operatives there shortly. Per DSR protocol, they cannot step through until the local witnesses have vacated the area.

Liam

Got it. We are moving out now.

I opened my eyes to meet Kassandra’s concerned gaze and grimaced.

“We need to leave. My contact with the System is sending people in to check this over. She was horrified to hear a creature like that,” I hooked a thumb over my shoulder at the still sinking bones, “is here. We need to scoot to give them space.”

“Does that mean going back to the surface?” Rieka’s voice was filled with exhausted resignation, so I just nodded to her. “Fine… let's get moving. I want to wash and I don’t care if it’s in the lake. The sooner we get moving, the sooner I can breathe fresh air.”

“Lead the way, Liam.” Kassandra gave me a look as she spoke that told me she expected a fuller explanation shortly, including a meaningful glance at the rune cluster that I had had not answered her question on.

We wound our way back through the ruins, this time exiting the damaged set of doors. There were only the two exits from the larger summoning room, the main one and the doors that led to the cage room. That meant that we had already explored all that we could, at least without trying to dig out the collapsed mezzanine from the entryway.

The oppressive weight still hung over the ruins, though the sensation of being watched had dropped away after the fight and continued to fade the further we got from the summoning rooms.

Kassandra had us stop in the main foyer and she collected a chunk of stone that had been part of one of the war-golems initially. When Rieka asked what she wanted it for, Kassandra had a good reason for deciding to lug the hunk of stone around.

“While Liam is reopening the pathway back around the door, I’m going to carve a short-term spell onto this thing. Since we recovered so much, I’m not afraid of dipping into my mana reserves now that we are leaving.” She tossed the head sized chunk of rock into the air and nearly dropped it. Once she had secured it against her chest once more, Kassandra continued. “I plan to make this thing glow as bright as the sun to help us get past the swarm of shadow monsters in the tunnel. If it’s bright enough, I doubt they’ll even come close.”

“Crap,” Rieka swore, and I turned to stare at her in surprise. While Rieka did swear, it was a rare thing. Her ears had wilted, and she was scowling at the ground. I could see the exhaustion in every line of her slim face, and had an idea what was causing the problem.

“You forgot about them, right?” I asked. She nodded once.

Seeing Rieka down like that made my heart hurt. She was normally such an energetic person, so I immediately moved to try to cheer her up. My hand settled on her hair between her pointed wolf’s ears and she leaned into it immediately, her tail starting to flick slowly again as I rubbed at the base of those fluffy points.

“Hang in there, Rieka. Kass will slap a light spell on that hunk of rock, then it’s just a bit of a walk to get back to the surface,” I said gently, being careful not to remind her just how long of a walk it was. She knew already, there was no reason to bring it up.

Rieka nodded slightly against my hand, her nose flaring cutely while she took another deep breath.

“Okay. Let’s get moving. Kass and I can rest a bit while you shape the stone by the gate again. We still have some of the earth aligned mana crystals.”

“You got it, hon,” I replied gently, leaning in to kiss the tip of one of her ears. Rieka let out a low, contented groan in response and her hands came up to grip the front of my armor.

I hadn’t noticed it before, but when Rieka’ gripped the leather armor on my chest the whole outfit gave slightly. There were deep cuts in the leather from the creature’s claws, but the blows had not pierced the layered leather. Something I was very glad of as any injuries from the monster would have likely been quite serious.

Emerging onto the station platform once more, the oppressive weight of the ruins thinned further, but it still hung in the air like a stench. The girls stayed close to me as we dropped down onto the tracks, and I set to work on melding the stone open to get around the sealed gate.

I remembered Cariad’s warning to seal all the doors behind us, so I kept the passage narrow to ensure I could close it quickly. I was getting more and more familiar with the process now, so It took less than two minutes to open the passage up. The glowing stone I had left behind when I sealed the passage the first time remained stuck in the wall of the far side, and I hurried the girls through so I could seal the passage up behind us.

None of the skittering shadows were waiting for us. I did find several deep scratches in the stone where they might have been trying to burrow in pursuit. I ended up using two more of the earth crystals in the process of opening and closing our passage around the gate, but we got back into the tunnel without an issue.

With the solid iron door between us and the ruins, the girls relaxed a bit more. But I could tell that they were still tense given that we knew a danger lurked in this tunnel.

Kassandra’s work on the lump of stone paid off. She did just as she had threatened earlier and turned the hunk of rock into a miniature sun. I carried it for her, keeping one girl on either side of me and close to hand so that our shadows did not provide the critters with a safe approach. We ran into a handful of them partway down the tunnel, but the creatures retreated into the darkness with a hiss, unwilling to approach the bright light.

The girls were running on fumes by the time we got to the far end of the ancient train tunnel. To be fair, I was as well. It felt somewhat like trying to squeeze water from a stone. I knew that once we stopped moving, then we wouldn’t be getting back up. I shifted the stone plug that I had made for our crawl-through to get by the collapsed section of the tunnel and urged the girls ahead of me.

I left Kassandra’s miniature sun by the exit of the crawlway, so that we could get through without dealing with the little skittering beasts trying to follow. I’d caught sight of several keeping well back in the shadow, but the occasional glint of light off of chitin would tell me that they were still following us. While we walked, I had searched but hadn’t seen any more burrows to seal up as we passed. Though to be fair, I had been more focused on encouraging the girls to not stop. I was sure that we were easily going on nearly two days of activity at this point and after the fight, the girls were dealing with a serious emotional drop.

I found Kassandra wrapped around Rieka and using the wolf-eared woman as a prop to lean against when I got free of the tunnel. Letting them rest, I used the practice from earlier with Manipulate Element once again to seal the crawlway behind us, filling in the last ten feet with stone. Between that and the artificial sun, the shadow beasts should remain contained.

“Come on girls, let’s get up into the fresh air. I’ll handle setting up the tent. You just gotta get back to the campsite,” I urged as I approached the two of them. They both let out the same exhausted groan, but stirred weakly. The sound reminded me of someone being woken up well before they were ready to be, and I had to fight down a smile. I could empathize with that. I knew once I sat down then I was going to sleep wherever I ended up.

“Carry me…” Kassandra whined pitifully, holding her arms up over her head like a child and giving me a pouty look.

“Nope, you can keep moving under your own power,” interjected Rieka, poking Kassandra in the side with one long finger, getting a scowl from the serpentine woman. Kassandra huffed but nodded, turning to lead the way back to the platform and up the passage to the outside world.

The lights had gone out in the station again, but the light stones that the girls had recovered after the fight were enough to get us out into the open air of the field. I decided against commanding the lights to turn on for now, my eyes were aching already from exhaustion and getting stabbed with bright light when it wasn’t necessary didn’t sound good.

That first brush of fresh air against my face as we came out of the old den and up into the surface reinvigorated me.

The sun was just now dipping below the horizon, spreading a wash of red and orange light across the bellies of the clouds that hung overhead. Birds and crickets were singing and peeping as they settled in for the night. The distant roar of the waterfall was a welcome change to the ominous silence that had hounded us for the last few days.

Glancing over at the girls they both gave me tired smiles, though they also seemed to be invigorated by the fresh air.

Without having to discuss it, Kassandra and Rieka poured fresh energy into the line of wardstones that sat around the exit to the underground cave. I resolved that before we left, I’d seal it over as well with Manipulate Earth to keep the area secret, but that would be a problem for the future. For now, the wards would work just fine since the tunnel was sealed up.

Without talking, the three of us stumbled through the woods around the waterfall lake to where we had camped before. The small meadow felt like the most welcoming place I had ever been in. Rieka worked with me to get the tent set up while Kassandra set out her wardstones to guard the tent while we slept.

Too tired to wash, or even to really care at the moment, the three of us stripped out of our gear and piled together in our underclothes to sleep.

“Tomorrow,” Rieka murmured as she cuddled up with her back to my side and her head on my right shoulder, pulling my arm around to squeeze between her breasts. Rieka only wore a thin, white breast-band and a pair of cute panties in the same color. I could feel the softness of her skin and if it wasn’t for the level of exhaustion in both of us, it would have been distracting.

“Agreed,” mumbled Kassandra from her spot sprawled on top of me. The redheaded dwarf lamia was loosely wrapped around the two of us and, rather than cuddling up to me, was literally just lying on top of me, naked as the day she was born and shameless about it.

I had no idea what the two of them were talking about, but figured it was something that could wait until later. Exhaustion finally won the fight and dragged my eyes closed. My last conscious thought was taken up by the dull flare of a message.

Assist your contracted companion, Rieka Coldeye, with her research on humans for her report.

Reward - 400 SP

COMPLETED

Assist your contracted companion, Kassandra Silverscale, with her infiltration and examination of the ruins.

Reward - 400 SP and ???

COMPLETED

Access character sheet to unlock additional reward.