Font of Fertility Ch. 10

I still had to get a bit more of the emotions out, and she just held me while they rolled through for another little bit. No matter what she or I said, the guilt was still there. I knew where Annalise had gotten to, how close she had been - I'd never felt like that in my life, and knew how lucky I was for it. There were so many 'I should have's' in my mind, I couldn't even figure out what the biggest one was.

After a couple of minutes I was done, and Lauren kissed me more firmly.

"So I have good news, and I have bad news," she said.

"Bad news," I requested.

"The Bad News is we're both just a little slow on the uptake," Lauren said. "The Good News is that all we need to do to open the door is summon Adama again and get her to open it for us."

I shut my eyes and shook my head, feeling like an idiot. But at least reaching out to Annalise had warned me that she needed help.

Lauren wrapped her hand around my cock and kissed me as she started jerking me off, and I kissed her back, holding her cheek in my palm as I held her with my arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"Finally!" Adama said, appearing over the light of the flashlight and casting a massive shadow of her up onto the wall of the cavern. "Jeremiah Grant, you may be the Seat I am bound to serve, but if youever do anything like that again, I will whoop your scrawny behind so damned hard that your ancestors will have felt it two centuries ago. And not in a good way!"

The scary part was that I didn't know if that was actually possible or not.

"I'm not sorry I did it, but I'm sorry I worried you both," I said. "Annalise needed it, and whatever was happening with her... I took responsibility for protecting her."

Adama frowned, putting her fists on her hips, but Lauren just squeezed my cock in her hand. "I know, babe," my girlfriend. "I know."

"Alright, what can you tell me about Annalise?" I asked Adama.

"I'm not omnipotent," she said, beginning to pace in the air. "I can tell you she is alive, and used all of that power you sent to her. She's on the move. That's about all I know."

"OK," I nodded. "OK. Where does that leave us, here?"

"Well, let's get you inside," Adama said, turning towards the massive door.

"You know how to open it?" I asked.

"Of course I do," Adama said, looking over her shoulder at Lauren and I with a confused expression. "What were you expecting, to guess how to get in?"

"U-um," I stammered. "Sort of? I figured it was a test or something."

"Jeremiah, it's a lock," Adama sighed, shaking her head. "Why would Ezekiel put a test on his front door?"

"I don't know, isn't that a thing wizards do? Test people to see if they're worthy and shit?" I asked.

Adama just sighed. "I don't knowwhere you could be getting this from."

Lauren snickered.

"Oh, like you didn't think the same thing," I said.

"I mean, I'm not the one who said it, Jer," Lauren grinned and stuck out her tongue.

The look on my face made her snicker more, and she kissed me to let me know she didn't mean it.

"Alright, my horny rabbits," Adama said, rubbing her little chubby palms together. "Let's get this door open." She drifted through the air towards the door, spreading her hands wide, and seemed to focus hard. I felt a slight tug at the trickle of power Lauren was generating for me with her handjob, and noticed the amount I was gaining became even smaller as Adama began to use magic.

The runes on the massive door began to glow a soft, pale yellow; they were still difficult to follow with the eye, and I found it easier to take in their strange shapes through my peripheral vision.

Adama quickly began floating around, touching several of the runes in sequence like she was working a code lock, though she must have tapped a dozen runes. Each time she touched one it grew a little brighter, until several of them after repeated touches were filling the cavern with enough light we could turn off the flashlight. "And last, but not least," Adama said, and she kissed the centre of the strange runic display, causing the entire thing to suddenly turn an angry red colour.

"Oh, crap!" Adama yelled, spinning around and flying towards Lauren and I. "I got it wrong, run!"

"What?!" I said, immediately putting myself between Lauren and the door.

"Bahaha!" Adama immediately started laughing, slapping her fatty thighs. "Oh, you should have seen your face. By the Mother, I got you good."

"Oh, harrharr," I deadpanned, turning back to Adama. "You're so funny. And it's definitely the right time to make jokes like that."

"Doesn't stop you from being my hero anyways," Lauren said, turning my face back to her and kissing me. She was still stroking my cock, which was at about 80% hard.

"Thanks," I said.

She shrugged. "You're worth it."

"Worth what?" I asked.

"Your big cock stretching me out and giving me lots of orgasms?"

"Such a heavy burden you carry," I chuckled, and she wrinkled her nose as she grinned and kissed me again.

"Alright you two," Adama said. "As much as I'd like to watch you rut like horny beasts of burden, you've come a long way for this."

I stood and offered Lauren my hand to help her up. She kept her other hand on my dick, and I ended up just leaving my shorts behind as she continued to slowly stroke me. When we were in front of the door, the runes still glowing red, Adama nodded.

"Press the centre," she told me. "And you will have access to Ezekiel's Vault."

I reached forward and put a hand on the central rune. It flashed green, and that green light grew and took over all of the red, and there was a heavy mechanical grinding noise. Slowly, the thick metal door began to roll sideways into the wall of the cavern. Adama zipped through the opening first, disappearing into the darkness as the door was still rolling, and I felt another small draw on my power as a light flickered to life.

The doorway led into a large open space, and as Lauren and I stepped forward, we ended up looking down from the top of a cylindrical chamber. It was about thirty yards deep, a stone stair carved in one long circle around the edge of the room. The centre was dominated by a strange construction made of thin gold spires, looping in odd geometric patterns. The walls had similar designs, gold inlaid into the black volcanic rock, and the entire space glittered in the light of magical torches that were still lighting up in sconces throughout the room as Adama lit each one in turn.

Down at the bottom of the chamber, the centre of the floor featured a sort of circular stage, the gold inlays becoming more and more intricate in a mandala pattern around it, and the stage sat centred under the loopy gold art installation thing. There were also niches built into the walls, standing empty, and a few doors leading out of the base of the chamber.

"It's beautiful," Lauren whispered.

"It is," I agreed. "I mean, not reallymy style, but I guess we could do some redecorating."

"Yeah?" Lauren asked as she took my hand and started leading me down the stairs. "What are you thinking? Maybe an accent wall, or do you want to turn this into a full-on wizard's tower and hang some swords and stuff?"

"I was thinking of some Greco-roman frescoes with frolicking nymphs. Maybe a fountain with a naked mermaid shooting water out of her tits," I smirked.

Lauren laughed, the warmth of it washing through the room and echoing back at us.

"Actually," Adama said, floating back to us, "That's the decor in the bedroom."

"No. Really?" Lauren asked.

"Of course," Adama said. "Ezekiel only had the finest artisans craft the most sensual artwork for him."

Lauren shot me a look and snorted a little, which made me need to suppress my own snort.

"Alright, sweeties," Adama continued, fidgeting and for the first time I saw her in a state other than horny or frustrated. "So this is where I need to give you some bad news. It turns out, sometime in the past eighteen years, someone must have gotten in here. Things are... missing."

"What sort of things?" I asked.

"Most. Things?" she said, her voice rising an octave. "All of the relics Ezekiel had collected or created himself. Most of the library has been emptied as well. It could have been worse - likely it was one of the other Seats, so they didn't take everything."

"Wait, someone looted this place but was polite enough to leave some scraps?" I asked.

Adama winced. "Essentially?"

"One of the other Seats of Fertility, or from another faction?" Lauren asked.

"Either," Adama shrugged. "Though more likely another Fertility seat. Ezekiel was the eldest of the three before the volcano, and his collection was potent in Fertility relics. It would have been much easier for another Seat to find this place and gain access over the last 18 years. Also, they didn't actually trash the place."

"Fuck, OK," I sighed. "Is this normal?"

"It's not un-normal," Adama said.

"Great," Lauren said. "So one of our own people stole our shit."

"And it's not like I'll be able to demand it back, since it wasn't actually mine to begin with," I said.

"Well, the good news is that the Amplifier is still in place. It's-"

"The magic circle built into the floor and walls of the room," I finished for her.

"How did you know that?" the obese pixie asked.

"Look, I don't know exactly when Ezekiel became a seat, or how much he paid attention to pop culture," I said. "But honestly? This isn't like, blowing my mind or anything. It was a pretty easy guess. Kind of tropey, actually."

"Actually, I'm kind of weirdly underwhelmed a bit?" Lauren said. "I was expecting some National Treasure level puzzles and stuff."

"True," I nodded along. "Maybe we should do that?"

"For what? When you decide to die?" Lauren asked. "You aren't allowed to do that. You're mine forever."

"Understood," I said, pulling her to me and kissing her.

She took the sides of my face in her hands and made me look at her as she gazed at me sternly. "I'm serious, Jeremiah. I was fucking terrified for a few minutes when you fainted out there. You do not get to just make self-sacrificing decisions without consulting me. I need you. If you die... If you die, I don't know what I'll do. Burn down the world, or something."

"Wow, full scorched earth, huh?"

"And more," she said, nodding firmly. "No jokes."

"I love you," I said. "No self-sacrificing."

"Good," she said, and kissed me hard to seal it.

At the base of the chamber, Adama gestured to the three doors around the edge of the chamber. "That door just leads to a nook - it's the door Ezekiel used to teleportal here," she said. "The middle one leads to his chambers - I freshened it as best I could before I found you outside. The last leads to the library."

"Well," I sighed, taking one last look at the gold structure looming in the central chamber. "Might as well check the library first."

Lauren and I walked hand in hand, and I opened the door. Inside was what I could only describe as the library from the Beauty and the Beast movie, if it had been pillaged. Two stories, with rolling ladders spanning the wall-encompassing shelves. Tables and desks scattered the centre of the room, and several plinths stood empty where I could only guess more relics used to be displayed. The entire place had a layer of dust, the shelves were bare except for the occasional book here or there, scattered as if deemed useless.

The most striking features of the room were the big, floor-to-ceiling windows set into one wall overlooking an immense cavern that was bottomed by a lake of lava.

"Holy shit," I said, looking out the windows.

"Welcome to Mount Horny," Lauren said, blinking and shaking her head at the display of natural wonder. "You gonna forge one cockring to rule them all?"

"Harrharr," I said. "Maybe some other kinds of rings."

"Jerry," Lauren blushed. "Not until after college. Seriously."

"I was thinking nipple rings," I said, playing dumb and turning and softly honking her boobs - which was a thing I could do now, and I didn't take nearly enough advantage of. "What were you thinking?"

She stuck out her tongue at me and punched me in the arm. "You know what I mean."

"I do," I chuckled. "Not until after college. I hear you."

"Good," Lauren nodded.

"Adama, please don't tell me that all of these shelves were full of books on magic that could have taught me otherwise unlearnable knowledge?" I said, turning to the tiny black woman.

"Only about half of them," she sighed, looking around forlornly at the shelves.

"What were the other half?" Lauren asked.

"Tomes on medicine, herbalism and the natural world. Histories dating back to Atlantis and the Hidden Cities. And lots of studies of sexual positions from cultures all over the world."

"Wait, hold on, roll it back," I said. "Atlantis was real?"

"It was," Adama nodded. "It was destroyed by the Council of Threes for it's rebellion against their power. Ezekiel's predecessor was part of that last great cataclysmic working."

"Please don't tell me it's at the bottom of the ocean populated by some sort of fish-mer-people," I said.

"What? No, that's ridiculous," Adama said. "It was wiped from the face of the earth, its remains placed upon the dark side of the moon to never be resurrected."

I looked at Lauren. "I know, I know," she calmed me. "Too many questions all at once."

I turned to Adama. "We are going to need to have a talk about burying ledes."

We left the library behind after briefly checking the remaining books - one of which had been a first edition of the first Harry Potter novel, which brought up so many more questions for me. Most of the others were old and tattered histories written in languages I didn't know, or scribed in such a messy hand I had to assume not even another Seat would bother trying to decipher it. We gave up on finding anything immediately useful and moved to the final room in the small complex. Ezekiel's bedroom.

"Well," Lauren said. "I thought I would hate it, but it actually works."

There were, in fact, frescoes and statues of cavorting nymphs and other mythological beings in compromising positions. The room was square, lined on the walls with both carved stone and wood frescos as well as ancient-looking tapestries from a variety of cultures. Between the art, the walls looked to be painted and enchanted to imitate a calm jungle, complete with the soft noises of rustling trees in a breeze, and the clicks of nighttime insects. A small waterfall spilt from one upper corner of the room, a carved streambed across the otherwise smooth river stone floor leading to a pool that looked to be about waist deep and steamed with heat, filling the room with a clean, if slightly moist, feeling to the air. Various freestanding furniture was dotted around the room from a variety of cultures, none of it matching.

In the centre of the chamber stood a circular bed, easily fifteen feet wide and dressed in a variety of impossibly soft-looking furs and silks. A basin built into the floor was stacked neatly with dry wood, as if a bonfire was meant to be lit to provide warmth to anyone on the massive bed.

And of course, mounted to the ceiling above the bed was a ridiculously large, single-paned mirror.

"We have got to bring Lindsey and Stacey here," Lauren said. "Then we'll really feel like your concubines for a night."

"It's so much, I don't even know if I like it or not," I shook my head. We wandered deeper into the room, and I noticed that there were two sealed envelopes laying on the bed, a third open next to them. "What's this?"

"Ezekiel and his Prime left letters for you. Thankfully, the pilferer only seems to have read the one addressed to them," Adama said, wringing her wrists a little as she scowled at the letters.

I picked up the open envelope - it was empty and was addressed 'To Whoever Arrives First' in a precise and flowery handwriting. The other two envelopes were addressed, 'To the New Seat' and 'To the new Prime.'

I handed Lauren the envelope for her and took my own. "Read them together, or separate?"

Lauren shrugged. "Together?"

I nodded and opened my envelope. Inside were two thin sheets of paper folded over on themselves neatly.

My dear friend,

If you are anything like me, you are likely reading this aloud to your Prime, and any other of your harem who are with you-

"Wow, he's good," Lauren chuckled.

- but the words that follow are for you alone, just as my dear Ophalia writes for your Prime, and only your Prime. Respect our final wishes, if it pleases you, as these are the last words we leave behind us.

"I guess we read separately," I said.

Lauren nodded and opened her envelope. Inside she found a dozen sheets of parchment, carefully written in tight handwriting from a different hand. "I guess Ophalia had a lot more to say," she said.

We both sat on the bed, a few feet away from each other, and I kept reading.

I am sure by now that you have met Adama. She is a living embodiment of what she calls the Great Mother, which I have come to understand is one of the three simple forces of reality. You and I channel, and work in service, to the force of Creation. The Death Seats channel and serve Entropy, and the Life Seats serve Continuance, though it is easier to think of it as Time.

None of these forces is Good, nor is it Evil. Much of this modern world has become blinded by this bi-morality to the exclusion of more useful philosophy, so I feel this is the first and most important lesson you must take from me. You now hold with you the potential for great workings - to Create simply means to bring forth into being. It can be used to bring forth simple goods, or complex evils, in equal measure. Your ethics, your code, is all that you need to worry about now.

I am sure that you have many questions, Fifth Seat. I am not sorry to say that I will not answer them here. Existence is a journey, and were I to provide you with a roadmap then you would not learn the lessons only understood by forging your own path. In all likelihood, someone has removed the resources I leave behind me - if you are smart enough to survive, you will regain them one day. Do not covet that which you do not yet understand.

The only other lesson I will impart to you is this.

Focus, first and foremost in your mind, on those who you will hold closest, and make every effort to protect them - but do not cage them. Every true connection you have is a risk, every member of your harem a spike with which an opponent can hurt you. But you need them, and they will need you. Love, and be loved. Do not fear the heartbreak of mortality.

Time will pass. You can not save them all. This will be the hardest lesson to learn, more than any secret of your new world. If it continues to hurt, then it means it was real. Cherish that.

These are the only lessons I gift you, because they are lessons you will still need to learn for yourself. Trust your instincts, and all will come into focus for you over time and as you need.

Now, when you are ready, Adama knows where my safe is. In it you will find the means to access my mundane wealth, and a simple gift.

Enjoy your life, Fifth Seat. And do not fear to change the world, for the world is yours to change.

E.

I blew out a long breath, checking the back of the two sheets the letter was written on, but they were blank. A glance at Lauren showed me she was only one page into her letter, reading intently.

Not wanting to bother her, I stood and wandered the bedroom, looking at the hanging art on the walls. I dipped my foot in the little fake stream, finding the water cool to the touch, then I did it again in the hot spring pool and found it very close to a hot tub.