Like Clockwork - Endless Senses

“You know you love this, Gared-chan,” she said while pressing against me in her afterglow. While for most people the afterglow was just a nicer way of describing the exhaustion after intimacy, for her it was quite literal. I could still see some of the cinders in her hair and there were various other small embers still pulsating on her body with a faint orange-reddish light.

A long and deep exhale was the only response I bothered to give as the cooling smoke emerged from my lips. I relaxed with her against the bed frame, completely exhausted as we sat there cuddling.

“Are you ready for another round?” she teased while positioning herself further up against me, as if soaking in the smoke. Not that my companion was bothered by the smog. If anything, she enjoyed it. She was one of those elemental sub-races, and considering the smoke was twirling around the glowing cinders of her hair strands, I wouldn’t be surprised if it had some special sub-meaning to it.

“Give me a moment. I’m not as young as I used to be Zetibya,” I grunted, shifting my arm so that it didn’t fall asleep under her weight. Not that she was heavy for someone of my strength, but you know… positioning and all that still applies to the best adventurers.

“Hmm, you do have more greys,” she teased before suddenly sitting up again. She proceeded to cross-examine me as if she was considering her options on what to do with me. The pepper grey strands were starting to become more noticeable alright, especially in my deep red hair. An odd combination, but at least it gave me a quality ruggish look to match with the scars that lined my well corded muscles if I did say so myself.

“Oh yeah? Well you have more...uh... glowly... parts…!” I said after a brief pause. Looking her over for flaws, I could never really find any. Her body was perfectly proportioned and while you could see the lines of the fiber strands that her elemental body consisted of, they were perfectly uniform and quite smooth to touch. Heck, even the smoke that came from her smelled wonderful. As usual, it held the scent of those cherry blossom flowers she liked so much. “Bah, why do I bother trying to out-tease you, Zetibya.” 

“Zetibya-chan to you,” she said as she stuck out her tongue while winking. “So what are you going to complain about today? More adventurer therapy? Or shall I get back to my normal work? My time is, after all, quite expensive.” She pulled herself up fully then, leaving little to my imagination. 

“The most expensive,” I corrected with a smirk. She was literally the most expensive Prostitute, or Geisha as she preferred to call it, in all of Stepolis. Heck, she was rich enough to own her own cathedral which, funnily enough, doubled as her brothel. While her god wasn’t in charge of love, he clearly didn’t mind being a voyeur. Not that I’d blame the guy of course.

“Pshaw, you are such an ungrateful prick,” she huffed playfully, the clouds of smoke swirling their way back towards me. “I mean, most men pay thousands of gold for a mere lap-dance, but I charge you a huge fat zero whenever you’re in town.”

“Even if you did charge me, you know I could afford it. I am a successful diamond adventurer after all,” I replied, smirking with false indignity. I paused then to empty out the pipe into a tray before taking another deep huff. “In all seriousness though…” I started, but found myself unable to finish the sentence. I had come here for a reason besides the usual booty call. I wanted to break it to her slowly, but I knew that in the end such actions would simply make her madder. Changing my tone of voice to the baritone depth I used on the battlefield to reflect the seriousness of the situation, I forced the words out of my mouth. “My 40th birthday is coming up... so I guess this is goodbye,” I blurted out, the meaning lingering in the air just like the smoke. 

“What, already!?” she gasped as subtle fear lined her face. She knew after all what my bloodline was and all that entailed. “When…?”

“Tomorrow,” I said sadly, sitting up as well. I had definitely ruined the mood alright, but I simply had to say it. I turned from her, scared to look her in the eyes.

“And you’re just going to give up!?” Zetibya hissed as tears of flame began to sizzle from her eyes, the flames trickling down my back. It wasn’t painful, but it was definitely very warm.

“We’ve been over this. The curse of my bloodline is powerful. No male with this damn Sluticus bloodline has ever made it past their 40th birthday intact in a thousand years. Even if there are tens of thousands of descendants, we’re all cursed to slutification no matter what we do. You’ve already said that even your god can’t do anything about it and I’ve already checked with plenty of others as well,” I replied sadly. I had honestly come to terms with my limited mantality. There was simply no escaping it. Lots of men had tried, of course. My own father, for instance, had chosen death over sluttification, but not even that had really saved him. I knew all too well. After all, I was the one that had to put down the zombimbo outbreak he, or well… she had caused. 

“So why are you here then? And not with your family and friends?” Zetibya asked with a puff as she wiped her eyes.

“You are my family,” I spoke with a cheesy grin, turning around at last. Zetibya had been my girlfriend for well over 10 years now after all even if it was an open relationship given her job. “I… was hoping you would watch over me. While you know I’m not really into hookering, it still beats ending up as some arm candy to someone I don’t know. Or, arguably even worse, someone that I do know,” I admitted. I shuddered then, thinking of some of the people I had crossed over the years that would gladly fuck me while I was down.

“Hmm… while I’m more than willing to do that, need I remind you that my offer from the past still stands? Become one of us,” Zetibya asked. At some point in the conversation, she seemed to have slipped on her kimono and redone her hair. It shimmered beautifully in the dim light of the room. “It won’t save you, but, well, we would continue to be together on our terms.”

“Zetibya-chan, you know I’ve never been a religious type… not to mention that your race is all female...” I said. However, when Zetibya just frowned at me with her arms crossed, I realized that that was no real excuse anymore, at least at this point. “Actually ... you're right. I’m just being stubborn. If I’m going to change one way or another, it might as well have it be somewhat controlled.”

“Glad to see you’re finally making sense,” Zetibya said with a smirk of conviction that made me pause. She then pulled a ring, seemingly out of nowhere, and presented it to me. “Now, will you marry me.”

“Huh!?... uh… I do.” I answered, my mouth agape at how fast it had happened… or didn’t happen? “Uh… is something supposed to happen now?” I asked with a puzzled look.

“Did you think it was that simple?” Zetibya giggled at my dumbfounded reaction as the ring dissolved into smoke again. She then turned around and shay shayed her way across the room, beckoning me with her finger. “Come on, we’re going to the altar room to do this formally, you doofus.”

---

“Uh… so… where’s everyone?” I asked as I followed Zetibya through the rather empty Grand hall of the Cathedral of Thaduraus, the eldest of the Gods of Time. While not the largest or nicest, it was a Cathedral unlike any other. Its ancient stone pillars were graced with imagery that spread across the various ages from kingdoms long past. Being the god of the past, Thaduraus didn’t have the largest following as people typically don’t like dwelling on the past. Not like Seamovyus, the god of the future. He was easily the most popular of the time gods since he was also associated with the Fortune Gods considering he did marry one of them after all. Still, Thaduraus was at least much more popular than the middle Goddess. Not that that was all that difficult since she was one of the victims of Chu Chu Thulala about a thousand years ago. It was said that after this happened, her five High Priestesses disappeared and her followers were scattered to the winds. Alinavious was her name, or something along those lines. The only reason I even knew about the long dead Goddess of the Present was that she was related to the curse of my bloodline. One of my ancestors was one of the High Warlords that betrayed the world and aided the Chaos Goddess. It was for this reason that Alinavious among other Gods had cursed my whole bloodline.

My thoughts returned to the fact that it was eerily empty as we walked through the Cathedral. While the public prayer sections had already been closed for the day, normally the benches here would be filled with various clientele bidding for some good time with the other girls at this time of night. 

“I instructed them to use the garden grounds. My girls really wanted to watch this special occasion, but I figured this should be a private thing, Gared-chan,” Zetibya teased as she grabbed my hand.

“Could have fooled me. You’re the one who always likes to make a show of things,” I said sarcastically, only for Zetibya to giggle in response. “I do admit that that is part of the fun of a show… but this is for you. Well, you and occasionally my lord.” 

“Wait what? Has he actually watched us back t-” I tried to say but Zetibya soon pressed her finger over my mouth before holding up her arm. “Shall we?” she asked.

I looked her over again. How gorgeous she was. As beautiful as the day I met her. Those cinders of hers had captivated and hypnotized me back then and I never regretted letting her in. I took her arm in my own then and nodded with probably the dumbest smile I had ever given her. Silently, the two of us walked down the aisle towards the altar. I began wondering what was going to happen. This was certainly a very peculiar wedding alright. There was no music, no audience, not even a priest. Then again, Zetibya was a priestess. Did that even count when she was also the bride? My thoughts however were cut short because of the explosion of flames as all the torches, candles, and incense stands within the entire cathedral suddenly burst into brilliant, incandescent white flames. It was all so bright that all shadows were simply cast from the room. As the flames burned, I noticed that the smoky fumes had started gathering in the center of the grand hall, right over the altar. It swirled and swirled until suddenly, it spiralled downwards, forming a staircase made entirely out of smoke that seemed to lead into the cloud of smoke above us. 

“You know I was only joking about your god being a voyeur, right?” I gulped, wondering if my comments could have offended the eldest god of time.

“He knows. And no he hasn’t watched before, I made sure of that.” Zetibya smirked. She then kissed my cheek before dancing up the steps with almost hypnotizing grace as her words echoed. “Come now, quickly. Midnight approaches.”

Even as I walked up the smokey steps following after her, Zetibya seemingly danced just beyond my grasp. Chasing her upwards in the smoking swirl of colour I stumbled as the stairs suddenly ended and I found myself standing before a giant column of… sticks? No, it was an altar of incense. Countless of incense sticks intertwined and split only to intertwine again, forming a pillar as thick as a world tree. It was just as tall too, for I could see no beginning or end. From it branched and burned at thousands of different points the smoke seemingly merging into a cloud like the heavens themselves.

“What is this?” I asked, knowing that this shrine was no ordinary holy shrine. At this distance, I could practically feel it’s divine radiance giving me a holy tan.

“This Tree is the Endless Incense. The pasts of all the Timers burn here, and all futures are born from it,” Zetibya spoke quietly as she emerged from the smoke once more. I didn’t know I could be even more impressed by her beauty than I already was as she was wearing a new outfit. To say she was gorgeous would be an understatement. She wore the purest silken white kimono I had ever seen. Her flames were slowly trickling down the fabric as if they were shooting stars. It made her look oh so radiant and divine. It was breathtaking to put it bluntly…

“You’re making me feel underdressed here,” I gulped wide eyed as I realized that I was still wearing my casual adventurer’s garb. Sure, it was high quality black dragon leather, but that could not even approach what she was wearing.

“You are, yes, but that’s ok. This is all mostly impromptu after all, and we don’t have much time,” Zetibya replied. However, that’s when I actually noticed that she started blushing slightly. “Though I do admit… I’ve been preparing this dress for when you would finally say yes for a while now, Gared-chan.”

I almost couldn’t believe it. I was about to say more but Zetibya interrupted me again.

“Now follow me,” she winked as she strode besides me. Taking my hand in hers, we stood facing the shrine as it unwinded, its sticks spreading into the clouds all around.

“THADURAUS! Hear me, oh Divine One, for I have brought one to receive thy blessing!” Zetibya shouted as she prostrated herself before the altar. I quickly followed suit of course. While I was unsure of the proper protocol for this particular god, humility was generally your best bet with gods.

  

“To burn the past so that the future may learn.”

“To survive the past so that the future will thrive.”

“I, Zeta Lambda Beta, bring one to live our past so that they may revive.”

The deafening force of the temporal clap that followed wasn’t wholly a surprise. Gods tended to enjoy the theatrics after all. Thankfully, my head was still down in the prostrating position so I missed the blinding light show and I only went half deaf instead. When I finally did look up, I could see that something had emerged from the grand tree. It was a glowing incense stick that looked a lot like the smoking pipe Zetibya usually used, as well as a pair of white wooden rings.

“The blessing has been given,” Zetibya smiled, tears of flame running down her cheeks as she reached out and grabbed the pipe.

“So do I kiss the bride now?” I asked, walking forward to Zetibya, love coursing through my entire body. 

Zetibya smiled before suddenly leaping at me and kissing me passionately. The moment seemingly lasted a lifetime. I kissed her… no… I breathed her like never before. Even as we parted, I could still taste her lingering smoke passing through me. 

“You must breathe in full and learn, Gared.” Zetibya said seriously, as I felt her press the pipe into my hands. 

“You mean change.” I pointed out as I examined the pipe. It was a rather peculiar object now that I thought about it and Zetibya always did carry around her pipe. Still it was an odd method for transformation, a very old one like her god. “Uh… What about the rings?”

“We’ll put those on when the time is ripe. First… the pipe,” Zetibya said before bringing out her own pipe. She then motioned me to follow.

Looking into her beautiful eyes, I nodded. I would follow wherever she would lead me. I let out a soft sigh as I relinquished myself to whatever was to come. Looking over the pipe I held, I wondered.

So I breathed in...

SIZZLE

I burned, yet I learned. 

Its pulsating flames cleansed me as I approached it.

I could feel my muscles failing me from climbing. They shifted and grew softer, yet they hardened and grew clean.

For I had sought knowledge to undo the coming calamities.

My seer’s eye sought another path than the one we were walking. 

And so through these trails I have walked. 

My hair burned and fell, yet new tresses of light were born.

To this Endless Tree I was reborn. 

To watch over this world and to bring to the world this tree.

My name is Alpha. First of the Timers.

This is our Life.

I saw a journey, at the dawn of civilization.

A elfen man, a tree bender born with the seer's eye crying for a future yet unborn.

A journey of peril through the untamed mountains of the dragons.

A peak, reaching into the Heavens itself.

A budding tree from which she was reborn.

A mission, to plant the seeds to fight the oncoming calamities.

A life, lived fully as she burned her last in the hands of friends and family.

So I breathed out...

SIZZLE

Coughing, I finally exhaled the smoke again. I found myself lying down on Zetibya’s lap in front of the tree.

“What was that??” I asked still full of bewilderment, yet some part of me already knew the answer.

“Finished with the Alpha’s life already, I see?” Zetibya looked at me in surprise as she fondled my now currently naked body, though mostly stroking my currently raging hard-on.

“Was that really her life and what are you doing?” I stuttered before the pipe was shoved into my mouth again.

“Yes. Wonderous wasn’t it? You won’t see all of them. Just the ones important to your journey. So of course, everyone sees the first. It’s important to note where it all began,” Zetibya spoke, as she puffed out another cloud of smoke into my face.

So I breathed in…

SIZZLE

I saw Lambda Beta.

A dwarven man, a smith born into war.

A war that turned into a Calamity that rended the world.

A curse, as he watched his wife and daughters perish in his hands.

A search, a lost soul looking for meaning.

A blessing, a will to build something, to form a saviour.

A rebirth, as her new family was born.  

So I breathed out…

SIZZLE

“AHHH!!” 

We loved. I thrusted, Zetibya busted. As the moon gradually rose above to its highest point.

So I breathed in…

I lived countless lives...

Endless Senses... 

So I breathed out…

SIZZLE

“AH AH AH” we cried and I came… and yet didn’t.

She had at some point clipped our wedding rings around my raging hard on of a dick.

“I thought I told you... Ah!... Wasn’t into… AH!” I shouted as I thrust my manhood into her, seeking release.

“Don’t worry. You’ll enjoy this next part as much as I will!” Zetibya smirked as she stroked and cradled me. Behind her, I could see a clock slowly approaching midnight...

So I breathed in…

SIZZLE

I saw Zeta Lambda Beta.

I lived as Zeta Lambda Beta.

A boy, reborn in Weebon to the promises of glory.

A false hero, whose actions doomed a generation.

A wanderer, searching for a meaning in failure.

A truth, a rebirth to love with all.

But I knew I was born for love. And I was born on time for one.

I knew when I first saw Gared-kun-chan-san.

DONG

For a curse a thousand years deep, I could do naught but hold him as the new day began.

DONG

I kissed as he cried. His memories faded right then and there as his eyes widened before glossing over, emptier than the dumbest of bimbos.

I held as he laughed. His rugged, crimson salted hair turned pink and purple. Curling unending into her vacant giggles.

I licked as he moaned, cheeks shrinking and lips snapping as they formed a pouty zero. Her goal in life as if nothing more.

I nuzzled as he groaned, His chest became undone. Muscles tussled and turned, and fat regained. With each pulse the mounds grew, unending like a rising sun.

I thrust as he thrust, as each motion invert. Thicker he thinned. Deeper she inned. Out became in, as she cried out to be sinned.

I clasped as he cummed, each moment his last. His muscles and scars faded, never to last. Limbs flowered delicately and petite for the pleasure they would cast.

I loved as he died, each step of the way so that within me would hold another day.

DONG

Thus his day would end… 

Ding

I kissed as she kissed, filling her with love that she would never be alone. Her eyes gleaming bright with our love.

I held as she simmered, as her hair burned crimson and pink. Feisty I combed just like her kinks. 

I licked as she moaned, her becoming smirk quite like my own.

I nuzzled as she groaned, her nipples stiff with unrest as I milked them until they fit into my prefect caress.

I thrust as she thrust, so that as our rings would always touch. Ridden together our tribe would preserve in lust and in trust.

I clasped as she cummed, every moment her first. Her limbs softly caressing me as if holding on to each moment like her last.

Ding

I loved as she revived, each step of the way so that she would be with me forever today.

So I breathed out…

SIZZLE

“You knew!” I cried, as my past was lost. 

My name. myself. Me Horny… who is me? I cried because I knew I had died. 

“I knew.” She kissed, as a past was given. My life, My love, Myself.

“MHMM“ We loved, as our flames merged at last. 

As I joined her in tribadism, be it a curse or a blessing, it didn’t matter.

We Became as One.

So I breathed in…

SIZZLE

I saw a child yet unborn, her crimson hair of my own. 

I saw calamity yet to burn, a city shunt outside of the world.

I saw a return, with friends past and future.

I saw a Present, Glorious and Wise.

So I breathed out…

SIZZLE

“I Gamma Zeta Beta have lived our past and revived,” I moaned as I breathed out the last of our past lives.

“The newest of the Timers…. I.. agh... don’t stop yet,” I moaned to Zetibya as she paused her rhythmic pounding against my ass.

“Hm… I was just admiring your face when you got all zen like,” Zetibya said as she nibbled on my ear.

“I’m yours after all,” I giggled before lusting back, I still had plenty of energy after all as this life has just begun.

“AHHAHHAHH!!!” we cried, the rest of the morning was a haze of love. 

As we awoke on the cathedral floor I could feel the gazes of love from all the followers, the other priestess, nuns, geisha’s, or just whores under Zetibya command for none were untouched by our love.

“My my you are insatiable, you literally did it with everyone Geita-chan.” Zetibya smiled as I lay in her arms.

“Well I am the resident slut,” I could only giggle back, despite the nagging feeling of something lost, while it would be missed I knew I loved my new life. “So what was that last bit anyways.”

“Oh that… the last vision is that of a past yet to come. Something for you to enact, prevent, or simply watch. Which one is up to you as our lord grants them with his blessing.” Zetibya said as she cradled me and I cradled them both back. 

“Oh that’s easy then… hmm... how about Sarah?” I asked her as I rubbed her tummy. It may have been the last act of my past life, but I would still cherish it in this new life.