Tao gently placed the old wooden crate down on the table between himself and the elder, and cracked open the lid. Within, a myriad of glass vials tinkled and rattled amongst one another, a rainbow of coloured liquids in each one. The elder grinned and bowed deeply, a gesture which Tao returned politely.

“Your kindness, and the kindness of Haruba, is welcomed with our deepest gratitudes, as always,” croaked the elder, as a nearby tribeswoman took the crate and began to sort through the various remedies and elixirs within, organizing them by purpose and potency. “It is always our pleasure to serve and maintain the safety and prosperity of your people,” replied Tao, smiling.

“Of course, there is always your reward!” grinned the elder, clicking his fingers. Two boys stepped from the shadows, the light of the fire dancing across their smooth, perfect nudity as they smiled up at Tao, eager and ready to please, round eyes warm and inviting. Tao smiled and shook his head, waving the boys away, much to their disappointment. Even so, he felt himself harden and could feel the boys’ eyes on his manhood.

“As much as I would love to indulge, I’m under instruction today to… conserve my energies,” sighed Tao apologetically. The elder raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What does Haruba have in store for you, I wonder?”

“I wonder also. It had certainly better be worth it…” muttered Tao, his gaze inexorably wandering back to the boys, who had began to caress and play with one another in the gloom of the hut. The elder cackled, “Knowing Haruba, I’m sure it’ll be an experience to remember. I look forward to when we next meet, friend Tao, so you can regale me with the story.”

Tao smiled and took his leave. He paced himself as he wandered back through the old village, savouring the sights and the smells. The desert sand felt good between his toes, and the people seemed content. The smell of petrichor and fresh-cooked food wafted through the air. Dotted here and there, couples, or even sometimes more, were making love by fires or by moonlight, laughing and smiling with one another. He felt proud to be a part of this; proud to protect and serve this simple, powerful place of primal freedom from the busy sterility of the evergrowing city.

He always felt a little bad when he left, but he had work to do. Haruba’s driver was already waiting for him in the van. “Hey. All good?” asked the driver casually. “Yup, all good. I’m gonna jump in the back and catch a nap, that cool with you?” The driver nodded, and they departed, leaving a cloud of dust and sand in their wake.

Tao awoke with a start as the driver nudged him gently. “Hey, we’re here.”

It was still dark outside, but as he stepped off of the train and the brisk night air hit him, he could see the lantern above Haruba’s door in the distance, a twinkling siren guiding him to the home of his dearest friend.

As Tao wandered down the dirt path and the van pulled away, he could feel his pulse quickening. Why was he suddenly so nervous? He knew there was no turning back now, but in the back of his mind, he couldn’t help but feel anxious. Surprises always put him on edge, and if there was ever going to be something that really, truly surprised him, it would be one of Haruba’s experiments.

Nevertheless, he pressed on through the brush and the dirt, hoisting up his robes where the undergrowth was thick with bramble and vine. As he approached the front door of the cottage, he could hear voices coming softly from within. Was there someone else with Haruba already? Tao knocked politely at the old wooden door, and the voices stopped. Then, the familiar tone of Haruba called out, “Come in!”

Tao entered, scraping his feet on the doormat politely. “Ah, Tao, you’re just in time. Kuro just arrived, too.” Tao looked up and saw that Haruba was sat in one of the comfortable armchairs by the fire, his trademark loincloth resting gently in place, leaving little to the imagination. His pink fur glowed in the light of the burning logs. In the seat opposite, a small figure, face obscured in the shadow of a wide-brimmed pointy hat, waved politely. “Hello again, Tao.” spoke the figure. Despite Kuro’s small stature, his voice was strangely dignified, almost professional, though not cold.

Tao nodded as he recognized the telltale glowing eyes through the shadows of Kuro’s face. “Oh, Kuro, nice to see you. Don’t get to see many voids these days. How’s it going?” smiled Tao, reaching out and shaking hands politely with Kuro. “Very well, thank you. Haruba was just explaning the plan for tonight. I think I’ll keep the surprise for Haruba to reveal. This should be interesting.” While he couldn’t see through the gloom, Tao got the distinct feeling that there was a smile playing beneath those glowing green eyes.

Tao cocked an eyebrow, now staring at Haruba. “The plan for tonight, huh? Care to let me in on the secret? I’ve been wondering all day,” queried Tao, a twinge of interrogation in his voice. Haruba grinned, and got up from his seat, stretching and yawning wide before strolling over and giving Tao a peck on the cheek. “Come on down to the lab. You’re gonna love this.”

Haruba led the group down into the cellar, pulling down on a hefty lever at the entrance. Magical lights popped into existence overhead, and as they descended the stairs into the stone walls of the lab, Tao could see a large glass contraption in the center of the room, about two meters long. It almost looked like a giant lightbulb, laid on its side, with a large dome at one end, and a grey panel at the other.

“What on earth…” muttered Tao under his breath as they circled the machine. Haruba was grinning ear to ear, running a hand affectionately across the perfect surface of the blown glass. “I’ve been working on some new techniques. The old magic is getting harder to come by, and with each moon, my potions wane by the slightest fraction.”

The group circled over to the grey panel section, which seemed strangely rubbery when Tao ran his hands across it. Many different textures and patterns swirled across it’s surface, reminding him of the surface of an oil painting.

“So, I’ve had to turn my attention to different fields of research, different sources of power. Observe,” instructed Haruba. With that, he took a small, shimmering crystal shard from a nearby desk, and pressed it against the rubbery surface of the grey panel. To Tao’s surprise, the grey material gave passage to the intruding object completely, absorbing both the crystal and part of Haruba’s hand, which he could now see through the glass bulb.

The moment the crystal entered the bulb, a very weak soft blue light began to glow and dance around the edges of the glass, almost like a plasma ball. “I call this device a thaumascope. It allows us to easily visualise the magical potential of anything placed within. The more potent the magic, the more visual feedback we’ll recieve. This was just an old scrying crystal, hence the quite minor response.”

Now, Kuro spoke. “While we don’t know the specifics, we currently believe that the seminal fluid of voids may have some magical potency. Obviously, much of our nature is still a mystery, but beyond giving us some insight into the nature of voids in general, it may transpire that we can use that potency as a source of magical energy in other endeavours.”

Tao paused for a moment, frowning as the pair stared at him. “So… you’re telling me that your cum might have magical powers?”

Kuro and Haruba sighed the sigh that all experts sigh when dealing with shaky layman’s analogies. “In a nutshell… yes,” replied Haruba, “but we need to know to what extent, and whether there are any other variables that might affect that. So, get comfy, because we’re gonna run a control experiment right now.”

Haruba motioned to a nearby chair that gave a good view of the inside of the bulb. Tao paused, then shrugged and made himself comfy. From here, he could see the other side of the strange grey interface, which continued to ripple and warp with strange textures even after the crystal was withdrawn.

Haruba grinned and put a warm hand on Kuro’s shoulder. “I really appreciate your assistance on this. Remember, the safe word is ‘archmage’. Say that, and everything stops, alright?”

Kuro nodded, and began to undress. Tao watched intently; nudity was nothing new to him, but he’d never seen a void stripped of their traditional garb before. He knew they were ageless beings from his research, but he’d never expected them to look so… soft. Kuro’s skin was smooth as satin, with the delicate matte finish of his hairlessness, and his small form had an inviting plumpness to its curvature.

There was something intensely erotic about the formality of it all; this was an experiment, and they were here to collect research, but seeing Kuro strip down with such dignity, even perhaps pride… Tao felt his own cock beginning to harden, and saw that Kuro’s was too. With every heartbeat, Kuro’s cock jumped up ever so slightly, engorging and tightening, before the foreskin finally rolled back as it reached full mast.

Haruba adjusted some settings on a nearby control panel, and gave Kuro a nod and a smile. Kuro nodded back, placed his hands on the sides of the grey interface, and pushed forward slowly, sensually.

The strange material readily yielded to the pressure, and Tao could see from this side that it was designed to be pleasurable; it molded and formed around Kuro’s member, rippling and flowing, and soon, it had found the perfect fit to satisfy its new user.

Kuro bottomed out, and sighed with satisfaction as the sensations washed over him. He paused for just a moment… then glanced at Tao, catching his gaze. Just for a moment. Tao’s heart jumped in his chest and his own member pulsed with arousal.

Then Kuro began to thrust. In and out, in and out, groaning with pleasure as the soft rippling material rolled around his shaft. Tao even saw it begin to reach out with small tendrils, like a sea anemone, which brushed and tickled at Kuro’s foreskin and frenulum, drawing out more and more moans.

The once dignified Kuro was gone now, and he began to thrust harder and harder, more and more desperately, boyish squeals being drawn involuntarily from his lips. Tao noticed that Haruba had begun to play with himself now, squeazing and stroking the length of his own member.

Kuro grunted as dribbles of precum began to drool from his cock and into the machine; as the first droplets fell, an aurora of lights blossomed within the bulb, dancing and flowing from the precum like rainbow steam on a cup of hot coffee.

“Wow… if that’s just your precum, then we’re in for a show,” grinned Haruba, suddenly distracted from his arousal as he rushed forwards, dropping to his knees and practically pressing his face to the glass to see the light show in greater detail.

Tao felt his head getting fuzzier and fuzzier as his arousal overtook him; something about the beautiful lights struck a chord inside him, and he quickened his pace as he masturbated to the sight of the adorable void boy’s pleasures. Kuro’s knuckles whitened as he gripped harder at the sides of the panel, and the bulb began to fill with more of the strange rainbow aura.

Haruba quickly dashed over to Tao and gave him a gentle smack on the hand, breaking his masturbatory trance. “Hey, what the…” complained Tao as he came out of his daze. “I told you, save your energy. Now watch, this is gonna be wild!”

Kuro slammed hard into the hungry machine, and his audience could see the fronds of grey matter begin to swirl around his glans, toying around the slit at the tip of his dick.

With a squealing, groaning yelp, the void boy finally reached his climax, and thick ropes of cum began to shoot into the machine. The moment they fired from his body and entered the bulb, the lights inside exploded with radiance. Haruba and Tao both winced as the light overpowered them, almost blinding them. A spectrum of colours like oil on water ricocheted and vortexed through the bulb, so dense and bright you could no longer see through to the other side.

Haruba gasped and quickly ran over to a nearby control panel, which he worked at in a panicked hurry, turning dials and flicking switches. Kuro was still groaning and panting as the grey matter worked his shaft, desperately, instinctively trying to extract every last drop of cum.

With the slam of a final lever, Haruba spun around and sighed in relief as he saw the release valves had engaged; the rainbow of lights quickly began to fade and swirl away as Kuro’s climax wound to a conclusion, and the resultant magical miasma was pumped out of the bulb through a nearby extraction system.

“Woah! You almost blew the entire system! That’s so cool! I guess our suspicions were right on those power levels, huh Kuro?” laughed Haruba nervously, grinning ear to ear.

Kuro panted with exhaustion, but nodded, giggling slightly with each breath. “H-hey, any way I can take one of these grey things with me? That was… wow…” he stammered, still gasping for air.

“Of course, I can knock one up for you, but first…” grinned Haruba, turning to the now very-flustered Tao. Tao had covered himself back up but it was clear under his robes he was still extremely hard after the technicolour show he’d just witnessed.

“You felt that, right?” Tao queried, bleary-eyed. “That wasn’t just any magical aura… there was something else in there… like, a magical libido cocktail. Just being near it…”

Haruba nodded. “Yeah, I felt it alright. My guess is there’s not just transference of magical energy, but of emotional energy too… could be useful for certain applications, but I’ll probably have to develop some kind of filtration system if I want to use it to make potions that don’t make people insanely horny.”

“You ready for round two, Kuro?” called over Haruba. The void boy nodded, grinning ear to ear, still trembling. Haruba quickly reset the control panel to reseal the thaumascope. It sat once again, empty and clear as crystal, vented of all contents.

Haruba took Tao by the hand gently. “Now, for why I invited you along. There’s something else I want to try. You ok with that?”

Tao nodded eagerly. The energy in the bulb may have dissipated, but he was still charged up, his brain a swirling fog of arousal. Haruba smiled, and lead Tao by the hand over to where Kuro was stood, still at the ready. “Remember, the safeword is ‘archmage’”, reminded Haruba, before beginning to gently, affectionately strip his friend of his robes.

“W-what do you want me to d-do?” stuttered Tao nervously, eyeing the intimidating machine fearfully. Haruba grinned. “Not what. Who.”

With that, Haruba reached down and ran his fingers across Kuro’s soft boyish skin, sending shivers of excitement up the void boy’s spine. Then, he reached down further, and gently spread apart Kuro’s cheeks, revealing his smooth pink hole to Tao, who’s eyes widened with arousal. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears now, and his cock was bouncing with every beat.

“While Kuro’s riding the thaumoscope, I want you to fuck him. That way, we can see if the emotional nature of being with another person changes the nature of the energy, or just if the more intense orgasm creates different results. Either way, it’s important we get some data that’s not just purely masturbatory like the last one.”

Kuro looked back over his shoulder, and locked eyes with Tao. In that moment, in that gaze, in that haze of magical energies and mad science, they knew they wanted one another. Haruba saw the exchange and smiled, gently lubing the pair up as the sexual tension built.

“Don’t be shy…” muttered Kuro, barely trying to hide his excitement, usual composure long gone. Tao gulped, and positioned himself behind the void boy, lining up the tip of his dick with Kuro’s little hole.

“Are you… are you ready?” asked Tao, nervously. Kuro paused for a moment, then reached behind himself and gripped Tao’s cock in his hand, and slowly, slowly pulled his new lover inside of him. The pair moaned in rapturous unison as Tao slowly, inexorably, drove deeper and deeper inside the adorable void boy before him. The rainbow smoke had already begun to materialize in the thaumascope as the pressure on Kuro’s prostate squeezed a couple of drops of precum out of the tip of his cock.

Haruba stepped back, smiling, and observed both with the arousal of a voyeur, and the vigor of a scientist, circling the pair as Tao began to fuck the void boy.

Tao groaned and wrapped his arms lovingly around Kuro. “Holy shit… you’re so soft…” he whimpered as he pressed his form deep into the supple, slightly chubby void boy. Kuro struggled to reply, but managed to cry out, “a-and… oh fuck… you’re so big…”, each word a struggle taken between gasps for air as Tao’s thick cock stretched his little hole to its limits.

Haruba’s little loincloth was bulging now, and the string that held it in place was getting to be uncomfortably tight. The alchemist shrugged and began to strip off too. The bulb was now thick with the rainbow aurora. “There’s definitely… unh… something different this time…” whimpered Haruba, as he found himself rubbing up against the glass of the bulb, taking in a contact high from the energies within. It was like sexual static, buzzing through all of their brains. Haruba concentrated on his breathing, but the energy radiating from the thaumascope was too much, and he began to stroke his cock furiously, still rubbing up against the glass.

While Tao fucked Kuro and caressed his soft, plump body, Kuro was slipping deeper into his own pleasures, as the strange grey interface once again began to milk his little cock, roiling and twitching, almost prehensile as the texture and the motion changed again and again to maximise his every sensation.

Tao gasped as he felt a hand on his shoulder, his trance breaking for just a moment. “You know the safe word…” muttered Haruba. His left hand rubbed Tao’s shoulder comfortingly, while his right began to play with Tao’s own tight little hole. He’d even lubed up his fingers, ready to go. Tao had never been taken there before, but… if this wasn’t the time, there never would be one. He nodded, and soon felt the tip of Haruba’s own cock pressed up against his hole.

The pressure slowly grew. Tao’s arms were wrapped around Kuro, so Haruba wrapped his own arms around the both of them, before pulling in to a tight embrace and sinking the length of his shaft deep inside Tao, who screamed, not in pain, but in utter, mind-shattering pleasure, and began to cum, hard.

The chain reaction was swift and devastating. Tao’s twitching, shuddering ass milked Haruba’s cock for all it was worth, and Haruba began to cum too, pumping cum hard against Tao’s virgin prostate. Tao thrusted even harder, spraying his own cum deep inside little Kuro.

For Kuro, it was all too much; the warmth, the embrace, the cum, the fucking, the grey matter manipulating him, and the feeling of these two people sharing this experience with him, all conspired to blow him away. He began to moan and sob and whimper as the most intense climax of his earthly life overtook him, body and soul.

The moment the first drop of his void cum entered the chamber, the room filled and burst with kaleidoscopic lights, warm and tender, bathing the three lovers in a magical cocktail of arcane lust and love. Haruba realised what was about to happen, but there was no time to stop it. Instead, he held on tighter, and gritted his teeth.

The bulb exploded, and the extracted energies blasted through the room like an atomic bomb; whatever the passive magical radiation had been doing to them before was nothing compared to this. It was like mainlining magic, and all three of them were in the blast zone. The last thing they saw before the silence was one another’s enraptured faces, before all faded to white.

When their consciousness’s returned, the three were floating in an endless white space, each holding the other’s hand. The pleasure they were experiencing was too intense to describe, but they had accepted it now; no longer did they writhe or cry out. For that perfect moment, the energy they had created had taken them to this space, this perfect, joyous space.

Slowly, the white faded and their vision gave way to the laboratory once more. The three floated, ever so slowly, ever so gently, back down to the ground, landing like a snowflake on the floor, still holding hands.

None of them wanted to break the silence. None of them wanted to break the peace, to shatter the afterglow. They simply lay together, truly as one, for that special moment.

…

One week later.

…

Tao awoke in his bed to the sound of a knocking on the door. Bleary eyed and tired, he clambered out of bed, threw on some clothes, and answered the door. The mailman was waiting for him, impatiently. “Got a package here for Tao?”

Tao nodded and signed for the small, carefully wrapped cubic parcel, and thanked the delivery driver before shutting the door.

There, in the hallway, he saw next to the address, written in beautiful cursive; “From Haruba and Kuro. Come visit soon. Xxx”

He unwrapped the parcel, and popped open the little protective cardboard box. Then he smiled.
Inside, with a little gift bow atop the cork, was a single glass vial, within which, every colour of the rainbow swirled.
And he held it close to his heart.
And he felt loved.