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"writing": "[b][u][center]The Village of Hedonists\nPart 7\nFor Ultilix\nBy Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“So, let me get this straight,” Sofia said, her head cocked to the side. “You’re telling me that Ruby changed her mind?”\n\n“Yep,” the demon said, chuckling. “Completely.”\n\n“…How? Why?”\n\n“Oh, and while we’re asking questions, where is she?” Leo asked, cocking his head to the side. “And Emerald? They both left and –”\n\n“They’re fine, they’re fine,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “Just let ‘em rest. Trust me, they’re gonna need it.”\n\nLeo saw everyone else exchange a look. He didn’t know what it meant, but he had a feeling it had something to do with sex. Or something. But with his friends, it was usually about sex. Ah, well.\n\n“Then that means that Plan: Fix The Village And Keep Things Happy is a go!” he said, grinning. “Isn’t that a good name?”\n\n“It’s…something,” his friend said, shaking his head. “You got an idea of how you’re gonna do that?”\n\n“Oh, yeah. I just need to go down to the bottom of the mine and [i]not[/i] get hit by the water on the way. I mean, it didn’t bother me last time – not much – but it does get all wet and dark. Kinda makes it hard to see down there.”\n\n“And what are you going to do when you get to the culprit, Mage Leo?” Caspar asked from bed. “I imagine that it would be difficult for you to take care of that on your own.”\n\n“Oh, no, it’ll be easy. I think. Well, I’m pretty sure.”\n\nAnother look. He didn’t think that they were worried about sex stuff this time. Eventually, Wes looked back at him. \n\n“Look, I ain’t gonna say dat you gotta do dis a certain way, but…you sure you know what you’re doing?”\n\n“Nope!”\n\n“Well, that solves that mystery,” Sofia muttered. \n\n“But don’t worry. I can take care of [i]everything[/i] if I can get through the water. So, uh…if anyone’s got any ideas for that, I’d really appreciate it.”\n\nNobody said anything this time. They didn’t have any looks to give, either. Definitely not about sex, then. \n\nLeo looked from one of his friends to another. The demon shrugged as they made eye contact, so there was nothing there. Not surprising, now that he had a minute to think. He doubted that fire would work for long down there, particularly against that much water. It had worked really well on Ruby and on Caspar, but even a powerful demon probably couldn’t turn all that water into steam at once. \n\n[i]I wonder if that would make it like a horny gas,[/i] he thought, tapping his chin. [i]That would be interesting. And different. And –[/i]\n\nRealizing that he was starting to go off-track, he dragged his thoughts back where they belonged. If his first friend couldn’t help, then maybe – \n\n[i]Caspar got hit hard the first time, and he doesn’t have anything to fight the water or protect himself from it,[/i] he realized. [i]Okay, so, not him, maybe –\n\nNo, Wes isn’t going to go down there in the first place. Even if he’s fast enough to dodge the water, he’s not going down there. Besides, he likes it when something makes him get horny instead of doing it himself. Maybe – \n\nNo, Emerald is unconscious, and Ruby’s already had a bad time. And they couldn’t really help, either.[/i]\n\nWhich left one person. He slowly turned his head toward Sofia, and the black cat groaned, facepalming in the process. \n\n“It has to be me, doesn’t it?” she asked. \n\n“Well, um, if you have a way to deal with the water –”\n\n“I had an idea. I don’t [i]like[/i] the idea, but I had one,” Sofia said, sighing. “Okay. Fine. You and me. We’ll figure it out.”\n\n“Yay! Okay, Plan FTVAKTH, Go!”\n\n“…Yeah. Sure. Okay.”\n\n#\n\nSofia and Leo yelped as they plummeted from the surface through the geyser hole. Leo’s yelp was more excited, Sofia’s more fearful, but they were both loud enough to deafen each other until – \n\nSPLASH!\n\nThe bubble around them kept the water on the other side, bobbing up and down around them and half-submerging itself into the magical pool under the town and mine. Leo wobbled from one boot to the other, struggling to keep his balance, while Sofia just tumbled over and landed flat on her butt. \n\n“Ow…”\n\n“You okay? I thought cats had good balance,” Leo said, still wobbling back and forth. \n\n“We do, but not that good. I didn’t think we’d be [i]falling[/i] into the water…”\n\n“Well, um, Ruby was the one that led us through the mine last time, and we don’t have a dragon guide this time.”\n\n“…Right.”\n\n“And besides, now we know the bubble works, right?”\n\n“For now,” the black cat muttered, slowly pushing herself back to her feet. “I mean, I’ll hold it together for as long as I can, but we are on a time limit. I can’t keep all those clothes turned into a bubble for long.”\n\nThey’d donated all their spare clothing to the spell and Sofia had turned it into a transparent bubble that kept everything bad on the other side. Then the rest of their friends had rolled the bubble up to the hill with the geyser and dropped them in. \n\nAnd it was working. The bubble hadn’t let anything through so far, and even though they were bobbing up and down on the rippling lake of magical water, not even a drop had come through. Their shoes were dry, her fur was pristine, and they were completely okay. \n\n“So, what now?” Sofia muttered. “I’m going to tell you right now that I can’t help that much while keeping the bubble going. If I concentrate too much on something else, it’ll turn back to clothes.”\n\n“Oh, don’t worry. I can take care of it when we get there. All we have to do is find the thing that’s turning the water into a problem.”\n\n“Annnnnd how do we do that?”\n\n“We [i]explore![/i]”\n\n“…Why did I get myself roped into this?”\n\n“Push! Uh, that way!”\n\nHaving to keep walking and pushing the bubble along, Leo and Sofia began their exploration of the bottom of the mine. It was dim, but not quite dark; the light of the bubble gave them enough to see by, and the bubble was strong enough that even running into stalagmites or spikier bits of the rock walls didn’t cause them any harm. Once they figured out how to roll the bubble together, they were actually able to move at speed. They sped along the top of the water, Leo humming as they went. \n\n[i]This is so cool. Maybe we can do something like this on the rivers. Or maybe just ride down rivers on these things. That’d be so fun. Oh, but if we run into things –[/i]\n\nBoing.\n\nThey did run into something, another stalagmite that was taller than some of the others, and stronger. Instead of breaking out of the way, it bounced them back, and both Sofia and Leo yelped as they went rolling back a dozen feet. It was a hard enough bump that they rolled around the inside of the bubble twice before it came to a halt, the two of them lying on the bottom with stars in their eyes. \n\nSofia groaned and Leo grunted as they pushed themselves to their feet. The cat shook her head, brushing herself off. \n\n“I didn’t think we’d bounce that hard if we touched something,” she muttered. \n\n“It felt like we were in a bouncy ball.”\n\n“What’s a bouncy ball?”\n\n“Oh, it’s, uh, it’s a spell that you can put on anything round that makes it bounce off of anything it touches with more force than you threw it. It’s really funny to watch bounce around a room for a while.”\n\n“…Can you attach that spell to a ball of yarn?”\n\n“Probably!”\n\n“I’d like you to show me that one later…for research purposes.”\n\n“Sure! But first, let’s find the thing.”\n\n“Yes. The thing that makes stuff happen.”\n\n“Yes! That thing!”\n\nThey got back to rolling the ball around. There were lots of interesting things at the bottom of the mine, from sparkling gems that looked almost as shiny as Ruby had after being drenched to a couple of old bits of writing that he didn’t understand. Sofia paused as they went by, staring at the chiseled letters, but didn’t try and stop the ball. When he asked if she understood it, she shook her head. \n\n“It didn’t look like anything I’d seen in the library. Maybe the stories of old cults setting up shop here is more true than we thought; I don’t think that anyone knows how old some of that writing is.”\n\n“Well, maybe we can stick around after we’re done down here.”\n\n“Nooooo thanks,” Sofia said, shaking her head. “After the way that the water made my head go funny? I don’t want to be here longer than I have to. The only reason I’d want to stay one more night is –”\n\n“Yeah?”\n\n“Uh…nevermind.”\n\n“Oh. Okay.”\n\n“Seriously. Nevermind.”\n\n“I’ve already nevered my mind.”\n\n“How do you – just keep rolling.”\n\n“That’s what I’m doing!”\n\nHe went back to humming as they rolled along, exploring the various darkened corners of the bottom of the mine. Here and there they ran into interesting little scribbles on the wall, and more than once they found evidence of ancient altars, and even one cursed-looking crystal that was barely poking out from the surface of the water. \n\nEvery time they found something that looked important, they stopped and examined it. Either Leo or Sofia would then turn to the other and shake their heads, knowing that it wasn’t putting out the right kind of magic to do what the mine was doing, and then they’d move on. \n\nEventually, just as they were about to give up hope, they rounded a corner and – \n\n“That…That is what [i]stuff[/i] comes from…”\n\nLeo had to agree. The massive petrified tree at the end of the long, wide tunnel loomed over the rest of the spring water like a dead god. Where flowers and leaves once hung were branches gray from age, each looking more like stone than living wood. Here and there, he could just barely make out old bits of wood and bark that hadn’t been petrified and changed, but it was mostly gone. \n\nMostly. \n\nAs his eyes trailed down the gnarled plant, he eventually spotted the roots, pieces of wood that stuck to the water and still had signs of life to them. There, among the roots, were flowers, purple and pink, glowing in the light of their magic bubble. As they rolled closer, the flowers glowed brighter, clouds of pink and green puffing out of them before falling into the water proper. \n\nAs soon as they were close enough for the bubble to start deflecting the pollen, Sofia nodded. \n\n“That’s it.”\n\n“Oh, wow. That’s…very different.”\n\n“Mmm-hmm. A huge tree, ancient enough to be from way back when…and powerful enough to survive this long in a cave where it should have died.”\n\nLeo could only imagine how much magic must have been needed to keep a tree like this alive in the deep dark. It should have died, he supposed, died from pure starvation. It certainly hadn’t been able to make another one like itself. But instead, it had lived, slowly turning to stone, slowly losing bits and pieces of it until all that was left were the roots. It still drank, still contributed the pollen to the water – and that was probably what made the water magically arousing to his friends – but it could no longer support all of itself. \n\nHe stopped the bubble at the base of the roots, shaking his head in disbelief. He reached out, rubbing the edge of the bubble, almost wishing that he could reach out and stroke the tree itself. \n\n“You okay?” Sofia asked. \n\n“Huh? Oh, I’m fine. I’m just…sad for the tree. It feels like a sick person.”\n\n“Well, it’s probably been slowly dying for centuries,” Sofia admitted, shaking her head. “Something like this wouldn’t die quickly. It’s too…powerful for that. But it is dying. I think…I think it’s probably mostly dead. Even if we didn’t do anything, it would probably die in the next twenty years or so.”\n\n“Twenty years…when it probably lived for two thousand.”\n\n“Maybe longer.”\n\n“It’s…kind of beautiful.”\n\n“…It is, isn’t it?”\n\nThe two of them stared in silence at the massive plant. It felt like looking at the ancient history of the world. Leo didn’t know what was going through Sofia’s head, but the longer he stared, the more he wondered what the tree could have said if it was given a mouth. If it had a voice, what kind of stories could it tell? \n\nWhat would it say? Would it ask them to save it…or to do something else?\n\n“So…what do we do now?” Sofia asked. “You said that you had a plan if we could get to the plant, but –”\n\n“Oh, right, right!”\n\nLeo leaned against the bubble, rubbing his long sleeves together. He had just the idea for this one. A simple spell that would give them what they needed, then another spell once they were up top. Oh, and one more that would take care of the problem down here, and – \n\nHe stopped, counting on his fingers. \n\nOne spell to get a cut of the plant. \n\nOne spell to float the coat to him. \n\nOne spell to deal with the plant itself and make it no longer a threat. \n\nAnd one spell to deal with the cut of the plant once they were on the surface. \n\n“Okay. Four spells. Heeeeeere we go.”\n\nThe first spell shimmered in a silver line near one of the brighter, more intact roots. Leo flicked his arm to the side and the spell cut straight through the wood to the cavern floor. He flicked his hand up with the second spell and floated the root, its flowers, and the carefully-cut tip over to the bubble, floating it over the top and holding it there. \n\n“I – did you just – how sharp is that spell?” Sofia asked. \n\n“Oh, very. I think I can cut through most things with it.”\n\n“Where did you learn that? That’s – that’s like a fighting spell!”\n\n“That’d be mean. And painful. So I wouldn’t do it to a person.”\n\n“Leo –”\n\n“One second, gotta do the third spell.”\n\nThat one required more focus. He didn’t want to hurt the tree, but he had to do something to make sure that it didn’t affect the water any more than it had. If he turned the roots into stone, that would starve it of water and stop it from releasing any more pollen, but it would also be a long, cruel death for something that had lived for so long. \n\nSo, instead, he rolled their bubble back and cast his spell into the depths of the water near the tree. Instead of just starving the tree, he rolled the stone up from below. It wasn’t that hard; it was like a floatation spell, but instead of making something float beside him, he was pulling the loose pieces of the cave floor around the spring up and around the tree roots, blocking them off. It could still live for as long as it could in the corner, but it wasn’t going to poison the spring anymore. \n\n“…How do you keep surprising me with all this magic?” Sofia whispered. \n\n“What do you mean?”\n\n“You’re doing, like, three different types of magic all at once. That is not possible.”\n\n“Well, um, I am doing it, so, I guess it is possible?”\n\n“…When we find whatever made you, I am going to have so many questions…”\n\nHe shrugged. She kept making a big deal about whether something was possible or not, but as far as he was concerned, if he could do it, then it was possible, and that was the end of that. \n\nNow they had the root, and they had the tree made safe. No more problem with the spring water. The tree would keep going the way that it always had – maybe just a little bit less well without one root – and the town would be safe from being affected by it without their consent. The water would take a while to be normal again, he knew, but at least it wouldn’t be constantly making people horny. \n\n“So, one more question,” Sofia said as they rolled away from the contained tree. \n\n“What’s that?”\n\n“How are we getting out?”\n\n“Oh, that’s easy. Right over here.”\n\n“Where?”\n\n“Right about – here. Right here.”\n\nAs soon as they reached the middle of the cavern, the ‘floor’ under their feet started rumbling. Sofia’s eyes went wide. \n\n“Wait, wait, this is where – AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”\n\nThe cat screamed all the way up as the geyser went off again. Leo just giggled as they rode the bubble all the way to the top. \n\n#\n\nEmerald groaned as he slowly dragged himself out of sleep. There had been someone next to him at some point – he remembered a warm lump pressed against his side, something that made him feel more comfortable – but it wasn’t there anymore. He was…in bed? Yeah, he was in bed, a pillow under his head, and – \n\nAnd he was naked under the covers. He blinked, opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling for a moment. After shifting about ever so slightly, he confirmed it; he was definitely naked, and his dick was just hard enough to grind against the sheets when he moved. Emerald bit his lips, trying not to think about it, trying to go back to sleep – \n\n“Well, well, finally awake.”\n\n“Mmmph…”\n\n“You know, you and Ruby were doing some interesting things earlier,” the demon said, sitting beside him on the bed. \n\nEmerald’s eyes flew open. He stared up at the impish man, his mouth working soundlessly. Eventually, the demon chuckled. \n\n“Don’t worry. I’m not going to tell anyone. Hell, she barely believed it when I told her how it went.”\n\n“It…it actually…we –”\n\n“Fucked.”\n\n“…Oh g-god…”\n\n“Hey, you two looked like you had fun, at least.”\n\n“Mmmph…”\n\n“Frankly I’d almost forgotten that you said that you weren’t gay; you and I’ve had enough jerk-off sessions that I thought that you were just fine with cock. Then again, didn’t think that you’d –”\n\n“Can we s-stop talking about m-m-me almost f-fucking –”\n\n“Em, there’s no almost there. You [i]did.[/i] You both did.”\n\n“…”\n\nGrabbing his pillow, he hid under it. The out-of-sight cackling didn’t help things in the slightest. \n\n“Oh fuck, you really forgot about that?!”\n\n“N-not here! I’m n-n-not here!”\n\nAs he rolled onto his side, everything came crashing back down. Ruby on top of him, riding his cock and resting her hands on his shoulders. Ruby, pressed close to him, her pussy on his face and his cock in her mouth. Ruby, leaning back so that her butt was in his face, and then her doing the same to him as he leaned back against her. \n\nThey had been so close, so intimate, and – and it felt right and safe and – \n\n[i]Oh god, oh god, oh god…[/i]\n\nShe’d even teased him by calling him her sister when she was playing with his butt and he [i]liked[/i] it. Oh what was wrong with him? What the hell was wrong with him that he had gotten that into…that into…\n\n“Hey. Hey, Emerald. You good?”\n\n“Mmm-mmm!” he whimpered into his pillow.\n\n“Ah, fuck…”\n\nIt didn’t get much less awkward as the demon laid down behind him. Feeling an exposed dick rubbing against his butt, even through blankets, was so much worse than he needed right at that moment, but at the same time, he was getting a hug. And that hug helped. Not much, but a bit, enough to balance out the…the boner against his butt. \n\n“Look. It’s fine. Nobody knows about it except you, me, and Ruby, okay?” the demon muttered. “It’s not like Leo and the others have to find out. I’ll keep it a secret.”\n\n“W-why?”\n\n“Because I don’t want to fuck with you [i]that[/i] way. I mean, yeah, it’s fun to make you and Ruby squirm and blush, but that’s just having fun. Exposing you guys like that? That’s being a dick. And while I [i]have[/i] a dick – and I like dicks – that doesn’t mean I am one.”\n\n“Mmmph…”\n\n“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything. It’s going to be okay.”\n\nEmerald didn’t know how he’d gotten to a point in his life where he believed a demon wouldn’t hurt him, but…well, that was his life now. He slowly, shakily reached out from under the blanket and took the other guy’s hand, squeezing it and holding on for dear life. The demon gritted his teeth and huffed. \n\n“Keep forgetting how strong a grip you have. Heh. Guess that’s what happens when you’re not into sex unless you’re drugged into it.”\n\n“Mmmph…n-not the p-p-problem.”\n\n“I know. I know.”\n\nThe hug continued. He slowly drifted off again, sliding back into a deep sleep. At some point, he felt the hug stop and the bed shift, but by then, he was so out of it that he was able to keep sleeping with ease. \n\n#\n\nRuby was there with Caspar and Wes to meet Leo and Sofia when they left the mine. The heat between her legs and in her guts was gone, thankfully; she wasn’t sure that she could have met either of them with that still burning hot, particularly not after…\n\nShe shook her head. While she appreciated what the demon had done for them and the way that he kept it private, she didn’t want to think about what kind of damage she might have done in the long-term. Emerald was already traumatized enough, and while he certainly liked what they did together while they were high on the magic water, she doubted that he’d feel the same once he came down from it. \n\n[i]We’re going to have to have a long, long talk about this later…when we’re not surrounded by friends…[/i]\n\nBOOOM!\n\nThe geyser was much louder this time around. She curled her toes, bracing herself against the grass as the earth shook and the water started falling. They were just far enough away to avoid getting splattered, but even so, she had to fight the urge not to take a few steps back. \n\nA second boom echoed out as the bubble broke through the hole in the ground. This time, Caspar grabbed her and Wes around the waist and started running. Ruby only realized why a few seconds later as the bubble started falling right where they’d been standing. \n\nTHUMP!\n\nThe shockwave from the landing took Caspar right off his feet. He tossed them up, rolled, and before Ruby could even start to contemplate her brief flying lesson, she’d fallen right back into his arms. \n\nWes, on the other hand, faceplanted just over Caspar’s head. \n\n“Always da girl,” the rabbit muttered. \n\n“You’re sturdy; you can take it,” Caspar said, shaking his head as he got to his feet. “Are you alright, Miss Ruby?”\n\n“I’m fine. Thank you.”\n\nSmiling despite the shaky moment, she turned back to the bubble on the green just a few dozen feet away. It disappeared a second later, and a much-frazzled feline hit the ground, wrapping her arms around herself. Ruby bit back a laugh – it was hilarious, but a bit mean to just giggle at her after she went through that – and walked over as Leo turned around. \n\n“So, what’d you do?” she asked. \n\n“Oh, I got this!”\n\nHe held up a branch covered in pink and purple flowers. She cocked her head to the side. \n\n“And…why…”\n\n“Oh, because I think we need to keep part of the fun alive. Just…not happening on its own,” Leo said. “See, I thought if we brought part of this up, then whoever wants to be horny can just drink some of the water that this affects topside! And that way it’s not in the showers, in the drinks, and everywhere else. People can pick if they want it instead of it just happening.”\n\n“…That’s…a really good idea.”\n\nRuby still wasn’t sure if she had done the right thing by chugging a bunch of the water and making herself horny enough to fuck Emerald, but it had been the only thing she could think of at the time. And more to the point, it meant that she hadn’t felt bad about it, or gotten angry, or hurt. It meant that…\n\nWell, as embarrassing as the memory was, it meant that she didn’t feel [i]bad[/i] about it because the whole thing had felt [i]good.[/i] She just hoped that Emerald felt the same way about it…\n\n[i]Still can’t believe I kissed his butt, though,[/i] she thought, shaking her head. [i]I was so out of it…[/i]\n\n“I would suggest that you give the plant to Barbas, Mage Leo,” Caspar said, joining them. “I imagine that the innkeeper would know best how to manage it, and how to tell the rest of the town what’s happened.”\n\n“Thanks! Let’s go do that!”\n\n“I will carry Miss Sofia,” the frog said, shaking his head as he turned to the puffed-up ball of fluff. “Miss Sofia? If I may?”\n\nIt was like watching a black ball of soot nod. This time, Ruby couldn’t hold back from laughing. \n\n#\n\nAs they left Caraton, Leo took the lead once more. The compass was no longer pointing toward the bottom of the mine any longer, which meant that the tree was already fading as a magical source of power in the area. The magician was pretty sure that it would be harmless in less than a year if it was already losing that much strength for the compass to pick up on. \n\n[i]I wonder if the cults way back then were attracted to the tree’s power?[/i] Leo wondered as he walked through the town. [i]It was really, really strong, even now. What kind of power would it have had thousands of years ago, when it wasn’t dying? What kind of things would it do then?[/i]\n\nWell, he would never know, he supposed. It was dying, and even in the big library back at his tower, he’d never found a book that mentioned how to go back in time. Whatever it used to be was gone; all that remained was what it would be, and what it would become. \n\n“I bet you anything that Barbas starts making hyper-horny beer or something,” the demon said. “Man, I wish we were staying for that. Considering how horny everyone gets already, seeing what happens when it’s all concentrated would be [i]hot.[/i]”\n\n“We’re getting while the getting is good,” Sofia said, shaking her head. “I don’t want to get all wound up again. Or catapulted up another geyser.”\n\n“And I’m done getting my butt fucked by horny frogs!” Wes grunted. \n\n“I have apologized, Sir Wes. I did not mean –”\n\n“Yeah, you never mean it, but it still happens, doesn’t it?”\n\n“…I have noticed that you seem to enjoy it every time.”\n\n“…Shut up.”\n\nLeo giggled just as much as his demon friend did. Shaking his head, he turned to the compass once more, holding it out in front of him. \n\n[i]There’s a whole world out there, filled with all kinds of magic,[/i] he thought. [i]Maybe one day we’ll find the magic that made me, but until then, there’s so many more adventures to have, and…maybe there’ll be even more people to help at the next village we find. Maybe we can keep doing more good for them…all over the world…[/i]\n\n“Leo?”\n\nHe blinked as Ruby patted his shoulder. \n\n“Huh? Did I miss something?”\n\n“No. I just…wanted to say thanks. Thanks for trying to help people. To change things instead of stop them.”\n\n“Oh. Um. Well, I just try to do good things.”\n\n“Yeah. That’s more than most people. It’s one thing to stop bad things; it’s another to do good ones.”\n\n“What’s the difference?”\n\n“…You know, the fact that you don’t see a difference really says a lot.” She smiled. “Anyway. Where are we going next?”\n\nHe looked at the compass again. He turned left, right, then left again, holding it straight in front of him…then pointed straight ahead. \n\n“That way! To [i]adventure![/i]”\n\n“And hopefully a comfy bed,” Wes muttered. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]\n\nSummary: The final chapter of this segment of Leo’s adventures. What a ride. Hope you enjoy the wrap-up. \n\nTags: No Sex, Aftermath of Sex, Dragon, Cat, The Magician, Leo the Magician, Frog, Rabbit, Comedy, Magic, Series, Nudity, Bulge, Embarrassment, Probably Needs Therapy, Reassurance, Aphrodisiacs, Care, Fantasy, \n",
"writing_bbcode_parsed": "
The Village of Hedonists Part 7 For Ultilix By Draconicon
“So, let me get this straight,” Sofia said, her head cocked to the side. “You’re telling me that Ruby changed her mind?”
“Yep,” the demon said, chuckling. “Completely.”
“…How? Why?”
“Oh, and while we’re asking questions, where is she?” Leo asked, cocking his head to the side. “And Emerald? They both left and –”
“They’re fine, they’re fine,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “Just let ‘em rest. Trust me, they’re gonna need it.”
Leo saw everyone else exchange a look. He didn’t know what it meant, but he had a feeling it had something to do with sex. Or something. But with his friends, it was usually about sex. Ah, well.
“Then that means that Plan: Fix The Village And Keep Things Happy is a go!” he said, grinning. “Isn’t that a good name?”
“It’s…something,” his friend said, shaking his head. “You got an idea of how you’re gonna do that?”
“Oh, yeah. I just need to go down to the bottom of the mine and not get hit by the water on the way. I mean, it didn’t bother me last time – not much – but it does get all wet and dark. Kinda makes it hard to see down there.”
“And what are you going to do when you get to the culprit, Mage Leo?” Caspar asked from bed. “I imagine that it would be difficult for you to take care of that on your own.”
“Oh, no, it’ll be easy. I think. Well, I’m pretty sure.”
Another look. He didn’t think that they were worried about sex stuff this time. Eventually, Wes looked back at him.
“Look, I ain’t gonna say dat you gotta do dis a certain way, but…you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Nope!”
“Well, that solves that mystery,” Sofia muttered.
“But don’t worry. I can take care of everything if I can get through the water. So, uh…if anyone’s got any ideas for that, I’d really appreciate it.”
Nobody said anything this time. They didn’t have any looks to give, either. Definitely not about sex, then.
Leo looked from one of his friends to another. The demon shrugged as they made eye contact, so there was nothing there. Not surprising, now that he had a minute to think. He doubted that fire would work for long down there, particularly against that much water. It had worked really well on Ruby and on Caspar, but even a powerful demon probably couldn’t turn all that water into steam at once.
I wonder if that would make it like a horny gas, he thought, tapping his chin. That would be interesting. And different. And –
Realizing that he was starting to go off-track, he dragged his thoughts back where they belonged. If his first friend couldn’t help, then maybe –
Caspar got hit hard the first time, and he doesn’t have anything to fight the water or protect himself from it, he realized. Okay, so, not him, maybe –
No, Wes isn’t going to go down there in the first place. Even if he’s fast enough to dodge the water, he’s not going down there. Besides, he likes it when something makes him get horny instead of doing it himself. Maybe –
No, Emerald is unconscious, and Ruby’s already had a bad time. And they couldn’t really help, either.
Which left one person. He slowly turned his head toward Sofia, and the black cat groaned, facepalming in the process.
“It has to be me, doesn’t it?” she asked.
“Well, um, if you have a way to deal with the water –”
“I had an idea. I don’t like the idea, but I had one,” Sofia said, sighing. “Okay. Fine. You and me. We’ll figure it out.”
“Yay! Okay, Plan FTVAKTH, Go!”
“…Yeah. Sure. Okay.”
#
Sofia and Leo yelped as they plummeted from the surface through the geyser hole. Leo’s yelp was more excited, Sofia’s more fearful, but they were both loud enough to deafen each other until –
SPLASH!
The bubble around them kept the water on the other side, bobbing up and down around them and half-submerging itself into the magical pool under the town and mine. Leo wobbled from one boot to the other, struggling to keep his balance, while Sofia just tumbled over and landed flat on her butt.
“Ow…”
“You okay? I thought cats had good balance,” Leo said, still wobbling back and forth.
“We do, but not that good. I didn’t think we’d be falling into the water…”
“Well, um, Ruby was the one that led us through the mine last time, and we don’t have a dragon guide this time.”
“…Right.”
“And besides, now we know the bubble works, right?”
“For now,” the black cat muttered, slowly pushing herself back to her feet. “I mean, I’ll hold it together for as long as I can, but we are on a time limit. I can’t keep all those clothes turned into a bubble for long.”
They’d donated all their spare clothing to the spell and Sofia had turned it into a transparent bubble that kept everything bad on the other side. Then the rest of their friends had rolled the bubble up to the hill with the geyser and dropped them in.
And it was working. The bubble hadn’t let anything through so far, and even though they were bobbing up and down on the rippling lake of magical water, not even a drop had come through. Their shoes were dry, her fur was pristine, and they were completely okay.
“So, what now?” Sofia muttered. “I’m going to tell you right now that I can’t help that much while keeping the bubble going. If I concentrate too much on something else, it’ll turn back to clothes.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I can take care of it when we get there. All we have to do is find the thing that’s turning the water into a problem.”
“Annnnnd how do we do that?”
“We explore!”
“…Why did I get myself roped into this?”
“Push! Uh, that way!”
Having to keep walking and pushing the bubble along, Leo and Sofia began their exploration of the bottom of the mine. It was dim, but not quite dark; the light of the bubble gave them enough to see by, and the bubble was strong enough that even running into stalagmites or spikier bits of the rock walls didn’t cause them any harm. Once they figured out how to roll the bubble together, they were actually able to move at speed. They sped along the top of the water, Leo humming as they went.
This is so cool. Maybe we can do something like this on the rivers. Or maybe just ride down rivers on these things. That’d be so fun. Oh, but if we run into things –
Boing.
They did run into something, another stalagmite that was taller than some of the others, and stronger. Instead of breaking out of the way, it bounced them back, and both Sofia and Leo yelped as they went rolling back a dozen feet. It was a hard enough bump that they rolled around the inside of the bubble twice before it came to a halt, the two of them lying on the bottom with stars in their eyes.
Sofia groaned and Leo grunted as they pushed themselves to their feet. The cat shook her head, brushing herself off.
“I didn’t think we’d bounce that hard if we touched something,” she muttered.
“It felt like we were in a bouncy ball.”
“What’s a bouncy ball?”
“Oh, it’s, uh, it’s a spell that you can put on anything round that makes it bounce off of anything it touches with more force than you threw it. It’s really funny to watch bounce around a room for a while.”
“…Can you attach that spell to a ball of yarn?”
“Probably!”
“I’d like you to show me that one later…for research purposes.”
“Sure! But first, let’s find the thing.”
“Yes. The thing that makes stuff happen.”
“Yes! That thing!”
They got back to rolling the ball around. There were lots of interesting things at the bottom of the mine, from sparkling gems that looked almost as shiny as Ruby had after being drenched to a couple of old bits of writing that he didn’t understand. Sofia paused as they went by, staring at the chiseled letters, but didn’t try and stop the ball. When he asked if she understood it, she shook her head.
“It didn’t look like anything I’d seen in the library. Maybe the stories of old cults setting up shop here is more true than we thought; I don’t think that anyone knows how old some of that writing is.”
“Well, maybe we can stick around after we’re done down here.”
“Nooooo thanks,” Sofia said, shaking her head. “After the way that the water made my head go funny? I don’t want to be here longer than I have to. The only reason I’d want to stay one more night is –”
“Yeah?”
“Uh…nevermind.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Seriously. Nevermind.”
“I’ve already nevered my mind.”
“How do you – just keep rolling.”
“That’s what I’m doing!”
He went back to humming as they rolled along, exploring the various darkened corners of the bottom of the mine. Here and there they ran into interesting little scribbles on the wall, and more than once they found evidence of ancient altars, and even one cursed-looking crystal that was barely poking out from the surface of the water.
Every time they found something that looked important, they stopped and examined it. Either Leo or Sofia would then turn to the other and shake their heads, knowing that it wasn’t putting out the right kind of magic to do what the mine was doing, and then they’d move on.
Eventually, just as they were about to give up hope, they rounded a corner and –
“That…That is what stuff comes from…”
Leo had to agree. The massive petrified tree at the end of the long, wide tunnel loomed over the rest of the spring water like a dead god. Where flowers and leaves once hung were branches gray from age, each looking more like stone than living wood. Here and there, he could just barely make out old bits of wood and bark that hadn’t been petrified and changed, but it was mostly gone.
Mostly.
As his eyes trailed down the gnarled plant, he eventually spotted the roots, pieces of wood that stuck to the water and still had signs of life to them. There, among the roots, were flowers, purple and pink, glowing in the light of their magic bubble. As they rolled closer, the flowers glowed brighter, clouds of pink and green puffing out of them before falling into the water proper.
As soon as they were close enough for the bubble to start deflecting the pollen, Sofia nodded.
“That’s it.”
“Oh, wow. That’s…very different.”
“Mmm-hmm. A huge tree, ancient enough to be from way back when…and powerful enough to survive this long in a cave where it should have died.”
Leo could only imagine how much magic must have been needed to keep a tree like this alive in the deep dark. It should have died, he supposed, died from pure starvation. It certainly hadn’t been able to make another one like itself. But instead, it had lived, slowly turning to stone, slowly losing bits and pieces of it until all that was left were the roots. It still drank, still contributed the pollen to the water – and that was probably what made the water magically arousing to his friends – but it could no longer support all of itself.
He stopped the bubble at the base of the roots, shaking his head in disbelief. He reached out, rubbing the edge of the bubble, almost wishing that he could reach out and stroke the tree itself.
“You okay?” Sofia asked.
“Huh? Oh, I’m fine. I’m just…sad for the tree. It feels like a sick person.”
“Well, it’s probably been slowly dying for centuries,” Sofia admitted, shaking her head. “Something like this wouldn’t die quickly. It’s too…powerful for that. But it is dying. I think…I think it’s probably mostly dead. Even if we didn’t do anything, it would probably die in the next twenty years or so.”
“Twenty years…when it probably lived for two thousand.”
“Maybe longer.”
“It’s…kind of beautiful.”
“…It is, isn’t it?”
The two of them stared in silence at the massive plant. It felt like looking at the ancient history of the world. Leo didn’t know what was going through Sofia’s head, but the longer he stared, the more he wondered what the tree could have said if it was given a mouth. If it had a voice, what kind of stories could it tell?
What would it say? Would it ask them to save it…or to do something else?
“So…what do we do now?” Sofia asked. “You said that you had a plan if we could get to the plant, but –”
“Oh, right, right!”
Leo leaned against the bubble, rubbing his long sleeves together. He had just the idea for this one. A simple spell that would give them what they needed, then another spell once they were up top. Oh, and one more that would take care of the problem down here, and –
He stopped, counting on his fingers.
One spell to get a cut of the plant.
One spell to float the coat to him.
One spell to deal with the plant itself and make it no longer a threat.
And one spell to deal with the cut of the plant once they were on the surface.
“Okay. Four spells. Heeeeeere we go.”
The first spell shimmered in a silver line near one of the brighter, more intact roots. Leo flicked his arm to the side and the spell cut straight through the wood to the cavern floor. He flicked his hand up with the second spell and floated the root, its flowers, and the carefully-cut tip over to the bubble, floating it over the top and holding it there.
“I – did you just – how sharp is that spell?” Sofia asked.
“Oh, very. I think I can cut through most things with it.”
“Where did you learn that? That’s – that’s like a fighting spell!”
“That’d be mean. And painful. So I wouldn’t do it to a person.”
“Leo –”
“One second, gotta do the third spell.”
That one required more focus. He didn’t want to hurt the tree, but he had to do something to make sure that it didn’t affect the water any more than it had. If he turned the roots into stone, that would starve it of water and stop it from releasing any more pollen, but it would also be a long, cruel death for something that had lived for so long.
So, instead, he rolled their bubble back and cast his spell into the depths of the water near the tree. Instead of just starving the tree, he rolled the stone up from below. It wasn’t that hard; it was like a floatation spell, but instead of making something float beside him, he was pulling the loose pieces of the cave floor around the spring up and around the tree roots, blocking them off. It could still live for as long as it could in the corner, but it wasn’t going to poison the spring anymore.
“…How do you keep surprising me with all this magic?” Sofia whispered.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re doing, like, three different types of magic all at once. That is not possible.”
“Well, um, I am doing it, so, I guess it is possible?”
“…When we find whatever made you, I am going to have so many questions…”
He shrugged. She kept making a big deal about whether something was possible or not, but as far as he was concerned, if he could do it, then it was possible, and that was the end of that.
Now they had the root, and they had the tree made safe. No more problem with the spring water. The tree would keep going the way that it always had – maybe just a little bit less well without one root – and the town would be safe from being affected by it without their consent. The water would take a while to be normal again, he knew, but at least it wouldn’t be constantly making people horny.
“So, one more question,” Sofia said as they rolled away from the contained tree.
“What’s that?”
“How are we getting out?”
“Oh, that’s easy. Right over here.”
“Where?”
“Right about – here. Right here.”
As soon as they reached the middle of the cavern, the ‘floor’ under their feet started rumbling. Sofia’s eyes went wide.
“Wait, wait, this is where – AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
The cat screamed all the way up as the geyser went off again. Leo just giggled as they rode the bubble all the way to the top.
#
Emerald groaned as he slowly dragged himself out of sleep. There had been someone next to him at some point – he remembered a warm lump pressed against his side, something that made him feel more comfortable – but it wasn’t there anymore. He was…in bed? Yeah, he was in bed, a pillow under his head, and –
And he was naked under the covers. He blinked, opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling for a moment. After shifting about ever so slightly, he confirmed it; he was definitely naked, and his dick was just hard enough to grind against the sheets when he moved. Emerald bit his lips, trying not to think about it, trying to go back to sleep –
“Well, well, finally awake.”
“Mmmph…”
“You know, you and Ruby were doing some interesting things earlier,” the demon said, sitting beside him on the bed.
Emerald’s eyes flew open. He stared up at the impish man, his mouth working soundlessly. Eventually, the demon chuckled.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to tell anyone. Hell, she barely believed it when I told her how it went.”
“It…it actually…we –”
“Fucked.”
“…Oh g-god…”
“Hey, you two looked like you had fun, at least.”
“Mmmph…”
“Frankly I’d almost forgotten that you said that you weren’t gay; you and I’ve had enough jerk-off sessions that I thought that you were just fine with cock. Then again, didn’t think that you’d –”
“Can we s-stop talking about m-m-me almost f-fucking –”
“Em, there’s no almost there. You did. You both did.”
“…”
Grabbing his pillow, he hid under it. The out-of-sight cackling didn’t help things in the slightest.
“Oh fuck, you really forgot about that?!”
“N-not here! I’m n-n-not here!”
As he rolled onto his side, everything came crashing back down. Ruby on top of him, riding his cock and resting her hands on his shoulders. Ruby, pressed close to him, her pussy on his face and his cock in her mouth. Ruby, leaning back so that her butt was in his face, and then her doing the same to him as he leaned back against her.
They had been so close, so intimate, and – and it felt right and safe and –
Oh god, oh god, oh god…
She’d even teased him by calling him her sister when she was playing with his butt and he liked it. Oh what was wrong with him? What the hell was wrong with him that he had gotten that into…that into…
“Hey. Hey, Emerald. You good?”
“Mmm-mmm!” he whimpered into his pillow.
“Ah, fuck…”
It didn’t get much less awkward as the demon laid down behind him. Feeling an exposed dick rubbing against his butt, even through blankets, was so much worse than he needed right at that moment, but at the same time, he was getting a hug. And that hug helped. Not much, but a bit, enough to balance out the…the boner against his butt.
“Look. It’s fine. Nobody knows about it except you, me, and Ruby, okay?” the demon muttered. “It’s not like Leo and the others have to find out. I’ll keep it a secret.”
“W-why?”
“Because I don’t want to fuck with you that way. I mean, yeah, it’s fun to make you and Ruby squirm and blush, but that’s just having fun. Exposing you guys like that? That’s being a dick. And while I have a dick – and I like dicks – that doesn’t mean I am one.”
“Mmmph…”
“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything. It’s going to be okay.”
Emerald didn’t know how he’d gotten to a point in his life where he believed a demon wouldn’t hurt him, but…well, that was his life now. He slowly, shakily reached out from under the blanket and took the other guy’s hand, squeezing it and holding on for dear life. The demon gritted his teeth and huffed.
“Keep forgetting how strong a grip you have. Heh. Guess that’s what happens when you’re not into sex unless you’re drugged into it.”
“Mmmph…n-not the p-p-problem.”
“I know. I know.”
The hug continued. He slowly drifted off again, sliding back into a deep sleep. At some point, he felt the hug stop and the bed shift, but by then, he was so out of it that he was able to keep sleeping with ease.
#
Ruby was there with Caspar and Wes to meet Leo and Sofia when they left the mine. The heat between her legs and in her guts was gone, thankfully; she wasn’t sure that she could have met either of them with that still burning hot, particularly not after…
She shook her head. While she appreciated what the demon had done for them and the way that he kept it private, she didn’t want to think about what kind of damage she might have done in the long-term. Emerald was already traumatized enough, and while he certainly liked what they did together while they were high on the magic water, she doubted that he’d feel the same once he came down from it.
We’re going to have to have a long, long talk about this later…when we’re not surrounded by friends…
BOOOM!
The geyser was much louder this time around. She curled her toes, bracing herself against the grass as the earth shook and the water started falling. They were just far enough away to avoid getting splattered, but even so, she had to fight the urge not to take a few steps back.
A second boom echoed out as the bubble broke through the hole in the ground. This time, Caspar grabbed her and Wes around the waist and started running. Ruby only realized why a few seconds later as the bubble started falling right where they’d been standing.
THUMP!
The shockwave from the landing took Caspar right off his feet. He tossed them up, rolled, and before Ruby could even start to contemplate her brief flying lesson, she’d fallen right back into his arms.
Wes, on the other hand, faceplanted just over Caspar’s head.
“Always da girl,” the rabbit muttered.
“You’re sturdy; you can take it,” Caspar said, shaking his head as he got to his feet. “Are you alright, Miss Ruby?”
“I’m fine. Thank you.”
Smiling despite the shaky moment, she turned back to the bubble on the green just a few dozen feet away. It disappeared a second later, and a much-frazzled feline hit the ground, wrapping her arms around herself. Ruby bit back a laugh – it was hilarious, but a bit mean to just giggle at her after she went through that – and walked over as Leo turned around.
“So, what’d you do?” she asked.
“Oh, I got this!”
He held up a branch covered in pink and purple flowers. She cocked her head to the side.
“And…why…”
“Oh, because I think we need to keep part of the fun alive. Just…not happening on its own,” Leo said. “See, I thought if we brought part of this up, then whoever wants to be horny can just drink some of the water that this affects topside! And that way it’s not in the showers, in the drinks, and everywhere else. People can pick if they want it instead of it just happening.”
“…That’s…a really good idea.”
Ruby still wasn’t sure if she had done the right thing by chugging a bunch of the water and making herself horny enough to fuck Emerald, but it had been the only thing she could think of at the time. And more to the point, it meant that she hadn’t felt bad about it, or gotten angry, or hurt. It meant that…
Well, as embarrassing as the memory was, it meant that she didn’t feel bad about it because the whole thing had felt good. She just hoped that Emerald felt the same way about it…
Still can’t believe I kissed his butt, though, she thought, shaking her head. I was so out of it…
“I would suggest that you give the plant to Barbas, Mage Leo,” Caspar said, joining them. “I imagine that the innkeeper would know best how to manage it, and how to tell the rest of the town what’s happened.”
“Thanks! Let’s go do that!”
“I will carry Miss Sofia,” the frog said, shaking his head as he turned to the puffed-up ball of fluff. “Miss Sofia? If I may?”
It was like watching a black ball of soot nod. This time, Ruby couldn’t hold back from laughing.
#
As they left Caraton, Leo took the lead once more. The compass was no longer pointing toward the bottom of the mine any longer, which meant that the tree was already fading as a magical source of power in the area. The magician was pretty sure that it would be harmless in less than a year if it was already losing that much strength for the compass to pick up on.
I wonder if the cults way back then were attracted to the tree’s power? Leo wondered as he walked through the town. It was really, really strong, even now. What kind of power would it have had thousands of years ago, when it wasn’t dying? What kind of things would it do then?
Well, he would never know, he supposed. It was dying, and even in the big library back at his tower, he’d never found a book that mentioned how to go back in time. Whatever it used to be was gone; all that remained was what it would be, and what it would become.
“I bet you anything that Barbas starts making hyper-horny beer or something,” the demon said. “Man, I wish we were staying for that. Considering how horny everyone gets already, seeing what happens when it’s all concentrated would be hot.”
“We’re getting while the getting is good,” Sofia said, shaking her head. “I don’t want to get all wound up again. Or catapulted up another geyser.”
“And I’m done getting my butt fucked by horny frogs!” Wes grunted.
“I have apologized, Sir Wes. I did not mean –”
“Yeah, you never mean it, but it still happens, doesn’t it?”
“…I have noticed that you seem to enjoy it every time.”
“…Shut up.”
Leo giggled just as much as his demon friend did. Shaking his head, he turned to the compass once more, holding it out in front of him.
There’s a whole world out there, filled with all kinds of magic, he thought. Maybe one day we’ll find the magic that made me, but until then, there’s so many more adventures to have, and…maybe there’ll be even more people to help at the next village we find. Maybe we can keep doing more good for them…all over the world…
“Leo?”
He blinked as Ruby patted his shoulder.
“Huh? Did I miss something?”
“No. I just…wanted to say thanks. Thanks for trying to help people. To change things instead of stop them.”
“Oh. Um. Well, I just try to do good things.”
“Yeah. That’s more than most people. It’s one thing to stop bad things; it’s another to do good ones.”
“What’s the difference?”
“…You know, the fact that you don’t see a difference really says a lot.” She smiled. “Anyway. Where are we going next?”
He looked at the compass again. He turned left, right, then left again, holding it straight in front of him…then pointed straight ahead.
“That way! To adventure!”
“And hopefully a comfy bed,” Wes muttered.
The End
Summary: The final chapter of this segment of Leo’s adventures. What a ride. Hope you enjoy the wrap-up.
Tags: No Sex, Aftermath of Sex, Dragon, Cat, The Magician, Leo the Magician, Frog, Rabbit, Comedy, Magic, Series, Nudity, Bulge, Embarrassment, Probably Needs Therapy, Reassurance, Aphrodisiacs, Care, Fantasy, ",
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