== VORTEX QUEST 4-9 ==
== WHERE PATHS DIVERGE ==
Xane had subtly fallen back on their walk, until he remembered there was no need for subtlety. He stayed a few steps behind to openly gawk at the four asses up ahead. After basically forgetting he had a dick, turning gay had been what reminded him.
His mage-tongue flicked over -- and into - each hole in turn, provoking various reactions but no protests.
He was the only demigod still wearing a white jockstrap, having fixed it up before leaving the spire. He also 'wore' an illusory see-through rainbow cape, fluttering around him. And he had stopped fighting his limp wrists. If he was going to spend a few days gay, he might as well lean into it.
Assuming Diego was right with it lasting 'a few days'.
Emotionally, the toll was tougher. Was it possible to be in love with four guys at once, even Diego? Or maybe it was just abyss-strength lust. Either way it made him go insane with desire.
Diego had his old belt and loincloth flung over his shoulder since it was way too big on a human frame. "I still have your nectar buds, by the way," the ex-devil said. "I kind of stole those from you, to... well, I wanted to control you, keep you loyal."
"Gimmi," Marcus said. "Celebratory brain fucking, please."
"Have you noticed," Goro said, "that we're craving nectar a lot less? Normally we'd be on our way to the nearest champion for a drink by this point."
"True," Chay said. "I was afraid we'd need more and more until we'd be recklessly hunting demon dick to drain but seems like our addiction deteriorated."
"It comes and goes," Diego said, plucking the bud bag from his belt. "Every few Ring Cycles I get the cravings again and work for my buddies in the world tree to get nectar but right now I'm fine."
"Should we refrain?" Goro asked.
"*You* can," Marcus said. "Even if it's just a nice to have now it's a *very* nice to have."
The four pantheon members quickly accepted a golden sphere up the ass and walked with gold leaking holes for a pleasant assault on the mind, flexing and rolling their bodies with moans as they continued down the cave.
Xane found the visions less brutally intrusive, now that he had dick on the mind at all points anyway. As long as he didn't think about a return to earth, it was a shame his flip would wear off.
"Oh," Diego made. "Something else I was going to use to control you... The supercharge orbs. Maybe you should have those. I used one to kill the vortex, actually. Four left."
The fifth demigod transferred the angelic pouch band to Chay.
With the logistics out of the way and the nectar brain fuck wearing off, they arrived in the black jungle where the rootpath had spit them out.
While Diego chanted, Xane let his tongue jump between his friends' asses again.
A green stem rose from the undergrowth, a walnut-looking thing where the flower's bud should have been. Under Diego's magic words, the nut grew exponentially, crushing its own stem.
What remained was a nutshell as big as a king sized bed, the upper half parting in folds to reveal an empty interior.
"Is this going to be another wild ride?" Goro asked.
Marcus gave him a slap on the ass. "Feeling queasy all of the sudden, big guy?"
The mania-warrior held his long hair in a tail. "Just going to look for some vine to tie it back. Can't stand it slipping into my mouth."
Marcus let his chakram shrink to coin size. "Bend down and I'll take care of that."
While Goro got a haircut, Xane made his mage-hand snap in front of Chay's eyes. "Earth to Major Chay. I mean, Abyss to Maj- Nevermind. What's eating you?"
Chay sighed. "On that topic, can you keep eating my ass, it's keeping the nectar-feeling going whe-" -- Xane's invisible tone and lips complied -- "Oh yeah, like that thanks."
Xane felt like cuddling the leader but held himself back. "No problem. Bend over and you get the real thing."
"Hehe, would love to later. I remember a Xane who was reluctant to use his magic like that."
The thaum-mage spread his muscle-bulging arms. "Well, for now I'm upgraded. Enjoy it while it lasts. So, what has you staring off into space like that?"
"Just thinking about the future. We should touch base. But at an actual base, not in the middle of..." He glanced at the dark foliage. Something far behind them was making tree tops rustle. "Time to hop in everybody."
Goro was bald again, healing from a dozen tiny cuts.
"Hey Chay," Marcus said. "You've been way too consistent with that style. Even this curmudgeon here is experimenting. Try something new?"
Chay rubbed his black buzz cut. "Not now."
"Not ever?" Marcus said with a teasing brow-raise and chakram twirl.
Chay only hummed. "Just get into the nutshell."
With a devil it would have been quite a squeeze, but five humans, no matter how buff, had enough space to sit comfortably, skin on skin, in the massive walnut.
Xane let his motes collect on his jockstrap like a decorative belt. "So it this thing going to take off or- Whoa."
Under strong vibrations, the shell buried into the ground, sinking slowly, then faster until it practically plummeted through soft dirt. Xane put a gently shining orb in the middle.
The nutshell-drill broke through a rock layer and hit water. An underground river. The rollercoaster started.
Xane had been wild water rafting once and had felt pretty good about it -- adventurous, badass, manly. Now he noticed how much he had still felt in control despite having been at the mercy of the currents. The nutshell rotated, swooshed side to side and even *jumped* in the darkness.
Marcus and Diego were holding onto each other, screaming for joy, while Goro's, Chay's and Xane's legs all naturally entwined to keep them more firmly in the 'boat'.
"Either the rootpath," Chay shouted, "makes the shell avoid all obstacles, or this river is incredibly wide!"
"Why," Xane shouted back, "did you have to remind me there are obstacles!?"
At last a ceiling came into view. The space was narrowing. At the same time, the river picked up speed. As the ceiling drew too close for comfort, the rootpath magic made it retract.
Blinding light hit Xane's eyes and he converted his shining orb into shades right atop his nose.
The walnut was shooting from Mockery's wall, rapidly approaching a steep drop, half a mile above the ground. Rationally, Xane knew their magic let them fly. Still, he grabbed onto the shell and Goro's pecs.
They went over, fell, fell some more, and hit a thick vine. Their vehicle spun as it raced along the flexible track, rushing from vine to vine over the sparse jungle groves of a landscape littered with the crumbling ruins of a facsimile of an oriental human town.
