== VORTEX QUEST 5-13 ==
== FRIEND OF A FRIEND ==
The room was getting toasty. Sweat on his skin. The shuffling and rattling of his friends. An insatiable need to fuck and cum. The tight green collar around his neck that stole all divine strength.
He tuned it out. Mind clear. Breath steady.
Goro would have preferred to go out with a bang but he knew many great warriors died with a whimper and he tried to make peace with that.
When his godly power had still been a mere self-indulgent fantasy, he'd figured a dumb and pathetic death was par for the berserker's course. Falling into a ditch during a chase, getting a wound infected, or, in his case, rotting in prison.
He was trying to keep his mind empty, sitting in meditation stance. Usually what interrupted him was the inhuman level of horniness, but he could let that wash over him. What *did* disturb him was the sight of the Hell-Crown.
That thorny ring of seven Daemon heads, looking disgusting and terrifying in the flickering light of the fire-wall opposite their cell. A simple leg-up and he could have torn it to shreds. If only they could break the bars.
Chay wasn't giving up.
He'd used the minor flickers of void that Hole was still able to produce to cut tiny slices into the bars. Marcus had used his chakram as a mundane file.
That's when they had found out the iron bars regenerated.
They'd also tried damaging Goro's collar to no avail. While the other demigods' magic was stuck within them and got sucked into the Hell-Crown if they managed to get any out, Goro's magic got fed to the crown directly.
Chay speculated that the powerlifter was simply dangerous enough to warrant special attention. A lovely compliment from their jailor.
So there was nothing left to do for the four naked hunks but to sweat and finger each other.
"Any idea what's gonna happen to earth?" Marcus asked.
Xane hummed. "They'll be fine. One vortex is manageable. Once they've figured out what makes people disappear, they'll just, I dunno, nuke the teleport site."
"Still gonna suck for everyone kidnapped."
Chay shrugged. "Maybe the sky fuckers will send more demigods. I had the impression we're all they can get down here but if the demons break through to earth, maybe heaven can empower people there."
"Are we the first group that failed?" Marcus asked.
Chay hummed. "I'm guessing no but abyssal records of these events are shoddy. And I think the sky fuckers would directly intervene at a high cost. I have a theory that angels- Did you feel that?"
"Uh, no?" Marcus made. "What?"
Goro held his breath and laid a palm on the ground.
"Tremors," he said. "Increasing."
Chay nodded. "I'd say 'get ready' but I have no clue what for." He closed his fist around the black knuckles.
Their aegises briefly flared up.
A demon moving by the obelisk? Or a demon *present* but the holy radiance was getting eaten by the crown?
Tremors. Undeniable. Now griping the building.
The pantheon rose to their feet.
The berserker stretched his aching shoulders. He had sat wrong. He had forgotten that was even a thing.
Goro hated being so weak. If he got his powers back, he'd do everything to never lose them again.
The sound of rough rocks rubbing on each other. Heavier tremors.
"If this is the end," Xane said, "I love you all."
"Same bro," Marcus said, starting to cry through a forced smile. "I wish I could have sucked all your dicks at least once."
The obelisk's vaulting walls broke. A huge hole got torn into the room by something black and brown, rubbing the stone away like it was merely clumps of sand.
The Fire Phantasm flickered out of the way, retreating into its corner.
"Avert your gaze," shouted a voice outside. "Looking at the Grindhorror can turn your eyes to dust."
Goro looked down, his heart going fast. He wanted to be strong again, an unstoppable killing machine, able to protect the three men he loved.
