Written Wonderland

The goddess didn't fight Evan on lifting his head, which he was grateful for, though of course looking straight at the bark of the tree hardly gave him the satisfaction he was craving. The goddess moved his hand to stroke across the shoulder his asymmetric shirt left open to the air, and he shuddered, feelings of pride and humility swirling together as he recalled touching himself at the summoning, and was reminded again of the continued caress of the air on his skin. The goddess then brought his hand to the tree's trunk, and a gasp escaped his lips. The rough texture of the bark was at once harsh and pleasant, and Evan finally felt for a moment that he saw the tree - or, what was within it, maybe? What it was connected to? His free hand reached up to caress against his cheek in an echo of recognition. The bark softened and undulated beneath his touch, caressing and welcoming him, and a silent sensation of gratitude moved from Evan's heart through his hand, his eyes wet with emotion.

We'll need to climb, the goddess said, and Evan looked at the tree with fresh eyes, shaking off the burgeoning memory he didn't care to revisit, and began calculating what kind of climb it would be. He only had half a moment to worry about how he'd reach the lowest branches, when the tree itself shifted, offering a couple footholds in its trunk leading to branches that lowered to accommodate him. Evan swallowed, whatever uncertainty he felt cowed by the compulsion the goddess pulsed through him, his muscles already clenching and releasing in eager anticipation of the exertion to come.

Climb until you see moonlight through the leaves, the goddess instructed gently, and Evan nodded as he pushed himself to his feet. He stood still for one deep breath and languorous exhale, beholding the tree and letting it behold him before he began to climb.

The bark shifted textures as he went, harsh enough to mark his palms as he hoisted his weight, but always easing into a caress. As he ascended into the branches, they swayed just enough beneath him to flicker fear through his gut, reminding him that the higher he went, the more he was placing his life in the tree's care. It didn't seem interested in throwing him off balance, though; at worst, it occasionally slowed his progress as branches converged together, caressing his form and sometimes nearly hugging him against the trunk, just the clothing the goddess had conjured between his entire body and its bark. It sent throbs of desire through him alongside flares of instinctive panic; this was a far more claustrophobic experience than he would have anticipated, and he didn't like those moments of feeling trapped. It seemed like the tree had a decent sense of when that fear and discomfort flared past the pleasure of its embrace, though, as it never encumbered him long enough to spark any true panic. Not that it always made moving on easy, but the branches would part enough for him to wriggle his way through, and then they would ease up for a time, letting him ascend and revel in the satisfying progression of the climb.

He was honestly in quite the flow state when shimmers of light began to flicker through the leaves, and it took him a moment to realize the lighting was changing. He almost didn't want to stop, and he did ascend a couple branches more than necessary, but he caught himself and came to a stop. His body breathed heavily, the soreness in his muscles only then entering his awareness as his body took the opportunity to rest. Evan let himself lean against the tree as he caught his breath, and turned his attention inward again, curious what the goddess had in mind next.

The goddess thoroughly enjoyed being a passenger within Evan's body as he began ascending the tree, flitting between pride and grace in his balance and momentary panic when the tree responded to him. Its branches mirrored the goddess' own desire for the man, bending and swaying toward him and even briefly preventing him from moving on when two or more branches caressed him from opposite directions. But, the tree hardly stopped moving, aiding Evan's ascension overall.

Dehaljadrun was thoroughly satisfied by the ache building in Evan's muscles and his sheen of sweat, impressed that he refused to stop for more than what the tree demanded of him. She shivered within him every time the bark touched his skin or the smooth scale-like texture of the clothing she had made him.

Before long, the light changed, and the moonlight glinted through the leaves. Evan kept climbing over a few more branches, and the goddess felt the urge to stop him, but he did it himself before she could say anything.

He leaned against the tree, its bark throbbing with pleasure in its caress of his backside, as he inwardly asked the goddess for further direction. She listened to Evan's heavy breathing and enjoyed the ways his chest rose and fell before saying, Lay out the cloak on one of the branches that catches the moonlight. The tree will do the rest.

Once that was done and Evan had gathered his balance, another branch swung hard and fast toward him to knock him off his feet and pin him to the trunk of the tree. Meanwhile, the voice of the goddess grew faint as she began separating from him, slipping out of his body through his sweat.

In her reopened awareness, the goddess watched while, against Evan's back, the bark softened and grew wet with a slick substance, pulling Evan into a hole that had begun to appear in the depression around his body. Pushing him through the dark opening with the branch that had him pinned, the tree opened to receive Evan, and he fell back onto a slick, dark plane within the tree. There was nothing for him to grab for purchase as he slid down and down and down, falling at last into a glowing red pool at the bottom. Though the pool was slightly deeper than Evan was tall, the liquid kept him afloat enough to breathe, churning below him and pushing gently into the crevasses of his body. The liquid was cool and made Evan's skin tingle pleasantly.

The thick liquid--at once the tree and the goddess together--swirled around Evan, holding him and entering him and accepting him into an embrace. The liquid demanded his attention everywhere in his body at once.

A humming satisfaction emanated from the cavernous space inside of the tree and with it, whispers of the goddess saying Evan's name, sweetly, a caress in and of itself.

((OOC: If Evan is amicable, this may go on for some time, up to and including orgasm. There is a ledge to one side of the pool that Evan can see if he wants out. The liquid won't fight him.))

Lay out the cloak on one of the branches that catches the moonlight, the goddess instructed. The tree will do the rest.

Curiosity flared, and for a moment Evan considered asking more questions about what that would do--about what they were even doing here, come to think of it. A flare of embarrassment colored his cheeks as he realized just how far he'd traveled and how much he'd done in blind obedience today, and with it came the impulse to disobey, or at least stall until he understood more. But, the impulse wasn't as strong as the desire to simply see what would happen next. He trusted the goddess, and it just didn't feel right to stall artificially. So, he pushed past the embarrassment, and fished the cloak out from within the satchel he carried, his eyes looking at the branches around him to assess the best spot.

He barely had time to lay the cloak out and stand back upright before one of the tree's branches slammed into him. True panic flashed through his body as he lost his footing, though he had a moment to catch his bearings as it pinned him against the trunk. He coughed and caught his breath, groaning softly through the echoes of pain from the impact, and began to assess if he could wriggle free. The bark behind him did its usual trick of scuffing his skin with its texture but then softening, caressing against him and this time growing slick in a way that made Evan's back shudder.

Then, he yelped, realizing all at once that he was falling back into the tree, the bark not only slick but opening. His heart leapt into his throat as the branch pushed him over and he stumbled onto some kind of surface inside the tree. He grasped for purchase there, but everything was slick, and he tumbled down, involuntarily calling the goddess' name as he scrambled and fell, his body finally in full panic - especially when he realized that she wasn't within him any longer.

He finally tumbled into a glowing red pool, thankfully cushioning his fall. He'd certainly have some scuffs and bruises, but he was in tact, and the feeling of the buoyant liquid soothed him as it enveloped his body but held him where he could breathe. Elated tingles cascaded through him as the liquid flowed and pressed against him, slipping thrillingly beneath the clothing the goddess had conjured to caress his skin. Evan collected himself enough to gauge his surroundings, though there wasn't much to gauge - he was inside the dark hollow of the tree, floating in this mysterious pool. He briefly worried about feeling trapped, but, surely the goddess had no intention of abandoning him here. In fact, though she felt just out of reach in some way, he was sure she was watching.

The liquid found his length and he moaned loudly, relinquishing thoughts of escape and instead sinking into just how fucking good this felt. Save some for the tree, the goddess' words echoed in his mind, and Evan welcomed the liquid of the pool. It flowed into his opening, sending shudders through his body as it seemed to coalesce within him, stroking him from inside. He spread his arms and relaxed on the pool's surface, closing his eyes and allowing his body to undulate as it wished with the liquid and the tingles and chills and shudders it sent through him. He even let himself begin to cry, overcome with this feeling of lightness and loving caresses as he could swear he heard his name in the goddess' voice echoing through the cavern. He began to chant hers, and in the same moment that an impulse arose to scratch at his skin, the liquid somehow managed to do it for him, pulling a delighted groan through his throat before he finished his chant and started another.

He was nervous that he still didn't understand what the tree was to her, but he tried to trust what he had gleaned, and he grabbed hold of the awe he had felt from her when he'd asked. He echoed gratitude toward the tree - for whatever it had done for the goddess; for how it touched him now; for how it or something like it had helped keep him alive at one of his lowest points. The liquid mimicked the rough bark against his skin, scraping and pulling out more groans from his body before softening once more to caresses.

He relished the cascade of textures and motions the liquid offered to him, and, trusting it to be the gift the goddess had in mind, Evan let himself eagerly chase pleasure with the liquid, with the sweetly echoing cavern around him, with the goddess' ethereal whispering presence, and he shuddered out his climax in the pool. The liquid seemed to hungrily lap at his length, down his back, inside of him, coaxing every last drop from him it could get. He started to get dizzy, his throat scratching from the loud, persistent groans that the liquid pulled from him. It just kept stroking and scraping and undulating, insatiable, but just when Evan started to pry his eyes open to look for an exit again, it relented, slowing its motions and soothing him with soft caresses while he caught his breath.

He expanded his curiosity toward the goddess, insofar as she seemed separate from the tree. Was this what they had come for? Was it complete? Had he done well? What should he do next? But as those questions formed in his mind, the pool swirled around him again, tugging his attention back into it for more. Evan fought against it just long enough to feel confident that the goddess was not beckoning him away, and he relinquished himself to the pool again, moaning and gasping as it found just the places to touch to excite him again, making him feel like his body had everything in the world to offer.

The pool brought him to climax again, and he might have let it a third time, but he was starting to get anxious. He wasn't sure if the river was a danger here, but regardless, this had to end at some point, and absent a particular goal to get to, it might as well be now. He looked around in earnest for an exit again as he once more caught his breath, and in the red glow of the pool, he finally made out a ledge, and the liquid didn't stop him from beginning to swim his way over -- though his muscles certainly did groan to be put to use again for something other than pure pleasure. He sloughed himself onto the ledge to rest, some parts devastated to leave the liquid, and he felt for the goddess again, echoing his questions from before, hoping for at least some kind of answer.

Having fallen with Evan down to the pool, the goddess relished spreading out her awareness into the fullness of the fluid around them. After spending a considerable amount of time dulled by Evan's senses, the goddess' consciousness leapt and flowed, almost playful in the ways she interacted with Evan in the liquid. With her own desires and the desires of the pool and those of the tree all so aligned, the goddess allowed a larger merger with the whole of the tree at the center of her realm, the whole of the land that made up so much of who she was as a god. Still, she stayed centered around Evan and the experience the fluid gave him as it lapped up his desires and became exactly what he wanted it to be.

She pulled her awareness back somewhat when Evan started moaning, giving himself over to the pleasure of it all just the way she hoped he would. Gods, he was perfect. She couldn't imagine that Evan had ever had an experience even remotely like this, but he so readily jumped headfirst into bliss no matter where it came from.

He chanted her name as the liquid flowed under his clothing and inside every hole it could find. When he wanted scratches and scrapes, the liquid mimicked the bark of the tree and crashed against his skin. It was a beautiful sight to watch and be part of. The tree pulsed with happiness in her awareness, and the goddess felt genuine glee. It had been so long since the goddess had anything more than memories to offer the tree.

She felt Evan's gratitude for the tree--for her--like a prayer, and had she had eyes, she might have cried. Instead, the movements of the liquid only intensified. As Evan climaxed in the pool, every part of the fluid, the tree, the realm, pulled in a little closer to Evan in its hunger, accepting his gift.

In the distance, the goddess felt some of the burned trees grow new leaves. She felt the expansion of her vineyard. She felt the mountains in the realm of the djinn stand a little taller. The oceans at the edge of her cliffs crashed playfully.

When Evan began to become oversensitized from all the attention, the fluid relented for a moment. The goddess heard Evan question what was next and look for her, but she decided to stay silent. Soon, the liquid around Evan pulled his attention away again, responding to his every thought and desire in gratitude and excitement even before he fully thought of it himself.

Finally, after climaxing again, Evan started to move toward a ledge in the cavernous belly of the tree. The thick fluid of the tree was difficult to move through but still amenable to Evan's choice to leave.

As Evan slumped, spent, onto the ledge, the goddess felt a tug to return to her own corporeal form, the mist coalescing near Evan until she manifested in her human shape again, nude and nestled against Evan's wet body. She gently stroked from his bare shoulder down toward his hip, reaching to touch the place where he had marked himself with the sword he had manifested. They already had so much history together after these four nights. It was going to be difficult to give him up after all this. The realm wasn't going to want him to leave. But, she had promised, on several occasions now, not to trap him here.

With a light sigh, she ruffled Evan's hair, shaking some of the fluid off that still clung to him in hopes of more play.

Whatever had just transpired was at least part of what made her divine, and she was not stupid enough to deny her nature, but she still felt... strange about the arrangement. She was not and would never be self-sufficient, but maybe no god truly could be. The goddess sighed again and sat up, smiling quietly at Evan in the dim red light where he lay on the ground and caressed his thigh. And, finally, she decided she was tired of his wet clothes and waved her hands to release their magic back into the air.

Much to Evan's relief and delight, the goddess did not leave him alone on the ledge for long. He felt her body seem to coalesce beside his own, her warmth blooming against his skin as her hand caressed down his shoulder. He sighed with deep contentment, all but nuzzling against the goddess as he basked in the spent bliss the pool had given him, and the reassurance that her quiet but tangible presence offered.

He tensed only subtly, only briefly, when the goddess' hand touched his side--where he now had not one scar, but two. He relaxed quickly, warmth nearly exploding from the spot as he released his instinctive defensiveness there, a wide smile brightening his face. For once, even the scar he had covered with a tattoo felt almost worth celebrating; it had made him capable of helping her, had helped to bring him here, to this very moment of bliss and belonging. And now he had another, forged with the goddess herself, marking his skin and the dragon inked into it. Affection radiated from his chest, happiness nearly bubbling from his skin.

The goddess ruffled his hair, and Evan couldn't help a soft, light-hearted chuckle--giggle, almost. The goddess sat up, and Evan rolled onto his back to look at her, smiling with unabashed joy as she stroked his thigh. Gods, he could stay here forever.

Except, he couldn't.

There was still the Underworld, and whatever came after. Still a war to be won, and now, a prince--her son--to somehow save. The goddess moved her hands in the air--a beautiful motion, which Evan watched, but with a slowly sobering expression. He waited until she met his eyes again, and then propped himself up on his hands, his expression sheepish and a little regretful to break the mood.

In fact, he wasn't actually ready to just yet. Before he could find anything to say, he shifted his weight and reached one hand up to caress the goddess' neck and beckon her toward him, suddenly desperately hungry for a kiss, though tenderness more than passion radiated from his motions.

Evan's happiness was infectious. It knocked at the doors of her mind and spirit, and she ached to let it in again. This close to having been merged with him, any separation felt too much.

But, she knew from too many experiences how quick a slide it was from this unbridled joy into mania. She didn't want him to succumb. She dare not even get close now.

Then again, he had asked her to trust him. And she had to if he was truly going to the underworld on her behalf.

Finally, when Evan reached up to pull her into a kiss, she followed the impulse, at least until she approached his face. She then turned slightly to press soft, ardent lips to his cheek, pushing a gentle gratitude for him like a trickle of the river from there toward his chest.

Then, she rotated her body toward him and leaned close to his ear, saying, "Everything we've done these few nights..." She paused, her breathy whisper heavy with temptation, "it's only a taste of what I could do with you."

She placed an arm on the other side of him, her long, wet hair hanging around her face. The additional skin contact sent a pleasant shiver up through her spine.

Evan felt confused and a little bit hurt at first when the goddess turned away from his kiss. She pressed her lips to his cheek instead, and a hot embarrassment bloomed around him, though it softened as he felt a trickle of gratitude flow into his chest. Behind his eyelids he could nearly make out the river--far, far in the distance.

"Everything we've done these few nights..." the goddess whispered by Evan's ear, "It's only a taste of what I could do with you."

Evan's breath hitched in his throat and longing tugged hard at his chest. He couldn't help leaning into her, cheek against cheek and breath falling heavy on her neck, fingers kneading at the base of her scalp.

Somewhere inside him was anger, though. Or maybe just frustration. A small, crackling flame of consternation, confused and frustrated about why she was taking that tone with him, why she would hold something back now of all times, why she seemed to be trying to pull him toward something they both knew he couldn't reach for right now. Gods, it pained him not to throw himself to her, to say damn the world and lose himself in everything she could offer.

But, maybe that was the point. She also knew they couldn't stay there forever. Evan's nails bit softly into the goddess' neck and a soft groan scraped through his throat as he gathered his resolve.

"I can only imagine," he said bitterly before withdrawing his hand from the goddess' neck and scooting himself back, at least far enough to look her in the eye. He thought he'd had a snarky comment lined up, but something about seeing her face stilled his tongue and melted his expression. That longing tugged hard at his chest again, and his face winced as he clenched his fingers into fists against the ground, forcibly stopping himself from reaching out for her again.

Dehaljadrun savored the way Evan's hand found the back of her neck, the way he pressed their cheeks together, the way his nails began to bite at her.

But, he withdrew from her and moved away, saying, "I can only imagine," more bitterly than maybe anything he had said before.

She blinked, her brows pulling up together in a reflex of sympathy, her lips downturned into almost a pout.

The goddess had thought to tempt him, entice him into, perhaps, more time together. But instead, he had stubbornly withdrawn from her. And, maybe that was a good sign. They both knew they were treading a fine line. There were some things they could not have.

And yet, she would not be the goddess of desire if she hadn't at least mentioned the possibility. Gods, was she ever a danger to herself and her own freedom.

She didn't want to chase after Evan, not after he pulled away, but her ache for him bloomed heavily in her chest. Maybe she should leave him? Maybe he did not want her?

But no, the longing echoed through his own chest, and as she watched, he winced and balled his fists, fighting an impulse to reach for her. She smiled then, quietly. She had certainly grown to appreciate even his small, embittered defiances.

He didn't think all this, everything between them, was something to defy, though, did he? Would he tell himself later that everything they felt together was only the result of her magic?

No, she tried to reassure herself. We have been merged. That was real. This is real.

She looked away from him and down at her hand for a moment, weighing what she was about to say next. Maybe she... needed to be vulnerable.

"When I'm free," she said tentatively, seeking then to meet Evan's eyes, "it will be monstrously difficult to let you alone."

The goddess smiled, and Evan winced again, embarrassment doubling over how affected he felt, how paralyzed he was at the thought of soon having to leave her. A franticness began to bubble up inside him as he tried to figure out what to do besides just sit there frozen--but then the goddess looked away, and it dissipated, some invisible pressure releasing. The change was a little bit dizzying, and Evan drew in a deep, slow breath as he watched her.

"When I'm free," she said tentatively, seeking then to meet Evan's eyes, "it will be monstrously difficult to let you alone."

A bright, playful smile lit up Evan's face as he exhaled in relief and understanding.

"I hope you don't," he declared, eyebrows raising. He tilted his head afterward though, his expression cocking a little to one side--still playful, but acknowledging something. "Not entirely."

Dehaljadrun tensed momentarily when Evan smiled brightly, such a stark contrast to his previous expression. She was uncertain, at first, what it meant, but then he said, "I hope you don't." Immediately, a mass of vines in the goddess' belly unknotted themselves, and she breathed much more easily.

He cocked his head to one side, then, and added, "Not entirely."

So, visits, then. He wouldn't be her thrall, and she wouldn't be his shadow, but they would see each other again. The goddess thought she could live with that and nodded.

Growing braver, the goddess reached out toward Evan's leg, stroking the side of his knee, her gaze following her fingers.

"We have time yet tonight. You've proven you can summon the gates to the underworld and delve through nightmares, not to mention abide the tree. That is surely enough preparation for now. Come back to my palace with me?"