Written Wonderland

With a smirk and a flash of her eyes, the goddess expanded her awareness and reached into both Evan's and Lance's minds at once.

You both belong here, the goddess said, her voice radiating through their mental landscapes in echoes and whispers. You heard the call, and you came. Another wave of ethereal reverberations emanated through the two of them, and it was a few moments before the goddess realized her last statement had spread to more than just Lance and Evan. The other volunteers, the other offerings, tugged at her awareness, and a vision of connecting to all of them at once like spokes around a hub tempted her to open herself further, expanding to the entirety of the hollow set of trees.

You have come this far. You have earned your place. Your presence is worship. To doubt that is anathema.

The whispers grew stronger as they echoed through each of the volunteers and ricocheted throughout their minds.

The goddess could feel each of them now, visions and emotions pouring into the shared mental landscape of Evan's mind--Raccoon's dreams of rabid adventure where they slept on an upper shelf, Novelty's aching memory of curling every limb around Philip, Philip's tender pull toward an abandoned responsibility even as he resisted the call to pleasure, Chloe's uncertainty in her worshipful desire to witness, Gavin's elation as he shared the joy of cuddling a blue winged fox with Nick, Nick's nervous slide closer to pleasure, Nathan's permission as he slid the last of his modesty away for Trevor, Trevor's pulsing awe as he pressed deeper into something he actually chose for himself. And then there was Chris in a haze of semi-sleep hearing the heartbeat of the trees, the trees the goddess had manifested for exactly this moment, the trees born of her, born of her magic.

Releasing Evan's hold on Lance's wrist, the goddess brought their hands to Lance's face, looking from one of his eyes to the other with all her sincerity as though Lance were also a conduit to the others the way Evan was a conduit for her.

There are games I like to play--jealousy, power, revenge--but tonight? the goddess said into Lance's mind, into all their minds. Tonight, there is only raw reality and the magic of what we can summon together of wonder.

And then the goddess leaned forward and kissed Lance, gently pulling his face closer to hers, to Evan's as she made contact, electric tingles murmuring at the edges of connection. The kiss was for Lance just as much as it was for each of them, a whispering echo dancing across each of their lips. A sweeping pleasure lit up all the nerves in Evan's body, the goddess flushing internally with delight. This was vulnerable. This was divine. This was her stepping into the fullness of her power and her place. She was magical, and there was no reason to prove it anymore. She simply was.

And they were each here to expand that ever further.

Pulling gently away from Lance, the goddess beckoned him out of the pool with a soft gesture of Evan's hand.

Under her power, Evan's body felt strong, capable, spring-loaded. His wiry calves met the steps of the pool with measured control as the goddess tugged on tendon and flesh, muscle and soul. Before, when they had merged, she had intervened on occasion, sure, but Evan still had largely been the agent in his own body. Now, though, with the open softness of their shared bliss running like an undercurrent through them both, he did not fight her. He was a flow within her as she was a flow within him, a circulation of potency and potential. As she reached for him--his essence, his vibrating pleasure--she felt his sheepishness at her reprimand.

To doubt is anathema, he heard again in his mind. Internally, she nodded, affirming his fears, but then she called to mind again the ways he had only just pressed against her in her lap, the hot water lapping against both of their bodies in their naked intimacy. If he had doubts, they would dissipate like fog under the light of the sun of her attention--she was certain of it.

Water dripped off Evan's smooth muscles as the goddess walked, and the stairs with their living roots absorbed every drop. Evan's heartbeat echoed in their shared ears, a drumbeat of possibility. Inside it, the goddess heard the steady rhythm of thrive, thrive, thrive like the buzzing of a thousand bees, like the hum of arcing static seeking release.

Turning briefly toward Lance to make sure he was following, the goddess nodded her approval as she took in his golden skin, his loose blond hair, the casual confidence of his stance. She hadn't finished with him, she realized, a slow smile spreading over Evan's lips. Her time with him in the meadow had only been the beginning.

The goddess within Evan's body had taken several steps down the stairs before Delight cleared his throat behind them. Turning, the goddess saw Delight holding up Evan's discarded pants and jacket playfully, and the goddess smirked with Evan's lips, gesturing for him to bring them.

Only two pairs of volunteers remained in the center of the palace--Philip and Novelty pressed their heads together in one of the hot pools, their breath mingling, and Nick and Gavin leaned against one wall, hands in each other's hair as a creature of the woods curled up around their feet.

A wave of opalescent pleasure throbbed out of the goddess from Evan's feet, and the goddess heard several of the volunteers catch their breath as they felt it in their own bodies. Otherwise, none of them paid Evan's nude form any mind, absorbed as they were in their own experience.

The goddess did not stop but walked straight back into the largest center room that was hers, the massive bed lush with blankets and pillows and the walls crowded with sweet-smelling vines, leaves wide. There was no door to close, and besides, she did not want any separation from the volunteers offering pleasure to each other, to the realm, to her. Their bodies were separation enough.

Still gently connected to each consciousness in the vicinity, the goddess turned toward Lance, who placed Evan's clothes down on a table near the entrance to the room. His body still dripped from the pool, but he was not self-conscious about it, perhaps bolstered by Evan's own moistened skin.

Within their shared consciousness, the goddess felt Evan make a pass at control of the body. It felt impulsive rather than intentional, born of discomfort with so thoroughly stepping aside for her whims and desires.

As though sharing the sentiment, Delight stepped closer to Evan's body, head tilted, eyes playfully narrowed.

"Is Evan still...?" he asked, uncertain how to finish the question. All at once, the goddess pushed Evan fully back into his own agency, choosing instead to be the passenger within his body, and whether to answer Delight's question or to simply express his body's frustration at abiding by someone else's urges toward motion, Evan punched Delight lightly on the shoulder, a characteristic smirking grin wide on his face.

"Not getting rid of me that easily," Evan said, and Delight flashed the briefest smile of relief before his own smirk overtook his expression. With a calculating look in his eyes, Delight finally made a decision and lunged forward toward Evan, striking his shoulder in a similar gesture. Inwardly, the goddess scoffed--Delight knew she was here, too, and still had the audacity--but the pool of desire that opened within Evan at the engagement quieted the goddess. She wanted to see this through.

Evan grabbed both of Delight's shoulders now and pushed the man back, pulling breath out of Delight's lungs. Delight retaliated in kind as he thrust Evan backward toward the bed behind them both, and the goddess felt Evan's resistance falter as desire became the greater need. They fell onto the bed in their shared body, and Delight quickly clambered on top on them in an attempt to pin Evan's shoulders down. Scrambling back toward resistance, Evan curled a leg around one of Delight's and used the momentum to flip Delight over, smacking him across the face as soon as Evan had the man on his back.

No pain crossed Delight's face, but he did scoff in playful offense, igniting a flurry of limbs and struggle that barely managed to push Evan off him, only for Delight to dive over him again. Evan's teeth sank into the soft place between Delight's neck and shoulder, and both Evan and the goddess moaned into the skin there as Delight's pulse throbbed under the force of Evan's jaw.

"Didn't know you had it in you, Rutliff," Delight said in a rasping breath as he clawed at Evan and tried to pull himself out of the sensation's gravity. Still, his body trembled with it.

Evan flipped Delight's slack body easily and breathed hot into his ear. "Every fucking time one of your stories crosses the line into unbelievable, every careless goad, every taunting sway of your fucking hips," Evan growled. Dehaljadrun watched as a flicker of a memory passed through Delight's mind, something far away from the present moment, but he shoved it down again before she could see any more of it.

"Then why has it taken you so long," Delight said too quickly, and though a mild suspicion began growing in the goddess' mind, Evan paid no attention and instead flooded their shared thoughts with all the pent-up energy of the past few years, all the things he had not done to his fellow soldiers, all the parts of himself he had clamped down tight for only the ceiling of his tent to see. He growled into a yell and bit Delight ferociously, again on the neck, then one pectoral, then a forearm, then near his hipbone. Delight cried out each time in staccato anticipation.

"You have no fucking idea," Evan said between bites.

Delight's hips bucked beneath Evan, and the goddess hummed a vibration between their two bodies, sensing into a mounting crescendo not just with Delight and Evan but with the greater landscape of the palace and beyond. Everyone's pleasure stretched and elongated with nothing else to do, nowhere else to be--they could take as long as they liked--and whether they knew it or not, they all waited for her, for permission, for reception.

A shiver that was not Evan's passed through the whole of his body and into Delight as Delight gripped Evan's shoulders, shoving him down and down and down. Evan's mouth bit at the edges of Delight's loincloth at the soft intersection of public mound and thigh, and Delight yelped into a laugh that only made Evan double down with the painful pleasures of his teeth.

The goddess shivered as the vise grip of Evan's jaw released and clamped down again, and suddenly, she was unable to stay completely within the confines of Evan's body. Instead, her presence bled into the bed, the blankets, the winding tree roots of the floor, and of course, into Delight.

An inkling in the back of the goddess' awareness reminded her she was not, in fact, human, not born to any particular shape or body. She could not hide inside Evan, even with the well of pleasure and purpose that dipped deep into the heart of him. She was air, the mist, the trees, the tree, the land, and everything in between. She was the realm itself.

All the folds between dimensions were suddenly visible to her, tangible, as though she were guiding her fingers across the strings in webs of webs. Anywhere her attention touched warmed and softened, pliant and returned to something forgotten of itself. Remember you don't need to hold this muscle so tightly; remember that all the nutrients you need are within easy reach.

So, Dehaljadrun was inside Evan as he spit into his hand, rubbing the length of his cock while he grinned up from Delight's pelvis menacingly, making absolutely sure the man beneath him saw, but she was also the room itself, and all the hot pools, the other bedrooms, and the palace itself. The goddess flowed in and out of Novelty's breath as he panted and clambered onto Philip's lap, placing an arm around Philip's neck as he brought himself closer to pleasure. She warmed the bed beneath Chris, soft cloth molding the edges of his body. Dehaljadrun's presence deepened the nook Nick and Gavin leaned against until it was a small hollow, both of them snuggled together now with the fox between their feet. She playfully grew roots that rolled Raccoon over in their sleep. The goddess found an older name in each of Nathan's vocalizations and Trevor's responses, guttural and unabashed. And she flowed in the reservoir of magic that Chloe had found underneath the conjured flower, taking her place among the gods.

Somewhere inside the core of her realm--or perhaps all realms--the goddess opened her eyes. Distantly, she could still see all the threads tying her to her own realm. They remained ethereally attached like fibers of dream, opalescent and every one sacred. She felt vulnerable and intensely protective of them, but as she looked around, she wasn't the only one. As only a density of threads in the shape of a self, the goddess looked at the other beings made of thread. Eleven of them in various states of sleep. Samael, she thought, looking to her right. He looked pale, and few of his threads remained--the closest to death of anyone. The only other god she recognized was Horu, almost directly across from her, threads all pulled taut but shining golden like the sun. The name felt foreign in the goddess' mind as though someone's else was remembering it.

But, no, not all of them were sleeping--there was someone directly in front of her with his eyes open, staring at the threads in the center of the group, touching no one. He had only one thread, thick and black above his head, but his long black hair wasn't fooling Dehaljadrun--he was hiding more. His eyes met hers, and he smiled to show all his teeth and lifted an eyebrow with a tilt of his head. She wanted to run in the opposite direction, but even moving slightly bumped against her floating threads and sent a shockwave of pleasure through the whole of them, bristling and sharp. The goddess' eyes rolled back in her head as she gathered herself and looked again at the god in front of her.

He pointed to his wrists, and the goddess didn't know what he was trying to communicate until she looked to her own wrists, shackled with gray thread, thick and stubborn. She pulled against the manacles, but they only tightened, and she shot the god a furious look.

Get me out of here, Dehaljadrun demanded, only able to speak through vibrations of the many strings. The god nodded as though he heard her, but he didn't reply. He only opened his mouth in a silent, hearty laugh. The goddess' anger only grew.

Finally, he said, Do it yourself.

The goddess almost made another demand of him, but instead, she looked down again at the thread around her wrists and felt the ache in her whole being that longed for movement and belonging, freedom and love. She had none of that shackled like this.

Evan, the goddess said instinctively, fishing the thread that was his body out of the floating strands of her hair. Back on the bed, she felt him shiver as though she had touched the interior of his soul and realized that he was sliding inch by steady inch into Delight and eventually pressed tenderly against Delight's prostate, undoing spasms in all of Delight's muscles as he opened to all of eternity or at least to anything Evan or the goddess wanted of him.

As Evan stroked Delight's pleasure, the goddess wove a rope out of the energy, the offering, the pleasures, and the purpose until it was a thick, hefty braid. She wove in the liminality of the sacred tree and the magic of the land. She wove in her gratitude at being entrusted with the djinn and her playful annoyance at the dark fae. She wove in her immense love and her lightning, her dragon, and her storms. She wove in the liquid of the tree and the mist in the air, and the goddess Dehaljadrun slipped the thick braid she had woven underneath the shackle on her left hand until she held both strands in her right, and then, she pulled.

The goddess pulled until the gray thread stretched taut on the otherside of her ethereal wrist. She pulled and sensed into the weak points of the scratchy, fraying string until she felt something stop stretching, pulled to its limit. As Evan thrust into Delight as though nothing had been more pleasurable before, as Novelty's breath hitched as he pressed his entire body against Philip's, as Nathan cried out and bucked up into Trevor's hips, as Gavin and Nick both breathed a heavy sigh and Chloe knew herself to be adjacent to the gods, the goddess gave one last massive yank, and the string shackle snapped.

The recoil sent Dehaljadrun tumbling back toward her own threads, so intensely into the experience of everything in her realm lighting up with pleasure entirely in unison that she became them again, folding back into her own realm, returning to her human form where it collapsed on top of Evan where he collapsed on Delight.

In the back of her mind, she heard the voice of the god with his eyes open. One gone. One left.