Norlan felt the ground wet with a viscous liquid, a thick, clinging dampness that seeped through his clothes and coated his skin. Opening his eyes, he was immediately startled, his heart hammering against his ribs as the metallic tang of the air filled his nostrils.
Then familiarity kicked in, a cold and unwelcome recognition that washed over him as he remembered this environment very well.
He was bathed in a pool of blood, a shallow, still expanse of it that reflected a bruised and twilight sky. All over him were feathered snakes that slithered all over his body. Their cool, soft feathers brushed his neck while their smooth, muscular coils pressed against his limbs, like a living, writhing cage.
In the sky, a humongous feathered snake with wings was gliding around him in silent, colossal circles, its shadow passing over him like an eclipse, as if keeping a prisoner in check.
It was the exact place that he had been dreaming of every day. This was the place that his recurring dream would always end.
A perfect, terrifying replica, and now he was terrifyingly, undeniably awake within it.
Or was he?
His mental cloudiness and dizziness, a heavy fog swirling behind his eyes, chose to believe otherwise. This was just another dream. One that would end, as it always did, when the humongous feathered snake took about ten circles around him.
He started counting the revolving damnation, each pass of that vast shadow a tick mark towards desperate hope.
Ten revolutions were over. The dream didn't end. Instead, a voice drifted into his ears, a sound so beautiful that Norlan couldn't help but doubt where it was originating from.
It seemed to have come from the huge snake!
Norlan just stared with a calm expression. Not like he could do or think clearly of anything with all the derision in his mind.
"You seem too calm. Are you perhaps familiar with this place, or me?" The sound asked.
"Yup! I am finally losing it," Norlan muttered to the bloody sky, a brittle laugh escaping his lips.
"A huge feathered snake is speaking! System,System, this isn't funny anymore. Are you really going to haunt me even in my dreams? That's one low bar, even for you."
"Oh, so you have seen this place in your dreams?" The beautiful voice held a new, sharpened interest. "Tell me, do you also see me in those dreams?"
The humongous feathered snake lowered its body, its vast form descending with a grace that belied its size. Gliding down right onto Norlan's face. It blotted out the heavens, its breath a warm, stale wind on Norlan's face.
Then it bowed even lower, its head touching the ground in a gesture that was neither submission nor menacing, making its back visible to Norlan.
That was when he saw her. A figure, small and stark against the landscape of iridescent feathers, seated calmly upon the serpent's spine.
He had always thought that Helene, his adopted stepmother, was the most beautiful thing to have ever existed on earth, even going as far as cursing the gods for bestowing such a form to her.
Now however, the woman on the back of this snake seemed like the one doing the bestowing.
She had the most beautiful tanned brown skin, one that seemed to be made from the softest material ever created, glowing with a warm, honeyed light that begged for a touch.
Her hair was black like a raven's wing at midnight, a silken cascade that promised to be a veil between her and the world. She had tall legs that opportunely captured her hips in ways that Norlan had never seen, flaring from a slender waist into a heart-stopping curve that spoke of raw, potent femininity.
Her backside was destructively potent.
A baddie's masterpiece, so lush and impeccably shaped it made Norlan burn with a singular, feverish wish: that she would deign to sit on his face, and eclipse all other sensation.
Her breasts were huge, so much so that they felt divine. A sight that also made Norlan burn with another feverish wish. What was even more destructive, was how her breasts were perfectly in alignment with her body as they popped forward against the thin fabric of her attire. A figure eight completed with their forward press, full and heavy and testing the very limits of his sanity.
Norlan gulped. Then jumped backwards as a 14 year old Loli appeared with a dangerous intent.
"Blasphemous! " She screamed out loud as she glared at Norlan with obviou hostility.
"Melon! Mind your manners, he is our guest. And he didn't mean to stare for too long. It seems like it's the side effects of using Mother nature's essence."
"Should I remove the effects? So that he may not be so impetuous next time."
"Only with his consent." They both turned to Norlan who had spaced out. His thoughts very inappropriate.
'Why isn't this fucking dream ending? Did I really meet a goddess? Ohhhh, those boobs!! Oh my! oh my! My rod would disappear in those! Can I really handle it?'
"Norlan?" The goddess called.
"See? See? His thinking of blasphemous thoughts. He's a shameful pervert!"
That brought him out of his stupar. Examining the Loli with credulity and some bitterness in his tongue.
"Wait, did my very,very hot goddess call you Melon?" He glanced at the goddess, not a trace of reverence or fear in his eyes. Then his gaze lowered to the Lolita's chest. " Isn't that too harsh?"
Melon's eyes went berserk. The goddess was also stunned motionless as she took in what she just heard. And for some reason a chuckle escaped her.
" You! You !.." She wanted to release her aura and squash this shameless pervert but the goddess restrained her.
When Melon noticed this, she pouted. When she had the goddess chuckle her anger flared again. It was so funny, and Norlan's heart was skipping beats everytime the goddess chuckled.
"Back to business." The goddess spoke. Melon quietened.
"So what do you want?" Stated Norlan without the least bit concerned about decorum. Although he was still not fresh and sober, one thing was clear, these two had something to ask of him. And he wasn't just going to blow up such a chance due to derision. Or maybe it was also because of his muddy state of mind that he would shamelessly make the best of this situation.
"And why would you think we want something from you? A mere mortal?" Melon launched the chance.
"Well, let's see. This place shows up in my dream every day. Or am I still dreaming?" Norlan tested the waters. Looking for confirmation that it indeed wasn't a dream.
"No ,you're not dreaming pervert? How could a mortal dream of a God?"
Norlan tried to think. For some reason it made sense. He had never had a conversation during this part of the dream. He accepted it. Anyways he was still high. His eyes focused on the goddess..
"Speaking of dreams," he sent a meaningful wink at the goddess, thinking of asking about the hot, wet dreams he also got. But reason adviced him not to do that in front of Melon.
"Nevermind, am not saying anything else until that kid is gone."
"Hey! Who are you calling a kid. I'll have you know, shameless pervert,that I am turning two million years old over the next century." Declared the Lolita confidently, her hands in her waste, standing akimbo.
Norlan stood motionless. He had wanted to rebuke in a cheeky comeback but stopped when he had the absurdity of her age. It almost made him sober. Almost.
"That's wonderful Melon. You just graduated from being a cute little girl to an aged flat chested Lolita. I hope we get alon..." This time, Melon didn't care about her restrained aura. She was going to murder this shameless pervert.
She jumped on Norlan like a deranged puppy,pounding with her little hands all over his body. Even when the goddess lifted her up,she was still punching the air like a paddling tiger pup. She was actually cute.
"Yeah! That one definitely has daddy issues" Norlan commented as he stood up to face the two.
"Okay, let's not waste any more time, I know my beautiful goddess has more important things to do. So how about this. I am positive that you want something from me,I do not know what it is, but, it will be a good start for you if you explain why I can divine the future every time I slept. And also why I stopped."
The goddess looked shocked. She looked at Norlan with eyes of disbelief.
"You said that you could divine the future? And that it suddenly stopped? When did it stop?" She questioned. Her thoughts guessing if the dreams of divination stopped at the same time she got out of seclusion.
She was right.
"A few days ago."
"It's worse than I thought." She mumbled outloud. Then broke out of her thoughts and answered Norlan.
"To be honest, I do need something from you. And in order to give a good impression so you won't refuse me, I will answer your question.
It started a few months from now. I felt a karmic bond form while I was in seclusion. That was a disturbing thing as the karmic bond was stronger that the karmic bonds shared by kin.
But I couldn't act on it since my seclusion was a bit special and couldn't be interupted. Later however, the karmic bond continued to be stronger and stronger. Untill I saw your name in my divination. Norlan Aurelius Grimblade. Your second name is a counterpart of my given name Aurelia.
That was a dangerous situation and it's repercussions were too many to ignore. Now, I cannot tell you the specific repercussions for your own sake. All I can say is that our fates are tied. Such that my seclusion was forcibly interupted when you were afflicted by an Expression."
At this point, Melon was shocked. It was now that she clearly understood the gravity of the situation. Who was Aurelia? She was a God realm being. A God realm being that was in her own divine kingdom.
Yet she was affected by a mortal! A mortal all the way from the outer universe.
This was a disaster!
The goddess Aurelia continued." This karmic ties goes both ways. In seclusion I was babbling in divination. Hence you could foretell the future. This place you are seeing in the manifestation of my innate Expression, so you also dreamt of it."
Norlan gulped, only now realizing the gravity of the situation. Did this goddess and her minion want to keep him prisoner so that he doesn't affect her situation?
This question emerged out of his muddled mind. Then another more important question also came out of his muddled mind.
'Did my goddess just admit to her inner desires. Was her inner desires the reason for my recurring hot wet dreams?'