DD2 -CH2-

- Rules -

Diane had set off back for her own private room. Looking far more settled than he thought she’d be.

I don’t think I would’ve taken it as well if I were in her position.

Then again, she has a very different mindset than I do. I’m a trained wizard become farmer turned Dungeon. She’s been raised her whole life to be a Duchess. One just like her mom.

That’d put a different strain on anyone, wouldn’t it?

Shaking his head and clearing his thoughts, Ryker considered what to do next. He’d briefly checked in with the city of Dungeon and found that almost all of it’s citizens had remained. It was functioning much more closely to how it had before the church of light or Veronica had brought ruin to the country.

That wouldn’t last. Couldn’t last. At some point, Ryker would have to reopen the dungeon to the public. Especially if he wanted to succeed in his goal of punishing Chadwick, Veronica, and everyone else who’d raised their hand to Dungeon and Dale.

Ryker leaned forward in his seat, looking at the magical construct of Dungeon in front of him. It had everything laid out, including current monster routes, people who didn’t belong, and citizens.

Everything was as it should be.

Even the emissary of the dark lord of the north and her two guards were outside dungeon boundaries.

Though they hadn’t left.

Chadwick and his forces had hightailed it to the south, putting them outside the borders of dungeon, but also much further away from queen Lauren.

What about walls? That’d work, wouldn’t it? Make a wall seed… expand and expand and expand… but first.

First… Wynne.

Getting up out of his seat, Ryker pushed a hand to his neck and bent it to the side. With an audible pop, he felt some of the tension bleed away.

“Are we leaving?” Meino asked.

“Yeah, I need to go see the Fairies,” Ryker said.

“Ah. Alright. I’m glad you made up with your enemy wife, and your ally wife,” Meino said.

“Why do you call them that?” Ryker asked, looking at the Minotaur.

“Because that’s what they were,” Meino said with a shrug of her big shoulders.

“Use their names, Meino. They use your name,” Ryker said.

The Minotaur’s face twitched, then she let her shoulders sag slightly, her head bowing.

“You’re right,” said the Minotaur. “I’m sorry, my lord king. I will use their names. It’s hard sometimes. I feel like… I’m many different people. I hate… your wives… and at the same time I think they’re beautiful.

“I often find myself confused.”

Ryker considered her words. They made sense of course given how he’d made her.

Opening himself up to the spells he used to make her, he carefully took hold of her pattern. What made her, her.

He could see that there was a change. Parts of the pattern he’d laid down, were being shoved out by new bits he hadn’t put in himself.

Looking at them closely, they felt organic to him. They were growing in curves and swirls, rather than the rigid interlocking bits he built with. Stroking a single channel of one with his senses, he got the impression of what it was.

An overwhelming need to groom. To groom the one she loved and protected. To groom him constantly.

Ah. This is all part of her forming a soul. Her pattern is shifting because of that. She’s… becoming alive.

“Meino, I can fix it. Would you like me to? You might feel a bit funny for a while. Might even feel like you lost a piece of yourself. But it’s the piece that’s causing you problems,” Ryker said, still peering at her pattern.

“Do you want to fix me?” Meino asked.

“I want you to be happy. I can see what’s causing you distress, and I can fix it. It’s up to you though.”

“Then… yes. Fix me,” said the Minotaur.

With a thought, Ryker snipped away all the old bits of the pattern she no longer used, though he was careful to confirm each piece before he did it.

When he was done, her pattern looked much cleaner, and seemed to flow better with it’s energy.

Disconnecting himself from his magical hold over Meino, he looked to her.

She was staring down at him, her eyes wide.

“They’re gone,” she said. “The other voices.”

“Yep. All gone. Now you’re just Meino. Ok. Off to the fairies!” Ryker said, moving quickly. He’d was just barely starting to be able to identify when a grooming session was coming.

Slipping out of his throne room and into the adjacent hallway, Ryker was moving quickly. He could hear Meino’s heavy steps behind him, and they were getting closer.

She’s quick!

Turning the corner, he made his way to Wynne’s home. Reaching her door, he kept going, having at the last minute to talk see if Marybelle was free first.

She’d been his hidey hole and confidant. Sometimes he’d slip away from everything just to be with her, tell her his worries, and seek solace in her. Sometimes in her bed, sometimes just in her presence.

Today he’d take either. Or both.

Knocking gently on her door, he waited.

“She’s inside,” Meino said softly. “She wasn’t expecting you, and she’s panicking.”

“One minute!” Marybelle called through the door.

Smiling, Ryker looked up to Meino. She was staring at the door, her head tilted to one side.

“So, can you smell her? Is she talking? How do you know this?” Ryker asked.

“Scent, mostly,” then she turned her head to look to him. “Thank you, Ryker. My head feels much more mine, now.”

“Course, Meino,” Ryker said, patting her on the side of her hip.

“I want to groom you,” she said suddenly.

“Later,” Ryker said.

Meino nodded her head, then suddenly took a step to the side.

The door opened, and Ryker was staring into Marybelle’s face.

Her curly brown hair had been styled and were bound with small blue ribbons. Dark black eyes regarded him, her lips a wide smile.

He’d once thought of her as being a beer away from being a cute human. Now he only thought of her as a beautiful Hobgoblin that he tried to bed whenever he had the chance. Though her racial heritage only really showed itself in her nose and cheekbones.

It didn’t hurt that she had an impressive bust and a wicked hour glass figure.

Wearing a white dress that wrapped tight to her body, she stepped to one side and gestured inside.

“Come in, dear. I’m so happy to see you,” Marybelle said.

“Thanks,” Ryker said, walking into her home. “I was hoping to get you alone. I needed to run some things through you, see what you thought.”

Closing the door, Marybelle caught up to him and then guided him to her living room. She sat him down in a rather tasteful loveseat.

“Of course. I’m always happy to entertain you. Can I get you anything?’

“Water would be nice. You sure I’m not bothering you?”

“Not at all dear. I’m genuinely excited and pleased that you came to see me. I’m flattered in fact,” Marybelle said, stepping out into the attached kitchen. “You haven’t even seen Wynne, Tris, or Charlotte yet. You came to me.”

“That’s true. What can I say, I’m a Hob addict,” Ryker said, settling into the loveseat.

The clink of glasses and then a liquid being poured was all he got back in response. He got a definitive strange feeling from her, as if his comment had hit something sensitive.

Coming back out, she handed him a glass, then sat down next to him. Practically in his lap. Then laid her head on his shoulder.

“Talk to me,” she said, taking a small sip from her own glass.

Chuckling, Ryker laid an arm around Marybelle’s shoulders and pulled her closer, taking a sip from his own glass.

“I’m not going to ask you to tell me the rules, but I want to know why Wynne didn’t want to tell me about them,” Ryker asked simply.

“Because it’s her fault. That’s all,” Marybelle said. “She’s just afraid you’ll not be able to forgive her.”

“Is that… is that all?” he asked.

“Yeah. That’s all it is. It just got harder and harder for her. Too much too unpack and explain, with her being the center of it all. I’ll leave the details to her, but that’s all it is,” Marybelle said.

“Oh. I guess that’s… all I needed then,” Ryker said, laying his cheek to the top of Marybelle’s head. “You’re an amazing woman.”

“I’m not a woman,” Marybelle said.

“Huh? Pretty sure you are.”

“I’m not though. I’m not a woman. I’m not a Hobgoblin. I’m a Fairy,” Marybelle said, her tone becoming a touch brittle.

“I haven’t… I haven’t been in my body in a very long time now. I can’t even imagine being in my body anymore. This feels like me now,” Marybelle said, one hand pressing into her chest. “I’m very me in this body. I breathe, I eat, I drink, I use the bathroom, I feel lust, I have sex, I sleep.”

Her hand dropped from her chest and landed on Ryker’s knee. Gently, she began to message it with her fingers. “I love. I feel jealousy when you sleep with Charlotte or Tris. It pains me. But then I’m overjoyed when you come and get into my bed with me and love me.

“And none of this is me.”

Getting up, Marybelle set her glass down on the coffee table. She walked over to a cabinet off to one side. Opening it, she took out a three foot long elaborately decorated box. It was covered in ribbons, bows, and fluttering fabric.

Setting it down on the table, Marybelle undid the locking mechanism, and opened it.

Inside was a two foot tall fairy laid in a very comfortable looking bed. To Ryker it almost had the feel of a coffin.

“This is me, and I couldn’t feel any further removed from it,” Marybelle said, scooping her own limp form from the box. “This is me, Ryker. And I know I’m not alone in this feeling. All of the Fairies feel this way. Those of us who have been with you longer, more so.”

Holding his hands out to her, Marybelle hesitated, then gave herself to him.

Cradling the tiny body, Ryker peered at her face.

There was no resemblance at all. It was a very pretty fairy, they all were, but it didn’t look like Marybelle.

“I’m a Fairy. I’m not a woman, or a Hob,” Marybelle said. “And I’m terrified that if I go back into that body. I’ll lose who I am. Because I’m not a Fairy anymore. I realized it when I died at the temple battle. I lost my body. I refused to let my soul go back into my Fairy body. I… hovered around in the dungeon sense instead while I recreated my avatar. My real body.”

Gently smoothing the Fairies hair back, Ryker laid her back into her box. He adjusted her clothes, and made sure she looked comfortable. Then he closed the lid, locked it shut, and put it back into the cabinet.

“My personal suggestion,” Ryker said, closing the cabinet doors. “Lock your Fairy body down deep in the dungeon. Deep where no one can ever get to it. Treat it as if it were your core. Your soul.

“As far as who you are, Hob, woman, Fairy, whatever. You’re still Marybelle. You are you. Your flesh changes nothing,” Ryker said. “Right now, you’re just a woman with a Fairy at heart, and the body of a beautiful Hob. That’s all.

“Honestly I’m a little jealous. I’d love to be able to remake my own self, instead of One-Pump the wizard,” Ryker said with a grimace. “Oh, and as to loving me. I love you, too.”

Marybelle was staring at him, her face looking confused and disbelieving.

“You do?” she asked.

“I do.”

“Even though I’m not real?”

“I love you as you are, both Fairy and Hob.”

“Show me?” she asked, slipping out of her dress and letting it fall to the floor.

“Gladly,” Ryker said with a grin.

***

Stepping out of Marybelle’s home and closing the door, Ryker adjusted his collar. She’d been very needy today. The after-sex cuddling and pillow talk had been intense, and focused on her Fairy body again.

Reassuring her and over and over, she finally seemed to settle down.

“She sounds happy,” Meino said from the side of the doorway. “She’s giggling right now.”

“Yes, well. We had a good talk,” Ryker said, turning and marching off toward Wynne’s door.

“Are you going to have a good talk with Wynne, too?” Meino asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

“Don’t know but… let’s hope not. I don’t think I’m ready for that,” Ryker said, a hint of concern in his voice.

“Stamina potion. Helps fix that,” Meino said, moving to the side of Wynne’s door. “One of those… memories I don’t know how I know but I know.”

Really? Huh. Never heard that.

Can’t hurt.

Creating a stamina potion from nothing but the dungeon mana, Ryker downed it quickly, then had the dungeon take back the glass it came in.

Squaring his shoulders, he lifted his hand and knocked twice on Wynne’s door.

“Ahhh? One second,” Wynne called from inside. “Ryker!?”

“Yep. It’s me.”

“Why…? You didn’t even… just… ah. Ok,” Wynne said, right on the other side of the door. It was obvious she was flustered, even without seeing her.

The door opened slowly. Wynne appeared in the gap her home dark behind her. She was dressed in what looked like a very simple black nightgown. There were faint rings around her eyes, and she looked very tired.

“Good morning, my lord king,” Wynne said, inclining her head to him, but not making eye contact with him.

“Good morning, my queen. May I come in?”

“Of course,” she said, and shoved the door a bit, stepping behind it.

Moving into Wynne’s home, he looked around.

Her home was clean, but utterly unlit. It was as if she’d only just woken up, but Ryker swore it much closer to noon by now.

“Wynne, go sit down,” Ryker said pointing to her living room couch. Generating a small globe of mage-fire, he sent it toward the middle of the room. Everything was lit with a gentle blue glow.

“Ryker… could we do this later? I’m-”

“Sit,” Ryker said, interrupting the very tall and very lovely Fairy. Trooping by him, she sat down, folding her hands in her lap, and looking quite down-spirited.

Wynne was the single biggest Fairy he’d ever heard of. Standing at five foot one, she was life sized now. Her wings were equally as large, fluttering behind her slowly almost all the time.

Black hair hung around her dream-like features, unbrushed and somewhat tangled. Her nightgown did nothing for her, but the sheer size of her bust and hip made it look wonderful. She was on par with Marybelle if not a hint bigger.

Coming around behind her, Ryker eased her wings out of the way, brushed her hair away from her shoulders, and then began to gently rub her back.

“Wynne, you’re the queen of my dungeon. Lauren is my sovereign, but you’re my queen,” Ryker said. He’d had a lot of time to think about how to handle this. There was no denying he was angry at Wynne. Upset. Hurt.

He felt betrayed by her.

Much in the same way Adele and Diane had probably felt with him.

If this had happened before today, before he was the lord of a dungeon, he’d have probably written her off in his “to kill” list and moved on.

Diane had forgiven him. Adele had forgiven him.

How could he not forgive his partner? If even the rest of the entire world burned down, he and Wynne would forever be bound.

“Wynne,” Ryker said, his fingers pressing and rubbing along her shoulders and neck.

“Yeah?” she asked, melting into his hands and her seat. Her voice sounded nervous.

“Tell me whats wrong with the rules. You said they were much lesser than this. We seem to be getting crushed by them,” Ryker said.

Wynne moaned as Ryker eased her head to one side, rubbing into the base of her skull.

“The rules are the same,” Wynne said, her shoulders slowly drooping. “It’s just… we’re being held to them very strictly.”

“Why?” Ryker asked, slowly easing Wynne’s head the other way, all the while massaging her neck.

“Because of me. Because of all the Fairies,” Wynne muttered. “With so many Fairies in one dungeon, all to the same core, the rules matter. All of them. I tried playing with their bindings-” she stopped talking, moaning softly as Ryker worked her neck out. “And how many we actively had in the dungeon. The moment I took us past nine, the stipulations hit us. There’s… nothing I can do.”

“Alright. So, we have to be very careful of the rules at every level, is that about it?” Ryker asked. Easing her head straight back, looking up at him. Pressing into the hinge of her jaw with his thumbs, he continued to rub at the back of her head.

“Yes,” Wynne said, her eyes staring up at him. He swore her eyes were actually tearing up. “I’m sorry. I almost cost us everything. I saw the chance to get my revenge and I took it. I took it all.

“I probably control over nine-tenths of all the dungeon fairies in all of existence. And I’ve already captured half of the dungeon imps. Out of their entire race. I’ve wiped out entire villages. And… I can’t stop.”

Ryker thought on that as he moved his fingers carefully back and forth.

“Why?” he asked.

“Why? Why can’t I stop?” she asked, to which he nodded his head. “I still feel… empty. Nothing’s changed. Nothing… I want to burn their villages down but… there’s nothing left. I’m queen of the Fairies, and I still want them all to suffer.”

“Do you though? Do you want Tris, Charlotte, Marybelle, Arria, Sierra, and all the hundreds of others I can’t even name, to suffer?” Ryker asked.

Wynne frowned at that, her eyes clouding as she gazed up at him.

“No,” she said softly.

“I still want to desperately murder Rob,” Ryker said. “But I find my need to actually kill… considerably lessened. I regret… I regret killing Gavin and Nikki. I regret it not for just harming Lauren, but because despite being shitty to me, they didn’t deserve what I did. All I had afterward as an empty feeling. Like being hungry after eating a feast.”

Wynne nodded her head a bit. “That’s exactly it.”

“Then you should begin to consider the same I have. That revenge isn’t what you really wanted,” Ryker said with a smirk. It was something he’d only come to realize in almost losing Diane and Adele. He’d really only wanted to be included, and cared for. It sounded patently saccharine and naive, but it was true.

Wynne’s face turned into a pouting, tears finally leaking from her eyes. He’d never heard of a Fairy actually crying.

“Forgive me, my king?” Wynne asked.

Ryker gently patted her cheek once.

“Of course, my queen. Just… confide in me. Much as my wives told me this morning, no more secrets. Ok?” he asked.

“Ok,” Wynne mumbled.

Then Ryker leaned down, and kissed her. Her lips were soft and warm.

After a few seconds though, he forced himself to pull back from her.

“Let’s go clean you up a bit, and put you back to bed. You look like you could use some more rest my poor tired queen,” Ryker said.

Wynne nodded her head, but her hand came up, clamped to the back of his head, and pulled him down into another kiss.