The sound of knocking came from the door at the far end of my room. Memories of the conversation I had with Victoria came back to me, but I pushed them aside and called out to whoever knocked. I still had my eyes closed, and I tried to sit up, but there was something warm pushed into me.
I opened my eyes to Victoria's beautiful face only centimeters from mine. Her eyes slowly opened and connected with mine as I could feel her warm breath near my neck. She smiled, then her eyes went wide, and Victoria tried to back away but only succeeded in putting her and the under-sized nighty in a compromising position.
"DAVE!" Lavender roared as she stormed into the room with Tilly following.
"It's not what it looks like!" Our voice cried out in unison.
This twin omission of denial only infuriated Lavender more, but then she got tears in her eyes. Lavender ran from the room, tears pouring down her face. Tilly tried to stop her, but Lavender just pushed by her.
I jumped out of bed and ran out of the room after her, telling the girls to wait. I got outside of the room, but Lavender hadn't got far. I ran to catch up to her and finally was able to get my hands on her.
I pulled Lavender close while she struggled weakly against me, and I just stood there. I waited for her to stop struggling and then for the tears to stop. I pulled her close to door three, and we slid down it. We just sat there against the door quietly until Lavender spoke.
"I'm sorry for getting so mad at you, but when I saw Victoria lying on you. I don't know. I just got jealous," Lavender's small voice was hard to hear.
I didn't say anything and just let her rest in my arms. I wasn't sure if I should try to explain that we were talking and had fallen asleep or left it. Then, I heard the click.
Suddenly the door behind opened, and both of us tumbled backward down a smooth slide. Soon the fall ended, but I held Lavender close, so she didn't get hurt. When we reached the bottom, both of us stood up in a cave with light pouring in from the far end.
"Where is this?" I ask while giving Lavender a hand up.
She had, at least, changed into black tights and a purple top, but I had protected her from grime and harm. Dirt and scratches covered me from the tumble, but Lavender seemed alright. She wore a purple frilly top true to her name, and she looked beautiful in it. The cleavage spilling up was just icing on her cakes!
Last night I checked my updates and went to level eleven, so my brain was starting to loosen up. I was finally able to contain my emotions, and I felt less reserved about women now. Particularly after my bathroom encounter with Tilly.
"I'm not sure. I don't know what half the doors in this house do or what places they lead to," Lavender dusted herself off as she spoke.
"Well, look at it this way, now we get to go for our one on one time!" I grab Lavender's waist.
I dug my fingers into her sides playfully and gave her a playful tickle as we moved towards the light. We were both laughing as we got to the mouth of the cave, but our eyes lit up when we saw outside.
Out of the cave was a beach that stretched on down an unending coastline. The light from the sun cast down on us as we walked out. As we came closer to the edge of the water, I noticed a glass bottle.
I grabbed Lavender's hand and pulled her towards the bottle. She didn't resist, and soon we were at the bottle. I bent down to pick it up and noticed there was a paper inside.
"What's that?" Lavender questioned me, and she examined the bottle.
"A bottle."
"Don't be stupid!" She said while slapping my shoulder.
I tried not to laugh as I wrestled the cork from the bottle. The green glass of the bottle made it nearly impossible to see the paper inside. The cork finally came loose, but a weird smell was coming from the bottle.
Both Lavender and I sniff the smell. It's a sickly sweet and overripe smell, but not horrible. The contents of the bottle pre-paper must have been pretty good. I shook the paper out of the bottle into my hand, but I started feeling light-headed as I did.
"Maybe we should sit down to read this. I'm feeling a bit light-headed."
I said this while turning to look at Lavender, and she looked no better with one hand out and the other to her temple. I took her by the hand and led her back a bit from the water, and we sat down. I was starting to feel weird as I opened the letter. Lavender was cuddling in close, her body pressing into mine, but I couldn't focus on her.
My eyes, mind, soul, and every fiber of my body was glued to the paper, and I knew that was the same for Lavender. The paper was a map of a place, I thought, with water at one end of the page, then a beach merged into a forest. There was just one problem with this map, albeit a minor one now that I think about it.
"Do you see the map moving?" I turned while asking Lavender to see her transfixed gaze.
Lavender turns her head slowly away from the map, and our eyes meet. Her pupils were wholly blown out, I couldn't even tell what color her eyes were anymore. Before I got lost in the thought, I remembered the paper like a light coming above my head. The idea made me laugh out loud as I turned back to the map.
As I looked over the map, two stick figures appeared on the beach. Their positions were in line with us, but then they started moving. Suddenly, My perspective changed, and I was in a third-person three-dimensional view.
I felt weird, but the stick figures began to walk towards the cave we came out of, except there was no cave. I watched as the stick figures trekked through the jungle, avoiding wild monsters and various types of traps. Finally, they reached a mountain or volcano that wasn't there when I looked for the large cave, the damn thing just appeared, and we were there.
They started up a path, and in an unknown amount of time, they reached a cave. Once inside, it was clear to see it was a volcano. I could almost feel the heat coming from the flowing lava as I watched them approach a bridge. It led up to a more massive ledge above the magma, but I couldn't see what was up there until we reached the top of the bridge.
Up atop the ledge, a chest sat in the middle. It had chains covering it that stretched out in multiple directions, secured to cavern walls. Covering each chain were hundreds of white slips of paper with strange writing.
The stick figures walk up to the chest and put a hand on it to open it. Suddenly all the papers' strange black writing started to glow purple and began to fall off. As the last one fell, the chains instantly sucked into the chest, and it burst with light.
I tried to cover my eyes, but I had nobody, nor a hand to block it. The brilliant purple light burned into my eyes, but then it all drew in, and a demonic figure stood in its place. Long curving horns crested the thing's head, and its eyes burned an unnatural blue. The chains that had sealed it in the chest now wrapped the demon's body and hung down from its arms.
The stickmen stood no chance, instantly torn to shreds. I watched this in horror, but the demon looked me in the eyes after it finished. Those burning blue eyes penetrated me, even though I had nobody or form, then it spoke.
"Come find me, boy, and bring that tasty female. It's been ages since I've had some real fun with a girl. Not like you have a choice now that you've opened the bottle. You're locked into this dimension until you die or defeat me. The door stays locked until one of those conditions is met, no in or out."
The demon began to laugh, and I could feel it rip at my consciousness. Soon the laughter burned through me like a fire. Somehow, even without a body, the pain was every and yet nowhere, and just as I could take no more, I opened my eyes.
Lavender was in my arms, shaking and sweating, and I could feel the beads on my own body that had formed. I looked at Lavender, and her eyes shot open, filled with fear. Those fear-filled eyes began to cascade with tears as she buried her face into my chest, sobbing.
I didn't want to imagine what torment that son of a bitch had put into Lavender though, but I held her close until she stopped crying. Soon, she pulled back with puffy red eyes that were still scared.
"W-what are w-we gonna do?" Lavender asked as she tried to get herself under control.
"Don't worry, Lavender. I'll never let him get you, I promise," I kissed her forehead as I went on. "I know he looks scary, but according to the drug-induced map adventure, we have a good bit of dangerous distance to travel and get stronger before we see him."
"What adventure? I didn't see that, I just saw..." But tears filled her eyes, and she began to sob into my chest again.
"That son of a bitch!" I said quietly under my breath as I stroked her hair and let her cry.
So that's his game, harassing Lavender while he gave me a tour. Harassing was probably the nicest thing he did if she was in this state. I will fix him when I reach that chained chest, but I just needed to be here for her for now.
As I continued stroking Lavender's hair, I noticed an alert in the top corner of my HUD. Lavender had quieted down, but now she seemed to have fallen asleep. I opened the alert to see what it was.
RELATIONSHIP STATUS UPDATE!
Your actions in helping LAVENDER have caused your relationship level to increase by 15.
LAVENDER and you are now Involved.
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: 60/100
Gain EXPERIENCE SHARE FUNCTION.
"I wonder what that means?" I said this mostly to myself, but a small voice beside my ear scared the bejeezus out of me.
"That means all experience you gain, or she earns, is evenly divided now," Trina whispered to me.
"Don't scare me like that!" I scolded in a whisper, and Lavender stirred against me as I did but stayed asleep.
"Sorry, I didn't want to wake her up."
"I know. So, was the demon telling the truth? are we stuck here until we kill him?"
"Yup and no one can come and help you!"
"Don't sound so cheery! That thing looked a lot stronger than me! What am I supposed to do?" I tried to be quiet, but panic was creeping into my voice.
"Dave, get ahold of yourself!" Trina squealed at me as she tried to slap me, but her hand just passed through my face. "Destiny is on your side! So once Lavender wakes up, you guys will have to get stronger and give that demon a swift kick between his legs! AND GET THE TREASURE!" The last part came out as a demon growled, and Lavender stirred in my arms.
I waved away Trina before she woke Lavender up in her excitement for treasure, and I rested my head on hers. I looked out at the water rolling into the beach and then back out again. The sight mellowed me, but my anger was still fresh, boiling below the surface as I closed my eyes.