As I expected, the healers could do nothing. The only suggestion they had was monster blood transfusions. Every monster in the castle supposedly volunteered. I was deeply touched. But they also stressed how dangerous it was. I elected not to try it. My gut told me that Promestein had not lied about the disease passing in two months. If she or the goddesses had sought my death they had plenty of opportunity.
Alice was unsurprisingly beside herself. I'd been wounded before, even temporarily paralyzed by Granberia ten years ago. She reacted far more hysterically to this. I hadn't just been paralyzed, but I'd been raped by two goddesses, betrayed by Promestein. She must have felt so helpless.
"I feel so helpless!" she shouted at my bedside, crying her eyes out. "I should never have let that angel bitch near you! My gut told me she was up to something! She'd never expressed an interest in you that way before!"
"Alice," I said, trying to be comforting. "I was alone with her in that lab for hours at a time over the years. She even injected me with random things constantly, often without even asking. Nothing bad ever happened to me. We had no reason to suspect that she would try to hurt me by getting intimate with me."
"We're going to take good care of you, darling," she sobbed. "I've received messages from monsters all over the world who know you. Monsters who you've done wonderful things for. Monsters who will do anything for you."
"I hope you'll be taking care of me as well," I said.
"Of course, darling!" she said, kissing my forehead. "Tamamo has volunteered to stand in for me more often so that I can be with you for longer periods of time. When I'm not here, the Knights or other monsters will care for you. You'll never be alone! Unless of course when you want to be! I know you like solitude."
"Thank you, Alice," I said sincerely.
"If you're well enough, you can tell us all exactly what happened," Alice said. "Do you think you're ready to do that?"
"I think so."
With a mental summons she contacted the Four Heavenly Knights. One by one they made their way to my room. Alice had chosen a completely new guest room for my convalescence, feeling that staying in the room that I'd been victimized in would be bad for me. When all four had arrived, I began the tale. It didn't take long. I didn't think they needed to know the details of how Promestein made love to me, so I started with her revelation that I'd been given a disease which would indirectly lead to a long paralysis. I also told of Ilias and Alipheese's rape of me and their reasons for doing so. I decided for now to keep Promestein's words to me afterwards to myself. I wasn't comfortable keeping things from Alice the way she kept things from me, but some of what Promestein had said made me feel guilty. I really had put the world at risk through the way I had changed things. I needed to think long and hard about that.
When my story was finished, no one said anything for a few moments. Finally, Tamamo broke the silence.
"Gods," she said, shaking her head. "So entitled. They called it 'their' power, but it's not theirs. Their power is in the ether, floating around free. Since they couldn't get that, they decided to take yours."
"Is it too soon to discuss what we're going to do about this?" Alma Elma asked.
"I concur," Granberia said. "We have fought gods before. This act of perfidy cannot go unpunished!"
"Now isn't the time," Alice said. "Believe me, I'm with you. But right now Luka needs us. That's all that matters right now. Maybe in a couple of weeks we can start planning for what comes next. Right now, the only thing I want to hear from you is how many shifts you're willing to take watching Luka, or in your case Tamamo, standing in for me."
"I'll stand in for you two days a week," Tamamo replied.
"That's all?" Alice asked in disbelief. "Tamamo, this is my husband! I need to be by his side as much as possible!"
"Luka doesn't need to be smothered by his wife," Tamamo said firmly. "I'll watch him two days a week. That's four full days I'm dedicating to this."
"I understand, and of course you're right," Alice said. "The rest of you?"
"I have important duties, as you know," Erubetie said. "Nevertheless, I shall take a twelve hour shift once per week."
"I have no duties," Granberia said grimly. "Other than that which you assign me, Alipheese. I will stay with him as often as needed."
"I don't really have anything going on either," Alma Elma said. "So I'll take whatever is open."
"There are many other monsters around the world willing to watch you, Luka, so you'll never get tired of anyone," Alice said. "You're in the best of hands, darling. I know the healers can't do anything for you, but you have people here who love you. Don't ever forget that. We'll be with you every step of the way, okay, darling?"
"I never doubted it," I said with a smile. "You're all making me feel very loved."
"I'm going to say this in front of Luka, as uncomfortable as it makes me, because I don't want him to feel guilty about any of this," Alice said. "The healers told me he's going to start having trouble sleeping soon. After that, as his nerves reawaken, he's going to be in quite a bit of pain. I'm authorizing you and all the other monsters who visit here to do whatever they feel is necessary to reduce his pain and help him sleep. And I do mean, whatever they feel is necessary."
"I want more shifts then," Alma Elma said.
So you're probably thinking, perhaps even hoping, that the next few pages are tales of two months of nonstop getting laid by an endless array of monster girls. But it really wasn't like that for the most part. "keeping me comfortable" can be done in a lot of ways. For the first few weeks, I didn't even need to be kept comfortable. I slept a lot, and whoever watched me just needed to make sure to turn me a few times a day. Although Ilias had restored enough feeling to my penis and anus to enable me to void without assistance, I still needed to be carried to the bathroom, and in the case of pooping, I had to endure the humiliation of being wiped. The monsters watching over me never once complained. Granberia even had jokes, explaining to me that if you've ever seen dragon shit, human shit is like smelling roses. I reminded myself never to walk into a bathroom right after Granberia had been in it.
Most of the time Alice and the Four Heavenly Knights nursed me. Other times it would be random harpies, succubi, kitsunes, as well as familiar faces like Nanabi and Yao. Even a couple of queens stayed at my bedside. The Queen Elf, who I thought would always be cold to me and had gone so far as to attempt to sterilize me when we fought, stayed with me a full twenty four hours without rest, going so far as to carefully bathe me. The baths were actually nice. I received them four times a week, twice from Alice, but the other two times from whichever monster happened to be watching me.
Being paralyzed sucked. They moved a TV into my room to try to provide me with some entertainment, but I found it unsatisfying for some reason. Sometimes whoever was nursing me would read to me. Other times we would just talk, but a lot of the time was spent in silence, unless the monster in question was a chatterbox, as some of the harpies could be.
One day, about week four, Granberia was watching me. She'd become my most frequent nurse, partly because she cared for me as much as Alice herself did, and partly because she had the time. She was a warrior in a peaceful world. She had few duties. She also rarely spoke while nursing me. She simply sat there looking at me, alternately looking concerned and sad, other times brooding and angry. At one point, while I was half asleep, she spoke.
"Luka, when you are recovered, I'm sure I do not have to tell you that I will pick up my sword and follow you to the gates of hell if necessary to take vengeance on those goddesses and Promestein. They will pay for what they have done to you."
"That's not going to happen, Granberia," I said, fully awake now.
"I don't understand," she said. "Surely you do not intend to try to do this without me?"
"I don't intend to do it at all."
"Wh-? That does not sound like the Luka I know."
"It sounds exactly like the Luka you know," I said. "What's the point? Does smacking them around undo what they did to me? Are they doing bad things right now? If so, get me out of this bed right now and put a sword in my hand. Let's start rehab early!"
"There are no reports of the goddesses or their followers doing anything," Granberia said. "But I doubt they took your power just to have it, regardless of what they told you."
"Maybe so," I said. "and in that case we'll fight side by side and beat them again. But my gut tells me they don't plan on making trouble. They are thick as thieves now. That's one thing I did right. Their new relationship would be shattered if they started making trouble for each other's creations. They wanted my power for the simple reason that they felt entitled to it. That can't be undone. So there's no point in risking our lives to fight them. What would a victory mean?"
"I…. I do not know," Granberia admitted. "My heart screams for vengeance in a manner that cannot be quenched except with their blood! And yet… I know I am too weak. I could train my whole life and not scratch them as they are now, infused with your power. As much as it pains me, if you will not avenge yourself, I cannot avenge you."
"Thank you, Granberia."
"Why are you thanking me?!" she asked hotly. "I acknowledge that this is a choice only you can make. I did not say that I agree with your choice! I am disappointed in you, Luka. Perhaps it is just your current weakness talking."
"Maybe, but I doubt it. You said yourself that I only fight well when I'm fighting for something. When have you ever known me to fight for vengeance?"
"Never," she said. "But you should have."
"Against who? You? Tamamo? Alma Elma? Countless monsters all over the world? Would you be happier if I'd taken vengeance on all of them rather than forgiven them? Would you be happier if I'd slapped your hand of friendship away because you cut me up and raped me?"
I had gone too far. For one of the few times in my life, I saw a tear in Granberia's eye. She said nothing, and would not respond to any of my entreaties to talk.
At about week six, the pain began to set in and it became really difficult to get any sleep. Erubetie had an immediate solution: she crawled into bed with me and enveloped me in her body, leaving only my face uncovered. Floating free within her body, I was pain free and completely relaxed. After that, monsters who weren't Heavenly Knights were primarily slimes, who could duplicate what Erubetie had done. Most couldn't help but to squeeze out a little semen in the process, because it was impossible to have my penis completely enveloped by a slime and not be stimulated. The difference between gentle stimulation and coming a few times was as little as some mild movement. I wasn't complaining. It got me to sleep all the faster, and kept me asleep longer.
Tamamo had her own way to keep me comfortable, those amazing fluffy tails. The bed I was in was large, so there was plenty of room for her to simply get in and wrap herself around me. It wasn't quite as pain free as the slimes, but it was enough, and on the few occasions it wasn't, her tails could put me in critical ecstasy while holding me and that sent me into dreamland well enough.
However, I do have to share a couple of stories from this time. The first was around week seven, when I was starting to be able to move my fingers and toes again. I was so proud of that movement that I moved them constantly, to the point where it was almost becoming a nervous tic. Alma Elma walked into the room for one of her shifts, relieving Granberia. To my surprise, she hadn't taken the liberties I thought, or perhaps even hoped, that she might. She had played with me a little during a bath because she couldn't help herself, but nothing crazy otherwise. I immediately knew that today was going to be different. She was dressed in a nurse outfit.
"I hear you're going to be able to get out of bed on your own soon, Luka-boy!" she said brightly. "I've been behaving myself for awhile now. So today I'm going to do what I know you've been wanting me to do for weeks. Are you in pain, honey?"
"So much pain," I said. This wasn't a lie, actually. As much as I loved Granberia, she was the least effective at helping me with pain. I'd learned early on not to accept a massage from her. All she really knew was to make me orgasm, thus putting me out, which she did gladly, but seemed disappointed that it was all she could contribute to my comfort.
Not that Alma Elma had any other ways, either. She was neither a slime, nor did she have extra soft fur. All she had were mad sexual skills that could put me out in thirty seconds should she so desire. But she obviously didn't get all dressed up in a nurse outfit just to have me sleep through her entire shift.
"Having trouble sleeping?" she asked.
"Definitely," I said. Also not a lie.
"Well, let's take care of some of that pain, and then we'll put you out," she purred. "Nurse Alma is going to take good care of you. Let's take a look at you."
She ripped the covers off to expose my naked body. It had been easier for my caregivers to keep me naked and make sure I was warm with plenty of sheets and blankets. That way all that was needed to transport me to the bathroom for relieving myself or bathing was to just carry me there, clean me, and carry me back. No messing around with getting me dressed. Monsters were experts at undressing men. Not so skilled at putting clothes ON men. Keeping me naked was just so much more convenient.
"Oh my, your penis is already hard!" she cooed. "You are such a naughty boy! Are you already anticipating what your nurse might do to you?"
I didn't admit it, but oh yeah.
"Well, we can't just let you be hard like that," Nurse Alma said. "So before we do anything else, let's relieve you of your tension. Hmmm, how shall I do it? How about you request what you want and then I'll do what I want."
"Suck it," I said.
"Feet it is!" she laughed. "If I blow you, you'll be out for the rest of my shift, and that would be no fun. Unless you're in that much pain. All kidding aside, if that's what you really need, I'll do it."
"No, it's all right," I said. "Have your fun. I'm sure it'll be just as much fun for me and in the end I'm sure I'm going to be sleeping like a baby anyway."
"That's a promise," she said with a wink. "Now, where were we? Ah yes, feet."
She sat on a chair and raised her legs so that she could get her feet on each side of my penis. She went right to work, slowly rubbing me with the soles of her feet, occasionally using her toes as if she was a skilled pianist using her fingers. What incredible control and agility!
"Does this bring back memories, Luka-boy?" she teased.
"Yes," I replied between moans. "The last time you did this we were fighting in the Great Hall."
"How long after that did you imagine what it would have been like to just let me finish you this way? I know you were thinking about it, even though you're not a foot guy."
"You're turning me into a foot guy right now!" I exclaimed. "Your toes! I don't remember you being that agile with them!"
"I wasn't," she said. "In my own way, I'm just like Granberia. Losing to you by failing to get you off in thirty seconds when you were already on the brink wasn't easy for me. A succubus, failing to make a man come? How humiliating! So I worked on my toes. I did all kinds of stretches and agility exercises. I can use these toes now almost as well as my fingers. For awhile I was writing letters with my feet. Oh, you've lasted longer than thirty seconds again! Guess you win and I should stop."
"No!" I objected. "Please, I'm close! Finish me!"
"Maybe I should use my mouth like you wanted," she said.
"No! Feet! Feet! Feet! More feet!"
"I take it that means I'm very good at this," Nurse Elma teased. "Okay, it's rude for monsters to turn down requests from our prey anyway."
In thirty more seconds, I splashed my seed all over her feet and toes. Ever the contortionist, Alma Elma had no problem licking it all off of herself.
"All right, now that that's out of the way, let's turn you," she said, turning me over to my right side, facing away from her. "Oh, the naughty, depraved things I could get you addicted to from here."
"Don't you dare!" I said. "I do not want to become addicted to butt stuff!"
"You sure?" she said. "Prostate orgasms are better than penis orgasms, or so I hear."
"That's a definite no," I said firmly, then reconsidered. "For now, anyway. Maybe when I'm healthy again I'll be more willing to… experiment."
"I'm going to hold you to that," she said, giggling. "for now, let's get serious. I'm going to take your vitals."
This wasn't just her playing nurse. My vitals had been a bit erratic since I got sick, so the healers had advised taking them a few times a day. If my heart rate, blood pressure, or temperature got too far out of whack, they had plenty of tools to treat that at least. Nurse Elma checked everything, and once satisfied, sat back down to let me rest awake for a bit.
After a few hours, night began to fall. Alma turned me over to my left side, my favorite sleeping position.
"Oh, look, now your penis is facing me," she cooed. "And it's all hard again! Oh my! What's on your dirty mind? Have you been thinking about my mouth all this time?"
"I've been thinking of a lot of things," I said. "It seems that every part of you is dangerous."
"Oh, Luka-boy, you don't know the half of it!" she laughed. "If there's a part of me I haven't used to drain a man, I don't know what that part is. Ever had a girl's belly button?"
"Noooo," I said. Well, actually a succubus had tried that once, but it had been a fight and it had not proved to be a very effective pleasure attack.
"Granted, it only works on small guys, but you're about at the upper limit of what can work. Wanna try?"
"No, I admit, I'd started to think about you sucking me again," I said.
"That's what I was thinking about too," she said with a smile. "You know why you get so many blowjobs, Luka-boy?"
"I always thought it was because I really like them."
"What man doesn't?" she teased. "Well, there are a few. Especially huge guys, who only seem to get off if they can get balls deep in a woman. But most guys are seriously into oral sex. That's beside the point. Why do you think YOU get so many?"
"Because I…. taste good?"
"Bingo," she giggled. "And when your semen is so delicious, there's no better way to get it than to have it shot directly into your mouth. Every second it's in the open air it loses a little flavor. Having you come inside our vaginas is great too, and it fills our bellies just as well, but it's a different feeling. To truly taste a man right, you have to blow him. Did you know there are some monsters who won't give head? That's just unbelievable to me."
Shrugging, she went to work, keeping it simple and looking to make it quick, sucking hard and twisting her head so that her tongue hit me in exactly the right place on each upstroke. I came in thirty seconds, but she didn't stop, continuing on as if she hadn't even noticed that I'd dirtied her mouth. The next orgasm came three minutes later, and this one she did acknowledge, slowing down and lovingly swallowing every drop.
"Sweet dreams, Luka-boy," Nurse Elma said as I passed out.
The other story is a bit weirder. Granberia had been watching me and it was close to my bath time. She had never had a problem washing me, although she could be a bit rough, scrubbing me as if she was cleaning one of her swords. As I said, I love Granberia dearly, but her nursing leaves something to be desired in the tenderness department. While I didn't complain, she couldn't have missed my wincing at her bathing style, so she'd arranged for someone else to do that job this day. I think you know where this is going if you've read everything up to this point.
Indeed, Cindy came in through the door, awkwardly entering sideways and almost having to crawl up the door frame to get her bulk inside. I hadn't seen Cindy in quite some time. Ever since she'd become Queen of the Southern Seas, visits to the castle had been few and far between. I loved her as well. We'd grown quite close. I thought I had finally gotten completely over the earlier trauma. The problem was that I'd only barely woken up when I saw her. It didn't help that she grabbed me without even a greeting and started to carry me into the bathroom.
One good thing about it, nerves and muscles activated that I hadn't been able to move in weeks. Granberia marveled at my sudden thrashing about, utterly confused about what was bothering me. Some monsters, like Nanabi, got it. Others couldn't understand it at all. Cindy had once been clueless, but she had grown much wiser over the years. In addition, we'd talked about this a time or three.
Recognizing her mistake, she held me tight and stopped moving towards the bathroom. "Shhhhh…" Cindy said. "It's me. You know I won't hurt you. I'm going to be very gentle bathing you. Shhhh. It's okay. I'm not even going to do anything sexual. Just a bath, okay?"
True to her word, she gently laid me in the tub and gave me the most relaxing bath I'd ever had. While she didn't ignore my groin, she took care to not be too stimulating. My instinctive reaction dissipated quickly. She was indeed a valued friend. She would never hurt me.
"I can't believe you came all the way from the Southern Seas to see me," I said, once I was sufficiently calm.
"Oh, it's no problem at all!" Cindy replied. "I finally learned how to teleport just so I could come and nurse you! Imagine me, a queen, not being able to teleport! That's like, a requirement for all queens! But I'd been so absorbed in my duties I never learned. I learned some eye magic too! Wanna see! Just kidding! Hee hee."
"I'm sorry for my reaction earlier," I said. "I've been helpless lately and I'd just woken up. I hadn't been told to expect you."
"I understand," the crab girl replied, gently rinsing me. "we were enemies once. Well, sort of. You thought I was going to kill you. I'd never considered how scary I was being, attacking you like that. I'd just assumed all men loved my special course, because so many would come back for it."
"Oh, your special course is amazing," I said. "It's just that we kinda needed to know that it was all you intended. Monsters, especially sea monsters, could be vicious back then."
"I know that now," she said. "You've made me a better person. Soooo, I said I wouldn't do anything sexual, but If you want my special course, I'll give it to you. And anything else you want afterwards."
"I don't know, do you think it's still dirty?" I asked. "It looks pretty clean to me."
"Yeah, I did do a pretty good job," Cindy said. "So I guess you don't- ohhhh, I get it. Hmmm, your penis is really dirty, Luka. So dirty. Do you need Nurse Cindy to clean it for you again, but more thoroughly this time?"
"I think so," I said. "I'd hate to go to sleep with a dirty penis. It would make the bed so gross."
"Oh, you're right! We can't have that!"
She began blowing bubbles again into her hands. She started with my balls, as she always did, but she decided to be more gentle than she normally was when she did her special course. Her hands soon after began work on my shaft, then moved up to my head, giving special attention to the area where the head and shaft met. Dirt got under there easily. It also happened to feel really great as her fingers rotated around that spot.
"Ready for your favorite?" she said, once she was convinced my penis was clean. I nodded. "Do you want me to do it super fast so your come flies up and hits the ceiling, or do you want it a little slower?"
Her finishing move created one of the most intense orgasms I'd ever experienced, so I told her to just go ahead and do it fast. She obliged, using four hands to rub my shaft between them as if trying to create friction between her hands. My ejaculate didn't hit the ceiling, but it came pretty close, as usual, landing in her hair, making her giggle.
"Oh no!" she laughed. "It's raining semen! Now I'm dirty too!"
Normally this would mean starting all over, but she understood that it might be a bit much, so she settled for turning on the water and using a sponge to clean me off gently.
"Want anything else, Luka?" she asked. "I've given you a blowjob before, but never a soapy blowjob. I can change my saliva to soap with just a thought. It's how I blow my bubbles."
As tempting as that was(yet another new experience!) I had to decline. I was dog tired even though I'd just woken up. I'd only been asleep a couple of hours anyway. Cindy assured me that since she could now teleport, that she'd be back, ready to give me her special soapy blowjob anytime I wanted it. She carried me back to my bed and laid me on my favorite sleeping side as she sat down to begin her shift. Halfway through the night, she woke me up to turn me. This time I didn't panic at the sight of her while coming out of a deep sleep. Maybe now I was finally over it.
I attempted to stand a bit early, only a few days after my encounter with Cindy. Alice was watching me at the time, and was surprised when I turned by myself and attempted to get out of bed.
"What are you doing?" she asked with alarm. "Are you trying to stand?"
"Yep," I said. "Time to start recovering."
"Okay, but let me stand close to you to catch you in case you fall."
I didn't fall, but I didn't stand either. I simply got my butt off the bed a few inches, then fell back onto the bed.
"It's progress," Alice said. "Don't be afraid to keep trying. In a couple of days I bet you'll do it."
"I will," I said, my voice confident. Being able to move again did that for me. I wasn't feeling quite as helpless as before.
"In no time at all you'll be ready to make those goddesses pay for what they did to you," Alice said with grim determination.
"Alice," I said. "That's not what's going to happen."
"What do you mean? You're not thinking of letting them get away with hurting you?"
"That's exactly what I mean," I said firmly. "They aren't making any trouble. They just wanted my power. I'm not going to go fight gods just because I'm angry. You know I don't fight well unless I'm fighting for something."
"Isn't vengeance enough?" Alice asked.
"No," I said. "it's not enough. It's worth nothing to me."
"In Plansect Forest you fought for vengeance," she argued. "You were angry that the Priestess had lied to you and tricked you into fighting the insects for her. You left sealed plants all over the forest."
"I remember," I said. "But I wasn't fighting for vengeance at that point. I was fighting to try to end the war."
"But you said-"
"I said that vengeance was what initially sent me barreling back towards the plant side sealing plants left and right. But I also said right after that, that I wanted to end the war. My anger had dissipated by then. I was angry and hotblooded enough to seek vengeance for the first few days after they did this to me. That's probably why they wanted to keep me down so long. So I had time to think. They knew that if I thought about it long enough, that I'd decide that it wasn't worth it."
"Exactly!" Alice argued. "You're doing what they want!"
"I am," I said. "But they are also doing what I want. They calibrated their plan perfectly. They knew that if they used my power to throw their weight around this world, that I'd hop out of this bed as soon as possible and do whatever it took to stop them. Since they don't want that, they are behaving themselves. So I see no reason to go rampaging around heaven."
"Luka," Alice said with exasperation. "Every monster in the world is ready to lay down their lives for you. What's been done to you can't be allowed to go unpunished!"
"All the more reason why it has to go unpunished!" I said, now getting a little angry. "My vengeance isn't worth a single monster's life! I will not see people I care about die over this!"
"I understand," Alice said sadly.
"Thank you, Alice."
"I understand that you're still weak and in pain. This isn't the time to talk about this. I shoudn't have brought it up. I'm sorry. Once you're back in fighting shape we can revisit this. I'm sure you'll be thinking differently by then."
"Even if I am, I'm not risking the lives of anyone I love for something so petty as revenge," I insisted. "I doubt I'll even want to do it myself, but if I do decide to do it, I'm doing it alone. I'm the only one who can fight them now. It's like Daniel only double. There's nothing any of you can do to help except get in my way."
"Like I said, Luka, we'll have this conversation another time."
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