Chapter 26: Mansion
Frenley looked at the girls as they returned from their own time alone. Frenley was dressed back in his leather armor and robe. Mia and Risa were dressed in their usual gear, arms locked together. Risa was resting her head on Mia's shoulder, a soft and pleasant smile on her pink lips.
“Had fun, girls?”
“Yes, we did love. I did have to clean Risa up before starting. You're quite messy, you know that.”
“Ah- sorry about that? I will clean you guys up with a towel next time.”
“I meant that as a joke, love, please continue to pain us white,” Mia said softly.
Frenley made a cute sound of acknowledgment as he nodded to the two girls. That seemed to have brought a giggle out of them, which caused the fey to smile softly. Frenley enjoyed looking at them; to him, they were like living paintings. If he could paint this scene and hang it in his living room, he would have done it in a heartbeat.
The girls seem to notice him staring. Their soft smile made the fey’s heart flutter as he looked away. He coughs to blow his embarrassment away, speaking softly while looking at the mental map in his brain.
“Where should we go, girls? The night is still quite young.”
“How about that ruin next to the mountains?” Risa said softly.
“That sounds good to me, but that seems to be too large to be a ruin,” Frenley said as he brushed his hair to the side.
“True, it seems to be the same size as the castle. It could be a proper, large dungeon.” Risa said her head was still resting on Mia's shoulder.
“It could be, darling, alright, let's make our way there. Unless Mia has a different opinion?” Frenley said, looking at the girls.
The tall woman shook her head softly, smiling as she patted Risa's head. The kitsune purr under her touched before separating herself from the tall woman. Frenley smiled as he pointed with his head. Mia shook her shoulders as she walked in front of the party. Risa and Frenley went into their standard positions.
“Babe, I've been meaning to ask, why do you look so androgynous?”
Frenley looked back at Risa as he shrugged.
“No clue, darling, Ailice told me it is my deepest desire. What that means, I have no idea. I am pretty confident in my masculinity.”
“I think you are the only one with such a big difference love” Mia said from ahead of the pack. “Risa and I look similar to our real selves.”
“Yeah, I have noticed that, dear. I don't know, could it be that I am trans or something? But that can't be, if I were, I would have been a woman now.”
“Maybe you are nonbinary?” Risa's words cause Frenley to pause for a bit.
“Explain.”
“I mean, gender is a spectrum; there is more than just male and female. You could be nonbinary.”
“But don't you have to like dislike being perceived as either gender to be that?” Frenley asks, genuinely curious.
“Maybe? I don't know, babe, you may need to search it up online.”
“This dream really is making me discover new parts of me. First poly and maybe now my own gender identity. Thankfully, at least my sexuality is pretty solid.” Frenley said with a soft smile
“Never had thoughts of kissing the same gender? Then, feeling ashamed of even thinking of such a thing, thinking you are possessed by the devil?”
Mia's comment made the other two look at her with concern. The tall woman seemed to sense their concern as she looked at them and smiled softly.
“It's all good, loves. Just one of the first clues I remember of being bisexual.”
“That sounds like religious trauma, babe.” The kitsune said as she walked faster, to grab the tall woman's arm.
Frenley did the same, as he grabbed Mia’s other arm. The tall woman smiled at both of them as she spoke.
“Maybe? My household believes in god, but we aren't super religious about it. We pray at home, donate to the church, and go every Sunday, that kind of family. But the area we lived in was super religious; it is from that where I got the idea that being homosexual is a sin.”
The other two stayed quiet as they waited for Mia to gather her thoughts.
“Thankfully, my family never truly bought it, but I was a kid, and I believed it. I felt like I was... defective. I was in high school when I came out to my family. Gosh, that was a scary day. But they accepted me with open arms.”
“That is very nice, dear.”
“I am happy to hear that, babe.”
Frenley and Risa spoke one after the other, smiling softly at the tall woman.
“Yeah, how about you, sweetheart? How did you come to find out you were Bi?” Mia said, looking at the kitsune.
“Well, it is a funny story. I thought at first I was a lesbian for most of my teenage years. But one day in college, I developed a crush on a man. Imagine my surprise when that happened. We never got anywhere; he was gay. But that did show me I can like guys, but I still mostly lean towards girls. “
“What is the thing that attracts you to guys?” Frenley asks while looking at the short woman.
“It's not looks or anything, it's personality that attracts me to a guy. I don't even know what it is; maybe it's a combination of things. But I come to like guys because of their personality, then I start lusting after their looks.”
“Ho, interesting. What about girls?” Mia said, looking at her female lover.
“Personality, of course, but I can more easily say that I can lust for a woman’s body without being attracted to her personality. But you babes are the full package.”
Both Mia and Frenley fist-bump as they smile brightly.
“Yeah, we're the full package, alright.” Mia's lewd comment made Risa blush a bit, as she kicked the woman in the shin.
“So for sure I am not Bi then,” Frenley said, bringing the conversation back to the starting point. “I don't wish to be fucked or fuck any guy. “
The girls giggle at his words as they continue to talk while walking.
—
An hour of walking later, the group finds itself in front of the large structure indicated on their maps. In front of them lies a large mansion, with the front half of it built outside and the back side built into the mountain. The mansion had an old, medieval feel. The house was surrounded by a stone wall, and the metal gate had been broken and left open over the years.
The trio looks at the house with careful eyes.
“Risa, I think it would be great if you used your powers for this.” Frenley said.
“On it, babe.” The kitsune responded to the man while using her powers. After wiping the golden tears from her eyes, the kitsune spoke as Mia cleaned the golden residue from Risa's face.
“This place has two bosses, a random one and a side one. There also seems to be good loot in here.”
“Oh, really? Then we really hit the jackpot,” Frenley said with a smile painted on his face.
Mia licked her thumb clean, smiling at her lovers before speaking.
“Alright, let's get to it!”
The tall woman took the first step into the house, with Risa and Frenley close behind. The couple walks on the stone path that leads them straight into the mansion’s double door. In front of the door, the floating moonlight shard would serve as their base of operations. They rested next to it to ensure it was added as their spawn point.
Mia pushed the large double doors with ease, the wooden doors hitting the stone walls. Causing the sound to echo through the large hallway that greeted them. Dust picks up as the cold midnight wind blows into the house. The floor and statues that adorn the hallway were covered in a visible layer of dust. It was so bad that Risa sneezed while hiding behind Frenley. Hoping his frame could block some of the dust from entering her nose.
Frenley gave her a side hug as he looked at the scene in front of him. Metal suits of armor decorate the hallway. Some paintings hang from the walls, while others lie face down on the floor. The few paintings he could see were left without color. The figures depicted in them seem to have their skin melting, their eyes full of fear and pain.
The wind howls as it blows through the house.
“This is a fucking haunted house.”
The tall woman said as she took her first step in, then her second. Frenley follows close behind, Risa still hiding behind him to protect herself from the dust. Frenley looked at the metal suits of armor, his fingers tightening their grip on his arcane focus. Ready to blast open the first thing that dares to move.
But nothing moved or made a sound as they walked through the hallway. They soon come to a crossroads, and the hallway splits into three paths. One to the right, one to the left, and going forward. Frenley touched Mia’s side, and when the woman looked at him, he pointed with his head to the left side. Mia nodded her head as she took the vanguard once more, leading her lovers down the left hallway.
It was here that they came across their first door. Mia stood in front of the door. Frenley is behind her, ready to shoot magic at whatever dares to harm her. Risa was much the same. With her lovers guarding her, Mia swings the door wide open. Letting the wooden door crash against the wall. What greeted them was a small tea room. Occupied by nothing other than dust. Dust that caused Mia to sneeze.
The group continues walking down the hallway, opening any doors they find along the way. Only to find more dust and for more sneezes to leave them. The hall soon ended at the entrance of a side garden. The plants were completely overgrown; there was no unity or order in the chaos of nature left untouched by human hands.
The group went back to the crossroads and walked down the right corridor. It started much the same, rooms occupied by dust and memories. The only difference from the other hallway is that this one came to a dead end. A large painting decorated the wall. The painting depicted a woman drinking from a fountain with red liquid.
Frenley couldn't help but look at the painting; the liquid's red pigment felt very alive. The way the woman’s skin shone under the bright sun felt ultra-realistic. He could almost hear the faint sound of her breathing, the softness of the forest breeze, the smell of iron, and the taste of sin.
“Babe?” The kitsune worry tone drove Frenley back into reality.
Frenley shook his head as he looked at the picture again. His heart beat was elevated, his body a bit cold as sweat covered him.
“Love you, okay?”
Frenley took a step forward as he swung his sword at the painting. The next second, a scream of pain echoed in the hallway. As blood came out of the painting. Crawling out of it came a naked woman, her skin was bone white. Her eyes were blood red, and her nails were long and elongated. Like the claws of a beast, the woman hisses at them as she tries to stand up.
Frenley didn't even give her a chance as he cut her head clean off her shoulders. Her head rolls on the floor, her white blood spilling all over the carpet.
“What the fuck was that?!” Mia's exclamation caused Fren to jump a bit.
“I don't know how, but the paintings aren't normal. Be on guard against them; they seem to be able to suck you in! It would have happened to me if not for Risa. Thanks, darling.”
“You are welcome?” The kitsune said in a confused tone.
“Anyway, any painting we see from now on is getting destroyed,” Frenley said as he cleans his blade.
Mia looks at him with narrow eyes, sighing to herself as she looks at the hallway they came through.
“Just what surprises are you hiding, you creepy old mansion?”