Vayal Academy

I fall asleep with Indel on me, and wake the next morning to her still snoozing on my chest. I’m surprised Mae didn’t wake me up. But, hey, there are worse things, aren’t there? I’ve just had a peaceful night’s rest with a beautiful woman, and while I was asleep Mae sorted everything with the Headmistress, so we can go get Alyx back and everything will be normal.

Strange she didn’t wake me up, though.

With about all the grace I’m capable of, I extricate myself from Indel’s splayed-out spider limbs without waking her. I stalk the hallway in a thick fur robe I won from Nym in our last dorm-wide game of cards. Everything’s wound tight like fishing wire, the world constricted by the bristly mix of anxiety and excitement in my stomach.

Mae’s room is empty and still. Makes sense, I guess — I’d be craving the comfort of my room after something like that.

But then Alyx’s room is empty, too, but for Wineskin, who grumbles when I enter. “Have you seen her?” I ask, and he grumbles again, returning to sleep. That’s good. If he’s not worried…

There’s not a soul in Nym’s room, either, not even her snake, which is enough to set me to worrying. There are classes today, so they could all be out, but then, surely — surely — they’d have thought to drop in. Plus I’m pretty sure Alyx doesn’t have any classes today, anyway.

I’m pacing the common room, wondering where to start my search, when the door opens and my heart soars — only to drop just as quickly when Syrene walks through. “Go away,” I say, but she ignores me totally, sprints past me and disappears into Nym’s room.

Not one to turn away good fortune, I put as much distance between me and Syrene as I can by speeding down the chariot and heading for… well, anywhere that isn’t the dorm. An admirable attempt, but a failure in the end — she bounds up behind me and I can’t even tell her to fuck off, because my voice isn’t mine.

“Have you done something to Nymeria?”

“No, of course not,” I reply, when she deigns to return it.

“I cannot find her. If you’ve hurt her you will die.”

“I’ve done nothing! Mae’s gone too, though-”

Syrene simply raises a hand, ignoring me as she rushes from the dorm. Despite myself, I follow her — she’s my only lead, after all, even if the sight of her makes me furious. We’re down the chariot together, and I sprint after her down a hallway to who-knows-where, I never get to find out, because she whirls around with irritation in her eyes and slaps me across the face with a dazzle of white. And then I’m down; I barely have time to register the feeling of cold tile against my cheek as Syrene continues down the hall before I’m unconscious.

Alyx and Mae. Those are the people I care about. But Nym’s on my mind, thanks to Syrene, and for whatever reason it’s a vision of her that comes to me. By the darkness outside the windows and some sense deep within my soul I know that this is last night, around the time when Mae left my room — it took a few hours to calm me down after the duel.

The wood elf’s cloaked herself in invisibility, sitting outside Vila’s dorm with her arms crossed and boredom on her face. This better be worth it, she thinks. After a few painful minutes of waiting, Vila exits, and Nym slips into the common room before the door can slam shut. Her next destination’s easier to infiltrate — Vila so trusts her dormmates that she leaves her room unlocked.

The sight of Alyx, collared and chained to the wall by Vila’s bed, enrages me and thrills Nym. The nasty little pervert lets her invisibility drop, earning a low growl from an Alyx as unhappy to see her as I am.

“My girlfriend really did a number on you, huh?”

“Grrrrrrrrrrrr.”

“And you really thought you were gonna win, too. I could tell. I was watching. I love watching.”

She saunters across the room, certain to sway her hips. She reaches out and leaps back as Alyx lunges forward, stopped by the chain. Now that she can see how much reach Alyx has, Nym stands just beyond it, hand on her hips. “It’s kinda sad, huh? Cos I guess in a way it’s all my fault. But, then, if you’d have just fought for me, fought like you did for Hattie and Mae, this wouldn’t have happened, would it? If you told Syrene I had to be yours. Except I guess she probably would’ve beat you.”

Alyx pounces forward — that muzzle must be enchanted to force her to stay on all fours. The chain rattles against its spike.

Nym unbuttons her blouse, slowly, waving a red flag for a bull. “Cos I wanted you, you know, more than I ever wanted her. She’s never made me feel half as good as you did, baby. When you would stroke my hair. And whisper sweet things in my ear. You made me feel so good; almost tricked me into thinking you cared about me. But when you landed your two stupid, perfect girlfriends I never saw you again. You’d rather hang out in those dusty old catacombs than spend time with me.”

“ARF!” Alyx replies, no doubt trying to tell her about Syrene, trying to tell her she didn’t have a choice.

“Sorry, I don’t speak dog.” It’s a brazen lie, too — every wood elf can speak with animals. No doubt Alyx, of the forest, knows it.

Nym shrugs her blouse off and steps out of her skirt. She turns around, bends over, wiggles her stockinged ass and giggles. “Are you sure you don’t want me, sexy? Are you sure you don’t want to fuck me?” She ignores the desperate rattle and Alyx’s barks as she strains against the chain. She rolls her stockings down, now just in bra and panties, still bent over, still teasing. “I miss the feeling of you inside me. If you grabbed me, I’d let you do whatever you want to me. Why don’t you fill my mouth with that big fucking cock? Or my ass — you could fuck my ass. Syrene hasn’t even done that.” Nym turns around, presses her breasts together — somehow, even after Indel last night, this is working me up. “What about my tits? Slide that big deer dick between my pretty elven tits, cum all over them, baby, do whatever you want to me, I’m yours; all you have to do is grab me.”

It’s working Alyx up, too — Vila keeps her naked (a humiliation that stings me), and Nym and I both see she’s fully hard. Not that it’s needed, though — you get the sense she’s pulling against the chain for a different reason, now.

Nym tosses her panties in a lazy arc and they land on Alyx’s muzzle. “You like how they smell, little doggie? That’s the smell of me, so fucking wet for you.” Somehow she lands the shot twice in a row, this time with her bra. “Why won’t you fuck me? Why don’t you want me? I’m right here begging you, please, please, please.” She lays herself on the floor, spreads her thighs and slips a finger between them. “I guess I just have to imagine you, huh? Because you don’t want me? Or, wait — oh! I see. You won’t fuck me because you’re chained up and muzzled like a rabid mutt. Because my girlfriend showed everyone that underneath the cocky facade you’re nothing but-”

“ARF!”

“Don’t interrupt me, doggie. Under it all you’re just another loser. You’re thinking about Syrene, aren’t you? When you’re in here alone jerking off into the floor you’re wishing my girlfriend was here to whip you into line. Sorry, but she’s all mine.”

Fucking hell. Here I’d thought Nym was innocent of all this, once I realised it wasn’t her in the vision. Well, fuck her. I won’t lift a finger to help Syrene find her.

“What’s a matter, pup? Tired from pulling against your chain? Finally figured out you’re-”

The spike pops free of the wall and clatters against the ground. Nym has enough presence of mind to shout “st-” before Alyx has a hand over her mouth and her cock inside her. She grabs the chain, trailing from her muzzle, with her free hand, and wraps it around Nym’s head, pressing it into her mouth. “Nnnnmmf!” Nym manages, her mouth forced open and tongue forced flat.

“WRUF WRUF WRUF!” Alyx says, fucking Nym so hard it’s a miracle the floor doesn’t give out under them. Her face is twisted into utter scorn, but Nym’s panic quickly gives way to bliss. She manages to loosen the chain, just enough to shout,

“I LOVE YOU!”

“ARF!”

She pulls it free and holds Alyx’s face, both hands on her cheeks. “Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, I’m made for you, I’m made for you, I’m meant for you, you own me, whenever you want, I’m yours, I’m yours, I’m yours.” The speed at which she crumbles before Alyx is, to me, entirely understandable — even then, if it weren’t for everything else it might make me feel bad for Syrene. Nym hooks her hands under the muzzle and tries with all her strength to pull it off. “Please, tell me you love me, tell me you want me, tell me I’m yours, anything, just talk to me; tell me you hate me, tell me I’m nothing, just let me hear your voice, I miss you, I miss you, I miss you — I need you!”

“ARF!”

“No, no, no, no; she shouldn’t have done this, no, she has to let you go, she has to! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please, please, forgive me; I love you, I love you, I love you; you’re all I can think about, I’ve always wanted you, I’m so jealous of them, I wish I was them, I wish you-”

Alyx wrangles the chain back into Nym’s mouth just in time for her to pull out and paint the elf’s copper chest white. She runs a hand across the puddle and smears it across Nym’s cheek, messes it into her hair, rubs it into her tits. “Tank you,” Nym mumbles around the obstruction, eyes full of genuine devotion.

(I just really cannot even begin to know what to think about all this, so I don’t even try.)

As Alyx pants over Nym, who just keeps staring gormlessly, the door clicks open — neither notices. My heart leaps when Mae walks in, but quickly falls as I wonder where the hell she is now.

“Oh my,” she says. Finally, they both look to her, both flushed. “No, girls, don’t be embarrassed — fuck, really, don’t be, this is. Gods. I just wish I got here sooner. I was trying to talk to the Headmistress but she’s all tied up; Heidi and Mara are missing, apparently. Sorry. Who cares? I, Gods. Sorry. I’m just locking this in my memory.” She holds up her hands in a rectangle, keeps them both in the frame. “Now, let’s get you out of that. I’ve got a theory.”

As she begins to walk towards them, all Alyx’s attention turns to her. All mine does, too. It’s only the frantic bark that draws me to the mass of humming static behind Mae. Some kind of anti-Seer magic? It envelops Mae, and a second later she’s gone.

Nym leaps to her feet, her tie illusioned to yellow. Why? Clearly she realises something I don’t, because the static leaps over to her like chain lightning and she vanishes as well.

Whatever that thing is, it ignores Alyx, fading away as dreams do after waking. She’s left barking in its wake, scratching at the door — that stupid fucking muzzle keeps her from turning the handle, even though she can reach.

My vision fades as my body becomes aware of someone shaking me.

“Orc. Orc. Orc! Hellooooooo? Fucking useless. Why do I bother?” It’s Mailis, paw on my shoulder and slender vulpine snout considering me.

“M-Mailis?”

“Yes, that is my name. Well done. They should give you a medal.”

“I already got one.”

“Ah, yes, silver in the Temple Ceremony. You think I am not aware? I wouldn’t care a whit for you if you weren’t so essential to our almost-victory. Anyway, enough of the stupid fucking distractions. Uhm. Are you okay?” The sudden softening of her expression and voice leaves me bewildered, blinking like a newborn lamb. Still groggy from the vision, I rub my head.

“I think something’s happening.”

“Something’s always happening.”

“No, something bad.”

“Something bad’s always happening. This world is shit and misery.”

“Right. I mean at the Academy. Do you- do you know Mara and Heidi?”

Her narrow fox eyes go even smaller, snout turned to derision. “Do you not?”

“Should I?”

“They are in our Fundamentals of Mana class. The one where you spend all fucking day staring at the deer.”

“Okay, who are they?”

“Who- who are they? How should I know? What? They’re Restorationists, that’s all I know.”

Nym must’ve known it, too. Give it to her, that was some quick thinking — though Gods know what good it’ll do her, kidnapped with Mae. An idea blooms as Mailis’s orange tie brushes against my blouse. “Can you help Alyx? She’s got a cursed item stuck on her.”

“Cursed? Fuck you! Trying to drag me into some horror. Go to a Professor.”

I guess that’s not a bad idea. Back when Mae was going to sort it out with the Headmistress it didn’t seem necessary, so the idea floated out of my head. Tailina can probably help, although it’ll be extremely embarrassing trying to bring anything to her. But I can work past the burning in my cheeks when Mae’s in danger. I have to. “Will you come with me?” I ask.

Mailis rolls her eyes, but helps me up regardless. As I make for Tailina’s office, in the back of our classroom, she follows, her steps light. “Why were you sleeping in the middle of the hall? Some lumbering beast could crush you — the Conjurationist bitches use this hallway for their freaks.”

“I don’t think you should call them that.”

“What of it?”

Deciding to leave the asperous Alterationist to her seething hatred, I let the issue lie and walk in silence until she says, “You did not answer my question.”

“Syrene knocked me out.”

“The mouse? Fuck her. She cheated.”

“She did. You wanted the tie clip?”

“No, fuck, I just wanted it all to be worth something. That fucking gargoyle freak almost crushed my throat and still I kept the tunnel open. And then we lose because of ‘Syrene’ and her bullshit. Sucks ass.”

“I saw, by the way. You holding the tunnel, I mean. It was impressive.”

There’s a beat of silence before she mutters, “Oh, thank you.”

Does she… does she like you?

No, surely not; you get the impression she doesn’t like anyone.

It doesn’t matter what she thinks! She could want to declare me Empress of All the World, it wouldn’t matter so long as Mae is in danger and Alyx is leashed. I need to save them both.

Gods. Are you ever gonna get to go on a date with your girlfriends, or are things gonna keep getting in the way?

I am. I’m going to get them both back, today, and then we’re going to have a nice, fluffy date, and at the end we’ll all fuck and be happy and everything is going to be alright. I will make it alright.

In silence we arrive at the classroom. It’s empty, the back office locked — I hammer the door with my fist and call, “Professor, are you here? I need your help.”

There’s a rustling from inside, and a moment later she calls back, “I am most occupied, Hattie. I am assigned to help find a missing student.”

“I’m looking for one too. Mae Maiven. I had a vision of something taking her. I think I can help.”

Mailis steps past me and sticks her big ear against the doorframe. “Your teacher’s fucking weird,” she whispers. “She’s talking to herself.”

“About what?”

“Whether to open the door.”

Huh?

A moment later, Tailina calls out, “Await me at the Headmistress’s Office, yes? I will be along shortly.”