Rupegia

Chapter 176: Thread of Fate – Part 3

I put down the Bed beside our harem-sized bed, then eagerly lay down on the bed, the one inside the large tub that is the Bed, I mean. Anyway, I've already spent enough time breeding and even shared the pleasure with the thirstier wives, so now I'm fully in work mode.

"Would you feel jealous if we fucked over your passed-out body?" Hana casually inquires like a curious child.

I raise an eyebrow at her, then firmly answer, "Yes, don't do it. Also, I'm not going to fully pass out."

"I feel like it'd actually be more respectful to have women fucking over your body rather than not," Roxanne muses, mirroring Hana's tone.

"Don't use the word 'body,' it makes me uncomfortable," Alissa requests with a frown, and the rest of the girls also kind of agree.

But the mean succubus grins evilly as she does a bit of malicious compliance. "Sure. I think that having an orgy at his funeral would be the ultimate form of paying our respects to him."

And Alissa glares at the cheeky one.

Yunia finishes her inspection of the controls and then gives me a nod. These Beds don't have any sort of "industrial standards," so each one can be rather unique, and even with Arreira's notes, it's just prudent to carefully inspect its functions before trying to do anything. Though, she believes the worst that could possibly happen is that they'd either make my hair grow uncontrollably or heal my manly scars.

I'm really happy that when my body was "reconstructed" and I was made into a weredragon that most of the (very faint) scars that I have were recreated too, especially the one on my left cheek and the one on the right side of my throat as they look manly and stylish. They're just a mild discoloration due to cuts rather than actual mangling, but they still serve to draw sensuous smiles whenever my body is thoroughly inspected by women.

While I muse, Yunia works on the controls, and then I start to sense mana leak from under the Bed, right where my spine is resting, which is just a little bit frightening.

"Hm?" Yunia hums curiously at my inner monologue.

And I smile wryly. "Horror movies. You could cripple someone permanently by stabbing their spine, so I have a bit of an aversion towards anything that messes with it."

"Hm…" she hums again in understanding, but she's also unconcerned since nothing physical will happen.

But I still sense something happening to my spine as the "connection" begins to form. While blood may be useful to link the mood of soldiers to improve coordination during a mass battle, it seems that for the elves, the spine has more medical uses.

"That spell used for battle is called [Empathic Bond], while this one is called [Deep Bond]," she remarks absentmindedly.

And we all think of a dirty joke at the same time, making us chuckle softly, so there's no need to say it out loud.

The sensation I get all over my spine gradually becomes clearer, and it begins to feel as if my bones are being gently massaged by water. It tickles a bit, but it only lasts for about ten seconds before it settles down, though I still feel as if my spine is "underwater" and even under slight pressure.

"You could sit up or shift if the bed becomes uncomfortable, just don't move too fast, as it'd disrupt the connection," Yunia requests.

And I happily hum, "Sure thing, doc. But now what?"

"I'll focus on the connection and try to find anything special about it."

Meanwhile, the girls (including Gify) all use [Sense Soul] and inspect my spine. The "underwater sensation" goes from the tip of my coccyx (excluding my draconic tail) to the back of my head, and we bet that the Thread will be somewhere in the brain, but it doesn't hurt to check the rest of the spine, too.

Mmkay… we have no idea what we're doing, what we're seeing, or what we should be doing.

"Doesn't [Sense Presence] tell you if someone is dead?" I suddenly question Alissa.

"Yes, but it's only a 'sensation,'" she quietly responds, still focused on inspecting my spine.

And I kindly suggest, "You could try to focus on that sensation and see if you can find 'where' it comes from."

She nods and stands up. "I'll call for a spirit Chimera Companion, then."

The chosen one, a Gold-Retriever-Headed girl called Hau, becomes very tense once she sees that nobody is talking and they're all staring intensely at me, so I decide to soothe her a bit, "They're using special sensing skills to look into my soul, but it's nothing serious. We're just doing an experiment to find something that can help us progress through the dungeon."

She nods, making her floppy ears sway. "I see. I heard that the airship is in an empty void, so you're trying to solve its mystery?"

And I casually confess, "To be honest, we don't think it's a 'mystery.' This dungeon is far too protective and obtuse, so we suspect there's something going on with it."

But this makes her confused. "What? What else could it be but a 'mystery'?"

I'm always happy to explain things to such an eager learner. "There are ways to control a dungeon, just like how the God-Ruler Arreira built his tomb and recreated Whakamutu inside it. We also have his notes that explain it all."

She brightens up, which looks really cute on her Golden Retriever face. "Oh, I see. So, if there's someone controlling the dungeon, they could make it as deadly and merciless as they want."

And I nod as I smile soothingly at her. "Exactly. We think something like that might be happening here, though it's more 'protective' than 'deadly.'"

Then she becomes a bit bolder and asks, "And… how is this 'experiment' that you're doing going to help?"

So I give her a simplified explanation, but you should already know what we're doing, so let's skip it.

Hau makes a pensive face, which looks funny as it's kind of opposite to the nature of a Golden. "I thought the Thread was a… 'metaphor'? Is that the word? Just some story the priests told us to make it easier for us to understand."

Ciel then joins us because she couldn't not, "For many generations, the Oracles have all described what they see as being similar to a 'thread' that ties up with that of those close to the person, so it's a pretty literal term."

But Hau tilts her head cutely. "Who's this 'Oracle'?"

Of course, a spirit Chimera wouldn't know about the Imperial Oracle.

Now it's Ciel's turn to curiously inquire, "Didn't you have someone like a 'seer' back in your Hauhuri nation? Someone who would get visions of the future, make prophecies, and see things about others that nobody else could?"

And the Golden Retriever nods her head in understanding, but then she makes a rather complicated expression. "Ah, that's the 'Clairvoyant.' Ours couldn't see the future very well, considering that the Petrification Calamity happened, but they were famous for being a 'Judge of Truth.'"

Seems like the Clairvoyant was similar to the Truth Seekers.

Then I remember something that was supposed to be very important, "Oh, yeah, and we also have a 'seer' ourselves: the stinky gnome."

Yunia suddenly sighs and pulls back from the controls for a moment as she tiredly suggests, "We really should include him in this."

Unfortunately, yeah, we should.

"The fuck is this thing?" the stinky old man crassly questions as he waddles into the room.

The presence of another male in our nest of love saps some of the excitement from my voice as I explain, "A Bed of Preservation. Ancient technology. Now, the Bed was used for something that let God-Ruler Arreira access my Thread, so you should look at my spine, which is what the Bed has 'grabbed.' My Thread is definitely somewhere in that area."

"Okay, but I have no idea what I'm even seeing, so I won't know if it's the Thread or not," he answers with a snort.

And Ciel adds with a lot more kindness and patience than we'd have, "Well, we know that the Oracles do see what appears to be a Thread, so maybe you could see something similar."

"'Oracles'?" he repeats confusedly, and I subtly snort as I summon the energy to explain things to him.

Yunia suddenly groans internally in frustration as nobody has made any progress for a good half hour, so she decides to switch things up a bit, "I'm going to try something. I'll disconnect and reconnect his body and the Bed repeatedly, so you may see some disturbance."

We all hum in agreement, and then she begins her experiment, which tickles a lot, but now it's started to become rather pleasant.

"Ooh, pretty colors…" Kellogs hums childishly, actually sounding full of wonder.

The girls also see disturbances with [Sense Soul], but it isn't actually pretty, just "confusing."

So Yunia continues to grow increasingly frustrated.

"What's up?" I kindly ask her through [Bind].

And she immediately unloads her thoughts, "I can see your Source of Life connecting to mine through the bridge of Life that the Bed creates between us, allowing me to manipulate your body a bit, but I can't see further than the Source. Supposedly, the Source is connected to the Thread, so I thought this would be easier…"

And I make the suggestion that nobody wants to hear, "What about letting Kel-o's use the Bed? Can you guide him or do it with him?"

"UUUGHH~…" she unleashes an intense groan, almost shivering in disgust. She's made quite the un-Queenly sound, but it's something she'd never let anyone but us ever hear. "It'd be a bit too much, even for someone with an 'ugly bastard' fetish like mine. It isn't sexual, but I'd rather not taint myself by letting his Life touch mine without the protection of a spell like [Chain Life]. "

I'm the one doing nothing, so I come up with another suggestion, "What about using a golem to do it?"

And that pleases her, "Make a new one that will then be disposed of afterward. This will be similar to what the dryads do when they let their souls 'touch' each other, so it isn't a Fate that I wish upon any of us."

Alright, yes, I support the decision to use a golem wholeheartedly, then. There's something about 'touching' a dryad that makes it more 'intimate' than doing so with a normal person, and 'touching' is precisely the line that I won't allow to be crossed.

"Why is a doll using the 'thing,' now?" the baby-faced ugly bastard questions in suspicion.

"She needs to rest a bit; this isn't easy to do," I lie unhesitatingly. Both things are a lie.

"Aight…" he hums and puts one hand in the slot.

Then Yunia gently but firmly explains things to him, "Don't do anything, and don't resist. You should see many little white dots come out of your hand and go towards Wolfy, so focus on where they enter him as that's where his Source of Life is, which is connected to the Thread."

"Okay…" he hums in understanding, sounding like he didn't understand anything at all.

"When you see it, you'll understand," I wryly add, a bit sympathetic as even I didn't understand Life until I saw it with my own eyes after a good dose of Eia extract.

Then she assumes direct control of the golem and inserts its cloth hand into the other slot. It takes some effort, but she manages to make the golem feed their Life into the Bed, which then also sucks out some of Kel-o's Life and connects them both to me.

"This feels weird…" the little boy mumbles concernedly, but we all ignore him.

I use [Bind] to see through Yunia's eyes and spot countless little white dots moving between their hands and me like cars on a highway. That's what the elves call "Life." But the cool thing is that they're visible even through solid matter.

"Oooh, that's neat…" the gnome hums as he now stares at somewhere around my head, and his Gift gives me an uncomfortable chill, as if I'm "naked" before him, even though I don't care about being naked anymore.

"What do you see?" Yunia eagerly questions.

And he shrugs. "Fuck knows… but it looks like a piece of frayed cloth."

"Wait, that might be it!" I exclaim. The Oracle said that my Thread was like a sea that was settling down, so maybe now it should look more similar to a "normal" Thread.

"Okay, job done?" he immediately questions as his eyes dart between Yunia and me.

"No. Now we need to find a way to 'access' it," I correct with a cheeky smile.

He hums thoughtfully and then caresses his bare chin as if he's accustomed to having a beard. "I could try to use my Gift to 'pull it out,' or something."

Alissa walks up to the gnome and then kneels so that she's at eye level with him, her face serious and intimidating like a warm mask, and also uncomfortably close to his. "If you kill him, even by accident, I'll kill you immediately," she declares without a drop of uncertainty in her harsh tone.

"Maybe not, then," he mumbles reflexively, frozen in place by her intimidating aura, and even Hau becomes tense.

"Alissa…" I gently reprove her with a frown, and she steps back. "It'll be fine as long as he's careful," I firmly reassure her.

"What, exactly, are you going to do?" Yunia questions the gnome.

"I can manipulate anything that I can see, so I'll try to gently 'pull it out,' wherever it may be," he answers like an adult, for once.

"If I can feel what you're touching, then I might be able to 'access' it myself with my [Soul Manipulation] skill," I eagerly agree.

"Sounds like a plan," he hums with a shrug.

"Remember, do it gently," Alissa sternly warns him again, and she looks really sexy when she's serious.

Well, all of the wives look sexy when they're serious…

"Yes, ma'am," Kellogs obediently hums with a nod, then he furrows his brow and starts taking a mild shit. It's clear that he's being careful to not "pull" my Thread too hard just from the dumb expression he's making.

We tensely wait for a long moment, but, as expected, I feel absolutely nothing, and not even the girls can sense any changes. But just when I start to think about asking him for an update, I feel a mild tickling discomfort inside my head.

"Okay, something is happening," I state excitedly.

"Stop the moment that it begins to hurt," Alissa states sternly.

"Yes, ma'am."

"The Bed is reacting," Yunia reports.

"Is it trying to stop him?" Ciel concernedly questions.

But Yunia shakes her head negatively, making her drills sway. "I don't know, but the mana consumption is ticking higher, though it's still minimal."

"So it's still under control," I reassure everyone.

The uncomfortable tickling sensation steadily becomes stronger and reaches the point that it becomes really annoying, but there's still no change in what the girls can see. Even Gify is curious about what's going on as she also hasn't noticed any changes, and she's an expert in spirits.

And then the climax finally begins.

My whole body suddenly turns weird, in and out, almost like I'm sick or feverish, but my mind is still perfectly clear, though the tickling sensation starts to become "distant."

Wait, is my soul detaching from my body?

The girls immediately inspect it all over, but there's no change to it.

And then they all also start to feel weird.

"Uh… I'm feeling weird," Sam worriedly shares.

"Same, Your Highnesses," Hau follows up in the same tone.

"A person's Thread ties with that of those that they're close to, so that's why it might be affecting us too," Ciel scholarly explains, sounding slightly strained.

"Okay, so I'm going to kill us all," Kellogs jokes and chuckles.

"Be serious, please," I sternly request, and he keeps his other remarks to himself.

Then the wives finally see some change, but we aren't prepared for what we see. It's somewhat like the Cycle of Souls, where they see multiple television screens appear before their eyes, the noise and visual chaos making it hard to focus on any one of the images. But they quickly notice that these are memories, and I'm present in all of them.

The Oracle may see the Thread as an actual thread because it's less overwhelming and easier to understand than the colossal monstrosity that's gradually coming out of me. My Thread is so heavily tied with theirs that every memory from ever since we met starts to flash before our eyes.

"Holy shit…" the gnome hums, sounding clearly less affected than us.

"KELLO! PUT IT BACK! SLOWLY!" I desperately demand.

"Yessir," he obediently replies.

The cacophony starts to die down as the Thread returns to me again, and the girls realize that they were holding their breaths because of how tense they were, so they let out long sighs all at the same time. But then Yunia sees something.

"Stop! Don't move the Thread!" she exclaims assertively, and Sam obeys on reflex.

There's still one last "memory" left outside: the first time we met. But that isn't what Yunia saw, specifically. This memory is so "small" that she can see "around it," allowing her to spot "where" in my Source of Life the Thread is located.

"Found it!" she shouts triumphantly, then controls the golem, who manipulates the Bed and surrounds this little piece of my Thread with Life, covering it in the same watery sensation as before, which allows me to feel where the Thread is. So I "grab" it with [Soul Manipulation], and the memory suddenly becomes shrouded in darkness in everyone's view, even silencing it completely.

I decide to wait a little before I do anything with it to allow everyone to recover from the straining experience. It was a bit different from watching television as now the memories are all fresh in our minds, and there are a lot of intense ones, if you know what I mean.

"Something is blocking me; did you do that?" Samkelo questions Yunia confusedly.

But I give the answer, "Yeah, I 'grabbed' it, but let me recover before I try to do something with it."

"Hau, did you also see something?" Ciel kindly asks the Golden Retriever Companion.

She tilts her head cutely again. "See? No, but I…" -she looks away embarrassedly- "I suddenly remembered the first time His Highness made me pass out with his Cock, so now I'm really wet because of how real it felt." Then she smirks suggestively.

"We'll take care of that soon," I soothingly reassure her.

Which makes her very happy. "Thank you, Your Highness."

And Kellogs just briefly raises his eyebrows in disbelief.

Now that I've had a moment to recover, I can feel where I've grabbed onto, but it's a bit mindfucky as I can't explain where the Thread is. I just "feel" it.

So I tap into my skill and focus on the Thread. It almost feels like I've grabbed a handful of hair with how "malleable" it feels while also resisting my pull when I give it a little tug, but it also feels quite "cramped" here, surrounded by the rest of my soul, so maybe I should pull it out?

I just love abstract stuff!

Then I'm reminded that I can dive into the girl's souls/minds (dunno which, really) through [Bind], but that's a bit dangerous since I did almost "meld" with Alissa, so I think this way was safer. But anyway, their "souls" feel like a "blanket," and I can access their bodies by pulling on the little "thread" for each of them that I have in my soul space, so I think about doing something similar with my Thread.

My "grip" starts to spread out all over what I believe to be my Thread, and I hold it gently like a delicate flower, which seems to protect everyone from being affected by the "reminiscing" effect. Then I use [Soul Manipulation] to bring it out. I immediately feel like there's something coming out of my chest, even though the Thread is located in my brain, but I don't have the motivation to even try to find an explanation for what's happening.

The girls can see the Thread's "structure" through [Sense Soul], and it begins to move away from my brain, so they follow it, and it goes down to my chest, then extends out of my body, giving me the sensation that I'm holding out my heart. For once, things seem to be progressing quite smoothly.

"That looks creepy. It's like there's a fist coming out of your chest," Kellogs curiously remarks.

And I hum, "That's pretty much exactly what I'm doing. The Thread is inside the fist."

He snorts casually. "Okay, but now what?"

"Now that it's been separated from the rest of my body and soul, it feels easier to focus on it, so I'll try to actually 'access' the Thread."

There's no weirdness, pressure, or tension to bother me, so I begin to meditate as I focus on the "blankets" inside my "soul fist." It doesn't take long for me to start feeling a familiar "itching," but not the one from when Kellogs pulled my Thread. It's the one that I felt so many times whenever I tried to "move a muscle" inside my soul.

This sensation tells me that it's possible; it just takes a little while to get there, even though [Soul Manipulation] helps me with it. But eventually, I succeed, and then I start to hear the cacophony of multiple televisions again as the images appear in my mind, except that this time, they're muffled and blurry as if they're distant and there's a semi-transparent wall between us.

But the memories are all organized in a line, a chronological line, so I follow it. The very first one is about when I first woke up in Rupegia, and I can't help but let out a nostalgic smile as I blaze through my first days in this world.

Tracing back my steps and seeing my whole journey toward becoming what I am today sounds nice, but the others are waiting on me, so I'll leave that for another time. I go so fast that it all turns into a blur, only occasionally stopping to find out where I am, but boy, do I have a lot of memories.

If Alissa's diary were as detailed as my memories, I wonder how many millions of words it'd take to write them all. There's just so much stuff that I've done that editing out everything not extremely important seems like it'd take years, but I guess Bastico will have more than just a few decades to release our biography, so it doesn't matter in the end.

And the end eventually comes. I slow down when I get to the Fortress of Calamity part, and then I slow down further once I get to the battle for the Gothic fortress, and then further still as we reach today. I have to quickly pass the orgy/party and breeding to not get excited, and then I finally reach the point where I dive into these memories.

Then my life flashes before my eyes a second time, then a third, then a fourth, then a fifth, each time going faster than the last until everything turns into a blur. But this memory is still merely a "screen," so I move past it, and now, I find myself staring at a void, completely empty except for a small length of a white string. It floats completely straight and ends in an ominous nothing.

So I grab it. Then I feel a tug, and it gives me a similar sensation to that of the fellowship bond, which tells me the distance and direction towards… my Fate.

I open up my eyes and excitedly shout, scaring both Samkelo and Hau, "I got it! Back to the dungeon, we go!"