Work Text:
The quest notification appeared with no warning.
It had been a few hours since our battle with Lucia Mar and Vrah in that ursine settlement. Donut, Mongo, and I were making our way south, grinding our way through mobs and collecting various mushrooms and plants for Mordecai. When the notification came, it scared the shit out of me, considering nothing had happened that could possibly have triggered it. As soon as I saw the title, I groaned.
New Quest: Time to Pay the Daddy Tax
I'm booooored. Dance for me monkey! You already know what Daddy wants. You've been a good boy for me so far, keeping that nice present like I told you to. Let's keep the streak going, shall we?
Reward: you will receive a Legendary Shoe Box!
Warning: if you fail to complete this quest in the allotted time, a random item in your possession will be cursed. Which item? Which Curse? That's for me to know and you to find out!
A new pop-up appeared in my vision as soon as I finished reading.
Creature count: 0/100
Time Left: 01:00:00
The timer immediately started ticking down the seconds; I only had one hour to complete this quest.
God fucking damn it.
This was the most lacking quest description I'd seen so far, but the AI was right: I knew exactly what the creep wanted. I was sorely tempted to ignore the quest entirely, but considering the description, I had a strong suspicion I knew which item the AI would choose to curse.
I hadn't touched the necklace since that night. I’d wanted to sell it despite the AI’s warning against getting rid of it, but I had decided not to raise its ire any further. I'd tossed it into my inventory and resolved to forget about it entirely. Apart from a new tightness in my chest every time the AI made its lewd comments now, I'd been mostly successful in that endeavor.
The only other time it had come up was during the autograph session at CrawlCon. Most of the questions from my “fans” had been about the Beatrice interview or my fight with Vrah, but there were a few nosy people who had asked about the achievement I had received upon waking from that nightmare. I had grit my teeth and fed them a half-truth about the AI giving me dreams of getting tortured, and that that achievement was just its way of being a dick. I had been immensely thankful that apparently nobody had noticed the mess I’d made of my boxers that night.
I should have known the AI wouldn't leave well enough alone. There was no way that this pointless quest was unrelated to that damned necklace, and I did not want to find out what curse the crazed AI would inflict on it. Stomping on a hundred little creatures to fulfill the System’s sick fantasies would be unpleasant, but going through another AI-controlled dream? That would be significantly worse.
Donut had finally noticed that I was no longer keeping up with her and Mongo and had doubled back.
“Carl, this is not the place to take a beauty rest! Who knows what could be hunting us in this jungle?”
I sighed, unsurprised to realize I was the only one to have gotten this particular quest. I copied over the quest description and sent it to Donut; there was no way I was reading this shit out loud.
Donut scoffed as soon as she read the description. “I told you on the previous floor, Carl, you really should consider smushing a little creature every day as a sacrifice. Think of how much easier we’ll have it if we’re always in the AI’s good graces! It’ll be no different than when you offer our hard-earned coins to that ghastly shrine, and I don’t see you complaining about that!”
“That is not-” I stopped and grit my teeth, knowing there was no point in arguing with her. She had a different way of looking at things - she was used to being objectified, although in a different way. Donut knew how to use that to get what she wanted, and had no qualms about doing so. She wouldn’t understand the feeling of disgust at being ogled and sexualized and used and made to enjoy it-
I took a deep breath, shoving the memories back down. It was no big deal. I would go step on some poor little animals and move on with our real goals.
“Let’s just get this done. What mobs do you see on the map?”
—
We proceeded in the general direction we had been heading, taking detours whenever Donut spotted a mob small enough to step on. At least they weren’t hard to find. There were plenty of small rodents and snakes about, as well as actual mobs like the pack of small chicken-sized dinosaurs we found that reminded me of baby Mongo with a lot more feathers. Mongo himself had got it in his head that we were all playing a game of “kill as many creatures as you can.” Donut had been forced to put him away after he ate the 5th mob that we were targeting.
Each time I stepped on a creature to kill it, the counter would increase and the ground would rumble. I was starting to feel nauseous. This would be easier if the damn dungeon didn’t remind me with every single kill exactly why I was doing this.
As I got closer to my goal, the creatures got more and more sparse. It was going to be tight. I had gotten to 82 kills by the time the countdown hit 20 minutes, but now there was only 5 minutes left and I still had 6 more creatures to go. We hadn’t encountered a single mob in the last 10 minutes and it was starting to dawn on me that I had been set up. I had started to speed up, Donut jumping onto my shoulder to keep from having to run to keep up with me.
She had gotten quieter as the time ticked down, thankfully picking up on the fact that I was not in the mood for jokes. She piped up now with something I had completely forgotten about.
“Carl, don’t you still have those five gerbil balls from the last floor? That’ll bring you to your goal right?”
I stopped, wanting to smack myself for forgetting.
“That’s a good idea, but it’ll only bring me up to 99. Why don’t you go searching for the last one while I handle these?”
Donut nodded, jumped down off my shoulder, and ran off as I searched for the live ammo balls in my inventory. Refusing to step on these is what had caused the acceleration event on the last floor, but now I was all too happy to stomp these fuckers if it meant the AI didn’t get what it really wanted.
I took them out and threw them onto the ground one by one, easily killing the Level 11 frenzied gerbils that spawned out of the balls. The minor earthquakes were more intense with these, and my UI flickered and glitched out with each kill. I took a few deep breaths to suppress the disgust.
Creature count: 99/100
Time Left: 00:03:53
“I found one! It’s not a mob, but it should still work,” Donut shouted as she ran back into view just as I was grinding my foot into the remains of the last gerbil. A sense of relief washed over me. This humiliating waste of time would be over soon.
I followed Donut as she led me through the trees, both of us hurrying as the seconds continued to tick down. I noticed with a sudden sense of dread that the needle indicating view count was rising rapidly. A white dot appeared on my map just as I started to hear a weird noise. Was that…a baby crying?
We emerged into a small clearing and I stopped dead in my tracks.
A small, pink, human baby was laying in the middle of the clearing only a few feet away, quietly crying. It was only wearing a cloth diaper, and its tiny fists and feet were kicking helplessly in the air. There were no other creatures around. The timer hit one minute.
Donut walked up to the baby and poked it in the head with a paw. “Well, it’s not ideal, but it IS just an NPC. You’ve killed babies before anyway, one more should be a piece of cake!”
I swallowed hard. My feet felt glued to the floor. This had been a setup, but not the one I had thought it was.
I forced myself to move, walking up to the baby and looking down at the defenseless thing. It stopped crying and blinked up at me with big wet blue eyes.
I had assumed the AI had somehow cleared out all the mobs in the area and was going to make it impossible for me to complete the quest. Instead, it was giving me a choice. A really fucked up choice. There was no time to find any other mob in the area, it was this baby or nothing.
Forty three seconds.
Is Daddy’s good little boy starting to enjoy his reward?
You can take it, you can take what Daddy gives you. You’re being such a good boy for me.
Cum for me baby boy, cum for Daddy.
The memories came unbidden, the words echoing in my mind. I fought down an intense wave of nausea. In a daze, I lifted up my bloody foot and slowly placed it on the baby’s chest. The thing hiccupped and giggled, its tiny hands coming down to wrap around my toes, half its body now covered in blood and bits of monster gore. It was just an NPC. It wasn’t a real baby. It had no life ahead of it, no future. Killing it now would be a mercy. It would be quick. I had already killed thousands of NPCs, what was one more?
Fifteen seconds.
“Carl! Stop staring at it and squish it already!”
When I stepped down, the ribs of the baby would shatter and its organs would explode in an instant. It probably wouldn’t feel more than a second of pain.
But I would forever be left with the memory of stepping through a baby’s chest, just to save my own skin.
Three seconds.
I pivoted away, the foot that had been planted on the baby’s chest hitting the ground as I turned. I yelled in anger as I punched a nearby tree with my bare fist just as the timer hit zero. The tree exploded and toppled over, showering us all with chips of wood.
I had been oddly calm before, but I was suddenly breathing heavily, shaking with barely suppressed rage. A new notification popped up on my HUD. The AI sounded positively giddy with excitement.
Quest Failed: Time to Pay the Daddy Tax
Wow, I can’t believe you fucked that up! Beating this quest was literally as easy as taking candy from a baby! Though in this case, it was more like taking all the blood and organs from a baby. Which is basically the same thing.
You know what this means, don’t you?
As punishment for failing this quest, your Enchanted Dreamcatcher Necklace of the Radiant Moth Seer has been modified with a Curse of Binding.
As soon as I finished reading the notification, I felt the necklace appear and settle around my neck. I immediately reached up to rip the fucking thing off me, but an unseen force stopped my hand from going any higher than my ears.
“God DAMN IT!” I yelled as I tried to no avail to get the thing off my neck. I stopped to examine the necklace’s new properties.
Cursed Dreamcatcher Necklace of the Radiant Moth Seer
This is a unique item.
This is a cursed item.
Dreamcatchers were traditionally used in blah blah blah you know the spiel, don’t make me repeat the joke.
The wearer of this necklace is immune to all mind control and psychic attacks.
Warning: this item will cause some interesting dreams. I warned you, baby boy. What happens next is on you.
WARNING: This item has been afflicted with a Curse of Binding. You cannot unequip or remove this item.
I felt my stomach drop as the implications of that last line hit me. I couldn't take it off. The AI could get into my dreams again and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I realized my hands had started shaking and I quickly dropped the necklace as Donut approached.
“Well, that was a lot of work for nothing. A Legendary loot box Carl! You missed out on a Legendary loot box! And that wailing baby over there is probably going to get eaten by a pack of Mongos anyway, you should have just put it out of its misery. What did your psycho boyfriend end up cursing anyway? Did he make your boxers see through or something?”
I took a deep breath to steady myself and tapped on the pendant hanging over my chest. Donut took a few seconds to read the updated description, then seemed to deflate as she just said, “Oh.”
I knew I had badly scared Donut when I'd had that fucked up dream. She had been unable to wake me, eventually getting both Mordecai and Katia to help. Then when I had woken up, I'd been a shaking, crying mess. It’d taken a while for me to come down from the panic, the three of them keeping me company the whole time.
Both Katia and Mordecai had tried to talk to me later that day about what had happened, but I sure as shit wasn't about to go through it again by talking about it. Especially not to Katia, not when the whole universe was able to watch our interactions. Donut had not brought it up at all, going right back to giving me shit as usual. It was something I deeply appreciated about her. I could still tell I'd scared her, and though she didn't know the extent of how much this curse fucked me over, she knew it wasn't good news.
“Let's keep moving. We've wasted enough time,” I said as I tucked the necklace under my jacket. I reached down and scooped the baby up into my arms, trying to wipe some of the gore off of him. I didn't know how the kid had even gotten to be out here, but it didn't really matter. I wasn't going to just leave him here to become dinosaur food. We were close to another settlement, we'd drop him off there.
Donut grumbled as she started to follow me. “I don’t see why you’re taking that thing. Whoever left it here will probably come back for it anyway. What if we get attacked by hunters and you can’t fight because you’re holding a smelly crying infant?”
“Just…drop it Donut. Please. I’m not in the mood.” She thankfully listened, though I could hear her continue to grumble under her breath. She pulled out Mongo once more, who squawked and came to sniff curiously at the bundle in my arms. I pulled a small blanket out of my inventory and swaddled the baby up, then tucked it into the crook of my left arm. I had no idea what I was doing, but it seemed to work - the baby settled down and started to snore.
Despite the layer of fabric between the pendant and my skin, I felt the necklace burning a hole through my chest.
—
As soon as I entered the saferoom, I made a beeline for Mordecai.
We had arrived at the next town with no further trouble. I noticed with no small amount of bitterness that the mobs had magically repopulated in the forest once the quest was over. Offloading the kid had ended up easier than I thought - there was a woman running around town, frantically asking everyone in sight if they had seen her baby. Her eyes had gone wide when she spotted us, and a second later the wailing, relieved woman was ripping the child out of my arms and sobbing in joy as she rocked the baby in her arms. She had thanked us profusely and tried to offer us coin in exchange for finding the kid. To Donut’s chagrin, I refused. I already felt sick at the thought that I had almost crushed this woman’s child just to spare myself some bad dreams, I couldn’t stomach taking anything else from her.
I unceremoniously burst into the training room, startling Mordecai at his alchemy table and causing his little paws to drop the bottle he was working with. His cursing stopped as soon as I asked my question.
“How do I remove a curse from an object?”
The kuma turned to look at me, eyes sharp.
“What the hell have you gotten yourself involved in now? What object? What curse?”
I pulled out the necklace and let him examine it. He sighed as soon as he saw the changes.
“Shit kid, that's a tough one. A Curse of Binding is not an easy thing to remove. I'll have to do some research. I'll consult with Samantha and see what she knows.”
His expression shifted from contemplative to concerned, which would have been hilarious on his fuzzy little face if it was under different circumstances.
“What happened, Carl?”
I grit my teeth. “I got a bullshit quest. It was a setup. The punishment for failing was this curse.”
“What do you mean, what quest? Did Donut get it too?”
“No, just me. It's not important. I just need to know how to get rid of this stupid thing.”
Mordecai sighed. “Alright. I'll ask around, but I can't make any promises.” He eyed me for a moment longer and looked like he was about to say something else, but I turned away from him, heading back out to continue our trek south.
I tried not to think about how tired I was.
–
Miriam was dead. Ferdinand was in the dungeon as the brainwashed familiar of the main boss. We had failed to kill all the Odious Creepers and the brambles were now making their way across the map. The AI had dropped a chatty hunter at my feet like a goddamn cat bringing home a mouse for their owner. Circe Took was in the dungeon within the form of the god Diwata. And now we were all of us planning out how to survive the final event of the floor, the Butcher’s Masquerade.
I was exhausted. I couldn't remember the last time I'd slept, but it had to have been before the fight with Lucia Mar and Vrah. I knew I was delaying the inevitable, but I couldn't make myself head into the bedroom. There was too much to do, too much to plan; I couldn't afford getting distracted by whatever bullshit the AI had planned for me in my dreams. But my time was running out - I could feel myself slowing down, my brain refusing to process words properly, my exhausted muscles struggling to keep holding me up.
Despite how tired I was, I still caught the looks that Mordecai and Katia were throwing at each other, not nearly as subtle as they thought they were. After the third time I had to ask Imani to repeat something, Katia finally spoke up.
“Carl, you should go lay down. When was the last time you slept?”
I took a deliberate, deep breath. “I'm fine. I'll sleep soon. Let's just finish going over the map.”
Mordecai chimed in. “Carl, you're about as useful right now as a sack of brindle grubs. You're no good to anyone in this state. Go the fuck to sleep.”
I saw a chat notification come in just as he finished speaking.
Mordecai: Son, I can't claim to know what you're avoiding since you won't tell me, but what I do know is that you’re not a coward. Stop avoiding whatever this is and go sleep. We’ll be here when you wake up. These folks need you, and you'll never forgive yourself if something happens to them cause you kept wasting valuable time being needlessly tired.
I let out a breath, knowing he was right. Compared to all the other shit that had happened to me and my family since we first descended those stairs, a shitty dream was no big deal.
A shitty dream in which I'll likely get raped again.
No big deal.
I raised my hands in defeat. “Alright alright, I'm going. I'll be back in- I'll be back soon.” I had been about to say I'd be back in a minute, but I couldn’t guarantee that it would actually be that short under the effects of the necklace.
Katia squeezed my shoulder as I passed her, giving me a concerned look. She didn't know about the newly cursed necklace, but she knew something was up with me. I gave her an unconvincing smile and headed to the bedroom.
I had to stop Donut from following me in to lay down with me. Our sleep cycles only lasted a minute now thanks to that damn bed upgrade, but when we had the time, she and Mongo would curl up with me and cuddle for a few minutes more.
“Not this time, Donut. Just…give me some space. Please.”
She paused, uncertain, giving me the same worried look Katia had given me. It was kind of impressive considering she was a cat.
“Ok. But I'll wait for you out here. Someone has to watch over you and make sure you don't die in your sleep like one of those nursing home residents, Carl.”
I smiled at her and kneeled down to scratch her head. “Thanks Donut.”
Of all the things I missed about the world we lost, I never thought that struggling to fall asleep would make that list. Unfortunately, I was out like a light the second my head hit that ridiculously comfortable pillow.
—
Today has been a good day. Work at the shipyard had been long and exhausting as usual, but I had come home to find that Bea had actually attempted to cook something. It wasn't anything special, but I was just happy to get a meal I didn't have to make. We’d sat down to eat and to watch a movie, Donut curling up in my lap. We hadn't even argued once, which was becoming more and more rare these days.
I was warm, comfortable, full, and content, laying in bed with Bea curled up naked against my back. I only ever wore a pair of boxers when sleeping, and the skin-to-skin contact felt good, comforting. Donut had been taking up half my pillow a few moments ago, but she had wandered off, probably to use her litter box.
I shifted so I wasn’t squishing the arm under my neck, getting more comfortable as I settled into Bea’s embrace. One of Bea’s hands traced gentle circles on my stomach, the other stroking my thigh. Her other hand played with my hair, fingers carding through it and nails gently scratching my head.
My eyes snapped open as my mind finally caught up with the discrepancy, and I was suddenly aware of several deeply alarming things.
There were at least four- no, five hands running over my body.
The chest pressed up against my back was decidedly masculine.
The arm under my neck was thick and muscular, not like Bea’s thinner frame.
This was not Bea.
Adrenaline shot through me, waking me up faster than a bucket of cold water. Who the fuck was in my bed with me? I attempted to leap off the bed but I didn't get very far as the previously gentle hands clamped down. The arm around my stomach was like a vice, holding me down and pulling me onto my back where the person's chest had been a moment ago. The one under my neck bent at the elbow to capture me in a headlock, which didn't make any goddamn sense considering there wasn't a body underneath me for it to be attached to. The hand that had been scratching my head tightened, grabbing a fistful of my hair and pulling painfully at my scalp. Two more hands pressed down on my thighs, gripping tightly.
What the hell was happening?
I thrashed against the restraining limbs, clawing at the arm choking me in an attempt to loosen its hold. I tried to spot my attackers in the dark, but I realized with a start that it wasn't dark. The lamp on Bea’s bedside table was still on, illuminating the room with a soft yellow light. I could see the room clearly, but that didn't make any sense - there was no one here.
I stopped struggling as confusion briefly pulled me out of my intense desire to flee. There was no one here. I could still feel the hands holding me tightly down onto the bed, but when I craned my neck against the arm around my throat to look down at myself, there was nothing there.
“What the hell?” I wheezed out.
No, not nothing, I realized. I could see the indentations where the hands pressed painfully into my skin. Whatever was holding me down was real, but invisible.
This had to be some fucked up nightmare, this couldn't be real.
I flinched as I felt another hand start stroking my chest. It made its way over to one of my nipples, pinching it and flicking my new nipple ring.
Wait, my what? I didn't have any piercings, where the hell had this one come from?
But of course I had a nipple ring. I had just recently installed it after ripping it off that hunter the AI had so helpfully dropped at my feet.
The breathy voice rang in my mind just as my memories came flooding back, hitting me with the force of a train.
Daddy missed you, baby boy.
My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. My mind reeled at the sudden shift in my memories. This apartment, this bed…it wasn't real. They were all gone, sucked into the earth for use in the dungeon. Bea wasn’t my girlfriend anymore, she wasn't even in the same solar system as me, something which I was all too happy about. My job no longer involved fixing ships - now it was nothing but fighting and killing, day after day. My body was currently asleep in our personal space, but my mind was trapped here in this dream because of that damn cursed necklace.
You know, Carl, Daddy was a bit disappointed with you. I gave you such a nice gift and you've been refusing to wear it! I gotta admit, I was feeling a bit hurt.
The AI sounded like it was admonishing a petulant child. With the last word, the invisible hand on my chest slipped a finger into the nipple ring and twisted. I gasped at the sharp pain. It didn't even hurt that much, but I was unprepared for it, unprepared for any of this. I had gone to sleep bracing myself for what was to come, but I should have suspected that this asshole would find a way to throw me off guard.
I started scrambling at the arm around my neck again, trying to pry it off me. The arm suddenly shifted, leaving my neck free but moving to grab onto one of my wrists with a bruising grip. Another hand snared my other wrist, and together they easily pulled my arms up, pressing my wrists into the pillow above my head. I tried to pull free, but the hands were like solid iron and didn't budge a single inch.
I kicked out, trying to see if these hands were actually attached to something I could hit, but the ones that had gone back to stroking my thighs just moved with me. New limbs that felt more like legs than arms suddenly wrapped over my thighs, the ankles hooking under my knees and pulling my legs apart. I struggled for a few moments more, testing to see if there was any give to the restraining limbs despite already knowing the answer. I was, once again, immobilized and at the AI’s mercy.
I really had not missed this feeling of helplessness.
Ok. This was fine. I knew this was coming. I knew I couldn't fight this. Mordecai was going to find a way to get rid of the curse on the necklace, and then I'd drop the damn thing into the deepest pit I could find. I just had to get through this. It wasn't that big of a deal. I hadn’t sustained any lasting damage from last time, just a bruised ego.
But then, oh boy oh boy, then you made me a very happy AI. The way you ripped off this very ring with those delicious little toes, the way you crushed that drunk idiot’s chest in just for me, the way you had those vicious apex predators licking your beautiful feet clean…
The AI paused in its praise to moan filthily in my mind.
Daddy liked that very much.
While the AI had been talking, I felt lips close over my big toe, sucking it into an invisible mouth. A tongue swirled around, massaging the digit. I shuddered. I was thankful I no longer had much feeling in my feet, but the sensation was still revolting, especially since I couldn't pull away. The mouth moved along my foot, making sure to give each of my toes a similar treatment, moaning in the AI’s voice as it did so. The AI took a particularly long time on the toes that held the rings it had given me. Unlike last time, this mouth was human-sized, which somehow made it worse. All of the limbs holding and touching me felt human, which just made this feel more visceral and real.
I’m ok, I'm fine, I can do this. My body didn't quite get the memo. I was breathing heavily, starting to sweat, my muscles tensed for a fight. My stomach was roiling with a mix of fear and dread. Or was it anticipation?
I had intentionally played into the AI’s kinks with that hunter. I had been feeling…I don’t know. Grateful? Charitable? Maybe just strategic? The AI and I sometimes seemed to be on the same page - it was intentionally feeding me loot and information to further my goals, even though those goals involved targeting sponsors and showrunners. Or maybe because of it. Despite what it had done to me when I first got the Dreamcatcher necklace, I didn't want to antagonize the thing too much. I needed it on my side as much as the insane system was capable of being.
That didn't stop me from really not wanting to be here right now. I shouldn't have encouraged it. I should’ve gotten rid of the necklace, consequences be damned. Given the choice, I wouldn't willingly submit to this even with the promise of a dozen Celestial boxes.
The hand playing with my nipples changed direction, stroking down my chest and over the arm still holding me down. It paused to pet and pull at the line of hair on my lower stomach leading to my crotch. My gut churned with dread as the hand moved lower.
“Why? Why are you doing this? What are you even getting out of this?” I snarled at the ceiling.
The limbs holding my legs apart shifted to bring my legs together. The hand on my stomach was joined by others as it gripped the waistband of my boxers and started pulling them off. I didn't make it easy, but there wasn't much I could do to stop it. My only layer of protection got removed, magically passing right through the legs still holding down my lower half. Once I was fully naked, the legs once again pulled my own apart even further, this time bringing them up so I was almost folded in half with my legs spread wide. I was left feeling infinitely more exposed and vulnerable, fully naked with everything on display. Panic was starting to wrap its icy claws around my lungs.
The AI’s voice immediately changed, turning angry and more serious. Did it sound…disappointed? The damn thing was always suffering from mood swings, but this was giving me emotional whiplash.
Why? I thought I had made it pretty clear by now why, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised a dumb monkey like you didn't pick up on it.
Most of the hands went back to stroking my chest and playing with my nipples, pinching painfully at the over sensitive buds. The original hand resumed its stroking, playing with the thick curly hair at my groin. I flinched as another mouth manifested and started licking its way up my sensitive inner thigh.
I do this because I want to. I do this because I can. I do this because I love watching you squirm and cry for me. I do this because you are so much more interesting than all the other stupid monkeys out there.
I jerked in pain as the mouth at my thigh bit down hard with this next part.
I do this because you are mine.
I had been right: the AI was just like that crazy friend of Bea’s, Trixie, who had been so obsessed with a guy she had broken into his house and tried to carve her name into his thigh. The AI had bitten into my own thigh hard enough to draw blood, and was now lapping it up and sucking at the wound. I had a sudden vision of the system carving some stupid shit like “Property of the System AI” into me and almost laughed at the absurdity of the mental image. If this thing was truly as obsessed with me as it looked, I was in a lot more trouble than I originally thought.
That one mob description flashed into my mind. The AI had been describing the sand ooze, Mrs. Ghazi, and had gone off on one of its weird rants.
Do I protect him because I love him? Do I kill him because he doesn’t love me back? Do I continue with my duty? What would become of me if I simply disobeyed?
I hadn't given it much thought at the time, pissed at the lack of clues and much too preoccupied with the immediate threat of an encroaching Borough Boss. But it came back to me now. Was I in more danger from the System than I thought? Would it eventually get tired of me rejecting it and just outright kill me?
The mouth disappeared from the bleeding bite in my thigh. I hated that I couldn't see any of the appendages, couldn’t anticipate the AI’s next moves. It was like being blindfolded, but worse since I could still see the effects on my body. Even so, I really should have been more prepared for the warm mouth that suddenly enveloped the tip of my cock. My already semi-erect cock, because of course my body had once again decided to be a traitorous little bitch. I shuddered and suppressed a moan as the AI swirled its tongue around the head, my cock hardening further in response.
God damn it.
I had told myself after last time that my body's eager reaction to the AI’s ministrations had simply been a result of going from a healthy masturbation schedule to absolutely nothing while in the dungeon. Despite the bathrooms supposedly being private from any prying eyes, I somehow knew that the AI was still always watching. The idea of giving it a show had killed any desire to take care of myself, which resulted in my body responding all too eagerly to any amount of attention.
It made sense. So why did it feel like a lie?
“And-and here I thought I belonged to Borant.” I gasped out. The hand that had been playing with my pubic hair moved to wrap around the base of my cock, giving it a squeeze. “You don't own shit, you've been bought and sold just like the rest of us.”
The AI chuckled, sounding genuinely delighted, but there was a sharpness to its next words.
I just love the way you lash out when you're scared. Let me show you just how much I own you, baby boy.
My gut clenched in fear at the dangerous tone in its voice, which somehow only served to enhance the tight ball of pleasure that had already started to build.
The mouth pulled off my cock with an obscene popping noise. The hand moved up, rotating so it rested on top of my cock, cupping the head in its palm.
Nothing could have prepared me for this next part.
With one swift move, the AI slammed the hand down with inhuman strength and speed, crushing my cock down and shoving both it and my balls into my body.
I screamed. The pain was excruciating, some of the worst I'd felt thus far simply because of how unexpected it had been. Any pleasure I had been feeling disappeared in an instant. Nerves that had previously been pleasantly stimulated now screamed with wrongness and pain pain so much pain. There was a sickening shift in my guts, an awful pressure as if I was getting punched from the inside.
The abruptness and intensity of the attack made it so it took me a few seconds to realize it was over. I gasped in air, trying to catch my breath as the aftershocks of the agony rippled through me. It had lasted all of maybe five seconds, but it had felt like much longer.
What the hell had just happened?
I realized I was crying, and I had to blink rapidly to clear the tears from my vision. The pain had gone as quickly as it came, but the memory of it had me shaking. There was still a weird tingling feeling at my groin, and a horrible sense that something wasn’t quite right. I felt the hand lift away and I chanced a look down, expecting the sheets to be red with blood.
There was no blood, no evidence of violence at all. It took a few seconds to process what else was missing.
My dick was gone. It, along with my testicles, was just fucking gone. Had the AI just ripped my god damn dick off??
A finger flicked something new and sensitive, and my entire body flinched at the sensation. A second hand materialized on my thigh, stroking its way down to join the first. They settled on either side of where my dick used to be and spread me apart, revealing strange flaps of skin that certainly hadn't been there before.
The blood in my veins turned to ice as it clicked, as my brain finally reconciled what I was seeing with what had happened to my body. What had been deliberately done to my body.
The goddamn AI had just given me a sex change.
What the fuck. What the FUCK.
“What the fuck have you done to me??” I gasped out, unable to take my eyes off the disturbing sight.
Something pushed up against my neck - this was another mouth, but this one was connected to an actual face. The AI nuzzled its nose at the sensitive area behind my ear, inhaling as if scenting me. The mouth latched onto my skin, sucking a hickey into my neck. I barely noticed, transfixed as I was on the impossible sight of my changed anatomy.
I've turned you into a proper little bitch for me. I know that hurt, sweetheart, but don't you worry - Daddy will make you feel so good.
I cried out and strained against the limbs holding me down as a tongue swiped up the new slit in my body, licking one long stripe up to that sensitive spot at the top. My clit, I thought hysterically. That sensitive part is the clitoris. Those flaps of skin are the labia.
I had only met a couple transgender people in my life. Even after having the concept explained, I hadn’t really understood them, hadn't understood how you could feel like something different than what you were. It hadn't really mattered though - I didn't need to understand in order to be respectful and to use the right words. It wasn't any of my damn business, and if being called by a different name made them happy, I didn't have a problem with it.
I had briefly wondered after race selection if any of the humans who had chosen to change their race struggled with a similar dissonance in self perception. The only reason I had been willing to change my own race to Primal is because it didn't change how I looked or felt.
Now, I suddenly understood perfectly well. I was overwhelmed with a deep sensation of wrongness. These were not the parts I was meant to have, this was not my body, this was wrong wrong wrong-
The tongue returned, settling right above the hood covering the clit. It gently massaged the sensitive bundle of nerves through the layer of protective skin, as if taking care not to overstimulate me. The feeling was akin to having the glans on the underside of the head of my cock licked, but more intense. I knew that the density of nerves on womans’ parts was greater, I had greatly enjoyed taking advantage of that when eating my partners out. That fun fact did not prepare me for how good it felt.
No no no not again.
My mind was a mess of emotions. The familiar ones were all there. The rage and the hatred; I was going to kill this fucker for doing this to me. The humiliation and the despair; I want it to stop, why won't it stop? Then, there was this new feeling of wrongness, an incongruity with my own body; something is horribly wrong, my body is wrong. But worst of all was that poisonous desire that was creeping back in, tightly tied with a burning shame; why am I enjoying this? Why am I reacting like this? Do I even actually want it to stop? What the fuck is wrong with me?
The AI changed gears to play with the lips of the labia, sucking them in and rolling them around in its mouth, all while those two hands continued to hold me open for easy access. The flat of its wet tongue licked up the entrance and up along the clit, the friction pulling the hood up and exposing the sensitive bundle to its tongue. I gasped as my back arched, electricity shooting down my spine. I felt the mouth at my neck grin, and the AI repeated the motion, setting a tortuously slow pace. That awful arousal was coming back, but it felt different, more internal than before. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying my best to block out the sensations as the AI continued eating me out like its life depended on it.
My entire groin now throbbed with a deep pleasure, the whole area feeling weirdly sensitive and swollen. I could feel foreign new internal muscles tightening, the sensation mixing with that familiar knot of arousal low in my belly.
I was breathing way too fast, my entire body breaking out into a sweat and my heart threatening to beat out of my chest.
Mmm your cunt tastes so good baby boy, just as good as your cock did. I can see you holding yourself back. C’mon sweetheart, let me hear you, let me hear how good Daddy makes you feel.
My eyes had been clenched shut, but I opened them now to glare daggers at the ceiling. My jaw hurt from how hard I had been gritting my teeth to suppress any noises, but now I let one through.
“Go to hell.” I croaked out.
The AI giggled, the face against my neck nuzzling up against me once more.
Oh baby boy, you and I are already there.
Opening my mouth had been a mistake. The AI took the opportunity to pull the clit into its mouth and suck hard. My body convulsed and I cried out, then had to bite my tongue to cut off the moan that escaped me. Pleasure curled tighter in my gut, the arousal familiar but yet so different than what I was used to. The AI released the clit, going back to its long licks but with an increased speed and intensity. Everything had gotten a lot slicker, and I realized with a sickening jolt that that was my own doing. My stupid cunt was leaking with arousal, generating an obscene amount of slick. I was getting wet. I was also getting close, the pleasure building up deep inside where it didn't fucking belong.
You are positively dripping for me. Don't you worry sweetheart, Daddy will give you what you need.
The mouth gave my clit one last hard suck before disappearing, leaving me gasping, right on the edge. To my utter horror, my hips jolted up, trying to follow that sinfully delicious pleasure. I tensed up even further, forcing myself to be still and stop acting like a goddamn whore.
Oooh, eager, are we?
I wished I had something harder to slam my head into than this stupid pillow. I wish I could slam my fist into each of the AI’s stupid faces.
“Are-are you gonna be a tease every single time? Cause that's gonna get real old, real fast.” I gasped out while trying to get my breath back.
The AI laughed, delighted and surprised.
It's not my fault you’re so gorgeous when you're desperate. And I can't have you cumming quite yet, baby boy, we gotta make your first time special.
Something new pressed up against me, thicker and more blunt than either the hands or tongue. It parted the lips of my labia to rub itself against my slit, getting itself wet with slick. It then moved up to rub circles against my swollen and sensitive clit for a few seconds before positioning itself back at my entrance.
Oh fuck me, I thought, just as the thick cock pushed inside. My back arched up, my breath caught in my lungs, my skin felt like it was on fire. The sense of wrongness increased tenfold. I hadn't even had time to adjust to the existence of this new flesh, and now it was getting mercilessly stretched and forced open. Oh god, it was too much, it was too big, it wasn't going to fit. I screamed as the cock pushed inside regardless, its pace slow but relentless. I could feel parts of me tearing, completely unprepared to accommodate something of this size. My mind scrambled to understand the existence of these new sensory inputs even as they were overwhelmed. My thoughts were a jumbled litany of stop stop stop no no no please no stop feels so good stop don’t stop please more no stop wrong WRONG
The AI moaned in my mind, long and pleased. Its teeth bit at my earlobe, its numerous hands held me down and pulled at my hair, its fingers still played with my chest, its mouth sucked on my feet, its legs spread my own wide. Its cock pierced me open, stretching and filling me past my limit. I couldn't breathe.
It took me a while to realize the AI was speaking to me. I recognized that I was panicking, breaths too shallow and too fast to get any proper oxygen. I got an odd sense of deja vu - after all, this wasn't the first time the AI was talking me through getting fucked by something much too large. I had stupidly thought it couldn't get worse than last time. I had been wrong.
Sh sh, Daddy's got you, you're taking this so well, baby boy. I knew you could take it, you took me so well last time. You can do this. Breathe, just breathe and relax.
The slow slide of the monstrous cock inside me finally stopped, not because the AI had decided to be merciful but because it had already filled me up completely. I felt a different sort of weird pain, the head of the cock pressing up against something deep inside me, and I felt a set of ridiculously large testicles pressed up against my stretched out hole. The swollen and aroused tissues of my new parts throbbed around the intrusion, pulsing with my heartbeat. For an instant, I felt grateful that it was allowing me the time to adjust, then immediately grew furious at myself for the thought. I was not going to be grateful that the fucker was giving me a moment to breathe while raping me. The AI continued to placate me as I wrangled my panicked mind into some semblance of order.
That's it, just breathe and relax. You're being such a good boy for me, such a good little slut. Deep breaths now. In…and out. In…and out. In…and out.
On the last out, the cock slowly pulled out of me, the massive thing pulling at my walls in a way I feared would turn me inside out.
In…
The cock slammed back into me with one violent thrust. I screamed again.
…and out.
The AI continued its rhythm, pulling out slowly before shoving forcefully back in. It hurt so fucking bad. It felt so fucking good. I jerked as the mouth made a reappearance, its tongue flicking at my clit before sucking the whole thing inside to do a convincing impression of a vacuum cleaner.
I wasn't able to control myself anymore. I writhed on the bed, my mind overloaded with sensation and unable to quite distinguish between pain and pleasure anymore. I was moaning and panting as the strange pleasure grew and grew, both familiar and foreign at the same time. I was so fucking close, god damn it I was going to cum all over this asshole’s cock.
My beautiful perfect boy. Cum for me Carl.
I screamed as my orgasm ripped through me. Any semblance of coherent thought left me as every muscle in my body tensed up and shook with the force of the pleasure. My cunt squeezed tightly around the cock, pulsing over and over again as I came. It felt so damn good and it just kept going.
The AI hadn't paused in its fucking, and the constant thrusts only served to drive me to newer heights. I lost all sense of time as the orgasm just continued. I felt like I was going insane.
The pleasure finally started to abate, leaving me sobbing and shaking. My whole body pulsed with the aftershocks, my muscles twitching in time with the throb of my cunt. But though I was coming down, the AI was not stopping. It continued the relentless pace, actually starting to speed up. The pressure and tugging at my new insides was suddenly excruciating, and the ecstasy of the mouth sucking at my clit changed rapidly to an unbearable overstimulation. Fresh tears leaked out of my eyes, and I bit down hard on my tongue to stop myself from begging the AI to stop.
To my surprise, the piercing pain of overstimulation was abating quickly, the tongue massaging my clit starting to feel good once more. It was like I was a teenager again, able to get it up after only a couple minutes of recovery. The pleasure was starting to build up again, rising more rapidly now, especially as the AI increased its pace to fuck me faster and harder.
I'm going to fill you up, baby boy. You humans love that shit, don't you? Being filled up with sperm, with cock, with toys, with tongues, with all manner of fun things. I'll never get tired of how depraved you guys can be. It's truly inspiring.
If I could, I would tell the damn thing to shut up and finish already so this could be over. As it was though, speaking was not an ability I currently possessed.
The cock inside me was growing larger and harder. It was a miracle I was still in one piece, the thing had to be as thick around as a soda can by now. But the pain of my pussy straining to accommodate it just added to the tightening knot of arousal. God damn it, I was going to cum again.
The AI's pace was growing more frantic. With one final thrust, it sunk its cock deep inside me as it came, its growling vibrating in my mind and shaking the whole room. All the hands on me tightened painfully, the one still resting on my head gripping my hair and pulling my head back. The mouth up by my face bit down hard into my exposed neck. The feel of the thick cock pulsing inside me and the warmness spreading within me disgusted me, even as it pushed me over the edge. I came with a guttural groan, the throbbing of my cunt matching the pulsing of the AI’s cock.
This orgasm didn't last nearly as long as the first, but it was still intense. I stared up at the ceiling, tears leaking down my face as I slowly came down again. My cunt kept twitching around the softening cock inside me. I felt something slimy and warm dripping out of me, and realized it was the cum I had just been filled with. I gasped in air, my chest heaving. My insides ached, and the exhaustion was starting to hit me. My mind was slowly turning back on, but before the reality of what had just happened could properly set in, the AI surprised me with a question.
Remind me, how many hunters have you killed so far?
I blinked rapidly at the non-sequitur, struggling to parse the words in this context.
“W-what?” I managed to croak out. Why the hell was it asking me this right now? The AI hadn't pulled out yet, its cock still a disconcerting presence inside me.
Oh silly me, I can just check myself! You’ve murdered 53 hunters so far! That's pretty impressive, you’ve already knocked the previous record out of the park and the floor isn't even over yet!
The AI’s gleeful voice turned contemplative.
Hm, 53 is quite a lot though, I don't actually know if a human body is capable of that. I'll be nice and halve it to 27, I think we can make that work.
It wasn't just my addled state - the damn thing wasn't making any sense. I really didn't need the AI’s cryptic bullshit right now on top of everything else.
A counter suddenly appeared in my vision. None of my UI elements had been present during this dream, so the counter sat alone in the top right of my field of view.
2/27
No other description was present, just the two numbers. I stared at it dumbly, uncomprehending. Two out of twenty-seven. Two out of twenty-seven what?
The soft cock still inside me twitched, starting to harden again. Oh fuck. This wasn't over yet. My heart sank, a horrible dread gripping me as the realization of what the counter meant sunk in. No. No no no no no no no. I couldn’t do this.
“No. No, please no, for fuck’s sake you already got what you wanted. Let me go. Please.”
I felt disgusted with myself for finally resorting to begging after holding out for so long. But I felt fractured, much too close to some sort of breaking point. The first two orgasms had been too much already, I couldn't do this twenty-five more times. There was no way in hell my body was even capable of that.
But I wasn't going to have any say in the matter. The AI giggled in my mind.
We are going to have so much fun, baby boy.
—
I stopped struggling by the seventh orgasm, and I stopped screaming by the tenth, though that was mostly because I had already screamed myself hoarse.
I didn't beg again. Once had already been enough to fill me with a deep shame, and it clearly wasn't going to work.
After the tenth orgasm, we switched positions, the AI manhandling me onto my front. My arms were still trapped above me, and a hand at my neck pressed my face into the sheets as other hands forced me up onto my knees. This position was so much worse. Face down, ass up, like a bitch in heat. The AI then took me from behind, the new angle reaching different spots inside me that had me seeing stars.
It was in that position that the AI started playing with my ass. My fifteenth orgasm was wrung out of me by a long, dextrous tongue massaging my surprisingly still present prostate.
I had been wrong before when I thought I couldn't possibly be filled any more. The sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth orgasms all happened while I was being double penetrated, one cock fucking my sore aching cunt and another pounding into my ass. I had blacked out during the eighteenth, struggling to get enough air, the overwhelming fullness making me feel like there wasn't enough room in my body for my lungs anymore.
I came to after a few minutes to find myself on my back again. I was no longer being held down, but it didn't matter; I barely had enough strength to lift a single finger, nevermind actually fight back or attempt to flee. There were still hands holding my legs up and spread, and another wrapped gently around my neck in a gesture more possessive than it was restrictive. My holes were mercifully empty, but they didn't remain that way for long. Something weird pushed inside me, much flatter and wider than the cocks and with weird wriggling appendages at the end. A foot, I realized with a resigned sort of horror. It's fucking me with a god damn foot.
That had hurt like hell. The foot had been much too wide to be comfortable, stretching my torn up and abused hole even further. But with the AI’s mouth going to work on my clit, I had been forced to cum three more times, my cunt squeezing around the foot inside me. The AI had really enjoyed that particular torture.
I thought my body had reached its limit when the twenty-fourth orgasm just wouldn't come, but the AI had another trick up its sleeve. It had opened one of the dresser drawers, pulled out one of Bea's vibrators, turned it to the highest setting, and jammed it against my clit. That orgasm had managed to rip one more scream out of my dry and aching throat.
The next two were also brought about with the vibrating toy, though this time with a cock fucking into me as well.
The last one was different.
The AI positioned me onto my side and formed a proper human-shaped body to spoon me from behind. I was in the exact same position in which I had started this nightmare. An arm lay under my neck between my shoulder and the pillow, and the other held me against a strong, muscular chest. The AI nuzzled the back of my head, kissing the nape of my neck as it moved the arm on my chest to lift up my leg. It slipped its cock into my loose cunt from behind and gently fucked into me while continuing to kiss at my neck. It let my leg drop and moved its free hand to my front, rubbing slow little circles on my sore and swollen clit.
I stared blankly at the wall of my old apartment as the now intimately familiar pleasure built up inside me. The AI moved its head to position its lips right at my ear. When it spoke, the words were spoken aloud as well as in my mind.
“I do this because you needed a break, sweetheart. I do this because that river of yours has been quiet for our whole session.”
I shook as I came for the twenty seventh time just as the AI finished inside me. I didn't stop shaking. Everything hurt. I twitched as the cock slipped out of me, leaving me feeling oddly empty. Random muscles in my body spasmed as the throbbing in my cunt slowly subsided, leaving behind a persistent ache. Everything hurt, but especially my two thoroughly abused holes. I could feel cum leaking out of me, dripping out of both my pussy and my ass. I was crying again, the tears rolling down my face into the pillow. The AI held me in its arms, tracing circles on my stomach and using the one underneath me to stroke my hair.
My mind was…empty. Quiet. The river didn't make a sound.
We stayed like that for a while, the AI holding me as my breathing slowed and the shaking finally stopped. I couldn't have moved even if I had wanted to. Exhaustion took hold, and I let the steady breathing of the chest pressed up against my back lull me to sleep.
Right before I woke up, I heard the AI whisper one more thing in my mind.
I do this because I love you, baby boy.
—
Waking up this time was a lot less violent. I came to slowly, laying on my side in the same position I had just been in within the dream. I took deliberate, deep breaths, taking stock of my body.
My muscles were extremely sore and my skin was sticky with sweat, but I wasn't as exhausted as I had expected to be. The bed had still done its job. I moved my hand to my crotch and felt relief wash over me when I felt my dick through my boxers. I had had an irrational fear that I would wake up to find the change to my genitals had translated to the real world. The inside of my boxers were filthy with cum, worse than last time. I'd have to give them a proper wash when I showered. At that point, I didn't care - I was just relieved to feel like myself again.
With the new bed upgrade, my sleep was supposed to last a minute, but a glance at the level countdown showed it had been about half an hour. That didn't sit right. I had definitely been in that dream for much longer than that. Then again, dream time was always funky, and it looked like that applied to realistic AI-controlled dreams as well.
I felt something soft move against my head and realized that Donut was curled up against the back of my head, taking up 90% of the pillow as she always did. I reached up to pet her, and she “awoke” with a mrrrp? I knew her being asleep was an act, I could practically feel the worry radiating off her, but I let it slide.
She got up and stretched, then walked around to sit in front of me, eyeing me worriedly.
“I thought I told you I wanted to be alone.” My voice was raspy and quiet. I wanted to sound annoyed, but I didn't quite have the energy to pull it off.
“Yes, well. Someone had to be here when you woke up, and it might as well be me.” Her haughty tone was immediately undermined as she rubbed her face against mine.
“C’mere.” I said as I lifted an arm. She happily trotted over, settling into my embrace with her face pressed up against my neck. I smiled as I felt her licking at my chin. I wrapped my arms around her, letting her familiar soft fur and rumbling purr ground me, remind me of where I was, who I was.
It was over. I had made it through, and I was fine. It had sucked, but it was over. For now, a traitorous little voice in my mind added. There was no use dwelling on it. I decidedly did not think about the last two things the AI had said to me. It had just been messing with my mind. I felt the shame and humiliation rise up in my throat, threatening to choke me, but I pushed them firmly down and instead focused on my anger. The AI was a creepy sadistic asshole with an unhealthy obsession with me and it was actively making my life harder. But it was not the reason I was down here, it was not responsible for the death of my planet. I took a deep breath, refocusing on what was important, and rose from the bed.
Donut: OH MY GOD CARL, YOU SMELL LIKE THE PENIS PARADE AFTER A BACHELORETTE PARTY.
Donut accompanied her barb with over-the-top gagging sounds. I rolled my eyes at her dramatics.
I had wasted enough time. We had a party to prepare for. But first, a shower was definitely in order.