Duality Merged - Chapter 10 Warmth

“How so?” Charles squinted his eyes with a great deal of hesitancy in his voice, unsure of what Janette had in mind. He could probably calm himself before nighttime if he went outside but, should she have a better idea, he would listen. His confusion, however, quickly gave way surprise, as his restlessness slowly turned into a worried excitement, while Janette had started rubbing the outside of his bulging jeans; his pants suddenly felt remarkably constraining.

Janette couldn’t help but giggle slightly at the sight of Charles, wide-eyed and frozen as he was. She hadn’t ever seen him this flustered before, and she doubted he’d ever experienced what he was currently feeling, though she was in much the same boat, as she felt a great heat spread across her face as an ache to do more bubbled up within her; an ache she’d happily try to soothe. Charles sat, motionless, his mind yet to comprehend what was happening, though the sound of his flier opening followed by the uncomfortable restraining he’d felt disappear, now replaced by a sudden feeling of ‘liberation’ closely followed by a slight chill at the temperature of the cave, brought him some amount of clarity.

This moment of clarity was brief, however, as the chill he felt was replaced by a gentle warmth, coupled with the sensation of soft skin grasping his member, blew his slowly recovering thought-process back into oblivion. As he laid his head against the wall with a contented sigh and closed his eyes, Janette couldn’t help the slight disappointment she felt when Charles broke eye-contact; the feeling of being recognised for what she was doing only served to heighten her own excitement, although she could understand why he would act as he did, as she would most likely also try to ‘hide’ in some manner, had she not been as heated as she was.

Janette didn’t let her feelings get in the way of her purpose, as she gently ran her hand along Charles’ length. And yet, even when her actions did, indeed, bring Charles pleasure, she realised the amount was meagre. Dissatisfied, she experimentally sped up her movements, a delighted, if slightly crazed, smile spread across her face when she managed to elicit a barely audible groan from Charles. She’d started breathing heavily as thoughts of the future popped into her head did nothing to appease her ache, a feeling that had slowly concentrated in her lower abdomen.

With all of her attention trained on Charles and his reactions, she hardly noticed her empty hand snake down and unbutton her jeans’ upper button before it slithered inside, gently rubbing herself against her moistened panties. Starting slightly at the sensation, she couldn’t help but let out a low moan, causing her to pause in her actions only to continue with added zeal when she realised how Charles twitched in her grasp at her moan. Charles, however, didn’t dare lose himself in the moment as his all too eager sister had; her soft moans and actions made it almost impossible to resist, something that took whatever attention Janette didn’t steal with her caress to endure.

It was with gritted teeth and a low sound that he realised he’d soon let loose, even despite his best efforts. His groan echoed from the other side of the cave, making him jump on to his feet as he made his exit while fixing his clothes as it dawned on him that he had almost snapped; while he was unsure what would have happened if the situation had continued, he could help but tremble slightly in anticipation and trepidation as his thoughts wandered to the possibilities. His swift exit had left Janette where she was, paralyzed by the cold spreading throughout her body, almost deathly afraid she’d somehow done something wrong. She was certain he was enjoying himself; he’d always make it clear if he was dissatisfied with her, well-knowing how she’d feel if she actually did something wrong.

Janette quickly recovered, realising why Charles had left in such a hurry: Molly was waking up. She sagged with a sigh of relief at that, feeling a slight anger spark into existence, as she thought of how much she and Charles had done for Molly, just so she could get in their way. She’d make sure Molly would compensate her in a manner she found fitting when the time was right.

Molly awoke with a slight groan, her clouded mind struggling with returning to reality. She thought back to what had just happened. She thought back to how she’d almost been violated, the thought alone causing a sour taste to emerge in her throat, as she struggled with keeping her meagre breakfast down. She remembered how she had been pulled out despair, into Janette’s warm and comforting embrace. Her next memories didn’t feel like her own, being without emotion as if she was simply an observer; the world seemed dull, and yet the memory was so very clear.

No, saying they were without emotion wasn’t correct, Molly thought; there was an intense fire in her gut, its heat spreading to her palms as she felt anger. Hatred at the man that was now so pitiful, lying at the feet of Charles: someone stronger. He had given her an opportunity to feel what that would feel like. She took it, as she grasped the staff and mindlessly beat Max as cursed her. Molly was mildly surprised at how many times she hit him, only remembering the last three. There was another feeling, she realised with a crooked grin, one that was welling up inside her even now: malicious pleasure.

She threw up as her mind was suddenly flung into awareness, disgusted at her own feelings. How could she ever feel the way she did for what she had done? That wasn’t her, she screamed internally. And yet, even as she thought this, a voice at the back of her mind couldn’t help but offer her soothing words of comfort; of understanding. It was only natural she’d feel the way she did, given how Max had treated her. It wasn’t her fault, it whispered, but she didn’t believe it. If she’d just beaten him she’d be inclined to agree, but she didn’t just do that. She derived pleasure from the act, something that made her feel a vile ‘closeness’ to the man that had almost defiled her.

Her next thoughts went to the soothing embrace she fell into after her exercise, the warmth of which she suddenly missed to an almost unbearable degree. She sat with her arms around her knees, trembling; she suddenly felt so very cold compared to the comfort Janette could bring her. So, when she finally felt the warmth of the hug she so desperately craved, she couldn’t help but grasp at it as she returned the hug with as much strength she could manage, letting herself relax her chaotic mind, basking in the contentedness she felt in that moment.

Charles faced a great deal of trouble calming down. While he wasn’t remotely close to climax from Janette’s earlier actions, that only made want to get closer to said distant climax, though he had mixed feelings at the idea of ‘reaching’ for that peak, especially with his sister. Not only would such an action be condemned and looked down upon by those back home, but it was also strictly illegal where they lived. He knew himself better than any other, and he knew it was important from him to follow any law to the best of his ability; he needed something to rein him in, as he didn’t quite trust himself with that responsibility, much less the vixen who was the reason for his current thoughts. And yet

He shook his head before his eyes naturally found Max, who wasn’t quite ‘functional’ at the moment. Of course, he wasn’t, Charles grinned, having your limbs crushed to such an extent would leave anyone in a sub-optimal state. “Hey there. How are you holding up?” Charles greeted merrily, yet his hopes of Max being able to serve as an impromptu distraction were quickly dashed at Max’s unresponsiveness. “How boring,” he lamented Max’s sporadic usefulness. The man had proven himself quite handy during the past week, having kept them safe and entertained them, some more receptive to said entertainment than others.

“Why?” Max croaked, his throat parched from lack of hydration and torn by his screams. Charles laughed at that; the man’s perceptive nature amused him. Even on his deathbed, he couldn’t figure out why he was there. Charles laid down beside Max, sure that his explanation would be a lengthy one. “It’s quite simple: happenstance. Or, rather, a couple of coincidences, although they all revolve around my dear sister. While she may call me whimsical, it’s not as if she’s any better, what catches out interest is just different, you must understand. She has a tendency to like cute things, whether that be plush toys, pets, or people doesn’t quite matter to her, and Molly just so happened to be to her liking. That’s one coincidence. Then, you, in your endless stupidity and ignorance, managed to become the target of her ire by not only using your charms, if you will, in an attempt at courting her, you even thought it clever to almost lash out at her. Physically, no less. That’s the second.

“The third, and second to last coincidence, is that there just so happens to be no government or ruling body to make rules in this place. That mean’s I can take a lot more liberties when it came to making full use of the fourth coincidence. Even you must’ve heard of the idiom: kill two birds with one stone. In this case, one of the birds would be my sister’s rather petty revenge against you. The other would be my sister wanting to ‘acquire’ Molly. My part in this would be the one who threw the proverbial stone, except I won’t be killing anyone” Charles ended his monologue with a sigh, as he, once more, realised how much he truly spoiled Janette. “Kill me,” Max pleaded, much to Charles’ annoyance. “Did you not hear what I just said? I, unlike yourself, seem to recall that I just said I won’t be killing anyone,” he said exasperatedly, “You still have your uses, after all. We’ll be relying on you tonight, Max.”

While the night was host to the biggest fight any of the participants had ever taken part in, it went by rather smoothly. Max proved his usefulness in combat once more, as he was voluntarily elected to act as a diversion. A truly competent man, Charles commented, rather surprised that Max was still capable of screaming with such intensity, despite the state of his throat due to previous events. The rats did, indeed, not seem to have any intention of ripping out the flesh of their victims, if the current state of Max was of any indication: he was almost completely covered by the rodents, from his crushed toes to his equally broken fingertips, the only exception being his throat which had somehow survived the rats’ ferocious bloodthirst.

The rats proved to be easy picking as long as they were firmly stuck to the hoarsely wailing Max, so, although there was indeed more of the creatures than any night before, the fight proved to be the easiest yet with no casualties, Max excluded. Perhaps it was due to the lack of effort exerted by the sibling pair that they didn’t level up in any of their talents, Charles mused before he stored the thought away, seeing as there was honestly just too many unknowns in regards to this System of theirs.

“Can’t be long now,” Charles muttered to himself as he gazed at the sun, comparing its position to his internal clock. “Are you ok, Molly?” Janette asked with a worried furrow to her brow, not quite satisfied at the lacklustre nod she got in response. Molly had gone incredibly pale when she saw Max’s remains surrounded by rat corpses numbering more than two dozen, though she’d recovered soon after, which was why Janette was slightly worried. “I’m sure she’s just looking forward to returning,” Charles tried to appease his sister’s worries. Noon was right around the corner and the excitement shared amongst the three was almost palpable. They all looked forward to getting out of this forest for reasons of their own, although they did all have one common reason: they quite frankly despised apples at this point, something their bodies had indicated long ago. They were lucky there grew as large-leafed plants in the area as there did

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Compulsory Quest Completed: Survive

Rewards obtained: [ Common Tongue ] Talent

Rewards withheld: Access to the world of Tedrasia

Additional Rewards: Calculating Withheld until exiting current ‘Hunting-Ground’

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Compulsory Quest Obtained: Purge-Order