Jebidiahs Change Bk 01 Ch 03

Welcome back gentle reader

I've worked out in my head splitting book 1 into about 15 chapters and will end the first act with chapter 5 instead of this one. Once it is published, I will re-evaluate where I am at in testing the writing waters. I've already written past the fifth chapter but I'm spreading out the publishing of everything to wait for feedback, letting me tweak as needed. While the feedback so far has been better than I had any right to expect, I realize I have much to improve with my writing skills and storytelling.

Once again the standard disclaimer, multiply ages by roughly two to get equivalent Earth ages. Everyone is a consenting adult.

Update: If you are returning to brush up on book one before starting on the latest book, there's been a massive restructuring of the first two chapters and more edits throughout the rest. This is the last note I will add in explaining the correction of this and later chapters. I am mostly just correcting wrong tenses, perspectives, typos, and continuity errors within the remaining chapters.

If you are a new reader, I hope the reworking helps you stay involved.

-- Somewhen, Somewhere --

Crystal's face loomed large in Jebidiah's vision, blotting out everything else. When her voice stopped, she faded away, leaving Jeb standing alone in a gray void.

Calm and unconcerned despite the circumstances, he looked around, picked a direction, and started walking. He knew he should be freaking out at this point but instead he simply clasped his hands behind his back and hummed a tune while he continued to aimlessly plod on. With only the sounds of his steps and his humming as an indication of passing time, he had no idea just how long he walked nor if he was walking in a straight line, circles, or some random geometric pattern. He amused himself for a time imagining what patterns he could end up walking in, wondering how large a circle one would walk if one leg was just a quarter inch shorter than the other, but such musings only lasted for a time. There was just emptiness around him, gray emptiness. He sighed and said to himself, "I really could use a landmark."

A muffled giggle caused him to turn, and he spotted a chair in the distance. With something to guide his direction, he closed in on the chair. It was a simple chair, three-legged without support struts between the legs and lacking a back. He realized it was just a stool. Odd, he thought, that really was a chair before. He thought about why someone had provided him with a chair that was a stool; he sat and waited while he pondered. Was a chair a stool with a back, or a stool a chair lacking a back? Which was a subset of the other? A niggling thought in the back of his consciousness warned him not all was right, but he was able to suppress it. Once he figured out his chair/stool dichotomy, he could concentrate on other things.

A hand was placed on his shoulder. He looked down at the touch to see a small feminine hand adorned with rings, then felt someone nibble on his earlobe and giggle again. She stepped into his view and twirled for his inspection.

The girl looked to be a year or two younger than him, wearing a diaphanous robe that left nothing to the imagination. Beautiful with alabaster skin, indigo flowing hair, a thin adolescent build, long legs, and starting buds for breasts with puffy nipples, she was a vision of burgeoning womanhood. Jebediah enjoyed watching her dance before him. She wiggled a crooked finger in an invitation to join her. Jebidiah's body tried to rise but his brain hesitated.

Her gown flowed about her, hair waving in a steady breeze, yet the breeze did not touch Jebidiah himself. She pranced and twirled on bare feet, yet he heard no sound of her steps. She had brushed against him and nibbled his ear, yet his ear was dry. Even with passing that close to the side of his face, he had detected no aroma from her.

The inconsistencies finally won out and Jebidiah said, "I don't get it," and the girl abruptly disappeared. In her place, an old man stood, stooped and tired-looking. Even though the man stood directly before him, Jebidiah's intense study was unable to focus on any features like nose, eyes, or ears, only the whole.

"You were warned, Axteus," a new voice came up behind Jebidiah's chair.

The old man hissed then shrugged and stood straight without any signs of stooping or age, giggled in the girl's voice, then vanished. A white rabbit ran from under his stool to jump into a hole that didn't exist.

A new man walked past Jeb's stool and regarded him. He looked to be a man in his prime, maybe early twenties, just a light salting of graying hair with the beginnings of crow's feet around the eyes. but again, Jebidiah could not focus on any individual feature.

"It is a troublesome gnome, if it ever really was a gnome. But come, you may call me Weldon. I am here to deliver a message from the others. The Power calls, and we will answer. Axteus will have his mayhem and disorder, Lashan his wars, and those who follow the Light must answer our call or all will be lost. You possess the ability to see past Axteus, to see the reason within chaos, but you must see more." He moved closer to Jebidiah with each statement, a step for each utterance. "Trust your reasons. Check your premises."

With a flourish of his hand, the chair and gray expanse were replaced with the blackest sky filled with brilliant stars. Instead of sitting, Jebidiah now stood directly beside Weldon. Below was a portion of a vast ball painted in swatches of red, green, blue, and white. There was a spot beneath the, a black blot on the ball, that looked at first glance to be a perfect circle, a hole in the ball. As Jebidiah watched that black circle, he realized the ball was slowly turning as the black circle slowly changed into the top of a perfectly shaped cylinder of black with white streaks flowing through it, not unlike Crystal's Judgment. Weldon pointed to the ball below them.

"This is your world, Valor, Prime of the Eight. You must prepare for Judgment. See that which must be seen. May this gift I grant serve you well in the war to come."

Weldon reached up and grabbed Jebidiah's head with both hands and pressed his forefingers into Jebidiah's temples. A blinding, searing pain caused him to wake.

-- Chapter 3: Tonstar Keep, City of Tonstar --

-- Fourth Tenday of Antaen 813 AGR --

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

-- Clarke

Jebidiah sat up and screamed in pain, shaking his head side to side while using his palms to put pressure against the horrid pain behind his temples.

"I need a healer!" a voice cried out. Hands grabbed hold of Jebidiah and tried to stop his thrashing. More joined in as his adrenaline filled strength proved too much. An incantation was cast nearby, but other than a flash of white behind his eyes, nothing changed. The pain did not go away and he continued straining against the hands and screaming. Another incantation was cast, a brighter flash of white behind his eyes and Jebidiah finally subsided back into a dreamless sleep.

Waking again, Jebidiah looked around and spotted Joy sleeping in a chair, slumped with an open book in her lap.

"Hey sleepy head, where are we?" he croaked. His tongue was thick in his mouth and didn't seem to work correctly. He worked himself into a sitting position.

Joy instantly woke at the sound of his voice and bolted for Jebidiah's bed, flinging herself onto him in a crushing hug. Joy was a plain girl, very short, slightly chubby, with curly black hair and large brown eyes. Her most defining physical features were her bountiful bosom and equally round ass. She had drawn Halfling for a Change and kept the more defining features through her Awakening. Short stature with hairy feet more at home on a larger frame. Jebidiah could tell the gray tunic she wore was of a finer cotton than what they normally wore by the feel of it when he hugged her back with one arm. The black pleated skirt she wore accented the bubble of her butt and he contemplated copping a feel but stopped himself.

Like Jebidiah, Joy was raised on one of the outer farmsteads and had earned the early maturity and confidence that came with the dangerous profession of farming. That maturity combined with her bubbly personality and intelligence were what Jebidiah found most appealing about her, beyond her obvious physical assets. Everyone fit into a role for the pod as a whole. Dana was their dependable rock, Tenner was their wit, Charlene was their mischievousness, Stern their strength, Crystal their wisdom, Polly their compassion, Henna was their resolve, and Joy was their, well, joy. She was an Artificer like him, and they had planned on sticking together with Polly when their guild studies started at the College.

"Thank the Divines you are okay. Are you okay? Any pain this time? How is your head? Headache?" Joy started up her rapid-fire questioning.

"No, no. I feel fine, just my head is a little fuzzy. Where are we? I don't recognize this room." Jebidiah said while looking around. Everything had a muted look to it.

"We're in the Lower Keep's infirmary. The healers couldn't figure out what happened to you or why you were in a coma. You were out for a full tenday then woke screaming three days ago. Do you remember that? What is the last thing you remember? Did you remember Crystal's Judgment? Should I go get a healer?"

"Breathe, Joy. Slow down a second. So I've been out for thirteen days?" He paused to poll his memory. Joy, still hugging his chest, stared up at him with her large brown eyes moist with unshed tears. He absently started to run his hand through her curls and continued. "I remember the Judgment, and I think Crys had a divination if that wasn't part of the dream? I had a dream or maybe it was another one about Crys, someone or something named Axteus, and a guy named Weldon though he acted like he was one of the Divine. Where are the others?"

"It's hard to tell without windows down here, but it is fairly late. Some might still be up in the study hall, but everyone should be asleep. It was my turn to watch over you, and I figured I would keep a book for company since the coma you is very boring. I tried to get you hard but that didn't work either. Borrrrinnnng. Oh wait, wait. I really do need to summon the healer on duty. Stay here." She hopped up and dashed out of the room.

Jebidiah laughed at her command, like he was going to sneak off somewhere while she was gone, and began examining his surroundings. The room, lit in a uniform light from several light orbs situated along the walls, contained four beds. Several visitor chairs sat scattered about in different positions, and a small stand beside his bed held a stack of neatly folded clothing, a washing bowl, and a sponge. He sniffed himself and wrinkled his nose at the aroma. Gingerly testing his range of motion, he found he was without pain so he got out of bed and dressed. While pulling his tunic over his head, the door reopened, and Joy followed a younger woman into the room. "You should be resting," the newcomer said without preamble.

"It sounds like I have had plenty of rest, doc. What I feel like I should be doing is washing this stench off of me with a nice warm shower followed by some food. I am starving."

The healer came up to Jeb, grabbed his head between her hands and started manhandling him, turning his head about so she could feel and examine his head, all the while making tsking sounds with her tongue. "Well, it is a good sign you can stand on your own and have an appetite. We need you to void to make sure your plumbing still works. Out the door, turn left, three doors down on the left is a latrine and shower room you can use. I will see if the kitchen is available to bring you leftovers from the evening meal."

"Works for me. I'd appreciate anything edible. Not picky." Jeb said as she pulled his lower eyelids down to examine his eyeballs while emitting more 'tsks'.

The healer smiled and gave control of his head back to Jebidiah. She patted his arm saying, "You'll live," and left the room. Joy replaced the healer's spot and hugged Jeb. He leaned down to kiss the top of her head. "Thank you for being my Joy. Now I need a shower, but I would like it if you spent some time with me when I returned."

"Of course!" she said with a smile that lit the room. "I'll go see if anyone is still awake."

They both left the room going separate ways. Jebidiah's desire for grabbing a shower beforehand served two purposes. First, obviously, was the stress relief that comes from stepping into and out of a nice warm shower. Second, he desperately needed time to collect himself and clear the fuzziness inhabiting his brain. The corridor he walked down was perfectly square without supports or beams. The floor lacked any covering but looked almost hazy and slightly tinted red. The walls were lined with more light orbs, small globes enchanted to produce a soft light, but all the lighting was muted. With the haziness of his vision and the fuzziness in his head, Jebidiah figured it was his head attempting to sort out and make sense of what happened. The Change, the Tally, what he dreamt, what it all meant. It was too much to sort out immediately, he knew that would take time.

After luxuriating by standing in the steaming spray of the shower, one of the healers checked on him. Her questioning of his health broke him out of his meditations, and he assured her he was well. He went back to basking in the warm spray when the door opened and closed again. "Nothing has changed in the last five minutes!" he called out to the healer as he bent down to begin scrubbing some wash powder into his legs. A smack on his bare ass made him jump up with a yelp. "Damnit Polly, you could have killed me!" he exclaimed with a laugh. "Not that I'm unhappy to see you, but what are you doing here?" It was just about then he realized she was wrapped in a loose robe which she quickly shook off of her very naked body.

"I know we never really played any games with each other, but things have changed, we're adults now, no rules to follow..." Her voice trailed off as she stepped into the water spray with him and reached down to begin stroking his hardening cock. She licked her lips then smiled, "I always wanted to test what Dana said about you."

Surprised at Polly's sudden boldness, he made no move to stop her entering the warm spray to place a hand on his chest and instead asked, "And just what did she have to say?"

"That you hit all the right spots."

She turned around, facing away from him, then bent forward slightly, bracing her hands against the walls of the shower. Need no further prompting, Jebidiah reached down to rub a finger through her pussy lips to find she was already somewhat wet. He slowly worked a finger in to stimulate her some more before replacing his finger with the tip of his cock, rubbing it back and forth to get some lubrication going before slowly starting to push himself inside her.

"Ugh," she quietly whimpered out, "that's it, just push it in there."

With slow strokes he eventually worked his way the full depth so that her ass cheeks were fully pushed into his thighs and he began a steady rhythm. "Yep, that's it, just like that," she panted out as he began to pick up some steam, increasing his thrusts. While he had not ever messed with her fully before, he knew enough from the other girls to tell when she was getting close, but how close surprised him and she suddenly whimpered and her body shook. The unexpectedness of it pushed him over the edge as he too came, bottoming out on the second thrust and holding himself there. She stayed there, bent over until he finally pulled himself out and only then did she stand up, turning to face him with a smile. "Sorry, it's been a while since Stern was able to so that felt way too good to hold out. Next time I'll last longer."

"Shouldn't I be the one apologizing? You know I don't think we have to be so quick about it anymore or try to hide it so much either."

She reached down between her legs to wash herself, not looking at Jebidiah and she answered, "Stern always came right after I did, I just figured that's how it worked. And yes, I suppose I really should have made that last longer. Sorry again."

He sighed. "No, no, no more apologies. I guess Dana skipped out on some details then."

She quickly looked up at him but kept her hands busy as he began to re-clean himself, "like?"

"Well, she gets so sensitive I usually like to get her a few times before I give in, but with having to sneak around and not get caught, there's often not as much time as I would like. I imagine she would have plans now."

"Oooo, ok. That is definitely something we need to explore."

"Really? I may not have Changed but I'm still just an artificer."

"So am I? But honestly, from what's going on, I have a feeling things will be different for us."

"What do you mean?"

"Get dried and dressed and come see for yourself. I was sent to bring you back to your room, which was really the reason there was no time to consider real fun."

He quickly dried off and dressed in a fresh tunic to follow Polly back to his room and see what the kitchens, and whatever vague thing Polly alluded to, had to offer. He was greeted by Joy, Dana, Tenner, and Princess Stephanie scattered among the chairs and beds in the room, with Dana and Tenner getting up to embrace him in tight hugs and several chaste kisses.

Dana and Tenner both wore the same outfit as Joy, gray cotton tunics with a black pleated skirt and sandals. Tenner was her normal self and had her tunic once again bunched up to show off her midriff. The Princess was out of her armor this time in the traditional dress the nobility favored. A long flowing skirt which covered her feet and laced bodice in the House Tonstar royal blue and royal signet pinned on with slightly puffed white sleeves that reached her wrists. Her hair was tied back with a simple white and blue ribbon. Whereas her armor had given her a commanding presence, the dress and her bearing gave her a regal presence demanding just as much, if not different type of, respect.

"Sorry my nap was a little longer than I intended," Jeb joked trying to keep the mood light. He wasn't sure how to address the Princess' presence. "Good evening, I think, your Highness."

To Dana he asked, "What did I miss? What happened to Crys?"

Dana answered before Joy's rapid-fire response could gain steam, "First, are you okay? Joy said you appeared normal, well, your form of normal, when she came to find us, but I need to know how you feel."

"Honestly? I've never felt as uncertain as I do now, including having to question what is real and not. I mean, can we prove this is not my dream as well? I'm really not good with having to question reality." Jeb said seriously.

"What

did

you dream? You were out for a long time except for the screaming. Oh, and Crystal is in confinement." Dana said, casting a quick glance at her cousin while mentioning Crystal.

With Dana's acknowledgement of the Princess, Jebidiah turned and bowed to her in formal greeting. "Your Highness, I apologize for the lateness of my awakening, but it is good to see you again." Turning back to Dana he described his dream of the Divine in as much detail as he could. Everyone listened intently while Stephanie frowned toward the end. "Weldon? You are sure his name was Weldon?"

"I can only go by what the figment of my dream said, Your Highness."

The princess continued. "How much of the history of the Divine and their Ascension do you know?"

"It was never one of the things I cared about, Your Highness. I really only know of Darido's ascension."