The Feldavian Rift

Content warnings for: Non-consent, manipulation, drug use, oral sex, voyeurism.

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Finn Wilson groaned. Typical of Sister Adara to put him on 'backup' duty when there's actual trouble to be dealt with. It was a friendly rivalry they had, but it was a rivalry nonetheless, and he resented that she might get to show off to the apprentices instead of him. He scratched absentmindedly at his right wrist, where the small loops of vines still reached up from his javelin. Another guard had just got back to the gate, and seemed to be hugging the other person on watch. He rolled his eyes and muttered to himself, "well at least someone's having fun out here." Wilson checked his position again, the concealment from the camp and the trail were both good, the distance was close enough that he could reach the guards with a good throw, far enough that he could move around without them hearing. The canopy overhead was thick enough to obscure the first hints of moonlight starting to fall on the woods, and he could see a clear enough route to the trail if he needed to leave in a hurry. He was nothing if not professional when it came to military affairs.

Despite that Wilson thought to himself... sometimes you had to know when a bum assignment is just a bum assignment. The camp seemed quiet enough, there were no fights, no shouting, and the gate guards obviously had so little going on that they had time to make out. Wilson pulled a small pipe and some tobacco from a hip pouch, and sat on a low branch where he could see the camp. It was a surprisingly mild night, supposedly one of the side effects of proximity to the Rift. He took a few moments to look at his surroundings, the usual perversions of plant life were still present here in small clumps, but being under a thicker canopy, not much was growing at ground level.

Wilson finished packing his pipe, checked that the guards were still distracted (they were, one seemed to be held against the palisade wall by the other), and lit the tobacco, covering it with his hand until the flame dulled to an ember.

He smiled privately to himself, "Not a bad life, all things considered."

A masculine voice replied from a few paces away, "right?"

Wilson jumped to his feet, grabbing his shield and holding it up towards the voice, "Who goes there!" he called, trying to keep his voice quiet enough to not disturb the guards.

A shorter, thin figure stepped out from behind a tree, with their hands raised, "Whoah, sorry to startle you, I was keeping an eye on the camp when I saw your light! You're not from the camp are you?"

Wilson set his squareshield on the ground, still planting his feet firmly behind it, "No, and you?"

The figure took a step forward into a shaft of moonlight, Wilson could see now he was a younger man, maybe 23 or 24, in a dark green cloak with the hood pulled back. There was a longbow strung over his shoulder, but otherwise he didn't seem to be holding a weapon. They answered him "No, ranger's guild, out doing the usual, saw something strange and decided to keep an eye on it."

"Ranger's guild?" Wilson queried, "You lot don't normally travel this far inside the Towers do you?"

"Strictly speaking, no, but there's always good fortunes to be made from the game around here, and the restrictions are looser than they used to be. What are you out here for?"

Wilson shrugged, "Just the usual too, checking on the camp. So, you find anything good?"

The younger man leaned against a nearby tree trunk, "Besides a camp full of city-state soldiers deserting their posts?"

"Obviously." Wilson laughed.

"Well, not this time around, everything I've encountered so far seemed sentient, or too close to it, and on that point, the guild rules are as strict as ever. I've had better luck with herbs as it happens, which brings me to that..." The newcomer was pointing at the Javelin in Wilson's right hand, "Where did you find the null vine? I could make a pretty penny from some of that!"

"What vine?" Wilson asked, sitting down again, satisfied that the young man wasn't a threat.

"Null vine, the one wrapped halfway up your arm, with the tiny white flowers."

Wilson looked down at his arm, he hadn't noticed that it had reached that far up, "Oh... uh, maybe two hours back towards Inner Tower 6, it's on the trail. It's valuable you say?"

The young man bounded over to him, his tuft of short hair bouncing slightly as he moved, "Very! It's got some wonderful medicinal uses, it can be used to dull the skin's senses during surgery, but it works better when concentrated and mixed into a paste."

"Is that so?" Wilson chuckled, "Doesn't seem particularly effective to me."

The young man was next to him now, standing by his side as they watched the two guards falling to the ground with one on top. Wilson hadn't quite realised how much shorter and thinner than him this Ranger was, his head only just reached Wilson's shoulders, "You don't think it's effective huh?" the newcomer asked with barely disguised amusement.

"No, my arm feels fine."

"Look at your arm Trooper."

Wilson looked down, to see the Ranger had a sheathed knife pressed against Wilson's forearm, visibly denting the skin. Wilson recoiled his arm away "What the fuck man?"

"The name's Luc, and take it easy, I'm just messing with you."

"I prefer jokes that don't involve knives, Luc."

"Fine fine, what's your name anyway, unless you're the big strong silent type, huh?"

"Wilson, trooper Wilson."

"Nice to meet you Trooper Wilson, is your first name Trooper or don't you have one?"

"First name's for friends, and you... aren't a friend."

"Well... maybe not yet, but if you're waiting for those three friends of yours to come out again, we might be together a while."

Wilson shrugged, "can't stop you waiting here if that's what you want to do".

The newcomer, Luc, sat down on the branch where Wilson was sitting before, and started chewing on something he pulled from a pouch. "Hey, Wilson, you know the other cool thing about that Null Vine?"

"What?" Wilson grunted, setting his shield down and taking a seat next to Luc.

"Rumour has it that it was used as a defensive aide during the first war with the demons. Quite a formidable one as well!"

"Is that so?" Wilson answered, trying not to encourage Luc too much.

"It is so, It's quite fascinating really. It doesn't numb the senses completely, it has a much more unique effect."

"Like what?" Wilson replied, politely.

"Well, it somehow separates the senses from your conscious mind only, and still keeps your subconscious, or sleeping mind, connected."

"And what's the point of that?" Wilson asked, seeming a little more interested now.

"Well, if you're talking medicinal, it means it's a safe anaesthetic to inhale as a powder, since you can keep breathing just fine, but, in the first war, soldiers often wrapped it around themselves if they were expecting close combat."

"And... how is that supposed to help in a fight?"

"Well, you know how the stories go. That the demons preferred not to fight with weapons, but with their own flesh... teasing, tempting, seducing our brave, strong soldiers. All that underhanded unfair stuff that we weren't trained to fight against, right?"

Wilson shot the newcomer a suspicious look "... Yeah, so the stories go, and?"

"Well, null vine is a quick and dirty way to take the edge off. If some, I don't know, little imp-boy is trying to distract you by sucking on your cock, it's an awful lot less effective if you don't know you can feel it."

"right..."

"of course, I guess it could go wrong if they really could become invisible, since our soldiers might realise too late the effect the demons were having on them."

"All sounds a bit unlikely if you ask me, how would that even work?"

"Well think about it, you're expecting a fight, you're armed to the teeth, but as always one of these, supposedly beautiful, creatures gets inside your guard and has your armour off in a flash. If you can't feel what they're doing to you, you've got a good minute or more to keep fighting before you're too horny to do anything else. That's prime demon killing time."

Wilson grunted in polite agreement, "No I meant, the whole conscious/subconscious thing separating, surely you'd notice if one of those creatures was sucking your cock, even if it was a bit numb?"

"I swear to the heavens 'Trooper Wilson', this stuff works! It's good to have on you!"

Wilson looked down at Luc, who was beaming up excitedly at him, one hand plucking at the vines on Wilson's arm. Luc's high cheekbones and thin features only exaggerated his grin as he spoke, "Hell if you don't believe me, try it yourself, the worst that happens is you're a little numb for a minute."

"Maybe I will, you willing to bet on it?" Wilson smirked back, finding the exchange quite entertaining.

"A bet? Against you? Ok what's the terms?"

"I put some of this vine in my briefs. If it works, I pay you a crown, if it doesn't you pay me a crown."

"You're wearing briefs huh?" Luc grinned, "Didn't take you for a briefs kind of guy."

"What does that... what's that got to do with it... No, I mean, that's the bet, that wasn't my point."

Luc slapped Wilson on the back as if they were old drinking buddies, "Sorry, My bad, but I'll take that bet!" Luc beamed, chewing something again.

"Ok you're on!" Wilson laughed, setting a crown from his coin pouch on the branch. He held his left hand out to Luc "borrow that dagger a sec?"

Luc lifted the sheathed dagger from Wilson's right palm where he's been absent-mindedly drawing circles, and handed it to Wilson. Wilson grabbed the handle, and before he knew it his right hand was removing the sheathe. It was a little weird, he knew he'd planned to do that, but he hadn't felt his right hand move until he saw it happening.

He cut a short length of the null vine from his spear, wondering if it had always covered it that thickly, and held it out in front of Luc's face, "You sure you want to lose money this badly?"

Luc just nodded, smiling as he looked up at Wilson's heavy frame.

"Well, it's your money."

Wilson loosened his belt, and turned to face away from Luc as he carefully wrapped the short length of flowering vine around his moderately sized cock, twisted the ends around each other, and fastened his belt back up.

"So, Luc, how long does it usually take to have an effect? How long do we wait for?"

"Oh I don't know, I don't normally use it fresh, perhaps give it a minute and we'll see?"

"Ok, one minute."

Wilson sat down next to Luc, setting the dagger down in the inch's gap between them, and reminded himself to focus on the camp. He coughed a little in surprise as he saw the two guards had gotten carried away, their armour clearly strewn across the ground, one of them, a man it seemed, was on all fours in the middle of the gateway, the other one was kneeling behind him, wantonly fucking him right in full view of the camp. Wilson just stared in shock for a moment "What the fuck is going on in there?"

"Some sort of magic from the Rift I imagine," Luc suggested, "I saw a flash of light the other night, by the time I got here they were acting like this, although..." Wilson couldn't help but notice Luc looked a little red in the face, and had loosened his clothing a little. Luc swallowed loudly and continued "Although, I don't think they ever got quite this carried away until now."

"So, you've been watching soldiers make out for a few days and haven't gone to help them?"

Luc scowled, "Oh look at them though, even though they're clearly enjoying it, I'm just one man, not great in a fight, and if I went in giving them grief for having a little fun, I'd come out of it with a black eye at best." Wilson shrugged, Luc was making sense, and he seemed nice enough, quite likeable even. Wilson felt like Luc would help them if he could.

Luc continued, "and anyway, they're so much bigger and stronger than me, if there's some sort of magic messing with them, making them horny, turning them into sex-crazed deviants, I don't think I could resist magic like that, being smaller and weaker, right?"

Wilson nodded in agreement, and unbuttoned his top shirt button in the warm night air. "So... what should we do?" Wilson asked.

Luc leaned against Wilson's shoulder, "Well, for now, sit and observe. A Ranger always watches, and waits for the right time to make his move."

"Smart." Wilson agreed. Luc seemed clever for his age, the sort of wily wisdom that he could respect. Staring at the two guards at the gateway, Wilson wondered whether he'd ever find himself doing something like that out here. He mused to himself that, at least if he did, it would probably be with someone like Adara, or hell even Luc, who was... all things considered, not unattractive, even if he was a few years younger than Wilson.

Wilson scowled at himself for getting so lost in thought, "Oh Right, the bet!"

Luc hopped up and sat cross legged on the branch, facing Wilson, "Oooh the big reveal, I'm excited, are you excited?"

Wilson nodded, perhaps a little too eagerly. He turned away from Luc, loosened his belt and... Wow, why was he so hard? He couldn't feel it, but he instantly saw the tent in his trousers, straining against his briefs. "What the fuck?" he muttered loudly.

Luc leaned over his shoulder, clearly standing or kneeling on the branch behind him for height, "What is it? Let me see!"

Wilson turned around without thinking, and pulled his briefs down. He looked back up at Luc and muttered again, "What the fuck?" The null vine was clearly wrapped tightly around his, now fully erect cock, and he could see the glistening shine of precum dripping from the tip.

"Wow! Someone's enjoying the show a little too much!" Luc beamed up at him, kneeling on the branch. "Well, go on! Touch it!"

Wilson was confused, he hadn't been getting turned on watching the two men had he? He could feel his heart beating faster, and his breathing was a little quicker and shallower, but... he hadn't felt anything happening.

Luc laughed, "Oh don't act all scared because you might lose your crown, go ahead, touch it, see what it feels like!"

Wilson scowled at Luc again, "Hey I'm not scared, it's just a little... odd, right?"

"Looks fine to me." Luc said with a barely noticeable smile.

"Fine, but this is just for the Crown." Wilson grumbled, reaching out and flicking the tip of his own cock. He could see his finger connect, and saw his cock bounce down and back up, but he didn't feel a thing. "What the fuck?" he muttered.

"RIGHT?" Luc exclaimed, a little too loudly perhaps.

Wilson grabbed his cock firmly and squeezed experimentally with two fingers. Nothing. He looked up at Luc, who seemed to be enjoying the show, then back down at his cock, and squeezed harder... Nothing. Wilson gasped again, "What the fuck?"

Luc reached down and plucked the loose crown off the branch "Looks like it's my win... unless you want to go double or nothing?" Luc was smirking smugly, like he'd won a much bigger prize than a single crown.

Wilson laughed, leaning back against the tree as he started trying to unwind the two ends of the null vine, "Oh yeah, I'll win that back, and then some!"

Luc rose from the branch and gently lowered his nimble frame to the ground in front of Wilson, taking a step closer, almost daring Wilson to pick a fight over this crown, "Ok, you're a big... strong, warrior type right?"

"Yeah?" wilson said, still struggling to untangle the vines, which seemed to have become more twisted already.

"Ok so, do you think, with this vine, you could have fought off a... seductive, predatory demon?" Luc emphasised those last three words, gently poking Wilson's now exposed skin, moving closer to his bound cock with each word.

Wilson growled, finally managing to rip the vines off "Of course I fucking would."

"Then bet on it trooper. 50 Crowns."

Wilson threw the scrap of vine to the floor and grabbed the tree trunk for support, he was definitely breathing more heavily now "For 50 crowns, hell yes, but how the fuck would I prove that? No demons wandering around out here these days."

"I could play a demon, just for the sake of the bet of course..." Luc whispered as he looked over Wilson's shoulder to check on the guards.

"Wha... What?"

"Oh come on, there's nobody out here, and you won't feel it anyway. I've always had such a scientific curiosity in those old defence techniques, and I'd happily pay 50 crowns to see it in action... plus..." Luc pointed down at Wilson's cock. Wilson followed his gesture and realised his right hand was absentmindedly stroking himself. Luc laughed knowingly, "It looks like you're eager for a little... demonic intervention?"

Wilson slumped slightly against the trunk. This was... weird. He'd only met this person a little while ago, but he'd really enjoyed sitting there talking with him. He felt like he could trust Luc, and Luc did seem really excited about seeing the plants in action. But, trying to think of a polite excuse, he reasoned it just wasn't right of him to shirk his duty like that, he had to watch his friends' backs.

Wilson shakily lifted himself a bit, one hand supporting himself against the tree trunk, "I'm really sorry Luc but, I have to keep an eye on my friends, they're in the camp still."

Luc took a step forward, his chin almost touching Wilson's chest as Luc spoke upwards at him, "Oh you're just scared to think you might lose to those demons, even with a completely numbed dick."

"I am not scared." Wilson huffed, trying to sound firm, but hearing his voice crack as he spoke, "I'm just... it's just my friends, I need to watch out for them. I would win the bet, no problem, and I'd beat those fucking demons too."

Luc grinned up at him, and then quickly stepped under his armpit, supporting his weight and gently pulling him back towards the branch they were sat on, "Excellent, well in that case, you just sit here, and... hmm... how should we do this."

Wilson felt himself collapsing weakly to sit on the branch as Luc released his weight. Luc put one hand on his head and ruffled his short hair as he spoke, "I know! You, the big strong demon warrior, have to fight the evil, cock-hungry demon, but you've been disarmed. All you need to do is go and get your weapon, just a few paces away, ok... You just need one minute for their evil paralyzing venom to wear off, and then you can just pull yourself free and go get it, but if the demon makes you cum, they'll enslave you forever."

Wilson felt confused, what venom was Luc talking about, and why would he cum if he couldn't feel anything? He blurted out, "but, that's easy right? If I can't feel anything... I won't cum right?"

Luc tutted, then lowered himself to his knees in front of Wilson, "It's all psychological, your subconscious can still feel everything, and all your subconscious needs from your conscious brain is permission, a kind of signal to say you want that. You're perfectly safe, unless you end up actually wanting to lose..." Wilson didn't notice the momentary flicker of Luc's eyes to the trees behind them as he continued setting the scene, "Now, picture that demon, you're fighting, in the woods, they have you cornered, they throw your weapon to the side," Luc grinned as he pulled the Javelin from Wilson's wrist, snapping the thin vines and tossed it quietly into the grass.

Luc's voice lowered, "They graze you with their claws, and you feel yourself starting go stiff as they throw you against a tree and pull your britches down. They see the null vine wrapped around your cock, and smile up at you... " Luc grinned, suddenly holding Wilson's erect cock in his hands, he took a deep breath, "one minute." and kissed Wilson's cock on the tip before wrapping his lips around him. Wilson just stared down at the strange sight. This beautiful, gorgeous man was giving him a blowjob in the middle of a perverted forest and he couldn't even feel it.