The rage demon slithered toward Herah on tendrils of fire, its bubbling jaws open wide. She stumbled backward, lashing out with her staff, but though the billowing wall of flame she called up from the ground had dealt with the wraiths, it was useless against this thing. The blazing, hunched creature burst right through, swelling in size as her fire was added to its bulk. It continued toward her, reaching out with the long, burning whirlwinds of its arms.
"Duck!"
Herah ducked. A split second later, an arrow whooshed over her head, thudding into the demon's flickering face. It opened its shapeless, gurgling mouth, turning its blunt head toward the ceiling and shrieking in agony. Molten cracks started to show beneath its hardened shell, and lava spilled out, dripping into a puddle on the floor. Finally, it burst into flames, lighting the dark tunnel with a brilliant flare before disappearing forever.
"Bam! Arrow in its face." Herah looked up in time to see Sera do a victory skip, grinning and clutching her bow. "D'ja see that, Inky? I sent that thing arse over tits. Well, if it had tits. Whatever."
"It was almost an arrow in my skull," Herah pointed out, but she gave Sera a grateful smile as she climbed back to her feet and brushed off her leggings. "Thanks, Sera. Fire isn't much good against rage demons and I didn't have time to switch up."
Sera glanced around the hallway, checking carefully to make sure all the demons were gone before strapping her bow across her back. "That's what you've got me for, yeah? Hate demons, but I wouldn't want to leave you alone to fight one. You can't kill 'em all with sparkly finger-waving."
Although Sera was surprisingly upbeat, especially after fighting one of her worst fears, Herah detected traces of guilt and sadness behind her forced cheer. She could tell Sera still felt bad for abandoning her back in the main chamber. Herah had to admit that it had felt like a betrayal, but the sorrow in Sera's kiss had eased some of her hurt. She still wasn't sure what it meant or where they stood with each other, but this wasn't exactly the best time to ask those questions. At the very least, she was happy Sera seemed to care about her safety. "Well, I'm grateful to have you here. I'm not sure I'd be able to get back to Cassandra and Morrigan on my own."
Sera bit her lip and averted her eyes. So far, they hadn't been successful in retracing the path of her flight. Running away from and after various groups of demons in the temple had taken them far out of their way. "Speaking of, we should move. Think we've cleared out the last of the creepies. Should have a clear shot to the middle of the temple if we move fast and stay lucky."
"Stay lucky?" Herah asked with a healthy amount of skepticism. "You mean we've been lucky all this time? Could have fooled me."
"Fine. If we move fast and start getting lucky. Let's hurry, grab tall, dark, and moody..."
She snorted. "Which one is that?"
"Both. Anyway, we grab 'em and rabbit real quick."
Herah shook her head. "If we do that, we could just end up getting hit with whatever messed with you last time. We don't know what that was, and walking in blind doesn't seem like a good idea." She tapped her fingers on the back of her skull. "There has to be something around here that could help us out."
Sera's face scrunched up as she considered the problem. Maker, she's adorable when she does that. "Not sure if it'll help, but I think I saw some dusty books and stuff a few demons back."
"It's worth a look." She started back the way they'd come, trying to retrace her recent steps.
The ruins were a warren of tight, stone corridors, all of them annoyingly similar, but fortunately the smell of burnt demon provided a solid general guide to where they'd just been. A few minutes of searching later, they found themselves in front of a half-open door.
"Think this is it." Sera stuck her head inside the room, looking back and forth. "Yup. That's the place."
Herah followed her in, the light from her staff illuminating the small chamber. There were a pair more skeletons there, laying in a heap on top of each other in one corner, but the Inquisitor was more interested in the "dusty books," as Sera had called them. There were a small pile of them sitting on a stone table along with a set of quills, though the ink had long since dried up.
"So, anything look good?" Sera asked, picking up one of the volumes and flipping through it.
"Because it all seems like right gibberish to me."
Herah turned one of the books over in her hands, trying not to inhale too much of the copious dust that blew off of the cover. They were as ancient as everything else in this place, and only the dry air had preserved them over the centuries. The writing on the spine was old too, the language that of the ancient Tevinter. She just counted herself lucky that her studies as a rift mage had sharpened her practice with that tongue; it was no surprise Sera couldn't read it.
"It's a treatise on Fade rifts," the Inquisitor told Sera. "Presumably that's what the Tevinter were here to study."
She rifled through the other books: Exotic Wonders of the Fade, Devarius' Guide to Advanced Enchanting, 12 Types of Demons to Conjure or Avoid… "Damn it! These are just academic studies. I mean, I'm sure Dorian and Dagna would love to get hold of them, but it doesn't do us a bit of… Wait a minute." She picked up an unlabeled volume, cracking the spine and beginning to page through it. "This is different."
"What's that, then?" Sera asked, craning her neck for a better view in spite of her inability to actually read the contents.
"It looks like a journal from one of the researchers here. Now, give me a little space and hopefully, I can figure out what they were up to and what's going on with Cassandra and Morrigan."
The stone floor beneath her should have been uncomfortable but Cassandra hardly noticed its rough texture rubbing against her bare back. Much more interesting was the pliant flesh of Morrigan's ass, the warmth of her lush body, and especially her rich, tart taste. Cassandra couldn't get enough of the flavor, plunging her tongue in as deep as she could.
Morrigan's grip tightened in response, and she lowered her head, long hair draping across the legs beneath her. Cassandra moaned as her folds were spread apart and those full, dark lips found her clit, pulling her between them. Morrigan sucked harshly, and Cassandra gasped at the jolt of pleasure that ran through her body. She couldn't think, couldn't do anything but just take and be taken.
And she needed to take Morrigan. Needed to take her in every way she could imagine, even ones she'd never considered before. She took one finger and thrust it into the witch, coating it in the arousal flooding out of her before bringing it back up to that perfect, full rear end. Morrigan stiffened as she slid down between her cheeks, but she didn't protest, and Cassandra pressed the digit against her back entrance. It was almost impossibly tight, and even through the fog of her lust, she realized she had to start slowly. She slid in to the first knuckle, warmth clamping down around her so effectively she couldn't go further yet.
Morrigan pulled back and gave a deep groan as her concentration was broken, but Cassandra barely cared about the loss of sensation. The reaction she had caused was incredibly arousing in its own right, and she wanted more. Her tongue ran along Morrigan's slick folds, parting them as she sought out her clit. The pleasure made the witch's body relax, and Cassandra was able to push in further, almost to the second knuckle.
A string of obscenities in some language she didn't know were forced out of Morrigan's mouth, and Cassandra began to thrust gently with her finger, withdrawing slightly before plunging back into that gripping heat. At the same time, she started licking again, painting rough strokes along the swollen bud that was exposed to her. Morrigan was thrashing above her, and Cassandra's inner walls clenched around nothing. She almost fell over the edge herself, even without any physical stimulation. This, claiming Morrigan for her own, was better than anything else, and as long as she could keep doing it, nothing else mattered…
"Maker's breath, what are they doing?"
Sera gaped at the two women writhing in the middle of the room, torn between shock and amusement. She had stormed in at Herah's side, bow in hand, bravely prepared to rescue Cassandra and Morrigan from the creepy artifact and maybe some demons. The last thing she had expected to find was the two of them fucking on the floor, their heads buried between each other's legs. In spite of the danger, she burst out laughing, unable to stifle the tide of giggles pouring out of her.
"What d'you think they're doing, Inky?" she asked, but she couldn't blame Herah for being skeptical. If she hadn't been witnessing it in person, she would have said the Fade would freeze over before Cassandra would put her mouth anywhere near Morrigan's bits, let alone with quite so much enthusiasm. In fact, the sight was almost pretty. Neither Morrigan nor Cassandra was really her type, but together, they were strangely compelling...
Green light suddenly flashed in front of her eyes, and a curious warmth seared her skin. The bodies before her shifted, flickering and changing. Suddenly, it wasn't Morrigan and Cassandra she was seeing twined together, but her and Herah. They moved as one, tasting and taking, melting into each other. A stab of want throbbed low in her stomach, and she stretched out her arm, reaching for something she couldn't quite grasp.
"Sera!" A firm hand shook her shoulder, and she jolted back to herself. She blinked in confusion until the fog cleared and she saw Herah - the real Herah - standing before her. "Sera, you have to focus."
Dread washed over her as she realized what had almost happened, and she resisted the twin temptations to either run or grab Herah and try to make her vision a reality. Instead, she drew an arrow and turned toward the table. "Shite," she muttered, shivering with fear. "That's twice now. We need to break this thing before it turns me into a drooling idiot like those two."
Herah shook her head. "Right, but according to those notes, we can't do it directly. I have to close the rift first."
Movement caught her eye, and Sera gasped as the strange circle turned toward them. It started to glow, drawing more energy from the open Fade rift above the altar. "Move!" she shouted, giving Herah a hard shove. They managed to dodge just in time. Another streak of green shot through the air where they had been standing moments before, disappearing harmlessly into the wall.
"Thanks," Herah said, but Sera hardly heard her. The artifact was already charging up again, preparing to send another burst in their direction. This time, she ducked, crouching close to the ground as the pulse sailed over her head. She bit back a curse, trying to see a path forward, but there was none to be found. Her heart sank. Herah would never be able to stand still long enough to close the rift. Unless...
"Go," she shouted, waving Herah toward the altar. "Try and seal it up. I'll cover you."
Herah stared at her in shock, face tightening with concern. "Sera..."
But she had already made up her mind. She didn't trust magic, but she did believe in Herah. If she couldn't put her faith in the woman who had already saved her countless times and shown her nothing but love, she couldn't rely on anyone. She hopped back to her feet and sprinted forward, heading directly for the altar.
The rift surged through the eye again, but this time Sera didn't leap away. Instead, she threw herself in its path, positioning her body in-between the pulse and Herah. Her vision filled with green light once more, a warmth that poured through her extremities and straight to her core. Her skin flushed and her every nerve felt sensitized by the contact. The visions that had teased her before were back, stronger than ever.
Herah's powerful hands lifted her off the ground, pulling back her tights with easy strength, exploring the skin beneath… Her head lay buried between the Inquisitor's thighs, spreading and probing, discovering her secret taste... Her hands, clutching at Herah's horns, a desperate attempt to gain a measure of control as…
"Fucking stupid piece of glass!" Sera spat as she shook her head, trying to banish the delicious images. Strands of green light were flowing into the rift, presumably from Herah's mark, and she could almost see the Inquisitor standing behind her, just begging for Sera to turn around. And she wanted to. Her body was screaming at her to go and claim what should be hers…
"Bloody balls!" She clenched her fists, the nails digging into the calloused skin of her palms hard enough that the pain drove back her desire, at least a little bit. "Get out of my head you stupid Magister hunk of arse magic!"
"Hang on, Sera. Just a little longer." Herah's voice was meant to be steadying, and yet hearing those husky tones sent fresh shivers through Sera's body. What would it sound like calling out in pleasure, moaning her name? No. Can't think about that. Have to stand here. Have to protect Herah from stupid shite.
And then the eye flashed again. The images were all flowing together now, glimpses of naked bodies pressed against each other, desires too rapid to name and too strong to fight overwhelming Sera. She couldn't wait, not anymore. No matter the cost, she had to have Herah and she had to have her now. And why not? Nothing else was real but that hunger. Sera turned, helpless to do anything but obey the wanting spreading out from between her legs. Everything she needed was right there, all tall, and sleek, and so damn tasty, the Inquisitor's glowing hand curling as she…
Before Sera could complete the thought, the glow behind her exploded and everything went green and fuzzy all at once.