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The fog that descended on our small camp was a dark thing, unnatural and strange. Its swirling mass was more than mist in the air; it held a steady weight over our heads as it bore down on us from between the trees. A veritable shadow blotting out the sun. There was no shelter – no escaping that encroaching mass – aside from a campfire hastily built and desperately maintained with what little kindling we could find. The fog's encroaching tendrils were held at bay, for the moment. Barely a comfort.

We were all on edge, us three felines: Sashai, Correl, and myself. Our muddied and battered armour remained fastened to our bodies and hands held to our sword hilts with an iron grip. It was not the fog itself as much as the voices that came with it.

Poor Correl took it the worst. He grew up in forests like these. The ambient noises of distant animals, swaying trees, and the crunch of underbrush beneath boot were his comfort, a reminder of home, and the fog had robbed him of that. He sat between Sashai and I, gauntleted hands warming themselves on the fire in some cold comfort as he shivered underneath his steel skin.

“How much longer will this be?" Correl asked. How was I supposed to answer? I glanced over at Sashai, who locked an eye with me before shrugging and turning away. “I can't bear it!"

“Soon," I replied while setting a hand on his shoulder to caress his armour as if it were his own dark fur. The bandages wrapped around my wrist were bloodied and moist – gods be damned. He looked back at me, his orange eyes wet with fear, and finally broke out that small smile I'd come to know. “Stay vigilant. You're my best set of ears. Okay?"

“Of course, Koman. Of course…"

A third voice piped up, steady and strong. Sashai, as cold and distant as she ever was. “Your wounds, Koman. Come here – I'll have a look."

She should be worrying about herself. I couldn't ignore the bandages Correl and I had wrapped over her left eye. It, like the one around my wrist, was dark and dirty with blood. Sashai… she'd never see out of that eye again.

“Koman," Sashai repeated, the little tufts of white fur atop each of her small triangular ears twitching in agitation. It wasn't a command – even in this situation she wouldn't dare break rank – but she wasn't going to relent.

“She's right, Koman," Correl added. His voice still trembled and his shivering hadn't stopped, but for the time being he was back to his old self. “Sit here – let me have a walk around. I'll… I'll try to find some more kindling."

“Don't stray too far," I warned, my hand clasping to his quickly as he stood. “Stay where I can see you."

“Of course, Koman. Of course."

Not like he could walk too far. The circle of protection cast by this little campfire could only penetrate so far past the black fog, but I'd seen the way it swallowed up anything and everything into its mass. How many have I lost already…

Correl limped away – another injury to look out for – and I sidled up beside Sashai. My second-in-command, so very quickly promoted in the last twenty-four hours. She took her duties seriously, what few she had with just the three of us.

“Your eye?" I asked, but she shook her head and grabbed my hand, turning it over on her gloved fingers so she could better see my bandaged wrist. The injury must have been unbearable; we had no herbs or remedies left to ease the pains. “Sashai."

“I will be okay." Her uncertainty came through despite her cold demeanour. Even she wasn't sure of her own words. “We have more pressing concerns."

She worked swiftly but with a rough touch. A trickle of blood scurried down along my forearm and soaked into a layer of leather padding as the bandages around my wrist were unravelled to reveal a wound, reopened and bleeding for what felt like the hundredth time. I got lucky – a little father to the right and an inch deeper and the arteries… Well, I got lucky.

Sashai hesitated. Her eye swivelled from my wound, to my eyes, and finally to Correl's limping figure as he scrounged our nearby surroundings for scraps of wood, straddling but never quite crossing into the fog.

Her voice teetered on a quiet whisper as she carefully picked at some dirt from my wound and said, “Our scout is not himself," before quickly adding, “When the time comes, I'll end him."

“Sashai!"

“Please, keep your voice down," Sashai whispered as her eye tracked our scout. He was none the wiser.

“The madness has not taken him."

“He is not himself," Sashai repeated, to which I answered with a quick:

“None of us are."

Sashai carefully wrapped a new set of bandages around my wrist – already stained with blood. Her fingers twitched. Her hands trembled. That single blue eye continued to follow our scout and I feared, for a small moment, that she had already made up her mind.

“Sashai, look at me." She refused to listen. The low bearing of a growl formed within her chest, one she refused to voice as I placed myself between her and Correl. Our campfire's heat licked my lower back. Did she even see me? Was she looking through me? “We have lost too many of our kin. I will not lose another."

Her eye narrowed and the short snout of her face scrunched as thin sharp fangs showed themselves for the briefest of seconds. Then… recognition. She did see me. She felt her hands on my wrist. She listened to me. The danger was gone – more accurately, she'd swallowed it down for the moment.

“I will not lose another, Sashai. Not Correl. Not you. We stay together, watch each other's backs, and we make it out of this alive. Understood?"

“I understand. Koman, I… I'm sorry."

“Quiet now. We are all on edge, but I need your mind sharp. You are my eyes – okay?"

“Okay."

Our campfire crackled with life anew. Correl knelt by it, tucked beneath his arms a small bundle of kindling he'd managed to scrounge up. The best he could find within our little safety net.

I sat back and watched him slowly feed more fuel as a deep worry resurfaced to the forefront of my thoughts: how much longer would this fire last? The weaker it got, the closer the fog seemed to swallow us whole, along with the madness that it spread. Perhaps a day. Maybe just a matter of hours.

Correl looked over at my second-in-command – she kept her own eye locked on the flickering flame with a rather stern gaze – and then glanced over in my direction with a questioning look of concern.

A matter of hours… and then what?

***

We quickly rose to our feet as something awful cried out from beyond the shadow. A mournful wail – a banshee's deathly scream. Breathless… unending. A flood of tears threatened to burn my eyes as that piercing screeching tugged at something deep in my chest. I could feel an ache in my heart and a gnawing urge to… to find it? And comfort it.

Correl and Sashai drew their swords and defensively came to my flank, but not without first casting one cautionary look at one another.

“What in hells…" Correl was at a loss of words. Tears openly streamed down his angry face, emotions that he could not control. His sword trembled in the air, both hands barely able to keep the blade steady. “What in hells are you!"

“Quiet, scout," Sashai hissed alongside a low breath as the back of her plate armour brushed against my arm. She caught herself, breathed deep, and put a few steps distance between herself and I. Silent tears had begun to stain the short black fur of her face as another shrill screech battered our ears.

Mother's cries. Brother's otherworldly laughter. The sergeant's rousing speech on the eve of battle. Lover's cold fingers teasing right below my left ear.

It was close – at our camp's border.

“S-Shut up!" Correl screamed, his ears swivelling left and right in some desperate attempt to find the source of those voices. “Show yourself!"

“Correl – QUIET!"

I caught her blade hand before it struck; the wound on my wrist reopened with a sickening stab of pain and I swore I could taste that blood on the back of my throat. Sashai faltered for a moment as the sharp look in her eye – the steadied resolve of a practised killer – faded from view.

“Sashai!" I screamed. “Control yourself!"

Behind me Correl had fallen on his back, his armour clattering beneath the weight of his own body as he scurried away.

“Madness!" He screamed, voice cracking beneath the strain of his own fear. “She's taken. Koman, she's taken!"

“I'll take your fucking toungue you insolent-"

“QUIET!" With a forceful shove I forced Sashai back while a hard and menacing stare brought Correl's wagging tongue to a standstill. Their eyes darted back and forth as their chests struggled to catch a breath beneath the choking weight of their armour. “NOBODY. HAS GONE. MAD."

Something answered to the command in my voice, something far beyond the veil, unseen now but so focused on us that it felt like eyes staring down the back of my head. My fur bristled, a hard shiver ran down my spine. I did my best to ignore it.

“Nobody has gone mad." My lips were dry. Heavens above, I needed some water. “Sashai, do not break my faith in you. Correl, steady your nerves." I looked at each one for a long time. I made sure they saw me clearly – heard me clearly. I needed them to understand. “Please."

A moment's silence was followed by a quiet acknowledgement, begrudging as it might have been. Sashai would listen to my commands, for now.

Correl stood and limped toward the fire to sit and warm his hands. Their injuries – I wished to grant them some relief from it, that they could breathe without worry or concern. But it wasn't meant to be.

“Sashai. Your kin's in pain." I nodded toward Correl, who hesitated at my words but didn't deny my intentions. “Tend to his wounds – please."

“Koman," Correl began, but Sashai was quick to cut him off.

“I can do it." She turned her attention to our scout. “If you'll allow me."

“I… of course, sarafasha." Old-style honorifics. I never took him to be a traditionalist. “Thank you."

In another time, in another place, I would have separated the two of them. But now was not the time and this was not the place.

For as long as the light of that campfire kept that fog at bay, the madness would not take us. This was my hope, and so far it held true. But that hope was fading – the light was fading.

“We need to stay together," I said to the two of them as I began tending to my own wounds. I unbound the bandage from my wrist and saw not blood but something… dark. A black bile that stank of rot and decay. “We need to stay strong."

***

Something… something strong had clawed my wrist as we ran for the safety of our camp. Something unseen, unheard, but most definitely felt. It rendered my gauntlet useless like the strike of a hammer on hot iron and carved out my flesh with ease.

The same thing that had so brutally taken Sahsai's eye. The same thing which had grasped at Correl's leg just moments before he reached the safety of our light. He'd be gone too had it not been for us so desperately clawing at his arms to wrench him free from whatever had taken hold.

I could hear them – our kin. They begged for an end to their torment. It was in my head, it had to be, but it sounded so real.

Her eye… his leg… they were also infected. Was this madness?

How much time did we actually have?

We'd burned everything that we could find: woodchips, underbrush, documents that just a day ago held so much importance to so many unknown faces higher up the ranks. I stripped the blood-soaked leather padding off my armour and tossed it into the flames; the other two were quick to follow.

All I could really focus on now was that fire, and all I could think of was how quickly it was fading. A few hours now – that's all we had left.

Just a few more hours.

“Sarafasha, his hand…"

“I know! … I know."

To my right was Sashai's blue eye, wide and sharp, a wonderful distraction from the flames. To my left was our scout, nervous as he was, a look of worry plastered on his face. The two looked to me for guidance. An escape from this… – where was I?

The camp. The fire. Of course. How long has it been?

That's right… I was thinking. A plan. I had to come up with a plan. Our escape. Our freedom. Our lives.

Sashai cradled my head in her arms. Little claws gingerly scratched into my fun. She hummed a small, pleasant tune and smiled with motherly warmth. A small distraction from Correl's warm touch as he cradled up to my side and nuzzled his head against my neck. It was pleasant…

No, what? No.

We were sitting by the fire, our eyes heavy with exhaustion and our stomachs growling for food. We held tight to our weapons as the wailing from the fog grew overwhelmingly loud. We weakly blew on the embers of our fire in a desperate struggle to keep it alive.

“Stay awake," I ordered. “Do whatever you must, but stay awake."

Correl prodded at the fire with the tip of his blade, too exhausted to jump at every noise his ears caught but that slim tail continued twitching with anxiety. His voice came low and gravely, the way it would after a day of shouting over the crying voices of a dozen other kinsmen. He said: “Oh we'll be heroes when we make it back."

To which Sashai responded with the most pleasant laughter she had ever produced. It was so unlike her.

“They are going to cut us down the moment they lay eyes on us."

Correl offered no argument. He believed her – they truly believed those words. It was up to me then. I didn't believe them. I refused to believe them.

“No medals. No pats on our backs." I watched my scout poke the fire; flittering embers rose high, then disappeared into the cloud of black fog over our heads. “A visit to the doctors, one hot meal, and a good night's rest. That'll be our reward."

My second-in-command smiled at my words. Long, thin whiskers twitched recklessly as she sniffed at the air.

“Oh I could go for so much more…" Correl eyed the fire with a sort of… hunger. “A nice roast pork. A strong bottle of wine, eh?" He looked at both of us for affirmation. “So maybe we won't be heroes, but we'll be survivors, right? Survivors have stories made about them. Books, and such."

“If they don't kill us first."

“Sashai…"

Our tongues met in the cold air between our lips, rough yet delicate, moist and sweet. I could feel her fingers snaking their way around my head like slim tendrils that sought and nudged at every sweet spot she could find. Kissing is way up my back, Correl's gentle lips snaked a wet trail up to the back of my neck. He whispered to me something sweet and absolutely delicious. Unlimited pleasure. The refreshing explosion of cold juice after biting into a mango. His hands wrapped around my waist and I felt his body heave its naked weight against my back as Sashai laid me down on top of her so our tongues could better caress each other's throats.

“The fire, Koman."

The anxiety, the fear, that stuppor… I rubbed at my eyes with the back of my hand and searched for my companions. They hadn't moved an inch, and all of us were still dressed in our armour. But I hadn't fallen asleep. I hadn't fallen asleep.

I could still taste Sashai's sweet tongue on my lips. I could still feel Correl's naked body squeezing hard and desperate against my lower back.

“Koman?" Sashai was frowning. Her voice had finally cracked beneath the pressure of that encroaching fog. So much closer now. But we still had a few hours, right? There's no way…

I willed myself to look at the fire more closely and saw nothing but a fading light. A few more minutes, that's all we had left. There was nothing more we could do for those dying embers.

“We're alone, Koman. We're alone."

“Correl?" He'd been unusually quiet. It bothered me. I looked over and saw him slumped over himself, so perfectly still he reminded me of a statue painted a brilliant white and gold. A kind smile – a beautiful face. His armour rose and fell to a deep, steady rhythm.

“He stopped moving," Sashai murmured with a strain to her voice that made her sound so vulnerable and weak. “I didn't know what to do. I…" She swallowed hard and found comfort in the last remnants of the ember's heat. “He stopped talking. He stopped moving. But I can still hear him – 'sarafasha'. Whispered right into my ears."

“Sashai, be still… He's not gone. He's just sleeping."

“It's madness, isn't it? This damned fog. The fucking voices." The strength of her voice returned, if only for a brief moment. “Shut up! All of you, shut up! Leave us the hell alone!"

I couldn't hear what she heard, her own personal hell.

“Sit with me, Sashai," I asked of her weakly. “Save your strength."

“For what?!" she snapped back with an aggression I wasn't prepared for. “A slaughter! A hundred dead and it wasn't enough, was it? A hundred and one!" She pointed at Correl. “He's dead. I'm next, and you're next!"

“No, he's…" I could feel his tongue running little circles along the inside of my ear and it felt divine. I… no, he was there, by the fire, so quiet and still and so beautiful as well. Just sleeping. We had to wake him up.

“I'm right here," Correl replied, having read my thoughts. Black-stained fingers wrapped around my neck, applying a slow and methodical pressure that choked what little air there was in my lungs. “Easy now… sleep."

“Fucking madness," Sashai spat as she found her seat by my side. No strength left for her to fight. No will to run. The fog stretched on into an infinite horizon. What hope did we ever have? “I can hear him again, Koman. He's still calling me by that name – sarafasha. He still thinks I like being called that. What an idiot…" she laughed weakly. “What a damned fool…"

“Stay awake, Sashai." We rested our heads against one another. The final embers were swallowed whole by that inky darkness. “Don't fall asleep. Stay awake."

***

The fog ran on for an eternity as I blindly stumbled through its dark labyrinth. It slipped around my head, threaded between my fingers, and surged deep into my lungs with every rancid breath I took. No light to keep me safe now. No shelter from this raging storm.

But I couldn't stop. I refused to stop. They were lost and alone somewhere in this haze. Sashai and Correl, the last of my kin. If I could just find them, bring them under my arms, and keep them close to me. Well, then everything would be okay. I could still keep them safe.

“Sashai!" I called out, my own voice weak to my ears. “Correl! Please, answer me!"

I was still here. I could help them. I could get them out of this madness. I could save them.

“Please!"

My strength waned. I wouldn't be able to do this for much longer. Water… god I needed some water. Food. Light. Was I walking in circles?

I followed the whispers in lieu of a beacon, expecting at any moment for some unseen hand to finally deal the killing blow. Something licked at my fur, teased the backs of my ears, nibbled on my lips, but it never, ever, attacked me again.

“If you can hear me, I'm over here! Call out to me. Let me find you!" Was my voice even carrying through this fog? I couldn't hear its echo bouncing off the trees. “Someone please say something."

Had I fallen asleep? Was this all a nightmare?

“It's real, Koman."

Sashai's sweet voice carried itself on an unseen wind. Follow it – find her.

“You haven't fallen asleep yet."

“Sashai!" I could see her silhouette now, so slender and elegant, laying back on oily grass, both her arms neatly tucked beneath her head. The closer I got the clearer her voice grew, the more tired my legs became, the less energy I had to carry on.

It took the last once of my strength to finally reach my second-in-command before I collapsed beneath the weight of my armour. No more – I couldn't do this anymore.

She greeted me with a satisfied smile as if to say, 'Good. You finally found me.' Then raised an arm and pointed up at the sky.

“Isn't it beautiful?"

I saw nothing but more of that fog and I found no meaning beside a deathly despair.

“The stars. The moon. That fresh lick of a warm summer breeze. Koman… you don't see it?"

She now caressed the edge of my jaw, her touch drawing me close to her. I could feel the warmth of her body even through my armour. The touch of her soft fur was pleasantly comforting, and for a moment I all but forgot about who I was, where I was, and what had happened to me.

“Koman, are you real?"

“I am," I replied. She now held me with both hands. Her thumbs rubbed my hollow cheeks in smooth circular motions. “I know I am."

“I don't believe you." There it was, that familiar icy stare to her blue eye. It lasted only a moment, replaced now with… sadness? “I want to believe you. But you're not real. I know that now – nothing in this place is real. But I don't care. I'm done fighting it."

“Sashai, I'm real." I touched her and felt her react with tensing muscles and a sudden cold gasp as my fingers brushed her shoulders. She drew me in closer with a weak grasp of my jaw till I tasted her every breath. “I've been looking for you. Where's Correl?"

“It's been so long," Sashai murmured as her smile twisted itself up into a mournful grin. “It's been weeks. I've been alone for so long. I don't care if you're a part of my imagination. Just… don't leave me here alone. Please."

“Never." I swallowed hard a lump that'd formed in my throat. Weeks? But it's only been a few hours. “I-I'm here, Sashai. You're safe now. We'll find Correl and I'll get us out of here."

“You must be real," Sashai replied in a sharp, bitter tone as she hooked her hands around the back of my neck and drew me down atop her body. I couldn't resist it; barely had enough energy as it was to keep myself from collapsing on top of her. “Ever the optimist. Feeding us those sweet lies. Be kind to me, Koman, and stay quiet for a moment. Let me look at you."

“But, Sashai…" My thoughts lingered on our scout.

“Please, just a moment. Don't promise me anything else. Don't speak a word. Just let me have this." I planted both hands to either side of her head as she dragged me lower onto her, till our lips were but a moment's breath away from each other. Her blue eye went wide with expectation, and it was then that I'd noticed she was no longer bandaged and bruised, yet her other eye remained scarred over and shut forever. “Please let me have this."

But I hesitated to make another move. This was wrong – when I looked at her I couldn't help but see my second-in-command and one of my kin. Someone for me to protect, not to take advantage of. Someone to lead and guide.

She laughed a little. With a nudge of my head she pressed our noses together. She spoke softly; she was at peace. “Ever the good soldier. I wanted to be like you, Koman. Look at where we are. Look at what we've become."

The weaving threads of my armour loosened around my joints by the unseen hand as a cool moisture of sweat dewed on the tips of my fur. Free of that shell – the responsibility.

I could see it clearly now: Sashai and I were one and the same, black ink on shadow, devoid of all light save for the colour of our eyes that yet lingered as some semblance of… of us.

“Let go, will you? The troubles of the past and those values you hold on to so dearly. They're useless here. This lawless land… Why bother?" Her knee crawled up along the inside of my leg and her body, so comforting and warm now against my bare fur and skin, eased itself against my own. “We're lost. Stop fighting."

“I can get us out," I said, my words slow and uncertain because I didn't really believe them anymore. “I think I can still save us, Sashai."

She replied, firstly, with a tender kiss. One taboo broken – she was no longer my second-in-command. Although hesitant at first, I felt myself roused by the flick of her rough tongue against my bottom lip and a playful nibble tracked along my jaw.

“Let me have this, Koman."

Our tongues danced together to a mellow tune. Every loving lick and teasing bite brought us closer together. Before long I could feel her gasping against my snout as I brushed my eagerness against a maddeningly moist core.

We parted lips but for a moment, and in that blue orb I saw love eternal. And in my mind I felt peaceful bliss. Why had we been so afraid?

My question, silent as it had been, was answered by the flick of a tongue against the sensitive centre of my spine as delicate hands held tight to my waist. His touch and voice forced a terrible shiver out of me, and in a moment of vulnerability I found myself sinking deeper into Sashai, the tip of my hardening length slipping between the petal-like folds of her burning core.

“He's finally relaxing, sarafasha."

“Correl?"

Sashai replied with a playful hint in her voice as she looked past me at our scout. I felt him now, as naked as she and I were. “A miracle, isn't it?"

“Relax, Koman." His voice came to me like the slow drip of honey onto my tongue, delicious and ethereal. “I'm sorry I left you so soon."

“We're both sorry," Sashai continued as her hips rose to meet my twitching member. It nearly threatened to fully penetrate her, an entrance so painfully tight, before it quickly slid upward between her lips to meet the centre of all her lustful nerves. Sashai had to force out her next few words between sudden, ecstatic gasps: “We left you… hah… we left you alone, didn't we? We were all alone. But we're together again."

“Forever," Correl mumbled between licks as he peppered one gentle kiss after another up along my spine. Every one of them nearly forced me to melt into their touch.

Sashai met me for another kiss as Correl nibbled on my right ear. Sandwiched between both their bodies… like a soft bed and a warm blanket. I weaved my tongue against her own as something hard, hot, and eager grazed my rear.

One last promise. “I can still save you…" I just couldn't help myself.

“Long past saving," Correl whispered into my ear. He sounded happy. He sounded sad.

Sashai's tongue lapped away at the little drops of saliva coating her whiskers. “But we know you'll keep us safe here."

“I will," I said with a whimper as I felt her hand wrap around the base of my shaft. A strand of precum followed my tip as she guided me downward, back to her tight entrance. Her legs, so long and slim, wrapped tight around my waist in desperate desire as small, tight breasts and hard nipples brushed up against my chest.

“Together," she said with a certainty and joy as I felt Correl line himself up against my rear.

One of his hands gently held to the base of my tail, lifting it high and settling it atop his shoulder so he could have the space and view he wanted of my ass. A display that a day ago – or what felt to me like a day ago – I never would have dreamed of showing, though now I found myself all-too eager to provide.

“Forever," Correl continued as he finally… – finally. A slow, steady, gentle penetration. It didn't hurt like I thought it would. It felt like my body had been made for his, crafted in all its finer details to accommodate him.

And as I cried out from the explosion of bliss in my mind I felt and heard Sashai moan as Correl's weight and her guiding hand slid the length of my erection into the tight confines of her quivering rose.

Connected at last, the three of us, in body and mind. Forgotten from history; lost to time. My fellow soldiers, my brothers and sisters, my kin.

Correl salivated onto my back as I felt him bottom out into my rear, all the while Sashai's damp and warm interior unrelentingly massaged every inch of my length, further coaxing me to drive myself home. I could no longer feel the taint of shadow surrounding us and the air, that sweet air, reminded me of home.

She dragged me into another kiss as he heaved the weight of his body onto my own and began the slow and maddening push and pull of his pelvis from mine. I tried to hold tight to his length, to keep him trapped within me forever, but Sashai distracted me with a hard thrust of her tongue driven deep into my mouth. She dragged it against my teeth and rubbed it up along the inside of my cheek, tasting and exploring every last part of me she could find all the while Correl thrusted home with a resounding clap of his hips.

“Tight," he hissed with wonderful joy as small claws dragged up and down along my back. His hold on me tightened; his entire length struck somewhere deep and… goodness, it was like being stroked from the inside out.

“You feel wonderful, Koman," Sashai whispered with loving adoration as the three of us fell victims to a wonderful dance of thrusting, moaning, twitching delights.

To press into her wet folds deeply until the fur on my balls caressed her slick thighs and the tip of my erection teased her innermost depths, in time to the diligent care of Correl's length carving me out from within before leaving me so painfully empty for the few seconds that it took him to once more feed my body and nourish my soul.

I could feel everything. Every little bump and crease and slather of their secretions. Sashai lingered on the tip of my tongue and I knew – I just know it – that Correl could taste her as well, just as much as Sashai could feel his intimate and desperate penetration.

Unity, as unnaturally natural as it was.

“Stay right there," Sashai mewled as her legs locked my hips in place. “Don't move. Let me feel you deep in me. Let me hold you tight."

Her muscles contracted in rhythmic pulse like the slow beating of a heart and I felt… I felt overwhelmed. To be so tightly held between two bodies, used and loved and worshipped, breathless and exhausted yet unable to stop. I wanted to give Sashai more; I needed Correl to take me harder, fuck me faster.

He replied to my desires with a kiss along my back as his hips drew backward then slammed home with painful care. Won't last much longer now — I felt his coming climax as if it were my own, and Sashai in turn felt my own member stiffen and throb deep inside her.

One last thrust. One last kiss.

“Please," they both whispered at once.

She kissed me again. He clawed his way down my spine. We breathed deep of that sweet air, and the world heaved a mournful sigh. I could feel that spreading warmth in her womb as clearly as I could Correl's seed paint my insides. And it was wonderful – eternal bliss.

Our bodies burned from the inside out. In their arms I found comfort. Softly beating hearts reminded me of the fact that everything would be okay now. Our bodies were a tangled mess of arms and legs and swaying tails, black ink on black shadows veiled in a black fog.

Lost. Forgotten.

But we'd never be alone again.

I thought, for a small moment, of the world we'd leave behind. I thought… was any of this real?

“Who cares," Sashai replied. She could read my mind here — of course they could read my mind.

“It's too late for us," Correl replied rather sadly. He held tighter to me still, his face nuzzled into the back of my neck.

“So just let go, Koman. Let it all go."

I saw us, the three of us, sitting by the remains of that dead campfire. Still, quiet, frozen in time. Our armour stained, our bodies battered and bruised. We were beautiful. We were sad.

Just let go… at least I wasn't alone.