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Inside the main room of the secluded mountain cabin, sitting around a large coffee table, was each of Mathus’ close companions and lovers: Karniel, Korlyon, Cathka, and Selvanna. With them was the kobold Srek, two human-posing old gods named Hakia and Kahia, and Calth in his recently made homunculus body, shaped to be a male counterpart to his twin sister, as he had been in his previous life.

Hakia sat on a couch next to his brother, Srek to their right, Korlyon on their left with his hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword. Mathus sat on the extra large sofa between Karniel and Selvanna, almost disappearing between his two larger lovers, while Cathka sat on the arm next to Selvanna, her brother standing beside her. Everyone’s attention was on Hakia, who said, “What you know as the stars are the administrators of this universe. All its dimensions they monitor and track. This is what they call simulation. One of billions being run at the same time.”

Kahia spoke next, “We were made as gods, but were tasked as moderators of this space. Originally, the ability to shape the world through magic was reserved specifically for us—but then your people came from a different simulation,” Kahia said to Selvanna.

“And you ruined this one’s chances at a long life cycle.”

“Our world was burning—my people were doing what they had to to survive,” Selvanna growled.

“And did that require killing our brother?” Hakia snapped back.

“Do we really have time to snipe at each other?” Cathka asked. Selvanna glanced at Cathka and the hippogryph leaned over and whispered to the dragon, “I got your back, Vanna.”

Kahia continued, “This simulation hinged on its moderators to manage its data—what you consider the energy that powers magic, the individual soul is matter that can be recoded.”

“And the dragons democratized it,” Cathka said.

“If by democratize you mean destabilized,” Hakia said, “This simulation was supposed to run for four billion years. It has been barely more than five hundred thousand and already the administrators find this simulation too unstable.”

“Hence why they are initiating the process of terminating it,” Kahia said.

“In a year they will arrive, destroying and absorbing all the data of this simulation so they can record what has happened before resetting it.”

“One year is all we have?” Mathus said, a pit opened in his stomach.

“More than enough time to prepare a defense,” Karniel said. “If I can kill a star despite being outside my people’s cycle, then Dea’s plan surely worked. The Pterodeans have the strength to fight these stars off.”

“At what cost?” Mathus said, touching the brass ring around Karniel’s bicep, just above where his arm once was. “Besides, there aren't enough Pterodeans to protect all of this.”

“Then what does Master Mathus suggest?” Srek asked.

“I am unsure, but Karniel, dear, you’ve shown us firsthand how destructive the star’s power can be on this world.”

“Yes, darling, and it is a power we can use on them.”

“Can we? How do you know that your arm won’t spread through the rest of your body if you come into contact with more of them?” Mathus asked, truly afraid of what would happen to his beloved. “Why not run? Selvanna is proof enough it is possible.”

“And my people are dying for it,” Selvanna growled.

“It is true. They are incompatible with this world, and so are suffering constant glitches that have led to their decline,” Hakia said.

“Our lifespans were cut in half upon coming here. If an honorable death does not claim me in the next century, cancer surely will in the one after,” Selvanna said grimly. “I would rather fight.”

“With what?” Korlyon asked. “I do not doubt your prowess, but conventional weapons and magic are totally undone by Karniel’s arm. How do we strike at something whose touch destroys everything?”

“We will have a year to figure that out,” Selvanna said.

“What we should do is have Srek return us to Pterodea,” Karniel said. “We shouldn’t worry ourselves with protecting this miserable world, but concentrate our defenses there. If Dea’s vision is what you described, Mathus, we need to prepare as much for a great flood as a war.”

“I am not going to leave my people to die,” Selvanna snapped.

“They already are—”

“No!” Mathus put his hand between his two partners. “We are not going to argue about this. If fight the stars we must, we’ll need more than just Pterodea fighting.”

“All we need to do is survive the siege same as Dea did,” Karniel said. “I understand you might like to save the world, but there aren’t enough bats to save more than one place at a time.”

“Then what was the point of fighting Mortel? Of preserving all the souls bound to me?” Mathus asked.

“He is right,” Selvanna said. “Though, I agree we should still travel to this Pterodea, as it seems they might have answers for how to fight back.”

“There has to be something other than fighting,” Mathus said. “Why not work with the dragons to figure out moving everyone elsewhere—save as many as we can?”

“To degrade and die elsewhere,” Selvanna said.

“Not to mention the likely destabilization of another simulation will force the stars to act upon it as well,” Hakia said.

“You cannot escape them,” Kahia added.

Srek stood up and said, “I think Master Mathus is right. A protracted battle with the stars seems unlikely to grant victory. If Dea could not contest them, only hide from them, then what can we hope to do?”

“You forget Dea made us to contest them,” Karniel said snidely.

“And we surely have not reached enough cycles to have that strength,” Srek said. “Especially since you disrupted your peoples.”

Karniel lifted the stub of his arm. “And I still killed the administrators of this world despite being outside of it.”

Srek folded his arms over his chest and pouted, “That doesn’t mean we can stop them.”

“If I may?” Korlyon spoke up. “I do not know much about magic, but mobilizing armies takes time, supply lines. Even just trying to organize the Emerald Cities into a cohesive defense would take months, and that’s only if they believe us, which, why would they?”

“I would hope the weight of Mathus and myself might have some sway,” Karniel said.

“Tsk, just Mathus, dear. Let’s not kid ourselves,” Cathka said.

“Ah! I’m wounded darling, simply wounded.”

Korylon ignored Karniel and added, “I’m taking that into consideration.”

“My kin would mobilize,” Selvanna said. “The disappearance and reappearance of the stars is sure to already have the elders mentioning the White Death, again.”

“Then we go to them for help,” Mathus said. “The dragons know more about magic than anyone else—”

Srek very loudly cleared his throat.

“Right, I know you know a lot as well—”

“But your work is much more intuitive,” Calth said to Srek. “The dragons have forgotten more spells than Sepulcher of Dawn’s Grand Archive holds. If anyone has prior knowledge of the stars it would be them.”

“Mmmm,” Srek bounced his foot as he thought this over. “I would like to know what it is they have tested and recorded about the stars.”

“You would need Mathus or myself to accompany you,” Selvanna said. “But I can tell you what we learned was that we had no way of stopping them, only slowing them down while we fled. I’m more interested in going to Pterodea and learning from your people.”

“Oh you would be very popular there,” Srek said with a chipper nod. “But I should still try to reach out to the dragons.”

“We don’t really have time to go with you and to Pterodea. Whatever we choose to do, we need to save enough time to organize some kind of response to the stars.” Cathka said.

Calth clicked his beak and glanced over at his sister, “It sounds like splitting up is in our best interest.”

“I will not part ways with Mathus again,” Korlyon growled.

“We won’t have to, Srek can go about trying to convince the dragons while the rest of us—”

“I will go with Srek,” Mathus said.

“Darling you can’t be—”

“I am,” Mathus said. “Fighting can’t be our only answer.”

“Fighting is the only answer,” Karniel said.

“For once I agree with him,” Selvanna said.

“Mmm, I don’t know,” Cathka said.

Calth added, “Hippogryphs never lay all their eggs in one nest.”

Karniel scoffed. “As if some idiotic idiom settles this. Mathus, darling, please listen to your elders on this. I have fought the stars and won, Selvanna knows firsthand that running is no answer.”

But Mathus got up and turned around to face both Selvanna and Karniel before he said, “You are wrong on this, both of you. Even if we don’t run, there has to be some other answer. We can’t just kill the stars.”

“Have you not been listening?” Karniel snapped, jumping to his feet and towering over Mathus. “Or did you forget I gave up my arm? I killed those fucking skybound bastards once to protect you, and I will do it again and again.”

Mathus reached up with both hands and caressed Karniel’s cheeks. “And how much am I going to see you give up to keep doing that? What if your arm spreads? What if there is nothing left of you for me to touch?”

Karniel glared at him. “You can’t seriously be suggesting separating? Just those few days where you were Dialdon’s captive were agony.”

“You’re a big bat, we can handle parting ways for a few months.”

“Mathus I—” Karniel looked around the room, realizing they were being watched from all sides. “Can I speak to you in private?”

Mathus glanced around the room, Cathka offering a sheepish shrug before she said, “You two can have your fight while the grownups figure things out.”

Karniel’s glare did nothing to reprimand her, the hippogryph blowing him a kiss.

“Excuse us,” Mathus said before following Karniel upstairs.

Karniel waited until Mathus shut the door to their bedroom door before he snapped, “Do you know how much I gave up just to keep the stars from taking you the first time?”

Mathus grimaced, but understood his husband’s anger came from a place of hurt. “Karniel, we both know this isn’t about that,” Mathus said.

Karniel scoffed. “Maybe not for you, but I staked my life to keep you at my side and now you want to leave?”

Mathus took his left hand—so big the chocolate palm took both of Mathus’ hands to hold—and said, “I am trying to make sure we survive to see the next year together.”

“Do you not believe that I can defend you? After everything—”

“I do, Karniel, I do believe you,” Mathus insisted, squeezing Karniel’s hand. “But I am thinking of more than just the two of us—everyone downstairs deserves to be defended, too.”

“Psh, those two old gods can go anytime for all I care.”

“You know what I meant.”

“Fine, and? That is why we go to Pterodea. Then we can keep everyone safe.”

“Except everyone not in Pterodea.”

Karniel shrugged.

“Does that not matter at all to you?” Mathus snapped. He let go of Karniel’s hand and shoved past him, walked over to the massive bed opposite the door and sat down on it, not looking at his husband.

“Must you always get mad at me for putting us first?” Karniel asked with a sigh.

“Fine! Think about it like this,” Mathus snapped as he faced the big bat. He placed his hand over his heart and said, “What happens to me when the stars find their way into Mortel’s afterlife and start destroying it? My heart beats because that place stays whole. Will it keep beating when it’s gone? If we can’t find a way to keep those people safe—”

“And how do you suggest they leave a pocket dimension nested in your chest?”

“How do souls travel there in the first place? How did Mortel know how to leave it to plot with Dialdon?” Mathus asked. “Do you really think the stars need corporeal means to reach places we know are only reserved for spirits?”

Karniel frowned, finally cowed. “Alright, you may have a point there. I am not entirely sure.”

“Then maybe, maybe, for once we should try to save more than ourselves.”

“Now that’s not fair,” Karniel said as he came to sit right of Mathus. “I think I’ve maintained a fair track record of saving others. Certainly since we began traveling together.”

“I know you don’t want to split up, I don’t want to be apart from you or anyone else, either,” Mathus said. “This last year without the stars… it’s felt like our lives were really becoming our own. That this odd crew of ours has been a family.”

“Let’s hope not—otherwise it is a rather incestuous one—”

Mathus smacked Karniel’s thigh. “You know what I mean!”

“I do, and when Korlyon no doubt goes chasing after you I’ll miss seeing that pup, too,” Karniel admitted.

“And when Cathka follows you back underground I’ll miss all our evenings spent decoding Basphemen’s books.”

“It will be a strange series of months,” Karniel admitted. “You really intend to return to Sepulcher of Dawn, speak with the dragons and such?”

“With Srek’s insight and their knowledge, who knows what we might be able to discover.”

“Alright, fine, I admit that kobold could figure something out.”

“What about you? What do you hope Pterodea to offer?”

“The Pterodeans, either to defend their home—which I still think is the most practical thing to do—or we might have them help us defend a more strategic position. Perhaps there will be a head to the stars we can crush and end their assault with some finality.”

“It would be nice if things could be so neat.”

“We can only hope they will be,” Karniel said. He stood and offered Mathus his hand, “Come, let’s return to the others, before they gossip anymore about us.”

“Is that what you think they’re doing?”

“Much as I would like to pretend our importance that significant, my hearing is too sharp not to know they are discussing who will be going where,” Karniel said. “Let’s join them, shall we?”

Mathus let Karniel lead them back downstairs, the sound of their feet down creaking steps made the others quiet down as they reentered the large den. Selvanna got up and went to Mathus, hugging him tight to her blouse, his face burrowing into her sternum, her breast resting on top of his head. “I’m sorry, dear, but I think it best I travel with Karniel.”

“Oh, alright,” Mathus said, blindsided by the decision.

He hugged her best he could while Karniel muttered, “At last, Selvanna and I can agree on something—yeow!” Selvanna had slapped Karniel’s shin with her tail.

“Don’t spoil the moment,” Selvanna hissed.

Hopping on his unharmed leg while he rubbed his bruised shin, Karniel complained, “I simply spoke my mind—hey—”

“Hush, you,” Cathka said, having grabbed Karniel by the ear and yanked him back around to the couch. “Sit.”

Cathka went around to Mathus and Selvanna, who had just broken their embrace in time for her to pull him into a second hug. “I hate leaving you behind after everything, but I know Calth will take care of you for me.”

Korlyon had gotten up from the sofa across the one Karniel sat at and stood before the big bat. He offered a hand to shake and swore, “I will keep Mathus safe from all harm until you return.”

“Nonsense,” Karniel said, grabbing Korylon and yanking the surprised wolf into his lap. “Don’t fuss, there we are, good boy,” Karniel said as he hugged Korlyon to him, scritching at the wolf’s nape. “Now, you are going to promise me you’ll keep our Mathus safe not just while I’m away, but when I return as well. Until all this business with stars is concluded.”

“I… c-can you stop,” Korlyon shoved Karniel’s hand away and scrambled back to his feet. “I promise,” he mumbled, “Now would you stop trying to embarrass me?”

Karniel grinned, but did not speak because Mathus gestured to Hakia and Kahia and asked, “What about the two of you?”

“We will, reluctantly, be splitting up,” Kahia said.

Hakia added, “In case our knowledge of the administrators would be helpful to either party.”

“It no doubt will be,” Srek said. “Master Karniel? Can Srek see your arm outside?”

Karniel held up his left arm. “Is your vision so bad on the surface you can’t see it here—”

“Don’t bully him,” Mathus said before asking Srek, “Is there something you think you can do with it?”

Srek shook his head. “Srek wishes to learn how it interacts with matter, seeing it first hand will help Srek understand it better.”

“Very well,” Karniel said as he got up and untied the sleeve wrapped around the stub of his right arm. Beneath the sleeve was a brass ring designed by Calth which suspended the arm safely in a pocket dimension. Karniel only needed to twist the band to the right while channeling the minutest amount of energy into it.

Srek held up his hands, “Not here, please, outside.”

“Tsk! I’m not going to accidentally disintegrate someone,” Karniel said as he went to the dragon-sized front door to the cottage. Upon opening it, frigid winter air rushed in and made several people in the room, including Mathus, flinch. Despite this, Mathus followed Srek and Karniel outside with Selvanna, Cathka, and Calth in tow. Korlyon said from the open door, “I’ll keep an eye on our guests,” before shutting it.

Outside in the frigid air, snow piled high around the main path to the mountain trail to the cabin. The path had been shoveled, but the great amounts of snow left a bank taller than Srek that surrounded the path. Srek stopped with Karniel next to him, everyone else behind the bat. Srek said, “Alright, now you can show Srek.”

Karniel activated his arm with a flash of starlight. In the lengthening night, his arm glowed like any star might. Karniel held out the arm, everything below the elbow made up of starlight his body absorbed when he killed… Mathus supposed to put it in Kahia and Hakia’s terms, Karniel killed the “administrators” of this simulation. The brass band was around the middle of his bicep, well away from the parts of Karniel that were star-touched.

“Interesting…” Srek muttered as he studied it, standing on his toe-tips to bring his face as close as possible. “It emits light but no heat.”

“That does not stop it from burning what it touches,” Karniel said.

“Show me, touch the snow.”

Karniel obliged the kobold. He sank his arm into the snow, but no steam or snowmelt followed from the glowing appendage touching it.

“Mmmm, Srek sees. Very interesting. Can you hold it in the air again?” Karniel did and Srek clicked his tongue. “So curious.” Srek waved his hands, not signing a spell like Cathka or Selvanna might, but more siphoned the energy around him and shaping something out of it—in this case, a bunched up ball of dirt the size of a fist, which Srek levitated over Karniel’s arm. “Hold out your hand, palm up—yes, just like that, now keep it still.” Srek released the dirt ball, and they all watched it drop into Karniel’s hand, almost as if it passed through it with how quickly the dirt disappeared into nothing.

“Srek sees—solid matter it seems to destroy instantly, but gasses remain unaffected.”

“Karniel has always been weak to being blown,” Cathka joked.

“You mean blowing others,” Mathus added.

“Excuse you two.”

“Srek has one more thing to test, based on the vision Dea showed Mathus.” The kobold did more gestural magic, scooping some snow into the air and melting it till suspended was a small ball of water glimmering in Karniel’s starlight. “Touch this.”

With just a finger, Karniel touched the floating ball. Like blood dripping into water, streaks of starlight spread through the liquid, expanding and filling the water.

“Ahahaha!” Srek exclaimed as he levitated the now glowing ball of starlight higher into the air. He whisked it around, back and forth, squished his palms together and flattened the starlight into a disc. He then threw the disc into the shoveled path, watched it slice through the ground then swing back up pristine, with the earth collapsing around the destroyed dirt, the smell of burnt stone wafting up from the wound in the soil.

“One last test,” Srek said as the disc floated back into Karniel’s reach. “Touch it with your right hand.”

Karniel did, finding he could pick the disc of starlight up into his hand.

“What does it feel like?” Srek asked.

“There is nothing to it, really,” Karniel said. “I cannot feel with this hand, all I can say is that it is fairly weightless.”

“Can you absorb it back into your body?” Srek asked.

Karniel wrapped the disc in his hand and crushed it. It bent down into a ball, packed tighter than the one it had been, but still no longer able to hold its shape.

Cathka asked, “How were you levitating it just now?”

Selvanna added, “We thought any magic that handled the stars would be destroyed on contact.”

Srek grinned and said, “Srek noticed the air isn’t affected by the stars. It absorbs liquids, destroys solids, and leaves gasses unaffected. So Srek just insulated it with air. Like so!” Everyone gasped or flinched when Srek jumped up and smacked Karniel’s arm, knocking loose the ball of starlight only to catch it. Srek balanced the ball on a fingertip, it was almost imperceptible, but Mathus could just barely make out that the ball was not actually touching the kobold’s scales.

“So a defense against the stars can be mustered,” Cathka said. “I suppose we should all practice what wind spells we know.”

“What about destroying it?” Calth said. “If you drop that ball right now what happens to it?”

“Srek suppose it will fall through the earth until it reaches a bottom or gravity stops working on it.” Srek snapped a finger with his free hand and opened the equivalent of a mage’s purse—a pocket dimension mages used to store things. Srek blew on the starlight ball, wrapping it in more air before tossing it in the small portal suspended in the air next to his head. He snapped his finger again and the portal closed. Srek said, “Srek will hold onto that for safekeeping. How do you feel, Karniel?”

“No better or worse,” he said as he turned his armband and snapped his right arm back in its own pocket dimension. “I don’t suppose what you learned can be shared with the rest of us?”

“Inside, if possible,” Mathus said, arms wrapped over his chest and shivering from the cold.

“Agreed,” Selvanna said as she opened the door to the cabin and ushered everyone inside.

They all sat back down, Calth feeding the dwindling fire with two new logs from the stacked wood beside the fireplace.

Srek boiled it down to the following mechanics: Starlight acted as a new form of matter that destroyed solids and spirits, absorbed liquids, and remained neutral against gasses. Why these distinctions, Srek and the fallen god twins jointly theorized had to do with how simulations were destroyed and remade. When a simulation was completely overtaken, the starlight calcified into new formations of being, setting the base of the new simulation. This meant the atmosphere they used remained at a constant, while bodies of water became malleable and warped into continents, landmasses, and islands. Kahia and Hakia said at the simulation’s very beginnings there was no water, but that it rained for years to create the water in the world today. Afterwards, life was seeded on the planet, with strict rules for managing the data of lifematter—what for Mathus and company were the souls of the dead was malleable data only gods like Kahia and Hakia were supposed to use to moderate this simulation. Dragons, from their simulation where they were given the tools to manage data themselves, arrived and used their knowledge to harvest data for themselves. This data the stars collected when they destroyed a simulation, for what purpose Kahia and Hakia couldn’t guess at:

“The forces that run these simulations are beyond our comprehension. They are not the stars themselves, the stars are an extension of the will of whoever manages these simulations,” Kahia explained. “What is happening to all the data of these simulations was never explained to us, nor were we given any details of the other simulations. We only know what happened to the dragons because of their interference here.”

The room was quiet a moment, save for the crackling timbers in the fireplace, then Calth simply muttered, “Fascinating.”

“Want to share with the rest of us?” Cathka asked.

“I am just thinking about constructed dimensions,” Calth said.

“Either explain yourself or stop acting like you have something to add,” Karniel said, getting a glare from Cathka. “What? There is no point in not speaking plainly here.”

Calth held up a hand to keep Cathka from laying into Karniel and explained, “When designing a pocket dimension, there are some principles that are universal no matter the size, purpose, or shape of the dimension. The biggest one being stability. A dimension is anchored inside a physical object—a mage’s purse is attached to their conduit, for instance. Mathus’ heart is another example. Without the stability of a physical connection, the dimension will collapse under the weight of entropy and,” Calth snapped his fingers, “destroy everything inside it. Though it rarely happens so quickly, most dimensions collapse like an old cottage being taken over by nature. Things must rot before they can collapse. Any dimension requires maintenance to keep it from coming undone.”

“And you wish to apply these ideas to our world?” Selvanna said.

“This simulation is much more complex than the things any mage has ever crafted inside it,” Kahia said.

Hakia added, “The closest equivalence is in your chest, Mathus, but even that does not compare to this world’s architecture. It is intricately crafted, delicately balanced, and deeply resilient to change.”

“I also happen to be the cause of this world’s instability,” Mathus muttered. He touched his chest, felt the beat of his heart beneath it. He asked the pair of fallen gods, “Why did you put the heart inside of me, instead of destroying it?”

Hakia shrugged, “We had no means to destroy it nor absorb it. It was made for a mortal body to hold, so we thought to hide it as far away from Sepulcher of Dawn as we could.”

Cathka interrupted with, “We’re getting off track. Calth what were you thinking?”

“If the principles of dimensional stabilization hold true for our world, it means that there is some sort of access point which the stars use to enter our universe. If we had some kind of means to leave through that access point…” Calth shook his head, “There are too many uncertainties for me to say for certain, but it might be possible to partition our world, or leave through that access point and confront these administrators in their world.”

“That would make for quite the coup,” Karniel said. “I’d rather enjoy the looks on their faces when I smash into their world and start feasting on them.”

“Assuming they have faces,” Korlyon said.

“Oh hush, you know what I mean.”

“It will be dawn soon,” Selvanna said. “I know we have all had much to talk about, but perhaps we should rest and stop trying to solve this problem until tomorrow?”

“Agreed, Vanna,” Cathka said before she yawned. “A hippogryph needs her beauty sleep, and I think we’ve talked in enough circles for now.”

***

Karniel woke close to noon. Mathus laid naked next to him, tucked in against the bat. His little spoon. Soon, they would no longer have moments like this—no, it would just be a few months’ time. And Korlyon was surely capable enough to keep Mathus safe.

Karniel sighed, stuck his nose into Mathus’ dark, overgrown curly hair and took a deep breath of the man’s scent. Mathus stirred a little, but stayed asleep. Karniel could tell by the sound of his heartbeat. It amazed him that, despite his keen hearing, he never matched it to be the same steady beat of Mortel’s after they made the heart together. Gently, Karniel scooted away from Mathus, rolling the man on his back. He admired his partner’s lithe form. Over a year of travel having refined the muscles on his comparatively small body. His pale abdomen rose and fell with each breath. Karniel slowly pulled down the sheets to reveal Mathus’ cock.

For a human he was fairly endowed, big enough that when hard his entire length could fill Karniel’s palm. Right now, it remained a flaccid slope across his inner thigh. The musky smell of it freed from the sheets made Karniel’s nose twitch and stomach growl. With practiced familiarity, he slid down the bed, and brought his nose right to his partner’s pubes. Karniel took a deep breath of his husband’s fragrant musk. Not the pungent scent of others, everything about Mathus seemed oriented to being agreeable.

That agreeability should have annoyed Karniel to no end and yet… Mathus very likely was the love of his life. The meager human balanced Karniel’s selfish impulses, and his constant giving nature was a perfect fit for Karniel’s need to take. To take the cock before his lips into his mouth, Karniel scooped it up with his dexterous tongue. The spongy flaccid flesh at home between the bat’s suckling lips. Mathus groaned in his sleep as Karniel swirled his tongue around the still soft shaft. A satisfied rumble coming from the bat as he felt a twitching pulse in the length, its base flushing with blood, rushing up the shaft. Karniel let the cock bloom inside his mouth, feeling it fatten between his long, slender fangs.

As the length grew inside of him, Mathus stirred, unable to sleep through the firm sucking happening on his member. He woke with a sleepy moan, hand falling onto Karniel’s head and scratching behind one of his big ears. “Hungry already, love?”

“Mmmph,” Karniel grunted as that cock became fully hard in his maw. With his lips wrapped round the base of it, it filled Karniel’s entire mouth and just pushed into his throat. A delicious pulsing, twitch followed, Karniel sliding his mouth back in time to catch on the roof of it a jet of precum. The salty fluid an appetizer that the bat savored with a huff. His own much larger cock began to engorge as he bobbed his head. He savored how Mathus slid up and down the bed of his tastebuds. Mathus’ foreskin sliding up and down his glans with each suckling movement of Karniel’s mouth. That mushroom head punched into Karniel’s throat as it drooled more and more inside him.

The bat growled around the cock in his mouth. He slipped his big hand around Mathus’ waist, palm filling with the human’s ample buttocks. His index finger digging into Mathus’ crack, prodding the wrinkled rim within. Karniel pressed, but found resistance with the stubborn pucker, its tightness usually welcomed. He summoned as much saliva into his maw as possible before popping off his husband’s glistening prick. It plopped onto Mathus’ navel while Karniel stuck his finger in his mouth, wrapping it in a sheath of spit before returning it back under Mathus, spit-slick digit pressing into the human’s hole again. This time the resistance didn’t matter, Karniel’s finger caving in that entrance and sliding inside Mathus.

“That’s it, darling, open up for me,” Karniel encouraged before tucking back in. Kissing the bare, dripping cock on Mathus’ belly before wrapping his lips back over the tip. His tongue swirled around its glans, flicked against the man’s urethra, lashing it like a whip, making Mathus squirm and huff.

Mathus moaned when Karniel curled his finger with practiced familiarity, pressing right into his hapless husband’s nut. The pressure making his rear walls clench down on Karniel’s finger. It did nothing to stop the big bat’s digit from pumping in and out that plump rear, digging deeper, into the knuckle. His mouth, meanwhile, slid back down to the base of Mathus’ cock. Karniel kept his triangular snout buried in Mathus’ pubes, breathing deep his lover’s musk while that tool twitched in his suckling maw. Karniel provided a thorough suction on the shaft, keeping it buried in his throat as it oozed and leaked with each pump of Karniel’s finger.

Mathus grabbed Karniel’s scruff and started humping his face. Weak, little gyrations of the hips just enough motion to pop out then plug that cockhead inside Karniel’s throat. Over and over, glans squeezing around the bat’s uvula. Drool matted Mathus’ crotch as he pumped his hips in time with Karniel’s fingering. Backing eagerly into the pressure on his prostate, a corresponding, pleasurable tightness traveling down Mathus’ shaft. “Fuck I’m close,” Mathus cursed, groaning as he moved his hips faster. Karniel tried to match his finger’s pumping to his husband’s ragged humping.

Karniel felt Mathus’ inner walls tighten up, and despite the small hands holding his head down, Karniel yanked his maw backwards till just the tip of Mathus’ length remained inside. In time for a surging wave of seed to spit across Karniel’s tongue. Both partner’s moaned as he tasted the creamy, salty seed. Gooey strands of it sprayed across Karniel’s maw while he bobbed his lips over Mathus’ glans, tongue swirling circles around its weeping urethra. Fresh ropes of cum fired across Karniel’s maw, who held it in his maw like he sampled a fine wine. Swishing it over his tastebuds, letting it pool in his cheeks while he continued lapping at Mathus’ tip. The human groaning and whimpering until Karniel released his overstimulated tip by swallowing the remainder of the shaft again, letting Mathus feel his cock suspended in a mouthful of gooey seed. The wet, slippery viscous warmth a welcome balm as the human relaxed and released the remaining few spurts of his orgasm. Karniel purred a little as he sucked hard, pulling his head up slowly, cleaning the cock he loved and worshipped. That shaft slowly slipped from Karniel’s lips pristine and glistening with spit, the semen it had been bathed in greedily kept in Karniel’s maw till just the tip remained.

Another firm suck before Karniel released it as well. He opened his maw and showed Mathus the mouthful of pearlescent cum making a mess of Karniel’s mouth. Sticky webs of it connected to his fangs, pooling into a heated mixture resting on the bat’s tongue. Finally Karniel swallowed, eyes shut. He shivered, moaned as he let the hot cum slide down his throat. A viscous rapture tumbling into Karniel’s gut and warming the rest of his body. His own erection so hard at this point it ached to be buried inside something.

Mathus, panting, felt Karniel’s hard mast hanging down near his feet. His soft toes slid under the shaft, pushed against it, and he observed, “We need to take care of you now.”

Karniel couldn’t help rolling his hips a little, grinding his girthy, foot-long shaft along the Mathus’ soles. He huffed, and told Mathus, “Roll over.”

Mathus did, knowing what Karniel wanted and lifting his rump in the air. Karniel grabbed it, spread the cheeks with his thumb before burying his snout in them. The earthy musk of Mathus’ rear made Karniel growl. A fond smell, a fonder taste as Karniel kissed the wrinkled rim, tongue pushing out against it. The already spread ring of muscle yielded sweetly to Karniel’s oral one. His tongue dug into Mathus’ rear, shoveling spit into that hole, lapping at those sensitive inner walls. His palate coated in the taste and smell of his husband. His slender fangs pressed up against the tender flesh as he lustily supped on his husband’s asshole. His tongue lapped up and down those clenching walls, unable to stop his probing muscle from raking its way deeper and deeper.

Mathus groaned, cock unable to go soft with all the pleasurable tonguing of his hole. Karniel backed away and licked his chops, growling, “I can’t wait any longer.”

“Fuck me,” Mathus urged as he got on all fours, felt Karniel’s battering ram of a dick nudge his rear.

“Guide me in, darling.”

Mathus reached behind him, grabbing that mushroom head in his palm. His fingers quickly coated in Karniel’s precum as they led the tip of that shaft to his readied entrance. A deep breath from both partners before Karniel started to push. Mathus did his best to relax, but the massive bat still took a great deal of pressure before Mathus finally yielded. Both men groaned, Mathus’ back arched. Karniel grabbed Mathus’ by the hips tight enough to bruise. He grunted and pushed, shoved more of himself inside that delectable hole. The cloying, tight walls wrapping his cock in a glove of squeezing, gripping pressure. Only the glans managed to barge inside, but still it was enough to make Karniel moan. His dick twitched, almost slipped out of Mathus, and flooded that tight little rear with a fresh wave of lubricating precum.

It made it easier to thrust again, more of that shaft sliding inside. Karniel huffed and pumped his hips, made Mathus’ hole pull backward before caving in around the massive mast Karniel shoved inside his lover. Karniel grit his teeth, dick half-buried in Mathus. “Gods I’ll never get tired of fucking you, so damn tight after all this time.”

“It—nng, helps that, y-you’re usually the one on your back,” Mathus teased.

“Really darling, being a brat doesn’t suit you,” Karniel said as he pulled back and plowed forward again. This time he rammed past Mathus’ last internal defenses, cock slipping deep inside the gasping human, leaving a bulge below his navel. Those walls clamped down on Karniel’s length. Mathus groaned, grabbed fistfuls of the sheets.

He cursed and admitted, “I’ll ne-never get used to how big you are.”

“Mmmm, and I’ll never get tired of how tight your lovely little rump is,” Karniel said before giving Mathus a quick spank. His husband yelped as Karniel started moving his hips again. His dick dragging Mathus bodily backwards till Karniel grabbed the smaller man to hold him still. He needed to, for when he thrust back in, Mathus nearly went face first into the bed. His body still rocked, Karniel’s balls clapping his, his dick swinging up and slapping his distended belly. The incredible fullness crushed Mathus’ prostate, left him nearly winded. The pressure poured through his penis, had him back on the edge and dripping.

Karniel for his part, did not have very far to go. Sucking Mathus’ dick always brought him close if not nutting all together. The taste of his husband’s cum an immediate fuel thrown on the fire of his lusts. He pounded his hips into Mathus’ waist. The resounding plap smack plap filled the room with Mathus’ strained moans. Karniel hunched over as he drilled into the man, growling a little as he felt his balls begin to tense up. He didn’t want to blow so quickly, but he was just so worked up by the taste of Mathus’ nut.

Mathus’ whole body quaked under Karniel. As the bat’s hips pounded him in a blur, that big hand holding him up, his prostate bludgeoned and mashed into bits. Each time Mathus’ dick swung up and slapped his belly it left a wet splash of precum that dripped constantly from his dick. Karniel doubled over Mathus and wrapped his left arm around Mathus’ chest, holding the man to him as he gyrated his hips. Mashed his groin into that delectable bubble butt, eeking out as much pleasure as possible from those gripping walls before Karniel came.

He could not help himself. Karniel bit down on Mathus’ shoulder, getting another groan as those sharp fangs punctured skin just as Karniel’s cock erupted. He came to the familiar metallic flavor of Mathus blood. The hint of sweet bitterness, almost a chocolateyness to Karniel’s palate as he sucked hard on the wound he made. Mathus’ legs collapsed and they fell into a pile on the bed, dick dug deep into the smaller man. Mathus felt Karniel’s cock pulse and flex inside him as it pumped him full of seed. Karniel shivering, suckling on each fresh gush of seed. The ropey white torrent filled Mathus’ insides, making his belly swell a little with the rushing waves of semen flooding his guts. Those mango sized testes clenching against his. And Mathus felt himself so close, on his own edge. But the crushing pressure on his prostate kept him from cumming. He whimpered beneath the big burly bat, as Karniel had his way, suckling more and more blood. Replacing one fluid for another in Mathus, till the bat’s orgasm began to ebb.

Karniel released Mathus’ shoulder and licked the blood seeping from the twin pinpricks of his fangs. Karniel kissed it, kissed the back of Mathus’ neck. He whispered, “It’s cruel leaving me when everything about you is irresistible, darling.”

“I-if I’m so, hah, irresistible, maybe you can help me.”

“Mmm?”

“Karniel I’m so close.”

Karniel kissed his cheek, “Say no more, darling.” He let go of Mathus, planted his palm on the bed beside him, and with a grunt, slowly pulled his cock free of Mathus’ rear. He took a moment to admire the absolute mess of Mathus’ rear: his hole gaping, freely leaking a pearl flood of bat semen, the entrance flushed and red and swollen from use. Karniel licked his lips as an idea came to mind, and he scooped the cum up with his fingers, getting a gasp from Mathus as he rubbed that sensitive, used hole. Karniel reached between his legs and smeared the cum across his entrance, telling Mathus as he did, “Roll over for me, darling, that’s it.”

“W-what did you have in mind?” Mathus asked as Karniel straddled his hips. Fat, thick dark dick hanging over Mathus comparatively small, aching length.

“Oh a simple return of the favor,” Karniel said as he scooted forward, his still leaking prick dripping on Mathus’ sternum as he reached backwards. Mathus gasped as his dick was groped, aligned with Karniel’s lubed up rear.

Karniel sat back down. Time spent on Korlyon’s knot made it easy for him to suddenly be impaled by Mathus. His husband groaned as Karniel sheathed that prick in his heated, cloying walls. Karniel barely needed to rock his hips to make Mathus’ face screw up in concentration. Karniel leaned down and caressed the human’s cheek. Mathus sat up and kissed him, their lips meeting in a fervent embrace. Mathus’ mouth opened for Karniel’s tongue to plunge inside it. The taste of Mathus’ blood filled it. He moaned as Karniel gently rocked his hips, sawing that shaft in and out his guts, stirring up Mathus’ need, keeping himself hard at the same time. Mathus for his part wrapped both hands around Karniel’s member and started jerking it. Meaty foreskin rolling up and down the mushroom head with each pump of Mathus’ arms.

Mathus humped upwards, trying to stab Karniel’s nut and was rewarded with a grunt. Karniel broke the kiss to say, “Y-you spoil me.”

“We spoil, hah, each other,” Mathus said as he tried his best to return the pleasure. Karniel still too worked up not to get hard in Mathus’ palms. The pair kissed again, lips meeting like this would be the last time. Mathus’ mouth full of Karniel’s tongue, those slender fangs pushing against his lips. It was all too much for Mathus: the grinding of Karniel’s tastebuds to his, those walls slipping up and down his shaft, gripping so precisely each time Karniel rocked upwards, pulling on the shaft as it nearly slipped out, only for Karniel to rock backwards and swallow the length with his tight, muscular rear.

They both moaned into each other’s mouths as Mathus dick twitched and spat more potent ropes of cum inside Karniel. The big bat quaked, nearly whimpered as his core filled with pleasure and warmth. An intoxicating euphoria from being seeded, like a bitch getting her heat slaked. Karniel didn’t even expect to cum again, didn’t realize how close he was until a jet of bat semen shot both lovers in the chin. Mathus pumped his hands faster, working Karniel’s cock over as it spilled and splashed rope after thick, viscous rope of cum, matching Mathus’ own orgasm. The human’s balls clenching and jumping against that fluffy brown buttocks. With each spent rope of semen inside Karniel, another pearly cord was dumped across Mathus’ front. Each clench from those big, fuzzy balls dumping a fresh wave of seed across Mathus’ chest, throat, face. Some of it splashed on Karniel’s pecs, matting his fur and dripping onto Mathus as they both, in a daze of mutual bliss, continued kissing each other.

By the time it ended, both lovers were spent, Mathus’ chest and chin coated in thick gooey ropes of bat cum. Karniel broke their kiss panting and trembling. He rolled over and collapsed on the bed, Mathus’ cock flopping on his belly as it came free of Karniel.

Breathless, Karniel said, “How… how am I supposed to live without this?”

Mathus rolled over, cum dripping off him into the sheets. “You did it for two millennia, I’m sure you’ll endure a few months.”

“Mmmm, I’m not sure. You’re certain you must go?”

“I’m going for both our sakes, love.” Mathus sat up and gestured at himself, “Can we not talk about this while I’m coated in your spunk?”

“I think it’s a fetching look for you.”

Mathus rolled his eyes. “Maybe I’ll enjoy the peace and quiet from you.”

***

That final day was spent making the most of their final time together. Mathus was pulled away from Karniel’s side to slake Selvanna’s needs. When Mathus complained of being spent, she found places to put her long tongue to awake his arousal. Karniel meanwhile said his goodbyes to Korlyon, only to be humiliated when, in the heat of the moment, Korlyon made him admit how much Karniel would miss the wolf’s knot. Cathka did not try to dick down Mathus, stating, “I’m saving my energy for when I’m the replacement for both Karniel and Selvanna in a week.”

Mathus did not like her feeling like a replacement, but knew Cathka mostly meant it as a jest. Opting instead for spending her hour with Mathus teaching him spells for long distance communication.

It was upon the morning of the next day they would depart. They cleaned up the cabin, gathered their belongings, and the party went outside where Srek waited for them in a too-large fur-coat, clearly meant for a small human adult and not a kobold nearly half the size.

They all watched from the side of the cabin as Srek used magic to sweep the snow in front of the cabin up in the air. Ten paces by ten paces of Srek-deep snow scooped into the air, spun into a ball, and tossed down the mountainside. “Mind you don’t start an avalanche,” Calth said. “Some of us have to walk down this mountain.”

“If it is a problem Srek will clear the way,” the kobold said with a little shrug. He had beneath the now cleared snow was a lawn of dead, brown grass and stone overlooking a steep cliff down. “Now, if you will all gather around, Srek will send you back to Pterodea.”

Cathka, Karniel, Selvanna, and Hakia all went to the middle of the exposed lawn. Srek said, “I have sent word of your arrival. Galba will be waiting for you.”

“Let’s hope I am more welcome this time around,” Karniel grumbled as Srek began shaping the spell. Selvanna blew Mathus a kiss then took Cathka’s hand, who was bemused by the action. Karniel mouthed to Mathus just as light began to envelope the four, “I love you, darling.”

Then in a flash they were gone. Srek said, “It is done! Now, where is it we are headed?”

“Back to Sepulcher of Dawn,” Mathus said. “It is going to be a long walk, so we should start moving.”

“Why walk when Srek can transport us?”

“Can you do that?” Korlyon asked.

“Hold on,” Calth said, “Have you ever been to Sepulcher of Dawn?”

Srek shook his head. “Just pick a direction and Srek will send us there.”

“So a blind shot in the dark,” Calth said.

“Srek promises to be careful!”

“Let’s trust him,” Mathus said. “North and west, Srek, we’ll start there.”

“Excellent, everyone gather round Srek, then.”

“We are going to regret this,” Calth swore.

Korlyon elbowed Calth. “Don’t worry, it’s always like this.”

“On a wing and a prayer? I’m well aware.”