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Sometime later, Khaesho awoke again. Both he and Shou stank of blood, dirt,, and stale cum, and he was glad he'd made it all the way to the pool before he'd fallen asleep. Shou would want to bathe the moment she awoke, and considering the vile combination of filth he was coated with, he almost considered doing the same. He'd shed his skin just half a day ago, it would be awhile before he was able to do so again. He would have just scrubbed himself clean with sand, but he didn't have any, and the trek back to the surface, on a full stomach no less, sounded like more effort than it was worth. Speaking of his meal, he wiggled a little bit to check its progress; halfway down his length, and much reduced in diameter. That was good. By tomorrow morning, he'd be moving normally again, and he wouldn't need food for a solid week.

He almost got up to bathe himself, but decided that, if he was going to suffer, he wanted Shou to at least be awake for it. He coiled himself a bit more thoroughly around her when a thought hit him like a sledgehammer. She'd spent the better part of a day and a half with him already, and she seemed to be enjoying herself, but he knew better than to hope it could last forever. She was a part of the modern society, with a job and responsibilities. Khaesho had grown so used to the simple life of living feral, that for a moment, he'd forgotten that an entire civilization existed outside of his cozy mountain. He held tightly to her, brooding. They were living in a dream, for now at least, and he feared what would happen when they woke up. Alone with his dark thoughts, he held close to her for comfort and waited for her to wake in the absolute darkness.

Shou was warm, relaxed and curled into him. A sleepy little noise escaped her as she stirred slightly, snuggling deeper into his embrace. She turned and nestled into him, her face rubbed against his scales and she let out a tired, adorably soft yawn. She remained dozing for a short while longer, but eventually, her nose twitched and she pulled herself to the surface of wakefulness. Drowsily she blinked in the almost absolute darkness, and tried to figure out where she was. She felt warm, dry scales, and heard the sound of water. The pools? Khaesho had probably carried her there... was he still sleeping? Turning slightly, she nestled into him and let out another little yawn, her tongue curling as she buried her face against his scales and coils, nuzzling into his chest, as she moved to loop her arms around him.

As she awoke, Khaesho did his best to banish his dark thoughts. The future would happen, later. He wouldn't let fear of what might be spoil his enjoyment of what already was. He snapped his fingers, producing a tiny light that wrapped around his thumb. It produced no more light than a candle, but he felt the soft illumination was appropriate for waking up in a cave. It was an odd color, white light sickly with gray streaks; it looked entirely different from the vibrant blue Shou was used to. Khaesho had drawn on his own magic rather than disturb the still slumbering deity, but his skill with light magic was mediocre at best; truth be told, he couldn't make much more than a candle's worth.

"Good morning, fluffy. How do you feel? Headache? Sore Eyes? Strange and unexplainable urge to become the sex slave of a heathen god? What happened after he pulled you into his mind? I'm curious."

Had he been awake, Kalokin would surely have said something at that point, but the "heathen god" remained fast asleep. Blinking owlishly, Shou glanced at the light before she gave a sleepy little smile up to Khaesho, chuckling at his pet name for her. Her body felt like it should ache, but she couldn't find any real pains. It had all been in her head; well in Kalokin's head at least. So it stood to reason her body didn't hurt. Her head ached a little, and she felt traces of eyestrain similar to staring at a screen for hours, but she felt no real physical pain aside from that. There was a slight soreness to her muscles from her orgasms, but otherwise she felt right as rain. Blinking a little bit, she shook herself out of her thoughts and smiled up to him. She felt... happy. Warm and happy and detached from the world at large. Yes, she felt detached, as if she was watching her life play out from a different angle.

"Sore muscles, a little tired still, but otherwise... otherwise I think I'm alright. When he pulled me into his mind though... I could feel you, touching me, it was a ghostly sensation... He bit me! With his fangs! But it... oh, it felt so good. I was so warm... burning... there was sand everywhere, and he... did something. But it felt great... I couldn't think after a while... I could only feel... and it should have hurt, should have been unbearable... But it wasn't. It was... fantastic."

Her eyes were unfocused and dreamy, and she hesitated every so often as if she wasn't sure she knew how to speak. Khaesho frowned as he listened... he wasn't a priest, so his knowledge of the interactions with magic and souls was shaky to say the least, but what she said combined with what he had noticed set off warning bells in the back of his head.

"That is... interesting. Aphrodisiac venom? That is something only he could dream up. Did you know that he is asleep right now? For frame of reference, he has never slept in all the years I have known him. I cannot wait until he wakes... he has some explaining to do. There are a few things I would like to ask in particular, but I would just love to hear him explain why your eyes are glowing."

"I've never felt anything like it... he filled me beyond limits... stole my thoughts and left me wanting more..." In her dreamy state, it took a moment for what he'd said to impact her, and she looked at him, confused. "Wait... huh? Why would my eyes be glowing...?"

Her eyes widened a little bit, and she wriggled, pulling free to make her way in the dim light to the pond so she could look at her own reflection. Once she was there, Khaesho snapped his fingers again, and the small light around his thumb vanished. In the absolute darkness, her eyes did indeed cast forth a faint light.

"Are you quite sure you feel alright? Don't answer immediately. Take a moment, and take stock of absolutely everything you feel, say anything that feels out of the ordinary."

She whined in confusion as she sat there beside the water. Turning from the water, to look at Khaesho, she whimpered, blue eyes bright and scared. When he told her to say anything that felt out of the ordinary she thought about it, eyes drifted closed a moment and she rolled her shoulders.

"I feel... fine. Energetic, warm... like I could dance for hours... like I want to dance for hours... I need to stand, to move, to run..." Eyes opened after she spoke, and she looked at Khaesho with another concerned little whimper. "I feel... detached, as if I'm watching someone else's life play out."

He slithered over and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her until she leaned against his comforting presence.

"Do not worry... Kalokin is a god after all... whatever he has done to you, I'm sure he knew exactly what he was doing."

"You're right, Khaesho, I'm sure it'll be okay..." A watery smile from the furry little wolf, and she nuzzled his neck with an uncertain smile.

Kalokin, by this point, was conscious enough to take part in the conversation. He gave himself an illusory body for the sake of being polite, and it stretched itself along Khaesho's arm. He held up a hand, and the illusion coiled there.

"Ooooaaaahhhh, wow, was that a ride. Hey, Shouyousei, how do you feel? Any hidden urges to worship me with your body and soul? Ha, just kidding, I wouldn't actua-... why are your eyes glowing?"

Shou curled into him, confused and uncertain. There was no fear, she wasn't afraid for what had been done to her, but concerned about what it might mean. Ears splayed, and she thought of her home. Her quiet apartment and her dancing. Her paints and the canvas' that she knew were splayed out in her spare room. Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes and she wondered if she had done something incredibly foolish. Her ears were drooping so low they looked about like they might fall off her head. She wasn't looking at Khaesho's face then, which was a good thing. If she had, the absolute, undiluted fury she saw there might have scared her. Instead, Khaesho calmly set her well away from the water's edge, then slithered into the pool.

"Uhhh Khaesh, what are you doing? No, wait, not the water, no, be reasonable about this, you don't want to do this."

Kalokin's voice steadily rose in both volume and panic, but Khaesho slithered onwards. Deaf to Kalokin's cries, he calmly coiled, immersing his entire body up to the neck in the shallow water. He began to glow, not with the vibrant blue of Kalokin's magic, but with a burnished silver slightly reminiscent of gleaming steel. The temperature plummeted, and a thin layer of ice formed on the pool.

"KHAESHO, STOP! Don't do this man; I know you don't want this."

He ignored the god's cries, and spoke to Shou with his back turned.

"A little bit of perspective Shou. Kalokin's elements are light and mind, but my element is heat. With a snap of my fingers, I could force every iota of heat from this entire mountain. The effort would kill me, but Kalokin would be trapped in my frozen corpse until one of his siblings came to free him. So I say now, with both you and Kalokin as my witnesses, if you die from whatever Kalokin has done from you, I will condemn him to an eternity trapped in the unforgiving ice."

The temperature kept dropping, and the pool was almost entirely ice now. Khaesho's scales had acquired a ghostly white covering of frost, and one moment's lapse in concentration could easily mean his death. Just before the cold would have stopped his heart, Khaesho yanked the heat back into his body, and the water steamed around his suddenly burning hot scales. As he did, he enacted a little gift Shelandra had given him; a blessing he could use to keep Kalokin in line. The spell sent a searing hot flare of magic through Kalokin's mind, and he screamed for a moment before blacking out; his still weakened state couldn't take a punishment that he ordinarily would have shrugged off. Khaesho slowly exited the pool, literally glowing red-hot from the heat he'd infused into his scales. He snapped his fingers, dispersing the excess heat back into the ice with a sizzle as Shou babbled in a panicked tone.

"Khaesho... Khaesho it's okay... it is... I'm fine, I'm not hurt... Kalokin's an idiot, b-but I don't think he meant to hurt me... h-he did what I was asking... s-so... it's alright... r-really..." Her voice started to hiccup as she sniffled softly. "Y-you don't hafta hurt him... I-it's okay..." Guilt filled her. She felt guilty for what Khaesho had just put Kalokin through, despite the fact that whatever the God had done would likely impact the rest of her life. She worried for him, and for Khaesho. Concerned, watery blue eyes gazed at the Naga. "I'm n-not mad..."

He looked at her then, and she gasped at what she saw. His eyes rippled like molten steel, gleaming eddies and currents of metal shifted by some unknown current. He was far removed from the gentle snake she'd known; he appeared as some nameless beast of hate and rage. He stared at her, and slowly, the death and violence faded from his eyes until he once again viewed the world from soft silver. What she saw in his eyes then was desolation; the utter hopelessness of someone who has given up. He slowly turned his back on her, curling himself into a tight, miserable pile.

"You said you liked to be dominated... that you liked it rough. That does not equate him doing what Shelandra alone knows what with your mind and soul. I knew he couldn't be trusted... he's proven that time and time again, but I wanted to make you happy. I should have known better, but I thought that, just this once, he could be trusted with something without destroying it. I trusted him with something precious, and I do not remember much from my spiritual theory classes, but if he did what I think he did, you'll be dead within the week. Whatever happens, it is my fault, and I will have to live with that for the rest of my life."

He looked like he hoped to coil so tightly that he might disappear. In the flickering light, he looked gaunt, drawn tight with worry and despair. He buried his head deep within his coils, unable to even look at her. Shou's eyes were wide as she stared at him, and her heart lodged in her throat for a moment. Making her way over to him, she crouched down beside him. Trying to find his face through his coils was near impossible, so she just wrapped her arms around as much of him as she could as she murmured softly.

"That's true, it certainly doesn't... but... I'm not completely ignorant; I knew I was playing a risky game... I knew giving up control means change sometimes. I also knew that he was a God, but I submitted anyways. I _could_have fought, I could have struggled and screamed... But... Khaesho... It isn't your fault, whatever you think..." She pushed her hands through his coils and pried them apart, wriggling her way into his embrace, which was much harder than she figured, making her grumble and grunt softly as she huffed. "I'm a little scared, but I'm not mad... and I'm not hurt either... and... and if he did mess up my soul or something, then it's my own fault... because I let him do it. I begged for it... I could have told him no, but I didn't. So don't you dare blame yourself for a choice that I made..."

Her cheeks were crimson, and she was mortified to admit it. "The idea of being taken against my will, of my mind being twisted, of my thoughts being stolen... is incredibly arousing to me, okay? I love the thought of it, of being turned into a toy, and taken... s-so when he did it, I liked it. It's not a widely accepted thing for a predator to so willingly give up control. But I've always loved it... s-so... I'm fine. We'll figure out what he did, a-and if it isn't bad... then no harm no foul... okay?"

After she'd won halfway through his coils, he resettled himself, making room for her. His long, muscular body wrapped around them both, almost like a tent made of flesh and bone, and it was dark but for the soft light shining from her eyes.

"You fail to understand, Shou, you do not know him as I do. Yes, it was your choice... but remember, he is in my mind as a punishment. I am his jailer, and my job is to keep him in line. I know him, even if you do not, and I should have kept you safe. Everything he does while inside my mind... everything is on my head. Do you know exactly how much that is? How many times I've been chased out of a town with gunfire because of one of his 'harmless' pranks? How many hikers he's left screaming, sprinting through the woods because he thought it'd be a good idea to scare them? Even back in the deserts, there are _legends_told about him. In the best, he is portrayed as an incompetent fools because he acts without thinking and leaves the rest of us to clean up his mess, but in others, he is vilified as an evil and twisted being who exists only to steal and destroy everything we hold dear. He is like rust... he corrupts and ruins everything he touches regardless of the rest of the world."

There was a quit sniffle, and after a moment of confusion, they realized that neither of them made the noise. Kalokin poured forth light into a small puddle between them. His illusion was curled tightly, and it wrung its tail between its hands.

"I... boss, is that true? I know I've messed up a few times, but it always worked out well enough in the end, right? I mean...You... I was just... I never hurt anyone, right? Like she said... No Harm, No Foul... yea? I never... We're friends... aren't we?"

Khaesho didn't know what to say, and the silence was answer enough. The illusion fell to pieces as Kalokin realized that Khaesho was telling the truth.

"Boss... I'm gonna fix this, I swear. I... I don't remember all that happened, after I, uh... fucked her... my memory gets a tad fuzzy, but don't worry. I... I can... I swear, I'm going to make this right. I need to leave for a moment. I'll bring back help."

"Kalokin, wait..."

And then he was gone. Not only gone from the room but gone completely from Khaesho's mind for the first time since he'd been jailed back in the deserts. It felt... odd. He'd become so used to the Kalokin's weight at the back of his mind that without it, he felt... empty. Alone. He reached over and pulled Shou closer, wrapping his arms tightly around her.

"I'm just scared that this time, he did foul. That this time, he's broken something that can't be fixed by running away from it. And before you say that you're fine... you're not. I... we, Naga, our hypnotism works by wrapping the soul of another in our own. If two Naga try to do it at the same time, it results in a battle of wills, but you aren't a Serpent; your soul doesn't know how to defend itself, and the slightest thought could affect you. When I look into your eyes, I can see your soul... and what I saw..."

He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, he just squeezed her miserably, shuddering violently as if wracked with chills. Had he been anything else, tears would have been streaming down his face, but he could not cry. Naga were physically unable to waste even a few precious drops of water in such a frivolous manner.

Silently, Shou moved closer to Khaesho and nuzzled under his chin. She murmured softly to him, spoke gently. Her voice warm despite her worry.

"Khaesho, from what I've noticed so far, which isn't much, Kalokin is like a child. He does things for fun, and doesn't consider the impact it will have on others. If it doesn't hurt anyone, then it's obviously alright. Restraint is not something Gods know well... there are legends all over about it. Gods embody extremes and that is all they know - they rarely have a chance to suffer for what they do wrong, and because of that, they never learn from their mistakes." A nuzzle along his jaw, and she murmured soft, warm, nonsensical noises.

"I know he is like a child, but still... this is not painting over a snake's lenses, or a bucket of sand hung over a door, this is your soul. I just worry that this time... that this time, I can't fix what he's broken. I don't know how souls work, at least no more than any Naga, I don't even know how to tell what is wrong."

"I'm still not sure something is wrong at all. You keep insisting that I'm about to fall apart, but I feel fine... my heart is no different, how I feel about things hasn't changed..." Her voice dropped to a whisper for a moment. "How I feel about you... hasn't changed." She resumed her normal tone, voice strong with conviction. "I'm not afraid, I'm not angry... I'm a little worried, I'll admit... but Khaesho. I won't run away screaming in terror... okay? I mean... I do have to go home soon, but I'll come back." She held up her right hand, pinky extended towards him as he shook around her. "I pinky promise. And those are sacred, you can't break a pinky promise."

When she mentioned leaving to return to the real world, he felt his heart snap. He had been doing his best to ignore the fact that she would need to leave, but faced with her imminent departure, he realized how much he enjoyed her presence... how much he needed her... maybe even loved her. Even if she returned... it meant she would rather be back in her old life, in the city. His heart was bleeding in tiny pieces, but he still resolved to do everything in his power to help get her home. It was nothing less than what he owed her. He reached up to her hand and wrapped the smallest of his three fingers around hers.

"I promise, Shouyousei. I will find a way to fix you, even if I have to find Shelandra myself and beg at her tail."

He tried to look into her eyes, but even a glance sent a shudder of pain through him, and he turned away. He held her close, but he could not look her in the eyes.

"If he can't fix it, it's alright, Khaesho... I read something once, that a flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long... I would like to think that I am a bright flame."

She offered a small smile, as she curled her finger around his, nuzzling into him as much as she could. When he convulsed after attempting to look into her eyes again, she whimpered softly. Wondering what he saw, what he viewed in her soul that was clearly so distressing to him. She curled into his embrace as they awaited Kalokin's return. They did not need to wait long.