Chapter 628 – Two unequal fears

Chapter 628 – Two unequal fears

“Come on, firecunt,” Eliza growled at Salamander, shoving her towards the water, “do you want to do this or not?!”

The endflame elemental’s heels dug a trench through the sand as she did her best to resist the much smaller woman’s physical force. Water rose as steam from the ground as she heated up. “First off...” she continued her best to have the movement stop, but Eliza kept pushing. Something that John observed with interest, as this amount of physical force would normally have roused Thana to do something. “...that’s...” Salamander’s toe hit the water and she managed to muster enough strength to take a step back. “...racist!”

“Are you fucking kidding me, you fat-titted piece of ignited fart gas?” the blood mage responded with crazily amused bewilderment. Laughing manically, Eliza stated, “Don’t give me that racist crap and just get into the water! You said you wanted to do it!”

“You even got yourself a bikini for it,” John chimed in, looking her up and down. Salamander had the sort of figure that belonged into as little clothing as possible but for that clothing to be as tight as it could be. Her giant breasts, the biggest in John’s entire harem, were barely covered by the tiny black and red top she was wearing, giving side, under and front boob view. The jagged black lines that covered her curves made her narrow, hourglass waist fly over nicely into her wide hips and large, round ass. ‘God, I could look at all of them for hours,’ the Gamer thought, still not sated on ogling any of them, no matter how often.

It didn’t help that her outstanding breasts were jiggling in a salivating way with every bit of resistance she took against Eliza. Speaking of Eliza, she was looking like a tasty treat herself. Sure, the blue two-part swimwear she had gone with conversely hid more skin than her usual outfit (without the robe anyway), but that didn’t make her thighs and ass any less appealing. Also, something about her shortness just made her so enticing to grab, push down and... do things to.

John glanced over his shoulder. ‘It’s almost eight thirty, can these families please go and throw their spawns into a bed?!’ he mentally complained, having to work really hard on suppressing an erection over here. Sure, Rave had said she wasn’t that enthusiastic about beach sex, but John was more than certain that he could find a way around the sand issue. Or another willing babe among his harem.

“Yes, I said I want to try getting into the water,” Salamander shouted, yet again managing to kick back when her feet touched the clear water. “I didn’t fucking say I wanted to be shoved into it. Can’t I take this at my own pace?!”

“No,” Rave shouted, standing to her knees, a few metres in. A beach ball was spinning with perfect balance on her index finger. “We’ve been waiting for 5 minutes now and all ya did was stand there and stare at the water. Get over it already. Ya were more enthusiastic about facing down Lorylim than ya were about this.”

“That’s two different issues entirely!” Salamander declared, finally getting Eliza off herself. The blood mage had decided that she was sick of shoving and just stomped around the indecisive fire spirit. “One was facing something I had resolved to due to pride and revenge and all of the feeling bullshit. This is like jumping into an ocean of acid!”

Undine peeled out of the saltwater. Completely in her element, the pure ocean, cleaned of most human waste, she moved with fluidity and grace that could only be likened to running water. Extending both arms towards her fellow scarred elemental, stretching out of the ocean with her upper body fully formed, she said, “Let me take your hand.”

The tranquil wave of her voice calmed Salamander a little bit, and John happily watched, as she allowed Undine to wrap her fingers around her right. The two of them had a bit of a complicated history between them, but it was all footed in the care they had for each other, a care that was displayed in that very moment.

“Do I feel like I am trying to dissolve you?” Undine asked, slanting her head slightly, the typical melancholic glint in her golden eyes.

“...No,” Salamander conceded immediately.

“Then be welcome to my realm, Sister,” the ocean elemental stated and gently pulled Salamander forwards. The first step Salamander took into the water was accompanied by her jumping at the cold feeling around her feet and a hissing of water evaporating on her heated skin. A heat that also affected Undine’s hands. “Do not worry, you have nothing to fear from water. You are much stronger than that.”

“I know, I know,” Salamander grumbled, mostly to reassure herself as she took more slow steps. When she was in up to her thighs, she slowed again. The boiling had stopped, brought back under control. Salamander took deep breaths as she got used to these odd surroundings. Carefully, John put an arm around her waist.

“Come on, you basically got it already,” he tried to motivate her further. Placing a quick kiss on her lips, he whispered into her elf-like ears, “No need to stop now, I know you can do this.”

That was the last bit of motivation that Salamander needed. Not exactly, or not only, because it was aimed at calming her, but because of how she, as a person, dealt with people trying to help her. “Okay, stop, I can do this without y’all continuously encouraging me!” she declared, her competitive side triggered.

“That so, Sally!?” Metra shouted over, the berserker babe grinning as she went ahead and tried the mocking way of encouragement. The initial hurdle done over, that might very well work wonders. “Come here then, you sissy piece of shit!”

“I’ll punch you in the face, Mat!” Salamander declared as the treatment indeed worked perfectly. Taking one more moment to steel herself, the endflame elemental then began to wade further, until water spilled around her shapely ass, midriff, and was almost up to her chest by the time she reached the ancient weapon.

“M-maybe we should all just swear less?” Gnome suggested, continuing to hit the ball. While John doubted it was on purpose, the ball fittingly went on to go over to Eliza.

Where it plopped into the water in front of her.

The blood mage was just standing there, arms loosely hanging. Everybody looked worried, the ball had been slow enough for a normal person to hit. For Eliza to not see it coming was as impossible as missing a kick directed at a very large and very close wall.

“Eliza?” John asked, carefully coming closer but not getting within arm’s reach. All the people had left by now, it was only them. Which was a very good thing should this all suddenly head south.

“Why?” the single word passed her lips, and John wasn’t quite sure who he was talking to. The tone lacked any signs of Eliza’s unstableness, sudden, violent mood swings were nothing new for the blood mage, but he could at least tell that it was her voice most of the time. By the same token, it had none of that wolfishness that Thana’s tone carried.

It sounded weak, confused and deeply troubled. Like a normal human that could not find an answer to something and was just so tired of the nothing that stretched out before them.

She raised her head, and John could see her eyes. 4 dots, 10 lines. “Why?” she asked again.

“Why what, Thana?” the Gamer asked, very softly. He was surprised himself that he could speak to the goddess of genocide so calmly. “Tell me, I will listen.” Silently he hoped that Eliza understood that she shouldn’t wrestle control back right now.

Thana cupped some of the clear water in her hand. “Why do you continue to be happy?” she asked, the clear liquid slowly running down her hand. “I don’t understand. How can this existence be anything but empty? Every breath you take pollutes the air, every thing you consume, every thing you make, every thing you want, you desire, it all just fuels vices and potential ends. What is there? Why do you continue to be?”

“Because I am human, Thana,” John answered quicker than he thought he could. Wisdom and Charisma mixed into words that he felt confident in saying instinctually. “It might very well be that I pollute and that the things I do are bad for me and my surroundings. However, I am also one of the kind of creatures that inhabit this planet that has the power to do all of these things – and to fix them. So I continue to be happy as I improve the things I can and see other people improve the things I can’t.” He approached another half step, lowering himself until he kneeled in the ocean and she was looking down at him. “Because the alternative is the emptiness you feel right now.”

Under the surface, he reached out to her hand. ‘Master, this is a terrible idea!’ Aclysia cried out to him mentally, a sentiment echoed by Beatrice and all elementals, all except Siena.

‘Help her, would you?’ the nightmare elemental stated instead. Despite of how awful the circumstances might be, even though the outcome was likely terrible, uncertain at best, Siena encouraged him.

John took hold of her hand and raised it above the surface of the water. It was maybe just wishful thinking, but he didn’t get the feeling that Thana would hurt him. Nothing had ever indicated she was a good actress. Hell, she had always displayed her hostile intent openly. Right now, she wasn’t even trying to use that killing aura to damage him, much less move.

“I know you think I am acting in self-interest, and true enough, I am,” he told her, closing both hands around hers. Like Undine had done earlier with Salamander, John now needed to pull Thana somewhere uncomfortable. Just that he had to present to her an idea, which was harder in most ways, particularly since this one was no less opposed to her than fire was to water. “But maybe, if you cannot find happiness in your current frame of mind, then it is time to find a new one.”

“You made me this,” Thana commented, not in a threatening or angry way. Indeed, she just sounded hollow, no less tired of this point than the situation as a whole.

“Yes, I am partially responsible for you ending up this way,” John nodded, wanting to be nothing but honest towards this fledgling humanity he saw before himself. “And I would do it again if I had to. Thana, it’s not my intention to make you suffer, but as long as you fight against the most basic thing I want to protect, lives, I cannot help but push against you. As it so happens, I have won in this. We both know that you can never be the primal force you were born as again.”

“...No... I can’t...”

“Then do you wish to keep struggling endlessly against a world that will not budge for a goal that you cannot attain?” John asked her, his thumbs gently gliding over her skin, hoping to keep her calm. “You can continue to do so, but it’s not going to leave you any happier. Perhaps you should at least try to be human? I know it disgusts you, I know you never thought you could end up this way, I know its all not what you wanted from life. Just, maybe, its time to stop with what you wish to be and start accepting what you could be. What do you think of that, Thana?”

He never got an answer.