Seth woke up feeling warm. A familiar but strange warmth... not that of a fire or the morning sun, but of a body on top of his own. A comfortable weight, rhythmic with someone else's breathing.
His eyes opened slowly.
The first thing he saw was the canvas of the tent tinged with the soft orange of the morning light. The second... was her.
Kerissa was sleeping on his chest, naked, her arm wrapped around his torso as if he were part of her. Her legs entwined in his. Her dark hair spread out, warm, smelling of incense and something deeper... ancestral.
Seth stood still, trying to understand.
The memory of the night before was hazy. Fragments flashed through his mind like distant lightning: eyes meeting, firm hands touching each other's bodies, voices of pleasure and moans, brutal kisses lasting long and... well, a lot of sex until he passed out.
He took a deep breath.
[You survived a night with the Orc Queen.]
[Reward: You have achieved a new bond with the Orc tribes by re-inviting an Orc Queen. The title "Orc King" has ceased to be a title and has come to fruition, you have received +10 status points]
[Hidden mission "Orc King" has been completed. You are now recognized as a member of the Orc Tribe "Kahragorn" and your fame will spread throughout the world of Pandora].
[Main quest "Discover Pandora" has been completed. You've discovered Beyond the Gates, your perspective on the Gates has changed. What are the Portals? What is it all about? New questions arise and your quest continues].
[Reward: Upon completing the quest "Discover Pandora", you will soon be teleported to the Human World].
[Due to Pandora's instability, the levels acquired during the Demonic Spider Raid will be handed out now!]
Seth blinked a few times, trying to absorb the avalanche of messages from the system. The letters still hovered in his vision like digital specters, even when he closed his eyes.
"Orc king..." he thought, with a deep sigh.
Not that he had looked it up. Not that he had ever really understood what it meant... but now it was there. Engraved. Realized. A new title. A new bond.
"You will soon be teleported to the Human World." These words echoed with more weight than all the others.
He raised his hand slowly and ran it through his sweaty hair, still messy from the night before. Then he turned his face slightly and looked at Kerissa - still sleeping on his chest as if she belonged there.
A queen. A warrior. A force of nature.
Kerissa stirred. Her long eyelashes fluttered. Her eyes opened slowly, as red as rubies burning under ash. She raised her face to meet his and frowned slightly when she noticed his serious expression.
"What's with the face?" she murmured with a feline half-smile. "I thought sleeping with me would have made you happy."
Seth let out a light laugh muffled by tiredness. It hurt, but he didn't want it to.
He ran his hand slowly through her hair, tangling his fingers in the shadow-black strands. His eyes met hers, and for a moment, he almost forgot the message. The system. Of the world outside.
But only for an instant.
"It looks like... I'm going to have to leave." he said quietly, as if he were afraid of shaping his own sentence.
Kerissa didn't react immediately. She just stared at him. That kind of look that cuts through armor, masks and titles.
Then she stood up a little, her body still glued to his.
"Although?" she repeated, her tone laced with suspicion. "You've just... arrived... People must already be talking about you. The tribe accepts you. I've accepted you."
Seth closed his eyes for a second, feeling the weight of the choice. Or perhaps, the weight of no choice.
"I'm not in control of this," he replied, slowly opening his eyes. "One day I'll be able to tell you, but for now... It's not just about me. There's something much bigger going on."
Kerissa took a deep breath, looked away for a moment, and then gave it back to him. "You'll be back."
It wasn't a question. Seth nodded, even if he wasn't sure. "I'll try. But I must say... I have other women."
The silence returned for a moment, thick. But this time, there was understanding there. There was something born the night before that wouldn't be undone so easily.
"I already knew, when you arrived your body was impregnated with feminine scents." Kerissa laid her head back on his chest. Softer, as if trying to keep that memory with her own body. "I don't mind sharing, I just hope I'm the only Orc." She smiled, sweetly...
A warrior like her... it would be a waste... "Of course" Seth smiled, "Although it'll be a while, I hope we'll see each other soon" He laughed.
Kerissa stood up slowly, the muscles outlined in her powerful figure moving with the grace of a predator at rest. For a moment, Seth just watched her, struck anew by the quiet strength she emanated - even naked, she seemed to reign over everything around her.
She walked over to the rough table in the corner of the tent, where various scrolls, blades and amulets were laid out in apparent disarray. She pulled out one of Pandora's maps - made of thick leather, aged by the ages and blood - and carefully unrolled it.
Seth sat down, still covered only by the sheet, watching in silence.
Kerissa took a curved-bladed ceremonial dagger and made a small cut in his palm. With no expression of pain, she let a thick drop of blood fall onto the map.
"Here." she said, her voice firm. "This is where our tribe is now."
The bloodstain began to dry quickly, but she pressed her finger into the center of the mark, dragging it slightly to the northeast. An irregular trace, like a wild route. She stopped near the edge of the map, at a point where a ridge and old trees were roughly drawn.
"But if you go back and don't find anyone here..." she looked at him with eyes burning with a calm intensity "...then go to this place."
She marked the end point with another, darker drop of blood.
"It's where I go when I need silence. When I need to be alone. It's a place no one else knows about. Not the elders, not the council." Kerissa took a small piece of charcoal and drew the outline of an immense, solitary tree over the mark. "The tallest tree on the plain of U'Zhar. You'll know it when you see it. It touches the sky."
Seth approached, still with the sheet over his shoulders, and stood next to her. He looked closely at the mark. He stored the trace in his memory as if it were a spell. A promise.
"Will this be our meeting point?" he asked, his voice softer than he had intended.
Kerissa nodded. Then she looked at him with a smile that mixed defiance, pride and... a certain affection that she would never admit out loud.
"If you don't come back... I'll come to your world myself. And frankly, I doubt they'll be ready for me there."
Seth laughed, low. "They're definitely not."
They stared at each other for a few more seconds. Time seemed to bend around that instant.
Then he spoke, as if he were nailing every word to his own fate: "The tallest tree. I'll remember."
Kerissa just nodded, wiping her bloody hand with a linen cloth. Then she turned and went back to the bed, sitting on the edge and watching him with that predatory look... "Since you're leaving..." She raised a huge smile...
"You wouldn't mind filling my pussy with cum. Right? We can't have children anyway," she said, grinning like a devourer.
'... one more crazy...'