email: plucas@erie.net 10,100 words

ECSTASY MAGE

by Paul Lucas

* * *

This story contains a number of scenes of graphic sexual content. If you are under 18 and/or are easily offended by explicit sexual themes, please go elsewhere.

Everyone else, enjoy!

* * *

The soft hay of the cot tickled my bare skin as stray slivers of moonlight poured through the shutters, lending a soft, ethereal illumination to our lovemaking.

My spell was subtle, a mere feather-touch of power flowing between us as Tully tentatively entered me. I didn't want to overwhelm him, just enhance what was naturally there. This was Tully's first time, my gift to him, and I wanted to ensure it would be truly memorable. My hand stroked his shoulders, my spell mixing and merging our separate sensations into one.

I could feel his delighted astonishment as my warmth enveloped him. I sensed how beautiful he thought me at that moment, churning beneath him and gasping at his touch. He pushed deeper and deeper until his pubic mound brushed the center of my soul, sending an electric shock of pleasure through us both.

It was one of the very few times I did not regret my path of magic.

Tully had been so kind to me since I came to the Randy Dryad Inn in my wanderings, pulled to this area of the world by haunting dreams. The establishment was owned by his cousin Shakara, for whom he did odd jobs when his family did not keep him busy in the fields. I seemed to have caught his attention immediately, despite my carefully maintained plain looks and boyish figure.

My magical senses could detect his virgin blood surging with desire every moment I was near him. He struggled with his shyness for days before he finally summoned the courage to speak more than a few words to me. Then we talked for hours at a time in the days that followed, he enraptured by my tales of worldliness and tales of travel, me by his refreshing small-town humor and sincerity.

He had asked me shyly for a long walk in the forest surrounding the roadside town the Inn serves. He was a complete gentleman, never once insisting on anything more than holding hands. The next morning, when I emerged sleepy and gummy-eyed from my room at the Inn, I was delighted by a present of wildflowers and elderberries on my doorstep.

Seasons help me, I felt a flutter in my heart as I inhaled deeply of Tully's gift. It had been far too long since anyone had shown me such kindness, and thoughts of Tully stirred feelings within me I had thought long-since banished.

For that reason, come dawn, I had to be as far away from the Inn as I could and never return. My kind could not fall in love.

We did not dare.

Tully placed his rough farmer's hands on my waist and began his rhythm, hesitantly at first, then with wild abandon. I gyrated my hips up to meet his every downstroke. My hands glided to his taut buttocks, urging him ever deeper.

Dawn was still many hours away. I would break his heart come daylight, but at least I could give him this one night.

Tully cried out above me, fingers spasming on my hips, approaching his precipice. Too soon, too soon. I reached ever-so-subtly into him with my magic, as a musician carefully plucks the strings of a lyre, skirting him away from the edge while still holding him precariously close to it.

His eyes widened in surprise, gasping as his eyes locked with mine. "Tholena?"

I knew in that moment he suspected my powers, but any coherent thought he had was drowned by a deluge of new pleasures as I churned my folds about him. Now that his most desperate urgings were under control, he could take his time and enjoy himself. And I could at last lose myself in the white-hot surgings between my legs.

I willed the sensitivity of my sexual centers threefold, crying out as the power of my own feelings crashed over me. I arced my back and thrust my apple-sized breasts toward him. His lips set my nipples afire.

Tully pumped me for many long minutes, our cries echoing through the entire Inn until at last his gyrations became more urgent, his limbs stiffening. He was peaking again, but this time I made no effort to stop him as my own climax was fast approaching.

"Take me," I gasped. My magic danced within him, and he experienced the most powerful orgasm of his young life. His first molten surge jetted within me, triggering my own explosion. I clasped his arms tightly as I rode the overwhelming waves of pleasure that flowed through us both.

His lithe body collapsed on top of me, a pleasant weight. I hugged him close as we trembled through our aftershocks, careful not to let him see the lone tear meandering down my cheek.

* * *

Our limbs lay entwined several hours later, exhausted by our long session of near-continuous lovemaking. Tully snored softly as I played with his chest hair. He had a nice crop for one who had not yet seen his twentieth Autumn.

I frowned. The dreams haunted me, even here. I had briefly fallen asleep after the last of our couplings, and had instantly been immersed in the chaotic visions that had pulled at me for months.

Visions of my ancestors fleeing their opulent castles, chased by murderous mobs. Then towering trees surrounding me on all sides, moving of their own volition. In their immense shadows mysterious figures chittered to themselves, always just beyond my ability to see clearly. Some wore the outline of humans, others not.

But for all the trouble my dreams caused me, I was grateful to them. They had led me here, to this wonderful night of rapture with the most beautiful boy I had ever known.

I had seduced hundreds of people since my apprenticeship, a seeming eternity ago. What made Tully so special to me? My mentor Callan once told me that it was part of our Order's curse to easily recognize our soulmates, to know almost instantly those whose hearts beat in near-perfect harmony with our own. Was Tully such a one for me? If I had lived another life, could I have grown old with him in contentment and love?

Seasons, could I really just leave him?

I quietly disengaged myself from the cot, and with a final, gentle brushing of my lips against his, began to gather my clothes.

"Tholena!"

The far-off voice belonged to Shakara, Tully's cousin. She called to me from the Inn's first floor, below. "Tholena, Tully, look out!"

The window shutters exploded inward with a thunderous blast. Lightning lanced through the charred wood, enveloping me in blinding coruscation and searing pain.

I must have briefly passed out, for the next thing I was aware of was Tully's panic-stricken voice ringing in my ears as he shook me awake. "Tholena! Oh, gods, please be okay!"

I groaned and reluctantly fluttered open my eyes. A man floated magically just beyond the destroyed window, framed by the stars and a dark cloak flapping in the spring breeze.

A bounty hunter, and a sorcerer to boot. I was in very big trouble.

"Tully," I croaked. "G-get back. He'll kill you to get through to me."

The floating wizard mimed a grabbing motion into the empty air, yanking Tully away from me with a powerful invisible hand. He smashed the boy into the far wall. Tully slumped limply to the floorboards.

"Tully!" I screamed.

"Idiot child," my attacker sneered. "This is an affair for sorcerers." His eyes flashed toward me. "Or monsters, as the case may be."

I scrambled to my feet, only to be hit by another surge of sorcerous lightning. I just barely summoned enough of my own magical power to disperse the brunt of the attack.

He wasn't using killing spells. It was obvious he was powerful enough to have incinerated me with his first attack, but he held himself back. But why? The bounty on my kind was the same, living or dead.

My powers were extremely limited in combat. I couldn't materialize monsters or toss firebolts or summon storms like my peers in the mainstream guilds. I could only do one thing, basically, but I had little choice. I put all my will into the most powerful spell I could muster and thrust it into his mind.

He had anticipated my attack and steeled himself. Because he was an experienced sorcerer, he thought his magical wards and strong will would protect him.

Fool.

Ecstasy magic taps into such primal natural forces within a person that most magical defenses are useless against it. As for his willpower, he never had a chance. Even the most stoic of people, peasant, sorcerer, or king, voluntarily gave up resisting after a few brief heartbeats. After all, who could resist dozens of powerful orgasm in the space of a few moments, each one building on the intensity of the one before?

The floating sorcerer gasped and convulsed, his spasming erection apparent even through his flowing robes. He quickly degenerated from a confident, stately master of magic to a grunting, primal beast. His concentration destroyed, he tumbled from his perch in the sky. A thin smile crossed my lips as I heard his body thump on the ground twenty feet below.

I turned toward Tully. He sat up, moaning loudly as he cradled his head in his hands.

Without warning the floor beneath me buckled with a scream of tortured wood. A hand shot up from below and grabbed my ankle in a grip of astonishing strength, pulling me through with casual ease. I landed hard on the floor below, boards raining down around me. I was badly battered and dazed, barely moving as a woman built like a barbarian god's wet dream towered over me. She grinned wickedly just before her massive fist slammed into my chin.

I fell into an abyss of darkness, never again expecting to see the light.

* * *

I dreamed.

I saw myself floating in a gray void, nude. I possessed an average woman's height, a slight build, and black hair cropped short to hang just below my ears. Small, pert breasts and a mild curve to my hips gave me a boyish figure. Years of magical glamours ensured I attained no great degree of beauty or voluptuousness, to better disguise my true identity from the mundanes. In a word, I was plain, and deliberately so. The only feature of vanity I allowed myself were my rich green eyes, and even that was a risk.

I was an ecstasy mage.

In any civilized nation in the Eleven Worlds I would be instantly lynched, or worse, if that secret were made public. It was the way of my Order, to forever hide our magic, to always fear discovery by those who loathed us beyond all reasoning.

I dreamed of the past, when this was not always so.

The Order of Ecstasy was born millennia ago, by scholarly mages who wished to explore that nature of life and its creation. Sex was the main venue for their mystical research, for it was the key to their sacred philosophical triad: pleasure, conception, life. Sex gives pleasure, pleasure leads to conception, conception creates life. All that is human ultimately springs from this mysterious, wonderful process.

For centuries, the Order of Ecstasy was a small, esoteric guild, greatly respected for both the skills and magic they developed to enhance the aspects of the Triad. They would aid troubled lovers, help the barren conceive, and spread the philosophy and techniques of pleasure wherever they traveled.

But four centuries before I was born, the Order became corrupt. Unscrupulous members began to realize the power at their fingertips. Through the inhumanly intense sensations they could create, they could induce undying love toward them in anyone they chose. After all, what mundane could resist the greatest sex they would ever experience, repeated over and over and over? The ecstasy mages realized they held sway over the ultimate, inescapable addiction.

The corrupt mages seized control of the Order and began the Great Seduction of the mundanes. Within a decade the Empire of Pleasures held an iron grip on the majority of the kingdoms of the Nine Worlds then known. One by one through covert manipulation, king, priest, merchant, and master sorcerer alike became the Order's sexual slaves, willingly handing over their secrets and power. The Empire of Pleasures lasted for nearly a century, each generation bringing new depths of depravity, indulgence, and cruelty. The mundanes suffered terribly.

When the Empire finally toppled, the former subjects retaliated with rabid vehemence. Ecstasy mages were hunted down in every corner of the Worlds and executed, often in the most hideous ways possible.

A few of the Order managed to escape into hiding. They abandoned the evil practices that had brought them to such a disastrous end, and once again took up the Order's original mission of exploring the sacred Triad and using that knowledge to aid others. But the hatred for ecstasy mages remained unabated even centuries later.

I dreamed of my own past.

My family were distant descendants of the Pleasure Emperors. I grew up ignorant of our past until I came of age, when my parents haltingly told me everything. As per our traditions, I was apprenticed to a distant master. In my case this was Callan, an ecstasy mage on the distant Western Continent, who wore the guise of a woodcarver's wife.

Callan was in her mid-forties and considered by many to be a handsome woman, with long silver-blond hair and deep chestnut eyes. Her husband Arvin was not officially of the Order and knew no magic, but kept her secret.

Callan initiated me the night I arrived, inviting me into her bedroom after a sumptuous meal. She lay on the bed furs, naked and purring like a cat. I let her slowly unclothe me, trying not to tremble. I was doubly nervous, not only about my initiation, but also about being with a woman, a first for me.

She lay me down on the bed, and gave me a loving, luxurious full-body massage that quickly put me at ease. Her fingers were expert, her movements precise, her caresses silken. My heart pounded wildly as she worked her way up my legs to my backside, which she kneaded lovingly for many minutes. She turned me over and continued the massage, slowly working her way up my torso to my bosom. I writhed in anticipation. By the time she finally cupped my breasts, I cried out loudly. She nodded in approval, my mounds heaving beneath her hands. "To build a fire, you must first spark the kindling," she said. "Foreplay, teasing, expectation. In the right context, a single touch can carry as much power as hours of lovemaking. You must learn the skills before you learn the magic. And there are a great many skills."

Without warning my teacher slid her hands between my legs, two of her digits sliding into my drenched womanhood to the knuckle. I cried out in shocked delight. Callan smirked. "The unanticipated also has its uses. You must learn how your lovers think, to know what will please them, expected or not." Her fingers cavorted against my inner folds, her thumb massaging the center of my soul. She brought me to the edge, holding me there, impossibly holding me there. I thrashed and cried in utter ecstasy, my loins burning, begging her repeatedly for release as minute after minute piled upon each other. How long I trembled and whimpered, speared upon her fingers on the very edge of orgasm, I could not say. A half-hour? An hour? More?

A simple ecstasy spell, I learned later. "And magic," she whispered at last, "will take you and your lovers to heights of pleasure you never dreamt possible. It will expand your consciousness, augment your physical self, and stir feelings few mortals ever experience."

She ended her enchantment. I felt the orgasm it released to my bones, sparks flying behind my eyes, hunching against her hand so hard I had muscle cramps for days. My womanhood flexed again and again around her fingers, the contractions so powerful I feared I would hurt her. I collapsed and shuddered in the aftershocks for long afterward.

Callan leaned over and kissed me deeply in approval. I looked up at her lovingly. "Teach me," I whispered.

I remained her apprentice for five years. For the first year, I was in bed with her every night, learning the physical techniques and skills. Most nights she would bring in her husband, a gentle man of surprisingly deep passion, so that I could learn the ways of both sexes. I think fondly of all my lovers, but before Tully, Arvin was the only other male I had ever developed true feelings for. Though he knew no spells, Callan had taught him many of the skills. One of my exercises consisted of straddling him, unmoving for hours, feeling and massaging every inch of his satiny hardness with just my inner folds. We would say nothing in all that time, simply looking into each other's eyes and smiling in mutual understanding.

After I mastered the physical techniques, Callan taught me the magic. Of tapping into the energies that existed in all parts of the Eleven Worlds, of using that power to create spells. Of augmenting the sensitivity of skin, nerves, senses, and muscles. Of sparking, prolonging, and pushing the various pleasures of sex far past normal human limits. Of using magical glamours, to slowly mold my physical self in minor ways. Of using orgasm and other raptures to focus even more powerful spells. And much, much more.

Tears were in the eyes of both Callan and her husband when my apprenticeship ended. And in mine, as well. I longed to stay with them, living quietly in love and ecstasy, but I dared not. Having two of our kind in the same area for too long increased the risk of discovery, and endangered us all.

I wandered the Eleven Worlds for years after that, never settling anywhere, never belonging, until I found my way to the Randy Dryad Inn, and to Tully.

I dreamed of the shapes in the forest.

Come to us, they called, over and over again.

Come and find your destiny.

* * *

Baron Vahl looked down at me from his dais as if he were contemplating a dung-eating cockroach.

I knelt naked on the stone floor, ankle and wrists trussed in heavy iron shackles. The drugs they had forcibly fed me kept me from concentrating enough to use my magic. I was flanked by a half-dozen grim, burly guards who kept their spears squarely leveled at me.

To the side of the dais Tully stood, bound similarly to me. A cold dagger stabbed at my heart. Was he to share my fate for the simple crime of loving me?

Beside the Baron stood the tall, muscular woman who had captured me. She had the raven-black hair, low cheekbones, and almond eyes that marked her as a native of the world of Tao. She was dressed in stylized red armor, a massive sword hanging from her belt. The crest on her shoulder identified her as a mage of the Order of the Body. The Baron called her Shinobu.

Body Mages used all their magical power to push their physical forms toward perfection and beyond, the masters of the Guild becoming superhuman in many respects. Adepts were taught absolute control of every aspect of their body, granting them far more strength, speed, and resistance to pain than any mundane.

They also possessed superior resistance to ecstasy magic. Their kind had been instrumental in engineering the fall of the Empire of Pleasures. The other wizard at the Inn must have been a distraction so she could get close to me.

"So," the Baron said, "what are we to do with you, whore?"

I gestured toward Tully with my chin. "Let him go," I croaked. I had not been given water in over a day. "He's done nothing wrong."

The landholder cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? The boy freely admits to knowing you, being fond of you, even defending your case to me. He seemed quite vehement in his convictions. What is he to you?"

I looked at Tully. His eyes smoldered with the passion only the innocent are capable of. I tore my eyes away, my gaze drilling into the floor. "He's--he's nothing to me. I seduced the boy on a whim, using my powers to make him believe it was something more."

"No!" Tully said. "Tholena, you can't mean that!"

I looked everywhere except at him.

The Baron nodded toward Shinobu. "If you care nothing for the boy," the Baron said coldly, "then you won't mind if I have him executed on the spot." Shinobu unsheathed her sword and pulled it high. Tully started, then clamped his eyes shut.

"No!" I screamed. "Don't! Oh gods and Seasons, please, don't!"

The Baron waved his hand at his lackey. Shinobu put away her weapon. The landholder steepled his fingers. "So, you do care for him. Listen well, then, whore. Your life is forfeit no matter what, but I will spare your lover and allow you a merciful, painless death in exchange for your services."

I looked up at him, puzzled.

"There is an inhuman entity in Barracca Woods, to the north of here, that uses ecstasy magic to steal away my vassals. Many who enter that area of the forest never return. In recent months soldier and sorcerer both have been sent against it. None have reported back. You will go to Barracca woods, and perhaps your brand of magic will prevail where others have failed."

My blood raced. The wood to the north was the destination in my dreams. This couldn't be a coincidence.

The Baron's voice became glass-shattering hard. "But if you fail or try to flee, whore, the boy will be tortured for days and burned at the stake alive in your place. Then I will feed you his blackened carcass before we deal with you. Do you understand?"

Tully tried to look defiant, but he could not disguise the naked fear in his eyes. One so young should never have to confront so horrible a fate.

I had no choice.

* * *

The cool iron band weighed heavily on my wrist. Forged in the capital city of Myrdem by an artificer mage, its enchantments ensured that I could be found easily should I decide to bolt.

Not that I would, with Tully's life in my hands.

Shinobu escorted me into the vast forest as far as she dared. She left me two days ago, thank the Seasons. When she spoke at all to me it was to boast of the dozen ecstasy mages she had hunted down and killed with her bare hands.

I hiked from dawn to dusk, the vast unbroken forest around me as dark and quiet as an ancient cathedral.

My dreams grew stronger by the night.

The Barracca Woods extended hundreds of miles from Tragaria, Corinthia's northernmost city, until the vast Ironspine Mountains that separated Corinthia from the Darlan Empire eventually engulfed it. The forest was a vast no-man's land, inhabited by savage Orc clans and the mysterious creatures of the Fae. Most civilized folk, mundane and sorcerer alike, avoided it whenever possible.

I was leading my packhorse through a broad valley when I became aware of a growing magical presence nearby. The horse nickered with apprehension. Just beyond my vision, deep in the forest, shapes moved, shadows among shadows. The sky was quickly choked off by the leafy canopy, covering the sunlight and leaving a dream-like twilight all around me. The path ahead and behind closed off, underbrush and roots slowly creeping and shifting until I was fenced in by forest growth, in a small clearing barely two horse-lengths wide.

I tried to move forward, but the horse, now very spooked, refused to budge a single hoof. I dropped the reigns and walked forward to investigate the boundaries of the trap. Behind me the animal wickered in terror, its cry suddenly cut short. I whirled around, but the mount was already gone.

"The beast will not be harmed," said a voice as soft as falling lilac petals.

Appearing from the undergrowth on the edge of the small clearing was a tall, exotic woman. She possessed high-arcing pointed ears, a soft greenish tinge to her skin, and hair the color of rich bark spilling over her shoulders. Her nude, willowy form looked barely into the flower of womanhood, yet I could tell from her aura she was many decades, perhaps centuries, old.

I had heard enough hearth-fire tales to recognize a dryad. They were a race of the Fae who had long ago merged their souls with the trees of the forest.

"What do you want?" I asked cautiously.

She smiled. "You are the Lost One the Father Trees called. My name is Whiteblossom. Do you have a name you can share?"

"Tholena," I said with some hesitation. "What do you mean, 'Lost One?' What do you want of me?" Tales of the all those who entered the Wood and never returned swirled through my mind with renewed urgency. Was that about to happen to me?

Whiteblossom walked up to me, and I felt the tickle-touch of magical power fill the forest around us. The dryad brushed my cheek softly with her silken hand. I gasped at the tingle of pleasure-magic that passed between us. I never suspected that anyone outside of my own people knew of such dweomers.

My mystical senses could detect mysterious forms flowing around us in the shadows, each absorbing and channeling the growing energies.

Whiteblossom's caress was now like a fire on my skin. "You are one of us, Tholena. Let us welcome you. Let us pleasure you."

The pull of ecstasy magic was potent, and getting stronger with each passing moment. Had I been a mundane, or even a common sorcerer, I would have been completely lost in it, a mindless creature drowning in the sensations. Even so, my cheeks flushed hot with building desire. I tried to delay the inevitable. "I don't think--I mean, I have so many questions..."

She leaned close, her lips hovering over mine. Her breath smelled of honey and wildflowers. "The Father Trees have read your soul, and they know you are worthy. But we will not force you. You have the power to resist us. Walk away, if you wish."

Was this some ploy, to catch me off guard? Yet the nimbus of magical energies around us suddenly reached a plateau and hovered there, neither growing stronger or weaker. I could resist it if I wanted to, but I didn't move. Seasons help me, I did want to stay. It was more than the ecstasy magic, more than curiosity, more than my dreams, even more than my concern for Tully, that kept me there. An overpowering instinct deep within me told me that I belonged here. That I was home, somehow.

Or was that just another part of the trap?

"What are you?" I asked.

"Your destiny," Whiteblossom whispered as she reached up to untie my shift. Her lips brushed mine.

All at once I knew my course of action.

My tongue danced with hers, my top fluttering to the forest floor. I cooed softly as the dryad took one of my nipples, then the other, into her mouth.

I did not fight the waves of ecstasy magic flowing through us. I welcomed it, sensing that for all of the spell's gentility that it was fueled by a power as far beyond my magic as my enchantments were beyond the coarse strokings of a virgin. By becoming part of the ecstasy I could attune myself to it, perhaps use it for my own purposes when the time was right. As Callan had taught me long ago, I magically willed a small part of me to stand apart from the powerful raptures building within my body, waiting, watching, preparing.

Whiteblossom lowered me to the forest floor, peeling off the rest of my clothes. The bed of fallen leaves was surprisingly warm and supple. Whiteblossom kissed her way down my torso, tickling my skin with soft caresses of her lips. I eagerly spread my thighs as she reached my pubic mound, trembling as her agile tongue circled my center. Long, throaty moans escaped me as Whiteblossom worked her way into my most intimate places.

The magic surged around us. Wait, wait...

Through slitted eyes I saw other beings emerge from the forest to join us in the small clearing, all creatures of legend. Dryads, some as willowy as Whiteblossom, others as voluptuous as a temple sculpture. A satyr, who danced and cavorted wildly. Wolflings, with handsome dog-like features and quick, intelligent eyes, their human-shaped bodies covered in lustrous fur. A pair of centaurs, holding hands. Pixies, flittering overhead. A tall and powerfully built Stag-man, his deer's head sporting an impressive rack of antlers. Below his broad chest and iron-taut stomach muscles hung the magnificent proof of his manhood. The sight of it made my folds surge with unbridled lust.

Whiteblossom sensed this and plunged one finger, then two, into me. I arced my back and cried out.

The ecstasy magic grew in power all around us. Soon, now...

The creatures began to couple. The female Wolfling caressed her long tongue along the satyr's furry testicles as he lay on his back, pleasuring a dryad kneeling over him. The male centaur mounted his mate, their cries echoing through the forest. Two dryads played lovingly with each other's breasts, squeezing and sucking. The male Wolfling lay on his back, his penis swarmed by two-inch-high pixie females, rubbing and licking and gyrating en masse. A male pixie yelped as he floated overhead, the tiny droplets of his seed splashing me. I licked his gift from my breast with a wink of thanks.

Occasionally I caught glimpses of many other beings just beyond my vision in the shadows of the forest. A blonde-furred Wolfling female worked the penis of a black-scaled dragon-man between her furry breasts. Close by, one powerfully built minotaur male stood while his seeming twin kneeled before him, sucking and fondling. A silver-maned unicorn-woman joined the latter, both their tongues working back and forth along the purpling shaft. A raven-haired centaur maiden moved forward just in time to catch the spurting seed between supple lips.

And more, so many more. I felt all their pleasures, even as they felt mine, the magic permeating us completely. The small, untouched part of me began preparing my spell.

I shuddered through countless orgasms, Whiteblossom's tongue and fingers tireless. The massive Stag-man mounted the dryad from behind, as she bent on her knees to service me. Whiteblossom grunted repeatedly as his hips pistoned back and forth, her every orgasm sparking one of my own.

He eventually disengaged from her. Whiteblossom quickly spun around to lick his manhood, still glistening from her juices. I scrambled forward to join her, thrilling at the sweet-salty taste and the wonderful pulsing power beneath my tongue.

I looked up, the Stag-man's steely intelligent eyes meeting mine. He hungered for me, and I moved swiftly to accommodate him. Using his broad shoulders for handholds, I planted my feet on either side of his hips for purchase. Flexing my knees outward, I slowly lowered myself on the magnificent erection he offered me, the largest I had ever taken. He chuffed loudly as he sunk into me to the hilt.

We sat poised as such for a few heartbeats, as I accommodated myself to his size. When he at last sensed I was comfortable, he gently grabbed my waist, pulling me up and down his length. I was a complete slave to his tremendous male strength, and loved every moment of it. Whiteblossom reached around me and played with my breasts.

My lover lasted many incredible minutes, but finally the magically augmented sensations became too much for even his tremendous stamina. He jammed my hips down on his, his manhood buried as far within me as it could go. He howled as his muscles coiled and released like a siege engine, shooting spear after spear of seed deep within me.

My own orgasm was fast approaching, by far the most powerful in my life, surpassing even those I experienced with Callan and Arvin. I was now also completely attuned to the magical energies around us and could tap into them as easily my own. As I began to peak I triggered my great spell.

My orgasm would birth a magic wave of overwhelming ecstasy that would grow in potency with each handspan it traveled. I hoped it would be enough to stun all the creatures around me into unconsciousness, allowing me to find and neutralize the source of their power.

I crested, my inner folds churning madly around the Stag-man's manhood. Any coherent thought I had was washed away by the overwhelming sensations, but the magic was already in place. The wave of energy surged away from me...

And was turned immediately back upon me by a force I could scarcely comprehend. My climax didn't abate, but kept exploding until it seemed to fill the entire world, the entire universe. Every nerve in my body was afire, every pore in my skin peaking as if it were the center of my womanhood. The parts of my body that would normally feel such things roared with a raging inferno hotter than the sun, spasming with sensations I had not thought possible in all of creation.

How long that unearthly orgasm lasted I could not know. Minutes? Hours? Days? I only know that when it did finally end, I collapsed and spun into darkness.

* * *

My joints creaked and popped as I slowly regained consciousness. How long had I been unconscious? Days, it seemed like. My entire body ached.

I shivered, naked and alone save for the trees. I still lay in the clearing, but no trace of my lovers or their magical kin remained. The iron band on my wrist was gone.

The dreams I had were more vivid than ever.

During the last days of the Pleasure Empire, my forebears fled for their lives. A small band of Empire dissidents, who had never abandoned the true ideals of the Order, fled into the vast depths of Barracca Woods, swallowed up by the seemingly endless wilderness.

There, free from the domination of the Emperors and the persecution of the mundanes, they pursued the true path once more. In complete isolation, they pushed further into the nature of the sacred Triad than anyone before them. Into its very foundations, which had not been explored since the legendary days of the Builders of Worlds.

Until, at last, they unraveled the ultimate answer to the mystery of the sacred Triad.

A voice echoed deeply all around me, shattering my reverie. "Why?" it asked. "Why did you use your magic to attack our children?"

"I-I meant no harm. My pleasure-spell would have caused no pain, only unconsciousness for a short while." I peered into the forest around me. "Who are you? What do you want with me?"

A massive oak disengaged itself from the forest, its roots slowly pulling its great bulk into the clearing. I pulled back as best I could, but I had very little room to retreat. Its aura spoke of a tremendous power, already ancient when the souls of humans were not even a spark in the eye of creation. "I am a Father Tree," it boomed. "My kind rarely show ourselves to mortals, but you are our Chosen. We are born as dryads to lure mates to us and to meld ourselves to human seed. We then transform into Mother Trees to give birth, and finally become such as me in the centuries afterward, our power steadily growing with each decade. We protect the forest and all those who dwell within. As a dryad, I was called Snowdawn. Whiteblossom is the youngest daughter of my wood."

I sat, stunned. His kind was known to me, but only through shadowy legends and folklore. They were called by other names. Treants, Wood Devils. But the most common was Forest God.

What do you say to a god?

"Why did you attack your kin?" the Father Tree insisted.

"Because if I didn't do something, the person I lov-who I care very much for will die a horrible death. I can't let that happen." I told the ancient being of my plight, hugging myself, fearing for Tully now that I knew I could not do what the Baron wanted. The forest god segued into silence, contemplating my words.

"Wait," I said suddenly. "Why did you call those creatures my kin? They're Faerie, not human."

"All Faerie were human once, even my kind, until the Builders in the long-ago before-time bound us to the path of magic. Your ancestors came to us centuries ago to continue the Builders' work."

"You mean ecstasy mages came to you? Then my dreams-"

"--Were real," the Father Tree said. "We sent them to you, to guide you here. You are the Lost One we have Chosen."

"You keep saying that. Chosen for what?"

"To help us. Sex brings pleasure, pleasure brings conception, conception creates life. This is the Triad of your Order, the sacred mystery your ancestors endeavored to unravel. The band that joined us here plumbed its depth, marrying their knowledge with our ancient magics. They discovered the great secret: the Triad applied to all life, not just humans, and most importantly, could serve as a bridge between species. They tapped into this fundamental aspect of nature with their magic, and used it to merge themselves and their offspring with other creatures."

I gaped. "You mean that the beings I made love to are their creations? Their descendants?"

"Some, yes. Some Faerie have existed since the time of the Builders. Dryads, Pixies, Centaurs. But others are new, created by your Order. Wolflings, Stag-men, Dragonkin. Your ancestors brought new life into the Worlds, new joy to Creation. That is your kind's great destiny."

I shook my head. Too many new concepts all at once. I was still trying to get used to the fact that I was talking to a tree. "But--but what happened to those ancient mages? Do they or any of their human children still live?"

The Father Tree's leaves rustled. "In a sense. They have long since become one with their daughter races, returning to a state of innocence, but they bequeathed their power and secrets to us, the Father Trees, so that we may continue their work."

"And me? How could I possibly help the Father Trees?"

"After many decades of trying, we have discovered that we cannot do this on our own, despite our many powers. Only humans were created solely by Nature, only they have the true spark of creation within them. Only they can produce viable daughter species through your Order's secrets. We tried enlisting other humans, wanderers who passed near our territory, but none had the skill or the knowledge to help."

The Baron's missing subjects. "What happened to those people?"

"A few joined us, becoming Faerie, and now live in harmony and rapture with the forest. But most sleep, protected against the elements and time by our power. They will be released in a season's time, when our magic will have wiped away their memories of what exists here.

"Our only hope was to find and bring to us a living ecstasy mage with the greatest potential for wielding the secrets. We called her, and she came. You, Tholena. Help us. Create new life with us. We sensed the joy in your soul earlier, even if you did not trust it yourself, as you felt the acceptance and love of your Faerie kin. You will be welcomed and greatly honored as long as you live among us."

"Me?" I squeaked. The weight of his words slowly sinking in. Me, to be entrusted with the ultimate accomplishment of my Order? Me, to be taught the powers of creation?

Seasons, would--would I become the mother of new races?

But I'm just an outcast! A lowly fugitive! Reviled by everyone, everywhere that I went in all the Eleven Worlds...

Except here.

I thought back to the Faeries' sexual outpouring at my arrival. They were well aware of what I was, and perhaps staged their orgy in order to welcome me in a way they thought I would appreciate. They had done it all for me.

For me.

Moisture welled up in my eyes. Mother of the Skies, have I really found a place where I no longer had to hide what I was? Where I would be appreciated and even loved for who I truly was, instead of having to worry about being torn apart by murderous mobs for even a minor slip-up in the prison of lies I constantly had to maintain?

I kneaded the tears away with the heels of my hands. "Of course I'll stay here," I said. "I can't think of anything I would love more than to accept your offer. With all my heart."

I drew my lips in a grim line. "But you're going to have to help me first..."

* * *

The hour was late, halfway between the apex of the night and dawn. I stood in a darkened alley in Tragaria, looking across the broad avenue at the outer wall of Baron Vahl's castle in the center of the city. A pair of guards flanked the main gate. "Are you sure this is going to work?"

Behind me stood the Stag-man lover who had given me such pleasure. His name was Hart. We wore loose black robes to better conceal ourselves-barely, in his case-in the shadows. Hart possessed a suprisingly soft voice. "It should. You wanted a spell that would distract the whole castle long enough for you to rescue your beloved, yet cause no true harm. And one that would 'teach a lasting lesson,' as you said, to anyone who would seek to hunt an ecstasy mage in the future."

I nodded. "And this will certainly do that, if it works. Will it affect everyone within?"

"Those with virgin blood, the children and the innocent, will remain unchanged and unaffected. Also, those with unusually strong moral convictions, those who take as sacred vows of chastity and fidelity, will also be immune. They and the virginous will simply fall into an inviolable sleep until dawn, when the ecstasy wave ebbs. The spell will only affect the sexually willing, or those who are easily persuaded or seduced."

I smirked. "Which pretty much includes most of the human race. I kind of wish I hadn't taken Tully's virginity, now. He's in for quite a surprise." We were quiet for a few heartbeats. "It's almost time, isn't it?"

Hart dipped his great head. "Yes. The Faerie couple en masse back home, building the power. When it peaks, I will be its conduit here, but it will be up to you to channel the energy into the spell. Do you remember what the Father Trees taught you?"

"Mostly, but there wasn't time to learn as much as I'd have liked. Truthfully, I'm a little scared. This will be the most powerful and complex spell I've ever wielded. Hells, that I ever dreamed of wielding. Tapping into the very force of life, altering it on such a scale..."

He lay a warm hand on my shoulder. "There is no need to fear. I am with you. My family--our family--of Faerie back in the forest, are all with you in spirit. Their fondest wish is for the safe return of you and your beloved."

He gasped suddenly, a shiver cascading down his immense frame. His swelling manhood peeked through his loose robe. "It's beginning, isn't it?" I asked.

"Their ecstasy is building, reaching out to me. The whole of their power will arrive at any moment."

"Then join my hands, my friend, and we will begin our great work." I wished I was as confident as I sounded.

I instantly felt the power flow into me as soon as Hart joined his palms to mine. It instantly set my sexual centers afire, building toward the kind of unearthly climax I suffered through days before in the forest. But this time I was prepared for it, channeling the energies through me and into the spell. I could see the source of the enchantment in my mind's eye: hundreds of Faerie coupling madly in all combinations, the Father Trees around them gathering and casting the power of their ecstasy across the leagues to us.

Thanks to the magic of the Father Trees, the Faeries' rhythms impossibly, wonderfully, reached their ultimate climax all at once, flooding me with magics unimaginable. I channeled the power into my spell even as I crested, focusing the enchantment at the castle with the last of my coherent thoughts. Then I cried out in orgasm, my body convulsing for many minutes.

A pleasant hot wetness met my skin as I became aware of the world again. Hart could have no more resisted the ecstasy flowing through us than I had, and had jetted his gift onto me. I rubbed his seed in, smiling in thanks.

We turned toward the castle in time to see the two gate sentries writhe and squirm as they transformed. Their armor loosened and hung slack, but as long as they wore it we could not tell if the spell was truly successful.

Then the sexual frenzy of the spell kicked in. The guards flung their helmets from their heads, revealing smooth, slender faces topped with an infantryman's crew cut. From one spilled a flutter of short hair, the remains of a beard. Their bodies crashed together as they embraced and kissed fiercely. First one, then the other, removed their chain mail and undershifts, freeing breasts already glistening with the sweat of passion. When their leggings were lowered, I knew we had succeeded. In their loins shone the moist folds of womanhood, to which their anxious fingers plunged.

Where once two burly male guards stood, two voluptuous females sunk to the ground, trying to satisfy the desperate urgings of their new bodies. They paid Hart and I no heed as we entered the castle.

We discovered the same had occurred everywhere in the vast stone structure; all those not of virgin flesh or unshakable conviction had changed sex. The Father Trees had said that the surgings of new-what was the word they used for the substance in the blood?-of new hormones alone would ensure a lusty frenzy. Combined with my spell, however, it created an orgy of debauchery that the mortal world would rarely see again.

Groans filled the castle. Mostly female, for the garrison here had of course been entirely male. As we searched for Tully, we passed a great many people caught up in the ecstasy. A lone guard in the great hall lay across the Baron's great chair, plunging a dagger haft in and out of her new womanhood. An older woman who wore the robes of the town's Lord of the Exchequer squeezed between her pendulous breasts the new penis of a handsome young man, who still wore the halter and scarves of an exotic dancer. She licked the purpling head every time her lover plunged it through her mounds.

We had to pick our way carefully through the barrack hallways, for the activity there had spilled into the corridor. Stubbly-haired heads, spread legs and flicking tongues were everywhere. One group formed a chain six bodies long, the last woman capped from behind by a former scullery maid. Surprisingly, three young men still snoozed contentedly on cots in the main barracks room. The innocent and the virtuous.

I could not resist peeking into the Baron's chambers as we passed by. I pushed open the door, his two guards too preoccupied with each other to bother with me. Inside, I saw the baron being mounted from below and behind, riding the manhood of one male while another plunged in and out of her tighter nether opening. A silken sleeping gown spilled over the man underneath, marking him as the former Baroness; the other male, grunting each time his hips met the Baron's quivering backside, was no doubt the Baroness' former lady in waiting. Baron Vahl screamed with pleasure and loved every moment of her combined deflowering like the whore she was, her heavy new breasts swaying and jiggling with each combined thrust.

A lesson Vahl would indeed never forget. In the morning, when the frenzy wore off, many in the castle will be confused, distressed, and frightened, but many will also remember this night of passion, and the new bodies that made it possible, with fondness and shivers of delight. Those who were truly upset, those who truly preferred their old gender, would change back within a few weeks. But those who liked their new sex, who wanted to experience again and again these intense new sensations, would remain as they were.

I had a feeling that no matter what the embarrassed Vahl would say in the future, he would be one of those who would unconsciously stay in female form.

I turned to tell Hart of my insight when he suddenly shoved me aside with savage force, smacking me into the corridor wall. I was confused until I saw a massive fist shoot into the space my head had occupied mere moments before. The blow would have caved my skull in.

Shinobu pulled her sword from her hip with inhuman speed, the blade flashing high for my throat. Hart just barely caught her arms by the wrist, his powerful Faerie strength barely holding her sorcery-augmented muscles at bay. They grunted and strained, neither yielding an inch each to the other.

Shinobu was nude save fore her hastily donned weapons belt--like most of the castle, she had been caught sleeping-but surprisingly still female.

I feared this contest would last mere seconds, my friend's life forfeit. The Stag-man, for all his might, was a creature of gentility and peace, who grew up never knowing true malice. Body mages were trained in dozens of martial arts, and according to all folklore proved to be vicious killing machines when provoked.

But Shinobu made no fancy moves, no lightning-quick strikes. She just pushed against the Stag-man's grip, using only brute muscle power to try to overwhelm him. Copious sweat trickled down her brow as her muscles heaved and trembled. For a moment--just a brief flash of a heartbeat--her outline blurred as if momentarily immersed in water.

I realized with a gasp that she hadn't been unaffected by the great spell. It was still trying to change her; she had to concentrate constantly to keep the vastly potent spell at bay. It was all she could do to split her attention between Hart and fighting the enchantment.

Obviously what she needed was another distraction.

I summoned my magic and focused it upon her. It was the same spell I had used to take down her partner at the Randy Dryad Inn.

She felt the energies building within her and tried to resist. Under ideal circumstances, she might have been able to throw off the spell, but at the moment it was too much. She crumpled before the combined magical and physical assaults. She staggered back from Hart, her sword clattering to the floor.

Shinobu shrieked as her body twisted, contorted and blurred. Her breasts shrunk and flattened into male proportions. Her shoulders and waist broadened, her facial bones thickening and expanding. The nether lips of her womanhood merged and hung low, forming testicles. He womanly center emerged from its hood, growing and thickening until it reached over two hand-spans in length.

As soon as the Body Mage's new penis was fully born it hardened with shocking speed and ejaculated. Shinobu cried out with primal ecstasy at the first male orgasm of her life, her milky seed erupting down the length of the corridor. Shinobu's hands shot down and rubbed the length of her still-rigid manhood, and after a few brief heartbeats the Body Mage ejaculated again with loud moans of pleasure, her greater-than-human muscle power splashing her seed against the ceiling.

Had she still been in her true body, Shinobu might have been able to stop herself, but the Body Mage was no longer in the form she had learned to control so absolutely. The new maleness was too alien. She lost all control, surrendering completely to the unnatural sexual frenzy of the combined spells. She peaked again, and again, and again, with no end in sight.

Hart moved forward to help her, but I held him back with an outstretched arm. He could not know what was coming. Ecstasy magic could bring unimaginable pleasure, but it was capable of great horrors as well. If she had not been so boastful of how many of my brethren she had murdered, I might have almost felt sorry for her.

The Father Trees' magic had pushed the inhabitants of the castle to the limits of lust the human body can endure. My lesser spell had multiplied that in Shinobu so that she equaled my orgasm in the forest, but here she had no Father Trees to protect her as they did me. Her body could not produce enough fluid to keep up with her almost continuous ejaculations. She began spurting blood, first intermixed with her seed, then in pure form. As the orgasms piled on from the dozens to the hundreds, the end of her penis split into an open wound as her muscles spasmed into self-destruction, showering the entire corridor with blood. Hart and I retreated as she collapsed, her final sounds remarkably similar to the squeals of a dying pig.

Death by ecstasy.

We finally found the stairs leading down to the dungeon where they were most likely keeping Tully. As Hart reached for a wall torch to light our way, I noticed that he was visibly trembling. Try as he might to hold it back, a tear meandered down his furry cheek.

I lay a concerned hand on his arm. "Hart, are you...?"

"I will be fine," he said hesitantly, wiping away the moisture in his eyes. "It's just that I never saw anyone die before. Did you--did you have to resort to such...methods?"

Poor Hart. For all his size and power he was still so vulnerable in so many ways. "She murdered a great many people in her life, my friend. She would have killed us. It had to be done." I gave his arm a squeeze.

He nodded slowly. "I know. But I wish there had been another way." He said not a word for a long time afterward.

The dungeon guards were too busy mock-humping each other against the wall for them to notice me fishing their keys out of their discarded shirts.

A scream pealed through the corridor as soon as I opened the outer door. Tully! I dashed for his cell, Hart close behind.

We burst in to see Tully hanging on the far wall of the cell, hands bound overhead in heavy manacles with his feet barely touching the floor. He was desperately trying to tear his prisoner's shift off with his teeth. Bits of the fabric fell to the hay-strewn floor in tatters. Tears of frustrations streaked ruddy cheeks as he frantically rubbed his exposed thighs together.

I ran up and hugged him breathless. "Tully! Oh, Seasons, it is so good to see you again! I prayed and prayed that you would be unharmed..."

Tully heeded none of my words, instead wrapping his legs around me and trying to hunch his loins against me. "Please, oh, please!" he croaked.

I looked down and, despite myself, was shocked to see he no longer had a penis but the folds of womanhood, which were drenching the front of my robe. I had been so relieved to see him that I had momentarily forgotten. Of course he-she, now, I had to remind myself-had been changed by the great spell along with everyone else in the castle. Chained as she was, she had no means to satisfy the sexual hunger burning in her new body. It must have been torturous to have no means of release.

Hart stepped closer, concerned. "Should we...?"

I brought my hands down to steady Tully's hips. "I can bring her out of the frenzy, Hart, but it will take some time. Stand guard in the corridor, okay?" He nodded and went.

I lowered myself to my knees and spread her legs apart, preparing my magic. Her body shook in anticipation. I flicked my tongue out, thrilling to the exquisite honey-salt taste of new virginity. Tully crested instantly, her new body convulsing against the restraining fetters. She wrapped her creamy thighs around my head and mashed her mound against my lips, silently urging me on. I was happy to oblige.

With each climax, I drained a portion of the magical frenzy from my lover, until at last only natural sexual desire remained. By then Tully was already so immersed in the sensations that that was enough to sustain her through a half-dozen more rapid-fire orgasms. By the time she regained her full faculties, my entire front was drenched with her juices.

"Tholena?" Tully gasped at last, looking down at me through the valley of her pert new breasts. "What's going on?"

I unlocked her chains. "It's a long story. I'll explain later."

As Tully came free, she collapsed into my arms. Despite her numb limbs and near-exhaustion, she still managed to match my fierce embrace. She said the words I desperately longed for and feared I would never hear from her, tears brimming my eyes. Breast to breast, I felt Tully's heart beat, and it was in perfect harmony with my own.

* * *

By midday we were leagues away from Tragaria, already skirting the southern edge of Barracca Woods, following an ancient, little-known path. Within hours we would be safe deep within the vast wilderness. We had little fear of pursuit; those back in Tragaria would be too preoccupied with the fall-out of the night before to spare us much thought.

Tully sat ahead of me on the horse while Hart led the animal by the reins. Hart and I wore our robes, but Tully was naked as we had no time to stop for clothes. It took me until the sun's apex to explain to my lover everything that had happened.

"This is all so incredible!" Tully said as she cupped her new bosom in her hands, head shaking in wonderment. "And some of it is simply unbelievable!"

"Keep grabbing those like that, and you're going to get sore," I said. "Gently, like the way you handle mine."

Tully nodded, taking the advice to heart. "So you're going to become this great sorceress?" she asked, voice full of awe. "Be the mother to new races like Hart here?"

"Something like that. But first I--we, if you truly wish to be my apprentice--have a great deal to learn from the Father Trees. But, eventually, yes. Why not? It's a wonderful destiny." I had other plans, as well. Someday, I or my children would re-emerge into the nations of the Eleven Worlds, and gather the scattered, surviving members of the Order and bring them to our haven in Barracca Wood. Only then, I was sure, would the truly important work of the Order begin.

Hart spoke up. "Will you keep your new form, Tully?"

The transformed boy shrugged. "I don't honestly know. This is all so new. I mean, some of it feels unbelievably great. Riding a horse bareback like this as a girl--Seasons! And it was obvious in the dungeon that Tholena likes this body."

"I liked your other body just as well." I snaked my arms around her for a hug. "And you would please me no matter what form you wore. There's no rush, Tully. It will be a few weeks before you change back, if you wish to. In fact, perhaps I'll see if the Father Trees can turn me male for the time being."

"What? Why?"

I giggled and gave Tully's breasts a playful squeeze, making her gasp in delight. "Because, silly, I don't think I can resist taking your virginity a second time!"

Tully's joyful laugh welcomed me into my new life.