I woke soaking wet with sweat and my head full of half remembered dreams. All of Xianta holding a leash attached to my neck. Some she fucked me, some she ripped me to pieces, but one of the most vivid moment came when she tossed me in a river to serve as bait as a massive shark.

  Sitting up, I looked at the mirror. The scratched ‘XI’ appeared as nothing more than casual vandalism now. My arm beeped insistently at me. I spped it off and trudged into the day. My cell told me of an all hands meeting at work before we opened. Management proved to be optimistic. MDA had the building cordoned off and government goons in hazmat suits still crawled over the property. I watched them bitterly cart a bunch of pallets out of the warehouse. Xianta hadn’t done anything to anyone, why all the fuss?

  I found myself standing next to Car and her tight-lipped smile. Warily, her gray eyes looked me up and down. I expected her to walk away, but instead she asked a question.

  “Worried that they’ll confiscate your TVs and ptops for magical residue testing Gavin?” Car was one of those people who looked kinda average at first gnce, curvy, average height, messy shoulder-length brown hair and pitted cheeks from a youthful battle with acne.

  “Heh. Hadn’t thought about that, actually.” I told her, after small of bit of hesitation, how long had it been since we talked outside of a formal department leads meeting? At least six months. “What do I file that under? Shrinkage? That will ruin Loyd’s record overnight.” I said, trying and failing to prevent the break up text she’d sent me from appearing in my mind like an unwanted notification.

  We should see other people. I don’t think we have much potential together.

  “Floyd should be thankful to MDA for the excuse, then.” She ughed briefly, fshing her crystalline teeth and in that small moment of mirth, she glowed with the captivating warmth that had snared me when I first came to work with her.

  “Yeah.” I agreed, then stood there trying to come up with what to say next before a MDA agent with a bull horn rescued me.

  “Your attention, please!” His voice boomed over the parking lot. The man looked like a federal agent out of Hollywood, bck suit, white shirt hanging off wide shoulders and square shaped jaw. “Please gather round.”

  He stood on the roof of an armored SUV and we all drifted from the yellow tapes that barred the entrance to him.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen. I have good news and bad news. First the good, in another forty minutes or so, we will be clearing the store to reopen.” A few cheers and boos came from the crowd, but most of us merely nodded. “Secondly,” the agent continued, “I regret to inform you that you have been the victims of a minor altered causality event. The extent of which we are not certain.”

  Worried gnces were exchanged among us, while I rolled my eyes. All Xianta had done was teleport me outside. Right?

  “We are aware that the entity received help from one of the employees that were in the store at the time of attack. Yet, we cannot ID who this employee is. It is possible they have been captured by the entity, then wholesale deleted from all records and memories. Now before you all panic, such deletions are rarely perfect, so we ask that you all stay on high alert for weirdness in the next coming weeks. Often times there will be a hole, logistically, in an organization which has someone disappeared. Be vigint! If you find yourself doing work, that you remember someone else doing or you don’t remember doing yourself report it. Or if two coworkers are arguing about who is dropping balls and both of them are remembering different events, stop and note it. Report any such uncertainty to your MDA case worker as soon as you can.”

  “Caseworker? Bull crap.” I heard someone curse behind me. Gncing back, I found Freddy watching the agent with distaste.

  “Now now. Those of you who do not have an MDA caseworker will be assigned a temporary one for the length of the investigation. He will be conducting interviews during work hours, participating willingly will go a long way towards identifying the missing individual and helping them. Those with caseworkers already, your cooperation or ck of, will be noted in your files.” He grinned at us, perfect white teeth and I heard his voice echo through my head, And if one of you has lied to us, we will find you.

  The sheer vehemence of the foreign thought made me shiver. But why had I heard it at all?

  “Fucker,” Car whispered from beside me. She held herself rigid, arms crossed, lips twisted into a scowl.

  Had he broadcast the threat on purpose? Magically? Had everyone heard it?

  “Thank you for your attention.” He said, passed his bull horn to Floyd, the store manager who I hadn’t noticed standing next to him.

  Floyd, haltingly thanked the officers and assured us that it be business as usual soon. We stood around for another hour or so before the MDA cut the yellow ribbon and we all streamed into work. Car’s prediction came true. Nearly all the Flptops and security hardware had been repced with evidence tags. Loyd directed me to a pile of paperwork to fill out for each individual item and I had maybe an hour to work on that before the public discovered we’d reopened. Being the first department people walk through meant I became the target for everyone’s curiosity. I couldn’t take a step without some joker sidling up to me and asking, “Sooo what happened?”

  “Sorry can’t say.” Became a personal mantra. I retreated to the back room a couple times just for a chance to breathe but found far too many coworkers seeking a simir refuge. Floyd chased us all out and onto the floor once.

  I arrived home exhausted.

  The mirror waited for me.

  I knew I shouldn’t. Especially with the MDA still keeping tabs on the store. Whatever Xianta did to keep me safe might not st much longer. I closed my eyes. The letters on the inside of my eyelids no longer bzed insistently. In time, they’d fade and I’d be safe.

  Despite that, or more likely, because of it, I took out my keys and knelt in front of the mirror. I slipped into the fugue of intense concentration, but this time I remained aware. Each line I drew unfolded into deeper intricacies, curling, reaching into the world beyond the gss. My key grew wet with a glistening ink that leaked from beneath my nails, not blood but something deeper. Each drop drawn grew the weight of the exhaustion that hung on my body and mind. Urgently it whispered my need for sleep, that I had given enough for one day. I ignored it, pushed against it, scratching first the A, then the N into existence. I began work on the T but the first two strokes hurt like a knife cutting through my own flesh.

  Tasting blood in my mouth, I dropped my keys. The carpet in front of the mirror was speckled with dark spots. Two more letters, two more and she’d arrive. Then I feel her touch again, the wildness of those tongues reaching down into me. With fingers stained with red, I fumbled to pick up the keys.

  Enough. A soft growl rolled across my mind. If you use yourself up entirely, what will I py with once I arrive?

  Looking up into the mirror, she sat on the center of my bed, her bulk taking up nearly half of its length. Her long tail curled around its foot. If she stood up, her curved horns would surely touch the ceiling. Her four eyes glowed with a gentle purple light.

  Gncing over my shoulder, revealed my bed, empty and undisturbed. Back in the mirror, she smiled.

  I’m not there yet, but I’m closer now. Let me show you. Keep your eyes here. She tapped the end of her bck nose before opening her arms invitingly. Now come to me.

  Standing, walked backwards and those arms swept me up into the softness of her embrace. She squeezed me against the pillows of her breasts and my butt rested on the warm cushion of her udder. I was a doll in her p, safe. The MDA couldn’t touch me here. My eyes started to close.

  No. She scolded gently, Keep them open or you’ll break the connection and then I can’t reward you for working sooo hard for me.

  “I just… want you here.” I said, straining to keep my eyes open. “The MDA knows you did something. They think you took someone back with you.”

  Xianta snorted, Don’t you worry about them, and caressed my chin. I could feel the cool hardness of her hooflike finger tips but her scent was absent. They think me a cruel, sophisticated animal. I would never abscond with a mortal I just met. I prefer to… Her hand slid down my chest and her long fingers slipped beneath the waist band of my pants. Throughly explore them first.

  She tore out the crotch my pants with an effortless flick of her wrist, expose my fccid cock to the mirror’s sheen. Taking me gently between thumb and forefinger, she expertly coaxed my cock erect.

  “Aaaaaah…” I moaned, leaning into her cleavage as her other hand fondled my balls.

  Do you wish me to help with that rune you started? You’ve exhausted your core energy, your magic, but there is another well we can draw from. Her smile grew to a toothy grin as her first hand curled around my cock and stroked my moderate length.

  “Uuuf yeeess!” I managed to speak, but the more complex revetion, that I possessed any magic at all floated out of reach on a raft of pleasure generated by her amazing touch. My hands cwed at the air until they reached on either side of me to tch onto her fist filling nipples and pulled.

  Xianta let out a sound that blended a bark and a goat’s bay. Her great tail shed behind her as her own hips began to pulse. Oh good boy. Pull, pull hard.

  I obeyed, yanking her tits. One of her hands smmed against my chest to steady me as the other pumped my length, coaxing the pressure to build at the base of my cock. She panted, her chest heaving against my back. I gave the nipples a twist. She bucked once beneath me and her jawed cmped down on my shoulder. Pain blossomed as a tooth pierced my skin.

  The sudden surge in pressure eclipsed the pain. In the mirror before me I watched my balls swell to the size of size of twin footballs, pushing my legs wide. I tried to look down at myself, but she seized my chin and force me to stare into the mirror. I screamed into her hand as my balls stopped expanding and the pressure continued to build, pushing out to the very tip of my cock but the release did not come. Instead, my penis swelled within her fingers, lengthening until its tip wavered above my belly button. Its girth widened as it skin became red and sick.

  Once I arrive I will put a colr around your neck and give you a task. Succeed and you earn a key. The colr has three locks. Escape my colr and you will unlock both the magic you hold and any I have given you. Xianta’s purr rumbled through my mind as the pace of her fingers increased.

  “Nnaahh!” I cried, unable to process anything but a need for release.

  And what if you fail? Is that the question your asking? Her voice teased.

  “C-c-cum! I want to cuuuum!” I cried out through open jaws, the pressure making it difficult to breathe.

  I’ll change you in a way that pleases me. Bit by bit at first. Then rger things, things that will make you forget all about the colr. Won’t that be fun?

  “Crrrk peeeeese!” I begged, as my body wracked by my ever tightening muscles.

  Very well. She ughed, gripped my cock and pointed it at the runes on the mirror. Cum my pet to be.

  My cock erupted in a torrential stream that arced through the three-foot gap between me and the mirror. The stream of cum struck the T that I had scratched into the surface and plunged through it. It continued into the depths of the mirror, unfolding in impossible ways. As the stream continued, a yawning pleasure slowly repced pressure and I took a full breath at st. For an instant I saw the runes, the letters of Xianta’s name, as she did. They were not letters of a nguage at all but strands connecting my world to her realm. The st letter, the ‘A’ would act as a winch to draw them together. My closet would become a gateway.

  The cum stream stopped and my swollen balls were filled with only a profound emptiness. She kissed my cheek as I sagged against her. In the mirror Xianta reached out to tap the white, dripping letter T in XIANT.

  “Lovely.” Her voice slid in through my ears, instead of simply appearing in my mind. “One more to go.” She gently stroked my head, combing fingers through my wavy brown hair. “Then our little game to decide what side of the mirror you’ll live on begins.”

  “Uhhh.” I tried to stir, protest a little, but the exhaustion colborated with the pleasant afterglow to create a profound emptiness in my head.

  “Don’t kid yourself. You decided to py the moment you saw me and you were doomed the moment I saw you. A silly human might call it true love. A silly duchess of chaos and dream like myself might call you a delicate morsel.” She wink with her left eyes. “But I’m far from silly. Humans have value. I do enjoy the wonderful things they create, when they forge their whims to create things in the material world. So, your first task is to do a little more shopping for me. I was displeased with the selection of a certain portion of your store.”

  I furrowed my brow in confusion.

  “You will acquire me selection of…” Her grin spread along the entirety of her muzzle. “Inimate attire. No need to size them correctly. I have a talent for tailoring,” she squeezed my cock, to illustrate. I barely twitched.

  “Awww, all tuckered out?” She sighed, “That's right, teasing only works on mortals before the sexing. If you fuck out all their fucks, then they have no more fucks to give. So ordered and linear.”

  Xianta carefully id me on my bed, pulled up the sheets around me, wrapping me in a messy bnket burrito. Then she stepped over me and sashayed into the mirror, her tail shing in time with the swing of her hips.

  “Till the morrow.” She sang as she opened the reflected door to my apartment and ducked through it.

  I closed my eyes.

  But the game hadn’t started yet.

  MisterNibs