When they arrived at the fourth artifact, in the middle of a scorching hot pin covered in golden sand, Simon had the confirmation that he feared.

  ‘So it really is a game…’

  In front of the temple, which was half buried in the sand, Alexei was waiting for them in a light outfit that revealed most of his skin.

  “It’s way too hot here, I miss my mountain ! But well, we have to do this, right ?”

  The commander froze. It made no sense for the familiar they had met only a few hours earlier to be already here. Nobody could fly or teleport in this dimension, except for the Shaman. It was like an anomaly, something that was impossible. Simon looked at Thomas, but he didn’t have much of a reaction, only slightly frowning at the outfit Alexei was wearing, which showed too much of his body for comfort.

  “I really don’t like him…”

  “Me neither.”

  The knight wiped the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand, walking towards the entrance with shaky steps.

  “What madness is this weather…”

  On the way, Thomas had used his magic to morph Simon’s uniform, keeping the armor but making it fairly lightweight, with clothes that were very thin but nonetheless protected his pale skin from the sun. It was a great help, but it couldn’t completely block off the heat that radiated from everywhere, to the point that his feet buried in the sand felt like being baked in an oven. It was unbearable.

  The Shaman looked at him, his small frame and shaky steps making Simon look like a child. He was still recovering from the events at the castle, and a circution to repair an artifact was pretty hard on the body. For now he seemed more or less alright, but Thomas didn’t know how long that would st.

  “It’s not only me who is risking everything. What do you think, Bael ?”

  The king, standing next to the Shaman, scratched his head.

  “If I could help, I would. But that’s not possible.”

  He seemed to think for a bit but eventually shrugged.

  “I guess you will be able to repair this artifact with him, maybe one more, but after that you’ll need to do the circution with someone else.”

  “That’s what I feared.”

  Thomas turned to look at Alexei, showing him a big smile with a gaze full of love. It made his skin crawl.

  “Not him, that’s for sure.”

  Bael ughed.

  “Then pray to meet another familiar at the next artifact ! But there’s no guarantee they would be better.”

  The Shaman clicked his tongue.

  “What can be worse than that, honestly…”

  He eventually followed Simon, walking towards the artifact while ignoring Alexei. The blonde boy was pouting.

  “Why are you doing it with Simon again ? I’m getting jealous !”

  Seeing him act like a lover was upsetting to Thomas. It was as if he was trying to copy Bael but with different mannerism. In his head, that was unbearable.

  He flicked his wrist, sending Alexei flying in a cloud of sand, dust, and pink magic, and quickly entered the temple, pushing Simon inside. He quickly erected a barrier, then another one, three, four… Until he couldn’t see nor hear anything outside. Something strange was building up in his heart, like a feeling of urgency, like he was about to be in danger or to die, but nothing was threatening him. It felt like the first time his demonic ability had manifested, when Bael had been touched by Mariane. It was a feeling of dread so powerful that he thought he was about to die.

  “Thomas, are you alright ?”

  Contrary to his inner turmoil, he appeared calm. Too calm. Almost cold, icy, like you would freeze if you got close, even in this scorching desert. It was so worrying that Simon forgot about the artifact.

  “Is something wrong ? Do you need some rest ?”

  Eventually, the cold aura dissipated, but Thomas’ head was lowered and Simon couldn’t see his face. The knight took a step closer, carefully.

  “Do you feel better ?”

  Before he could react, Thomas pounced on him. He was almost fully a beast, only his legs retaining basic human form while his whole body was twisted, bent at strange angles, sprouting scales, fur, feathers, teeth, cws, it was a grotesque mess that didn’t make any sense, and it was way too big and powerful for Simon to resist. He tried to push it away but it was no use.

  “Thomas, stop !”

  The commander spotted the cigarette box that had fallen on the stone floor covered in sand, and tried to reach for it but the creature pinned him down with all its strength.

  “Please, you don’t want this !”

  Simon wiggled his legs free and kicked as hard as he could, making the beast fall to the side. He immediately crawled towards the cigarette box, took one out, and the creature jumped on him again. This time he was crushed under its weight, on his belly, and had no effective way to get out. Helpless, he felt his armor being taken off from his back and legs, and his pants lowered. Desperate, he screamed the most atrocious thing he could think of.

  “Do you want to rape me like you’ve been raped ?!”

  The beast immediately stopped. It gave Simon enough time to roll on the side, dislodging the creature, and light up the cigarette. He stood up, ready to find the next opportunity to put it in its mouth, but curiously the beast wasn’t moving. It was ying on the side, whimpering like a wounded animal.

  “Thomas ?”

  The knight took a few steps closer. He could finally see the creature’s face. Half of it was still monstrous, but the other half was partially human, with long shes soaked in tears.

  “Are you alright ? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that, but I didn’t have a choice…”

  Simon crouched next to Thomas and put the cigarette in his mouth, holding it for him since he couldn’t smoke on his own with that strange elongated snout full of sharp teeth. It took a while for the half human to finally move, rolling on the side to face the commander, as he was still holding the cigarette to its mouth, his fingers brushing against its lips. The life in the eyes didn’t fully belong to Thomas, it seemed mixed with that strange pink light, and the gaze it gave was that of a hunter looking at its prey. It was calmer now, the shock of Simon’s question probably shook it up quite a bit and the drug was helping, but it didn’t mean Thomas was back. The creature was hungry for flesh and pleasure.

  The knight looked behind him. The altar was only a few steps away, still in a fairly good state considering the conditions, and the artifact was pced behind, shining a murky light in the otherwise dark temple. They needed to do the circution anyway, so Simon took a deep breath.

  “Come to me, okay ? We’ll do what you want but over there.”

  He tried to stand up, but the human part of the face was still looking at him with those bck pupils full of tears.

  “I consent. You heard that Thomas ? You say I like freaky stuff, it’s time to test that theory !”

  Simon fshed a big smile and stood up, the creature immediately copying him, its mouth following the cigarette as if his lips were glued to the knight’s hand. When they were in front of the altar, Simon tried to turn around and bend over as per usual, but he was stopped by the creature who was inhaling the smoke as if its life depended on it.

  “Shit, you can’t smoke on your own right now, that’s a problem…”

  He knew that Thomas hated to see whatever was going to happen, that was why he had always asked Simon to have his back turned, but he needed to face the creature to hold the cigarette. He bit his lips, trying to think, but didn’t have time to find a solution because the beast had already pushed him back, pinning him down on the altar.

  “No, Thomas, wait…”

  The only thing he could do was hold the cigarette in one hand while covering the creature’s eyes with the other.

  “I’m sorry Thomas, bear with me…”

  Simon looked down to see the blinded beast pull his pants and take both his ankles in one hand, pulling his legs up, using the second hand to caress between his thighs, his buttcrack, his testicules, eventually stroking his penis.

  The commander wasn’t able to hold onto anything, so he had to bite the inside of his cheeks to contain his screams, but the taste of blood was already on his tongue.

  “I can’t block out your ears too, I’m really sorry…”

  The creature was touching him everywhere, caressing his skin, leaving traces of fire under its… fingers ? It felt as if Simon was melting from inside, this prolonged touch full of desire that he had never experienced was almost too much for him to bear. He could only moan while looking at the creature, it felt incredibly sensual. But he had to snap out of it, Thomas wouldn’t like what was happening now.

  “Hurry up.”

  Following his words, the beast got closer and started to py with his anus, putting his cw in and out, the sharpness bringing Simon to tears.

  “Stop, that hurts !”

  It seemed to understand and took out his paw, instead holding the knight’s legs higher, put his erected penis near Simon’s back end, and immediately entered him.