Chapter 12

I am not sure if I dreamt at all, but I felt incredibly groggy when I started to wake up. Normally I tend to come to consciousness pretty quickly but felt like I was trying to wade through mud. My body felt weak and heavy and I struggled just to get my eyes open. I got the briefest glimpse of blurry light before the weight pulled me back down and I was unconscious again. The next time I regained consciousness, I didn’t feel as bad, but it was still a struggle to try and open my eyes. I heard various voices, but they were muffled, like my ears were full of cotton. This happened off and on numerous times, waking up only to fall back under again. Each time, I got a little bit stronger, but not enough to stay awake more than a few moments.

It had to be at least the twelfth time that I awoke, that I was finally able to fight off the exhaustion that kept pulling me back into sleep. I could see I was in a small room, almost the same size of my first room when I arrived. Looking around, I noticed the walls were white and smooth. Instead of stone, they looked to be drywall and I felt the pit of my stomach drop. I looked around and saw lights in the ceiling and beside me was semi-modern medical technology for tracking a patient’s vitals.

I began to wonder, had it been just a dream? Had my time on Eden been a construct of my mind that played out as I was unconscious? What of Amenthia and Entivala; had they been real or just dream girls I made up? As these thoughts danced around my mind, the door opened, and a young woman came in. She seemed to be dressed like a nurse, but the candy striper variety, not the usual style of medical scrubs. If I didn’t know any better, I would have assumed that I had awoken in anywhere between the fifties and the seventies.

She seemed to look around my age, with deep chestnut brown hair done up in a bun. She looked to be around five foot four, with a slim, yet curvy, build. She wore a little nurse’s hat, with the red cross on top of her chestnut hair. Her makeup was light and accented her green eyes and full lips. The uniform wasn’t form fitting like in hentai or porn, though the curves of her body were still evident. It buttoned down the front, with sleeves ending above the elbow and a skirt that stopped at mid-thigh. She puttered around, checking my heart rate and blood pressure. The modern tools she was using were giving me more cause for panic.

“Ah, you’re up,” the nurse said, with a warm inviting smile. Her voice was soft and sweet like honey and made me become a bit more at ease.

“We weren’t sure if you were ever gonna wake up,” she continued as she checked the monitors next to the bed. “You took a bit of a beating, so some of it was due to the medication we gave you, but then you just began to fight waking up. Still, I am happy to see you awake and lucid. I can’t wait to let the others know that you are up.”

I took a deep breath and replied, “Umm, I know that this will probably sound foolish, but where exactly am I?”

“It’s not foolish at all,” she said with a laugh and a wave of her hand. “What is the last thing you remember before waking up?”

I felt my cheeks redden slightly, as I mulled over what to tell her. If I had returned, telling her I was attacked by monsters in a subterranean tunnel would be the wrong thing to say. I had no idea where I was, when I was, and if what I had experienced was real. If I told her what I remembered, I might get tossed into a looney bin. It had been so long since my initial accident I couldn’t remember how that happened so I could tell her that.

I scratched the back of my head. “I don’t fully recall what happened, to be honest, ma’am. It is still a bit hazy, but I am sure that it will come back to me soon.”

“Aww, we didn’t expect there to be any amnesia,” she muttered as she reached over to place the back of her hand against my forehead. “I hope the damage you withstood didn’t leave anything permanently damaged. Now, while I appreciate the show of respect, you don’t need to call me ma’am.”

As she reached across me the opening in the top of her uniform gave me an unrestricted view down her top and I will readily admit that I snuck a glance. While she may not have been as top heavy as Amenthia and Entivala, she wasn’t at a loss for cleavage. What she did have on display looked rather good to me. Her skin had a soft, pale look to it that gave it an almost porcelain quality to her breasts. The view was good enough that I could feel a particular reaction to the display only a few inches from my face.

As she continued to move around in front of me, her breasts would jiggle and sway. By the time she was done I was at full mast with a very obvious erection. As she moved back, her left elbow grazed the head, pushing the obvious tent backwards a bit before it sprang forward.

“Oh my,” She exclaimed when she realized what she had touched. “Well it is good to see that not all of you suffered injury, though perhaps I should check to make sure?”

I felt a blush begin to spread as she slowly ran her hand up my thigh until it neared the tented region of the sheet. She then began reaching for the top of the sheet that I was trying desperately to hold onto. Just as her fingers gripped the top of the sheet, the door burst open and two very irate women entered the room. The nurse was in my way, so I couldn’t see who had entered, but I recognized the first voice immediately.

“Okay, that is quite enough, Gelta,” Amenthia commanded as she came up alongside the brunette. “If anyone is going to check the status of his cock it will be us! So get your filthy whore hands off that sheet or else I will make you sorry!”

The nurse let go and laughed, “I was just fucking with you Amenthia, I know he is yours. You two are lucky, though, I had to give him his baths during his time here and he is very yummy. If you ever decide to share him and that magnificent cock, look me up!”

Entivala laughed and replied, “If we did choose to share, it wouldn’t be with you, you slut! You’d fuck him into exhaustion and leave nothing for us!”

Gelta pouted, “Aww, don’t be like that, Enti.” She closed the distance between them and kissed the redheaded elf passionately. “I can share with friends who share with me.”

She then pulled Amenthia into a similar kiss before heading to the door. She looked back and said “Take care of yourself, lover boy. The next time we meet, I don’t want it to be back here, but I hope you are dressed the same.”

She walked out of the room, while the three of us still looked on rather stunned. Seeing as I was basically naked under the sheet, it was pretty clear what she was insinuating. Once she was gone, they both turned to me with tears in their eyes and jumped onto me. I let out a grunt as some of the air was knocked out of me and I felt pain from my injuries. It felt good to have them in my arms again and I was glad that it hadn’t been some kind of dream. Then they began kissing my neck and face, taking turns kissing my mouth. Once they were all kissed out, they cuddled into my sides.

“We were so worried,” Amenthia mumbled into my neck. “When you arrived here you were a mess. The healers worked fast to mend you, but you were kinda out of it. You kept lashing out and tearing the wounds back open before they could be healed fully. The healers sedated you and even then, you were trying to pull yourself out of it. They said you mumbled our names when you did as if you were still fighting to protect us.”

“What is with the room and the woman in the nurse uniform?” I asked once they pulled away a little bit. “I was scared that it had all been a dream and I woke up from a coma back on Earth. I never knew they had stuff like this from my world on Eden.”

Both looked surprised and Enti quickly answered, “We are sorry for that, Pathios. It wasn’t the intention to make you think that. We just remembered from our training that nurses who were dressed that way were a thing for males of your world. We figured we would treat you to it and Gelta was intrigued. Once she saw the outfit, she asked to keep it as payment. Normally they wear something much less brazen, with a longer skirt and no exposed flesh.”

They saw the look on my face and Amenthia added, “Don’t worry love, we had two made for us. You will have your own private nurses to take care of you once we get you home! But if I remember correctly, ours have even less material.”

“When will I be released to go home?” I asked, as I stretched my body a bit. “Just how long have I been here for? I swear, it felt as if a few weeks had passed.”

Both of them laughed and Amenthia replied, “You have been here for only two days. The medication puts you into such a deep sleep that it feels like it has been a long time. They dosed you so many times it probably felt like two weeks. As for when we can leave, Gelta is letting the other healers know and should come back with that info in a minute.”

“Other healers?” I asked as I glanced over at the door. “So she is a healer, not a nurse or whatever you would call them here?”

“Nope, we don’t have anything like that here,” Enti answered, as she brushed a stray strand of hair back from my face. “Typically it is one healer to an adventurer, though the damage that can be done to the upper echelon ones can sometimes call for more.”

I thought for a moment then asked, “So how does that work, then? On the higher floors, I mean. As we get deeper into the Dungeon, the crystal’s emergency escape functions dwindle to nothing, right? Like, we couldn’t escape from those things on the fifth floor.”

“Normally that shouldn’t have happened like that and those things never travel in packs that big.” Amenthia replied as she wrapped her arms around herself, “Darius got out yesterday and he has grouped with some higher-level Pact members to figure out what is going on. Something blocked our ability to just leave; normally that only happens with boss or sub-boss tiered creatures. We figure that it had something to do with the number of creatures we ran into and why they were so strong. It seems as if something one each floor is being manipulated by this shadow group.

“As for the crystals, once you get high enough in level, you can use them to escape if your health is at critical levels, or on the verge of death. Otherwise, they will sit dormant due to the negation field on the uppermost floors. You are then brought here to the Eden Healer Center in the capital and healed. A healer will move you to a room to be worked on and recuperate until you are able to move on your own. Once they let you go, you are sent via a transit tube back to your Pact House to finish your recuperation.”

“I am surprised that I wasn’t just magically mended and sent home,” I said with a sheepish grin. “I still feel sore and bruised from my injuries. I simply figured it would be a quick healing spell and then right back to the Pact House.”

Entivala sighed, “This isn’t like the healers in video games or Dungeons and Dragons back on Earth, Pathios. Otherwise, the stones wouldn’t be needed because resurrections would reverse any death that occurred. The Council still maintains the order of life and death. They also believe that some of the injury needs to heal naturally, as a reminder of what had happened. Sometimes pain motivates a person not to repeat the same actions again. If you remove the pain, then you remove the lesson to be learned. Your open wounds were closed and treated by the healers. The muscle and tissue bruising will be left to heal on its own, though we have salves to rub on you to help expedite it.”

The idea behind it kinda made sense, in an odd sort of way. If there is no threat of permanence, either of injury or death, then a person would become reckless. The meaning and reasons for what we do would become less and the need to go out to the Dungeon would dim. The danger is part of the appeal and what makes each day worth going there. To remove that danger lessens the experience. Still, my body hurt like a mother fucker and I found myself glad I hadn’t been left to have the whipping injuries from my punishment heal naturally.

A second later, Gelta entered the room with a smile and a wiggle to her hips. It also looked like she had undone one or two more buttons, putting her cleavage on quite a display. The gentle bounce they had with each step was mesmerizing and, glancing up to her eyes, I saw recognition and appreciation. Amenthia and Entivala got up to stand beside the bed in case she had to do some further tests. If they did, I thought her tits might slip out the top of her dress and I was kinda hoping they would.

“Well everyone, I am happy to announce that Pathios, here, is free to go,” Gelta said with a big smile, handing Amenthia a piece of parchment. “He is not to enter the Dungeon for at least three days, so please pass this on to Tyr. This documentation will make sure that he has been made aware of the circumstances. I am sure that he will take precautions to ensure Pathios doesn’t do anything stupid. I am sure you two will probably keep him too exhausted to leave his room before he is ready. Have a great day, you three, and take it easy on him, so, lots of fluids.”