Chapter 5

When Parisa had first seen David’s bed, she had doubted the two of them would be able to spend the night in such a tiny thing. It was a normal sized twin, though the foot of the bed had been removed to allow for David’s height. Her own bed back home had easily been five times as wide, offering plenty of room for Parisa and several of her sisters to all cuddle together when the nights got chilly. She had been just about to magic him up a new one when David had tackled her into bed, giving her other things to focus on.

By the next morning, her doubts were gone. Oh, she was still going to make him a better, larger bed, as there had been a few too many close calls where one or the other had almost fallen to the floor. But there were a few advantages to the smaller bed as well, such as the feel of her husband’s body pressed against hers as she came awake. They had fallen asleep with her curled up against him, his arm wrapped protectively around the center of her body while his legs overlapped with hers. That they had remained that way was just a testament to how exhausted they had been.

Fine hairs stood up along the base of Parisa’s neck as David’s breath fluttered over her skin. As big as her husband was, Parisa would have expected her husband to have deep, bear-like snores, but instead he was surprisingly quiet, barely louder than a baby’s whisper. The djinn smiled and snuggled in tighter against him, prompting David to shift his hips in response. When he finally stopped moving there was something hard pressed against the back of her thigh.

“And just what might you be dreaming about?” Parisa murmured happily. She twisted her hips and lifted her leg, allowing his erection to slip forward. The angle was all wrong for penetration, but perfect for grinding against her clit. Whether dream or instinct, David began to buck against her, see-sawing his cock up and down her increasingly wet cunt. Gently, so as not to wake him, Parisa lowered her leg again so that his cock was trapped by warm, soft flesh on all sides. David didn’t slow, but began to thrust faster, increasing the rate of friction as his shaft dragged across her clit.

Parisa squeezed her thighs together, wrapping his cock in a warm fleshy tunnel. David’s pace never slowed, even with the added pressure, and Parisa had to bite her lip to keep from making any sound which might wake him. His shaft kept dragging back and forth over her clit, each pass sending a fresh stab of pleasure deep to her core. Slowly, carefully, Parisa turned the arm curled around her body upwards so her tightened nipple pressed flat against the palm of his hand. A shudder snaked its way down her spine as calloused fingers closed over her breast and this time there was no holding back the slight gasp that escaped her lips. Caution fled in the same moment, and she began to roll her hips in time with his, seeking her final moment of release.

“Not quite yet,” David whispered. Parisa’s lust-addled brain barely had time to register the fact he had spoken before her world was turned upside down. David’s body surged against hers, pushing her over on to her belly as he rose up behind her. One hand pinned the djinn by the neck while the other pulled her ass into the air. His knees shoved her legs in opposite directions, exposing a glistening wet cunt. No warning was given as he shoved his way into her, impaling her pussy with one hard thrust.

“Auh!” Parisa gasped as his hips slammed against hers. Wet as she was, her body offered no resistance as his cock plunged straight to her deepest point. There was no time to prepare, and her body felt as if his thick penis were trying to split her in half. Her fingers scrabbled at the thin sheets beneath her as he slammed into her a second time, the sudden shock of his entry driving the air from her lungs. Her legs slid out from underneath her as he hammered into her over and over, but David managed to stay with her all the way down, until the weight of his body covered hers.

The sound of his breath was harsh in her ear as the two of them just lay there. His sudden burst of action left David winded, but Parisa knew he hadn’t spent himself, not yet. She could feel his cock rooted deep inside of her, throbbing in time his heartbeat. The hand clutching the back of her neck eased off as he planted his arms to either side of her and lifted his body up so that he was arched over her. He withdrew until just the very tip of his cock was pressed against her entrance. “You thought I was asleep, didn’t you?”

“I did, yes,” Parisa moaned. She tried to push back with her hips to pull him back inside of her, but he was too heavy.

David started to slide back in, but stopped as soon as the tip of his penis was entirely inside her and nothing more. She was so incredibly tight, and it was taking all his willpower not to fuck her till he came. “And so you thought you would just ... start? Without me giving you permission?”

“I thought you were dreaming!” Parisa whimpered as he started to pull away again.

“So?” He slid a little further into her, only to pause when she started to squirm. David grunted and lightly slapped her ass. “Stop that. I didn’t give you permission to move.”

“Sorry, Master!”

David sucked in a deep breath and thrust all the way into her. “Say that again.”

“Master!”

Parisa’s ass bounced as his hips slammed into her again. “And what does that make you?”

“Your slave!”

“Remember.” Thrust. “You.” Thrust. “Belong.” Thrust. “To.” Thrust. “Me!”

“Yes, Master!”

David grabbed a fistful of hair and tugged her head back, so that he could look her in the eye. “I’m going to cum soon, slave. Where do you want it?”

“Mark me, Master!” Parisa begged. “Claim me as your own!”

David did as she asked. He buried his cock in her one last time, straining to go as deep as possible. He held it there for as long as he could, the pressure steadily building like a steam engine about to explode, until it finally became too much to bear. He pulled out of her with a wet pop as her body made one last attempt to keep him, and then he was kneeling over her, furiously jacking his cock until thick white ropes of cum painted her back. Once the last one had landed somewhere in the crack of her ass, David sat back on his heels, breathing heavily. The exhaustion lasted only a moment before his original wish kicked in and refreshed him, but David made no move to change his position.

Parisa rolled over between his legs, smearing his cum into the sheets. The thin cotton stuck to her skin as she propped herself up on her elbows, only to begin slowly peeling away from her body as gravity imposed itself. The djinn grinned at her husband and purred, “I should wake you up like that more often ... Master.”

David laughed as her sultry voice taunted something primal deep inside of him. “Mmm, maybe you should!”

Parisa laughed as well, then sat up to kiss him. It was a kiss of happiness more than a kiss of lust. Their lips remained pressed together for several heartbeats before Parisa sighed with contentment and relaxed back against the pillows. “I love you very much, my husband.”

“And I love you, too.” David smiled and leaned over to kiss her again. They both turned to glare at his bedroom door as the familiar beat of ‘Shave and A Haircut’ was knocked out across the wood. David barked, “What, Sam?”

“It’s getting on to twelve, dude.” Sam’s voice was muffled by the bedroom door. “Figure you and your lady might want to get out of bed and have some food before we have to get into the game.”

“Shit, I completely forgot,” David muttered as he rolled off his wife.

“Forgot what?” Parisa asked.

“We’ve got a guild raid scheduled for today,” David explained. The words were in English, but that didn’t mean they meant anything to the djinn. She frowned and looked at him sideways, prompting David to sigh before elaborating. “It’s a game we all play. Sam, I, and a few of our friends get together on the weekends to hang out in this virtual world and ... this really doesn’t explain anything for you, does it?”

Parisa shook her head. “Would it be easier to show me?”

“Yeah, probably.” David leaned over the edge of the bed and snagged a pair of jeans off the floor. He took a whiff and decided they smelled clean enough, so he pulled them on. When he looked back at his wife, she was already wearing the same red dress she had been wearing the day before. “Is that the same dress or... ?”

Parisa’s brow furrowed. “Is there something wrong with it?”

David considered the question. “Well, it’s a very nice dress. But we’re probably going to be doing a lot of sitting around for the next few hours. You sure you don’t want something more comfortable to wear?”

“Like what?”

David concentrated and sent her a mental picture of what he considered to be appropriate gaming wear. A split second later, Parisa was dressed in a pair of baggy sweat pants and a loose fitting hoodie. She held up her arms in confusion. “I thought you said the women of your nation did not need to be so covered?”

“Well, there is covered...” David leaned in to kiss her as he reached for the zipper running up the front of the hoodie. His mouth moved lower and lower as he tugged the zipper down, until his lips were pressed right up against the top of her cleavage. Parisa had, of course, created the clothes just as he imagined them - sans bra. He pushed the hoodie to one side and flicked his tongue over her nipple before finishing, “ ... and then there is covered.”

“I see,” Parisa answered breathily.

“Oi, you two!” Sam yelled from the living room. “Get a move on! You’re burning daylight!”

David groaned and pulled away from his wife. “All right, we’re coming!”

“Yeah, you did that all last night! Right now we’re supposed to be gaming!”

Parisa flushed with embarrassment and added sound proofed walls to her to do list right after the bigger bed. David just grinned and pulled her zipper back to a point where the hoodie was once again protecting her modesty. Then he grabbed her by the hand and tugged her after him. “Come on, or we’re never going to hear the end of this.”

Sam was already in his seat by the time the pair reached the living room. He had already mounted his headset and had the game loaded, his mage slowly spinning in the center of the character selection screen. The black wire from his headset nearly strangled him as he turned to face them. “Hey, you ready to show her how to play?”

“Sam, there’s no way we’re going to get her ready to play in time for the raid,” David replied. He glanced at his watch. “We only have two hours before the rest of the guild is going to sign on.”

“There are such things as insta-levelers,” Sam pointed out. “Which can be picked up for really cheap. Even if you don’t want to use that card of yours, we probably have enough gold to buy one straight off.”

“And her equipment?”

“Again, credit card or gold...”

“Would someone please explain to me what is going on?” Parisa asked.

“Sam wants you to fill out the missing spot in our raiding party for the game tonight,” David explained. “The problem is, if we made you a brand new character right now then you would only be level one and with no real gear, when we’d be going up against Surtr.”

Parisa blanched. “You are planning on attacking the High Lord of the Fire Giants?!”

“In the game,” David explained. “Not the real one.Wait, there’s a real one?”

Parisa nodded. “He is a terrible, terrible man. He does little other than spend his time coming up with new ways to cause chaos and destruction. He has been locked in battle with my father, the fey, the yokai, and any other realm he can send his armies at for as long as I can remember. His soldiers revel in the destruction and are individually fearsome warriors who recover from their wounds in mere moments. Only his poor showing as a commander has kept him from causing more damage than he already has.”

“Okay, good to know.” David frowned as he wondered if fire giants were one of the threats Karcseras had been warning him about. He shook his head to get rid of the thought. “He’s got a fairly similar reputation in the game, only instead of him attacking us, we have to go attack his main temple. If we can defeat him, then there is a chance we can find a very rare and powerful weapon.”

“Yeah, like point zero zero zero zero zero one per cent of a chance,” Sam snickered.

“That does not sound like a very high chance.” Parisa sounded concerned. “Would it not be easier for me to just grant you the sword?”

David shook his head. “It’s one of those things we need to do on our own. I mean, if it was just a matter of owning the sword then we would just buy it from the auction house. Getting the sword isn’t about owning the sword, it’s about showing that we beat one of the toughest bosses in the game.”

“I see...” Parisa nodded. “What would you have me do, then?”

“Well, our party is short a player,” David answered. “Which means we can’t hit him hard enough to keep him from healing. If you were with us, we’d probably be able to do enough damage to actually beat him for once. The highest damage is dealt by assassins, but they tend to be a trickier class to play. The easiest is usually the knights, where you just have to stand there are hit things while they hit you back.”

“We ought to just make her a fireball mage,” Sam interjected. He shrugged when David started to object. “Look, you’re our only healer. If we have three tanks then you’ll end up spreading the healing too thin and someone will die. If we make her a healer, we still won’t have the extra damage we need. If we spec her as a fire mage, then she can just lob fireballs at him and I’ll re-spec with a more defense and control spell list. That should help take some of the heat off of you.”

“That ... actually makes some sense,” David admitted reluctantly. “Alright, I guess we can work it that way. We just need the computer, I guess.” He turned to Parisa. “I wish we had the absolute best gaming computer to use.”

Parisa smiled and snapped her fingers. David expected for a desk to appear with a computer on top of it, but instead there was a soft twisting sensation deep inside his gut and the next moment the three of them were standing in the center of a large room, its black walls sectioned off into ten by ten grids by softly glowing white lines. “Um, where are we?”

“There’s a door over here!” Sam called out. He cracked it open and peeked outside. “And it leads to our living room. So I guess we’re still in the apartment?”

“I think we are ... inside the computer?” Parisa guessed. “Do you know what this might be?”

“Now loading Dragon War Eternis,” a soft feminine voice declared. The walls began to shimmer and fill with color. A moment later the trio were standing in the center of a vast, open green field under a cloudless blue sky. Sam and David were both dressed in the costumes their characters had collected over many long hours of gaming, while Parisa wore nothing more than a plain grey mage’s robe. Clutched in her left hand was a crooked stick. It wasn’t even a pointy stick.

“What is this?” she asked as she held up the stick.

“Holy shit!” Sam exclaimed. “You created a virtual reality simulator!”

“A what?”

“It means you’ve put us in the game,” David elaborated. He drew his sword and gave it a few careful swings. It seemed rather light, no more than a few pounds, and it cut the air easily. When he tried closing his eyes and concentrating, a neon blue sphere of holy magic manifested in the palm of his hand. “Instead of simply watching it play out on a screen, it’s like we’re actually going to be in the middle of the action.”

“Is that a good thing?” Parisa asked.

“I don’t know,” David answered honestly. “I mean, on one hand, it could mean faster reaction times, which is always a good thing. On the other hand, what happens when we get hit by one of the game’s monsters? Half the time in the movies, we’d end up getting a sudden dose of electroshock therapy.”

“Got the answer to that right here!” Sam called out from over by the door. He had somehow managed to get access to what looked like the simulator’s main control panel. “And yeah, there is a feedback setting! I am going to set it to zero for now.”

“So I am going to have to use this to fight monsters?” Parisa held up her stick. “This does not seem wise.”

David shook his head. “That’s only for the most basic attacks. Once we start, you’ll have access to most of the character’s spell list. The only thing you won’t have access to are some of the achievement skills and abilities.In fact, why don’t we get started on that right now?”

Parisa nodded. “What would you have me do?”

“First, let’s get you leveled.” David pulled out the credit card she had created for him and handed it to his wife. After some fumbling, they managed to figure out how to open the in-game menus and add the credit card to both their accounts. The menus appeared as long scrolls that floated in front of a player and were manipulated via holographic quills which floated nearby.

Once they had made and confirmed their selections, then a small wooden chest, no larger than a toy car, popped into existence and began to orbit Parisa’s head. The djinn reached out and touched the chest lightly with her finger. The chest immediately dropped to the ground with a heavy thud, and swelled up to several hundred times its original size. The lid slid back of its own accord, revealing a small, cantaloupe-sized golden fruit that vaguely resembled a blueberry.

“Normally we’d just double click on it,” David explained when Parisa looked at him askance. “Maybe try eating it?”

Parisa nodded and raised the fruit to her lips. As soon as she tried to take a bit it exploded into a golden powder. The flecks of gold swirled around her body before vanishing in a burst of white light. A blue bar appeared above her head and began to rapidly fill from left to right. It repeated the process for a solid minute, and each time the bar was completed a bell would softly chime.

Parisa looked down at her hands, turning them up and down to examine them. “I don’t feel any different.”

“Well, it is just a game,” David pointed out. “This is just a simulator. My guess is that it will follow our actions, but I don’t think it can actually do anything to us. But that should have automatically levelled you up to a hundred. Go ahead and pull up that stats menu I showed you earlier.”

Parisa poked the air just a bit to the left of her shoulder and a new scroll unfolded in front of her. She blinked when she saw just how large some of the numbers had gotten since she first created the character. “Any suggestions?”

“Mana, you should definitely max out your mana,” David suggested. “After that? I would go for as much stamina as possible and then agility. Mages tend to be pretty squishy, so that will allow you take a hit or two and hopefully dodge the rest. Don’t worry too much about strength. If something gets close enough for you to hit it, the rest of us are probably already dead.”

“Okay.” Parisa hastily scribbled in the appropriate numbers with her quill. Instead of having to tap an ‘OK’ button, she just signed her name at the bottom. As soon as she did, the scroll rolled itself back up with a snap and then vanished. It was quickly replaced by another scroll. “What about my spells?”

“Hmmm.” David glanced over the list, trying to decide which would make for better choices. The only problem was he never really played much as a mage. He preferred to either serve as the party’s healbot, or, if he was playing alone, to just run up and hit things as mindlessly as possible. No husband, however, ever wants to look less than knowledgeable in front of his wife. “I would do a little mix and match. Go for some low damage, but quick casting spells to make sure you have a steady damage output, but you also want a couple of real nukes in there as well.”

“Nukes?” Parisa frowned at the unfamiliar word.

“Uh...” David paused at trying to explain the concept of weapons of mass destruction. On one hand, not exactly something to be proud of. On the other, he was fairly certain that Parisa knew quite a few people who could make nukes look like firecrackers. Hell, she could probably make a nuke look like a firecracker if she put her mind to it. Or literally turn a nuke into a firecracker if she wanted. Or vice versa. His wife was better armed than most countries, or could be with a snap of her fingers. It was actually a rather sobering thought. “Really big explosions.”

“Ah, I see!” The djinn started picking from the spells which had the highest stated damage. “Okay, and now what?”

“Now, you get to go shopping,” David answered with a laugh. Another little brown chest materialized in front of Parisa, but this time when she opened it nothing came out. Instead there was the sound of two coins clinking together, and when she went to check her inventory her wealth had gone from the fifty copper pieces every character started with to a small fortune in gold. “Just don’t spend it all in one place. You’re going to need a full set of armor, a couple of weapons, and you want to make sure you have all the necessary accessories as well. Fill up each inventory slot to the best you can.”

Parisa nodded and opened up the game’s auction house, only to stare in surprise at the sheer number of items for sale. There were rings and swords, costumes and armors, pets and mounts, all with a hundred different varieties to choose from and an impossible number of names to keep track of. She was tempted to ask David for advice, but a quick glance confirmed he was in the middle of his own shopping spree.

‘So be it, ‘ Parisa decided. She would never get anywhere in her new life if she had to constantly ask David to explain things to her. Better to make her first mistakes in a game than where she might cause an actual problem. After some tinkering she managed to sort the various options by level, getting rid of the least powerful objects. When that left her with too many options to pick from she tried looking things up by price, assuming more expensive meant more powerful, only to discover the most expensive items in the game was a set of stuffed toy rabbits. They didn’t even do anything that she could see, as when she hovered over them there were no stats listed. They weren’t particularly cute, either. So, deciding value was a bust, she decided to sort by rarity.

Now that produced results. Thirty different weapons immediately raced to the top of the list, their icons edged in a faint red glow. They were incredibly powerful, each one individually capable of doubling her character’s abilities, and rather than the usual prefix-style-suffix naming scheme which the regular weapons seemed to have, each had a simple, one word name.

They also had prices that would bankrupt most small countries. Real world small countries.

Parisa found herself drawn to one staff in particular. It had been modeled off a piece of nearly translucent quartz, with a thick vein of gold wrapped snake-like around the middle of the shaft. Mounted at the very top was a dragon rising up on its hind legs, wings spread, and arms raised in supplication. Digital smoke wafted from its nostrils as its head turned back and forth, occasionally spitting small blasts of flame at unseen enemies.

‘So that is a Mythic Weapon.’ She stared at it longingly, but didn’t have anywhere near enough gold to purchase it. It was a problem which could be easily overcome by use of the credit card, but she rejected the notion in the same thought in which she considered it. ‘I see why David and his friends would want such a weapon, and why they refuse to buy it. Something that powerful deserves a story of its own. It would be far too precious to simply buy it like a cheap rug!’

After a little bit more digging she found a rather pretty staff topped by a large blue sphere. The name was incomprehensible gibberish, but it provided her with a boost to her mana and health, both of which seemed useful. Staff in hand, that just left the armor to be purchased.

‘The things we do for our husbands, ‘ Parisa mused as she looked over the the available choices. There were powerful armors and there were beautiful armors, but there didn’t appear to be any powerful and beautiful armors. It was actually rather disappointing. She frowned as she studied the options. ‘Form or function? Which is more important, that I look pretty for David, or that I help him win his game?’

It was actually a rather difficult decision for a young woman who had, until recently, led a rather sheltered life. Everything she had been taught about the world, which was admittedly not much, had been geared towards making sure she could please a man she had never met. Worse, now that she was actually in the world, she was finding much of what her family had told her to expect was either incorrect or irrelevant. Knowing four different ways to pour tea and how to kneel in the same spot for hours on end was completely useless for making a video game character.

Parisa glanced over at her husband, looking for some silent clue as to how to proceed. David was standing next to Sam, slowly stroking his chin as he considered something the other boy was pointing at. The pair had about a dozen scrolls floating in front of them as they tried to get their own characters ready for the game. It would have been easy to interrupt their conversation, but something held her back. It was more than just propriety - she would never dream of interrupting two men, at least not short of a life or death situation - but more that she had a nagging feeling that David would be happier if this were something she handled for herself.

The corners of her mouth curved upwards as she realized what she had to do. Magicking the Mythic Weapons into their possession might go against her husband’s wishes, but he’d had no problem when she had simply created clothing for herself. Wasn’t that all she had to do now? ‘Besides, as Hydarnes would be apt to remind me, those who are unwilling to cheat are simply not trying in the first place!’

The various icons in front of her began to blur and merge as numbers and letters leapt off the screen to rearrange themselves. The number indicating her gold began to slowly tick up as well, though that was mostly curiosity about how much she would be allowed to carry. The whole process took only a few seconds, its completion noted by a soft ding. The air around her shimmered as swirling rainbows danced across her golden skin, leaving behind the costume she had chosen.

“God damn,” David murmured as he watched the lights vanish. He’d seen the initial flash, and turned to see what his wife was doing. Parisa’s baggy sweats and hoodie had vanished, only to be replaced by an outfit that would have made a Boris Vallejo pin-up blush. Whoever had designed the costume appeared to have started at the bottom with the intention of working their way up, only to realize they were running out of fabric almost half way through. Her knee-high boots looked to be made from crimson leather, climbing up and over her kneecaps. Her shins were protected by gold plating, matching the golden scrollwork curling around her thighs.

The boots were also where most of the fabric seemed to have gone. Her skirt was blood red lace, so thin as to be nearly transparent, hanging from a thin band of hip-hugging gold. It was also completely open in front, exposing a thong held in place by thin gold chains. By then the designer must have been almost entirely out of fabric, as the attached strapless bra hugged the bottom of her breasts as if afraid it might fall off in a stiff breeze. The top half of the bra was gold lace which, normally, would have been just fine on a video game character. A little risque perhaps, but the average video game character was about as anatomically correct as a Barbie doll. On Parisa, however, it meant her nipples were quite clearly obvious.

“What?” Sam turned around to see what had David so fascinated. His eyes went wide as he looked over Parisa. “Woah.”

“Dude!” David immediately clamped his hand over Sam’s face, like an overprotective parent who had just remembered the movie they were watching was not entirely appropriate for their child.

“Hey, get off me!” Sam protested as he swatted at David’s arm. “Come on, man!”

“That’s my wife!” David hissed angrily.

“So? Did you forget how I found the two of you yesterday afternoon?”

“That’s not the same thing and you know it!”

“Right, got it,” Sam said with a grin. “Watching the two of you fuck, completely okay. Her in a slightly skimpy game outfit and you’ll go all Schwarzenegger on my ass. Good to know. Does that mean I should have stopped by your room last night?”

David made a sound not unlike a choking bullfrog and slapped his friend in the back of the head.

“Aww, now that was just uncalled for!” Sam protested, still grinning like a madman.