Mason sighed with another release, then rolled carefully through a beautiful tangle of soft, feminine flesh. It was good to be king.

Haley had recognized his mood and invited everyone living in the hall—Demi, Rosa, Becky, Lexi, the elves, Lodie, and the newest member, Dura, the orc warrior. After being a bit overwhelmed at the amount of women in Mason’s ‘harem’, the orc had soon joined them enthusiastically in the giant bed.

The sex wasn’t as pornographic as it used to be. They were all more relaxed, more patient—especially him. His women were more comfortable with each other now, and with nine sharing one man, they spent as much time talking and laughing with each other as directly under (or over) him.

While he was busy pressing Rosa into the mattress, half the girls were sitting around naked, chatting politely with Dura. They asked her if she was enjoying life in Nassau, what sorts of food she liked, how her pregnancy was coming along (she was already a few months in).

Girls went in and out taking care of babies. Girls went back and forth for snacks, or to cook. Sometimes they slept right on the bed, or on a nearby couch if they needed a break.

Mason would get up from whichever girl he’d exhausted, and gesture over whoever noticed and smiled at him first. That he was a spoiled, lucky bastard living out a fantasy was not lost on him. But when you had so many women to satisfy, you just sorta had to get on with it.

Ayet’s turn. It was amazing as always—her soft body so eager for him. He rolled off her after she literally screamed with release and went half comatose, then gave her a last little kiss on the forehead. Naya was next, mother and daughter one after the other as usual. She slid next to him naked with an excited grin, giving him an almost comically chaste peck on the cheek.

He threw her down and climbed on top of her, and her breathing quickened as she bit a fingernail and spread her legs wide.

They’d stopped pretending it was just about making babies. The elven women loved sex as much or more than humans, and now took part in the hedonism as eagerly as all the others. They’d also stopped pretending Naya’s mother didn’t love every second of getting fucked by her daughter’s husband. As expected, it didn’t bother her, which only made it more erotic for Mason.

He kissed her gently and took her slow and sweet as she wrapped her legs around him and moaned, turning her head to kiss Haley as his other wife slid in beside them with a grin and an eyebrow wiggle.

It took him a different kind of transformation to be with his women now. A precision in movement, control of his body at all times so he didn’t hurt them. A shift in mood from something harder and more predatory. He had to pay attention, to care about these soft, beautiful creatures and think like them.

The violence of the day hadn’t quite left his mind or limbs. No matter how he tried to focus, to be present with his women, flashes of demons trying to kill him flickered with the far better images before his eyes.

Pretty soon he needed Becky. He called for her and could tell they all understood by his tone. His player-stamina cowgirl came riding in like a very unique kind of western hero, kissing him roughly before getting in front of him with her amazing body pressed against his crotch.

He pounded her into the bed. Then the headboard. He gripped her hair and slapped her ass, hearing himself growl as he thrust deep and hard. He hadn’t even realized he’d started Wildshaping until he noticed his claws leaving red marks on Becky’s back.

But he didn’t stop, or slow down. She could take it. Soon he smelled Demi’s skin and hair and magic and sighed when she came closer. She kissed his neck and touched his face until he tasted her lips, feeling their divine titles activate and her magic wrapping Becky in some protective magic.

He’d calmed by the time he finished again, spraying deep in his cowgirl, re-claiming what was his, as he’d claimed so many times. She collapsed into the bed with a slightly pained, but mostly satisfied groan. Then half a dozen women were all on their knees in front of him, using hands and mouths to finish draining him, fighting for every drop at Haley and Demi’s instruction.

“Calm, baby, it’s safe here, you’re with your family.” Demi was stroking his face and kissing him as the girls worked. He breathed her in and sighed.

“OK. Time for sleeping,” Haley said with puffy eyes and a happy, wet grin from her knees. “Anymore and I think Mason will start eating us.”

He smiled and felt himself relax, so many women’s hands and bodies touching him as he lowered to the bed. There was more feminine voices and giggling as they all scooted in and found pillows or sheets and took whatever positions made them comfortable around him.

But his mind and body had finally worn down. He slept for a few hours, pushing away any undesirable druid dreams, desperate for a moment of oblivion.

**

Day two of the apocalypse started with a bang. And not the good kind.

[Planar Convergence Sub-event: in progress: Eastern Mana Scour. Defensive positions in Eastern continent advised. Points will be awarded, or penalized, for all strategic locations successfully defended or captured. Good luck!]

The message arrived before dawn. Mason flew out of bed, running towards the Nexus beacons. His command team arrived without instruction, Haley warping to him after she’d put on some clothes.

“I want everyone in the east.”

Phuong frowned.

“It might very well use the opportunity to…”

Mason held up a hand. “I’ll stay and watch the west, and get Nighteyes paying attention. I trust him to sense a threat. If it looks clear, I’ll come east too. I’m not worried about Nassau. We can all warp back between the Nexus beacons. There isn’t much else in the west we can’t just deal with, even if they get a foothold or there’s a delay before we do it.”

He was right and his officers were smart enough to know it. One by one they nodded. Carl looked at the much smaller, less detailed map of the world in the communication beacon and shrugged.

“Question is, where exactly in the east do we go?”

Kiaan stepped forward. The scout team behind him looked tired, but the civilian who’d crossed an entire continent by himself, with no guard, seemed entirely unbothered by one restless night.

“We’ve mapped the position of every original settlement, Patron. I can transfer it to your Wayfinder. The others can pull up less detailed versions of the map on their profiles, but they’ll need to see Orlon at the scout enclave first.”

Mason nodded, then waited as the scout’s power directly filled his brain with knowledge. He winced as he watched literally hundreds of little lights flare up across the eastern continent. The ‘emperor’ had scoured the place, bringing every settlement into his mega-city.

It had advantages, maybe. But now the system was punishing them for it. He had absolutely no doubt that every single one of those locations was a target, and if they didn’t defend them, they’d lose ‘points’ for every failure. And instead of getting a small, walled settlement with a teleportation beacon, they had to do things the hard way.

“OK. I hope you all enjoyed yesterday’s gentle intro to the apocalypse. Because today is gonna be a clusterfuck.” He took a breath. “I want a full player team at every single one of those previous settlement locations in the east.”

Phuong nodded like he wasn’t surprised, just doing his duty as a general when he spoke.

“That will leave the holy city with a skeleton crew, Patron. Not nearly enough to guard the long walls in case of a real attack. There aren’t enough beacons for so many teams to teleport back, either. Maybe only a hundred players could return in a crisis.”

“I’m aware. Give out all the beacons to stronger teams. But the city is the one place that can actually defend itself. Choose the teams and locations. Get all the scouts moving and keeping people informed. You and Garet can roam with your teams and be ready to help anyone that gets overwhelmed. I’ll answer if a scout gives me a red warning. Otherwise, I’ll just go where I decide. Any disagreement or better ideas?”

Carl and Phuong exchanged a look and a shrug.

“Sounds like a plan to me, kid. Should we, uh, get Blake doing something useful? He’s still just sitting in his tower doing nothing.” 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Mason had no idea. So far mobility seemed to be the most important thing. Blake was powerful enough to probably defend anything on his own, but a single location didn’t matter much. At one of their few meetings he’d said he’d gained quite a lot of experience in the past several months—though Mason had no idea how. Maybe it gave him a new tool or two. He shrugged.

“Get him in the city. I assume the Arcane Order and the city’s civilians can help…anticipate attacks, or something. He can work with them. If in the off chance the city gets swarmed, he’ll be useful.”

His officers nodded, and he met all the men’s eyes with a comfortable last moment of silence. They all knew the score by now. They were ready for war. Eager, maybe, to get it started, to see what the enemy was throwing at them.

And nobody was more eager than Mason.

“Good luck, gentlemen.” He grinned and walked towards the exit, a part of him hoping the east was a ruse, and that he’d have to fight some horrible attack alone in the west. “I’ll see you on the battlefield.”