Going Feet First Ch. 04

It's probably meant for doin' more than markin' me as a soldier of the Sun-kissed, he thought as the whole coat suddenly pulsed with that magic feeling.

Leaving the thought to his subconscious, he grabbed his helmet that was beside him and ran a hand over his scalp. His once stubbly hair was starting to grow, and upon stroking his chin, he realized his facial hair was sprouting as well. Shaking his head, he put on his helmet and looked over to his rifle that was leaning up against the side of the bed.

"I don't think I'll be near any officers for a long while, why should I care?" he asked, the moss on his M14 replying with an indifferent groan.

With a bit of a grin, he added, "It'd be nice to have somethin' on my head other than my helmet for once."

The moss hummed in agreement before it went silent again and left Galen to his own thoughts. Several minutes ended up passing before the handle on his door turned, opening up to reveal Keetle standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. She took one look at the black coat the Private was wearing and cocked an eyebrow. For a second, if only for a second, Galen swore he saw a hint of approval in her expression before she swept it away.

"Come. Jrastra is waiting."

"Yes, ma'am."

Standing up, Galen kicked the bottom of his trunk and the lid fell shut. He muttered a command word and a wave of magic pulsed from the chest to signify that it had been sealed. He then grabbed his rifle, double checking that there was no magazine in the receiver or a round in the chamber before following Keetle out into the hallway.

"Are you goin' to tell me what Dreek wanted me to talk to Jrastra about or am I gonna find out when I get there?" he asked as his hand began to glow bright enough to illuminate the unlit hallway around him.

"I know not what Commandants want," was all she would say as she led Galen to the end of the hall to the door leading to the stairwell. After going up two floors the two had reached the main living area of the headquarters and the Private extinguished the magical glow in his arm.

Upon entering the main room he found there was only a handful of Sun-kissed present compared to the dozen that were there when he had returned from the wizard's Overlook. One was bent over the table in the middle of the room, going over some documents while another three were resting on an adjacent couch, eating small meals while discussing something in Drow. It was to Galen's relief that they were ignoring his presence for once, as he couldn't quite get over the hostile glowers they had regularly passed in his direction.

Without delay he continued to follow Keetle across the room to the double doors leading to the Commandant's study. With the wave of her hand, the aid opened the doors with her magic and disappeared into the pitch black room.

Sighing as he ventured into the dark, Galen set his rifle down by the door and readied to light up his hand with magic, only for Jrastra's voice to sternly command, "Leave us in the dark."

"Yes, Commandant," he replied, coming to stand at ease as the doors to the study closed behind him.

In the blinding dark, Galen began to scan his eyes about the room, waiting to feel that icy chill in his veins whenever his eyes met Jrastra's. But no matter where he looked, the feeling didn't return. He began to wonder if Jrastra was even present before he heard her ask, "Do you know why you are here?"

She was right in front of him, three steps approximately, yet still he couldn't sense that brutal chill that her eyes inflicted upon his soul.

"No, Commandant," he answered.

"Mmm, of course."

"But I know it has to do with what happened over at the Overlook."

"Yes. Though there is more to it than what you experienced...

"Like what?"

There was a pause. "It seems I have to explain. Hmm."

Galen heard the Commandant begin to pace in front of him. "Felyn has a power, a power known simply as Empathy. It is capable of literally warping and controlling the emotions and eventually the minds of many living creatures."

In the darkness Galen's eyes widened and blinked repeatedly as he took this in. She can do what?

"So long as she keeps it in check, and knows how to properly wield it, it can be one of the most powerful abilities available to a Drow. But Empathy is the double-edged sword. If one is not careful, it can backlash and turn back upon to possessor of the power and destroy them."

"Like... what happened in the wizards' place," Galen concluded, still wrapping his head around the extent of the power. "She wasn't careful and something about me made her 'Empathy' mess us both up."

Through the darkness Galen could sense Jrastra's frown. "That is in crude terms but it is correct. And now that Dreek has consented to a training session for her younger aid, I now ask you if you wish to assist with it."

Shrugging in a clueless manner, Galen answered, "Sure, I guess. I don't know how much of a help I could be."

"The level of emotional strength you possess is all the help I need. Just think the thoughts I ask when I ask for them. And do be prepared for... extreme feelings."

"Extreme feelings? What, am I going to be a guinea pig or somethin'?"

"I know not what a guinea pig is, but if this pig is a subject of demonstrations, then yes."

At the straight forward answer Galen's posture stiffened. "What? Hey, look, I don't completely mind takin' one for the team and endurin' a bit of that crap for Felyn to get a hold on her power or whatever, but I don't want her making eye contact with me until she's at a level where she ain't gonna scramble my brains."

There was a pause as Jrastra sighed. "She won't pose a danger to you, control will remain with me. After all, she isn't the only Empath. I am as well."

When Galen's eyes widened at the revelation, an intense sense of calm washed over his heart, easing his mind into a daze. Every muscle in his body relaxed and his every trouble withered away from his thoughts until his mind was blank.

When a subconscious alarm started going off in his head, Jrastra's voice echoed in his ear, "Surrender yourself for now, Galen. Be a gentleman and lend us ladies a hand by letting me in. You'll feel better when it is all done..."

...

Standing only two steps behind Jrastra with her eyes locked with Galen's, Felyn fought to keep the nearly overwhelming emotional effects that the First Commandant poured into the surfacer's mind from entering her own. Granted this level of emotion did not take nearly as much of a toll on her mind as Galen's raw feelings, as those had been suppressed by Jrastra, but one slip could still do serious mental harm.

"Have you suppressed this yet?" Jrastra asked, glancing in Felyn's direction as she continued to press down on Galen's inner feelings.

A steady breath escaped Felyn as she pushed with her mind and held back the emotional wave coming off of Galen. For a second an unexpected sense of alarm came off of him, the random emotion disrupting her focus. The following backlash struck at her mind, making her flinch as that overbearing calm poured over her heart.

Before the Commandant needed to intervene, however, Felyn steadied herself and managed to force out the emotional feedback. With her fists clenching at her sides she pushed back again, finally grasping Galen's emotions enough to put them at bay.

"I have it... pinned down," she answered, her lips pursed as her left eye began to twitch. "Yes, it's under control."

"Good. Now, I am going to let go of his emotions bit by bit, until I feel you are at your limit. You will rein in what I release. Understood?"

Clenching her jaw as she nodded shallowly, she responded, "Yes, Commandant."

Jrastra grinned as she turned to the young aid, breaking eye contact with Galen yet still maintaining her influence over him. "With my guidance, you needn't even meet his eyes to initiate your Empathy. Give it two centuries of practice, and you can bring more than one heart under your thumb at once. Watch, feel, and learn."

"AAaaahhhhh... C-commandant..." A voice near the door spoke out, Keetle stumbling forward from her observation point near the door.

"If you wish to be present during this, participate," Jrastra ordered with grin as she glanced in Keetle's direction. "Do more than observe, force-mage."

"Commandant..." the aid muttered again before she found herself at Galen's side.

There Keetle fell to her knees as her eyes danced about. After another push from Jrastra, her expression shifted, her hard look traded for one of bliss. In this state her gaze began to drift, her eyes tracing over the room until they settled on the sight of Galen, still locked in an intensely passive daze.

At first her face drew back into a scowl, though for only a moment. She quickly shied away with shameful eyes, her teeth digging in to her lower lip as her cheeks flushed. Her slowly hands joined together over her belly as though to catch the butterflies within while her thighs shifted uncomfortably against each other.

A new side of you emerges when you cannot hide your true heart, Jrastra thought as she watched Keetle. A silent chuckle escaped her before she turned back to Felyn.

As her fellow aid fidgeted beside the surfacer, Felyn felt the Commandant's empathic influence begin to reach out to her own mind. At first her instinctive reaction was to resist, but when Jrastra shook her head, "no," she relented. Instantly she felt a bridge form between their hearts, an empathic bond formed by their combined powers.

At that moment, Felyn could feel the level of power in the Commandant's empathy. Through her own ability she could sense how the Commandant wielded hers in such a precise and confounding manner.

And at that point she knew exactly to what degree she needed to refine herself to even begin to rival the scope of her elder.

"Now, Felyn," Jrastra started. "Let's continue."

.........................

An intense rush of passion shot forth from Felyn's mind into Galen's, causing the surfacer to shift uneasily as he stiffened up under his pants. His cheeks flared red, but he remained in a dazed state unaware of his surroundings. Beside him Keetle lay sprawled out on the floor, her whole body writhing as untamed sensations surged through her every nerve.

"Good, sexual desire is one of the most basic urges to induce upon a surface male, and often most effective. It can make them willing to do anything for you, from giving you what you may need to survive, to killing another that would threaten your life..."

Felyn only nodded at Jrastra's words as the Commandant continued to demonstrate with Keetle while leaving her to mostly handle Galen on her own. The younger Empath was faring well with the Private, managing to keep his emotions under control with only mild assistance from her mentor.

"But what I find curious, Felyn, is how easily you find these baser desires with the human," Jrastra said aloud.

"How so, Commandant?" she asked, her concentration becoming wary.

"When I had learned these skills, I found difficulty producing the imagery necessary to bring forth the urges. You, however, do so with ease... perhaps you already have them in mind?"

"Wha- AHH!" Felyn's mind froze, her face going blank. As her influence over Galen abruptly ended, the Private momentarily broke from his trance, only for Jrastra to send him right back into it.

Behind the mentally frozen Felyn, Jrastra closed in, placing her hands on the aid's shoulders as she whispered in her ear. "Perhaps you already had such images in your head long before we started this session? I see now that Keetle becomes infatuated by strength, so seeing that she found herself wet over this powerful 'demon' is of no surprise. And Dreek spent too long on the surface, so has she become complacent when among the kind that roams it. Admittedly, I have as well."

Felyn, even as she remained trapped under her Commandants influence, managed to swallow a lump in her throat.

"It is of no shame for a Sun-kissed to find satisfaction among a surface race. It is part of who we are as a sisterhood. Even I find myself too comfortable at times with some humans or our light-skinned cousins, and with what I know of Galen's skills already, I find myself tempted to try him out with my own body. But you..."

Jrastra pressed her chest against Felyn's back, grinning as her arms wrapped around the flushed aid's waist. "You have yet to spend some years upon the surface, and even so you are becoming infatuated with a human. This is an oddity, but also an advantage, as it allows you to manipulate one easily. But what did he do to earn this honor to begin with?"

Though she could not reason as to why, Felyn felt her tongue slacken and her heart open up as she spoke freely.

"My empathy triggered... at the river... where we... where we first encountered him and the Redding knights..."

The young Empath, fight as she might, quickly became lost in the warmth of the Commandant's body behind her. Even if she wished to shut her lips, she knew she couldn't as her inner heart forced its way out. Her mind and her attempts to lie became mangled in the web of confusion Jrastra had spun in her head. With that entrancing enigma plaguing her, her tongue relied even more on her emotions, and thus dived deeper into the trap her Commandant had laid.

"When a knight had struck my side and knocked me down, Galen unleashed his weapon upon him and killed him, saving my life. And right then did I first look into Galen's eyes, and in that I felt... only an empty shell. He had been hollow, except for a strong protective feeling, more powerful than I have ever sensed, coupled with some kind of foreign desire that I had never known."

Jrastra gave a passionate sigh and nestled her cheek in the crook of the aid's neck. "And for that you now have become a victim of this desire. I will teach it to you, in time. But between now and then, I believe we will find more use out of this human than being an instrument of war."

The web unraveled in Felyn's mind, allowing her to think on her own once again. Despite her attempts to form an empathic defense, she could still feel Jrastra freely toying with her heart.

"What use do you think of, Commandant?" she asked.

As she heard the question, the first Commandant slipped her hand from Felyn's waist to the crotch of her armor, where only mail separated her hand from the thin, felt underclothes beneath.

"Having the human satisfy both your urges, and Keetle's. Does this sound acceptable, force-mage?"

"C-commandant... he is... a surfacer..." the other aid spat as the Empathic influence over her slackened off just enough for her to speak.

The expression on Felyn's face melted as Jrastra's fingers pressed up into her sex through her armor, all while the Commandant continued to speak with Keetle, "Oh, my new sister, lying with a surface male is a pleasure all of the Sun-kissed experience. Some of your elders have yet to do so, something I can now rectify with our new pet.

"Lince'sa..." Galen repeated with an unconscious grin on his face. "What does that mean?"

"Lince'sa? It is Drow, for 'pet,'" Jrastra answered, her hands sneaking over to the latches of Felyn's armor as the Soldier continued to stare blindly ahead in the dark. Without any sort of vision to see in the lightless office, he remained unaware of the Commandant's actions, as well as Keetle who continued to writhe on the floor beside him, unable to control her body as it flared with heat.

The steel plating that protected Felyn's thighs clanged against the floor as Jrastra continued to the armor over her shins.

"What was that?" Galen asked, dazedly staring in the Commandant's direction.

"You will know soon enough..." Jrastra hummed before glancing over at Keetle, her venomous, red eyes narrowing as she gave a broad smile. "Strip, Keetle. I want everything off, now."

Without even thinking the aid held her arms out, hands open with her palms facing her. In the next moment, every latch on her plating came undone, every hook holding the mail underneath in place falling open. Using her power Keetle slipped each piece of armor and undergarment off her body and sent them clattering into the corner of the room.

When the aid's hands dove toward her sex, desperate to satisfy the heat plaguing her body, Jrastra's smile grew darker as she said, "No."

At once a flash of pain struck Keetle's mind before her fingers met her dripping mound. When her fingers dove again to satisfy her lust, the pain struck again.

"You may not satisfy yourself, young force mage. Utilize a tool in the room, as there is one standing beside you," Jrastra commanded as she removed the last of Felyn's armor and moved on to the mail.

"He is... a surfacer..." Keetle cursed.

"That is of no matter. A cock is a cock, no matter whom it is attached to. Surface races, and as I've seen in Galen especially, hold a strong protective instinct over those they bed. It is an advantage easily utilized when the situation calls. And as your body won't settle until it has been stuffed, the situation does call."

A slight moan escaped Felyn's lips as the Commandant slipped her hands under her torso mail and the shirt beneath it, gliding the garments up over her breasts and left her upper body bare. Then with delicate fingers, Jrastra unhooked the aid's leg mail at the waist, allowing the steel links and the underclothes beneath to fall to the floor.

"Galen," Jrastra called in a maiden-like manner.

"Yeah?"

"Could you get down on your knees for me?"

"Alright..."

Without any sort of objection, he went down to his knees and sat on his heels, still oblivious to the situation in the darkness around him. Grinning ear to ear, Jrastra guided Felyn over in front of him, placing her so her belly was only a breath away from his face.

"Tell me, Galen," The commandant started. "What did Celia say about lying with another woman?"

"Celia?" Galen repeated, his eyes blinking. "Celia said..."

A sudden wave of heartache struck Jrastra in that very instant and sent her influence over the Soldier into an unstable flux. She tried to reclaim a grip on Galen's emotions, pushing her empathy to the extreme while still keeping the two aids both under her control and safe from any backlash.

"Calm, Galen..." she ordered through gritted teeth.

"Pretayus stole her away," he rumbled, Jrastra struggling to take over his emotions. "He said what he planned to do... but I'll rip his goddamned head off before he does and kill anyone who tries to stop me..."

"You are a strong heart, Galen... alright, I'll show my power," the Commandant growled back.

At once Keetle and Felyn both fell to the ground, clutching their heads as Jrastra's influence backed off. At the same time, Galen let out a yell as his hands pressed to his chest, his eyes wide and gushing with tears.

"Sorrow and guilt..." Jrastra muttered as the private burst into tears. "You failed to protect your beloved, and now she is gone."

"CELIA!" he screamed.

"Hurt. It was entirely your fault," the Commandant hissed, and the Private collapsed to the floor wailing.

"Acceptance. You cannot do anything about it for the moment," she continued, and instantly Galen's tears stopped, though he still lay on the floor sniffling.

"Comfort, seek strength from your beloved's words, and plan for her recovery."

As these words slipped from her mouth, Jrastra pulled Galen's heart back under control, enough for her to rein in the two aids as well. With the grin returning to her face, she looked down to Felyn who sat up on the stone floor, "That is how one controls the most powerful of hearts, sister. A skill I will have you learn eventually. But now the episode is over, and we can continue where we left off."