Chapter 3 Rosalind
Rosalind
Ican hear movement, but it doesn't feel threatening, like it’s hanging back, observing.
“Can you… Can you turn off the light at all?”
My throat feels dry, and it's rude of me to start this interaction with a demand, but lord have mercy, the light is overwhelming.
“The illuminating sky orb has only one setting. I apologise for her brightness, but you will grow accustomed to it.”
The voice is soft, manly, and gravelly, but kind. I don't know what an illuminating sky orb is, but I guess I'll be finding out. He's probably foreign and doesn't know what a floodlight is because that's what it bloody feels like.
“If I may approach, I can provide some shade to ease the process?”
“Yes. Yes please. I can't see,” I whisper.
“Is this better?” The stranger asks.
I'm still on my hands and knees, my head dipped low, but I see the dramatic shift in light even with my eyes closed.
He's blocking it with something, and I could weep from the relief my retinas feel.
Several seconds pass, and the sharp sting at the back of my eyes eases.
Taking a deep breath, I dare to squint them open.
Dry, clay-coloured dirt greets me, dust blowing as I huff out a breath.
I'm definitely not in Horizon City anymore.
“Where am I?” I croak, the skin on my lips tightening with every breath.
Resting back on my haunches, I can at least have a bit of decorum in this situation without my bare ass jiggling for all to see.
A giant man stands a metre away from me, his skin sun kissed, adorned in bronze rings and gems. He is so large he's using his body to block the sun, gifting me a patch of shade.
Wait a minute. That can't be a man, that's a… that's a..
“Sorry.. what are you?” I say, almost breathless.
My brain not understanding what I'm seeing.
Looking around, desolate lands stretch to the horizon.
Dirt swirls in the air as it moves with grace around us.
The warmth of the corridor suddenly becomes obvious as it must come from the heat of this place.
Several trees are scattered around, but they have not a single leaf.
Just jagged, sharp branches growing upward to the blinding white sun.
Shielding my eyes with my hands, the man stands grinning proudly at me.
“I am the Gatekeeper for this Realm. Your eyes will adjust. I have been sent word that human females require much smaller clothing, which I have prepared in case we were fortunate to receive one. We have all shared in the excitement of the recent bonding in Realm Seven.”
“I don't understand, you're a Gatekeeper? Realm Seven? Smaller clothing? Smaller than what?” The words spill out of me because what he's saying simply doesn't make sense. Yes, it felt like I was being transported somewhere, but it was precisely that, a feeling. I didn't actually mean it.
“You have passed through the Gate to Realm Six. You asked it to open, did you not? A trade of anything was offered, and the Gate accepted. I believe it answered your request.”
“I mean, technically yes, but I didn't know what it meant.
I didn't realise.” My words drop to a whisper as what he's saying sinks in.
I've become the main character in some B-grade movie about magic portals and some other bull shit.
“What happened in Realm Seven? You're smiling, so I assume it's a good thing I'm here.”
He almost bounces on his toes as he explains about a human female becoming bonded to another Gatekeeper, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what he's hoping for.
Easing up from the ground, I'm not bothered with modesty anymore.
His eyes roam my body, and I know I've escaped one shitty situation for another.
“I regret I do not feel the pull of the bond between us, but it does not always happen straight away. There is still time.” His expression softened, hope lighting up his eyes.
“This seems like a convenient story to get in my pants,” I say, growing frustrated. What the hell is happening?
“I fear you have no pants for me to get into,” he sighs woefully. “If I may approach, we have a new arrival to the Realm,” he gestures behind me, and I glance back to see an ornately carved door in the side of a small mountain.
What the…
The handle rattles as if someone is pulling on the other side and not pushing, just as I did. It gives me a little satisfaction knowing I'm not the only one.
“Please, human female, here are some clothes. I will ensure your protection if needed.”
Protection.
I try to make sense of the garment, but I have no clue how I'm supposed to wear it. Giving up, I hastily cover what I can of my body. Taking a few steps back from where I stand, so there is more distance between me and whoever is coming through that door.
It swings open with such force, one of the hinges pops off, and it half falls to the side, resting at an angle against the rockface.
The largest creature I've ever seen hunches as he steps through the doorway, his body taking up every inch of space as he passes through.
Uncurling himself, he stands tall, skin a dark olive green that almost looks grey in the light.
Two large tusks protrude from his bottom lip as he nods, brushing his shoulders off, walking toward the Gatekeeper.
I can't make out what they’re saying, their voices barely audible from where I stand.
Suddenly, they both turn to me. The Gatekeeper grins as the giant creature next to him looks me over.
“Are you– Are you– A Gatekeeper as well?” I try to sound confident, but my voice breaks at least twice as I stammer the words out. He looks the complete opposite to the Gatekeeper, but they are roughly the same size. Stranger things have happened today, I guess.
“I am no Gatekeeper. I am an orc, human.”
My body reacts to the low baritone of his voice.
Skin tingling, eyes sparkling, pussy throbbing.
He is otherworldly, and I want to cling to his body like a coat in a winter storm.
Three unassuming letters are the thing to undo me.
Not the complete change in environment. Not the nudity or the exchange with the giant human-looking Gatekeeper man.
An orc. I'm talking to an orc, or at least I was, because the heat begins to feel overwhelming again and spots appear in the corner of my eyes.
The sensation of falling forward until… nothing.
I don't hit the ground. I'm not in pain.
My brain is just taking a break while my heart beats in a comfortable rhythm.