Perception of time and bodily sensations altered by the unreal world, Marco picked up some of the sand beside him and let the grains slowly escape his fist. The tequila sunrise was taking its toll, and being under the sun that long was cooking his head—but such discomforts only added fidelity to that experience.
Kalexis was already within the shade by the palms when he got up. Dragging his feet in the sand to test it, he moved to where she sat down.
With a motion of her flexed neck she invited him to come nearer.
“Just don’t kill me, all right?” stated Marco, humorously.
Her laughter was crystalline. “I won’t do it again, for now.” She then closed her golden eyes for a second. When she reopened them, she questioned Marco. “So you do agree that we should prepare.”
Marco was lost for words—he already felt the weight of having to spend two years in there, really hating the idea of how it could turn him into a digital zombie. But he couldn’t deny her. “Yes,” he so replied, resolute.
Kalexis’s mood changed once again, all of her glee to be replaced by sternness—even if sitting down, her new expression scared Marco. “So you are prepared to face death.”
“Yeah,” said Marco, standing on darker sands rather than sitting down. “There may be no pain involved, but I don’t think I can make myself... fight you during our training.”
“You don’t consider me a worthy opponent?”
Marco couldn’t believe how she thought that was the reason why he didn’t want to fight her. He could only blame cultural differences, and didn’t know if to reveal the truth or not.
Kalexis laughed when realizing why he was opposed. “You can’t fight me in here because you love me?” she asked, and her powerful voice lost itself over that deserted beach.
“I don’t think I can fight you at all—how could I possibly stand a chance against you? And what use would that be on the experimental planet?”
Kalexis’s jaws gleamed for a moment, and then she furrowed her scaly brow. “Most of the weapons on the experimental planet are rudimentary. There are masters of martial arts here, taken for the same reason we were. If you agree to train with them, you might one day stand a chance against me. I will be training with you as well—it’s the perfect chance for both of us to improve,” she insisted, smiling in anticipating the challenges.
Marco was perplexed by how normal she made that sound.
“I spoke with one of the Elder’s avatars extensively about the training faculties of this place,” after saying that, she sprung up from her sitting position to open her wings and give them a few powerful flaps—wearing sunglasses, Marco didn’t get any of the realistic sand in his eyes. He watched her taking off vertically, amazed by how quickly she rose up to the afternoon sky. There she completed a semicircle above the sea. When she came down a few minutes later she used her wings to stop herself in mid-air before setting her feet in the surf.
“That’s impossible!” shouted Kalexis from a distance. Then she slowed down from a trot right before Marco.
“You’re quite right,” he had to say, “you were pretty nice to look at, though.” Marco was pleased to see Kalexis blush—the soft, light brown skin on her cheeks did go pinkish.
“I can take you sightseeing—” Marco could tell she really considered it— “but how useful is that, or this—”
And then, with but a swift motion of her shoulder and forearm, Kalexis summoned a fireball—Marco traced it before it exploded, taking down a few palms and setting the underbrush ablaze. She grimaced at the damage she caused before turning to Marco to finish her question. “—to surviving on the experimental planet?”
“Not useful at all.”
“And that’s why I asked the Elder for this virtual reality to be as realistic as it can be when and where we will train,” she said.
“Right,” replied Marco, observing the fire growing tall and burning the palm leaves up top. Intense heat came along with its displeasing sensation—he had to back up and to the edge of the frayed outline of the shade over much lighter sands.
“Can you put that out?” asked Marco.
“Try it yourself.”
Slightly irritated, he wished the fire to go away, and the result was that the whole affected area was cleared of blazing bushes and trees in an instant. Only the black, fertile ground remained.
“Ah,” voiced Kalexis after seeing it happen, “you could have been more creative. Nothing is stopping us from enjoying ourselves, you know.”
Marco turned to her in hearing her say that. “It seems everyone is enjoying themselves at our expense. I wish we could get out of here immediately and back to normal lives.”
“Do you consider being together with me normal?”
Marco rubbed his forehead. “I can’t help but loving you, Kalexis,” he then said, lifting his gaze to meet hers. “I think it’s perfectly normal. I just feel responsible for... all of this.”
She shook her dragon head though understandingly. “You did great,” she simply said.
Marco wished he was safe in the hands of the Pranksters, but the more he believed he was, the less he felt he was. He wished nothing bad would happen to them during their journey, that they would finally arrive safe and sound. Drawing conclusions, it surprised him how the Zigs, the oldest civilization of the Milky Way, were capable of affecting the plans of the Pranksters, possibly the oldest civilization in the universe. He felt a rush of blood to the head as he recalled what happened to Earth so long ago, and when he turned to Kalexis he realized she, too, was upset by something.
“We are all that is left, and we must try to start over,” she sounded if slightly uplifted. “I was hopeless when I woke up from stasis and... when we jumped off the platform—” she flexed her neck low and brought it to one side, her pupils darting but never toward Marco— “I didn’t know if I wanted to go on living.”
“Is that why you crashed into the wall?” asked Marco, incredulous. While he wasn’t mad at her, Kalexis looked terribly ashamed.
“No, but when we were falling I was okay with dying,” she admitted, letting out a sigh. “I thought that way we wouldn’t give the Zigs their satisfaction—”
“Agent Grey told me there were security measures in place.”
“That’s beside the point,” stated Kalexis.
“It’s okay,” said Marco.
Marco saw how Kalexis looked into him with genuine gratefulness before she lowered her eyes again. “I was fighting to stay conscious,” she added, nearing Marco with brief steps. She was but six or seven yards away from him when she covered the distance. Marco was not afraid of her and remained in place. “I heard you calling my name and then I knew, from the tone of your voice, how you were ready to die.”
“I was, but I am not too sure about Gianluca...” Marco bared his teeth, and Kalexis laughed wholeheartedly.
“I heard he fought bravely, even though not beside real living beings.”
Marco was quite surprised. “And the Elder told me I was letting others do my dirty work.”
“He gave you the choice to seek revenge—I would have taken it if I were you,” she replied.
She was so close to him Marco reached for her, and all of that became irrelevant. He dropped his pessimism and doubts about the Pranksters’ virtual world in exploring the feelings that came with resting his bare chest against her strong shoulder. He placed his head on the bottom of her neck, bringing his hand up and over it. His fingers going the way down to her small scales and to where her skin was less coarse. It was so warming to just press himself against her in the relative silence of the beach, where the palms themselves watched. His ironic mind found it hard to be void of thoughts, but it rejoiced in the contact. It was giving him great relief to know Kalexis still wanted him. He gulped at the implications of being intimate with her—he was only wearing a swimming costume.
Standing against her front right leg, Marco threw his sunglasses away. He stroked his hair and face against the softest skin of her neck, caressed her bulging triceps. He was so busy fondling her and kissing her that he didn’t notice how she lifted her front hind. When she grabbed his side with her over-sized hand he was crossed by a feeling of gold—she then ran her finger pads down his back while her clawed thumb explored his abdomen.
Marco was aroused, struck by how true to life it all was. He gasped when she introduced her thumb in his costume, making the tip of her finger come in contact with his bare glans. He wasn’t afraid of the claw she placed in there, and gave her a few pats on the shoulder while she pulled his costume down. In the heat of the moment, he glimpsed up and the only thing he could see was the underside of her arching neck—the last thing he wanted to do was to spoil that moment, so he let her discover him. He held in place while she caressed him between his legs. His member was as hard as it could get when she wrapped it within her palm to give it a little squeeze.
“You’re big,” she said.
Marco managed to refrain from his irony and not to tell her she was, too. He smiled happily about his extra-large girlfriend, and closed his eyes while she pleased him by the palm trees. Her pungent smell reminded him of when they first met. He kissed and licked her on the neck, his other hand holding the one that had him by his manhood. Uncontrollable waves of pleasure made him shudder—before he knew it she was licking her hand clean.
His swimming costume trapping his feet, Marco took a step back and fell in the sand. He was lying supine as he got rid of the impediment, spreading his legs to look at her. His desire didn’t fade, he anticipated the moment he would be pleasing her though he didn’t mind. She licked him all over while he sat holding his back up with one hand dug in the fresh sand, the other busy rubbing her snout and cheek.
With her maw Kalexis then grasped his leg near the hip. Unlike when she bit him at sea, this time Marco could feel the delicate touch of her teeth. While she was doing so he rested fully on his back, and then she did something the likes of which he never experienced before—her nostrils blew hot air over his belly when he came in her mouth.
When she freed him, Marco secretly desired her to do that again. He repositioned himself so to make his hips come in touch with her lower belly. Finding his place between her rear and forelimbs, he ended up kissing her armpits! She blanketed him with her wing while tickled by that awkward kiss—the cute noises she made reverberated inside her thorax, going right through his comparatively small chest. He stopped kissing and licking her for a moment—to touch the skin membrane that cocooned him in darkness, while listening to the excited pulsations of their hearts. Pressing and rubbing his whole naked body against hers was so liberating... and she squirmed when he sought her slit with his foot.
She was wet and craving, so much it seemed to him her muscles worked together to suck it inside. He couldn’t be more impressed by Kalexis delivering him that kind of a foot massage. He stuck his toes in her all the way to his heel—his very sensible sole could distinctly feel her smoothness.
Kalexis brought her arm over him and held him firmly.
His right leg in contact with her left leg, his left hand holding the right hand that clutched him, Marco made her shudder while it all was so engrossingly dark, hot, and slick. She curled up from the pleasure and had to move back a little, but didn’t stop while she squeezed his foot harder.
Still covered by her wing he moved in closer to her and so they stayed for a bit, just one against the other.
When she lifted it, Marco was dazzled by the bright tone of the sands on the beach, the contrast with the spotless aquamarine sea being very strong. When he turned back to the stunning creature he made love to he found her taking deep breaths.
She blinked in bliss when returning him the look.
By lifting her right leg she showed Marco her slit and for a few moments he could only stare in marvel. Due to their size difference he feared he couldn’t please her... conventionally. Spent but willing, he crawled up to her while she flattened her wings over the sand. With her forelegs up in the air, she flexed her neck to rest it straight back. Beside her, he placed his sweaty left palm on her inner thigh and his right one further up on her belly. He then sat on her leg to feel her with one hand, the other taking a hold of her swollen clitoris—so big he could grab it between his thumb and three fingers. She moaned during the initial moment of contact, seeming to like it more with every passing moment. Marco’s fingers burned from being in contact with such hotness, and he tasted her sweet juices.
He let go of it to suck it and she roared, slapping her tail hard. It was time for him to move up her belly—only to discover what having sex with a fifteen-hundred-pound winged dragoness was like. His legs hanged to the sides of her round tail, his thrusts accompanied by her motion.
She squeezed him, trapping him between her rear legs and they came together. They stayed like that, and then she released him so he could move up and take place by her side. She shifted and turned so to bring her wings above her, and sheltered Marco from the sun.
He used her foreleg as a pillow.
Maybe it was the sex, but for some reason he couldn’t help but feeling very tired. Not in the mood to be worried about it, he took in the sugary pleasure of simply being with her.
When he woke up, Marco immediately knew he was alone—he lifted his chest up from humble hay. Just an oil lantern dangled from the attic ceiling. Wind was blowing in through a fracture in the smallish window set in stone. He was cold and hungry, and from the sound of it there was a storm outside. The wood planks of the floor and ceiling were bent by years of moist, spider webs weaved in the corners. There was no door in that single room but from there Marco could see a hatch.
Lightning flashed outside, brightening all around him for an instant. Scared and alone, he sat up on the bedding wearing but a shirt and a pair of cotton pants. With the crackling sound that followed, he remembered the dream that he forgot about having had—in it he lost Kalexis, exactly like the nightmare in which he woke up!
The sound of water hitting the roof accentuated the dampness of that miserable room. Getting up he found a pair of shoes at the foot. He then went to open the hatch, having to climb down a creaky ladder to get into a kitchen with a low ceiling.
A lit wood-burning stove made it more welcoming—it warmed up the utensils, wares and provisions that would be present in such a hovel. Cold air came down from upstairs, making the little stove burn faster. Marco closed the upstairs hatch so he wouldn’t freeze, and paused before the table. Someone laid a cloth on it, stained by red wine and dotted with breadcrumbs. There were recognizable Italian sliced cuts and cheese ready to eat on two wooden boards.
Marco sat down, this time truly incredulous about the new choice of place—but where could he be, and why was he there? Not wanting to suffer more than he already had, and wondering if he really was dreaming, he enjoyed the tasty food and the sweet alcohol he was given. He listened to the storm and the crackling fire, watching the show of lightning happening out of the iron-framed square window by the dwarfish door. A few candles brightened the scene—one on the windowsill, a couple others dripping wax on the red and white checker tablecloth. Not feeling like challenging the weather—real or not—he put a small hand-sawed log inside the burning chamber of the stove. The squeaking sound the hinges of its iron door reminded him of the one he used to have—before the agents destroyed it along with the rest of his house.
It smelled of home, and the food was just right. Munching on traditional cheese and cold meat, Marco concluded he wasn’t dreaming, as he was fully in control of his mind—not the case even in the clearest of his lucid dreams. He either was still inside the virtual reality or he had been released from it, he wasn’t entirely sure. He thought about what happened just before he fell asleep, feeling somewhat concerned about having unleashed himself before the omnipresent Elder. He frowned after taking a sip of wine—he would never know who really watched what ensued on the beach.
When lightning didn’t strike or the stove didn’t pop, below the washing rain Marco could hear the sound of shaking leaves. He was focused on it when the wooden door sealing the entrance was sprung open, aided by the strong current pushing it inside.
The stove was almost put out when a wet Gianluca entered the kitchen and took his dripping poncho off.
A startled Marco just watched him lay the poncho on the wooden chest below the window. He then hopped up from the stool and knocked it down, making it bounce a few times on the stone slabs before it banged against the white metal cover of the cooker. “Gian, what the fuck is going on? And close that door!”
“Chillax, man,” said Gianluca, closing the door behind him. “I come with good news and bad news,” he added, taking his spectacles off to dry them with his psychedelic shirt.
“Where’s Kalexis?”
Gianluca walked up to the table to sit at it—he wasn’t too affected by Marco’s concerns. “There was a complication... they had to take you off, but you’re fine now.”
“Fine? What the fuck happened—” Marco recovered the stool and sat next to Gianluca— “I knew this place would do my brains in. I will see the Elder about this, but I wish to see Kalexis this instant!”
Nothing happened.
Gianluca poured himself a glass of red wine from the slender green bottle on the table. He poured a glass for Marco, too. “If you are asking yourself why it works no more, it’s because the Pranksters officially suspended the use of superpowers. What a shame.”
“Does it have to do with my brain screwing up?”
“It’s not just you, as they’ve never done this before to other races. Mostly, everyone is okay.”
Marco was once again deeply disappointed. “I knew these aliens were out of their minds. How much time has gone by?”
“Quite some time in your case,” said Gianluca.
Marco looked Gianluca right in the eye, begging him to tell for exactly how long.
“Three years.”
Marco kicked the leg of the table so hard he wished he never did it. He cried in pain, even having to sit down on the floor to clutch his hurting foot. The pain was very much real, a stern reminder not to kick hard objects in anger, even in virtual reality. As the pain faded, he felt like a rat in a cage—too bad it was more like a real one now, no longer the painless paradise he woke up in earlier.
More than ever he wanted out. He was crushed by what could have happened to Kalexis after he basically went into a fucking coma—he absolutely had to know what was of her, and Gianluca didn’t hold it back. “She and the Araks reconsidered staying after what happened, even if they didn’t display the symptoms of neural decay.”
“Is that when the Pranksters made the modifications to the program?”
“Yes, to lower the risks, they decreased the level of unreality, as they like to call it. I guess that’s why most preferred to deep sleep. Kalexis was the first to go after losing you, but I stayed. I guarantee you, Marco, it’s more than just an approximation.”
Marco felt as if the whole weight of the stone house was lifted from his back—he sighed, very relieved to discover that Kalexis decided not to live out that dream by herself.
The storm outside was dying out. He drank some of the wine Gianluca poured for him, and in the light of the candles he asked him if they were leaving.
“Soon. I’ve done more than dicking around these past three years, Marco,” he said. “I’ve met a girl and—”
“Who is she?”
“She was born in France in year 2051,” replied Gianluca. “Very few humans survived at that time, all members of the Congregated Resistance Force.”
Marco wouldn’t doubt his friend’s tale a minute in hearing him tell it—he had to listen to it.
“She was lucky enough to be abducted—and all other humans here are from her time,” said Gianluca.
“It was luck she didn’t have to become hostage of a TV show and killed on a whim.”
“What matters is that they’re safe now,” rebated Gian, “I got to know some good people here. Like me, some decided to stay for as long as they can.”
Marco gestured, irritated. “Good for you!” He said, not wanting to talk about that any more than he already did. “I’m not going to live forever—I have to go back to deep sleep, Gian, be with Kalexis once we wake up.”
The stove in the small room had gone out because of all that wind, and it was getting colder.
“It isn’t that easy.”
“Why did they have to wake me up in here?”
“You have to stay for at least another month before they can pull you out, as you never really left. Follow me—I have towels in my limo.”
“Why didn’t you take an umbrella?”
Gianluca laughed. “Not my style. By the way, the martial arts masters that were supposed to train you three years ago are at my place, waiting for you. Over a thousand humans and Araks count on you training. Before she went back into stasis, Kalexis stressed that you do the basic one—she has been a warrior all her life, so she is prepared for the experimental planet.”
“This isn’t you’re idea, is it? If I have to stay for a month, I’ll train during that time.”
Outside was a faint light over the horizon, making Marco think those were the early hours of morning. The rain and wind shaking the trees accompanied him down a muddy path snaking over a grassy hillside. Down and ahead of his friend, Marco could see a road brightened by the head and rear lights of a long limo.
Once in, Marco’s hair was dripping on the carpets and the leather divan. There was neon-lit crystal-ware, a cabinet with booze, and a pile of weed next to a bong on the coffee table of that cocktail lounge on wheels. Gianluca slid the door closed, and the limo started moving on the slippery and narrow strip of tarmac that never seemed to find its way out of foggy and stormy valleys. Gianluca wasn’t lying when he said he had towels, and Marco was happy to dry up—he started pouring a drink when Marco asked him the name of his loved one.
“Letice—to describe her in one word, I say she’s tough.”
“I bet,” said Marco, and Gianluca handed him some strong, transparent liquor. It was Sambuca.
“She’s at the house, a two-hour drive from here.”
The limo slowed down to contend a particularly steep stretch of road—all of those corners were making Marco a little sick.
Gianluca felt it was the right moment to reach the computer panel where he accessed his media player, have Marco get a taste of the power and fidelity of the sound system. Some of that psytrance he used to like so much back on Earth. He went back to sit on the divan to ready and light up his bong.