Tempting and a Closet Secret

“Man,” Richard sighed, casting his eyes up towards the crystal clear blue skies above, “Why isn’t courtin’ cheap?”

“You’ve single-handedly completed all of the beginner quests over this past week,” Garret mused at his friend’s side, “I’ve even seen you fighting over the rights to a quest with some newbies.”

“It’s either that or we go vanquish a misplaced dragon!” he grumbled loudly in reply, cutting his eyes to the side, “and yes, I am taking you with me.”

“At least the city’s kitties are all found safe and the rewards aren’t solely going towards booze.”

“If only…”

“Did you ever take my advice?” Garret questioned at his side as they continued their walk together.

“The cheap dates? Yeah, but those weren’t the most successful…”

“The picnic?” his curious friend inquired.

“The sandwiches Morrigan prepared were to die for. Even that summer dress she wore was…” Richard began to drool from the vision dancing in his head, his pompadour twitching with excitement.

“So…?”

“That clearing we picked was a goblin meeting place, and I didn’t have any weapons to defend us.”

“That’s rough,” Garret rubbed his chin deep in thought, “And what about petting farm.”

Richard’s shoulders slumped further. “The place Morrigan found for us was in the Demon Realm. Apparently Demon Goats can fly. And have a taste for human flesh…”

“Makes sense,” Garret could only nod in agreement.

“I am starting to think you aren’t as helpful as I thought…” Richard moaned once more turning with a pitiful look on his face to his best friend in the world. “By the way, where’re we goin’?

“Just a little further and we can collect a reward.”

“Sweet!” Richard almost jumped with joy, “Probably the easiest job I have ever finished. But, uh, why do my wrists have to be tied for this one?” He tugged playfully on the ropes that bound his hands together behind his back tightly as the two of them continued down the back alleys of the seediest parts of the city.

“Don’t worry,” Garret only smiled in reply, “It’ll all be over soon.”

In the next instant, Richard found himself falling sideways down to the ground. Wincing through the pain, he looked up to see that Garret had shoved him into a darkened doorway. “Hey! What the hell was that for?”

“Like I said,” Garret flashed another charming smile while tossing a bag of coins up in one hand and catching it, “It will all be over soon.”

Richard steadied himself to his feet to charge at his friend, but the door shut on him, barring him from his target as he slammed repeatedly against it. “Get back here, you bastard!”

“I’ll just hold onto this reward until you get back.” Garret turned on his heels and headed to the fresh air of the open streets, “It shouldn’t take too long, and then we will split this 50/50.” As the adventurer opened the sack and saw the amount of gold inside he paused briefly. “Maybe 60/40?”

Meanwhile, the still bound adventurer who had been left behind continued his assault on the door that was surprisingly sturdy for a backdoor in a rundown part of town. Only the tip of his pompadour was able to poke its way out of the grated opening at the top as he desperately tried chewing his way through the metal frame.

Suddenly, Richard felt a series of hands grab onto him across his entire body. He swung weight wildly to throw them off, but only caused himself to fall deeper into their grasps. With great ease they dragged the worn adventurer down the dark and winding tunnels, leading deeper down into the bowels of the inner city.

After what felt like an eternity, Richard was thrust hard into a chamber lit solely by candles held high by golden candelabras. Though the stone walls appeared chilled to the touch the air was warm and inviting. Still stunned by the confusion of all that had transpired, Richard was completely unaware of the hands quickly moving to unbind the ropes on his wrists.

Rubbing the sores out of his hands, he did the only sensible thing to do at such a moment:

“So, uh, what’s going on?” He questioned his unknown captors.

Turning around he finally caught sight of the owners of the hands. Several white fabrics flurried about behind him, moving to and fro in a bobbing motion as they hurried around making preparations. Each one was a nun, their bodies held tightly from sight by their stark white habits. Some had locked the door he had just passed through with a bar while others cleaned his tracks with scrubs and brushes.

As soon as consensus was reached that their tasks were through, they all huddled around golden urns with matching basins. Pouring the water over their bare hands, their faces mellowed to a soft smile. A familiar scent caught Richard’s nose. One of fresh spring water and blessing oils.

“Holy water?” Richard mused, still lost in the surrounding madness.

The nuns all glared at him and took a step away from him, still washing their hands from where they had touched him.

“Wait… are they trying to purify themselves… from me?” His shoulders slumped as he made the connection. “Everyone still thinks that I can get them pregnant just from touching them? Seriously?”

“Sisters!” a voice echoed against the cold walls of the underground cavern. The tone was soft and sweeter than honey causing all the nuns to stop what they were doing and line up flanking either side of the other entrance to the candle lit room.

The soft clacking of heels approached, and the nuns bowed in reply with knitted hands before their chests. Glancing up, Richard witnessed another one robbed solely in white garbs enter with ever radiant white lights emanate of her very existence.

“I think I am going blind,” The only man in the room raised his arm to shield his eyes from the light. Wincing through pain, he tried to get a better view of the new woman.

She was a tall and well-built woman, whose habit clung tightly to her body, accentuating her feminine curves. Beneath her headdress, long golden curls spilled down, some over her shoulders and the rest down her back. A soft smile played teasingly sweet on her ruby lips, fighting for attention with her piercing blue eyes.

But it wasn’t those features that caught Richard’s simple attention. That belongs to two surprisingly large items confined behind the cross on her chest. “Thank the heavens I can still see…” he muttered under his breath with a stupid grin on his face while his pompadour twitched excitedly.

“Adventurer Dixon!”

He snapped back to attention as he heard his name being called. Shaking his head, he sharpened his senses, “Yeah, who’s askin’?”

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person.” The tall nun approached, giving a slight bow as she continued,“ I am Mother Alea Dawnveil, the Superior of the Nunnery.”

She gingerly reached out a hand. Richard gave it a confused glance before reaching out to shake.

But right as he could feel the warmth of her skin near his, her hand recoiled back. He blinked a few times wondering where it went, but when he looked up at the blonde nun, she was covered in a layer of cold sweat with her hand being repeatedly dunked into the holy water basin.

Richard only sighed and rubbed his neck in frustration.

“Look, thanks for bringing me down here. Place seems fancy and all,” he mused, glancing around trying to find a way out that wasn’t barred shut and guarded by the smaller mob nuns, “But I really need to catch up with an old friend for a chat. So if you don’t mind-”

“I have a quest for you, Brave Warrior.”

“Warrior? Brave?” He blinked in surprise, “… Huh?”

“Yes,” she answered, her voice had smoothed again with an elegant flow, “This quest is of great importance. You shall father the Hero-”

“Yeah, yeah yeah,” he sighed, rolling his head back as he cut her off, placing his hand up between them, “So I am told. Listen, I am workin’ on it. But courtin’ ain’t cheap and Morri-”

“— And I shall be the one to bear the Hero.”

Richard went stiff, in a couple of different ways, but mostly he just stood quietly, shocked by what he just heard. “… Huh?”

“It is the will of the Heavens,” The matron nun strode forward, closing the distance between them, her holy figure swaying unholily towards him, “The Hero of Prophecy must not be conceived of impure blood. He must be birthed by a mother with the purest soul of unwavering faith. The Heavens have spoken, and it's obvious they have chosen me.” She placed a hand over her chest with great reverence.

Richard felt slightly guilty that the only thing that made sense to him at that moment was how her chest jiggled enticingly when her hand touched it. Only slightly. Using the maximum of his mental capacity he tried to make sense of what she was saying.

“Uh, so… you’re saying you wanna-” he nervously poked his index fingers together as he stuttered.

“Grrk” Mother Alea’s face turned a sickly green and the sides of her nose flared painfully with her brows twitching. “Please. Do not use such vulgar language.” Richard wanted to apologize, for what he wasn’t quite sure of at the moment, but she continued on again after taking a cleansing breath. “But to answer your question, yes, you and I shall fulfill the will of the Heavens.”

The gears in Richard’s head were, unfortunately for him, still turning. And a thought just happened to squeeze its way past the large round orbs in his mind. “So you aren’t concerned with the whole ‘Hero’s mother dying young’ thing?”

“If the Heavens will it,” She clasped her hands together and bowed forward, “I shall become a martyr for humanity to be saved from the demon scourge. I shall graciously accept my lofty position in heaven above the rest down here who will continue to sing praises to my great sacrifice for generations. It’s a perfect plan.”

Luckily for her, Richard’s mind was not on listening to her words, but rather he was entirely focused on the pendulous swing of her chest threatening to rip her habit open under their weight.

His eyes were locked on her, gently roaming over the immoral shape of her pious body as she returned upright with a devious gleam in her eyes. In short, she was smoking hot. And absolutely stacked. A little intimidating, sure, but a holy woman was throwing herself at him? Who doesn’t have that on their acceptable fetish list?

There’s worse ways to fulfill a prophecy, right?

He, like normal, didn’t dwell long on the thought. “Alright, I am in!” Rubbing his hands together, he took a step towards the Mother nun.

Who took a step back.

They both paused. Tilting his head in confusion, Richard watched the cold sweats return to her body. Cautiously, he took a tentative step forward. And Alea took an equal one back.

“Hey, uh, is something wrong?”

“I, uh, I-” her icy blue eyes darted every which way, never landing on him, “th-the room isn’t quite ready yet!” With that statement conveniently being blurted out, she raised a hand up and snapped, “Sisters! Please!”

Moving as if as one, the mob nuns quickly produced an entire bed frame with sheer curtain adorning it, slightly obstructing the view of the silky mattress within. Richard had no idea where it could have come from in such a small enclosed space, but he was more impressed with how quickly Mother Alea took to sitting on the mattress.

She moved with great haste, but still strode with wide movements of her hips. Curling a finger to one of the other nuns, whose face crimsoned as she nervously approached, she spoke in a velvety smooth tone, husky with intensity.

“Sisters, you do such wonderful work for me. I would be nothing without all of you,” she cooed, gently brushing a strand of hair behind the young nun’s ear, “I am so inspired by all of you, let’s be sure to celebrate with a nice bath together. All of us, together. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?”

“O-Oh, I– Yes, Mother Alea! That would be delightful. Thank you.”

Alea smiled softly, letting her fingers linger on the soft cheek of the blushing nun. But that was soon skirted by the sole male letting out an awkward cough, reminding the Superior of his presence. Upon that revelation, her expression hardened to a sneer as she turned towards him.

“So, we still gonna-”

She cut him off by nearly gagging, the green hue returning to her cheeks. “No vulgarity, please.”

“Alright?” With no idea of what else to do, he took a seat next to her.

A muscle in her jaw twitched. But gulping back hard, she used all of her might to scooch closer to him. With a trembling hand, she reached out and delicately placed it on his shoulder.

“See?” she forced out through clenched teeth, “A natural connection…”

“…You OK?”

“Of course,” her nose flared as she tried to steady her breathing with a strained smile, “This is all part of the divine plan.”

As she spoke, he noticed a strange smell permeating the burning incenses. The scent was still of something burning, but what? That’s when he noticed the smoke billowing off her hand.

“Are you OK!?”

But as he asked that, she dunked the burning hand into an urn of holy water provided by a swift moving nun. “Never better, I swear.” Her smile never faltered for a second.

As she removed her hand from the now bubbling waters, she took her reddened fingers to cup the nun’s chin, turning her to look her in the eyes with batting lashes. “Thank you, dear Sister Miriam, you are so precious to me, I want you to know.”

The smaller nun only giggled before leaving her to rejoin the others in the mob.

Once again, Richard reminded the head nun he was still stuck there, basically against his will, with a polite but awkward cough. And once more, she gave him a reviled glare, one that made him wish he was dead on the spot.

“Did I do something wrong?” Richard sighed. He was used to this kind of treatment. Even before the prophecy. But this seemed more extreme than he had ever experienced before.

Alea sucked in a breath. For a moment she sat there, a content smile on her face, but soon her face started turning a shade of blue. She looked as if she was trying to hold her breath and yet speak out, with her cheeks starting to puff out as she held her mouth shut.

Then she spun in a whirlwind away from him, her eyes frantically focusing on her fellow sisters. “Sisters. I want to thank you for being here for me. I don’t think I could get this far for me. Keep praying for me– I really need it right now…”

Richard’s brow twitched in frustration. “OK, I think I am done here…”

“Richard Dixon!” She snapped back at him, her voice dangerously tight as she rose with a huff, “This is a sacred duty. Do not test the will of the Heavens!”

Setting his jaw and crossing his arms, he shot a half lidded glare back at the nun, “You sure you wanna do this?”

Rolling her eyes definitely, Mother Alea scoffed, “Of course. I have given my life in service to the divine. My body shall be a vessel for Heaven's will.”

“So we are going to have a child?”

“Yes!”

“Together?”

Her eye twitched, “Yes.”

“With me?”

“… Yes?”

“You don’t seem fine with this.”

“I AM PERFECTLY AT PEACE WITH THIS!”

She was not.

What followed was a long-drawn-out glare down between the flabby adventurer and the nervously sweating nun. Sheer, unfiltered agony was drawn across her face as she quietly prayed hymns under her breath to calm her nerves.

“Fine,” Richard sighed and smacked his knees as he stood up to meet her, “Let’s seal this deal with a kiss then.”

“A-A Kiss?”

“Yeah, seems like the first logical step, right?”

A brief moment of hesitation crossed the Superiors eyes as she contemplated the meaning of his words. “Right. Of course.”

“Good, well here it goes.” Puckering his lips out he leaned forward. “Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!” He smacked his lips rhythmically as he awaited his new partner’s reply.

Alea on the other hand had once again been shuddering with some unseen terror.

Suddenly, she slapped herself hard across the cheeks, whispering something about spiritual fortitude. Steeling her nerves she puckered her lips out as well and leaned forward to greet her preordained mate’s lips.

But when there was less than a hair’s width between them, the nun turned the deepest shade of green. Wrenching her whole body away, she threw herself into the corner of the room and began to vomit uncontrollably while tears streamed down her cheeks profusely. Quietly she begged for her fellow nun’s to comfort her.

Richard was left there, lips pushed out still with one eye open watching the entire scene unfolding before him.

“Uh, is it cool if I just go home now?”

The mob nuns looked curiously between themselves, before silently lifting the bar off the door. Without another word they went to their Mother Superior and helped her to her feet again, leading her out the other way.

“Still cursed, I see.” He sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets as he made his way out to the back alley again. “But I need to find Garret and get my cut for going through this hell.”

Somewhere deeper within the winding church tunnels, Mother Alea was still trudging her way back to her private chambers on haggard feet. She didn’t want her fellow nuns to see her gritted teeth, but she was struggling to hide her seething rage.

“That damn man! How dare he take my holy seat in Heaven from me. I will get him for this. I swear on all that is holy, I will have my revenge on him!”