Kaleidoscope Berries
A young, inexperienced sorcerer sets off with a crew of seasoned adventurers as their local guide and encounters a woodland nymph while searching the forest for a special landmark.
Warm sunlight pierces the vibrant green tree canopy, reaching through gaps in the leaves for something to touch; for the sun is as greedy as a lover’s fingers and far less tender. Groping warmth finds hair dark as night, blue-black twisted in tight hanging curls, framing a face somehow both cunning and naïve. His body is lean and firm. Muscular lines stand out on his smooth dark skin. His long stride has the foolish confidence of a young man leaving home for the first time in the company of those more experienced than he, as if valor could be absorbed through close contact. LeVaughn’s stubbled chin tilts up to meet the touch of the suns rays and brown eyes flaked with gold glow in the light for a moment before passing back into the shading gloom of the trees.
One evening last week LeVaughn had been sipping brown ale and looking over a book on gemstone alchemy in his local tavern. One of the barmaids, Celeste, was especially pretty with big brown eyes, long braided auburn hair, and rosy lips that looked so very soft to the touch. He thought a glittering piece of jewelry as a tip might bring him closer to finding out just how soft they really are. Truthfully, just the sight of her surprised, happy smile and a peck on the cheek would’ve made his toes curl. The steamy fantasies unfurling in his mind’s eye were interrupted when a group of intimidating and well-armed strangers came through the entrance, procured ale from the bar, and sat down at the table beside him. He overheard the newcomers discussing their need to pass through the areas beyond his town to reach the Affalochee Mountains and eventually, the coast beyond. He yearned to see more of the world and saw his chance to get away without having to go it alone.
The lands surrounding Falling Stone were dangerous. There were swamps on three sides full of assorted horrors: poisonous bugs, ferocious fish with giant teeth, plants that would make your skin break out in horrible itching boils, make you go insane and eat your own shit, or something worse, a legendary giant toad demigod that ate people, all kinds of things a person would generally rather avoid. Most of this information was kept close by the locals though. The three main roads leading out of Falling Stone passed through the swamps so when locals decided to leave the area (which wasn’t often) they passed through Linville Forest, the only reprieve from the marshlands. There was no established road and the forest had its own dangers, but they were minor when compared to man-eating demigods. LeVaughn noticed that the travelers’ ales getting low, so he paid a visit to the lovely Celeste to get their second round.
The young prospect summoned all his moxie and appeared at the side of their table a few minutes later with six frothy, frosty mugs of spiced apple ale suspended freely in the air a few inches above his outstretched arms.
“Another round, newcomers? This here’s the local late-summer speciality, brewed with the sweetest, most flavorful apples around. I’m LeVaughn, a studying sorcerer in these parts and I couldn’t help but overhear you’re tryna pass through to yonder Affalochee range, but through the swamps? Nah. I have a better proposition, if you’re interested in hearing it. I’m ready to skip town myself and know a safer route. No hard feelings either way. It’s neat to see new folks come through.”
The crew eyed the icy mugs greedily (their plain brown ale before had been delicious but no cooler than room temp). Their leader was a stout and powerfully built dwarf in golden armor set with sparkling rubies. They wore their hair in thick black dreadlocks adorned with silver snake charms. They spoke with one eyebrow cocked up in baseline suspicion and mistrust. “Why not go through the swamps on one of the well-traveled, established roads? Where else is there to go?” With a playful smile contradicted by a serious tone, LeVaughn described only a fraction of the dangers waiting in the swamp...in grizzly detail. He watched their expressions change from skeptical consideration to dejected annoyance at the knowledge that what they thought would be a few simple days on the road after getting a good nights sleep in a small town tavern was becoming more complicated by the moment. After a brief discussion amongst themselves, their leader (who introduced themselves as Dondar) informed LeVaughn they would agree to bring him along to guide them through the forest, but that the only payment they could offer was his safe passage. Times were tough. LeVaughn tried not to seem too enthusiastic when he agreed but it showed through in his sparkling golden eyes, which screamed out for adventure and whatever lay beyond the horizon.
Thus, a “sorcerer” as young and green as himself had been included in the seasoned crew headed for the coastal cities, with their promises of adventure (not to mention money, ale, and women). LeVaughn grimaced and shook the sweat from his brow. As he tried once again to drown out the irritating symphony of the mosquitoes that had been circling his head and permeating the forest for the past half hour or so, sweat pooling on his furrowed brow, he sighed and wondered “Was the ale back home in Falling Stone not fine? The women too!” He thought longingly of Celeste, her round eyes, smooth skin, her dimples when she grinned, the way her full bosom bounced over the rim of her dress when she fluttered around behind the bar in a hurry, dripping ale down between her breasts. He wiped his face and muttered foul curses that only country boys know.
He couldn’t even hear the others anymore. His excuse for this solo escapade had been that he was going off to search for berries he suspected were nearby. Really he didn’t know much about foraging and just needed to get away. After a brief period of awkward unfamiliar niceness, the crew began to treat LeVaughn like an ignorant child most of the time. Although he was their junior by at least fifteen years, he had lived more life than any of them could have suspected, and the snide comments and unheeding attitudes had worn on him considerably. However, confronting them about it was out of the question because to make matters worse, LeVaughn and the crew had spent the last two days looking for a large boulder that marked the hidden path back to the main road and out of the forest. The boulder resembled a large butterfly and towered just above the lush tree canopy. LeVaughn used to climb on it as a child. Standing at the top with the wind in his hair had always made it easy to pretend he was king of the forest. Now the damned thing was evading him persistently. Something about the forest seemed different to him. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it felt like walking around in a dream. Although the odd sensation was disorienting, he was trying to maintain an illusion of control with the crew who were becoming openly increasingly concerned that they should have taken their chances with the swamp of assorted horrors. LeVaughn hoped being alone in the trees would clear his head and the way to Butterfly Rock would become clear, but some fresh sweet berries would be a nice bonus.
As he stepped into a sunny patch, he thought he could hear rushing water coming from somewhere. Maybe a waterfall with a swimming-pool at the bottom if he were lucky! It had been a few days since he had a proper soak and the first border town after the forest was still a few days away. He could just imagine the water (cool from its trip down from the mountains) washing the weariness and frustration from his soul. A few more minutes into the thickening trees he heard it again and turned toward the sound. As he approached, he felt his excitement growing stronger. Imagining the crisp coolness of the water on his hot, grimy skin, he felt his mouth begin to water. He could already begin to feel cool weightlessness swirl around his toes. He shook his head, realizing he was jogging toward the sound. The trees thickened, his rippling calves tensed as he tore through the dense undergrowth. The forest tightened around him in mossy contractions, suffocating him in the thick, humid air, delivering him.
Sunlight started to creep through the dense growth. He could hear that there was indeed a waterfall ahead somewhere, a pretty big one by the sound of it. LeVaughn’s heart thrummed steadily in his chest and his breath was coming in quick gasps. Despite his growing claustrophobia he could no longer ignore the fact that he was also becoming seriously aroused. His cock had elongated and now pressed against his thin trousers, pulsing gently as he ran. The forest felt quite different now. It was like he had passed into a dream, one where longing and desire overtake you, everything screaming pleasure and release. He shook his head briskly and dug his toes in, sending himself propelling forward in a burst of speed...and suddenly the rushing water was a roar in his ears. He crossed abruptly into the full light of the clearing and a shockwave went through his body, stopping him and knocking him down. Now flat on his back, he opened his eyes and looked up at not one waterfall, but two. The gushing upper falls were responsible for most of the roaring and some twenty feet below them lay the mouth of the lower falls. The base was surrounded by a sunny clearing; lush and green, covered in a layer of moss and fluffy grass adorned with tiny purple wildflowers that flecked the landscape in dazzling color. The air carried cool waterfall mist, smelled of lilac, and seemed to sparkle in the light of the sun.
LeVaughn sat up, catching his breath, and looked back at the tree line he had fallen through (though it had felt much more akin to a push, a squeezing, and once again he thought of birth and that Place through which we all must pass and his semi-hard cock gave another jump). The mild shock of the thought cleared his eyes and mind, allowing him to realize that the air was sparkling, or something like it. At the place where the sunlight met the tree line, he could see a glistening iridescent haze, and the thought that he had passed through it turned his stomach. He couldn’t put his finger on why, but it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and evoked a feeling akin to when he studied necromancy. There was something unnatural at play... He shuddered and turned back to the falls, instantly greeted by a kiss of cool refreshing mist on the breeze. When LeVaughn opened his eyes after a deep inhale, his breath caught in his throat, his heart dropped past his stomach into his balls, and despite himself, he let out a barely audible squeak. There, lounging in the pool, was a real-life flesh and blood nymph.
She looked peaceful, perhaps even sleeping. She was nude (as nymphs tend to be), her supple curves spread out over a large rock seated at the base of the lower falls, which pummeled her steadily. He watched, transfixed by the spring of her breasts as the water fell steadily on them. Inside LeVaughn’s mind, a battle began to rage. Young and green as he was, he knew the chances of walking away from a close encounter with a nymph were slim-to-none. Of those who did walk away they were usually missing one key part, plus maybe a few other parts just for fun...depending on the nymph. You see, it’s all just for fun to them. Of those who walked away with all their parts, they liked to tell folks that those sweet little nymphs just get a bad rep, all they want is to cum, is that really so much to ask for? Some claimed the nymphs would use their magick to give great gifts, wisdom, or even powers. Some drunk geezer in the pub back home in Falling Stone had claimed that a nymph gave his tongue magickal abilities over clits after one such encounter, but the old fart was drinking alone and Petty the pub whore had laughed so hard she nearly choked, so nobody had taken him very seriously. But still…
He realized he had already gotten out his now fully erect and painfully throbbing cock and was stroking it absentmindedly. Yes, maybe it would be enough just to stay here, to watch her, to imagine. What he didn’t realize was that his traitorous feet were already gliding him steadily toward her. In truth, it wasn’t their fault. He wasn’t even walking, the helpful enchanted moss underneath his boots was reaching up to carry him along, while quietly-sneaking vines twirled up to untie his laces and remove his clothing. As he grew closer to her sprawling figure he noticed little things. You might have said her skin was warm olive but those bits touched by the sun betrayed the outright greenish-hue underneath. Her long, golden hair was being carried by the water across the stone. Some was hanging over its edge, some stubbornly draped across her neck, her freckled cheek, her supple breast, one glossy defiant bit curling around her erect pink nipple like a tongue. It was at this moment that LeVaughn felt something like ice shoot through his veins. His eyes moved from her nipple up to her face where she met his gaze with laughing eyes that opened up like a kaleidoscope of stars. He lost himself for a moment and wasn’t found until the cool water touched his toes and rapidly ascended his leg. He was falling into the pool before her, she was laughing. She leaned forward on her elbow, clutching her heaving chest and giggling madly. She let her eyes gloss over his now-nude figure, sprawled beside the rock on his back. When her eyes reached his long, thick, throbbing cock sticking up from between his legs, she let out a little gasp and the hand clutching her chest grasped her nipple firmly, moving in a quick little twist. She bit her lip hard enough to draw a little blood which trailed prettily down her chin.
He found his way to his knees and, never taking his gaze from her, crawled across the shallow pool to the rock where she lay. His eyes held hers as his full lips met the cool, wet skin of her calf. He kissed gently, trailing up her leg, his left hand proceeded his mouth and traced the smooth curve of her thigh. Her skin tasted the way the air smells after a summer rainstorm. She stretched her leg out, opening herself up to him and arching her back in a quiet welcoming moan. She reached out and caressed his cheek, draping her thumb over his bottom lip. Something like a spark went off behind his eyes and without thinking he suddenly lunged forward, catching her thumb in between his teeth and biting down hard. He felt a sudden dread seep into his stomach. He didn’t know why he had done that. She would think he was attacking her, another dangerous human. In an instant he imagined far too many ways she could torture him to death and to his dismay this only made his dick elongate a little further. But it only took a brief moment for the shock to clear her system. “At last, one who knew how to have fun…” she thought.
She rolled over off the rock and pulled him on top of her in the pool. Wrapping her muscular legs around him, she pulled him to her, kissing him deeply. Their hands found each others bodies and they touched greedily. Kissing and crawling around and over each other, they found themselves on a mossy patch beside the pool. The nymph was lying on her back on the bed of green and the sun illuminated her full beauty. Her eyes sparkled up at him with playful joy and her pretty lips were parted in an easy smile. She let her knees fall from side to side a few times before opening her legs to him. She reached out, touching him by the shoulder and guiding him to her. LeVaughn lowered himself over her slick, soft body and felt pure ecstasy pass from her as she pressed her body into his. He guided his cock between her legs, laying it against her but not allowing it to enter her and kissed her again. She shifted and began grinding her clit into his long hard shaft while her tongue danced behind his teeth. The tip of his dick was engulfed in her supple cheeks and warm thighs. The smooth movement of her hips warmed the water between them and created light suction. LeVaughn gasped and groaned deep in his throat, with one hand he grabbed her hips, pulling her down and against him, the other hand he tangled in her dripping hair. He pulled her head back, angling her face up to his. He covered her exposed throat with his mouth, kissing, sucking, and biting. She reeled with pleasure, threw her head back in a wild laugh and began to grind furiously against him. After a few moments she grabbed him by the throat, digging her nails in and shivering in pleasure as she came on his painfully hard cock.
At this, she blinked a few times and then smiled in a dazed kind of way. She then made a fleeting motion with her left hand which sent purple sparks into the air the same color as the wildflowers dotting the field and then brought the hand between their legs to slide him inside of her. The effect was instant. If LeVaughn thought he had felt pleasure before that day, he would’ve seriously doubted it in that moment. His cock throbbed and seemed to grow even harder and longer inside of her warmth. He found women often wanted him to withhold some of his length but she eagerly accepted all of him and hooked her ankles behind his back. He could feel the swollen tip of his dick hitting something deep inside her and it was nearly impossible to distinguish pain from pleasure in her cries. She dug her nails into his back and he knew he would never leave that grotto without giving her his seed. He knew that it had belonged to her all along, her and all those like her. He held her down and thrust deep and hard. She cried out with every rocking of his hips until he painted her insides with liquid stardust, the infertile seed of those devoted to the Dark Arts. In the moment of orgasm, the kaleidoscope of her eyes opened to him and the part of his mind that was still a sorcerer witnessed some dark fae magick that would stick with him for the rest of his life. Sexual encounters with humans never quite held the same appeal to LeVaughn after that. He had many adventures and tried many things but in the end, the fae had stolen his heart and that led him on what would be his greatest adventure, but that is a story for another time, dear reader...
When LeVaughn returned to his travel companions he was in much better spirits, significantly cleaner, and carrying a basket full of delicious berries. They didn’t remember him leaving with the fine wooden basket, and it had strange symbols burnt into that made them feel, well…bothered. When Dondar asked LeVaughn where he found the basket he first blushed then seemed to gather himself a bit and proudly claim to have gotten it from a nymph. He told them it was a gift for showing her a good time. Once they all stopped laughing and caught their breath they decided they may as well eat some of the berries anyway. They simmered them down into a sweet and tart compote that they passed around the campfire, dipping fire-toasted sweetbreads and chunks of fresh fruit in. Not long after, the sun had passed well beyond the line of the trees and the adventurers found themselves all caught in a vicious laughing fit. For the last hour they had been discussing the great mysteries of the cosmos and caught LeVaughn staring, seemingly mesmerized, at his upturned palms in the firelight. He noticed them get quiet and offered simply “But what are fingers? Really?” This time, LeVaughn joined heartily in their laughter and felt his spirit lifted for the first time in days. After the last of the giggles passed, each of them grew silent and began to stare fixedly at the swirling smoke above the campfire. Although the fire had died down significantly, thick smoke was billowing steadily out from the flames. Rather than be spirited off by the light breeze, the smoke hung above the fire in a large sphere which began to shimmer slightly. It reminded LeVaughn of the way the air shimmered when he fell into the nymph’s grotto. Suddenly the sphere broke apart into small smoky butterflies which fluttered around their heads for a moment before rejoining over the fire to form the shape of Butterfly Rock. The form of the landmark stayed suspended above the fire for a few moments before breaking into butterflies which flew off into the trees to the east.
The next morning, LeVaughn was able to lead Dondar and the crew straight to Butterfly Rock. He awoke with sureness that their shared vision from the berries was meant to lead them to the missing landmark. They set out east, passing through the same patch of trees the butterflies chose for their escape and it wasn’t long before the old familiarity came back to LeVaughn. They made it out of the forest by nightfall and could now see the great Affalochee range stretched out in the distance. The adventurers waited until their youngest companion had fallen asleep that night to fully discuss the events of the day. They were all in instant agreement that the berries had been of a magickal, psychoactive variety and after some quiet debate, all began to seriously consider that LeVaughn had not been lying about getting them from a nymph. The symbols on the basket were carved exquisitely and didn’t look like symbols any of them had seen before in all their combined years of travel. They certainly didn’t look like anything that a young, inexperienced sorcerer would be carving. They turned as one to glance at him. Curled up in his blanket, his face soft and dreamless, he looked younger than his years and they shook their heads in lingering disbelief. Somewhere in the distance a nymph was giggling and playing with her nipple thoughtfully.