Every Mistake

Black eyelids slid down over dilating amber eyes, brow furrowed while the dire brute shook his head to try to clear the haze that had inexplicably come over it. Artorias felt like he was walking in a dream; not quite grounded in reality, but not quite fully immersed in fantasy either. Duchess turned her cheek toward him, but then when he blinked, she wasn't there anymore. He was alone in the cave. Artorias spun around in a hurry, looking all over for the fae. She had just been here a moment ago. Had he walked by her and not even realized it?! No, that didn't make any sense. He turned around again, and there she was. Right where she hadn't been. No, wait... she'd always been there. Hadn't she? What the fuck was going on? Duchess called his name with a touch of worry, looking to him like he'd vanished before her eyes. Was this real? Or was he imagining all of this too?

"I'm right here, Duchess!" he called back, hurrying to close the distance between them. Physical touch would prove she was real and not some phantom of his mind. But before he could reach her, she was gone again, and in her place was Briar, then Bowen when he blinked again. Artorias stared in bewilderment, still hearing his name echoing around the cave in Duchess' voice. But Duchess wasn't here. This was Bowen. Oh, wait, no, never mind, he blinked and there was Duchess again. "Are you all right? Are you feeling anything... strange?" he asked when he finally came up to her, his steps wobbling as he walked.

Every time he blinked, the wolf in front of him changed. Sometimes it was Duchess, sometimes Briar, sometimes Bowen. Each time made the tension in his belly clench from the unrelieved arousal he'd received back in the waterfall grotto. His head felt light and he felt an inexplicable euphoric high sensation, similar to when he'd gone on a salvia trip. Fuck, this place wasn't right. That musty smell was only getting worse the further into the caves they went, and he didn't know what would happen if they kept going forward. What would happen if they both lost control of their minds down here?

"Artorias Carpathius"