39 A Steamy Moment in the Couch Pit

There's nothing but darkness here. Pitch blackness wherever my eyes would land. I could feel something tangible underneath my feet, but I somehow still feel like I'm just floating in emptiness.

That's when the voice beckoned me to my destination.

"In here, Aleph." The voice lulled me to where I should be going; it was such a sweet and gentle sound, like a mother singing her babe to sleep. "Follow my voice."

"I don't know where you are, though," I replied, uncertain of where he is, but then again, I was only looking above me, gazing at the abyss like a fool.

"Are you deaf? Oh my god, it's really not that hard, Aleph! JUST FOLLOW MY DAMN VOICE, MAN!"

I take it back. Not gentle AT ALL! Absolutely not fucking wholesome. Then again, the loudness of his voice made me realize that he's behind me.

I turned around. There, I saw an arched entryway leading into the unknown. It radiated an ominous pink light so bright, so it was quite impossible to see what lay within. I also noticed a turquoise smoke spiraling out of the room, luring me inside like a hand pulling my body.

"So you're not even giving me a chance to walk on my own?" I sighed as I floated into my destination, rolling my eyes with a bored expression.

"Fuck, no! I know how annoying your curiosity is. I wouldn't even let you take a single step until you came to this room." The voice chuckled. "Who knows where you would go if I won't drag you in here? I wouldn't want you snooping all over my mind like a sniffing bitch. Who knows what cringe shit you'll find out there?"

And drag my body, he did. Soon enough, I was already crossing the blinding threshold connecting the darkness and the light. I closed my eyes, but I could still see the auburn light burning my eyes. But after a few seconds, the light disappeared, and the only thing I could hear was the sound of someone sipping, veggies being cut on a chopping board, low purring, raspy chuckling, and the crackling of flames.

I slowly opened my eyes, and the thing that welcomed me was... way too ordinary that it seriously shocked me.

It's a relatively spacious room with yellow scale-like wallpapers on the walls and square yellow tiles on the floor; thick brown logs decorated the high ceiling, giving a comfy and nature-like vibe to the room. There's a burning chimney a few meters in front of me--a tall coconut tree stood firm on the right side, and a white curtain hid a dark room on the left. In the middle of the room laid a low pit with a comfortable orange fur couch on it coupled with multiple red-orange pillows.

There are four people in the room:

A wispy pale beauty with short curly auburn hair clothed only with chain lingerie that slightly covered his crotch and nothing else, sitting on the low pit with his legs crossed. His plump lips kiss the rim of his goblet before taking a sip of his wine, staining his lips bloody red with a smug grin.

An eagle nested on a bird swing above the pit, chuckling at me with a gaze filled with interest and curiosity; I noticed that one of the bird's pupils were completely colorless with a scar running straight down from its brows down into the bottom of its eyes.

A burly and tall man with the head of an ox, wearing a tuxedo that fit his broad chest perfectly, standing on the right side of the pit; he's chopping raw carrots on a wooden board, looking at me with a stern face, not minding if his gloved human hands would be injured as he chops away with hands so swift that I could barely see it.

A robed lady with the head of a lion and a pair of glasses sitting leisurely on her furred nose, sitting on a large wooden chair; she's reading a gigantic book on a wooden table, not caring about my existence or anyone else's with her claws following the paragraph she's reading.

"Welcome, Aleph!" said the pale beauty on the pit with his arms outstretched, spilling some of his wine on the tiled floor. "You may not believe me, but I am delighted to see you live!"

The turquoise smoke slowly dropped me next to the pale boy, but I just knitted my eyebrow while looking around me, confused and lowkey scared.

"Err..." I scratched my cheek while the pale beauty looked at me with twinkling eyes. "Who the hell are you people? Uhh... respectfully, of course."

The pale boy laughed, the eagle cackled, the ox chuckled, and the lion merely smiled.

"It's me, silly!" The pale boy said as he leaned closer to me with his fingers playing on my chest. "Or more like, it's us, Dominion!" I looked down at him and noticed a pair of small feathered wings on his back.

Now that he mentioned it, I do remember Dominion having four heads. The image of his "real form" flashed through my mind; I nodded while placing my hands around the pale boy's shoulder, making him giggle.

"Ah... Right. I remember now." I gently pushed the pale boy away from me as I slumped on the couch. "So you can separate your heads into multiple bodies or something?"

"In simpler words, yes. That's pretty much the case." The pale boy crawled towards me, revealing his small fidgeting wings in full view. He then sat on my lap and wrapped his thin arms around my neck.

I sighed. "You're being really touchy."

The boy's face flushed red, and his breathing got heavy, forming a thick mist around his lips. "I'm sorry. I'll stop if I'm making you feel uncomfortable." He pushed himself back with his hands gripping my shoulders, trembling and sweating.

"Nah. I'm not uncomfortable or anything; I'm just a bit, uhh... I dunno. Surprised? I don't mind the attention. I'm just surprised by this welcome; it's a pleasant one, don't worry." I grabbed his waist with both hands and pulled him closer.

The pale beauty wiped his drool off his grin before laying his head on my chest. "You're taking this better than I expected." His hands then traveled around my arms while his warm breath caressed my neck.

"I don't really care, to be honest. The reason behind this groping doesn't interest me, but I allow it."

"Can I lick you?"

"Nope."

"A pity. Oh, yeah!" He pursed his body up as if he had just realized something and looked at me with a pleased smile. "I forgot to introduce everyone. As you may have already known, all four of us here in this room are the avatars of the god Dominion. I am Dominion's human avatar and the voice that relays Dominion's will in your head. You may call me Man."

"Uhh... Right. Nice to meet you."

"Allow me to introduce our friends here." Man giggled with an excited grin.