Time Slip into a Reverse World

When they’d finished their midday meal, it was a short march from Fighter’s Green to the Circled Square. Linhart, Nyx, and Blythe moved quickly as a unit, although now they were accompanied by three seniors as well.

Altheia, Helen, and Ami.

Having three more students join their incursion team fit right in with his plan, but looking back at these three, Linhart worried that they weren't... enough.

Altheia was one of the top ranked senior Fighters and one of the strongest wrestlers in the entire Academy. She could probably take down a dozen boob soldiers, when the fighting breaks out. He had no doubt that there'd be fighting.

The other two Fighters, however, would take a few weeks of intensive training before he would feel confident that they were ready. He’d seen them both lying defeated in the infirmary just recently, which didn't make them hopeless. Ami was a spitfire, never backing away from a fight. She was also fast and agile, though it only took one or two strikes to disable her. Helen, on the other hand, he'd only seen fight once or twice. She was the tallest of the three, with a long reach for grappling. But she wasn’t as strong as Altheia or as fast as Ami.

Linhart sighed. This called for some intensive training. Failure wasn’t an option on this mission.

If the wizards cut them off from their escape, they’d all be killed. Or even worse, they’d be transformed into boob soldiers themselves and his status as a Mnemon would be found out, as well. That was his biggest concern, and the reason why he would take steps to ensure he’d never be captured.

The Circled Square was already in use. Magister Tullia was running a group of freshmen through their warmups. Several seniors that he didn’t know were supporting the magister. They looked inquisitively over at Altheia and the others, as the three seniors followed Linhart through the large double doors and down into the infirmary.

From there, Linhart took the lead, letting Blythe step back. The sound of their footsteps echoed down the earthen corridor. At the infirmary they encountered a group of Healers who were chatting on the couches. Nils and the others. The boys were shocked to see them. Their thin hooded figures and startled expressions really completed their sheep-like appearance.

Linhart didn’t pay them any mind, as the boys hurriedly filed past them and rushed out. It wasn't until he heard the mighty crash of the doors closing behind them that he produced a large brass key from his pouch.

"This key opens a part of Fighter's Green that none of you have seen before, and likely none of you even knew existed. He then pushed it into a solid-looking door, ancient and bound in iron. It opened, revealing a winding set of stairs.

“So we’re entering the Pit, are we?” Altheia remarked. She didn’t seem surprised, but she was looking at him now, giving him an appraising look.

“So, why are you the one who’s leading us?”

Linhart spread his arms wide.

“I thought that you wouldn’t be as interested in joining a mission that is being led by a boy. But trust me when I tell you that I'm the only one who can lead us where we are going."

He paused, waiting for anyone to object, but when no one spoke up, he continued.

"From here on, You will see things that you won’t be able to walk away from. Once you follow me down into the Pit, you’ll be bound to this team just as tightly as I am, and there is a good chance that some or all of us won’t survive what we have to do. This is your last chance to turn back. Blythe and Nyx, that includes you, as well.”

The girls shuffled their feet and looked at each other for a long moment. He considered for a moment what his next step would be if he lost them all right now. But that didn’t happen.

Blythe was the first to speak.

“I’m in, boss. I’ve already followed you this far.”

“I am, too,” added Nyx with a smile. “But if we both survive this, then you’ve got to keep the promise you made at lunch.”

He smiled back and replied, “Of course, I will. Once it’s all over.”

Seeing the freshmen girls profess their support, Ami, Helen, and Altheia agreed to join as well.

“You must be quite the boy, to have Blythe refer to you as boss,” Altheia noted. “Just promise that you’ll take care of her and I’ll do as you ask me.”

“I’ll protect her with my life,” he responded with all seriousness.

Ami’s high-pitched voice seemed out of place in the echoing infirmary.

“I’m in too, Linhart. But only if you promise to give me your special shoulder rub whenever I get stiff?”

“Me too,” exclaimed Helen.

“Deal!” Linhart replied. “Now follow me. We are going to go meet the prisoners…”

* * * * * * * * *

The rounded fighting square up there on the surface was just the tip of a complex facility that stretched deep underground. Linhart had been amazed when Xenia had first guided him through the labyrinthine chambers and corridors, and now he was tasked with the difficult task of remembering every turn they had taken, while still pretending he knew exactly where they were going to the gaggle of girls that were following him.

“How far down are you taking us?”

“The cells are on the third level.”

The group had reached the bottom of the stairs and were navigating a series of wide open caverns complete with a thick layer of soil and giant luminescent fungi.

“The Stratega described this area as the weakening level. Don't touch the soil, and try not to breathe in the spores.”

There was a restless resetting of their marching order, as all the Fighters squeezed into a single file line behind him. Someone shouted from the back.

“How many levels are there?”

“I asked the Stratega that same question, but she didn't know. Apparently, the fifth level has real monsters roaming freely.”

When Xenia had first taken Linhart below the surface, he could barely fathom the extent of the Fighting superstructure. Now retracing their path, he wondered how he could even start to explain the mission to his new team.

The less they knew, the better, he decided.

“What is it all for?” Nyx asked from right behind him.

“Training elite units, though now it's used to contain enemies of Eryndor.”

Another thoughtful silence followed as they descended a second winding stairway.

The second level was flooded. It wasn't a flaw, it was a feature. A constant dripping noise echoed off the walls, cold water ran down the corridors, turning the bare stone into a cold, slippery challenge beneath their feet. More chambers than not would require them to dive in to get across. Luckily, to reach the next stairway downward, they didn't need to cross anything deeper than his knees.

“Are we going to train here… for the mission?” Helen called from the middle.

“I don't know. We're on our way to meet a mage right now. She's the only person at the Academy who knows what kind of terrain we'll be facing.”

“A mage… who works for the wizards?” asked Altheia.

There was more than one grunt of disgust and someone spit loudly.

The cells were located around a large round pit where the second stairway opened onto the third level.

He hadn't seen it, but he'd been told that this level featured a floe of molten rock. The stifling heat hit them even before they exited the stairwell.

That, and the occasional scream of pain accompanied by the wet sounds of flesh slapping against flesh.

Linhart knew that Xenia had been down here all night and that she was likely still working over Celes. The woman was unstoppable. A goddess of vengeance and pain.

There was nothing he could say to prepare his team for what they were about to witness, so he didn't say anything. He would just let them see for themselves. As they stepped one by one out of the stairwell into the dimly lit shaft, a shocked silence was the overwhelming response.

There was a girl, a nubile body, bent over at the waist while her hips were propped up naked and prone. One leg was planted on the floor, while the other was suspended high up in the air, spreading her wide open for all to see. Her hands and neck couldn’t be seen from where they stood. She was firmly secured in some sort of medieval apparatus.

Behind her, a woman twice her size was working two dildos in and out of her vagina and her ass, as if she were playing a fine instrument. The woman was shirtless and drenched with sweat, energetically working those holes, as though she were trying to produce just the right screams.

Worse still the captive’s head was suspended over a hole, out of which was coming an uninterrupted jet of steam from somewhere deep below.

Was it scalding or cool? It was impossible to tell from the weak screams that she occasionally emitted and the way her body writhed to the force of the dildos.

From here it was impossible to recognize the Stratega Mage. Linhart decided it was probably best not to let them know that woman’s identity.

It was just as impossible for any of the fighters not to recognize their own leader.

“Stratega!” Linhart called to her.

Only then, did Xenia acknowledge their arrival.

“There you are, my brave Liondick. And you’ve returned with friends!”

The seniors were just as shocked by Xenia’s words as they were at finding her raping a prisoner in both holes.

“That’s right. I brought them in to meet the other prisoner,” he said, scanning the line of cells that circled the room. “Have you already started with her?”

Xenia stopped what she was doing and wandered over. A fragrant cloud of her feminine musk hit his nose. His eyes took in her perfect physique, watching as rivulets of sweat dripped from her bulging muscles and breasts. Her green hair was matted to her head, and she flung her head back, clearing her face in a salty spray.

She gave the group a cursory lookover, but didn’t look impressed, only giving Altheia a nod of approval.

“Fighters. Welcome to the Real Pit!”

She looked over at Linhart then, with a devilish smile, took his hand and plastered it to her massive boob.

“I just got started with her, but by the Gods I’ve been counting the minutes since you left. How long has it been?”

Linhart smiled back and gave her a firm squeeze.

“Three hours at most. You need to be more patient, my Stratega.”

Xenia had always had an insatiable appetite for sex, but ever since they had started this covert operation her switch had been permanently flipped. She was now a kidnapping, torturing, love-making machine.

She was also shameless, and as the team looked on, she yanked him to her so violently that his shirt ripped, engulfing his mouth in a deep kiss. Her tongue explored his mouth as his hands roamed up and down the hard curves of her body.

Mouths dropped. No one spoke and no one looked away.

Minutes later, it was Linhart that pushed her away. She won again.

“Haaahhn… I-I gotta check the prisoner,” he panted, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Xenia smiled, all powerful and toothy. It was her she-wolf smile.

“Fine. She’s in that one over there. Like I said, I haven’t even started with her. Just softened her up.”

Linhart nodded and peeled himself off of her. His clothes were now stained with her sweat. He gestured for the others to follow him.

The cell was much too small for all of them to fit in, but when the heavy metal door creaked open and the light flowed in, every member of the team was able to look within.

The sight was only slightly less shocking than seeing their Stratega fucking the hell out of a woman.

“Is this what she calls softening up?” Linhart marveled.

The girl’s purple hair was distinctive and her face hadn’t been touched. But the rest of her body was covered in bruises. She was secured to the back wall in a spread-eagle position. Her wrists and ankles bore shackles that stretched her limbs to the point of discomfort and left her there.

“ Uuumphh…”

The moment the door swung open, they could hear the girl sobbing. She was talking, but an O-shaped ring was holding her mouth open and she couldn’t speak. It also highlighted the glistening shark-like teeth and the stream of blood that was running down her chin.

“She bit her own tongue clean off.”

Linhart wheeled around to find Xenia was looming right behind him.

“You think we won’t ask you any questions if you can’t talk, eh bitch?” she said angrily. Forcing past Linhart and into the cell. “Well we’ll get what we want out of you, tongue or no tongue!”

Xenia was not gentle with her as she pried the shackles off her arms and legs. The girl lashed out uselessly against her strong hold. A pale soft looking body.

Although he’d only left her here a few hours ago, Vivian had a haunted look in her eyes. Linhart noted her nipples had been pierced in that short time, and a light bronze chain now ran between them.

“Go ahead,” Xenia said, pushing the shapely young girl forward. “If you lead her by the chain she has to follow. Her tits are her weakness.

Linhart seized the chain and gave it an experimental yank.

“Uuugghnnn!”

Vivian cried out around the ring in her mouth. Pain mixed with pleasure. Very satisfying.

“Team,” he announced, pulling her far enough out so they could all gather around. “This is the mage that’s going to get us into the wizard’s tower.”