Free Web NovelMatt opened his eyes in the mental world with his breathing unsteady and the first thing he saw was breasts.
Two breasts, directly above his face. Pressed against his nose and mouth, blocking his vision completely.
Matt felt soft, warm skin. Too close.
So close he couldn't breathe.
Matt raised his hands and pushed.
"Get off!"
The body on top of him flew to the side and landed on one of the cushions scattered across the floor.
"Ow!"
The voice was high-pitched, familiar, and irritating.
Matt sat up sharply. His heart was beating fast. His breath came in short bursts. His eyes took a second to adjust to the light of the mental world.
And when they did, he saw the blonde girl lying on a large cushion, face up, with her long hair splayed out in every direction and both eyes — the red and the blue — looking at him with an expression of reproach.
She was naked.
Completely naked.
"Master! Why would you push me like that? I was taking care of you! I've spent hours making sure your consciousness didn't get lost again and you push me like I'm garbage!"
Matt looked at her for a few seconds before turning his gaze elsewhere.
"Put something on."
"Huh?"
"Clothes. Put clothes on."
"Why?"
Matt didn't answer. He brought a hand to his face and rubbed his eyes.
His head hurt.
How long was I asleep?
He had no answer for that.
The last thing he remembered was the sky. The sun. The cold air. The queen's arms closing around his body.
And then nothing.
Matt lowered his hand and looked around.
He wasn't in the grass field where he normally appeared in the mental world. He was in a small, simple room with soft cream-colored walls and a floor covered in cushions of different sizes and colors.
There were three beds against the walls.
They weren't elaborate beds. They were thick mattresses with white sheets and large pillows. The kind of beds someone would build if they'd never seen a real bed but had a general idea of what one was supposed to look like.
And in one of those beds, sitting cross-legged with her back against the wall, was Noxx.
Noxx looked at him.
"Hi, Matt," she said in a flat tone.
Matt studied her.
Noxx was dressed. A long t-shirt that reached her knees. Her white hair pulled back in a low ponytail. Her eyes were tired, with visible dark circles, and her posture was hunched.
Noxx looked exhausted.
"What's wrong?"
Noxx blinked.
"Wrong with what?"
"You look bad."
Noxx let out a short, humorless laugh.
"Thanks."
"That's not an insult. I'm asking what's wrong with you."
Noxx lowered her gaze to her hands. They were resting on her knees. Her fingers moved slowly, opening and closing, as if testing that they still worked.
"Your body was receiving the queen's blood for… I don't know how long, but it's been a while."
Matt said nothing.
"I felt every drop, Matt. All the power that blood carried passed through the body and I felt it from here. It was… intense."
"Are you okay now?"
"More or less. It stopped a while ago. Or at least I don't feel it as strongly."
Matt nodded.
Then he looked at the blonde, who was still lying on the cushion making no effort to cover herself.
"And what does she have to do with me being awake?"
Noxx gestured toward the blonde with her head.
"She woke you up."
Matt frowned.
"How?"
Noxx sighed.
"When you fell asleep in the outside world, your consciousness got stuck running the body. But since the body fell into a deep sleep, your consciousness got… trapped. You couldn't come back here. You couldn't move. You couldn't do anything. You were asleep in the body and asleep here at the same time."
"And?"
"I couldn't do anything. I tried. I tried to find you. I tried to call you. I tried to shake you. Nothing worked. Your consciousness was somewhere I couldn't reach."
Noxx paused.
"But she could."
Matt looked at the blonde.
The blonde, who had been listening from the cushion, sat up abruptly. Back straight. Chest out. Both eyes gleaming with an expression of pride so exaggerated that Matt could practically see rays of light radiating from her face.
"That's right, Master! I woke you up!" freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Matt looked at her without expression.
"I searched the entire mental world for you! Every corner! Every edge! I went through this whole place from one end to the other until I found where your consciousness was trapped and dragged it back!"
The blonde stood up on the cushion with her hands on her hips. Her chin was raised, in the pose of someone waiting to receive a medal.
"It was very hard! It took a long time! But I did it!"
Silence.
Matt looked at her.
The blonde looked at him.
The pose held.
The seconds passed.
The blonde's smile started to waver.
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"…Master?"
Matt sighed.
"Why aren't you dressed?"
The blonde blinked.
"Huh?"
"Noxx has clothes. You don't. Why?"
The blonde lowered her hands from her hips and looked down. She looked at her own body. Then at Noxx. Then at herself again.
"Is it necessary for me to wear clothes?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because it is."
"But they're uncomfortable."
"I don't care."
"Besides, they hide my figure!" The blonde ran her hands down her sides, from her ribs to her hips, in a gesture meant to be demonstrative. "Look, Master! I have a great figure! Why should I hide it?"
Matt looked at her with a flat expression.
"Your chest is small."
The blonde stopped.
Her hands went up to her chest.
She touched it.
Squeezed it.
Looked at it.
"Of course I have one! You're lying! I do have a chest! It's right here! I'm touching it right now! See?"
"It's small."
"It's not small! It's… it's the right size! Proportional! It's fine!"
Matt had already stopped looking at her. He'd turned his head to take in the rest of the room.
His eyes moved across the walls, the beds, the cushions, the low ceiling.
All of it was new.
None of this had existed before in the mental world.
Matt looked at Noxx.
"You made this?"
Noxx raised her head.
"The room?"
"Yes."
Noxx shrank slightly. Her shoulders came up and her gaze went sideways.
"Yes… I made it."
"When?"
"While you were sleeping. I had a lot of free time and… I don't know. Lying on the grass all day wasn't very comfortable. So I tried to build something. I didn't know if it would work, but it did."
Matt looked at the room again.
The cushions were distributed irregularly but not carelessly. The beds had their sheets properly placed. The pillows were fluffy. There was effort there.
"It's good."
Noxx raised her head.
"It's good?"
"Yes. Good work."
Noxx's eyes opened slightly wider. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. Then she lowered her head again, but this time there was a pink tinge in her cheeks that hadn't been there before.
"Thank you…"
"ME TOO!"
The blonde's voice exploded from across the room.
Matt turned his head.
The blonde was on her feet, fists clenched at her sides and both eyes locked on him. The red and blue burned with an intensity that only appeared when she was indignant.
"Compliment me too! I worked very hard to wake you up! Much harder than making a room! I dragged your consciousness back from somewhere nobody could reach! That's harder than putting cushions on the floor!"
Matt looked at her.
"You're loud."
"I'm not loud! I'm expressing a legitimate complaint!"
Noxx spoke from her bed. Her voice was low and calm.
"Matt."
Matt looked at her.
"Even if she is loud… she's more useful than I am."
Matt frowned.
"What?"
"She woke you up. I couldn't do anything. I sat here the entire time without being able to help. I couldn't pull you out of the sleep. I couldn't see outside. I couldn't do a single useful thing while you were trapped."
Noxx lowered her gaze to her hands again.
"She did what I couldn't."
Matt looked at Noxx and frowned slightly.
"Don't dwell on that."
Noxx didn't look up.
"Noxx."
She looked up.
"You have a lot of room to grow. Your bond with me is different from hers. Your abilities are different. Comparing yourself doesn't make sense."
Matt paused.
"Besides, you're much more obedient than she is."
"Hey!" the blonde shouted from across the room.
"And that's worth more than you think."
Noxx looked at Matt and her eyes began to grow wet.
"…Thank you, Matt."
Matt looked away.
"Master!"
The blonde appeared at his side. She didn't walk. She appeared. One second she was on the other side of the room and the next she was kneeling beside Matt, her face centimeters from his and both eyes staring at him.
"Master, you haven't given me a name!"
Matt leaned back.
"What?"
"A name! We have a soul contract! We're partners! And you still haven't given me a name! Noxx has a name! I have nothing! You just call me 'bow-lance' or 'loud' or 'you'!"
Matt looked at her.
"You want a name?"
"Yes!"
"Now?"
"Yes, now!"
Matt rubbed his face with one hand and thought for three seconds.
"Griselda."
Silence.
The blonde looked at him.
"Griselda?"
"Yes."
"Griselda?"
"That's what I said."
The blonde's face crumpled. Her nose scrunched, her lips twisted to one side, and her eyes narrowed.
It was the face of someone who had just bitten into something rotten.
"That name is horrible."
"It's a name."
"It's an ugly name! Horrible! It sounds like an old woman! I don't want to be called Griselda!"
"Then stay nameless." frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
"No! I want a name! But a nice one! One that sounds good! One that suits me!"
Matt looked at her with narrowed eyes.
"I just woke up."
"I know!"
"I'm tired."
"I know!"
"The last thing my head is going to do right now is strain itself coming up with a good name for a loud girl who won't wear clothes."
The blonde opened her mouth and closed it. Her expression changed.
The reproach disappeared and the indignation left. Her eyes lost their fighting shine and dimmed a little. Her shoulders dropped and her back curved inward.
"…Alright."
Her voice came out small, almost a murmur.
"I'll go bother someone else…"
She got to her feet, without the energy from before. She walked to the farthest corner of the room, sat on the floor, hugged her knees to her chest, and pressed her forehead against them.
She curled into a ball.
A blonde, naked, silent ball in the corner of the room.
Matt looked at her.
Noxx looked at her.
Noxx looked at Matt.
Matt looked away.
I'll give her a better name later.
Matt moved. He dragged himself across the cushions until he was sitting beside Noxx's bed, his back resting against the edge of the mattress.
"Noxx."
"Yes?"
"What's happened?"
Noxx looked at him.
"While you were sleeping?"
"Yes. How long was it? What happened outside? What do you know?"
Noxx shook her head.
"Almost nothing. I couldn't see the outside. Before you fell asleep, you had control of the body. And when you fell asleep, the body shut down. I couldn't perceive anything from outside. Couldn't see. Couldn't hear. I could only feel what the body felt physically. The blood coming in. The warmth. The weight of something on top. But nothing more."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing. The only one who saw anything outside was her."
Noxx gestured toward the corner where the blonde was curled up.
Matt turned his head.
The blonde was still in the same position — forehead against her knees, arms around her legs, unmoving.
Matt pressed his lips together.
While it did bother him somewhat that the blonde had done something he'd told her not to do — acting on her own without permission — the situation hadn't been normal.
He'd been unconscious and Noxx couldn't do anything.
The blonde was the only one with a bond different enough to move through Matt's body without depending on his consciousness.
She'd acted out of necessity.
Matt could understand that.
"Hey."
The blonde didn't move.
"I'm talking to you."
One eye appeared above her knees — the red one — looking at him sideways with an expression that tried to seem offended but couldn't completely hide the curiosity underneath.
"Did you see anything in the outside world?"
The eye disappeared behind her knees.
Then appeared again.
Then disappeared.
Then the blonde lifted her head all at once.
The transformation was instant.
The dejection evaporated. Her eyes opened wide. Her back straightened. The energy returned to her body so quickly Matt almost heard the switch.
"Yes! I saw things!"
She jumped to her feet and walked toward Matt with quick steps, sitting down in front of him with her legs crossed and her hands on her knees, leaning forward with both eyes fixed on him.
"From what little I could see during my visits outside, there's a woman who has you locked in a room."
"The queen."
"Yes! That one! She feeds you her blood constantly. She puts it in your mouth with her finger and you swallow even though you're asleep."
From the bed, Noxx made a sound.
"Ngh…"
Matt turned his head.
Noxx's face was red. Her gaze was fixed on the floor and her lips were pressed together.
"Noxx?"
"Nothing. Keep going."
Matt looked at her for one more second. Then back to the blonde.
"How many times did you go out to look?"
"Three. No, four. Four times. But I couldn't stay long because that woman is… she's very attentive. She notices everything. She checks everything."
Matt narrowed his eyes.
"You think she saw you?"
The blonde laughed.
"Impossible!"
"You're sure?"
"Completely sure! I made myself smaller than I already was! So small it's impossible for that old woman to see or sense me! I'm invisible, Master!"
Matt didn't share her confidence. The queen wasn't someone who could be underestimated.
Her perception was absurd. Her control over energy was absolute.
If there was anything out of place in Matt's body — however small — there was a real chance she'd notice.
But the blonde had a natural talent for learning. Matt had seen it in the cave. Her ability to compress her presence until it was nearly nonexistent was genuine.
Not something she faked.
It was part of what she was.
Matt hoped it was enough.
"Anything else?"
"Yes! I had to change hiding spots several times."
"Why?"
"Because that woman took the weapons out of your hands and put them on a nightstand. I was hidden in your palm, behind the gun, but when she took it away I was exposed. So I moved."
"To where?"
"To your chest."
Matt looked at her.
"I slipped in between your chest. Under the clothes that woman put on you."
Matt said nothing.
"I even moved down a bit further to make sure she wouldn't find me."
Matt still said nothing.
"But that's not the worst of it!" The blonde leaned further forward. Her eyes shone with a mixture of indignation and something that resembled disgust. "That queen checked every corner of your body before dressing you! Every corner, Master! I had to keep moving so she wouldn't find me! Every time her hands got close to where I was, I had to shift somewhere else! It was horrible!"
Matt felt something rise in his throat.
It wasn't nausea.
It was revulsion.
But he didn't want to think about that.
He wasn't going to think about that.
"But I avoided her," said the blonde. "I'm certain I avoided her completely."
Matt breathed.
"Good."
The blonde waited.
Matt looked at her.
"Good work."
The reaction was immediate.
The blonde's eyes went wide. Both of them. The red and the blue lit up with an intensity that illuminated her entire face.
Her mouth opened in a smile so large it took up half her face.
Her hands closed into fists that she pressed against her chest.
"Really?!"
"Yes."
"Master said I did good work!"
"Yes, I said it, don't repeat it."
"Good work! He said good work! Noxx! Did you hear?! Master said I did good work!"
Noxx nodded from the bed with a small smile.
"I heard."
"Good work! Ha! Ha ha!"
The blonde jumped to her feet and began moving around the room — she jumped and spun, swinging her arms with wild energy. Her blonde hair flew in every direction while she was completely naked.
But she was completely happy, without a drop of shame.
Matt ignored her and turned to Noxx.
"I'm going out to talk to the queen."
Noxx looked at him.
Her expression changed. The small smile disappeared and her eyes darkened slightly.
"Matt."
"What?"
"Before you go out… can you talk with me for a bit?"
