Ludmint lay beside her Iris, engrossed in that dreamy face, enchanted by that alluring, fruity scent. Her hands stayed on her chest and abdomen, aching for touches, but she kept her desires to herself.

Iris needed this rest.

Cold winds crept through the open windows, fluttering the thick curtains. Moonlight periodically leaked inside, illuminating parts of the bedroom, but never revealed any transpiring intimacy.

Ludmint raised her hand, preparing to close the window, when a mischievous smile took over her face. She instead drew her hand to Iris, gently lifted her blanket, and snuggled within the bed.

If she closed the windows, the temperature might be too warm. Sharing her warmth with Iris was the only choice!

As she pressed her body against her beloved, Ludmint carefully examined Iris’s expression. That soothing look never changed. Iris wouldn’t know a thing even if Ludmint hugged and caressed her.

“Iris, you look too defenceless right now,” Ludmint whispered. “I . . . it takes much restraint not to touch you. It’s getting more difficult by the moment. Will you forgive me if I cave?”

Ludmint shivered. She skillfully stroked her fiancée’s neck, feeling the bubbly membrane vibrating under her silky touch. Her incorporeal fingertips grazed, nuzzled, and teased the soft slime while her eyes quietly slithered everywhere unconcealed by a thin layer of pyjamas and blanket.

She shifted herself until her silhouette merged with Iris, until her breaths fused with Iris’s. The bedroom grew impassioned and stuffy, with curtain-like mists covering Ludmint’s indecent expression.

“Your fruity, strawberry taste, I’m afraid it’s awakened my ravenous desire.” Ludmint leaned her face closer to Iris’s, fixating on that pair of translucent, flavourful lips. “May I have a little taste?”

“Was there ever any chance for me?”

Ludmint froze. Her body phased out of existence as she passed through the blanket and out of the bed. She materialised on her feet, her ears red, her chest tense, and her pupils quivering.

“I, I wasn’t trying to take advantage of you.” Ludmint raised her voice but then paused to hold her breath.

Iris remained motionless, still entrenched in her dream.

“Iris?” Ludmint crept toward the bed. “Did you sleepwalk? Are you dreaming?”

As no answer returned to her, Ludmint heaved a sigh and carefully lay on the bed again. While frowning, she held the blanket and moved it away from Iris.

Iris’s reflective membrane flickered as the ambient light fell on it. Her damp clothes exposed her bare slime, and her pinkened flushes dyed her body in sensitive dots.

“I’m sorry, Iris. I would never play with your body. My promise to safeguard you is eternal and unchanging.”

“This body . . . they’ll live on. But what would become of me?”

Iris’s faint voice dissipated in the steady chill air, which swirled around her, though it failed to lighten her blushes or suppress her rising body temperature.

Her brows creased. Her eyelids trembled.

“What . . . are you implying?” Ludmint grabbed Iris’s shoulders, squeezing them. “Iris, please wake up. You’re in a nightmare.”

Ever since they’d lived together, Iris had never sleepwalked, never murmured in her dream, and never revealed that heartbreaking expression.

Never reveal her pain, never express her sorrow, never worry her family. That perfect façade rarely parted; only terrible crises could fracture her.

“Iris!” Ludmint raised her voice, shaking her sleeping beauty. “You must wake up, you must return, you must not give in. We’re always by your side, your friends, your lovers, your family.”

“Where . . . are they?”

Iris’s fleeting tone gradually faded. The internal struggle on her countenance dimmed. Her heart steadily slipped away from her Ludmint.

Ludmint gritted her teeth. Her Corruption Power flared up, enveloping her right hand. She raised it, clenched it, and then slammed her palm on Iris’s left arm. Her silver flame shattered Iris’s arm and burned her slime. The bed fractured, but an invisible forcefield absorbed the damage, preventing it from destroying the bedroom.

Iris winced. She opened her mouth, but no scream escaped her.

Not enough. Ludmint pressed her lips against Iris and slithered her tongue inside. Her Corruption Power filled her mouth. The flames in her chest burst throughout her body. She wanted to take off her clothes and violate her Iris, but she suppressed that desire.

There must be no relief, not for her, not for Iris. Stay here, love me, feel me!

Ludmint blushed. Her hands crawled around Iris’s melting body, but they dared not touch where they wished. They merely stimulated the pinkening membrane with strokes and pinches.

As the urge caged in her heart overflowing, her hands moved to her sweating body. Her fingernails glided on her abdomen, seeking her most sensitive spots. She tickled her breasts while letting out a muffled cry that rang only for her fiancée.

No. She mustn’t continue. This . . . wasn’t working!

Ludmint bit her tongue. Phantom pain dispersed her body, and she reformed floating above Iris. Eyes bloodshot, she opened her mouth, within which hid a spherical orb of pitch-black quality.

Its all-consuming surface revealed a world of endless storms, where each gale dyed the world silver with its icy yet sorrowful howls. As Ludmint’s silver Corruption Power stirred, a ray of light escaped from the orb and materialised as a sliver spear whose handle resembled that of a delicate maiden’s hands.

Ludmint held the spear and thrust it. Its tip violently shattered Iris’s abdomen, burning through her slime, and grazed with the slightest force on her Shadow Heart Core.

Golden lines rose from all around the bedroom and sprung towards the strike. They wrapped around the spear, breaking and reforming as their golden radiances flooded the world. The bedroom’s wooden tiles and beams turned dark grey, their composition shifting to a magical material.

Shockwaves created by the spear crashed against the black material, cracking its surface. Golden liquid gushed out but then reversed its flow, reverting the black tiles to their original state.

Black Polylith Grand Formation operated at its full capacity. It managed to stop Ludmint’s power from shattering the house, but Ludmint didn’t care. She only focused on her Iris.

As Iris’s slime sluggishly flowed out of her core, her purple Corruption Power gurgled. Her eyes snapped open, and she gasped.

“I . . . have I returned?” She coughed, her hoarse voice ringing in the air.

“You . . . you’ve returned, Iris. Your nightmare’s over. I’m here now, always beside you.”

Ludmint let go of her spear, which disintegrated into nothingness, and landed on the bed. Her immaterial body became physical as she lightly sank onto her pillow, laying next to Iris, staring at that pair of reddened eyes. Her own reflection, brimming with uncontrollable craving, revealed her twirling lust.

Her slight smile, her creased brows, her strained cheeks, her trembling lips, they pieced together into a profound visage. She was relieved but also worried, reserved but also licentious, gentle but also aggressive.

No longer could she suppress herself.

Iris too flushed. Her feeling, the relic of that perilous dream, ate away at her mind. Her exhaustion blended with the stimulation, painting her irises cloudy, striking.

“She . . . took my lips,” Iris said. “I am tainted by her love, my heart gripped by her passion. Do you . . . find it abhorrent?”

“Her marks on you, I’ll replace it with mine.”

Iris opened her mouth, but nothing came out of her. Her tongue played with her lips as her eyes drooled, milky tears wetting her blissful expression. Her hands glided around her body, moved to her bed, and slid towards her Ludmint.

Ludmint’s eyes, they gawked at her, violating her miserable heart. Of course she allowed it, indulged in it, and wished for it never to end.

Such differing reactions. This was love, love beyond doubt.

“Take me, make me forget that nightmare. Fill my heart with your voice, my head with your name.”

“And your body with my love.”

Iris spoke nothing, but her hands reached for her Ludmint, whispering a quiet long song in the form of weak moans. The lyric of romance pervaded the bedroom, and the saliva of affection wetted the bedsheet. Questionable fluids soaked their bodies, yet they failed to calm the rising heat and the aroused senses.

As Ludmint moved her fingers, Iris quavered. She pursed her lips, but Ludmint’s tongue forced them open. The flame bursting throughout her body dissolved her membrane, which continuously regenerated and punctured.

She shifted her posture; Ludmint also moved with her. Their rhythm pulsated, shaking the bed as their intensity magnified. Their voices rose and fell in tandem, merging into a chorus orchestrated by their synchronised movement.

“Ludmint . . .” Iris weakly gasped. Her bare chest faltered. “I . . . I’m tired.”

Ludmint froze. She drew back her fingers and touched Iris’s chest, stroking it delicately. Her Corruption Power flowed through the sticky membrane, merging with the fatigued slime.

“Iris, have I . . . bored you?” Ludmint blinked. Her ears turned crimson. “I . . . was I too selfish? I didn’t know you weren’t—”

“No!” Iris raised her voice. “I couldn’t stop moaning; how could I not enjoy it?”

“Then, should I . . . go slower? Was I too forceful?”

Iris blushed. She dared not speak her mind, but her aching, shivering body implied everything. She wanted more. More than she could handle.

This exhaustion was chaining her!

“I’m sorry. I can’t help myself.” Iris averted her eyes. The energy Ludmint slipped inside her, although heavenly, failed to heal her tired soul. “Please don’t blame yourself. I’m . . . such a useless wife.”

Ludmint closed her eyes. What was she thinking, forcing Iris down while she was sleeping? Had she gone insane, had her lust overtaken her principles?

She made Iris sad. She made her fiancée, her wife, miserable.

“No, Iris. You aren’t useless. Never.” Ludmint rose from the bed and sat on Iris’s abdomen, exhaling a puff of cold mist. She placed her hands on Iris’s bosom, leaning forward. “Allow me to help you. You’re tired, but your heart is racing. If we don’t extinguish this flame, you wouldn’t have a restful sleep.”

Iris sluggishly covered her embarrassed face. She feebly nodded. “Please help me.”

Ludmint exhaled. She tensed her arms. Her body glided against Iris’s body, shifting, shivering. Her fingernails pinched into the gluey membrane. It coated her skin, sticking to every part of her delicate body.

She gradually sank into Iris and, as the bubbling slime seeped into her, she trembled periodically. The current of love inside her rhythmically flowed, stroking her inside. Her mouth gaped open. A steamy breath mixed with her foamy saliva dripped from her lips.

As she exerted herself, her body floated up, slipping in and out, in and out of Iris’s puddle of sweet slime. Her heart beat in sync, her breathing in cycle. She carefully increased her pace, and the blanket and the pillows swirled around her. They formed pile upon pile of softness that invited her to submerge herself in this sea of ecstasy.

Iris, eyes closed, bit her lips. Her voice diffused in the air, shaking the warm vapours. Her lost strength locked her in place, and her responsive slime forced her moans out of her throat. Milky liquid danced within her blue slime. It coursed beneath her cracking membrane.

She clenched her hands, holding onto the bed until her fingernails cut the bedsheet. Ludmint’s hands then reached hers, so she held onto them, though she dared not hold on too tight, or she might hurt her Ludmint.

While their voices, in concert, aroused to the height of their cord, the pillows and blanket surrounding their assimilating bodies tumbled onto them. Ludmint laid herself onto her Iris, and let the world collapse over them.

In this comforting darkness, they ground their bodies until nothing singular remained. Their love, their fluid, their silhouettes morphed into one, into an ocean of cries that reverberated in their minds, that forced its way into their hearts.

Their muffled voices ceased, their movements stilled. Oneness at last.