The Tower of Passion

Annabelle was surprised as she saw Fiona burst down the cobbled street, and Qae suddenly lit up in a pink glow next to her. Wasting no time they followed, Liddy and her captor disappearing around a corner.

"WILLY!" Annabelle shouted, her familiar floating out. She tried to not think about the comedic aspect of the flying goblin dick, as it shot ahead of the party following Fiona, Liddy, and whoever had their gnome friend.

Fiona was a woman possessed and even the other two more physically adaptable members struggled to follow, never mind the short legger witch. Within minutes, even with Fiona's linked buff still raging, dancing around her in little pink dust motes Qae gave up. 

"My familiar is still on them... I can... I can follow." Annabelle panted, to the node of the others.

"This is my fault." Qae started as they rushed down the empty morning streets, cutting through alleyways towards Annabelle's familiar.

"Fuck if it is, how is it your fault?" She spat out, mouth tasting of iron at the brisk pace they said.

"I should have foreseen some form of attack. Some form of... I should have known"

"Let's just find them." Ash said, cannon bouncing at her side. "We can figure it out later. Hopefully, Fiona hasn't been too reckless."

No one said anything for a moment. They all sped up slightly.

Weaving through windy cobblestone fantasy streets, Annabelle had just enough awareness to think about how crazy this was. How cool - other than her new friend being kidnapped and her other friend chasing after her. She and her best friend are on an actual fantasy adventure, not just over some roleplaying game.

The thought stayed with her as her connection to Willy led her to follow the outer wall of the village, leading alongside it until they found the animated cock floating next to a crack in the wall.

A crack that leads to nothing. It wasn't that it was dark, or even empty- something empty could be filled. With this there just... there was something, then there wasn't then there was again.

A cloaked figure lay on the floor next to the crack - revealing that it wasn't so much a cloaked figure, as a disembodied cloak, empty with the same attribute of nothingness as the crack like you could fall through it and... become nothing. It was like a shadow, touching it felt wrong.

Where the head should be was caved in as if smashed by a hammer.

"I knew it." Qae sneered with a viciousness Annabelle had yet to see from the woman. "Outsiders."

"Outsiders? What?" It was Ash asking, which made Annabelle feel better that she didn't know either. Was she an outsider? Oni had called her transcended, but that goddess seemed very relaxed about most things.

"I will explain later - we have to get them back first. This will feel mildly discombobulating, but follow me. It is mostly safe" And with that Qae stepped into the crack.

"Right." Ash hopped in immediately after, leaving Annabelle with her floating disembodied cock familiar. 

"FUCK"

She ran towards and it chickened out. Took a couple of steps. Decided to just try to poke it, her finger extending juuuust int-
Her stomach lurched as her body was flipped and twister and she was suddenly standing in a large white room. She could see the crack she came from behind her, the tower far away in the back.

Wait.
She could see the tower?
She looked around, she was an indeterminable distance away from her friends. They seemed mere steps away and at the same time on the other side of an endless white plain. She ran towards them across the smooth featureless landscape.

She shouted towards them as she approached, but no sound came out as she stopped next to Qae, who was kneeling over another knocked-out cloak however in here it was shimmering with iridescence, colors of the rainbow covering its wearer - a purple, shadowy creature, skin slightly transclucent. Maybe five foot tall, tendrils covering its face and five eyes shut. Long fingers twitched slightly. 

Qae signaled the others to follow her and they did, deeper and deeper into the nothing - the crack back to the tower behind them shrinking in the distance. The all-encompassing whiteness of it all was smothering, driving Annabelle mad.

She felt more than heard the thud - no sound, but the thud still reverberated through the nothingness, pushing through the oppressive silence. The only thing she could hear was her own heartbeat, as they found more and more beaten and battered Outsiders. 

Finally, they found them - Fiona, holding Liddy, still glowing a harsh pink. Two more of the tentacled creatures around them, Fiona's hammer next to her, indents in close matching its head perfectly. Fiona cradled Liddy in her arms - the sea gnome didn't seem hurt in any way but was clearly unconscious. Qae tried to make a move towards them, and Fiona bared her teeth and snarled at her. Emotion ran rampant, her passion overtaking her.

Qae looked at the others, uncharacteristically unsure of what to do. Annabelle tried moving closer to Fiona, the human seeming... less threatened by the goblin. She wasn't sure if she was happy about it, but it worked. She reached out and touched Fiona on the shoulder, gently, before activating [Supress Emotion] on her friend. Something in the berserker must still be conscious, accepting it, as the pink glow faded and she collapsed holding her precious friend.

Ash gently untangled Liddy from the berserker's grasp and picked her up, Qae taking the berserker with Annabelle carrying her friends enormous hammer, barely able to drag it behind her. As the group started moving, Annabelle took one last look at the outsiders.

They left towards the crack in nothing, leaving many cloaked and one naked outsider behind.

************************************************************

Fiona woke on marshmallow clouds. She sat up, panicked, looking around desperately hopping up to grab her hammer before realising she was naked again.
"Liddy!"
"Your friend is safe - I intercepted in between the nothing and the tower" A familiar voice. Familiar breasts. The goddess floated in front of her, hand folded in front of her, dressed in barely opaque cloth.
"You!" Fiona shouted at the goddess, emotion running hot - Annabelle's spell worn off, or maybe this was the dampened version.
"This is not how I intended to catch up - it is more secure, however, now that you were already out of the tower stopping you in-between is a simple matter. I did think it prudent to wait until your friend was safe."
"Where are the rest of my friends?"
"In the in-between time is... strange. Ask the lizard, and she'll explain it. We do not have much."
"Why did they take Liddy?"
"Most likely cause they are stupid, blind, and made an error." Derision is strong in her voice. "That does not make the Outsiders harmless. Now, you will have questions. We have a few minutes."

Fiona took a moment. She'd had so many questions, so many things she wanted to know. She'd felt lost, confused and uncertain - but there was one thing that confused her more than any other.

"Why are my spells so sex-focused? And the set item - a collar and a nipple piercing? Passion is anything - I linked with Qae with maths !" It had confused her for the last few days - especially the items. "I could just talk to people at nice things but it pushed me towards fucking - which is fun but... I don't get it!"
"Ah... Well." Ina looked at the naked berserker, trying to not notice the twitching member, the eyes glued to her chest. "I have had a few transcended over the centuries - the abilities are provided by the Tower. And the items. Once I had a man whose abilities were all related to trains - another, very tiny rocks. The tower tailors your abilities, your class, everything to your deepest, personal passion - you can link with others, but your core set will be yours."

"That is abso-" Fiona thought back to her house. She didn't think she had quite hit six digits worth of sex toys unless you included the comics, manga, art commissions, sculptures, the custom stories."

"Ok." She stopped counting. "Next question. What the fuck was that" she waved her arms wildly "I could... Even through the fog of my ability, I could feel the nothing. It felt terrible."

"That, was the outsiders. And that, is what I would like to talk about. I know you are aware the tower is in danger, and that nothing will spread to - well, everything. Eternity." She took a breath. "The Outsiders are creatures of the outer gods. Outside of our eternity, of what you consider reality. And they would very much like to be in, and what they do when they get in is turn it into what they like."
"Which is nothing."
"Exactly - that includes you, the tower, your earth, every sphere, myself. Everything. Nothing other than them can exist in the nothing for more than a few minutes."
"They would erase you."
"I exist, so they would yes. Everything."
Fiona stopped. She hadn't really thought too hard about actually getting to the top - especially since Annabelle had come back. But she had found people she treasured, even if it had only been for a few days. She wanted to stay with them forever - she hadn't realized that before now, but she did.
"Do you... Are there more artifacts on earth? Can my other friends make it through?" 

The goddess looked exhausted with that latest question.
"Unfortunately, yes. Technically, also yes. Will they? I don't know - they are unlikely to meet me, or Oni, who I am sure Annabelle will tell you about."
"Last question - Qaerlyz knows... Knows I am transcended."
"She would. While it isn't something you should tell everyone - your immediate party members are fine to know. How they handle it, I am unsure - but it is not a danger. Now" She floated through the air, ending up pushing into Fiona's bare back. 
"I will return you to your friends - it will be a second after you enter through the crack. Which shouldn't have appeared - the floor boss must have been distracted."
Fiona blushed, and then everything lurched again.