[Aster]
Darkness and heat, the familiar acrid smell of burnt stone, metallic taste on his tongue and teeth, and rivers of sweat pouring down his naked, bony body without stopping. At the end of a long, winding tunnel, Aster was curled in the most uncomfortable way possible against the narrow walls, his knees close to his chest, hands pressed against the wall in front of him. Despite already feeling incredibly weak and exhausted, Aster forced himself to mumble, "One last time," into the cloth that covered his mouth, a long sigh escaping his lips as he prepared himself for another wave of pain that was about to wash over him.
"Be careful," came a soft whisper from behind him, Silvia's gentle voice reaching him through the deafening sound of blood pumping through his veins and his pounding heartbeat. A little nod without looking back was all Aster could give her, his golden eyes starting to glow in the dimness.
A moment later, a pale golden mist cloaked his hands and forearms, his protective spell doing its job. The scarred skin on his palms began to tingle and itch as the stone beneath his touch began to heat up, the air in the narrow space around him growing even hotter, making it difficult to breathe. His chest rose and fell rapidly, each breath coming out as a wheeze, his lungs burning with every intake of the hot, dry air, a hell of his own making.
Pain soon followed, sharp, burning, and agonizing, heart pounding wildly against his delicate ribs even harder, but the boy didn't even flinch, not a hint of discomfort showing on his youthful face. Compared to the first two weeks, when he feared they would run out of food and starve to death, this was nothing. In fact, this was him taking things easier, going slower, and being more careful, just as he promised.
Every day, for almost two months, Silvia and Aster spent most of their time in that narrow, dark tunnel, melting their way through the stone that separated them from freedom. Slowly, painfully, they were getting closer and closer to the surface. He felt it was close; they had to be near after so much work, they couldn't not be.
When he started to feel dizzy and everything around him began to spin, Aster let go of the stone and leaned back, panting heavily, his usually silver hair, now entirely gray with dust, clung to his sweaty forehead. "Ugh..." he groaned, leaning his head against the wall behind him and closing his eyes for a moment, his mana spent. A few heartbeats later, something cold and hard pressed against his scorching lips, coming from underneath the cloth, and he took it in his mouth without even thinking, sucking on it as if his life depended on it. "Thanks," he breathed out after a moment, taking a tired glance at his sister lying on her belly in the tunnel behind him, while a shard of ice melted on his tongue.
Silvia's face looked just as tired and dirty as his, wearing nothing but a ragged mask made from their mother's clothing, just like him. "Anytime. Are you ready?" she asked, taking a flat stone plate from beside her and pushing it through the narrow tunnel ahead towards him, scraping loudly against the stone floor.
Brushing his dirty hair from his face, Aster sighed and nodded. He quickly found a small rock near his butt—the one he had been using all this time to scoop up the half-melted stone—and pushed it straight into the wall, watching it sink into the once-solid rock like a hot spoon through butter. With a grunt, he pulled the scoop away, taking a little chunk of gooey stone along with it, then dropped it on the plate behind him.
Again, and again, and again, his skinny arms working without a pause, those barely developed muscles aching after just a minute of hard work. When he felt the stone becoming harder to scoop, a sign that it was starting to cool down, he forced himself to speed up, his dirty face scrunching up in determination.
Another scoop of half-molten stone fell on the plate with a wet, squishy plop, and then another, and another... until he felt something hard in the wall. "Not this again... please," he whispered under his breath, scraping away at the gooey stone until a greyish, smooth surface greeted his eyes, making him suck in a sharp breath of the hot, dry air. "Another one..." he whispered, running his hand through his hair and glancing back at his sister, as if she could somehow do anything about it.
"Damn it..." Silvia mumbled at the sight, her small shoulders slumping slightly. They weren't sure what it was—perhaps some kind of ore—but these enormous gray boulders were everywhere around, and they proved to be a real pain in the ass to deal with. Aster couldn't melt through them no matter how hard he tried, forcing them to spend days, sometimes weeks to go around them, which is why the tunnel got so winding instead of going straight up. "Just... scoop as much as you can around it? Maybe we will get lucky and see the edge of it," she added, her eyes meeting his glowing ones in the darkness.
With another long sigh and a tired nod, Aster got back to work, scraping the black stone around the grey one, his movements slow, tired, and mechanical. After the twentieth scoop, the stone was barely soft enough for him to work with. After the thirtieth, it was cold, and no edge was still in sight, the boulder seemingly going up forever up and to the sides.
"Alright, that's enough," Silvia eventually whispered from behind him, stopping his desperate clawing at the rock with a gentle pat on the leg. "Let's get out of here. Tomorrow we'll try the left, I have a good feeling about it," she said, clutching the edges of the stone plate, the pile of melted stone on it so high that it threatened to fall off at any moment.
Aster grunted and, without uttering a word, dropped the scoop, whispering a quiet, "Okay..." as he turned around and helped his sister carry the heavy, flat stone plate down the tunnel. On their hands and knees, they crawled through the narrow passage, the sound of scraping stone against the floor accompanying their every move, their sweaty, dirty bodies aching all over.
Nivalis was waiting for them at the entrance to the tunnel, taking the heavy plate away from them the moment they were in reach. "Done for today?" she asked, as she dumped the gooey rock into the pile nearby, adding a little more height to the massive heap.
— "Mhm," Aster hummed tiredly, crawling out of the tunnel with his sister's help, revealing his tiny, naked, dirty body to the dim light of their cave. "We hit another one of those..." he mumbled, getting on his wobbly feet and stretching his aching back and joints, a series of pops and cracks escaping from them. "...things."
Nivalis sighed as she put the empty plate down, giving her son a little, sad smile. "I'm sorry, sweetie. Regardless, you two did a lot of work today, and I am proud of you," she whispered, gently running her fingers through their dirty hair, only to start coughing adorably when clouds of black dust rose in the air, straight into her face. "Ugh... go take a bath, both of you. I will start cooking dinner," she said, waving her hand in front of her face and scrunching her nose.
Silvia giggled at that and, with a little nod, helped her brother untie the ragged cloth around his face; his skin under it was the only clean part of his entire body. Then, he got behind her and tried to do the same for her, their naked, dirty bodies glistening in the dim light of the cave. Knots were his greatest enemies, so it took him twice as long to untie hers, but after a moment, the cloth was off, and she was breathing the cool, relatively fresh air of their home once more. "Let's go," she whispered, dropping the dirty masks on the floor and taking his sweaty, ugly hand in hers, their fingers intertwining as they made their way to the hot spring.
Steam swirled around them as they walked through it, the bubbling sound of the water calling to them, promising relief for their aching bodies. After dusting themselves a little, they climbed in together, the hot water stinging their dirty skin. "Ahh..." they sighed in unison, still holding hands under the surface, sitting on their favorite spot. Their eyes closed as they let the water soothe their aches and pains, their heads tilting back to rest against the edge of the pool.
For a few minutes, they did nothing but rest, not a single word spoken, just the calming, bubbling sound of the hot water filling the silence, one that made it hard to believe this place had been completely frozen just three months ago. Bathing in ice-cold water, shivering and freezing their butts off, was nothing but a distant memory now, a nightmare they had left behind. "Can you...?" Aster eventually whispered, his voice barely audible, cracking from exhaustion.
Without even opening her eyes, Silvia hummed and nodded, "Yeah," her head lolling to the side and resting on his dirty shoulder. Aster watched her face scrunch up in concentration as she began to ignite mana to invade him with, her hand growing colder in his. When she was ready, her golden eyes fluttered open and looked up at him, "Ready?" she asked, carefully getting on top of his lap, facing him, squishing his soft boyhood with her little butt.
Aster nodded as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed her flat, a bit dirty chest against his. "Mhm," he whispered, feeling her knees on his hips, her arms around his neck, her warm breath tickling his ear. A few heartbeats later, her cold mana pierced his chest, causing him to suck in a sharp breath, goosebumps covering his skin from toes to head despite the warmth of the water.
The discomfort didn't last long, though, soon replaced by a pleasant, tingling sensation all over his insides, her cold touch reaching places no one else but her could. And like it always happens during her mana invasions, Aster's young shaft began to swell, pressing itself firmly against the softness of his sister's little butt and causing her to rise in his lap ever so slightly.
Without uttering a word, the girl shifted her hips a little, allowing his hardness to slip into the softness of her pale thighs so it wouldn't be in a way during their bath. Aster hid his blushing face in her dirty hair while her mana continued to spread throughout his body, his arms tightening around her tiny waist.
They remained in that position for a few minutes, until all the mana she ignited for him was gone. When she eventually pulled out of his chest, Aster couldn't help but let out a little, tired moan, his penis throbbing hard between her soft thighs. "Thanks," he mumbled shyly, looking at her with his golden, half-lidded eyes. "Your turn?"
The girl just smiled and shook her head, her cheeks slightly rosy as well. "I'm okay. I didn't use much mana today," she said quietly, panting a little against his face. Scooping up a bit of water, she began cleaning his dirty face, gently scrubbing the grime and dust from his skin until it was pink and shiny.
Returning the favor, Aster began washing her face as well, his scarred hands cupping her small, delicate, dirty face. "Hold your breath," he whispered, watching confusion appear in her eyes for a moment, only to be replaced by surprise as he suddenly leaned forward and dunked both of them under the surface of the water, her arms tightening around his neck in a reflex. His shaft slid along her slender thighs and poked into her pelvis as he did so. A moment later, they resurfaced, sputtering and laughing, their dirty hair clinging to their foreheads and faces, water dripping from their noses and ears.
"You dummy..." she muttered, giving his shoulder a little punch before brushing away his wet locks, revealing a cheeky smile on his face.
Aster did the same, gently moving her hair behind her pointy ears while his penis kept throbbing against the softness of her pelvis, just slightly above her princess parts. One little shift of her hips would be enough to have him slide into the tight, warm, forbidden lips of hers, something he knew she wouldn't do. Their heartbeats quickened a little at the thought of it, nevertheless.
"Tonight? If you want," she asked after a moment of awkward silence, in such a quiet whisper that he almost missed it, her shy finger traveling underwater towards her little brother's hardness, only to poke his tip with her cold fingertip. Her golden eyes kept flicking nervously behind his shoulder, where she could see the silhouette of their mother through the steam. A tiny spurt of precum shot against her finger the moment it found his pee-slit, and the wild throbbing that followed gave her the answer even before he managed to process her words.
Before saying anything, Aster glanced behind his shoulder as well, to make sure their mother wouldn't hear about their naughty affairs. Squinting through the dim light and rising steam, he could see her silhouette in the far corner of the cave, in their storage corner.
There, among rows upon rows of stacked worm meat, Nivalis sat on her knees with her back turned to them. Her long silver hair spilled over her shoulders, swaying slightly at her hips with each deliberate swing of her knife as she carved their dinner from the ice before her.
Food. A precious thing they could only dream of a mere three months ago. Now, the storage corner was overflowing with it, worm meat piling on top of worm meat. Even though they had no plans to stay for long—each week could very well be their last here, in a good way—they still kept preparing for the winter just in case, going hunting about every three days or so. Starving during the last winter was such a traumatic experience that they can barely sleep if their food supplies are low.
When Aster was sure that Nivalis wouldn't hear, he returned his gaze to Silvia and gave her the answer she already had. "Mhm," he hummed, a sheepish smile gracing his youthful face. Her playful finger kept teasing his tip, tracing little circles on his leaking slit, causing him to throb and squirt even more against her cold fingertip. "I'll wake you up, like last time, okay?" he added, his voice barely above a whisper.
Silvia nodded shyly before presenting her flat chest to him, her elbows trying to push the boob area together to create the illusion of cleavage. "You know the deal..." she mumbled, looking down at herself before looking back at him. Her pink nipples stood proudly on her pale skin, pointing upwards, goosebumps covering her delicate ribs. Naughty favors demanded a payment in the form of a boob massage, the third law of sibling dynamics.
Rolling his eyes with a sigh, Aster mumbled, "They are fine the way they are..." while looking up at her from under her cute nipples.
The girl shushed him and pushed her chest further into his face, "They are not. Just do it. It's the only way to make them bigger," she said, pinching his nose with her small fingers, making him open his mouth and breathe through it, only to fill it with her soft nipple right away. "If you want to do that thing during the night, then start sucking. And be careful with your teeth, we can't have Mom notice any marks," she said, her free hand caressing the back of his head and pushing his nose against her breastbone.
Aster grumbled, but obediently began sucking on her small, perky nipple while glaring up at her, his hands wandering down the curve of her spine to her small, soft butt, groping and massaging the cheeks in his scarred palms; her knees squeezed his hips slightly when he did that. In response, Silvia let out a tiny, happy moan, the corners of her lips curling into a little, satisfied smile, her eyes staring into the swirling steam behind him, the distant silhouette of their mother paying them no attention at all.
"Yeah, like that... Good boy," the girl whispered as she caressed the back of his head and neck, praising her baby brother for his obedience. Hungry slurps and suckles filled the silence between the bubbling of the water, his soft tongue running over her sensitive, puffy nipple again and again, tasting the water on her skin. "Mm, now the left one..." she murmured, feeling his hands spreading her butt cheeks apart as he switched the nipple, exposing her tight, pink butthole to the hot water.
Like a good little boy, Aster did as he was told, his lips latching onto her other nipple to give it the same treatment, leaving the previous one glistening with his spit, puffy and erect. His hands kept slowly kneading her butt, pulling and spreading the delicate flesh, his young, eager shaft throbbing hard against the softness of her pubic mound, not a single hair on it yet.
It would be too suspicious if they were still dirty after bathing for so long, so while at it, Aster decided to start cleaning his sister's dirty, pale butt and thighs, gently scrubbing away the grime and dirt from her skin. She let out a tiny, happy sigh as he did that, his scarred fingers working diligently to clean his big sister, her small hand holding the back of his head in place to make sure he didn't stop sucking. She kept caressing his wet hair, occasionally glancing at Nivalis's silhouette in the distance, making sure she was busy with their dinner, not paying attention to her children's little bath.
Calves and knees were next; her petite, smooth, milky legs were slowly becoming clean once more. Then came her feet, her tiny, cute toes wiggling in his palms as he gently washed them, earning himself a little giggle and a playful, "That tickles, silly..." from the girl. She made him switch the nipples once again, to give the other one some more attention, her little fingers playing with his hair and ear in the meantime.
When her legs and feet were nice and clean, Aster's hands moved to her slender back, gently rubbing her protruding ribs and the valley of her spine, the water around them growing a bit murky from all the black dust he was removing from her soft skin. Shoulders and arms followed, his hands traveling over the weak limbs, his lips and tongue still busy with her puffy nipple, suckling and slurping on the little nub while he worked.
Noticing that he was in dire need of a good scrubbing as well, Silvia began washing him in return, her small hands traveling from his shoulders to his chest, feeling his heartbeat and the warmth of his body against her cold palm. But soon her attention was drawn much lower, where his little erection kept throbbing against her pelvis, demanding to be cleaned first before anything else.
As she was about to wrap her fingers around it to wash him, a distant voice called out to them. "Finish your bath, kids. Dinner's almost ready," their mother said from the other end of the cave, the sizzling sound of meat being cooked following her words.
Silvia let out a sharp shriek and, without hesitation, plunged Aster underwater—his mouth still latched onto her nipple. Only a few bubbles rose to the surface as he screamed in surprise before she pulled him back up, gasping for air.
— "What the... hey!" the boy croaked, spitting out water, but Silvia quickly shushed him and began washing him as fast as possible, no longer caring about gentleness. His neck and face turned red under her rough fingers, followed by his shoulders, arms, and back. The water around them darkened with the grime she was frantically washing away, all before their mother could suspect a thing.
...