| Chapter 20 - Found and Lost --Somewhere Deep Underground “You’re going to save her?” Ixi asked Delilah as the lich asserted control over the spell that kept the powerful dragon’s spirit animated. “I am not saving her. I am simply assuming control over the effect she called into being. It would be a breach of our contract to end negotiations before we have come to terms. That it will save her life is immaterial. She has done nothing wrong beyond believing the lies of her master. That is not your concern, however,” the lich answered, her even tone doing little to cover the anger she felt. “You seem to be under the mistaken impression, lich, that you control these negotiations. I am under no obligation to extend the affection I show toward my younger sisters to you,” the dragon answered back in an imperious tone. Delilah’s features darkened, her sadness from earlier replaced with a growing bitterness. “Antarylixi, do not mistake my desire to maintain a contract with you as an assurance that I would not be willing to endure Risa’s wrath for killing her sister, Meryl, to achieve my goal more expeditiously.” Instantly turning to the lich, the powerful dragon growled with murderous intent as plumes of angry smoke poured from her nostrils. “I could find another necromancer willing to call me forth and rain fire down upon you for even considering such a threat to my family!” Without flinching, Delilah returned the dragon’s fierce look as she replied, “But you will not because you realize that such a threat means nothing to me. This negotiation you have demanded is a threat upon my beloved family, so hold your arrogance for those that have a use for it.” With a huff, Ixi turned away slightly and crossed her arms. “You will get no apology for my actions...but I can respect the reason for your threat, just as you understand mine. We are both aware that I must sacrifice some measure of my freedom to demand this negotiation. I have some conditional demands.” The ancient lich sighed inwardly at the dragon’s self-importance. She knew, however, that this was part of the difficulty in dealing with one of these mighty mamono. “You will heed any call I make and serve without complaint while manifested thusly. That is not negotiable,” Delilah demanded in her flat monotone. “I will not knowingly harm one of my family under any circumstances,” Ixi countered. “It is unlikely that I would ever be pressed into such a situation again, but I will yield that point. What are your demands?” Del answered after a moment of contemplation. “You will yield the one that bears my mark to lay with me on...three occasions, you will swear upon your own soul that you will find another way to save the life of your husband that does not see that being dead, and...you will summon me to single combat with that salamander should you encounter her again,” Ixi asserted as she tried to hide a slight blush to her skin. “The second demand is unreasonable. It cannot be guaranteed that there is another way to save my husband that would not contravene his wishes,” the lich proclaimed in protest. Uncrossing her arms, the dragon turned back to Delilah and gave her counter-offer, “I will yield that point if you swear that you will search, in earnest, for another option and take it if it will save both of them.” “That demand is...acceptable, as are your other requests. So it is sworn. I, Delilah, swear upon my name and my will that this contract will be honored. Even should my own existence be called in to question, I will not fail to heed the prohibitions as set forth in our bargain,” Delilah said as she produced a globe of violet energy that bled with the runes that sealed her pledge. Pained by what must follow to seal the bargain but satisfied to have obtained her own demands, Antarylixi kneeled before the diminutive undead and touched the globe, the characteristic green eyes of her family flashing a momentary violet to match the lich before the orb vanished, the contract sealed. “You seem...tired. Are you certain you’re up to the task of fulfilling our bargain?” The dragon asked as her form began to fade. Delilah fell to the hard stone of the tunnel floor, her inhuman body not even able to hide the telltale signs of exhaustion while she was pushed up against the limits of her magical reserves. “I have not touched my husband’s blessed energy since he left for Kaori, many months ago. There are...less-pleasant ways that I can recover my energy, but they will take time I can ill afford to waste. I imagine you are quite pleased with yourself.” “How could I be otherwise? Dragons are incapable of making incorrect decisions. If I made this decision, it must be correct,” Ixi said with a smile that called the legitimacy of her arrogant statement into question as her spirit faded completely. With that, Delilah began a meditation to beg the wayward fragments of energy from the many restless spirits that haunted the Prosperity mine. ---------------------------------- --Elsewhere Meryl wiped sweat from her brow as she fought to bite back on the thousand angry things she wanted to say. “Damn it, Zee...this hand is fucked up. I can set the bone and splint it but you’re going to need a real healer to look at it.” Azalea only winced slightly as Meryl worked on the most grievous of her injuries, frowning as she saw Meryl’s pained expression. “You’re upset with me.” Stopping what she was doing, Meryl nearly leapt to her feet as anger and saddened frustration broke the veneer she’d been trying to hold. “Yes, I’m fucking upset! You were supposed to protect Joe--err...Ari! What good is a bodyguard that lets herself get the shit kicked out of her and her ward be taken?! I trusted you! Even if your friends don’t hurt him, there’s no way they’ll be able to stop Delilah. And now he’s gone...again…” Zee swallowed hard before answering, “I’m sorry, okay? I’ll get her back.” Meryl quickly finished her job of binding the wound before turning away in disgust. “You can take your apology and shove it right up your ass. I believe you could, but I’m supposed to trust that you actually will? Maybe you should just piss the fuck off so I don’t ever make the mistake of relying on you again. No, I’ll handle it myself.” Wounded by the barbed words, at least as badly by their delivery as by their truth, Azalea gently grabbed Meryl’s arm. “I know where they’d take her and her clone. You won’t find it without me.” Meryl fumed in anger as she threw off the salamander’s grip, “Why do you even care?! An apology means less than nothing if you’re just going to let the same shit happen again. I’m sure I’m supposed to care about whatever happened to you to make you this way, but I care a lot more about keeping the man I lo--like...a lot close to me. And what the fuck is up with that bullshit contract you made?! You’re either slow in the head or you like him!” Biting back on an unspoken sadness, Zee looked back into Meryl’s unsympathetic gaze and shrugged, “It’s just...hard for me to make decisions sometimes. I get hung up on what could go wrong or if it’s the right choice. And...I do like him. Is that a problem?” With an angry sigh, Meryl dragged Zee to her feet and towards the door of the inn. “I owe you for the doctor, so let’s go. You can make this travesty up to me by telling me what’s got you so twisted-up on the way. If we don’t hurry, Ari’ll probably fuck her double...or do something equally insane before we get there.” Zee actually chuckled a bit at that and answered, “Come on, no human has a libido that strong.” Meryl finally allowed herself a smile as they stepped back out into the rain, replying with a smirk, “The would-be man plans to beat you in a fight...and the only thing I’ve ever seen him objectively fail is resisting a piece of ass.” Helping pull the horse and cart from the nearby stables, Azalea argued back, “You uh...sure you want a guy like that?” With a wide smile, Meryl answered with a far-off look, “I’ve never really wanted anyone else. And don’t try to throw me off the scent here! After he beats you, I’m not about to let you have him all to yourself.” Laughing loudly in response, Azalea hopped up in the cart as they made their way onto the road. “After he beats me? How exactly do you think he’ll manage that?” Meryl spurred the horse onward and looked back, smiling even through the rain as she answered, “With a lot of intelligence, no small amount of his special twisted determination, and probably a large quantity of cheating his ass off.” ------------------------------ “What do you mean ‘maybe’? Can you do it or can’t you?” I asked as I sat up. “First...I...um…” she began with a blush, “I’m Mira. D-did they tell you…” she swallowed hard, her cute shyness starting to turn infuriating. The witch remained silent for several moments as though what she’d just said had been enough to qualify as an actual question. “They haven’t told me anything. What are you so nervous about?” I asked, just barely keeping a note of anger from creeping into my voice. “Ah! W-well...that is…” she mumbled as she tried to retreat further into her voluminous clothing, finishing her statement in a half-heard whisper. “You...um...to...sex...all of us.” “Oh...that. Yeah, yeah. Sex you all up. That’s no big--wait. That...doesn’t include you, does it?” I suddenly asked. I got what passed for an answer as she flushed crimson and pulled her hat a bit lower on her brow in an obvious attempt to mask a growing smile. Thrown off balance by the realization of what that would mean with the very young-looking bodies of Mira and the goblin, I shook my head in a failed attempt to find the idea wholly repulsive. “If you get me back to normal...whatever. I didn’t think I’d really even have a choice in the matter, and I’m sure as hell not going to proposition any of you...but you can do whatever you want until Zee gets here--it’s not like I could stop you.” Suddenly joining the conversation, my clone spoke up, “Hold on, you were actually telling the truth?” I turned and threw a look at him that may as well have been flames. “You had better be kidding! I let you stick that...THING in me to keep you awake!” He rubbed one of his horns and looked back at me, “You seemed to like it just fine. And can you really blame me? I went to sleep in Alnor and woke up here with you trying to sell me on some complete insanity. I mean...you said it yourself--there’s nothing you could have said to make me believe you.” Now it was all coming together. I had tried to kill myself before. Hating myself didn’t seem all that out of place, especially in this case. “Fine! I can be an asshole too!” I began angrily. “If you didn’t believe me then that means you thought I was some kind of mamono. I’m sure Delilah would fucking love to hear about this when she shows up!” I then turned back to Mira and proclaimed, “I have a condition.” The witch looked up at me with a bewildered look, “C-condition? But...I’m the one-” I didn’t give her a chance to finish as I spoke up again, “I could just stay this way, right? You aren’t getting a piece of me otherwise and this won’t even cost you anything.” I turned back to my clone with a wicked smile as I awaited my answer, his expression already paling at the thought that I’d make good on my threat. “Okay,” Mira answered, now sounding more curious than shy. “Right. When I’m back to normal, I want to plow that demon first,” I demanded, firing a finger in the direction of the demonic me. “Hey, hold on a sec! I’m not just going to let you-” he tried to protest. “Done,” the witch cut in, her eyes going wide a moment in an obvious desire to see that scene play out. “I’ll even restrain him for you!” I suppose that, like any woman, it seems, even mamono are aroused by yaoi...and this was close enough. That just meant I needed to go back to trying to convince myself that this demon was a girl. It seemed likely that the warm, velvety grasp of a succubus’s insides would be all the help I’d need to sell myself that plan. “Wait, wait, wait. Come on...I’ll do anything else!” he pleaded, even while he began to slide towards the open cell door. “Yeah, I bet you would,” I smirked as I relented somewhat. “Not that I blame you for that...or even for lying to me.” “I didn’t lie! I said ‘maybe I believe you’!” he argued, his voice already leaning toward hysterics. That was technically true and I was pretty sure I half-realized it the moment he said it. “I can respect that. So, maybe you’ll still have an unbroken hymen tomorrow. And before you get all pissy, I’m not going to sell you out to Delilah. Why are you even making such a huge deal out of this? If I can handle it then you obviously can.” The harpy I’d seen in the common room chose that moment to peek into the cell with a wide grin before slamming the door and latching it without another word, cutting off any chance of escape. “No...you don’t understand!” he suddenly shouted, a real fear marring his features. Mira stood up and moved over to him, even as he scuttled away from her, looking like he was seriously considering chewing through the stone walls if that’s what it would have taken to escape. “I won’t hurt you,” Mira offered soothingly, her shyness from earlier now hidden. “But you’re going to-” he tried to counter. “Shhh. I already know. There’s a voice in your head, right?” Mira calmly asked as she buried her earlier shyness entirely beneath a wall of suddenly sympathetic gentleness. He suddenly reached out and grabbed my arm, turning me to face him. “Everything you said before--you were right. But right now, I need you to hear this and know what it means. I would rather die.” The gears in my head were set spinning at a dizzying rate, the seriousness in his voice telling me that there was something important I hadn’t considered. Putting myself in his place, I was at a loss to even imagine the scenario in which he’d rather die. The only thing I could imagine was a grim sacrifice or hostage situation. Damn it! Based on what Delilah had said, giving him my energy was just about the only way to keep him alive. He couldn’t have known about me before we met in this cell, and he seemed surprised with how awake he’d been after I first made contact with him. The situation suddenly wasn’t leaving me with a lot of options, and despite my threats to the contrary, there was no way I’d even consider my initially planned violation after seeing that look of true desperation. Mira continued as she reached up to gently place her hand on his shoulder. “It isn’t your voice? Your desires?” “No...it’s someone else,” he offered weakly, his shoulders going slack at Mira’s touch. “Mira, what’s going on here?” I asked, unaware I could even make a face as hopeless as the one he now wore. “I think I know, and I can tell you...but do you want to hear it?” she asked, pointedly looking at the fearful demon. “Just say it, I’d rather know,” he said, slumping against the unforgiving stone wall in defeat. Mira set her staff against the cell door and moved to make direct eye contact with my clone as I sat myself back down, crossing my arms in an attempt to cover some of my suddenly oppressive nakedness. “The other you was right--you are dying. You aren’t really an alp. Um...actually, you aren’t you at all. You’re...something else,” she softly accused. Catching his head in his hands, he was silent for several moments. He didn’t have any reason to believe what she was saying yet, but it was obvious that he would find no falsehood in those words the moment he heard them. All at once he began to grab at his demonic horns, looking as though he wanted to tear them loose completely. “Then what the fuck am I?!” he screamed, his features softening slightly even as he bristled with anger. “You are a very confused succubus,” she softly asserted. “A succubus that believes she is someone else--Him,” she concluded, pointing a finger at me. “So...what--this voice in my head is her?” he asked, already convinced that it must have been true. Mira hesitated a moment before answering. “No. Maybe. I...don’t actually know. What happened to you shouldn’t be possible. I believe that when you nearly died in Kaori, you were full of so much demonic energy that your dying thoughts manifested as an actual presence. That presence eventually came to rest within a succubus that had already passed on--likely from one of the many terrors that roam Kaori--and you effectively reanimated that body.” I was utterly out of my depth here, and the look of growing concern on the demon’s face convinced me to hold my tongue for fear of striking any of the nerves that had just been laid bare. “Then I’m a copy, a clone, a...lie. I can’t stop that voice and I can’t live without the things she demands that I do. I’m...nothing. What can I even-?” he began. “Bullshit,” I quickly interjected, “None of that is supposed to matter, right? Your first girlfriend’s name was-” “Marie,” he answered without being prompted. “And best pony is-” I continued with a grin. “Trixie,” he answered, his expression not changing. “But she just said it--those are all lies. This isn’t even a question. So...everything I remember is meaningless. Risa and Del...and...oh god.” “It isn’t meaningless!” I commandingly proclaimed, trying to snap him out of his deconstruction. He shook his head, and took a shivering breath as he despondently replied, “Look...I’m not an idiot. I know that it all happened and that it all matters in the grand scheme of things, but you don’t get it. You don’t remember and I’m…” He began to shake in a nearly silent weeping, his entire form shuddering with each breath as the implications ran through his mind. This was another person that understood what it meant to be pushed so far that the only answer was to give up. I knew the pain of seeing everything disintegrate around me, when even the thought of taking another step felt like yet another insult heaped upon the emotional injury that I simply couldn’t bear. Even knowing exactly how he felt, there was nothing I could say. There was something he wasn’t saying...but that meant there was still some hope. That he could hesitate to mention his greatest worry meant that he was afraid to give the idea power...and that he hadn’t let it take over. He looked up me and then at the witch and shook his head. “I couldn’t tell them...my wives or my girls. Lorelei knows that I haven’t really been me and Del probably knew it the moment she saw me. That voice just got so loud that the only thing I could do was sleep. I just know that if I let that voice be right, even once, I won’t be able to hold on to myself. That voice will become me. If there isn’t another way to stop this...decay, I’d rather die than become someone else. I don’t know why Del let me lie to her--to lie to myself.” As I watched the warring emotions play across his troubled visage, a familiar voice crawled forth from the shadows, “Because I can do nothing but make that lie the truth, my love.” Not even looking up, he closed his eyes and whispered in response to the voice, “Del…” “Yes, Joe?” the whispering shadow answered. “She’s the one you-” With her features a paler ashen hue than before and her eyes sunken and noticeably dimmer with their sad lavender glow, Delilah threw her arms around the demon. Despite the battle that raged in his mind, there was no hesitation as he wrapped the small undead tightly within his arms. This woman, Delilah, was literally the bane of my existence. Within this demon’s loving embrace, however, she had become little more than a fragile, vulnerable girl that was faced with losing her beloved. Nothing in the world even existed to her beyond the hands that tightly held her. I clutched at my chest as an unknown pain gripped me, the agony not abating until I forced myself to rip my tear-stained gaze away from them. My heart tossed about further as I heard the lich’s voice tear across the empty field of my memories, setting loose a fire of unfamiliar pain. “I...cannot--she cannot be you, Joe. She is not the you that loves me. She is not the you that I love.” Looking away from the heart-rending scene before me, I saw Mira approach the two of them before whispering a few words and extending her staff toward the undead girl. Delilah tried to react for only a moment before redoubling her grip upon her lover and relaxing her body, sighing in a surpassing, longing happiness before evaporating into the ether. “Such a waste,” Mira mumbled in an indecipherable tone before another wave of her staff cast magical restraints over my confused demonic copy. She then turned to me and straightened her glasses as she spoke again in her stuttering, bashful voice, “We...um...should get started.” |
| Inception? No, Joe-ception? |
| Signature removed. It was too good for this cruel world. |
beast_regards said: Inception? No, Joe-ception? While this might be a slight spoiler, I'm avoiding any sort of over-the-top mind fux. This was just the first batch of "answers" to some of the insanity from before =) |
| Wabaam! That's a chapter my friends. I would've said joe needs to just take a long gulp of cream soda and really suck it up but with the new revelations, I guess not hmm.. Maybe he can become a psycho murderer and drink blood instead? Can a succubus extract spirit energy from blood like vampires? |
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greatgreenman said: Wabaam! That's a chapter my friends. I would've said joe needs to just take a long gulp of cream soda and really suck it up but with the new revelations, I guess not hmm.. Maybe he can become a psycho murderer and drink blood instead? Can a succubus extract spirit energy from blood like vampires? Following the MGE, ANY substance can provide sustenance. Sweat, tears, other...things. |
Chapter 21 - Welcome Back, My Friend Not content to stay as silent as the shellshocked demon and possessed of my own sympathetic anger, I confronted Mira coldly. “What did you just do to her?” Admiring me over the polished glass of her spectacles, the look of unchecked desire she cast at me had me seriously doubting that her shy persona from before had been anything more than an a well-rehearsed act. That moment of doubt lasted only until she pushed the wayward frames back into place as her lips drew back together in a nervous smile. “I...um. She needed to be sent away. She isn’t...um...hurt or anything,” the witch tried to reassure me. While my most recent sexual conquest remained in shock, staring numbly at the cracked and weathered stone of the ceiling, I spoke up in his stead, “Where is she, then?” Mira recoiled from my voice as though wounded by the sound, and stammered in reply, “S-somewhere where she can...rest. I’ll tell...um...him, but you should stay away from her.” Try as I might, I couldn’t think of any reason this witch would have wished harm upon Delilah, and it certainly didn’t seem like I was going to get anything more from the shivering wallflower of an enchantress before me. Any hope I’d had of putting some fight back into the eyes of my shocked clone died as well when I saw no reaction from him at all from my line of questioning. “Fine, but you’d better be telling the truth or I’ll...be really angry,” I began, realizing that I wasn’t in any position to actually threaten anybody, continuing in a more subdued tone, “Oh, and forget about the whole ‘plowing that demon’ request. We’ll settle that matter on our own, somewhere on down the line.” Producing a piece of chalk from a large bag at her hip, Mira waved off my words as she cleaned a spot on the stone floor and began drawing an elaborate mandala that looked as though it would serve to house the coming ritual. The witch’s normal clumsiness vanished the moment she began tracing the arcane diagram upon the stone, the contrast so defined that it was like watching a paraplegic leap from a wheelchair to perform a masterful flamenco dance. As she began with a voice that was whispering but certain, Mira’s words hung in the air as they were spoken, becoming physical flames that fell to the floor. Where her burning words fell, they turned the white chalk design into an evanescing pale green that felt forceful and heavy, despite the otherwise gentle glow that radiated. Just by the tension in the air, I could tell that Mira’s ritual would be done soon. It was impossible to know where I might have learned of such a thing beyond a possible footnote in a role-playing game’s spell compendium, but it played out before me like a familiar symphony. Once the climax had been reached, she would ask me to enter the circle and then...I could only hope. Still pointlessly hiding the more suggestive parts of my body as I waited to be called forth, I removed my hands and took a last look down at myself. The pleasingly soft skin and generous, supple curves that had seemed so foreign and unwanted before had already begun to feel so completely natural. Perhaps a result of my own bizarre fantasies, or possibly a consequence of the deviltry wrought upon me by Cecily, I found myself imagining what I would do the next time this happened. “Enter the circle,” Mira finally called out, pulling me back through the mists of fantasy and back into the now. I shook my head at the realization that I’d already accepted that I’d almost certainly find an excuse to accidentally acquire more of that spring water in the future, rubbing my belly as I wondered what other mischief I might get into when that time came. “Down, girl,” I whispered to myself as I felt my body excitedly tingle at the thought, hardening my will as I stepped across the threshold of the enchanted circle. The magic within burned any pleasant fantasies from my mind as a paroxysm of convulsive misery nearly threw me to the ground. I remembered Dewdrop telling me she’d kept me asleep for two days to spare me the agony of the change the first time. This process wasn’t kind enough to let me fall unconscious. The shock of my reality becoming a singularity of anguish silenced my attempts to scream as my body felt like it was being torn apart and remade all at once. My bones snapped and stretched while even my skull fractured, the splintering bones tearing through my skin at times before stretching back into their proper places. In an absolute contrast to my penetrative activity of only moments before, the pain that assaulted my feminine sex felt more reminiscent of hot irons being thrust within me to tear my core out from the inside. While it may not have been as pleasant as the two-day nap that gently pulled me through my initial transformation, the process to return my body was certainly moving much more quickly. Even with the raw agony doing its infernal, measured best to slow my perception of time, the whole process couldn’t have taken more than a few minutes. With the final snap of my painfully broken jaw sliding back into place, the pain suddenly stopped, leaving me holding desperately to cracks that had opened in the stone floor beneath me. I’d already had a piss-poor night of sleep before going through the crushing process and didn’t already feel the lust-driven hands of my captors upon me. In the absence of any will to remain otherwise, I fell asleep almost immediately. ------------------- -From a certain demon’s perspective “See? That’s...the real you. It s-should be more obvious n-now that you can see it,” the witch stated as she looked down at me. I didn’t even really want to look. She wasn’t lying. Why would she? Despite understanding her words as honest, some part of me felt that perhaps I needed to see that truth before I could really attempt to accept it. Still lost in the recent series of events that had just transpired in the last few hours, I assumed that seeing that truth wouldn’t really affect me any more than anything else I’d already been forced to swallow. I was wrong. As I turned my head, I saw me, still covered in sweat from the exertion of the painful ritual. I wasn’t ready to see that, no. The voice that had become an oppressive warden within the prison of my own mind knew where I was weak. She knew how to hurt me and used my ever-growing demonic arousal against me. “Oh lords, just look at him. You almost made him like you, you know? You loved that thought, didn’t you?” she tempted from places within me, beyond my reach. “Fuck off,” I told myself, trying to shut the noise from my mind. The voice continued unhindered, “Just once more and she’d have fallen, her arms reaching back to urge you on while you hammered into her from behind until your release claimed her as your own, your blessed demonic seed washing away humanity and needless thoughts and leaving nothing but a submissive fuck-pet, desperate to serve you for the rest of eternity. But now...you see him and the thought of the even more amazing things he could do to you makes you ache. You want to touch yourself--to beg for his touch, but would that not be an insult to the man that would own you? Just as you desire, he would collar you and feed you his sublime offering when it suits him. If he asked, you would lay down in the street to give yourself to him. If he asks...If he asks…” “If...he asks,” I mumbled out loud, the echoes of her voice still deafening. “And what of your wives and children?” Mira asked, her voice burning away the depraved fog as surely as a backhanded slap from a nun. “What did you do to Del?!” I shouted, finally regaining the presence of mind to worry about her sudden disappearance. Mira had let her glasses slip down the bridge of her nose slightly as she returned my fierce gaze with an emotionless calm. “I thought she would be a lot harder to catch. You know, there are a lot of folks in Kaori that would pay exorbitant prices to get their hands on her, either to punish her or press her into service. I spent months just trying to throw together a plan to get her and I was almost certain it would be impossible. Then, with her boundless intellect, peerless necromantic prowess, and a store of energy pulled from you that might have killed any normal man, she wastes the last of her power on platitudes?” I snorted as I took in the self-important monologue. “You can’t hold her, witch. She’ll just-” She cut me off with a too-wide grin as she leaned in and spoke, “Reform at her phylactery? No, she’s pretty well cut off from that. Not to mention…” she trailed off as she reached back into her large cloth bag and produced an item that made me literally scream in frustration. The thought of how she’d gotten it in the first place threw icy, lancing fear through me. In her diminutive hands, Mira held up a small familiar chest, not much larger than a music box--the one that I’d only touched once despite its contents having lived inside me for quite some time...the chest that contained Del’s phylactery. “You...you miserable bitch! I’ll fucking tear you apart!” I screamed as a seemingly boundless, unfamiliar strength poured through me. With an enraged growl, I jumped from the simple bed, shattering the magical restraints upon me into misty essence. Within moments I had my hands scant centimeters from being wrapped around the witch’s slender throat, an invisible barrier being her only salvation in that moment...and perhaps my own. “That’s enough of that,” the witch stated without even a hint of urgency. “I could drop this chest if you aren’t careful...or throw it if you plan to be unreasonable.” “Not if you want to live to see eight years old, you worthless cunt,” I hissed, startling myself with the realization that my fingernails had grown longer and my hands noticeably more slender. Smiling when my reaction showed her that she had regained control of the situation, Mira responded calmly, “Tsk, Tsk. Breaking magical restraints and manifesting your will to try and bring down this barrier? Those don’t sound like very human things to do. I wonder what happens if you do too many of those sorts of things…” I knew the answer even before she’d said anything as the voice in my head roared in exultant laughter at my actions, the taunting demands louder than before as it urged me to rip this girl to pieces. Listening to the voice was tantamount to throwing myself away, but that knowledge did little to calm my fury. “If I’m going to die anyway, I don’t see the harm in killing two birds with one stone. But...if you’re telling me this, you must want something else from me. Cut the shit.” She took a step back and lowered her staff, her eyes still almost challenging me to attack again. “You...wouldn’t understand if I told you what I want and it’s too much work to explain it. Nevertheless, you will do exactly as I ask or the lich will die by my hands.” How had things come to this? Why did every little problem stand before me like an unscalable cliff? The fight in me already beaten into a corner, I numbly asked, “What do you want?” She looked away from me back to my unconscious twin and finally pushed her spectacles back into place. “Y-you are going to help m-me get something. I don’t...um...w-want to kill her, but I c-can’t let you...f-fail in this. The only way to s-save Delilah is...f-for you to live,” she finished, her eyes now inexplicably soft and gentle. My mouth dropped open as I gave the only response I could manage, “Huh?” ------------------------ After the ritual had ravaged me more thoroughly than a dragon’s sexual rampage might, I must have fallen asleep. I think the nightmares were the biggest hint. “You said he’d only be a asleep for an hour or two. This is ridiculous! Zales will be here long before we all get a turn!” I heard a young voice protest somewhere above me. “Without me, you’d still be staring at clam down there, so spare me the bitching. He was so close to becoming a succubus that he almost died from the shock of the change back,” I heard Mira’s voice assert without a hint of her earlier shyness. “Maybe someone should have told him to not to fuck demons as a human girl! I should--oh! He’s waking up!” I heard the younger voice exclaim as I began to stir. I expected to be in excruciating pain when I tried to move. To my surprise, however, I felt so good that I thought the whole ritual might just have been another of the nightmares that I’d dreamed up. I also felt different in a way I couldn’t quite explain. Sitting up, I looked down at my still-naked body to observe with a small measure of guilty disappointment that I had been turned back to normal. “I guess that’s it then,” I sighed as I saw Mira jump back in sudden surprise at my statement, turning away as she quickly donned and straightened her glasses while the harpy with whom she’d been arguing hopped about excitedly. For a moment there, the little witch had looked almost like an entirely different person without her glasses. “I hope you’re ready for the rape. Oooh, we are going to tear you up good for making us wait!” she happily predicted as she poked at me with her wing, the feathers tickling my nose and then running down my chest. “So sorry to inconvenience you all, really. I should have been more considerate about your feelings, right?” I sarcastically commented, throwing in the addendum, “Where’s the other me?” Bashfully attempting to hide her entire body behind her own staff, Mira was kind enough to answer my question in the most useless way possible. “I sent him...somewhere that he might be able to find a cure for his condition.” That seemed unlikely to say the least. “You mean you found a way to turn him back to human?” I asked, already doubtful of the potential answer. “Oh, n-no...um. That’s--I mean...he won’t ever turn b-back to...um...human,” Mira stammered. Not willing to wait for her maddening nervousness to fill in the rest, I took a shot at guessing the rest. “So you sent him to find a cure to the whole ‘losing himself’ and the ‘dying’ stuff, right?” “Y-yes,” she said simply, a lingering smile convincing me that wasn’t the whole story, but saying enough that I could go back to worrying about my own situation instead. Right. Now that I’d been turned back to normal, I had a job to do. It was just sex, right? Well...the job certainly wasn’t going to do itself. Waving off the teasing feathers of the harpy, I spoke in a resigned tone, “I can only assume that Meryl and Zee aren’t here yet.” Just saying their names managed to reawaken a desire for female flesh that, for a least a while since my last sexual encounter, had turned into a need for something else entirely. That thought at once scared and aroused me. At least Meryl was certainly going to be pleased. I made a mental note not to let her down...or to at least aim for quantity if quality failed me. “T-that’s right. I’m...first, though.” Mira protested at the harpy’s increasingly forward touches. “Whatever! You have an hour before we break down the door, so you’d better finish before then!” the harpy pouted as she left the room. “You sure about this?” I asked the extremely bashful witch as she looked as likely to vanish into her outfit as to make a move on me. “J-just lay down on the...b-bed there,” she timidly requested. As I did so, I felt a cool shiver pass over me as invisible restraints drew my arms and legs apart, holding me down in a spread-eagled position. An experimental tug revealed that they were as unyielding as steel. Now doubting my choice, I was suddenly feeling far more vulnerable than I’d expected with the shy witch now looking me over curiously. “Y-you can’t move...right?” she asked, taking a step toward me as she peeked out from under her hat to see my growing unbidden arousal. “No...what are you planning to do? You probably don’t need to tie me down. You could just-” I began before a rapid change in Mira’s features warned me that holding my tongue was the correct choice. Pulling her glasses down slightly, Mira’s personality changed drastically as she stared at me over the dark steel frames. “You were going to make a suggestion? You and I both know very well that what I could do is whatever I want. No, we’re going to play a game, Joseph.” “You...seem a bit different with your glasses off, Mira,” I nervously remarked, lost for anything more profound. The witch smiled at me, touching herself on the tip of the nose as though I’d guessed some great secret. “Hekate often made me wear them to control my...impulses. So, about our game. You’re going to make two guesses as to what I’m going to do to you, and if you’re right...that’s all I’ll do. Every incorrect guess will be piled on top of what I already have planned. Since you aren’t a complete idiot, I’ll warn you now that if your guess truly upsets me…” She let her statement trail off as she removed her oversized hat and began fishing around in it like a stage magician that had lost his rabbit. After several seconds, her eyes lit up and she pulled a cat-o’-nine tails from the inscrutable depths of her headwear. “How do I know you’ll be honest if I even guess it?” I attempted, almost laughing at myself for having the nerve to ask such a question in my position. “You don’t,” she easily answered as she tossed her hat onto the bed next to me. “Consider this, Joseph. Did you know that most of the lords never lie?” “Wait! You’re a-” “Don’t be silly,” she cut me off with a wave. “What I mean is that there is no reason to lie to a being that is beneath you. Would you lie to a pet? If you cared about their feelings, you might. So then, would I truly have any reason to lie to you? Make your guesses.” Well, the mind fuck was certainly new. I was quite literally screwed no matter what I chose here. Anything that was too tame would probably get me whipped or worse, and I’d have to endure any guess that was hardcore enough to meet her standards. But then, perhaps I was going about it all the wrong way. There were extreme guesses that wouldn’t have me walking funny for weeks, weren’t there? I decided to venture my first guess, albeit with an implied contractual rider she probably wasn’t expecting. “Make me your husband, Mira.” “Not even clo--what?!” she balked, stumbling back a step and (perhaps subconsciously) straightening her glasses. “W-what are you...t-talking about?!” Some part of me felt like this was a victory even while an itch at the back of my skull warned me about continuing down this path. I took my daring second guess while the witch was still reeling from the first. “No? Then...have me father your children, Mira.” That time she turned beet red, stumbling back even further as she hid her face in her hands. “H-how could you even s-say that?!” Her look of embarrassment changed to one of anger over several moments, the familiar warning itch suddenly becoming one of an uneasy validation. Pulling her glasses down a bit, her anger seemed to intensify as she stepped toward me as powerfully as her short legs would allow. “You think you’re just sooo smart, don’t you Joe? I should force you to make good on those! I should-” she suddenly stopped, and cursed under her breath. “Your friends are here, but I’m still going to make you suffer through what I really had planned for you,” she declared threateningly. As she moved close to me, she brought her weapon-wielding hand down right near my face, causing me to close my eyes on instinct and keeping them closed as Mira’s small hand followed to cover them, resting on my eyelids. The expected impact of the leather implement never came as I suddenly felt a small set of lips lay softly upon my own. The warm kiss lingered for nearly a minute during which the only other touch upon me was Mira’s other hand affectionately gently resting on the side of my face. Finally pulling away from me, I could have sworn I saw tears in the dangerously young-looking eyes of the witch as she grabbed her hat and stepped across the room. “I...n-need to go” “What’s your deal, woman? All you were going to do was kiss me?” I asked incredulously as my restraints vanished. “I...um...can’t tell you. It will...all work out in the end,” she answered softly as she made to leave the cell. “Please...don’t hurt Meryl or Zee,” I nearly pleaded. “I...d-don’t have to listen to you,” she began before sighing and adding, “But...um...I won’t even be here.” Saying those final words, Mira made a gesture with her staff as a corresponding sound of the cell door’s bolt releasing echoed through the room. The witch then turned back to me one final time before stepping into a magically-conjured portal into a room dominated by six massive crystals, one of them prominently stained black. “Until next time…” |
| Hmm, another gender swapping experience |
| Signature removed. It was too good for this cruel world. |
| Noooo Joe is no longer serving clam chowder! :3 |
|
| Chapter 22 - Gone But Not Forgotten A voice, all calculating wisdom and restrained desire, materialized from the ether. “He’s acquired a rather potent defender. Be careful and remain in contact with the talisman at all times.” Moments later in response, breaking the placid surface of magically shared thought, a force of pride and an unslaked thirst for vengeance answered, “I’ve left more ‘potent defenders’ for the crows than Amarante’s entire pathetic excuse for an army. His fucking legion-class necromancer is out of the way and this so-called defender isn’t even here yet.” Wisdom chastised, “Do not underestimate the-” Pride would not be stirred or interrupted and reasserted dominance. “Even if Kaori only had a single mine still running at capacity, I can promise that if you ever take a tone like that with me again, I’ll see you there in chains and whipped to death mining coal for the Corpse Throne. Am I clear?” Colors and impressions abounded in the shared mindspace before the color of Wisdom answered back as subservient fear, “Y-yes. I understand, General Hildegarde.” Satisfaction buoyed the thoughts of Pride. “Good, we should be at the meeting place in a week with the prize. I can already smell his whore’s stench. This shouldn’t take more than a minute.” The former Kaori general withdrew from her mental contact with the distant witch and turned to the new companion to which she now deffered, only the second woman to best her in combat, and the first to do so without conjuring a deathless dragon and a hole into utter oblivion itself. “Are you ready, my lord?” Hildegarde asked, far more subdued with her masked companion than she had been with the witch or anyone else outside of Kaori’s inner circle. The slender, masked woman simply nodded as the pair of them advanced on the old guard tower. --Elsewhere-- I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that my captors let me go once they had the real prize in hand...the real me. After that disturbingly pleasing bonding session of ours, I wanted to argue for his release as well. The looks offered before I’d even fully asked the question were all the answer I needed. Despite an unmatched kinship, I had more pressing matters to which I needed to attend. There wasn’t enough time to risk going home, and calming Risa down enough to understand the situation probably just meant she’d want to break her foot off in my ass. That still seemed preferable to the other task I’d been handed. I wanted to see her and my girls as badly as when I’d set off after Lorelei. Just like that time, it felt too much like I might not come back from this journey. Had I ever come back at all, really? I still have no idea how the hell that witch knew so much or why she seemed to care about me even after stealing my wife. Fighting the rage back was the hardest part, that burden exacerbated by the fact that each time I got angry, my inner voice grew stronger while my body changed more and more to suit that feminine persona. As some sort of twisted futanari Incredible Hulk, I was forced by necessity to keep myself calm at the risk of losing my mind, along with any hope of seeing my family again, forever. After the first few days it started to get a bit easier. Perhaps the largest salve to my confused anger was the fact that my wings had finally developed enough to pull me through the air. I knew they weren’t large enough to physically carry me, meaning that I had to be channeling magic, rapidly reducing the time I’d be able to stay awake...or stay myself. The amount of time I shaved off the journey by cutting straight across the mountains made the sacrifice worth it, I forced myself to believe. However...despite my obvious horns, wings, and tail, I was still accosted by mamono nearly every time I landed to preserve my energy. Needing to turn down so many...aggressive offers turned out to be the blessed, ego-boosting assurance I needed that I still at least looked like a man, despite what the conflicting thoughts and emotions within me kept trying to argue. Regardless of my desires to the contrary, and with a potency that continued to escalate, it felt as though my body was automatically channeling demonic energy for my own protection when needed. During at least two of my encounters, my would-be rapists simply fell into spontaneous masturbation just from looking at me. With my body more than happy to spend the small amount of essence I’d gotten from...myself, the pitiful amount of sand left in my hourglass fell inexorably into oblivion. Not unlike when I’d been completely blind, I found myself stumbling toward the pinpoint of light that was my small remaining hope. The witch must have made the suggestion for a reason, but nothing I’d learned about magic gave any solid clues. Was it just that only a lord could save me? Or was it something that only this lord could do? I could only pray that the Lord Elizabeth truly had an answer...and that she’d be willing to part with it. ------------------------------------------ After the baffling encounter with Mira and her subsequent vanishing act, I almost immediately heard the sounds of a conflict in the tower above me. I’d only gotten a glimpse of the skills my captors truly possessed, but I couldn’t imagine a scenario in which Zee could be beaten. It wasn’t that I thought she was invincible, it was more that I hadn’t yet come upon any idea of my own that could see her defeated. That prediction seemed to bear out as the shouts of pain that echoed through the narrow hallway were those of the girls that had been holding me here. Those shouts carried a worrying edge of desperation that got me thinking about Zee. Would the salamander actually harm these girls for the sake of our contract? Was I even okay with that? Several dozen interminable minutes passed as the sounds of combat dwindled. The walls of the tower and my cell were not quite kind enough to properly relate the echoey, resounding shouts while retaining any similarity to the initial voice, leaving me in suspense as to what was transpiring above. After the loud report of what could only be a shattering bone, followed immediately by a shriek of pain, everything was quiet for a patience-testingly handful of minutes. I took that opportunity to fashion some makeshift clothing from female pieces that still fit and the coarse sheet from the bed. There likely wouldn’t be any fashion awards in my future...but maybe I’d just need to own the look hard enough to kick off a rush on robes made from ratty bed sheets. Leaning against my cell door, I found it unlocked and took the opportunity to ascend the stairs back to the larger central chamber. I moved quickly, fully expecting a scene to materialize at the top of the stairs of a triumphant fox and salamander with outstretched arms to catch me. Shattering that hope, the image before me was far more grim. With another loud snap like the cracking of bone, I saw a massive woman break off Liuli’s remaining horn and toss the badly beaten oni aside like a piece of trash. Only slightly smaller in stature than the conjured dragon I’d recently met, this woman had pink, pig-like ears and an (admittedly cute) curly tail that both ran in stark contrast to the countless scars, monolithic build, and cruel visage that made up the rest of her appearance. As she turned to look at me, the look thrown my way may as well have been oil on canvas, an artist’s depiction of my body being raped and broken beneath her. “No, I won’t do it,” the orc said with a slow shake of her head as she stared me down. “I’m supposed to bring you back uninjured, but now that I’m seeing that face...I know that isn’t going to happen. Get on your knees now and I won’t break any bones, human.” It wasn’t a request and I was strongly tempted to obey the unknown woman’s command immediately. Roughly ninety degrees around the edge of the tower from me was the exit, and despite this new player being far more frighteningly imposing than Azalea’s friends, I’d take my chances running than being a captive again. Slightly closer to the exit than me, however, was the second of these two woman. The smaller of the two was tall and slender, covered in concealing armor and clothing that made her identity otherwise impossible to determine. Acting as the only potential hint was a long tail, not unlike Azalea’s hanging calm behind her. She carried several weapons, the most obvious among them being a pair of matched scimitars that hung naked from her belt. Catching the movement of my eyes, the orc took a step toward me and leered down at me. “It’s been a while, whore. Do you have any idea what I’ve had to go through because of you and your lich owner?” There probably wasn’t a right answer to that question. The countless possibilities for wrong answers, however, nearly made me laugh. I opted to try the truth and see how that might work out. Meryl and Zee were still on their way here, I hoped, and trying to draw things out made it more likely that I’d make it out of this alive. I lowered my gaze to the floor and spoke softly, “That wasn’t me. I...just happen to look exactly like someone that’s been causing trouble all over the island.” Picking up and shouldering a massive axe, the orc flashed a cruel grin. “I want to believe you. Do you know why?” It wasn’t a question I was supposed to answer. I remained silent as she continued. “Because I watched you die. I ran a blade straight through you and watched as you dissolved into mist. No human could survive that, and yet here you are,” she said, pausing as if to wait for an answer. “R-right. So then it couldn’t be me. I’ve never even seen-” That was apparently one of the wrong answers. Without warning, stomped the ground hard enough to nearly shake me from my feet as her smile vanished into a look of unabashed hatred. “You little shit! You think I’d miss that fucking scar on your face?! You want me to tear your face off and show it to you?!” the orc yelled as her slow, thunderous footsteps started bringing her closer to me. A subtle clearing of the throat from the other woman in the room likely saved my life as the orc came to a dead stop, just out of reach of her powerful arms. Nodding once, the orc dropped her axe to the ground and scowled. “You think you’ve just been spared, don’t you? Oh no, little man. Did you think that I’d let enemies of the corpse throne escape? No...we’ll be dragging you back to Kaori along with your friends and family--anyone that even knows your name. And then, just when you start wishing that I’d crushed your fucking skull is when the real pain is going to start. Let’s move--and if I hear so much as a single word out of you, I’ll rip out your tongue.” Seeing my glances toward the tower exit, the orc actually smiled and continued, “You looking for someone, whore? The witch doesn’t normally exaggerate so I thought I might actually get a decent fight out of this bodyguard of yours before I tore her arms off.” Utterly dumbstruck, my thoughts weren’t doing much better as I tried to think of a way out of a promised fate that was making me pine for the short simplicity of an executioner’s blade. Another grim scene stood before me as I was given another measure of shame at being helpless to do anything about it. It wasn’t surprising, really. My entire life had just been one disappointment after another, my trip to another world only so kind as to become a comically exaggerated mirror of my life before. Fuck it. I wasn’t going to let them drag me somewhere just so I could be tortured to death. I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction. If they wanted me dead, I was going to make sure it was here and now. I looked toward Fizzli’s large metal cudgel on the ground and then back at the orc. “Is our little man about to grow a spine here?” the orc taunted. “Fuck you, bacon bits.” Faking to the large club to my left, I turned on my heel and made a dash toward the tower exit. My movement hadn’t even registered with the orc, either because she was too slow to react or because she simply didn’t care. Answering that quandary with the latter, she made several quick steps toward me and drove the broad side of her axe into my chest, throwing me off my feet and into a painful impact with the tower wall, well away from the exit. “I like a man with fight in him almost as much as I love seeing that moment when that same man breaks and begs for a death that won’t save him,” the orc taunted as she grabbed a handful of my still-long hair and dragged me to my feet, pushing me back toward the center of the room. Grabbing at my chest while I tried to catch my wind, I tried to buy even a few more seconds, choking my insulting words out in desperation. “That hurt...almost as bad as the last...pork shit I took.” I got to my feet and continued, “If my bodyguard was here...I’d be taking another one of those shits tonight, swine.” Seeing my effort rewarded with a cruel smile, rather than the blind rage for which I’d been hoping, the orc shook her head and started advancing again, each step running cold up my spine with escalating terror. “Bodyguard, you said? I’m your huckleberry,” the most pleasant voice I could imagine called out as I saw Azalea’s form silhouetted in the entryway, the oppressive light from outside spilling around her as if to herald the entrance of an archangel. Of my assailants, the shrouded woman didn’t react any more than to look in Zee’s direction as the salamander advanced upon the orc with her falchion held ready in her large left hand. The splint on Zee’s right hand, however, meant that she’d be at a disadvantage here. “Zee, I’m sorry,” I blurted out, not able to meet my large companion’s gaze at the thought of the ordeal she’d been through. Flashing a confident smile, Zee answered, “It wasn’t your fault, but if you want to make me feel better, just make good on our wager. Now stand back so I can--wait, you’re...General Hildegarde of the Red Plains!” Zee finished with a look of stunned surprise. Turning her smile toward the advancing salamander, Hildegarde frowned. “Damn the fucking double-edged sword of fame. I guess you’re going to try to run now?” “Run?” Azalea chortled. “Wait. Oh, you were serious? No, you killed my cousin in the Grand Blood tourney, three tournaments back.” Throwing her axe back over her shoulder, Hildegarde snorted derisively. “Was she the one that begged me to stop, or the one I cut in half like an overripe prisoner fruit?” The orc the looked over her shoulder to her companion and received a small nod. “I’m already bored with this. Well, lizard, your vengeance is standing right here. Come try to take it so I can rip you apart along with the rest of your family once I’m done executing this human.” Azalea stretched a bit, never losing her confident smile. “I don’t care about vengeance--she never should have entered that tournament in the first place. I’ve just wanted to fight you since I saw that match.” Looking up for a moment, Zee paused before continuing, “As for my family…” I watched as Zee took a deep breath and lowered herself into a wide, unfamiliar stance. Her tail snaked out behind her, the weak smouldering not appearing to change, as she looked around, looking as though she was taking in every inch of the scene. Finally resting her calm gaze back upon the orc, Azalea continued proudly, “I am Azalea, formerly of the Ashtail Legion, daughter of Kadira and Rodrigo, sister of Dahlia, Hibiscus, and Ixora. You can worry about my family if you survive me.” “Hmph,” Hildegarde began, “Well, I’m ready whenever you-” Before the orc had even finished speaking, Zee leapt into the air towards the orc. The maneuver looked unbelievably risky, leaving the salamander unable to even attempt to avoid any incoming attacks with her feet off the ground. Zee made a full spin in the air, her posture suggesting she was going to unleash a powerful downward slash with the added momentum of her spin behind it. The orc saw it too and was already poised to counter from a much stronger position with her massive axe. As Hildegarde’s powerful arms flexed to swing her axe, she flinched in pain, losing a half-second to the distraction. While she’d spun through the air, Zee had somehow thrown a dagger as the orc, grazing the Kaori-born warrior on her right side. When the axe cut through the air, Zee avoided the blade and caught the shaft in two places with her feet and allowed herself to be thrown across the room by the earth-shaking power of the swing. Impacting with the tower wall with more force than should have been possible, Zee then hit the ground and was a bit slow getting to her feet. About to call out to Zee, I felt a hand cover my mouth. Starting, I tried to pull free before I heard Meryl’s voice whisper in my ear, “She’ll be fine, but they’re after you. Let’s go.” The vixen didn’t even wait for my response before she quietly began dragging me back towards the stairs. I could only assume there had to be another entrance, and despite wanting to know that Zee would be okay, I also knew I’d just be in the salamander’s way at best, or a liability at worst. “Don’t know where you managed to hide a dagger, but that won’t happen again,” the orc boasted as she straightened herself. “It was two, actually,” Zee offered as she shook herself out of the daze of hitting the wall. “And that was all I needed, this is over.” As Hildegarde opened her mouth to retort, she looked down and saw a second dagger embedded in the shaft of her large battle axe, where it had neatly severed the pinkie finger of the orc’s left hand. Zee then seemed to dance forward, unleashing a straight thrust that the orc barely deflected by using her axe-head like a shield. With her blade deflected, Zee took a large step forward and dragged the blade with her in an attempt to rush past the orc, turning her thrust into a slash. The orc countered by throwing a shoulder into Zee’s guard, followed by a clearing swipe of her axe. Zee dove under the slash, the axe blade nicking her skull as she managed a shallow cut on the orc’s hip in exchange. Her dive turning into a roll, Zee came to her feet and immediately leapt into a backwards moonsault over the follow-up swing, scoring a cut on Hildegarde’s forearm and a solid tail impact to the orc’s face. Still slightly off-balance from the acrobatic maneuver, Zee could do nothing but attempt to block the great swing that came next. As steel rang against steel, Azalea was driven to the ground, her knee hitting stone, before she was able to turn her blade to deflect the rest of the force of the attack. Releasing the grip on her falchion before the downward axe stroke had even completed, Azalea reached up to the axe handle with her left hand and used it for leverage to throw a wicked kick at the orc’s face. The orc lowered her head and managed to deaden most of the impact with the hardest part of her skull, but the impact still had her reeling. Moving early hadn’t come without cost, however, as Zee’s thigh began to quickly swell where the remainder of the last swing’s power had impacted. While the orc stumbled back, my bodyguard fell to a knee, her hand shooting out toward the orc even as she exhaled in a hiss of pain. Looking closely, I could see Azalea seeming to mumble something under her breath as she absentmindedly reached back to grab her falchion. “Fucking bitch, I will end you!” the orc screamed out as her hands now had a matching set of missing pinkie fingers. As the orc stepped forward to bring down another swing, Zee was already moving, her falchion arcing through the air to impact the axe before the swing could gain any real momentum. All but two people in the room then watched in surprise as the large axe was knocked clean from the orc’s hands, Zee’s follow-up being a roll to the side where she picked up the axe and hurled it through the tower entryway. “End your chances of being a pianist, more like,” Azalea answered with a smirk as she picked her falchion back up and stood upon shaky legs to stare down the former Kaori general. With a howl of rage, the orc took two charging steps forward before an unfamiliar voice rang out across the chamber, sounding distorted and metallic through the concealing helm from which it shot forth. “Enough. We will withdraw for now.” Sliding to a stop, the orc general looked feminine for the first time as she shot back in protest, “But my lord! You promised I could-” The shrouded figure simply placed a hand on one of her weapons and the formerly perky, pink ears of the orc drooped in immediate disappointment. “Yes, my lord,” the orc acquiesced immediately, turning back to Zee to shout, “This isn’t over!” Already walking toward us as the pair of invaders left the tower, Azalea answered over her shoulder, “For your sake, you should probably hope it is. I might not be fighting with my off-hand next time, but I certainly welcome the challenge.” As the two enemies finally disappeared, Zee nearly fell to her knees, breathing a massive sigh of relief. “Mother of Charisse, that bitch was strong. She patched up that hole in her swing too.” “Are you okay?” I asked worriedly, seeing that the cut on Zee’s forehead was starting to bleed profusely. “I’ll be fine,” she answered, tearing off a piece of my sleeve and holding it to the gash on her head. “Looks like you’re back to normal. Want me to stop calling you Ari, now?” Meryl took the opportunity of my distraction to unhesitatingly reach down my pants in a probing fashion. “Yeah, you can--what the-!? What are you doing, Meryl?!” I called out defensively as I tried to squirm loose. Blushing a bit before shaking her head, Meryl smiled and kissed me on the cheek. “Can you blame me? With my luck I figured you’d end up castrated or worse.” Starting to shake as the tension and adrenaline of the moment started to fade, I quipped, “Yeah, I think I’m done worry about defending myself from sexual predators. Especially if I’m going to be keeping one of them around.” Smirking for a moment before actually giving me a barely-less-than-playful bite on the neck, Meryl then threw her arms around me. “I’m going to let that one go for now, and only because it’s true.” Grunting in pain as she got back to her feet, Azalea chimed in, “So...I’ve got to ask. How did you manage to get a Kaori general on your ass?” “Fuck if I know. Probably something the other me did, though from what I gathered, it had something to do with Delilah,” I answered, my voice muffled by Meryl’s shoulder as I was kept held in the vixen’s arms. Still intent to keep me in her embrace, Meryl turned to Zee and answered, “I don’t know the whole story, but Joe tried to rescue Del’s daughter from somewhere deep in Kaori. After that conflict with the corrupted gnome and Kaori being missing for at least a year, the place was already on the brink of civil war.” Zee nodded and continued to listen while Meryl continued. “So Del about lost it when Joe left and she tore through Kaori like some kind of undead hurricane. I guess since their military had been spread so thin taking care of conflicts all over the region, they couldn’t pull together a force large or disciplined enough to try to stop her. Too many of the local warlords deliberately withheld soldiers in preparation for the civil war they knew was coming. Anyway, that orc bitch managed to pull together a few companies of slavers and her personal unit of military regulars to stop Del.” Zee raised a hand to stop Meryl. “Wait, slavers I can see, but how could a single necromancer manage to take down an entire general’s company?” Meryl finally released her grip on me and took a step back, shaking her head. “I have no idea. Del wouldn’t say, and Joe acted like he didn’t want to remember. All I know for sure is that the lich is scary. Speaking of which, we should probably get moving before she-” I cut Meryl off with a frown. “Delilah is gone. I don’t know exactly how, but that witch, Mira, managed to capture her or send her away.” “You’ve got to be shitting me. I can’t imagine she’d--oh no...I need to get to Alnor,” Meryl replied, her expression falling. I sighed and added, “That orc might just have been trying to be more scary but she said that they were going to kill everyone important to me...friends, family, and anyone that knew me. If you want to go to check on your sister, I’m with you. What about you Zee?” Trying to rub her swollen thigh, Azalea stopped to give me a small shove. “I’m your bodyguard. And before Meryl finds some reason to tell you first, I like you. Let me just make sure my girls are okay and we can go.” “We’re fine Zales, just go,” the badly beaten harpy suddenly shouted as she sat up, her blood-matted feathers saying something entirely different. “Yeah, she beat our asses good...if Joe hadn’t come up when he did, she might have done a whole lot more, but we’ll be okay. Sara should be stopping by in the next couple days.” “She’s right,” added the even more haggard sounding voice of the slowly rising Liuli from across the room. “Sara’s been worried about us ever since-” “Shut up blueberry! We can take care of ourselves anyway,” the goblin added, also sounding fully conscious and struggling to bring herself to a sitting position. “That’s the first time we’ve seen you fight like that since...you know.” Zee shook her head. “I know you girls are worried about me, but there’s nothing wrong with me.” That was bullshit, and everyone in the room knew it. Despite that, I felt like the salamander was far from a lost cause. I almost felt guilty having gotten such a deal on a bodyguard of her ability. On the other hand, I had to be alive to worry about having underpaid someone, so my worry wasn’t moving the scale all that much. “We also wanted to tell you that we’re...going back to the Legion. There have been rumors all over about isolated villages populated solely by humans--mostly men,” Liuli said with a slight blush. “It’s our home and we wanted you to come back with us. Some of the rumors even say that some of these men might be serious warriors!” Zee smiled cryptically and shook her head again. “I’ll always think of you as family, but...I can never come back to the Ashtails, girls.” Nearly pouting, the harpy jumped to her feet, only to fall back onto her tush with a wince of pain. “You’re wrong, Zales. You never left in the first place, and we’ll just be waiting for you to remember that.” Azalea gave a wry smile and walked over to pull the young harpy into a hug, stepping back afterwards to give her a gentle rap on the head. “That’s the free hit I owe you. And don’t worry, this silly man here has already found me a couple of the best warriors I’ve fought in a long time. Once we get his mess all sorted out, I’ll come visit. Hopefully the war will be over by then and Charisse will either be buried or sane again.” The emotional dam in the room was nearly at capacity as the three girls all looked to be on the verge of tears. Meryl gestured toward the entrance and started heading out. With a nod toward Zee, I followed her. “We’ll be outside, Zee. Take as much time as you need,” I offered. For several minutes Meryl and I waited in silence, standing in the shade of the small tower, protected from a sun that almost seemed angry at all that had the gall to stand beneath it. “One thing I still hate about being anywhere near the desert is all this dust.” Azalea finally emerged from the tower entryway, wiping a large quantity of that “dust” from her eyes. “Let’s move.” |
| Interesting. Made me thinking about timeline again, but still awesome as always. |
| Signature removed. It was too good for this cruel world. |
| I see an h scene coming soon :) great chapter and very great use of a villain we thought was dead |
 |
| Chapter 23 - Drawing in the Corners “It’s impressive that the binding isn’t holding you completely, but do you seriously think you can stop me in that state, lich? I’ve a contingency in place for any action you could hope to take.” Bleeding through the darkened crystal prison as a pale spectre, Delilah hovered, ethereal, before the witch that had caught her. “As yet, I have not considered the potential eventuality that would lead to a direct conflict between the two of us. Having seen the construction of this room and the associated runic forms, however, I find myself curious as to the point of what will become little more than a charade.” The witch tossed her spectacles into her hat before pulling the wide-brimmed piece of millinery down over her eyes. “This is your fault and I would be more than happy to see you suffer for it...but there is something I need far more, now. It’s not as if you could ever hope to escape from this place on your own, anyway.” Delilah’s shadowy form simply flickered as the ancient undead observed the position of the many runes that surrounded each of the large crystals within this painstakingly-hewn cavern. “You are wrong on every count. This rune pattern borrows heavily from Durand’s Runic Lexicon and my phylactery far surpasses anything of which Durand conceived while she was alive. You also cannot wish my destruction or you would have already unbound my soul. Further, the markings on your attire suggest that my second birth would see us as cousins under the flames of Asmodeus. To that end, I cannot see you risking even the possibility of your mistress’s wrath, so I also find it unlikely that you wish to see me suffer in any capacity. In addition, if there is any blame to be had in this, it must fall upon you or the one I can only assume is your sister. You must be aware of this or you wouldn’t have sent my husband’s memories to-” “Enough!” the witch screamed out, interrupting Delilah’s long-winded explanation. “Not everyone behaves based on logic! Regardless of the cost, my prize will not be kept from me. Everything has already been set in motion and there is nothing you can do to stop it.” Silent a moment in a contemplative reverie, Delilah finally answered as her form wavered slightly. “You, however, do behave based upon logic. The very existence of a ‘plan’ demands the truth of that fact. Further, I have already deduced the remainder of this...plan.” Still fuming at the emotionless undead, the witch stamped her foot on the cavern floor as her anger continued to grow. “You are lying! I’m not afraid of you, lich, and even if I was, it wouldn’t stop me from doing this. If you hadn’t mentioned that ritual...if you hadn’t-” Her eyes glowing more brightly in her spectral form, Delilah interrupted the witch. “I see...then your mistress has perished. That is unfortunate as it leaves a great unpaid debt that will likely be impossible to settle.” “Shut up! You have no idea what it’s like to-” the witch screamed in response, stopping herself when Delilah’s violet eyes took on an as yet unseen fierceness. “Do not insult me with your misplaced anger. You are but a child. I labored under the weight of loneliness and despair for millennia before your mistress’s grandparents had even entertained the notion of children. If I wished to end this overwrought charade, I would have already done so,” Delilah stated evenly, her voice powerful. Hiding her face beneath the brim of her large hat again, the witch mumbled back in response, “Then why…?” The fierce violet eyes calmed as Delilah’s distant voice grew quieter. “It was not lost upon me that there would be a cost to bear that was far beyond what I had planned. Despite my demand that the ritual be invoked, I failed to account for my husband’s dangerous curiosity in truly determining the use for the blessing. Until seeing this place, I was not aware of the depth of your designs. I can now see that if your plan were to succeed, at the least in saving my husband, I would owe you a debt for which I would be obligated to provide recompense. I must tell you, then, that there is a fatal flaw in this.” Stricken almost completely dumb by the ponderous authority with which the necromancer spoke, the witch numbly answered, “What flaw?” “He will not make the choice you need him to make to undo this sin.” “If he won’t..then...it will end all of you.” “Then it will end.” -------------------------------------------- After a solid day of ruminating over the possible scenarios that had me being hunted by that pair of warriors, the remaining bounty was the only thing that came to mind. Or at least it would have been if the orc hadn’t mentioned the witch as well as something about enemies of the corpse throne. Just what the hell had I done on the island already to warrant this barrage of non-stop misfortune? Speaking of which… “That’s it!” Meryl shouted the moment we made camp. “I’ve chased you across half the fucking island, to your probably deserved execution, and into an actual devil’s nightmare. I don’t care what excuses you have left, but I swear to Amarante herself...if you try to turn me down again, Joe...I’m going to-” She was trying to be angry. I’m certainly not the most insightful person, but it was patently obvious that she was closer to crying than any other emotional outburst--save the shouting she was already forcing. Despite every single one of fate’s attempts to kick all the fight out of me, that sentiment cut through everything else. Her play at anger was to hide a much more fragile center than she wanted to show. Meryl had risked her life for me more times than I could even remember, had stayed with me while I was trapped in a woman’s body, even when she knew she wasn’t going to get what she claimed to want the most, and had probably lost even more that she was yet hiding. Looking into those beautiful green irises of hers, worn and weary as they tried to hide the perils with which her mind continued to wrangle, I just knew in that protracted moment that she’d follow me to the ends of the earth if I asked. The thought hit me in the chest like a burst of comforting warmth, spreading across me and within me, making my heart flutter for the barest of an instant. I took the opportunity to level a serious look at Meryl. “I’m not going to run or push you away. If you just wanted a man, there are probably plenty that could have been gotten far easier than me. So, Meryl...I’m standing right here. Now what?” “And I’ll...be standing over there,” Zee added helpfully as she moved to the perimeter of the camp. Suddenly flustered, her eyes now showing some actual anger, she opened her mouth to speak and released only a worrying amount of silence. Thinking I might have upset her, I stepped forward and spoke. “I...didn’t mean it like that. Actually I’m not even really sure what I said that was wrong but I meant that I don’t want to run. I’d want you by my side even if I wasn’t being chased by bounty hunters, forgotten exes, and retainers to whatever the hell the corpse throne is. I wouldn’t even blame you if you decided I was just too much trouble at this point…” Her veneer splintered slightly as she stepped forward, her eyes downcast as she began to cry, her voice weak as she mumbled, “This is horrible, Joe. Everything’s fucked up and it just keeps getting worse. I mean...you’re standing right in front of me, but I’m afraid if I even try to reach out and touch you...this moment will fall apart. And you know the worst part of all this? Some day...I just know you’re going to get your memory back and then you’ll be gone for good.” She recoiled from my attempt to touch her so I simply answered as best I could, “I could choke on breakfast tomorrow, or fall on my sword while training, or have a fucking aneurism and kick it right here. If you want me, Meryl...then I’m yours. Even if I get my memory back, I’m not going to forget this.” Meryl’s eyes went wide in a shocked disbelief as she took a step closer, “You don’t know that! You’ve already lost all your memories once. And when you do end up with those memories again...I don’t think I’d be able to handle knowing that you’ll never feel about me the way you do about Del or my sister. I told you...I’m cursed and every time I try to fight fate, I just...” I’d be damned if I was going to lose an argument with Meryl at this point. I couldn’t deny that I must have had some extremely intense feelings for the two women from my last life to have married the pair and fathered children, but nothing of that remained in me now. At least there was a way to make sure I’d never forget this moment. Taking a deep breath, I took the dry desert air into my lungs with purpose, internalizing every aspect of the feeling that I could process--the slight pain in the back of my throat, the growing chill, and the barest taste of distant plant life. I then reached down and grabbed a handful of the loose sand at my feet and let my mind wander as the miniscule grains of quartz ran back to the ground. The first song that came to mind in that pseudo meditative state would be the trigger. I said a few of the lyrics to myself quietly to make sure the thought would stick, “The war is on, too weak to move. Call it off, refused.” “Huh?” she asked, likely confused by my rambling. Seeing her guard down, even as her eyes bored into me with a confused curiosity, I stepped forward. She took a step back in response, breaking eye contact with me. I took another step, larger and more determined as she stumbled a bit in trying to back up again. “If I could love two women in the first place,” I proclaimed as I continued to close the distance between us, “then what’s stopping me from loving three, or four, or a fucking dozen?! I’m not going to compromise, I’m not going to bend, and after today...I’m not going to break. If you want to run now, then go. Just don’t think for a second that it was fate that kept me from you. If you run now, it’s you keeping me from you.” If she knew what she was doing, then I’d have to applaud her acting. My feelings on her had gone from just over-tepid to scalding in the moment she started to retreat. Could it be so hard to resist the chase? Those were thoughts for a less passionate heart than mine. “But...what if-” she whispered as she stopped moving. In that moment I had a startling realization. It felt like I’d had a very similar realization twice before, despite only remembering one. Before I’d found myself on this island, when the world had made it blatantly obvious that I couldn’t have what I wanted, I let it win and tried to kill myself. I was too weak then to consider that if I couldn’t change myself to fit the world, that maybe the world was wrong. Maybe the whole time it wasn’t me that needed to break, but the world. Hunted or hunter, I saw my chance and I took it, making two quick strides and throwing my arms around the wavering fox-girl, not about to let her fear make the decision she didn’t want to make in the first place. “Fuck the ‘what if’! God damn, woman...just shut up,” I said with a determined finality as I captured her lips in my own, my own body feeling like it would melt as her soft lips finally touched mine. As we likewise stole the breath from each other, tentatively joined lips became cautiously exploring tongues; timidly shared breaths became presumptuously exploring hands. No more words were said, even as everything was spoken. ------------- Several emotionally charged hours later, I found myself wrapped in a coarse blanket against the painfully biting desert night, Meryl’s luxuriantly soft and fluffy tail, along with her soundly sleeping body still pressed against me, redefining what I knew of warmth. Zee came by only once while I was still awake to give me an approving smile, tending to her bruises from earlier as she kept the night watch for us. When morning finally arrived, it was far less pleasant than I expected as my fluffy-tailed companion seemed to have already left my embrace. Groggy and hungry, I saw the two of them arguing about something as I slowly started to come awake. “Well, let’s ask him then,” Meryl chirped with a definite edge of frustration as she came over to me. “Zee wants to know if you’re willing to follow her training plan, no matter how brutal it is. I want to really stress the brutal part before you decide.” Never having been one for mornings but at least aware enough to know that I wanted her to teach me to fight, I nodded. “Yeah...sure. I’m sure I can probably handle it.” “Dumbass,” Meryl spat, shaking her head as she hopped up onto the already-packed wagon. “See?” Zee said with a smile as she practically sauntered over, leaning down to whisper in my ear, “Damn, Joe...didn’t think you two were ever going to stop last night. And is there normally supposed to be that much crying?” I sighed a bit, rubbing the sleep from my eyes under the predawn chill of the wide, sandy desert. “Well...Meryl’s been going through a lot, you know?” Chuckling softly, Zee clapped me on the shoulder. “I meant you, boss. Here, put this on,” she suddenly added, offering me a durable-looking leather collar of some sort. Thrown too off-balance to argue against the first of her statements, I took the hardened collar in my hands. “What’s this?” “Part of your training. If you’re willing to do what I say, then put it on.” Her tone wasn’t leaving a lot of room for debate so I simply complied, assuming it was going to be some sort of mental breakdown tool. Once I actually had it on, however, Zee quickly tied off a rope with the other end leading to...the wagon? Oh hell… “You’ll just need this and...this,” Zee finished with a smile, tossing me an extremely heavy bag and a large hat. “We aren’t stopping until noon at the earliest. Once we stop, you can either rest...or grab your weapons and come at me. I’m going to catch some sleep until then.” “Are you shitting me? I can barely even carry this fucking bag! What the hell’s in it?!” I protested, suddenly far more cranky at the prospect of this training than I thought I would be. “Rocks, mostly. If you can’t handle it though…” Zee trailed off meaningfully. Meryl simply snorted at what must have been my expected response. “Fuck you! I can handle it. Fine, let’s go. I think I already know how to beat you, Zee...just you wait until noon.” “Already? Well, I can’t wait to see what you’ve got then, Joe.” With a smile she then hopped into the wagon as Meryl spurred the horse onward. Any delusions I had about my jogging having been a suitable preparation for a forced expedition through the blazing heat of a sandy desert were shattered barely an hour after the sun had made itself manifest above the horizon. Even with the horse taking it slow, I was forced to stay at a fast jog to even keep my footing. Far from being able to handle that pace, I found myself suffering the pain of being dragged for what felt like interminable miles as I desperately tried to regain my feet and continue. With the heat, the grueling pace, and the increasingly crushing weight on my back, I was already doubting that I had any chance of surviving an extended regimen under Zee’s guidance. When noon finally arrived, I made several wretched steps before hurling myself under the wagon to escape the blistering sun, my chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath. My first attempt to slake my blistering thirst resulted in me vomiting up nearly all of the water I’d just downed, a painful reminder that no matter how desperate I was, some things needed to be taken slow. “Here,” Meryl suddenly cut into my daze some unknown number of minutes later, handing me a bowl of brightly-colored red mush. “You know you don’t have to do this, Joe.” I shook my head, still too exhausted to speak clearly as I shoveled the sweet red paste into my mouth, only then realizing that I’d never had breakfast. The only thing I noticed in the taste was a vague sweetness along with several other flavors I couldn’t even begin to place. Seemingly in the mood to talk and not at all put off by my utter exhaustion, Meryl continued, “I wasn’t myself yesterday, but I’m glad you knocked some sense into me. Wait, ‘knocked’ isn’t the right word at all, is it?” she suddenly added with a giggle. “Is it weird that I’ve been staring at your back while chasing you for so long that you knocked me off balance when you finally turned around?” “Damn, Meryl...this is good. What is this?” I asked, feeling quite a bit more refreshed than I ever expected after only about a half-hour of rest. “Oh, and...well you were saying some of the same things I was thinking. It felt like if I let you run away, it was the same as running away myself. We...aren’t all that different, you know.” Passing me a thoughtful look as I finished the bowl of rejuvenating mush, Meryl then gave me a tiny kiss on the cheek, rolling out from under the wagon and then leaning down to smile at me. “I’m a much better liar. And that stuff? Oh...this and that...it should all be fine. Tell me if you start feeling weird, though.” Reasonably certain I should have been saving my energy for the run that would be following our break, I nevertheless grabbed my weapons from the wagon and called out to the still-sleeping salamander. “Come on, Zee! Let’s get this duel over with.” With a yawn and a stretch as she seemed to soak up the sun, Azalea hopped down from the wagon and pulled her falchion free from its sheath. “You’re looking for a duel? I suppose I’m your huckleberry, Joe. I’ve got a question first.” “What’s that?” I asked as I gave a salute and assumed my stance. “Why did you wake me up?” she asked, her tone serious. “Wasn’t I supposed to beat you in a duel? How is that supposed to happen if you’re sleeping?” I asked, not sure what she was getting at. “You said duel--not me. You just need to best me, and even with only one hand, you’re at a huge disadvantage in a straight-up fight. If you’d attacked while I was asleep, you’d have given yourself quite a temporary advantage,” she said as she made a showy spin of her blade. Frowning at her words, I countered. “That seems a little dirty, and what if I had killed you?” “That’s a big ‘if’ but let’s just make this easier for you going forward. Your goal is to draw blood from me--if you can take a single drop of my blood, then we’ll say you’ve won. How’s that?” She offered with a smile. I shook my head in response and answered back. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so arrogant. But whatever, I told you I already had an idea how to beat you. This just makes things easier.” “Oh, I didn’t mean to come across as arrogant, Joe. Really. You’re smart enough that you’ve at least got a handle on how I fight, right?” She asked as she began walking toward me. I watched her closely and saw her lips moving slightly as though she was mumbling something under her breath again, just as she had when she’d fought the orc. “You’re using magic?” I offered, knowing that wasn’t the answer, but curious to see how she’d react. Zee grinned widely, appearing to somehow sense that my guess was intentional bullshit. “If it looks like magic then you’ve still got a long way to go, but I think you have a better guess than that.” The way I’d seen her fight so far had shown her to be supernaturally strong, easily surpassing what her body looked like it could handle. Beyond that and some well-trained agility however, it didn’t seem like there was all that much to her, physically. She didn’t even seem as quick as me, but she always managed to have her weapons and body exactly where they needed to be, right when they needed to be there. Having seen that, I didn’t want to consider what I thought she was actually doing, because it meant she was somehow running the battle through her head as though it was some sort of complex equation. In my nightmare scenario, she’d be able to tell by my stance, the length of my weapons...even the development of my body, what combat options I could even take. Then, for her, it was a matter of making moves that closed off possibilities until there was nothing left but to act exactly as she planned. “How many different things could I possibly do in this situation to attack you?” I suddenly asked. She stopped and scratched her head a moment before answering, “Hell, I don’t know. Probably a couple thousand at least. Among many other things, you’re already leaning on your left leg...so you were going to go with a lunging thrust, overextend yourself, and after a quick disarm I was going to spank your ass again.” I wasn’t sure about anything beyond the thrust (which I had been planning), but if I knew...couldn’t I simply change it? “You’re smart enough not to look where you’re going to strike, but you’re too dumb to realize that you went too far the other direction and completely avoid looking at the point at which you’re going to strike,” she offered somewhat helpfully. Well, that certainly settled it. I knew how to beat her. The only problem was that it wasn’t going to be easy, and it certainly wasn’t going to be today. I just needed to somehow throw in a factor that she couldn’t (or wouldn’t) predict. With a slight brainstorm brewing, I began moving in a familiar footwork pattern that was about as random as I could make it, my weapons held directed at her face as she advanced. “I knew you’d done some kind of fighting before. Your posture doesn’t look at all like you could deliver any kind of killing strike, though. Some kind of sport, maybe?” she ventured with a smile, confirming that she already knew the answer. Rather than answer, I took a stumbling step forward before falling into a sidewise roll that I intended to bring across her thigh as a slash as she moved to take advantage of my position. My feint half-worked as she’d taken a downward swing at where I would have been if I’d continued forward, but redirected her swing and allowed her momentum to propel her into a cartwheeling kick in my direction, my slash missing her completely. I managed to get beneath her kick and the following tail as I came up in a defensive posture, throwing my pair of weapons together in an attempt to block her falchion as it came in for another strike. “Nope,” she suddenly said angrily, stopping her swing with some effort and dropping her blade before grabbing both weapons with a single claw and pulling them from my grip before I could even fully react. “If you try to block a weapon like mine, especially with a swing like the one I’d made, with weapons like yours...you’re just going to get crushed or shatter your weapons. I just paid for them so I’d like to avoid breaking them already.” “Hold on!” I panted, “If you could have just pulled the weapons out of my hands in the first place, why even fuck around that long?” I asked, suddenly feeling offended--as though she’d just been playing with me. She shook her head as she walked back over to the wagon to resheath my two blades. “I could have taken them one at a time, but it wasn’t until you made that idiotic cross in that horrible attempt to block that I could get them both with one hand. If you give me a huge opening like that, I’m going to take it. And before you ask, taking them one at a time would have left me far too open for a potential counterstrike.” I frowned. “How exactly does that knowledge help me get any better? That exact situation will probably never come up again, and even if it does...you haven’t told me what the right move is.” “And I won’t. This was just to try and open your eyes a bit. From here on, I’m going to punish you when you make the wrong moves. Eventually you’ll have to start making the right ones. Until then…” she trailed off with a smile before securing the collar around my neck and tossing me the heavy bag again. “You can’t go wrong with more physical training!” --------- -Elsewhere “Give it up girlie! Just bring yourself and your girls out here and we can do this without anyone getting hurt,” shouted the voice of a powerful green-scaled woman into the well-appointed Amarante foyer. “Sorry about your two friends, but they weren’t on the list.” Nearly a dozen heavily armed warriors stood upon the marble floor of the entryway. The only place not occupied by the boots and talons of the hardened mercenaries was the spot upon which two broken bodies lay, hands still clasped in the timeless embrace of death. To the soldiers arrayed in the foyer, the two bodies appeared as simply a handsome young boy and silver-haired zombie with few other distinguishing features. To the woman and young twins that the soldiers had been tasked with acquiring, however, the zombie was family--the boy possibly soon to have been as well. The normally bright voice of the young mother echoed throughout the entire large home. “No, we can’t do this without someone getting hurt.” Without any further warning, the room erupted into a hellscape beyond anything the soldiers had ever seen. The wind moved as blades across the skin and scale alike, the air was becoming little more than blistering inferno that flensed their bodies down to stark bone before their horrified eyes. The commander of the mercenaries heard a torrent of screams as the room around her erupted in agony, her each and every subordinate vomiting bile and blood as their bodies twisted and blackened before her eyes in the malicious unnatural landscape. Stumbling forward with a hand pressing hard into her own temple, the commander knew this was an illusion. Despite that knowledge and years of training to combat techniques exactly like the one she was facing, the commander struggled to maintain her sanity as she found the world around her becoming more and more painfully violent in the warped nightmarescape. As the commander slowly centered her mind, biting back on the agonizing pain, and began to tear through the illusion, she caught sight of the likely perpetrator less than a meter before her. Playing up her disorientation, she stumbled a bit before lurching forward and getting her powerful claws around the neck of the startled danuki. With a quick snap of her other arm, the mercenary captain brought the hilt of her sword brutally across the tanuki-girl’s chin, knocking her unconscious. As the light faded from the desperate Risa’s eyes, she reached back for her two girls, now just beyond her reach. “Lords...why…?” the young Risa muttered weakly before slumping helpless into the arms of her assailant. Shaking off the remains of the pain that the glamour had forced her mind to manufacture, the commander called out to her now utterly disorganized group. “Get the children and by the lords be gentle with them or you’ll be wishing for death.” With little more than nods of agreement throughout the group, the quickly recovering team of mercenaries gently bound and gagged the older danuki and the surprisingly quiet children, taking them from their home to points unknown. |
| You never fail to hurt the feels. What did Risa and Del do (actually I can think of a lot) but still, can't they be happy Still, it is a great chapter like always. I just wonder if I was the only one to play montage music during Joe's training. Fight on and beat the salamander to get her honey pot! Fight on! |
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| Not exactly a spoiler, but there were some major pieces of the puzzle hiding in here. All I can say is that this is the "bigger" puzzle. There are only two hints in story #1, and they were easy to miss in everything that was going on around them. As for the training...yeah...while I DID think a solid montage track would have worked, I was too busy thinking of the scene from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. If nothing else, you can pretty much always assume that the more pointless something seems, the more likely it's a piece of something larger =) |
emeraldtryst said: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Who is good, who bad and who is the ugly one? In your story, at least |
| Signature removed. It was too good for this cruel world. |
beast_regards said: emeraldtryst said: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Who is good, who bad and who is the ugly one? In your story, at least That's...actually sort of hard to answer..."Good" and "bad" are too subjective in most cases. The only obvious one would be that Azalea is "the good" and...I guess Lorelei (or the MC) are the closest to "the ugly". As for "the bad"...well...in the interest of possible, completely inexplicable, spoilers, I'll just say that it may or may not be who you're thinking *sneaks out* |
| and you claim "I" hate my MC? lol |
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| Chapter 24 - Falling Apart, Together After a solid month of spending at least a third of every day being painfully dragged through the sand by the neck, it felt like I was inexplicably getting worse at keeping up. However, despite the exertion and the sparing quantities of the food and water I was consuming, my body was otherwise holding up to the strain better than admirably. What I couldn’t seem to figure out was exactly why my body was able to hold up as well as it had been. Aside from tasteless trail rations and the rare occasional treat of hunted game, the only consistency in my consumption was the oddly rejuvenating red paste Meryl kept feeding me. Far too good at banishing my weariness, I was really getting curious about what was actually in it. Thankfully not the only one curious about what the vixen seemed determined to feed me at any opportunity, Zee finally stepped up with a curious look at lunch on the twelfth day. “Spill it. What’s in the mush?” “Lots of things,” Meryl answered dismissively enough to drive my own curiosity beyond what could be ignored. “Don’t start keeping secrets now, Meryl. I was just getting to like that honest side of you,” I offered in response, earning a scowl from my foxy mate. “Even when I can be completely honest in telling you that you’re an insufferable asshole? Fine...I’ll tell you, but there’s no reason to get weird about it,” Meryl began. “It’s mostly mandragora root, and that’s really good for...well...all sorts of stamina. There are a few other things, but nothing that should be harmful now.” Zee grumbled and prodded Meryl with one of her talon-like feet. “You’ve had mandragora root until now and you haven’t even said anything? I haven’t had a real night of sleep since we set out. Come on, let me at least get-” “No!” Meryl suddenly shouted, batting away Azalea’s reaching hand. “So there is something else in it. Out with it or I’ll shave your tail in your sleep,” Zee threatened, the look on her face making it clear that she probably wasn’t bluffing. Meryl seemed to fret over answering but looked to me and then looked at the ground with a sigh. “There are a few other minor spices, a small splash of plain honey, and...something that’s really only okay for Joe to eat.” I made to put the bowl on the ground and back away for good measure as the cascade of horrifying possible ingredients ran through my head. Meryl reached up and put a reassuring hand on my wrist and looked up at Zee. “Look, Zee...maybe you can’t smell it or you’re just more used to it, but--Joe, it tastes good doesn’t it?” “You’re drugging me, aren’t you? Meryl...I swear to fucking-” I began with the only assumption I could piece together. Meryl looked as though she barely held back a desire to smack me as she cut in with a shout, “It isn’t drugged, you ass! This was just one more thing I was going to have to deal with, but to anyone with a really good nose, you smell like death and...something else. I know just about fuck-all about magic, but I know that Delilah had been feeding you this stuff in your sleep from the moment she met you.” “Feeding me what? And why?” I asked, not quite wrapping my mind around the possible reasons. Giving a heavy sigh, as much in confusion as anything else, Meryl continued. “Well...there’s Lamentation extract in there. Delilah gave it to me to sell when she heard I left Alnor. After ‘you’ showed back up as a demon, I guess she didn’t need it anymore. I have no idea what that ‘other’ scent is, but this extract is keeping it away. Lords only know how much sex you actually had with Delilah, but...if the extract from that mushroom isn’t making you violently ill, you must be close enough to an incubus to tolerate it. Maybe you have been since her and Risa saved your life...I mean, wouldn’t that explain your nearly inhuman sexual urges?” At that I actually had to laugh, this whole situation no longer seeming nearly so tense. “Uh...sure--yeah...I definitely wasn’t like this before I came here. Though...now that you mention it, I doubt without some sort of extra push, I probably wouldn’t have fucked my own--actually, nevermind what I was about to say there.” In nearly perfect unison, my companions shook their heads and replied, “Yeah right.” “Oh. Well whatever. It happened and I’m not a girl anymore so let’s not worry about it. So...you were saying about this extract…?” I attempted to unskillfully change the subject. Meryl shook her head. “That’s really all I know. Haven’t you been feeling better recently?” “That could just be from the conditioning. We’ve been moving a good bit faster every day, haven’t we?” Zee asked, looking for a moment like she regretted what she’d just said. I scowled at Azalea. “Oh, you bitch. So...what, I wasn’t allowed to think I was getting better?” The salamander shook her head in response. “Well, I wanted to keep your focus on the things that matter, but this at least explains how your stamina is getting better so quickly and why you don’t seem to really take your meals until Meryl starts your...ahem...evening training regimen. Let’s just call it grappling lessons.” “Lessons, my ass! Feels like I’m teaching her most of the time,” I said in jest, instantly regretting my choice of words (and thoughts). Meryl smiled too-sweetly and replied with a false blush, “That reminds me, professor. I’m pretty sure we were getting to the lessons on masochism tonight. Since I’m so fucking slow on the uptake you might have to demonstrate a few extra times for me.” Already knee-deep in shit, what could the further harm have been in playing along? “Nah, you’re the type of person to learn by doing. I need to make sure my student gets a thorough education, don’t I?” “Yeah, sure you do. Speaking of which, aren’t you about due to have Zee kick your ass all around the desert again?” Meryl added with a wink. “Such a bitch,” I silently cursed to myself. Why did Meryl have to be so...exactly what I wanted? ------------- Actual combat training over the past month days had gone from bad to worse...to far worse than even that. The closest I’d come to actually even scoring a hit was when I managed to (barely) anticipate her taking my weapons right out of my hands again and managed to bear down on the blade, dragging the edge across her scaled palm. It wasn’t enough to draw blood--hers anyway--as she nearly broke my nose with a headbutt for my trouble, but my plan was still coming together. I noticed that she’d stopped holding back on strikes when I made misguided attempts to block as I had in our first conflict. The result often saw me on my knees, ass, or back as the titanic power of her inhuman body easily broke through my guard. Somewhere around the fifth painful repeat of that episode, I had decided on exactly how I would beat the nearly unassailable salamander. It would take a lot of luck and no small amount of strength to carry it through, but against what seemed to be the bottomless depths of Azalea’s ability, I was coming up empty on other possibilities. Giving me a swift kick in the ribs that sent me tumbling at least a meter across the sand, Zee looked down at me and spoke in a frustrated tone. “How many times are you going to try different variations on that useless block, Joe? I already told you--you just aren’t strong enough to stop my swing and you’re moving far too late to try and redirect it.” Based on the way she fought, my initial goal was to try to perfectly replicate a certain situation at least a few times to see if she reacted the same each time. My ploy couldn’t be too overt or it would have almost certainly given away what I was actually attempting. Aside from some minor adjustments that would end up being negligible if my plan actually worked, she always managed the same perfect counter each time I attempted to try. After several days of utterly failed sporadic attempts, all amidst more normal training attempts, it became painfully clear that I was going to need to be a lot quicker to have any chance of making a real attempt at what I was planning. If she picked up on what I was trying to reason out, she made no indication. At great cost to my knuckles, ass, and ribs, I had been able to determine that, barring any large changes in the other factors of the battle, I could consistently fail in a way that would get Zee to act, more or less, as I expected. It wasn’t so much a solution as it was a patch of clouds departing to allow a mountain climber to see the distant peak of a nearly unscalable mountain. With the plan still in motion, and with a growing reliance on my decided advantage in quickness, my focus had transformed into trying to move quickly and powerfully enough to manage solid ripostes to her thunderous attacks. Beyond simply falling back into the fighting form I’d long forgotten, I was improving faster than I’d ever expected. Despite that, it was still infuriating that she always managed to force me into the exact same losing position. She’d make a horizontal slash forcing me to leap back, or roll forward, or even (in one nearly-fatal outing) to leap the attack. Even with a nearly perfect landing, I’d come to my feet just quickly enough to react too-slowly to the incoming downward swing. It was slowly taking her more moves to get me into that position, but it was still happening without fail no matter how I tried to change my tactics or rhythm. God, I hoped I could make this plan work because it was feeling like I’d have had more luck trying to breed mosquitoes to have any chance at getting her blood. ------------ What should have been a (mostly) safe three-day journey straight through the desert, had turned into a month-long crawl across the boundless sands to avoid armed patrols, poisoned oases, and desperate scavengers...among even more horrible unknown dangers. Once we eventually reached the (otherwise) far more hospitable lands of Amarante, however, being dragged behind the wagon was no longer going to be an option if I wanted to keep my skin attached. With as featureless as the desert seemed, Zee may as well have been leading us across her own back yard. Only twice did we come within sight or earshot of anything that would have suggested that there was actually a war going on in this land. Even though I was pretty sure Zee had made sure to slow the pace down a bit so I didn’t get seriously hurt once we’d crossed the border, I simply wanted to believe that I’d finally gotten back into an even more respectable shape. I still didn’t know how to feel about what Meryl was feeding me. The only information I could really get out of either of my companions about it was that this mushroom extract was normally very dangerous. In answer to my questions to also attempt clarify what an ‘incubus’ really was, I received only blushing dismissal or seemingly uninterested silence. My own memory wasn’t much help with the only fact coming to mind being that a man would normally have to be an incubus before turning into an alp. That seemed like an outcome to be...avoided. “I gave them names,” I said, out of the blue, to Zee as I sat upon a tuft of soft grass, indicating the weapons she’d offered me as I gave the pair of them a thorough polishing. “You definitely wouldn’t be the first warrior to name their weapons. But you know, it’s a lot more impressive if your enemies name them,” Zee remarked with a smile as she admired the twin steel blades. “It does show that you respect them, though, and that’s…” she trailed off, her mind seemingly a thousand miles away before she concluded by asking, “So what did you name them?” “The longer one I’m calling Tizona...the shorter one is Colada,” I offered with a smile. Azalea’s reaction was...interesting. “Tizona and...ha,” she began as her voice caught in a giggle that slowly bubbled up and grew each time she tried to speak. “Ha ha! Are you...hee hee--you can’t be...no--Tizona?!” her laughter was so pure and guileless that it quickly became infectious. “Oh come on...the names aren’t that bad!” I protested as I tried to keep my own bout of laughter mostly buried. Several minutes passed before Zee could even look at me without laughing, the lack of any malice in her making it all bearable. “You...say some pretty unbelievable things, Joe. Did one of my girls tell you or something?” Now I was actually a bit confused. The names I’d chosen were the swords of a historical figure from Earth that I’d always thought was pretty amazing. Did they have some other meaning to Zee? Seeing my look of confusion, Zee’s wide smile actually faded a bit. “You’re joking, right?” “Huh? What do you mean? Do those names mean something else to-” I began. Zee’s smile vanished, replaced by apparent anger that I must have been messing with her. “Cut the shit! One of them had to have told you or said something. How could you just randomly guess both the names of my father’s swords?!” “They weren’t random choices!” I said, shaking my head slightly. “They were the swords a great general from my world used. I like history so...maybe we’re both just fans of the same guy?” My answer managed to dispel her anger entirely as she instead took on a serious look. “Keep the names then, but know that my father was never beaten even once--in the other world or this one. If you’re...serious about using those names...I’m going to be expecting a lot more out of you, Joe.” Seeing her smile return, now mixed with a look of pride as she thought on her father, I grinned back at her. “Well, if you keep using those same maneuvers every single time we fight, it’s only a matter of time before I take you down.” She stretched a bit and stood up, looking down at me with a ‘come hither’ look that was an entirely different creature when wielded by the martial-minded salamander. “I’ll change my tactics just as soon as you give me a reason to. Let’s see what you’ve got for me today.” Almost as an afterthought she added, “Oh, and I’m sorry I snapped at you. It was stupid...but I thought you were trying to play some sort of mean joke on me.” Shaking my head as I stood and assumed my position, I answered back, “That really isn’t my style, Zee. While my intentions are definitely less than honorable, the only times I can see myself hurting you in any way are the two times I intend to draw blood.” “Two times?” she asked with a smirk. Giving a fencing salute, I moved to engage. “Once in the duel, and then again when I claim my prize from you.” Unable to hide the slightest blush, she strode toward me. “You’re getting spanked today, Joseph.” As the powerful salamander advanced upon me, I couldn’t help but notice that the fire of her normally weakly-smouldering tail seemed, for just a moment, to be just a bit more alive. ------------- --Elsewhere-- It was the largest tree I’d ever seen, and I seriously doubted that there could be many more like it even in this world of magic. There was little chance that this could be anything but the place for which I’d been searching. -Find mountain-sized tree: check. -Convince a living god to help a mishmashy grab-bag of genitals and randomly firing neurons to help me: in progress. Already beaten, weary, and nearly delirious from the steadily escalating mental struggle with which I’d been dealing, I came before a pair of Amazonian guards at the base of this massive tree. Seeing their momentary looks of hunger at my appearance was enough of a relief to temporarily bury the growing dread at having to climb what looked like a stairway into the endless sky at this distance. Luckily, a wave of my now-familiar spaded tail dispelled the majority of any interest the guards might have had. Despite revealing a monstrous nature, the guards seemed unconcerned by my potential threat level as one of them asked, “Why are you here?” Making a slight bow that my exhaustion nearly turned into a far more obsequious gesture, I righted myself and spoke politely. "I humbly request an audience with the Lord Elizabeth." With little more than a nodding gesture to follow, one of the guards escorted me up the thousands of stairs, stopping outside of a massive pair of double doors. As a brothel owner, I’d had plenty of opportunities to hear of the new Lord of this territory from travelers. None of the stories I’d heard had been consistent, however, and I had no idea what to expect. I wasn’t even entirely certain I’d even be able to meet her if the ordeal I’d gone through to meet Amarante was anything like standard procedure. I smiled as I remembered that hellish series of weeks. Despite the daunting weight of the labyrinthine bureaucracy trying to crush the life from us, it ended up feeling like quite the family victory to have finally overcome it. Just thinking about my family immediate drew my mind to Del. I faced the stark realization that if I’d been in this state while we tried for the blessing, I’d have died while waiting in line to meet some functionary or another, long before actually meeting the lord. If Lord Elizabeth could truly help me, it was critical that I did whatever it took to earn the boon of her assistance. Seeing the doors closed, my escort looked over to me. "The Lord is currently in a meeting. You will need to wait until it has finished." Despite a growing worry over my deteriorating condition and the hateful voice that now screamed in my head loudly enough to make normal sounds and voices almost difficult to hear, I simply nodded to the guard. ”I understand. This may be my only hope...I will wait." “Let him in~” The voice was not booming or overpowering, but carried an authority that instantly reminded me that the person I’d come to meet was far beyond any simple mamono. "As you wish, my lord!" the guard exclaimed, opening the large double doors to reveal a throne room of sorts. The room was dominated by a large round table with the empty throne sitting further back. The large table was almost completely covered in various maps and correspondence, nearly all with indecipherable symbols, likely to represent troops or war assets. Several individuals stood around the table, looking like they were discussing some sort of war strategy before I’d arrived. Starting on the left, I first saw a powerfully-built Amazoness covered in scars and wearing a look that loudly spoke of a love of fighting. With a large wicked grin, it almost looked like she’d have been more than happy to vault the table and fight me right in that moment than listen to the real reason I was here. Next to the Amazoness was an elf that looked as though she’d have been overjoyed to kill me with a glance before I even opened my mouth. I averted my eyes before her gaze ripped a hole through me. Moving my eyes to my right, I saw a woman that must have had some tree in her lineage. Despite never seeing one, I knew this had to be a dryad. Next to her was a being that appeared to be made almost entirely of stone--some kind of golem or elemental, maybe? She didn’t seem the least bit interested in me so I continued taking in the rest of the scene. The next being I saw struck an immediate chord in me. My monstrous senses also picked up on something I understood through Del’s dream tutoring but had never experienced. It was as if there was a particular shape or flavor of magic radiating from her, and at least some of it was shaped similarly to Del’s own necromancy. She was definitely a lich, and appeared to be the assistant to...the remaining person in the room. Flanked from behind by the open balcony and the trees below, reaching to the horizon, stood a being that could only be the Lord Elizabeth herself. Having met with Amarante before, I expected an earth-shaking power. Instead I saw an impossibly beautiful woman that was actually heart-rending to behold. Even Lorelei and Zelia’s impossibly unearthly beauty paled before this paragon of demonic perfection. Despite the familiar-looking succubus traits, it felt as though comparing the two would have been like comparing a zombie with a wight. With a knowing smile, the obvious leader spoke up, "Welcome, weary traveler." Throwing a dirty look in my direction, the elf asked, "My Lord, why have you allowed a man into our meeting?" About to try to more obviously display my demonic attributes, the large amazon answered, "Oh, Cathy...why must you always go on about this subject. What I see before me is an Alp, not a man." With a deepening scowl of irritation, 'Cathy' replied, "Yet he was still once a man, so it should make no difference!" Trying to act as the upbeat voice of reason, the dryad-looking woman cut into the growing argument. "Oh, I'm sure our lord would love to hear you two going at it like always. Don't you think our lord has more important things to do than listen to your bickering?" Already concerned by how this was going and just how much worse it could get, I threw myself to my knees before this council. "I only believed that I used to be male. Now, I am...something else...and it isn't an Alp." Turning to me in anger, away from the other women in the room, the elf responded coldly, "Then should I refer to you as a man or as an 'it'?" "I wish I had an answer to that question, milady. You can call me whatever you wish," I answered despondently. "Then I shall merely call you trash," the elf answered with finality. "Enough," the Lord demanded simply. "Please be seated," she then added, her words not able to hide the truth that it was less request than incontestable demand. Moving forward as quickly as my tired body could carry me, I sat in the only open spot at the table, remaining silent as I did so. "Now tell me Joe, why did you decide to come to my lovely home?" the leader of these proceedings asked me. Knowing that every moment I waited was another closer to oblivion, I didn’t hesitate. "I wish I could say that I simply wished to make a request of you, but the truth is that I have come to beg--to throw myself upon your mercy as perhaps the last and only hope I have to save my wife." "Why is it I hear something like this at Faldarfar every time I get a new recruit?" the amazoness asked, letting out a roar of laughter. "Enough Diana, this situation is vastly different." Elizabeth added, "Joe, what would you wish of me then? To rescue your wife or to relieve your current condition?" The answer that came to my lips first, by instinct, was to simply save Del. I knew, however, that if I died to save her, Del would never let that be the end of it. Despite nearly every choice I’d made since just before the moment I arrived on the island suggesting something to the contrary, I didn’t want to die. "I...cannot say which is more important. I'm dying, but that matters far less to me than saving my wife Delilah. The one that holds her demanded that I live--that I somehow stop the decay of this body to secure her release. Even now I hear the hateful voice of this body calling me to void my very soul but even accepting the absolute horror of my unmaking is something I would gladly bear to keep my loved ones safe." "So then you would save yourself to save her?" Even the poor choice that had brought me to this world had been one of death. Everything that followed seemed to suggest that death was something I would never truly escape. Sacrificing myself seemed a small price to pay, but the weight of her words made me reconsider--to remember that, more than not wanting to die, I wanted to live. "If I could be saved, I...would be eternally grateful. There is little I can even offer beyond that." "It sounds rather selfish and prideful to me, my lady," the earthen spirit commented. "It does, doesn't it?" Elizabeth thought for a moment. "To save yourself in order to save another... The idea itself sounds so self-serving, but I can see something you may be able to do for me in the future. Everyone except for Samantha is dismissed, I shall have words with this man." "Yes my lady." The group bowed and got up, walking out of the chamber quickly. "Now...Samantha, " The Lord began as the lich pulled out a vial filled with a powdery substance and handed it to the Lord without a word as Elizabeth continued, "Arise my dear sister, I need you a moment." To my senses, it felt like a reanimation spell at first...but utilizing a catalyst and avenue with which I was entirely unfamiliar. I heard a voice echoing through my head as the ashes stirred. "What..." the disembodied voice issued forth. "I need to know the location of the Sands of Ashburrow,” the Lord declared. The insubordinate voice answered back, "And you expect me to know? Ha! Even if I knew I would never tell." "Is that a fact?" Elizabeth grinned wickedly and began shaking the bottle. The voice from inside became quickly angry and upset. "STOP THAT!" The voice demanded, only to be ignored as the lord continued to shake until the voice surrendered. "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT, I'll tell you..." "Good." The greater demon stopped, setting the bottle down. "Always the problem child of the family~" "Me? No, you must be referring to Victoria..." "Whatever, just tell me where it is,” Elizabeth demanded. "Where all sands are kept...In a tomb against the mountains along the border." "Thank you~" She picked up the bottle and it instantly vanished. She turned back to me and spoke. "Seeing as how you are in no real condition to fetch it, I'll be just a moment." With that the lord vanished and then reappeared only moments later, holding a small bag. "Now I only require one last thing to grant your wish... Can you guess what that could be?" Several thoughts came to mind at her question. Feeling immensely bashful to even be harboring the impure thoughts that ran through my head unbidden, I gave the barest hint of the only answer I could imagine with my eyes still hypnotized by her beauty. "It...cannot be what I am thinking. I have been part of a few rituals but..." I simply let the thought die before I got myself into trouble. "Oh my dear, I don't think you could handle me all too well..." The lord smiled, giggling slightly. Any attempt to hold back the lascivious thoughts that accompanied her previous question were buried in a damning sea of 'what ifs'. Biting my tongue hard enough to draw blood and maintain my tenuous grasp on sanity, I shook my head violently. "N-no...I don't know what else you require." She smiled more. "Considering your track record with other succubi I would be more careful but anyway, I require the one thing that body of yours does not have: A living soul. Do you happen to have a spare soul?" I felt a mixed sense of despair at her question. Was she joking? Did I truly need another soul? Did that mean trying to hunt down the 'real' me? "Not to worry, I was just joking. Just lay down and let me begin." It seemed an odd place to do this, but I was so desperate for this to work and it wasn’t as if I would have refused a request from such a commandingly beautiful woman in the first place. I did as I was asked, my entire world going black nearly the moment my head hit the unyielding wood of the table. ----------------- Fading into view, the previously unseen spirit spoke up, "Thank you for not revealing my presence. He can be selfish, but he's ridiculously stubborn and he'd never agree to this if he knew it was me making the sacrifice for him." "It seems silly to ask but, for the sake of simple courtesy, are you sure you wish to proceed? This process is permanent and irreversible,” Elizabeth asked the spirit. "He'll be able to live like this...even if it's as a demon, right? And he won't...forget me, will he? He's probably already forgotten me anyway..." The dry look the Lord returned to the kitsune-bi was enough of an answer and the spirit didn't want to waste this chance. She thought of what she'd seen and on what might have been if circumstances had been different. Could she have ever truly had a chance with the man that had literally fallen from the sky in front of her? But then...making this choice would bring her closer to him than anyone else ever could be. "It doesn't matter what I tell you as you've already made this choice, but you don't need to worry. Even lost and senseless, he still remembered that song you still sing to yourself." The spirit remained silent, the truth of the Lord's answer comforting her more than anything else she could imagine. "Before the ritual can begin, you must speak your true name," the Lord said. “So long, goodbye,” The spirit mouthed to herself silently before answering the lord. "I was never truly given a name, but the only name that I've ever used is…” -------------------------------- Meryl was so anxious to get us to our destination that I took in little of the amazing city within which I’d finally found myself. The places through which we walked were full of sights and sounds that were so distant from what I’d ever experienced (that I could remember, anyway), that I was utterly dumbstruck. I received several unexpectedly friendly greetings, along with any number of brazenly obvious offers of gold for sex, as we passed through the seemingly endless brothel district. It was probably for the best that Meryl was in such a hurry because, while these men seemed to know me, I had no idea who any of them were. Feigning an overwhelming fatigue thankfully managed to keep me out of any potentially uncomfortable conversations. We made our way through the city to a clean, upper middle class-looking neighborhood to a fairly large house among others of beautiful construction. I had little time to admire even the sunburst design in the small courtyard before I heard my fox-tailed companion let out a gasp. “Why is the gate--oh lords, no…” Meryl began in a panic, suddenly dashing into the large home before us, paying us no heed as she sprinted. Following my fox-tailed mate into the home, we came immediately upon the heart-rending sight of the zombie Lorelei, badly beaten and now missing an arm, as she huddled on the floor, trying to cradle the clearly lifeless body of the young Shinji. Splayed out beneath them like a blackened crimson butterfly was the already dried pool of the boy’s blood. The three of us could only gape at what we saw as Lorelei’s previously emotionless face was now nearly frozen in a cruel anguish. Tears cut across the ridges and valleys of her many grievous facial scars to fall with her cries, without effect, upon the boy she had so recently chosen to be hers. How could this have happened? I didn’t want to believe that this could be my fault, but my heart had already gleaned the sickening truth. Fate had once again seen to making me the bane of this entire family...and perhaps of anyone or anything I had the gall to touch with any measure of affection. I stepped slowly toward the vulnerable undead as she looked up at me in a devastated confusion. Her mouth opening to unleash what I thought would be another of her incomprehensible moans, I gasped as I heard words instead. “Mother...said...yes. Shinji...would...be always...mine.” She then hesitated as her expression slowly shifted between stages of deepening sadness and further confusion. “Why...hurt...inside? Blades and...flames...not hurt...like this. This...is like...hurt I...caused…? Even if I’d never met this girl before, I couldn’t have ignored my heart’s instinctive need to act in that moment. I banished my discomfort at seeing the dead body and stepped forward to kneel down beside Lorelei, pulling the boy from her grip to lay him gently on the floor. “Lorelei,” I began as delicately as I could manage as I pulled her into my arms, her gaze still frozen upon the slain boy. “I’m sorry...” Tears continued to pour from her, soaking unnoticed into the coarse cloth of my rough tunic as she spoke again. “Meet...other men...but never...other Shinji. I...understand now. I am...a...monster.” “No,” I attempted, in my guilt, to correct her, “this is my fault.” Her look slowly and unskillfully shifted to one of slightly subdued anger as she turned her head to look at me. “Mother not...guilty for my...crime. Stupid father...did not hurt...my Shinji.” I didn’t know what crime Lorelei could have committed with an amiable personality like hers. From the moment I’d first seen her, she had been little more than a sweet, considerate girl, albeit with some serious communication issues. This was likely another one of those things I didn’t remember, despite wishing in that moment that I could...if only to help the devastated zombie I held, ragged, in my arms. Meryl had dashed off in what sounded like an attempt to turn the place inside-out to find some sign of her sister. Heading up the stairs first, I heard the sounds of doors being thrown and slammed again as the distraught fox-girl looked for something to ease her reeling mind. After having remained silent throughout our conversation, Zee took the initiative and kneeled beside us as well, drawing Lorelei’s gaze as the salamander spoke calmly, “I know it hurts, believe me. But all things die eventually, even among the ageless, and the pain doesn’t ever completely go away. You should be happy that it hurts inside, though, girl. That means part of him was there in your heart--and he always will be.” Lorelei nodded slowly and tightened her one-armed grip upon me. “Father...found good...new wife. Should...tell...other mother...first...downstairs.” “What? Risa’s still here?!” Meryl nearly shouted from a nearby room as she dashed back into the foyer. Nodding again, Lorelei pushed me away from her slightly. “I...need...say goodbye...to...my Shinji. You...go...to Karisa...father.” She then gently touched my chest and added, “You should...remember...people...inside you.” Taking my hand, Meryl nearly dragged me to my feet and through a pair of hallways to a set of wide stairs leading down as Zee matched pace, her sword already in hand. The moment my feet touched the bottom step, however, my entire world became one of soul-shredding pain. The feeling of air in my lungs felt, quite literally, like molten lead pouring into me. I wavered on my feet, the entire world feeling like it had also been turned upside-down. “Something’s...wrong,” I managed with some difficulty, the sound of my own words making me feel like I’d been thrown into a lake of fire as the mental impulses that controlled every sensation had all transformed into dolorous agony. I then heard two loud impacts of some kind, the sound of both again triggering more pain than the sensation of simply hearing them. As I was about to try and struggle my way back up the stairs, the pain stopped and everything went silent. Before me stood a beautiful young girl with a fluffy striped tail like a raccoon. Huddled together on the ground behind her were two tiny girls with similar features. Holding a large hatchet in both hands, the tanuki-girl’s expression was one of murderous intent, her viridian eyes daring anyone to touch what could only be her children. As I tried to take in the sudden appearance of the scene, I heard an impact of steel on steel and turned to see that Zee had parried...something. Nothing was visible, confirming that even this seemingly normal scene was yet another illusion. “Let go of me!” I heard a voice suddenly scream from nowhere as Meryl reached into nothingness again and pulled forth the girl I’d just seen standing across the room into her arms. “I’ve got you, Ris. It’s me, calm down,” Meryl cooed to the younger-looking girl. “Meryl?” Looking upon closer inspection like she’d gone at least a week without sleep, Meryl’s sister Karisa dropped the large hatchet and melted into Meryl’s arms. “Oh Meryl...they tried to take us. By the time I heard the fighting, Lorelei and that boy Shinji were already--I-I have to tell Del and-” “It’s okay. We’ll get this figured out, okay? Everything is going to be okay,” Meryl soothingly offered, sounding genuinely concerned. “Are you on something? Quit saying ‘okay’! Just tell me what the hell is going on!” Karisa suddenly shouted, pushing the taller fox girl away as our eyes finally met. “Joe!” she suddenly exclaimed with a smile as she tackled me to the floor in a hug. “Uh...hey there...um...Karisa,” I lamely muttered, glad I remembered her name but too embarrassed to even meet her gaze for longer than the few moments it took to verify that her eyes were the exact same color as Meryl’s. After I failed to return the frantic kisses with which she’d begun to assault me, her eyes went wide in shock as she suddenly pinned my arms to the ground and craned her neck around to look at Meryl. “What the--Meryl! What the fuck is this?!” She then turned an appraising eye upon me. “No, you don’t come back from a transformation. You must be the one with Joe’s essence, you thieving bastard!” Taking offense to the tone and the content of her angry proclamation, I shook my head and spoke up. “No, actually the other one is the clone. I’m the original but I...don’t have my memories--the ones that would matter to you, anyway.” A number of thoughts were warring in her eyes. She could see that I was definitely human, and I figured she had to know that it couldn’t be a coincidence that I just happened to look like her husband. Blinking away now-stifled tears of happiness, she looked, crestfallen, back at me. “Then where is he?! Where’s Del? Who were those soldiers? What’s-” With the strength in her pin now gone, I gently pushed Karisa off of me and moved to a sitting position next to her, softly grasping her arm as I began to answer her many questions. “Delilah’s been captured by some witch named Mira--don’t ask me exactly how or why. I’d also guess whoever came after you was from the same group that came after us...something about a corpse throne, maybe. And...as far as I know, that same witch sent your husband off to find some sort of cure for his condition after I woke him up with...uh...well…” Meryl then cut in with her increasingly familiar scowl, “What this Joe is trying to say is that we just got him changed back to male, he’s a filthy homewrecker, and he’s completely clueless about what’s actually going on.” I shot back angrily without hesitation, “At least I have a fucking reason to not know anything about magic! Has it slipped your mind that I’m the one with the fucking bulls-eye on my ass for shit I’m not even entirely convinced I could have done in the first place?! Maybe tone down the attitude, because Karisa here looks like she’d be plenty happy if I spontaneously remembered who she-” It wasn’t entirely evident exactly when I’d crossed the line, but I was fairly certain it was in the first or second of my angry sentences. What had become abundantly clear was that I’d just been slapped, and not by the hand I’d expected. Looking shocked herself that she’d just hit me, Karisa’s hand quickly recoiled as her eyes burned through me. “Don’t you even dare.” Meryl looked at me gape-mouthed as her expression had begun to fall at my words. Seeing her sister smack me, however, had her widely smiling--at least until the tanuki-girl had quickly stood and slammed a fist into the larger fluffy-tailed girl’s midsection. With no less wrath in her voice, Karisa continued as she glared at the doubled-over Meryl. “And you thought this would be okay, Meryl?! Even if I believed this bullshit about him being the ‘original’, how long were you going to hide this from me? Del said someone stole his essence, and you knew that! And who’s this mountain of a woman supposed to be?” The wind knocked out of her, Meryl tried to catch her breath as she could only gesture in my direction. Seemingly fine with this exchange, Azalea stepped forward and gave a slight bow to Karisa. “I’m Azalea--Zee if fine. I’m Joe’s bodyguard. Uh...I’m pretty sure what they’re telling you is true. I actually talked to Delilah while she was tracking him down and once she actually saw him, she seemed pretty convinced that he was more than just some lost essence. It was my girls that initially captured your husband though...and I’m sorry about that.” Shaking her head in disbelief, Karisa looked like she wanted to tear her hair out as she growled back. “How did you even get involved in this? Did you tell them to take my husband? He was sick! Do you even have any idea what I’ve gone through to try to find him?!” Despite being about as far from a diplomat as I could imagine, Zee managed to calm things down a bit as she explained what her girls had been trying to do, how it had everything to do with me, and what had transpired in Kioko. Having caught her breath while Zee had related the events to Karisa, Meryl finally spoke up again. “Ris, look...I knew he couldn’t be your Joe because he was still asleep here when I ran into this one. That letter I sent you was to make sure because I wasn’t going to try and take your husband from you. Even if it really was him...he didn’t...it’s just…” Seeing Meryl struggling to continue, I rubbed my sore cheek and piped up in an attempt to be helpful. “I had my memories taken, Karisa. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I think it was precisely because there was another me out there. Meryl cares about me because the ‘me’ you know was the only man she’d ever been with. I knew that-” “Joe! You...bastard!” Meryl suddenly screamed, her face turning bright red as she glared at me more angrily than I’d ever seen. Well, shit. Karisa’s anger that had been slowly subsiding as we’d continued to speak roared back as a murderously calm response. “We’re about to have a very serious disagreement if this doesn’t start making sense now, Meryl.” With the stifling tension in the room growing thick enough to taste, Zee’s sudden defensive movement was a blessed interruption. Turning quickly with her sword to face the figure that had descended the stairs, we all saw Lorelei carrying two letters bearing similar markings. “Two...messengers...came,” the one-armed zombie said with some difficulty. “At the same time?” Karisa asked with an obvious confusion at the identical seals on each of them. “Who sent them?” “Messengers...not friends. Both...from...South...Teremir...Mercantile.” Karisa’s expression fell again as it looked like she would cry. “Please tell me neither of you are dealing with Teremir,” she pleaded, her eyes growing more despondent when both Meryl and I looked away, both of us having dealt with that organization in some capacity. Not even sure what that organization could have had to do with any of this, I was about to speak up when I nearly jumped from the floor as two small bodies crawled into my lap, the pair of them smiling up at me before adorably curling up together against me. Affectionately stroking their eminently pleased heads, I felt myself utter, “Aurielle...Arianwyn… my little angels. I missed you both so much.” As the fluffy-tailed sisters, Meryl and Karisa, covered their mouths in unison, tears breaking free from both of them for reasons identical and yet wildly different, I shook my head as I looked around in confusion. “Huh? What...did I...just say?” I asked the shocked women in the room. The only answer I received, however, was a piercing headache hitting me like an avalanche, tearing across my perceptions until the blessed reprieve of unconsciousness took me. |
| its like a soap opera but with more fluffy tail |
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| This story is amazing, complex, perfectly written, you are skilled writer indeed. There were a few things which confuse me, but I blame it on the fact this is continuation for some other story I skipped. It really captured me. I figured out that stories are supposed to be related to each other. Could you suggest which one I should read next? |
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Malise said: This story is amazing, complex, perfectly written, you are skilled writer indeed. There were a few things which confuse me, but I blame it on the fact this is continuation for some other story I skipped. It really captured me. I figured out that stories are supposed to be related to each other. Could you suggest which one I should read next? First of all, thank you for the blush-inducing comment. This one COULD sort of stand on its own to a point but there are at least a few scenes that are made much more meaningful with the backstory. Plus...the whole situation with the clone was confusing enough even when I explained it the first time =P As far as other stories...I'd be shooting myself in the foot if I didn't suggest my original one =) http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1189781 It's...quite long. It also starts out a lot weaker than it finishes, given that I was basically learning how to write from the ground up throughout it. That story followed the MC, Risa, and Delilah through all sorts of stuff. It's very heavy on H-scenes in places (as a warning) but that's one thing I tend to feel pretty confident about writing (usually). For the others, it'll definitely depend on what sort of mood you're in. But...here's a list of some favorites--not all the ones I like, but a good place to start. There are plenty more I could suggest...but just linking to the Vault and saying "go wild!" probably wasn't what you were looking for =) Since all the stories tagged with [MSGC] are happening in the shared collaborative universe, there is some crossover--more obvious in some places than in others. |
| I'm considering taking notes while reading this. Guess that's a good sign :D |
Chapter 25 - Domestic Abuse --Some time ago-- “How many agents do we have inside? What is the outlay?” a powerfully echoing female voice asked. “No agents of any consequence. The city may not be moving anywhere near the amount of coin that Alnor or Teremir do, but the place is rich beyond anything I’ve ever seen. I must have seen at least four hundred different men in the three days that I spent there...it was beyond belief.” “They’ve outright rejected any attempt to negotiate for trade rights. Blacklist? Regicide? How do we take our piece of these riches?” the initial voice asked, growing more curious despite her escalating annoyance. “Quite honestly, we don’t. The leader is incorruptible and far beyond anything we’d be equipped to handle conventionally. The few contacts we have that could depose her are untrustworthy...and that is being extremely generous. We simply don’t have anything they want and the chances of that changing grow less likely by the day.” For the first time since their conversation began, the senior among the two of them let slip some outward sign of her emotion, her lips curling into a slight frown. “Did we not finance a great deal of the construction? If memory serves as it should, we were not generous with the rates. Someone should have long ago fallen into our pocket.” “There was such an individual, but her debt was repaid in less than ten years. We have no leverage with them, no agents, and no opening in the foreseeable future to change that.” Her eyes closing in thought a moment, the leader sat in utterly breathless silence for several minutes as she pondered over how to proceed. Her eyes finally opened in an assured determination as she asked a final question of her subordinate. “If they were to continue as they have, who would benefit?” “I…” the subordinate hesitated, reluctant to giver her answer. “Everyone. With how many humans they’ve been able to cultivate, willingly I might add, it would only be a matter of time before every mamono on the island could potentially have her own mate. If their techniques were to spread...its possible--likely even--that none of us would ever truly want for anything again.” Nodding, the leader responded without evident emotion. “It is unfortunate, then, that such a world is not to be. The Regard will have its due. If we cannot have it, we will destroy whatever withholds it. Summon the rest of the council and prepare to send out the missives. Something has been missed, and my eyes will find it.” ---------------- “Son of a bitch,” I found myself wanting to say as I started to come awake after yet another unplanned slumber. Choosing to remain silent may have been the correct call as I made out the voices coming into focus around me. Far too curious to let this opportunity pass, I simply left my eyes closed and listened. “The man gets around, sure,” I heard Zee’s voice remark almost amused before adding, “Didn’t both of you know that when you got involved with him?” “I didn’t!” I heard Karisa exclaim defensively. “Honestly though...a lot of the time from when that fox spirit was possessing me is still a bit fuzzy.” “We’re getting off topic again. Look, what did you and Del do to him right after you found him in that graveyard?” Meryl asked impatiently, the obvious concern in her voice making me want to smile at how indelicately she chose to express her emotions. I heard what sounded like a stamping foot before Karisa answered back, “I didn’t do anything! I made the deal with Del to share him and then she put him straight into some sort of trance. Then she sent me off to gather as much of that damn unicorn horn as I could.” Meryl countered doubtfully, “You didn’t know what it was for? And you didn’t even ask?” “Don’t start with me today, Meryl. You have no idea how scary Del was back then. By the time I got back a few days later, she’d already put his body back together somehow. There weren’t even any scars. I’d already spent everything I had and then some, and he looked a lot better so…” Karisa trailed off as though even the situation she was describing was somehow a happy memory. Holding to task, Meryl continued, “So he smelled like death after you came back the first time?” With a frustrated sigh, Karisa answered back in a way that suggested this wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation. “You aren’t listening. Look, I know it isn’t helping that I can only half-remember it, but I know he smelled exactly the same as when he first fell into my cart.” “What about now?” Zee asked, aiming for clarity. “Do you smell death on him now?” Sighing again with the accompanying sound of her ruffling her own hair in frustration, Karisa answered. “Would you both listen?! The only thing that smells any different at all is whatever he picked up from his demonic...self, I guess, and that Ryu’s blood. Everything that isn’t human on him smells exactly the same as it always has! I know because it reminds me of that damn scent I picked up after…” This must have been a new development as Meryl pressed back in right as Karisa had begun to trail off. “After what?” “Ajora’s wedding...when I killed you, Kaeli, and Yuki,” Karisa added with some hesitation. “Uh...Ris?” Meryl intoned in confusion, clearly not dead. Just by her breathing, I could tell that Karisa was still upset as she spoke again. “I’m not an idiot, Meryl. I know it was an illusion, but I just realized...I have no idea what actually happened at that wedding.” With a slightly nervous chuckle, Meryl replied, “I’m...uh...more than a little rough on that one myself.” “But I’ve never been able to trick you with any of my glamours,” Karisa started back in an assured disbelief. With the sound and slight shaking of the bed caused by what I assumed was a pleasing foxy tush landing nearby, Meryl answered back with no small amount of regret in her voice. “Ajora’s glamours are the only ones that have ever fooled me. Anyway, I’ll tell you what I know, but you aren’t going to be happy about it and it isn’t going to help bring the pieces of this any closer together.” Meryl took a large breath as I felt the slight breeze from her fluffy tail nervously passing by me. “Kaeli and I were already drunk before the whole thing started. We’d managed to swipe a few of those thousand-gold bottles Ajora was saving to try and impress the really important guests. Tasted like holstaur piss, by the way. Anyway, we were so shit-faced that we completely forgot what time we were supposed to show up to get dressed and...we figured it was a better idea to show up early than late, right? We snuck in the back and saw Ajora, calm as you please, railing Gabriel hard enough to have his teeth clicking on every thrust while she was having a normal chat with some pale bitch. Vampire, maybe...some kind of undead. She was wearing one of those stupid Violaceous Regard pendants that some of the Teremir moneychangers wear.” With some hesitance now evident in her voice, Karisa asked, “So what were they talking about?” I felt Meryl’s tail starting to almost slap at my legs in trepidation or embarrassment--I couldn’t be sure. “Maybe Kaels would know, but I wasn’t...uh...paying attention.” The bed shook slightly from what had have been a kick as Karisa angrily replied, “Oh, that’s just fantastic. So you were too busy jilling off to hear anything useful. Perfect.” “Piss off!” Meryl shot back. “If I had heard anything, I’d have probably gotten exiled like Kaeli. All I can really say is that I never saw Ajora as pissed as she was that day, and it wasn’t at me or Kaeli. Even after she put her smiling face on afterwards, I could tell she wasn’t over whatever they talked about. After that, the alcohol really started kicking in, but it was just a normal wedding...I heard. I was passed out in a closet for most of it. I came around for the reception and I seem to remember that being sort of fun. Ixi kept ‘accidentally’ running into Gabriel and he was holding his ass every time he had to stand up,” Meryl finished with a small giggle. Karisa’s temper apparently only growing hotter, she angrily chided Meryl. “And now this. I swear, Meryl…you’re the one who told me never to deal with anyone out of Teremir!” The bed shook a bit as Meryl jumped back to her feet. “Oh, because random Kaori priestesses are so much better? Look, can we both just admit that sense goes out the window when he is involved?” “So you’re admitting it is him,” Karisa quietly threw back, her tone obviously antagonizing. “Don’t start this again--you know what I meant. He doesn’t even know you.” “That’s utter bullshit and you know it! He knew his daughters, Meryl!” Karisa loudly criticized. Meryl’s voice grew cold while it was blatantly obvious that there was a growing fire driving her temper. “Risa, we’re not having this fight again. His memory isn’t just lost--it’s sealed. On top of that, he had sex with your husband. Hell, he never bathes...you can probably still smell the futa cum on him.” Her tone making it sound like she was attempting to take the sympathetic road here, Karisa exclaimed, “Damn it, Meryl. Why didn’t you just tell me he was your first? We could have figured something out.” My foxy companion wasn’t having any of that and coldly argued back. “Don’t try to change the subject. This is different and I want you to admit it. Your husband is a demon and this is my mate.” “If you’re going to be a bitch about it then I won’t rescind the bounty and I’ll get to keep him for a few years while the courts sort this all out,” Karisa challenged with no small amount of anger in her own voice. “Just try it, girlie. I’ll beat your ass right here!” Meryl shouted back. “I don’t have to put up with this. This is my house! I’m calling the watch,” I heard Karisa loudly proclaim as I heard her steps taking her away from me. Meryl stomped on the floor loudly and quietly growled. “Leave it to the crybaby to go cockatrice and run off to tattle. Why not tell mother while you’re at it? It’s a good thing Delilah was around all this time or he’d probably be long dead. At least she can actually do shit herself!” “Why are you always like this?!” Karisa screamed back, her voice cracking and uneven. “Oh, here we go with the waterworks. I don’t even know why I try with you,” Meryl taunted derisively. Having heard the vast majority of this conversation and it’s quick escalation, I had to almost shake my head as I forced myself to remember that these two were sisters. Despite what might be happening at first glance, there was a lot more going on below the surface between these two. Thinking of the many fights I’d had with my own sister, it was clear enough to me that they cared a great deal about each other--enough to fight in the first place. But...leave it to loved ones to know exactly how to hurt us the most. Startling me from my task at pretending to still be asleep, I heard Lorelei’s voice ask, far closer to me than I expected, “Why...father...quiet?” Her voice smiling as she spoke with certainty, Zee answered, “Because he’s awake, girl.” Damn it, Zee. Floundering motionless amidst the deafening silence for several moments as the sensation of several palpable stares burned into me like the morning sun through dissipating fog, I finally opened my eyes to see Karisa and Meryl looking extremely embarrassed at the foot of the bed as Azalea looked on from a chair across the room, her kiseru firmly in hand as smoke trailed from it, lazily reaching upward. On the bed near me, I saw Lorelei playing with the strangely quiet twin girls, using her severed arm like a toy to tease the pair of them. “We need to talk,” Meryl and Karisa suddenly exclaimed together. For the first time since the exchange began, I had a real chance to consider some of my own thoughts on this whole situation. I know I didn’t like the two sisters fighting, and certainly not over me...or any reasonable facsimile. In their anger, the girls had also managed to completely ignore that there was a very real potential threat out there--and I seriously doubted that the vengeance of the “corpse throne” couldn’t have cared less about which of these girls had a rightful claim on my wedding tackle. A quick look at Zee verified my additional assumption that the salamander had probably been getting very little sleep in trying to remain vigilant to protect all of us--me. That may have bothered me the most. Sitting up on the large, comfortable bed, I finally spoke. “You guys seem to be doing just fine without me. This is just an idea, but has anyone here thought to give a shit about what I might want?” Almost immediately after I’d finished my question, Lorelei opened her mouth to answer before Zee deftly intervened. “Come on, bring your arm and let’s take your sisters to give these three some privacy.” Azalea never ceased to surprise me with how damn perceptive she was. I supposed it had to make sense when considering the way she fought, but who knew that she could also be so aware of the dangers of a conversational battlefield? Despite trying to appear coolly detached from the high emotional benchmark within the room, I couldn’t help but snort in a moment of laughter as I imagined Lorelei volunteering to ‘give a shit about what I might want’. Once the thought had taken root, it was pointless to try and remain angry. Sighing, I crossed my legs into a half-lotus and looked up at the worried faces of the two Panna sisters. “First of all...stop fighting. You both know there’s a lot more going on than this love...uh...hexahedron. “But you have to admit-” Meryl started, making me wonder when I somehow became the parent in the argument. I cut in before my foxy companion could even present what was probably a ridiculously childish argument. “Don’t even think about it, either of you. Meryl, you know how I feel so please just back off on this for now. And Karisa, we need to-” “Risa is fine, please. It’s bad enough I have to listen to you talking to me like a stranger,” the stripey-tailed of the two sisters requested. Nodding my head, I stood up on more or less rested legs and gestured to the door. “Meryl, I need you to do me a huge favor while I head to the market with your sister.” “With my--Hold on, Joe! You aren’t seriously-” Stomping my foot (and instantly regretting said action upon the solid marble floor) to cut her off, I took three large strides towards Meryl’s quickly crumbling facade and placed a lingering kiss upon her lips. “You trust me?” I asked plainly, looking into her eyes as she rocked back on her feet a bit. “I...uh--yes,” she answered, quite a bit more timidly than she’d been throughout the conversation until this point. “Then that’s all that matters,” I offered with a smile. “So about this favor--I don’t care what you have to do, but make sure Zee gets some fucking sleep. I don’t know how long I was out, but she looks like she’s been up at least that long and she hasn’t really had any real sleep since...well...since I met her. As for the rest...well...I haven’t gotten that far yet, but I definitely need to take care of some things at the market, okay?” Meryl simply nodded, her eyes doubtfully lingering on Risa for several moments. “Fine, just...be careful--both of you.” Glad I was already dressed in some admittedly comfortable robe-like clothes, I grabbed Risa’s hand and dragged her from the room before her almost triumphant look could bear any sort of damning conversational fruit. Coming down the stairs, I could hear Zee’s voice from further inside the modest home and found her with Lorelei and the two young twins on a sort of veranda looking toward the east. “Hey Zee, we’re heading into the market but we’ll be back soon. Get some sleep while we’re gone, Meryl’s going to make sure you aren’t disturbed,” I called out. “Hold on there,” Azalea called back as she stepped back into the house, relief and worry fighting for dominance in her eyes. “I’ve already let you get taken twice on my watch and I wouldn’t know the first thing about tracking you down in a city like this.” I could tell that, despite an obvious desire to sleep, the last thing Zee wanted to do was take a chance on me being thrust into danger again. My mind still running a thousand miles a minute trying to put things together, what I hoped was the right answer for this situation sprung to my lips. “This is also part of my plan to win our duel, but if you really think you need the advantage…” Unable to muster a frown amidst all the smile that had just bloomed, Zee knew she had no choice but to agree. “That mouth is going to get you into some serious trouble one of these days.” Smiling as I made for the foyer, I turned back and winked. “Oh, this mouth is going to cause the sort of trouble you haven’t ever even dreamed about.” “Be back before sundown or I’m coming out after you...and neither you, Meryl, or Karisa is going to be able to talk down the city watch after what I’ll do if I have to search for you,” Zee answered almost assuredly enough to hide her slight blush. With a quick stop to fetch my weapons from Meryl’s wagon while the increasingly dumbfounded Risa simply followed, we made our way out onto the street...where I very nearly threw up my hands in surrender at the sudden realization that I no idea which way to go to find the market. That seemed a bit strange, suggesting that whatever memories had been taken must have somehow been tied in with the market to a substantial degree. Her eyes searching me for something I wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to find, Risa spoke quietly, pointing south. “It’s that way to the general market. What...did you need to do there?” Moving off at a brisk but calmer pace, I looked back to the dazed raccoon girl as she kept a weak grip upon my hand. Seeing her in the sunlight made it patently obvious that she was related to Meryl. I seemed to remember something about some sort of monster that could spawn children of different species, but I couldn’t quite bring it from the tip of my tongue to full remembrance. Those bright emerald eyes couldn’t have been more clear in telling of their relation, however, and they certainly weren’t making things any easier. “I need to see a blacksmith...a really good one,” I began, turning my eyes back to the city street ahead of me. “But I really needed to talk to you as well. I’m sure you probably want to ask me some questions too, so...if you’ll help me find a smith that can take care of a certain job for me, I’ll truthfully answer any question you could possibly want to ask me.” “Oh, is that all?” she asked. I was ready to throw off her hand and turn back to her in frustrated anger before it registered that she wasn’t trying to be sarcastic. That just made me more worried that she’d accept my other request of her without a fight. If she was in a fragile state, I was going to end up paying for all this later, and I wasn’t too keen to volunteer for the illusionary wringer again after barely surviving Cecily’s funhouse with my sanity intact. “I might...ah...also need to borrow some gold. Meryl should be good for it though.” “Fine,” she said simply, her voice and expression speaking volumes in a language I simply couldn’t read. “We’ll head to Kenzie One-Eye’s place--two blocks from the harbor, just off the market square. I hear she’s one of the best metalworkers in the city.” The more I wandered through the well-kept streets of this side of the city, the more everything seemed so...familiar. It wasn’t like I really recognized anything, but it was as if my feet remembered the uneven lay of the cobbled stone on the stretch between Risa’s home and the market. I wondered how many times I might have made this trip in the life...before. With minimal guidance from Risa, we made it to Kenzie One-Eye’s Magnificent Metalworks. Fully expecting a giant cyclops to be manning the forge within, what greeted us instead was very nearly the opposite. With the glow of the forge beyond, I saw a positively tiny woman that looked more likely to have gotten lost in this shop on the way to a candy store than to be masterfully working the forge. Like the measured ticking of a clock and the resounding volume of church bells at a joyous wedding, the diminutive figure brought a hammer nearly as large as her own body thundering down upon an anvil with metronomic precision. Each time the massive implement struck the metal beneath, I felt a wholly unexpected shiver run through me. Tickled by the unexpected sight and the vibrations that kept reverberating through me, I unintentionally let slip a small giggle, covering my mouth a moment later to hold back anything more. Her pace not slowing or changing in the slightest, the tiny girl shouted back at me between the resounding impacts of her hammer. “That better have been a cough or whatever you want crafted is going to cost more than just gold.” “No, it’s that-” I began before another impact sent that strange shiver through me again. “Every time you...bring your hammer down it...makes me feel...weird.” “Aye, I suppose this isn’t simple iron. Hold on to your balls then and I’ll be with you in a moment,” she said without turning her gaze from her current project. Looking all around the shop, I didn’t see much in the way of display pieces. The few items that were displayed seemed to be mundane, or humbly unassuming. While I worried if this extremely petite woman would be able to handle the request I had, I couldn’t help but smile at the thought that this smith was more proud of peacetime implements such as plow blades and gardening shears than of the sort that cut down life. Snapping me forcefully from my contemplation, I barely even noticed that the steady impacts had ceased and the tiny woman stood before Risa and I. “Well if it isn’t the king of all whores ‘imself, down amongst the unwashed. What ever can Kenzie do fer you today...majesty?” Hearing those words in her lilting, but not too thick, Irish-sounding brogue, I couldn’t tell if I was being insulted or praised, and her slightly gruff demeanor wasn’t making the decoding process any easier. I figured it was best just to keep to business if possible. “I need you to look at this sword...and tell me if you can make me an exact duplicate. Well...almost exact.” Electing to hand her the sheathed weapon rather than risk placing it potentially out of her reach on the dangerously high countertop, I watched as she closed an eye and looked the blade over, giving a low whistle as she did so. “Fine a blade as I’ve seen in an age. Why’s a blatherskite like you want to make such a dangerously pretty girl jealous?” I frowned a bit as she fawned over the fine weapon Zee had given me, looking like she wanted to sing it a lullaby. “Can you do it? It’s got to look exactly like this one, but-” The dwarf looked back at me angrily and slid Tizona back into the sheath. “Aye, I can do it, but I don’ like making weapons. You don’t look completely daft, so tell me why...and if I like the reason we can talk about price.” “Well…” I began as I started to explain exactly what I wanted and why, my betraying smile only seeming to make Kenzie more interested. ------------------------------ Nearly two hours later, Risa and I walked out of the smithy, one of us considerably lighter for want of the many coins left behind. So far, Risa had said little and looked as though her thoughts were far beyond the city walls. To look at her, it was hard to believe that a girl so beautifully toned and slender could have already had two children. I saw the barest hint of a smile when she caught me admiring her before I quickly looked away, my brain being less than kind with the sorts of teasing fantasies it conjured. Shaking off most of the more impure thoughts, I gently grabbed Risa’s hand again and made to start leading her home, “Thanks for spotting me that gold, by the way. Now, about what I was-” Pulling her hand away from me and covering her face, Risa suddenly cut me off as she began to cry softly. “What do you even want with me? You really don’t know me, do you?” I sighed at what was probably my own idiocy and slowly turned back to the grieving woman, wondering how many times the other me had made this woman cry. “Ka--I mean...uh...Risa? I’m...really sorry about all this, but we do need to talk.” Ouch...who’d have ever thought I’d ever utter that kiss of death to any good mood? Most of her face still covered, she shook her head and looked up at me with those hauntingly familiar eyes. “Answer my question, Joe. Do you...know who I am?” I leaned against the entrance to a nearby alleyway and swallowed hard before answering, not wanting to cause any more damage but determined to be honest with her. “Not in the way you imagine I should. But...that’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about.” Looking up into the sky she shook her head fiercely. “Am I really so easy to just forget? What about your children, Joe?” She then leveled a hopeful gaze upon me and continued. “I saw it in your eyes! You looked just like you did the first time you saw them! You can’t tell me-” I held up a hand to stop her, but didn’t attempt to look away from those beautiful green eyes. “You’re probably right, Risa. Look...I’m not very good with words at times like this, but what I’ve decided after meeting you, Delilah, and...well...’me’, is that it’s more likely that I had to forget you. I’d never walk away from someone I loved unless it was to protect them...or what I think must have happened here. The witch that did this to me told me that I chose to give up my memories...and after seeing that there was another me out there already living that life…” Her eyes still wet with tears, but now shining with a glint of understanding, she began to nod slowly, “This...would be a lot easier if I didn’t believe you, or if I hadn’t been listening to you for so long that this all makes perfect sense to me.” She then smiled as she dried her eyes. “You’re so unintentionally sweet sometimes that I have to wonder if you do it on purpose.” Seeing how quickly she turned her mood around was a bit of a shock that threw me right off my guard. “That was sweet? I...sort of thought you’d hit me again.” Her smile turned to a smirk as she punched me in the arm. “Happy?” Taking a deep breath, she then took a step back away from me. “And I guess…no--nevermind.” With her look turning almost devious as she trailed off, I tried to probe a bit into what she was actually thinking. “Wait. You guess...what, exactly?” She sighed wistfully as she leaned against the building across the small alley from me, looking back at me as she crossed her arms. “First...I’m sorry if you got the wrong idea about me from my fighting with Meryl. But, what I was going to say is that...even though we sort of shared you before, I know Meryl would never let you wander too far from her side now. I get it...and it’s hard to blame her, knowing the sort of choices you’d probably make without her telling you what to do...” Ouch! Was that payback for me having said “we have to talk” moments before? There were really only two possibilities here to explain why Risa seemed to be suddenly insulting me. Either she didn’t really know me at all...or she knew me far far too well. Those would be thoughts to keep me company later, as the greater measure of reason made to sneak its way out a nearby window. “Hey! I’ve made plenty of good decisions without her. I just...happen to like her. Is there some sort of problem with that?” I challenged, realizing that something seemed to have changed in Risa’s demeanor, but was completely clueless as to what. She waved her hands in front of herself defensively. “Whoa, I didn’t mean to offend you. You’re probably right...Meryl is certainly known to exaggerate. I mean...you don’t look like a ‘simpering cunt puppet’ to me, but you do seem a bit more...passive than I remember…” That struck a nerve in a large way. Ignoring that even if Meryl really had said such a thing, I doubt she would have told her sister about it...probably. I was the one that had to do almost all the work while the bitch-tastic mopey version of me waxed emotional about poor choices while his own life force was fading. If It hadn’t been for me, there’d have been a lot more tears at the Panna family reunion. It...can be excruciatingly painful to be smart enough to know the correct choice to make in a given situation but incomprehensibly stupid enough to see that choice and take the left hand path instead. It wouldn’t take hindsight to see how wrong it all was about to go. “Are you shitting me?! If I hadn’t been there, he’d probably already be dead! Even after I explained what was going on, he just wanted to go back to sleep. You think that I am more passive than...than that?” This time she took a step forward with a challenging scowl on her face. “Cut the shit, Joseph. You’re staring at a woman that wants you more than anyone else alive, my sister included, and rather than do what I know you want to do, you’re going to mewl like a chained cat and then dash back under Meryl’s skirt to hide, aren’t you?” “That doesn’t even-” I tried to argue, growing even angrier as she continued to simply shake her head. “You’re willing to fight Azalea to prove to her that you aren’t a complete tool, right? Fine, big boy--fight me right here and prove the same thing. No tricks, no illusions, and I’m nowhere near as good as Zee on her worst day. If you’re even half the man you’re pretending to be, you should have no problem beating me--just like always,” she taunted, her eyes almost glowing in suppressed...fury? Risa was nowhere near as big as Azalea and was built even more slender than her sister. My first thought was to argue that Meryl would kick my ass if I ended up beating her sister down on the streets of Alnor. Risa, perhaps by design, had already smothered that argument with her claim that I was incapable of making a decision without Meryl. The only right answer was to walk away. To move forward was to mire myself even further in the deepening quicksand about my feet. What I should have done was make an excuse, pretend to get upset, storm off, and then talk to Meryl about all of it. I’m sure what I did instead was at least more amusing to watch. “Fine! If you want a fight, you’re damn well going to get one,” I called out, striding deeper into the alleyway and around a corner to a junction that left enough room to move while also being invisible from the main street. “But you’re telling Meryl you walked into a door when we-” I didn’t get to finish my sentence as something large and heavy hit me in the back of the head before thumping to the ground at my feet with the sound of jingling coins. Being hit in the head with her pouch started to give me a headache...and not from the impact. I shook it off, however, as I focused back in on the suddenly daunting task before me. Turning quickly, I barely had time to react to the onrushing blur of pissed danuki hand, clenched in a fist, heading straight for my face. My reflexes not nearly as rusty as when I’d first begun training with Zee, I still only managed to just barely avoid the full impact of her punch, managing to take a painful glancing blow to the side of my head. At least I was no longer at all concerned about hitting a girl, least of all one that was probably as strong as I was and quite a bit more nimble. Stepping wide to regain my balance, she drew her unclenched hand back towards her, raking across my shoulder with her long fingernails as she did so, digging painfully into my left shoulder proper as her other hand moved to grab my right. By the grace of...well...whoever might have been watching, Risa was not at all a skilled fighter and I’d handled this grab about a thousand times before. Before her other hand could reach me, I had grabbed and twisted free the hand already on me while sidestepping and pushing up hard at her elbow, nearly throwing her into the nearby wall. Worried that she might have been hurt as she hit the building face-first, I extended an arm to indicate that we’d done enough. That would go down on the list of as just one of the many mistakes I made that day. The impact of Risa’s face with the wall didn’t even slow her down a single step as she turned to grab my outstretched arm and yanked me off balanced to then powerfully throw me to the ground. There may not have been any finesse or technique, but she was too fast and strong to even attempt to resist, leaving me to do nothing more than try to make sure I didn’t fall too hard upon the stone below. The cobblestones of the the alleyway were far from forgiving as they welcomed me down amongst them, but being thrown to the ground during my daily ass beatings with Zee almost made this feel like home. It was certainly the position from which I had the most recent experience fighting. With an almost feral growl, Risa dove onto me in what seemed like an attempt to pin me. At the cost of several more drops of blood at the points of her talon-like fingernails, I was able to catch her on my arms and a knee that she took right in the stomach. Even though the impact looked like it might have dazed her, I wasn’t taking chances again. Using the rest of her momentum, I rolled off to the side with her and brought her down onto the cobbles of the alley, quickly rolling on top of her. Still quicker than I, she pulled me down and continued the motion in an attempt to reassert herself, but not before I managed to bring my elbow across her face in the process, stunning her enough to keep her from rolling back on top of me and leaving me on the ground next to her. Already moving to leap to my feet to try and endure her next onslaught, she caught my robes in her hand, leaving me looking directly into her eyes, the already swelling spots on her forehead and cheek only adding to the fierce look in her eyes. Perspective is everything. It was hard to say that what I did next was a mistake, though I was certain to be paying for it as though it was. With the fire in her eyes not dimmed in the slightest, I peeled her grasping hand from my clothing and moved to pin her hands to the ground, somehow managing the feat before she was able to fully react. Pressed against her inhumanly warm body with her hands held above her head, her breath coming hot upon my face as she wore a mask of fury, I threw myself violently against her...and kissed her. My lips were upon hers for at least a full second before she slapped me hard enough to push my face away. It wasn’t the closed fist I was expecting so maybe… I quickly recovered and attacked again in similar fashion. The alarm that this had all been too easy suddenly loud enough to hear but now too far away to reach, she didn’t hesitate for even a moment at my second attempt, throwing off my grip on her arms, she threw her arms around me and frantically returned my kiss, growling slightly as she then easily rolled me onto my back. “You lose,” she said with a feral glint in her eye. “That’s what you think,” I countered, reaching for the only pressure point I could imagine might give me an advantage against a sexually enraged predator. Oh, you know what time it is. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized what actually seemed different about her before and the entire time we were fighting--it looked as if her tail had vanished. Couple with the look of exhausted satisfaction on her face, I knew in that moment that she was hiding any number of things. Expending a monumental effort to do so, I pushed myself up slightly and looked down at her, most certainly appearing quite angry. “Where is your tail?” She shook her head and refused to meet my gaze as she turned her head away. “It’s...you wouldn’t understand” “So this was all just-” I began angrily before she cut me off by dropping her illusive facade completely, her form returning to the one I had seen at the house. Her face looked no less wounded from our struggle, but her eyes were dark and glistening with tears. “I needed to know...I’m sorry, Joe.” She then pushed me off of her as gently as she could and then silently set about attempting to get the two of us looking at least presentable enough to make it through the streets of the city. I was angry in a way I couldn’t really explain for so many varying reasons. While it wasn’t upsetting that she’d so easily been able to get me into this position, the fact that she felt she needed to deceive me hurt. On top of that, I was feeling guilty beyond what I thought possible for the wounds on her face--one of which looked like it could easily turn into a black eye. “Look, Risa...I just don’t even-” I began before she placed a finger to my lips. “I’ll...take the blame for this. You don’t have to tell Meryl. It was my fault anyway,” she offered as she tried in vain to hold her clothes together in a way that did anything but make it more obvious how badly they’d been torn. “That’s not what I’m worried about--I’m going to tell Meryl, but this...makes me wonder if you really do know me. If you’d just been honest in the first place…” She snapped back at me almost immediately, “No! Don’t you dare say that to me. You aren’t allowed to say that! Choosing to forget everything we’ve been through is the same as lying, Joe!” I didn’t see it that way at all, but then...I wasn’t in a position to be staring down someone that was supposed to love me but had forgotten all about it. “If you know me, then you have to know that making a choice to forget was…” I hesitated, not having any emotional reference point from which to continue with Risa. “This hasn’t been easy for me. I tried to avoid anything that might remind me of my old life because I couldn’t even be sure that it was really me. What if the things I’d been through in that other life had changed me and I wasn’t that person anymore? I wanted to just move on, but my old life keeps grasping at me from the darkness, even though I know there’s another me that’s supposed to be living it.” Getting to her feet, the young Risa took a deep breath and looked down at me, now with eyes of endless sympathy. “I’m sorry, Joe...but you are you. Maybe you’re in a bit better--well...a lot better shape, your hair is way too long, and you look like you only stumble into a razor once every other week in a dark room...but all of the things that matter are exactly the same. This isn’t easy for me either, but circumstance has made my perfect husband into a terrible father...and seeing you makes me feel like the lords made this happen to give that man another chance to make things right.” “You know I can’t-” She cut me off with a frown. “I know.” Her expression then shifted into a weak smile, “Let’s just call it even on the deception. You did fuck my husband, after all...and I bet he was just tickled about that. But you’d better not hurt my sister. She’s a lot more delicate than she wants everyone else to think. So you’d better be careful, Joe. You fell in love with me once and if my husband didn’t consider it cheating to sleep with you, then neither will I.” Turning away slightly I winced at the thought of any more painful encounters like the one I’d just experienced. “So...what, you’re going to try to make me fuck up?” Rubbing her chin as a genuine smile returned, she gently grabbed my hand and began leading me back to her home. “I guess when you put it that way it sounds a bit cruel, doesn’t it? Good. You might not be my husband, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if Del and I kept you locked in the basement while we bring him around on using the rest of his...parts to full effect.” “Are you being serious?” I asked, not able to read her expression at all. In answer, she softly slapped her fluffy tail against my face as she continued to walk. “Oh, only if things don’t...work out with Meryl. She thinks I don’t know about all the times she’s stuck up for me, and just because she makes me want to tear her face off most of the time doesn’t mean I’d ever let any man get away with hurting her.” “Well, I’m not going to tell you I’m in love with her--I haven’t known her that long. What I do know about her is that she risked her life to save me on multiple occasions, she’s beautiful, passionate...and probably going to kick my ass when she finds out about this.” I hesitated a moment as I thought things over a bit before adding, “Eh, it was just sex, right?” Quickly turning away from me as she continued to lead me by the hand, Risa seemed to shiver slightly as she quietly answered back, “Yeah, that’s...all it was.” ------------------------ Making our way in the door just before sundown, I half-expected Zee to be in a sprinter’s starting pose ready to burst out into the street looking for me. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find her sleeping comfortably on the large sofa within the study. One down. I could hear Meryl upstairs, her voice’s normal brashness drowned out by the sweetness of the dulcet words of a lullaby she was now singing to the young twins. It hadn’t occurred to me until that moment that Meryl would be the type of person to ever want children...but the thought made me realize that there was a lot more I wanted to learn about the fiery vixen. While Risa left me high and dry on the staircase, scurrying off to prepare dinner (she claimed), I pondered over how to explain everything to my beautiful fox-tailed companion. Figuring that tearing off the bandage as quickly as possible would be the most painless, I quietly walked into the room to see Meryl finishing the task of putting the twins down to sleep. Tiptoeing over to me, she smiled somewhat cryptically in the darkened room and whispered, “I got the bath ready. Everything okay?” Rather in the mood to suddenly dive out the window than speak, I was determined to remain firm in my resolve. Certain she could probably smell the sex on me anyway, I leaned in and whispered back, “That’ll have to be your call...I had sex with your sister and it wasn’t against my will.” She didn’t blink as she led me from the room silently, closing the door behind her as I flinched in expectation of what I thought she was going to say. Her expression neutral, she looked me directly in the eye and asked, “And?” “That’s it. I mean...I took care of my business at the market too.” “I mean...do you feel any different, Joe?” I was getting more desperate to know what she was thinking as she continued to assault me with her blank expression. All I could do was be honest. “I didn’t know you had such a beautiful singing voice,” I began, instantly realizing that it might have sounded like I was trying to soften a coming blow. “I understand her a bit better, but...I still feel the same way I did before we left. Are you...okay with that?” “Go take a bath,” she began as she headed down the stairs, leaving me in painful suspense before she thankfully turned back to add with a wicked smile, “You were honest...so I’ll decide how I feel based on how long you can last with me tonight, my filthy little homewrecker.” Damn, but Meryl knew how to get me worked up like nobody I’d ever met, sending me from a fearful dreading suspense around to a smouldering aroused anticipation in the span of a few seconds. I slipped into the bath minutes later, hissing as the heat made every single one of the scratches I’d gotten earlier ache in a throbbing testament to the ill-conceived actions I’d taken. Feeling a sense of real relaxation for the first time in a long while, though, I found myself unable to even think about our worrying situation as thoughts of the adorably sexy Meryl took hold. I’m sure if I lasted until morning she wouldn’t be pissed...right? |
emeraldtryst said: I’m sure if I lasted until morning she wouldn’t be pissed...right? Nope =P Great chapter, great to see Risa getting more action again, looks like it's Zee's turn then we need another Del scene (crosses fingers) |
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| Most of the problem seems to come from the fact there are two of you while there can be only one. I wonder if this is going to be simply resolving by having a greater family in the end or there is going to be a another twist? |
| Signature removed. It was too good for this cruel world. |
echoes_guy said: I'm just curious what that blacksmith was working on that had Joe so worked up... Or does he just have a secret fetish for metallurgy that no one's noticed yet? XD Well, while I do occasionally pain the ceiling while watching "Searching for Wootz Steel", this was decidedly NOT normal metal. It's up to the imagination of the reader (at least for now) whether this is some sort of enchanted stuff, demon silver, or just at the right tempo to cause neurons to fire somewhat erotically =P @Beast - You make an interesting case...the MC in this case PROBABLY wouldn't want to steal the wife of someone that is sort of himself--ignoring any extraneous (would they be intraneous in this case?) parts. @Moni - Whew, that's a tall order. I'll see what I can do =P |
emeraldtryst said: @Beast - You make an interesting case...the MC in this case PROBABLY wouldn't want to steal the wife of someone that is sort of himself--ignoring any extraneous (would they be intraneous in this case?) parts Your MC still considers himself an original while the monsterized version is merely a clone. Risa seems like she considered (or starting to consider) human-MC as original, so it isn't or shouldn't be considered a stealing (or cheating) from MC's POV. Even possibly Risa's. It will be definitely interesting to see how it evolves from this point. |
| Signature removed. It was too good for this cruel world. |
| Chapter 26 - Asunder I probably should have been startled by Meryl sneaking into the bath with me, but I didn’t even fully react until I felt her sliding up behind me, pulling me back to rest against her. Having that chest pressed against me so often during our…”grappling lessons” had done wonders for reminding me of its shape and wondrous softness as well as making a sizable dent in the stress of the day so far. Without prompting, I simply began speaking. “She tricked me...and in a way she knew would get to me. I’m long past being able to deny that I lived another life here, but I’m allowed to be bothered by that, aren’t I?” Nuzzling her cheek against my ear as she held me from behind, Meryl whispered, “Which part bothers you? You already fucked the other you...so I figure it has to be that she tricked you.” It wasn’t that I was tricked--it was how it happened. Did Risa feel like she needed to trick me to have her way with me? Truth be told, despite my body quite enjoying how it all went down, I probably would have declined a more pleasant proposal with heartfelt-sounding bullshit about faithfulness and memories. Did she know that too? “I don’t even know anymore,” I began. “But...she was right about something. Despite a slightly different outlook and memories...I am who I am. If I really did fall in love with her once...what’s to stop it from happening again? Aren’t you worried?” She sighed wistfully as she trailed her fingers through the water, pulling a cupped handful up to pour it gently over my bloodied shoulder. “Maybe I like to gamble--scratch that, I definitely like to gamble. Look...I know I’m playing a rigged game. Any day, that seal on your memory could snap for good and I’d have nothing left to do but watch you drift away. If--I mean...before that...if I can…” It was pretty clear what she was trying to say and, for just a moment, it felt as though the tiny seed she’d planted within me lurched suddenly in response. I wouldn’t say what I thought I was feeling until I was certain...but if the feeling took hold any more strongly, no amount of returning memories would ever be able to pull it free. “If I’d met you first, hmm?” I said with a smile. “Shut up!” she said as she took a playful nip at my uninjured shoulder. “You aren’t allowed to get cheeky when you’re still in trouble!” I relaxed back again into her arms and turned my head slightly. “Well, then I must apologize, Meryl. I can tell that you’re not the sort of girl that can tolerate the idea of a man being unfaithful to his mate for any reason, right?” “Okay, now you’re really about to get in trouble here. What did she tell you?” Meryl asked, the playfulness in her voice far more muted. “Not as much as you just did,” I answered with a smirk. “Oh, she also said she wasn’t going to stop trying to bed me, so I can only hope this is normal for this family.” “Damn it,” she hissed as she pulled me in a bit closer and began to gently lick at my wounded shoulder, making me shiver at the surprisingly pleasant sensation. “Risa managed to slip into the letter she sent me before that mother wanted to meet my mate and there’s probably only one way that can go. Fine, my family is a lost cause...but promise me you at least won’t start fucking Delilah’s family too.” I recoiled slightly at her suggestion, however facetious it might have been. “She’s my daughter! I might be perverted beyond reason but even I have limits, Meryl!” “She has a sister too. And Lorelei isn’t related to you by blood, you dumbass,” she countered, tensing slightly as she did so...perhaps wondering if she should have mentioned those details. I leaned back into Meryl again to let her eminently pleasing feminine softness be the push I needed to give the closest thing I could to the correct answer. “I...uh…” Thankfully saving me from my flailing but still badly startling the both of us, Azalea strode into the room and slid into the bath with little more than a splash and a far-too-tempting glimpse of her beautiful bronze-skinned voluptuousness. Smiling at the two of us both reddening from the interactions, she let her sable tresses free of the constraining ponytail and threw her arms up over the edge of the bath, obviously happy to be relaxing in the steamy water. “Best nap I’ve had in a long time, Joe. Thanks,” Zee said with what felt like a suddenly dangerous seductiveness. “Well, all I had to do was not get kidnapped again and this city seems pretty peaceful if you uh...stay out of the alleyways,” I answered, not able to meet her glance. “I hope it was worth it--you’re getting a double training session tomorrow,” she remarked with a casual grin. Ready to piss and moan over my fate, I instead seized upon an extremely important realization about Zee in that moment. I’d asked her to train me, sure...but I know I never told her to force me to keep at it. Regardless which of the two possibilities had led to her taking a more forceful role in my training, the telling fact was that it was a decision she was making on her own. That was a far cry from her being nothing more than a weapon...and the thought sent a pleasant warmth through my center that she was changing, slowly but surely. “Fine, it’ll be a week before my order is ready anyway,” I relented, receiving a rare confused look from the salamander as I smiled back at her. “Before that, though...since you’re here now, I thought we should talk a little about the shit we’re dealing with and how to put a stop to it.” Letting out a sigh laced heavily with sexual frustration, Meryl slid out from behind me and around to the other end of the bath. “Well, it’s a lot better and worse than we thought all at once. The good news, thank Amarante, is that it isn’t Kaori’s retainers--which means I have no idea how they bought the service of that orc. The bad news is that we’re dead in the middle of a very large power struggle within one of the larger Teremir merchant guilds.” I leaned back with a slight hiss of pain as unseen wounds on my back pressed against the solid tile. “South Teremir Mercantile? So...which thing that I can’t remember caused all this?” Meryl actually smiled before answering. “Oh, could be lots of things. You certain did plenty...and I doubt they’d ignore someone making those sorts of waves twice. Actually...just thinking about it gets me so-” “Please don’t foul the bath while I’m still in it,” Zee quickly chimed in, shaking her head at Meryl’s obvious excitement. Sending a half-angry glance at Zee, Meryl continued, “The first letter was from one of their council members apologizing for the actions of the guild council along with a declaration that if you assist her with getting something, she can personally guarantee that you’ll never run afoul of any Teremir guild, or ever want for coin for the rest of your life.” “That’s it? I can imagine a lot of ways to spend a lot of coin so she must be pretty loaded if she isn’t just trying to bluff. And...she wants me to give her...something, and then I’ll never have problems with their organization again? Was she any more specific about what this thing even is? Only one thing comes to mind that all monsters seem to want and there are already a lot of hands in that cookie jar.” I responded in faux lamentation, rolling my eyes. Meryl nodded, of a similar mindset as I on the issue. “No, it was just an invitation to meet at her palace. She claims you already possess what she needs and it’ll all be clear once she meets you. Bitch lives way up in the central mountains. There are directions, but they may as well just say ‘up’ for all the good they’d do us.” “And the other message?” “Well, it was from the rest of the South Teremir guild council offering to interview you for a potential seat on the guild council if you can handle a particularly troublesome member for them,” Meryl answered with a devious grin. “In case you didn’t already know, being on that particular guild council may as well be a license to mint your own gold coins.” “It’s got to be more complex than that, right? And how do they want me to ‘handle’ her anyway?” I asked, shaking my head. Meryl nodded gravely. “It’s always much much more complicated if Teremir is involved. To give you some perspective...if you took every single coin I’ve ever earned and piled it together with everything Risa, Ajora, and my mother ever earned as well, it’d be a bad year for any one of their council members. We aren’t anywhere near the same league...hell, we’re barely even playing the same game.” Par for the course by this point, a lot of things weren’t making sense. I had to assume that Meryl was counting anything I might have done with the markets in with Risa’s earnings, so then if I was such a tiny fish in that large pond, what could I possibly have to offer them? “Does this make sense to you, Meryl?” I asked, not really sure what else to ask. “Hmm...maybe. I know they took a savage beating from betting against you twice...even with probably the best damn information network on the entire island,” she answered with an aroused smile. “Even if you don’t have anywhere near their resources, maybe they figure they can do a lot more with your ideas than you’d be able to do on your own.” Zee frowned at Meryl. “My nose isn’t even that good and I can smell you already.” She then turned to me with a serious look. “I don’t like it at all. One or both of them is after you, and buying the loyalty of even a disgraced Kaori general would take a lot more than gold. I’d say that they both feel like a trap, but who’s to say that this whole ‘power struggle’ isn’t just a ruse too?” Meryl scratched at her ears while she pondered a moment. “I’ve never trusted anyone wearing the Violaceous Regard, and I’m not about to start. What I can’t figure out is why they’re suddenly moving now. It’s been more than a year since they ate the huge losses on those testicles--why wait until...hmm…” I perked up a bit, slumping back down bashfully as the two other sets of eyes in the bath turned to take an interest. “That witch Mira also knew everything...she had to have been working with the orc and the...uh-” “Salamander,” Zee interjected as she shifted a bit. “Her hands weren’t entirely covered. Also, even without seeing her fight, she’s definitely good...whoever she is. There’s no way an orc like Hilde would have taken orders like that from someone that hadn’t proven themselves stronger than her.” “Okay...salamander then. Anyway, even allowing for the witch’s magic...what are the chances that anyone else knew that there were two of me running around?” I asked, trying to put some of the pieces together. “Unless Del told someone...none,” Risa’s voice called out as she walked in holding the two sleeping twins in her arms to join us in the increasingly crowded bath. “Damn it...that hurts. Did you have to be so rough, Joe?” the tanuki girl quietly hissed as she lowered herself gingerly into the water. Trying not to pay any undue attention to the lithe, naked girl that had so calmly just joined the conversation, I tried to keep focused. She had good reason to be involved in this anyway. “We’ve got to be missing something huge here,” I began before turning to Karisa to continue, “What could I possibly have that anyone in this guild could want?” Frowning a bit, Risa shook her head. “I have no idea. If they didn’t stop after getting Del, then they must be trying to make sure they can blackmail you if you don’t want to hand it over.” “No way,” Meryl exclaimed. “No offense, Ris...but grabbing you and Del wouldn’t have done a damn thing to persuade someone that didn’t really know you. “Maybe it’s something you don’t know that you know,” Zee added helpfully. “They were still after Karisa, but they let the other you go...so he must not have it. Whatever ‘it’ is.” “There’s also someone that can or has been keeping a close eye on me,” I threw in. “Hilde was expecting to fight Zee when she came after me. If they already know so much...why haven’t they already caught me? That orc put Zee’s friends to task without even breaking a sweat--if she’d attacked on the road, I’d have been as good as taken.” Zee frowned. “I don’t know if it was chance or kindness, but my girls are somehow all fine now...but you’re right, Joe. This whole thing feels as bad as if that backstabbing bitch of a hopefully-soon-to-be-ex-lord Charisse is pulling the strings.” We weren’t getting anywhere with our discussion. On top of that, there could be any of a million things that we weren’t considering. It was impossible to know what this guild could want with me or why they’d suddenly change their tactics away from outright kidnapping and assault to...sending two seemingly contradictory letters. “Okay, since we know precisely fuck all about what we’re getting into or how deep any of us might already be, where do we start looking for answers?” I asked as tried to remain unaware that I was completely naked in a bath with three beautiful women, adding, “Or do just throw the gloves off and try to bring this guild down ourselves and pull the answers from the carcass?” “Yeah, I’m getting out before I end up smelling any more like the inside of these two,” Zee offered as she pulled herself from the water, making no effort to cover herself while walking from the room. “Going to drip dry out back.” Swallowing hard while a flush ran across her skin like a brushfire, Risa called after the salamander distractedly, “D-dinner will be ready in another hour or two. I’ll...come get you.” A scant few seconds later, both sisters were sliding around the edge of the bath to get closer to me, the look of lust in their eyes unmistakable. Not quite sure what was happening, I looked at the sisters nervously as I picked up the very distinct aroma of aroused female as I asked, “Uh...what did I say?” Electing to deliver the first answer in a whisper directly against my ear, Risa whimpered a bit before she spoke. “You...have an idea on how to…do that, Joe?” I was floundering at the realization that I wasn’t at all sure what the right answer was here. Was I about to be assaulted for suggesting something so arousingly stupid? “Nothing...uh...solid, but I could probably come up with some ideas,” I began nervously, adding, “W-why are you both getting so close?” “Oh we’re just...very excited to hear what you might have in mind. Could you give us a hint?” Risa asked as she continued to whisper, the heat of her breath making my body shiver despite the bath. Finally asserting herself in a way that wasn’t entirely unexpected, Meryl reached over and flicked her finger at one of Risa’s ears, making the younger girl flinch in pain. “Joe and I need to have a very deep discussion, Ris. I’ll be sure to tell you all about it later, so why don’t you go feed your girls before they start getting cranky?” Her face suddenly showing anger, Risa whispered angrily back at her sister, “I just got them to sleep and they aren’t that young anymore! Why would they-” Just loud enough that I could barely hear her, even with her lips nearly pressed again my ear, I heard Meryl lament, “Sorry girls,” before reaching over to tickle the feet of the sleeping girls, their tiny eyes opening almost immediately in reaction. As the pair of them began to fuss in Risa’s arms, the tanuki girl cursed under her breath and hopped out of the water with an angry scowl back at Meryl as she began to coo and whisper affectionately to the young girls while she headed out of the room entirely. “Meryl, that wasn’t very-” I tried to begin as the vixen silenced me with a deliberate kiss. Pulling away from the kiss with my lower lip still caught in her teeth, my foxy mate slid herself into my lap drawing a light hiss of pain from me as she pushed against my battered body. “I want you to look at me, Joe. You know that I’m not my sister, right? Who am I?” Looking up slightly into her eyes, I saw her wanton desire, her unrestrained affection, and her boundlessly optimistic hope that I would feel the same way for her. Despite all that, I also saw a shivering core of terrified doubt looming omnipresent above everything else. It wasn’t until I could see it so clearly that I realized it had always been there...from the very moment she looked up at me from over the edge of that cliff. Even if I couldn’t make myself say something I wasn’t entirely convinced was true, being honest with her still wasn’t a rejection. I’d never have been able to say what might happen once I got my memory back, but I knew what I felt right at that moment. I placed a light kiss upon her lips and answered her. “You’re...well...my girlfriend Meryl. I can see that you want more than that, but all I can say for sure is that I can’t be anything more until I know how I feel for certain. And I know you aren’t your sister--I liked you before I even met her.” She looked like she was about to cry as she fervently nodded her head. “I get it, Joe. As much as it hurts, then...I won’t force you to-” This time I was the one pressing the mute button as I pulled her into a warm kiss as she whimpered through sealed lips, her body nearly melting into my arms. “You can force me whenever you want...just because my heart isn’t certain doesn’t mean that my body hasn’t already decided that it wants you like a flower wants the sunshine. So I’ll promise you this...no matter what happens--until my dying breath, I will always honor your claim to this body.” Now sniffling in earnest as she nestled her head against my unwounded shoulder, Meryl lamented, “You are such a bastard. When you say that...I just want to squeeze you until I wring all that sweetness out of you...rather than get to squeezing out what I really want.” “Well...” I began with a slight blush of my own, “nothing saying you can’t try to squeeze out both, right?” With a mock stretch, Meryl smiled back at me and quipped sarcastically, “I’m not busy with anything else at the moment so I guess it’s worth a try.” going to try to switch up the tone a bit here...hopefully it doesn’t suck Coming to my sense faster than I would have thought possible, even as my body remained limp in exhaustion, I could feel Meryl’s arms wrapped possessively around my neck, her position having shifted at some point in my momentary daze. “I’ll do anything to keep you, Joe...anything. I’m nothing more than a lying smile wrapped tightly around further deception and lies. Even if...even once you remember that I’m just trash...please don’t throw me away. Even being near you would be enough. Just let me stay near you and I’d never ask for more than that...” I heard Meryl whisper in a shaking voice still drenched in tears not entirely borne of the soul-clenching ecstasy we’d just shared. Did she think I was asleep or unconscious? Statistically speaking, I had to admit it was probably a far safer bet than to assume I was awake at any given point in time. As embarrassing as it might end up being for Meryl, however, I wasn’t going to let her spill her guts again without letting her know that, at the very least, I was listening. With no small amount of effort, I pulled the deceptively vulnerable girl tighter against me and let my head rest upon her shoulder, my sudden movement making her recoil slightly. “Nope. You aren’t going anywhere,” I assured her as I interlaced my fingers together behind her back, adding, “at least not until dinner is ready.” “Damn it!” she mournfully cursed. “You...should have been out for at least a few hours after that. I can barely even move.” “I can sleep when I’m dead,” I remarked playfully. “More seriously, Meryl...don’t ever think that you’re trash. What would that even make me after you’ve saved my life so many times?” Leaning on her shoulder allowed her to keep her face hidden from me, perhaps a small kindness in this instance as I felt her trying to wipe away the tears that did their measured best to continue to flow. She never really answered my question, but it turned out that she didn’t have to just yet. “If you two are done screaming loud enough to wake the twins, the neighbors, and Amarante herself...dinner is ready,” Risa suddenly said, peeking her head into the bath with just a hint of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. ------------------- I didn’t want to tell anyone that Risa’s cooking might well have been the best thing I’d ever tasted in my life. It was likely written on my face anyway...or blatantly revealed after my fourth helping was devoured as quickly as the first. Taken together with the dark otherwordly wine on offer and it was the best meal I could ever remember having. Thinking that our overly amorous bath might have freed me from Meryl’s earlier promise of punishment, I found that I wasn’t entirely disappointed to find that she fully intended to prove my assumption false by having me repeatedly for the rest of the night. As if that weren’t enough, Meryl felt it prudent to apologize for waking up the twins earlier by allowing their fluffy-tailed mother to join in on meting out my punishment. “Yeah...I can sleep when I’m dead,” I remarked in soliloquous silence at the thought of the brutal training that awaited me the moment I awakened...if and when I ever got to sleep in the first place with these ravenous sisters bound and determined to have me in every way my body could handle, and in several that it nearly couldn’t. -------------------------------------------------- I wasn’t at all certain how I’d gotten there, but I was home in Alnor, set comfortably on the soft ground of Risa’s garden in our back yard. The pain of my impending non-existence was gone, replaced with...something foreign but still familiar, but otherwise defying any description. Fear nearly overcame me as I thought on the fact that I now had a completely different soul within me. How could I really know that I was still me? I looked up at the window to my bedroom and brought to mind just a small slice of the many wonderful memories that had been born there and the litany of songs that ran through my head in that moment. With each song a potent mnemonic device, everything seemed to reassuringly match up correctly in my head. It wasn’t an easy thing to explain, even to myself. Until I’d experienced the feeling of having no soul, it would have been impossible to even distinguish the feeling of the soul now burning within me. While my head somehow felt like a phone booth with one too many people trying to make a call, it wasn’t uncomfortable in the slightest. Desperate to see my daughters before doing anything else, I smiled as I realized that my wings now seemed to be fully functional, easily carrying me to the ledge outside their room. Ready to steal my way inside, my attention was drawn away by the unmistakable sound of my wife crying out with the all too familiar shout of her sexual bliss. Shaking my head at the thought of my nearly insatiable danuki giving her fingers a workout, I flitted instead to my own bedroom window to see the greatest challenge to my reality playing out before my eyes. It wasn’t that I saw my wife with another man but that this man’s existence made mine utterly obsolete. Of course...why should my wife have to settle for a demonic copy of a husband with a borrowed soul when she could have the genuine article--memories or no? He was still me...and I couldn’t imagine a scenario in which he wouldn’t fall madly in love with her...exactly as I had. It was...just sex, right? That thought couldn’t hold back my tears at the realization that even while I had become an immortal piece of this world...the only place I wanted to spend that eternity had crumbled to ash in my shaking hands. Sneaking finally into the darkened room of my children, I stared longingly down at their angelic sleeping faces as I rocked back and forth on my feet in a growing despair to know that the other me--the real me would almost certainly end up being the father I had already failed to be. Even if I knew who I was supposed to be, each of those memories was now like a dagger shoved into the dwelling of my new soul itself. What was left for me to do...except to find a way to forget? I knew my mind, however...and enough about magic to know that no sorcery built upon logic could ever fully hold down the chaotic tide of a mind so miswired that it took pharmaceutical-grade stimulants to calm it. “Fa...fa…” I heard a tiny pair of voices call up to me as two sets of arms reached up toward me, the gesture begging for a closeness that would have been painful to answer...but impossible to ignore. I leaned close and peppered the faces of my daughters with dozens of kisses while their tiny hands clung to my face, unintentionally wiping away my tears as the pair of them cooed softly in an innocent joy that knew nothing of the pain and helplessness that spun within me in a roiling miasma of crushing doubt and loss of purpose. The warmth of their unconditional love took only a heartbeat to remind me that my pain didn’t matter, throwing the curtains wide to let the rays of hope stream into my darkened heart. What DID matter was that, without reservation, I loved my family...and I was going to see them protected at any cost...even if that cost meant the only place I’d ever see them again was within the vault of my memories. I knew precious little about what was going on, but I was a demon--a mamono to my core, despite any lingering physical reminders of the man I was before. With the highly morphic body of the succubus I’d become, what was stopping me from becoming a mighty sorceress or an invincible sword princess? As the gears in my mind began to furiously spin over possibilities, I thought on what had happened so far. Getting Del out of the way could only have been but a prelude. This wouldn’t stop with just her or me. How fortuitous, then, that I no longer had anything left to lose. As my misdirected fiery rage became an unbreakable cold determination in those silent hours that night, I knew what I had to do. Whoever was behind this had no fucking idea what they’d unleashed...but they were damn sure about to find out. “Auri...Ari...daddy has to go, but I promise I’ll always be by your side. No matter where you go, what you do, or who you become...your daddy will always love you both.” “You aren’t staying?” an unfamiliar voice asked softly in the darkness, the scant light of the starlight reflecting off of polished steel and the weak smouldering fire of the salamander’s tail the only light in the room that let me clearly see the figure as she advanced upon me slowly. Cautiously coming close enough to see me, she sighed as she added, “I don’t think we’ve actually met. I’m Azalea--Zee is fine. I know what it looks like over there, but your wife still wants you, Joseph.” Reluctantly pulling away from my beautiful daughters with a kiss upon the forehead of each of them, I pulled the blanket over them and silently stroked their tiny heads for nearly an hour before they finally returned to sleep. Astounded at the patience this salamander, Azalea, was showing me, I offered her a small smile of thanks as I finally whispered my answer to her statement. “I believe you. Thank you for watching over my girls...I didn’t even hear you coming.” She sheathed her weapon and gently placed one of her scaled hands on my shoulder. “You’re dodging the issue here. We’re trying to figure all of this out and these two girls aren’t the only ones that know you belong here.” I looked the woman up and down, nodding in approval. “The real me is a lucky man...I’d definitely be all about getting a piece of you. Anyway...I need you to do me a favor, Zee.” “Oh, he isn’t that lucky. I’m not as easy as your wives and sister-in-law,” she said with a smirk and what might have been a slight blush. “I already know what you’ll ask if you aren’t planning to stay, so just take these. I could stop you from leaving, but...I don’t know if that’s the right decision,” she said as she placed a pair of scrolls in my hand. “Just be careful...especially if you fight as badly as the other you.” With nothing more to be said, I spared one last look back at my beautiful daughters and leapt back into the night, not looking back again. Seeing the contents of the scrolls gave me a target. Regardless of their reasons, I would see the South Teremir Mercantile torn to pieces if it was the last thing I did. The more powerful they were, the less likely any other organization or individual would ever seek to harm my family again after watching that guild’s destruction. Despite being able to fly, I may otherwise have been nothing more than a scrawny demon cosplayer. I needed power to have any hope of standing against them. As I wandered through the Alnor harbor district, I ran through the memories I’d picked up from Del’s mind during our sessions with that damnable silver artifact. Foremost among the names of the authors of those many sorcerous tomes stood two that were eminently more prominent than the others. The first name that shot to mind was “Durand” or “Durande” as she was sometimes known. Puissant in brilliance beyond any other magical author Del had ever read, the potential progenitor of lichdom itself had developed and expounded upon theories pertaining to nearly every conceivable school of magic. The histories never said what happened to the ancient witch after the construction of her phylactery nearly 5,000 years ago. Even if I could find the legendary spellbinder alive, I could come up with no reason why have any reason to teach me anything, and attempting to collect every one of her writings was a task so daunting that there are legends of Michiko scholars that gave up thousands of years only to come up short on assembling an entire collection. The other name burned my tongue just to utter. “Wormtongue,” I whispered as I thought back to her oft-seen writings as well. Far more like a mad scientist in her theories that sought out magical effects that defied a logical understanding of the universe--even one filled with magic. Far mysterious than Durand in her methods and reasons, her nearly incomprehensible ramblings were full to bursting with brilliant formulations that appear almost accidental in their perfection. Wormtongue was know to be alive and to honor unique requests such as the one I had to beg her to teach me. The rumors claimed that she’d taken on students in the past, that she could blink her way to any place on the island at the barest whim and was possessed of more strange powers and forbidden magic than nearly any denizen of the island save a lord. The only information I’d been able to gather about her, however, suggested that she’d last been seen in Charisse, was partially deformed, and always- “Makes a unique request of any that seek to gain my favor or assistance,” a voice whispered in my ear, completing my thought as though I’d been speaking aloud. I nearly leapt out of my shoes as the voice crept across my mind as teasingly as her breath seductively tickled my ear. The voice was impossible to place despite sounding vaguely familiar...as though I’d heard it in my dreams. Looking around, I didn’t recognize any of the buildings around me...or had any memory of how I’d gotten to this part of Alnor in the first place--assuming I was even still in Alnor. “Can you teach-” I began as the unseen figure covered my mouth. The voice spoke again, alien and distant, in my ear. “Teaching you would be a waste of time. You’ve chosen an opponent that is beyond you--beyond me. You should leave this in fate’s hands, Joseph.” I was paralyzed--utterly unable to move or even turn around to see the woman that held me immobile with the lightest of touches. I countered her suggestion. “The same fate that left Del alone and suffering for thousands of years, that forever scarred my face along with my heart...that stole my soul from me just as sure as it will steal my own family?!” She took an uninterested breath before speaking again. “If you will not be swayed from the path of your own destruction, I can make you but one single offer. Will you pay the cost?” “What are you offering?” I asked, still far beyond my depth at how I even entered this conversation in the first place. “You will not hear my offer until you understand the cost,” her voice, drenched in a resigned hostility, began, sounding like an entirely different person. “For this boon I will take your life, the agony of your last thoughts nothing more than the knowledge that our bargain has been struck.” “What are you offering?” I asked again, caring little for the cost. “I can, but once, turn the Violaceous Regard from your companions to unmake the fate that would see them undone by your enemy,” she offered, her voice heavy with sadness. “So...one time when they’re all about to die, you’ll make it not happen?” I asked to clarify. “From your perspective, that is exactly what will happen.” “Done,” I answered without hesitation. “You will hear no apology from me for your sacrifice or for the pain you are about to feel.” As she finished her statement, I felt a piece of cold steel press painfully against my neck, only determining that it was a knife in the moment before it was drawn fully and deliberately across my throat. Held up in her grasp as I began to choke on my own blood, I could only pray that my sacrifice would earn my family the chance to survive all of this. It was only a matter of time before the real me recovered those lost memories...and once he did, this sacrifice wouldn’t matter. Try as I might to be content with that, I still struggled madly against the paralysis that gripped me...convinced that I had just made a horrible mistake--that there had to be some other way. “I will give you no comfort, Joseph. There is always another way. Magic...is a beautiful thing. If you are wise, you will reflect upon that in your next life,” her voice whisperingly hissed to my fading consciousness as my body was dropped, already too numb to feel the impact as I crumpled to the ground. As the life’s blood left the once-man, the darkness rushed in to fill the void left within the poor corrupted demon that was once called “Joseph”, even fate balking slightly at its own cruelty. |
| I have no words Words have failed me I am speechless |
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| What an strange turn of events. Alp still didn't gave up on his (her) identity as a Joe yet chooses to die to help the one (s)he previously thought to be imposter. Whole soulless thing must be much more suffering that one imagined. |
| Signature removed. It was too good for this cruel world. |
| Man that Kitsune-bi that gave up her soul for you must feel royally screwed over. Love it :P |
| Pfew I finally caught up last night and thought of so many things to tell you I have forgotten most of them Took me until 3 am on my phone, the scrolling bar on the right was barely visible :'( But damn are you go(o)d *.* fucking good shit all over the place :) |
| I already said how I love the story, I don't want to spam the threads too much, but I admit I was shocked by the course of events. |
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| Chapter 27 - Stoking the Flames After a night that seemed determined to never end, the only way to know that I’d gotten any sleep at all was that I was eventually startled awake by Zee’s gentle shaking. I wasn’t nearly as tired as I assumed I’d be after being subjected to Meryl and Risa’s game of “Oh yeah? I bet you can’t make him moan like this!” At the last scoring tally, all I knew was that I’d lost the game...along with inhuman (and probably unsafe) quantities of bodily fluids.. Negotiating my way clear of a sea of limbs that acted as if they’d been tasked with holding me captive forever, I finally managed to flop my way, naked, onto the painfully hard marble floor. I had to keep reminding myself that this was all for a good cause or my normal morning crankiness might have easily escalated into the sort of angry outburst that burned bridges...with extreme prejudice. It was by no means a light start given the pace with which we set out, but a brisk jog around the city with Zee seemed an otherwise perfect warm up. The other beneficial upswing was that it allowed the two of us to have some (I felt) much-needed conversation. My mental fogginess still impenetrable so early, Zee started things off. “I didn’t think there was any way you’d get up today without some profanity. Almost ruins the fun.” Already into a good rhythm with my jogging, I shook my head and looked over at Zee. “I’m not even that tired--I mean...I AM tired...just not physically. Another week of this and I might just be ready to bring you down, Zee.” She smiled at my statement but was otherwise silent for several minutes as we passed by the harbor, the cool dawn mist glimmering like gems as the first hints of sunlight because to peek above the horizon. When Zee finally spoke again, it was with a definite note of concern. “I met that other you last night, you know.” “He’s back? Good, he can have his bed back and I’ll start sleeping downstairs...maybe he can keep his voracious wife off of me. One fluffy tail is about all I can handle.” “I...don’t think so. He left after saying goodbye to the twins. I’m pretty sure he saw you three going at it...but there was definitely something else on his mind,” Azalea answered with some definite reluctance coloring her voice. “Hold on, Zee. What do you mean he ‘left’? We could have really used him to help clear some things up!” The troubled salamander looked away as she continued to jog alongside me. “If it was the wrong call to let him go...then I’m sorry. I’ve just...never seen that sort of determination in anyone’s eyes before...and I’ve watched a sphinx fight to the death to protect her cubs.” Even if she hadn’t made it a point to do so, Zee had just clearly pointed out that she’d never seen such determination in me. That just meant that I was a long way from understanding how important my own family--my own children--might be to me. I’d just have to ask him the next time I saw him to try and explain that feeling to me. Suddenly not quite sure how to respond, I remained silent a moment before giving a response. “I can be dumb, but I doubt he’d just go off and get himself killed...not with a family waiting for him to come home.” “Hey Joe, this is probably going to sound weird, and I swear...if you give me shit about it...I’m going to beat your ass today even worse than I was already planning, but...” she began expectantly. Hearing no protest from me, she continued, “Have you thought about what you’ll do if you actually manage to win our challenge?” There was no trace of lascivious intent in her voice, so I could only assume she meant beyond simply claiming my prize. I hadn’t expected to find myself flushing far beyond the physical exertion would suggest at hearing such a question, however. “Honestly? I have,” I said as I looked over at her. “Zee, you know I want you...and it isn’t just your body...even though I wanted that from the first moment I saw you. At no point did I ever think this was going to be a ‘hit it and quit it’ arrangement. I’m not sure how you feel about the whole harem thing, but-” “It’s fine, Joe. I know who you are and I don’t want you to change. I’m bringing this up because I guess I underestimated the effect you were going to have on me. So I want to be honest about a few things,” she offered with only a neutral glance my way. “The training I’ve been putting you through wasn’t really supposed to help you get better...it was supposed to make you give up.” Breathing harder from the exertion of the run, I shook my head with a small chuckle. “Well that wasn’t ever going to happen. Maybe it looks like willpower or something to you...but the reality is that I’m just too stubborn to ever admit when I might be wrong. Now, with everything I’ve been through, you’d have to kill me to get me to give up...and after seeing the demon me running around, death might not even be enough to stop me,” I remarked with a smile. “And that training has helped quite a bit, Zee.” “I know it has. I just...need to know what I am to you. Nothing will change if you tell me I’m just your bodyguard and a sexual target. That was the contract...and I know I’m the one looking to change up the rules.” Nothing to that point had given me even the slightest inkling that Zee felt anything special for me. Was it something that passed between her and the other me? I think, at the least, it was clear that things were going to start getting more dangerous. Maybe she was just worried that something might happen to one or both of us. I took a deep breath as I kept up my pace. “So what if I said I do want more, Zee? Does it matter? You seemed pretty convinced that I’d never be able to beat you in the first place.” Zee grumbled slightly under her breath. “You’re an asshole for making me say this, Joe. I wouldn’t have backed out of our deal either way, but I want you to want more.” She then sent her gaze skyward. “And...your body has just about caught up to your head. You wouldn’t beat me in a fight to the death, but there’s no way I’m going to be able to stop you from scoring a real hit on me, and soon.” Ready with my response, I realized that I’d been holding my breath (or the closest possible analog I could manage while running). “One week, Zee. I’m not going to lose. Maybe afterwards you can see how good I can be when you’re actually teaching me how to fight.” “You aren’t that close, Joe,” she shot back with a smirk. “But I’ll accept your challenge any time. And hey…” She hesitated before continuing. “I’ll start getting serious about teaching you too. Also...if it ever seems like I’m really in trouble, I don’t want you to...actually, never mind. Just don’t die on me and I won’t die on you.” Finally slowing down as we reached the gate to Risa’s home, I turned toward the rising sun. “We’ve all had a bit too much sadness, I think. No...we’re all going to make it through this alive...whatever the cost.” ----------------------------------- -Elsewhere “This is not good,” Mira remarked as she stared into her scrying device. “Wormtongue is the last person I wanted getting involved in this. She’s got more tricks up her sleeves than scales on her ass.” The floating specter of Delilah faded almost entirely from view for several moments, then turning her blazing violet eyes slowly upon the witch. “Wormtongue is dangerous and unpredictable. You may need to take more aggressive measures to acquire your master’s targets before anyone else is drawn into the situation.” Mira adjusted her oversized hat and stared back into the scrying pool as the half-deformed Wormtongue, standing over the body of the aberrant succubus, Joseph, looked directly at the witch and smiled. “Damn it!” Mira exclaimed as she quickly halted the scrying spell, adding, “If I want your opinion, lich, I will ask for it. No, I will hold close to the original plan. I can’t risk Durand discovering my true intentions before everything is ready. If that snake is true to her word, she may even end up an ally in this.” “I have revised my judgment. The Regard has eyes everywhere and there is little hope that your treachery will be able to evade her notice for long,” Delilah offered plainly. “You still have nothing that will convince this Joseph to come to you willingly.” Flashing a confident smile, Mira walked right through Delilah’s spectral body as she headed out of the ritual chamber. “The danuki and her children are nearly in hand. Once I have them...I need only have the seal on his memory removed. So...on the contrary, lich, there is nothing that will stop him from coming willingly to me.” From within her voluminous hat, Mira produced a small crystal globe that appeared to contain a small grassy hill adorned with a cypress tree. It appeared as little more than a snowless snowglobe to a casual observer. Looking the small artifact over with a serious eye, she quickly shoved it back into her magically bottomless chapeau and out of sight. Something in the lich’s demeanor had shifted but Mira could scarce recognize the change...or understand how grave the consequences of that change truly were. -------------------------------- The week of combat instruction that followed was brutal enough to make me long for the far simpler times of simply being dragged through the desert. The difference, however, was that Zee had become an entirely different person with respect to the training. She certainly wasn’t any more forgiving of my mistakes, but rather than just painfully pointing them out by demonstration, she had begun to offer solutions and suggestions to help fill in the (many) gaps in my fighting style. Pushing me away after a particularly heated exchange, she shook her head. “Look, I know almost every mamono you fight is going to be stronger than you, but you can’t be so afraid of getting close or even taking the fight to the ground if needed. Sure, leverage probably won’t be enough to help you against a dragon or an ushi-oni, but if you’re fighting one of those alone then you’ve got much bigger problems already.” “What’s an ushi-oni?” I asked, not familiar with the term but curious to know what sort of monster she might group with a dragon in describing a quintessentially uphill battle. “Oh...you seemed so familiar with so many different mamono species I figured you’d know,” she began as she took a few hopping steps back and turned back to face me. “Actually, you’ve seen one before--one of the guards serving that ryu that tried to execute you. I knocked her out before she could get going...and for good reason. An ushi-oni is a type of spider...just a lot less polite than their sisters. They’re damn near unstoppable, completely ravenous, and able to bounce back from just about anything that doesn’t outright kill them. If you ever have the bad luck of seeing one at the other side of a battlefield, blunt force to the head is your only real option if you don’t have a grandmaster pyromancer in your pocket. I’d say to just run if you ever see one, but you aren’t fast enough to get away from one either.” “That uh...doesn’t seem very fair,” I complained. “Well, they aren’t the brightest so you could maybe try to bullshit your way free. It’s probably better if you just make sure to scream for me before it gets that far,” she said without a trace of arrogance. “Yeah…” I answered as my mind wandered to thoughts of just how many different types of mamono were really out there. Hadn’t I seen an encyclopedia of them at some point? I couldn’t quite remember where I’d seen it, but I was wishing I’d spent at least a bit more time going over it. --------------------- On the third day of training, I found myself trying to follow Zee’s advice to be less afraid of a grappling situation. That advice, however, saw me with a painful concussion after my misguided attempt at a wrist lock opened me up to repeated tail slaps to the face. Once I’d regained consciousness, Zee began helpfully detailing ways to help bind a tail like hers in a grapple. With Zee having started to actually instruct me, I was becoming more and more aware of the ridiculous gap between our respective skill levels. Such was to be expected given her more than seven hundred years of combat experience, but even if I was never going to match her in skill, her instruction was opening up my mind to dozens of new possible avenues of attack and defense. More than just being a skilled fighter, Zee was an amazing teacher. Her uncanny perception and insight allowed her to explain techniques and movements in ways that I intuitively understood with minimal actual practice. It was, however, quite a bit more humbling to experience her still effortlessly defeating nearly everything I tried even after helping me perfect such techniques. Zee had also been very subtly teaching me to rely on my natural quickness, and it was definitely coming into focus that my speed was the key to any victory over her. Despite further improvements to my fighting from heavier reliance on my only obvious advantage, she’d still been easily able to use superior experience and inscrutably superb tactics to almost entirely put that brakes on that approach. I was, however, finally starting to see why she felt that it wouldn’t be long before I was able to land a strike upon her and actually draw blood. The end of each training day was when I got a chance to go all out against Zee in an actual match. If I’d been a betting man, I’d have made a killing betting against myself...disappointing given how much I’d improved. She was right in that it was going to take a lot more than a week to land a telling hit on her...assuming I hadn’t still been planning to cheat, of course. I think she knew that I had something special in mind, but that was thankfully the one enigma she wasn’t able to puzzle out in the process of (hopefully unintentionally) humiliating me in each of our duels. Even though I’d planned to cheat from the start, I wouldn’t have been able to be completely satisfied if I didn’t give it my all at least once. During the second-to-last day of training that week, I resolved to do exactly that, pushing myself much harder than normal while attempting to change my approach and movements in varying ways in hopes of catching any advantage I could. If that was to be our last duel before I became a filthy cheater, I wanted to see how close I could get to a legitimate victory. ---------------- “Nice!” she exclaimed as she threw her shoulder into to me, just barely far enough inside my guard to avoid my short thrust. Having expected the attack, I was able to roll with the impact and come up into an extended stop thrust to keep her from exploiting my position. Her smile, thankfully, gave away her next move as she reached to grip my blade. What would have pulled me straight onto my face only a few weeks ago was avoided as I leapt back with a fierce upward clearing slash. Zee wasn’t about to let me back off my heels, however, as she avoided my slash and closed the slight distance between us and made a quick horizontal slash of her own. I was just barely able to set myself and catch my balance enough able to roll forward under it, taking a swipe of my own as I passed beneath her weapon...only to be countered with a swift kick to my midsection. My strike had connected with Zee’s scaled leg, but with nowhere near enough power to penetrate. I came up out of my roll while trying to reclaim the wind that had just been kicked out of me, leaning into a quick defensive jab in a failed attempt to put her off balance, then spinning the longer of my two weapons into a reverse grip and stepping quickly toward Zee. Having been in this position enough times before, I knew that Zee didn’t need her falchion in the slightest and I was almost certainly going down in less than three moves, despite being otherwise well-positioned inside her guard. Quickly kneeling, I aimed to bring my primary weapon down into her foot as I made a weak thrust over my head with my offhand weapon in an attempt to catch the expected elbow or tail strike. To my great surprise, her expected movement stopped before any such strike came as she pivoted around her lead foot to set her stance perpendicular to my own. It wouldn’t be a full swing, but from her shifted stance she was going to have enough room to bring her blade to bear upon me in any of a dozen ways in less than a heartbeat. I made the only move I could imagine at that point, sliding myself into a parallel stance with my lead foot behind hers as I unleashed a punch at her face with the intricate hilt of my rapier-like weapon, the blade still pointed toward the ground with my reverse grip. Completely at the mercy of her tail in that position, my desperation attack was unlikely to have connected with any real power behind it and I knew it. My goal, however, was to see if something entirely unexpected would throw her off. Rather than try to have my punch connect with any force only to have her spin with the blow and damn near take my head off with a tail swipe, I let go of Tizona mid-punch, throwing the sword from my grip to hopefully serve as a distraction, using my freed hand to push on her leading shoulder in the opposite direction she would have needed to turn to smack me with her tail. Against a less skilled opponent, I might have been able to bind her arm and go for a lock using my dagger as a fulcrum on the tricep pressure point. With Zee, however, that maneuver would have bought me less than a second before she took any of a dozen actions to snatch back the entirety of my temporary advantage. Taking the most unexpected action I could fathom that might have been of any use, I then powerfully drove my offhand dagger toward my own hand. I reasoned that there was no way she’d be expecting me to pierce my own hand to get to her. With my lead foot positioned to limit her movement options, her only obvious options were to let me pin my own hand to her shoulder, drawing blood from both of us, to try to outspeed me with a risky sidestep that might not get her out of the way in time, or to take control with a grab or shoulder check--making it likely that my dagger would find a home in her forearm or shoulder. I saw in her eyes that it would have worked...which made it that much more disappointing when it just...didn’t. As her clawed hand was already on the way to assert her power and bend me around my own spine, her foot sliding to pull me entirely off balance, my dagger was still moving quickly enough and with enough force to put the blade through her scaled arm. Just before my weapon connected, however, a completely unexpected burst of flame from her tail forced me to hesitate. The fight was over seconds later as I was painfully pulled into a full split before being pushed unceremoniously onto my back, a kick to the chest moments later sending me into a violent tumble across the ground. While it most certainly would have earned a rather fervent concession from me, my painful ragdolling across the ground was blatant enough in reporting the outcome that it saved me the trouble of having to tap out...as was so often the case when fighting Zee. Several pained coughing minutes later, Zee was pacing back and forth with an unfamiliarly troubled look on her face. The salamander’s tail, while not burning as brightly as it had in the moments before I’d almost struck her, was still actually aflame. While the flame was still diminutively anemic, it was still glowing more brightly than I’d ever seen it. Levering myself into a seated position on the ground, I looked up at Zee. “Uh...you okay?” With some mix of confusion, excitement, and worry, she stopped her pacing and looked down at me, stepping over and pulling me to my feet. “Joe...what the hell was that?” Turning away somewhat bashfully, I scratched my head. “It was a stupid idea, right? I thought I’d try something you wouldn’t expect, but I guess you saw it coming anyway.” Now looking confused, she stared hard at me. “What are you talking about? If you hadn’t hesitated, you’d have put your dagger straight through my arm...or right into my shoulder. You might have left a pretty nasty hole in your hand, but you’d have definitely gotten my blood. Why did you stop?” “Your tailed sort of flared up and...well...I hesitated. I’ve never really seen you do anything like that before so I didn’t know what to expect. For all I knew, you were winding up unleash a fire spin or flame crash on me. You mean that wasn’t intentional?” I asked, starting to get discouraged at how close I’d gotten see my best chance vanish because of my own hesitation. She turned away quickly and grabbed her tail, her body angled strategically to hide it from me. “This is...just something that happens...at times. I also didn’t really think it’d ever happen again. But no, it wasn’t intentional.” I smirked. “So then...you want to give me that one on a technicality?” Zee then did something I never would have expected, hitting me playfully in the chest as her bronze complexion darkened ever so slightly in a blush as she jokingly replied, “Try asking your next real enemy if she’ll just fall down for you because you almost got her. No, the good news is that I’ll stop holding back so much with you, Joe. But that...was really good.” “That’s bullshit and you know it. I know you were holding back at first but we both know you’ve been going all-out for a while now,” I countered. Sliding her falchion into the sheath on her back, Zee took a seat leaning against the wall of the house. She then drew out her kiseru and easily lit it with her now more radiant tail. Taking a long pull, she then held up her clawed right hand and looked over at me with a genuine smile. “I guess that’s true if you ignore that I’m only fighting with one weapon, I’m not left handed, and...that I don’t want to kill you. The healer said I should be fine to start using my spear again in a couple days so you’ve still got a long way to go, Joe.” I wanted to smack myself in the forehead at the realization that she’d basically been fighting me with one hand tied behind her back. “Oh come on! I already came up with the perfect plan to win our challenge. Now it’s going to take forever to even have a chance again.” Zee continued to smile, now looking sympathetic. “Don’t be overdramatic. You’re getting better at a very surprising rate. You could easily pull it off in another three years...two if you’re lucky. If you want it so bad, that should be nothing.” Maybe to Zee, two years was nothing more than a drop in the bucket. Not only was that a far larger demand upon my limited lifespan, but it was also probably beyond the capacity of my patience to handle Zee’s increasingly arousing torment. My plan had just become a lot more desperate. I crossed my arms and shot her my best look of supreme determination. “In two years, you’ll have been my woman for seven hundred and twenty eight days, Zee.” Zee stood immediately and pushed me against the wall of the house. Her voice came forth in a whisper that was equal parts threatening intrigue and dangerous arousal. “Is that a fact, Joseph?” Despite her larger frame looming over me and the overpowering predatory manner of her entire bearing, I unflinchingly met her gaze. “That’s a fact, Azalea. I’ll have your blood tomorrow.” A slow grin spread across her face as her silvery steel eyes bored into me. I again saw her tail flare a bit brighter for just a moment. “That fire in your eyes is something else, Joe. Part of me really hopes you make good on that.” She stopped for a moment to look me up and down, poking her claw painfully at my chest. “Fine. You have one last chance with me at a disadvantage. I’ll give you tomorrow. After that…” She trailed off as she turned and headed back into the house. As she walked away, she deliberately dragged her tail against my thigh, as much a promise as a taunt as the sinuous appendage showed a far less violent side than the one to which I’d become accustomed. While the weak flame didn’t burn my skin, their heat ignited a far different blaze within me. Was it really so bad that nothing was beneath me toward the end of getting her beneath me? I wanted Zee...and by the lords, I was going to have her. |
| It's always interesting to watch this new trend in MSG spreading ever more. :-) But I actually wonder though, does Risa actually forgot about the second (original? trasformed one) Joe and accepted that this one to be "real one"? Still, great story. |
| Signature removed. It was too good for this cruel world. |
beast_regards said: It's always interesting to watch this new trend in MSG spreading ever more. :-) But I actually wonder though, does Risa actually forgot about the second (original? trasformed one) Joe and accepted that this one to be "real one"? Still, great story. Hmm...which trend are you thinking about? And no...Risa hasn't forgotten. To be fair to her, her demon/husband had been quite out of it with constant sleep even before he disappeared and now there's someone that looks and acts suspiciously (almost exactly) like him. Who knows what will happen if/when she finds out the truth? =) |
emeraldtryst said: Who knows what will happen if/when she finds out the truth? =) I am looking forward to find out. |
| Signature removed. It was too good for this cruel world. |
| Niice :D Not sure what to comment so yeah :3 |
| Finally caught up with this after my long absence. I have only one word for this majestically convoluted story: DAAAAAAAAMN. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter 28 - This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things --Elsewhere-- “Wake up, stripling. There is much to do and precious little time in which to do it. Our enemy is already on the move.” The voice was no less powerful in its authoritatively knowing manner for the jagged rasp that edged it. Following the command was one of a far more physical nature in the sharp echo of an open hand on flesh. “Ow! What the hell?! That hurts!” a more timid voice called out at the smack that was wholly more annoyance than true pain. “Wait...where am-?” the woman began, her expression falling in dismay as she beheld the source of the demand. Peering down at the confused girl was the half-deformed face of the echidna that some rumors claimed could wield the hand of fate itself. The few individuals that had ever spoken of laying eyes upon her had all seemed changed from the experience. Always carrying herself with poise and radiating an aura that was equal parts inscrutable secrets and overwhelming arcane power, the ancient echidna, Wormtongue, was unforgettable. The human-like half of her looked as though it was the mold from which all sensuous fantasies about the female form originated. With full breasts that hung only low enough to enticingly lead the eyes across the gentle slope of her midsection and across the swells where her wide hips began. From those well-proportioned hips on down, her monstrous heritage was made visibly manifest in the powerfully sinuous snake-like tail covered in well-tended viridian scales. Her face was a vision of sultry femininity; unblemished olive skin held a pair of striking green eyes, as full of curiosity and intelligence as of conniving secrets and obscure knowledge, while her slightly upturned nose and full pouting lips served as the finishing strike on any potential mate...or so it would have been. Half of Wormtongue’s face and neck were horribly disfigured. It looked to most at first glance as nothing more than horrible burn scars. The more perceptive or determined observer, however, would see that that side of her face looked like it had been smeared as wet paint on canvas might, or wiped from existence entirely. While her good eye still shone a bright green, the other looked as a silvery pale metallic orb with only the barest hint of a white iris. Rather than hide her deformation behind her long, fiery red tresses, Wormtongue seem to delight in the looks of horror she drew on the rare occasions she interacted with another person. Some argued that her silver eye saw the strands of fate. Others argued that it saw the past or the future...and in some tellings, both at the same time. All that was known, however, was that she saw something with her dead eye and most people found meeting her gaze entirely too unnerving to speculate further. Among those that had seen her, there were as many wildly speculative opinions about her condition as there were tickle parties in the lifetime of an average imp. Some argued that she’d been born that way, others that it was part of a curse, and still others that it was a blessing from a long-dead and forgotten lord. The truth, like the woman, remained depressingly inscrutable. Coiling her snake-like body up alongside the ritual circle, Wormtongue carefully regarded the young succubus on the stone floor before her. “Is my appearance so off-putting? Or will you, like so many others, try to forget that we made a bargain?” Finding that she’d been lost in the depths of Wormtongue’s silver eye, the succubus shook her head. “But it hasn’t even...N-no, I wouldn’t have--I mean...what do you want from me?” Her neutral expression turning to one of mild amusement, Wormtongue helped the girl to her feet. “There is no need to be so flustered, but better to get it out of your system now. We’re going to be spending a great deal of time together.” Looking around in a deepening confusion, the succubus answered back, “But your request was-” Wormtongue turned away, completely ignoring the succubus. “Probably intentionally vague,” the echidna interrupted. “Nevertheless, I can easily take back what I offered you before if you are unwilling to do this task for me.” Stricken suddenly with fear, the succubus quickly shook her head. “No. I’ll do it. But...can you at least tell me what you want me to do?” “I must deliver on a very important bargain I’ve recently struck, and my predictions suggest that I will be unable to do so, sadly,” Wormtongue began with a sigh. “You will be my agent...to act where I cannot.” The succubus raised her arms in a defensive posture. “Wait, h-hold on...are you sure you have the right person for this? You’ve got to be owed a favor by someone more capable at...well...anything than me.” Seeming to ignore the succubus completely, Wormtongue began wistfully reminiscing aloud. “It used to be that fear kept most from uttering my name. The greedy or the ambitious, however, could still often be heard whispering my name into the wind like that of a long-lost lover...eager to catch my attention and make a deal with...one such as I. Now...there are so few people that even know or remember my name that...hmm...Perhaps it would be best to say only that business has been slow.” Some shred of realization dawning on the flustered succubus, she answered wryly, “Please tell me you’re not making me do this because I’m the only person you can ask.” Still seeming to ignore the succubus, Wormtongue turned back to the demon and smiled. “Trust me, you are the only person suited to this task. All will be made clear in time, and time is something of which we have precious little. We have just under a year before you must be ready.” “You’re just not going to listen if I say something you don’t want to hear, are you? Wait...a year?!” the succubus asked in a dry tone that quickly turned to agitation. “Let us go. There is much to do,” Wormtongue answered as she slithered out of the stone ritual chamber with a beckoning look back over her shoulder. “I’m coming, geez,” the succubus called out before adding under her breath with a deep sigh of resignation, “Yeah...this is going to be great.” -------------------------------- I wanted to kick myself for hesitating like I had during my last legitimate match with Zee. Putting a long dagger through my hand had somehow been fine in my head, so why had I been so afraid to eat the potential “fireball” she’d been about to throw at me? Holding on to concerns about that match had become a luxury I was no longer afforded. The noble part of me wanted to swallow the bitter pill of defeat, dedicate myself to training in earnest, and defeat Azalea in a fair match. After tightly binding that part of my mind in rope and tossing it into the Alnor harbor, I made my way to Kenzie One-Eye’s shop to pick up what I hoped would let me cheat my way past the predicted two years of brutal training. Alone with my thoughts, I had to wonder why it seemed to me that, despite being the sort of person that was made for this island, it was impossible to have only small conflicts or enemies chasing me. No, what should have been a simple exchange of, “Hey, wanna fuck forever?” followed by an overeager nod in the affirmative on my part had somehow turned into a world-spanning, life-or-death struggle...garnished with a dash of conspiracy and plated alongside fairly specific threats against anyone or anything I held, or would hold, dear. Someone should get with the sommelier to find out what wine pairs best with that dish. Just have him leave the bottle and keep ‘em coming. I would not have been surprised in the least to find out that the other ‘me’ was in on this like some sort of x-rated Total Recall. Fuck him. If he wants me to go to Mars, he can fly me there himself. With everything tied up together as it was, I was brought back around to the fact that, in the grand scheme of things, I really didn’t want to fight at all. The thought set of a firestorm of doubt and indecision. “Other” me certainly had a reason to fight. What person--human, mamono, or otherwise--would let someone get away with threatening or harming their family? Having dealt with enough painful incidents of my sealed memory peeking through the murk of the magical obfuscation under which it been placed, I realized with supreme chagrin that “his” family would eventually be mine too. In addition, given the scope of the unseen forces arrayed against us based on what I’d already seen and the very likely reality that Zee, even with her surpassingly prodigious skill, was not the greatest warrior in the land, it seemed a fool’s errand to strive toward any sort of martial greatness. So why aim for it in the first place? With my mind, not unlike the very land, being so utterly saturated with what may as well have been an independently sentient, devouringly carnal lust, it was laughable to consider not doing whatever I could to bury myself to the inexplicably nicely-trimmed (Meryl and I were going to need to have a talk about “boundaries”) hilt in my dark-skinned salamander companion. Hell, if Zee had told me I had to personally plant my ass on the Corpse Throne to get her to lift her tail, I’m pretty well convinced I’d already be wearing a French-looking bicorn hat, planning out supply lines, and working on a system to achieve optimal whore distribution to my forces to keep morale high. Wouldn’t have been too hard, right? I’m pretty sure all you need to do to conquer the world is to stay out of Russia in the winter, anyway. Taking everything together...it was going to be impossible not to fight. I comforted myself with the thought of Tesla designing his death ray. If a man that loved few things more than peace, plasma, and pigeons could come up with a such an idea in the hopes of preventing conflict...then I’d have to let myself be happy with the necessity of being able to defend myself and the ones I loved. ----------------- “Ye already paid me, but this thing is dangerous. Are ye quite sure about this, lad?” Kenzie asked before relinquishing her hold on the package I’d ordered. I nodded in response. “I know. I’m only planning to ever use it once. It’s probably not the worst idea I’ve ever had, but I appreciate the concern. Still better than a weapon that someone will probably end up using to kill someone else, right?” Kenzie smiled at that and handed the package to me. “She’ll do what ye asked, but be careful ye don’t kill yourself with her, lad.” I turned to leave, looking back at the girl with a sheepish grin. “That’s how I got into this mess in the first place. Anyway...I doubt I’ll ever need to work a plow, but if I ever need some honest metalwork done, I’ll look you up. Thanks again.” Her only response was a subtle shaking of her head and a wave of her hand as I left the shop and headed back toward Karisa’s home to prepare for the match. Despite having been shown the way only once, I wound my way through the crowded market as easily as if it had been my own cluttered bedroom. Hearing the many beckoning shouts of the market’s many merchants plying their wares set off a firestorm of trade possibilities in my mind. If there was any battlefield for which I was made, it was certainly the one upon which coins and credit took the place of claws and cudgels. Distracted by the enticing aroma of possibility, I didn’t notice the small figure before me until I’d knocked her onto her ass. Without hesitating, I reached down to offer a hand to the very small girl I’d just knocked over. If she hadn’t grabbed my wrist herself, I’d have let her go the moment I saw her face. “My, how kind of you, boy,” the witch Miranda exclaimed in a voice positively soaking in mischief. “It’s good to see that you disregarded the only piece of advice I offered you.” As much as I hated to admit it, this was actually someone that could well provide a great deal of the answers we were seeking. Getting them out of her was probably going to be the trick. I rolled my eyes before responding. “Yeah, coming to Alnor was how I got into trouble. I suppose it’s just a coincidence that Delilah was on my ass just days after I set out.” Miranda clicked her tongue and answered with a frown. “She’s a resourceful girl...too resourceful for someone so antisocial, if you ask me.” “I didn’t,” I answered with annoyance. “What do you want? I have some important things to do today.” She amusedly arched an eyebrow. “Important things? Is that what you’re calling that red-scaled war machine? Lucky draw, that one. She isn’t going to be enough for what you’re about to throw yourself in front of, though. You’ve gotten yourself into quite a mess.” “Thanks for the advice. Later,” I finished as I tried to move past the witch, already convinced she wasn’t going to tell me a damn thing of use. She caught my arm as I walked past, her look turning serious for the first time I could remember. “I mean it, Joseph.” Sighing in frustration, I turned to look down at the witch. “Look, Miranda...if you want to help me, then help. Your seal on my memory is falling apart by the day, I’ve had everything from seductive devils to Kaori generals up my ass, and I doubt I can pay whatever exorbitant cost you’d ask for your so-called ‘answers’.” I made to walk away before turning back angrily. “Why are you even pretending to care in the first place?” Not releasing her grip in the slightest, Miranda pleaded to me with her eyes as she answered, “Joseph...I…” she hesitated for several seconds before taking a deep breath to add, “Look, we were...bound together the moment I cast that blessing upon you and so my...fate is tied to yours. All I can safely tell you is that you have something the Regard wants--something nobody should have--and I’m here to renew the seal on your memory to at least make it harder for them to take it.” The little interaction I’d had with Miranda gave me no impression that she was even capable of being so serious. That convinced me that it was something I knew that was the cause of all this. Had I seen someone or something I shouldn’t have? How had I come by this piece of knowledge in the first place? “I don’t trust you or your motives, Miranda...not by a long shot,” I began. “Our enemies know far too much about our movements and the fact that I ran into you here suggests you’ve been keeping more than just a casual eye on me.” She nodded. “I have...and I always will. But I don’t have a lot of time. You can at least trust that, for the moment, we share an enemy. Will you allow me to renew the seal, Joseph?” If she was just playing some sort of complicated game with me or someone else, she wouldn’t have had any reason to ask permission to renew the seal, I reasoned. That she was asking permission sealed up a few other worries I’d had about giving up my memory in the first place. I didn’t see any possible harm in reburying what was already lost to me and of such great interest to antagonistic parties. “Fine. What do I need to do?” I asked, frowning as I realized that something more than a simple sequence of magic words had just been added to my agenda for the day. Scowling at my expression as she lead me into a nearby alley, she dropped to her knees before me once we were out of sight. “Don’t be such a baby. Where else did you think I was going to get the energy?” Shaking my head but otherwise not resisting what was about to happen, I answered dryly, “Oh, any of the several dozen brothels in the city?” She smiled up at me mischievously. “What self respecting witch would settle for a common molly-house cock peddler when they could dine on the finest whorish royalty? I also doubt I’d believe any objection you’d voice when you’ve already closed your eyes and put your hands behind your head.” It was more for a lack of reason that I made no attempt to stop her. I also did feel a bit more pent-up than usual and she was moving quickly enough that I’d still have plenty of time to get back to Karisa’s home for my appointment with Zee. A few minutes of quiet sighs passed, followed by more than a half-minute of muted, groaning release on my part as I struggled to keep my feet under me. Whatever Miranda tasted earned me more than just a grimace from her as she admirably kept herself to the task of drawing in my “energy”. “Merciful lords that was...a lot more than I was expecting,” she began as she wiped her mouth and got back to her feet. “That should be more than enough to hold me.” She then added with a slight blush, “For now. But...ahem...let’s see about repairing this seal.” No grand ritual seemed to be required as she simply touched her palm to my forehead and began muttering under her breath. I felt a warm sensation pass over me along with what sounded like hundreds of distant whispers coiling in the air just beyond the reach of my sight. Less than a minute later, she stepped back bearing an expression somewhere between satisfaction and confusion. “What? Did something go wrong?” I asked in concern. “No...the seal has been renewed. It’ll take a lot more to break it this time as well, but…” she trailed off as she seemed to ponder over something. “It wasn’t the only seal I found. There are two others. One was undoubtedly put in place by the lich, but the other I can’t identify in the slightest.” “Wait...so that means that two other people besides you have been fucking around in my head?” I asked in a growing anger. “More than that...the lich sealed away far more than I did. I...cannot even begin to guess what-” None of it mattered, right? That was another life--another me. If that was the case then why did I feel so betrayed? “It’s fine, Miranda. If this will help keep the hounds off my ass a little longer, then thanks.” Miranda seemed far different than I remembered her. Far from the callous enchantress, she now seemed like someone that genuinely cared about a lot more than herself. That left me in a pickle as to how to even categorize my thoughts on her. She turned to walk away with a small flourish of her robes. “Be careful Joseph. I didn’t trust that lich in the first place and now it seems there is far more to her about which to be concerned. This will mean little coming from me, but don’t forget that enemies can just as often be found within as without.” With that, the small witch vanished in an almost comical poof of magic, leaving me to wonder over how deep one rabbit hole could actually be. ------------------------------------------- “Here, go put this on,” Meryl offered without hesitation the moment I walked back through the door, pressing a large bundle of cloth and what felt like metal into my arms. I held onto my curiosity over what I’d just been handed to take care of a more important matter that was sure to bite me in the ass later if neglected. “Before that, I need to tell you what happened on the way back.” Her gorgeous eyes turned slightly sinister as they laid their narrowed focus directly on (and possibly through) me. “Is it going to piss me off, Joe? Because my sister has been up my ass all day about going to see mother, and if I have to suffer through anything like one of her crying fits, I’ll burn this fucking house to the ground.” Ah, family. “Well, aside from letting that witch suck me off, I found out that-” My mind picked the moment she cut me off to stumble upon a rather detailed realization about how different the social dynamic truly was on this island. If Meryl had been a normal girlfriend back on Earth, there was a good chance that my admission would have seen me banished to sleeping on the couch as punishment for at least a week. Here, it was immediately clear that I’d be saddled (possibly literally) with quite the opposite. I did find it interesting that the shame of my confession moved quite a bit more blood than just what would have been needed to blush, a great deal of my vitae choosing to migrate south for what promised to be a swampy season in the near future. “Did she force you?” Meryl interrupted, the anger in her voice cutting through me. “I didn’t ask for it...but no, she didn’t force me,” I began before explaining everything that had transpired between myself and Miranda, breathing a sigh of relief when the heat of Meryl’s fury calmed from a boil to a light simmer. Meryl was probably more cheered from the news that the seal on my memory had been strengthened than she should have been. If she’d been fighting with Karisa, it was probably mostly about me. “Damn it, Joe...even if she isn’t an enemy--which we still haven’t confirmed--she damn sure isn’t an ally and you let her drag you by the cock into an alley. She could have hurt you or spirited you out of the city completely. I can’t believe I’m about to even say this, but...could you maybe slow down on letting your cock make possible life or death choices for you?” I hadn’t even considered the possibility that Miranda wanted anything more than a quick shot of butter straight from the churn. It worried me more that I hadn’t even realized the potential danger until Meryl pointed it out. My brow furrowing at the thought, I simply nodded. “I’ll try, I guess. Now what is this...outfit?” Now wagging her tail in tandem with a pride-filled grin, Meryl happily answered my question. “I bought this from Karisa. It didn’t fit her husband anymore with the tail and the wings and she couldn’t find a tailor she trusted enough to modify it. It actually looks...er...will look great on you and those really hard pieces are dragon scales so it’s also a pretty amazing suit of armor too.” Now that was some good news! Maybe I wouldn’t have to tell all the curious mamono on my next market trip that I fell down a set of stairs or ran into a door in answer to their staring at my many bruises. Putting the bundle under my arm, I reached around Meryl with my free arm and pulled her close, smiling as I placed a grateful kiss upon her sweet lips. “Is Zee already out back?” Reluctantly letting me break the kiss, Meryl nodded. “Yeah, and she looks pretty fired up. Risa just put the girls down for a nap so you can change down here. Oh, and I’m going to watch this time. I just have to know what crazy plan of yours cost me forty thousand gold. This had better be good.” At that I heard movement from the rear patio that signified that Zee was heading inside. Not good. If Zee saw me with two identical swords, she’d know something was up. Thankfully thinking quickly enough to at least protect her investment, Meryl shoved me into the living room and moved to meet Azalea before the salamander could accidentally stumble in on me and ruin my entire plan. Quickly removing Tizona from her scabbard, I rested her on the pommel between the wall and the large leather couch to hide her as best I could. I heard a soft tearing sound as I wedged the weapon behind the large piece of furniture as quickly as I could manage, uttering a silent apology to the fine weapon as I hid the blade as best I could. “He’s late, we were supposed to do this before noon,” I heard Zee’s voice call from down the hall. “Well, he’s changing into the present I got him so he can beat you today and finally stop obsessing over that whole...whatever you have going on there,” Meryl answered back with a hint of challenge in her voice to delay Zee. I had to wonder if they knew I could hear them. Regardless, I didn’t want to get caught with my pants down just yet. Satisfied that Tizona wouldn’t be found without dedicated effort that I doubted Zee would expend without cause, I slid the specially crafted replica weapon into the sheath. I then doffed my clothes and began sliding myself into the clothing Meryl had just given me. The cloth itself felt even smoother than silk but proved to be far more durable and elastic. It was obvious that the suit had been tailored specifically for me and was impossibly comfortable. Any weight from the supernaturally hard dragon scales had been distributed perfectly, the tailor managing to avoid anything that would have damaged the stylistic profile of the attire. Whatever the truth of my combat prowess, the fetching suit of armored clothing certainly made me look a lot more impressive. I had only a few moments to look myself over in admiration, however, before Zee strode into the room with a smile. “Oh ho. You’re wearing my color, Joe. And are those…?” Zee asked as her hands ran along the ridge of one of the many dragon scales that adorned my outfit. “Dragon scales...unbelievable. You really want to win this, don’t you?” As Zee looked me over, the flames on her tail grew brighter again as the scaled appendage swayed back and forth in anticipation. She continued with a seductive smile that had been more and more present on her lips of late. “This makes me want to fight so much harder, Joe,” she began as she drew in a deep breath that was exhaled as a palpable lust born from her desire to fight. “Come on...I want to see if you’ve got what it takes to deliver on all that talk from yesterday.” --------------------- I felt paralyzed. Even with all of the time I’d spent planning and preparing for this moment, I couldn’t bring myself to be okay with so blatantly cheating to win our contest. I felt the wind rushing past me. A powerful kick to my chest had set me to sailing backwards to land several meters away on my back. “Joe!” Zee and Meryl shouted in tandem as Zee ran over to look me over with concern. “What’s wrong?” The armored clothing had definitely done its job as I felt only a slight throbbing where the kick had connected. “I can’t do it, Zee. I...think I could beat you today, but to do it I’d have to-” “Cheat? Fight dirty? Use magic? If you think any of that might be enough to give you an edge then you’re a fool to even hesitate using it,” she spat back angrily, clearly having had this conversation many times before. Shaking my head, I looked back up at the imposing salamander. “But this whole time, I’ve been fighting you honestly. I thought I’d be okay with it, but cheating feels wrong somehow...like having your body as a reward would be the ultimate betrayal.” Prodding me with her clawed foot, she frowned down at me. “Joe, listen to me. You’re the one that put those ‘honorable’ restrictions on yourself. Even though all this time it’s like I’ve been fighting you with one arm tied behind my back. There were a lot of lessons to take out of our training, but you’re missing one of the most important ones.” Was I missing something? “What, that I need to play dirty to have any chance of winning? This all started because of my impure desire to add yet another notch to my belt. Can you really be okay with that?” She bored into me with her eyes as she answered. “What’s more pure than combat, Joe? There is only one possible goal and two possible outcomes. Your goal is to win...and you either achieve that goal or you don’t. Nothing else matters in a fight.” “It isn’t always that simple,” I countered. Zee shook her head, her eyes never leaving me. “Life sure isn’t that simple, but fighting is. In a real fight with someone that wants you dead, nothing outside the fight matters--not your family, your friends, or the front door you forgot to lock. Letting those things distract you just gives your opponent another advantage.” “But if I cheat to win, it won’t even feel like I truly bested you...and with the prize I wanted, I’d just be-” I began before she again cut me off. Azalea stepped away from me, seemingly lost in thought for several moments. When she turned back, she looked more angry than anything else. “Joe, I’ve never been beaten in a real fight and I’ve been a warrior for over seven hundred years. Your baffling arrogance is part of what I like about you, but do you seriously think that in all that time, every single one of my opponents was as pure as the driven snow, unwilling to use unfair or underhanded tactics to take any advantage they could? If you, with your frail mortal body, actually manage something that nobody in seven centuries ever could could...trust me, you’ll have your ‘prize’ from me today whether you want it or not. If you’re scared that whatever you thought up isn’t going to be enough to win our challenge, then just stay down and accept defeat. I’ll be disappointed, but I’m not going to think less of you as long as you keep training. However you manage to pull it off, if you actually manage to draw blood then I was either underestimating you or failing to see something important...and the only way we get better is to face our failings. I’ll be more pissed at you if you don’t try whatever you’ve been planning...and you should be too if you let yourself bitch out.” That was pretty much what I needed to hear. Azalea knew it, and the look from Meryl suggested that the vixen knew it as well. Who was I trying to kid here? Zee was a head taller than me, at least as strong as a lowland gorilla, and so far beyond me in skill that even making a serious comparison was an insult. If I boiled it down to one simple goal and only one of two possible outcomes...I truly would have been foolish to ignore any weapon I had at hand. “Sorry I almost fucked this all up. Let’s start over, Zee. And I had better not hear any crying when this is all over, because I’m playing to win.” She began advancing on me with her serious look put forth “Well then you’d better hold your breath because you’ll get no tears from me today.” Seeing the momentary strengthening twinkle of Azalea’s tail flame confirmed that I’d said exactly what she wanted to hear. Azalea’s skin flushed for a moment before she held her advance to reassume the stance in which she’d started this conflict. Finally drawing my weapons, I looked at Zee for any changes in her stance before starting the attack routine I’d been practicing since I’d first stumbled upon the idea of beating her. It certainly wasn’t going as smoothly as I’d hoped. The improvements I’d made to my form had already been accounted for, and Zee’s attacks had a lot more weight and power behind them than before. It felt like the fact that I was wearing protective gear was simply making the salamander more dangerous. Diving far wide of an upward swing, I rolled and came to my feet in a stop thrust to give myself some breathing room. She leapt back out of range just before I would have made contact. “You barely avoided that one, Zee. You sure you aren’t you really looking forward to being penetrated by my weapon?” I teased as I quickly got to my feet and wiped the sweat from my brow. “You haven’t convinced me you know how to use it yet, Joe. If you fuck anything like you fight, I expect you’ll be quick, sloppy, and end up leaving me unsatisfied,” she retorted. “And if you’re going to try to taunt me, you’d do better to use something I haven’t heard.” We’d been at it less than two minutes and I was already feeling winded. The armor I was wearing may have been exceptionally light and flexible, but it was still extra weight and while it wasn’t really slowing me down, it was putting the screws to my stamina. As badly as I wanted it, this just wasn’t going to happen without playing dirty. I had to make my move, and it had to be soon. “Maybe I’ll…” I stepped forward into a deep lunge, twisting my body sideways to avoid her riposte. “...surprise you.” I countered her attempt to grab me by thrusting with my off-hand blade as she made a powerful pivot on her toes. As I rolled under her slash, I made a crosswise swipe of my own. Her small leap was so smooth and fluid, it was as though her body was made of water. This exact scenario had played out at least a dozen times, each time with only slight variations on the result. I’d just never been quick enough to capitalize on how open she left herself with that leap that would be followed by a fierce downward slash. If I’d been a bit quicker or more skilled, I could have deflected her strike to land a telling one of my own--at least in theory. The reality was that it was impossible to know how she might have adapted to such a tactic and could have had any number of answers. That’s why it had to be that moment for me to unleash my deception. Having already regained my balance after practicing the roll so many times, I dropped my off-hand weapon, gripped the hilt of the modified Tizona in both hands, and met her swing with an outright block, every ounce of strength in my arms and legs pushing my steel to meet hers. With a deafening ring as the blades met, Zee’s expression was one of disappointment and then anger...and then surprise as my weapon shattered upon impact. Just as planned. I’d envisioned this moment so many times that I was almost in awe that it had worked at all. As several large pieces of shrapnel flew towards Zee--any one of them likely enough to draw blood--she let loose her grip on her weapon and shielded her face as she literally threw herself backwards. Still holding a serviceable weapon, I charged at Zee to claim my victory. I kept my guard up, knowing that any one of her appendages could still knock me out of the fight. Her tail had flared up as bright as I’d ever seen it as time passed in slow motion. As Zee finished her roll, it wasn’t disappointment I saw on her face any longer, but an assured smile. I was put off, not by the fact that she was smiling, but by the realization that her movements were too fast to have been improvised. She must have known I had a plan like this, or that something like this could happen. I was a step away from her as I closed in, suddenly feeling a sharp pain in my foot and only then seeing the large piece of the fake Tizona that had been driven through the top of my boot. I made a fatal stumble as Zee continued her movement to end in a powerful low stance, her body already spinning to bring her tail at me in a brutal sweeping attack. My blade was still on a trajectory that couldn’t be stopped, right toward the unarmored thigh upon which she was pivoting. Even if her tail knocked me out, there was still a good chance that I’d land the attack I’d unleashed. Except that it wasn’t a simple tail sweep, her tail actually hitting the ground in tandem with one of her powerful arms to vault her body over my desperate thrust, the last thing I saw being her scaly clawed foot descending toward my face in an arc. ------------------ I was no stranger to being unconscious, but this was among the rudest awakenings I could remember. “Damn it, Joe...wake your ass up,” I heard Zee demand as my face was roughly slapped. “Don’t wanna,” I lamented as I covered my eyes, realizing that I’d been laid on the couch in the study. “Do you have any idea how much that sword cost to make? I had it crafted specially for you!” she added as she pulled my hands away from my eyes. “No you didn’t. That sword was a copy...and it was like forty thousand gold or something. Making a nearly exact copy of a sword like that isn’t cheap,” I groaned, matter-of-factly. She shook her head and looked down at me with a frown. “So you spent more than I did on the original just to dust the yard with the pieces.” She cheered slightly as she continued, “It was surprising though. I never would have expected you’d risk destroying a sword you intentionally gave such a meaningful name.” I had a splitting headache and I wasn’t in the mood to have a chat about how I almost pulled it off. Not to mention two more years of Zee tormenting my libido every day. “Yeah, it was a mistake. I was sure either the shrapnel or the the functional piece that was left of the weapon would have been enough. Whatever...it’s just pride and money, right?” I asked as I stood up from the comfortable couch. “That was a lot of gold, Joe,” Meryl chimed in from across the room. “How were you planning on paying me back?” “Black magic or something. I don’t know Meryl. I wasn’t planning to lose and I’d have been a lot happier dealing with the debt if I had something to show for it.” “So that’s why you and Meryl were acting weird earlier. Then...where did you hide the real sword?” Zee asked. Sighing in frustration, I stepped around Zee to the back of the couch I’d just been laying on and grabbed for the hidden weapon, only to find it stuck in the leather. That was just one more thing I didn’t need that day after my grand plan had gone straight down the shitter. Realistically, I couldn’t be too upset given that I’d just been handed yet another defeat at the hands of one of the greatest warriors I’d probably ever meet. The thought, however, wasn’t making me feel any better. “Be careful, you’re going to destroy the-” Zee attempted before the three of us (and probably Karisa somewhere else in the house) heard the sound of an expensive piece of furniture losing a great deal of its initial value. “Whatever,” I thought, ready to add the cost of the furniture to my pointless debts of the day. With the throbbing pain in my foot acting as the icing on the cake, I simply didn’t care. With another grunt, I yanked violently at the weapon as it came free all at once, throwing me backwards into Zee’s thankfully waiting arms. Catching me, Zee spoke in a gently scolding tone. “Be careful, Joe. It isn’t the end of the world.” “So, Zee?” Meryl suddenly asked, her ears perked up in full-on mischief mode. “Is Joe allowed to attack you while you’re sleeping or taking a piss? Like...it doesn’t matter as long as he draws blood?” “Why the sudden interest, Meryl? You afraid he’s had enough fluffy tail?” Zee joked. “I doubt he’d ever get enough of any sort of tail, if you must know. Really, I was just curious,” Meryl answered with more than her normal level of snark. I wasn’t sure if Meryl was just trying to cheer me up, but the fact that she seemed to be trying to help give me other options was making me smile a bit. “That was the deal. So yeah, however he manages to pull it off. Why, are you going to start trying to teach him how to sneak around like a thief?” Zee wondered, not impressed at all. “Nah. Oh, but here,” Meryl said as she tossed a set of keys to Zee. “The girls are already asleep so those are for my place. The large one is for the gate, the smaller one is for the front door. It’s two houses down to the north. Just clean up when you’re done.” “What are you even-” Zee began with a hint of anger. Gesturing to her own cheek, Meryl’s smile widened. “You’ve got a little something...riiiight there.” Turning to look at Azalea, I saw a small trail of blood running down her cheek from a tiny nick just below her eye. As she wiped the small amount of blood away, her eyes went first to Meryl, then to me, and then looked as if they might roll back in her head. “You’ve got to be kidding me...oh, sweet lords...” Zee remarked in a defeated tone that wasn’t entirely bereft of something resembling excited anticipation. Figuring out what happened as I looked more closely, it became clear that the great warrior Azalea had managed to lose our challenge, taking the tiny nick from Tizona as I’d tumbled back into her arms. ‘Twas not my skill that had defeated her, but the cruel hand of fate...and a leather couch. It may have been the only time fate had stepped up to the plate for me and actually delivered. As far as I was concerned, it was about damn time, too. After being convinced by Zee before our fight that I should take absolutely any advantage open to me, what sort of person would I have been to ignore the advantage of dumb luck? Fuck if I was going to complain about it now. |
| Heh. Don't knock perks from dumb luck. Where would Darkstar be without them? |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| I love this chapter for a number of reasons but I'm mad you ended it at Joe's "victory" you should have ended it with a 3000 word h scene describing every detail of Zee taking out her pent up sexual aggression on Joe But alas that is for another day Great chapter |
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| Just a day or two ago I thought nothing is happening in MSG anymore. And now, so much stuff |
| Signature removed. It was too good for this cruel world. |
| Chapter 29 - Attack Upon The Unsundered Gate When Zee stormed out of the room, I didn’t think there was even a remote chance that she had any intention of keeping up her end of our deal. I wouldn’t have even entirely expected her to given how I’d “won” our challenge. Her expression was nearly impossible to read in the moments before she’d vanished, however. “Seriously though, how are you going to pay me back for all that gold, hmm?” Meryl asked, her attempt to change the subject feeling more like a taunt than anything else. “I’ve been giving it some thought but I’ve obviously had a lot of other things on my mind, okay?” Meryl took a few steps closer to me only to push the damaged side of the couch back against the nearby wall. “Don’t want to be on the hook for this too,” she began with a conspiratorial wink, her smile turning into a frown a moment later. “No, Joe. It’s not okay. And before you get all pissy about me being selfish, it isn’t just going to be me.” “What do you mean?” I asked, not sure what she was getting at. Satisfied that the damage I’d caused to Karisa’s furniture wouldn’t be noticed, Meryl tossed herself down onto the soft leathery cushions. “I mean that if you’re having trouble worrying about just two women, you’re going to have some serious problems with however many more you seem determined to pick up. And this is more than just sex. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, we mamono have plenty of desires beyond that.” I knew what she was saying but this really didn’t feel like the time for it. “I know, Meryl, and I’m sorry. It won’t be a problem forever. I’d take issue with you thinking I owe you any gold, however.” Her frown deepened. “Oh really?” I could tell she was about to be very upset--all part of my plan to pull her off balance. “Yeah. If we’re more than just friends or lovers, aren’t we supposed to forget about the things that are ‘mine’ and the things that are ‘yours’ and think of it all as ‘ours’?” Apparently she was several steps ahead of me, a light smile returning as she replied. “Oh, you’re right! They actually have a legal way to handle that exact situation, too. It’s called marriage, and if you’re saying that you’re ready, Joe…” Even though she was messing with me, I could tell that she wasn’t entirely joking. I liked her, sure...but marriage? Maybe I just had some hangups over the word itself. I did know more than enough about Meryl to know that I doubted I’d ever want her to disappear from my life. Isn’t that what marriage was, really? “Actually, Meryl…” I began with a thoughtful look at her. “Whoa, hold on. I mean...yes, we should do that, but not until you’re sure that’s what you want. Damn, didn’t think you’d call my bluff there. We’ll have to talk about it tomorrow with Zee...and maybe my sister. I can’t even fathom how the Alnor laws will be able to handle a situation like this. Oh, and have fun...but not too much,” Meryl suddenly added with a wide smile. Before I could ask what she meant, I was nearly dragged off my feet by Zee grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the door. “I thought you were coming. Let’s go.” Zee still didn’t seem pleased, but there were now definitely the very familiar notes of a growing lust plainly showing in the tone of her voice. ----------- Meryl’s house was even larger and more well-appointed than Karisa’s. That just made me wonder why it looked like she hadn’t lived in the place for several months at the least, even after having spent several days there since we’d arrived back in Alnor. With a wide open design plan, nearly every part of the first floor was visible upon entering. Large Greek-style columns stood like a stone forest between the vaulted ceiling and the gorgeous marble tiles beneath. The few walls on the first floor concealed only a kitchen, a bath, and a toilet. I also couldn’t have missed the massive painting that had caused me any number of problems, hung obviously above a large hearth that dominated a large sitting area at the far side of the house, opposite the entrance. With a level of detail that suggested that any one of the three individuals depicted might leap from the canvas, I observed an impossibly lewd display of myself engaged with Delilah and Karisa in the Alnor market square. From the looks of the painting there were also dozens of spectators. Zee looked at the painting for a moment and then looked back at me, pausing for only seconds before she began pulling me along again, this time up the stairs. The second floor, to which I’d been dragged despite my pained limp, was divided into five large bedrooms. Within what had to be the master bedroom, the open space still managed to feel intimate, courtesy of the abundance of softness that permeated nearly everything within. With a large circular bed, clad in fine silks, a welcoming floor of plush red carpet, and evocatively dark tapestries hung on the walls, the room was overtly sensual without feeling sleazy or overdone. Pushing me into the room and onto the bed, Zee closed the door and leaned back against it, breathing far heavier than she’d been even after the fight with the orc Hilde. Her eyes seemed to be searching the room for something upon which she could focus that wasn’t me as her face wore an expression of embarrassment or...fear. Seeing her expression, I tried to speak. “Zee, we don’t have to-” “It isn’t that, Joe. I want this...so much that it’s driving me mad. I just wanted--needed to know if you meant what you said before about wanting more...with me.” Her voice was uneven, like a mother calling for a lost child. I nodded. “That’s what I said before and I meant it. I was actually going to talk to you and Meryl tomorrow about...things.” She seemed to disregard everything beyond my acknowledgement as she continued. “I’m just really scared right now...of what I’ll do, what you’ll do...what will happen. I’ve heard stories...what if I get too excited and hurt you, or-” Standing up from the bed, I took two steps toward Zee. “This is what we both want right now, right?” I continued to step closer, remaining just out of reach as Azalea held her ground despite visibly shaking knees. “If I die from this, just have my tombstone say that I died doing what I love.” The butterflies in my stomach began holding an impromptu cirque as I realized that what I said could have been taken more than one way...and that I was okay with her taking either meaning. Her steely eyes leaping to meet mine, she angrily countered, “You dumbass! Don’t even say something like that! What if-” That was enough questions for one day, I determined with a firm resolve. Maybe to a nearly ageless mamono, it was easier to let such moments draw themselves out. To someone like me, the moment was already too full of far more important things to let worries about “what if” get in the way. Before she could finish whatever silly statement she was about to make, I took a large step forward and placed my hand gently on her neck, locking my gaze upon hers for only another moment to feel for resistance before leaning in and drawing her into a kiss. By her reaction, I was sure that this was the first truly unexpected thing I’d done since the rules of our challenge had been set. Without removing my hand as it rested gently upon her dark skin, I broke our kiss and looked up at Zee, seeing her looking shocked beyond the capacity to even draw breath. “More?” I whispered softly, the touch of my breath easily calling goosebumps to every inch of her exposed skin. “Mhm,” she answered with a fervent nod, suddenly remembering the need to breathe. The desire to make this as perfect an experience for her as possible the only thing holding my desire in check, I placed another tiny kiss upon those full luscious lips that had been driving me to distraction since the first time I’d laid eyes upon them. “Just like you swore to me, I promise I’ll never go easy on you, Zee.” The scarce few moments of blessed contact with Zee’s lips left little else on my mind beyond a sincere need to feel their touch again. I’d hardly let myself truly experience how it felt to kiss my beautiful salamander companion, the lingering feeling of softness the only thing remaining in the wake of that impulsive act. I would never make that mistake again. Fully embracing Azalea, I felt her entire body shaking like an overwound spring, threatening to snap at the slightest touch. From fear or from suppressing her more monstrous desires, the touch of my far more insistent kiss did nothing to lessen the tension in her body or make the cause any more clear. Trying to draw her into the rhythm of the moment felt like dragging a mule through a car wash. She made no attempt to push me away, even after our tongues clumsily touched, her breath only catching as a growing heat began to suffuse her skin. She was full of a dangerously growing sexual tension, to be sure. For all I knew, that urge had been building, suppressed, within her since she was old enough to understand the feeling in the first place. On top of that, a pile of worries and insecurities seemed to have her feeling like she had no way to unleash that tension. Brushing back a lock of her dark hair that had escaped her fierce ponytail, I smiled softly up at her. “Zee, what are you afraid of?” She looked down at me, her eyes bleeding forth a palpable fear that I never could have imagined ever seeing in Zee. “You, Joe. I’m afraid of you.” I gaped in disbelief. “How is that possible? You said yourself that you could crush my skull if you wanted to, and we both know I’ll never be a match for you in battle. I’m shortsighted when contemplation is needed and thoughtful when the situation calls for action. What about me could possibly make you afraid, Zee?” She turned her eyes away, directing them to some invisible point on the floor across the room. “Every time I look at you I feel...lesser. I watch you swallow sadness, even when it isn’t your own, as though it is nothing more than a bitter medicine to make you stronger while my sadness poisons me and rots me away from the inside.” She then brought her tail into my line of sight, the flame still weak, but steady. “Because of you, this flame refuses to go out. Fighting for something that matters has always made it bright but I’m still afraid of what will happen if I make the wrong choice again.” I hadn’t been through anything nearly as terrible as what Zee had endured...that I could remember anyway. But how long did someone have to suffer under such a heavy burden before they could set it down? Keeping my grip on her but making no attempt to push her any further until she was ready, I continued, “You were a leader, Zee. What did you tell your soldiers when they were afraid? I know that you’d never tell them to run when they got too afraid--to show the enemy their backs and worry only about their own survival.” She looked thoughtful as she considered what I said, probably already thinking of a way to tell me that this was different than a battle. Swallowing hard, I continued, “I’m here with you now, Zee. Whatever demons you’re trying to face, you don’t have to do it alone. Knowing that someone like you has my back is what gives me that strength. We’re in this together--you, me, Meryl, and probably a bunch of other people I don’t even remember. I’ve got lords only know how many enemies just dying to take a piece of me, but I’m not going to run.” I then extended a hand as though asking her to dance. “Zee, you reached down and pulled me out of the mud when I wanted to give up. Well...now my hand is right here for the taking, and if you choose to take it, I won’t let go.” I expected her to spend several minutes mulling over what I’d just said, starting in surprise when I felt the passing of only a single heartbeat before she placed her crimson-scaled hand in mine and tightly squeezed. And so we danced. As my mind was left reeling by how quickly Zee had made her decision, my concerned reluctance was brought immediately to task as her body nearly melted into my arms a moment later, the tension so tightly bound up within her starting to rapidly unravel. The seconds following saw Azalea assert herself in claiming our first true kiss, the satiny lusciousness of her lips so quickly stealing my strength that it felt like my legs had been kicked out from under me. What she so clearly lacked in experience, she made up in a renewed enthusiasm that was only growing by the moment, her breath already coming hot as our tongues met again in a tentative accord. As that oral embrace grew more intense, I felt the softness of Zee’s palms as they slid beneath my clothes wherever they could find purchase to touch my skin. I returned the gesture, running my hands under her armor, across her powerful feminine shoulders and down to the small of her back, drawing my fiery companion toward the bed as our passionate kiss worked to set our desires further aflame. “Ah-!” Zee exclaimed as I tripped over the bed and pulled the two of us down onto the silken softness. I set about quickly setting my fingers to the task of undoing the many straps and clasps that held her light armor in place, finding the undertaking quite a bit more daunting than my legendary one-handed bra-removing skills could handle. After several minutes of failed attempts by either of us to do anything more than tease the other with our shared inability to get the other any closer to a state of undress, Zee suddenly pushed me away. Zee jumped to her feet and focused on undressing herself in an obvious growing frustration. “Damn it, Joe! I thought you were supposed to be the professional here. Look, the clasp is-” she suddenly froze as she looked back at me. In the few moments she’d looked away to start pulling off her armor, I’d completely shucked my clothing, sitting on the edge of the bed to watch her in rapt fascination. Blushing in embarrassment all the way down to my toes as she looked at me, I couldn’t help but chuckle as I watched her trying to keep her eyes on two different things at once. With her grip now fumbling over the clasps of the armor that she’d probably been taking on and off for decades, it looked like she might actually cry in frustration. “I can help you with-” I began before I saw her eyes harden. “Don’t you even move, I’ve-” she began as she simply grabbed the chest section and ripped the protective gear off, destroying the straps completely and sending at least a few pieces of metal flying across the room to points unknown. “-got it now.” The look of fearful anticipation returned as she stood naked before me only moments later, her head turned away even as her eyes remained fixed on me. Just taking in the view of the woman before me, shying away from me when she’d have likely had no problem facing a dragon nose to nose, let the gravity of the gift I was already seeing sink in. Seeing Zee so vulnerable for the first time let me remember that, beneath her armor and scales was a beating heart that deserved to thump in time with another. “Am I...pretty?” she asked, still standing a few meters from the bed. I took a deep breath and shifted my position to give her an unobstructed view of my obvious arousal. “Pretty is what you call flowers and little girls, Zee.” I was going to have to make the first move here so I stood up and grabbed the arm she was using in a poor attempt to cover her substantial assets. “You...take my breath away” Wait...wasn’t an azalea actually a flower anyway? I could worry about semantics later. The look on her face meant she took my meaning as I’d hope she would. As my words of assurance passed across her membranous finned ears, her demeanor shifted. Having seen and heard all she needed, she wasn’t about to simply lay back and let herself be claimed like a human. Becoming the sultry temptress I knew she could be, Zee pushed me easily onto my back atop the bed and stalked toward me, the lust-filled look in her eyes making it clear she intended to draw yet another surrender from me. She may have known, but certainly didn’t fully understand, that sex was far more than just an occasional hobby for me. H-scene. Nothing too extreme With her breathing slowing back to the calm and even, Zee still seemed bitterly reluctant to release me from her arms. “Just a little longer, Joe. I don’t want to ever forget this feeling.” Zee squeezed me tighter, her arms feeling protective now more than possessive. “Um...I wasn’t planning on that being the only time we ever do this, you know,” I tried to protest. Reaching down to smack me hard on my exposed ass, she only squeezed tighter. “It’s the only time it’ll ever be the first time, you ass.” “Fine. But don’t blame me if I get the urge to start moving again,” I teased with a smile. Grinning back at me, she pushed the hair from my face. “I was hoping you might.” If that wasn’t an engraved invitation… “I won’t go easy on you this time either,” I offered with a tiny shaking of my hips. With a small gasp, her eyes narrowed in a renewed desire. “Good. You wield this weapon with far more skill than any others. Show me what else you can do with it.” -------------------------- Not entirely sure how we were expected to “clean up” after what became the messiest sexual encounter I’d ever had, I tossed the pile of soaked bedding into a nearby basket and rushed to meet Zee in the foyer before heading back together towards Karisa’s nearby home. After several hours of very spirited...activity, I found that I wasn’t much more exhausted than I would have been after a long jog through the city. Something about that bothered me, but seeing the bounce in Zee’s step as we headed back convinced me that whatever was happening to me was worth it. My wounded foot wasn’t troubling me nearly as much as we headed back, lost as I was in a euphoric daze until running headlong into Zee’s back as she came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the street. “Zee! What the-” I exclaimed. Zee cursed as she threw her unwearable armor to the ground and pulled her falchion free of its sheath. “Joe, draw your weapons and wait here. Something is very wrong.” Looking around, I didn’t see anyone or anything about which to be concerned. It took several moments to realize that the problem was that there wasn’t anyone around. Even during a change in the guard, there would almost certainly have been at least one member of the watch visible on the wide street. Leaving me in the street, Zee strode inside without hesitating. Seconds later I heard the sound of steel on steel and rushed to the entryway. In the foyer, I saw Zee amidst several unfamiliar armed figures as well as a few others that I recognized immediately, to my immediate dismay. From the doorway, I could make out Hilde, several obvious mercenaries, and the masked salamander from our encounter at the old guard post. Advancing menacingly on an already bloodied Meryl were two of the mercenaries. Meryl was armed with a hatchet and a short spear that she wielded with a surprising amount of skill. She was, however, outnumbered and outmatched until Zee crossed the threshold, quickly dispatching two of the mercenaries. Pulling her greataxe from her shoulder, Hilde remarked confidently, “Oh, now it’s a party. Can I kill her this time, boss?” “You can try,” the masked salamander answered with no visible reaction as she crossed her arms. “You have until our targets are through the portal.” Zee didn’t even slow her stride as two more mercenaries, a goblin and a werecat, charged her. Kicking the body of what appeared to be a fallen elf at the catgirl, Zee followed up with a two-handed swing that the goblin tried to block with a large hammer. Cleaving completely through the haft of the hammer, the goblin went down screaming when her arm was taken off at the shoulder by the fierce strike. As a sickening amount of blood poured from the wound, Zee was already following up, grabbing the unbalanced catgirl to use her as an unfortunate shield against Hilde’s first vicious attack. Another swing of a weapon--another life ended for some infuriatingly inscrutable reason. I figured Zee had to have the orc well in hand...and if she didn’t, my actions wouldn’t have mattered anyway. With that thought in mind and the pain in my foot completely forgotten, I dashed toward Meryl as she tried desperately to hold off a pair of green-scaled lizard girls. One of the two enemies facing Meryl sidestepped and regarded my approach with amusement, facing me with a sword and shield. I had no idea if I could hope to match a mamono in a straight up fight, and I didn’t really want to find out. Luckily, I had a longer reach than this lizard girl and had been beaten senseless by Zee’s tail enough times to know how to deal with another one. Given that the pair of lizards hadn’t yet brought down Meryl, I could also be assured that she wasn’t as good as Zee. Taking all of that together, none of it made me any less spineless. I shot a look at Meryl and then at her opponent, hoping she would pick up on what I was thinking. She didn’t make any outward acknowledgement, but she was certainly the more subtle between the two of us when such was needed. “If you think I’m just some simple man you can smack around and then have your way with, you’re sorely mistaken,” I boasted as I circled around her. “Though if you surrender, I’ll toss a pity fuck your way as a consolation. What do you say?” Reacting as if she’d just heard one of the funniest jokes ever told, her eyes narrowed and a slow smile spread across her face. “I wouldn’t let your festering whore’s rod inside me. And if you think holding a weapon makes you more than a simple man then you’ve-” Seeing Meryl move out of the corner of my eye was enough of a signal for me. I took two large steps and made a deep lunge--right at the lizard that was focused on Meryl, catching her in the back of the shoulder. The distraction allowed Meryl to bury her spear in the woman’s chest. Still unbalanced from my attack, I barely managed to deflect the incoming sword strike from my own opponent, taking a grazing slash to my side and then a shield bash to the face that threw me off my feet--just as Meryl tossed the wicked-looking hatchet at my opponent, catching her in the neck. I was only on the ground a moment before Meryl had me back on my feet as she ushered me toward the door. “Zee can handle this...you can’t be here, Joe. We have to go now,” Meryl demanded, her tone not leaving the slightest room for argument. With seven mercenaries on the ground and only two opponents left facing Zee, I wasn’t terribly worried about the outcome...at least until what transpired in the next several moments. After fighting Hilde to a standstill, Zee quickly began taking the upper hand. Still deceptively fast with such a large weapon, Hilde made a series of powerful attacks, forcing Zee into a defensive posture. After making several dodges backwards and to either side, the final attack in the sequence saw Zee vaulting forward over the massive greataxe to headbutt Hilde in the face, following up with a kick to the inside of Hilde’s left leg. As the orc could do little but howl in obvious pain from the two attacks and Zee was already bringing her weapon around to finish the orc, the masked figure finally moved. I say that she moved because she was no longer standing where she had been, now standing behind Zee with her weapon raised. Before I could even shout a warning, Zee was already in a dive to her right. Had she been wearing her armor, the strike wouldn’t have made any meaningful contact. As things stood, however, the masked woman drew a bloody gash across Zee’s unprotected back. Zee recovered far better than I would have hoped, coming up in a defensive stance as she scanned her opponent. My salamander companion then growled in an unfamiliar anger, turning and walking toward the lizard girl I’d struck, the fallen combatant still breathing but with a spear stuck in her chest. The masked woman simply watched as Zee yanked the spear free and held it in her off-hand, all while Hilde struggled to her feet in an attempt to rejoin the fray. With Meryl still trying to drag me from the house, I turned and angrily hissed at her, “What the fuck are you doing, Meryl?! What about your sister and the girls?” Meryl didn’t even hesitate as she slapped me hard across the cheek, her face pale and eyes already rimmed in red. “She wouldn’t hurt them...but we have to go, now!” “Who wouldn’t hurt them?” I asked. The loud clatter of clashing weapons drew my eyes back to Zee as I watched her single-handedly holding off both of her opponents--barely. On nearly every exchange of blows between the three of them, Zee managed to land several hits on the badly flagging Hilde while managing to keep the masked woman from landing any telling blows. It was like watching a puzzle being assembled--if such could be done with the grace and precision of a ballet dancer. Zee was still taking hits from the masked woman, but the many tiny cuts weren’t adding up to much and it was clear that Hilde was barely still standing, the orc bleeding from a dozen wounds and her face already swelling where the spear shaft had connected on more than one occasion. After another brutal exchange, Zee leaned in against Hilde and caught her descending axe at the top of its arc, her tail sweeping the orcs wounded leg. A fierce kick to the falling orc’s face then sent her into a bloody tumble across the stone floor, removing her from the fight. Zee’s cost for taking out Hilde was two small cuts across her upper chest from a pair of attacks that had been too quick for her to fully stop. As Zee then turned to face the masked woman, a trio of figures appeared at the top of the stairs as a black portal opened on the first stair landing, across the room from us. Coming down the stairs, I saw the witch Mira leading the two other figures toward the portal. Seeing me being pulled toward the door, the witch happily waved at me with both hands, flashing a wide grin as she advanced, unconcerned by the fight that was between us, toward the portal that had materialized. The first figure trailing behind the witch, carrying the unconscious Risa gently in her arms, was Ixi, the undead dragon girl I’d seen in the Prosperity mines. The care with which she held the young mother was evidence enough to me that this was the genuine article. I tried to blink away disbelief as I saw that the second figure. Stopping at the apex of the stairs with the two young twins held sleeping in her pale arms, her eyes burning with an unfamiliarly chilling violet flame as they focused in my direction, was the absolutely unmistakable form of the lich Delilah. |
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