A K'nali was grazing peacefully in a field.
His mate had just given birth.
As he was munching on the grass filling his second stomach he realized something, he was happy. No, happy was to mediocre a word, he was exuberant!
After many mating seasons and endless battles he was finally chosen by a female!
And better yet she gave birth to two healthy young.
This is the best season of his life, he can't wait to teach his young about the world, and maybe have more young next mating season.
Truly nothing could ruin this perfect bright-time.
Sliiik!
Pop!
Crack!
Ahhh! The pain! Something hard hit his leg, now it won't move.
He begins to lick it, hoping the pain would get better.
A two-legger came out of the bushes where the hard thing had come from.
This is wrong, two-leggers hunt with pointy sticks not hard things!
Also, it smells wrong, the scent of mating and death linger in the air as it walks.
The two-legger puts its foot on his body and grasps his hurt leg, then it pulls until his leg comes off.
Ahhhh! He wants it to stop, but the two-legger keeps ripping parts off of him.
He hopes his young know their forbearer wanted to be there for them.
The two-legger grabs his face last and starts to pull slowly.
He wishes the best for his young and mate. Live long and happy lives, he loves yo.....
....
< Why did you do that?! >
Because I was bored.
I threw the head of the dumb beast into the bushes.
< You're horrible. >
Succubus remember?
I started walking towards the road to Dieneer house again.
< Some succubus you are, sneaking around like some rat. Your first servant lusts after someone else, and now you're pretending to be a simple maid. >
I threw her into another hellscape, that she will escape within the hour.
I got to the road and started up it.
Dumb whore doesn't know what she is talking about!
I'm only being furtive until I'm strong enough to eradicate anyone who gets in my way.
And Darisyn does lust after me, he just doesn't know how to show it properly.
And this pretending to be a servant is coming to an end soon.
I reached the gate to the wrought iron fence that surrounds the Dieneer estate.
The estate is far enough away from Saltwater that it can enjoy privacy, but close enough to be guarded by the town-guard if a monster attack occurs.
Only one things grants this treatment, untold wealth.
And wealth is one thing the Dieneers have an abundance of.
The husband is a fifth generation merchant, and the wife comes from a political family close to this nation's royalty.
As I came upon a huge mansion surrounded by lush gardens, fountains, and cottages to hold guests.
Noah came running out to greet me.
For the past month he has ensured everything he owns will be transferred to me, as soon as the riders he sent to Slogmire return he and his wife will have outlived their usefulness.
As he came upon me he dropped to his knees with rapt devotion in his eyes.
"Mistress! The rider from Slogmire has returned! Everything is yours."
Noah is what a slave is supposed to be; compliant, devoted, and willing to suffer for no reason.
I was at the mansion less than a day and I had him wrapped around my finger.
Unfortunately his wife 'Nola' was incredibly recalcitrant.
So, instead of walking in and getting what I wanted immediately, I had to get Noah to hire me as a maid so I could slowly wear her soul down.
But it was all worth it, now I not only have all the wealth I'll need to start with, I have a mansion to use as a whore-house to feed from.
The only thing left to do is get rid of the original owners.
"Mistress? Can I be of any further use?"
He looked up at me with stars in his eyes waiting for the honor of servicing me.
I wonder if he'll have that same enthralled look in his eye when I get through with him and his wife.
"Go retrieve your wife and bring her to the stables."
"At once mistress!"
He ran off with all speed he could muster in his legs, even tripping and getting right back-up a couple of times.
< Are you really going to kill them?>
Shit, back already.
Why not? It's not like they're important to my plans.
< You can't ju.....>
I can just, it's my body my choice.
<...>
They are tools to be used then thrown away when they break.
< What if they had a use still? >
What kind of use?
<...>
Well?
What she said made even me gasp.
And you call me evil?
<....>
"Hahaha!"
___________________
I was in front of the stables in my true form dressed in one of Nola's expensive dresses that hugged my curves.
Both Nola and Noah were kneeling in the dirt and shit, him with adoration and her with anger and resentment.
I could tell she would love nothing more than to jump up and rip my throat out, but the mental torture I put her through ensured my complete domination over her.
"I bet you're wondering why I called both of you out here."
"Probably to kill us, claim your
'inheritance', and enact whatever evil plot you're, well, plotting. The only regret I have is not being here to see your face when a hero lops off your head."
What is it with me getting uppity slaves?
< Maybe you're not cut out for this world domination you go on and on and on and on and on about. >
Shut up!
I threw her back into a hellscape.
"What? No wise comeb...ugh."
Her husband backhanded her.
She fell face-first into a pile of dirt and shit.
"SHOW THE MISTRESS HER DUE RESPECT!!!!"
Nola sat back upright and spit out a mixture of blood and mud.
"Oh, but I am dear husband. I'm showing her the respect a parasite like her deserves."
Noah raised his hand to strike her again.
"Hold your hand slave."
"But mistress .... "
"Do you think I need help disciplining a slave?"
He planted his face into the dirt and started groveling.
"No! Of course not. Please forgive me."
I looked away from my groveling slave to her.
She was wearing a moth-eaten sack with so many holes in it she might as well wear nothing at all.
I haven't allowed her to bathe or eat anything but rotten food for the past week.
And all of this treatment was after I had already l broken her spirit.
"You weren't completely wrong, I was going to kill both of you.
However, I realized that for my plans to come into fruition I will have to use a lot more than just a bit of my power, leaving me in position less than desirable."
"So, what does that have to do with us?"
I could see the hope in her eyes, she thinks she's going to get out of this unscathed.
How foolish.
"As a demon I'm able to share my essence with others and make them part demon, hybrids if you would."
A range of delicious emotions passed through her eyes.
Confusion, understanding, fear, then rage.
"I'd rather die then become anything like you!"
She spit in my face.
Her husband was still groveling in the shit.
I slowly wiped the spittle off.
"As if I would bestow such an honor to a simple heifer such as yourself. No, you see when a high demon gives too much essence the subject becomes a lesser demon. And I know what you're thinking, if the highers make real demons why would the lessers even bother?"
Her face revealed it still hadn't dawned on her yet.
"When lesser demons give too much the subject becomes something much more .... heinous, they become a demonic beast."
Her eyes grew wider than I thought human eyes could go.
"No!"
"Yes, an existence that is a living hell. The mortal soul is not suited for a demonic body like that, so the soul gets ripped apart then slammed back together again and again until the beast is killed by what ever hero comes along to do the deed."
She was in complete shock.
Good.
I turned back to Noah.
"Slave would you like to do this for me? Live in agony for all of eternity?"
His head snapped up from the ground.
"It would be my honor to serve you, but..."
"But....?"
"It has been so long since I have touched your Divine flesh, please just once more?"
I lifted my shit and mud covered foot.
"You may lick my feet clean."
He surged forward.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
He took his time with each toe, then moved gently down the arch, he applied heavy pressure to the ball, then he did the other foot even slower savoring the time he got to touch me.
I smiled knowing I was superior to any goddess to him, then I slit my wrist.
"Enough, drink until your soul starts to burn."
He latched onto my wrist before even a second passed.
He suckled like a new-born latching onto his mother's tit.
Five minutes passed, then ten, finally after fifteen minutes steam started billowing from his skin.
A few seconds later he stated convulsing until he flung off my wrist and started writhing on the ground.
"Ahhh!!!!"
Prok!!!
Crack!!!!
The sounds of his screams and breaking bones filled the air.
Then, it started, the change.
His muscles bulged, dense fur covered his body, two goat like horns sprouted from his head, his spine curved and his arms lengthened until walking on his knuckles was his true gait, he grew until he was at least ten feet tall standing, both of his arms where as thick as a full-grown man, and finally his bottom canine teeth jutted out of his mouth as wicked tusks.
Grooarrr!
I turned toward Nola, she was crying her eyes out in despair.
"Please, just kill me! I'll lick your feet just like he did, just kill me instead!"
I chuckled.
"Now, I can't do that. After all, you have to join your husband, it is till death do you part...right?"
I held out my wrist.
_______________________
Two weeks later I was in one of the living rooms entertaining the estate executor - a fat elf - and his gorgeous wife who wanted to travel with him to the country.
"As you can see the timing of it all is just so strange."
"Oh...?"
"Yes, a day after their estate is changed to benefit you - a complete stranger - they both end up dead."
This fat slob is between me and my money I earned.
< You mean stole. >
They gave it to me.
< You mind controlled them!>
Why you...
"Excuse me Ms....um.. I'm sorry I forgot your name."
"Desirae, and I was just thinking about my answer."
"And what is your answer?"
"Do you know what desire is Mr. Ange?"
"Yes, it is to want something."
"No, I am sorry, but you are wrong. You can want a fruit, but can you desire it? No, desire is knowing when something is out of your reach - or league - and still going for it, you obsess over it, forgetting about everything - and one - else."
I lean over showing them my ample cleavage.
"I told them my desire, and they wholeheartedly accepted me and my desire. You could even say my desire caused them to....reform."
I was steadily pumping my essence, and fortunately - or unfortunately depending on how you look at it - they were not as strong-willed as Nola.
"Do you want to know what my desire is?"
They were both flushed.
"I.....I .....I. .....yes."
They leaned in towards me.
I took on my true form.
"My desire is to conquer and subjugate your world for my master.
I wish for your forests to burn,
your seas to boil,
your mountains to be ground into sand,
for the stars to fall from the heavens,
and rain fire and death."
At this point they forced themselves to stand, so they could run away.
"Sit back down."
They plopped back down.
"Please don't kill me."
"Me? Not us? What about your wife?"
"Please, just spare me!"
"You son of a whore!"
"Hahaha! Did you expect anything else? Tell your wife your sins."
"I cheat on her. Every other week I go to a secret house I bought, and fuck a dwarf girl from Harvain."
"You bastard."
"You're one to talk, I can smell the sin ooze from your pores. Go on, tell him."
She tried to resist me, more than her husband anyway, but it was futile.
"I knew about his cheating over a year ago, but I've been cheating for years before he even started."
He stared at her in disbelief.
"With whom?"
"I have thirty-six different lovers all over the country.
The reason I came on this trip was to fuck one of my favorites, he is the father of at least two of my bastard children I gave up."
I could tell she's holding something back.
"And...?"
"And I embezzle funds from all of his businesses.
I'm the shadow head of a crime organization.
Anyone who doesn't pay my protection racket, I burn down their house.
All of the evidence of my crimes I made sure leads back to my husband not me.
And finally, I had my rival Leyna and her daughter beaten, raped, and sold as sex slaves."
Damn! Even I didn't expect that.
I thought she would be a cheater and maybe have her hands in the cookie jar, not be a crime lord!
"The question at hand is what to do with you, I need your husband to sign the papers, you're just a loose end."
"No! I'm way more useful than my husband, I can get you anything you need.
I can even prove my loyalty to you, just say the word I'd kill him right here right now."
"You bitch!"
"But I need his signature."
"I can flawlessly copy it, how do you think all of the evidence of my crimes point back at him."
"You can't trust a word she says! She'll betray you the instant she gets the upper-hand!"
"And you won't?"
"Never! I'll even sell my soul to you."
She stared at him with wide eyes, then turned back to me.
"I'll not only sell my soul, but I'll give you a hundred more! I just need to talk to my people, so they can bring us the sacrifices."
(Amisra)
"Those souls are just probably street trash! I can get you the souls of dukes and duchesses or even a priest or two."
"If you spare me, you'll have a veritable army at your disposal. That's way better than this shrimp dick can do."
"It's average! I keep telling you it is average."
"I've seen average, you are not average."
"This is why I started cheating on you! You are a heartless bitch!"
"That's funny, the reason I started cheating was because I wasn't getting satisfied."
Did they really start having a marital spat, while I'm sitting right here?!
"Did both of you really forget you are supposed to be begging for your lives?"
Both of their faces paled.
"Don't worry, I've decided to let both of you live. Amisra will stay here as a whore and provide me other souls, and Folwyn will return to Slogmire to do my bidding."
< You're letting them live?>
Of course, only an idiot kills for no reason. They will do my bidding consolidating my power here and in a major city, unlike the first two they are more useful alive.
"I will bestow my gift upon both of you. This will leave me weak, but if either of you get the idea to hire someone else to kill me,
my friends will take care of both of you."
I snapped my fingers then pointed to the window.
Nola and Noah made their appearance, and started roaring their heads off.
"You have demonic beasts?!"
(Amisra)
"Of course, now....."
I slit my wrist.
"Who's first?"
.....
When we got inside of the building Bryx described the weeble stopped me.
"Please relinquish all of your weapons here."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
He crossed his stubby arms.
"Don't insult me."
A large pile of hidden weapons later we continued down a dark hallway, and went into a small back room.
The room is covered in bookshelves, and in the middle of the room is a simple desk.
"So, which book is it?"
"Is what?"
"The lever to open the secret passage."
"Why would we make a book the lever? That would seem quite obvious, no?"
He tapped on the floor in a pattern, and the floor opened up revealing a stair case.
He went down and I followed.
After five-feet down he rapped the wall and the floor / door closed, leaving us in complete darkness.
Of course, I could see fine, whereas the weeble was walking from memory it seemed.
After a couple minutes of walking we came upon a large stone door.
"Erkdoes."
The door creaked open.
Inside was an arcane circle surrounded by High-rank mana hearts.
"You're probably wondering what all of this is."
"It's space magic. The hearts power it, and the incantation written on the ground opens the portal to where you want to go."
"You know your magic."
"I know enough to know this is a cheap piece of shit. I've seen ones that had the capability to transport you to at least ten destinations, this one can only do one."
"More than one destination makes it easier for prying eyes to see."
With his hand he hit the edge of the circle.
The runes inside the circle glowed and a massive purple orb of swirling energy appeared above it.
"After you kitty."
I jumped into the orb and was instantly in a different room.
A second later the weeble appeared.
"This way kitty."
I was led into a large cavern filled with slave filled cages, weapons, armors, potions, spices from far off lands, rugs, and gods only knows what else.
"Ah! Hello Lynne. You do go by Lynne right?"
A handsome Dalian with red braided hair greeted me with his hand outstretched.
I took his hand firmly in my own.
"Siel I presume?"
"Yes, correct."
He let go of me and started walking towards a office.
"Just a fair warning, if you kill me, I have certain contingencies in place."
I said as I followed.
"Oh...?"
"You need not worry, I overheard her plans, she doesn't even realize that...."
"That I'm not in Saltwater Clearing? Yeah, no duh.
If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say we're in or rather under Slogmire."
We all stopped moving.
"How.....?"
"A true master never reveals her secrets."
"She has a magical item embedded in her hand."
Now it was my turn to be flabbergasted.
He obviously read my face because he just shrugged.
"It's a gift. But if you don't mind telling me how it works."
I took my left hand and squeezed the side of my right until a slither of metal poked out.
Then, I pulled it out and showed it to him.
"It's enchanted so that the farther it gets away from the object it belongs to it vibrates more. From that I could tell we were around three hundred miles from Saltwater Clearing, and out of all the options a city seemed the best bet for a merchant."
"But what good is it knowing where you are if there is no help on the way? We are at least a weeks hard ride from Saltwater."
"I expected you to take me here eventually, I already sent a few of my men here a month ago."
"That's hardly an army."
"No, it isn't, but it's enough men to start a massive fire. Slogmire is a wooden city sitting on swamp gas. My guess is this isn't your main headquarters, instead it's just a branch, but the branch that you probably use to sell all of your goods to the eastern part of the continent. You might kill me, but you would lose untold wealth."
Instead of any worried look, he breaks out a grin.
"Haha Haha! I told you she was smart! Most idiots just threaten me out right, but you knew to go right to where it really hurts, the money."
"Boss! We found him hiding in the sewers."
(Female centaur)
"Perfect timing. Bring him here, I would like to show my guest something."
Two massive centaurs - one female and male - were dragging a bloody, dirty human between them.
They threw him roughly at Siel's feet.
"How are you doing Salumun?"
"I didn't do it! I swear!"
"I don't believe in lying Sal, be straight with me and I'll be straight with you. Or you can keep lying, and you'll visit the room."
Salumun - who already smelled like shit - pissed himself.
"B...b...bo...boss I'm so...so...so...so...sorry, I won't do it again! He threatened to kill me if I didn't pay him back. I'll pay back everything I skimmed, just don't kill m...m....meee!"
Siel knelt down.
"And why would I do that? You have a family - a wife and two kids. Besides, you're the best record keeper I've got."
Salumun looked visibly relieved.
"Thank you! I swear I'll pay you ba...."
Before he could finish his sentence, Siel pressed a gold necklace to his forehead.
His eyes went dull and his breath became shallow.
Siel stood up and threw the necklace to the female centaur.
"Haysith, find someone to give that to, someone more loyal. Janith, divert funds to his family, tell them he died doing something honorable. And Haysith, find the one who threatened one in my employ, and kill him - slowly."
"Yes sir."
"Yes sir."
Both left the same way they came.
"I thought you didn't believe in lying."
"Hmmm?"
"You told him you didn't believe in lying, then you lied about killing him."
"I didn't lie, he isn't dead. I used the ability of Dalians to steal his soul."
"Dalians can only use already dead souls."
"No, that is what Dalians say they can only
use."
"So, what other secrets are the Dalians hiding?"
"I said I didn't believe in lies, not secrets."
People started dragging away Salumun's body.
"What are you going to do to him?"
"The him you are referring to is just an empty husk, and as for what is going to happen to it - the uses for a soulless body are limitless."
"Now, are you going to tell me why I'm here?"
"You're not curious about Salumun anymore?"
"It doesn't concern me, what does is what you're planning to do about my past."
"If you're referring to him, I'm not planning on telling him anything. I brought you here to discuss the Akkedis."
"If you think I'll let you have all of the profit from it, you're wrong."
That lizard is my out.
"I couldn't care less about whatever paltry amount of coin you'd get for it."
"Then why do you care about it if not for the coin?"
He held up a pendent.
"Because of this."
I just stared at him.
"It has the ability to detect divine energies. While I was in Saltwater Clearing a little over a month ago imagine my surprise when it lit up like a gorber at midnight."
"Speak plainly Dalian."
"It is god touched."
That explains how it's so fucking lucky!
First, defending against my attack, then getting that adventure to sign it under her name.
"Fuck my shit tube! So, you're saying it's impossible to bring it down. That the fucking gods are on its side."
"I didn't say that. I said it is god touched. Whether it's a curse or blessing I can't say, for all we know it has pissed off a god and that god is making its life a living hell."
"Fine, if it isn't impossible to catch, and you don't want the coin, what do you want?"
"Simple, I want to lure out a god, and you are going to help me."