Thinking about things logically, I wasn't sure why I wanted to see Grangold. The previous regions I'd seen concerned me, but I had to admit they were pretty fair, at least by Ilias' dogmatic moral standards. In Grangold I expected to find some pretty unsympathetic people. So why did I care so much how they were treated? I think it might be that I was sorely tempted to side with the Angel World. If I went to Grangold and saw that the prison was humane, and that almost everyone there deserved to be there, I'd have difficulty coming up with reasons to not join them. Perhaps over time I could convince Ilias to loosen up, with a major assist from my own Ilias back in the Paradox world, assuming she was so inclined. I also had to wonder if I was being influenced by the presence of an Ilias worshipping Luka in my subconscious.
Raphaela recommended that I skip the Gold region outside of Grangold. In her view, everyone in Gold was wicked and not worth associating with. The people in Gold who could at least be put to work toiled in sweatshops, manufacturing textiles, simple luxuries, and in very rare cases, electronics that would have seemed cutting edge in the 1950s. One hundred percent of the luxury products were shipped to the pious regions. All the sinners were forced to live austere lives until they proved themselves worthy. For the people of Gold, such a dream was near impossible. The road to paradise led through the mean streets of Grand Noah, followed by long hours in the fields of Safina. Very few citizens of Gold had the motivation or the hope to begin that long journey.
"These types of sinners are not, shall we say, long term thinkers," Raphaela said. "But you might find a tour of Grangold prison enlightening. I cannot promise that you will be pleased with what you see. Ilias is a wrathful goddess, and Sariela is her most severe angel. Unlike Uriela and Gabriela, she has no love for sinners. Her purpose is to punish. To be the hand of Ilias' vengeance against those who have wronged the goddess or her followers. But only the worst criminals end up there. At least the ones who have not committed capital offenses."
"What are the capital offenses under Ilias' law?" I asked.
"Rebellion and premeditated murder are the most common," Raphaela replied. "There are others, but the intent of the sinner matters in those cases and Ilias judges them fairly."
Raphaela brought Fumi and me just outside the city of Grangold. I was shocked at the sight.
"Raphaela," I said. "Why do the city walls and gates look like prison gates?"
"Because Grangold IS the prison," she answered. "It is a prison city. There are a great number of sinners requiring punishment, so obscene or dangerous that they cannot be tolerated even within the Gold or Noah regions."
The whole city?! How many people must be in there? I made a decision.
"Raphaela, as grateful as I am to have you as my guide, I don't want a tour of this prison. I want to see it as it truly is. From the inside, alone."
"Then enter the prison alone," Raphaela said. "No place is off limits to you on our world. We have nothing to hide from you. We have absolute confidence in our system. It has worked well for centuries. Just be cautious. The inmates are unpredictable, and for all your power, you have human frailties."
"I don't want to just walk into the prison and look around. I want to go in as an inmate. I want to see for myself how the system works, and have the prisoners trust me so that they'll speak freely."
"That is insane, Luka," Raphaela warned. "But if you wish to do it, I will inform Sariela that you wish to live as a prisoner for a time."
"No," I said firmly. "Sariela can't know. You say you have nothing to hide, but on my world there's a little thing called a Potemkin Village. Tour guides show only what they want people to see. Grangold is your worst place. If I can see it as it actually is, if I can see that your world is truly just and fair, I'll join you."
Raphaela hesitated, uncertain, but evidently very eager to have me on the side of the angels. Fumi was barely controlling her tongue, not comfortable at all with my idea.
"Very well," Raphaela sighed.
"You can't leave me alone here!?" Fumi asked. "What happened to your promise to protect me?!"
"Raphaela will look after you while I'm in Grangold," I said. "I know you don't like her, but she made a promise as well. You'll be perfectly safe with her."
"Grrrrr…." Raphaela said. She sure grrrred a lot, I thought.
"I'm glad we're in agreement. So now we just need a plan to get me arrested. Fumi, are you hungry right now? I imagine publicly having sex with a monster right outside the prison would get their attention."
"That is not necessary!" Raphaela shouted. "Am I not an archangel? Am I not aware that you have already engaged in forbidden acts with this monster? If you truly wish to enter Grangold as a prisoner, I will arrest you for your crimes myself."
"Well, that'll make it pretty authentic," I realized. "Excellent. Are you going to put cuffs on me or something?"
"There is no need for that. But there is one thing you are forgetting. Your power. Sariela will not be aware that you are in her prison and she will not recognize you as the Child of Judgment, but your power will tell her that you are no ordinary human. It will have to be hidden somehow. Further, you must be very careful about using it. Profuse displays of that power will also alert Sariela to your presence."
"Okay, so how do I hide my power?"
"You cannot. I might be able to. I cannot guarantee success, however. Most archangels can see through most archangel spells. But since your power is of a different nature, I might be able to disguise it as something else. Hmmmm…. Yes, that might work."
"How will you disguise my power? Will she read my magic and see that I'm filled with jelly beans instead of magic?"
"I'm beginning to see why you are so limited despite your vast potential," Raphaela said sourly. "Your power has a distant resemblance to angelic holy power. A very subtle disguise spell can make it appear to be holy magic. I will also have to make it appear that you have a reasonable amount, rather than godlike potential. That too, would obviously draw Sariela's attention."
"Is a prisoner running around with holy magic a common thing?"
"Not very, but there are a few holy magic users among Grangold's population. You would be an unusual prisoner, but she would have no reason to suspect you were anything but what you appeared to be. As long as she doesn't inspect your magic too closely, you should be able to pass as someone from this world who had practiced holy magic in the past."
"My cover story could be that I was studying for the priesthood and got tempted by a monster," I thought aloud.
"So long as you do the lying and not me, I don't care what your 'cover story' is," Raphaela grumbled. "As with your plan to get into the prison, you are overthinking things. You obviously have read too many pulp novels. No one will know or care who you are. Only Ilias will know, and she will allow this ruse of yours if it pleases her."
"Excellent, then. I'm ready. Time to go to prison!"
"Don't you dare let anything happen to you in there, do you hear me Luka?!" Fumi lectured. "You promised me a better life and I'm holding you to that!"
"Don't worry, Fumi, I'm pretty tough to kill. The only one I have to worry about is that archangel, and she's not out to kill me. They need me."
"Unfortunately, that is true," Raphaela grumbled.
"Oh, don't be like that, Raphaela!" I kidded. "I may not be your kind of pure, but I'm not totally unlikable, am I?"
"You do have your roguish charms, I must admit," Raphaela replied.
"I have never been called roguish before," I said, tickled by her compliment. "I guess when you hang out around monsters as much as I do, you get used to being called a square."
"If that term means pious, that says more about your friends than it does about you," Raphaela said.
"So before we do this, tell me Raphaela. If you were judging me, what region would I end up in?"
"If it was up to me? Safina. I cannot see inside your heart as Ilias does, and it is her determination that holds sway. But from what I know of you…. Your heart is perverted, but kind. You engage in forbidden acts less for your own pleasure than for theirs. Feeding a monster because she was starving was an act of kindness. So you are most definitely eligible to be rehabilitated and shown the proper way to live. Hard work would build your character."
"Well, unfortunately for me, it looks like I'm being condemned to Grangold. So arrest me and bring me in, officer."
Raphaela didn't cuff me, or read me my rights. She simply marched me to the gates of the prison and commanded them to open. The angel prison guards reacted with alacrity when they saw that an archangel was giving the order. When the gates were opened, I was marched to a tent near the entrance where a severe looking angel sat at a desk with a woman who was obviously an inmate, judging by her blue jumpsuit with numbers on it.
"Raphaela!" the angel exclaimed, rising from her seat. "It's not often an archangel personally brings us one of the condemned!"
"This man was engaged in sexual acts with a monster right outside my city!" Raphaela declared officiously, being utterly truthful.
"Outside San Ilia!?" the angel exclaimed in turn. "That's blasphemy! You should have put him to death! Not that I'm telling you what to do, divine archangel. But if one of your subordinates had caught him, the fact that he committed that kind of crime near such a holy place would be regarded as a capital crime. Obviously if it had been in Noah his sentence would have been lighter."
"Obviously," Raphaela said. "But I see goodness in this man. I do not believe he would tarnish our holy places that way again. At least here, he has a tiny opportunity to become a better person and perhaps someday be released."
"That would be up to Sariela, unless Ilias intervenes in his case. And Sariela is not known for her mercy. It has been years since someone was released from Grangold."
"Nevertheless, this is what I have decided should be done with him. Prisoner, give the administrator your information for your file. Since I have a personal interest in your case, you may call me one time if you need me. One time. Is that understood, prisoner?"
"I understand, archangel," I said meekly.
"Then I will be going now," she said with finality. "Make the most of this opportunity, sinner!"
Raphaela vanished, leaving me with the angel and the female prisoner.
"Raphaela is so great!" the angel said. "Her mercy is renowned. You are very fortunate that she caught you and not another angel. Your head would have been removed on the spot for what you did. And to think that you can call her once! I don't think she's ever done that for a sinner before."
"I'm a charming guy," I replied.
"Sinners always think they're charming," the angel administration said gruffly. "Name?"
"Wentworth Miller," I said, realizing just then that I hadn't thought that far ahead. Sariela might know the name Luka, since all the archangels were aware I was on their world.
"Fancy!" the angel commented. "Were you a resident of San Ilia at the time of your crime, or did you travel all the way there just to commit blasphemy?"
"I was a resident," I lied. "I was studying for the priesthood."
"Ah, so that explains your holy magic," she said. "Sad to see you succumb to temptation like that. Judging by how much holy magic you're carrying, you obviously were a good student. Well, the good news is, since Raphaela thinks you're not a terrible guy, and you have holy power, you'll be working in the infirmary providing healing. Beats most of the other jobs around here. Sandra, take Miller here to the quartermaster, get him uniforms and bedding."
"That's it?" I asked. "I would think the process would be more involved."
"Your case, like all the cases here, is handled by Sariela, the archangel warden here, and Ilias herself. Ilias already knows everything about you, and Sariela will judge you by your behavior in this prison over the coming years."
"Years?!"
"Yeah, sinner, years! Did I not say that you committed a capital offense? If it's up to Sariela, you'll never leave this prison. But since Raphaela has an interest in you, you might receive clemency after a decade or two. Your chances'll get better if you become impotent. You're less likely to reoffend then. If you're slate is otherwise clean and that was actually your only offense, you might be one of those rare prisoners who gets out someday."
I made a show of grumbling, playing up the fact that I was an incorrigible, hard man. Even though that was the opposite of my cover story. I really should have thought this through a little better, I thought. Since I'm pretending to be a former student of the seminary I should probably just be gentle old me.
Sandra, a skinny, middle ages human, led me to the quartermaster to get my prison supplies.
"Why are you here?" I asked. "Do they really keep the girls in here with the guys?"
"There aren't very many of us," Sandra replied. "We aren't part of the general population. We work directly with the angels so that we're protected at all times. The men here are pretty dangerous."
" Would it be rude to ask how you got here?"
"First rule of Grangold," Sandra warned. "Mind your business. Don't ask people out of the blue what they're in for. You can ask once you get to know someone if they want to share. That piece of advice is free. It's the only thing you'll get for free around here."
"Thank you, I appreciate your help."
"Whatever, priest."
"I never got that far. Would it be too much to ask another question?"
"You'll probably ask it whether I want you to or not," she grumbled.
"Is it a good thing to be a former priesthood student in here, or bad?"
"Both. You'll be popular with some inmates because you can heal them. But others have a major grudge against Ilias and her followers. It's a prison. Watch your back, pick your friends wisely. While remembering that some of them aren't really your friends."
"That's a lot of advice. Do I owe you for that?" I joked.
"I'll probably never see you again anyway," Sandra replied. "This place is huge. But if you ever get me in the infirmary, you owe me an extra fruit cup each meal."
"Deal," I laughed.
Once I had my towel and beddings and uniform, which I had to change into in front of Sandra and the quartermaster, who was another prisoner, an elderly male, I was escorted to an unexpectedly cute red trolley-style bus by a male inmate with a name tag that read "Boozer" who wouldn't talk to me at all. He directed me to get in the bus, where I joined several other new inmates. I felt a little guilty for being excited. I wasn't REALLY a prisoner and I was beginning to feel like I was in a prison movie. But for the men around me, this was the end of the line for most of them. Whether or not they actually deserved their fate was something I was going to find out for myself during my stay.
I mingled with the general population for the last several hours of the day. Most of them weren't too friendly. The most genial prisoners were the older ones. The younger ones were too obsessed with acting tough, although it didn't get to the point of a confrontation. Likely because in the prison yard, there were a whole bunch of angel guards armed with whips and batons. I couldn't be sure if our section was like the others, but this was not a prison suffering from short staffing. There seemed to be a ratio of 2 guards for every three prisoners.
At the end of the day, after a surprisingly edible dinner, we were returned to our cells. In my case, I was seeing my cell for the first time. I said a silent prayer of thanks that my cell was for one person. Then I realized that on this world, my prayers all went to Ilias. Well, she probably knew everything I was doing here anyway. Maybe she'd even arranged for me to be comfortable as a way of impressing me.
I slept well, awakened rudely by an alarm. I expected a bed check and a count, as that's what I'd seen on prison documentaries and on TV, but the angels had ways of knowing things that mortal prison administration did not, so the count must have been unnecessary.
"Okay, sinners, you know the drill!" a deep voiced, muscular angel yelled. "Get showered, as cleanliness is-"
"Next to godliness," the prisoner next to me mouthed, smirking at me and making a jacking off motion with his fist. I peeked at his name tag: Barrington.
"After your showers, get your breakfast, and then go to work! Diligence in your daily tasks will-"
"Mean we might get out of here someday," the other prisoner said. "Yeah, right. You believing any of this, fish?"
"Fish?" I asked, confused. Oh yeah, I knew what that was. "Oh, no, I know most of us aren't getting out. I guess."
"I been here seven years and haven't seen anyone get released," he said. "At least the food is better than any other prison I've been to."
I expected the angels to order silence, but the angel speaking seemed to ignore the chatter as she finished her instructions. When she was done, we filed out of our wing towards the dining hall. As I passed the large angel, she said something to me.
"I hear you're one of the good ones, so don't get too cozy with the bad influences around here like Barrington," she said. "Believe me, this place isn't so bad if you behave yourself. But if you piss Sariela off, it'll be worse than any prison in the world for you. Now go on, get your breakfast."
Breakfast was as surprisingly decent as dinner had been. I was even given a second donut when I asked! I imagined that if they'd know how good at cooking I was, I would have been employed in the kitchen, but healing was also something I could do and it was probably going to be less work. My first impression of the prison guards was that they were unfailingly professional. I'd expected a hellhole but the conditions were humane. All that remained was for me to find out why people were here and why almost no one ever got released.
"Hey, I want that donut!" said a big man towering over me. Nametag: Carson.
"Dude, all you have to do is ask and they give it to you," I suggested in what I thought was a friendly tone.
"Maybe I don't want to ask them. I'm asking you."
"Well, if you really want it…" I handed him the donut. Instead of thanks, he snarled at me and went to sit with his buddies.
"You really should have stood up to that guy," an older man sitting next to me said. Nametag: Gilman.
"Over a donut?"
"You're new, so he was testing you."
"Did he want me to stand up to him?" I asked.
"No, dumbass! He just wanted to find out if you would. Now that everyone's seen you won't, you'll be lucky to get anything to eat."
Sure enough, a smaller guy with a very punchable face came to the table with his equally punchable friends, a sneer on their faces. The guy who seemed to be the leader's nametag was :Vance.
"Your hash browns," Vance ordered.
"And I'm takin' the pancakes!" another annoying one named Williams chimed in.
"Gimme the milk!" added Farber.
So I did the obvious, heroic thing. I stood up, stared them right in the eye…. And scooped my hash browns into Vance's tray, the pancakes into Williams', and handed Farber my milk.
"This isn't chocolate!" Farber growled at me. "It's fuckin' 2% plain! What are you, some sorta health nut!?"
"Well, I am going to be working in the infirmary," I said. "I'm one of your new healers."
"You think that makes you better than me!?" Farber shouted, getting into my face.
"Um…. No. You wanted to know why I was a health nut. Actually, it was just because I don't like chocolate milk and this was the only plain they had so-"
I was interrupted by the milk being poured over my head. The dining hall became much quieter. Gilman, the older man sitting next to me, was watching with interest.
"These hash browns look like shit!" Vance said, and threw them at me. It's not like I cooked them, Geez.
"I think these pancakes would look better on your face!" Williams said, grabbing a handful of sticky pancake and syrup and seeking to mash it into my face.
That I considered an assault, so I simply grabbed his fist and prevented it from reaching me. I didn't look stronger than him, nor did I have Gnome summoned, but nevertheless I stopped his arm cold. He reacted with surprise as he strained. Good old Earth strength, I thought. It's almost not fair. I'm like a man among boys here. Which they'll find out if they go any further.
They went further. Vance, the apparent leader, swung his tray at me. I ducked under, but still got covered in gooey, sweet breakfast pastries. I reached across the table, grabbed him, and slammed his face into the table. All right, so I needed to stand up to the bullies here? No problem. Maybe they'd think twice about doing this to the next new guy.
Farber leaped at me, sending both of us into the table behind me. Other prisoners grabbed their trays and moved out of the way, but not so far that they couldn't watch. I quickly manhandled Farber into an arm lock and cranked. He screamed. I wasn't going so far as to try to break his arm, but he needed to learn. I kept an eye on Williams to see if he'd try to take advantage of me being tangled up with Farber, but he wasn't moving. Instead, he was watching a dozen angels come flying into the room, whips and batons out.
"Let him go, now!" an incredibly pretty brunette angel ordered.
"Okay," I said, quickly releasing Farber and rising.
"Williams! Back to your cell! You're confined for the day! This is your last warning!" another angel, a skinny blonde who seemed to be the highest ranking. "Girls, peel Farber and Vance off the ground. They've started their last fight!"
"What are you going to do with them?" I asked.
"Keep talking and find out!" the blonde angel warned.
"You're not going to kill them, are you? Just for a little scuffle?"
"Oh, they'll only wish they were dead," a curly, brown haired angel with extremely oversized breasts and ridiculously skinny legs said with an evil smile.
"Look, it was no big deal, they were just saying hello to the new guy," I said. "Go easy on them, please? I think I punished them enough."
"Yeah, and you seemed to like doing it too!" the blonde said. "You know what? You're coming too! Because you're new, you need to be taught that we have no tolerance for violence here! Unless we initiate it!"
It seemed unfair, but I really did want to find out what was going to happen to Farber and Vance. As I was led out, I saw Farber's fate immediately. Three angels were beating him with batons while he futilely covered his head. It was far more brutal than anything I'd imagine took place in an Earth prison, probably because they could just heal him aftwards. And then maybe beat him some more. It was a harsh punishment, but as a repeat offender he probably did need to learn. And I still had more to learn as well. I wasn't going to blow my cover for a guy like him. He'd be all right.
Vance and I were led into a blessedly air conditioned building, where I was roughly shoved into a seat and told to wait. Vance was led away. I had yet to see any hand cuffs used. Given that relative power disparity between a human and an angel, they were probably unnecessary. Vance remained defiant.
"You bitches brought me inside to beat me?" Vance said challengingly. "What was wrong with out there?"
"You've gone way past beating, sinner!" the blonde said. "You're a terrible influence on the other prisoners! Sariela is going to deal with you personally!"
"The warden?!" Vance asked with disbelief. "What's she gonna do, beat me harder? Kill me? She's not gonna kill me, right?"
"Let's just say that you're not going to be a problem for awhile," the brunette chuckled.
Vance was roughly shoved through a doorway and escorted down a hall, his sneer gone. He looked terrified. For an average man, just being in the presence of an archangel was usually terrifying, at least if she wasn't pleased to see you. I was left in the waiting area alone with yet another angel, a rather nervous looking blonde angel with somewhat darker skin than average.
"Are you new here?" I asked.
"Y-Yeah," she said nervously.
"What's your name?" I asked. The angels didn't wear name tags.
"It's Cierra," she said. "You're Miller. You just got here, too, huh?"
"Yeah. What are they going to do with Vance?"
"Like they said, Sariela is going to make sure he doesn't start any more fights," she said matter of factly.
"Is she going to kill him?"
"Not unless he provokes her. She can kill anyone she wants, but even Vance will know better than to incite her wrath. I don't really know exactly what she does to sinners in there, but they never misbehave again."
Whew. That was a relief. I didn't want to stick my neck out for Vance either, but if he was not going to be killed, whatever she did to him could be healed later. He'd learn his lesson and his stay would be much more pleasant. More importantly, so would the stays of those who didn't like being picked on by him and his gang.
"Is Sariela going to do to me what she does to him?" I asked. "I didn't start the fight."
"I really don't know," she shrugged. "she tailors her punishment to the offense. Since you didn't start it, she'll probably go easier on you than she does him. But I can't be sure. I'm new, just like you. And she doesn't like new people screwing up. She wants you to realize where you are right from the beginning so you don't become a continuing problem for her."
I hoped it wouldn't be too bad. As I keep saying, I do not like pain at all. If I wanted to keep investigating Grangold prison, I'd have to submit to her punishment. Maybe if I was submissive from the start she'd be merciful. All of the other archangels had seemed pretty reasonable. And they all knew I didn't start the fight.
After a few minutes, the blonde in charge cracked the door open and gestured to the new angel guard to bring me in. I stood up and followd them to another waiting room near an office that had the blinds pulled down. I could hear muffled voices inside the office. Vance's, sounding very shaky, and presumably Sariela's sounding very angry and authoritative.
"Sariela will be ready for you in a minute or two," the angel in charge said.
"Can I ask your name?" I asked the angel.
"No."
A piercing scream came from the office. It was followed by several more loud screams and groans, followed by the sounds of blubbering. What was she doing to him in there? I wondered if I should intervene.
I heard more muffled words from Sariela. The two angels stood impassively, although the new girl looked shaken. Then I heard Vance beg loud enough to be heard behind the door.
"No, please! P-please! Don't suck anymore! I'll never break your rules again! AAHHHHH!!!!!"
More screaming continued, followed by groaning and moaning. Okay, I thought. She's giving him a blowjob. Punishment style. An archangel blowing a normal man would be hard to take, and she was probably humiliating him, emotionally emasculating him in the process. Probably some ball squeezing and biting involved as well. I'd let Victoria and Cupid do something like that to get even with me a long time ago, so that we could get along. The mix of pain and pleasure had been… interesting. But an archangel's punishment was probably far more potent. Vance would be a vegetable for at least a week.
My thoughts were interrupted by one final bloodcurdling scream that went on for thirty seconds, followed by absolute silence. Shortly after, the door opened and Sariela poked her head out.
"Take him to the infirmary," Sariela ordered. "Give him two weeks bedrest. Then double his workload for three months! And he's not to associate with either Farber or Williams unless he wants more personal attention from me!"
"Yes, Sariela!" the angels said, and retrieved Vance from the office. I stared at his face. He was foaming at the mouth, barely conscious. His body was convulsing a little. The powerful angels easily carried him out. That left me alone with Sariela.
"Ah, Miller!" Sariela said. "Come in, come in!"
I warily walked into the office, a posh, modern looking office if I ever saw one, albeit small. There was a desk and a couch. Sariela gestured for me to sit on the couch. She took a seat behind her desk.
I appraised the archangel. She looked quite different from the usual. Her hair was similar to Alice's, silvery, but more muted. She wore a tight fitting black outfit that didn't look angelic at all. It left very little to the imagination. As for her body, it was fit and proportional. She was small for an archangel, standing a head shorter than me. Most archangels were rather tall, ranging from six to seven feet. She couldn't have been more than five foot six.
"So you are Wentwork Miller, a former priesthood student," Sariela said. "I am Sariela, the archangel who runs this prison city. But if you paid attention in your classes, you already knew that. So what made you decide to have sex with a monster only miles away from the academy?"
"She was hungry," I shrugged. "Starving, in fact. I didn't do it to satisfy my lust."
"That must be why Raphaela didn't execute you on the spot. She has a soft heart, that one. I am not so merciful. I would have killed you both. Such an unspeakable act in that holy place… but I respect my fellow archangels. If she does not wish to see you dead, and even considers you a candidate for eventual release, then I will give you every chance to prove her right. Today was not a good start for you."
"I'm sorry, Sariela, I really tried to avoid a fight. But you know how prison is, if I didn't stand up to them, they'd never give me any peace."
"You saw how fast our guards responded, did you not?" Sariela asked. "If someone attacks you, help is seconds away. I permit no fighting between prisoners. Keep your pointless male displays of dominance out of my prison! Compared to us angels, you are insignificant insects! Your crimes make you lower than insects. You are slime, do you understand?"
"Slime, yes," I said submissively. "I won't fight anymore, I promise. I want to be a model prisoner so that I can get out someday."
"That's a good attitude to have," she said. "How do I know you aren't pretending? You heard those screams. I imagine you'll do anything to avoid my punishment."
"I won't insult your intelligence by claiming that I wasn't influenced by what I heard here," I replied. "I'm human. You know how much we try to avoid pain. I'm sure you had me brought in here so that I would be appropriately well behaved after hearing that."
"You must have been a good student," she said, smiling. Her smile was wide, her teeth dazzling. Her beauty reminded me more of the monster kind of beauty than the angel kind. Whereas Ilias and Eden and Micaela had a kind of chaste, pure beauty, Sariela was just plain sexy. I wondered if she chose her clothing and overall look to make the prisoners think they might be rewarded by her if they were exceptionally well behaved. Classic carrot and stick approach. Although her stick was very severe and she didn't seem to spare it.
"I was above average," I said.
"You are a very unusual prisoner," Sariela continued. "Smart, incredible magic potential, and genuinely nice. One mistake was all it took to ruin everything. Your intentions were good, but we have a saying among angels: The house of damnation is full of good intentions."
"I've heard a similar saying. The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
"I like ours better."
"As you wish, Sariela. Do you mind me calling you that? I beg your forgiveness, I don't know how to address you."
"Sariela is fine. Beings such as us require no honorifics to be respected. You are completely helpless right now. I could do whatever I wanted and you couldn't put up an ounce of resistance."
She didn't know how wrong she was, but I wasn't interested in testing my strength against an archangel that day. At least Raphaela's disguise spell was working. She was seeing my magic, but it looked like reasonably large amounts of holy magic, rather than ungodly amounts of my alien power.
"Is there any chance you'll be letting me off with a warning today?" I asked.
"I'm afraid that once you enter this office, punishment is inevitable," Sariela said, smiling wickedly. "I want all sinners to fear being in here. You look entirely too at ease. It's time for me to demonstrate what it means to be sent here."
Sigh. So it was going to be sexual punishment. That I could handle, even if she got a little sadistic with it. Since she wasn't livid with me as she must have been with Vance, maybe it would be more pleasure than pain, and I didn't really care about the humiliation. I wasn't as easily upset by that sort of thing as males with more insecurities.
Sariela pointed at me and my clothes disappeared. I sat naked on the couch. With another gesture I was slammed backwards, held fast as if the couch's gravity had been quadrupled. I wasn't even sure if I could get up with Gnome's help, so overwhelming was her magic.
"Now since you do seem to be trying to be a model prisoner, I won't hurt you too badly," she said, standing and going around her desk to get to me. "Just enough so that you never want to see me in this office again."
I was already rock hard, so appealing was she to me. She was just my type. I began imagining those thick lips and large mouth engulfing me. Sure, she'd probably bite a little, but that would be fine. She'd probably spit on me too, but that didn't bother me either. Maybe even some slaps and spanks. It would be worth it to experience that mouth. Her body looked great too. But I probably hadn't been bad enough to earn that yet. A dark part of me that I tried to never let out tried to think of things I could do to get sent to her office again.
Sariela bent down, running her hands along my chest. Her touch felt amazing, but she was a very powerful angel so that was not surprise. She licked her lips seductively and lightly began sucking on a nipple. That made me even harder, even though I wasn't normally into that. Her hand gripped my penis. Ouch! Okay, that's normal. This is punishment, after all.
Holding my penis up, she stared at it for a moment, then ran the tip of her tongue lightly from the base to the tip. What that felt like is easy to describe. Pain. Horrible, excruciating, shocking pain. Her tongue felt like a razor blade cutting me from the base to the tip. I screamed. Inside my subconscious, Luka screamed as well.
"Sorry, I'm outta here!" he said.
"Yes, definitely go deeper into my subconscious!" I said mentally. "What are you doing out here anyway?!"
"She was an angel, and she was hot!" He protested, before I felt him leave my conscious mind to get as far away as possible from whatever the hell this was.
She licked it again, this time with the flat of her tongue. The pain tripled in intensity. I screamed again. I'd rarely felt pain worse than that.
"W-What the hell is that?!" I asked, voice trembling.
"Normally I wouldn't even bother to answer that question," Sariela replied. "But since you have some experience with magic, I'll tell you since I'm so proud of it. As an archangel, I was born an expert in holy magic. But since I love magic so much, I began studying black magic."
"Black magic?" I asked. "Isn't that monster magic?"
She quickly licked me again, hard. My head began pounding from the referred pain as I moaned in agony. There was no element of pleasure here at all!
"Do not insult me! Monsters practice dark magic! It is impossible for an angel to wield dark magic. But white and black magic can be wielded by anyone with magic potential. Black and white magic are very similar to dark and holy magic, although far less powerful. But I didn't need much power to alter my sexual magic. As you probably know, an archangel's sexual magic is very powerful. Enough to bring any man to tears from the pleasure. I thought, why not bring a man to tears from pain? It's been an interesting experiment. When I punished men with a combination of pain and pleasure, they kept on ending up back in my office. Once I altered my magic to give only pain, I've never had to punish someone twice."
"I can understand why," I said, starting to shake. "I get the point now. You don't have to do that anymore."
"I decide when your punishment is complete, sinner!" Sariela said, and swallowed my penis with her large mouth.
My scream must have been heard all over the prison, and it continued as she held my penis in her mouth, her tongue squirming against it. When she finally took it out, I sagged, sweating profusely.
"Please, no more!" I begged.
"I don't respond to begging," she replied, her face stern. "What I respond to is repentance."
"I'm sorry I got in a fight."
"And are you sorry you profaned San Ilia by your actions with a monster?" she asked pointedly
I hesitated. I should have told her what she wanted to hear. But I remembered Fumi's pleading face when she asked me to feed her. I was a bad liar. I'd managed to concoct a decent cover story, but expressing remorse over a good deed was not something I was capable of doing.
"You don't seem very sorry," Sariela said, running her tongue around in circles just under the head of my penis. I bucked and groaned under the assault. I couldn't take much more of this. I'd have to teleport out if she didn't stop soon. I was surprised I'd made it this far without taking the "chicken exit." I also had another problem if I wanted to maintain my cover. I was starting to get angry.
"I'm not going to say I'm sorry for helping someone in need," I said with as much bravery as I could muster.
"Really?" she said.
Sariela stood up, much to my relief. That lovely mouth now looked as appealing as an iron maiden. And not the monster version. I quickly looked down at my penis. At least it wasn't actually injured. The pain was all in my mind. It was a very effective and safe torture. I wouldn't even need healing afterwards. My emotional trauma was another problem entirely.
"See, now I was going to just leave you with that," Sariela said. "But I don't think you realize the gravity of the crime that brought you here. I would have even let you go with a lie, since at least then I'd know that my punishment had made you afraid to ever do such a thing again. But you had to go and be defiant."
"Isn't it Ilias' will to protect the weak?" I asked.
"Humans! Not monsters!" Sariela shouted, getting into my face. "Monsters do nothing but lead men like you into temptation! A promising priesthood candidate, ruined by one decision, and all because of a monster. What kind of monster was she, sinner? At least tell me it was a lamia. Lamias at least are amazing, I've heard."
"She was a kitsune," I said. "A fox girl."
"A beast?!" Sariela laughed. "You threw away your entire future for a beast?! Did she at least have a lot of tails?"
"Just two," I answered.
"So it wasn't even that good," Sariela said, shakng her head in wonder. "I'll never understand males. A quick little session with a beast, and now here you are. Was it worth it?"
"She's suffering a little less now thanks to me. For a while, at least that stomach will be full."
Sariela's face twisted in anger. She backed away from me.
"You're disgusting!" she raged. "If I had my way, I'd execute you for that! But you have a powerful friend who I don't wish to alienate, although if you provoke me further I may just take the chance!"
"Does that mean I can go now?" I asked.
"You are far from done! I may not be able to kill you today, but your torture will be greater than any Vance received! I'll have you cursing that monster's name! Assuming you even got her name!"
I said nothing, just to be safe.
Sariela calmed herself. She took a deep breath and downed some water on her desk. It was probably just for comfort, like playing with a fidget spinner. She didn't need to hydrate, being fully divine. Either that or she just wanted to make her mouth wetter for the coming torture.
But that was not her plan. Once she was calm enough, she smiled at me, turned around, and placed her hand on her ass.
"Do you like what you see, sinner?" she asked me. "I'm very proud of my body. Even though as an angel I'm naturally fit and don't need to exercise, I still use the weight rooms to tighten myself up even further. I love working out as much as I love magic."
"It is a very nice body," I complimented her.
"Why thank you," she said. "You're about to get very familiar with it."
She slowly removed her top, exposing her modest, perky breasts. She had a six pack. She wasn't idly boasting about being fit. She was ripped. She then removed her leggings. Her legs were just as muscular. Even Granberia would be impressed. Now stark naked, she walked back over to me and roughly took my hand, shoving it into her lady parts. Her snatch was already well lubricated.
"Touch it," she said huskily. "Doesn't it feel amazing?"
"How come it doesn't hurt my finger?" I asked, ever curious despite the horrifying situation.
"When I first made the change, it would have," she explained. "Men would collapse in pain at my very touch. That proved… inconvenient. So I limited the spell to genital contact."
I was sure it was the greatest pussy I had ever touched. So soft and moist, yet tight. I began to wonder what it was like deeper inside. I also realized that as good as it would feel with normal sexual magic, her alteration to her natural magic would make the pain of entering it unbearable. I could not go through that.
It wasn't just about my squeamishness when it came to pain. I had another worry. Long ago, Kanade had ambushed me and tried to dissolve me painfully. If she had done it with pleasure, I would have been dissolved in seconds. I would never have gotten up the gumption to resist while experiencing such intense pleasure. Instead, she chose to be unnecessarily cruel. The pain had been so intense that my power had detonated involuntarily. Kanade has been spread all over Yamatai village. If she hadn't been a powerful slime, she would have died. I was certain that if my penis entered that amazing pussy, the pain would cause a similar reaction. Then not only would my cover be blown, there might be splattered archangel all over the back wall of her office. Or, it could just piss her off, and I'd be drained of power, at her mercy.
I considered teleporting out, but then I had an inspiration. It would still be risky, but the worst that could happen would be that my cover would be blown. But I might also get away with it. I wasn't very good at reading magic, but there was one type of magic I'd become very experienced at reading: sexual magic. Hers was very easy to read. Instead of the normal light magical aura that surrounded angels, there were corrupt, black pock marks in her aura, most of them centered around her mouth and crotch. I tried to cleanse her magic, to return it to its original state, hoping I could do it in such a way that she wouldn't notice.
"Enough fingering!" Sariela said. "It's time. And don't think I didn't notice you trying to cast a spell! I assure you, no puny spell a priesthood student can cast can have the slightest effect on me! You've just earned another orgasm! Can you imagine what that will feel like? Coming into this pussy? You will learn a new definition of agony inside me. Why I'm even doing you a favor! You might be the first sinner to advance from the very bottom here in Grangold, all the way to the top, San Ilia. Because you'll never want to put your dick inside anything again!"
With that, she mounted me, gripped my penis painfully hard, and shoved it into her. I gasped, moaned and bucked, my brain not sure how to react to the incredibly intense stimulation. When my brain realized that it wasn't causing pain, it embraced the sensations as enthusiastically as a man in the desert embracing an oasis. I cried out, not in pain, but relief. I had successfully reversed her spell.
Good thing too, because she was merciless, riding me, grinding against me, trying to get me as deep as possible into her. Deeper inside she was even more amazing than her entrance, soft folds gripping the head of my penis and massaging all around it as she moved. She didn't have those crazy monster skills. Angel sex actually tends to be very conventional, at least if you're dealing with humanoid angels and not the weird Lovecraftian creations Ilias made for who knew what reason.
When my orgasm came, I made a great show of screaming as loudly as I could, figuring that there was no way I could over do it. My scream was only partially feigned. The pleasure was incredible. I almost laughed as I realized that outwardly, it can be hard to tell the difference between extreme pain and extreme pleasure.
Sariela seemed fooled. She smiled wickedly at my moans, groans, shaking and sweating. The merciless grinding and thrusting continued, coaxing orgasm out of orgasm out of me. I soon began to fear that she might have decided on an impulse to kill me. Her magic was powerful enough to do it if she didn't begin showing some restraint soon.
"Yes," she said. "You will never soil yourself with a monster's body again, will you?"
"Agh!" I cried out. I couldn't express remorse for what I'd done for Fumi. But I could at least feign incoherence. Actually, I'm not sure I was pretending.
"Oh, don't be a baby!" she scolded me. "I'm not doing any actual damage to you. It's just a little torture, that's all!"
She punctuated the point with quick, hard thrusts that forced me in even deeper. Because her body was smaller than the average archangel's, I felt myself hitting her cervix. My semen quickly filled her womb. Finally satisfied that she'd tortured me enough, she got off of me and poked her head out the door again. I sat on the couch, unable to move, barely able to think.
"Take him to the infirmary!" Sariela ordered. "Since he works there, he can stay there and contribute as he is able. See that he does not malinger!"
As I passed out, I felt soft but strong hands lift me out of the couch and carry me away.