"
"
The captain sneered at the disguised Bjorn, all the while the patron could only watch the drama unfold. "
""
The captain turned and scoffed. "We'll go looking for her. I'll send one of my men to inform that woman's mate->"
"
The guard turned to Bjorn with a tired stare. "
"Damn it. What the hell's going on!? The guards only collect weapons in emergencies!>" Bjorn darted his eyes at Falaz.
"Falaz," Bjorn called.
With some trepidation, Falaz looked from the guards to Bjorn. With the guard's sight locked on his customer, Falaz quickly scurried to Bjorn, who broke into a whisper.
"
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"
"
Falaz ceased and glanced back at Bjorn. "
""
Falaz nodded. "
"
********
Zelak. Sat on the steps of the bathhouse, waiting patiently. "< There's a lot more guards than usual.>" He closed his eyes, and took deep breaths, keeping calm. "
"There you are."
Hearing Kalika, Zelak turned to see her dressed in an entirely new attire.
She wore a dark green blouse that tightened around her chest. It was accompanied by a black corset that draped over her hips and over a decorative skirt that matched her blouse, with the addition of being laced with bright purple accents and symbols. And unlike her old clothes, crudely stitched together by Donovan, her new ones, professionally made, perfectly covered her body with no holes to mention.
Kalika turned to Zelak, waiting for him to stand as she buttoned her newly acquired long pitch black robe that was fit for a noble.
Behind her, a few robed sucubi followed, with one carrying her previous clothes.
"
"
"
a satisfaction filled Kalka as she smirked subtly.
"
Zelak glanced opposite Kalika, finding Lyra in her hood, prepared to leave. He took a deep breath and stood at the ready. "
"
"
Lyra traced Zelak's gaze to the men in question; both of the demon guards glanced and feigned ignorance.
"
"
Putting some faith in her words, both Kalika and Zelak silently followed down the stairs and passed the guards.
"
The guards immediately turned, hiding their flushed faces.
"
"
********
Donovan, with Charla, watched as the demon blacksmith worked away from a safe distance, away from the toxic smoke. Shartius Fiddled away with the rod, attempting to fix the handle into the pipe's rod
Seeing the demon suddenly jam the pipe into the red furnace, Donovan jumped. "W-what the hell is that demon doing!? C-calm down, h-he obviously knows what he's doing."
A cold sweat ran down Donovan's face as he watched the demon flatten an end of the pipe. "H-hopefully it'll still work after the fact…"
"D-Donovan?" Charla called.
Donovan turned to Charla and saw her pull an oddly shaped, glossy, blue fruit from her bag and offer it. "Chakar," she said.
"Chakar?" Donovan took the fruit, curious about it. "So they actually have vegetables? or is that a fruit? and when did she get those"
Donovan examined the fruit with some scrutiny. Unsure, he glanced back at Charla, who nervously ripped her fruit open, revealing strange, clear beads. She took a bite, crushing the bread-sized pulp in her mouth."
Donovan, using the opportunity to distract himself, followed Charla and opened his fruit. like Charla's a fresh stash of bead-like pulps revealed themselves for the plucking. He took a single bead from the fruit, finding it surprisingly softer than expected.
"Hmm…" Mustering up some courage, he tossed the tiny bead in his mouth, finding it sweet. "Wow. This tastes like-"
"
"Huh?" Donovan glanced back. And watched as a tall red demon with scorching red eyes stormed past him.
"
Shartius dropped a pool of blood onto the pipe."
Karsh tore the hot red pipe from the demon's bench. "
"
"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" to Donavan's shock, the demon thrusted the unfinished rod in his face.
""
"Huh!?"
Charla immediately came between the two, "
"
Karsh reeled over, punched in the gut by Shartius. In an instant, Shartius took the hot bloodied rod back.
"
"
Charla, stunned, repeated Karsh. "
"
"
"
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"
"
Ignoring his father, Karsh punched and kicked at the abnormally fast demon. Each punch landed air and struck his palm. Desperate her brought his fist hurtling down and crushed the ground beneath them. But like before, the elder demon dodged with ease.
Growing tired of his tempered son, Shartius punched Karsh below the jaw.
"Oof. I felt that." Donovan watched as the son suddenly counterpunched his old, grey-eyed father in the gut. For a moment, the crowd that talked so much became silent.
"
The rod dropped to the floor, and the old man grasped Karsh's arm. "
A swift kick struck Karsh's head, sending him tumbling and crashing into another blacksmith's hut.
Donovan stood dumbfounded by the old demon. "how could he-."
"
"
"
Donovan glanced back, shock to find a huge crowd of demons now standing behind him, "Wh-when did they get here!? O-okay, the fight was a little nostalgic at first, but what the heck is going on?" Donovan wondered. He glanced to gauge Charla's feeling. He quickly noted a strain on her face, as if feeling some immense pressure.
TO his surprise, Charla, suddenly fell to her knees, held her head, and groaned in absolute pain.
"Ch-Charla?"
Unsure, He looked back and watched as Karsh pulled himself from the rubble and stood tall, ready for war. "Is it because of their fight?" Desperate to cease the fighting, Donovan quickly ran took the still piping hot rod from the ground and raised it in the air. "KARSH!!!!"
The two demons ceased at once.
"This is what they were fight over, right? they were must've been fighting over fixing my pipe. I've seen it all to many times back when I was in Gallock..."
The old demon shot a glare at Donovan who stood his ground, with the unfinished, reddening pipe still in the air for all to see.
Shartius rolled his eyes and left the ground at once. "
Karsh scoffed, watching Shartius , disappear into the crowd of demons.
Seeing this outcome, the crowd of demons groaned in disappointment.
Karsh waved the crowd away. "
Karsh, tired, approached Donovan and was handed the rod. Donovan flicked his hand around, trying to recover from the hot-tempered steel, all the while Karsh examined the half reddening, scrutinizing it. "
Karsh darted his eyes directly at Donovan, examining the mask he wore. "
"
"
Karsh turned back to Donovan, looking for answers.
"
" " Karsh stared at Donovan a moment longer. After a minute, he released a tired sigh. " " ********
With a growing impatience to traverse the empty and darkening streets, Kalika grew impatient. " " A few minutes later, the same formulaic stone building began to disperse. They turned the corner to find a building, decorate in a textiles colors of black, pink and white, stood erected all the way to the ceiling like the very foundation of the underground city. Within the decorated brothel were a multitude of open windows, some remaining closed as other were wide open and lit.
To Kalika's shock, as they approached, it was easy to see the brazen activities of some of the succubi, each one with more questionable activities than the last. She quickly averted her eyes elsewhere. "H-have they, no shame!?"
Suddenly, as they encroached the building, a sweat filled must invaded Kalika's nose. She stopped and winced, covering her nose from the overwhelming smell. Kalika flushed, knowing the smell, too well..
Zelak followed suit, hearing load the moans of pleasure seep from the brothel entry.
Kalika reddened harder, beginning to hear the noise from beyond the door. "Th-these demons are, s-so embarrassing!!"
Undeterred, Lyra continued. " She entered the building giving a small glimpse before closing it shut.
moments, screams of the women erupted, along with the scurrying and movement of objects. Seconds later, it became silent and Lyra stepped out. " The two succubus by Zelak hurried inside, leaving Kalika and Zelak to watch as the demon after demon was made to march out in a single file line with nothing but ripped and broken trousers on them.
A few of Incubus's among the demons snickered and exchanged winks at Kalika.
Sickened, Kalika averted her gaze from the indecently dressed men. "They could have at least fixed their stupid pants."
A few of the other remaining succubus urged and led the otherwise reluctant Kalika and Zelak into the Brothel.
entering into the main room, there were a variety of cloths and textiles colored red, blue, pink, green and even yellow. It was like a Childs playhouse filled to the brim with colors and unpleasant stains.
" "< It's where we do business. Where we would help up the coming women of our kin to mature, sometimes we'll get other women looking too. Depending on their needs, of course. In case we get men too, but that is rare, aside from a few of our regulars that donate, of course."
Lyra gestured for Kalika to follow. They followed Lyra through the musty room, into a hall where woven baskets say on the side with empty mugs and a open barrel of ale.
They traverse deep into the hall before stopping as a door. Lyra opened it and gestured for them to enter.
" With a sigh, Kalika silently entered with Zelak behind her. Not long after the door was closed, leaving Kalika and Zelak in the dimly lit room, surrounded by barrels and barrels of alcohol.
"Surprised," Zelak asked. "You shouldn't be too surprised. Sex is how a succubus survives after all."
"I already know that." Kalika said. She wandered to the center of the cellar with her arms crossed. "I've seen other dreams of my foolish maid... doing such embarrassing things." Kalika tightened her grasp on her arms "But that's not important. Now that we're here, why don't you tell me how to use my magic. Cause apparently, you're the only one that can show me the other half of what I need to know."
Zelak sat on the stair. "So what has Zorbian taught you so far, assuming he taught you something?"
"He told me that I had to feel nothing and that the easiest way to understand the feeling is through dying."
"But you've died plenty of times before."
"I have. In this stupid dream I died plenty of times. But he says I had to meditate and maintain my state of death. He says it works similarly to your blood magic."
"Hmm… I think I know what you mean…"
"So how do you do it then?"
"The feeling? It feels like a constant weight is crushing you, trying to squeeze you out. When I'm in the state of clairvoyance, I try to maintain that crushing feeling and my mind flies around the world around me. Perhaps if you maintain that kind of feeling, you'll manage to stay in that death state he mentioned."
"Mmm…. Right…"
"You've maintained your death longer than a minute before. You probably have a good idea of what I mean."
"Sorta ." Kalika gazed away from Zelak, pensive. She blurted a light unamused chuckle. "I think I managed to scare the demon sister of mine at one point. Rakon too at some other point, but he killed me after the fact again, the bastard."
Kalika turned back to Zelak "We'll we might as well get this over with. So go ahead and kill me. The sooner I learn to use this stupid magic, the faster I can get out of this stupid dream."