The Creators: Book Two, Chapter 5 free porn video

Prelude: Atonement

FLORA

The cold metal was soothing on my flesh, the dim light was calming on my eyes. I no longer felt the tortuous need of my sister’s ailment, but only a thrumming desire between my legs. It had been a horrible night, but it had been made bearable by the distraction of conversation. I hadn’t wanted to tell Julia my story, but a few coercing caresses of her fingers had loosened my lips. She’d remained silent as I spilled myself to her, only asking for me to clarify something once or twice. By the time I finished my tale, the morning sun was dimly glowing through the basement window.

“Now that you know the truth, what will you do with it?” I asked her. Julia didn’t respond. She sat cross-legged and naked in her corner of the room, studying me.

“You think I’m a monster, don’t you?” I whispered.

“No, I understand.” Julia got up and walked over to me, then sat beside my head, “I’ve also fallen prey to the seduction of power. You think that by commanding others, you can find some control of yourself, but it’s not so. It’s an addiction.”

“Yes.”

“But power doesn’t keep you warm at night, or bring you joy in the morning. You sold your daughter for power, and only afterward did you realize you’d sold her cheaply.”

“Yes.” I whispered again. Julia nodded empathetically, and looked out the basement window.

“I am going to seek atonement this morning.” She said, “Tonight, you will do the same.”

“How?”

Julia leaned until her face hovered over mine, her kindly emerald eyes tinged with the hint of something dark. She touched a single finger against my exposed belly, and I twisted in ardent reaction.

“Tera’s poison is still in you, Flora.” Julia sighed, “It will take at least half a day to be rid of it. I’ll have to leave you like this for the duration, for your own good.”

“How, Julia?” I hissed, “How can I atone?”

“You have to undo what you’ve done.” Julia replied, “You sold Willowbud into slavery, now you must buy her freedom.”

“At what cost?”

Julia smiled ruefully at me. “I’ve been asking the Holy Mother that all my life. The answer is always ‘more.’”

Part One: Martyr

JULIA

“You know you don’t have to do this.” Lucilla said softly. The tunnel was immense, dark except for the morning light that glared at its end. Normally, the light would be a welcome sight in such cavernous blackness, but now, it only filled me with dread.

“Yes, I do.” I whispered. My hands were clasped before me, my ankles were clasped beneath me, and I was completely naked, save for the crescent symbol that hung between my breasts.

“I forgave you.” Lucilla hissed.

“I need more than just your forgiveness.”

“There are those that will never forgive you.” Lucilla said, molding herself to the crook of me.

“I need to forgive me.” I said, offering her a sad smile.

“You can’t do that, Julia.” Lucilla returned the smile with equal sadness, “You never could.” She pressed her lips to mine, and I tasted her worry in the kiss. I broke from the embrace with a shallow gasp, and saw fear in her sapphire eyes. It was oddly comforting; at least I wasn’t alone in my terror. I turned from her, took a breath, and stepped forward. The light of the tunnel grew brighter with each successive footfall, and a low rumble became audible to me. The rumble became a growl, and soon, it was a roar. It was like continuous thunder, and the noise beat at my body like the wind, making me cringe against it, but still, I walked. The thunder grew louder, the terror grew hotter, but every time I thought to retreat, I forced an image of Diamond’s black eyes, of Lucilla’s blank eyes, and of my mother’s dead eyes. I stepped beneath the threshold, the cold stone beneath my feet turned to hot sand, and the blinding sunlight consumed me. The monster roared my entrance, and I walked willingly into its mouth.

The Pit seemed much larger from the sands than it had from the outside. The stands rose a hundred feet all around me, the risers stretching back, every space filled with the writhing, screaming blur of sixty-thousand people. Their heinous roar was of hatred, of laughter, of amusement at seeing a god so humbled. This beast of the masses did not even know the word ‘mercy.’ It only wanted more, only wanted worse, and I would give it to them. I took a deep breath, held my head high, and walked to the platform at the center of the sand. From across the arena, I could see Brandon and Night Eyes in their booth. I felt the hunger in my lungs, and I gritted my teeth to suppress it. My desire for Corruption had become a dependency sometime in the night, and it was only getting worse. I needed something terrible to distract my mind.

BRANDON

I hoped Julia couldn’t hear the things they were saying about her. They screamed their insults from the stands above us, threw refuse onto the arena, and jeered Julia as she stepped to the platform. As individuals, people were generally good, but get them in a crowd, and they’re just shit.

“It’s because fear is what makes people ‘good,’” Willowbud said beside me after I’d vocalized the thought, “and when cattle are in a herd, they no longer fear the wolf.”

“That’s cynical.” I snorted, “How very typical of you.”

Willowbud grinned beside me on the couch, and Corruption grinned with her. I pulled Willowbud’s head to my chest so that I wouldn’t have to see those white eyes burning into me, and I tried vainly to ignore the strands of black hair that mingled with Willowbud’s stark white. The two of them didn’t move as one anymore. Diamond had noticed it too, and as their meld grew weaker, Corruption became more obvious to me. It wasn’t just the visual change, but the behavioral change as well. When Willowbud came to my bed last night, she didn’t pounce on me in the heat of passion, but simply stared at me from the foot of the bed. I couldn’t see anything of Willowbud but her silhouette, but I could see Corruption’s white irises wide and alight, and her teeth shining from that broad, hungry grin. When Willowbud finally crawled into bed next to me, I didn’t feel much like sleeping anymore.

“Why aren’t you with Julia?” I asked, “Isn’t this at least half your fault?”

“Sister Julia’s taking one for the team.” Willowbud chuckled, “She’s doing this for you too, Brandon.”

“I didn’t fucking do anything.” I growled.

“Do you think they care?” Willowbud gestured to the tented canopy of our box, the translucent lavender revealing the churning masses that stretched above and behind us, “They’re about ready to blow. If Sister Julia can’t release the pressure here, we’ll have to do things my way.”

“I thought you loved the rabble?”

“I’ve made a habit of killing the things I love.” Willowbud answered softly. I would’ve vastly preferred her sardonic chuckle. At the center of the sands, Tera was chaining Julia’s cuffs to the cross bars of a squared frame, displaying the god’s beautiful, spread nakedness for all to see. The voluptuous succubus looked oddly lonely by herself on stage.

“I take it you didn’t want the main event to be spoiled?” I said, glancing at the statue of Astrid looming in the distance.

“She’s not suited for this kind of thing anyway; it’s usually her in chains, not the other way around.” Willowbud sighed, “I just hope this little display doesn’t take the wind out of the championship’s sails.”

“Oh, I don’t think Julia could ever do that.” I chuckled, “We might have our temples, but this place is Astrid’s cathedral, and there’s only one god of the arena.”

ASTRID

Step right, duck, fly up four meters, slice, drop three meters, slide with the parry, feign high, swing low, spin, extend the elbow, duck again, feign a stab, and… punch the bitch in the twat. Ladies and gentlemen, your new champion of the Pit: Astrid Skyborne! Jade Tao stumbled back, clutching her crotch, dropping her wooden practice sword to the floor of Mistress’s atrium. The Pussy Palace was eerily quiet this morning after most of its occupants had fled, but I didn’t mind. I needed the space to practice without distraction.

“That isn’t something they taught on the peaks.” Jade gasped.

“No, that was something Tera taught me.” I chuckled, “And I bet that area’s oh-so tender after being Julia’s High Guard for two days.”

“You duel without honor!” Jade cried, collapsing to her knees.

“The Pit isn’t a place for honor, High Guard Tao.” I said, kicking her sword into my hand, “Duels there aren’t fought to submission or to disarm like on the peaks.” I stepped over to Jade, and laid her own sword against the back of her neck. She held up two fingers in surrender, and I let her wooden weapon clatter to the floor. “That’s five to zero, High Guard; I’m disappointed.”

“I am sorry.” Jade said, dusting off her robes, and getting to wobbly feet, “I am distracted. Mistr-Her Holiness- is putting herself in grave danger, and I feel absolutely helpless!”

“She ordered you to stay away from it.” I said, getting in my stance, “She also ordered you to help me, and your constant failure is a betrayal of her wishes.”

“Why aren’t you with Her Eminence, Tera Autumnsong right now?” Jade grunted, hoisting herself to her feet, “Don’t you live for displays like this?” Jade gestured toward the outline of The Pit in the distance.

“Mistress doesn’t want me seen until I walk onto the sands,” I replied, twirling my weapon, “and I’m no sadist.”

“How many people have you killed in that arena?” Jade smiled that polite, yet teasing smile.

“One-hundred and eighty-two in fifteen matches, but I never let them suffer.” I said, circling for a better angle, “Tera, however, would make sure her foes lingered if they’d given her too much trouble. She is an… expert on the body.”

“So you’re the merciful one, Avenging Angel?” Jade said, shifting her stance.

“I showed mercy once.” I frowned, adjusted my stance in turn, and with a battle cry, I charged Jade.

TERA

“Cold morning, huh, Your Holiness?” I chuckled, trying at levity as I chained the terrified and naked god to the frame. By her scowl, I guessed my dick joke wasn’t appreciated. It occurred to me that the only other time I’d spoken to Julia was when I had my knife to her daughter’s throat, and now I was going to sexually torture her in front of sixty-thousand people. I suspected small-talk wasn’t something we’d be doing. Well, that was probably for the best, considering what I knew. My eyes caught the crescent symbol dangling between Julia’s full, pale breasts, and I sighed. Mostly because her tits were fantastic, but also because I felt guilty. I’d been up all night mulling-over Angela’s theory about the Holy Mother, and the more I thought of it, the more it made sense. I’d never seen evidence of God before, not a perfect, omnipotent one, anyway. The only gods I knew were just extremely powerful mortals, and they were also extremely flawed; Julia maybe more than the other two. Still, she did have a great rack, holy shit. And that ass! Oh, I was going to have fun ruining this woman. I’d been waiting to sink my proverbial (or literal) teeth into her since I first saw her, and now she was delivering herself to me in the best way possible. I’d practically skipped to The Pit when I’d gotten her request from Jade. “Her Holiness needs someone experienced in public displays of punishment, someone the people of Drastin are familiar with, someone that can act as their will.” Drastin was a stinking, rotten, corrupt, amoral center of the worst kind of humanity, and I’d make sure their will was enacted to the letter.

“What’s that?” Julia gasped.

“That…” I said, slipping the instrument down her length, “is a cock-ring. When I get you hard, this is going to be nice and snug.”

“And that?” Julia hissed.

“This is for your anus.” I said, showing her the metallic prongs, and slowly separating them to demonstrate their use. Julia’s eyes went wide.

“And that?” Julia whispered, her voice barely coming from her.

“Nipple chain; doesn’t it look familiar?”

“Ah, yes.” Julia mumbled, then glanced at the table beside me, where two-dozen more of my personal toys were laid out, “Are you going to use all of them on me?”

“That’s up to you, Your Holiness.” I said, taking her chin between my thumb and forefinger, “This is your party, after all.”

Julia gulped, seeming to steel herself. “Do your worst, Tera.”

“I don’t think you want that.” I chuckled.

“But I need it.” Julia said, dropping her head, looking resigned and hopeless. As beautiful as she was with her arms chained and spread above her, and her legs in a similar situation below her, I did feel for the girl.

“With just a touch, I can make everything wonderful.” I said softly, “I brought astral gemstones with me; no one will know.”

“No.” Julia said firmly, regaining some of her spirit, “This isn’t for me, or for you, or for them; this is for God. I have strayed from her path, and I need to atone. I have tortured and raped, so I must bear my sins in turn. I must bear them for all to see.”

“Well, you say it’s not for me,” I smiled as I took a feather, and gently teased her left nipple out, “but truth be told, Your Holiness, I couldn’t think of a better way to start my day.” Then I pierced that nipple with the needle in my other hand, and Julia screamed. Her body wrenched forward, her arms and legs straining and straightening behind her, the chains growing taught from her shackles. The crowd erupted around us, and I withdrew the needle. The wound was instantly cauterized by the hot metal, which made me cognizant of who I was dealing with. If I went too far, Julia might not be able to control her own fire. I waited until her scream ebbed, then I gave her a questioning look. She nodded weakly, and I punctured the right nipple. I would’ve put a gag in her mouth to give her something to bite on, but the people in the back needed to hear what they couldn’t see, so Julia’s shrill scream rose high and true from her red lips. Her body arched, jutting her chest forward, and I took the opportunity to link the loops through her piercings, and dangle the chain between them. Julia’s scream devolved into a whimper before she regained control of herself.

“You’re doing great!” I smiled to her, “Just a couple more things, then we can start.”

“We can start?!” Julia cried, her red hair in strands over her pale face, “Tera, I-”

“Shhh.” I said, putting a gloved finger to her red lips, “I’m not ‘Tera’ anymore, and you’re not ‘Your Holiness.’ You’re not even ‘Julia.’ From this moment, until we’re done, you are ‘Dog.’ You will obey without question, you will submit without resistance, and you will wag that sexy little ass and smile when I offer you a treat. Understood?”

I could almost feel Julia’s glare of pure hatred.

“If you can’t comply, Dog, then I will let you go, and you can find a new master.” I whispered onto those red lips as I ran my finger across them, indenting the glistening flesh, “Now, give your master a ‘woof-woof.’”

Julia’s eyes narrowed, then relaxed. She dropped her head, and under her breath, I heard a soft, “woof-woof.” I smiled to myself. Religious girls were always so easy to submit; they’d been doing it their whole lives. My little Justina scorned religion, but personally, I loved it. Religion filled women with shame, and nothing begot kinkier sex than shame. The Maternal Path was a cesspool of sadomasochism and ritualistic orgies, and while Dark-Julia leaned towards the Holy Mother’s judgmental side, I’d seen firsthand normal-Julia’s proclivities for the sacrificial side. What a wonderful little martyr she was.

“Good girl.” I chuckled, and placed a headband atop her crimson mane, giving my new pet the dog ears to match her title. I turned her face upward, and dotted her nose with black ink, giving her the semblance of a snout. She crinkled her nose at the touch, and I giggled. I drew little whiskers on her sparkling, apple cheeks, and clasped a tight collar around her neck with ‘bitch’ written on the tag. I stepped back to let Drastin see what I’d done to the god. Cruel laughter mingled with jeers and whistles, and Julia’s face turned the color of her hair. She cringed, trying to fold herself inward to hide from the humiliation, but she was trapped in her vertical spread-eagle. I couldn’t help but admire my work. From the chin up, she looked like an adorable little ginger girl who just got her face painted at the fair, but from the chin down, she was a twin-gendered slave-whore in chains, sporting augmented breasts and an oversized cock. The duality of her, both physically and spiritually, aroused me in a very unique way. There was just one thing missing. My eyes fell upon a bushy tail, with a cone-headed metallic plug at the end. I picked it up and sucked it as I strutted around Julia, one of my hands anchoring dainty fingers on her shoulder. I stopped behind her, slid my fingers down her back, grabbed a succulent glute, and spread.

“You might enjoy this now, but you’re going to hate me for it later.” I whispered, and slowly pushed the plug into her ass. The people jeered as Julia moaned, and I watched her pink rim dilate around the tip’s expanding girth, then suck the metal cone into her with ease, tightening greedily before the base. I left a kiss on the nape of her neck, and the memory of my pressing body to tease her exposed back.

“You will find that I am a fair master, Dog.” I pontificated as I ran my fingers over my tools, “I will reward good behavior, and punish bad behavior.” I gave her a little smirk, “And you’ve been a very bad doggy. Before we do anything, I’m going to have to housebreak you.” And I grabbed the cattle-prod, put the business end against Julia’s chain, and pulled the trigger. She screamed again, high and shrill, her biceps flexing, her head rearing back, her feet stomping against the ground. The crowd roared, and I upped the voltage, causing Julia’s fists to shake in their white-knuckled balls. I waited until her scream sputtered out, then I released the trigger, and Julia collapsed, dangling from her arms, breathing heavily, her pale skin glistening with exertion. The crowd’s cheering turned to uproarious laughter, and when Julia realized why, her face turned two shades darker. Between Julia’s quivering legs, her cock was standing full and proud, swelling around the too-snug ring that centered it. Nerves were just electrical signalers after all, and with the metallic plug and cock-ring, I’d created a current between her prostate, and her dick.

“It is useful to have a scientist in the family.” I chuckled, running my fingers along the underside of Julia’s cock, and grinning as the ample organ twitched and frothed, “Justina had this idea written in her notebook. She thought it would be best implemented on a grand scale, a factory-farm of human males reduced to cattle. The ethics got in the way of implementation, I imagine, but we don’t have to worry about such petty things here, do we, Dog?”

Julia gritted her teeth, and whined a loud, pleading tone as my fingers caressed her. The crowd laughed even more, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

“Why the embarrassment, Dog?” I whispered as I pet her, “You walk naked for everyone to see, yet you turn like a beet now?” I leaned forward, and Julia turned her face away. That wouldn’t do at all. I grabbed her cock, squeezed, and twisted. Julia howled, trying to back away from the pain, but only managing to fall backward in her chains, her arms straightened out before her. The crowd erupted, and Julia closed her eyes tightly, like a child without object permanence.

“Look at me, Dog.” I hissed in her pointed ear, and delivered a shock to the apex of her thighs. Julia’s eyes flashed open, her hands turned to claws, her back turned to an arch, and she bellowed her agony to the sky. I waited until those wide, quivering eyes stared at me, then I released the trigger. “Good girl.” I grinned, “Now, speak!”

“What?”

“Words are for people, Dog.” I growled, pushing the prod high between her legs, “When I say ‘speak,’ you say…”

“…woof-woof.” Julia muttered, eyes fixed on my trigger-finger, bottom lip trembling.

“Good girl.” I smiled, and pulled the prod away, much to the disappointment of the crowd. Then I picked up a wooden paddle with grooved metal studs, and their approval filled my ears.

“But you said I was a good girl!” Julia cried.

“Didn’t I just tell you ‘words are for people?’” I sneered, rounding the woman as she thrashed in her binds, “That was a test, and you failed it miserably. Clearly, you’re not housebroken yet.” I ran my hands across her perfect ass, squeezing one glute, then the other, admiring the supple texture, the way they formed in my hand, then jiggled back onto their gravity-defying perches. I tugged her tail, and heard her moaning gasp. That didn’t sound right. Curious, I trailed my fingers down her crack, down her taint, and through her petals. She hissed, barely stopping herself from swaying her hips. I withdrew my gloved hand, and examined the viscous nectar stringing between my fingers.

“You’re enjoying this too much, Dog.” I whispered under my breath.

“Woof-woof.” Julia moaned under hers.

ANGELA

“Woof-woof!” Julia’s cry echoed through the arena. Tera reared back, and brought the paddle down again. The smack sounded, the crowd cheered, and Julia screamed another ‘woof-woof’ this one shriller and more desperate than before. I had to admire Tera’s ability to not only humiliate Julia, but to make her actively participate in her own humiliation. If I ever again delved into sadomasochism, I’d make sure to take some pointers from her. She was quite simply, a master of all things debauched.

Unlike Willowbud and Brandon’s box, ours was not canopied with a cloth, but with a hard roof, and for good reason. It sounded like it was raining on us, but it was just all the shit the enraged citizens had decided to throw at Lucilla and me. A troop of Breytans surrounded our box, standing like statues ready to kill just in case someone was stupid enough to rush us. They still wore the blasphemous robes from yesterday, which I found concerning. I thought Julia would immediately make her warriors discard them the moment she was better, but it seemed Julia had not abandoned establishing her offshoot of the Maternal Path. She was getting worse, but I understood. I still felt Corruption’s affects lingering within me, tickling my darkness, influencing my actions. Sara and a dozen of her elves stood at the entrance to our box with their swords unsheathed, and I sat next to Lucilla with my own weapon in hand.

“Stop that!” Lucilla growled at me from her side of the couch.

“What?” I asked her innocently, my head resting on the furniture’s arm, my pelvis pointed toward the princess.

“That is not your penis!” Lucilla said, slapping my stroking hand, “Quit jacking-off with it!”

“Diamond said she didn’t care what I did with her body, just as long as it was all in one piece when she came back for it.” I said snidely.

“If you had any decency, you’d refrain from test-driving her sex parts!” Lucilla snapped.

“I don’t have any decency.” I grinned, then sucked my forefinger, sprawled my legs, and pushed my finger up my ass to the bottom knuckle. Lucilla slapped me hard across the cheek. I yelped, my head whipping to the side, my scarlet curls bouncing in coils about my face. I grinned. “Woof-woof.” I whispered, and Lucilla punched me so hard, I felt some of Diamond’s molars loosen.

“Do you think this is funny?” Lucilla snarled in my face, “Julia is out there being humiliated in front of the entire world, and you’re desecrating her daughter’s body?”

“What, should I have let her do it instead?” I snapped, wiping blood from my lip. I knew my wit had outrun my judgement, and I barely put my hands up in time to catch Lucilla’s next punch. Without thinking, I twisted around her, wrapped my legs in a hold, and pinned her face-first into the couch, with my hands holding her wrists against the small of her back, and my thighs locked about her hips. Huh, I mused, I guess I brought back Diamond’s fighting skills the last time I went to her astral garden. Fancy that. Lucilla struggled beneath me, squirming vainly to get out of the hold I had her in. Her porcelain back flexed, her shoulder-blades protruded, her supple ass clapped beneath the thin silk of her dress, which draped perfectly between her cheeks. I giggled when she tried to kick me with her the backs of her heels, and I nestled my hard length into her silken-covered crack. She stopped, and went suddenly very still.

“Oh, do you like that?” I chuckled, reaching behind me, and grabbing the hem of her dress.

“You wouldn’t.” Lucilla hissed.

“You sure?” I asked, sliding her skirt up her thighs.

“You’re not a rapist.” Lucilla insisted.

“No, but you haven’t told me to stop yet.” I said, exposing her ass, “Do you want me to stop?” And I grabbed a succulent handful of Lucilla’s patterned globes, and squeezed with covetous fingers.

“No.” Lucilla whispered with a quivering breath. I gently parted her cheeks with my grabbing hand, and nestled my cock between them. She visibly relaxed from the skin-to-skin contact, a satisfied shudder running through her. Lucilla’s feelings toward me were complicated, I knew, but I suspected they were more favorable than not. We shared an odd bond after our ordeal yesterday, one of unspoken understanding. I understood what she needed now; I could feel her need radiating from her.

“You didn’t go to Julia’s bed?” I asked, running my cock through her petals, down her taint, and across her rim

“She wasn’t there when I got back.” Lucilla whispered into the cushion, her body relaxing more with every pass of my shaft.

“After all that denial yesterday, this must be unbearable…” I mused, my cock growing wet with Lucilla’s secretion. I tentatively let go of her wrists, and her hands slid limply down her side, gripped the fat of her ass, and spread herself for me. Her face turned, and I saw a single sapphire eye beneath a knitted brow, it’s glint pleading above her parted, pink lips. The patterns that covered her body covered all of her body, and they formed a fiery circle about her rim, a bowing line down the ribbon of her taint, and a highlighting outline around the dripping lips of her sex. I slid my tip to her blushing folds, and pushed into her wet heat.

LUCILLA

God, I needed it. Angela’s cock radiated inside me, parting my petals, rubbing against my spot, pushing as deep as she could go. I moaned and molded my ass against her crotch, perking it up with elevated hips to bring her even deeper. I felt her thumb run along my taint, tracing the line that was there, then I felt it follow that line around my anus, circling, teasing, the touch reminiscent of the torture she’d made me endure yesterday. Unwanted memories flooded into my mind, memories of two pairs of black eyes staring cruelly from the faces of those I loved. Panic swelled in me, and I suddenly felt trapped beneath Angela, violated by her penetration. She pushed her thumb into my ass, and I cried out, but not in pleasure. I bucked like a crazed animal, thrashed with hands and feet, wrenched my back this way and that. I felt Angela’s weight press to my back, and I tried desperately to roll us off the couch. I opened my mouth to scream for Sara, but I was met with a pair of unexpected lips. Angela offered Serenity to me, and I greedily took the dose. Panic washed from me, the world clarified, and my mind became a reservoir of peace.

Holy shit, are you alright? Angela asked mentally. She pulled out of me cautiously, and rolled my skirt back over my butt.

“I think I just had a panic attack.” I replied verbally once our kiss had broken.

“I think you might need a therapist.” Angela said, helping me back into a sitting position.

“Perhaps.” I mused. I was feeling rather indifferent about the whole ordeal, actually. Everything was just perfect the way it was. Any alterations to the present would be an affront to the eternal ‘now.’

“You need to breathe it out, Lucilla, or you’ll become addicted to it.” Angela frowned, “I’m still feeling Corruption’s affects, and this isn’t even my body.” Angela gave me a guilty look, “I’m sorry about what I just did. Corruption isn’t an excuse to be a total cunt.”

“No, you do that just fine one your own.” I grimaced as I reluctantly blew Serenity out of me. Angela chuckled at that.

“I wish we’d met under better circumstances, Princess.” Angela smiled, “I think we would’ve gotten along very well.”

“I have a bad habit of fucking people first, then making introductions.” I sighed.

“I think it leaves a great first impression.” Angela grinned. I relented a little smile, and turned my attention to the display in the arena. Tera had changed the paddle to a whip, though not the crude instrument Julia had used on me. This one had many tails, and left only stimulating red marks where it met flesh, causing pain, but not agony. Not what Julia had done to me. I touched a finger to my breast, feeling the flesh through the silk of my dress. Brandon had healed me, but the memory of the pain was still there. It was a grim reminder, but a necessary one. It kept me focused on what I had to do.

JUSTINA

Unlike my mother, I did not like being the center of attention. From a neutral, psychological viewpoint, I knew my aversion to attention was a symptom of my sheltered upbringing, but knowing the reason for a feeling didn’t make the feeling go away. I was dressed in a slutty doctor’s outfit (one of many outfits I had that could be prefixed with ‘slutty’) that included a white skirt, white fishnet stockings, and a white apron that left very little to the imagination. It was horrendously conservative for me, but I had to play my part. I was the veterinarian, and I had to inspect my mother’s new pet. The crowd cheered and whistled as I made my way to the platform, and I focused very hard on not tripping over my own tail. I missed the final step, and awkwardly recovered, exposing my ass to the entire world. That didn’t bother me in the least, but the stumble itself left my face burning.

“Did you get into Willowbud’s wine stores this morning?” Mom chuckled as she added a fifth weight to Julia’s nipple chain, stretching the Heat Bringer’s breasts into ovals, the fresh piercings extending to ovoid cutouts in the pink cones. Julia sobbed, her legs shaking beneath her, her cock drooling a string of cum, her pussy wetting her succulent, pale thighs. Her drawn-on whiskers were blurred with her exerted tears, but she still had her dotted nose, her tail, and her cute ears.

“I guess I just didn’t inherit your natural grace, Mother.” I replied, inspecting her lineup of tools.

“That almost sounded like back-talk.” Mom grinned, “There’s room for you on this frame if you’re feeling uppity.”

“It would be wasted on me.” I sighed, pulling the metal prongs off the table, “I can’t get off on humiliation, if I can’t be sexually shamed. If you really wanted to embarrass me, you’d sign me up for a track meet.”

“I keep telling you, you’re a natural athlete, but if you don’t try, you’ll never know.” Mom replied in a lecturing voice, and dropped a sixth weight onto Julia’s chain, prompting a pained growl from the woman.

“Let’s pretend that I am, unbeknownst to me, a world-class athlete.” I said as I walked around Julia’s splayed figure, “What would I do with those skills? I hate sports, and I hate exercise, unless double-penetration counts as exercise.”

“I think it does.” Mom mused, tapping her lips, “I’m always a sweaty mess afterward, so I must’ve been burning some calories, right? What do you think, Dog?”

“Woof-woof.” Julia replied weakly.

“Good girl.” Mom grinned, and dropped a seventh weight on the chain. Julia whined and shimmied her hips, trying to dance the pain away.

“And let’s be honest, Mom.” I said as I grabbed Julia’s tail, and pulled it out, “Your athleticism comes from your nymph heritage, of which I inherited exactly zero alleles. Succubi only beget more succubi, and evolutionary bottleneck is avoided by the paternal contribution alone. Who was my father again? Some drunk baker?”

“He was a blacksmith.” Mom sighed wistfully, “He had the prettiest penis you’d ever seen; it was like a work of art. Once I saw that dick, Justina, I knew it would be your daddy.”

“And people say our kind can’t be romantic.” I chuckled, then sucked Julia’s ass from her plug, and examining the puckered, pink coil of her anus. I raised my instrument over my head to show the crowd what I was about to do, then I pressed the cold metal of the prongs to Julia’s rim. I heard her stifle a scream, and saw her stiffen. I pushed the prongs forward, marveling at the way her tender flesh indented, her pelvic floor bowed inward, and her rim dilated. Julia growled, and her pussy began to blush. The prongs slowly pushed inside, the pliable, pink meat of her exit sucking around the invasion, leaving only the metallic lengths visible, then the handle. Julia’s growl rose in pitch, her vacant pussy dripping, her constricted cock flexing wantonly. I began to open the prongs, and Julia screamed. I giggled, absolutely delighted by the way her dirty entrance gaped cylindrically down the shaft of the prongs, giving me an excellent view into the ruby, moist depths of her. I pried wider, stretching her rim to a ruinous oval until I was sure she would tear if I pulled a millimeter more. Julia was sobbing in agony, but the flow of her lust down her legs had only increased.

“Well, doctor?” Mom grinned at me as she pet Julia’s hair, “What’s your diagnosis?”

“When was the last time you took your pet to a proctologist?” I asked, taking a deep inhale of Julia’s sinful depths, and feeling my mouth water.

“I just pulled this bitch off the streets.” Mom chuckled, grabbing Julia’s chain, and pulling down. Not only did I hear Julia’s reaction, but I saw it through the violent convulsions of her moist depths.

“It appears she’s in need of a rectal examination.” I said, “I hope you don’t mind if I abstain from using gloves; they’re so intrusive.” I raised my hand above me, and curled it into a fist. The crowd egged me on as I slowly neared the gaping exit, and guided my hand inside. Julia actually sighed when I entered her, which wasn’t a surprise given what I’d heard about her. My knuckles pressed against her smooth walls, each graze of them causing her cavern to tremor, then relax, as though her rectal nerves were testing my invasion, and found it a welcome one. My hand passed the end of the prongs, and I pushed against the fleshy spiral of the woman. She opened for me willingly, her sphincter uncoiling, and embracing me as I moved through it, the tender flesh sucking warmly against each knuckle, then the wrist.

“My, my,” I chuckled, “someone’s enjoying their doctor’s visit.” Julia moaned pathetically, shifting her weight as best she could to push her ass harder against me, wordlessly begging me to go deeper. I was already near to the elbow.

“I know I am.” Mom chuckled, running two fingers along the underside of Julia’s cock. The organ was engorged and reddened, bulging around the ring that choked it halfway down its length, causing the precum at her tip to dribble down. Julia groaned, her arousal causing her pain, which in turn, only begot greater arousal. Mom mercilessly caressed the god, her touch undeniable, making Julia’s cock bounce in flexion. Mom continued her two-fingered torture until Julia’s calls were shrill with desperation, then Mom snaked her tongue out, wrapped it thrice around Julia’s shaft, and took every inch of the divine canine down her throat. Julia’s relieved sigh sung from her throat, and the crowd roared their approval as Mom slowly withdrew her mouth, the suction pulling her cheeks gaunt, her violet eyes smirking up at the captive god. I felt Julia’s prostate pulsing with the imminence of her ascension, and I encouraged her climax with the press of my thumb. Her head flung back, her dog ears flopping with her flailing hair, and she blew. Her anal organ spasmed and quaked, her cock bulged and reddened, and Mom pulled her purple lips away just as Julia’s tip leaked. With the metal ring around her shaft, Julia’s release was reduced to a dribbling flow of cum, increasing the pressure, heightening the pain, and ratcheting the ecstasy. She whined and yipped like the dog she was, and Mom collected Julia’s nectar in a wine glass, then screwed the tap shut. Julia’s hips bucked violently in reaction, her cock bounced furiously, and she stomped on the ground as her orgasm was held inside her. Her member swelled even more, no longer wagging from her pelvis, but standing painfully erect, looking near to bursting.

“I’d like a more thorough examination, Doctor.” Mom grinned from me, to Julia, “It appears there’s something wrong with her.”

I raised my other hand high, splayed my fingers, and heard the approval of the mob. I slid that hand down my bicep, to the underside of my elbow, and pressed it to the stretched seal of Julia Gendian. I pushed my other hand inside. The sound that came from Julia was almost a howl. She wrenched, heedless of the tortuous stretching of her breasts, and she came. She came in a tremble so violent I felt it in the floorboards. Her rectum squeezed my forearms together, her prostate convulsed against the back of my wrist, and her vaginal floor tremored from the other side. She shrieked high, a sound different than I’d heard before. It was filled with joy, humiliation and pain, and the crowd loved it. Laughter sounded from all around, cheers for more sounded after, and I took the opportunity to push the rest of my second forearm inside her.

JULIA

The humiliation was terrible, but I wanted it. The pressure inside me was agonizing, but I begged for it. The stiffness of my cock was tortuous, but I thrusted toward Tera nonetheless. I was a dog, a beast to be used and degraded, beaten and abused. Oh, Good Mother did I deserve it, and oh, how I reveled in it. Splayed and outturned, exposed and violated. Everything was laid out for the world to see, to judge, to slander, to heap scorn and shame upon. Oh, how I coveted it.

“Are you ready, Dog?” Tera whispered. I nodded, my eyes begging, my lips pouting subserviently, and she chuckled low and raspy into my ear, “I did something like this to Lucilla the other day, but not with two hands. It’s Justina’s first time trying it, so let’s see how she does.”

Justina’s balled her hands inside me, knuckles pressing into the stretched, tender walls of my rectum, the channel hugging every curve of her invasion. I held by breath, clamped my eyes shut, and bit down on my lip, counting down the seconds until it happened. One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousaAAAAAAH! Justina’s hands slowly pulled out, the wrists pressing against the inside of my exit, dilating it, stretching it, searing horrible, wonderful pain deep into me. I was beyond screaming, beyond crying for mercy. I just whined a high, almost inaudible sound with the hissing air through my clenched teeth. She pulled, and pulled, and pulled out. I lurched forward as if I’d just been cut from some great weight, and I found my scream. It came loud and true from me, as joyous as it was terrible. My insides flowed from my hole, coiling into a mass of glistening pink at my exit, a ball of anal nerves that sung their heinous euphoria through my synapses. The crowd gasped, then cheered, then applauded, and for a moment, I felt a little of how Astrid must’ve felt on these very sands. Through tear-blurred eyes, I looked upon the adulating masses, and a wide smile spread across my cheeks. My vision was filled with Tera’s sneering face, and my smile disappeared, but my excitement only elevated.

“Well, Justina,” Tera prompted, “what’s your professional opinion? Should I keep this mutt?”

“I just have one more test.” Justina giggled, and squeezed my prolapse. I sucked in a shuddering breath, my legs quivered, and I clenched my anal muscles, trying to force every last inch of me outside of my body. Justina’s delicate, slender fingers kneaded the petals of my rose, tickled the ovule, and massaged the bud, coercing electric pleasure into my nethers, growing more intense with each subtle movement until I dangled helplessly from the chains, my legs giving out beneath me. She giggled again, a girlish sound, and I felt her tongue, and… oh… oh, Good Mother. I barely registered the lecherous cheer of the crowd. My mind was hinging on every soft, tickling motion of Justina’s forked invasion, and the suction of her plush lips. She wrapped her mouth around my protrusion, and sucked softly, the spit leaking around my bud as her tongue danced through my folds, then found my ovule, and dove in.

“It’s like heaven isn’t it?” Tera chuckled, petting my hair possessively, “You’ve been such a good girl, Dog. Do you like your master’s reward?”

“Woof-woof!” I whined, the pleasure making my voice sound pained, giving my eyes a pleading, desperate look.

“You see, Dog,” Tera pontificated as she hooked her fingers into my stretched piercings, “the real way to break someone sexually, isn’t to deny them release. It’s to give it to them. Over, and over, and over, each time better than the last, until they’re nothing but the need for more.” Tera unhooked the loops, and my tortured breasts sprung back to their positions, filling with feeling, releasing the strain that had been mounting. It pushed me over. The pleasure of Justina’s mouth combined with the sudden influx in my bosom, winding a cord of nerves that stretched from my anus to my nipples. The tension grew tighter, the euphoria more intense, building and building until it broke with an explosion, and I was crying out through sobbing breaths, and thrashing to the dance of my depravity. My pussy gushed, my constricted cock leaked, and my outturned anus winked and budded into Justina’s still-sucking mouth. The crowd roared with me, laughing and jeering, whistling and hooting as I exalted for their favor.

“Then,” Tera whispered, her long, reptilian tongue licking my panting lips, “when their minds are empty and receptive, they will give themselves willingly to you, and you can mold them as you wish. It’s a trick, you see. First you show them hell, then you let them taste heaven, but you never free them from damnation. Soon, they won’t be able to tell the difference between paradise and perdition.” Tera levelled her gaze with me, those violet eyes studying mine, “And you are a damaged soul, Dog. You long for an escape from this reality. Let me give it to you.”

“Woof-woof.” I whispered hoarsely. Set me free.

“A dog begs,” Tera breathed on my parted mouth, her hands running up my belly, “and a dog barks,” her fingers gripped my breasts, “but I wonder, does a dog milk?” And Tera squeezed my sensitive breasts, her fingers disappearing in the succulence. A shock of intense pleasure shot into my chest, and I spurted milk from my tortured nipples, spraying Tera’s bronze complexion in white. She laughed delightedly, wrapped her tongue around one lactating node, and pulled it into her sucking, purple mouth. Once again, it was too much. My overloaded breast tissue screamed with glee, and I screamed in turn as I bucked and heaved in the throes of another orgasm. This one took me more violently, compelled me to undulate through my hips and breasts like a belly dancer, my belly flattening to a pale expanse with the exaggerated arch of my back.

“Oh, you’re delicious.” Tera groaned between greedy pulls from my breast. She seemed reluctant to stop suckling from me, and eyed my nipples with longing as she drew herself upward, tilting my chin to meet her rising gaze. “If it were just the three of us, Dog, Justina and I would take our time eating you, but alas, we have an audience, and I need to socialize my new pet.”

Tera snapped her fingers, and the crowd erupted again. I couldn’t see what they were cheering, but Tera’s words gave me an idea of what was to come. Justina sucked me with a final slurping pull, then released my budded anus with a satisfied smack of her lips. Tera hooked a leash to my collar, and Justina undid the shackles on my wrists and ankles. I collapsed on all fours, my limbs feeling like rubber, but I found the strength to stay on my hands and knees. Tera tugged the leash, and I crawled dutifully after my master. When we got to the edge of the platform, I saw what the crowd had been so excited by. Scores of men were on all fours as I was, their eyes all Tera’s violet, their necks collared and tied to leashes held by the very whores I’d ordered raped just yesterday. The women stared at me with hatred, the men stared at me with wild lust, and I stared back with big excited puppy eyes. I sat on my haunches next to my master’s feet, and wagged my ass excitedly.

“Ooo, aren’t we feeling friendly?” Tera crinkled her nose down at me, “Is my little bitch in heat? I’m surprised the vet didn’t notice.”

“Woof-woof!” I exclaimed, my tongue lolling from my gaping lips, my breaths excited pants.

“This is an off-leash park, but I still don’t trust you.” Tera snickered as she tied my leash to the pole at the corner of the platform, “A mutt like you doesn’t even deserve to mingle with those purebreds, but since you’ve been such a good dog, I decided to give you a treat.” Tera planted a kiss on my lips, and it was threatening, promising, and seductive all at once. She left its heat to burn in my mouth, and trailed a stroking hand through my hair when she walked away. I turned around to see the whores walking their studs toward me, and I panted with my tongue out like the friendly little bitch I was.

I was grabbed and torn at by rough hands. They pulled my hair, choked me, yanked my leash, squeezed me, spread me, and forced me down. The roar of the crowd played in the background as my ears were filled with the cruel retribution of the whores, and my holes were filled with the brutal desires of the men. I was fucked like a dog on all fours, held up and made a bridge of, forced on my face and driven into the ground from above. While the men used my femininity, the whores used my masculinity, riding my face and cock, sneering at me, making sure I knew what a low piece of fuck I was. I bore their insults with glee, and apologized with the motions of my hips, lips and tongue until I was coated with their orgasms, and battered with their hatred. My throat became an open entrance for free use, my pussy stretched to a ruin of leaking, swollen petals, my ass gaped to a ruby ring that prolapsed on command, and my cock leaked endlessly. I was passed from man to man and woman to woman, used by each master in a unique way, delighting in each woman’s hue of sadism. And I came. I came continuously, my body seeming to grow more reactive with each round of brutal lust. I didn’t know which orgasm finally took my mind, but through the haze of it all, a single constant of consciousness remained. A hunger in my lungs, burning for sweet blackness.

TERA

“…I’m tasting…” Justina smacked her lips thoughtfully as she lowered the wine glass, “…elf and dwarf, obviously. The elf is the dominant gene, the dwarf is recessive. I’m getting just a hint of nymph, but not any breed I recognize.”

“That would be Passion.” I said, holding my own wine glass beneath my nostrils, and taking a deep whiff, “But… there’s something else here, and I can’t quite pinpoint it.”

“Something else from Passion?” Justina asked, sniffing her glass, then taking another sip of Julia.

“It’s not nymph…” I pondered, testing the taste again, “I don’t think it comes from Passion’s augmentations. You know what? I don’t think Julia is an honest bright-elf.”

“What then?” Justina frowned, “I can’t taste anything different.”

“There’s a touch of…” I took another whiff, “…incubus.”

“Incubi can’t breed with elves.” Justina frowned.

“No, but incubi can breed with dwarves.” I replied.

“You, my dearest mother, are full of shit.” Justina grinned, “There is no way you can taste a recessive trait of Arbitrus Gen’s ancestor.”

“As a sommelier, it is poor manners to discredit your peer’s proclamations!” I said indignantly, “The proper form is to agree with me even if you know I’m full of shit, after which, you make an even more outrageous claim. You’ll never do well in high society if you can’t follow good etiquette.”

“When were you ever in high society?” Justina laughed.

“I’ll have you know I was the escort for the Steward of Grundinar during a masked ball.” I smiled.

“…which you promptly turned into a classy orgy.” Justina snickered.

“Believe me, daughter,” I chuckled as I took another taste of Julia, “there was nothing ‘classy’ about what I made those people do to each other.”

The crowd had cleared once the noon sun had risen high in the sky, leaving only sparse pockets of people in the stands. The Breytans circled the perimeter of the arena, keeping those who wanted to come down after the show from doing so. They did let Lucilla and Diamond (Angela) pass through though.

“You turned my girlfriend into a glazed doughnut.” Lucilla frowned as she ascended the steps. I glanced at the woman Justina and I had been using as a cum dispenser, and confessed that Lucilla’s deion was a good one. Julia Gendian was covered from head to toe, leaking white from every orifice, and gaping between her legs. Her face was a portrait of mindless bliss, a goofy smile stretched across her red lips, her eyes unfocused and distant. I grabbed her still-hard cock, loosened the ring around it, and poured myself another glass as Julia’s thighs quivered in stupid reaction. God, she was backed up. I had to hold her pelvis down to keep her from bucking in the throes of orgasm, and spraying her delicious ejaculate all over the boards.

“Are you a connoisseur of the finer things in life?” I asked Lucilla, offering her my glass. She gave me a level look, and I smirked, and took a sip. More for me.

“What the hell is wrong with her?” Angela asked, squatting next to Julia’s face. The action caused Angela’s skirt to ride up her thighs, and her cock to fall from it. Julia’s unfocused eyes suddenly clarified, and zeroed-in on her daughter’s tool. She weakly shifted on the boards, rolled over, and crawled to the prize that had been accidentally presented to her.

“I have convinced your mother that she is a dog.” I replied, wiping white from my lips, then sucking my finger, “And you just showed her your treat. You can make her do all kinds of tricks for it if you want.”

“No, Diamond.” Lucilla growled, grabbing Julia’s leash and yanking. Julia yelped, scurried over to Lucilla, then sat on her haunches, and stared up at her new master with adoring puppy-eyes.

“Wow.” Angela gasped, looking at me with considerable admiration. I gave her a little wink, and she gave me a look that said her face would be my chair later today.

“How long is this going to last?” Lucilla asked, scowling at the beautiful hermaphrodite panting like a friendly mutt at her feet.

“At least four more hours.” I said into my wine glass, then noticed the concern on Lucilla’s face, “She’s still Julia, you understand. I didn’t break her down; I just gave her mind an outlet. Kind of like what vampires do with the power of suggestion.”

“Woof-woof.” Julia concurred with a resolute nod.

“Is that all you can say right now?” Lucilla frowned at Julia.

“Woof-woof.” Julia answered, beaming up at her lover. She rubbed her cheek against Lucilla’s thigh, then rolled herself into a ball at her feet, and attempted autofellatio.

“Holy shit.” Lucilla sighed, hoisting her new pet back to her hands and knees, “I’ve got to get her out of here before Willowbud finds her like this, and does God-knows-what. I’ll meet you three later for our…” Lucilla glanced down at Julia, who had cocked her head inquisitively, her dog ears flopping to the side, “…wine and gossip session.” Lucilla finished. Julia narrowed her eyes, but didn’t voice her obvious incredulity. Lucilla called for a Breytan escort, and the two elves were lifted into the sky, and flown back to their temple.

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Interlude One: Guilt

DIAMOND

“You are my daughter, my first of another, and you will be my joy in this world.” Passion’s voice whispered a memory in my mind. They were the first words I’d ever heard, and they came to me unbidden, and unwelcomed. I could’ve saved her, but I didn’t. I could’ve stopped Mom, but I didn’t. And when she died, I wasn’t even sorry; I even fucked the woman who killed her. I shook the thoughts from my head, and looked around.

I was deep underground, it appeared, as evidenced by the beam of grey light emitting from a circular opening high, high above me. I glanced to the sides, but all I saw was blackness. I glanced behind me, where the wrought-iron door opened to a universe of chaos and randomness. I had followed Corruption’s steps through the astral plane, literally tracing her footprints to avoid careening into the nonsensical void between realms. In this repressive blackness, part of me wanted to dare the journey back, but there was no going back. I let go of the door knob, and the door creaked on its hinges, before momentum carried it into a screech of metal, and a deafening slam. The metallic explosion echoed through the void, each iteration growing deeper, and deeper, until its final call was an inaudible boom that I could feel in my chest. Then, silence. The circle of light above shined a dust-speckled beam to the floor below, creating a three-meter wide circle on the stones. I stepped beneath it, and looked up. The astral sun shined directly above me, colorless, burning white around its black eclipse.

“A thousand years they are as one, like conjoined twins of the sun, and when they set with rattling breath, their torn apart by the hands of death.” Another unbidden memory, and another shot of guilt. I could’ve helped Hatred. I could’ve done more than just leave her there; I could’ve tried harder to change her back! I should never have gone past Greed’s realm. She was happy when she was Greed. It was my fault she turned to Hatred. All my fault. Again, I had to force the invasive thoughts from my mind. It was unnatural. It had been given to me.

“Chaos, Corruption… Guilt? What the heck?” I whispered. This didn’t make any sense. If Angela’s theory was right, Corruption was just as old as Hatred, and judging by Hatred’s story, Corruption was either ‘Corruption’ or possibly ‘Chaos’ when Hatred knew her. This place was the antithesis of Corruption. This place was her very weakness. I looked up, considering the circular hole high above me. What was this, a literal ‘pit of guilt?’ Where was everything?

“Hello!” I yelled, and heard my voice yell back to me, growing lower in pitch until it was a distorted, monstrous sound.

“Hello.” A voice said directly into my left ear. I jolted, spinning around, my hair standing from my prickling flesh. It was a ball of dim light, and it hovered next to my ear, barely visible in the brighter chromatic sunlight.

“What are you?” I hissed, my heart thundering in my chest.

“I am a sunlight astral being, but you can call me ‘Orb.’” Orb said, it’s voice genderless and emotionless.

“What is this place?” I asked, regaining myself.

“I cannot answer that.” Orb said, “I can make introductory statements, and state my designed purpose.”

“What is your designed purpose?”

“I was created by the Holy Mother to be a light in the darkness. In the physical plane, I can be melded to a gemstone to create an astral sunbeam. Here, I am attracted to places of darkness. It is my nature to illuminate.”

“You were created by the Holy Mother?” I asked.

“I cannot answer that. I can make introductory statements, and state my designed purpose.” Orb replied. Why was it that everything in the astral plane had a holy purpose? Who exactly was the Holy Mother? I thought Angela’s theory was feasible, but I didn’t agree with the idea that she was ‘just’ some woman who birthed triplet gods. She had to have been powerful to pass on such power; maybe even more powerful than the Creators themselves. There was a connection between the Maternal Path, Creationism, and the astral plane, and I was beginning to believe the Holy Mother was that connection.

“Can you show me the center of this place?” I asked Orb. Again, Orb gave me his predetermined answer. I sighed, and looked into the expansive nothing. This was obviously the very edge of the realm, so if I walked straight in one direction, it made sense that I’d reach the center. I’d at least reach the median line, but who knew how large this place was? If Angela was wrong about her theory, and Corruption was actually much older than Hatred, then for all I knew, this realm could be thousands of miles! Thousands of miles of darkness. Well, every journey begins with a step. I walked into the blackness, and Orb hovered with me, illuminating the smooth, unchanging surface of the stone floor. The padding of bare feet echoed through the darkness, bouncing off unseen objects, and growing lower with every iteration. Orb’s light was as chromatically cold as the astral sun outside, and it bathed my small, visible world in blacks and whites. It shined a small radius around me, allowing me to see what was right behind me and before me, but nothing else. There was nothing to see anyway. There was only the flat, smooth floor, the sunbeam growing distant behind me, and Willowbud Autumnsong right in front of my face. I skidded to halt, yelped, and punched the Earth Former in the eye. A shot of pain lanced up my ethereal fist, and I realized with a groan that I had just punched a statue. A very angry-looking statue. In fact, on closer inspection, I realized Willowbud’s face was manic, her lips peeled, her nose snarling, and her cheeks lined with tear tracks.

“What the heck?” I whispered, and stepped forward to examine the statue, only to run into another one. This wasn’t of Willowbud, but of an older male nymph. His eyes were wide in horror, his head was tilted awkwardly to the side, and there was a gash in his neck.

“This is… this is new!” I hissed, and walked forward with more speed, narrowly avoiding another statue, this one of Willowbud riding the male nymph, her body arching back in the heat of passion. I past statue after statue, some twisted and disfigured as though constructed from an addled mind, some as perfect as anything the greatest sculptor in the world could make. There were none of Corruption herself, just Willowbud and the man, over and over. Sometimes Willowbud was a little girl, and she was holding the man’s hand. Sometimes she was a teenager, and wrapping her legs around him. It didn’t take much conjecture to figure out who the man was, and what this place represented. But this was new. This was only a year old! Why was a doorway to Hatred’s realm here, if this memory was only a year old? Did the door move on its own? This didn’t make any- I ran face-first into a wall.

“Ow!” I exclaimed, rubbing my forehead. When the pain had dissipated, I looked up. The wall curved inward as it ascended, like a great dome. And at the center of that dome, was the beam of light I’d first seen. I had gone from the center, to the edge in a matter of minutes. This realm was tiny, maybe a mile wide at the most. But what was it? Had Corruption become ‘Guilt’ during her divorce from Willowbud? Had she actually changed, then changed back?

“And more importantly, how the heck do I get out of here?” I asked myself, putting my hands