sexstories.com

Introduction:

Noah, Valia, and Shannon go after the horse tribe.

Ensnared

Given a heading by the imprisoned Pack members, Noah, Valia, and Shannon departed from Welindar, heading northeast on horseback, though Shannon preferred to gallop on her own hooves. With the Pack all but vanquished in the city and the poison arrows ready and waiting, now was as good a time as any to go out and search for the kidnapped horse tribe. Heading northeast, they dove back into the wilderness, crossing plains and forests. Their pace was quick, driven by Shannon’s eagerness, and Noah and Valia often had to call out to her when she raced too far ahead.

Autumn had taken hold, and the winds that crossed the plains had lost their sweet warmth. Soon, the branches over their heads would be bare, but they greedily clung to their remaining amber leaves for now. The sun was also quick to set, much to Shannon’s dismay.

“Are you sure we can’t keep going? There is still some light left,” she asked as they made camp.

“It’ll take half a month for us to get there, and no amount of desperation is going to change that timeframe. Besides, you need to rest whenever you can,” Noah reminded her.

They had found a wooded area to camp in, out of the wind and out of sight. Since the nights were getting colder, they brought tents, alchemically crafted out of mylar, which reflected the campfire's heat. They were open-sided to provide a complete view of anything trying to sneak up, and Noah also set up an alarm system he built in Sylphtoria to alert them if anything came close to their camp. He even had some magic tools to conceal the smoke of their fire and any other scents that might give away their position.

Though Shannon was anxious to keep moving, once she sat down, all of her accumulated fatigue hit her, and as Noah started cooking a wild bird he caught, she became aware of her hunger. Not wanting to remain purely on the receiving end, she prepared soup to go with it, using the techniques of her tribe.

“I had never seen a city before coming to Welindar, and it was truly amazing to see so many buildings and people, but I much prefer it out here, in the wilderness.”

“I definitely know that feeling. As an elf, I feel truly at home among the trees.”

“I spent a lifetime living in a log cabin in a place called Alaska. It was beautiful, rugged country, with mountains carpeted in lush forest, and rivers and lakes winding across the land. The winters were brutal, colder than you can imagine, and there would be a whole month where the sun just wouldn’t rise, but the summers were just spectacular, and the sun would never set. It was a difficult life, but also very tranquil. Every night, if the weather would permit me, I’d sit outside on my porch, looking at the stars.”

“Did you have a wife?” Valia asked.

“No, I was alone, but I had befriended most of the animals in the area. An Alaskan grizzly won’t hesitate to tear open a suit of armor like a burlap sack, but if you know how to handle them and be patient, they’ll roll on their backs and let you rub their bellies. You have not lived until you given a bear a belly rub.”

Valia and Shannon giggled, and Shannon hugged her knees to her chest with a lingering smile. Though she didn’t dare to say it, more than simply enjoying being back in the countryside, she was happy to finally be alone with Noah and Valia. From when they traveled to Welindar to when they worked for the prince, there were always other people around: Uther soldiers who saw her as a nuisance and beastmen who saw her as a traitor.

Finally, she was away from that negativity, free to be with her friends. Noah, who had become her mentor, and Valia, who gave her courage; they were her heroes, her saviors, and her respect and gratitude towards them were beyond words. She had taken it upon herself to serve them loyally, and though she longed to be reunited with her tribe and return to her old life, part of her wanted to continue following them, aiding them with whatever incredible endeavors awaited.

After running all day, Shannon quickly fell asleep while Noah and Valia remained awake, gazing at the stars. Noah used his concealment magic to contain their voices so they could talk without waking her.

“Valon and I used to spend countless nights stargazing like this, searching for new runic constellations.”

“And you could just make new spells like that?”

“Rarely. The stars had to line up just right, and as they moved, the spells would weaken.”

“You know, this is the first world I’ve been to where I don’t recognize the stars.”

“Really?”

“It’s true. In every world I reincarnated in, the stars were always the same. I even learned how to tell the date by measuring the stars. It’s how I figured out I was always being reborn into the same time period, even if the world around me was more primitive or advanced. It was comforting to know I could always rely on them. No matter how different everything else was, they remained the same.”

“That’s so sweet,” she said, rubbing her head against his shoulder.

“Thanks,” he sighed.

“What’s wrong?”

“Using the tech in the lab, I managed to write a counter spell for my curse.”

“You did? That’s great!”

“Not really. It’s mainly just a proof of concept. The spell itself is incredibly simple, just supply a certain amount of power to completely obliterate the curse. It’s like moving a boulder; the spell figured out how much force would be required if you pushed it with just your hands. If I can add specifications, details, and algorithms to the formula, then I can lower the required energy, the same way you can use levers and pulleys to move the boulder easier.”

“Well how much power are we walking?”

“In its most basic, bare-bones form, the spell would require the power of dozens, perhaps hundreds of stars to break my curse.”

“I don’t understand what that means. How much power does a star produce? What even are stars?”

“I’ve told you about the Periodic Elements, correct? Well, the very first element is a gas called hydrogen, and there are vast clouds of it floating in the emptiness of space. Over time, gravity corrals them together, and the more hydrogen atoms gather, the greater their gravitational pull, drawing in more hydrogen, and so on. Eventually, they form masses of gas so large and dense that gravity forces the atoms to fuse together. Tremendous energy is released from this fusion, which we experience as sunlight.

Assuming this world and its sun is similar to the suns I’m used to, it has a diameter of 865,000 miles, over a hundred times the size of the planet we’re lying on, and during its lifetime, it’ll produce enough energy to obliterate this planet millions of times over. The stars continue fusing elements for billions of years until they eventually run out of fuel.

When that happens, one of two things can occur: They’ll collapse in on themselves, becoming vortexes of gravity that swallow everything that comes near, or they explode, releasing more energy in a single moment than in their entire lifetime. The elements forged in those stars are released into the cosmos, forming planets, new stars, and even us. All the matter in your body was crafted in the heart of stars. Each of us, every life form, is made of stardust.”

“Wow,” Valia gasped.

“Yep, and yet the power of our sun is just a fraction of what is required to break the laws of time. Even if I can rewrite the spell to require just one percent of the original power, it would still require a divine level of might.”

“You’ll figure it out, and Valon will help. The two of you has what it takes to break your curse. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Now please, keep telling me about the stars. I’m curious.”

“Well there are more stars in the sky than grains of sand in the world.”

“Ok, that, I refuse to believe. You’re talking to someone has spent a lot of time counting stars.”

“Even your elf eyes can’t see everything. If every star in the universe was equally distanced from us, it would be as bright as daytime. I swear, it’s true, and that’s not even the crazy part. Want to know how far away the stars actually are? It takes eight minutes for a light particle, a photon, to travel from the sun to this world. In a year, it can cross almost six-trillion miles. That’s a hundred with ten more zeroes.”

“Nonsense.”

“It’s true. In astronomy, we use the term lightyear to measure distance. And the stars you see are so far from us, that it took the light millions of years to cross the distance. You are seeing the stars as they were millions of years ago. Perhaps that’s why you have such a hard time finding runic constellations. So many of the stars you see in the sky have already burned out and died ages ago, and their light is just now reaching us. The light of the stars is like the shadow of ghosts. The universe really is that vast.”

“Huh, I’m starting to see how Valon went crazy. This really messed with your head.”

“Yep, that’s cosmic horror for you. But this one time, I was working on a space station orbiting the sun. I told you on Kisara Island about spaceships and colonies, right? Anyway, the station was circling the sun at a somewhat close proximity, and by that, I mean several millions of miles away. The station had gold paneling to reflect the sun’s energy so we wouldn’t be annihilated, and the windows had these thick filters on them so that you could look at the sun without going blind.

Some of the windows could be adjusted, and with just a few percentage points of exposure, you would be saturated with light, filling you up and flowing through you. Think back to the Star of Sylphtoria. The light, the warmth, it was incredible. You could genuinely feel the sun's energy, the energy that nourished the earth, made plants grow, and turned winter into summer. I could just feel my body drinking in the light.”

“Damn, that sounds incredible. I don’t know how I’ll be able to sleep after this.”

“Well, I know one thing that will help you sleep.”

“Sneaking off feels like a bad idea.”

“Who said anything about sneaking off?”

Valia turned to him with a shocked look. “You can’t be serious. Shannon is right there!”

“She’s sound asleep, and my shroud is covering us, so she won’t hear a thing.”

“But what if she wakes up and catches us?”

“So what if she does? We stop, apologize for disturbing her, and call it quits. Is the idea of an awkward morning really so scary? Besides, this is the perfect test for my magic.”

“I don’t know about this….”

Noah got on top of her. “Yeah you do. You know you’ll love it, know that I’ll make you arch your back and curl your toes, know that I’ll leave you gasping for air, drained of all strength after you climax. All you have to do is kiss me.”

Part of Valia wanted to refuse, afraid of getting caught, but it was too late. Noah knew how to turn orgasms from a simple pleasure into an addiction. The more a woman experienced his skill, the more her body craved him like a drug. She gave in and answered him with a loving kiss, letting her tongue meet his.

Eventually, Shannon began to stir, awoken by the commotion. She opened her eyes and was shocked by the sight before her. Noah and Valia were on their sides, facing her and the campfire. Valia’s leg was raised, and Noah drove into her with deep, steady thrusts. The campfire's light danced on Valia’s exposed breasts, which Noah massaged to their mutual pleasure. So engrossed were they with their ongoing kiss they had no idea Shannon was watching them.

Unlike the other times when Noah and Valia’s joined voices would slip through his shroud, the two of them were silent, and it wasn’t a noise that had awoken her, but a smell, one that her instincts picked up on and sent a shiver down her spine. She realized what it was when Noah suddenly stopped his thrusts and gave a voiceless grunt. He pulled out of Valia, with his semen trickling from her gate, not the first or the last time of the evening. That was the smell, the mixed aroma of manly seed and womanly nectar, filling the air with pheromones.

They moved their mouths to grunt, moan, and talk, but Shannon heard nothing. For a moment, she thought she had gone deaf, but realized that she could still hear the crackling of the fire and the chirping of the crickets. They were using some trick to try and conceal their intimacy, and Shannon was glad it didn’t entirely work. After countless nights of hearing them have sex, she could finally see it.

As Noah sat up, Valia turned around and crawled over with a coy smirk. Shannon couldn’t hear what she said, as she was too preoccupied watching as Noah’s member passed her lips, and she greedily sucked him clean. Shannon could see the muscles in her throat and jaw working as she serviced him, could see the roundness of the head of his cock pressing against the side of her cheek, and could even see the mixture of saliva and cum dripping from her lip.

Once she returned him to full mast, she turned around and shook her ass, begging him to ravish her. Noah took her from behind, delivering the speed and force she so lewdly craved. Though no sound came from Valia’s open mouth, Shannon could still imagine her moaning as Noah threatened to split her in half. The way Noah fucked her could almost be considered brutal, but Valia relished it. She looked utterly disheveled, broken down by the pleasure Noah inflicted on her. After fighting alongside her in the streets of Welindar, to see Valia in such a state, on all fours and gleefully ravaged, left Shannon feeling twisted inside.

Watching them, she was utterly mesmerized. Their expressions and movements were so lurid yet powerful. They were almost beastly, but with the eroticism and perversity that only people possessed. Is this what it looked like when women and men lay together? Did the married couples in her tribe fornicate with such lustful ferocity? It scared her, but she couldn’t look away. She could smell the sweat evaporating off their bodies and their frantic breaths, and as their intensity climbed ever higher, Noah’s wavering focus let their voices leak out of the shroud. Though the sounds were muffled, Shannon could hear their primal whimpers and grunts.

After making each other cum, they again switched positions, with Valia on top. It was dawning on Shannon just how beautiful Valia was. Her body was perfection, her face a work of art, her hair like strands of moonlight, and her breasts put Shannon’s to shame. The sight of them bouncing as she rode Noah’s cock, their round fullness unbound by gravity, was burned into her soul. She gazed at her, not with lust, but envy and admiration. She wanted to look at Valia and never turn away, because wherever Valia was, that was the correct direction, like a beacon. She was an ideal to strive towards.

Shannon was just as focused on Noah. Like Valia, his body looked like it had been sculpted. He was powerful and robust, radiating vitality. Though he put on the airs of someone who relied on brains over brawns, it was clear that his physical strength and abilities were top-class. His sweat glistened on his muscles, muscles she wanted to touch. She wanted to enjoy his arms around her, lean against his chest, and feel small compared to it.

Seeing them so immersed in each other, her respect and admiration for them grew. She longed for what they had: their strength, their confidence, their passion, their energy. The Sword Goddess and the Wandering Spirit, she wished to bask in their light like a flower beneath the sun. The longer she watched, the more her own body reacted. She desperately wanted to reach down and calm the storm around her legs, or would that exacerbate it? Either way, she was afraid to move, lest they notice. Every time they turned in her direction, she’d close her eyes, not wanting them to know she was watching, afraid they would stop. In time, though, their fornication came to an end. They eliminated all traces of their lustful cavalcade and went to bed, leaving Shannon to wallow in her tumultuous feelings.

The next day, Shannon did her best to act like everything was normal and not give off awkward vibes. They continued riding northeast, and occasionally, some prairie predator or rogue fiend might try to pick a fight, but nothing crossed their path that they couldn’t handle. As she galloped, Shannon focused on saving her tribe, reminding herself that every step brought her closer to reuniting with her friends and family. However, once night fell, and the trio made camp, her heart fluttered with lecherous desire. She pretended to go to sleep early that evening, but though she closed her eyes, Shannon couldn’t drift away if she wanted to, and soon enough, she again got to watch Noah and Valia go at it again.

As the days passed, it became harder for Shannon to focus on the mission. Every time she looked at Noah and Valia, she would feel a stirring within her, and her tail would start to swish, same with an excited twitch in her ears. Shannon tried to calm these feelings with work, fulfilling every small task and chore that needed to be done. Maintaining equipment, tending to the horses, gathering firewood and water; she did everything that would let her feel helpful to them, indulging her desire to serve her Lord and Lady.

Halfway through their journey, the topography changed, and they reached a dry canyon area with mesas and cliffs as far as the eye could see.

“That looks like some rough terrain. What do you think, should we try going around?” Valia suggested.

“According to the map, it’s a belt of desolation stretching all the way to the Paleon Channel. It’s just not feasible,” said Noah.

“My people can’t wait that long. Please,” Shannon insisted.

“Then I suppose we might as well. Let’s just be quick about it.”

They descended into the canyon, watching their footing on the crumbling sandstone. The cliffs were steep, and there were no established paths, so they had to take their time in picking the correct route. Often, Noah and Valia had to dismount and lead their horses through treacherous paths. Even Shannon would revert to her two-legged form, afraid of the ground coming out from under her feet. Valia sometimes scouted ahead, climbing and jumping with elven acrobatics to find safe passage.

Despite the danger, it was breathtaking scenery, these great stone walls and pillars shaped by water, wind, and time. Game wasn’t abundant, but they found enough food to get by. Each night, the autumn air would sink into the canyon, but as long as they were between a campfire and mylar tent, Noah and Valia continued to give Shannon plenty of evening entertainment.

On their third day in the canyon, Valia seemed tense, keeping her head on a swivel, and Noah knew why. “How many of them are there?”

“I can’t tell for sure, but I definitely sense something moving around,” she said, scanning the surrounding cliffs.

Noah held out his hands and formed a six-round grenade launcher. “If someone is watching us, then this will either flush them out or scare them off.”

He began shooting bombs in all directions, raining them onto areas he couldn’t see. Each grenade burst with a convincing flash of illusory fire and smoke. Once he dispelled the weapon, Valia listened intently.

“That definitely got them moving. And you were right, it didn’t scare them off, but it did flush them out.”

Upon her words, a volley of arrows fell upon them, coming from the nearby mesa.

“Let’s move!” Noah shouted.

He and Valia set their horses in a gallop with Shannon behind them. They fled the coming storm of arrows, racing through the canyon to escape their attackers. Looking over her shoulder, Shannon spotted numerous figures running and jumping behind them.

“I see them!” she exclaimed before she drew her bow and launched an arrow, striking a pursuer in the chest.

Noah and Valia looked around, realizing they were flanked on both sides. At first glance, from the way they moved on all fours with tails whipping behind them, it looked like they were being chased by animals, but their clothing and the armor on their backs gave them away as beastmen. They sprinted with remarkable agility, able to climb and descend any surface and cross any chasm as if gravity was theirs to control.

One pursuer landed before them, brandishing gloves with steel blades extending like claws. He had the head of a mountain lion and a tail to match, and his legs had transformed to let him run on all fours. He snarled, flashing his teeth, and lunged towards Valia. She fended him off with a slash, and Shannon shot him with an arrow. These weren’t fiends, so the poison had no effect, but he staggered back in pain, and Valia finished him off.

More attackers were coming from all angles, climbing down and leaping off the cliffs. They all had mountain lion traits and could keep up with the galloping horses, regardless of the terrain. Valia rode in the lead, cutting down any beastmen that tried to stand in her way.

Behind her was Noah, wielding not a bow or sword, but another illusory gun. Any time one of the beastmen jumped into the air, he’d strike them with mana bullets, and though they couldn’t cause harm, they broke the attackers’ focus and made them stumble in the air, turning graceful leaps into bone-breaking landings.

Shannon was in the back, picking off the beastmen running behind them. Like all members of the centaur tribe, she had learned at an early age how to gallop and shoot at the same time. She could run at full speed while twisting her upper body around and nailing enemies behind her.

They were racing on winding paths along the edges of cliffs under stone arches, with every step a risk. Their fortune turned when they were flanked from above while circling a hill at the edge of a ravine. The beastmen sprinting down the crumbling slope set off a small landslide, and though Valia and Shannon managed to avoid it, Noah’s horse got swept up in the falling rocks, and he was sent tumbling down into the ravine.

“My Lord!” Shannon cried out.

“Shannon, take my horse and find a way down to us!” Valia shouted before leaping from the saddle. “Zodiac: Sandulam!”

She slid down the hill perfectly balanced, like riding an escalator, and reached Noah, half-buried under gravel and pinned by his dead horse. She pulled him out, though, from how he hissed and gasped in pain, his leg was clearly broken. The beastmen had them surrounded, circling their wounded prey.

“Leave them to me,” Valia said coolly.

“I’ll join you in a moment,” Noah replied as he drank a healing potion.

The beastmen snarled and closed in, brandishing claws of both steel and bone. They attacked as a group and were knocked back in pieces. Valia’s sword swerved through the air so fast it was almost invisible, deflecting the marauders’ blades and slicing through their flesh in the same stroke. Despite the attacks coming from all angles, she stood her ground and rotated like a turret, able to intercept anyone who came close.

That said, these beastmen were fast, powerful, and driven. They pounced like real mountain lions and could attack and defend with cat-like reflexes. Valia was using her magic to keep up with them, but their blades scraped and sparked against her steel skin more than once. While she had her back turned, one of the beastmen activated a spell and conjured a pair of jaws that appeared in the air around his head. Made of mana, the apparition resembled a massive bear trap, and he leaped towards Valia, ready to close it around her throat.

Before he could reach her, a mana bullet struck him in the throat and interrupted the spell, and Valia beheaded the incoming warrior. Noah was back on his feet, brandishing his sword and gun. The two fought back to back, carving down any beastman that got close. They fought with unparalleled skill and perfect coordination, severing heads and limbs with remarkable grace. Before they could even think to turn around and run, the last few beastmen were riddled with arrows, courtesy of Shannon galloping over with Valia’s horse.

“Are you two all right?” she asked.

“A little dusty, but that’s about it,” said Noah, patting himself off.

“It’s a shame your horse can’t say the same,” Valia said, petting the slain creature and murmuring an elvish hymn. As a member of the horse tribe, Shannon joined her, her hands clasped as she prayed to the spirits.

“It is unfortunate. We’re going to have to rethink things if we’re going to maintain a good pace. Valia, you and I can share your horse, while Shannon, would you mind carrying our gear?”

“I’d be happy to, Lord Noah,” she said with a bow.

Thus, they rearranged their possessions, loading everything Noah and Valia’s horses carried onto Shannon’s back. Her people were used to traveling this way, so it was no issue for her. The problem came when Noah tried to get up on Valia’s horse with her. It began throwing a fit, refusing to let him on despite their best efforts to calm it.

“What’s going on?” Noah asked.

“He doesn’t want you to ride him,” said Shannon. “He knows what happened to your last mount, and is afraid of the same thing happening to him. He can smell your dead companion on you.”

“I had no idea horses were so superstitious,” said Valia.

“I’m not walking the rest of the way,” Noah sighed.

Neither of them was aware that Valia’s horse was following Shannon’s instructions, and now that she had the opportunity she’d been wishing for, she spoke up. “My Lord, you can ride on my back.” Her voice trembled as she spoke, and she averted her eyes in embarrassment. The intent in her words was not lost on Noah and Valia, who exchanged a glance.

“Isn’t it forbidden in the horse clan to let outsiders ride on your back?” Valia countered.

Shannon clutched her hands bashfully. “I’ve already pledged my loyalty to you both, so this is fine. You need a steed, and I am of the horse tribe, so it’s natural for me to offer my talents. I am bound by oath and honor to serve you with my body however I can.” She then blushed as she realized what she had just said. “Oh, uh, I didn’t mean it like that! I meant, uh… I just meant that I want to be helpful!”

Noah and Valia exchanged another glance, conversing with nothing but their eyes.

‘She’s fallen for you, hasn’t she?’

‘I told you this would happen.’

‘Have you been flirting with her?’

‘The opposite. I was hoping that all the scary stuff in my lab would keep her from developing feelings for me, but I was wrong.’

‘Great job with that.’

‘You’re the one who picked her up.’

‘Not so she could become a part of your harem.’

‘Are you sure she’s not part of yours?’

‘I don’t like where this is going.’

‘And I don’t like the idea of spending the rest of this journey on foot, but your horse hates me and she’s offering.’

‘Fine, but I’d better not catch you feeling her up. I don’t care if you fall off another cliff, I won’t tolerate any “accidental” boob grabs.’

‘Yes, dear.’ Noah turned back to Shannon. “Thank you. Your support is most welcome.” They moved all their belongings around, and Noah put his saddle on Shannon’s back. “You ready?” he asked, putting one foot in the stirrup.

“Y-yes, My Lord,” she replied, trying to contain her excitement.

Noah climbed up and sat in the saddle, and Shannon inadvertently bit her lip and sighed. She was used to carrying all kinds of cargo on her back, but the weight of a man was unique, almost overpowering, and having him so close, every breath was filled with his scent.

Valia’s sharp elf eyes did not miss that reaction. “Let’s get moving, before the smell of blood draws anything.”

They set off at a gallop, wanting to escape the battle scene. Valia also didn’t want to give Shannon time to enjoy her new position, but unfortunately, their pace had the opposite effect. Noah was rising and falling as she ran, and every time his weight dropped, it reminded Shannon of all the times she had watched him fuck Valia from behind, when he’d drive his cock deep inside her with all his strength, like a battering ram smashing against a castle gate.

The pace he’d use, the rhythm of his movements, they were almost exactly the same. Every time she felt him drop, she imagined his manhood driving into her, and every time he rose up, she could picture him pulling out, only to force it back in. She lamented wearing a saddle, preventing her from truly feeling him pressed against her.

Despite the inconvenience of Noah losing his horse, the trio managed to escape the canyon and return to the plains. When night fell, they stopped to make camp. Shannon was blushing and gasping for air, but it wasn’t from fatigue.

“Are you all right?” Noah asked, pretending not to know why she was all worked up.

“Oh, yes, thank you, I’m fine. I’m… uh… I going back to that creek was passed by to get water for tea. I’ll be right back.”

Noah and Valia said nothing, even when she forgot to bring a bucket or canteen. Rather than visit the creek, she needed to satiate the maelstrom within her.

Over the following days, they continued their journey, and Noah and Valia were careful how they acted around Shannon. It was too late to give her the cold shoulder, and it was hard to create distance when Noah spent all day on top of her, but they did what they could to avoid encouraging her feelings. That said, the damage had already been done. Whether it was as Noah’s assistant or Valia’s squire, she had adopted the servant role whole-heartedly and now tried to protect them from every minor chore or task, refusing to let either of them lift a finger, all while amorous feelings bubbled in her eyes. When Noah lived in Clive, he remembered Tin clinging to him with the same eagerness to please.

However, they had more important things to focus on. As they traveled, they crossed through numerous villages and settlements, many razed to the ground. Were this done by marauders, they would have left their names behind to grow their infamy and develop a reputation, and unlike villages raided by Uther troops, there were no flags left standing atop a pile of bodies. What few corpses were left behind all showed claw and teeth marks and had been drained of blood. This was done by the Profane, seizing prisoners just as they had with Shannon’s tribe. The light which had so briefly glimmered in her eyes dimmed with each scene of destruction.

The only silver lining to the death and destruction was that it signaled they were getting closer to their destination, and at last, they found it. According to the Pack elite, the Profane had rebuilt and repurposed a city constructed when the dwarves once ruled Handent, but no such city was found when the trio arrived. Breaking free of the woods in the early morning, they looked out across the dark countryside and expected to see towers of hewn stone. Instead, they discovered a massive gray dome, like an artificial mountain.

The surrounding landscape had been stripped bare of trees and stomped flat by marching slaves and fiends. One such army of oppressed, ushered forth by their mutated captors, was herded towards a great wall surrounding the structure, with the massive doors providing the only visible entrance and exit.

“I’ve never seen a building like that,” Valia gasped.

“It’s like some kind of sports arena,” said Noah. “It’s strange, though, I can see mana flowing through the entire structure, and even the surrounding area.”

“How do we get in?”

“I have a means to conceal us, but I’ve never used it on three people before. Still, it should keep us from being seen and heard.”

Shannon bit her lip and averted her gaze.

“Don’t be afraid, we’ll get through this,” said Valia, noticing her reaction.

“It’s not that. The magic you use for concealment, it’s not… it’s not perfect.”

Noah and Valia exchanged a glance. “What do you mean by that?” he asked.

Shannon couldn’t meet their gaze, and her ears twitched in embarrassment. “At night, when the two of you are together… you aren’t hidden very well.”

“So you’ve been watching us? Oh God,” Valia groaned with her hand over her face. When they first arrived in Sylphtoria, she didn’t mind everyone hearing her and Noah going at it, but that was out of spite for how the elves treated him for being human. This was different. Now, Shannon’s behavior throughout the trip made sense.

“Please forgive me, I didn’t mean to spy.”

“It’s not your fault,” said Noah. “Like you said, we weren’t hidden very well. Besides, the whole point was to test my magic to see how well it worked under different conditions, and now I know, so the experiment was a success. Regardless, let’s focus on the mission at hand. I can conceal one other person well enough for us to go unnoticed. However, I think the best approach would be if I go in alone, scout around, and come back. Then we can formulate a plan.”

“What if you get captured? There is probably another Profane like Tysinger in there,” Valia asked.

“If I’m not back by dusk, you’ll just have to come save me. Don’t worry; this is far from my first infiltration. You two wait here, and I’ll return as soon as I can.” Noah covered his eye, rendering himself invisible and causing Shannon to jerk in surprise. “Oh, that’s right, this is your first time seeing my true concealment. Can I trust you to keep my secret?”

Hearing his disembodied voice did little to ease her shock, but she still bowed her head. “Of course, My Lord.”

Noah set off towards the structure, crossing the barren ground. He was careful walking, trying to leave as few footprints as possible. His mana would stick to whatever he touched, concealing any marks he left behind, but it wore off the farther he moved, the same with hiding his scent.

As he approached, he noticed lines of mana crisscrossing the ground, and upon closer examination, he realized they were silken threads, almost invisible to the naked eye. He wouldn't have known they were there without his magic enhancing his spiritual sense. They were likely a means of surveillance to detect anyone trying to sneak in or out. Noah continued with planned steps to avoid testing his invisibility against the system. As he approached the structure, he realized that the dome was made of silk threads stretched over the city like a colossal circus tent.

Guards patrolled atop a wall surrounding the structure, unaware of Noah’s approach. He reached the main gate just as a group of fiends emerged and slipped inside. Not enough to be concealed by the dome, the dwarven city was caked in webbing, as if growing on the brick houses like moss, and every thread had mana flowing through it.

The moment he entered the premises, something felt wrong. A chill crawled up his spine and ate away at him. He could feel his strength fading and aches moving through his body, and his mana was being used up faster than normal. It was like the whole place was radioactive. He realized it was due to the webbing and the mana flowing through each thread. This place was evil.

The original buildings had been refortified and repurposed into holding cells for countless beastmen, the supposed “allies” that the leader of the Pack had been gathering. Where the old buildings failed to meet the Profane’s needs, new buildings had been built, including great towers that held up the silken canopy. Men, women, and children gazed through barred windows with sunken eyes, eyes that had not seen sunlight in some time. They were packed like sardines, wallowing in filth and forced to fight for food and space. Guards moved through the city by the light of torches, all bearing parasites and indifferent to the suffering of innocents. However, the fiends were not the only enforcers in this prison.

Noah heard the scuttling of their long legs and saw them move through the webbing; giant spiders, each with an abdomen the size of a human head. Upon closer examination, Noah realized that they were actually severed heads from humans and beastmen, with eight legs growing out of the stumps of the necks. They scurried along, the faces twitching with each step as though through electrical stimulation, and the mouths voicing silent words while the milky dead eyes stared into the distance. Noah wasn't sure whether the spiders were using the heads like hermit crabs wearing shells or if the heads had actually transformed into spiders, but he was careful not to get closer than he needed to. Fortunately, despite standing on their threads, they seemed unable to detect him.

The more Noah looked around, the more daunting the challenge of freeing everyone became. This wasn’t a matter of simply slitting some throats and unlocking a few doors while invisible. Between the high security and the poisoned atmosphere draining the strength of those without parasites, it would take something drastic to bring this place down. He continued deeper into the city, towards the palace built into the side of the mountain. The once great dwarven masonry was unrecognizable beneath the layers of webbing, and the statues of former lords now stood cocooned, their stone faces gaunt and hopeless. Once a dignified architectural wonder, the palace itself was now just a tunnel leading ever deeper into this dark hell.

As he progressed through the palace, Noah noticed that significant renovations had been done, accommodating pipes and cables like he had seen used in Pack labs. Here, the webbing was thinner to not obstruct the magical tech and infrastructure. Noah entered a cavernous chamber filled with colossal tanks, each the size of a house and filled with an opaque liquid. A series of catwalks stretched across the room above the tanks, where, from above, Noah could see the swarms of parasites swimming around. Technicians were busy testing the liquid and examining the parasites to ensure everything was as it should be.

Before Noah could advance, an alarm rang out, and he feared he had been discovered. However, none of the technicians seemed worried, and Noah noticed several large pipes lowering from the ceiling over the tanks. A great rumbling was heard, and a deluge of blood, broken bones, and ground meat poured out of the pipes and into the tanks, as if chumming the water to draw in sharks. The surface frothed as the parasites went into a feeding frenzy, leaving no bit of viscera uneaten. This chamber was a nursery for the parasites.

A dark aura, powerful and oppressive, filled the room, similar to what Noah felt when he fought Tysinger. He looked down over the catwalk's edge, seeing a pair of double doors open and two figures enter. One was a male ghoul in a lab coat, while the other was a fiend with a centaur-like body, but instead of a horse, she was a spider. Like a black widow, there was a large red mark on her arachnid abdomen in the form of a rune that Noah recognized from his research. It was the rune of Corruption, the essence of the Profane’s power.

When the demon Zyrga first appeared, he used his dark powers to poison the soil, water, air, and all magic and life. Much like the radiation left behind by an atomic blast, the land scorched by his evil was regarded as cursed earth. All living beings caught within its influence either died or were corrupted. When Somerset came to power, he and the Profane used their tainted magic to do the same and built their empire upon cursed earth. That was the power of the Profane, the nature of the rune, to both create and destroy through defilement. The whole facility, tainted by the webbing and the dark mana, was turned to cursed earth.

“Has the equipment been properly calibrated?” she asked as they walked among the tanks.

“Yes, Mistress Carthace, I made the final adjustments as per Master Curcio’s instructions, and everything is functioning as it should.”

“It’s good you arrived with this new breed of parasites when you did. We were stalled in production, though my children and I were enjoying the surplus of food.”

“Yes, they are more resilient and enduring, and don’t require as much maintenance upon reaching maturity. With the prince interrupting our supply lines, we need pawns that can do more with less. Master Curcio is more dedicated than ever to perfecting the parasites. Soon, they’ll be far smaller, and able to live in harsh environments outside of the lab while lying in wait.”

Noah followed them through the room, listening to their conversation, but he was careful to maintain a safe distance. Every time Carthace stepped on a thread, he could see mana surging through it and spreading to every other line she touched. Not only was she obscenely powerful, but Noah suspected that if he stepped on an energized thread, she would sense his presence just as Tysinger had.

“Are there any side-effects with the new parasites?” Carthace asked.

“In a way. In exchange for resistance to Uther’s poisons, the bonding process is a little more… active. Please, observe.”

Noah pursued the Profane out of the nursery and up a flight of stairs. Though the male ghoul climbed the steps as he did, the spider woman walked up the wall itself. Each of her eight legs, flat and sharp like serrated scimitars, was remarkably flexible and fast, and could individually support her weight and let her climb any surface and incline easily. A single knife-like tip touching the wall gave her enough purchase to move in all three dimensions as if the laws of physics didn’t apply.

They arrived in a circular chamber above the nursery, with a large pit in the middle of the floor, like an empty swimming pool. The walls were made of metal and concrete and featured more technology than anywhere else in the palace, incorporating scientific designs and runic in***********ions. The sides of the pit were lined with cylindrical incubation tanks, like the ones Noah used to store his test subjects in his lab, and each was occupied by a prisoner. Floating in yellow liquid, they all had parasites and breathing tubes attached and beat their fists against the inside of their tanks. Several more low-level ghouls were in lab coats, calibrating the magical tech and examining data on the test subjects.

“Before, the parasites would latch onto their hosts immediately and begin to feed in return for producing venom. In order for the newer generations to last so long between lab and host, they remain in a dormant state, and need to be energized and provoked into bonding.” the ghoul said as he approached a control panel and pulled a lever.

A mechanical device, tipped with a metal diode, descended from the ceiling like a clockwork icicle. Runes lit up throughout the room, and a bolt of black lightning arced from the diode and met with each tank. The prisoners inside writhed in agony and silently screamed as the dark power electrocuted them, scarring their bodies and souls. The parasites activated, feeding on their hosts' blood while their root-like tendrils buried into their flesh and began pumping out venom.

The prisoners began to mutate as the venom surged through their veins, distorting their flesh and bones into monstrous shapes. The tanks opened before their growing bodies could cause a rupture, and the deformed men and women staggered out. Now, they could scream out loud and voice their inner and outer agonies. As their bodies changed, all sense of reason left their anguished cries, and they gave in to madness. With their newly acquired claws and razor-sharp fangs, they turned on each other.

Their transformation required a lot of energy and stamina, driving them not just with rage and pain, but insatiable hunger. They tore each other to shreds and fed greedily, filling the pit with a slurry of blood and eviscerated bodies. The more heavily deformed prisoners, those who reacted badly to the parasites and received detrimental transformations, were easy prey for those empowered by the venom. One such prisoner had her head ripped off and knocked towards Carthace like a foul ball. She examined the deformities and huffed in disappointment.

“We still can’t improve the odds of successful bonding unless we specifically design them based on their host,” said the ghoul. “When mass-produced, only about one in ten subjects can properly harness the power of the parasites.”

Before replying, Carthace tossed the head over her shoulder. It landed on the ground behind her, and she promptly pierced it with a long stinger growing from her abdomen. Eight legs grew from the shredded neck, and a spider’s head revealed itself. The new minion scurried off past Noah.

“I suppose the leftovers provide a perfect meal for the younglings below. How long will it be before the army is completed?”

“Destroying Uther will be no easy task, but Master Curcio believes he is on the cusp of the next stage. Adwith Tarnas is still absent, and without the Wassengel to protect them, Colbrand is doomed.”

“To think the Liege would demand such a fate for his own country in return for his assistance, such delicious hatred. I bet he’ll have a good seat to watch the destruction. I may join him.”

The two Profane split up, and Noah decided he had pushed his luck far enough. He slipped out of the prison and journeyed back to Valia and Shannon, who were having a heart-to-heart chat.

“Look, I don’t blame you for feeling the way you do about Noah, and I’m not angry at you for wanting to get closer to him,” said Valia. “It’s just… this complicates things for he and I, and things between us are already complicated enough.”

“I swear, I don’t want to cause discord between you and him or to get in the way,” Shannon replied, hugging her knees to her chest. “I couldn’t live with myself if I ruined the love you two share. But I understand if you don’t trust me or want me around Lord Noah. Once I’m reunited with my tribe, I’ll be out of your hair.”

“Don’t talk like that. You’re our friend, not a burden to be rid of. Things can’t progress beyond that, but I don’t want you to be anything less.”

“Since the night my tribe was taken, I’ve dreamed about returning to them and my old life, and yet now I so desperately wish to stay with you. You and Lord Noah saved me, guided me, taught me, empowered me, and I want to pay you back, body and soul. Every time you two were… together… part of me wanted to join in, if only to serve and assist, perhaps with my mouth? Ah! I can’t believe I’m saying this! You must think I’m so dirty!”

Valia let slip a small laugh. “Oh honey! Look, I’m not going to warn you to stay away from Noah, I just need you to understand that the relationship you want can’t happen. Noah told you about how he wants to break his curse, correct?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Did he tell you what he’ll do after he succeeds?” Shannon shook her head. “I thought so. The truth is that he has a child waiting for him.”

Shannon gazed at her in shock. “Really?”

“It’s true. I won’t tell you who the mother is, only that she is an elf in Sylphtoria. Once Noah breaks his curse, he wants to return there and spend his final life, his final years, with her and their child. The mother and I have a… let’s just say we have an arrangement, but he can’t go back to Sylphtoria saying, “this is my love-slave, Shannon. Do you mind if she lives with us?” The mother and I are immortal, but you and Noah aren't. Someday, we will all have to go our separate ways, whether by choice or inevitability, and when that happens, it's better you say goodbye to a friend than a lover.”

“I understand. If it can never be, then I won’t waste my time hoping. But if you don’t mind, could I remain his steed a little longer?”

“Just as long as I don’t catch you moaning while he rides.”

Noah soon returned to their shared relief.

“Did you find them? My kin?” Shannon asked with desperate hope.

“Honestly, I don’t know. It’s dark and packed to the brim with captive beastmen. The prison is ruled by a very powerful fiend by the name of Carthace, and guarded by countless Pack members and other minions. They’re using this place to turn beastmen into fiends and are building an army to conquer all of Handent and then wipe out Uther.”

“By the spirits,” Valia gasped.

“So what do we do?” Shannon asked.

“I have a plan.” Noah crouched down and began drawing a map of the compound in the dirt. “That cover isn’t simply to keep the prisoners in, it’s to keep the sunlight out. As a true Profane, Carthace can’t be out in the sun, and I doubt her twisted progeny can handle it either. If we destroy the cover, we can use the sunlight to force her and her minions underground, then free the prisoners.”

“How do we destroy something that big?” Valia asked.

“Alchemy. The cover is made of webbing and I took a sample. Deep inside the prison, I found the lab where they are administering parasites, and there is a machine in there that generates large quantities of energy. I can write a formula to break down the webbing and use that machine to power it. Once we have the sun on our side, you two can start freeing the prisoners. There will be a lot of fiends getting in our way, but the more prisoners we release, the more allies we’ll have in the fight.” Noah looked up at the bleak, gray sky. “It’s too overcast right now. Let’s do it tomorrow.”

That night, they camped far away from the prison. Noah busied himself writing out the alchemy formula while Valia helped Shannon hone her combat skills in preparation. The next day brought a clear sky, the best they could hope for.

“I’m off,” said Noah. “Once the cover disappears, it’ll cause havoc among the fiends. Work fast, before they reorganize themselves. I’ll launch flashbangs to signal to you that I’ve escaped the palace.”

Valia stepped forward and kissed him. “Good luck.”

“Please, be safe, My Lord,” said Shannon with a bow.

Noah patted her shoulder and departed, crossing the barren wasteland surrounding the prison. The fiends were outside performing combat drills. Having received the unholy powers of the Profane, their old lives no longer mattered. Regardless of how much they suffered in the prison or what had happened to their home or loved ones, their minds and souls belonged to the darkness. Driven by bloodlust and a desire for more power, they would follow any order their wicked masters gave them.

Noah passed them by, beyond their ability to detect, and infiltrated the prison. He made his way to the lab built into the old dwarven palace. The ghoul Noah spotted the previous day was there, busy transforming fiends with his many accomplices. He had to take them out so that he could modify the machine. Fortunately, they all appeared relatively weak, at least compared to Tysinger, but each was superior to a human being, and there was no telling what kind of magic they possessed. He had to kill them all quickly while avoiding drawing attention with gunshots and flashbangs.

Black lightning stretched from the machine overhead into the holding tanks, scouring the prisoners inside. Noah waited patiently for the tanks to open, and when the prisoners staggered out, screaming and mutating, he made his move. Noah snuck up behind them with his sword as the ghouls observed their test subjects. The first beheading was easy, his blade slicing through flesh like a roll of wet paper towels. The other ghouls didn’t notice until the head bounced into the pit. By then, Noah had already slain the second. The third turned and began to shout, but he was silenced.

“Sound the alarm!” the fourth shouted before he, too, lost his head to Noah’s invisible blade.

The fifth ran towards the wall, reaching for a large button, but a throwing knife buried itself in the side of his head and brought him down just before he could press it. Noah then finished him off, and as the sixth turned to flee, he kicked him down into the pit, where the deranged fiends welcomed the arrival of fresh meat. Noah tossed the other slain ghouls in with him, letting their prisoners continue feeding.

Noah didn’t know how long he’d have, so he wasted no more time and got to work. He moved to the main control panel and started typing on a rudimentary keyboard. This machine was just like the magical tech he had collected in his lab, and he knew how to use it as needed. That said, it wasn’t as simple as pressing a few buttons. He had to type in the runic sequence for his alchemy spell and recalibrate the machinery, doing everything from runecrafting the hardware to opening it up and working on the interior with a wrench. He might as well have been converting a nuclear reactor into a particle accelerator.

Unfortunately, he was short on time. The fiends down in the pit, driven mad by the process and yet to be indoctrinated into serving the Profane, climbed out and escaped the chamber. As they rampaged through the palace, it wasn’t long before the alarm started to ring. If guards showed up, he could hide and maybe conceal his work, but if Carthace appeared, there was no telling what might happen. Soon, his worst fear came true. He was typing on the keyboard, putting in the last few formulations, when she arrived. He was hidden, but his alterations to the machinery were clear as day, prompting her to approach.

Noah kept typing, working as fast as he could. If he finished before entering her range, he could destroy all her threads and deprive her of her sensory abilities. However, beneath his feet, the lines lit up with her mana. “Who’s there?!” she demanded.

Noah kept his eyes on the screen before him, but the appearing runes drew her ever closer. He put in the last sequence and reached for the activation lever, but was stopped when a webbing net was thrown over him. Each thread felt like a live wire, burning him, and even worse, Noah’s mana dissipated, and his concealment broke. Bound by the web, Noah was pulled away and thrown to the ground with Carthace standing over him, letting him better examine her human-arachnid form. Unlike the centaurs, whose human bodies stopped at the waist, Carthace still retained her original legs in a manner of speaking. Past her knees, they had transformed into sharp fangs, resembling an arachnid’s pincers, with the hem of her black dress hanging between them.

“Who the fuck are you?” Carthace hissed, glaring at him with eight eyes.

The situation was bad, but not hopeless. Noah could activate the device if he could return to the control panel. Getting Carthace to lower her guard and let him stand up was the challenge.

“The Liege sent me.”

She glared at him. “And what are you doing here?”

“According to Lord Tysinger, Lord Curcio hid something in this machine that he doesn’t want the others to know about. I’m here to recover it before it sinks the group.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“After the last meeting, didn’t someone contact you? It was a code, a warning. Curcio can’t be trusted. His subordinates here were ordered to eliminate you if you got in the way. You’ve been set up.”

“If I got in the way, huh? And I’m supposed to believe a human?”

“Sometimes it’s better to have an asset with a certain amount of free will, someone whose thoughts aren’t controlled by one of those parasites. My apologies for all the cloak and dagger, but I was under strict orders not to involve you until the package was secure.”

“And what is this package?”

“A relic from the time of Zyrga, something that could change the entire power structure of the Profane. Those bloodsuckers are a powerful weapon, but how easy would it be for that weapon to be turned on you? With a piece like that on the board, who do you really think is most likely to win this game?”

“Prove it.”

“Gladly. Just let me finish what I was doing and then you and I can figure out where we go from here.”

Carthace hesitated and then began cutting away the webs, but stopped. “Wait a second.” She brought her face close to his, smelled his neck, and then licked his cheek and sneered in amusement. “You smell like… elf. Ah, I see now. A powerful human swordsman traveling with an elf woman. You’re Noah, the Wandering Spirit. So, you’re the one who gave Tysinger so much trouble. To think that a fly would so eagerly land in my web.”

Noah chuckled. “You’ve heard of me! Pleased to make your acquaintance, madam, I am as you say. That’s an impressive nose you got.”

“Flattery won’t save you.”

“No, but maybe this will.”

As Noah spoke, he conjured a small bottle from within his ring, flicked off the cork with his thumb, and sent it bouncing onto the ground next to him. Monster repellent flowed out, and it began to vaporize and spread upon contact with the air. Struck by the smell, Carthace staggered back, dry-heaving and unable to open her eyes. Noah scrambled to his feet and hobbled towards the control panel. The webbing wouldn’t let him walk, but he could still hop. He reached the panel, grabbed the lever with his teeth, and pulled it down.

Throughout the room, runes lit up as the machinery activated. Power surged from the generator overhead, but rather than linking to the tanks in the pit, it arced to the webbing throughout the room. The webbing carried the current like copper wire, spreading to every single thread in and around the complex, and causing them to simultaneously break down into their base elements. Every line was dissolving, causing the tent over the prison to disintegrate. Sunlight poured in, blinding the fiends who had grown accustomed to the darkness and burning Carthace’s spider minions. The dark mana that saturated the city and weakened the uncorrupted was also purged.

The anguished snarls of the fiends were then smothered by a thunderous impact as the main gates were ripped off their hinges by a mighty blow from Valia. She zoomed into the complex at super speed, slashing and carving every fiend she could find. Blinded by the sun, they couldn’t react in time and were easy prey, with limbs and heads sent flying with every swing of her blade. As Valia kept the guards occupied, Shannon galloped in behind her and went to work freeing the prisoners. She’d kick down doors with her equine legs and give the beastmen inside the weapons of the slain guards.

“Go! Fight for your freedom! Everyone is getting out of here!”

The spiders, having hidden in the buildings to escape the sunlight, lunged for her with pincers and stingers ready, but after fighting on the frontlines alongside Valia and receiving her tutelage, she was more than capable of defending herself. She quickly cut the spiders down and led the prisoners into the light.

While this was going on outside, Noah’s predicament inside had worsened. Though the webbing that bound him was gone, he was now pinned to the wall, with two of Carthace’s legs stabbing him through the hands like crucifixion nails.

“I’ll make you suffer for this,” she hissed.

“You can try, but at this moment, my friends are freeing all the prisoners and slaughtering your guards, and as long as the sun is out, you won’t be stepping onto the battlefield anytime soon.”

“Maybe so, but if your friends want to see you alive, they’re going to have enter the darkness, and I’ll be ready.”

---