Csala

Csala rifled through the human’s storage ring with a simple scan to see if there would be anything that suited her. She had discovered a lot of useful things from many of the humans that came to Terra Praeta. Most of her provocative dresses came from female humans who she captured from time to time. She couldn’t feed off them, though, as only a man’s passion and vitality could sate her. Her male counterparts, the incubi, would have a swell time with them — if they haven’t all died off.

Csala only found lots of spears and dark robes, there were a few roasted magic beasts, some high-grade crystal stones and coins, and a few pouches. She pushed her perception into the pouches but found nothing that was of any significance to her. Throwing his ring atop the small pile of storage rings on her table, she stood up to pace her chamber, thinking of what to do about the Sprout.

She had to be careful around this one. Everyone she had ever kissed would fall head over heels for her — as long as they were Sprouts, but then only Sprouts visited Terra Praeta from their world. This one, however, didn’t react the same way as others. Maybe she should go visit the old crone — which she was completely averse to.

The old crone wasn’t someone she trusted. In fact, she was wary of her. But she needed something to help her make the human more susceptible to her charm — something only the old crone could provide. This was the first time she captured someone whose psyche was hard to break. He should have lost all his senses to her charms the moment she kissed him. No one ever came back from that. Well, until him.

It’ll be a pain to constantly be alert and watch what she says in front of the cranky old succubus. It was always draining. Csala wondered when she’d be powerful enough to put such worries aside. And strength like that only came from having men as strong as the one presently in her claws to drain. Csala smiled.

Maybe I should see my new meal…perhaps have a little snack before heading out, she smiled to herself as she left her chambers.

She took her time strolling toward the human’s cell, humming lightly to herself and fantasizing about how she would eat him up. A few turns and she came to the tunnel leading up to the upper levels of the mountain. She flew upwards, enjoying the flight and the freeness of her spirit. There was nothing quite like the feeling of flying. It was beyond the act for her. It was symbolic of freedom.

She was sure the Sprout couldn’t set himself free from the rope hanging him from the roof. She stopped herself from scanning the room as she approached, wanting to see his face wreathed in frustration with her own eyes when she opened the chamber. A psychic scan would spoil the fun.

That room was a fortress, and nothing could break through the walls. The whole mountain itself was far more than meets the eye. It usually took her about two sunrises to get from her chambers to the prison if she decided not to fly — that was how big the mountain was. Csala couldn’t help but imagine the look of helplessness on his face when he realized he was running a fool’s errand.

She got to the chamber where she left the human and unsealed the entrance with a big smile on her face ready to mock him. That smile turned to surprise…and then dread.

The human had escaped his imprisonment!

~~~

A while ago…

Jerome had painstakingly removed every bit of rock and soil that clung to the walls of the chamber. And what he saw left him awestruck. The previously dark room was now bathed in a radiant blue glow emanating from the intricately carved runes etched into the walls. Runes he had become quite familiar with — the ajanai.

Of course, this was where the runes had come from. Rihal had said the Royal Family had a back door to which they could come and go without the rest of Farryn knowing. He snorted. But stood there wondering how to get himself out of the chamber. He might have uncovered something great, but it didn’t help his situation.

Jerome scoured the chamber, trying to locate the source of the otherworldly illumination, but his search proved futile. He quickly shifted his focus to searching for a way out of the chamber. Focusing his mental energy to scrutinize the wall more carefully, Jerome separated the walls into sections. He sat down in the middle of the chamber — atop the pile of rubble he had gathered — and began to examine each section one at a time with his perception.

This is going to be exhausting, he thought. Yet he knew he didn’t have much time. The succubus could come back for him anytime soon. He shuddered — both in expectation and fear. He could feel himself getting aroused again and quickly bit his tongue. The spike of pain helped to clear his head some. He put thoughts of Csala out of his mind and focused on the task at hand.

Jerome pushed his mental energy to exhaustion for almost half a day. His study had led him to discover a hidden pattern within the runes. It was complex and required patience to unlock, which was kind of frustrating. But he persevered. The runes weren’t merely decorative; they formed part of a complex formation that acted as a locking mechanism holding the chamber sealed. Whatever the mechanism was, he wasn’t going to be waiting to figure it out.

After numerous attempts, he succeeded in opening a small section in the roof — the roof wall dissolved and the cramped space shook as dirt and dust cascaded down from the opening, adding to the pile that had already accumulated on the ground.

Jerome lifted his gaze towards the narrow passage, examining it closely. It was barely large enough to accommodate a single adult, and he knew that ascending through it would not be easy.

“Spacious much,” he muttered and dove upwards, the opening closed up as mist formed to congeal into physical material.

Where would I preserve my private chamber if I lived in a place like this? he thought as he tunneled through the narrow space. The rocks in front of him crumbled to grains, not impeding his movement in the slightest. Jerome laughed as he became aware of this. Manipulating earth essence had gotten much easier as well. He decided to go down into the depths of the mountain.

Can this even be called a mountain? He thought.

If every room was like the one he came out of, then it was safe to say that this was an artificial structure. And from the shape of the outward appearance, it was probably a pyramid. An enormous pyramid that breaks through the clouds and into space. Jerome still found himself shocked at the image of the mountain when he was outside it.

He dove down even farther. The thought of some long-lost civilization building something like this was enough to make one’s blood rush with anticipation. There was no way they didn’t leave powerful treasures behind!

Jerome grinned wickedly to himself but took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. There must be a lot of treasures to be found here but first I must recover my ring, he thought.

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He hadn’t gotten very far when he felt a very powerful wave of mental energy behind him. Jerome’s heart nearly dropped and he sped up. He cursed Csala to be burnt by Noir’s Black Flames for eternity as he pushed to get away from her.

Csala screamed and he felt wave after wave of her psychic assault behind him, but none was able to strike him mentally. Her psychic energy may be powerful, but he was too far away from her.

Jerome also suspected that it wouldn’t work as it did before. He was prepared now. That strange energy from the mind-calming stone inside him, buffeted him as he rushed downward into the depths of the mountain.

~~~

Csala was hot on his heels, he knew. This frustrated Jerome because many hours later, he hadn’t found anything. Was it even just hours? He felt like it’s been more than a day already. He held in his frustration and took deep breaths to calm his nerves. He’d been in this cramped space for far longer than he liked.

With his mental energy scanning everywhere ahead of him, Jerome found a room on the edges of his perception that was a bit different from those he’d been scanning. This room was spacious, with no rocks and debris stuck to the walls. Since he was scanning from a distance away, he couldn’t get precise information about what was inside the room since his perception was not powerful enough.

Jerome focused his expanded perception on that location and quickly changed direction. By focusing on just that location, he could tell that this was a room the succubus visited frequently. The space behind him resonated once again with Csala’s powerful psychic energy and Jerome felt his hackles rise.

She was still very far away but was closing in. He could sense her anger and frustration in the air. Jerome pushed his core faster. He dug faster and faster not only to get to the room and retrieve his ring but to be rid of her.

As soon as he got close enough to the room, he pushed his mental energy and unlocked the hatch at the top of the room. Jerome jumped into the room, scanned once again, and walked up to the pile of storage rings on the table.

He chuckled and stashed them all away in his robes. He’d be searching for his later. The succubus was close now. He could sense the force of her anger through the walls and dirt. He didn’t know how he did, he just knew that he did even though she was still more than a mile away from his position. Jerome erupted with fire attribute essence and the temperature in the room climbed. Everything was burnt to ash in seconds.

He quickly jumped into the hatch, closed it, and started towards another direction, hoping to put more distance between them and hopefully find an exit.

~~~

Csala

“No, you won’t!” Csala screamed and turned around chasing after him with agility and speed that belied her tiny frame.

She couldn’t believe he was able to free himself from the binding, that was an artifact she had used to bind creatures stronger than she was. He had also figured out how to open the chambers and move through a smaller opening that even she didn’t know about!

Csala was breezing past tunnels in the mountain like the wind. She’d be damned if she let him escape. The Sprout was just a little bit farther away from the edges of her perception, which was manageable. His aura would still remain present in the air long after he had passed through a certain place. So it wouldn’t be hard following his trail.

It would become a pain, however, if he was taken by another succubus and an older one at that. Thankfully, there was no other succubus in the mountain or its vicinity. If he left though, she would never see him again as Terra Praeta would send him far away.

Csala sped up at that thought, pushing herself faster. She didn’t have essence to work with — the ubus weren’t born to wield it. They were however compensated by mother nature with psychic abilities and enhanced physical strength, speed, and agility.

She soon caught up with the Sprout somewhat but could do nothing to stop him because he was moving through a tight space inside the walls, walls that were indestructible. She could only tell because of her perception. Csala suppressed him through the wall with her psychic powers, slowing him down considerably and ultimately paralyzing him.

The human, however, had his own skills and tricks. He started muttering again and the earth moved out of the way. Millions of grains of sand rushed toward him as she watched in shock, buttressing his paralyzed body and whisking him away. He was carried through the narrow tunnel as if he was riding on a wave of sand.

~~~

When the succubus caught up to Jerome, he thought that was the end and his escape was a pipe dream. She somehow managed to turn his limbs to lead and make his body so heavy he found it almost impossible to move his core. The pressure she was releasing felt far more powerful than what Rihal was capable of releasing.

Jerome used the only weapon in his arsenal he had that could at least protect him for a while. He began muttering his earth mantra, stirring the essence in the earth around him. The earth shifted underneath him and he willed the soil around him to crumble into grains of sand. He went further to surround himself with the current of sand, willing it to carry him forward.

Laughing mockingly at her as he left her behind, he could imagine her jaw hanging ajar. He knew he would probably not see the light of day if she ever caught him, but he taunted her still.

Jerome was elated at his exceptional control of the essence around him now. He had just discovered something rare he could do! He remembered the Sovereign’s words about how Harun became one with mother nature, able to wield it, making the elements conform to his will.

He hadn’t used a single strand of essence in his core to wield the sand that was carrying him through the tunnels. He had tried but it felt like walking through mud. He had taken hold of the essence in the air at the last moment — how he did it, he wasn’t sure. His only wish right now was to lose the succubus and find somewhere to practice this newfound skill.

If this means that I can do what Harun did eons ago… he quickly squashed the feeling rising up in his gut. He needed to concentrate on escaping the clutches of the succubus and not be distracted.

Jerome felt Csala try to take hold of the sands he was using to transport himself but her psychic energy passed through it like a sieve trying to hold water. Csala screamed in frustration once again and he laughed at her, willing the sand to go faster.

She tried something else he had been expecting for a while — a psychic blast at him. Nothing happened. Jerome felt proud of himself at that and he felt Csala’s frustration build to its climax. He could picture her pulling her hair out and throwing a tantrum and the thought brought a smile to his lips. Jerome laughed long and hard.

The next moment she blasted the sand to smithereens causing him to hit the ground hard. He tumbled continuously for a few moments, hitting the cramped space before coming to a halt. Csala took the moment to revel in her little victory as she came to a halt immediately on the other side of the rock wall with no effort to slow down. It was an inhuman thing to do and even Jerome marveled at her strength in her limbs.

Jerome started muttering again but as the sands gathered around him they were blasted away just as quickly. Some grains even got into his eyes and he had to blink rapidly to get them out.

“You can’t continue doing that,” he said. “You’ll wear yourself out in no time.”

“Not before I get my hands on you, love,” Csala replied sweetly. Her voice wasn’t loud but it carried to his ears just as Rihal’s did when he was being trained. Jerome could feel the cold smile on her face as she spoke, which made him shiver and gulp his saliva down hard.

“Can’t you just let me go? I promise never to tell anyone about you.”

“No can’t do, love. You’re a rare find and I’d be damned if I let one of my sisters catch you before I’ve had enough of you.”

“There are more of you?” Jerome was a bit shocked at that. An army of succubi would not bode well for those that came to Terra Praeta.

“That’s not something you should bother yourself with. Just come out here and stop being a naughty boy.”

“Sorry, but I‘ll have to disappoint you.” Jerome bolted.

Csala screamed. She had thought she had him trapped but the little twerp had been playing with her.

Jerome had been digging a hole in the soil a few yards away, behind him. He used the discussion to buy himself time and when the soil directly behind him was loose enough, he covered himself in metal armor and willed it to move his body, swimming through the soil and dashing away as quickly as he could since his body was still under her control.

Jerome started planning in his mind. He had no way to escape her if he got caught.

Then, don’t get caught, but if you do get caught… He thought about the other cards he had to play and he sped up.