(Eclipse Club, Shvehona City, Dimiya)
When they succeed, no one stands up to them
Then they scream in horror as you murder them all
Only now that I know myself
She screamed bloody murder!
It was a typical Thursday night at the Eclipse Club, when the owners brought in lesser known or new artists for live shows. The biggest names got the weekend billings, naturally, but for anyone who was just starting out, getting to play the Thursday Night Trial at the Eclipse was your big chance to make it in the Shvehona music scene, maybe even all across Dimiya, if you did well enough.
Can I give you time to forget?
Oh, the murder of hearts!
Of course, not everyone who headlined the Trial was a complete newcomer to the scene. Some were those who tried hard, and were good enough for the local clubs, but they never got that ‘spark’ that would send them to the next level. Sometimes you had a bigger name who was trying to rebuild their image after a scandal, or was performing under a new name, or trying to shift into another genre of music. More than one artist and group had seen their careers reborn thanks to the Thursday Night Trials.
Murder, plot, something big
Another scratch in the seams
And I refuse to stand by while
We murder our own
Alais Loraric smiled as she sipped her drink in the VIP section of the club, watching the Trial. She was glad her Uncle had given her the heads-up about tonight’s Trial. There was no way that she was going to miss this!
The picture you painted was very well
Visions of rape and murder did follow you
Lights go down, I begin to burn
I see the flame and I hear the voice
Tonight’s act, the Chained Maidens, didn’t fall neatly into any of the normal categories you typically saw at the Trials. They weren’t all newcomers, and they weren’t all ‘old hands’. They were an even mix of humans and knelfi, of locals and those from offworld. Even their music style was a blend of Terran Rock and Dimiyan Blues. And this was their first live performance as a group, which was extremely rare for the Trials.
Well, I got the history
Of a murder made by man
All four ladies on stage were dressed in their own styles. The human drummer was dressed a black leotard with white animal ears and a fluffy white tail. The knelfi guitar player was dressed in the uniform of a prestigious private school here on Dimiya. The other knelfi on bass wore in leather pants like an old-style rocker, and only a leather belt covering her breasts. The only thing that unified their look were the silver collars they wore, and the silver cuffs around their wrists and ankles, each with three links of a chain hanging from them.
Murder, plot, something big
Another scratch in the seams
And I refuse to stand by while
We murder our own
But Alais wasn’t here for them. They were window dressing, as far as she was concerned. No, she was here for one person, and one person only, the lead singer.
Psycho people like to do them killers
A lot of them just murder just for the fuck of it
Liviana Armata was the front woman for this motley group. Like her bandmates, she was wearing a collar and cuffs, but hers were golden, rather than silver. A black dress hugged her curves, with a long slit up either leg, revealing knee-high leather boots on her feet. She looked beautiful.
Murder, plot, something big
Another scratch in the seams
And I refuse to stand by while
We murder our own
She’d heard what happened to her, back in the Empire, of course. It was just one reason why she was glad that she had never gone to the Empire before. It was bad enough just barely getting out of the Jagloth system before the Legion Virus took over everyone. She couldn’t picture the horror of being enslaved, and forced to live with Stepford protocols on, controlling her body and leaving her trapped inside… At least the Legion would have erased her, leaving her effectively dead, instead of trapped in an unending nightmare.
“HELLO ECLIPSE!”
Alais smiled as the former pop star called out to the crowd. Showmanship and stage presence were something that could be taught, sure, but it was as much art as skill, and talent mattered. You had to make the crowd feel like you were glad that they, each and every one of them individually, came out to see you. Liviana still had the knack.
“Welcome to the Thursday Night Trial at the Eclipse Club! Where no names, new names, and those who are trying to get their names cleared come out to shoot their shot! We’re so glad to be with you all tonight! Thelorius may have all the glitz and glamor, but we all know that the heart and soul of Dimiya is right here, in Shvehona City!”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Liviana was working the crowd like a pro. She was surprised at how far from her pop princess roots she’d gone, but the energy and attitude fit her better than Alais would have thought. A pop star could never sing a song like that. But Liviana was taking her pain, and throwing it into her work, and she looked great doing it.
“Now, I want to introduce you all to the band! On Guitar and backup vocals, we have everyone’s favorite schoolgirl, the Maiden of Perkiness (and yes boys, that means everything you think it does), FARRYN LEOLYN!”
The guitar player stepped forward when Liviana introduced here, and played a quick guitar solo as the crowd cheered. It wasn’t much, only a few seconds, but Alais could hear the complexity in the chords. The guitarist had some skill.
“And on bass guitar, the bad, bad girl who tastes oh so very good, the Maiden of Perversion, ARA EILTRIS!”
The crowd cheered as the bass player took two steps forward, slinging her bass guitar behind her back as she did so. When she turned around and bent over, giving the crowd a perfect view of her leather-clad backside, while playing a few chords on the bass, they went wild. Alais was impressed at the showmanship, even if the display didn’t really do it for her.
“And on drums, the energized bunnygirl that hops into your heart and her motor never stops running, the Maiden of Vigor, BENNIE OWEN!”
The drummer twirled her sticks in the air, before launching into an energetic drum solo, much to the crowd’s delight. Alais frowned slightly. The drummer was a Nomad! Most of these people wouldn’t be able to tell, but her Uncle dealt with Nomads regularly, and had taught her the secret of using one of the semi-passive sensory Psy powers to spot them by the way their Psy aura was just a bit… off from everyone else.
According to her Uncle, the Chained Maidens were all slaves. She knew Liviana was a slave, owned by the same nomad who rescued her from Jagloth, and she had just assumed that the others were that man’s slaves, as well. But a Nomad as a slave? That was very surprising!
Then, the guitarist broke in, speaking into her own microphone. “And last, but certainly not least, you have the luscious lady who bewitches your mind and body with song and curves to die for, the Maiden of Desire, LIVIANA ARMATA!”
Once again, the crowd went wild. In fact, they were even louder than before, and, this time, Alais joined in with the cheering, as Liviana stood with her hands crossed above her head, like she were being restrained, and seductively shook her hips for the audience. Alais could see that she was totally in the moment, and couldn’t be happier for the former pop star.
Liviana got back on the mic, and screamed, “And together, we are the CHAINED MAIDENS, and this is Sex Champion!” And, as the crowd went wild, the band launched immediately into the next song.
Sex champion, sex champion
I want a dirt bag champion
I want lucky strike champion
Crime and sex rule the world
(Dressing Room, Eclipse Club, Shvehona City, Dimiya)
After the set, Alais slipped into the back of the club. Technically, only performers and staff were allowed back here, but being the owners niece, and a big-name performer in her own right, that restriction didn’t mean anything to her. The security at Eclipse knew her, and didn’t bother stopping her.
Walking into the dressing room, she was immediately assaulted by a loud moan. Her eyes widened as she saw the Nomad drummer, Bennie, bent over a chair, and Liviana pulling the tail of her costume while the other two girls watched. Only, it soon became apparent that the tail wasn’t attached to the rest of the costume. Instead, the fluffy ball tail was attached to a series of beads, almost 8 cm across! And there were eight of them!
“Oh, my!”
Alais’s gasp of surprise got four pairs of eyes turning her way in surprise. Liviana’s eyes widened as she realized who the unannounced visitor was. “Oh, god! You’re Alais Loraric! I love your music!”
Alais shook her head to stop herself from looking at the toy still in Liviana’s hand. “Y-yeah. I am. And you’re Liviana Armata! I loved your pop stuff. I would have gone to one of your concerts, but the, um, slave thing.”
Liviana grimaced. “Yes, the ‘enslave any nonhumans that enter the Empire’ thing. That’s how I got enslaved. Someone didn’t appreciate my speaking out against that, and paid my manager to collar me. Next thing I knew, I was packed up and shipped off like a suitcase to Choson Ring, where I was going to be sold, and never seen again.”
Bennie, the drummer, stood up, rubbing her backside. “Oh, you would have been seen again, just not by anyone off the station. With your looks, you probably would have been the star of the station’s brothels, one of the elites that only the big spenders could play with. Not that it would matter any to you.”
Liviana shuddered. “Y-yeah. Thankfully Master bought me, and took me away from there.”
Alais desperately searched for a way to change the subject. “So, does Mr. Mollen own all of you?”
Ara, the bass player, chuckled. “Oh, yeah. And let me tell you, the stories you’ve heard about him? Most of them are completely false. If anything, they underestimate what he is like.”
Alais blushed as she remembered some of the stories she’d heard about him. “Yeah, I remember when I was on the Starlight Raven. The stories don’t really hold a candle to the truth. Did you know that, after taking down a group of pirate ships, the first thing he did after setting on course was to have a, well, an orgy with all his personal slaves? And the AI, Raven, joined in! We could hear the sounds all over the ship!”
The girls laughed at that. Farryn, the guitarist, placed a hand on Alais’s shoulder. “So, you have some first-hand knowledge. But how much knowledge do you have?”
“Ah, um, not as much as you might. The contract he took to get me off of Jagloth basically made me untouchable, and then I was with my Uncle, and our paths haven’t crossed since.” She paused, and then asked, almost sheepishly. “Is he really as big as the stories say?”
Bennie shook her head. “Bigger. Well, depending on his mood. He apparently has some unique Psy ability that allows him to… manipulate things. So, if he wants to, it can be normal, or it could perfectly fill every little bit of you, or it could tear you apart.”
“Oh, my!”
Liviana shook her head. “Don’t go scaring her, Bennie.”
Alais shook her head. “Oh, no. It is just hard to believe, you know? That sounds like something out of one of the trashy serials you can find on bookselling sites.”
Ara grinned. “I know, right? And what is funny is that Master came by all of us in different ways. Liv, here, is the only one he actually got from a slave market.”
“Really? How did he get you, if you don’t mind me asking?”
The bassist smirked. “Nah, it doesn’t bother me any. I used to be a hacker, before I got the skill uploads for playing instruments. Last job I ever took as a hacker was to try and hack Black Star. I knew the stuff around Dimiya was going to be too tough a nut to crack. They’d been attacked here before, right?”
When Alais nodded, she continued. “So, I got myself passage to that new world they found, Star’s Reach. Figured that when they owned an entire system, they would relax a bit, since no competition or government oversight to worry about. Plan was that I would get a legit job, and find an access point that I wouldn’t have to break to get my foot in the door. Only, they’re every bit as paranoid in Star’s Reach as they are in Dimiya, and I got caught and sentenced to judicial enslavement.”
Farryn laughed. “You at least have a good story for yours. Me? The Aerora School doesn’t advertise it, but they have some old traditions. One of them is that they ‘sacrifice’ a student every year. I was set to be valedictorian before I got selected in my senior year. Spent the whole last semester in special after-school ‘training’, so that I’d make my new master happy.”
Leaning back against the chair, she shrugged. “Turns out, after the Shining Path blew up, several of the schools primary backers were no longer among the living. Master stepped in and purchased the school, keeping it from going under. So, I was ‘sacrificed’ to him as a gift.”
Alais turned to look at Bennie, and said, “What about you? I must admit that I’m surprised to see a Nomad wearing a collar. I didn’t think that could happen. Your kind have a reputation, after all.”
Bennie laughed. “Well, I guess it all started on Choson Ring, right after the Imperial Palace bit the dust…”