We've been making progress. Only a week has passed since I left my throne and from my perch atop my enchanted cloud I can see the ocean. The edge of Artas. We could have made better time if I had pushed a bit harder but a week to cover that kind of distance is pretty damn good. I remember the old merchant caravans would take months to cross the length of the continent so for us to do it in seven days shows we are setting a decent pace. I am setting a decent pace. Pink has been riding since her little outburst.
Mostly because I think it's nice to have her close by. Even now we're sitting side by side on my cloud – our fingers entwined. It was rough at first but now she seems more used to me, which is good, apparently her stress had been accumulating considerably just by having to constantly be in the presence of her “Goddess” while tasked with something impossible; all the while in a state of literal starvation in a variety of ways.
So I decided to help my cute subordinate by getting her more used to my presence so she wouldn't have to stress out about me so much – can't help her with the 'tasked with fixing the unfixable' bit sadly. After a few hours of constant contact she stopped getting all stiff with terror every time I looked at her and after a day she no longer cringed away and averted her eyes constantly. We can call the operation to inoculate Pink against my presence a success. The reverse is … less true. For me Pink is somewhat intoxicating to be around, even if she does likely want to kill me. So odd to have found something that shakes me from my typical lethargy.
Succubi are like that of course, they're born attractive to other people – it's just an innate part of their being. In my case it's a bit different – I'm just so unused to having someone else around, having a hand to hold and a body to cling onto as we drift through the clouds. It's novel. Other people are warm. They have strange and unpredictable reactions in seemingly endless supply, so different from the people you meet in dreams who are ultimately so scripted and predictable by comparison. Getting up was indeed the right choice I have decided, meeting Pink makes it worth it, and with time I will meet more people to subject to my curiosity. Until then Pink will just have to accompany me in my selfishness. So while it's true that Pink has become slightly more accustomed to me it's really just a side effect of my selfish desire to monopolize her attentions and reactions – and maybe keep an eye out for assassination plots too.
I haven't been entirely idle however, I'm not fond of work of any description and the years have ground out any feelings of joy in the completion of meniel tasks but I do believe in …efficiency. And to spend every waking moment paying some degree of attention to another person – it would be a terrible waste to not make some use of that time wouldn't it? So to that end, I've been attempting to train Pink, that she might be more useful to me. And now time for another little test:
“Pink.” I start solemnly, turning to look her in the eyes “Can you feel that? Something is coming that wants to kill and eat you, where is it?” I ask.
She squirms a bit under my scrutiny but I can tell she's focusing. Putting her all into her attempts at detection – her eyes close and her whole face scrunches up a bit. It's unfair because when she shows me something like that – a face I could never dream up in a million years – it makes me want to just tell her the answer. But I endure.
“...mm...” Her brow is furrowing even further and I can feel her radiating her power outwards to try to boost her perceptions. A valid enough stratagem if the aim is sensing hostile magic, saturating an area with your own mana is effective in most situations. Unfortunately for Pink this is not such a situation, we are high above the ground – floating in open air – so the range that Pink can saturate is rather limited. She seems to realize this as well because the mana stops.
"izib...renkit...enhancement...” Now she's muttering under her breath, using her unique brand of spellcasting – the likes of which I've never seen. Frankly it's terrible and I've been debating teaching her how to wield magic properly – instead of using this horrible broken bastard form of incantations. There are pros and cons to such a course of action – it would increase her effectiveness in many situations considerably, not just combat, but it would also be a Herculean undertaking on my part. Committing to a massive (read:any) amount of work for ultimately dubious benefits. There shouldn't be a time when I need Pink to be any more proficient than she is right? I should be sufficient for any situation that can be resolved through application of brute force.
At some point during my musings shes finished the spell and I can 'see' mana concentrated around her eyes and ears. Her second instinct was to boost her senses it seems – it might be enough depending on how powerful the enhancements are. I watch as her slightly pointed ears twitch cutely and give her hand an encouraging squeeze. She smiles and then leans forward over the edge of the cloud – looking at the distant ground. Her eyes narrow in concentration and then she points down, at the earth immediately ahead and to the right of our cloud about a hundred feet away.
“There.” She states confidently. “A group of nikh worms.” Her ear twitches again and her face slowly twists into a frown. “No, not a group …a colony. I can hear probably two hundred individual worms and more as we get closer.”
She looks a bit sick as she says so and I don't blame her one bit. I wouldn't want to have to listen in on whatever it is nikh worms do while they're underground. Spells that detect hostile or killing intent are much better if only for that reason in my opinion. But if Pink would rather use her own senses that is her choice, one she is regretting judging by the pale shade her skin is turning.
“Mm... Yes, well done Pink – though I think a spell to detect hostility might serve you better in the future. At any rate since you have discovered them do destroy them please – they are corrupted. The feeling of their presence is most uncomfortable.” I can feel myself wrinkling my nose as I say that last bit. I've been purposely guiding us into the corrupted creatures in the hopes that if we(Pink) get rid of enough of them maybe this horrible cheese-grater on flesh feeling will go away. No such luck yet but I remain hopeful. In the meantime I just keep hold of Pink's hand – it's an excellent distraction from other less pleasant sensations I've discovered.
Tracking down these corrupted beasties that are on our way also doubles up as good training for Pink. I taught her a spell that is good for hitting many targets over long distances with an easily scalable level of power, thus far the only magic I've seen fit to impart while the grand internal debate rages. Even that is overstating my contribution frankly – I merely corrected her pronunciation once because hearing her garbling proper words was beyond my capacity to ignore – and now that she can properly pronounce the incantation for a flame spear it seems to have become the most effective spell in her arsenal. Something she is preparing to demonstrate again even now.
With her free hand she reaches out over the edge of the cloud eyes focused on the spot she had earlier indicated. It's just another patch of unremarkable and barren land – this one home to teeming hordes of disgusting corrupted monsters just below the surface – and as Pink whispers her incantation a dozen fiery green spears materialize in the air above it. Her grip on my hand tightens and she leverages the immediate proximity to make full use of our bond, drawing forth a massive amount of mana, in response the dozen spears multiply a dozen times over before making their descent. Blasting downwards and into the sand below, gouging out a hundred flaming craters in an instant.
The response is immediate as the strange screeching noise nikh worms are capable of making fills the air, while the wretches burn and die in their holes. Pink does not relent for an instant, having already reconstructed the spell and launched another half dozen volleys in rapid succession – relying on her hearing to guide her aim makes for spells that are scarily efficient. The previously untouched ground is suddenly pocked and cratered for nearly a hundred yards in any direction with a few emerald fires burning on the surface but mostly the fire is underground, exploding and expanding all throughout the tunnel complex the worms had built. I can see a small smile playing about Pink's lips at her apparent success.
And that's when the acid volley hits. Spattering all around us – stopped by the translucent barrier of force I conjure with a thought – as if I would let acid spat by worms touch me.
About a hundred yards south of Pink's bombardment another huge group of nikh worms have forced themselves out of the ground and onto the surface, dragging themselves along on their stubby insectile legs. Their disgusting fleshy brown bodies have an ominous purple glow pulsing within – a clear signifier of their corruption. And as I watch them they all rear up as one once more, mana pulsing in their bodies, and launch more acid from the horrible toothy holes that serve as their mouths. Pink reacts by conjuring another wave of spears and launching them at the approaching group – trusting in the fires ability to burn the acid out of the sky as it makes its way to its target. Her reflexes, at least, are quite impressive. Even if her detection abilities are somewhat lacking.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“A thousand pardons, mistress, I've allowed the enemy to strike at you and even had to be protected by your magic. My shame is-”
“Enough Pink, what's the point of doing all this...” I raise our joined hands between us and wave them about a bit. “...if you're going to continue with this affectation of groveling subservience. More importantly, there is a reason I've been pitting you against creatures like those.” I wave my free hand dismissively at the smoldering pile of worms she's just created. “Aside the blindly obvious fact that they are in our way. So I ask you, have you divined that intent? Or have you been content to wallow in your ignorance Pink?”
Pink looks surprised, probably because this is the first time I've spoken to her with any seriousness in the past few days. Since her little outburst. But she hides that quickly and responds.
“I assume that mistress wants to impress upon me that our upmost priority is combating this... corruption.” Her lip curls into an unconscious sneer as she says the word. Probably an honest reaction considering her near constant exposure these past few days – no matter how stunted her perceptions may be it can't be enjoyable, I know I am not enjoying it.
“More or less correct but an incomplete answer nonetheless. Have you managed to divine why I placed such high priority on these beasts? After you complained to me about your inability to grasp the exact nature of the problem we face?” I sort of dropped a huge hint there, if she can't understand even after I say this much... but fortunately that fear seems unfounded as a look of comprehension comes across Pink's face.
“These beasts are a direct result of the imbalance of the ambient mana then? So by defeating them we bring ourselves closer to the ultimate goal of redressing that balance…? No that can't be right, if they are merely a symptom then their presence or absence will not have any effect on the balance we are trying to correct.”
“Well that conclusion may be hasty Pink, I'm slightly hopeful culling the numbers of these creatures will have some degree of short-term benefit… admittedly likely no long term benefit though and certainly not if we confine ourselves to such paltry numbers of the things. They are probably appearing all over the globe in significant numbers by this point.”
“'Probably' you say? Mistress could it be that these creatures can evade even your ability to detect them?” Pink looks slightly astonished as she poses the question and she turns her body to face me, the nikh worms below forgotten.
I remain silent for a moment, considering. As Pink is the strategist it is necessary that she have access to correct information. But as Pink is a demon giving her any information that could be construed as a weakness is …unwise. The gap between us is truthfully too wide for her to overcome with anything short of the assistance of the Gods themselves but she is probably not aware of that fact. Demons as a general rule do not tend to see any other individual as truly 'insurmountable'. Demons are always ready to fight and die at the slightest provocation in the endless struggle to climb just a bit higher. So if I accidentally allow myself to appear too weak to Pink she will undoubtedly attack me and I'll be forced to destroy my most useful(only) servant. All that said this is probably too important to conceal if I want her to be efficient in her problem solving. And I do favor efficiency.
“That is correct Pink. These creatures are other. They exist outside the natural order of things and as yet I've not found a way to search them out – due to their unnaturalness shielding them from most conventional forms of long range detection. However; inside a certain physical range their presence – that feeling of wrongness they exude – becomes too large to escape my senses.” I could probably refine my method for hunting the things down but I'm not really interested in doing that kind of work unless I absolutely have to.
With a flourish I conjure one of the crystal hearts – it's a dark grey covered in a spiderweb of purple, literally wrapped in corruption - from my dimensional-storage and it floats seemingly on its own between the two of us. At the same time a formidable array of small runes appear and encircle the thing – a proper sealing formation if I've ever seen one.
“Even if it weren't so powerfully sealed it would still be invisible to my mana sensing.” I mutter darkly. “So, now that you've spent a few days destroying these things – and you can see this heart right here in front of you, tell me your conclusions and we will see if they match with my own.”
Pinks eyes have narrowed as she regards the crystal heart hovering between us. “I suspected as much but you haven't been destroying them Mistress? I suppose my first observation then is that the crystal hearts of these corrupted monsters are nigh indestructible – I think with enough time a corrupted creature might even be able to regenerate from that state. It's unlikely there are many beings capable of truly destroying such a thing, with enough time it seems inevitable that the numbers of the corrupted will become overwhelming.”
“I agree, it is only a matter of time before the entire world is overrun. Well a matter of a very long time...”
“Right, not a pressing concern presently, I pray. We've seen more uncorrupted monsters than corrupted ones thus far on our little trek. More importantly though that heart is 'corrupted' meaning it started its life as a more typical monster correct?”
“Perhaps Pink, perhaps not, but it does seem likely. Rock turtles and nikh worms are native to these lands so it's unlikely these corrupted beasts are transplants. Of course two corrupted beasts might produce corrupted offspring so it's hard to say with certainty that they were not born as such.” She's touched on the main point that I want to drill into her pretty little head so I give her another nudge. “But then Pink, what is the difference between you and this stone?” I point at the heart with my free hand.
Pink is silent. I get to watch the gears turning in her head as she makes the connections. Her face is scrunched into a troubled frown as she begins her reply. “That stone was the heart of a monster-”
“Is the heart of a monster Pink – it's not dead yet remember.”
“-Is the heart of a monster – that has been corrupted by the unaspected mana which was in turn corrupted by the excess of demonic energy. The difference between us …? I am not a monster. And I am not corrupted.”
“Not a monster, no, but you are a powerful magical creature are you not? You, more than most, eat and breath mana to live do you not?”
She is silent for a very long moment before replying. “You are implying that I might become corrupted Mistress?” Pink stares at me intently as she asks.
“You and every other living thing on this planet Pink.” My reply is flat. “That's what I suspected while I was still on my throne and what has been all but confirmed during our little journey. It's an inevitability is what I think – unless you plan to die young perhaps? - an inevitability I will likely succumb to as well. Perhaps you understand why then I might prioritize it more highly than the actions of the doves hundreds, or maybe thousands, of years passed?”
Pink's face darkens at the reminder.
“Mistress I assure you I have now and have never had any intention of def-”
“I'm not asking that you not defy me – that much is expected – it is the premise upon which our relationship is built!” As I shout I rise to my feet, drawing myself to my full height and letting my wings flare out behind me. “What I need is your full cooperation and undivided attention on the issue at hand. The corruption at the foundation of our world! Damn the doves. And damn any other distraction that might rear its head between here and the end of this thing. I have no time for whatever niggling doubts and distractions you might have left from your life before today. Can you give me that Pink? Or am I going to need to seek out alternatives?”
Holding her hand and looking down at the succubus sitting on a cloud I struggle to contain my mirth – maintaining my stony facade with great effort as I watch Pink for her answer. I've found myself in a ridiculous situation wherein I attempt to impress upon my subordinate the upmost importance of a task while staunchly refusing to take that task on myself – going so far as to threaten to ask some third party to do it in the worst case. It's absurd. But it's also important – I really do need Pink to be laser focused here. The clock it ticking and we have no time for ancient history.
Pink composes herself quickly and moves to kneel. She reaches up and wraps her other hand over our two already linked hands – into a posture of perfect supplication.
“Goddess. I swear to you, by the name you have gifted me, I Pink, will serve to carry out your will until my dying breath. I will see it done, even if I must grind this body into nothing.” And I can feel her magic flowing up, linking us together – redoubling our bond; binding her to me in magical chains. What brought us together before this was my shoddily constructed blessing – a one-sided gift from me to her – but by giving her oath in this manner it evens the balance between us somewhat; and even if she doesn't know the proper words for this kind of ceremony, well she is a powerful magical creature and there is magic enough in intent. Only through supreme effort do I restrain the laughter bubbling up inside me, winning feels so good after all. No matter the stage, no matter how big or small – necessary or unnecessary – the conflict it's important to win. And if I'm going to compete – be it in battle or in interpersonal politics – I am going to win. I am Alexandria am I not?
Below us the nikh worms burn. And I can't help but loose a predator's smile – all teeth.