Despite feeling like he had just woken up from the longest nap ever, Aralen was still exhausted once morning came around. His limbs and body were sore, and his mind was fuzzy, and he was confused as to where he was as he sat up on the bed of vines.
Then the memories of the previous night came rushing back. Penora, the sex, how good it all felt. He felt embarrassed just thinking about it. He was a noble elf, known for their composure and willpower, and it had all been stripped away by a single pretty girl.
Well, maybe a little more than pretty, but the point still stood!
It pained Aralen to think that he was now trapped here in this forest with this dryad girl for the rest of his life. He shook his head, before getting out of bed quietly to look for something to eat; it felt like it had been over a day since he last ate.
Then he paused. The vines that had bound him to the bed last night were gone and, even stranger, he felt no compulsion to stay here with the dryad. Nothing at all was stopping him from just leaving, and Penora was now asleep; he just had to avoid waking her.
His elven light-footedness came in handy as he stealthily exited the room, quiet as a mouse as he made his way through the house. As he did, he racked his memories for everything he knew about monster girls, but nothing made sense. Every record he recalled indicated that once a man had sex with a monster girl, his mind was altered drastically and he would never want to leave her side.
That did not line up with his experience, unless every record significantly exaggerated the mental effects, since he felt no such desire, and no extremely debauched thoughts were running through his head. Well, I’m not going to complain about it.
He reached the closet where his spear had been deposited last night before they reached the bedroom, and he spent a few extra minutes searching through the supplies there as well. While the food was still too suspicious for Aralen to touch, despite his growing hunger, he did find some useful things. A water canteen, a leather travel bag, a small pouch with some healing herbs and a strange potion he didn’t recognize, and most importantly, a map of the area.
He quickly unraveled the ragged cloth scroll and took a look at the contents. It appeared that he was only slightly to the southwest of the trail between Oliraves and Alvode, not far off from where his convoy had been traveling. If he could reach that path, chances were that someone would find him and be able to help him back to civilization.
With a goal in mind, he stashed his supplies in the leather bag and made his way out of the hut. Penora didn’t come chasing after him this time, and once he had trekked out of sight of the tree-made house, he let out a sigh of relief. Despite the passionate night they had shared, Aralen would be glad to never see her again; the way she muddled his mind and filled him with desire was unsettling to the elf. Those sorts of feelings, feelings of lust and arousal, were so foreign and confusing to the young elf. Honestly, he was looking forward to another 40 or more years without any of that.
He sated his hunger after he found some nuts and berries, and almost immediately afterward a freshwater stream presented itself, allowing him to quench his thirst. The map was a helpful boon, but the scale wasn’t completely accurate, and Aralen had been walking for several hours before starting to wonder if he was much further from the trail than the map indicated.
His worries were alleviated soon after, thankfully, as the worn and trodden dirt path he had been traveling on just a day ago came into view.
Thank the gods above that I didn’t run into anything dangerous. Or another monster girl…
Alvode was the closest city, and hopefully the trade convoy would still be there; it wasn’t scheduled to leave the city until tomorrow. With any luck, he could make his way back somehow and catch a ride to Alugala, and put this whole ordeal behind him.
It appeared that luck was on his side, as barely thirty minutes had passed before he heard the galloping of a horse, and right after, he spotted a chestnut horse moving towards him, paired with a gleam of armor riding it. For a moment, he dared to hope that Lithael was fine and had come out to rescue him, but those hopes were dashed when the rider got closer.
“Hey! You’re still alive! Are you alright?” Eirik shouted from atop his steed, Aralen mentally groaning upon hearing his voice. Not that he wasn’t grateful that somebody had come looking for him, just… maybe it would have been nice to meet one of the other guards.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Maybe a bit hungry, but otherwise I’m okay,” Aralen responded, moving to mount the horse behind the snow elf.
“Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do about that. I rushed out here to find you so fast I forgot to repack my bag. To be honest, I’m kind of starving too,” Eirik said, a touch of shame in his voice. Aralen had to admit he was a bit shocked by Eirik’s admission; he hadn’t felt like he had made enough of an impression to be that valuable a person to the other elf, and he also hadn’t pegged Eirik to be the selfless sort to rush into danger when someone was in need.
“Wait, is Lithael not with you?” Eirik asked, looking around the forest path as if she might be hiding behind a tree somewhere.
“No, I haven’t seen her since I was kidnapped,” Aralen admitted.
“Damn, I was hoping… wait, kidnapped?” The surprise in the snow elf’s voice was evident, even without Aralen being able to see his face. “I thought you two were just dragged off by monsters or something. What do you mean, kidnapped? Bandits?”
“No, worse. Monster girls.”
Even before Eirik said anything, Aralen could tell he didn’t get it. “No way, man,” he said, disbelief filling his words. “I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t still be here if that were the case. You sure it wasn’t some insane elf who was dressed funny or something?”
Aralen shook his head. “I’m sure. She had this… power over me. I don’t know how to describe it, but I didn’t have control over my body.”
“Yeah, well, a pretty girl’ll do that to some people,” Eirik said with a snort. Anger rose up in Aralen as he remembered why his fellow guard got on his nerves.
“You don’t believe me? I’m not one of those degenerate elves, if that’s what you’re implying.”
“Hey, chill. I wasn’t implying anything. I just… monster girls, around here? On a trading route, no less. I don’t know, it’s just hard to believe,” Eirik said, following up with a sheepish, “Sorry about that.”
The anger fizzled out, and Aralen mumbled out, “It’s fine,” to the snow elf. They continued in silence for a few moments before Eirik spoke up again.
“Let’s just get you back to civilization, get you cleaned up, and then figure out what to do about Lithael, yeah?”
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The ride was long and uneventful. No creatures leapt out to threaten them, leaving Aralen alone with his thoughts. First, naturally, they landed on Lithael. One part of him wanted to believe that she would be alright and waiting for him at Alvode, having fought her way single-handedly out of the grasp of whoever had taken her and was ready to scold him for taking so long to reach her. But he knew that was delusional; despite her significant strength and experience, he doubted she had experience with monster girls, or the power to defeat them.
His mind strayed from the mysterious second woman on that forest trail to the somewhat less mysterious dryad who had brought him to her forest home. To his surprise, his earlier assessment had been incorrect; his thoughts were significantly more lewd than before, with them lingering on Penora and her body, as well as the sex they had had. But thankfully, it was not overwhelming, instead seeming to be something minor his thoughts landed on momentarily before flitting off somewhere else as his eyes gazed out at the forest, unfocused.
However, this slight increase of dirty thoughts was still a significant increase relative to Aralen’s normal thoughts, which landed on sex as a topic maybe once a month. It was slightly concerning, inducing fears that perhaps Penora’s corruption was just slow acting, or maybe it would all rise up out of nowhere and transform Aralen from a noble and respectable elf to depraved in an instant. Finding a wizard who could analyze him was a must upon arriving, he decided resolutely.
It wasn’t long before Alvode came into view between the trees, the dominating castle keep appearing first, then the towers and buildings of the city proper, and finally the smaller homes on the outskirts. It’s smaller than Alugala and without an outer wall, but it’s still easily recognizable as the capital of this province. As Eirik guided their horse through the city, Aralen took in the sight of the elves walking or riding around the brick streets until they reached the small inn, the wagons from the trade convoy parked outside.
It was a small inn, the foyer only large enough for a desk and a small table, where a lone elf sat dressed in the finery of a successful merchant. Her short, wavy hair and petite frame made her look rather young, however, giving Aralen the impression that she hadn’t been in the business for long. Upon seeing the pair, the elf woman stood up with a hopeful expression and approached them.
“You’re the other man from the front guard, correct? Is the captain with you?” she said as she approached the pair, her blonde head only reaching up to Aralen’s chest.
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He responded with a shake of the head, and the woman’s face fell and her body slumped in defeat.
“Kaevs is going to kill me…” she mutters under her breath, before turning back to the pair of guardsmen. “Captain Lithael had something very important for this trade deal, and I’m afraid we need to find it as soon as possible. Now, I know the company didn’t hire you for search and rescue missions, but I’d appreciate your help in this matter, and if you could pass the word on to your fellows. I’d prefer not to hire too many more men, and of course I will be more than happy to pay extra.”
“We’d be glad to let them know, ma’am. We’ll try to let you know our answer as soon as possible,” Aralen responded courteously, giving a little bow before moving with Eirik up the stairs towards the rooms as the elf woman left the building.
He then turned to Eirik as they ascended the stairs. “Hey, can you pass the word on? I need to go visit a wizard or something, just to make sure I’m alright.”
“Of course. In fact, if you want to know a good place, I’m pretty sure there’s an Auralin mage who deals in that sort of thing somewhere in this town. If you just ask around, you’ll definitely find them. Good luck,” Eirik responded good-naturedly, giving Aralen a hefty pat to the back before leaving him alone, thinking how his first impression of the snow elf may have been a little harsh.
The fact that there was an Auralin healer in this city had piqued his attention, as with the reputation those magically attuned immortals had, it was surprising that one would make their services known so publicly. Now all that there was to it was to find them.
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Despite Eirik’s assurances, Aralen did not definitely find them. Most of the elves he asked didn’t even know what he was talking about, and the ones who did had no clue as to the location of this mysterious Auralin mage. At that point, he had started to think Eirik was just spreading rumors, and that no Auralin existed in this town, or at least none that wanted to help anyone but themselves.
His hunger got the better of him, and Aralen found himself seated inside a small, family-run restaurant. It was a rather unremarkable establishment, slightly run-down but in a way that was somewhat endearing, and the food was excellent. There were very few customers at the moment, with one older couple enjoying a stew and one figure… who actually looked like exactly the kind of person Aralen was looking for.
Physically, he looked like a rather average elf, tall and skinny with long, straight blonde hair and a hooked nose. But his outfit was that of a mage, the long elegant robe with runes around the cuffs and collar, and a small pouch on the leather belt that surrounded his waist. He didn’t look like an Auralin, but he seemed like someone who would know where to find one. And if worst came to worst, this mage could probably help Aralen himself.
Aralen hated getting interrupted while eating, and he hated doing it himself even more, so he simply loitered outside the entrance to the eatery, waiting for the mage to exit.
“Hello, excuse me, but you wouldn’t happen to be a mage, would you?” Aralen asked the elf as he exited the restaurant. The mage didn’t seem surprised at all by this questioning, instead only a hint of annoyance showed on his face as if this were a common occurrence.
“Yes, but no, I don’t teach magic, I don’t brew potions, and I won’t cure your ailments,” the wizard responded curtly, turning to move past the guardsman.
Aralen quickly intercepted, however, determined to get the answers he needed. “No, I don’t need any of that. I was just wondering if you’ve heard of an Auralin healer in this city, and if so, perhaps you could point me in their direction?”
The mage scowled at Aralen as he heard those words, though he did stop trying to escape the other elf’s presence. “Yes, I have heard of an Auralin. You’re lucky she has asked those of us in the magical community to point commoners like yourself toward her. She lives in the tower on the main road. You can’t miss it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be on my way.” With that, he huffed and strode past the young elf, who this time let him by.
True to his word, the cylindrical tower was impossible to miss if you were looking for it. It stood tall over most of the other buildings in the main square, the dark navy rooftop and dark, slate-like stone contrasting with the surrounding red-roofed wooden buildings on the main square. The lack of windows also caused it to stand out, and its heavy metal door. If it were not for the tiny sign saying ‘Auralin Services! Inquire Inside!’ beside said metal door, Aralen would have avoided the building at all costs.
Instead, Aralen found himself knocking on the door before entering, stepping inside only to blink and wonder if he had really stepped into the tower, or if perhaps instead he had somehow accidentally fallen into a portal he didn’t notice. The first thing he noticed was the size of the foyer, significantly larger than how it appeared from the outside. The walls were similarly different, being a light, birchy wood instead of the dark slate of the exterior, and it was brightly lit by the multiple windows that gave gorgeous views of rolling plains, towering mountains and lush forests.
In the center of the room was a large, circular counter that entrapped an elemental summon of some sort, glowing blue and transparent as it floated in place with only a vague impression of a person given by its gaseous form, with tubelike arms and legs that ended without hands or feet. Seeing no other option, the elf approached the figure at the counter.
“Hello, and welcome to Selene’s Serenity Sanctum, your number one stop for all problems magical, mythical or mysterious! How can I help you on this fine evening?” the elemental said in a high-pitched, tinny but still distinctly feminine voice, a smile distinctly heard on its face despite lack of said face. The overly cheery voice was certainly unexpected to the young elf, causing him to pause in surprise.
“Um, sorry, I, uh… I’m looking for an Auralin?” he said, a little bewildered by the elemental receptionist.
“Yes, that would be Lady Selene. She’s currently with another client, but I can put you on the waiting list. It would be about, hmm, 3 hours?” the elemental responded in its chipper tone, not reacting in the slightest to the elf’s aghast expression.
“Three hours? I’ve been scouring the city all day and I finally found this place and it’s a three-hour wait? I just wanted to check for monster girl corruption and I have to deal with this, now?” he said, mostly to himself, aware that his complaints would likely change nothing. At least this lobby is pretty cool, he thought to himself dejectedly as he looked through the window at the fantastical landscape outside.
“Monster girl corruption?” the summon asked, seeming to glow a little brighter upon hearing his mutterings. “It’s your lucky day, Mr. Elf. Lady Selene has been interested in monster girl magic for a long time now, so she should be more than willing to speed up your wait. In fact,” it paused, tilting its head as if listening to some unseen voice, “I’ll be bringing you to her now!”
And with that, the elemental split in half, forming two identical, tiny versions of the stick-figure-like blob that had been manning the reception desk.
“I’ll be leaving the desk up to you, Sam Two!” the tiny summon on the right said, to which the other responded, “Sounds good! Say hello to the Master for me!” Then, the elemental on the right, presumably Sam One, floated over the counter, their cylindrical arms waving through the air in a terrible imitation of walking. Aralen had to stifle a laugh at the sight, afraid it would offend them somehow, but luckily it didn’t notice.
“Now, if you’ll just follow me, Mr. Elf,” Sam One said, doing a weird little bow before turning and marching towards the back of the lobby, where a beautifully engraved wood and gold door sat waiting. It opened before they reached it, revealing a swirling purple and red portal, and when Sam One reached it, the elemental put out an arm with a cheery “After you!”
Portals are a thing to be avoided, Aralen decided as he recovered from the intense sensations of traveling through the gateway. The feeling of being stretched out combined with the sensory disconnect of having part of himself still in the lobby and another outside it was something he did not want to experience again.
He had ended up in a much smaller, cozier space, made of darkened woods and lush, red tapestries and carpets. Lightstones floated around the room lazily, casting a warm light over it and the walls and walls of bookcases, each filled with massive tomes that Aralen doubted he could carry. At the back of the room sat a desk made of rich chestnut wood and covered in strange, golden whirring devices, each emitting the occasional pop or puff of steam. Sitting at the desk was what looked to be a middle-aged human who peered at him through circular, rimless glasses.
She was dressed in thick, layered robes, with some black, some red, some with golden trims and some without. Through her glasses a pair of bright, golden eyes appraised Aralen as he approached, her hand slowly tapping on the desk with a massive, red feathered quill in hand. Adorning her neck and wrists were countless golden bracelets and necklaces, and resting on her short brown hair, some of which was tied up to the side in a neat bun, was a similarly golden tiara, with a single, glistening ruby taking up the center.
“Thank you, Sam. You can return to your duties,” she said in a deep, soothing voice as the doodads on her desk rose up slightly and then vanished, replaced instead by a notebook and a glass of water. The elemental did a salute before turning and moving to the portal, job done.
“Sit, Mr. Wilaen.” A red cushioned chair appeared suddenly in front of the desk, and Aralen took a seat before the Auralin woman. “I heard you had a little run in with a monster girl, is that correct?”
“Yes, it is, Miss Selene. And, uh, thank you for seeing me so soon. I was worried I’d have to wait a while before I could get checked out,” he responded, shifting nervously in his seat. Something about Selene made him feel like he was being inspected by some kind of ancient deity, even though her appearance was that of an unusually lavishly dressed human woman, and her knowing his name didn’t help ease his worries.
“Of course, Mr. Wilaen. I’m sure you’ve heard, but I’ve been studying monster girls and how they work for over two hundred years now. They are the primary focus of my work, after all.” Aralen had heard no such thing, but he nodded along.
“So, if you could tell me what brings you here, I can take a look,” Selene said as she positioned her hand above the notebook, ready to record everything he said.
Though Aralen did not particularly like the idea of his brief encounter with Penora being written down like that, he tried his best to recount every detail of the experience, finishing it up with his fears of changes in his mind. Selene listened intently, showing no emotion on her face while furiously writing down every little detail. Once his story was complete, she sat up a little straighter and leaned over the desk, inspecting him through her circular glasses.
“That certainly is a little odd, though not entirely unheard of. I’ll have to do some tests, but I think I have an idea of what is going on with you,” she said, a tiny crystal jar materializing in one hand as the other reached over the desk. “Give me your arm. This shouldn’t hurt a bit.”
He did so warily, and her free hand grasped his arm a bit too firmly for his liking. A tiny prick of blood suddenly appeared on his arm alongside a bit of pain, and he watched as the Auralin muttered some words beneath her breath. As soon as her incantation finished, a tiny string of his blood started being pulled from his arm and into the jar until it was filled halfway. Then, it stopped, the pain disappeared, and his arm healed immediately, leaving it good as new.
“Most healers often ignore how much of our Aura is within our blood. But with the right techniques, we can learn much about our patients from a simple test, like so.” A tiny flair of her hand and the jar started to glow alongside Selene’s own golden eyes for a moment. It all faded away quickly, and she smiled.
“Just as I expected. You, Mr. Wilaen, are immune to monster girl corruption.”