Lain

Leaving the building, I slowly pull myself back into control. Letting everything that had just happened, and my newly made contract settle into my mind while I still have the calm of my instinct driven mind to keep me focused and relaxed. To allow me to come to reason with what I had just done. To keep me from breaking down.

I have to accept what I am now. I have to learn to roll with it. To control and guide, rather than allow myself to be controlled…

I take a deep breath of the cold air outside and try to cool my head as I think and process.

One. I’ve agreed to make more Demons. I had already accepted this as being inevitable. But it will be finally happening soon.

This is fine. I can deal with this. The only people that will be turned will be volunteers. I won’t forget my three rules.

Two. I’ve made a contract… Something that I didn’t even know that I could do, but yet it felt so natural…

Three hundred years… This is fine. I did this for Sky. Three hundred years is nothing if it is for her.

Calm Lain, I won’t let this break me. I, am in, control…

I take another deep breath of cold air and exhale white steam as I finish drawing myself back into full control. With my instincts and demonic desires now safely hidden away in some dark corner of my mind, I turn to Sky and give her a smile.

This girl is looking at me like she wants to pounce on me right here. Her eyes are swimming all over me, and her breaths are heavy. Clamped around my arms and with her fingers digging into my clothes, I can feel her heart pounding in her chest as she looks down at me.

I reach up and give her a pat on the head. “You enjoyed that, huh? You like it when I throw my power around. Hahaha…”

“Mhm, I love it. It’s so exciting!” She says, pushing against me further. I can see that she is probably not too far from trying to rip my clothes off, so I decide to try and get her to calm down a bit. But yet, she seems to beat me to it. Shaking her head and taking a few steadying breaths, she calms herself down and then gives me a worried look.

“But as much as I loved that… Why did you do it? Why would you swear yourself to them for so long? You didn’t have to do something like– “

I stop her by placing my hand to her cheek. Looking her in the eyes, I tell her. “I did it for you. If we are going to build an Empire together, then we will need the humans to help us. We will need trade. We will need agreements made. We will need money. Gold. Lots and lots of gold.”

“Gold?” She asks.

“Mhm, same as some the jewelry that I gifted you. Though I know that you prefer the silver ones.” I say as I play with one of the chains that she always keeps wrapped around her horns.

“Right now, this base is sitting on top of a vault filled with enough gold to fund several small nations. But it is all currently worthless without a nation to use it on. Just a bunch of shiny rocks in a vault in the ground. But in the future? That gold will be the backing power of all trade on this continent, and our new Empire is going to need lots of it so that we can secure ourselves a place in this world and not get pushed around by the other nations that are bound to inevitably spring up. I can guarantee you that humanity will rebuild. This is just going to give us a head start.”

She hugs me closer. “But you didn’t have to sell yourself for this! For me! We could have figured out another way…” She says sadly.

“I’m sorry… I saw my chance and decided to take it. And honestly, three hundred years or not, I would have still helped the humans regardless of having a deal with them or not. It doesn’t matter if I am a Devil now. I used to be human. I still love them, and I don’t think that I will stop loving them any time soon… But, I might as well get something out of it while I work.” I say with a shrug and a little smile.

Sky just gives me a frown, but her face is still blushing, so I know that she isn’t mad. Deciding to push a little harder, I lean forward and whisper into her ear. “Plus, Sky. I know that you are still a Kobold, no matter how much you’ve changed. I know you love a good trade. Just think about this as an investment for the future.” Letting a bit of Devil leak through my words, I smile as I continue. “Plus. I honestly doubt that the humans will be able to uphold the contract. Three hundred years is a long time, and humans are quick to forget. If I have to, I will take everything from them and give it all to you~.” Moving forward a bit closer, I give her a kiss on the side her head and move until my face is buried in her big fluffy droopy ear, my lips mere inches away from the entrance to her ear canal. I can feel as her sensitive ear twitches, her fur tickling my face. I whisper so quietly that the words may as well be inaudible, so that only she may hear them. “I told you that I would give you the world if you asked for it. Three hundred years, five hundred, a thousand and more. I would trade it all for you.”

I give the bottom of her ear a gentle kiss and then pull away. I smile as I look at her, taking her in and saving it all to memory. Her face is as red as a cherry, and she is looking down at the ground with a happy smile on her face. She is lost for words as her tail repeatedly smacks the ground behind her.

Ah, I want to kiss her. Such a greedy little Kobold…

Reaching out with a hand, I take her chin between my thumb and index, coaxing her to look up and into my eyes. “Sky, you have no idea just how much I love you.” I lock my lips with hers as the snow continues to slowly fall around us. By the time we finally part, she is shaking with a tear in her eye which I brush away before it has a chance to fall.

Sniffing back more tears, she gives me a smile. “I love you too, Lain. I love you so much… But please, in the future. Tell me before you make any more deals like this. You know I worry for you.”

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“Mhm, I promise.” I tell her with a nod and a hand on my heart. And I mean it when I say it. I don’t think that I am even physically capable of breaking promises anymore. Especially not when they are made to her. My soul simply won’t allow it.

I’ll have to be careful about making promises to people in the future… It would seem that I am still slowly changing. Though, I have been ever since I woke up as an Imp, haven’t I? I wonder when I will be finally finished…?

Pushing aside my thoughts, I give her a big smile. “Come on! Let’s get going and go pick up your people. We’ll make it an event to remember for everyone!” I tell her as I pull her behind me. She gives a laugh as she finishes wiping away a couple of happy tears.

“Yes!”

“And later, I’ll have them show us the vault. You’re going to love seeing all the gold down there!”

Sky laughs happily as she follows behind me, our hands locked together. Running a little to catch up and walk beside me, she wraps up my arm in her embrace and give me a squeeze. Her face is flushed with a mess of emotions as she gives me a smile. The two of us walking towards the motor pool to wait for our escorts to arrive.

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Sky

This is the second time that I have ever gotten to ride in a vehicle, and I don’t think that it is something that I will ever stop enjoying.

Looking out the window, I can see as the world passes us by faster than I can run. Practically becoming a blur, though Lain tells me that we could be moving faster.

I smile and turn to watch her as she looks out the window. Normally, she would be sitting in the middle, wearing a big black cloak as soldiers sit around her. Steps taken to prevent people from seeing her as she is driven through the base. But now she is sitting in open view of everyone, a big smile on her face as she waves towards anyone that happens to spot her. This ends up being rather funny to watch, as any person that sees her ends up doing a double take, checking to see if they are seeing things correctly.

The soldiers in the Humvee with us seem a bit unsure about what to do, and eventually decide on doing nothing. Their group leader, who Lain called Staff Seargent Haren, hasn’t told her to stop, so they have nothing to say.

Watching Lain from beside her, I am reminded of her words from earlier. She said our Empire. Not her’s, not mine, but our Empire. The two of us, together.

Ah, it makes me so happy to know that she plans on ruling by my side. I just hope that she won’t push herself too hard for my sake.

Thinking that, I cuddle up closer to her as we look out the window at all the passing people on the streets. I smile and wave to a bunch of playing children as we pass.

Eventually, our vehicles make their way to the eastern most gate. It thankfully doesn’t take very long for us to be let out of the base, due to there not being many monsters attacking the Eastern walls right now. Apparently, most of the fighting is taking place on the southwestern wall right now.

After leaving the safety of the walls, our group of vehicles sets out driving east. From the front seats, Staff Sergeant Haren calls back to us. “Which way?”

Lain simply turns to me with a smile and gives me a poke. “You can feel them, right? Lead the way.”

Nodding, I take a deep breath and try to think of my people, drawing at my mind to tell me where they are. Focusing, I eventually get a feeling, a small pulse in the back of my mind drawing me forward. I raise my hand and point in their direction.

Lain calls up to the front, loud so that she can be heard through our ear protection, “Northeast by East. Keep following this road. Sky, just let us know when to turn, ok?”

I nod my head and keep focusing on that feeling, refusing to let it slip from my mind.

The vehicles continue to carry us further, past the ruined remains of human society and through the ever-spreading presence of the growing vegetation that now fills this world in service to its new god. We continue to move even as the occasional monster charges us, only to be torn apart by the human’s powerful weaponry. A particular monster managed to get close to our vehicle, throwing itself at our side while the gunners were focused elsewhere. Lain simply waved a hand dismissively, materializing a spear of shadows on the side of our vehicle. The monster ran itself through and died, hanging in midair from the shadowed pole before being unceremoniously dropped as the spear was dispelled. Lain simply gives me a smile as she relaxes next to me.

Despite the monsters outside, I feel safe sitting beside her. I know that she would slaughter anything that tried to harm me. Her side may as well be the safest place in the entire world for me right now. I return her smile and snuggle up closer to her as the gunfire continues to occasionally go off outside.

I wasn’t sure about putting that stuff in my ears, but now I am thankful that I did. Gunfire is so loud! This is so exciting!

After a while of driving, the direction of the pull has shifted more to the side. I pull on Lain’s shirt to get her attention and then point in the direction to go. She calls to the front, “Take a left up there. There is a Kobold village in that direction. We’ll probably find them there. No not this turn, the next one! Yes, turn here.”

The feeling is getting stronger and stronger as we drive down the road, the excitement inside of me growing along with it. “We're almost there!” I yell.

From what I remember of it, the village was near here. Built into what Lain called a residential area, that had become overgrown with trees. Many human houses lay in the area, neatly arranged in rows and columns. Quite similar to the area where Lain and I lived for a short time before moving into the base.

I still miss that house. I like our current one, but the other one was bigger and had land. Although, from the contract that Lain made with the human’s leader, we should be getting a mansion to live in now… I’ve never seen a mansion before, but I have read about them in my books. I wonder if it will be nice? Something to look forward to~.

The feeling is incredibly strong now, it even feels like my horns are tingling. They have to be close now. “Lain, they’re here.”

She nods and calls up front, “Staff Sergeant Haren Sir. We’ve arrived.”

“Good, park here. We'll be moving on foot from here. Let's clear out any threats and then move in.”

The vehicles come to a stop, and everyone starts filing out, weapons aimed outwards. Lain leans over and tells me, “Stay in here until it safe.” and then hops out to join everyone else in killing the few remaining monsters that had been chasing us. From the safety of the Humvee, I get to enjoy watching as Lain rips the head off of some monstrosity with her shadows. The beast fighting the entire time to try and reach her as she wraps it up with her tendrils before simply twisting its head off without lifting a finger.

She drags the body back towards our vehicle once the monsters stop attacking and signals for me to come out. She opens the door for me, and with a smile, offers me her hand to help me down from the large vehicle. Taking her hand, I alight to the snow-covered earth and give her a kiss. Beaming, she pulls up the monster and shows it to me.

“A gift for your people. They’ve been traveling a lot. So, I figure that they would probably appreciate the meat.”

I look at the thing and feel my stomach rumble a little. I think Lain noticed, as she starts laughing. “We can eat later. Hahaha, come on, let’s go say hi.”

“Hmh, yes. Let's go!” I respond happily.

Staff Sergeant Haren calls out from behind. “Teams two and three, guard the vehicles. Team one, with us. Spread out, protect the VIP. Watch for targets and careful with your triggers. No shooting the Kobolds!”

The soldiers fall into position and Lain offers me her hand, gesturing ahead of us. “My Empress, are you ready to receive your people?” She asks with a Devil’s smile. I take her hand as she leads the way, my nervousness making my tail shake.

Following beside her, I take a deep breath and try to calm myself. It is time for me to fully accept my role. It is time for me to lead my people. To guide them in their time of need.

It is time for me to become an Empress.