VERMIN TIDE QUEST

Chapter 31

Day 1, entry 1: To the Monster who is reading this, then you found the personal journal of I, Minagi the Ancestor Lord of all Succubi and their offshoots. I decided to write my travels down because well, apparently I have ended up in another world by the machinations of some old hag that called herself Morai-Heg, and thought it best to record what I have found here. It all started some time ago when my mother the Dark Goddess Alipheese Fateburn, sister Ancestor Lords and I felt the deaths of a large number of Monsters behind the Seal that was place to placate Ilias. While we sensed something akin to a surge in magic, it was assumed that Tamano no Mae, Ancestor Lord of all Animal Monsters had the situation taken care of.

We were wrong apparently, and thus I was sent to investigate and find out just what was going on after Mother felt a number of her creations being slaughtered en mass. When I emerged into the castle the Fateburns were to rule Monster-kind from, the first thing I noticed was a Human Knight, somehow in a catacomb of those who ruled after Mother. One of the things I immediately noticed was that the design was not one I recognized, and something seemed wrong about him, to say nothing of the fact the little bastard somehow snuck up behind me despite wearing it. In fact, basically the only reason I realized he was behind me was when I smelled his scent and delivered a simple but effective haymaker to his head, holding back to not beat his face in. I was going to enthrall and then drain him, when I because aware of multiple high-strength sources of powers coming after me, and fled from the scene. To get a general grasp of the situation in Hellgondo I flew away from the castle, which had been taken by a group of Humans alongside a group of Elves and Angels, the 'Holy' spawn of Ilias. What the Elves were doing with Humans I'm not sure.

How my kin were driven out by such a pitiful group to begin with was beyond me, until I recalled the sheer power one Human in a golden mask had. Even so, as I flew above the skies, I could sense as though there was thousands of eyes looking at me from every direction, and yet wherever I looked, I couldn't place the source of the gazing. It felt like I had something looking at me from both close and far, within my head and without, but I dismissed it as Ilias trying to unnerve me. Now that I think about it, she was probably one angry bitch to find out I was back in hindsight. As time passed, I sensed that my sister was occupied with a group of male Monsters that resembled Minotaurs, while the rest of there war band tore and burned down a Village of Succubi.

After I slaughtered them for their insult to me and my descendents, I regrouped with Tamano, who stayed in her persona of a Kitsune who had been a teacher and guide for Mothers' direct descendants ever since the Great Monster Wars ended. And while she had been fulfilling the task of keeping the peace, I found much to my chagrin that Tamano has been do in her own... interpretation of Mothers' orders:

In essence, she had been slowly teaching Monsters to actively seek co-existence with Humans, among other things, to the point that each succession to the throne led to the new Monster Lord ensuing policies to eventually do so despite the fact that filthy whelp of a Goddess Ilias is still pursuing the complete destruction of our kind. For example, the current Monster Lord had declared after a city named Remina was destroyed to not attack or assault Humans unless in self-defense. However, due to tensions between the two races, she has actively enforced her ruling, as a number of Monsters have refused to follow it, showing to me that the Fateburn since the First may very well have grown weak at heart to truly rule as they should despite their strength.

And as I and Tamano were going over the events that been happening, aforementioned Morai-Heg the Hag showed up after paralyzing both me and my sister somehow, turned into a giant crow and then flew off laughing manically as she dropped me into this world. After a brief but violent first encounter with some form of Demon-worshiping Knights that burned down what I'm guessing to be a rival Human tribes' village, I was able to acquire this book and decided to write my findings down for when I return. And mark my words, I will return to Hellgondo, and set things back the way they should be, as you fellow reader will no doubt be experiencing in whatever future era has come.

As for where I am currently, I'm in some form of polar region, and my scrying of the land revealed that there more of the Knights I encountered, along with abnormal Humans and other creatures fighting normal humans throughout the area. At least, they were until I came here. Presently, I am heading south, both to get out of the cold, which extends to the north, and because when I looked that way, I saw that more stuff was heading that way, and figured that the southern most parts of the world will be easier to get along with, especially since my current form allows me to play the role of an innocent child wandering the land.

Day 1 entry 2: I have developed a burning hatred for whoever these ungrateful peasants of this world are, and whoever created them. To summarize, a bunch of the Southern men had been surprised when I strolled up to them, and went on guard as though they expected me to attack them. When I tried to dissuade them by playing dumb, they still came at me with their swords and spears, intent on slaying me. Me, Minagi direct daughter of the Dark Goddess herself! After taking my due from them, I disposed of them for their offense towards me. Suddenly, I sensed some divine being named Ursen appeared, which I guess was the god these Humans worshiped. He, being male much to my surprise then accused me of being a wretch and that the men assumed I was of the Northerners, known as Norscans in the native tongue. I demanded that Ursen tell me what I wanted to know and to send me back the way I came, but he had the gall to refuse, and on top of that, said that I should beg him for forgiveness for killing his worshipers. As if I would do such a thing ! When I refused, I then tried to attack Ursan for daring think they could command me, and to take what I wanted by force. When I awoke in a crater some time later, I realized the bastard had struck me all the way back to where I was originally.

I swore then at that point when I get back, the first thing I'm going to do is assemble an army of my descendants, and I'm going to take his most prized city and turn it into the largest brothel in the history of this world, and the one I am in. I then decided to head north, to see where negotiating with the Norscans as I learned they are called takes me...

Day 1, entry 3: Norscans are no better. Literally the first thing that happened was I got swarmed by a horde of the rampaging savages. After slaying an entire horde of them, the Hag as I am going to call her appeared for a second time, clapping her hands while chuckling mischievously with Ursen at her side. I was tempted to demand that the ugly and wretched wench take me back to Hellgondo, but then an idea came to me as I noticed Morai-Heg had one of her arms around Ursens'. Instead, I unsealed myself to my full power, growing into what I originally look like, and tried to seduce Ursen, offering my skills at lovemaking, which were surely better then that of the old women Elf at his side. He did not so much as flinch, instead looking me straight in the eye and said, word for word: "I wouldn't consider sharing my bed with you, or the bat-winged and cow-uddered mutants you call your children even if we are the last ones alive on either of our worlds." the nerve, especially Morai-Heg, who cackled maniacally at the insult! It was then she waved Ursen off, as he disappeared off to somewhere while I was still processing his insult.

It was then she revealed that she was not even in a relationship with Ursen, and that he was there as an escort in case someone else interfered with our conversation, in payment of a favor he owed her. It was at this point, that Morai-Heg grew a serious face, and told me that she had a plan that been set in motion many thousands of years ago. In essence, she wants me to head south to a region called the 'Old World' to fight some Humans, where I am to distract and harass the forces of one Archaon the Everchosen. I do vaguely hearing Tamano and Hiruko talking about a multiverse that she discovered during the Great Monster Wars, but they weren't interested in it at the time, as Morai-Heg mentioned that these Monsters aren't from my world, but a copy of it. She wanted me to go there, and tell the Monsters there to leave and never return to this world. But now that I angered Ursen, she wanted me to apologize to him for killing his people, since he was not going to let me encroach further into his land. If he didn't want them to die, he should've interfered when the Norscans attacked in in the first place!

When I questioned what happened if I didn't, she smiled once again, then pointed north where the Norscans came from, and said 'Have fun fighting the entire Norscan population and the beasts that reside alongside them in that direction then, at least those that have not made it here yet. Oh, and by the way, if you do the task I want you to do, I'll consider letting you return to your world, provided you learn to get along with Ilias and convince her to let you back of course." When I processed the last sentence, I then remembered her mentioning having made a promise with Ilias to kidnap me. As the dots clicked in my head, the hag grinned widely, as she confirmed that she did so because Ilias asked her to take me out of Hellgondo and into this world.

"But why?" I asked. In return, Morai-Heg replied with this;

"Because little immortal, all events will benefit me, and unbeknownst to Ilias, she has put herself in debt to me. And so will you."

Like that is going to happen. So, I accepted the task, more so to get out of the freezing cold, and get away from all this shit going on in Kislev. I of course brought up the fact that I am a Succubus, to which Morai-Heg laughed off and said "Do whatever, just don't kill any of the people fighting the Norscans or their allies, and don't get caught breaking the laws of the nations you are going to travel through. Oh, and no harming my ravens." in reply. As she was about to leave, I had critized her for not taking me there. When she looked at me with a predatory grin, I realized that accepting the offer to let her take me there directly, and shut up about the topic.

So. I'm in a frozen wasteland, surrounded by a bunch of angry Humans that look like they can wrestle a grizzly bear, and I have to traverse south to beat in the face of some Norscan war lord, but first I have to prostrate myself like a commoner to Ursen. All this, so I can tell off a horde of Monsters to leave this world. Now, sounds simple right? Well, wrong, because I thought so as well, and said I'll do that very thing. However, I decided to teleport there using what information my scrying the lands gave me to navigate. But, apparently there is another dimension which this worlds' gods live in called the Warp, which Morai-Heg and Ursen mentioned. Basically, I ended up in the Warp instead, and my sight was assailed by some drug-fueled technicolor nonsense for several seconds, while the screams of the damned resounded in my ears, and. as a result, I threw myself off course teleporting again to get out and fell out out sky screaming into the middle of a cold as the dead ocean instead.

When I climbed out, I realized I got jettisoned into one of the shores of Norsca instead as well. Meaning I am now in a frozen wasteland, surrounded by a bunch of Human savage that can wrestle a bear, have to at like some commoner to beg for Ursen to forgive me, and I am wet and cold to boot from being dumped into a sea. I hate this world...

**POV SHIFT**

As the Second Wave of Monsters finally had the last few regiments of soldiers and equipment pour out into the desert of this World, a number of scouting parties had been sent out to see what the current situation was, as well as evaluate what places are weak enough to direct an alpha strike and take to establish a foothold into the Second World. One of them was traveling the path the First Wave went, where the Lilith Sisters had taken a company of Monsters with them. Among it there was only three Elves, all of whom had specially enchanted cloaks to hide their presence by blending into the sands. As they sped towards the path they went down looking like gusts of wind, the trio stopped as they crested over a dune and saw the city where the Lilith Sisters were presumed to have been to have been taken prisoner. They could see the city was being besieged all around, with the Undead fighting off waves of Green Men who were trying to climb the walls on rather shoddy ladders from what the Elves could see. It seemed to be a theme that most of the stuff the Green Men had was thrown together from bits of scrap, and at least several Golems of some kind that resembled them could be seen fighting a number of the Tomb Kings own war constructs.

"By the Dark Goddess..." One of the Elves whispered while fidgeting the small bow she had hidden in her cloak, as they heard the distant chanting of the Green Men trying to break into the city, which was alive with activity "...these people don't pull any punches when moved to war amongst one another. We have been here for a week, and these two are still fighting each other!" The Elf in question then pulled out a telescope, and began panning the walls

"Vel, any particular paths you see that we can enter the city by?" another, named Geminne suggested. She examined the rapier she had, along with a parrying dagger.

"Not quite. So far, these Undead seem to be vigilant in their patrols of the parts of the wall the Green Men aren't coming from, so sneaking in by climbing the wall is not going to be easy depending on how they react to sound. Not impossible mind you, but not easy either. They Jenny, mind examining the magic of this area, see if there are any hidden doorways and traps?" Vel asked of the third Elf, who sat down crossed-legged on the sand as she produced a wand.

"On it." she then started meditating, while the others continued watching the progress of the battle. However, she made a groaning sound, then rubbed at her head.

"What's wrong?"

"The Green Men, they have some sort of magic that is interfering with my scrying. I feel like a thousand of them are pounding drums in my skull, and it was as painful as it sounds to continue scrying in their direction. We'll have to find some way other then... WATCH OUT!" she screamed, tackling Vel as a bolt of green energy fell from the sky in the shape of a fist just above them. Geminne dodged it as well while the fist still fell from the sky, and it blew up the sand around them on impact, causing a shock wave that blew all three Elves out towards the city the fighting was coming from. As they examined the crater left behind, they saw that they were thrown forwards into the border of the magic fists' area of effect. "They have some kind of magic user that was channeling the energy I felt sickened by. I didn't feel there presence until it focused its attention in our area! They know we are here, just not our specific location! We need to keep running, they know they missed, and I can sense several other magic users in the city scrying for us! We should run to the walls, and hope we make it!" she shouted, as they then made a bolt for the city, intending to get close so that any magic cast at them would risk destroying the walls. However, as they ran a sandstorm appeared from behind the wall, and a moment later Vel looked up at the sky, and saw a number of shapes in the sky.

"Arrows incoming!" she yelled, as Geminne created a magic barrier to deflect the volley that fell from the sky. As they were about to drop it, the Elves noticed one of the mummified Undead looking over the wall, and staring where the barrier formed. It was clothed in robes like that of a priest of some kind, and Vel could see it glower menacingly at the bright spot of light, and raised it hand in the direction of it.

"Spell incoming!" the ranger yelled as the priest mummy splayed it's fingers out in their direction, firing several bolts of energy that struck the barrier. Jenny groaned from the strain and nearly fell on one knee, then steadied herself as she took the blast.

"Damn! The arrows were there to get us to reveal ourselves and make the next spell more accurate!" Geminne said. "It's what I'd do!" another blast struck the barrier, and as the Elves flinched at the attack, they heard a noise, which the Undead turned their attention to as the Elves then saw a chariot pulled by boars around the corner, followed by three more. The mummy pointed at the chariots, and snarled something in some language that the Elves didn't understand.

"Now!" Jenny yelled, and dropped the barrier as the Elves ran in three different paths as she and the others wrapped themselves in their cloaks and disappeared. Vel saw the mummy priest turned as this occurred, and his gaze was frantic for a moment, before locking onto something to her left. As it began to channel a spell concentrated on one finger, the Elf scout called out to her sister mage.

"Jenny! Look out!" she yelled, as a ball of fire was cast and struck the sand. At first she thought the mage didn't make it, until Jenny could be seen ditching the cloak and running. She then threw out a bolt of magic of her own, which smashed into the wall where the mummy was. The bones of several skeleton archers could be seen being tossed out from the shock wave, as the Elves ran up the walls using their own magic to enhance their climbing skills, scaling it just as the Green Men came rising after them, and shouted.

"Oi, get bak 'ere ya Knoif-Eard gitz! Dis iz moi lootin ground!" A familiar voice shouted in anger. As the skeleton saw the Elves climbing the destroyed hole they made in the wall, they then drew out a bunch of swords that were at their hips. The Mummy could be seen getting back up, and when the blue lights in its eyes sighted the Elves, it sneered with what looked like rage. As the being growled, Geminne tried to stab it with her rapier, and was blocked off by the skeleton archers attacking her, driving her to back away as it got back up. Vel loosed an arrow immediately at it, which stuck it in the head, and watched it grasped the arrow while being stunned by it. As a skeleton made an attempt to cut her down, Vel side-stepped it and kicked its skull off. When it tried again to attack her, Vel ducked, then swung her arm sideways, breaking the spine of the Undead in two. As the top half collapsed and fell on the lower one, she turned and saw Geminne and Jenny were weaving and dodging. Upon hearing a smashing sound, the Elves saw that several of the animal-headed statues were marching on the walkway of the wall towards them while the archers were moving out of the way.

"Geminne, we're getting out of here and into the city!" Vel cried out. With that, the Elves finally dashed through and around before the statues could reach them, causing the Mummy priest to roar with a grimace of pure anger. As they finally sailed over the wall, the three landed on their feet, and ran into the first building they saw, just in time as the clacking of a volley of arrows struck the building they entered. As the Elves stopped for a breather, Jenny muttered.

"By the Dark Goddess, what in the hell was that?" she said, and as they looked around the room, a bashing sound drew their attention to a door leading to the next one over. When it was bashed down, another skeleton appeared, this one carrying a kopesh which it raised up and charged at the Monsters with. "Oh, for Ancestors sakes!" Jenny yelled, as she cast a energy bolt that blasted it away from them. As it crashed, the skeleton fell apart, only to piece itself back together and get back up. However, the Elves were quick to take advantage of this to escape through the back, and as they ran the sounds of fighting could be heard coming from the wall.

"Sounds like the Green Men have managed to find their own way up." Vel commented. Upon hearing the sound of one of them making a war cry, Vel said "Yep, they did." With that, the Elves turned to run down the street, only to stop as they saw reinforcements for the Undead were rushing to the wall from the other side.

"Oh bugger." Geminne muttered. The sentiment was shared by her as she and her sisters ran out of the street and into an alley way, where they vaulted in between the building walls as the stomping of the Undead grew louder, and reached the roof.

"Ah great, now they can shoot those homing arrows at their leisure at us."

"So run like hell, and don't let them see you." With that, the Elves began to jump from roof to roof, intent on making their way to the pyramid in the center and complete their mission on finding anyone taken captive. After about an hour or so, they reached their destination, but were starting to feel the heat of the sun beating down on them. As they stopped, the Monsters quickly took shade underneath a nearby stable, or at least what appeared to be what was left of it.

"About damn time. By the Goddess, they better not have retained their ability to smell..." Vel whined, sweat dripping from every pore and soaking her top and skirt. As she walked to one of the walls, she leaned against it, and dropped onto the sand with a huff. "...I hate it already."

"What?" Jenny asked.

"The feeling of sand getting on my skin and sticking to it."

"Then why did you sit down there?!"

"My legs couldn't hold me up anymore... this is supposed to be an in and out mission, why do-"

"Will you both shut up?!" Geminne hissed, ducking down from the the window she was looking out of, and proceeded to hide in the shadows. The other two flinched, but did not question her as they hid behind a rotting bale of hay in one of the stalls. After a moment passed, they noticed a horse skeleton behind them, looking at them silently with eerie blue glowing balls of flame in its eye sockets. While it did not make any noise or move, Vel and Jenny were nervous as they heard the door to it open. A clacking sound could be heard, and the Elves shirked back as another one of the Undead walked into their view, carrying a pile of hay in its arms. After a moment passed, it stopped at the stall next to them, and tossed it into the stall, which also had a horse similar to the one that was behind them. As it walked over to the stall across from the one it tossed the hay bale into, the Skeleton walked over to a rotten hay stack, and picked it up. The Elves watched silently as it walked out, not sparing even a glance in their direction. As it disappeared, they followed it with their gaze to where it tossed its cargo into a refuse pile of rotten and spoiled fruits, meats and other foodstuffs they didn't see before running into the building. After wards, it turned and walked off to what appeared to be a storehouse.

"That's not normal. Why would these Undead act like they're living people with physical needs?" the Elf Fencer muttered to herself.

"It must be whatever or whoever is controlling them. Come on, we'll need to go deeper inside the pyramid. There's no way these creatures can communicate from under our noses, since we would've sensed it..." Vel whispered as they approached the shadow of the pyramid, using their cloaks to hide themselves from any guards that would happen to pass by. The trio slowly approached the exit, which had a line of the animal-headed statues. Upon closer inspection, Jenny noticed that there was bone worked into them as well as stone and jewelry, while the heads were typically the actual skull of the creatures in question. Knowing that each one could wake up, she shuddered and caught up with her sisters moving on. She silently whispered a prayer, hoping that would not be the case...

**POV SHIFT**

As Minagi walked through the frozen wasteland around her, shivering in the cold chill that made her feel numb all over, especially affecting her wings and thus why she did not risk flying, the Succubus Ancestor Lord held her arms across her chest. A Human would've certainly perished at this point, but Minagi had no need to worry about frostbite. Even so, that did not stop her feeling a misery ay her current plight by made her angry. She knew that wearing some form of thick clothing would help soften the bite, but she was the mother of Succubi! As she tripped on a loose rock, Minagi fell with a screech, but caught herself from face-planting, with only barely.

"Bloody hell, I should've accepted those lessons on manipulating Fire magic as well as Wind, even if it meant less feeding..." the Ancestor Lord muttered as she started to get up, only to pick up a rock with a symbol she did not care to look at or commit to memory, and threw it into the sky like a ballistic missile with a scream in the direction of Norsca. "...YOU ALL SUCK! I'M ACTUALLY THINKING OF WEARING ACTUAL CLOTHING!" Minagi yelled at the top of her lungs towards the no doubt laughing 'Gods' of this world. She was enraged at the continual barrage of insults one after another that started within mere hours of entering this world, and hurled at them a number of other curses that were vile even by her standards, particularly at that Hag and Ilias.

You are lucky I'm a patient woman, and that Ilias is not here to hear what you just said. Aforementioned Hag whispered in Minagis' head, earning a low growl. Just as the Succubus Lord was about to retort, she stopped, sniffing her nose as she caught onto a familiar smell of a campfire. As she turned around, following it, she sighted a cave that was perched into the hillside next to the frozen river she had been walking down for at least three hours. With a muttering grumble, she skulked her way to the cave, stomach rumbling as she knew that she would get another meal, and some warmth.

"I can't believe I am about to ask for something to wear. My daughters may wear whatever they want, but I have an image to maintain..." Minagi muttered, staring into the dark yawning mouth of it with some trepidation. She could already imagine the dampness that it would add to her body, and shivered in annoyance.

"Ah to hell with it, it's cold if you do, cold if you don't." the Succubus Lord muttered to herself, and walked into it. "I swear this better be worth it." As she walked in hunched over to leave a smaller profile, the Monster followed her nose down the cave, and while her eyesight was unaffected by the darkness, the feeling of being watched returned. This time it was not the kind that was that of a thousand omnipresent creatures. Several minutes later, she heard a scampering sound, but did not use her magic, sensed she recalled how her fight with the Norscans had shown that most of the populace at least could sense when magic was being used in their presence, instead she went around a corner, and picked up a rock. As she waited, her breath still, she could hear whatever it was approaching the corner trying to hide, though she could hear its breath and footsteps. They were light and small, indications that it was around her size or smaller. While she considered the idea that it might be someone who could help her, Minagi was not taking the chance.

3...

2...

The thing then looked around the corner, and Minagi reflexively smacked it with the hammer, causing the creature to cry out in pain. As it fell over, Minagi ran around the corner, and punched the cloaked figure as it was getting up in the throat, causing a choking noise as it grabbed at its neck. With a quick pull around the corner, she pinned the thing to the wall, and noticed that it was wearing a hood of some kind, which she pulled down. Minagi paused, as she noticed it was some kind of green humanoid with red eyes that was now currently struggling to breathe. Its hooked nose and chin gave the beings face a crescent shape, and Minagi had to look away as the smell from its yellow fanged mouth assaulted her. The robes it wore covered the gibbering thing from head to toe, and it passed out in the process.

"What are you?" she whispered as she dropped it. After a moment passed, she grabbed the small creature, and held up her fingers, allowing her nails to grow. "No matter, I'll find out in due time." with that, she then hacked off the beings' head, and cracking sounds could be heard as she split its skull open to expose its brain. While she was still alone, Minagi too the risk of scrying the cave, and sensed there was nobody else around, and chomped down on the gray matter of the organ she held.

After a moment passed where she noted that it tossed similar to a mushroom, the Succubus Lord leaned back on a wall, waiting for the memories to come to her. "...Hmm, nothing is happening, perhaps I should-" suddenly Minagi twitched, and before she realized what was happening, she started to see a bunch of very vivid and bright colors. "Oh no..."