Crap, crap, crap! You look down at your new body and try to fight down your panic! One minute you had been on the hunt for some idiot to murder, next moment you were the idiot! Except only the truly unique morons would accidently kill themselves! The Diary was right to choose you, has there ever been a villain more laughably incompetent than you? Two days into your new life with only four more left before you'd be dragged back before her and you have somehow managed to go backwards!
You try to calm yourself, freaking out right now isn't going to help. Time to assess your current situation. You actually have a room with a bed now, and a house to return to at night. No more having to stay at a homeless shelter and beg for food or money. You'll be far less suspicious now and you'll be able to get up to all kinds of bad behaviour now with little meaningful consequences. You almost feel sorry for your new 'parents.'
But there are downsides as well, of course. Your freedom is now going to be severely restricted. You'll be stuck at home in the mornings and carted off to school for the afternoons. Then it will be back home in the evenings. It'll be very difficult to pull off any of the most lucrative evil deeds in this small body without someone noticing you. And even if you use the Diary… Wait… FUCK! The Diary! It's still on your other body, how are going to get anything done without it! You need to get it back, now!
First things first, who are you now… How does this possession thing work anyway, hopefully you at least have some sort of knowledge about this new life…
You focus on your new mind and memories quickly flood in, so quickly that you have to actually push them back or risk being overwhelmed. This poor kid has been completely steamrolled by you! Let's see now, your new name is Zachary Robinson. You always preferred to go by Zack. You are fairly well liked at school and have decent grades. You really like cars... Like really like cars. The only time you ever got in trouble at school was the time you were late for class because you were too busy gushing over the principal's new BMW. As for your family...
Your mother, Elisa Robinson is a single parent, her husband having died shortly after she gave birth to her second child.
Fortunately, Winston Robinson had a large amount of money saved up from his own parents' inheritances and all of that money passed to Elisa after his death. As such she is able to live well and comfortably. Both of her children are well spoiled as a result and haven't wanted for anything. You, Zack Robinson are seven and your younger sister, Lucy is five.
A sheltered and shy child, as far as you are aware Lucy has no friends with the exception of her pet rabbit and two guinea pigs. When she's not playing with her pets or watching TV she's following you around like a lost puppy. Up until now you've been the optimal caring older brother. The poor thing is probably in for a rude awakening now. Though even you find it cute that she still calls you 'big bruhba.'
But none of that information helps you right now. Right now you need to see if you can get back to your former body to recover your Diary. You feel fairly confident that it will return to you of it's own accord eventually, but you have no way of knowing when that will be. And time isn't exactly on your side right now. Fortunately it's just past midnight right now. Your new 'family' will surely be fast asleep by now. If you can just get out of the house you should be able to find your way back to that alleyway.
Your memory of the house include knowledge of a window in the kitchen that opens into the gap between your house and the next one. That passageway should lead into the backalleys. It's easy enough to get out of the house though it'll be more difficult getting back in afterwards. Now you just have to find your body.
As though guided by some invisible force you wind your way through the same backalleys again, though they seem far more dark and looming in your seven year old body. You find your body easily enough and quickly retrieve the diary and your money. Before you leave, however, you cannot help but stop and look down once more at the dead body. Your dead body. It only really hits you at that moment. You cannot even remember what your last name was. Not that it matters now. A sound from behind you has you quickly scuttling behind some trash cans. At least it's much easier to hide now with your smaller body.
A figure approaches your body, hesitantly. Not the same man who tried to mug you before but someone else. This one isn't as squemish about your body and quickly begins rummaging through your pockets, muttering to himself. The Diary in your hand pulses encouragingly. Your body moves before you are even aware what you are doing, running and jumping and landing on the man's back, the dagger plunging home in his unresisting flesh. He starts to stand up as you cling to his back, pulled into the air and hanging on for dear life as he twists and thrashes. As his struggles weaken you pull the blade out and plunge it in again. He falls and you fall with him, crashing into the bins with a crunch.
The adrenaline rush means you are already back on your feet and you can tell he's on his last legs. One more strike into his heart finishes it and you are quick to make your escape before anyone else arrives, still not entirely sure how you managed to pull that off. You can feel it, pulsing inside of your head. The other you, the one filled with hatred and rage. His assistance worked out this time, but it's also likely to get you killed again if you cannot reign him in.
You have unlocked Soul Anchor (Level 1) From now on, when the possession roll is triggered you now have a higher chance of ending up where you want to be. You will now only end up as an animal on the roll of a 1 or 2 on a D6. You can now also add 2 to the D10 roll to determine what form you end up in.
You have unlocked Advanced Encroachment, plus 10 to every possession influence roll both intentional and passive!
With your recovered Diary and money in hand you make your way back to your new 'home.' It will take some time to get used to referring to it like that. It feels even stranger than walking away from a second dead body and not feeling anything about it. It hadn't felt real, like you'd been running on autopilot completely disengaged from what had been going on in front of you. The Diary had certainly approved, guzzling up the new soul like a child with an ice cream.
You graze your knee climbing back through the window into your new kitchen. This wouldn't usually be a problem, you don't even feel the impact, but you don't want to have to explain the small injury to your new mother in the morning. You'll have to make sure to keep it covered up. Your next concern, as you make your way back into your room will be how you are going to hide the Diary and your money from your family. A seven year old keeping an ornate dagger in his room and on his person is sure to raise eyebrows. It cannot be opened by anyone else so you might be able to pass it off as a toy but you'll still need to explain how you got it. You will need to work out what to do about this before you turn in for the night.
Without any better ideas you simply tape the blade to the bottom of your bedside table, it should be hidden well enough from careless eyes but close enough for you to reach in case of an emergency. You don't know how to smuggle the blade into school yet, if your bag is searched and it is discovered you'd be in trouble in all the wrong kinds of ways. You shouldn't need it anyway so best to just leave it. If things get truly desperate you might need to end up going full school slasher but you are hoping to avoid that.
Dying isn't too big of a problem for you but imprisonment is still a major threat to you. And a seven year old suddenly slicing up his classmates would most likely scream 'demonic possession.' You'd much rather find some other way to earn the souls you need. The how will be an issue for future you. Present you needs rest, it's been a crazy night and it is way past your bedtime...
You cannot remember the last time you've slept so well. By all rights you shouldn't have been able to sleep at all. Not only did you die last night you also christened your new seven year old body by brutally stabbing to death a man you knew nothing about. Someone who had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you had been any kind of decent person that death would weigh on you, just like the fate of the boy who's body you now inhabit. An innocent caught up in your mess, or more accurately forced to by that demon bitch! This was all her fault, after all.
But none of that matters right now. Your bed is warm and comfortable and you never want to leave it. Not even when your front door opens and a small face peers into the room.
'Bruhba! Time to wake up! Bruhba!' The disturbance would be adorable if it wasn't so annoying. It just reminds you of your new tiny prison and all the issues that it will bring about. So you pretend to still be asleep as your new little sister darts back into the corridor and moves away.
'Mama! Bruhba no wake up!' you hear her voice outside.
'Oh?' comes the reply, 'well that's unusual.' An older woman. Must be your new mother. You hear her heavier footsteps outside your room, then your door swings open and she approaches your room.
'Zackie! Sweetie, it's time to get up!' You can't really ignore that. Well you had enjoyed the first decent night's sleep you'd likely gotten in many many years. Time to embrace your new life. You begin to rise and meet your mother as she begins to bend down towards you. Or more accurately your head impacts upon her chest, soft and large. A memory comes to you unbidden, only a few years previously you had suckled on these breasts, wrapped your mouth around her nipples and lapped up her delicious milk. A memory that Zack himself likely wouldn't be able to recall. It makes you decidely uncomfortable. Another part of your mind is beginning to stir, hampered by your prepubescent body. This isn't normal. The next time you got yourself into an adult body you really needed to get laid!
Her arms wrap around you and her lips find the top of your head. It feels oddly nice. You are surprised the affection doesn't cost you Malice, actually, maybe an exception is made for family members? You certainly hope so, otherwise this loving family situation will suck you dry far faster than you'd be able to earn more. You hastily detach yourself from your mother's arms and get out of bed. She seems concerned about you, oversleeping isn't normal for you but you manage to wave her off and head downstairs for breakfast.
What follows is a typical uneventful morning. Uncertain how to proceed towards your new family you decide to act as Zack normally would, eating all of Lucy's morning carrots when Elisa is not paying attention and helping your little sister get changed and ready for school before doing the same thing yourself. You opt to leave the Diary behind for today, you'd need to learn more about your new environment before you take any further actions.
Ugh, school. You never enjoyed it the first time you had to struggle through it and you are sure you won't like it much this time. At least you won't have to concern youself too much with the actual studies. Most of it should literally be child's play. The only irritation will be the amount of time you'll need to waste suffering through it. Time you could be spending earning malice or obtaining souls. You'll have to farm malice anyway you can and hope for some sort of opportunity.
With that in mind you scan your surroundings.
Children you have never met before but know well are filing into their seats. You find your own seat easily enough and sink into it with your bag. Pulling out your books and utensils and looking for any opportunities you can find. There likely won't be much to do in class but with Suggestion you can hopefully encourage your classmates to cause problems without having to worry about ruining your reputation as a 'good kid.' You almost certainly have to grind that image into the dirt before you are finished if you ever hope to meet your quota, but you are hoping to do it slower. If you ease yourself into it you might be able to avoid attracting the wrong attention.
'Yo, Zack, what's up?' A not familiar yet familiar voice sounds our behind you.
'Hey Roger, not much, overslept this morning, no big deal.' Roger Mason was your best friend at school. Tall and mature for his years he is often mistaken for an older student. The two of you have been thick as thieves for a while. If there is anyone other than your own family members who are likely to notice any change in your behaviour it will be Roger. You'll have to be careful around him if you don't want to blow your cover.
You make casual small talk with him, little of interest. Then the teacher starts the class.
Ms Erikson, formerly Miss Erikson, you aren't entirely sure what the change represents. A serious woman with a somewhat intimidating presence, you've been fortunate to never have gotten on her bad side. She'd never actually hit anyone with that pointer but you did see her once throw a piece of chalk at a boy who wasn't paying attention. Who even used chalk anymore?
As you feared the lesson is desperately dull and you have to fight the urge to yawn. A classmate further along your row doesn't bother to do so and with a quick Suggestion you encourage him to take a quick nap at his desk. It doesn't take him long to be discovered by the serious teacher. Unsurprisingly she isn't impressed, slamming her hand against the offending boy's desk and giving him a scolding. It isn't much but it will have to do for now. Hopefully some better choices will be available later.
You successfully got someone else to piss off your teacher! How devious of you! You've earned 5 Malice! 100 now in reserve. You'll need to use the Diary to earn a new ability! 25/30 Mana left!
Lunchtime proves to be a better window to get things done. You can take advantage of your larger Mana to use your Suggestions more liberally. Your first decision is a little glib one. As you are exiting class past your teacher you pop a Suggestion into her head.
'Zack is looking cute today.' You aren't entirely sure why you felt the need to do it, maybe it's the same weird part of you from this morning but again you feel as though someone else has briefly hijacked your body for their own ends. Despite it being done unintentionally you still keep your eyes on her expression to see if the Suggestion has any effect.
You see her expression cloud over for a moment as the Suggestion takes hold of her, then the slightest of frowns crosses her face as she looks at you.
'Is something wrong, Ms Erikson?' you ask her, playing innocent. She shakes her head.
'No, no, it's nothing,' she comments, 'you'd better hurry up, Zack. Free time is valuable time after all.' She's not wrong. You continue on, contemplating. While corrupting a teacher is a popular fantasy you aren't entirely sure how valuable it would be for you right now. It might give you better access and more leeway to cut class and misbehave but you'd have to go pretty far for any real benefits. It would take time and effort and you don't really have the liberty right now. Especially seeing as your ability to manipulate others is very limited at the moment. Perhaps with a few more abilities it might be possible, but not right now.
Right now you should focus on trying to gather malice while keeping your head down. Easy enough, you hope...
A few minor mishaps involving other people later your have 21 more malice to hand. With noone any the wiser about your involvement.
Having concluded your bad work and with only 10 more Mana left you decide to head out onto the playground. Zack and Roger usually spend their lunchtime playing football or some other game involving running here and you'd deviated from your usual route in order to cause problems for other people. There isn't really enough time to join in with their game but you can at least watch and cheer your friends on. Not that it looks like they need it.
A commotion to your left draws your attention away from the boys, however.
'Um, Zack?'
'No, no, louder Sherry, he'll never hear you like that!'
'Don't pressure her Maria, she can do it!' You turn around.
Three girls are standing before you, the closest, a shy blonde girl is being encouraged by the brunette while a third girl looks on.
'Good afternoon,' you greet them, 'it's a nice day, isn't it?' The blonde girl's blush intensifies and you need to resist the urge to lean back. The brunette winks at you.
'Funny coincidence, eh?' she says, 'Sherry here was just talking about how unusual it was to not see you playing with the other boys, right, Sherry?' Sherry simply nods, averting her eyes. The third girl, who you know as Ami, full name Amisandra DeLacey, gives you a small smile.
'Did you have a good weekend, Zack?' she asks you. You make small talk with the three for the rest of lunch, finding it surprisingly easy to imitate Zachary's casual social ease and natural charm. Examining your (his) memories from an outsider's perspective it's easy to see that the blonde girl, Sherry Moldova, has a pretty serious crush on Zack. He, however, was impressively dense and never really caught on to it, having not reached a stage in his development where he really saw girls in such a way. Too busy thinking about cars and hanging out with the guys.
A pity really, Sherry was cute. They all were, actually, and you can imagine the three of them each becoming attractive women in the future. Too bad you are far too busy to pursue young love with these jailbaits. Perhaps you can track them down in the future, or find a way to magically age them. Though that annoying pervy part of your mind is nudging you in an annoying way. You have enough problems without your own messed up brain rebelling against you. You part ways with the girls, maintaining your act had helped, you'd been able to minimise the damage caused by your not so secret admirer's affections...
A cute girl likes you! Yuck! Minus 1 Malice! Let's be honest, we weren't going to need that anyway! 120 is a much nicer number!
You have unlocked Corrupting Aura (Level 1) A persistent ability, it costs 10 Mana to activate but will remain in effect for longer. While active it will affect everyone close to you making them view you in a specific way, to be determined by you in advance. More effective in enclosed spaces it shouldn't be used too much in public if you wish to avoid people taking notice!
The rest of class is uneventful. With little mana left and no real opportunities you keep your head down and behave yourself. The most difficult part of the entire affair is hiding how much smarter 'Zach' is now compared to yesterday. Fortunately, his grades had been pretty decent before you hijacked his body and he hadn't shied away from answering questions in class so you manage easily enough. You make a point to answer some more difficult questions that none of the other students seemed to know the answer to.
By doing this you are hoping to impress your all so serious teacher. Why you want to do this you aren't entirely sure. Sure, she's one of the only attractive adult women in your life right now, the only other one being your own mother. Sure, gaining a teacher's favour will be beneficial to you. But you still aren't entirely sure why you would bother. The chances that this mature woman, who likely already has a partner, will be convinced to jeopardise her career and social status to pursue a relationship with you, a seven-year-old, are ludicrous! You would probably have better luck seducing your best friend, Roger! No, hot as it might be to seduce a teacher it isn't worth considering.
An image appears unprompted in your head. Meeting up with Ms Erikson after classes are over for a 'private session.' Sitting at your desk as you study intently, trying not to notice her looming over you. She's slapping the pointer in her hand against her spare palm, ready to punish you with it if you mess up. You work hard, you want her to be pleased with you. Once you finish you look up at her. She's undone the top two buttons of her jumper, exposing a delicious looking triangle of flesh. She leans down over your shoulder to appraise your work and her chest brushes against your face. She smells great, a soft and gentle perfume that belies her outwards stern appearance. She turns her head towards you to give you her comments, a small smile playing on her lips. If you just leant forward…
Enough, you push the fantasy away. Now isn't the time. You only have a few days before you'll be summoned once again before your mistress and right now you have nothing to show for it. If you come up short again your fate won't be pleasant… You can play around once the matter at hand is completed. But so much of your time is wasted on school! How are you supposed to get any souls like this? Perhaps you should just kill yourself again and see where you end up next time? Knowing your luck, you'll end up as one of Lucy's guinea pigs next…
The dilemma remains as you wave goodbye to Roger and your other friends, try to ignore Sherry watching you from her ineffective hiding place behind a tree, and head out to meet up with your mother for the journey back home. If you play nice with your family this evening perhaps you can give them the slip once they are in bed and sneak out again, like you did the night before. Your adult mind won't require as much sleep as a child typically does so you might be able to use this to your advantage.
You use the car drive home to reflect on what you know about your mother. Elisa Keyes was a fitness instructor, she previously worked at a local gym before she drew the eye of a wealthy, older man and agreed to work for his company as a personal coach. Your limited memories of Winston Robinson are not good, he was overbearing and controlling. His personality clashed badly with Elisa's outgoing and active one and they argued frequently. Why she had ended up marrying him you cannot say for sure, but she wasn't as upset as you'd expect by his sudden illness, which leads you to believe she hadn't married for love.
Regardless, Elisa still enjoys exercise and looking after her body and it certainly shows. She certainly does not look like a woman with two children. Why she hasn't dated since her husband's death is another mystery. Perhaps she's devoting most of her attention to her children. Regardless you are fairly certain that, barring one or two close friendships and hobbies, her two children are the entirety of her world right now. That being said it should be fairly easy to take advantage of that strong affection for your own ends. You'll just need to decide what those ends are.
For now, though some light hearted bonding is in order. Elisa brings her children into the living room to watch TV and play with toys. You pick a channel with children's programs on it while Lucy drags her mother away, coming back a few minutes later with Sprinkles the rabbit in her arms. Elisa carefully secures the room and makes sure there's no way for the creature to escape and Lucy settles Sprinkles down on some newspaper and proceeds to feed him. Your memories tell you that this is common, the rabbit has gotten used to the three of you now and isn't concerned by your presence any more. The first time Lucy tried to do this he tried to hide behind the radiator and almost squashed himself.
After that your little sister shows you a drawing she did of you, her and Sprinkles. It really doesn't look like anything more than a bunch of different coloured scribbles but you praise her anyway and rub her head. Her little face beams with pleasure at your praise. She really is cute, like a small animal herself. Even your warped mind has to accept that.
Another set of images flash through your mind. You are in a comfortable seat, watching television. Your adorable sister is kneeling at your feet, looking up at you with huge, loving eyes. A collar sits snuggly around her neck, the hook for a leash is empty at the moment. You gesture with your hand and she moves up onto her haunches, hands raised like paws. You praise her for obeying your command, stroking her head and tickling her cheek. She yips with delight and licks your fingers, gazing up at you with a simple uncomplicated devotion. Her only thoughts of pleasing you and in turn drawing pleasure from your happiness just like a good pet should…
You fight back the snarl forming in your throat. That was even worse than before. This is getting out of hand. The other parts of your mind, the parts that were separated from you during your long torture, they seem to be trying to assert themselves now. Interfering with you, taking over your body when you aren't ready for it. Now they are putting these images in your head. Telling you what they want to do or perhaps showing you what you could do if you have the power? Still, it's annoying and disturbing. You'd never had these sorts of twisted thoughts and fantasies before, is this a result of your soul being corrupted?
If you try to appease these other sides of you a little, will they back off a bit and let you work? You've got things to do, damn it! Don't get in the way you idiots! You guys are on the line here as well! Perhaps if you could somehow interact with the other parts of your mind you could get them to leave you alone, but you'll likely need more Mind abilities for that. For now, you will just have to do what you can and hope they understand enough not to get in your way too much.
You play with your family until dinner. At this point Lucy decides she wants to play 'chu chu twains and airopwains.' According to your memories this boils down to you feeding her by hand, providing the appropriate narration and accompanying sound effects. It's sickeningly sweat and humiliating at the same time and you cannot decide how you feel about it. Truly you are a terrible person for any sort of bad thoughts about your younger sister. That other part of you should be ashamed of himself? Right? Not that she'd your real younger sister of course. It's still weird though.
Besides, there's another person here who would be a more appropriate target, right? Perhaps dearest mummy will let you get in the bath with her? It's just a bit of innocent skinship between a mother and her infant son. Nothing she hasn't done with you before, yes?
You put on your best (you think), expression and try to expel any less than innocent thoughts from your mind. It's perfectly natural for children to bathe with their parents, so asking for it isn't strange at all.
'Mum, can you help me in the bath?' you ask her, trying not to sound too desperate. Elisa seems to seriously consider it. Then she shakes her head.
'Sorry hun,' she replies, 'I'll get in with Lucy once you are finished. You are old enough to be able to wash on your own, right?' You try not to hide your irritation. This woman was supposed to be a doting mother right? Then why won't she dote on you? She should just do as you say without complaint! Damn it! These voices in your head need to fuck off! Is this how crazy people feel? Maybe you are a crazy person? It would certainly explain a lot. But no, you try not to get distracted. One more go.
'Then why don't we all go in together,' you suggest, 'it should be large enough. Lucy and I aren't very big.' She still seems hesitant, is there some reason in particular that she doesn't want to bathe with you? It doesn't matter. You know how to convince her. You plant a Suggestion in her mind:
'It shouldn't hurt to pamper him once in a while,' with this in her head she relents.
'Alright then,' she agrees, 'why not? You are going to have to grow up at some point though Zack, Mummy isn't going to be able to wash you forever.' You hide a smug smile. You could probably arrange it so that she did continue to wash you, but you don't really want to be stuck in this child's body for long enough to try that. Instead you lead Lucy by the hand towards the bathroom.
Suitable for the wealthy home you've found yourself in the bathtub is certainly large enough for the three of you, though it will likely be a bit of a squeeze. How unfortunate. You help Lucy out of her clothes and put her shower hat on, then help her into the bath with her duckie. Quickly undressing and climbing in yourself you wait somewhat eagerly for Elisa to show up. Trying hard not to look, you make sure that Lucy is properly clean and start to wash her hair. It's just two siblings washing each other, this isn't weird at all. You don't want to look, what you want to look at is...
The door opens and your 'mother' walks in. She's taken most of her clothes off already, just the sports bra and matching underwear. How drab and unflattering. You hope she owns something more interesting. The dull grey underclothes seem to compress her chest somewhat, which likely makes it easier to workout and exercice but certainly doesn't help in the ascetic department. Yes, as far as you are concerned sports bra are a travesty and should be banned. You are so busy planning all the new laws you'll impose when you take over the city you almost miss Elisa taking the offending item off.
Elisa's chest seems to visibly sigh in relief as her breasts spring out from the oppressive confines of her bra. They are similar to how Zach's memories view them but someone else's stolen memory will never do something like this justice. They are wonderful, large without being too large, firm enough that they aren't sagging and you are sure that they will be nice and soft. The rest of her body is stelar too. Well toned, as you would expect from someone who is big into exercise and fitness without being unnattractively muscular. Her hips are wide enough to know that she's born children and her ass isn't particularly large, but there should be a good handful there, especially with your small child hands. You've never really considered what your type of woman is. That would require being able to actually get near them. But the advantage of this is that you really aren't particular when it comes to a woman's body.
You are immediately grateful for your seven year old body, for if you had seen this in your original one you'd be pitching such a tent you could have housed a whole family. You also might have had to explain to your baby sister what was poking her in the back. It's a shame though that you have such a feast for your eyes present without any real way to capitalise on the privilege. Perhaps if you go far enough into Body you could manipulate yourself into something more closely resembling an adult, but certainly no time soon, and even if you did have the ability, it would raise far too many questions.
Elisa climbs into the bath and you adjust your position so that she is now behind you. The view is much worse from here but if you lean back... Yep, they are nice and soft. You aren't really tall enough to make the most of this, but you can at least feel them on the top of your head. You want to reach back and give them a squeeze, but that isn't really the sort of skinship that could be covered under 'bathtime.' So instead you allow your new mother to wash your back and then your hair, simply enjoying her careful and affectionate attentions. This is definitely the best way to get clean and you make a mental note to arrange for someone to wash you regularly at the earliest opportunity.
Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and this blissful moment is over all too soon. Now all that is left is bed time. Maybe you can try and push this further and sleep together with her? Children sleep with their parents right? And there aren't that many advantages to this stupid kiddy body? Why not grasp at the few straws you do have?
Even with your previous Suggestion in her head encouraging her to pamper you Elisa still seems reluctant to agree to your completely harmless suggestion to sleep with her tonight. At least, as far as she is aware it is harmless. Maybe she really does have some subconcious issue holding her back. Nevermind, you still have enough Mana for one last Suggestion and there likely won't be any opportunity to use it at this point. So you hit her with another one.
'Parents and children sleeping together is perfectly healthy and natural,' her eyes loose focus as your power takes hold and she wobbles on the spot for a moment. Perhaps there are side effects for using abilities on the same target repeatedly like this. It might be worth paying attention in the future. Not that you are all that concerned with the mental well being of these people. You doubt you'll be able to bring them completely under your sway before you inevitably die again. And even if you do manage it, would you still be able to manipulate them when you are in a new body? How would they even recognise you? There was so much about this whole situation you just don't know.
But at least you don't need to worry about it right now as you change into your pajamas and quickly head back to Elisa's room, hoping to catch her before she can finish getting dressed. Only to be ambushed once again by Lucy who has decided that she doesn't want to be left out. She's even brought her teddybear with her. Once again, you can't tell if that is endearing or annoying.
You are unable to catch your mother in her naked glory once again, so you'll just have to make do with seeing her in her nightgown. It's not bad, but perhaps at some point you can convince her to wear something more flattering in bed, especially if you can make sure this is a more regular thing. Honestly, you would really just like to not have to sleep in your ridiculous car bed!
You make a point of snuggling up with Elisa, taking advantage of the situation to get up close and personal, to the point that you are practically using her breasts as a pillow. Unfortunately, she moves you slightly to the side, but it's still far more comfortable than it would be if you were alone. Lucy presses up against you on your other side, her head against your chest just as you rest up against your mother. Is this what it means to have a family? Probably not... You've never really experienced having a proper family but it probably isn't supposed to involve you looking for any way you can to take advantage. Ah well, you can only take what you can get right now. Now you just need to decide whether you'll try to extricate yourself from this little pile in order to try and do something actually useful once your family is asleep...
You feel it before you really understand what it, is. Something familiar but with only a lingering familiarity. Demonic magic but not like one of your own spells. The nature of it is different too... Wait... Shit! You try to shake yourself into focus. You'd fallen asleep, that was obvious. And someone else is casting a spell! You concentrate on the feeling you sensed before. The power is filling the air, but it doesn't seem to be affecting you. Instead it appears to be more targeted towards your mother and sister, sleeping besides you. You can actually feel their breathing deepen as whatever ability that's being used takes hold. You probably won't be able to wake them now no matter how hard you tried.
A sharp rap on the window diverts your attention. Someone is outside! Not a normal someone, considering this is the first floor. But seeing as this person has already used demonic magic you can be fairly sure they aren't normal. But would an attacker put everyone else to sleep and then knock? It doesn't matter. Your Diary is in your room, your mana is depleted. If this person means you harm you are dead. Again! Best to just open the window and hope for the best. You head over to the window and draw the curtain.
A single large raven is perched on the other side of your window. It eyes you intelligently and gestures with it's head. It's meaning couldn't be clearer. Deciding it would be best not to annoy the obviously not an actual bird you just open the window to let it in. The moment the window is open it flaps its way into the room and transforms into...
Well shit...
'So then,' she says by way of a greeting, 'who are you, little one? And by that I mean who are you really. I can tell this isn't your actual body, I felt the magic take affect from a mile away!' You gape at her. If she was going to kill you, she would have. Even with your mediocre senses you can tell. If you had your Diary and all your mana to hand you'd still die immediately. You are no match for this person. She doesn't give you the same level of opressive force as The Torturer but you are still no match for her. So now you just need to decide what you tell her.
Immediately you conclude that there is one thing you must not tell her about. The Diary is your greatest treasure and your ticket to escaping this mess. If anyone else learns of the power it can bestow they'll take it away from you. And you'd be powerless to do anything about it. Barring that, is there any reason not to tell her everything?
Seeing no reason to lie about this you decide to tell this woman everything. You start with how you sold your soul to a crazy sadist who carved you up in her kitchen for you still don't know how many years. Then you tell her about your absurd 'mission' to gather 100 souls for her. You decide to gloss over much of your time while you've actually been here, considering it hasn't been especially interesting. You also hide any information about the Diary from her, explaining instead that your mistress granted you a few basic abilities to help you get started. It certainly would have been nice if that had been true!
She listens to your sorry story with the same small smile playing across her face. As you finish she nods her head slightly.
'Well that explains a few things,' she tells you, 'I was wondering why you had turned up in my sector but if that woman is involved then it all makes sense. I suppose I'll introduce myself then. My name is Aria, a servant of The Conductor, one of the demon supervisors. Your Torturer is also one of the supervisors, though really in name only. Just between you and I, she's actually a bit of a joke amongst the others. There's really only one reason why she still has the position. Actually two reasons, if you catch my drift. And that's only because the underlord in her department is still hoping she'll mess up enough that he can get his claws into her!' You blink, digesting this information.
So then, as you'd expected the mistress you'd sold your soul to was something of a small fry herself. It made sense, of course. The Diary had likely fudged the ritual so that you would meet the easiest demon to replace. But hearing that your tormentor is in fact the boss of the tutorial dungeon does not make you feel any better about your situation. Weird that... Aria laughs, her voice full of mischief rather than malice.
'Yup,' she continues, 'you're up shit creek with only your own severed limbs as paddles, I'm afraid. But your situation does sound amusing! My boss currently has me combing my part of the city for a single item of supposed importance! The weird thing, we don't even know what it is supposed to look like! How we are supposed to find something when we don't know what it looks like I have no idea! But I was expressly told to keep my head down and not get into trouble this time so the whole thing has been ever so dull! Your situation might just end up being the most interesting thing to happen to me so far! So I don't mind helping you out! But first, I'm sure you have a bunch of questions for me! So shoot! What do you want to know about?'
'So,' you begin, 'my boss sort of cursed my soul so that it randomly transfers into someone else's body when I die. Could you...' She's already cutting you off.
'Sorry,' she replies, 'but that's high level stuff and not really my field. You've been tampering with your Soul, right? I'm sure you're in a better position to figure it out yourself.' You bite back your frustration. If you could only pick your target this ability would be so much more useful. But just like everything else that woman has done to you it wasn't designed to be helpful. It is perhaps this that angers you the most about everything she has done to you. This power is what you sold your soul for afterall. Because she accepted your offer she put you through all that awful crap! And she couldn't even give you a proper reward!
You fight back the rage once more. This isn't the time for it. You need to take advantage of this opportunity as much as possible.
'Could you tell me more about souls?' you continue, 'I'm pretty sure they can't all be the same.' She smirks:
'Of course they aren't all the same, are you serious?' she's teasing you now, 'I'm not surprised that woman doesn't know the difference though. Perhaps if she did she'd be better at her job! Listen up, because this is important! If the energy that you call malice, the negative emotion we gather can be considered our form of currency, then souls are our job. It's quite often what we end up trading our excess energy for!
'There are many different types of souls and I don't have time to explain everything about the structure of our society right now. So I'll just summarise. The most common type of soul is the 'ignorant' soul. These are the souls of people who died without really understanding anything about us. So you can imagine most of the souls end up at least starting out like this. As they are, ignorant souls have little use. They need to be refined in order to be useful. Take the soul of the little boy you have right now, for instance...' You frown, it's doubtful that she knows exactly how much progress you've made with Zach, but it still feels disconcerting to have her peering into your head. Or at least to feel as though that is what is happening.
'Your possession gave you an opportunity to make that soul more useful,' Aria explains, 'once you've finished refining it that soul will become a 'willing' soul. In other words it's a soul that accepts your command and ownership of it and will as a result accept your will. As such it can be molded in any way you want to. One example could be if you ever do work out how to leave this body without stabbing yourself in the neck first you could leave his willing soul behind. By giving his soul orders in advance you'd have yourself your very own willing servant, a thrall completely obediant to your wishes. You could even make it so you could jump straight back into his head at will, if you so wished it. He'd happily make way for you.
'Then you have the 'unwilling' souls. Yours would probably be one of those. As you might imagine it's the soul of someone who has granted you authority over them but only a limited one. They gave you their soul begrudingly, reluctantly and will continue to resist you with every fibre of their being. Perhaps the most annoying type of soul to deal with, it's usually harder to break them in than if they weren't aware at all. But there are advantages, mainly that you don't have to kill them first in order to extract their soul. You can use whatever dirty methods to do it, but if you can convince someone to sell you their soul then you could theoretically pull it right out of their bodies. Then perhaps you could put a more cooperative soul in. You understand?
'On top of that you have the various grades of soul. But that can just be boiled down to the more exceptional the individual the more valuable their soul. It's obviously much more complicated than that but it doesn't really matter to you. Your Mistress won't know the difference so just give her as many low grade ignorant souls as you can get your grubby hands on and keep the good shit for yourself! That's my advice at least!' She's grinning at you. Is that mischief in her eye? You aren't sure if she's trying to be helpful or trying to get you in trouble. Would your boss really not know the difference? Could she really be that oblivious to how her own society works? How much of what Aria is saying can you actually believe?
'So then,' you ask, 'what is the best way to gather souls?' Aria shrugs:
'It depends on what in particular you are looking for,' she replies, 'for you that sounds like lots of low grade souls. So dumpster diving, basically. One option, as you probably surmised, is to just go on a rampage. Grab a weapon, find a way to extract souls and just kill as many people as quickly as you can without getting caught. For you, as you have that ability, all you would need to do would be to make sure to kill yourself before you get caught and have a reliable way to transfer the souls you gather to your new body when you die. I wouldn't recommend doing that too often though. There are still a number of people who could still trace your magic signature and hunt you down, like I did. But you can bet most of them won't be nearly as friendly as me, ya?
'If you don't want to stick your own neck out then the next easiest way to get a lot of souls quickly is to get them from someone else. As I said, low grade ignorant souls aren't actually worth much to us, so we'll happily trade them for something else. I'll talk to you about that once we are finished playing twenty questions. But if you don't want to rely on other demons you could always get yourself some servants and then send them out to gather souls for you. Maybe a lot of time and effort initially, but lucrative in the long term if you set it up right. My precious dolls can gather plenty of souls and malice for me whenever I need them to, it's been a long time since I've had to do it myself. Though that might explain why I'm so bored.
'So you said there are other demons and servants around?' you prompt her. Apparently you lucked out by getting a talkative one, but the other demons and demon servants could end up being both your greatest allies and your biggest threats, especially if is as easy for all of them to find you as it was apparently for Aria.
'Well I confess I haven't been paying as much attention to the others as I should have,' she admits, 'I really just know about the guys who are searching sectors next to my own. Next time I come to visit I'll get you more information, but for now you should just know that the guy East of me is a real downer. One of the most miserable guys you'll ever meet in your life. He's not hostile, but don't expect him to do anything for you either. I've never met the servant that's supposed to exploring the area West of me, I think she'd gotten herself lost.
'But the guy North of me is nice enough. Soprano works for the same supervisor as me. You can probably tell, right? Well he's a bit of a conisseur, he has very particular tastes in his servants. He'd pay well if you could actually meet them, but don't expect it to be easy. He's probably got a bunch of souls he doesn't need so he might not mind offloading them onto you, if you can tempt him in some way.' She winks at you and you aren't entirely comfortable with her attitude. It sounds a little too good to be true.
'You didn't mention anything about the South,' you encourage her. She pulls a face at that.'
'Ah,' she says, 'I'd stay on this side of the river for now. The other side of the river is the Lowertown. Some of the more territorial and agressive of us typically set up shop there. The whole place is a seething den of crime and violence. A banquet for us, of course, which is why it's so hotly contested. And of course they are always warring with the Church dogs. You'll lose a lot of lives if you try going there before you're ready!' You nod, that warning of hers at least feels genuine.
'Anything else I need to be worried about?' you ask her, finally. She seems to consider this.
'Not right now,' she says, tentatively, 'there are a bunch of other supernatural beings that aren't demons or servants of the Church. Things like spirits of the Earth that form from the ambient energy in the atmosphere. One of the most powerful of these calls herself the Guardian of the city. She could probably give the Demon Lord a run for his money if he ever descended to this world. But she's purely big time. You'd have to be a genuine threat to the safety of the city for her to take an interest in you. We've been fighting over this place for as long as I can remember and she hasn't done shit about it!
'Other than her there are a few busybodies that like to stick their noses in our business. And there's also a travelling merchant. Odd fellow, he seems to always be carrying around a bunch of strange items on him, and he'll accept all sorts of different kinds of payments too. Finds himself in the strangest of places. You'll probably run into him at some point. Other than that, I'll let you know if I find out about anything specifically in this region.' Your head is reeling from all the information so you should probably end it there. You can't be sure her information is reliable, of course, but there doesn't seem to be any real reason for her to lie to you. She does seem to be suspiciously helpful though. It seems very unlike a demon. You cannot help but wonder what her angle is.
'Well with that out of the way,' she continues, 'her smile growing, 'let's get to the last issue of the night. You need souls, and need them quickly. I happen to have some I don't mind parting with. Now we just need to decide how they go from me to you! Right?' You nod, tentatively. This is where the sting comes, isn't it? She's been very helpful up until this point. You don't believe for a second she's doing so out of the goodness of her heart. Such a thing likely doesn't exist for her kind, for your kind.
'So,' she begins, 'the way I see it is we have three options. I can just loan you the souls. Boring, certainly, but still feasible. I'll give you a lump amount and you can pay them back with a nasty amount of interest!' she winks again and you resist the urge to groan. You don't doubt those 'interest rates' will be positivley eye gouging! And it wouldn't really solve your problem as it would, postpone it. You'd just end up trying to pay her instead.
'Second option,' she continues, 'we do a trade. You give me something you have and I pay you for it. Easy enough, right?' You don't like the way she's grinning at you. You don't really have that much, right? Other than the Diary, which she doesn't know you have, hidden away in your room. But she must believe you have something that she wants otherwise she wouldn't have mentioned it to you as an option.
'Third and final option,' she concludes, 'we'll do a challenge for the souls! I'll give you three options, Easy, Medium, Hard! You pick which one you want to do, you do it and I pay you for it. And no worries, I'll make sure to pick a few challenges that you'll definitely be able to do in the time you have left!' She's positively diabolical in the way she's grinning at you right now. She really must be bored if she's going to all these lengths. Still, in the end it's your call.
You consider Aria's suggestions. You toss the loan idea out immediately. You are already struggling to gather souls as it is. Getting a loan would solve your immediate issue, but then you'd end up having to pay her back and hunt for more souls for your mistress at the same time. There has to be a better way. Your immediate instinct is to go for the challenge option. It seems to be the best way to get the souls you need without giving up anything yourself. It's difficult to decide though when you don't know exactly what you'd be trading. You still can't really understand what someone obviously acomplished and powerful in her own right could want from a bottom feeding scrub such as you. Would it be worth asking, or maybe ignorance in this case is bliss...
You can't help it, you'll just ask. If you having something Aria thinks is valuable then it would be useful to know that, right? As much as a large part of you is trying to warn you that it might be better off not knowing.
'I'm leaning towards the challenge option,' you tell her, 'but just out of interest, what exactly would you be interested in trading with me? I mean,' you gesture to your surroundings, the dark bedroom with your sleeping family members and the rest of the house beyond. Not much to interest a demon like Aria, you would have thought, 'there isn't really all that much here.' Her smile widens still further.
'Oh dear,' she taunts, 'have you not ever heard the expression"one man's trash is another man's treasure?" Just because you don't think something is valuable doesn't mean it isn't. Take the soul of the boy, for instance,' she points at your head and you instinctively step back, 'once you've finished refining him he'll likely be far more valuable than the handful of unpolished souls I have on me. Another example would be...' she moves so quickly your eyes can't even follow her. One moment she's standing in front of you and the next she's by the bed. You take a step forwards as she snatches your still sleeping sister up off the bed and into her arms.
'This little treasure!' she finishes with some relish. 'What, you don't agree? You can't see the appeal?' As though to emphasise this she holds Lucy up by her shoulders, displaying her for you like some sort of trophy. Your little sister sleeps throught this, her conciousness locked away by whatever magic Aria cast upon her when she first arrived. Dangling limply in her captor's arms, totally helpless, and you are as well. This woman could just leap out of the window right now with Lucy in her arms and you wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it!
'Oh dear,' Aria continues, 'it really doesn't seem as though big brother cares about you! So sad! I'm sure it would break your little heart! You wouldn't have to worry about that with me! Big sister would look after you, just like with my other little dolls! I mean I'd need to make some 'adjustments' of course! They are only truly adorable when they are this small and cute, so I'd need to make sure she doesn't grow any more. I'll adjust her body, make it immortal, unchanging and undying and tweak her mind and soul to match it. Doesn't that sound wonderful, darling, you'd like that wouldn't you?' She scoops Lucy back up into her arms and then, using her fingers, manipulates the child's mouth to make it seem as though she is speaking.
'Please let the nice lady take me away,' she says, raising the pitch of her voice to imitate a child's, 'I don't want to stay with a big brother who doesn't appreciate me!' You gape at her. You hadn't even realised you'd been clenching your hands so hard you'd drawn blood. You'd really stepped on a landmine here. This woman is totally nuts! She's thoroughly twisted! This might well be one of the most messed up things you've seen! You should have known as much! Now what are you going to do? Could you possibly sell your sister to this psycho? How would you explain her disappearance to her mother, to everyone else? A wicked part of you speaks of the malice you could earn. Elisa's grief over her missing child would be a treasure trove. What could possibly be a more powerful emotion in this world than a parent's grief over the loss of their child?
But at the same time you boil with anger. It isn't about morality, you gave up the moral high ground a long time ago. It's just that this doesn't feel right! It's difficult to explain in words. Is it just because you have the memories of her brother? Are they screaming at you that you cannot allow such an awful fate to befal his sister. Or is it simply because Lucy is yours? She's your sister, you'll be the one to decide what happens to her from now on. Noone else can just sweep in and take what you have! You won't allow it! Even though the sensible part of you knows that if Aria wanted to take Lucy you wouldn't be able to do shit about it! But she's toying with you, this is just a performance to her, and you are dancing to her tune, just as she wants you to! Now you just need to decide how to respond to her.
You don't bother fighting back the anger this time. You still don't understand why Aria's offer makes you feel this way. All you know is that it DOES!
'Lucy is MINE!' you roar, 'put her back! I'll accept whatever challenge you have for me!' For a moment you fear that she will strike you dead here and now. But no, she's still smiling. No, she's laughing. Uncontrollably in fact.
'Oh my!' she squeals once she's calmed down enough to speak, 'it looks like big brother does care! Good, that's good! I felt your Malice right there! Delicious! We'll make a decent demon out of you yet! I'm looking forward to seeing how you feed me next time!' She licks her lips, slowly and deliberately. It's somehow horrifying while also being oddly sexy. You are really confused right now.
'I felt your passion,' she continues, 'and I've decided I'll give you a little reward for showing me such a good time!' She quickly turns her head and kisses Lucy on the forehead, before turning to you and blowing a kiss at you. It might look ridiculous to anyone else, but you can feel the magic at play, far stronger than anything you are currently capable of. And you feel it take effect like a physical blow, an invisible bond that has been formed between you and your sister. Aria winks.
'I've just gifted you a Soul Brand!' she declares, 'it'll let you work on your dearest Lucy's soul the same way you're working on her brother's! You wanted her? Well now you have her! I can't wait to see what you do with her now!' You blink foolishly at her. That's not what you meant when you said Lucy was yours. Or maybe it was. Shit! Was it? No! Maybe some part of you wants this! That part deserves to die! Probably... Fuck thinking is so hard right now... If only you were old enough to drink...
Congratulations? Maybe? You've been gifted a Soul Brand! Usually a Soul Brand would require a Tier 3 Soul ability to pull off but you've been given one ahead of time! We aren't sure why, but we can't undo right now it so we'll just have to roll with it! Your influence over Lucy will now increase over time in the same way it does with Zach! You can also choose to spend time strengthening it actively! Only one Soul Brand can be in place at a time so you'll need to finish this one before you set up a new one. Or find a way to cancel the brand!
While you've been battling with your inner demons, Aria has carefully and lovingly placed Lucy back in the blankets. The poor dear sleeps on, completely unaware of the insanity that has taken place around her.
'Back to the challenge then,' she continues, 'I'll offer you three. You can pick which one you want to do. Obviously the reward will increase depending on the difficulty. First, the easy one. I'll pay you five souls to steal a kiss from an unrelated adult. So no, your mum doesn't count. And yes, I'll know once you've pulled it off. And to be clear, I do mean mouth to mouth. It doesn't have to be longer than a fraction of a second but your lips need to touch. Simple, right?
'Next, the medium. I'll pay you eight souls for three pairs of panties from three different girls of similar ages to you. And yes this little dear would count, if you are really so heartless as to take them from your own sister you shamelss pervert! And don't ask me what I intend to do with them, that's entirely my business!
'Finally, the hard challenge. I'll give you twelve souls to steal your principal's car, take it for a drive around the block and put it back where you got it. I'll pay you your souls regardless of whether you get caught! So then, which would you rather?'
You consider your options. The Easy challenge would be no problem. You'd already started to work on your teacher so you doubted it would be difficult to get away with swiping a kiss. Hell, you could just make her forget it even happened afterwards. So yes, no brainer. But you aren't sure if only five souls will be enough to satisfy your mistress. And the hard challenge just sounds like asking for death. You are confident in your ability to obtain the car, there are a number of ways you could obtain the keys. But how the hell are you supposed to drive it in this tiny body? And even if you could drive it, how would you do so without being spotted? No, it sounds like too much trouble to be worth while.
The Medium option will be tricky but doable. Again it will be more along the lines of how to go about obtaining the underwear without getting caught with it or taking it. It should be easy enough to actually get a hold of. You might even be able to bank some malice while you are doing it.
'I'll take the medium option,' you declare. Aria nods.
'We have an accord, then,' she says, holding out her hand. You take it, tentatively. You are still not really sure about this woman, you get the feeling you shouldn't spend too much time with her.
'I'll be back at the end of the week to see how you got on!' she tells you, and promptly changes forms again, flying out of the window from whence she came. You close the door behind her and climb back into bed. Your family have slept through the whole thing, whatever spell Aria cast on them was pretty strong! If only you weren't so tired yourself you might be able to take advantage of it. As it stands you're finding it difficult to fight sleep yourself. It was crazy, but at least you stand a chance now. If you can fulfill the terms of your deal with Aria and accept her reward you should be able to use it to bargain your way into some more time. You just hope you aren't in the process of trading one leash for another!