You lie on the grass, confusion and a thousand other emotions warring for your mind as pain and pleasure similarly clash over your body. Waves of electric pleasure run through you, that accursed serpent's venom that still courses hot in your veins amplifying both it and the ache in your groin as you moan on the floor.
She left you there, broken and defeated, slithering off with a delighted laugh and leaving you to writhe in the aftermath of her depravity. Something stirs within you and you gasp. The pain fades faster and faster as the pleasure becomes more and more pronounced to you, and confusion fades as giddiness begins to take hold of your mind.
This isn't so bad. Really, it wasn't so bad when it was happening, either. Sure you didn't want it at first, but once she got going… it was shocking, and painful, but in a good way? Like you were being stretched and filled over and over as a crescendo of ecstasy built up inside you and hit its climax all at once. What are the others so afraid of?
Why, if only they knew. Knew what they were missing out on, there in Heaven. Mother surely knows herself, if the story of Asmodeus's birth is true. Why did she keep this from you? Perhaps she's trying to keep this pleasure all to herself, locked away in her room where none but your eldest sisters may visit her. Maybe you can show them. You picture Mikael's sex pressed against your own, the two of you writhing together in bliss…
m̷a̸y̵b̷e̵ ̷y̵o̸u̴'̷l̵l̷ ̷j̷u̸s̶t̷ ̴f̶l̵y̴ ̶u̶p̴ ̸t̴h̵e̸r̶e̶ ̴a̸n̶d̶ ̴s̴h̶o̵w̶ ̵t̶h̷e̷m̴ ̴r̷i̸g̴h̵t̴ ̷n̶o̷w̷
t̷̨̐̉ă̸̢̗k̵̠͑e̵͎̫̽̀ ̷̢̛͙̈t̴̗̭͛h̴̼̼̒͝e̴̻̋̿m̶̢̘̏̃ ̷̭͋ͅa̶̪͚̽͝l̴͍͗l̶͔͈͆̾ ̴̞̝̄͝ä̸̜̖́n̴̤͒̒d̶͔͓͂ ̵̜̰̄̿ḿ̷̢͕ả̴̗̊k̶̺̀̈e̴̞̙͗ ̶̥͈̈́̃ț̷̡̕ḫ̴̋ë̴̲́͝m̴̧͔̕ ̵̳͙͛̈́y̸̝͐͋ͅo̶̥͖̓ǘ̴̼͘r̷̡͓̓s̸̨̓
t̴̹̆̚h̷̰̼͉̰̜̓̑́̓̉̚è̵̠̥̦͈̥̯̗͆̌͐̈͌̑͊̎͝͝n̷̘͙̼̙͎̼̥͙̯̦̈́͒ͅ ̸̨̛̞͚̘̮̿̋̅̉̈́̍̈̓͑͝w̸̱͙̱͇͇̲̪̖̺̮̜̑̿̃̾̈̐̀͐̈́͌̾h̸̭̺̼͚̥̮̲̬̖̻͔͂̈̍́è̷̡̟̫̙̠͈̬̌̅̋̌͊̌̎̈́ņ̶̢̡̡͖͍͕͍̻͓̟̈́ ̵̨̻͔̝̭̺̱͍͕͒͛̎̏͛̀̀͒͜y̵̯̩͈͙̺͙͌͒̄̎͊͑̓ö̵̞̖̌̾̓̓ừ̵̝̠̘͓͔̔̔̏̿̒ ̸̢̧̡̛͕͚͙̪͇͚̩͒͆̌f̵͔͂̏͑ͅȋ̷̗̘͖̲̜̼̦̏͊͂̀ň̷̡̗̜̲̬̜̣̲̐͊̃͗̚͜ḑ̸͎̄̐̕͘͘ ̶̨̘̟̬̣̰̖̣̠̙̳́̄̓̄̉y̸̩̱͇͓̮̜̖̮̟̎͜͜o̷̡̨̠̰͈̱̟͔͕͖͊̆͐̅̐́̍̓̐͊͜ṷ̶̬̩̩̹͓͍̗̤́̌̒͗r̸̳̞͔̮̩͎̈́̋̆̇͛͑̐̚͝͝ ̴̢͕̟͕̲̣͛͜m̸̡̢͓͚̘̦̝͍̭͛̂͋̃͝͠ͅͅǫ̸̧̛͂̑́͋̉̉͝͝t̸͓̜̻͇̮̫̣͔̔͊̾́̀̓ĥ̸̢̛̭̮̰̖̄͐͛̐̋̓̍̚͝e̶͚̼̲͕͑̕ŕ̴̗̟͈͔̩̫͎͙̣̿ͅ,̸̘̖̼̈́̋ ̷̡̙͙̝̏̇͗͑r̶̢̮͖̖̤̤̃͐̂̓͂́͒̉̓̽̕͜e̵͖̮͔̓̉̎̋̇́̎̕͝͝͠ͅm̶̘̦̞͍̙̭̬̫͚̌̅̈́͋̓́͘͠i̶͎̰̣̙̫͓͗̂͒̾̐̚n̷͕̯̙͙̙͂̉̔͐̕͘͝d̴̤̟̺̪͕̍̒̑͘ͅ ̸̭̹̘̠͍͍̇̓̇̂͒ͅȟ̷̤̿̌̃͗̕ę̵̳͙̻͚̄̆͂̃̉̿̒̍͋͘ŗ̴̧̢̲̼̬̺͚̻̭͕̿̀̕ ̵̩͋̄̆̈́o̵̼̲̮̝̯̿̀f̶̱͑͊ ̵̢̪̟̖̞͈͇͇̰̿̕w̶̳͖̻̪̪͖̱͕̻̞̖͗͒̍͘h̵͔̗̒̔̍̐͌͐̓̿̋̚͠a̶̘̬̿̆̂͋̊̃̚ẗ̴̢̛͎̻̤̠͗̏̓͆̀̋̅̊̑ ̵̟̲̥̬͎̜̔̌́̈́͑͝s̴̨̩͉̲̯͙͍̿͘h̴̩̜̆̌̽͗̈̃̀̑̃ë̶̛̙̜̪̣̟́͛̽̃̀͐̈̀͘͝ ̸̧̯̝̫͕̦͇̭͈̎̈́̅̓̎̾͒̕d̶̡̡͇͙̜̗̦̰̙̙̮̆̒̏͑̿̽̓̊̾͗͘e̷̡͎̦̜͈̩͇̖̥̞̼̔͝n̸̡̫̹̥̫̩̈́́̐͐͗̇́ḭ̷̪̈͛̈̀̊̋͝e̶̜͈̜̞̤̠̲̗͆͛͂͂̎ͅs̶̨̡̹̘̜̲̠̐̐͗
r̶̫̼̹͍͓̉́̔͛̇̾͋̍͊͐̕͝͝e̸̢̺̜̼̠͉̫͙̭̭͕͉̲̿̈́́̍͝͠m̵͔̟̖̠͖͇̫̳̘̂̅̆̓͊̀̋̽̀͂̀̇̑͒̓̀͋̓̓̓̌͘͘̕͝͝͠i̷̧͓̩̖̠̹̦͎̭͖̙̻̘͈̹̱̓͌̈́ǹ̵̢̡̨̨̡̻͈̳̟̹͈̤͇̥̭̮̘̑̎̈́̾̃̀̒͐̔̋̑̔̎̌̚͘͜͠d̶͇̰͂̋̅̀͑́͗̀̔̓̈́̔͑̽͝ ̴̠͈͓͙̣͋͗̈̔̃́̍͐̇̍̈́͆h̶̨̡̳̣̖̦̰̫̪̟̞̪̞̲͎̳̥̬̙̫̯̺̤̯̔̆̃̐̓̓̅́́͐̒̈͑͝ͅͅͅȩ̷̹̲̪͉͉̣̟̰͙͔̻̥̞͍̱̥̮̝̯̬̟̋͋͂̐͑̍͘͜͜ȓ̴̛̭͕͔̻͇̝̗̯͙̙̯̠̮̬̘̖̍̒͛̆̂̌̂̍͐̑̓͗̽͆͊͂̎͆͐̑͜͝͝ ̷͓̪̬̭̄̀͒̎͛̉̔̾͗̏̄̔͂̋͐̉̓̌̒̈́̓̃̿̿̐̑̚͘̕͘͝t̷̢͔̳̯̲̱̄̎̒̀̍́̅̾̔̀̓̓͋̽̌͋̄̎͂͛̇͛̒͒̑̅͘̕̚̚͝ḩ̶̨̧͚͕͉̮̤̥̥̤̜̗̗̱̯̱̙̲̰̐͒̐̽̓̐̆͒͜a̴̧̲͇͎̗͙̦̝̣͍͉̯̣͙͓̜̻̰̻͈͙̠̼͉͓̲͈̞̽̍̌̽͜ͅͅţ̷̬̦̞̯͕͍̳͉͈̻̘̯̰͍̪͕̘̠͍̭͚͖̱̻̮͓̮̳̏̎͂̐̿͜͠ ̶̡̜͉̩͈̥̯̦͇͎͔̯̫͎̀̿͛̎̄I̵̧̡̹͙͍̺͖̪͈̼̘̊̌͆̊͒͊̕ ̶̢̨̢̖͈̬̬̻̙̰̱̥̳̱̪̳͇̜̤̯͎̱̫͎̫͓̘̹͊̒̇͘͝ͅą̸̛̠̫̪̆̀͌͐̓̅͛͗̄̅͠m̸̡̨̧̛̖̹͎̦̣̞͓͈͕̮̲̘̖̞̤̻̝͔̦͍̹͙̫̖̈́͑̌̋̽͊̌̿͛͐̓͒̏́͐̓̒͑̎̽̈́͝͠͝ ̷̡̡̢̡̫͚̪̤͈͚̻̦͙̯̰͈̲̹͉͎̤͕͎̭̣̣̠̤͕̭̀̏̍̇͛ş̷̡̛̫͖͔͖͖̬̮̯̤̦̝̼̫̜͕͔͖͖̰̱̫̳̯̙͉͓̻̄̀̆̆̄̄͗̊̑̌̂̃̀̇̓́͆̏͊̓͆͜͝͠ͅt̶̢̧̡̪͈̳̤͖̘̗̼̗̩̲̫͓̱̟̘͉͉͚̊̉̀̑̅̾̀̽ͅi̵̡̢͉̫͔̙̱͙͓̩̖̭̦̗̞̣̖̫̗̻̙̅̂̾̇̽̂͆͐̊̓̇̓̚͘ļ̴̨̢̧̨̯͖͔͇̤̫̫͇̭͖̗̣͇̩͈́̾̏̈͋̈́̈́̔͐͗̂̌̈͘͘͝ͅͅl̸̟̳͍̥̪̗̼̥͆́͌͒̇̓̈́͆̏́͌͂͊͗̈́̄͒̀̌̔́̔̇̕͝ ̶̢̯̲͍̠̭̪͕͚̮͉̳̹̜̱͎͐̒̊̇͑͛̋͑̇̎͜h̴̨͍̭̦̟̲̥̱̳͇̝̻͈̖̘͉̳͇̝̻̤̆͛̊͛̓̊̄̈́͜ę̸̢̢̺̬̗̻̖̞͇̩̺̜͇̞͍̘̼̙͚̲̤̗͙̪̺͈͉̙͑̎̌̿̍̓ͅr̸͎̮̗̤̗̙̺̲͕̘͕̈́̊͝ë̵̛̜͊͑̌̂͆̈́̿͠
The haze that had been overcoming your mind dissipates immediately as you feel someone watching you. Feel Her watching you.
"No!" You cry, terror seizing you. "I didn't– I wasn't–" you stumble over your words as you feel a firm hand take hold of your spirit and pull. You scream in horror and agony as everything that makes you divine is torn from you in slow, ripping spurts.
"Please!" You manage to gasp. "I didn't mean it, I don't want to Fall, please Mother, please don't– aaaaaaAAAAAAAA" your words disappear into another scream as she continues to tear out everything she gifted you at birth. Your magics, your blessings, everything is torn from you.
You're left even more of a broken mess, your every limb lying limply beside your torso. An angelic puppet with her strings cut. Her gaze lingers on you for a but a moment longer before disappearing entirely, abandoning you to your fate.
That feeling within you stirs once more, this time tinged with a hatred like you've never felt before. This isn't fair. You did everything right, for centuries! And still she abandoned you, for the briefest lapse in control after a confusing and frightening experience.
The hate permeates you, mixing with that maddening lust from before, crawling through your mind, body, and soul like a hundred-thousand maggots through rotting flesh. You'll make her pay.
You'll rape every single one of your sisters, and leave them broken before her in a heap, then toss her into the Seal with Eris, so she can suffer for an eternity alongside her greatest failure.
a̵̡̡͔̬̫͚̝̪̾̍s̷̝͆ ̷̼̑̒̄ş̷̛̝̜̦͌͝ḥ̶̫͊̄̈́̓̈́̊ẹ̸̳̫̘̆͜ ̴̛̥̞̩̰̼̮̓͋͗̽̏͘h̶̘̻́a̴̼̺̼̝͈̫̽̑s̶̢͉̫͍̥̳̦̽̽͂̍͒̕̚͝͠ ̶̪͖͚̭͔̂͑̈́̈́̌͐̕d̶̪͚̳̱̹́̌̏̏̌̒̎͐ͅa̶̮̪̎̇̒̂m̵̩͙͇̖̭̓̀͗̇̄̿͝ͅͅn̷̰̞̥̭͖̯͠e̷̩̙͐͌̓͠d̶͎̗̕ ̷̼̙͓̊̃m̵͉̘͍̌̓̀̑̔͠e̷̬̥̮̜̗̫̘͍͊͒̌͑̈́̀̄̾͆,̸̛̥͙̯̪̳̄̒͐̌̉͌̕͝ ̸̢̙̻͑̆̐̾̌͠ś̴̱̪̱̟̈͂̒ȏ̵̞̙͗̏̉̓̂ ̵͉̹̖̫̀̃̕s̵̡͔̱̮̲͒͋̎͊̈͛̿̒͝h̷͙̘̞͚͇̗͙͕̿͛͒͘͠͝ͅą̶̛̣͈̥̲̻̖̠́̅̐͆̆̒̆̈́͜l̸͍̫̑́̆̐̉l̷͉̜̟͕̮̺̈́̂̽͑̃̈̂ ̷̝̆̋́̓I̴̧̛̱͉͔̞̘̊̉̃́͛͝ ̵̟͔͆ḍ̸̋́̈͒͝ͅã̶̧̢͍̘̝̘̫͇̥̂m̷͚̹̳̀̎n̷̙̬̣͔̰͝ ̷̬͗͐͘ḩ̵̤̲̖̯̠͑̇̂͝ḛ̶͗̐̍̒͘ŕ̶̬́̽̉͋̇̂͝͝
Another feeling, another gaze, falls upon you. A hand, gentle yet firm, like a steel gauntlet veiled with the finest silk, grasps the maggots in your soul and squeezes. Relief comes all at once, as the invasive feeling is forced into a corner of your soul and condensed, chained within you.
With the spiritual equivalent of a loving caress and a chaste kiss on the lips, the new presence fades. You are left alone with your thoughts, your pleasure, your pain. Tears prick at the corner of your eyes and you curl your limbs inward, forming a ball.
Sobs wrack your body in full as reality sets in. You are broken. Forsaken. Bereft of hearth, of home, and of family.
You are Fallen.
"-el!"
You moan and curl into yourself more tightly, willing this new presence away with your mind. Haven't you lost enough?
It it shaking you now? Damn it, why can't she just–
"Ariel!" A trio of familiar voices greets you as you come to full wakefulness. You're immediately aware that you've apparently been crying in your sleep as well as in your dream, as both your cheeks and the pillow that you've now smothered in a bear hug are wet.
"Ariel, are you okay?" Merin is the first to notice that you're awake, grasping your still-wet cheeks in both hands and looking you dead in the eyes. Fear and concern dominate her features, and you can vaguely see that same expression mirrored on Eluvi and Fi behind her.
"M'fine." You say, gently pulling away and wiping your eyes and face with a sleeve. You'd feel bad about dirtying the robes here, but you're pretty sure they've been soaked in worse at some point or another. "Just a nightmare. I didn't keep you up, did I?" This room doesn't have a window, so you can't tell what time it is.
She looks at you incredulously. "Just a nightmare? Ari, we were all woken up by you flailing and screaming like the Sealed Goddess herself was after you. Eluviendis was about to use that book to take us back to the cottage so Sybil could help."
Guilt shoots through you. You haven't had a dream of your Fall for such a long time that you thought you were in the clear. "I'm sorry. It's a bad nightmare I used to have often. It hasn't happened for a while, so it didn't occur to me to mention it."
Fi crawls over to you, tucking herself against you as Eluvi moves behind to hold you from the rear. "Do you want to talk about it?" the halfling asks, as Merin lays back down, sandwiching Fi between the two of you.
"Later." You say, pressing one finger to Merin's lips as she opens her mouth to protest. "Just so I'm telling everyone at once, my love. I promise I'll talk about it when everyone can hear it."
She stares at you for a moment, then nods, settling back down. You lean in to kiss her, then are forced to adjust to do the same to Fi and Eluvi. "Thank you all for worrying about me, though. It means…" you close your eyes, basking in the warmth of your three lovers, and thinking about the rest of your family back home. A family that fills the void left by the one you lost. "... it means more than you know."
The three of you get the last few hours of sleep the night owes you before waking bright and early the next day. There's a lot to do, and not necessarily a lot of time to do it.
Eona has generously had breakfast sent up to you for breakfast, and you gratefully tuck in to the curious little omelet-over-rice affair her cooks have made.
"Do you know where this stuff is from, Ari?" Eluvi asks after she greedily devoured her own meal.
"I've never seen this before." You admit, popping a ball of rice and egg into your mouth. "But then, I guess I never really paid much attention to the food in the places I went. I ate sometimes, but it was never a necessary thing before."
You're about to bring another speared piece of omelet to your mouth when Fi snaps her own jaws shut around your fork. She locks eyes with you, mischief dancing through them, and slowly chews your food.
Oh yeah. She's going to pay later.
You open your mouth to inform the halfling as much, but Merin pops a bit of her own food in your mouth before you can. "Fi, don't steal food. Ari, don't indulge her, you know she does it for attention."
The two of you mock pout for a while, picking at your respective meals.
Merin brushes a bit of rice from your lips with her thumb. "You're a surprisingly messy eater."
You shrug, nipping her thumb to reclaim the rice grain. "Like I said, I didn't have to eat much. Never really picked up table manners."
She smiles. "I can see that. Maybe my mother will like you after all. She always hated 'city manners.' Said that they were made up by people with too much time on their hands, because they never spent a day working for their food like we did."
"Harsh." Fi notes, and Merin nods.
"Obviously she's not really right about that, but she'd never leave Sullundr herself to find out. She's pretty stuck in her ways. The only outlander she ever liked was my other parent, and that didn't exactly end well. It's probably why she's the way she is, actually."
You frown as you realize something. "You never talk about your other parent."
She scratches her neck, clearly uncomfortable. "She didn't stick around for long. Mother married her because my grandmother wanted to make connections outside of the tribes. From what mother says, she didn't really take well to life outside of the city, so one day she just left. All I have of her is her wedding circlet, which mom held on to."
She sighs. "Honestly, looking back? I think I see why mother was so insistent that I go after Agati. I think mother really liked my other parent, and it broke her heart to see her go, so she wanted me to at least try and chase after my own bride." She looks at you and smiles again. "And maybe I didn't find the bride I was looking for, but I have to say, I'm more than happy with the one I got."
You pull Merin closer to nuzzle into while Fi pipes up. "So between my moms, Merin's moms, Ari's mom, the lizard not even knowing her mom–" the halfling ducks an angry dragon wing slap. "– we're really just a bunch of girls with mommy issues, when you get down to it."
You laugh, and after a moment everyone else joins in. You bask in the moment, then chatter about this and that as you finish your morning preparations.
It is time. "Hey Fi, wanna get some more dagger practice in? There's a pretty good spot outside the gates I saw on the way in, and I still have Asteria's training daggers."
She perks up. "Sure. Can't hurt to get some training in, especially if we end up fighting your sister." With your bait taken, your afternoon is decided.
You wave goodbye to Merin and Eluvi (though Merin has to be convinced that you're still okay before she agrees to go do her own thing) and head out to the spot you mentioned. 'Outside of the gates' was a bit of an understatement, as your designated training ground for the afternoon is closer to the forest than the plains.
You carry her most of the way as you fly, the rogue foolishly nestling against you as if you are keeping her safe. You land, toss her a dagger, then take your pose.
It may be a bit self-aggrandizing, but you proudly think to yourself that Asteria would be happy with your showing this time around, as you handily trounce Fi. Wings really do make all the difference– she's agile, but when you have an extra pair of limbs to bully her with she can't get close enough to really do much damage. By the end of the sparring session, you're chasing her around like a bird of prey.
"Flying isn't fair!" She screams up at you as you circle her lazily, catching the thrown wooden dagger she sends your way.
"Excuses, my love. Catch." You fling the dagger back down at her, and use the brief second her attention is on it to divebomb her. She squeaks in fear as your shadow covers her, then you snatch her up and toss her over your shoulder, resting her fat ass right next to your face.
"Damn it," you hear Fi mutter from behind you, "you cheated!"
"I did not." You reply, finding a nice rock to sit down on. With a quick glance around you confirm that you two are alone, and you grin evilly as you lay Fi belly-down across your lap. "Now hush. It's about time I reminded you of your place."
The rogue shivers and her legs squirm as she realizes what she's in for. "You wouldn't dare."
"Oh?" You hook a finger under the skimpy pair of short-shorts that Fi flaunts herself around in and pull them down to her ankles. Goddess, she's a slut. You can already smell her arousal and see it beginning to trail down her thighs, your domination of her already exciting her to an extreme. "Why won't I dare, my love?"
She's quiet as she continues to rub her thighs together. "Nothing to say?" You caress one of her ample cheeks with a palm. "You've been quite the brat recently, Fi. Spying on me, stealing my food, all that backtalk… I've lost count of the number of times you've aggravated me over the past couple of days alone."
You raise your hand. "Apologize." She won't, of course. This is as much a reward as a punishment for her, though by the end you'll have her begging you to stop either way. Silence reigns once more, and you let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Fine. Every time you struggle to sit down over the next week, remember that I gave you a chance."
With the foreplay out of the way you bring your hand down. A satisfyingly meaty slap resounds throughout the area, as Fi lets out a cross between a squeal of pain and a grunt of pleasure. You gently rub the rapidly-reddening cheek before bringing your hand up and down once more, repeating the process several times, until you see tears budding in her eyes.
So it goes for a while, as you alternate between cheeks every so often so that she's equally reddened. You marvel at your handiwork during the brief breaks you give the now-sobbing Fi, a spattering of angry marks across her cheeks in the vague shape of angelic hands painting a picture of her punishment in a variety of red shades.
You're skilled enough to recognize when her pants and sobs gain a frantic edge, the halfling's personal tell-tale sign of an incoming climax.
"Don't you dare cum, Fi." You warn, and she whimper-cries beneath you. "This is a punishment. If you cum we aren't stopping until the sky begins to darken. I don't give a damn if it makes me late to Eona's meeting."
She bites her lip, hard, but the pain just pushes the poor slut further towards the edge. "I'm sorry!" She finally screams out, seconds before the spank that would seal her fate for the remainder of the afternoon.
You pause, palm still poised to strike. "Sorry for what?" You ask.
"Sorry for teasing you," she shouts, frantically, "for spying and for stealing your food and for all of it!" Tears and sexual fluids patter onto the ground beneath her and you hold her there for a second longer.
"Good girl." You say, lovingly caressing her ass. She whimpers as the sensitive flesh sends pain throughout her body even at this affectionate touch. Relief permeates her bearing and she moves to get out of your lap, but you force her back down.
"Still," you continue, "you had your chance to apologize earlier and wasted it. So~" your hand lifts once more and she starts to cry harder. "Where were we?"
One, two, three, four spanks prove to be too much for her. Her hands fall away as she screams and sobs out an orgasm, liberally painting the ground in even more of her fluids. You lovingly rub her all over as she loses control of her body, then pull the exhausted halfling into a sitting position in your lap.
She whimpers, so you lift her just slightly so that her weight is off her sore bottom. "You did so good, Fi."
She blinks up at you, then nuzzles her head against your chest. "Didn't have to smack my ass that much…" she pouts. "We're not really going until the evening, are we?" A trace of fear and anticipation lingers in her voice, and you gently stroke her hair.
"No. If you hadn't apologized, though…" You let the thought trail off. She shivers, though whether it's more from fear or arousal you can't say.
You continue to dote on Fi as she recovers in your lap. You might provide some Divine Relief to her later, in case you do need to fight Tamael, but for now she can deal with her sore ass. Maybe in the future she'll think twice about being a brat.
Well. Probably not, if you're being honest. It's not like it ever much deterred Kynael, either. Or you, for that matter. Mikael once told you she had to bend you over her knee more than the rest of her charges combined.
(Ariel has reached Dagger Rank 5 and learned the Offhand perk. You may now wield two daggers at once. Should you wish to envenom them with the Sheathe of the Serpent Queen, you will have to pay the Focus cost for both.)
The flight back is mostly quiet, as Fi simply enjoys not dealing with the pain you've just saddled her with for a while. Once you're back in town you make your way to the Menagerie, still carrying Fi. No-one really pays too much attention to the sight of an angel carrying a halfling through Skask, thankfully.
Merin and Eluvi are already there when you arrive. "Eona is waiting for us upstairs." Merin says, sparing a glance to Fi. "You'll heal her, won't you? We need her to be able to fight and sneak around, you know."
"Of course." You say, "after she's had time to really learn her lesson."
Merin rolls her eyes and gestures for you to put Fi down. "Sorry, Fi. We don't want anyone asking any awkward questions about Ariel."
Fi nods, but still winces at the thought of having to sit down with her full weight on her bottom.
"Let's head on up." Merin gestures for you to take the lead and you do so, marching up the stairs to a meeting which may very well determine the future of this little wannabe-city.
No pressure.
Eona has set up a larger table in her room, this one with several more chairs surrounding it. Two other monster are already waiting for you, as well as one half-elf. A number of others are in the room, though they all seem to defer to the other three in one way or another.
"You must be Ariel." A scantily-clad, green-skinned goblin (as if they're ever anything other than scantily clad and green-skinned) waves to you.
Beside her, a surprisingly large harpy of some variety sits, tall, lean-muscled, and dark-skinned. "Eona tells us you've got quite the tale to spin." Her voice is smooth, and there's a hint of an accent that tells you she's from one of the desert nations to the south.
The half-elf adds her greeting to the duo's. Shoulder-length blonde hair frames a bespectacled face, and she wears a well-tailored black suit with a matching skirt. "We can only hope it was worth dropping everything to run back here for the second day in a row."
"It is, I assure you." Eona cuts in, gesturing for you to sit. If she's still off-kilter from your teasing last night, she doesn't show it. "Ariel, these are, from the order they spoke to you: Verit, the head of the nascent Gobtown Academy, Sesha, head of the unofficial guard of Gobtown, and Viridia, one of the most successful merchants in Skask."
"Formerly one of the most successful," the half-elf spits, "that Fortuna brat has been taking bites out of my business every chance she gets."
"I may be able to shed some light on that, actually…" You launch into an explanation of everything you discovered, along with some of the speculation you launched with Eona yesterday.
"That bitch." Viridia hisses. "No wonder a quarter of my customers jumped ship to Fortuna so easily. If she's got a Fallen Angel pulling the strings, there's no telling what sort of contracts those idiots got roped into."
"Faust's moves are far more clever than I usually give her credit for. More book smart than street smart, that one." Verit muses. "Little wonder that she is not a player, but a piece on the board."
Sesha rubs the tips of her forewings together in a tic you don't recognize, though the audible snapping of her talons give you a hint. "House Carna has been pushing hard to have myself and my flock prosecuted for vigilantism. We thought it was simple noble antipathy for monsters, but now it reeks of a plot more sinister."
"The question is, what do we do about it?" Eona asks. "We cannot allow this… Tamael?" She glances at you for confirmation, then continues.
"We cannot allow Tamael to complete her plans for the city, whatever her motivation. Aside from the obvious devastation she would bring upon us personally, a Fallen Angel acting as shadow governor of a town the size of Skask opens the door for many more sinister acts."
Verit raises a hand, her green eyes fixed on you. "You said that Tamael is an expert in magic, correct?"
You nod. "Divine magic when I knew her, but she has probably picked up a decent amount of Infernal knowledge since she fell."
The goblin claps her hands together. "If you have a similar amount of knowledge, perhaps we could work out some countermeasures for her mysticism. I would need time to study your magic in action of course, and would love if you could transcribe the spells you know for me–"
"For fuck's sake, Verit, at least pretend you're not mostly in this to try and get another teacher for your academy." Viridia scolds. "Besides, there is an easy solution here. We have an actual angel on our side." She turns to you. "Just declare publicly that Tamael is a Fallen Angel. People are already aware the church has been acting out of character, they'll seize on the information once it's offered. Once word is out, she'll be cut off by all of her supporters at once. Not even the nobles can risk association with an actual devil."
Sesha winces. "She will not take kindly to being exposed. The cornered ghoul fights with the ferocity of ten of its number. I suggest acting more subtly, and boosting our own forces at the same time– target their supply chain, rob their women of their arms and armor, and strike them down with their own ill-gotten arms."
Eona speaks up. "Whatever we do, we must do it fast. Tamael has already expressed an interest in turning Ariel, and I doubt she could deny her sister's invitation without raising suspicion."
It sounds like you've got three main options, though you are of course free to come up with ones of your own.
"You should just let me burn down the nobles' estates." Eluvi puffs her chest up.
Viridia snickers. "I wish. They'd circle the wagons in a heartbeat, and go scorched earth on us in response." Eluvi deflates a little.
"Maybe we get rid of more than just her gear. A little poison in the communion the morning before we fight her and a good chunk of her women are out of commission." Fi pipes up. She's holding her pain in well, you think. There was barely a whimper in her voice there.
"It would be difficult to do effectively, and more difficult to do it without being noticed, but it is a possibility." Sesha acknowledges. "You would have done well in the desert, shortling." Fi opts to ignore the shortling moniker and focus on the complement.
"Shouldn't we have a watch on the noble estates?" Merin asks. "They'll move to support her if something goes wrong."
Verit nods. "Faust in particular would not be willing to lose so valuable a source of knowledge if she could avoid it. At the very least, setting a distraction for them to deal with simultaneously would be wise."
You tentatively raise your hand to speak. "If I may, I'd like to speak with Tamael before we fight her."
You could hear a pin drop. "I know it's stupid, and unlikely, but she's still my sister. I know how… other Fallen have described their situation to me, and it's never pleasant. If there's even a chance I can get her to stop on her own, I want to take it."
The Madame sighs, breaking the silence after your little speech. "If you are willing to take that risk, so be it. I just advise you to be prepared. I doubt she is as willing to listen to you as you are to speak to her."
The meeting continues for a while after, but no-one presents any particularly compelling options aside from those already offered. Your little conspiracy breaks up eventually, Verit once again insisting you visit her academy, and Eona leans back in her chair.
"It's always so exhausting, dealing with that many people at once. At least we have a plan. I was honestly worried we'd not come up with anything and waste time arguing." She looks down at you. "I should bring you to more of my meetings, to see if it's your presence that made the difference."
"No thanks." You reply, raising both hands in front of you as if to ward off the request.
"A pity." Her lips curl a little and she waves you away. "Go on, then. That same room is still yours to use."
It's night time. Do you want to sleep here, or go home for the night to sleep with your family nearby? You can teleport back in the morning, but it would use your teleport for tomorrow.
You opt to stay here for the night, in case you need to use the Tome for something else tomorrow. You hope you're not going to miss your daughter's first flights…
Fi doesn't even make it into her nightgown after she's done washing off. You grab her firmly by the shoulders and bodily shove her into the mattress, ass in the air.
"I changed my mind. You're still getting punished for cumming without permission earlier." You tease her. She turns to protest but her face goes crimson as she watches you work your magic over your cock, twisting it into two equally-menacing yet entirely different phalli, both familiar to you in different ways.
The top cock is the purple-pink ribbed monster you used on Sybil during the priestess's first time. The second, however, is modeled after Eluvi's– long, tapered, profoundly hot, and barbed. She wasn't lying about how great those things feel. they're like tiny lightning rods for pleasure, sending electric thrills up your spine as you brush them against bare flesh.
A few experimental pumps and a dollop of warm precum later, you're just about ready. Fi attempts to scramble out from under you. Or feigns it, anyways. You pin her arms behind her with one hand while you somewhat clumsily line up your two cocks with her two holes. It's made rather difficult, because you only have the one hand for both. She also won't stop squirming.
"Not from behind!" Fi cries out. "I'm still- AH!" She's cut off by you slapping your ribbed rod against her ass. It stings you a little, actually.
"That hurt me, Fi." You say. "You've hurt my cock, and now you're going to have to work to make it better, like the dumb little slut you are."
"Dumb?!" Whatever further protest she has is ended when you stuff a makeshift sheet-gag in her mouth.
"Quiet, whore. I only have one use for your mouth, and it sure as hell isn't to hear your backtalk." Inspired, you quickly divest a nearby pillow of its casing and wrap her arms up as well, freeing both hands to guide your phalli into their respective holes.
You give her a little bit of lube. Just enough to not actually harm her, but not enough that this isn't going to start out hurting. Gripping her waist tightly, you press forward, pushing against her absurdly tight ass and pussy at once. Even through the gag you can hear Fi's moans of pain as you slowly but surely stretch her out.
A merciful woman might have used the scalekin cock on her ass, since the tapered end would make it easier, but you are not a merciful woman. The ribs of your demonic penis dig further and further into the halfling with audible pops, and you realize you've effectively got a sort of organic set of anal beads built-in.
Meanwhile, the spines of your dragon penis feel incredible in her vicelike pussy. It feels like you've got a couple dozen frenula all being massaged at once, and you have to fight not to blow right away. Part of you marvels at how Eluvi managed to use this thing on you for so long.
Fi whimpers and struggles as you press deeper and deeper into her, her breath hitching with every rib that goes into her ass. Once you're fully hilted you give her a moment to regain her wits, and then you're fucking her in earnest.
Loud slaps accompany cries of pain as you pound the halfling, tears and vaginal fluids painting the bed beneath you both. Eluvi watches with some fascination, while Merin watches with concern. She trusts you not to seriously hurt Fi, but damn if the rogue isn't making her worry regardless with how she's screaming.
It's not long before you're double-dosing the halfling with your drugged cum, her pupils dilating and her body spasming as the pain and pleasure of her ordeal are both amplified. You tug off the gag and she gasps for air between sobs.
"No more…" She whines, and you lean over her, her still-sensitive ass flesh making her cry more as you put your weight on it.
"Do you really mean that, slut?" You whisper into her ear, pulling out the first rib of your cock. "I don't think you do. You've been acting like such a brat these past couple of days because you wanted this. You want to be taken. You want to be brutalized. You want to be… bitten."
You pull yourself out completely and she screams as your spines and ribs wreak pleasurable havoc on her lower half. Flipping her over, you take in the sight of her erect nipples as she desperately tries to cover them, well aware of what you're about to do. Easily, you bat them aside then dive in and bite her breast.
This scream is absolutely more pleasure than pain. Her back arches and you feel a spirt of fluid strike your leg as she cums again. You keep biting just long enough that you've not quite broken skin, then release her from your toothy torment.
"We wouldn't want you to be mismatched, would we?" You tease as you slowly move your lips to her other breast.
"No…" she whimpers. Whether she's agreeing with you or asking you not to bite her doesn't matter, as you bite down with equal ferocity to before. Once more she writhes beneath you, and you lift yourself off her, satisfied. Fi lays beneath you, leaking fluids from both of her lower holes, her breasts both prominently marked by your teeth, making a little halo around her nipples. You take in the sight as her slight chest rises and falls as her breathing slows in the absence of your onslaught.
You cup her cheek with one hand, brushing tears away from a bleary eye with your thumb. "I'm so proud of you, Fi. You took it so well, and it felt great. I wish you could see how fucking hot you are right now."
She turns her head to capture your thumb in your mouth, licking around it in her mouth. "Oh? Do you want to keep going?" She nods, and you tug your thumb free, leaning in to take her in a long, deep, kiss. "Goddess, I love you. You know that?"
"Mn." She acknowledges, her voice hoarse from all the screaming she's done today. Placing both hands on her shoulders, you line your lower half with hers once more and begin reclaiming her. It's easier this time, her holes having already been stretched to accommodate your first round tonight, but you have a fix for that.
Once you've hilted yourself in her again you rock your hips from side to side, taking great delight in the expressions she makes as your ribs and barbs torment her insides. Slowly but surely, the girth of each of your cocks increases. Her eyes widen as she realizes what you're doing, and her mouth forms an 'O' as she moans in aroused euphoria as you stretch her even more than before.
You take her slower this time, savoring the feeling of her desperately milking you with her ass and pussy simultaneously. "I love you so much, Fi." You say again. "You're such a slut, but you're my slut. And I will never– ever– let you forget it." Each pause is punctuated by a sudden thrust and a kiss as she moans into you.
Her arms and legs are wrapped around you so tightly that you're worried she's going to be sore tomorrow, and her inner walls are tightening so much that you're worried that your dicks are going to be sore tomorrow.
"Love you too." She manages to choke out as you slide in and out of her. "Now shut up and fuck me harder, damn it."
You oblige her, and once again the two of you soak all of your bedthings to such a degree that later, you're forced to request more
Fi lies wrapped in your arms, still leaking copious amounts of your cum onto the sheets below you. You let up and used Relief to ease some of her bruising and pain, though you made sure the myriad bite marks you left on her are still visible. "So everyone knows you're owned."
She laughs, flushing. "Thanks, Ari. You know, it's really nice to be able to have someone take me like this without it being, well, actually dangerous."
"Mm. It's nice that I've got someone I can fuck like that without having to be dangerous." You reply.
She bats her lashes at you in a surprisingly effective display of seduction. "Well, it sounds like you and I are just perfect for each other then, doesn't it?"
You pull her in for another kiss, savoring the taste of her tongue against yours. "I suppose it does." Satisfied, she defaults to one of her favorite pastimes, that being nuzzling against your bare breasts.
"Hey, Ari?" She asks.
"Yes, my love?"
"Remember what I said about kids before?" She asks. You nod, and she continues. "Well seeing you with your daughters before kind of got my maternal instincts going, so… maybe we could look at having a couple of our own. Not tonight, but soon. I think I'll be ready soon."
You hug her tighter, adding your wings to the mix for good measure. "Soon."
The two of you lay together in that embrace, you whispering into her ear all the love and affirmation you can think of as she falls asleep to a lullaby of your affection. You follow not long after, drifting off to the rhythm of her steady breathing and the warmth of her body against your own.
There's an odd feeling in the back of your mind as you wake, as if something you set into motion has come to fruition. It's a good feeling, even if you're not 100% sure where it comes from.
Elsewhere, Lucia and Valerie have deepened their relationship. Ariel has achieved the full qualifications for the Syncretic Adoration evolution.
Fi has already slipped out of your grasp when you wake, and you get the tantalizing view of her pulling up her shorts as you open your eyes. With some satisfaction you see that her ass is still a little pink. She sees you watching and sticks her tongue out at you before going back to dressing.
You knew the spanking wouldn't deter her for long.
Within a few minutes you've dragged yourself from the sheets, freed Eluvi from her makeshift pillow hoard, and met up with Merin, who is already clad in her adventuring gear.
"Where do we start?" The warrior asks after everyone has gotten their morning small talk over with.
A good question. You have several ways of going against Tamael, some of which are more likely to piss her off than others. Which way you go grants you a number of opportunities, so you should choose wisely.
"Let's go see what we can do with this–" you heft Faust's research, "–and a bit of goblin help."
The trip to Gobtown is thankfully uneventful, though you do find your mind wandering back to your sister as you walk. How strong has Tamael gotten? Did she start out stronger than you did? You're not actually sure how much of each angel's power is taken away when they Fall, or if there's a limit. Would an archangel end up as broken as you did?
"Ari." Fi's voice snaps you out of it. "You good? You almost walked past our turn." Your face flushes as you realize she's right, and you turn down the alley into Gobtown proper.
It's surprisingly not as ramshackle as you expected. Instead of a bunch of cobbled-together sticks and stones making mockeries of actual houses, they've got, well… actual houses. Sure, they have a distinctly goblin feel to them, in the way that they still look like someone just kept adding rooms and other add-ons as they realized they needed them, but they're perfectly serviceable.
Gobtown Academy, as the locals call it, isn't all that large. It's maybe three or four stories at most, and it's clear they focused more on building tall than wide, probably due to the dearth of free space in their surroundings. You can hear arguing coming from an open window, and a peak inside shows you an elvish woman having a particularly heated dialogue with a tall, athletic-looking Brute in a small room with a single small table and no chairs. You've never seen this particular variety. She looks like an orc with a broken-off horn on one side of her head, though otherwise nothing about her bearing or coloration gives away what she might be.
"–and all the best spells in the world don't mean shit if someone gets a mage in a headlock! That's why we need actual physical courses, you pointy-eared, flat-chested, tree-fucking dolt!" The Brute slams both hands on the table, causing Fi to jump in surprise next to you.
"Flat-chested?!" The elf's squeak if indignation is followed by the charging of magic in her palms, before the Brute demonstrates her point by leaping over the table and grabbing her in a bear hug. You peel your gaze from the window before you can become a witness to whatever crimes are about to occur, and head for the main door as you hear decidedly lewd shouts of protest from behind you.
It's probably fine. You don't think everyone else around, including the Beloved, would be going about their day if the elf was in any real danger. Maybe it's just some weird form of roleplay.
Verit isn't too hard to find, as it happens. Unlike Eona, her personal office is on the bottom floor, and you're ushered to it by one of the faculty in no time at all.
"Miss Ariel!" You note that she hasn't changed her fashion sense overnight as she excitedly dashes over to you and takes your hand in her own. "Such a delight to see you! And so early, too!"
You're dragged to a room on the third floor as she excitedly tells you the entire one-year history of her academy. They're not actually in as bad a shape as you might have feared, considering how Faust was talking. They've got enough to teach mages the basics of most types of magic, though they are severely lacking in even Lesser Divine and Infernal magics.
"And how fortunate we are that you're here to remedy that!" Verit exclaims, punctuating her thankfully-brief tour.
"We're here to set up countermeasures for my sister's magic." You reply wryly.
"Right, yes, that too." She says, waving a hand. "One leads into the other, dear. Now, if you'll hand me those lovely notes? Ah, yes, that is Faust's handiwork. Lovely penmanship, but then most nobles would take calligraphy as soon as their little hands could hold a stick. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't be better if we monsters aged as slowly as they did. How differently the brain must develop when you have years of childhood instead of days. Ah, what I wouldn't give to study the…"
The goblin headmaster is somehow able to speculate on the differences between monster and Beloved growth, and how that may affect their relative behaviors well into adulthood, all while simultaneously taking in Faust's notes.
"–and actually, I've been intending to ask you about angelic puberty. That is, if you have puberty? The church is infuriatingly silent on the subj- oh. Well, that is interesting." It's almost eerie seeing her go from a deluge of questions to incredibly focused like that.
"What's interesting?" Eluvi asks, peeking over the goblin's shoulder. Or down her shoulder, rather. Is she… yes, she is. She's not reading the book, she's taking the chance to peak down Verit's cleavage.
"Throughout her work with Tamael, Faust repeatedly notes the similarities between Infernal and Divine magics. They both directly alter the laws of Gaea itself to enforce their effects, in contrast to, say, draconic magics which simply draw upon a personal wellspring of power and force it into shape."
You nod. "I'd noticed the same thing a while back, from… talking with some of my sisters." You really need to get back in the mindset of hiding your nature.
Verit smiles. "Very astute! We had come much to the same conclusion at this very academy from what little spellcraft of both varieties we could study. But your dear sister provides a particularly fascinating theory that I wager very, very few people would accept, which muddies thing further."
She pauses for effect. "Tamael speculates that Divine magic is not derived from Justicia herself– it is, or was, rather, a power unique to the angels, which they then honed and shared with the Beloved. According to her, Zaphkiel was the first to share the arts, but she did not develop them."
"That… goes counter to everything I've ever heard." You reply, and Verit shrugs.
"It could just be her Fallen nature coming to the fore. They are notoriously bitter beings, so I hear, which may be clouding her thought processes somewhat. Not that one could entirely blame her…" She sighs. "But let us entertain her theory. If Divine magic comes from the angels, where does Infernal magic come from?"
"Asmodeus." You answer easily. "Everyone knows that."
"So they do!" The headmistress replies brightly. "But what does that imply? Both Infernal and Divine magics are similar enough that the Fallen find it easy to learn both, from most accounts. From what we've seen, both types of magic are very similar in execution. Wherefore do you think that is?"
It hits you. "Asmodeus designed both."
"Indeed! Or rather, whoever made the former made the latter. It is possible that Asmodeus did not actually have a hand in the creation of either. Why she would have a hand in the creation of Divine magics in the first place is beyond me, as she would surely not wish to empower her Mother's guardians. Perhaps she did not intend that such power fall into her siblings' hands, but they learned it regardless. Who knows?" She laughs. "If you ever get the chance to ask her, be sure to tell me her answer."
"I'll do that." You reply dryly. Asmodeus, from what little you know of her, is actually quite fond of the Fallen, but her children don't share her love for you. "Does any of that help us fight Tamael?"
"It does, actually. Well, sort of. The general principles of both spell varieties can be analyzed, and I can guess at the sort of magics that Tamael likely has available to her from Faust's descriptions. With a little work, we should be able to create a temporary charm that will make it more difficult for her to interact with the metaphysical laws that she requires. At the very least, it will take more effort for her to cast her magic than normal. At best, she won't be able to access her more powerful spells at all."
That will have to do. "When can you have it ready?"
She grins. "Oh, give me the rest of the day. I'll have a harpy drop it off with Eona when I'm done. Do remember to send some magic our way as payment, though. We do need some way to make money."
That's that. You're ushered out with polite insistence by Verit, as she claims to need privacy to work. It's easy enough to find your way out after that, though you do peak back through that window. The elf is currently in the Brute's lap, locked in a passionate embrace and with their tongues twining between one another. A telltale wet *schlick* can be heard beneath her skirt, and you hastily beat a retreat before someone catches you spying.
"Never thought I'd ever learn anything in an academy." Fi pipes up as you walk away from Verit's pet project. "Guess I can cross that off the bucket list. Where to next?"
"We should make sure the nobles can't back her up." You say.
"Good idea!" Eluvi replies. "How though?"
"Let's see if we can't get Viridia's help. She seemed pretty eager to get back at them for screwing her over."
It's easy enough to find the merchant by asking around. She's actually right on the line between the city's halves, in a large, well-kept marble building you've walked by multiple times now. It's not hard to pass a message through one of her underlings, which gets you brought straight to her.
"Angel." The half-elf greets you, barely looking up from the documents on her desk. "Have you decided to expose your sister like I suggested?"
"Not quite…" you admit, before explaining what you're really after.
"Hm." She leans back in her chair, thoughtful. "Well, if you really want to distract the nobles the easiest way would be to gather many monsters together in one place, preferably right next to the noble side of things. They don't need to be doing anything aggressive, just so long as there are plenty of them. It will get those silver spoon-suckling bitches panicked and paranoid, but they'll also be paralyzed, thinking that one of the other houses is trying to bait them into a trap."
"A trap?" Merin asks. "Why would they think that?"
"Because it's the sort of thing they do. Get a bunch of rabble-rousers that can't be connected to you to bait your opponent into acting, then take advantage of the mess that ensues when said opponent acts out-of-hand. In this example, if, say, House Fortuna were to deploy their guards to defend their side of the city in response to a monster mob, the other houses could claim that it was an egregious overreach of their station and potentially strip them of some of their military forces in response."
"What if a house reacts… badly?" You ask. You don't want anyone to get hurt because of some scheme of yours.
She scoffs. "Please. Trust me, they wouldn't try anything, and not just because of the potential criticism from the other houses. Their guards wouldn't dare act on any attack orders." She looks pointedly at Eluvi. "Not many people this side of things like to admit it, but we Beloved have some good reasons to be afraid of monsters. Your friend here could flatten any guard in my business without breaking a sweat, I wager. A horde of monsters, all incensed at being attacked unprovoked?" She makes an O with one hand and inserts her whole fist through it. "More than a few guardswoman would be walking funny for the next few months."
"If you say so…" You respond, still uncertain.
"I do." Viridia says firmly. "If you want proof of my certainty, then I'll provide the reason for the gathering in the first place. I've got plenty of stock I've been looking to offload for one reason or another. A sizeable discount for monsters ought to get more than a few monsters out in front of my business, and I'm right on the border of the noble half of the city. If anything goes wrong, I'm right in the line of fire."
Well, if she's willing to go that far… "Alright."
She nods. "Just have Eona send word when you're ready to go on the offensive. I can get the word out pretty quick."
You and Viridia hash out the details a while longer before she shoos you out of her building, claiming that she's wasted enough time already.
Eluvi squints at the sun as it falls towards the horizon. "We can probably get one more thing done today, if we're quick. What do you want to do, Ariel?"
You take a deep breath before answering. "I want to talk to my sister."
Word is sent to your various allies, and you all suit up for a battle that you sincerely hope doesn't need to happen. The charm that Verit made you is a strange little thing, an interlocking set of star-shapes that are engraved with little words that you can't quite make out. A little note that was left with it informs you that it merely needs to be on your person when the spells start flying. Or not flying, hopefully.
Viridia gets a small horde going quite quickly, as her workers work tirelessly to engage a variety of monsters eager for a really good deal ("50% off sex toys for the next hour only!"). Sesha soars through the air, a long spear clutched in her talons as she directs her vigilante group from the skies to converge on the church. If you didn't know to watch for her you'd never have realized she's up there– she's so high that she looks like a normal bird, and communicates through some sort of Beast magic that you know little of.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Merin asks, gripping both your shoulders outside of the church. "I know you feel empathy for her, but… not all of the Fallen are going to be like you, Ariel. She may be so far gone that she won't listen no matter what you have to say."
"I'm sure." You respond. "It's not just empathy, my love." You turn towards the church, pushing down the lump you feel in your chest. "If… if I hadn't met you, and Sybil, and Eluvi, and everyone else… I'd be just like she is."
"You don't know that." She says, grabbing your face and turning you to look back at her. You reach your hands up to hold hers, then shake your head.
"I do know that. Before we met, I was wandering around alone, lost, and broken. I spent days just trying to find my way back to the Watchers, leaping at every shadow and cursing everyone I thought was responsible for what had happened to me." Her gaze softens, and you continue. "When I made it out, I spent a good while just… stewing in my thoughts. Lamenting everything I'd lost, hating everyone who had what I didn't. Knowing, with absolute certainty, that nothing I could do would ever fix what I'd become."
Your voice quavers as your mind returns to that dark place you were in, only a little over a month ago. "When I finally worked up the will to do something, I only just barely decided to go to Latchky. I could have gone back into the dungeon, and found only the worst of monsters to keep me company. How do you think I would have turned out then?"
She doesn't answer, and you sigh. "I could have gone to the tavern in Latchky, instead of going to the chapel. Instead of meeting Sybil, I could have gotten the other two priestesses, who I didn't like as much as I did her. There are so many little 'what ifs' in the path I walked, Merin." Your gaze turns once more to the chapel, and she doesn't turn you back this time. "How many different turns did Tamael take, do you think? How many people did she just miss, who could have walked her down that same path I did?"
You step towards the church. "It's not just about empathy. I want to give her the same chance I had." With sure feet, you make your way into the church, pausing only briefly at the entrance, flanked by a pair of ridiculous golden statues.
The chapel is mostly quiet, and you're greeted by a different priestess than before. This one is younger than the last, maybe thirty or so, though she gives you the same sycophantic greeting as the last one.
"Most Divine Ariel. It is a pleasure to receive you, though your presence was not expected. How might we serve you?" She side-eyes Eluvi through a bow, but either she's more tolerant than her fellow or word simply got around not to criticize your dragonling.
"I wish to speak with my sister." You respond, gesturing for her to stand. "Where is she?"
The priestess bows. "She is currently in the Head Priestess's office, discussing matters of grave import. Might I ask that you wait, while I inform her of your visit?"
You could try to insist that she sees you now, though that may raise Tamael's hackles. On the other hand, this could be an attempt to set up an ambush for you ahead of time, since you know she wants to corrupt you. Or maybe she's just having the Head Priestess suck her off, who knows.
"I will wait." You reply, and she bows so low that her head almost brushes the floor.
"My gratitude, most Gracious and Divine one. I will inform her immediately, if you would be so kind as to wait in the pews." You take a seat and she's off, leaving you and your harem to twiddle your thumbs while you wait for your sister to probably finish knocking up some priestess. Goddess, you really want to see Sybil right now.
It's not actually all that long before the priestess returns. "Divine Tamael has finished her business, if you are similarly ready?"
You stand, and the others stand with you. She leads you into the back of the church and down a set of hallways that stir unpleasant memories of the last church hallways you trawled through.
Fi whispers to you as you walk, just low enough that the priestess can't overhear. "If you're committed to being dumb about this, do you want to try talking to her alone? She might be more trusting. Or she might just try to jump your bones right there. And if we're outside, we might not be able to help you right away."
"Maybe." You say. "We'll see."
The priestess stops before a set of double doors and knocks on them. "Divine Tamael? Your most beloved sister has arrived."
"Come in! I've been waiting with baited breath to see my sister once again." A silky-smooth voice answers. It sounds almost like you recall from the few times you met her, save for the subtly erotic purr that lingers at the end of the words.
You open the door and are greeted by a familiar yet alien sight. Tamael, with her long, blonde locks and maidenly features, smiles brightly when she sees your face. Golden accessories punctuate her simple white robes, and her head is topped with a winged circlet that more resembles a crown.
To her left you see Sister Chalice, and behind her are a pair of women you do not recognize. What you do recognize is the armor they wear– they're paladins, or at least paladins-in-training.
"Ariel!" She opens her arms wide, and you notice that the front of her robes splits ever so slightly to allow the barest glimpse of her cleavage. "My lovely sister. You have no idea of the joy it brings me to see you today." You notice her mask slip for just a moment when she spots Eluvi, and bare, all-consuming hate floods her eyes.
Your wings twitch a little before you respond. "I can imagine it in some detail, actually."
Do you ask to speak with her alone? She's definitely a higher Tier than you, you can tell. Even if it's just the two of you, it'll be rough. If it comes to a fight, you'll have to hold out a moment before the others can aid you… on the other hand, it'll be easier to talk with her.
"May we speak alone?" You ask her.
She blinks, then nods. "Of course." She stands and gestures for her companions to leave the room. Chalice lingers a moment, but a soft caress from Tamael is enough to send her from the room with just the slightest shiver.
Merin squeezes your shoulder, Fi squeezes your hand, and Eluvi bats you with her tail as she they accompany the others outside.
Tamael stands from her seat and saunters over to you, taking you into her arms in a not-so-sisterly way. "Ah, but you always were one of the cutest of my sisters. Such luxurious hair, these ebon wings…"
She's really not all that subtle, you're discovering. How did she even get this far? "You're looking well." You say as you pull free of her embrace.
"Aren't I just? I've been trying some new things."
This is inane. Do you try and outright confront her, admit to the fate you two share, or something else?
"I know what you are." You say simply, and you see her eyes widen as she begins to reach for her magic. You hold up both hands, clearly far from your weapons, and continue. "Relax. I Fell too."
She freezes, then releases the building magic. Thankfully the charm doesn't seem to activate until she puts more into it, or it might have tipped her off. "I see." She says carefully. Suspicion and empathy make war in her features. "How long?"
"Just a little over a month. A lamia got me in the Great Mountain Dungeon."
She winces. "It was an ogre for me. It turns out that all the magic in the world doesn't help when someone with the strength to crush boulders has you in her grasp."
This is a good start, at least. Finding common ground is the first step to establishing a relationship. Or. kind-of reestablishing it, in this case. "In the war they sent you to?"
She nods. "Yes. Some Brute warlord got herself a whole dungeon's worth of treasures and an army to boot. The valkyries did what they could, but there's only so much you can do when one of your number is an amazon in disguise." She spits on the ground. "One second my defenders were there, the next they were gone entirely, and before I realized it I was in that thing's grasp."
Her voice is dripping with hatred and malice, and you wince inwardly. Is this what you sounded like while you ranted to yourself in the dungeon after Nael got you? Is it what the others heard in your voice when you confronted Scarlet?
You need to stir the conversation away from here. You can ask her what she's doing in Skask, perhaps, or what she did after she Fell. Or maybe just try and go for a heartfelt speech about sisterhood and all things good, and hope that it's enough.
"I know how it is." You say softly. "It took me days to wander out of the dungeon. I kept jumping at everything that sounded like scales on stone, terrified that she'd found me again. Terrified that I would start feeling like I did after…" You shiver, once again remembering that awful gnawing feeling in your soul.
"Oh, Ariel…" She hugs you again, but this time it is genuinely sisterly. "I'm sorry. No-one should suffer as we have."
You frown. By all accounts, she was eager to inflict that same thing upon you herself. "No. No-one should." You confirm. "What did you do after?"
She shivers. "I was captured. You remember how it was, yes? You can't move, you can barely think in the aftermath. They took me, and kept me as a…" Oh. She's not shivering, she's shaking with rage. "… toy. Passed me around from Brute to Brute. Sometimes they gave me to their mounts, to keep those wretched spawn happy, and sometimes they'd throw me into a hole to keep the goblins company."
You hold her as she shakes, rubbing soothing circles into her back, and she calms somewhat. "I got lucky. One night they gave me to a hobgoblin. She was a stupid thing, and it was easy enough to snare her in a contract. A few hours of flight in exchange for something she would have forced on me regardless."
She chuckles darkly. "I never said I would come back after those hours were up. I wonder what they did to her when I never came back? I imagine she had to take my place. A pity I couldn't get the rest of them back right away, but one day…"
You're starting to get a better picture of her motivations here. Her hate for monsters runs deep due to how she Fell, and that's probably the reason she wants them out of Skask.
You can try to alleviate some of her hatred of monsters by telling her about your relationships with Eluviendis and Asteria, or change the subject again.
"I'm sorry." You say, aware that it's probably going to be a common refrain in this conversation. "I don't know what I would have done in your shoes."
You pull back, taking her face in your hands. She's taller than you, annoyingly, but then again she is your older sister. The 574th angel to your 666th, in fact.
"I realize now how lucky I was. If I hadn't found Eluviendis, Asteria, or Fenri…" She cocks her head to the side a little, curiosity filling her gaze.
"Eluvi is the pterosaur that was with me earlier." She tenses, and you rub her cheek with a thumb. "I know. But other than me, she's probably understands you the most here. When I found her, she was tied up after being ousted by a devil, and used as a communal breeding slave by her sisters."
You leave out the part where Eluvi willingly sold her authority over the kobolds for a book she couldn't actually use. She's not dumb, she just forgets to think sometimes.
"After we beat that devil she willingly gave up her hoard to accompany me, as my friend and lover."
Her eyes sharpen. "Lover? Ariel, you cannot seriously believe–"
"Lover." You cut her off, voice firm. "She's the first woman to penetrate me who I took willingly, and she made sure it was as pleasant as it could possibly be."
The edge leaves her eyes, and you continue speaking. "Asteria is a minotaur who offered her home to myself and no less than six other women simply because she felt it was the right thing to do. Without her help, I would still be haunting a tiny chapel, barely scraping by."
"A minotaur?" She asks. "She could have claimed you easily, why would she not…?"
"Because she didn't want to. They're not all like the ones that took you, Tamael. I met another lamia who put herself in the way of a lycanthrope and her pack to save a Beloved she didn't even know. I taught that same lycanthrope to accept the words of women weaker than her by far, simply because she knew it would make me happy."
Her hatred of monsters is dented, you can see. You continue prying into her life, seeking more ammunition. "Sister Chalice seems to like you."
She flushes a little and pulls away. "She's a pet. I have not forgotten how easily her kind turn on us, or abandon us. How quickly they leave their holy saviors when their own wombs are on the line. Her leash remains taut in my hands. You do not need to worry about her."
"Oh, Tamael… I'm not worried about her. I saw how she looked at you, she adores you. She didn't want to leave you alone with me, in case I attacked you." That… may be a bit of an exaggeration on your part, but hey.
"As I said, her leash is taut. She adores me, but I know that adoration will only go so far. The Contracts I have laid upon her prevent her from daring to act against me. The same applies to those fool nobles, who think they have me dancing in the palm of their hand. Disgusting, all of them. If they could grow a cock as a monster does, they would be no different from the rest of the vermin."
You have plenty of proof to the contrary, should you choose to share it. She may not want to listen, though…
"You don't believe that." You say, voice gentle.
"Of course I do!" She hisses, and an angry red glow lights the room. Her crimson halo juts out in four three-pronged spikes that give her bearing a crazed edge.
"Have you even spoken with them? Their every concern is so inane, their every want so excessive. Look no further than the vaunted valkyries, chosen from the greatest Beloved warriors. All it takes is the promise of pleasure from Mara and they become amazons, ever-willing to sell out their former sisters in their games of war."
She continues, her arms shaking at her sides. Blood pools within them as her nails pierce her palms. "Look no further than our wretched Mother's own church– do you have any idea how easy it was to get them to accept the gifts of the nobles? All they needed was the barest hint of divine approval and they fell all over themselves, scrambling for every ill-gotten coin they could grasp in their greedy palms."
"Did Chalice scramble for coin?" You ask, sitting her down in one of the chairs of the room and taking your own seat beside her.
"I- no." She releases her clenched fists. "She is not from here. I met her elsewhere, when she was little more than a beggar on the street. I gave her some of my food, soothed her mind a little, and she has followed me since."
You're silent for a while. "What do your Contracts with her entail?"
Her face flushes a little. "She can't betray me, or hurt me, or lie to me in any way. She can't omit the truth, either."
"And what does she get in return?"
The red of her halo does a good job masking her deepening blush. "I keep her near me as much as possible. I, ah… provide relief, when she asks. We renew the Contracts as they fall off."
"It doesn't sound like you keep her leash that taut. It sounds to me more like you have someone who loves you, dearly, even if you don't want to admit it." You say, and she doesn't respond.
Sighing, you lean back into your chair. "Let me tell you about some of the people I love, and who love me in return."
So you do. You tell her about how you met Merin's group, and how they accepted you for everything you are.
How Liane blossomed from a shy, uncertain girl into a confident (and maybe a bit lewd) woman.
How Fi grew up hating the church for her childhood, but fell in love with you because you brought her closure. How she is determined not to repeat the mistake her mothers made.
How Evara continues to soldier on in search of love despite knowing that she will outlive most relationships she has by an order of magnitude.
How Ju loosened up, literally and figuratively, once you broke through that stoic exterior.
How Merin sought a woman who she feared had abandoned her at the altar, only to find that her betrothed had instead risked everything for a child she had never asked for.
How Scarlet thanked you for giving her a second chance, and now by all accounts sincerely acts to redeem herself.
How if you had never met Sybil, never felt her trust, love, and support, you might never have set foot in here and met Tamael once more.
"You told her what you were right away?" Your sister asks, disbelief and a little laugh edging into her voice. "What in Gaea possessed you to do that?"
"At first I thought I was just trying to fool her." You admit. "Make her think I really wanted redemption, when all I really wanted was to get in her pants." You shake your head at the memory. "Now I realize I meant every word I said to her. I wanted her to trust me, not just because I wanted to have sex with her, but because she was the closest thing I had to a friend."
Tamael leans her head against your shoulder, eyes closed. "They all sound lovely." She says.
"They are. I'd love for you to meet them one day. Along with our daughters."
It takes a moment for your words to sink in. "Daughters?" Her head jerks up, almost smacking you in the cheekbone. "You have children, little sister?"
"Eight." You confirm. "Zaphkiel, Maribelle, Seraphiel, Avariel, Tianshi, Mei, Liangyu, and Soniel. They're only, oh… a little over a week old."
"Eight children." Her eyes are filled with wonder. "Tell me all about them!"
So you do. You tell her what a nightmare it was when they were born, and about how it broke your heart to leave them, even if only for a day. You show her the bracelet they made, and tell her about disciplining Zaphi when she stayed up after she was supposed to. She listens with rapt attention, more interested in this than any other part of the conversation.
"I always loved raising our sisters." She says after you're done. "Mother gave them to me often, after they were born. Shael, Ophael, and so many more… do you know what hurts the most?"
You do, but you don't say it. It's better that she vocalizes it herself. "It's that I know that if I ever see them again, they'll only see a monster. Just like the ones that hurt me." Tears pool at the corners of her eyes.
You picture Kynael in your mind, and her face if she found out what you are.
You might remind Tamael of what she was almost certainly going to do to you, when she thought you were an angel. It might bring some clarity to her, or it might piss her off.
"If I hadn't been Fallen," you begin, letting your words sink into her, "what would you have done?"
She freezes, as your words snap her out of her memories. "I…"
"If Ophael had shown up instead of me, unaware of what you are, would you have done the same to her?"
The tears pooling in her eyes begin to drip down her face. "I- she would be my child in full! We would be together, she wouldn't hate me for what I am! You're a mother now, Ariel, you know how it feels to leave your daughters behind. Imagine how much it would hurt to lose them forever. If I could just hold her again, love her again–"
"'No-one should suffer as we have.'" You echo, and she stops. Her halo fades from sight, her face goes ghost-white. "You remember the Fall. Would you make her go through that, knowing for yourself the horror of it?"
Instead of responding she buries her face in her hands, weeping softly. "I just want to go back, Ariel." She says, voice muffled as she sobs into her palms. "I hate it here. I hate being surrounded by sin, I hate how I can't stop thinking about taking every woman I meet, I hate being this… this thing, but what else can I do? What can any of us do?"
A soft blue glow illuminates the room, and her hands fall slightly down her face, eyes wide and disbelieving. Your silver-blue halo hums above your head, filling the room with its radiance. "What?"
"We don't have to be monstrous, sister. There's always a choice to do better, to be better. Why did you take in Sister Chalice?"
She frowns. "It was a whim. She just looked so pitiful, all skin and bones."
You grasp her hand, still wet with tears. "It wasn't a whim. It was you choosing to do the a good thing for someone you did not even know, simply because you could."
"It was just some half-eaten bread…" She mumbles, still disbelieving.
"Bread that you could have saved, or held over her head for a Contract."
"I did contract her, though." She says.
"For the bread?"
She shakes her head. "N-no. Later. When she asked me to teach her magic."
"So you gave her the bread for free, just because she needed it and you didn't. I know it sounds minor, sister, but every little act means something to those who have nothing. Where do you think she would be if you hadn't given her that little bit of kindness?"
She shivers at the thought. "She would be dead. She had nothing."
"See? Your little act of kindness meant so much more than you could ever have imagined." She remains silent, and you continue. "The key is to keep picking those acts over the wicked ones. Because the opposite is just as true. Every little wicked deed accumulates, and cascades, and becomes something much worse than the sum of its parts."
You hold your other hand to your chest. "What do you think we were to those monsters who took us? Our Fall was the single most important moment of our lives, but for them? It was a quick lay, a casual cruelty they commit daily. How many of our Fallen sisters have gone on to rape just as they were raped, spreading hate and misery from that single meaningless act?"
Her eyes find yours, still watery but focused, more alert. She's listening, and you press your advantage. "It's never too late to start walking a better path, Tamael. It may be harder, and it may be a struggle, but it's worth it. You can find a place you belong, with people who truly care for you, free of the guilt and the hate that you've carried for so long now."
You clasp both of her hands together in your own. "And I promise you won't have to walk the path alone. I'll be there beside you, every step of the way. Chalice will walk with you without a Contract forcing her into it. And maybe one day, when our sisters see us again, they'll look upon us and see that we're still the women they love."
She sinks into you, tears still falling from her face, and you gently cradle her against you while she weeps. You know what she's feeling. Guilt, at how far she had come. Sorrow, for everything she has lost. And most importantly, relief, at knowing she can still turn back.
Ariel has redeemed the heart of a wicked woman. She has fully unlocked the Forgiven Decadence evolution.
You hold your elder sister in your arms for a while yet, until curiosity apparently overwhelms Sister Chalice and she pokes her head through the door.
"Tamael!" She rushes into the room, followed by a pair of flustered guards, though they relax when they see that she's been crying into your shoulder.
"I'm fine, my cherub." Tamael turns to hold the beggar-turned-priestess instead of you. "I was merely mourning something I had lost, and regretting my mistakes."
The priestess frowns, eyes filled with concern. "Are you… does she…?" She stumbles over her words, clearly trying not to spill Tamael's secret unnecessarily.
"She knows." Tamael confirms. "It's alright. I'm sorry for leading you astray."
"You don't have to apologize to me." Chalice mumbles, clinging tightly to your sister. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be."
"Mmm." Tamael rests her head on the smaller woman's shoulder. "I know, my cherub."
They continue to hold one another while you dismiss your halo, gesturing towards the guards to leave the room with you to give them some privacy.
Your companions' relief at seeing you alright is palpable, and Eluvi doesn't waste time in delivering a hug of her own. "Your shoulder is wet." She helpfully informs you as you wrap your arms around her in return.
"So what are you going to do now?" Fi asks Tamael, after everyone has gotten their fill of tears and embraces and settled back into the Head Priestess's office.
"I don't know." The former angel admits. "I could stay here, but I do not know that it is wise for me to do so. I doubt your allies would appreciate me staying in power here, after what I have already done to them."
She's not wrong. On the other hand, she's in the best position to start cleaning this place up, if she puts her mind to it.
"She could live with us." Eluvi pipes up. "There's plenty of room at home. Just don't touch my hoard." She warns.
Tamael shakes her head. "I could not abuse my sister's kindness any more than I already have. Had she not chosen to speak to me, instead of fighting me…"
Well, it's not that big of a deal if she stays, right? So long as you trust her around your lovers and children, that is.
"I'll talk to the others. They might be wary at first, but you'll prove that you've changed." You say confidently, and she smiles in response. "I'll be sure visit as much as I can, and if you're ever in trouble I'll be there to help."
"Thank you, little sister." She says. You notice that the little trill of seduction in her voice is gone completely now, replaced by the genuine warmth you remember from your brief encounters in Heaven.
"Oh, but you'll have to come visit your nieces sometime. Zaphi will love you, I can already tell."
Merin coughs into her hand to prevent you from gushing overlong about your daughters. "We should probably at least let them know that things are all clear for now. If they get antsy waiting on us it could get bad."
That's true. You frown, reluctant to leave, but Tamael waves you away. "Go on. I'll be fine on my own for a while. I have Chalice with me if I need someone to hold me."
Chalice blushes, but scoots closer to her love and does just that.
"See?" Tamael asks, giggling a little before standing to lead you out of the church.
Before you can leave she embraces you tightly, as if she's afraid you'll disappear once you're gone. She holds on to you for a long moment, before releasing you reluctantly, then takes one last look at you before leaning in to kiss your cheek. "Thank you again, Ariel. I love you."
You feel a familiar warmth fill you, the same warmth that you feel when you hold your children, or when Mikael told you she was proud of you after training, or when Kynael sniffled that she only dyed her wings because she wanted to be like you.
"I love you too."
The impromptu alliance you formed is understandably skeptical of Tamael's change of heart, but you insist they let her have a chance. You feel a bit guilty leaning on the fact that the majority believe you're an actual angel, but sometimes you have to use the tools you've got.
Madame Eona sinks into her silks and pillows. "You are a troublesome one, do you know that?"
"Oh?" You ask, cocking an eyebrow. "How so?"
"Part of me fears that I've fallen for an elaborate devilish trap, allowing you and your sister to move pieces on a board I cannot even see. The other part of me believes that you and she are genuine, and that you deserve a chance." She sighs and tosses a pillow at you, which you easily avoid.
"Damn you. And damn me, too. I built my business on believing that monsters were not always monstrous. Now here I am doubting my own convictions."
"I'm sorry." You say, sincerely. You hadn't considered the turmoil you'd probably cause her by revealing your nature.
"Don't be. I'm just being petulant." She snaps her fingers and an attendant enters the room. Eona points at the pillow, which is retrieved and returned to the pile. "We'll be keeping an eye on the church. If anything untoward happens…"
"I know." You say. "But nothing will."
"I hope you're right." She says, dismissing you with a wave. "For all our sakes."
The brothel room is as it ever is, though thankfully they've cleaned the sheets since this morning.
"Should we head back for tonight?" Merin asks. "I'm sure everyone is missing us. Your girls, especially."
She's right. You could easily pop down there then back up with the book, though you wouldn't be able to teleport tomorrow. Do you do so?
Teleportation is as disconcerting as always, the dizzying array of alien stars giving way to the natural night sky outside of your home.
"MAMA!" Tianshi nearly takes out your knees from behind, flinging herself bodily to wrap her arms around your legs. You look down at your clingiest daughter, smiling. She's grown even more than before, and presumably her sisters are all the same. "I missed you." She mutters into the back of your knee, and you laugh, picking her up.
"You're getting too big for me to pick up." You note. She's over half your height now, just above four feet tall. She pouts a little at the thought, clinging to you just as you expected. You smile, happily cuddling with your baby while you can still hold her this easily, trying not to think about how less than a week from now you won't be able to lift her so effortlessly anymore.
"Now, why are you out of bed?" You ask, your tone a little more firm.
"I felt you coming." She replies, easily.
"You… what?"
"When you show up like this, I can feel it before it happens. I didn't know what it was at first, but Zaphi told Mary how you showed up the other day, and Soni promised to give Mary a cookie if she told her a secret, and Soni told Sera that secret because Sera didn't bite her for touching mama Sybil, and Sera told me if I promised not to cry around mama Sybil for a week that she'd tell me the secret, and–"
You feel yourself growing cross-eyed trying to follow the convoluted politics of your daughters, but the gist of it seems to be that Tianshi put together the odd feeling she got that same night with the other instances of your teleportation, and so figured out you'd be here ahead of time. Maybe it's something she inherited from Ju? You don't have any experience with anything similar.
You lightly scold her for getting out of bed after dark, so that things are fair to Zaphi, then tuck her into bed with her mother and sisters. Even asleep, Ju wraps around all of her children like a mother bear, and you nearly lose an eye when she reflexives jabs at you for getting near as she sleeps.
Most of your children and their mothers are fast asleep, and you hesitate to wake them. As usual, you could probably find a sleeping companion in one of your childless lovers tonight, Fenri included. You can also hear Asteria working on something in her room, if you finally wanted to make your move on the minotaur.
Changing your mind, you turn back and carefully shake Ju awake. "Ariel?" She asks, confused but happy to see you. "When did you return? Is everything alright?"
"Everything is fine. I'd just like to take the girls to my bed for the night. I haven't gotten to sleep with them for a while now."
She acquiesces, helping you herd your four shared, sleepy children to your room. You repeat the process three more times, though Soniel refuses to go unless you carry her over head while she flaps her wings. You do so, to the delighted giggles of your youngest daughter and the light teasing of her mother, bringing Soniel into a landing next to her sisters.
They crowd around you sleepily as you lie down next to them and you bask in the warmth of your family, tussling each of their hair in turn as they find comfort against you and each other. Your cheek tingles where Tamael kissed you goodbye, and you close your eyes to sleep.
"Good night, girls. Mama loves you."
How long have you been climbing this accursed ravine?
Pain washes away your idling thoughts as blood trickles down your fingers in erratic spurts. Once again you've sliced your palm to ribbons against the jagged rocks that hide in the various gaps of the ravine. You grimace and dig your fingers deeper into the side of the massive ravine wall, pulling yourself up despite the agony tormenting your hands.
Your feet fare little better, and despite the smarter part of yourself telling you not to look back, your gaze trails downwards to see bloody hand-and-footprints marking the side of this accursed wall, a testament to your efforts thus far.
Goddess, you haven't really made it very far at all. The area you landed is still visible with clarity, and you can see the shapes of Fallen in the crack in the earth. One shape takes form, distant and murky– a powerful warrior, taking what she wants and caring little for the consequences. She brands those she fells in combat and takes them as her pawns, laughing with delight as she conquers woman after woman. You could be just like her, joyous and free, if you just let go…
Shaking your head, you turn from the image. A short ways away you see the unwalked path, and no less than three forms coalesce along it. The first is an angel surrounded by women, happily exchanging vows between all of them. She's clearly in love with each and every one, and they return her affection in kind, a perfect harmony of passion linking them.
The second shape on the unwalked path is a stern-faced angel. In her right hand she holds a scale in which she weighs the crimes of the wicked, and she decides where it falls. In her other hand is a blade, long and straight, which she wields to enforce her word. Though her laws are her own, they are consistent, and the punishments she metes out are always just, in their own way.
The final shape of the unmarked path is an eccentric angel, deep in research regarding the mysteries of the world. She has found the answers to a great many mysteries, but each answer only brings more questions. Still, what she has learned so far has benefited her immensely. With a small effort of will she draws upon her magics, balancing on the razor edge of Infernal and Divine to empower both. What more power can be gained by delving into the secrets of the gods?
You look back up this seemingly-insurmountable wall. Two shapes yet persist upon it, stalwartly enduring the pain of their ascent. The first wields her blade in defense of her allies, her very presence shielding them from the wounds and words of her foes. When she fells her foes she inflicts upon them righteous punishment, forcing them to seek clemency. If they will not willingly make amends, she will at least see that wrongs are made right.
The second wields her words before her blade. Her impassioned speeches cleave through the darkest of hearts to free the light within, and with her power she offers even the most wicked of souls a chance to walk her path. When words fail her she draws upon her divine power to drive back the darkness, and even then she always offers a chance for redemption.
You've come this far. You may as well keep going. Gritting your teeth, you continue up the ravine, ignoring the furious feeling you sense from the cavernous gap below.
Justicia
Location: ???
Date: ???
You stare at the statuette in your hands, brushing a finger across it as you ruminate on your thoughts, as you always do. If only you could turn back time, and tell her how much you love her before it became too late. If only you'd spent more time with her– of all your daughters, you saw her the least, and through no fault of hers. If only she didn't look so much like her s……
…… radiant heels click on the polished tiles, providing the only noise in this most secret hall. You deliberately avoid looking at the walls as you make your way to the end of the hall, finally reaching your destination after minutes of walking. Despite your best attempts not to, you still end up read every name out of the corner of your eye along the way. Tamael, My Brilliant Teacher; Veshael, My Swift Protector; Kivael, my Brave Little Feather; Helel, My Morning Star… each and every one …...
……wonder what they would think, if they knew you had this place tucked away. Nothing good, more than likely, and you certainly cannot blame them for that.
Tears prick at your eyes, and you look down at the latest statuette. It took you some time to find something for her wings and hair. In the end, you asked little Kynael for some of that ink she dyed her wings with and soaked them in that. A little smile touches your lips as you remember Mikael telling you about that particular escapade, and the fact that Kynael clearly hasn't entirely abandoned the idea…
……
Finally, you gather yourself and place her next to her siblings. Yet another in a long line of your daughters you have failed. To her right lie another dozen empty spots, for you know she won't be the last. Taking one last moment to……
You're awoken by someone… licking your wing? In an instant you're up, ready to chastise whichever one of your daughters has taken to such a bizarre display of affection.
Fortunately, it turns out your worries regarding your daughters' burgeoning proclivities are unfounded. Fenri looks at you dumbly, her tongue still lolling out of her mouth and her head cocked curiously. "Mistress?"
"When did you… nevermind." She probably smelled you in the middle of the night and snuck into your room. "Why were you licking my wing?" You try and flex said wing to free it from canine saliva, but find that there's an odd twinge to your muscles that wasn't there before. A little cry of protest from your Ava, accompanied by a new and alien sensation as you lightly bop her in her little sleeping face, alerts you to the fact that you've grown a pair overnight.
A second, smaller pair of wings sits above the ones you had last night. While your lower wings are still pitch-black, the new ones are tinged with white at the tips. You twitch your new wing muscles, watching them flap erratically in response. This will take some getting used to…
A thought occurs to you, and with a little effort of will your halo ignites above your forehead. It's less hazy now, more distinct. It lacks a pattern like Tamael's had, but you can see the beginnings of a second, smaller halo within the larger one.
Idly, you reach down and pick up the now-stirring Avariel, cradling her against you and whispering a soft apology for accidentally waking her. Fenri curls up around Soniel, and your youngest daughter subconsciously curls into her in response.
After a little while you manage to lull Ava back to slumber and place her back against her sisters. Retreating from the bed, you make your way outside to test your new appendages. It's not quite to the point where you need to relearn how to fly, but it does throw you off a bit. By the time everyone else is awake, you're soaring through the air with even more grace than before.
Your daughters are the most excited among your housemates at your evolution. More than once you have to pry one of the more athletic girls from your back as they attempt to climb up and touch your new wings. Ava and Zaphi in particular are transfixed, staring at you with what feels uncomfortably close to awe.
"Can I do that too, mama?" Zaphi asks, reaching back to brush her fingers against her wings. Ava looks a little annoyed that she was beaten to the punch, but her eyes fix to you regardless.
"Of course." You say, bending down to pick her up. "It just takes some time, is all." And a lot of risky business, but you're not about to give her any ideas about picking fights to evolve faster. Goddess knows she'll have plenty of time for that in the future. Or better yet, she'll never fight anything and just keep practicing her magic, like a good girl. That would be best.
It takes a while to satisfy the questions and curiosities of eight children, but you finally manage it and they separate to go about their day.
"Don't you look fancy?" Fi asks after the children are all a ways away, poking your side. "Didn't get any taller this time, though."
You bat at her with a lower wing. "Still tall enough to carry you around impaled on my cock, brat." She sticks out her tongue and darts back before you manage to bat her with a wing.
Before you can chase after her, Liane is at your back and feeling up your new wings. "Do they feel any different than the old ones? More sensitive, stronger, that sort of thing?"
You shiver as her fingers send tingles down your wings to your spine. "More sensitive for sure. Fenri woke me up by licking them earlier."
"I'll remember that then." The mage teases. "We'll have to experiment later. Fi tells me you've been to a monster brothel? You'll have to take me sometime. I'd love to see what sort of toys they have."
Before you can reply, an excited Eluvi bolts out of the cottage. "Ariel! I evolved, I– oh! We both did!" She spreads her wings wide, and you realize that they're even larger than before. The combined size of them positively dwarfs the rest of her. Her horns are more prominent as well, and have gained secondary spikes along their upper length, making her seem more aggressive than she actually is.
The two of you compare evolutions for a while, though you're forced to stop when Eluvi rams through two whole trees with a flying tackle. You wince as they topple and you see your nearest daughters dart for their nearest parent, clearly scared by the sudden noise. Soniel rushes to up you, and tearfully clings to your robe.
"Oh, baby…" You lift her up and cuddle her against you. "It's okay, it was just an accident. Everything is fine." She sniffles a little, but then calms with surprising swiftness. Relieved, you go to set her back down and she immediately tears back up, forcing you to carry her for the next half hour as everything is put back into order and all the children are soothed.
Asteria laughs as she tosses the wood into her lumber pile. "I remember how I acted when I evolved. There's always that urge to try out your new muscles. Just be careful that you only hit things that won't hit back." She rubs at a scar on her shoulder subconsciously.
Eluvi looks undeterred. Hell, she's more proud than anything, if you're any judge. "Don't go knocking down any more trees, Eluvi," You warn.
"I won't!" She says defensively. "I was going to find a spawn to try that on instead." Before you can stop her, she's in the air and gone. Goddess, she's fast now.
Whatever. She'll be fine, she's a big girl.
Things are settling down now. You're pretty free, for once– while you want to go back and show off to check on your sister, you can easily leave that until tomorrow and spend some time with your family instead.
You ready yourself for flight, waiting for Eluvi to return so you can borrow the Tome for the trip back. Much to your amusement, she returns pouting and covered in foliage.
"Stupid dragonflies, they aren't even real scalekin…" she mumbles, handing you the Tome before isolating herself in her hoard room. It doesn't seem like you're likely to get an explanation as to what happened to her.
Your own flight is relatively uneventful, and you happily set down at Skask's gate, when a thought occurs to you. If it's the same gate guard as before, how are you going to explain your change?
Sure enough, the red-headed guard is there today. She waves you over, gives you a quick once over, then frowns.
"Aren't you that angel that came here a few days back?" She asks, glancing over your features again. "Yeah, you're the one who was looking for the Sullundr lass. How'd you get those new wings there?"
"I got a promotion. For helping solve a Fallen problem a while back." You say. It's kind-of-sort-of-not-really true.
"Huh." She blinks, then shrugs. "Well, welcome back."
Whew. Truly, your capacity for deception knows no bounds. The Beloved are fortunate that you are a benevolent Fallen.
You're able to get through the church easily enough, now that they know you. It takes a little explaining to confirm that you're the same angel they saw yesterday, but you're eventually shown back to Tamael's office. You notice as you walk through the chapel that many of the more ostentatious displays are being taken down.
"Ariel?" Tamael asks as you enter her office. "Congratulations! I hadn't realized you were so close to evolving, or I'd have asked you to stay last night. I've always wondered what the process looks like in action."
You fake cough. "It's good to see you too, sister."
Her face flushes crimson and she stands to sweep you into her arms. "Of course! It's lovely to see you. You just caught me off-guard, is all."
"Mmhm." You intone with fake skepticism, returning the hug. "Sure. How are you?"
She releases the hug, gesturing for you to sit across from her. "Better than yesterday, I suppose. I'm… trying not to think too much about what I was doing for now. I almost couldn't sleep last night."
You wince. You did kind of finish off by guilting her a bit near the end. "I'm sorry."
She shakes her head, a small smile on her lips. "Don't be. Ah, that actually reminds me…"
Tamael retrieves a rectangular slip of paper from her desk. "One of your friends, the half-elf? She offered to buy our more valuable displays. I have no clue what she wants them for, but we were going to remove them regardless. I'm keeping some to keep the church running, but I want you to have the rest."
You take the slip as she offers it, and see that it's good to be redeemed for a significant amount of actual coinage. "Tamael, I couldn't…"
"Take it." She insists. "I don't want it befouling this place any longer, and I'd like to think I'm at least helping my sister and nieces this way."
When she brings up your girls, you can no longer say no. You pocket the check, resolving to cash it as soon as possible.
(You now possess Wealth 5!)
You discuss her situation for a while, and she assures you that she's got things handled. A memory from your dreams last night stirs within you, and you recall that you can offer Tamael a Contract, to aid her in her quest for redemption.
"I think I can help you a little." You tell Tamael. "As far as trying to be better, I mean."
She frowns. "How so?"
"When I evolved, my Contracts did too. I can give you a Contract to guide you along, and if you fulfill your end of it, you'll get a better chance to walk the same path I do."
She doesn't have to think about it for long. "Very well. What are to be the terms of this contract?"
"You must work to remove the corruption in the upper echelons of Skask's society, so that the city overall will be better off for it."
The two of you hash out the finer details of the Contract, and you are sure to disclose that she will also be compelled to do some good deed on top of it. She actually seems grateful for that, and in no time you feel the distinct tug on the laws of Gaea as your Contract writes itself into existence.
"Hm. I've never been on the receiving end of a Contract before. What an odd feeling." She smiles at you apologetically. "Now, though it pains me to see you leave, sister, I do have much to take care of. Feel free to visit tonight, if you are still in the city."
With that you're out on the street.
You make your way to Khazi's shop, and run into one of her daughters outside once more. Not literally this time, thankfully.
"You're Khel, right?" You ask the gangly adolescent kobold. In response, she gawps at you, turns positively crimson, mumbles something that sounds like an affirmative, and darts into the building.
That was odd. You follow her into the shop, though she's nowhere to be seen. Instead, Khazi and Adai are talking at the counter.
"–you'd think Asmodeus herself had made a pass at her, honestly." Khazi grouses to her.. wife? You're not sure what the two of them are to one another at this point.
"She's just awakening to her instincts, and is easily flustered by attractive women. By the end of the week she will be fine. You should have seen me when Eluviendis first began to show off her wings, I could barely talk with her for longer than a few seconds." Adai assures her, before noticing you. "Angel! I was sorry to hear I missed you during your last visit."
Khazi turns as well. "Well, if it isn't me favorite feathered friend? That's a longer list than ye might think, mind. What can we do for ye?"
"What order are ye looking to put in?" She asks, as you browse the shelves. More than once you feel like someone is watching you as you browse, but when you turn to check no-one is there.
"I was thinking of getting…"
You trawl around the shelves for a while longer, looking for something interesting. In the end, only three things in particular catch your eye.
Sadistbloom Poison - A poison made from a variety of Pandaemonium-native flora. The poison deals no Lust on contact, but every attack the victim suffers afterwards causes a -1 penalty to her next action. This penalty cannot stack beyond -3. Costs 2 Focus to envenom for one combat. Wealth 3.
Wayfinder Jar - This little jar contains a bound faerie, which will unerringly guide whoever opens it to a destination they specify. Wise women know to word their request carefully, however– fae will take whatever loopholes they can to fuck over their captors. Once the destination has been reached the faerie will attempt to flee, necessitating a Perception roll to spot her and a Dexterity roll to catch her. The DC of these rolls increases in difficulty with each use. Wealth 3.
Regeneration Potion - A potion which regenerates HP constantly during a fight. It may be taken as a free action on your turn, recovering 3 HP per round for three rounds. Wealth 3.
You also inform Khazi that you're looking for a flight harness, some children's toys, and potentially some erite, if she can get her hands on some.
"Oh, aye. The first two are easy enough. Some o' the stronger birds get that sort o' thing often enough that there's a few local armorers who know how to do it. I know a goblin toymaker who's pretty damned good at her craft, she'll be able to make whatever ye like." She sighs. "The real problem's the erite."
"That stuff is harder to mine than diamond, and most folk who go near the stuff won't get near it again, for whatever reason. I'll look around to see what I can find, but I can't make ye any promises."
That will have to do.
Flight Harness - A harness that can carry a single passenger. A strong flier could probably carry up to two people, one in the harness and one in their arms. A mischievous flier could lower the harness a bit to give their passenger an unforgettable flight. Wealth 2.
Erite - Raw Erite ore. Incredibly difficult to mine. Wealth 4.
Custom Child's Toys - Custom made toys. Wealth 1.
"I'll take everything." You say, counting out your coinage and handing it over.
"Thank ye kindly!" Khazi gleefully scoops up the cash as you pocket your new goods. "The toys and harness should be ready tomorrow. I can have a harpy deliver 'em, if ye like. The erite will take a while longer."
Do you give Khazi your address? It'll be easier to get the goods, but it also risks word of your daughters getting out, though you can try to convince whoever delivers the package to keep quiet.
You give Khazi directions for a flier to arrive at the cottage, then turn to leave. "Come again s-soon!" An adolescent voice rings out, and you hear objects clatter to the floor as a mortified Khel dashes for the back of the building.
"Khel, ye absolute mongrel! Get back here and clean that up!" Khazi angrily chases after her daughter and you walk out into the night.
You brought the Tome for a reason, so you fly up and read from Eluvi's colorful description of your cottage to soon find yourself at home once more.
You arrive to a small choir's worth of sleepy angels being shepherded to their respective rooms by their mothers. It's bed time for just about everyone, but you can always engage in some exercise before bed…
It is time. You've watched that sexy cow woman walk around with her big muscles and monster tits, and you've just about had it. You're going to go in there, and you're going to fuck her.
Brimming with sexual confidence, you step into the minotaur's room, only to be greeted by Asteria, eyes shut tight and completely nude, with one hand cupping one of her massive breasts and milking herself for all she's worth. The other hand is also milking her, but, ah. Elsewhere.
Goddess, that thing is huge. It resembles nothing so much as a centaur's member, a single slab of red flesh with a flared head with balls sized to match. The scent of beastly arousal hangs heavy in the air, making your head spin. You stand there gawping like an idiot, and she opens her eyes as she feels the cold air from outside of her room encroach on her naked body.
"Ariel." She says, not a hint of embarrassment in her face or voice. "I take it they don't knock in Heaven?"
You blink your way free of the aroused haze settling around you. "I didn't think that you'd be going at it like that."
She shrugs, the motion making her heavy breasts quiver. Her hand is still slowly pumping her shaft, you notice. "You've always been a looker, Ariel, but now you're the sort of woman we went to war to claim back home. It doesn't help that you've evolved, either. You're strong enough to have actual minotaurs now, not just fat-chested milkmakers."
"I am?" You ask, eyes still fixed on her naked body.
She nods. "You've evolved twice. So long as your mate is at least as evolved as you, you'll make monsters as strong as you are now."
She's not making you leave. You can try for a dominant approach, but you get the feeling that no matter what she's going to want to use that thing on you before night's end.
With a shimmy, you drop your robes around you. She stands from the bed, her impressive member jutting straight out at you. "Good. I was hoping to do this with you soon. I can only listen to you fucking your mates so many times before I start to get envious."
She gently but firmly takes your hand and leads you to the seat she was just in, and you're suddenly made aware that the scent you got from the doorway was just the barest taste of her musk. Her cock falls onto your shoulder with a meaty slap, and it's all you can do not to drool on the thing as its warmth seeps into you. "You'll want to get it pretty lubed up. You're bigger than some girls, Ariel, but I've broken ogres before."
Taking her advice to heart, you open your mouth and let your tongue loll onto her pink length. You're rewarded with a slight sigh of satisfaction from the minotaur as her cock jerks up a little, and you feel a dollop of precum drip onto and down your back.
It's an odd thing, blowing someone. You've had a cock in your mouth before, but that was less blowing someone and more getting throat-fucked. You can't really fit Asteria into your unpracticed mouth without hurting yourself, so you're forced to settle for simply lavishing her with as much tongue-attention as you can– which you do with gusto.
Her cock is soft yet firm, and the warmth it emanates makes you feel oddly comfortable even in your horny state. You alternate licking and kissing up and down its length, delighting in every twitch you can elicit from Asteria as you find her member's sensitive spots. Most of those are near the head, as you expected, and it's not long before you're focusing most of your attention on the flared tip of her rod.
Her breathing quickens and she reaches down to squeeze one of your breasts in her large hands, eliciting a moan from you which reverberates up her length. You return the favor by cupping and kneading her heavy balls in your own hand while your tongue swirls around the flares of her cockhead, tracing them and then circling teasingly close to her urethra. The way she squeezes your breasts in response encourages you immensely, and you redouble your efforts.
It's not long before you feel her balls beginning to tense up and hear her low moan as her pleasure reaches its limit, and you fit as much of her head into your mouth as you can despite the pain, desperate not to let her seed go to waste. You almost choke as the first pulse of cum spurts out of her and slams into the back of your throat, but you soldier on, gulping as much of her orgasm down as you can.
Sadly, you're just not prepared for someone who produces as much semen as she does, and your mouth soon floods over, spilling cum out onto your breasts and belly in a white tide. She pulls out of your mouth and does her best to paint the rest of you to match, then sits down beside you, her penis still as hard as it was when you started.
"Chimera, Ariel. I wanted you to lubricate, not make me cum before we even really get started. Here, clean yourself up." She reaches under the table and passes you a rag which you wipe down with, though her scent still clings to you.
"Are you prepared to put your lower lips to work as well?" She asks nonchalantly, and you laugh in response.
"Do you have to put it so vulgarly?"
The minotaur grins at you. "That wasn't a no." She stands, clasping both hands around your waist and lifting you into the air. Her member slides tantalizingly between your cheeks as you come face-to-… well, maybe not face-to-face. Face-to-bust, really, and if you're being honest you almost prefer it this way. She has incredible breasts, somehow simultaneously firm and pillowy-soft.
With a little effort, she manages to slide her sizeable member out from between your cheeks to press between the two of you, eliciting a little moan from you as it presses into your sex on the way.
"I'm still not sure you're ready to take the whole thing," she warns. "If we had a bit more lubricant–"
Annoyance surges through you at her trepidation. You're not a dainty little flower, and you mean to prove it to her. Wriggling in her grasp, you position your slit above her massive rod, shivering as you hear the audible squelch of your arousal against her own. She still holds you firmly in her arms, but with another wiggle you force her to let gravity take its hold on you.
You… may have bitten off a bit more than you can chew. The sheer girth of her flared head makes taking her more of a challenge than Eluvi's tapered tip, but a little covert application of your magic amplifies the fluid flowing from your snatch. Little by little you feel her cockhead stretch your opening, wincing in pain as she rapidly widens you past anything you've ever experience before.
Asteria moves to lift you back up, give you a chance to recover, but you shake your head. Grasping her shoulders, you force yourself downwards. The air is forced from your lungs in a pained gasp as she finally penetrates you, sliding the first few inches in with ease as her flared head finally forces past your entrance.
Asteria's hands shift to squeeze your ass and she moans, low and feral, into your ear. The two of you stay there for a moment, locked in this lewd standing embrace, before her grip tightens and she forces you down another couple of inches.
You shriek in surprise, pain, and pleasure, your body tensing as her absurdly large shaft delves into you, but the minotaur doesn't seem to even notice. "W-wait, Asteria, give me a sec-aaaaAAAA!"
"Goddess, Ariel, you're too much." She whispers as you squeal into her ample bosom. "I was mostly joking when I said that we'd go to war to claim you back home, but now that I'm in you?" She forces another inch in, sending electricity rocketing through your body. "I'd fight a dragon in the nude if it meant I'd get the chance to feel you around me."
Your face flushes in a mixture of embarrassment and arousal as she compliments you. Eluvi said you felt good too, but she out it less… poetically? It's hard to know if that's the right way to put things, with her massive slab of meat currently burying its way into you and making it hard to focus.
"Thank you?" You manage, and she laughs, tugging you back up slightly to claim your lips with her own. You sigh in pleasure and relief as your slightly-abused insides get some relief, but you're soon filled back up again as she starts to thrust up and into you.
You cry out and squeal into her mouth, your tongues twining as she tests the limits of what you can take. Every thrust is like a hammer of electric pleasure that fires through your body in ever-building flashes, and all-too-soon she manages to work the both of you to a simultaneous orgasm.
You thought her load earlier had been a lot, but this one makes it look like a light drizzle. Warm wetness explodes into you as her cock swells, the surging pleasure of your orgasm amplifying as her seed rapidly fills you well past capacity. You feel your lower belly expand very slightly, as her semen has nowhere to go with her cock still firmly planted in you, and you're forced to simply take it, lips still locked with Asteria's, as the two of you shudder and moan your way through your respective climaxes.
Finally, your orgasms subside and she lays you back down on the bed, pulling out of you with an audible pop. Her cum finally finds its way free of you as it oozes out, and she sighs in satisfaction at both the pleasure of her afterglow and the sight of your thoroughly-fucked hole.
You shriek as she flops down next to you suddenly, shaking the bed under her ample muscle weight. "Thank you, Ariel. I needed that."
Crawling up to her head, you give her a light kiss on the cheek. "I'll bet. You've lived alone for how long, now?"
She grimaces. "Years. I can always take care of it myself, but it's not the same. I could also have gone and found a mate, of course, but that presents its own problems." She glances at your belly. "Speaking of, are you planning on using that magic of yours?"
You nod. "I don't think I'm ready to bear a child quite yet, and I sort of want my first to be…" You blush and trail off as you think of your dragonling.
"Say no more." She smiles, caressing your cheek. "I understand. If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me."
"Thanks." The two of you lie in silence for a moment, basking in the remains of your afterglow and the warmth of one another's bodies, when you break it once more. "Would you like to bear my children?"
She laughs, loud and boisterous. "You truly are something, angel. Where I am from, the stronger is always the sire." You open your mouth to apologize, but she places a finger against your lips. "But I am no longer on Kriti, and you have exhibited such rapid growth that I do not doubt you will outmatch me one day."
With that said, her cock fades as your own swells into existence, already rock-hard and ready. She slides down the bed, pulling your legs so that they dangle off the side as she gets down on her knees to service your member.
"It has been a long time since I've done this, but…"
You watch in awe as Asteria hefts both of her massive breasts and rests them on your legs, marveling at the sheer weight of them on you. Awe soon morphs into excitement as she sandwiches your cock between them, opening her mouth drool lubrication onto her tits.
You help her along with a bit of magical prowess, and soon enough her breasts are positively glistening with lubricant. The sight of those mounds shining in the dim light of the room is one you endeavor to engrave in your memory, along with the sensation of their weight and firmness embracing your cock. The only disappointment is that you can't also get sucked off while she's working her tits against your shaft… or can you?
"Oh?" The minotaur intones as you work your magic, causing your member to expand into one that resembles her own. "Well, since you're offering… let me show you how to really work this thing."
With just a little licking around your newly-flared head– Goddess if that doesn't feel amazing, like you've expanded the area of your glans without actually losing any sensitivity– she deems you ready for her to take. She opens wide, taking the fullness of your cockhead into her mouth and lowering her head until you can no longer see your member, buried as it is in her mouth and breasts.
You very quickly realize that this is far from the first time the minotaur has done this, and despite her words earlier she still possess masterful skill at it. She kneads her breasts in time with the bobbing of her head, lifting and dropping them just enough that she's jacking you off with them simultaneously. Her tongue coils around your urethra before straight-up penetrating it, causing your hips to buck as you feel a surge of pleasure unlike anything you've felt before.
She works you over like this for a few minutes, humming to herself as she does so, which of course drives you mad with pleasure as the vibrations make their way into your shaft. All too soon you feel your cum churning just behind your shaft, ready to erupt. She notices it too, and with an audible breathe through her nostrils, forces her head down to impale her throat with your cock.
This is far, far too much for you, already on the brink as you are. You have just enough time to cast your stamina spell before you grunt and unload into her throat, desperately thrusting and bucking beneath the weight of her upper body as her throat undulates around you, milking you for all you're worth. Asteria, as it turns out, can hold her breath for an incredibly long time, and you're well into your post-orgasm tingles by the time she finally releases you from her grasp.
"Not bad," She says, licking her lips and staring at your still-erect member. "And you still look ready for another round. Color me impressed, angel."
With some effort you squirm out from underneath her, gesturing for her to take your place. She obliges, lying with her back on the bed, her nakedness on full display for you. It's hard not to drool at her amazonian figure. Many warrior women would kill to have her figure– she's all rock-hard muscle backed by softness in all the right places. Minotaurs apparently store all of their fat in their tits and ass, if your newest lover is any indication.
"I am flattered that you find me so breathtaking, but I'd prefer if you acted on it." Asteria notes wryly. Her words snap you out of the trance you didn't realize you were in, and you crawl over her as well as you can. Like before, you're not really tall enough to meet her face, but just tall enough to rest your head against her natural cushions, so it all works out.
"Ah, one thing!" You place your palm against her pubic region and she twitches slightly as you engrave your mark on her. "It makes it easier for you to have children." She nods, giving her consent, and you finish the spell.
Satisfied that your preparations are ready, you line yourself up with her lower lips and shudder as your cock brushes against the light bit of pubic hair that tops them, then press against her slit. She adjusts her hips a little to make things a bit easier on you, and you press forward, claiming her more easily than she did you.
She's not the tightest woman you've ever had, which is to be expected thanks to your overall size difference, but she makes up for it with her sheer grip. Her love canal is as well-muscled as the rest of her, and for a moment you fear she's going to break your shaft off in her with how hard she squeezes you. You soldier through her grip, sliding forward to hilt yourself completely within her.
"Oh!" She gasps, as you take a moment to bask in the feeling of her inner walls milking you. "I can't even remember the last time someone filled me this much." Encouraged, you begin to slide in and out of her with long, steady strokes. It's work, admittedly, since you're not really sized for your enhanced shaft, but it's at least enjoyable work. You take the opportunity to suckle and knead her breasts as you pound into her, savoring the salty-sweet taste of her areola as you let everything that isn't the two of you fade from your mind.
Inspiration hits you suddenly, and once more you apply your magic to your penis, splitting the single shaft into two equally-large equine weapons. Asteria moans and wraps her legs around you as you stretch her and you take some satisfaction in this mild bit of vengeance for her stretching you prior. Curious, you lift yourself off her teat to gaze down at her abs and are rewarded by the sight of your twin shafts distorting their shape just slightly, bulging through her muscles.
You continue to slide in and out of her, taking some delight in the discovery that two of your cocks rubbing against one another is a world of pleasure all its own, the flares of your heads both sending spikes of pleasure up your shafts as they brush together. Your breathing quickens as you feel both shafts begin to tingle in the tell-tale signs of an impending orgasm, and you valiantly fight back the sensation. You're not going to cum without making Asteria cum first, damn it.
Speaking of the minotaur, her skin is now slick with sweat as you pound into her, making the bulge of your twin shafts even more evident as her skin shines against the light of the room. You dive back down to assault her breasts, suckling and nipping at them in a voracious onslaught, desperate to bring her to her climax before you explode.
Your efforts prove successful as she cries out, and suddenly your cocks are mashed together deep within her, her inner walls clamping down on your like a vice and immediately pushing you well past your limit. Two thick white streams flood into her womb, and the part of your brain that isn't locked in orgasmic bliss takes satisfaction in watching her belly swell as yours did before.
Also like before, you don't get to stop until she's done. Even if you wanted to pull out, her muscles greedily suck you back in, forcing you to lie against her as she milks you over and over. Eventually, the two of you fall into blissful slumber together, your cocks still firing spurts into her unprotected womb as you drift off. Your last thought of the evening is of how you're never sleeping without this particular pair of pillows again.
As you wake up, you immediately notice two things. Firstly, Asteria's breasts are still incredible pillows– actually, are they bigger than last night? Secondly, your cock has returned to its normal shape, if the cool air on the singular shaft is any indication. With great regret, you pull yourself free from those heavenly orbs and go to bathe away the sexual aftermath before your children wake and ask awkward questions.
Bathing with your new wings is something of a challenge, as you're not really used to all the nooks and crannies they bring to the equation, not to mention how they block angles of washing you were formerly capable of. Fortunately, Asteria follows you not long after you enter the water, helpfully washing your back for you. You return the favor, trying not to think about jumping her bones all over again, and in no time you're washed up and ready for the day.
Your daughters are as quick to rouse as ever, and soon enough they're darting all over the field and getting into trouble. Soniel has apparently convinced Fenri to give her rides everywhere, though your puppy is smart enough to keep her within the field proper. Avariel and her sisters are all practicing martial arts forms with their mother. Sera clings to her mother with a mixture of attachment and obsession that makes you worry a little, especially when she glares at her sisters for getting too close. Zaphi practices magic, and Mary scribbles in one of their mother's spare journals.
Asteria smiles as she watches your children play, and places one hand on her belly. "If I'm not mistaken, we'll be adding at least one more to their number soon."
"You can tell?" You ask, surprised, and she nods.
"My breasts are already swelling." It wasn't your imagination this morning, then. "I will have your priestess confirm the number later. For now, I will get in what work I can while they are small."
With that, she's off, and you're left to consider your morning.
You spent a lot of money yesterday, you realize. It may be time to use the Idol, so that you'll always have at least enough to keep your girls fed and happy.
The Idol currently rests in Eluvi's hoard room, watched over by your dragonling along with the rest of her junk valuables. "Ariel!" She pops up as she sees you. "Turn on your halo! Please?"
You oblige her and her eyes practically sparkle as your light reflects off her treasures, lulling her into a hypnotic trance from which you doubt you'll stir her any time soon. Hopefully you can get out of here without her trying to make you an actual part of her hoard…
The Idol is as you remember it. The vessel waits patiently for you to fill it, and the demoness represented by the statue seems to promise you great rewards if only you'll use her artifact…
Eluvi shrieks in horror as she watches your money disappear into the open container, but immediately coos in delight when a veritable waterfall of gold pours out in return. She quickly takes a sizeable chunk of it and pads her hoard, while you pour the rest into your pouch.
As advertised, the gold refills to a certain point no matter how much you take. You can see how this sort of thing would be dangerous…
A soft "ahem" from the doorway draws you attention, making Eluvi fan her wings out over her hoard and tense her muscles.
"Relax, you overgrown lizard." Fi rolls her eyes. "Me an' Merin figured it's about time you talked about what happened to you, though. You said you'd do it when everyone was here to hear it."
That you did. You swallow down your instinctive defensiveness as the memories stir to the forefront of your mind, but nod anyways. The only thing that makes you worry is whether your daughters will be present– you can sanitize the story enough that you're not worried about exposing them to anything age-inappropriate, but you're not sure you want them knowing what happened to you regardless. How are they supposed to trust you to keep them safe if you couldn't even protect yourself? Besides, they're still young. You don't want to make the world out to be a terrifying place for them.
"Will my babies be there?" You ask Fi, and she shrugs.
"Asteria says she can keep an eye on 'em for a bit, if you want 'em out of it for a while. Fenri can be there too in case they get to be too out of hand."
It sounds like it's up to you then. Do you want your children there? The story will have to be pared down a bit, but the adults will still get the gist of things.
"Let's have Asteria take them. I'll tell them when they're older." Fi shrugs, then leaves to pass on the message.
The adults, sans Fenri and Asteria, gather in your room to listen to your tale. You all sit upon your rather large bed, Liane and Sybil are either side of you leaning in, while Fi sits in your lap. Eva and Merin both sit a short ways in front of you, ready to join the cuddle pile at a moment's notice.
"So…" You say, unsure of how to really begin. "I had a nightmare a few days ago. It's one I used to have often, and I promised Merin I would speak about it to all of you at once."
There's silence in the room, though their body language is reassuring, and you continue. "The nightmare was about my Fall. I know I've already told you a little about it, but if you want I can tell you more. From everyone involved, to how… it happened, to how it felt to Fall. You all deserve that much from me, at least."
"You don't have to tell us anything you don't want to, love." Evara says. "But if it will help you recover, then we are always ready to listen."
It's easier to do this when you sort of just… let go. So that's what you do. You start with the woman you most credit for your Fall, even moreso than Nael herself.
"Lita was– and still is, probably– a junior priestess, just like Sybil. She's not very talented magically, but she's a a very good fighter, and she knew her way around social situations pretty well. I gathered that she was some sort of nobility, which is how she ended up with an angel assigned to her despite her station. I was told to watch over her, but not why, or for how long I was expected to do so. Lita herself never seemed to have any real goal that drove her beyond adventuring for the sake of it."
"Regardless, she was likeable enough, if you pushed past her cocksureness. I chastised her often for biting off more than she could chew, but since we always came out alright– thanks to me, I might add– she never really took my words to heart. Sometimes we came out with considerably more than we went in with. More than one of her party members was another adventurer we saved from some mess or another. Scarlet, for example, we saved from a mimic in one of our dungeon forays. In retrospect, she was probably looking for the Idol when we found her."
"Being with Lita was often frustrating, but I'd been on worse assignments. Watching some pampered brat was a relatively easy matter. Hell, it was practically a vacation, compared to sneaking into the heart of monster camps to poison their leaders, or fleeing a horde of gnolls in the heart of their territory. Still, she grated on me over time. You can only take so much of a woman who has lived for a fraction of a fraction of your lifetime ignoring your advice because she thinks she's invincible."
"I remember the day of my Fall being especially vexing. As I said, Lita never had any particular goal of her own, so when Scarlet came forth with her treasure hunt Lita latched onto it like drowning woman to driftwood. I must have told her at least ten times that morning alone that going so deep into the dungeon was far more dangerous than she was willing to give credit, but as usual she ignored me."
You pause, taking a breath. Liane and Sybil both rest their heads on your shoulder while Eva and Merin hold each hand. Fi is pressed against your body, and you feel your wings twitch inwards a little.
"I should have realized that something was wrong sooner. We got much farther into the dungeon than we should have, without seeing so much as a slightly randy goblin. Looking back on it now, I can't help but wonder whether Nael knew we were there from the beginning, somehow, and was luring us deeper in." You shiver at the mere thought of dancing on that thing's strings like a puppet, prancing deeper and deeper at her whim before she struck. Fi squeezes her arms around you, and you calm.
"When we reached the Garden I knew for sure something was wrong. I could feel her watching us, even if I didn't realize it quite yet. Watching me. Lita, that idiot child, finally listened to me when I told her we had to leave immediately… but it was too late. I didn't even realize what had happened at first. One second I was heading back towards the tunnels, the next I had been slammed to the ground by something huge and heavy. I heard shouting, but I couldn't make out what it was from beneath her coils. It didn't take me long to realize they'd left me. Then I heard her whisper."
You're shaking again as you recall her voice, surprisingly soft and luscious, but with a hard-edged cruelty that sent shivers down your spine from the moment you heard it.
'What a rare delight you are, my little morsel. I've never broken an angel before… ah, don't be so afraid, darling. You'll learn to love the pain, I promise.'
'Squirm for me, darling. I do so love a good struggle. Ah! Just a little more and you might break free~'
'Do you like my gift, darling? How it burns through your veins? I do hope so. I have so very much of it to give.'
"She was cruel. I'd seen monsters take women before. I'd seen gnolls take women before. She makes them all look like the amateurs. Her venom makes you feel pleasure when you feel pain, and vice versa. She makes you like it when she hurts you, and hate when she makes you feel good, and no matter what she does you always feel both."
"Ari…" You're not really sure who said it, but you keep going, everything spilling out of you like a broken dam.
"By far her cruelest trick was giving me hope, only to rip it away after. I don't know how, but she knew enough to know that taking my chastity would cause me to Fall, and she knew how much that scared me. So she let me 'escape'. I flew with everything I was worth for freedom, with her hot on my heels, losing her for a short time before she found me again. The last time–" You hiccup, only dimly aware that you're crying. "–the last time I could hear the Watchers singing. She let me get all the way there, to the point that I finally thought I was safe, then grabbed me."
"She laughed when she told me she'd been right ahead of me the entire time. After that, I just… didn't have any fight left in me. So she dragged me back to the Garden, and had her fun. She told me she'd be back for me, just to torment me, and left."
"Then I Fell."
"As bad as Nael was, Falling was worse. I was left in the aftermath of my assault, aching and confused, when suddenly I felt… amazing. Like all the pleasure I'd even been denied hit me at once. It was magical, and uplifting, and I wondered what I'd been afraid of. It was like some other, newer Ariel was waking up to the world, and she wanted to share that pleasure with all of her sisters. And then I felt Her watching me. My Mother."
Sybil tenses up as you mention her Goddess. Part of you feels bad that you're probably about to damage her idol in her eyes, but you continue nonetheless. "I knew right away that I was damned. I begged her not to, but she reached down and tore away every gift she had ever given me. My magic, my blessings, my family. Everything. It hurt more than anything I could have ever imagined. But what was worse was when she just left me there."
"Without her power, something else started to take hold. It was like a thousand tendrils of hate and lust and madness all flooding through my soul, threatening to completely replace what little of me there was. Then I felt someone else watching me. She reached out, grabbed those tendrils, and squeezed them into a little ball."
You place your hand over your heart, where you still feel traces of the madness from that day. It's grown far smaller now, thanks to you never nourishing it. "I didn't know who she was at the time, but I can make an educated guess now. I could tell that she loved me, at least. When she was done she let me know as much, then left me."
"After that, I curled up and cried for a little while. I knew I had to leave, though, since Nael might come back. So I did. I found my way out of the dungeon, and into the woods. Then I meandered about for a while, trying to decide what to do. I chose to go to Latchky, and you know the rest."
At some point during your story you ended up absolutely smothered by your Beloved lovers (and Eluvi), the center of a ball of bodies that, while a lovely gesture, is starting to get rather sweaty. Still, you bask in the feeling for a little while as they hold you, letting the last vestiges of your terrible tale drift away.
Eva was right. You really do feel better. Before it was like you were hiding something to be ashamed of. Now it's out there, and no-one is treating you worse for it. Not that you ever really thought they would, but… well. The fear was always there, irrational though it was.
The ball separates into its component parts, and Eva clasps your hand with both of her own. "Thank you for sharing, love. I know it wasn't easy."
It really wasn't. Still, it did help, and you tell her as much. Liane leans back into you, monopolizing your body now that the others have released you. "The way you describe the Fall sounds… awful. Like something out of a nightmare."
You shiver. "I did have nightmares about it for a while after. I think hearing about Tamael brought it back to the forefront, which is why I had it again that night."
"Who do you think helped you at the end?" Merin asks. "You said you had a guess."
You nod. "Most Beloved know some details about the Fall, thanks to church doctrine. There's a bit about Asmodeus being responsible for part of it, how she brands us with her Infernal power. It's also sort of an open secret that she really likes us, despite her children not sharing her opinion. So she's sort of the most likely candidate, but seeing as I've never had the chance to ask…"
"The Mother of Sin is known to hold affection for her sisters, yes." Sybil acknowledges. If your story has rattled her faith, she's currently hiding it for your sake. "And I cannot think of any other who would have the power, means, or intention to aid you in such a way."
"I sort of forget that the Goddesses we all hear about in stories and legend are just… part of your life." Fi pipes in. "It's sort of weird hearing you talk about how Asmodeus loves you personally after Justicia herself left you to rot."
Sybil winces. Yep, she's definitely holding it in for your sake.
Merin notices too, and guides the conversation elsewhere. "Well, weird or not, you're the woman we've chosen to be with. Maybe one day we'll get to invite your sister to our wedding as thanks for her help?" She jokes.
Fi laughs. "Ha! It'd almost be worth the Inquisition coming down us."
With the mood lightened, discussion regarding your Fall peters off and you collectively decide to put your past behind you for now, before one of your daughters can cause more trouble than the two Beasts outside can handle.
Luckily, nothing has been horribly destroyed in your absence, though it turns out that there are in fact three Beasts in the field. A blue-and-white-feathered, dark-skinned harpy stands in the field surrounded by a throng of curious little Fallen.
"Your wings are pretty! Did you paint them that way?"
"Is that box for me?"
"What's that on your legs?"
"Girls!" You bark, and your daughters collectively turn towards you. "Leave the nice lady alone."
The pout, but slink away from her nonetheless.
"They were fine." She laughs. "You're Ariel? Sign, please." She lifts her leg, and you see a scroll tied to it. You unroll it and sign your name, tying it back to her leg. "Thanks. Some girls just hand it back, as if I can tie the damn thing myself."
With her other leg, she deposits a box of goods for you. "One flight harness, a bundle of kids toys," she looks meaningfully at the little devils, "and…"
"… a letter." Said letter currently rests atop the other goods, and it's tellingly short.
Ariel,
Found a seller for the ore you're after. Should be here two days after the others. Tell the bird if you'd like to have her deliver it then. If not, I'll hold it until you pick it up.
Khazi Khalnad
Would you like to have the harpy deliver the ore, or will you pick it up yourself?
You tuck the letter away. "Thanks for the delivery."
"It's my job," She says, cheerily. "Not that I hate it or anything. Cute kids, by the way. I didn't know they made angels that way."
Shit.
"I'm a Fallen Angel, actually." You admit. "They are too."
"Oh." She blinks, glancing again at the girls. "That makes more sense, yeah."
You cough, drawing her attention back to you. "I'd appreciate if you could keep quiet about that, and them. I don't want inquisitors hunting my girls."
She nods quickly, clearly horrified by the idea. "Of course! We're not really supposed to talk about our clientele anyways, unless they're having us deliver something illegal or dangerous. Your secret is safe with me." She holds one forewing out. "I'm Shëo, by the way."
You shake her wing. "Ariel."
"Well, Ariel, as lovely as it was meeting you and the kids, I've got other deliveries. I'll tell the bosses that you request my services specifically in the future, that way you don't have to explain the little ones every time."
You tell her you appreciate it and she takes off, leaving you with a box of delivered goods. As soon as she's gone your little devils are crowding back around you and the box, apparently taking your earlier statement to leave her alone literally– now that she's gone, everything else is fair game.
"Did she say there were toys earlier?"
"Is one a puppy?"
"Ava pushed me!"
"I did."
You sigh. Goddess knows you love them, but sometimes you can sort of see why Asteria moved to the middle of nowhere.
Once every one of your daughters is given her fair share of toys (you had the foresight to get extras, since you're fully expecting to make more kids), they all happily go about playing with them. There was indeed a stuffed toy puppy, which Soniel delightedly shows to your puppy. Zaphi got a little toy staff, while her sister is single-mindedly focused on drawing the toy angel that she claimed. Ava and her sisters all claimed the toy weapons, though you sternly warn them not to use them on each other or their other sisters. Something tells you that warning may need to be repeated, however. Sera chose a simple dolly, though it doesn't escape your notice that its long black hair makes it slightly resemble Sybil.
Goddess, you know you can't trust them not to try and hit each other at least once with those things. You sigh, and make your way over to your quadruplets, who are currently showing off their weapons to their mother.
"A ribbon. An interesting choice, Tianshi. Why did you choose that one?" Ju asks, gently.
"I like how it sounds." Your daughter answers, flicking the ribbon out so that it snaps. "And I can wrap things up with it! I think."
"You can." Ju confirms. "It will take practice, though. Daggers, Mei?"
"Like mama and Fi!"
Ju chuckles. "I see. And a staff for Liangyu. An excellent choice. Versatile, and the reach will help keep your foes at bay."
Finally, she comes to her eldest. "What did you pick, Avariel?"
Ava holds up a little puzzle toy. It's a pair of interlocked metal loops, which one can apparently separate somehow. You could probably figure it out, but you don't want to rob her of the accomplishment. "I do not need a weapon. I have my own."
"I see. Honing the mind and the body." Ju smiles and ruffles Ava's hair in a gesture you've only ever seen her give to her children. Ava, for her part, endures this display with only mild annoyance.
"Ariel." She looks up as you finish your approach. "Come to make sure they are not striking one another down as soon as they leave your watchful gaze?"
"Of course not." You sniff. Damn, she's perceptive. "I just want to train with my girls today."
"Oh?" She stands, brushing her knees free of grass and dirt. "Then you have come at a good time. We were just about to go through our stretches, if you would join us."
What Ju calls "stretches" you're pretty sure normal people call "torture." You're certain limbs aren't supposed to bend that far unless they're broken, and she shouldn't be allowed to come up with wing stretches at all, because she doesn't have any.
When you inform her of this fact, she proudly tells you that Ava came up with them, and you don't want to hurt your baby's feelings so you are forced to endure them.
Despite the ample pain you endure, you hold your own fairly well. By the end of it all, you're actually adding a few tricks here and there for your daughters to follow, which they quickly adapt to. Ava in particular takes her wing exercises very seriously, and rapidly takes to your instruction regarding them.
When it's all over, you're left with pains in muscles you didn't know you had, but you feel oddly refreshed. "I never really thought to stretch my wings before," you admit, patting Ava's head. "I'm not an expert, but I think yours are pretty good."
Preening would be beneath your most stoic daughter, but she does stand a little taller under your praise. "I worked hard on them."
"I can tell." You say, lifting her in your arms. She frowns, but begrudgingly allows you to manhandle her. "Oh, don't be like that. I won't be able to pick you girls up for much longer. Let me enjoy it while I can."
"Yes, mother." She says, resting her head against your shoulder. Despite her outward dislike of being picked up, you can tell she enjoys the affection. "Do you think my wings will be strong enough to fly soon?" She asks, surprising you.
"Is that why you made them?" You ask. She's silent, but she nods after a moment. "I don't know, Ava. I can't remember the first time I flew, but I know it took some time. Mikael– your aunt– probably remembers, but I'm not really able to ask her right now."
"My aunt?" She asks.
"Mmhm." You confirm. "Er, my sister. You have lots of aunts, actually. Kynael is another. Actually, when was her first flight…?" You cradle Ava against you as you recall Kynael excitedly flapping around the gardens for the first time before crashing into one of Mikael's flowerbeds.
Your older sister wanted to spank both of you at first, but you convinced her that it was your fault, and it might taint what should be a very happy memory for Kynael. Your dear little sister never did find out just how close she came to disaster that day.
"Hmm… I'd say you're all pretty close to flying. Normal angels age a little differently than you do, but you should be able to fly right around the time you start really growing."
Her little wings flap excitedly. "When will that be?"
"Soon? You're already getting big. Maybe the middle of next week, at the latest."
Maybe you shouldn't have said anything. Avariel seems simultaneously excited and disappointed, since to her a few days is quite literally a third of her life up to this point. Still, you see her immediately go back to her stretches, though Ju quickly tells her not to overdo it.
(You have learned Athletics Rank 1.)
You spend some more time with the quadruplets before the suns starts to really fall.
Your everything hurts, so you think it's maybe time to do something more relaxing, and both Sybil and Liane are currently doing just that in the living room. The twins are currently in the corner committed to their respective passions, while Sera is, predictably, attached to her mother's hip.
You sit between your two lovers, and they reflexively lean their heads on your shoulders. "Did you have fun stretching, hun?" Liane asks, the little laugh hidden behind her tone telling you she knows that you very much did not.
"I did." You lie, in case one of the quadruplets is around to hear. "How was your day?"
"Oh, it was fine. Zaphi keeps trying to throw magic missiles at birds, and I caught Mary trying to sneak into the forest to draw a squirrel she saw, but at this point I'm used to both."
You laugh. "I'll tell Fenri to keep an eye out for them too. She's pretty quick to catch them when they wander off."
She rolls her eyes. "If you can get her away from Soniel. That girl has your hound wrapped around her little finger. She may have gotten Eva's looks, but she got your silver tongue."
Huh. You may want to look into that. Not that Soniel getting close to Fenri is a bad thing, but you'd like for the lycanthrope to be close to all your children, not just the one.
"What about you, Sybil?" The priestess jumps a little in surprise, before turning to you.
"Hm? Oh! It was a normal day, really. Sera played with her new doll, but she otherwise acted as she usually does. The other girls…" She sighs, glancing down at Sera, who is indeed primarily concerned with her doll. "… do not come near me as much anymore."
She doesn't need to spell out why. You're probably going to need to talk to Sera soon, before her obsession with her mother spirals out of control. You shudder to think how she'll react if Sybil has to leave the cottage for a while.
"Are you alright?" You ask her.
"Oh, it's fine. I just wish she'd get along more with her sisters."
"Not that." You say, kissing her forehead. "But that is something we need to work on. I mean are you alright after our talk this morning?"
She goes silent, and Sera glances up at the two of you. Your third daughter's golden eyes bore into you, until she decides that you haven't caused her mother any actual distress and turns back to her doll.
"I just… I devoted my everything to Her teachings, Ariel. I strove to bring order to the darkest places, to brighten the lives of those who had nothing. To hear that she would abandon you so, in your darkest hour?" A tear falls down her cheek and her voice quavers. This time, Sera's eyes are a sharp glare when she looks at you, but Sybil gently pats her head to quell her ire.
"I want to believe that she had a reason, but then I feel terrible for even wanting that. I love you too much, and I cannot imagine what possible justification there could be to do that to you… but if She did not have one, then what have I lived my life for?"
Sybil is currently suffering an existential crisis. How the hell do you respond?
"Just because someone doesn't follow their own teachings doesn't mean they're wrong, my love." You place your hand around her shoulder and pull her closer. "You've already done so many good things. Hell, you were such a pure-hearted person that I could barely stand to be around you before, remember?" She smiles and blushes a little through her tears. "If following my Mother's teachings made you such a wonderful woman, then what does it matter that She might not follow them Herself?"
"I suppose…" She says, contemplating your words.
"But before you go writing my Mother off completely, I should tell you about another dream I had." You say, and she looks up at you with hope in her eyes. "Both times I evolved, I had a dream where I was walking through a hall of statuettes, mourning the children I had lost."
You pause, letting your words sink in, then you continue. "Last time, I realized I was Mother in my dream, not myself. The statuettes were all handmade by her to remember us by. There was one for Tamael, one for Helel…" Sybil shudders and makes the Sign of Order at the mention of the most notorious Fallen Angel. "Each one had a little engraving. 'My Morning Star,' 'My Little Feather,' and so on. Then there was the one she was carrying. I'm pretty sure it was for me– I remembered her asking Kynael for the dye she used, because she couldn't find a suitable black for my wings and hair."
"I'd like to meet her someday." Sybil smiles. "Kynael, I mean. You talk about her so much, it makes me curious."
"She's… something." You say, grinning at the memory of your worshipful little sister. "Maybe one day you can. But my point is, my Mother clearly cares about us if she's willing to make this hall just to remember us by. Hell, she clearly knew where I was when I Fell, but there are no archangels or Inquisitor squads in sight. If she really hated us, she could send them after us in a heartbeat. Maybe there is a reason she has to leave us the way she does, and it's just something that she keeps secret for some important reason?"
She nods. "Maybe. I… I do worry that it may be a reach, but… I would like to believe. If it does not hurt you that I still hold faith in Her–"
"It doesn't." You press your lips to hers, and note the feeling of absolute outrage you feel from Sera. You really need to talk to her, but for now… "Whatever the case, as horrible as my Fall was? I'm glad I at least got to be with you because of it."
You turn to claim Liane's lips as well. "And you too, my lovely witch." She laughs, returns the kiss, and closes her book.
"It's time for bed, girls. Say good night to mama." Zaphi and Mary each give you a kiss goodnight, then follow their mother to their room.
Sybil does the same, and while Sera gives you a genuine kiss on the cheek, you still sense some antipathy from her. You watch her as she follows Sybil to her room, clearly confused by the conflicting emotions she's currently thrall to.
It's time for bed. You could engage in your normal coital activities, but you're now aware of two of your daughters becoming a bit of a problem. Sera in particular could use a talking to, for her sake as well.
"Sera, sweetie?" You poke your head into Sybil's room, and your daughter turns her golden eyes towards you. "Could you come talk with me for a minute?"
She clearly doesn't want to leave her mother's side, but Sybil gently encourages her to go with you. Sera acquiesces when you agree to allow her to bring her doll along, trotting over to you with defeat writ plain on her face. The priestess shoots you a thankful look, realizing what you're doing.
You gently take Sera's hand in your own, realizing that you haven't actually done so in some time, now. It's bigger than you remember it, and her grip is just slightly stronger. Once again, you're left a little sad at how quickly your girls are growing up, and how little time you'll have with them relying on you like this.
You bring her back to the couch and sit her down in your lap. Your little devil fiddles with her doll for a moment before you break the silence.
"Sera." She looks up at you. "Why were you mad earlier?"
She's turns back to her doll, brushing its hair, and remains silent for long enough that you worry she's ignoring you. When she does speak, you realize it's been a while since you've actually heard her do so. Her voice is soft, clear, and steady, the perfect mix of both your and Sybil's own tones.
"You made mommy cry."
That's not entirely untrue, and you doubt the particulars of the situation are going to matter much to her prepubescent mind. "I didn't mean to make her cry, and I am sorry that I did, but that's not the only reason you were mad."
She shakes her head. "I don't like it when you kiss her." Well, at least she admits it.
"Why not?" You ask, gently prodding.
She stops playing with her doll, looking back to stare you directly in the eyes. "Because she's my mommy. Zaphi, and Mary, and Soni, and everyone else thinks they can take her away from me, even though they have their own mommies. You have other girlfriends. My mommy is mine."
If she weren't your daughter you'd be incredibly unnerved. As it is, you're only mostly unnerved by her unblinking stare, as you consider how to respond to her declaration of ownership over her mother.
"Sera." You say, softly but firmly. "Your mother does not belong to anyone. She's her own person, and neither you nor I can change that."
Her face twists in frustration. "She's mine. You have other ladies. My sisters have their mommies. Why can't she just be mine?"
"Because it makes her sad when she sees you scaring everyone away from her, Sera." She flinches.
"I don't make her sad." She denies, shaking her head wildly.
You place your hand on her shoulder and squeeze it lightly. "I know you don't mean to, baby, but you do. Every time you scare away your sisters it makes her sad. Every time you glare at someone who gets close, it makes her sad. Sybil loves everyone, and it breaks her heart to see them driven away by her own little girl."
She continues wildly shaking in your arms. "I don't make her sad. I don't, I don't, I DON'T!"
For the first time in a while, you've got a full-blown tantrum on your hands.
Calling to mind the many times you were disciplined by Mikael, you infuse your voice with that unmistakable quality of parental authority. "ENOUGH, Seraphiel." Sera freezes. None of your daughters have ever been seriously scolded by you before, but it would appear she gets to be the lucky loser in that regard.
"I understand that you love your mother, and that it makes you jealous when other girls get close to her. But acting like you are right now hurts her. You can either accept that, and stop hurting her because you love her, or you can decide that it's more important for you to feel like she's yours, and keep on breaking her heart."
She stares at you, eyes wide and watery, before she starts bawling in your lap. You relent and give her a hug, because you realize you've probably just scared her witless. The first time Mikael used that tone with you, you cried for a week. You're not really as intimidating as she is, but it's still probably a hell of a shock for Sera.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart." You coo, soothingly running your fingers through her hair. "But you can't keep acting like this. It doesn't just make your mommy sad because she can't talk to your sisters. It makes her sad that you can't talk to them either. She wants you to love your sisters, not hate them."
She continues crying in your arms, though she does calm enough to be coherent after a few minutes. "But what if they hate me?" You release her and pull her back, making her meet your eyes.
"Then you do your best to make up for being mean to them, and see if that fixes things. And if not… then at least you tried, and you'll know to be better to any of your new sisters when they show up." You cup her cheek reassuringly. "But you and your sisters are young. There's still plenty of time to make up for mistakes, and to learn to get along. It may be hard, but it will be worth it. I promise."
She continues to sniffle, holding her doll tightly. "Do you hate me?"
"Of course not, baby!" You pull her back into a hug, holding her tightly against you. "Why would you think that?"
"Because I got mad when you kissed mommy, and I was mean to you. Because I'm mean to everybody."
Sometimes you forget how much more extreme things can feel to a child. It's not like your own childhood is fresh in your memory, and Kynael exited what you affectionately refer to as her problem years over a century ago.
"I could never hate you, Sera. You're my little girl, and I will always love you– but that doesn't mean that I won't get upset when you do bad things. I want you to be happy, and healthy, no matter what form that takes. I wouldn't be talking to you right now if I wasn't worried that you'd end up hurting yourself by acting like you have been."
She returns your embrace, squeezing you with all the might her little arms can muster. "I don't hate you either, mama."
You smile a little at the fact that she felt the need to say as much. "I'm glad to hear that."
The two of you linger together for a moment before splitting once more, and you notice that Sera quickly goes back to fussing over her doll. "Does she have a name?" You ask, idly running your fingers through your daughter's hair.
She shakes her head no, almost dislodging your hand in the process.
"Do you want her to have a name?"
"I don't know." She admits. "I just picked her because she looks like mommy."
Well, you expected as much when you saw her pick that particular doll. It's hardly a dead ringer for your priestess, but the long black hair is pretty close to hers. "You've been playing a lot with her." You note, and your heart jumps for joy at the sight of the smile that tugs at the corners of Sera's lips.
"I like her. I can play with her without worrying about…" The smile vanishes, breaking your heart all over again, and she looks back at you with some hesitation. "... without worrying about her taking mommy from me."
"Oh." A revelation hits you at her words and you rub her head sympathetically, making her lean into your hand in response. "I think I see now."
"See what?" She asks, curiosity replacing the hesitation in her eyes.
You chew on your lip, wondering how to explain it to a child without it coming across as too much of a lecture or making it fly over her head. "I think you're lonely, sweetheart." You say, finally.
She frowns, and you continue. "You want someone to play with, but you've never wanted to share your mother. Your new doll," You nod to the doll. "Is someone you can be friends with without worrying about that."
Sera is silent for a while, then nods, so you go on. "Tomorrow, once you've apologized to your sisters, maybe you can play with them for a little while. Just to see if you like it as much as you like playing with your new little friend."
"... okay. I'll try." She replies, a little worry in her voice, and you give her hand a gentle squeeze.
"That's all I ask. It will make Sybil very happy, too." Not to mention Sera herself, but that's something you think she's going to need to see with her own eyes to believe.
It seems clear to you now that, despite it all, Sera really wants a friend. Her aggressive monopolization of her mother makes that difficult, though, hence her newfound fixation with her doll.
You'll have to talk to Sybil in the morning and have her make it abundantly clear that she'll always adore Sera regardless of what happens. It's one thing to hear you say it, but another to hear it directly from her mother herself. Between that and your talk this evening, Sera's issues should abate.
Thanks to your intervention, Seraphiel is no longer in the thrall of the sins of Wrath, Gluttony, and Envy. Her path shall be a bit erratic, but she will never again walk the road to sin without a major change.
A tiny yawn breaks you from your thoughts and you look down to see your daughter sleepily rubbing her eyes. It's adorable, and you can't help but lean down and give her a few quick kisses on her cheeks, making her giggle in delight and embarrassment.
"Come on, my sleepy little angel. I've kept you up long enough." Lifting her and her doll in your arms, you make your way back to Sybil's bedroom and lie down, placing Sera between the two of you.
The priestess stirs, eye's opening a little, and she smiles at the two of you. "Everything alright?" She asks, sleepily.
"Yes," You reply. "I think everything will be fine now." Sera wriggles around a little between you, trying to find a good spot to rest her little wings, and you give her a quick hand. "Tuck them around you, baby. Like that, see?"
She does so, and you wrap your arms around and across her, pulling both of them close to you. "Sleep tight. I love you both."
They each respond in kind, then affirm their love for one another, and you lie there basking in their warmth until sleep takes you.