Out of the Shadows, Part 27


You lie back, each of your arms holding a naked heroine, as you ponder your options for the coming day, until at last you settle on a course of action. Only once you've settled the matter in your mind do you allow yourself to fall asleep, settling into the embrace of the Dream Realm for the relatively brief period your demonic nature requires.

You awaken to a most pleasant sensation. Opening your eyes and looking down the length of your body, you see Verika giving you a vigorous blowjob. She glances up to meet your eyes as you awaken without stopping her service, one hand brushing some white hair out of her face while the other stabs into her cunt.

There's a look of challenge in the drow's gaze, a look of defiant sensuality as she pleasures you. She wants to prove that she's no blushing virgin, despite—and most likely, because of—how overwhelmed she was last night. With the level of skill she's showing right now, she's clearly no stranger to a roll in the hay. And, though her skill and experience still pale in comparison to yours, you can respect the desire to assert her own ability.

With a smile of tolerant approval, you place your hand on Verika's head in a gesture that is part caress, part control, guiding her movements with the lightest of pressure. She follows your lead, frigging herself even harder as she submits to you, eyes still locked with yours. When you finally release, she manages to swallow a great deal of your aphrodisiac-laced cum, triggering an orgasm in herself that leaves her slumped and twitching between your legs, nuzzling your crotch.

Eventually she recovers enough to crawl sultrily back up along your body, putting on a deliberate show for you. She lowers herself onto you, breasts pressing against your chest, and leans to whisper into your ear. "What are you going to do with me, Talavar?"

"Why spoil the surprise?" you murmur back. "At any rate, the most important thing right now is finishing things with the Matriarch... and I think I know exactly how we can do it."

You and the other members of last night's orgy quietly make yourselves presentable again, making liberal use of Belan's cleaning cantrip. Then you have Belan light his spell-light again, and wake the slumbering gnomes. Once that is done, you lay out your plan: Belan using a distant illusion to draw the Matriarch's weapon, allowing Relis, Khaytala and Verika to rescue the hostages, while you deal with the Matriarch and Emdyr goes after the tormentor who inflicted his fate on him.

The precise details of how you're going to deal with the Matriarch you leave vague, but you can tell that Verika now understands what you plan on doing to her sister... and that she's fighting back a shameful arousal at the thought.

You eat one last, somber meal in your camp before heading out. As you wind your way through the tunnels toward the city, Belan leading the way with his light, Emdyr falls into step alongside you. He walks in awkward silence for a while, before speaking up. "Ummm..." he begins quietly. "I... wanted to thank you again. For helping to rescue my mother and sister. And for... uh, well... everything that I... got to experience, because you got me out of there."

"Really, it's Khaytala you should be thanking," you say, putting on a show of humility. "I'm just a simple tiefling who tries to give her support."

Emdyr shoots you a knowing look. "I'm pretty sure you're more than just a tiefling," he says. "I might not have been able to recognize you from sight, but after last night... well, I might not have been able to see very much of what everyone else was doing. But I wasn't asleep, and I could hear. And I know the stories enough to put two and two together."

You give him a measured look, but he doesn't seem inclined to make a fuss. Perhaps recent events—especially last night—have given a different light to his view of such stories.

Silence falls for a while as you continue on, until the gnome speaks up again. Hesitantly. Anxiously. "But... if you were... like in the stories..." he begins. "That would mean... you would know what happens... next. To mortals like us, I mean. You'd really, truly know. Not just what we hear from our parents, or our priests."

"No one knows everything," you observe neutrally. "Even if I were what you think I am... I'd only know about my own corner of the afterlife with that kind of certainty. Anything else would be what I'd heard from others. Not so very different from hearing it through your clergy."

Emdyr gives a nervous chuckle. "Well... after last night, your corner of the afterlife may be where I'm headed anyway."

You snort. "Hardly. If all it took was one single tryst to send you to the Second Circle, then... Well. The other afterlives would be a lot more deserted than they are."

"Really?" The gnome looks a little surprised at the admission. "Then... um... what do you think would happen? To... someone like me?" He tries to pass the question off as flippant curiosity, but you can see through his pretense to the fear gnawing at him underneath it.

For a moment you consider trying to make the case for why the Second Circle is the only afterlife any sane mortal should ever want to reach. But it's as you said. There's too little time to have much chance of getting him there naturally, through repeated vice. And while you might be able to convince him to outright sell his soul to you... consigning him through that method would also allow the Lust Queen to learn exactly which world you've fled to.

Instead, you simply decide to answer his question as honestly as you can. "A lot will depend on the deity who judges the dead in your world," you admit. "But I can make a few guesses based on how it usually goes. Any courageous death in battle is going to at least catch the attention of Valhalla... but I don't think you have quite the level of killer instinct overall to make that a good fit."

You give him an evaluating look. "Elysium, maybe? You could definitely do worse. I've heard that their fixation with Generosity can include sharing sex... though I can't imagine any prissy angels knowing how to hold a proper orgy."

Then you shrug. "Or... you do seem like a grounded sort. You could end up just reincarnating right away, instead of spending time in any of the afterlives beforehand. Most mortals do end up going back eventually. It's only a rare few who are so committed to their Vice or Virtue that they truly join the infernal or celestial ranks."

You'd seen it yourself, time and again. Mortal souls that had spent decades or centuries drowning in constant lust and pleasure in the Second Circle... slowly, slowly starting to grow disenchanted with it all. Like they'd... seen through it, somehow. Until at last, they would start to fade from your realm altogether, their soul once again rejoining the mortal cycle of birth and death.

In the secret depths of your heart... though you would never admit it to anyone else... it always unnerved you when that happened. How could they plumb so deep into the depths of depravity and yet turn their backs on it? What more could they want? What other lesson did they think they were meant to learn? What other answer were they seeking across all those endless lives?

Why couldn't they just see it like you did? That the perfection of raw pleasure was the answer they were all seeking. The truth of that fact illuminates the core of your being like Hellfire, a reality so pure that to deny it would be like trying to deny the sun. It's a reality you've carried with you, from the very first day you spawned in the depths of the Abyss.

A reality you've known from the very first day that the Endless Depths asked aloud your Question... and you responded with the first words, the first thought of your existence.

Either way, your words seem to have calmed Emdyr a bit. He licks his lips, then nods, his posture a bit more confident than before. "That... that doesn't sound too bad," he says. Then he looks up at you with a faint smile. "Thanks, Talavar. For everything."

You continue through the tunnels, shapeshift into a drow slave owner, and soon its time to slip your small group into the city one last time. The crowds are packed and teeming for the day of the festival, making your surreptitious entry even easier than before. There's a frantic energy in the air, as the city prepares for the various celebrations that will be conducted throughout. You, however, head to the main ceremony, held in the main courtyard of the Imperial Palace.

The first order of business is to get Belan positioned for his part in your plan. You sneak into one potential tower, using it to survey the distant festival grounds, noting the position of the sacrificial area and the royal pavilion. And it quickly becomes clear that there is no ideal choice for your purpose.

In the end, you narrow the options down to the best two possibilities. One such tower would doubtless be safer, with little in the way of guard presence nearby... but only because it's so ridiculously distant that an attack from it would strain credulity. When you ask her, the real Verika claims she could make the shot... but even for her it wouldn't be an absolutely sure thing, and the arrow would lose a fair bit of its stopping power just from the distance.

Worse than the implausibility, its so distant that you're not completely sure how well the Matriarch would even be able to see Belan's illusion at all. Putting the young elf on that tower would be safest for him, but it would increase the danger that she might not want to throw the dagger at all if the threat is far-fetched and she doesn't have a clear identification. Perhaps forcing you to improvise in one way or another.

There is a different tower that's closer, one that strikes almost the perfect balance between distant enough for any small imperfections in Belan's illusion to be hard to detect, while close enough to be a credible threat, and for his illusion to be at least identifiable. However, given that it is close enough to be a credible threat, drow guards also have a significant presence in the area. If some of them see the Matriarch's attack and decide to mount a thorough search, it could put Belan's ability to escape at risk.

Of course, you could adjust the plan to leave a protector with him. Leaving either Khaytala or Verika would doubtless guarantee his safety; you're quite certain none of the guards stationed in the area could handle a heroine. But that would also mean, of course, that you would have less strength for the main assault, fewer resources to respond to unexpected complications. Conversely, leaving Relis wouldn't take as much away from the main assault... but it wouldn't make their escaping unscathed nearly so certain a thing either.

In light of the details on the ground, where do you want to position Belan?