Prologue, Part 5

As the energy surge from its awakening begins to subside, you try to piece together exactly what your newfound power does. Some kind of... enhancement ability? You can immediately tell that it won't work on yourself, but... maybe, just maybe...

You scramble over to where your succubus lies fallen. You place a hand on her back, and there is a soft glow at the point of contact. She groans, looking weakly up at you. You can feel her assenting to whatever you're doing... but once you begin, you quickly realize that none of the sex-related gifts this power can bestow will help at all in this situation.

It's a subtle ability, useful for long-term temptation. On any other day, you'd have preferred something like this a thousand times more than anything so crude as direct violence. But this is the one day when you need something truly apocalyptic! You grind your teeth in frustration. This is the power so dangerous that they're mobilizing on such a ridiculous scale to kill you?

Further down the tunnel, you see Taharial already stirring, her demonic healing regenerating her right before your eyes at a mind-boggling rate. Your succubus is healing as well... but far slower. She's in no condition to do anything. Still, she looks up at you with the same adoration in her eyes as when you first formed that strange connection. Then she mouths a single word. "Go!"

There's no other choice. But... you realize there is still one last thing this damned useless power can do. It allows you to make a bargain with the recipient of the boon, demanding that they do something in exchange for it. "Survive!" you growl, surprising even yourself with the anger in your voice.

"I promise," your succubus whispers back. And with that, you turn and dash away, your bargain sealed.

You doubt that it will give her much help in accomplishing that bargain, of course. Not to someone branded as a traitor, corrupted by the enemy. But if any recipient of your boon starts to fail in their obligations, you will sense it. Normally, this would be so you can torment them with exquisite sexual pleasure in response. But in this case... if she does die for your sake...

Well. You just feel you ought to know.

You continue to run, the tunnel walls flying past at a breakneck pace. By now you have no idea where you are in this maze, but you can hear more footfalls echoing from many different directions. More succubi than just Taharial have heard the commotion, and they're closing in on you. You sprint onward, and soon see a light up ahead. You've reached another exit, and with nowhere else to go, you race headlong toward it. Seconds later, you burst back out into the light again.

Only to find—as your demonic eyes adjust to the sudden brightness from the near pitch-black of the tunnels—that this exit has been completely encircled by more than a hundred succubi, wielding all manner of weapons. Some of them are spread out on the ground, while some of them are flying in the air, cutting off that escape route as well.

You whirl, intending to duck back into cover... but as you turn, you see that Taharial has already caught up with you. She closes in from the rear, with a half-dozen other succubi following behind her.

So this is it. The end of the line. You face down the array of foes all seeking your death, determined not to give them the satisfaction of seeing any fear. It wasn't a long ride—not by demon standards, anyway. But at least you'd made it a policy not to live in a way that left many regrets.

And then, with the very luck of the damned... you feel it.

That unmistakable twist of magic. That arcane request, reaching into your very thoughts. Finally, finally! Another summoning! You mentally pounce on it with all the desperate speed you can muster, racing against all the succubi trying to do so first.

And then, once you grasp hold of it... you laugh. You can't help but laugh, as you realize that both your preparations to get this summoning before the succubi and their preparations to get it before you were all pointless, in the end.

Because this is a summoning unlike any of the others. Not a general call by some average mortal hedge mage that managed to wind its way to the Second Circle. No, whoever cast this summoning knew exactly what they wanted, and tailored their summoning accordingly.

And what they wanted—very specifically—was an incubus.

Taharial realizes it too. "Kill him!" she screams in desperation. But she's too late. You've already accepted the call... and the view of Hell around you vanishes into a maelstrom of light and sound and movement as your body is wrenched through the space between worlds.

The underpinning of Creation swirls past you. You glimpse the infinite void, as you twist along the maddening, chaotic path laid out by the summoning spell. The voyage seems to last forever, though your grasp on time is one of the first things to come unbound from its moorings. But eventually you materialize, kneeling, head bowed, in the center of a glowing summoning circle.

You blink rapidly, trying to gather your senses after that experience. Even as you pull yourself together, you hear a woman's voice coming from in front of you, greeting you with one of the ancient formulas often used by mortal summoners.

"I have summoned you, fiend of the Second Circle, by my power and birthright as the Witch Queen of Kovora," she recites. "I require your service. Thrice-fold I ask you. Will you obey me in all my commands? Will you hunt the enemies that even now seek my life? Will you corrupt them away from their righteous quests, into lust and debauchery?"

It's not as though you have any other choice. Besides, when she puts it that way, it actually sounds pretty fun. "Thrice-fold I answer," you say, still keeping your head bowed respectfully. "I will. I will. I will. My service is yours."

The words have hardly left your mouth when you feel the contract take hold, binding your very souls. You're not the most knowledgeable about magic, but you do know enough to recognize that this is some damn powerful spellwork. The connection forged between you will allow your new mistress to communicate with you at any distance... as well as perceive through your senses any time she wants to check up on you.

More than that, it will physically compel you to follow any orders of hers that are sufficiently simple, specific and direct... although more vague or general orders should be impossible to enforce on such rigid terms. You have enough willpower that you think you could mount some level of resistance to a direct command if you needed to, but you don't think you have enough raw mental strength to hold out long-term.

However... as impressive as it all is, you also notice a flaw. A slight weakness where the spell was not quite cast correctly. It doesn't affect anything at the moment... but in theory it could be exploited to disrupt—or possibly even destroy—your compulsion to obey. You don't know nearly enough about magic yourself to think of how to do so, however.

In the space of a few seconds the magic completes its work, and the glowing summoning circle fades into nothingness. Which means it's time to finally get a look at the woman to whom you will be indentured for the foreseeable future. Whether you decide to serve her loyally... or tempt her into debauchery right alongside her enemies... or even attempt to overthrow and conquer her completely... her nature and priorities will shape a great deal of your maneuvering to come.

Raising your head, you look the Witch Queen of Kovora in the eye. And it is immediately obvious to you that she is... Innocent. An ancestor's robes hang slightly too large on an anxious girl toward the very end of her teen years, right on the cusp of full womanhood. You can't imagine how a timid thing like this ended up in the role of Witch Queen... but you know there must be a story behind it.