FicWad

Part 1 - Intentions



You want to know how this all started? With a poor, scrawny orphan-boy taken in by the town elder. The old man meant to do well by me, but never understood my determination to rise higher than his expectations. He just wants me to go to school like a “good boy” and fall into the same, boring archetypes that that tired institution churns out. That could never be me. I could see in everyone’s eyes that I was always going to be that strange orphan-boy, and nothing more to them.

“Did you hear what happened to his family?”

“What a tragedy.”

“Such a shame.”

“I can’t imagine what he must be going through.”

“It fucked him up.”

“He’s fucked up. He’s fucked up. He’s fucked up. He’s fucked up. He’s fucked up.”

Shut up! They want to see something fucked up. Well, now they got it. Who the hell are any of them to tell me how fucked up I am? So what if I do not want to just fall in line? I am not a bad person. I just wanted to be alone. It hurts less when I am alone. But they will not leave me alone! The parents murmur behind my back and do not even pretend to be out of earshot. Then come their children. They feed on their parent’s poisonous words then turn it on me. They sneer and take every chance they can to harass me. That makes sense. He has been through some awful shit, so let us abuse him some more. That will fix things, right? You damn hypocrites. No, they can not fix me. So they just want to drive me out. I will go, but not without some retribution.

My elder was a kind man though. He never mistreated me. Though, he never encouraged me to be anything more than the strange child the other kids picked on. His idea of a pedestal to shoot for was to just fit in. That was never possible and never enough. Oddly enough, thanks to him. What I did get from him was a better education than I ever received at school. He once was quite the adventurous nomad, and his home here housed countless artifacts and tomes from his travels. The books were everything to me, and with a little wine, my elder would let slip some invaluable footnotes.

I learned about every mundane and magical beast the world had to offer. What combat techniques would give you an advantage and what would get you killed. What incantations would render a monster that would love nothing more than to suck the marrow from your bones to nothing more than a household pet. So much more than the standard practices at school. I could never get him to open up about the really sinister beings out there though. The things in that night that were too twisted to reason with, too vicious to combat, and too mentally far-gone to control.

He could not keep me away from all of his darker secrets though. What passages that did mention how to stave off evil would keep making subtle suggestions at something. There would always be a scribbled hint along the lines of an “unsuccessful union” or that the “absorption resulted in a botched chimera”. Lots of disturbing mentions concerning mental disorders. At first, I thought it had to be referring to people who attempted to tame them. I have seen plenty of graduates pursue that track; whether they caught a beast and physically trained it like a domestic animal or followed a more sorcerous approach to bind the creature’s will to their own. The more I studied, the more I had to accept stories of tamings gone wrong had nothing in common with these little hints. You simply can not tame any of the night terrors and attempts often ended up with fresh graves. Assuming there was anything still left to bury.

I obsessed over what these texts were trying to warn me of. I had to know what this interaction with beasts was. It was something different from all the related careers the schools and academies were instructing on.

Then one of the dark horrors from the books came to town. The town was not equipped to handle it, so my elder called for one of his former companions from his world travels. It only took one look at her for the books to begin to make sense. I learned what was being hinted at. I learned how to really control a monster for power. For the first time, I knew what I wanted to do. What I was going to do.



Part 2 " Dreams of Lamia



My elder’s old companion arrived in the cover of night. She was met on the town’s outskirts and hastily brought to the elder’s home under a deep cloak. Despite the hush and hurry before dawn, the heavy doors of the entrance could not be opened and closed without stirring me from my light sleep. At first, I quickly gathered myself to see if something was the matter, but the elder’s shifty demeanor peaked my curiosity. I opted to follow, quickly falling victim to the same loud exit. He was quick to dismiss me and return me to bed, but I refused; realizing his was in too much of a dash to argue.

When we returned, I finally got a good look at her. I am at a loss to truly describe her. She was beautiful yet intimidating. I had never met a woman who towered over me. She was easily seven feet tall and powerfully built. Despite looking in her twenties, her hair was white and fell in a neat braid nearly to her ankles. At the end of the braid, were assorted blades knotted to locks of her hair. Her skin was the most ethereal shade of blue and covered with scars of a darker contrast.

Though, this living manifestation of allure and danger could easily have kept my attention for ages, what really caught me by surprise was the look between her and my elder. Their eyes held the gaze of old lovers. While serving them tea at the breakfast table, they reminisced on old times and touched each others' hands tenderly.

It was not long before the conversation deterred to the real reason she arrived. The terror suddenly menacing the town could not apparently be dealt with by conventional means. The killings had all been young men, which pointed towards only one manner of being that was not uncommon to this locality. They explained to me that this particular creature required a female combatant, and local law enforcement and the faculty training students at the nearby school were almost entirely male. I inquired as to what manner of Invoker she was, mistaking the shamanistic appearance of her gear, that she had such an unique appearance and had to sneak into town. They exchanged glances, then my elder gestured that she go ahead. She called herself Luenya. She explained what a “Sin Drinker” was, how they were outlawed in this country, and why she specifically was needed. The beings she was a culmination of were all female. Even if the town rallied what female defenders they could, their male subordinates, whether invoked or trained by a Tamer, could be turned against them. They felt she was much less of a risk to the populace. Though, they still had a risk in mind.

They wanted to use me as bait. The night beast had a fetish for young men, and felt keeping the secret of Luenya being here was best limited to the three of us, as opposed to including a party that might be more battle-ready. The elder was apparently too advanced in age to be used to lure the monster out. They tried to assure me that I was not in any real danger. Once I cajoled the beast, I was to activate a ward, a spell encased in an object, which would enable me to flee uninhibited by its abilities. Luenya could then slay it with ease. Destroying night terrors was her calling in life, and this one was agreed by them to be no match for her once it had manifested.

We were to make the attempt the following night. I spent most of the day in bed. I stared at the ceiling, obsessing over Luenya and what she was. Clearly, the elder’s notes in those dusty tomes were warnings of adverse effects associated with the “Sin Drinking” of certain monsters. Luenya seemed perfectly all together though.

That woman seemed to be the apex of everything I wanted in my young life. The mystique and illegality of her being only made it more attractive. I wanted to draw closer, not specifically to her, but the concept of what she was felt like it existed on a pedestal so high above me. Luenya and my elder would not tell me more than I needed to know. They had no intention of allowing me pursue her calling. I felt I had to have it. That it was everything I needed to break the mold and escape everything I hated about life here.

At dusk, Luenya and I headed out. I was anxious and excited. It was the first time I felt like I was accomplishing something of paramount importance. We ventured through the more secluded areas near town, but having night fall without luck and coming upon a few of the townsfolk, Luenya decided we would have a better chance if I walked alone and she followed at a distance. I was hesitant, but reluctantly agreed. If this was going to work, I had to put some faith in the professional.

I stumbled through shadows for hours with only the light of the full moon illuminating my path. I had become tired and parched, deciding to walk off the path to a nearby lake to sate my thirst and sit for a few minutes. What was waiting for me there put even Luenya’s unnatural charm to shame.

Bathing in the lake, was a goddess of a woman. Her body was like perfectly sculpted alabaster. Every delicate movement entranced me. Long raven hair was dipped into the water. Droplets cried from her shoulders and across her heavy breasts. I could see the cold, night air wisp from crimson lips. She shot me a coy smile suddenly, as if she already knew I was there. Her eyes were amethysts. No, they were bottomless wells. I took one step and fell in. I was gone and all that existed was that enchanting, violet peek from between strands of her hair. As I approached the shore of the lake, she moved towards me. The waterline lowered as she stalked to me with the most seductive sway. As she continued, her body kept rising from the water. Higher and higher until I found my neck was arching back. The confusion from how she came to be looming over me in such a way broke me from her stare just long enough for my eyes to grace the rest of her form. To my horror, I did not witness her previously hidden virtue, but a lower half that belonged to a great serpent.

My voice caught in my throat. I could not cry out for help. I felt the edges of my vision growing dark and closing in, but I could distinctly see her smile. The smile that held such vicious fangs for me.



Part 3 " Betrayal



I could not move. I felt trapped inside of my own head. I had to get to the ward. My salvation was resting in my pocket, yet it might as well been out of reach.

The serpentine horror coiled her way around me, giggling gently as constricted me. Her black nails tickled my cheeks as she cupped my face. She brought her smile so close to my face. There was a small, rational part of me, in the back of my mind, that knew to be horrified. Yet, I was lost to her compulsion. All I could think about was those lips. They were so red, and so close. I wanted to kiss them, I was so compelled. It was all that mattered in that moment. She could drink me down in that kiss then devour me, and I would not have even cared.

Her voice was so pretty, so sultry, “Do you love me?”

“Y-yes, of course I do,” I stammered as I found my voice. It was like she drew the answer right out of me. I could not entirely understand why I was saying that, but I meant the words with my whole heart.

She giggled again. The sound was so perfectly feminine, as if it was my first time being around a woman.

“Tell me I’m beautiful. Don’t you think I am beautiful?”

She touched her nose to mine, and I gasped. I began to cry, simply from gorgeous she was.

“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

She brushed the tears from my cheeks with her thumbs, not taking her hands from my face, and gave me a soft, “Shh.”

“Everything is all right now, my darling,” and I believed her. Referring to me as her darling filled me with such an insurmountable joy. There was such a great flame ablaze in my chest. It left me quivering against her.

Her face, exquisite and delicate, began to very slowly contort. I saw the sinister monster rise from beneath the surface. The love in her eyes for me became hunger.

The ward in my pocket started to vibrate, then a brilliant glow burst from it and startled us both. Luenya came into existence from nothing beside us. She had been lying in wait the whole time. Her azure skin was shimmering under the moonlight. She stalked closer, purpose in each step, and brought out a wavy knife, not unlike a kris.

The lamia was furious. She hissed, her jaw unnaturally wide and threatening to bite. Before she could completely uncoil from me and strike, Luenya slit open her hand. With a wave of her hair, she cast her blood to the ground below us. The ground mimicked the same burst of light the ward, and the lamia froze in place.

With the lamia frozen, partially untangled from me, I fell to the dirt. As soon as I felt the impact, I knew my mind was clear once more. I was no longer enchanted with her. She was still an ungodly beauty, but there was no compulsion.

Luenya gestured me to move away and encircled us, placing dazzling crystals on the ground in a pattern until the ward’s glow became a complex glyph. The light focused and drew lines, jumping from crystal to crystal.

Before I could scamper away, I heard the lamia. I turned back to her and found her still fixed in place. It was her frantic thoughts that I heard at first. As I concentrated, I found more than just her surface thoughts. Her intentions, motivations, feelings, past, and present all were as clear as day to me. She was not just scared of what Luenya was doing, she hated her. The lamia could not stand the presence of another female near me. I had to be hers. She needed me to love her, to find her beautiful. Her compulsion was even deeper that what I experienced in her clutches. Beneath her urgency to her me enthralled with her, was the hunger. I could understand it know. She did not to feed on me, but she could not prevent it. The lamia was like a moth to a flame. The light is everything, but you can not draw close without being burned. She needed me to love her, it was everything to her, but she could never enjoy it. The insatiable cravings would come and she would be alone again. I could feel her mind so vividly, and her existence broke my heart.

I turned to Luenya, “What are you going to do with her?”

“If I can’t absorb it, I’ll have to kill it. Otherwise it will just keep terrorizing your town until she has fed on all the men and killed every woman in the way.” She glared at me, “Now, move. I can’t enter the circle until you leave.”

Even though I had been so close to meeting my maker, I could not help but feel pity for the lamia. Luenya could not feel what I felt. She did not understand the creature’s nature. It was just another job.

I pleaded, “Isn’t there a way to fix her?”

Luenya grimaced at me, “There’s nothing to fix. It’s a menace. If we can’t use it, we destroy it. That’s how it works, kid. Now move!”

The lamia was staring at me through the corner of her eyes. Her face had lost its rage; she was begging me for help. Her mind was screaming, “Save me. You said you loved me. You said I was the most beautiful woman in the world. Help me. Why won’t you help me?”

I clenched my fists and stood, refusing to step back and let Luenya have her way. I glared back at the woman, “How do you do it? How are you going to absorb her?”

She just scoffed at me, “I’m not explaining anything to you. We can stand here until you starve, but I’m going to deal with this thing.”

I scoffed back, “You really can’t get in here, can you?”

Luenya face twisted with rage, “This isn’t a damn game, kid!”

I turned back to the lamia, hoping she could possibly have the answers. I tried to see if she would react to my thoughts, hoping the glyph worked both ways, and that she also had a clear view of my mind. She knew my intentions immediately and became more fearful.

My mind spoke to her reassuringly, “This woman will end you. Come with me. You won’t have to be hungry any more. You’ll be with me forever. I will always love you. I will always think you’re beautiful.”

Tears streamed from her amethysts. That was everything she wanted, her weakness. The lamia began to draw towards me. The movements were jerky, resistant.

Luenya cried out, “No! You can’t do that!”

She quickly moved to knock away one the crystals, but she was too late. She could not anticipate a willing absorption. As soon as the lamia touched me, the glyph exploded in a brilliant light.

I became we. We had a grip on Luenya’s hair, forcing her eyes close to ours, our beautiful, bottomless, lavender eyes.

We spoke, in a enchanting tone I had never owned before, “Don’t you think I’m beautiful?”

Luenya’s face was full of fear, she wept pitifully, “Y-yes…”



Part 4 " Consequences



It had already become dawn. I had been writhing on the ground for hours. My hands were still tangled in Luenya’s milky hair, like a feline playing with yarn. I was only just now realizing I was affectionately juxtaposed with a desiccated corpse.

The lamia had never been so happily sated, even if a woman was not her preference. A feeding had never gone on through an entire night. We had had Luenya lost in dance and lascivious fervor. The beings she had absorbed fought their cage, but they were no more than fireflies trapped in a bottle. One by one, we drank them down. One by one, their little lights were extinguished.

I let out an impertinent giggle as I stood, and brushed myself off. I knew there would be a reckoning if anyone knew what I had done, most of all from my elder. But, I felt too good to care. It was akin to feeling truly alive for the first time. I had just been stumbling through a fog until now.

I had to fight my way back to the edge of the lake. My gait was awkward. The only way I know to describe it was to say it was as if my muscles were powerfully new and trying to expend some of the surplus energy I felt I was overflowing with.

I knelt at the water’s edge and splashed my face. My reflection only hinted at my former visage. I was still my self, but beautifully reformed. My features were sharp and distinguished. My hair now held an obsidian sheen and I noticed it was longer.

As I admired myself, I felt the lamia unraveling from some dark recess of my mind. She was so pleased with us. I began to hear myself talk, but I knew I was not the one speaking.

“I am so lovely. Everyone will enjoy looking upon me. All will love me,” I went on in a narcissistic rant.

I tried to hush her gently. We had more important things to consider than how pretty we are together. What do I do now? I had a hard time believing I could just waltz back into town. Most townsfolk I did not have to worry about, but the elder might be alarmed. I could not risk him being alarmed. I might be able to explain how Luenya decided it was safer to not stick around to say goodbye, but I needed to smuggle her gear inside and look though my elder’s books more thoroughly. I could not let the chance to acquire more power go to waste.

I was immediately snapped out of my train of thought. There was a stench suddenly in the air that overwhelmed my senses. I could taste the putridity. It caused me to turn back to what was left of Luenya. Her body was changing and there was a visible miasma coming from it. Her eyes sunk into her head. Her frozen smile turned into a gaping frown not unlike the tragedy’s mask.

Gagging, I hurriedly gathered Luenya’s crystals and anything else on her person that I thought could be relevant to last night’s glyph before I fled. The closer I came to town, the better I felt. I soon forgot the corpse and became distracted with the reaction I got from townsfolk.

The women were all staring at me. I had become accustomed to murmurs and unpleasant looks, but this had nothing to do with the “poor orphan boy”. Their eyes were hot with lust. Crones blushed. Young girls giggled together. Maidens bit their lips and turned away.

The townsmen though, thankfully, made no unusual reaction towards me. This seriously perturbed the lamia. She wanted to chase the women away and lure the male eyes that were indifferent. I could feel her compulsion build up and flow from me. To my horror, men started to notice me and the women that were staring at me a moment ago, were shaking off the effect. I panicked and swallowed the lamia’s call down as I ran for my elder’s home.

Turning the corner to my street, I ran into a neighbor, almost completely knocking her over. She was Sephy, the adopted daughter of a baker. Though she shared the same back-story of a sad orphan child, we never really found ourselves as kindred. At school, we would sit at the same table to eat. Sometimes she would silently give me something from the bakery, but we never bonded. We just shared a presence, knowing each other as one of the few that would not look down on us.

Sephy was staring at me, flustered. I brought her upright and found her blushing, quivering in my hands. She was a pretty, little woman. Mousy but not unattractive. She began wringing her hands nervously, looking as if she was trying to speak, but the words would not leave her throat.

The words slipped my lips before I realized what I was doing, “Do you love me, Sephy?”

Sephy’s voice was found instantly, “I do! With all my heart. All my heart…”

Her answer stoked a fire in me, and I felt as compelled as she did. My mouth watered at the thought of devouring this delectable little morsel. There was a still, small rationality in me that was disturbed. Asking, is this really what we wanted to become? Yet, I walked with her, hand in hand, to her cottage behind the bakery, with a disgruntled lamia in tow. She did not stay disgruntled for long.

I spent the day making love to Sephy. Her petite form was not satisfying. She was a delicate treat that I sipped at until she had nothing left to give. I felt the lamia slinking under my skin, purring like a cat from our snack. Time was fleeting, and the lamps outside were already lit to keep the encroaching darkness at bay.

My elongated tongue sensually teased my fangs. I perked, noticing neither my tongue nor teeth were shaped this way before. Shrugging, I cuddled against Sephy’s cold body and felt myself drift.

I awoke to a strong copper taste. It was prevalent in the air, and I was reminded of the miasma coming from Luenya’s corpse. I turned over Sephy and could see she was not the source. The woman was still clinging to life and breathing in shallow wisps.

I gathered myself and ventured onto the street to witness the aftermath of a bloodbath. The townsfolk were scattered everywhere. All dead. Men, women, children, even pets were not spared. Blood soaked everything.

A creature was waiting for me. It looked like a bundle of raw nerves clinging to bone, mimicking a human form. Sprawling from its back were a pair of fleshy branches that reminded me of the bones in a bird’s wings. Its eyes were black, sunken holes. Its mouth was a gaping maw not unlike tragedy’s mask…

The familiar voice that struggled from it was a wet, sucking noise, “Y-yes…you are so beautiful. I love you. I will always love you.”

Luenya had come back to me.