Chains of a Succubus

by Lanak F Tanor

  “Weary travellers are always welcome in our town,” the succubus said, “we will give you food and shelter… and more.” She made a wink of promise.

  “Actually,” Lana said, raising her voice, “we come seeking the beauty pills.”

  “Ah, so you want to become as pretty as us?” the tall succubus asked. The rest of the succubi giggled.

  “Yes. We have heard of the great pill from afar and we have heard of the marvellous transformation that the pill can bring about,” Lana said. I was surprised that there was not a single trace of fear in her voice, though when I looked down I could easily spot a shiver in her legs. “We would like to order a great quantity of the pills. And my two friends here, they are experts in the science of beauty medicine. They wish to find out how you make the wonderful pills.”

  I was not sure if the succubi were entirely bought by her words. But still they curtseyed gracefully.

  “It would be an honour for us to show you all how we do it,” the tall succubus said. She took a couple of steps forward so that she was standing right in front of me. My heart fluttered, but I was determined not to fall to her charm. She placed a slim finger on my chin and then beckoned to me,

  “Come with us,” she said.

  “Thank you,” I managed to say. I thought I sounded robotic at best.

  The tall succubus then held my arm, and another succubus came and held my other arm. Similarly two succubi each held the arms of Danor and Lana. The succubi began to beat their wings. They took to the air and took us with them. I felt like my arms would break off from my torso. Unlike flying with Lana, when I had felt so weightless, being carried by the succubi was a giant torture.

  Once they were at a certain height, they began to go forward. From here I could see that towards the centre of the succubi occupied town, there was what seemed like a gigantic cauldron. It was at least the size of two really big houses. And below the cauldron, there was a fire going.

  A black fire.

  I didn’t like the look of it at all.

  Meanwhile, I was struggling to resist the feel of the succubi’s grasp on my arms. It was an almost electrifying sensation. For once I was actually happy that I felt like my arms were going to break off. At least it provided me some distraction from the touch of the succubi.

  “Is that where you concoct the marvellous pills?” Lana asked. The strain and pain in her voice was obvious.

  “It is,” one of the succubi holding her replied.

  Down below us, there were quite a few succubi moving about in the streets of the town. Many of the houses and the buildings had been destroyed. I could also see many male demons. That was the fate of the men who fell for the succubi. Eternal slavery under them.

  But to think about it, the succubi weren’t really the evil ones. It was the black magic that had taken over them and converted them to succubi and demons that was evil. The black magic just propagated itself from one to the other, fulfilling its dark motives in the process.

  Each and every one of the succubi and demons below had once been normal people. Now they were mindless freaks, living with the sole intention of creating more succubi and demons.

  Eventually we had reached close enough to the cauldron that we could really feel the fire.

  Except there was no heat.

  The fire was cold as ice. My body hair stood on their ends and I could feel a shudder take hold of me. The temperature was probably below zero degrees near the cauldron.

  The Succubi hovered right above the cauldron. There were thousands of pills in the cauldron, soaked in a water-like liquid which was sparkling green.

  “Unfortunately,” the tall succubus who held my right arm said, “only us succubi can create this magic pill. So, you might like to give up your plans of ever creating the pills.”

  Barely had she spoken that I did something totally out of instinct. I bit the arm of the tall succubus. She cried out and she let go.

  I had been feeling more and more drawn to the succubi. Their touch, their looks, their voices… I had known from the beginning that they were slowly but surely working their charm on us.

  Next, I stretched out my hand and grabbed the horn of the second succubus.

  She let go of my arm, and I was able to grab her other horn as well. She also stopped flapping her wings, which meant that both of us plummeted towards the pills that were being cooked in the cauldron. Thankfully at the very last moment, the succubus flapped her wings weakly and instead of falling into the cauldron, we fell about fifty metres away from it on the ground.

  “Let me go!” the succubus said, even as she tried to wrench my hands away. Her voice was no more sweet, but frightening. I liked it that way.

  She tried to bite me, but I was able to pin her face first to the ground. I sat atop her, not letting go of her horns and kept her under my control. I glanced up at the sky. I saw that there was more or less a tug of war going on between Lana and two of the succubi over Danor. The succubi had his arms while Lana had his legs.

  Danor caught in between was crying out. Two of the succubi were moving fast towards Lana, while another one was descending to the ground towards me.

  Suddenly Lana seemed to let go of Danor’s legs. But she hadn’t. She had just stopped pulling. The two succubi holding Danor’s arm hadn’t expected this. Lana’s tricked worked. In a second, she was the one who had Danor.

  I focused on the succubus beneath me. She was trying to let go of her succubus form, so that her horns would disappear. But since I already had her horns, she was failing at this.

  “Oh, come on, yield!” I wished I was given the tamer skills right now. Hadn’t I resisted the charm of the succubi for long already?

  The key to taming a succubus—when one had the skills— was to hold their horns for as long as possible, and to make a mental connection to them and then ask the black magic inside them to leave their bodies. I was mimicking this in an effort to get the tamer skills.

  And then the notification appeared in my head, just as the succubus that had descended landed a mere few metres away.

  Congratulations!

  You have received a ‘Class’!

  You are now a succubi tamer!

  You can now make mental connections with a succubus and turn her into a normal girl!

  I couldn’t believe that mimicking having the power had actually worked!

  Before I could make the mental connection, the other succubus lunged for me. It sucked, but I had to give up on taming the first succubus and I leapt away. Now the first succubus also stood up, and the duo approached me.

  Shit.

  I made the sword appear in my hand. If I had to kill to survive, then I would. It sucked but there was no other way. All beauty had by now fled the two succubi approaching me.

  One succubus flew over my head and landed behind me. Great, now they were coming for me from different directions. However, just then, a great sound came from the cauldron.

  Lana, with one hand holding Danor, was pushing against the side of the cauldron with her other hand. She was applying so much pressure that the cauldron was slowly turning sideways.

  All the succubi in the air at once shot to the cauldron to save it. Even the two who wanted to harm me were about to take flight towards it. While the second one went, as the first succubus, whom I had earlier failed at taming, beat her wings I caught her legs and I pulled her down to the ground.

  She snarled, infuriated.

  I was quick. I still had a grab on her legs and now I pulled her towards myself and pounced on her horns. This time I was able to make the mental connection. I ordered the black magic to abandon her, and with much reluctance it went crying and fighting. A fuzzy feeling caught hold of me. I had not experienced that feeling in a long, long while.

  Congratulations!

  You have tamed your first succubus!

  You level up!

  Of course, this was not the first time I had tamed a succubus. But it was the first time I had regained the abilit
y to view stats.

  The succubus lost consciousness once she had been tamed. Her features were fast becoming that of a normal girl. I slumped onto the ground beside her. I felt drained, and I felt exhausted. Taming just a single succubus required more mental effort than flying the Sphere for hours at end.

  High above, I watched in glee as Lana’s effort ripened. The great cauldron overturned, the succubi not having reached it in the nick of time. When the cauldron hit the ground, there was almost a small earthquake because of the impact, the contents of the cauldron spilling out. Lana spotted me below and she came fast towards me even as the liquid from the cauldron extinguished the black fire, dozens of succubi at her pursuit.

  She picked me up and I was overcome by the feeling of weightlessness. I was holding the hand of the succubus I had tamed and so it happened that Lana carried all three of us into the air. I looked into Lana’s eyes. They were bloodshot and her temple veins had popped up. She looked almost on the verge of fainting, but I didn’t say anything to her in fears of breaking her concentration.

  She fainted when we were about two kilometres away from the Sphere. Thankfully, she had been flying very low, plus the bunch of us fell atop some bushes which cushioned our fall. The succubi had seen where we had fallen and though they were still half a kilometre behind us, they were coming to get us.

  But I barely had any energy to walk. Even getting up felt like a great chore. I had tamed a succubus after a long while and maybe because of this my body was fighting to get used to the after effects. The succubus I had tamed was stirring, but even she wasn’t fully conscious.

  Thankfully we had Danor. He grabbed the three of us like we were dolls and he flung us onto his shoulders. And then he broke into a run towards the Sphere.

  “I will save you all, sir,” he said to me, even as he ran taking giant leaps. “I am not useless, sir, I am not useless.”

  Being on the ground was a further advantage as it shielded us from view, thanks to the many trees of the forest. In fifteen minutes Danor had covered the distance of two kilometres with astonishing speed considering the terrain filled with obstacles. I could still see many succubi, but they were still hovering over the spot where Lana had first crashed.

  Danor put us into the Sphere one by one. Then he himself came inside. Once he was in, I gritted my teeth, preparing myself for another bout of intense mental concentration. I didn’t make the Sphere fly this time. I didn’t want the prying eyes of the succubi to spot us which would be impossible if we flew. Instead, I made the Sphere move over the ground. It bulleted past trees, destroying anything and everything that lay in front of it with ease. After we had come about ten kilometres, I took my chances and I got the craft airborne. We set off for the next town.

  ***

  Lanak Tanor

  Class: Succubi Tamer

  Race: Human

  Sex: Male

  Level: 1

  Strength: 199

  Health: 593/600

  Mana: 211

  Intelligence: 70

  Mental carrying capacity: 175/250

  Youth:295

  Chapter 10: Ranik Gombal

  I peeked out of the curtain and I smiled.

  Everywhere outside there were the succubi.

  The magic sand had worked. This had to be the place where the succubi queen lived. Perhaps she was out as of now. Either ways, I knew I had come to the right place.

  But the cost had been high.

  The distance to the lair of the succubi queen had been a great one from the place where I had used the magic sand. I could barely believe how much I had aged in mere minutes. From a man in his mid-twenties, I had become a man in his fifties.

  But I didn’t care.

  I knew that once I had the power to view stats, I should be able to eventually find a way to regain my youth. I just knew that it was possible.

  I sat down on the only bed present in the tent. And I waited. I reckoned the queen would get quite a shock seeing me here.

  After a few minutes, the curtains parted. In came the queen. She was beautiful, very, even with the horns present on her head. But I knew of the Succubi and their nature. I had different things to accomplish then be charmed by beauty.

  The queen almost didn’t notice me in the first few seconds. Then she abruptly froze.

  “Hello,” I said, getting up from her bed.

  The queen didn’t show any expression of fear. But then there was little she had to fear. She was the queen of the succubi. There were thousands under her command who were outside. Of course she knew that unless I was an idiot then I would never come with any intentions of causing harm to her.

  “Who are you?” she asked me.

  “A friend, who seeks help.”

  “A friend?” the queen said. “I have led a long life. But my memory remains more or less sharp. I have never met you before this.”

  “But then, friends needn’t really have to meet to be friends, right?”

  She came over to me.

  “If you do not tell me within the next ten seconds who you are, then I shall turn you into a demon who shall slave for me for all eternity.”

  The first second I let pas with no hurry. After all, I wanted to seem like someone of worth. People of worth never hurried.

  It was in the third second that I began to speak.

  “I am Ranik, a friend of yours. A friend from the heart. I have been told that you can bless one with the power to view their stats.”

  I took the full ten seconds the queen had given me to say this. She didn’t make any attempt at harming me and I was pleased with myself.

  “And why should I bless you with the ability to see stats?” the queen asked. She was testing me, I could feel it. I would have to pick my words wisely.

  “Humans fear the succubi,” I said, “and here I am having come to your tent myself, no one has forced me or put me under a charm or anything of the kind.”

  The queen smiled.

  “That is true. No human ever comes with full control of their head. That is an accomplishment. Still, I do not give without taking. There is no sense to give without taking. If I give you the power to view your stats, then what will you give me in return?”

  “Myself,” I said. “My loyalty. My trust. All that is me.”

  A thoughtful shadow came over the queen.

  “I hope I didn’t say anything to offend you?” I said. I was unsure now. Was the queen pleased with me or not? I had hoped that coming to her presence with no fear would be enough to please her. Now, I wasn’t sure. Well, if anything turned wrong, I could still used the magic sand. It will add a few more years to my age in the span of seconds, but I would escape a worse fate.

  The queen looked into my eyes directly. Her eyes were like pristine black orbs.

  “I think I can actually use you,” she said, thoughtfully. “But I would need to be sure if I can.”

  “If I come to your use, would you give me the power of to view stats?”

  “Gladly,” the queen said.

  I had never been happier.

  The queen told me to wait in the tent, and then she went out. She was away for almost two hours. Sitting alone in the tent I began to wonder if she would ever return, or if she planned to do something that would ultimately be harmful to me. But I waited patiently. I still had the sand. Not a lot of it remained, and it was what gave me courage in the situation.

  Finally she returned.

  “I have thought over this,” she said. “You shall come of use to me. Of exceedingly great use. I am thankful that you came here.”

  “And what would you use me for?” I asked. Unlike the last time when I had given away my town to the wizard, I wanted to make sure of everything before making the deal.

  “A time would come when I would have to abandon this body of mine and temporarily take shelter in ten different… let’s call them vessels. If I use you, I would need to take shelter in your body and only in three other vessels. It would also speedup th
e process.”

  “And would it harm my body in any way?” I asked. I looked intently at her. I ignored her charm. If she lied then her face would give her away, and I would need to catch the lie and not be blind.

  But the queen wasn’t lying. It was clear.

  “It wouldn’t,” she said. “I want you to trust me. Our very nature has made us untrustworthy to humans. I can also feel a certain amount of resistance in you to my charms. And I am the one who has the most charms. I do not want to flatter you. But I am impressed by this quality of yours.”

  Maybe she was flattering me. I didn’t know. I just nodded.

  “I will trust you,” I told her.

  She shook a finger at me. A smile hung at the edge of her rosy lips.

  “You do not, not till now. But I want you to trust me. I shall give you what you came seeking here right now.”

  “The power to view my stats?” I said. My heart picked up pace.

  “Yes. Now, kneel before me.”

  I readily did that. The queen placed her hand over my head. For a moment I wasn’t sure if this was a trick of hers or if she was really going to give me what I had sought my entire life.

  I felt a buzz take hold of my head. It was over in a few heartbeats.

  The queen wasn’t tricking me.

  For there, right in my vision, I could see all the stats I had ever wanted to see.

  ***

  Ranik Gombal

  Class: Not yet unlocked

  Race: Human

  Sex: Male

  Level: 0

  Strength: 141

  Health: 455/500

  Mana: 140

  Intelligence: 60

  Youth:150

  Chapter 11: Lanak Tanor

  Lana was still asleep. I had laid her down on the floor of the Sphere and it didn’t look like she was going to wake up soon. She must have given a lot of effort to overturn the cauldron. I would have to tell her to use her powers more sparingly in the future.