Beyond Control

We were now at the stage where things could have gotten tricky. But, so far, we had held it together, providing me hope.

First, pushing through a decontamination chamber—haunted by a ghost and a pair of skeletons—we made quick work of the undead thanks to a little holy water, rock salt, and my trusty quarterstaff. With the contamination finally cleared after a hundred years, we were permitted to move through the locked door to the other half of the facility.

Taking a firebomb vial from Rionriv, I tossed it into the control booth where a dozen skeleton watchmen waited to ambush us. The satisfying sound of their bones scattering around the room reminded me of rolling a handful of dice, which also seemed a bit on the nose for this whole fantasy dungeon dive.

Finally, after soaking my hand wrappings in holy water and coating them in salt, we made quick work of the second ghost that met us just before the final threat we would have to face here.

Touching my temple, I connected with the three, “Okay, this is the security booth for the elevator to the sand docks. If we’re getting down to that last level, we do it here. It’s tight quarters, and there’s a succubus in there, so watch your shots. Alright, let’s stick to the plan and, um, kill it. Go, team.”

The triop looked at me and, with a collective shake of their heads, slipped into their positions. Crouching by the handle, I waited before a tap from Aesandoral alerted me that it was time. Extending my arm out, the door flung open, allowing the two archers to swing in quickly, ready to release their arrows.

But they didn’t—

The succubus wasn’t there.

Rionriv and I moved in next, inspecting the space, confirming that it, in fact, wasn’t present.

“What the hell?” The sorceress remarked, looking to me and continuing, “Where is it?”

“It should be here,” I replied, walking past everyone and moving to the flat slab of Celestinium that rested atop the far table.

I tapped the key card to the central protrusion and watched as the abandoned security system began to reinitialize. The wall came alive as small frames with images appeared, slowly panning left and right as they watched for threats. The waist-high slab faintly glowed, revealing a set of illuminated squares that resembled a keyboard as well as a variety of buttons, knobs, and levers.

Having no idea what any of the buttons and switches did, I stayed away from touching any unnecessary sections of the station. The only thing I did understand, however, was how to open the blast doors to the sand sea docks.

Beginning the process by using the administrator password, I stopped as Sharzin suddenly yelped.

Not again! I thought as I turned back to face the group.

The rug beneath their feet had come alive and wrapped up the rogue, beginning to smother her. I watched as Aesandoral moved to react, only to have the side table buck at her like a wild horse. With a solid kick, the archer took a shot to the chest and was knocked across the room, cracking her head hard against the wall.

Readying myself to jump into the fray, I heard something that sent chills through my body.

“Hey, Tahvin.” A soft voice spoke—the voice of someone in the throes of first love.

Bah-dump! Bah-dump! Bah-dump! Bah-dump! Bah-dump! Bah-dump!

I slowly turned my head to see Bryssa looking back at me. She was dressed in her schoolgirl uniform, like she had been in my dream, gently twirling her hair with one hand as the other rubbed at her lips. She smiled and, suddenly, the world melted away. It was only us, and at that moment, we were back before all the trauma and pain and tears. Back when we were young and in love.

She leaned in, whispering my name again before our lips met. I could taste her once more. The sweet passion that caused all the anxiety to wash away.

Then I heard it.

“Ishara!” Rionriv’s voice cried out.

This isn’t real. The thought ripped me from the fantasy I had become trapped in.

The lips had become rough, the taste putrid, and before I could pull away, it drained some of my life force. I felt the chill in my bones turn to icy daggers that drove deep into my body as fatigue quickly set in. In an instant, it felt as though I had just finished a half-marathon with my tired muscles threatening to give out on me any second.

The devil shed its illusion and revealed its true form. A tall, plum-skinned ‘woman’ in red bottom heels and the skimpiest Veronica Secret’s lingerie that my imagination could form. A pair of golden ram’s horns protruded from its black hair, which accentuated its pitch-black eyes.

“Oh, come on, I know you’re hungry.” The succubus taunted me as it rolled its shoulders forward and pressed its swollen breast out.

I felt the temptation once more to give in, and slowly began to approach. Barely holding it together, I hoped the monster wouldn’t see through my bluff until it was too late.

Ten feet away. Then five. The devil lowered itself to the floor and stretched a hand to me.

I swung twice with my holy water-soaked fists, watching as it dodged both. That was when I felt its clawed hand stabbing into my exposed gut. And while it wasn’t as deep as the ice spike had been, it was enough to cause me to double over instinctively.

Things were looking grim.

Sharzin was still struggling in the rug and potentially on the verge of suffocating. Aesandoral remained pinned up against the wall, being relentlessly slammed on by the animated table. And I was being penetrated by devil-dommi-mommy.

That was when I felt a familiar surge of magic around my body.

Rionriv had shielded me with her magic and, as I turned to look at her, I noticed that Aesandoral had a similar red shimmer covering her body.

The sorceress, wearing a worried expression, stepped back through the threshold before pulling another vial from her shirt.

Shouting, she tossed it into the room.

“Sorry, everyone!”

The glass shattered between all three of us and, within a second, detonated in a fiery blast.

The inferno washed over my body, pushing the succubus back from me as its claw ripped from my gut. Consequently, the table was now in pieces and the rug in tatters, while the three of us remained relatively unscathed. And, though we were slightly crispy at the edges, thanks to Rionriv’s clever casting of her protective spell, that was the extent of it.

“Oh, yay, you all made it.” Rionriv cheered from the doorway. “I wasn’t sure if the resistance spell was going to work.”

“Keep shooting!” I yelled out as the succubus directed its ire towards the sorceress.

Running up to the devil, I wrapped my arms around its torso to hold it in place for my allies. What I hadn’t been prepared for was the gyration of its hips into mine.

The succubus smirked as my grip loosened. It was purely reflexive as I reached my hands down to the swelling in my trousers in shame.

“Oooh, hnnng—” The devil moaned as it faced me, leaning in for a fatal kiss. “Fill my body with your youthful vigour.”

Yet again, my vision narrowed in on the seductress. Horniness, unfortunately, having gotten the better of me once more.

I knew this was an attempt to suck my life out, and not in a ‘have a smoke after’ kind of way. But I was under its spell and hopelessly weak.

Weak. Weak. Weak. My mother’s voice bounced around my mind.

This creature’s lips met mine, and I felt the life essence transferring away to the monster. My body began to weaken even further, and I could feel myself growing tired. But no matter how much I mentally fought, my physical body was frozen in place.

Pathetic. Embarrassment.

The devil’s hands slid down my chest, slipping beneath the scorched fabric towards my waist. By this point, I could sense the feeling leaving my limbs. With every anxiety-induced beat of my heart, it forced an aching pain to rush through me.

But I still couldn’t move, I was frozen as the succubus’ tongue explored my mouth, wrestling against my helpless lip lock.

Weak. Weak. Weak—

Then, it suddenly stopped. With a spittle of something in my mouth, my taste buds were overwhelmed with a familiar metallic flavour that I had already tasted on this trip.

The succubus fell limp, its body collapsing to a heap before me. As it crumbled, it revealed a dozen arrows in a tight cluster. They had pierced the devil’s back and into the spot where a heart had once beat. Standing firmly with her bow trained on the creature, a heavily breathing, exceptionally wounded Aesandoral was ready with another arrow nocked.

Though the devil was motionless on the ground, she relentlessly fired half a dozen more of her arrows into its head. Within moments, the monster’s body melted into a thick, black ichor and began to bubble away into nothingness.

She stared for a moment, in disbelief that it was done, before shifting her gaze up at me.

“Iz are you—eep!” Aes yelped, turning a bright shade of red and looking away. “Iz—you—”

“Ah!” Rionriv and Sharzin squeaked as they shielded their eyes.

With a quick hand motion, Rionriv cast a spell that placed a large mirror of ice before me. I looked at myself and began to see the problem.

The succubus had coughed blood into my mouth, which was smeared down my chin and spilled over my tattered, flame-broiled shirt. The holes in said clothing were still bleeding profusely as I had not yet healed them properly from the engagement. And then the real problem presented itself.

When the devil fell with its hands still in my basketball shorts, it had decided to take them down with it.

So, there I was, soaked in blood, horribly wounded, dramatically fatigued, with my little buddy as hard as Celestinium standing at attention and no pants to be seen.

My face flushed red, and I felt a small piece of me die. Dropping to the ground, I covered myself while yelling at my companions to shield their eyes as I fumbled for my shorts.

Yay. Who needs old trauma when you can get fresh trauma in a new world!