Episode 2: Part One: Wrong Turn

Morning came fast. A bell echoed across the cavern stirring us from our sleep. I don’t remember when we managed to fall asleep but somehow we did. I opened my eyes slowly and was once again greeting by a familiar set of gigantic breasts. It appeared as though Adrianna had managed to fall asleep contrary to what she was saying last night. I turned my neck to see Mona on the other side of the room staring at us. It was kind of creepy. Did she sleep last night? I was curious but from the look she was giving it seemed like we were still a ways off from friendly chit-chat.

I stretch my neck across Adrianna’s extremely pillowy thighs and caught a glimpse of a blonde bob behind me. She was still sleeping peacefully despite the noise, I imagine all that worrying certainly takes a lot out of a person. I rolled lazily down the thigh ramp and onto the cold stone floor. There was no way someone could comfortable get any good Zs on this stiff ground. I once again wondered what was driving Mona to do this to herself. Actually, despite everyone being just born yesterday they seemed like they all had fully distinct personalities and quirks. I was reincarnated so I have nearly 18 years of life experience and knowledge stored up, but these three are an entirely different story.

It was clear that there was some genetic knowledge passed down but it wasn’t anything related to succubus-ing. I wonder how much control does the mother have over that sort of thing. We’re so physically different, did she have access to some sort of character creator or something, or are we all different aspects of a singular person. It could all be randomized, for sure, but this all feels a bit too purposeful; and it was the same deal with the memories. Were they curated? Was there some importance to what we were shown? They were certainly personally significant to mother but how did they relate to us?

“My, my, aren’t you full of energy this morning, Rami-chan?”

Adrianna was awake and watching me roll around on the floor as I was deep in thought.

“I just have a lot of stuff on mind. There’s so much we don’t know.”

“Hm, hm, hm!” She giggled, “I don’t know about that, isn’t today the first day of life? We should look forward to it, shouldn’t we? There’s so much we don’t know, and it’s all waiting for us out there.”

“That…is a very positive way of looking at it.”

“Food.” Vanilla suddenly cried out, she swung herself upward like a vampire rising from a coffin, “I didn’t eat it I swear!” her voice echoed but was drowned out by the bell toll. Even in her sleep…

The bell stopped and as the ringing subsided a voice faded in, “Attention, all of my succu-babies, please sidle on down to the Parthenon in sector six. You feel? Get on with your alluring selves and don’t be late. You got ten minutes. Keep it sexy, ya heard.”

That was an extremely weirdly phrased announcement. Mona got up and began heading toward the exit.

“Wait for us!” Vanilla began to the brush through her hair with her hands in an panic.

“Why should I?” Mona continued forward.

“You don’t even know where it is.” I chided. Her attitude was starting to wear on me a bit, it reminded me of my older brother, no, that was much worse by the end, I can still save this relationship, “We can walk together. If you get lost, we all get lost, and we all take the blame equally.”

Mona’s breath hissed out violently before, “Hurry up.”

Adrianna and Vanilla “brushed” each other’s hair. I had come equipped with cute pink scrunchies so I could just put my hair into pig tails and call it a day, at least for now. My hair wasn’t as disheveled as the others despite rolling around on the ground; it could be that there was some magic at play, I guess time would tell.

Mona was quickly building up enough hot air to power a steam train as she waited for us to straighten out our appearance. Mona didn’t really need to do anything on that front, her hair was short and there was a natural tousle to it that gave her like “I don’t even have to try and I still look this handsome” that a lot of guys have, I call it the “Harry Styles.”

Adrianna and Vanilla completed their final checks and fell into line behind the “human” steam train who then rolled out at full tilt without mercy.

Beyond their little cave were endless catacombs, we tried to keep as straight a path as we could but we quickly came across a fork in the road, and then another and then there were six, then ten, and two, and four, and we always picked the left tunnel. It felt like we were going downwards most of the time which seemed right to me. Vanilla tried to ask Mona if she was sure about going this way and only got a growl in return.

We had definitely been walking for over ten minutes when we heard the sound of flowing water.

Emerging from the narrowing hallway we found ourselves in a serene, rainforest-y room. There was a small waterfall spilling down into a creek. Vines draped themselves along the walls and from the ceiling. It was now dawning on me that we hadn’t seen the cavern ceiling in some time. It wasn’t really an important detail just something I felt like noting.

The room was otherwise empty. There seemed to be a way forward just beside the waterfall. Mona continued trekking forward despite her eyes clearly widening at the change of scenery. The air was also different, it was thicker and a bit more humid than where we had just come from.

Just as we were approaching the tunnel, Mona noticed a shadow and pulled back. There wasn’t really anywhere to hide, so all we could do was stand there in tense silence. I honestly didn’t know how powerful I actually was, I hadn’t had any chance to test my new powers, so it was up in the air as to whether I could handle this potential threat. At the same time I wasn’t feeling any hostility up ahead meaning there was a good chance we wouldn’t need to fight yet.

A small figure emerged from the tunnel ahead of us. It slithered at us at an incredible speed.

“Ssshake your tailsss and ssskedaddle!” It was a tiny green snake with blue hair. I felt all of my tension melt away, in fact I felt like laughing. It looked like it was wearing a wig. It bobbed it’s head from side to side, “Essscape!” It was trying to warn us of an impending threat, but all I could do was try not to giggle.

Under her breath I could hear Mona whisper “So cute.” Mona of all people, and this snake of all things. I couldn’t hold it in any longer, “Ha! Ha!” I’m ashamed to say I was pointing and laughing, “Hee, hee, hee, hee!”

Adrianna looked like she didn’t know what to do and Vanilla looked like the only thing she wanted to do was run away or pass out.

Mona regained her composure, repositioning her stoic I’m-a-loner face. “What business do you have with us? And what right do you have to give us orders?”

Whoa, there. We are the ones stumbling into the snake’s home base, probably. We’re just passing through. There’s no need to be all high and mighty. You’re acting like a cop doing a vehicle stop. You got a quota or something? Shouldn’t the snake be the one asking questions. Of course, I was practically on the floor by this point, so I don’t really have anything to add.

“You can’t be here! Missstresss Lambda will be back any second, asss will the ressst.”

“Let’s listen to that thing and get out of here” Vanilla was pulling Adrianna by the waist, but wasn’t moving an inch. I finally settled down.

“Can you tell us how to get to the Parthenon?”

“You’re new, that sssertainly figuresss, thisss isss not good!”

“Lucia, where’d you wander off to, my pet?” A voice echoed from the tunnel before us.

“Whatever you do, don’t let her lay a finger on you.”

“Come now, my pet, I haven’t finished yet.”

A shadow appeared on the wall, “I ssswore I heard sssome tressspasssers ssswarming about, but it ssseems I was missstaken.”

The shadow stopped upon hearing Lucia’s reply, “Well then, come on back. You’ve been gone far too long.”

“Coming.”

“At the sssix way ssstop take the sssecond passsage from the right.”

“My patience is running out. You know what’ll happen if I’m forced to come find you?” Lambda said in a lilting voice.

“Eeek! Right away!” Lucia slithered back toward the opposite cave without looking back.

Vanilla tried to hightail it out of there as fast as she could but Adrianna stayed firmly put. If this was Scooby-doo cartoon the ground would have been bunching up like a rug, or her feet would have drilled holes into the floor.

“I think she’s in trouble.”

“We should go, we should definitely go!”

“I want to see if we can help.” Adrianna had a kind heart. A very naïve, kind, heart.

“I think that’s a bad idea. We don’t know the situation, it’s possible we’d be making a faux paw by intervening. We don’t know the lay of the land yet. That funny snake was scared of this Lambda woman, it’s possible she’s high up and powerful. We really don’t want to go getting into trouble if we can help it.”

Mona looked deeply conflicted but ultimately, “I-I agree, let’s get out of here while we can.”

Mona took the lead once again and we treaded back into the endless catacombs.