An Incubus Life - 164

Chapter 164

Having sent Iris and Vida back to Earth was somewhat of a relief.  We were all in danger but them more so.  Also, I questioned Vida’s commitment to our objectives.  She might be loyal to me, but she was selfish, like most orcs I had encountered to date.  I still had the scroll in my mind space from the deceitful efeert that had tricked her into carrying his child.  I was not sure how that was going to be resolved.

Bedelia relaxed on the bed, her head draped over the foot, and she looked at me upside down.  She had scouted the building, and we were not being spied on.  “Apollyon,” she said using my alias, “how are we going to stop them?”

“We are not.  Iris will get word to Rincewind, and I am sure his contacts can help.  Our goal is to search for clues about Iris’ parents and rescue Andromeda,” I told her.

Aurora had one leg on the chair arm and relaxed diagonally into it. Her legs were splayed suggestively, “We should have headed back to Earth with them.  We are in over our heads.”

Bedelia responded to Aurora, “No.  We can not go back.  Carrie told me the fate of Earth is reliant on his,” she pointed at me, “intervention.”

Aurora shook her head, disappointed.  She continued to question my decisions, “Why are you letting the two orc women come with us?”

I shrugged, “Just to placate Gundella.  If she thinks she is sending watchers with me, then she will not interfere.  I plan to ditch them as soon as possible,” I replied, thinking about our objectives.  “You two get some rest.  I will keep watch till morning.”

Bedelia asked, “Maybe a core session to help me sleep?  You could use the additional life essence as well, no?”  The smile on her upside-down face made it into a frown.

I considered and nodded.  I did need life essence.  We remained in our orc bodies as we stripped.  Aurora turned her chair away from us as I lay on the bed.  I let Bedelia do all the work.  My massive, muscled orc champion body lay at her disposal.  As her hips rose and fell on my shaft, she commented, “I do not find it as pleasurable in this body.”  She removed her morphing earring, returning to her smaller human form.

I looked at the door, which we had locked, “Are we still secure? Do you want me to revert as well?”

Bedelia smirked, “We are safe. Stay in this body. It feels like I am taming a beast, riding you like this.”  I played my hands across her soft, fleshy chest, stimulating her nipples. I pinched her nipples roughly as it turned her on and helped her to a powerful orgasm.  She collapsed onto my chest, a sweaty mess, and I rolled her off to the side.

“Transform back before you go to sleep.  We are almost out of here, and it is best if they do not see you as a human,” I advised, and Bedelia was soon back in her orc form.

I dressed and sat across from Aurora.  “Thank you for your help today.”

“That is why I came.  To help.  I can not believe I am now as strong as an angel,” she said introspectively.  She had restained Sofiel.

“Sofiel is a child compared to Kushiel.  I don’t think Sofiel is more of an administrator than a fighter,” I said as we sat facing each other.

Aurora’s foot began bouncing, “Are you going to kill her before we head into the transit?”

I looked at it from Aurora’s perspective. Erasing the trail as we went made sense. I shook my head, “No, I would have to kill everyone we came in contact with in the city then. No matter how powerful I am, I do not see that as feasible. My hold on Sofiel is tenuous, but I believe it will remain intact long enough to get us to the transit. Get some rest, and I will keep watch.”

Aurora stood, looked at me, and then joined Bedelia in the large bed. I stayed awake through the night, thinking about what we might be able to do. Morning came too quickly. We had the morning meal with Gundella today, and she seemed extremely happy.

Sharn and Glasha stood in their guard uniform against the wall. They were prepared to travel with me into the transit. Sharn looked pleased, while Glasha looked uncertain. “If these two are coming with me, I would prefer they were released from their debt of service to you.”

Gundella’s happy mood suddenly soured, “Maestro, this is not the way. Their clan failed my mate and now must atone with service.”

I relaxed in my seat. I now knew what had really happened. Gundella’s mate had stolen one of the books from the Pyramid, and they attempted to get it back from him, killing him in the process. “Do you think the Fiery Snow Clan killed your mate?” I asked.

Gundella paused, “Yes, how did you know? Who did you talk to at the Sending?” She was immediately on guard.

“Ergoth,” I said flatly. I had no love for these ice orcs, and the possibility of creating turmoil in the city was not below me. Maybe it was preferred, as Aurora pointed out, hiding my tracks was important. “He told me your mate stole one of the books for building and using the Pyramids. They were trying to get it back when they killed your mate.”

Gundella’s wrinkled face showed anger. I tried to calm her and stoke the hatred a little, “Bid your time, Gundella. Train Tevega to be a warrior, but keep revenge on your mind and look for opportunities. When I return, we can do something about it.”  Even though I never planned to return, I could still put out false hope for the old ice orc.

“I will transfer the Molten’s Fist debt to you, Champion.” She looked over to Sharn on the wall, “How many of your clan remain?”

Sharn stepped forward, “Five of age.  One too young to contribute and one too old to contribute.”

Gundella motioned with her hand, “There, the Molten Fist Clan debt is now yours and will be formalized.” She snapped her fingers, and the fat-gray-skinned orc nodded and left to make it so.” Of course, Gundella was only doing this because she thought I was going to return and help her seek vengeance against the Fiery Snow Clan.

I pretended to give it some thought. “I will bring all seven with me to the transit. They can travel with us to the Pyramid when we leave.”

Gundella looked at Sharn, “Make it so.” Sharn took off at a quick pace, leaving a bewildered Glasha.

I turned to Glasha, “Go and make sure your mother packs supplies for a month for everyone.” Glasha had a deer in the headlight and looked to Gundella, and then me, and then back to Gundella.

“Do it,” Gundella said, “I will permit you to take what supplies you need for your seven clanspeople.” The young pale-skinned orc rushed off to do as she was bid. Gundella looked at me, “Is that to your satisfaction?”

“It is,” I nodded. “A fair trade for the information I gave you. Also, the book that your mate stole is in your library. It has no title on the binding and is on the shelves to the right. Do what you will with this information.”

I was surprised that Aurora was not eating everything on site this morning as she observed the interactions. She was clearly trying to puzzle out my intentions. For her part, Bedelia was using her magic to stay on alert. It took them three hours to bring the Molten Fist Clan to the dining room. Each of the seven had massive packs on their back, and only Sharn and Glasha wore guard uniforms.

The elder of the clan was a male ice orc who was missing a hand. His wrinkly skin made me think he was just as old as Gundella but had a much harder life. The child was a wide-eyed female ice orc who gaped at me while hiding behind Sharn, who appeared stoic but pleased with the situation. The three others of age were twin boys and a gray-skinned male. The twins were older than Glasha but did not appear to be trained as guards.

The gray-skinned male threw me a bit, but then I understood that a pale orc and green orc produced the gray-skinned orc. He was older, and I thought that maybe this was Sharn’s mate, but I could not be sure.

“This is your entire clan Sharn? And you have enough supplies for a month?” I asked, eager to get ready.

“The branch that owes service, yes. We are ready to follow Champion Maestro,” she replied stoically.

The fat gray orc attendant came into the dining hall with a scroll and handed it to Gundella, who reviewed the document and handed it to me, “The transfer of service.” I nodded and did not bother reading it. This little clan would be free to go their own way once we entered the transit and they had enough supplies to last.

We all gathered in the steam transport. The Molten Fist Clan was in the back where the guards normally sat. Just Gundella, Bedelia, Aurora, and I were in the center cab. We took a direct route to the Pyramid and were met by Faust of the Fiery Snow Clan, “Champion, the dissipator has been moved. We have twenty-two shamans ready to open the transit for you.”

I nodded and asked after Sofiel, “Is the Supreme Spiritualist still here?”

“She is. She is in the Key Stone Chamber and will help us open the portal. Our shamans are too drained from establishing the world gate,” he said apologetically. He quickly added, “She volunteered.  We did not ask her.”

I did not sense any deception, but before entering the Pyramid, I charmed Shaman Faust of the Fiery Snow. I asked him a few pointed questions, and there was no ambush set up, but he did not hide his anger at the change of plans for the Sending yesterday. All the accumulated energy just to send two people to Earth. Moving the dissipator and opening the transit portal was more commonplace to trade with the orc city located within.

We descended to the KeyStone Chamber, and the large black block had been moved aside. Twenty-two orc shamans of the Fiery Snow clan stood in a circle in the chamber, and Sofiel was in the center where the black block used to be. Gundella remained at the archway with my companions, and the Molten Fist Clan entered.

I approached Sofiel smiling and made sure my charm was still affecting her. It felt like I still had a link to her, “Sofiel, thank you for remaining and assisting with the opening.”

“I have decided to traverse and talk with the Uppers to confirm your assumptions about what the World Gates might do,” she said happily. I nodded, sensing a headache coming on. More powerful angelics would sense that I had charmed Sofiel.

“I am happy to have you come with us then. We can not let the planets become disconnected from the Source,” I nodded. Sofiel couldn’t give the Uppers, as she called them, knowledge of my arrival. “Let us travel together then.” Bedelia looked about to object, but I gave her a look, telling her I had everything under control—not at all, but that was the look I gave her.”

I could see the transit line clearly coming down through the Pyramid, which brought a lot of relief. I approached the center of the chamber, ready to open my own portal, and I noticed the male orc shaman who had been abused in their number. I paused in my step, “Sofiel, ask the Fiery Snow Clan to send that boy with you.” I indicated the young gray-skinned orc whose body had been whipped and beaten on my tour.

Sofiel was confused, but my influence over her was enough that she turned to Faust, “I will require an attendant on my journey.  That boy has a strong enough core to withstand the tribulations of the higher layers.”

Faust looked perplexed, and Argoth, the elder, spoke from a viewing platform above, “Supreme, Ganon is one of the stronger young shamans for charging the Key Stone. May I suggest…”

“No, Ganon is who I have chosen, and he will attend me,” Sofiel stated imperiously. Ganon walked forward hesitatingly and joined my group.  At least the orc was clothed now. I did not know why I had chosen to save him from his abuse. Maybe it was because I was taking the remnants of the Molton Fist Clan.

My group assembled.  Sofiel started to draw on the shamans around the chamber as she worked the portal open, and the familiar gateway into the transit formed. I walked forward as I was not planning to enter the transit.  I touched the portal and sent out my senses, searching. I had only done this once before and knew it was possible.  I had plenty of aether to attempt this.

One of the reasons you did not encounter demons, angelics, and other power beings inside the transits was we could bypass transversing the transit on foot. We could create a portal using the transit directly to the next higher layer. That was what I was doing now. The problem was I could not choose where on the planet on the 22nd layer we would emerge.

I invested the aether to create the bridge, bypassing the transit, and there were hundreds of pinpoints of light I could connect to. This was the first time I had done this, and the star field represented the intersections of the transits on the planet on the higher layer. I could even reach past the twenty-second layer and go to the twenty-first layer—I hesitated as I sensed I did not have enough aether to jump two layers.

Sofiel was in my ear, “Oh, you can do that? How are you strong enough?” I felt a tug at my control over her as she grappled with my power. Rather than risk her breaking my control, I selected one of the lights and tied the portal openings together.

“Everyone, go through!” I announced.

Sharn led her group in first without hesitation. Everyone was laden with heavy packs. Sofiel suddenly seemed uncertain as she warred within herself about my demonstration of power. The shaman Ganon stepped through. Bedelia and Aurora passed through next, leaving just Sofiel and me on the floor. The portal was already trying to close itself.

“Well, you said you wanted to go.” I picked her up before she could protest and carried her into the portal. It was much different than entering a transit. This felt like my body was stretched like taffy and then snapped back like a rubber band.

I was standing on a beach of pink sand, holding Sofiel. I put her down and looked around. Everyone else was looking as well. Turquoise waves washed on the shore. The beach extended as far as I could see in both directions and inland as well. There were no trees.

“The oxygen is thin here, Caleb,” Bedelia said through shallow breaths. “The aether is thicker, too.” Many of the orcs were struggling to breathe and looked sick. Ganon was the only one in my group that actually looked happy to be here. His orcish smile grew as he realized he was free of the Pyramid.

“We are on the southernmost continent of Planasisa,” Sofiel said. She was as amazed as everyone else. I looked at the sky, and the sun had a red tint to it. I slipped into my mind space to look at my banner.

Life Essence  161/360

Aether 203/1000

So, connecting the portal from layer to layer took almost 800 seconds. The good news is my aether should replenish quicker on this layer. I returned to find everyone milling and mostly struggling. The temperature was hot, over ninety degrees Fahrenheit. Sofiel was knee-deep in the water, and I ignored her for now.

“Did you bring any tents?” I asked Sharn.

“Just one for food. It is not very large,” she said guiltily. The old orc was bent over in pain, and I guessed it was because he had the weakest aether core of anyone here and was having trouble adapting.

“Get it set up for shade,” I advised.

I turned and studied Sofiel. I needed to decide what to do about her. It felt wrong to kill her as she did feel evil to me. My moral compass told me not to. I watched her as she waded deeper and deeper into the water.  She suddenly transformed into her angelic form. Her white wings spread, and she took to the air.

“Fuck,” I swore. I transformed into my incubus form and leaped into the air after her.  I hadn’t wanted to reveal my demon form to the orcs, but I couldn’t let Sofiel get away. She was fast, but I was faster. She turned to see me approaching, and fear came across her face as she tried to dodge.

I realized she didn’t recognize me, and her kinetic force blast slammed into me, slapping me like a fly out of the sky toward the water. It was much stronger than the one she had used on me in the Pyramid.

The force blast continued pushing me toward the water, but it must have had a range because it suddenly stopped. All I had for ranged attacks was my fireball and aether rifle, but it felt wrong to try and kill her. I veered back to the beach and let Sofiel fly away. Once I recovered my aether, I would open the transit portal again. I just needed to explain my demon form to the orcs first.