Maybe it’s paranoia and maybe you’re feeling the emotional effects of possibly being betrayed, but as far as you’re concerned, even if you find out that you’re wrong and she gets pissed about you even accusing her and never speaks to you ever again, you’re still going to feel better about all this. You’re going to find out one way or another after she gets off that ship.

You’re a bundle of energy until the day Vera arrives. When she does its all smiles and hugs like you’re both so happy to see each other. Maybe she’s even being sincere, you don’t know yet.

“Glad to finally see you here. How are things in Jicol?” you ask.
“Oh you know, it’s the same old thing. Some good days, some bad, but can’t complain. The Nocturnal League isn’t the same without you though.” Vera remarks.
“I’ll bet. So is there any place you wanted to go first?”
“You a tour guide for Holgard now too? Well, I suppose after all the shit that happened during the invasion resulted in a lot of damage and rebuilding, so I’m almost betting my favorite tavern isn’t even standing anymore.”
“The Blackheart? Nah. Totally destroyed. I think there’s a new weapon shop there now.”
“Oh well. I suppose the old Nocturnal headquarters is gone now too?”
“Not gone, but it’s currently under construction. Trying to turn it into a proper place to train any future agents. Bunch of dwarves there right now, and they aren’t fond of anyone getting in the way of their work. Warts suggested getting goblins since it would be much cheaper, but I figured the extra money would be worth sturdier construction.”
“Wow, really taking your new job seriously huh? Well in any case I don’t have any preference on where to go, so whatever you decide, we can do that.”
“Well I was thinking of taking you back to my place.”

Vera looks at you with a smile.

“Well that’s very forward of you. You didn’t even offer me dinner first.” Vera remarks.
“I didn’t ask if you if you were currently with anyone either.” You say.
“Would it really matter to you if I was?”
“Not really.”
“Well I guess let’s go then.”

Vera takes your arm and the pair of you walk to your home.

Along the way you and her talk about some of changes in the city. The discussion is fairly light and superficial, though Vera’s demeanor is pretty affectionate. You went into this with a flirty approach since you wanted to see if there was a complete personality change with her.

So far though, she’s acting about how you’ve always known her to. You’re getting the impression that she might not be faking all of it or if she is, she’s doing a very good job.

Whether she is or not though doesn’t matter, you’re still learning the facts today.

When you get to your home, you show her around a bit makes a lot of comments about how nice the place is and that it’s better than her own current dwelling.

“Ah the bar, I’ll just help myself if you don’t mind.” Vera says pouring herself a drink.
“Go ahead.” You answer.
“Is that a real Daquala head on the wall?”
“Yeah, Warts gave me that as a house warming gift. Didn’t like the ugly thing at first, but eh, it’s sort of grown on me now.”
“So how is the halfbreed anyway?”
“He’s fine. Runs some trading post with his family in Spiderfang territory. He exchanges information for coin with me from time to time.”
“Sheesh, Warts a family man with a regular job, you working for the government. So much has changed here and it all seems so odd.”
“In some ways I suppose it is, but then Holgard was never a beacon of justice. I mean I’m still involved in a lot of shady dealings. I just got legal permission to do it now.”
“Hah, I suppose that’s true.”
“So how about you?”
“How about me what?”
“I’ve been going on and on about myself and you haven’t told me about what’s going on with you.”
“Oh, like I said, nothing much. Just dealing with smugglers and pirates, staying a step ahead of the law when I have to, trying to keep the organization together and keep turning a profit. You know the routine, you had to do it.”
“Mm, and you said you haven’t had any trouble from the Ebony Claw Syndicate?”
“Nope. Not a peep from them. Guess they just don’t care about the League since it’s so small and not really a threat to them.”
“I suppose not, but still I thought for sure they would pay you a visit after they found out, the League’s only remaining holdings were in Jicol and under new management.”
“I dunno. Maybe they’re preoccupied with other things…hey so since you work directly for Ludmilla now, have you been invited to any more of her fancy parties?”

Okay. She was pretty quick to change the subject…

You entertain some more of Vera’s questions and the pair of you also proceed to talk about the “old days. The pair of you laughs about various events that occurred while you two worked together.

You’re having such a good time reminiscing that you almost forget that you’re probably talking to someone who betrayed you. However, it’s always still in the back of your mind and you haven’t forgotten. You suppose as much as you want to find out, you’re trying to enjoy “what once was” while you still can.

Meanwhile Vera’s gotten a little tipsier and a whole lot flirtier.

“So. We finally gonna fuck or what?” Vera asks, moving in a little closer on you.
“Now who’s being forward?” you say.
“Well I mean you invited me over, you’re showing off your big house and you’re plying me with alcohol. You don’t need to wait until I pass out, I’m more than willing right now.”
“Hm, I can tell. Though you actually started drinking without me giving it to you.”
“I suppose I did. I guess I always have taken the initiative in our relationship.”
“You always did have a thing for me didn’t you?”
“I’d tell you not to flatter yourself, but I think you know I have always found you quite attractive. Don’t even know why exactly, considering the first time we met you threatened me with rape.”
“Oh come on, I told you a long time ago that I wasn’t actually going to do that.”
“I know, but I’m fucked up enough to find that enticing in some weird way, but only if it was you of course.”
“Wow, that is fucked up. Maybe I should wait until you’re passed out then.”

Vera laughs a bit.

“No, I want to be fully awake for when you ravish me.”
“Sure I’m not going to be pissing off any pirate boyfriends of yours?”
“None that matter. And if you meant Zamed, I’m pretty sure he’s not going to object since I heard he died pissing off the Governor of Hessla months ago. Not like I’d seen him since we went with your idea to side with Ludmilla anyway. Seems like it was the right choice given the circumstances.”

Vera moves in to kiss you, and you slightly move away.

“Funny you should bring that up since I heard an interesting story about all that recently.” You say.
“Oh?” Vera asks with a mild annoyance that you didn’t kiss her back.
“Yeah, a Syndicate member paid me a visit recently. Said you’ve been dealing with them. Said you’ve been dealing with them for awhile now.”

Vera sits back and you look at her face. It’s like all the color has drained from it and it’s at that moment you know, no matter what she tells you, she’s betrayed you. You’re just wondering if she’s going to admit to it.

“Well?”
“Um…shit…I didn’t want to tell you. I thought you’d be mad. But…” Vera exhales deeply and then continues. “I have had dealings with the ECS, but I sort of had to. I mean they still wanted a cut of the profits, what could I do? I know you would understand that part, but I’m guessing you’re not too pleased to find out I was slave trading again.”

Your eyes briefly widen and go back to normal when she admits to that. You didn’t actually know about the slave trading, though you suppose you aren’t too surprised. It’s what she did before she joined with you and you imagine that it’s pretty lucrative what with all the pirate types she has to do business with. She probably was doing it the whole time she was sent to Jicol.

Honestly you don’t really give a shit though. What is more telling is she’s admitting to it now meaning that she’s trying to admit a “lesser” offense to distract from a greater one she’s hiding. It’s one of the oldest criminal tricks in the book.

You look at Vera and it’s very apparent she’s hoping that you’ll believe this partial truth and let it go. You won’t though, and she probably knows that too.

“Vera. Before we continue, I’m going to have to ask you to disarm. I know that…”

Before you can get another word in, Vera suddenly throws the rest of her drink in your face and springs from your couch and tries to run for the front door. She doesn’t get far though thanks to her balance not being the best due to her alcohol intake. She trips and slams hard on the floor and then promptly throws up as well.

Meanwhile all you’ve done is stand up and drawn your pistol.

You walk over to her, as she crawls away from the liquid mess she’s left on the floor. She turns over and sits on the floor with her knees to her chest and her back against the wall. She looks at you and then starts to cry. You can hardly believe this is the same woman you once trusted with your life.

“(Sob) You…you know (sob) don’t you?” Vera says.
“Well I know what the smug asshole ECS rep told me and you’ve pretty much confirmed it with your actions. In fact I sort of figured you’d outright deny everything or put up more of a fight. Didn’t think it would be this easy. Guessing you must feel guilty about all this on some level. Again before we continue, I’m going to have to ask you disarm.”

Vera nods and slowly throws away her blades and her own flintlock far enough away that she wouldn’t reach them in time. You thought you were going to be far angrier about all this, but now you’re almost feeling pity, but maybe that’ll change when you question her.

“Okay, so here’s the ultimate question. Why?” you ask.
“I…don’t know.” Vera says.
“You’re REALLY going to have to do better than that Vera.”
“I don’t know! I guess I was pissed at you okay?”
“You were pissed at me? For what?! I thought we got along really well!”
“Yeah as friends. You always KNEW I wanted to be more than that and instead of being direct, you just sent me away to a fucking island while you were fucking that wizard chick.”
“Vera…what the hell? This isn’t even making any sense! I was direct with you multiple times if you recall. As I remember I never even lead you on in any way. And for the record I was not fucking Heather. In any case I hardly see how that’s an excuse for you trying to have me killed!”
“I didn’t try to have you killed! I just wanted us to be close again! You were supposed to retreat back to Jicol, not stay here and be the fucking hero of Holgard!”
“Okay, some of this still isn’t making any sense. Actually a lot of it, but this is a much different version of what was going to happen to me when I got back to Jicol. I was told you were going to kill me.”
“I wasn’t going to kill you! And I would have stood up to the ECS if they tried!”
“That’s not what I heard.”
“And you believe the ECS about everything? Don’t you think that they might be lying about some of it just to fuck with you? To turn us against each other?”
“Well, yeah I considered that, but considering some of their story has already been confirmed as true, I’m finding it a little easier to believe an organization that has made no pretenses of being pissed with me than a woman who is obviously more mentally unstable than I ever could have known. And they already turned us against each other when you agreed to deal with them! Either you’re so delusional that you believed working with the ECS would somehow bring us together, and I’m really struggling to believe you’re that stupid, or you’re just lying about everything. At this point either one wouldn’t surprise me.”

Vera makes one last outburst.

“Why didn’t you just let this go? (sob) There was no more danger to you any more and I certainly wasn’t going to conspire against you again. I felt sick the first time I did it. Obviously I STILL feel sick about it. I felt this way ever since I realized how deep I was getting. I was just so…I don’t know…. (sniffle) I would always think about that time we got to go to the baroness’ party. I remember mentally believing myself to be a princess and you a prince. How I wished it were you and me that night instead of you and some random whore. I really think things could have been different between us. We could have been more than friends. Even now, I wish we could just forget everything and just live in this house together as husband and wife. I don’t understand, I did everything for you. Why couldn’t you just…love me? (Sob)”

As Vera breaks down again into tears, you’re almost at a loss for words at this point. Your relationship with women has always been “complicated” but this is a new one on you. You never realized just how damn deep Vera’s feelings were for you and honestly it’s still a bit of a mystery to you. Especially given that she betrayed you.

And she did betray you. No matter what her twisted logic may dictate, you can’t forget that.

And you can’t forgive it. Even if you are genuinely feeling sorry for Vera right now.

The ECS may not have gotten the most hurtful revenge on you, but they didn’t exactly fail. You can’t even be mad at them. Maybe in some weird way this is finally all your good luck crapping out on you. You have done a lot of treacherous shit yourself after all.

In any case, you also remember Percy’s advice about doing something worse than killing her.

You aren’t sure if it’ll make you feel any better about this, but you’re fairly certain it isn’t going to make you feel any worse.
> You revenge
It would be much kinder to just kill Vera now and be done with it and perhaps you would under normal circumstance.

However, you have another problem that doesn’t seem to be getting solved another way anytime soon and as grim as the current solution is, this is probably about the only time you’re going to feel someone is deserving of it.

You put away your pistol and crouch down besides Vera who is still upset and probably expecting you to kill her.

“Vera…Vera…shhhhh…calm down…I’m not going to hurt you.”
“(sniffle) You’re…you’re not?”
“No…I mean you REALLY fucked up. Like seriously fucked up. But I guess in your own warped way you thought you were doing something good. Actually I don’t even understand it all, but it really doesn’t matter since maybe some of this is my fault. I should have told you a long time ago.”
“Wait, what? Tell me what?”
“(Sigh) Well while I tried my best to never lead you on, you would be correct in thinking that I did have some affection for you as well. I mean how could I not? We were practically like an old married couple at times.”

Vera’s expression begins to change from one of despair to one of hope.

“You did? I knew it! But, why didn’t you ever return it? Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Vera asks.
“Because I’m fucking cursed that’s why and that’s what I should have just told you. If I had maybe this could have all been avoided.” You say.
“Cursed? How?”
“It’s a long story…”

And so you finally explain to Vera starting at the beginning when you first met Tanya. You tell her about your odd relationship with the demon girl you fell in love with. Vera never interrupts much except to say that Warts did tell her about Tanya very briefly once, but not in too much detail since he never paid much attention to your love life. Vera seems genuinely fascinated by it all. She’s even sympathetic. You suppose in some ways your obsession with Tanya mirrors her obsession with you a bit. (Though obviously in a vastly different way)

Part of you wonders if things really would have been different if you told Vera this before. Too late now you guess.

While you’re telling the stories of Tanya to Vera, you’re also partially reliving some of the good times you experienced with her. You actually haven’t thought about those in awhile seeing as you were trying to keep her “out of your head” as much as you could.

Finally you get to when you finally parted ways with Tanya, along with what you soon discovered whenever you were intimate with another girl. Vera now looks very stunned.

“Shit. I never knew. I mean… fuck. You’ve been trying not to kill me for years.” Vera says.
“Yeah. Shame you couldn’t return the favor.”

Vera looks away after your comment and goes silent. Her face is one of guilt and shame.

“Okay, maybe that was unnecessary. But I can’t just forget what you did. However, I do think I know how you can make it right, but it might be a little too weird for you.” You say.
“What, weirder than this?” Vera asks.
“Yeah, it’s a possible cure and I think you can help.”
“A cure? Of course I’ll help! What is it that you need? I’ll do it! It’s the least I can do after what I put you through.”
“Well you do this for me, and you can consider us even. We can even have a fresh start.”

You take Vera’s hand and look into her eyes.

“Together.”

Vera probably just got really wet right now as she grabs your hand with her other one.

“As I said. I’ll do it. What do you need?”

You explain that one of the reasons you were so friendly with Heather wasn’t because you were fucking her, but because she could potentially lift the curse. It just was taking her awhile to research it.

You then explain that she recently discovered that it can be lifted only by performing a ritual that involves an act of intimacy with one that loves you.

“Wait, so are you saying we have to be fucking during this spell?” Vera asks.
“We have to be fucking inside a magic circle to be precise. That’s to keep us safe. Heather’s going to be there the whole time doing her magic thing of lifting my curse. I know it’s weird, but that’s how the spell works I guess.”
“And after that you’ll be cured? You won’t be cursed anymore?”
“Yes.”
“Okay then. If this is the last thing that needs to be done for us to be together then let’s do it. I mean it’s the least I can do after all the shit I did anyway.”
“Let’s not dwell on the past any more okay? Let’s just dwell on the future.”

With those words you move in and finally kiss Vera on the lips. She embraces the kiss and grabs your head as you do so as if this is all she’s ever wanted. And it probably is. It probably would be more enjoyable for you as well if things were different. (And if she hadn’t just vomited)

You explain that the pair of you should head to the magic school right away so you can get on with your lives together so that’s exactly what you both do.

When you get to the school, you’re not stopped by rebellious teenage wizards this time. Though you are stopped by…

“Hey! It’s me Gwen! Remember me? I healed you up during the invasion! Do you need healing again?!” Gwen beams.
“Hi Gwen, ah no healing today, but I really do need to see Heather, is she around?”
“Yes, but she’s very cranky.”
“When isn’t she cranky? Tell her I’m here I’m about that thing she was researching for me and I’m here to go through with it. She’ll know what I’m talking about.”
“Oh. Um, hadn’t heard much about this, but then the Grand Matriarch doesn’t tell everyone everything I suppose. I’ll go get her.”

While Gwen walks away to get Heather, Vera squeezes your hand a bit. The pair of you wait in silence and soon you see Heather slowly walking towards you both, yelling at Gwen about something who goes running off elsewhere.

“Wait, is that Heather? I remember seeing her a couple times and she didn’t look like that! What the fuck happened to her?” Vera asks.
“Magic is a bitch to the aging process apparently.” You say.

Eventually Heather gets to you both giving you both the stink eye.

“So. You’re going through with the ritual huh?” Heather asks you.
“Yes. Vera and I have finally realized after all these years that we love each other and thanks to that love, the necessary last element is in place for you to perform this ritual so that you may lift the curse.” You answer.
“I see…is this true?” Heather asks Vera.
“Yes. Our relationship hasn’t always been the most stable, but I know I’ve loved this man for quite sometime and I know with his self sacrificing actions of turning me away and suffering in silence for years, that he loves me as well.” Vera says.

Heather is silent for a moment. You think she’s trying to stifle a laugh, which would probably be the first time she’s done that in awhile. Gwen soon comes back saying she’s prepped the room.

“Okay then. Vera, you go with Gwen who will take you to the summoning room and give you a couple of other instructions. We’ll be there shortly, I just need to speak to you about something unrelated that the Baroness brought up first.” Heather remarks.
“Um, okay. I’ll see you soon Vera.” You say.
“We’ll be seeing a lot more of each other after this.” Vera says and gives you another kiss before her and Gwen leave.

Heather is just shaking her head the whole time and then turns to you with a smile.

“I gotta say, I did not see that one coming. That was your second in command at one time right?” Heather asks.
“Yes.” You answer.
“Shit. I mean after all your talk about not wanting to sacrifice some unsuspecting girl, you pick her? A woman that obviously loves you?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck, that is some cold blooded ruthless evil shit that a Neroth cultist would be proud of. I can’t imagine what she did exactly to piss you off. She did piss you off right?”
“Yes, are we going to get on with this?”
“Alright, alright, yeah. I just want to make sure this is something you REALLY want, because once I start this ritual I can’t have you having second thoughts in the middle of it. It would be bad for ALL involved.”
“Trust me, I’m made my decision and she deserves this and I fucking deserve my freedom.”
“Alright I’m going to explain a few things before hand. First off I suggest you fuck Vera from behind, because I’m not sure exactly how pissed your ex is going to be when she’s transported from her dimension and you’re going to want to be getting out of their as soon as you can. What you don’t want is Vera to start grabbing you tightly and preventing you to leave as she dies horribly from the inside out desperately holding on to the only thing she loves and then suddenly you’re covered in blood and gore and face to face with your pissed off demon ex instead. In fact I highly recommend you get out of there when Vera starts screaming and convulsing and not in the good way.”
“Got it.”
“Also, this ritual is going to still take a little time, so I really hope you can last longer than two minutes. It’s not going to work at all if you’re releasing before I can even get the first incantation out.”
“Thanks for your confidence, but I think I can manage.”
“I hope so. Lastly I don’t give a shit what you your feelings were for your ex, you NEED to remember that she’s a fucking demon. So don’t fucking listen to ANY thing she says. You just let me take care of her.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to be holding her at bay and hopefully sending her back because if I can’t then we’re all going to be fucked. Anyway, let’s do this.”

You and Heather proceed to the summoning room and when the door is opened there you see Gwen standing near a table with a few books and Vera in all her naked glory standing in a large circle with symbols in it. Never seen her like this before and it’s a bit of a surprise.

“Undress please, we’ll be starting soon.” Heather says to you before addressing Gwen. “Gwen did you make the other circles?”
“Yes Grand Matriarch, perfect just like you said.”
“Better damn well be. Well? Get in your circle if you want to assist!”
“But I’m not even familiar with what’s going on exactly.”
“(Sigh) Yeah sometimes spontaneity happens in magic. Look, just grab that top book on the table, turn to page thirteen and recite the words when I give you the signal. You won’t have much to do and it’s a simple enough task even for you.”
“Yes, Grand Matriarch.”

As you’re getting undressed, you’re mentally preparing yourself for all this. Sex in front of an “audience”, sacrificing a former friend, summoning your demon ex, lifting a curse…it’s a lot to all process. If anything you’re slightly concerned not so much of finishing to quick, but getting started!

When you’re naked you step into the circle with Vera who immediately begins to embrace you.

“Okay, you two can start anytime now.” Heather says.

“I guess we better get to it then. Um, I guess I’ll help you out.” Vera remarks.

And like that, Vera immediately does what she’s offered to do to you several times before in the past. It doesn’t take long before you’re more than ready for the main act, and given how good she apparently is, you need to stop her anyway.

You spin Vera around and as you caress her body, and then suddenly pulling her hair you whisper in her ear.

“You deserve this.” You say.
“Mmmm…yes…I do…give it to me hard lover.”

And so the hate fucking begins. Though Vera is blissfully unaware of this and just thinks it’s all to heighten the experience. While you’re thrusting in and out of Vera, Heather and Gwen are reciting a bunch of words that you’re trying to drown out so you can focus on the task at hand.

It’s funny because you’re actually giving Vera what she’s always wanted; it’s just that she’s not going to like the end result. It’s almost like you’re stabbing her to death considering you’re practically killing this woman with your cock right now.

And as fucked up as that all sounds, it’s actually helping in keeping you in the mood and making you more enthusiastic. (The combo of going this long without sex and under these circumstances you think have really warped you)

Time passes and eventually in-between the moaning and grunting, suddenly Vera begins to cough and she nearly collapses to the floor, but you prevent that by holding her up, though you can tell it’s starting.

“You need to finish now! Hurry!” Heather suddenly shouts before returning to her chanting.

Following instructions, you do just that, though at this point Vera is definitely beginning to not feel well and suddenly coughs up blood.

“Shit…ugh something’s wrong! My entire body feels like its on fire! (Sob) Please…I..ARGH!”

It’s a good thing you finish right at that moment, because Vera’s own release was not just from her mouth this time.

Your mid to lower half is now covered in a mixture of blood and shit causing you to recoil in horror and disgust. You promptly scramble away from Vera and puke your own guts out, though fortunately in your case it isn’t blood.

Gwen, always the helpful one casts some sort of spell on you that cleans you off, causing Heather to snap.

“GWEN! FUCKING CONCENTRATE!”

Vera at this point has collapsed completely inside the circle and she begins making horrible screams and wails as her body begins to bleed not just from every orifice, but also from her pores.

You watch a little dumbfounded. Partially still recovering from being sick and what you’re witnessing. Vera’s cries and pleads for you to help her, but there isn’t much you’d be able to do anyway.

You force yourself to watch this brutal spectacle and you even shed a few tears thinking that maybe she didn’t deserve this.

Vera’s body eventually contorts into an unnatural state and she unleashes a shriek that is definitely not human sounding. She can take no more and with that, her body splits and explodes.

You manage to avoid getting pelted by gore again by hiding behind an alchemical counter.

When you look again, that’s when you see her. Tanya. And she’s much different looking now. Even before when she transformed here in this world there was still a human quality about her.

Now? She’s at least a foot taller than you and her wings along with her horns even bigger and more impressive. She has hooves rather than proper feet. Her body looks more muscular and athletic looking rather than traditionally curvy and sexy. In fact she’s not even naked, she’s wearing some sort of form fitting armor and a wicked looking sword hangs by her side.

She looks more like a demonic knight of some sort rather than her succubus origins would imply. One of the few things though that remains recognizable to you is her long white hair and her face.

And once she gets the general idea of her new surroundings, her eyes finally meet yours.

“You.” She says in a voice slightly deeper than you remember.
“Hello Tanya.” You reply, not quite sure of how to react.
> You reunion
While you’re fumbling to at least get your underwear and pants back on, Tanya looks around again, still staying in the circle of course. She examines the gory chunks of flesh that once were Vera and reaches down with a taloned hand.

She tastes some of the blood and then pops the whole thing into her mouth.

“If you’re going to get rid of your curse, you best do it now while she’s trapped. While she’s in that circle you can command her to release you and she has no choice but to do so. So get on with it!” Heather exclaims.

With your pants now back on, you approach Tanya, who stares at you from the circle. She doesn’t look pleased, but then you aren’t sure if that’s just here natural look now.

“Tanya, I command you to take off this curse you put on me.” You say trying to be as authoritative as you can, but honestly you’re scared shitless.

And Tanya knows it. In fact she just steps closer to the edge of the circle.

“You command ME? Have you grown so arrogant in your meager mortal life that you believe you can even do that?” Tanya asks.
“No, but…” you start to say before you’re interrupted.
“Then you’ve just grown stupider.”
“Tanya…”
“That isn’t even my name anymore worm. I have become something much greater and I have long shed any connection to my pathetic mortal years.”
“Even me?”

Tanya doesn’t answer you, but instead just gives a huffing growl.

“The one on the floor who I tasted. This one loved you, yet you obviously sacrificed her to summon me. Why?” Tanya asks.
“I told you, I want you to lift the curse that…” you begin to answer.
“No! I mean why did you sacrifice her?”
“She betrayed me.”
“I see. And you felt that she deserved this horrible fate?”

You’re about to answer yes, but then on reflection you stop yourself.

“No. She probably didn’t, but I made a pragmatic decision because I needed something and she was the best way to get it.”

Tanya nods at your answer, meanwhile Heather is getting impatient.

“For fuck’s sake stop talking so much and just COMMAND it to lift the fucking curse! The more you talk, the more it’s going to beguile you into doing something stupid, like stepping into the circle with it!” Heather yells.
“Silence wizard! I will deal with YOU later. If my former…human wishes to speak with me, then he will do so until our business is done. Now then, before we move on to this curse you speak of, I wish to ask more questions about you, one of which is why have you not moved on from me? I asked you to do so.” Tanya says.
“I can’t! You put a curse on me that prevents me from having sex with any other woman! Anytime I do, they wind up dead a few days later!” you answer.
“So why blame me? I haven’t been anywhere on this world until you summoned me.”
“Well who else would it be? Yag fucking around with his magic dice? I mean I have a hard time believing its coincidence; there were too many women that died! I mean maybe you didn’t mean to place it on me, maybe it was some sort of after effect of your power of something.”
“Oh I assure you human, I’m fully aware of my powers, but placing curses? Not my style and never will be. I learned a long time ago, even when I was here in my last remaining years tethered to this world that I enjoy direct bloodshed.”
“But…it had to be you…I mean…wasn’t it?”
“Maybe it was YOU.”

This accusation causes you to step back a bit.

“Me? That’s absurd.” You say.
“Is it? Think hard now.” Tanya replies.
“I think I’d know if I had killed all those women and some of those were accidents!”
“Or maybe you made them look like they were. It’s Holgard, not like the Watch was going to double check for barmaids and whores.”
“I can’t believe it.”
“Okay…if it makes you feel any better, perhaps I AM to blame indirectly. Obviously you didn’t get over me the way I told you too and were still obsessed with my magnificence. I suppose I can’t fault you, after all a mere mortal woman would pale in comparison. But those women? I had no direct hand in causing their deaths. That was ALL you. Even now I can see it in your mind.”
“What?!”
“I can see into your mind. We’re bonded remember? Now granted that bond was severely weakened when I left this realm, but now? You’re like an open book. I can see shit in your mind that you’ve blocked out which is exactly what you did when you were on your whore killing spree.”
“But…”
“Why? Because you love me madly obviously and you always will. You killed those women out of fear that you were betraying that love. However, you have a strange morality about you and that caused you to block it out. How you did it so easily, well that’s probably thanks to our bond and you gaining a very tiny bit of my mental powers. Except you didn’t even realize you were using it of course.”
“But if all this is true, I must have moved on because I stopped doing it.”
“Well yes, but that’s mainly because your conscious mind came to the conclusion that I must have put a curse on you so you used THAT as an excuse to not get involved with another woman again. Even this Vera woman, that you obviously had a lot of affection for. I dare say if you had actually given it a chance you might have even broke the cycle. Enough time had passed between us by then and your feelings for Vera were much stronger than they were for the other women. But your love for me just proved too strong. Think about it. Even though she betrayed you, you could have just killed her or even forgave her if you so desired. Instead, you sacrificed her to summon me.”
“But I did it because I HAD to see you!”

Tanya folds her arms and smiles a bit.

“And there it is…and here I am.” Tanya says.
“By the gods…” you say suddenly coming to an epiphany.
“You are a fool to listen to this demon and when she eats your soul, I am not going to be able to help you.” Heather interjects.

You might be a fool, but unfortunately Tanya’s words are proving correct. Your memories are all suddenly flooding back. You see the murders as clear as yesterday now. You see what you did and how you even enjoyed doing it at times. It was you. It was you the entire time and you blacked it all out.

You slowly slump to the floor trying to process everything and you can’t do it. You just stutter a couple of words and trail off.

“You cannot command me to lift a curse that I never placed on you mortal. The only curse you have is your love of me and I can’t help you with that. I wish I could, but you didn’t listen to me when I told you not to pursue me in the first place and this is where we are now.” Tanya says with a bit of sympathy in her voice.

While you’re coming to grips with your uncovered memories, Heather is done with this whole thing.

“Enough! We’ve apparently solved your problem, now we’re moving on. Demon, I command YOU to transfer the life essence of that woman over there to me.” Heather yells.
“WHAT?! Grand Matriarch you can’t mean that!” Gwen answers.
“Oh shut up! This shouldn’t even be a surprise to you, never liked you anyway. I’m tired of looking and feeling like an old bat while I’m only in my thirties!” Give me this woman’s youth and then you may return to your own realm.”

Gwen attempts to leave her circle but soon learns that she’s trapped within it. Attempts at casting a spell to escape or even attack Heather similarly fail. Lacking any other means of freedom, Gwen panics and begins to plead for her life.

“You keep interesting female company since we parted mortal. Based on the mewling waif, the old hag over there and the meat chunks on the floor apparently they’ve all been a bunch of treacherous backstabbing bitches, pathetic naïve weaklings or both. No wonder you still long for me. At least even with my infernal heritage I never lied to you.” Tanya says.
“Demon! I AM in charge here! I COMMAND YOU in Dorna’s name to perform my task!”

Tanya starts to laugh.

“I don’t recognize your gods and that’s not how it works! That’s not how ANY of this works!” Tanya says.
“What?!” Heather remarks.
“Someone isn’t up on their guide to infernals because you can’t command me to do shit for you. This one probably isn’t in most books about us because it isn’t a common occurrence, but you cannot command an infernal whose heart belongs to someone. And my heart unfortunately belongs to this mortal until he dies or purposely breaks it. And in any case, this circle you made to hold me doesn’t even have the correct symbols on it…”

And with those words Tanya slowly steps out of the circle to Heather’s horror.

“Oh shit! Gwen you fucking idiot!” Heather shouts and quickly begins to call for help, along with casting a beam of frost at Tanya.

Tanya blocks the beam with one hand and then waves her other arm and suddenly most of the furniture in the room is thrown against the door to barricade it. Meanwhile you get out of the way so you don’t get hit by Heather’s magic or get stepped on by Tanya’s cloven hooves.

You look on in slight awe as you see Tanya draw her sword, which is now on fire and Heather just barely blocking it from cleaving her in two by casting a magic shield.

“Please! Help me out of this circle!” you suddenly hear.

You forgot all about Gwen who out of everyone here is innocent in all this.

You aren’t sure how this magic circle shit works, but you can’t think of anything else to do except try to pull Gwen out of it. And to your amazement it actually works.

“Come on, we need to get the hell out of here.” You say and rush to the barricaded door, though some books on the floor suddenly distract Gwen.

“What the fuck are you doing?! We gotta get out of here before those two bring this whole place down on our heads!” you shout.
“If Heather doesn’t win, then we’re going to need something to stop your ex, I’m looking for some sort of spell. Just focus on unbarricading the door. Hopefully the other students are working on the other side to get in here.” Gwen says as she hastily goes through book pages.

Lacking any other plan, you go with Gwen’s and start trying to move the various desks, tables, chairs and cabinets agaist the door. You can hear shouting on the other side to which you yell back for them to blow the damn door open and get their asses in here.

You’ve moved and thrown aside exactly one large desk and that’s when you hear a scream. You slowly turn your head and see that Tanya has broken through whatever magical defenses Heather had and cut her in half. Heather was no slouch as a wizard, for Tanya to have easily killed her like that...it just defies words of how powerful she’s gotten.

Be that as it may, it would seem that Gwen found something to harm Tanya because she unleashes a blast of magic energy straight into her back causing a monstrous howl.

It slows her down, but not much as she’s already spun around to face Gwen. She stomps on the ground causing the floor to crack and forcing Gwen to jump out of the way lest she fall into the Holgard sewers, though maybe that would have been a better idea. At least then there would have been multiple escape routes.

At this point some of the other students have manages to blast part of the door open. Several begin trying to climb over the furniture still in the way.

“BURN.” Tanya utters and you jump back just in time to see all of the furniture barricade go up in flames along with unfortunate wizards that were climbing over it at the time.

The screams of burning wizards are soon drowned out by another bellow of pain by Tanya when Gwen hits her with another blast of whatever magic she’s using. This time Tanya falls to one knee briefly, but it isn’t enough and now she’s heading straight for Gwen like an angry charging minotaur. Gwen however is surprisingly holding her ground and preparing another magic blast.

You spy your pistol on the floor and you grab it, but as strange as it may be, you aren’t sure who to use it on.

The whole time during Tanya’s arrival, you’ve had a stirring within you again. Namely your obsessive love for Tanya. Even this monstrous demonic form, she is still the object of everything you desire in heart and you don’t want to see her hurt no matter how well she’s able to defend herself.

But you’ll never be free if you hang on to the idea of a relationship that can never be.
> You aim for Tanya
It’s time to be free, no matter what the cost.

You empty your pistol at Tanya. You know you hit her at three times in the head and that’s enough to cause her charge at Gwen to halt temporarily when she collapses on the floor. Gwen doesn’t miss a step and unleashes her magic.

Tanya once again makes an unearthly scream as she’s hit by the blast. It’s enough to shake the room a bit and hurt your ears. Gwen looks exhausted, but unfortunately despite her wounds, Tanya is just getting started

Tanya suddenly gets back up and even with one eye left and a broken horn from your bullets, she flat out ignores the pain of having a hole burned straight through her armor and body as Gwen attempts to stop her second charge at her.

Gwen attempts to put up some sort of magic protection, but Tanya picks her up with ease and smashes her into the wall several times like a rag doll. There is no scream, just the flopping about of a bloody broken body.

You are attempting to reload your pistol, but you already know it’s not going do any good when Tanya is finally done tormenting Gwen’s body in death and tosses it aside to turn her attention towards you.

You can’t even run as there is a barrier of fire blocking the exit. The best you can do is get off one more shot before Tanya is upon you and breaks your arm in two and then ripping part of it off. The physical pain is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before, but perhaps it still pales in comparison to the inner you still have for a love that could never be and is now gone forever.

Tanya picks you up by the other good arm and dangles you above the ground like a slab of meat. You look into her one good eye and see a fury that isn’t just one of normal hate or even demonic rage. It’s the stare of one who has been betrayed by their one true love.

This is the end you know it.

“I…I’m sorry Tanya…” is all you can say.

And somewhere even now you see a spark of what Tanya once was.
“No. Thank you mortal. You’ve freed us both.” Tanya replies.

With no more feelings left for you, Tanya appropriately pulls your heart from you chest and eats it before your eyes.

You die just before Tanya drops you back to the floor again.


While you’re fumbling to at least get your underwear and pants back on, Tanya looks around again, still staying in the circle of course. She examines the gory chunks of flesh that once were Vera and reaches down with a taloned hand.

She tastes some of the blood and then pops the whole thing into her mouth.

“If you’re going to get rid of your curse, you best do it now while she’s trapped. While she’s in that circle you can command her to release you and she has no choice but to do so. So get on with it!” Heather exclaims.

With your pants now back on, you approach Tanya, who stares at you from the circle. She doesn’t look pleased, but then you aren’t sure if that’s just here natural look now.

“Tanya, I command you to take off this curse you put on me.” You say trying to be as authoritative as you can, but honestly you’re scared shitless.

And Tanya knows it. In fact she just steps closer to the edge of the circle.

“You command ME? Have you grown so arrogant in your meager mortal life that you believe you can even do that?” Tanya asks.
“No, but…” you start to say before you’re interrupted.
“Then you’ve just grown stupider.”
“Tanya…”
“That isn’t even my name anymore worm. I have become something much greater and I have long shed any connection to my pathetic mortal years.”
“Even me?”

Tanya doesn’t answer you, but instead just gives a huffing growl.

“The one on the floor who I tasted. This one loved you, yet you obviously sacrificed her to summon me. Why?” Tanya asks.
“I told you, I want you to lift the curse that…” you begin to answer.
“No! I mean why did you sacrifice her?”
“She betrayed me.”
“I see. And you felt that she deserved this horrible fate?”

You’re about to answer yes, but then on reflection you stop yourself.

“No. She probably didn’t, but I made a pragmatic decision because I needed something and she was the best way to get it.”

Tanya nods at your answer, meanwhile Heather is getting impatient.

“For fuck’s sake stop talking so much and just COMMAND it to lift the fucking curse! The more you talk, the more it’s going to beguile you into doing something stupid, like stepping into the circle with it!” Heather yells.
“Silence wizard! I will deal with YOU later. If my former…human wishes to speak with me, then he will do so until our business is done. Now then, before we move on to this curse you speak of, I wish to ask more questions about you, one of which is why have you not moved on from me? I asked you to do so.” Tanya says.
“I can’t! You put a curse on me that prevents me from having sex with any other woman! Anytime I do, they wind up dead a few days later!” you answer.
“So why blame me? I haven’t been anywhere on this world until you summoned me.”
“Well who else would it be? Yag fucking around with his magic dice? I mean I have a hard time believing its coincidence; there were too many women that died! I mean maybe you didn’t mean to place it on me, maybe it was some sort of after effect of your power of something.”
“Oh I assure you human, I’m fully aware of my powers, but placing curses? Not my style and never will be. I learned a long time ago, even when I was here in my last remaining years tethered to this world that I enjoy direct bloodshed.”
“But…it had to be you…I mean…wasn’t it?”
“Maybe it was YOU.”

This accusation causes you to step back a bit.

“Me? That’s absurd.” You say.
“Is it? Think hard now.” Tanya replies.
“I think I’d know if I had killed all those women and some of those were accidents!”
“Or maybe you made them look like they were. It’s Holgard, not like the Watch was going to double check for barmaids and whores.”
“I can’t believe it.”
“Okay…if it makes you feel any better, perhaps I AM to blame indirectly. Obviously you didn’t get over me the way I told you too and were still obsessed with my magnificence. I suppose I can’t fault you, after all a mere mortal woman would pale in comparison. But those women? I had no direct hand in causing their deaths. That was ALL you. Even now I can see it in your mind.”
“What?!”
“I can see into your mind. We’re bonded remember? Now granted that bond was severely weakened when I left this realm, but now? You’re like an open book. I can see shit in your mind that you’ve blocked out which is exactly what you did when you were on your whore killing spree.”
“But…”
“Why? Because you love me madly obviously and you always will. You killed those women out of fear that you were betraying that love. However, you have a strange morality about you and that caused you to block it out. How you did it so easily, well that’s probably thanks to our bond and you gaining a very tiny bit of my mental powers. Except you didn’t even realize you were using it of course.”
“But if all this is true, I must have moved on because I stopped doing it.”
“Well yes, but that’s mainly because your conscious mind came to the conclusion that I must have put a curse on you so you used THAT as an excuse to not get involved with another woman again. Even this Vera woman, that you obviously had a lot of affection for. I dare say if you had actually given it a chance you might have even broke the cycle. Enough time had passed between us by then and your feelings for Vera were much stronger than they were for the other women. But your love for me just proved too strong. Think about it. Even though she betrayed you, you could have just killed her or even forgave her if you so desired. Instead, you sacrificed her to summon me.”
“But I did it because I HAD to see you!”

Tanya folds her arms and smiles a bit.

“And there it is…and here I am.” Tanya says.
“By the gods…” you say suddenly coming to an epiphany.
“You are a fool to listen to this demon and when she eats your soul, I am not going to be able to help you.” Heather interjects.

You might be a fool, but unfortunately Tanya’s words are proving correct. Your memories are all suddenly flooding back. You see the murders as clear as yesterday now. You see what you did and how you even enjoyed doing it at times. It was you. It was you the entire time and you blacked it all out.

You slowly slump to the floor trying to process everything and you can’t do it. You just stutter a couple of words and trail off.

“You cannot command me to lift a curse that I never placed on you mortal. The only curse you have is your love of me and I can’t help you with that. I wish I could, but you didn’t listen to me when I told you not to pursue me in the first place and this is where we are now.” Tanya says with a bit of sympathy in her voice.

While you’re coming to grips with your uncovered memories, Heather is done with this whole thing.

“Enough! We’ve apparently solved your problem, now we’re moving on. Demon, I command YOU to transfer the life essence of that woman over there to me.” Heather yells.
“WHAT?! Grand Matriarch you can’t mean that!” Gwen answers.
“Oh shut up! This shouldn’t even be a surprise to you, never liked you anyway. I’m tired of looking and feeling like an old bat while I’m only in my thirties!” Give me this woman’s youth and then you may return to your own realm.”

Gwen attempts to leave her circle but soon learns that she’s trapped within it. Attempts at casting a spell to escape or even attack Heather similarly fail. Lacking any other means of freedom, Gwen panics and begins to plead for her life.

“You keep interesting female company since we parted mortal. Based on the mewling waif, the old hag over there and the meat chunks on the floor apparently they’ve all been a bunch of treacherous backstabbing bitches, pathetic naïve weaklings or both. No wonder you still long for me. At least even with my infernal heritage I never lied to you.” Tanya says.
“Demon! I AM in charge here! I COMMAND YOU in Dorna’s name to perform my task!”

Tanya starts to laugh.

“I don’t recognize your gods and that’s not how it works! That’s not how ANY of this works!” Tanya says.
“What?!” Heather remarks.
“Someone isn’t up on their guide to infernals because you can’t command me to do shit for you. This one probably isn’t in most books about us because it isn’t a common occurrence, but you cannot command an infernal whose heart belongs to someone. And my heart unfortunately belongs to this mortal until he dies or purposely breaks it. And in any case, this circle you made to hold me doesn’t even have the correct symbols on it…”

And with those words Tanya slowly steps out of the circle to Heather’s horror.

“Oh shit! Gwen you fucking idiot!” Heather shouts and quickly begins to call for help, along with casting a beam of frost at Tanya.

Tanya blocks the beam with one hand and then waves her other arm and suddenly most of the furniture in the room is thrown against the door to barricade it. Meanwhile you get out of the way so you don’t get hit by Heather’s magic or get stepped on by Tanya’s cloven hooves.

You look on in slight awe as you see Tanya draw her sword, which is now on fire and Heather just barely blocking it from cleaving her in two by casting a magic shield.

“Please! Help me out of this circle!” you suddenly hear.

You forgot all about Gwen who out of everyone here is innocent in all this.

You aren’t sure how this magic circle shit works, but you can’t think of anything else to do except try to pull Gwen out of it. And to your amazement it actually works.

“Come on, we need to get the hell out of here.” You say and rush to the barricaded door, though some books on the floor suddenly distract Gwen.

“What the fuck are you doing?! We gotta get out of here before those two bring this whole place down on our heads!” you shout.
“If Heather doesn’t win, then we’re going to need something to stop your ex, I’m looking for some sort of spell. Just focus on unbarricading the door. Hopefully the other students are working on the other side to get in here.” Gwen says as she hastily goes through book pages.

Lacking any other plan, you go with Gwen’s and start trying to move the various desks, tables, chairs and cabinets agaist the door. You can hear shouting on the other side to which you yell back for them to blow the damn door open and get their asses in here.

You’ve moved and thrown aside exactly one large desk and that’s when you hear a scream. You slowly turn your head and see that Tanya has broken through whatever magical defenses Heather had and cut her in half. Heather was no slouch as a wizard, for Tanya to have easily killed her like that...it just defies words of how powerful she’s gotten.

Be that as it may, it would seem that Gwen found something to harm Tanya because she unleashes a blast of magic energy straight into her back causing a monstrous howl.

It slows her down, but not much as she’s already spun around to face Gwen. She stomps on the ground causing the floor to crack and forcing Gwen to jump out of the way lest she fall into the Holgard sewers, though maybe that would have been a better idea. At least then there would have been multiple escape routes.

At this point some of the other students have manages to blast part of the door open. Several begin trying to climb over the furniture still in the way.

“BURN.” Tanya utters and you jump back just in time to see all of the furniture barricade go up in flames along with unfortunate wizards that were climbing over it at the time.

The screams of burning wizards are soon drowned out by another bellow of pain by Tanya when Gwen hits her with another blast of whatever magic she’s using. This time Tanya falls to one knee briefly, but it isn’t enough and now she’s heading straight for Gwen like an angry charging minotaur. Gwen however is surprisingly holding her ground and preparing another magic blast.

You spy your pistol on the floor and you grab it, but as strange as it may be, you aren’t sure who to use it on.

The whole time during Tanya’s arrival, you’ve had a stirring within you again. Namely your obsessive love for Tanya. Even this monstrous demonic form, she is still the object of everything you desire in heart and you don’t want to see her hurt no matter how well she’s able to defend herself.

But you’ll never be free if you hang on to the idea of a relationship that can never be.
> You aim for Gwen
That’s it; you’ll always be a slave to loving Tanya. You were doomed when you first laid eyes on her.

You’ve also learned that you did a bunch of terrible shit because of it and what you did to Vera was terrible too despite what she did to you.

You’re not a virtuous person and you most likely never will be, but never let it be said that you’re all bad.

You aim for Gwen, but not a kill shot, instead you shoot just so the bullet whizzes in front of her face causing her to break her concentration and even stumble back a bit. Then you quickly address Tanya.

“TANYA STOP! DO NOT KILL THIS WOMAN! I COMMAND YOU!” you shout.

Just a few paces away from Gwen with her sword in hand, she manages to stop herself from trampling over her. She snorts and turns a scowling face towards you.

“Why do you stop me mortal?! Do you love this woman?” Tanya asks.
“No. I don’t, but she doesn’t deserve to die either.” You say and walk towards the pair of them.

You see Gwen attempting to cast another spell and that’s when you really point your pistol at her.

“Gwen, you will NOT harm Tanya. If you continue to attack, I’ll kill you myself.” You say.
“But…but we’ve got her! She can’t do shit right now! I can kill her and then you’ll finally be free, isn’t that what you wanted?” Gwen remarks.
“No. I love this woman. Why would I want to be free of that?”
“Because she’s a demon that is incapable of it?”
“If that were true she would be ripping my head off right now. Gwen, I saved your life twice today, you can do me this favor.”

Gwen backs off and nods.

“Very well, but I’m not sticking around and I suggest you and your…love leave as soon as possible, because I doubt the Holgard Watch is going to be as understanding when they arrive.” Gwen replies and quickly runs over to the burning barricade and casts a spell to put it out before proceeding out the destroyed door opening.

Now you’re alone with Tanya who doesn’t look pleased with you. You’re about to speak when she suddenly grabs you and suddenly jumps in the air and takes to flight. Using her wings as a shield she envelopes herself (and you) as she breaks through the ceiling of the school.

Afterward, she spreads her wings our again and flies high above the city. You never thought you’d see Holgard from this view again.

Tanya is silent the whole time as she holds you close to her body and flies away from Holgard and eventually landing in a spot not far outside it, but away from anyone else.

She drops you to the ground when you’re close enough and finally she speaks when she lands near you.

“You’re a fool. A complete and utter fool. You always were.” Tanya says.
“I know.” You answer.
“I wish you had shot at me instead, then you would have ended both of our torment when I ripped you apart for breaking my heart.”
“Couldn’t do that.”
“If you REALLY loved me as much as you claim, you would have! Do you realize how hard it is for me to ignore my feelings for you? Why do you think I look like a soldier of war rather than a seductress now? I tried to eliminate everything and anything that even reminded me of intimacy. I had to fight and struggle not only to block you out of my mind and the weakness that entailed with it, but also endure the taunts and challenges of other infernals who refused to see me as anything other than a succubus with human blood in my veins.”
“But you proved them wrong didn’t you?”
“Yes! I proved them all wrong. I thrived on the hate, their hate, my hate, all of it. I used it to achieve greatness. I am now a general in the Infernal Legions! I have personally beheaded and carved up celestials and won battles against seemingly impossible enemies. I am no mere succubus. I am a personification of rage, war, and hate.”
“I always knew you’d do well.”
“And you know what I really hate? YOU. I hate the day I ever met you. I hate that you were instrumental in my current status. I hate that you summoned me back to this pathetic world. I HATE the fact that I love you.”
“But without it, where would you be?”

Your last words are too much and Tanya takes a step towards you and backhands you across the face. She probably wasn’t even using half of her strength either and you go sprawling to the ground in a daze.

After spitting a bit of blood and rubbing your head a bit, you slowly get back up and that’s when you hear quiet sobbing.

You look and you see Tanya sitting on the ground with her knees tucked in and her head buried in her arms.

Except this isn’t the demon of war form that you’ve been seeing. This isn’t even her succubus form. It’s the form of the girl you fell love with. Even her clothes are the same.

“Tanya…” you say and walk over to her, but she pulls away a bit when you go to touch her.
“But what I hate…(sob) most of all… is…that we can’t be together…”

You don’t know what to say. There isn’t anything you can say. She’s right and it sucks.

Instead you just sit next to her and hold her. She holds on to you back, finally giving in to her human feelings for you, no matter how buried they were.

“I have to go back.” Tanya says with a sniffle.
“I know, but you could stay, just for a little while. Let’s just enjoy what we have right here. Right now. Hey, we never watched the sunset together, why don’t we do that?” You say.

Tanya wipes her eyes and nods.

“Okay.”

The pair of you just sit and hold each other in silence for quite awhile as you watch the sunset and then later the stars. One of the benefits of being bonded is not even having to speak. Sometimes one of you remembers a fond moment from your collective past and you both give a smile at each other, even an occasional laugh.

During one of those moments, you both look deep into each other’s eyes and you finally move in to kiss. From there, you both do what lovers tend to do.

And for those moments of intimacy under the night sky, the pair of you has blocked out everything else and it’s just you two.

Afterwards, the pair of you fall asleep under the stars.

The next day you wake up. You feel some of the aches from yesterday’s events, but you’re not too bad off. You look and Tanya isn’t next to you and you expect her to be gone, but after looking around a bit, you see her standing by herself (still in her human form) over looking a small cliff by the sea. You walk over to her.

“I sort of figured you’d be gone when I woke up.” You say.
“Couldn’t leave it like that. You deserve a proper goodbye.” Tanya says still looking at the ocean.
“No way you can stay a little longer I guess.”
“As nice as last night was, it’s best I don’t get used to it. The longer I stay here, the more I’ll lose myself. I can’t afford that weakness. I know to you I’ll always be that girl you fell in love with, but I assure you I am much more now and very different. I have responsibilities that you couldn’t hope to know.”
“Well I can imagine leading hell armies is pretty taxing.”

Tanya turns to you.

“You really don’t judge do you?” Tanya says.
“Isn’t that what unconditional love is all about?” you say.
“I suppose. But it’s one thing to love someone despite them being say a thief. It’s quite another to love someone who has committed genocide on a whole populace.”
“I’m guessing they had it coming.”

Tanya chuckles at your remark.

“You always did know how to make me laugh despite my best efforts not to.” Tanya says.
“Besides, you just informed me that I murdered a bunch of innocent women that I had sex with and blocked it out. I’m hardly in a position to judge you.” You reply.
“Oh you didn’t kill all of them.”
“What?!”
“You didn’t kill all of them. You missed one, but I sort of get the weird impression that you wouldn’t have anyway. It’s odd. You had some real harmony with that one and it was just a one-night stand. I dare say you didn’t even get to that level with that Vera girl and you knew her quite well.”

You think for a moment of who Tanya could even be talking about. At first you think it might be Naji, but you only had sex with her before Tanya left. Then you remember.

“Wait. That masked blonde at the baroness’ party? Fuck! If I wanted to kill any of them, it would have been her! That bitch fucking picked my pockets while I was asleep and ran off!” you exclaim.
“Heh, smart girl. In any case, I never saw in your mind that you killed her, so who knows, maybe if you ever meet her again you should hang on to her, she might just be the one that allows you to get over me.”
“I don’t think there’s going to ever be a girl that does that.”

Tanya strokes your face with her hand and gives a faint smile.

“No. Probably not.” She says and then kisses you one last time.

“Please do not summon me ever again. Goodbye my love.”

She steps away from you and before your eyes you see her disappear in a small red flash.

And she’s gone again. This time forever.

You sit on the ground and stare at the ocean for awhile. You weep a bit at your loss and a sense of depression hangs over you. You even briefly consider heading over the cliff, but you dismiss that idea pretty quickly. Suicidal thoughts have never been something you’ve dwelled on and you can only imagine how disgusted Tanya would be with you if you did.

She’d want you to move on not give up and that’s what you’ll try to do.

You eventually get back up and decide you probably should be making your way back to Holgard, you can only imagine the shitstorm that’s going on there right now. Though you guess that Gwen will take the initiative and blame everything on Heather (Which is sort of true anyway; you didn’t expect that twist) and take over what’s left of the school.

You sort of wonder if maybe you should follow up on Gwen’s flirting now, but then would she even be interested any more given what she’s learned about you? You suppose the best way to find out is to just go for it.

If she isn’t then you’ll move on to someone else. If she is, well you’ll have to remember not to try to kill her and blackout about it.

With a new positive attitude in mind, you set off towards Holgard.

“Goodbye Tanya.” You say.


Honestly, Heather is still your best chance at getting cured, so if she’s dead then you might as well have left Holgard when this all happened. Besides, you don’t fancy your chances against multiple demons and a wizard. You figure if you’re quiet and careful enough you’ll be able to sneak up to the top of the building and just shoot the wizard opposing Heather in the back.

Well that’s the ideal plan anyway.

You duck into the building that Heather and her opponent are fighting on top of and avoid the demon-wizard battle completely.

Surprisingly the inside of the building (which you think is Holgard’s hall of records. Some sort of government building anyway, you have no idea, never been here or paid attention to it before) isn’t too torn up by the fighting, though it looks like the people hiding here didn’t fair too well since you’re seeing a lot of dead bodies that look like they have the life drained out of them.

You on the other hand are feeling a little weird. Not like your life is suddenly being drained out of you, but more like a feeling of energy around you. Almost like your hair is starting to stand on end. Must be all the magic being thrown about.

You’re just about to head up to the second floor and that’s when you hear a groaning noise. You look back, but you already know what you’re going to see.

Several of the corpses you just passed are now getting up and they’re all making their way towards you.

“Of course. Shit.” You say and quicken your pace and the corpses do likewise.

With a bunch of undead now chasing you, it’s a very good thing that government buildings tend to have the same layouts making it at least easy for you to keep finding the next flight of stairs. This is counter balanced by more corpses of the government officials stirring whenever you reach a new floor.

By the time you make it to the top floor, you’ve got a horde chasing you. You scramble up the ladder to the roof and fling open the hatch. There upon the roof, you see Heather and her antagonist throwing bolts of magic and blocking each other’s attacks. It would seem they’re evenly matched and neither one is paying any attention to you.

Meanwhile, corpses are making their way up the ladder. You shoot the first one in the head and then slam the hatch down and stomp on it a couple times. It’s not going to hold them for long, and you can’t stand here forever keeping all your weight on it.

The noise of your pistol now causes the opposing wizard to take notice of you. He doesn’t waste any time in throwing a bolt of energy at you. You try to get out of the way, but you still get hit with a blast strong enough to cause you to go flying backwards.

You ignore the pain in your chest as you desperately attempt to not fall off the side of the roof. The top half of your body hangs over the edge as you struggle to move from your precarious position. You manage to sit up just in time to see the wizard throwing another magic bolt your way.

This probably would have been the end of you had the hatch not opened back up and corpses crawling out of it. Instead of hitting you, the bolt hits a couple of the corpses instead and you scramble out of the way so as not to get hit by flying body parts heading your way.

As the horde continues to pour onto the roof, your visibility of the other wizard and Heather is starting to be blocked by said horde. You desperately shoot at the horde, but unlike your previous experience back at the League headquarters, you’re not going to intimidate them by killing a few. There’s nowhere to go either. The closest building isn’t close enough that you could easily jump to it, even if it was still intact.

At best, from this height you MIGHT survive a fall with several broken bones and given what else is going on down in the streets, you probably wouldn’t survive too much longer.

“Fuck. Looks like Warts was right. Yag’s crapped out.” You say to yourself, drawing your blade for a final stand.

Just as one of the slack jawed dead eyed corpses gets within reach of you, you’re suddenly floating upward! After lingering in the air for a moment, you slowly start floating over the street causing the rest of the corpses to follow and go right over the side of the building. It’s fascinating and scary as hell at the same time since you could easily be dropping to your own death right now.

From your position, you see Heather on the far side of the building with one raised hand in your direction. You also see the other wizard lying on the roof smoldering and still burning. You didn’t see it because you were too occupied with fighting corpses, but it would appear your arrival was enough distraction that allowed Heather to get the upper hand over her opponent.

With all the undead now a pile of splattered bodies on the street (Well most of them anyway) and no longer a threat, Heather pulls you forward and gently places you back on the rooftop where upon you walk over to her.

“Thanks.” You say.
“Thank you for the distraction. Shit, I’m fucking exhausted dealing with asshole.” Heather says and indeed looking very worn. In fact, she even looks a bit older.
“I was actually coming to do more than just be a distraction, but suddenly I was getting attacked by a hundred dead bean counters.”
“Yeah, the repercussions of wild dark magic being thrown around. This building might have some strong magic protection, but it didn’t do shit for the people inside.”
“It does?”
“Well yeah. It’s where all the records to the city are held. Last thing the government wants is stuff like that getting destroyed. I put the protection wards up myself when Ludmilla requested it months ago. Why do you think the building is still more or less intact?”
“Hm, thought it was unusual. Anyway, your students are having their own problem with demons that they’re fighting in the streets right now. I think the other wizard keeps summoning them.”
“Of course he is. Y’know, that’s probably why these idiots got themselves kicked out of the Delantium University in the first place, dabbling with necromancy and demonology. That shit could potentially destroy a world if used as reckless as it has been here. Well guess I better sort this out, before taking a break.”

You tell Heather where you saw the fighting going on and she goes over to the right side of the building and sees for herself. It’s still a stalemate from what you can tell and fortunately Heather says this will be easy to take care of.

She conjures up a fireball and directs it towards the other wizard in the street below. He’s not even looking in that direction so he takes the hit. You then see a figure screaming and burning which is then followed by one of the demons leaping on him and ripping him apart.

Heather’s people take advantage of the situation and blast the demons with all they have. Without the other wizard up keeping the spell, they aren’t materializing any longer and stay permanently dead. Though you do see one leap away from the battle and out of sight. Looks like that will just be one more evil thing brought into this world. (Not that it’s going to make much of a difference)

With the immediate threat over with, you and Heather head back down the ladder where thankfully there aren’t anymore walking dead lurking about. Heather’s students soon meet up with the both of you. They look even more tired than she does and you notice there are significantly less of them than the last time you remember.

“Grand Matriarch! Are you hurt!? I can heal you!” Gwen asks.
“I’m fine Gwen, see to our friend though, maybe he’s hurt, I saw him take a magic bolt to the chest.” Heather remarks.

Gwen goes over to you and starts to check you out, but you don’t feel like you really need any tending to either.

“Thanks, but I’m really okay.” You say.
“Let me just cast a minor healing spell, you look like you could use it. Were you fighting before you got here?” Gwen remarks and starts casting something over you.
“Yeah, mostly orcs, some humans. All assholes.”
“Wow, orcs huh? That takes some courage to go toe to toe with the likes of those big green guys.”
“Eh, I had some green guys of my own. A little on smaller side though. Hm, starting to feel a lot better. At least not aching in pain anymore. Guess I did need that after all. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome!”

Gwen’s attitude is a lot different than you last remember.

“Where’s your boyfriend?”
“Huh? Oh Cooper? He’s not my boyfriend anymore, he ran off a couple months ago. He didn’t want to stick around during the invasion. He was a big coward after all, not like you.”
“Um, yeah. I think I’m okay right now Gwen.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“The man said he doesn’t need any more attention so stop hovering over him and go back over there with the rest of your class.”

Gwen gives you a small smile before leaving you to go back to the rest of her, causing Heather to make an eye roll.

“Called it.” Heather says.
“Hm, well I guess better that she’s friendly now.” You say.
“She’s still fucking annoying. If she didn’t show such natural talent for magic, I’d probably just throw her ass out of the school.”
“Wow, I would think you’d want everyone you could get. I mean there aren’t many of you after all.”
“Yeah well you don’t have to deal with her on a daily basis. However, you are correct in that pragmatism did also influence the decision to keep her around. I’m about the last very experienced wizard in this city now anyway. The few remaining true Dornans either left when I first got the school started or died during this invasion. Still it’ll be enough to turn back the tide. It’s just really taking its toll on me. Pretty sure you can already tell.”
“Well I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“You didn’t need to. Magic has a habit of making you old before your time. That’s why whenever you someone talks about wizards; the stereotype is some decrepit old person. It’s not that far off, except the old person usually isn’t all that old in years at least. But such is the price we pay for being skilled in the gift that Dorna bestowed upon this world.”

Heather, yourself and her group take this moment to rest up and talk a bit of strategy.

The current situation is bad, but not entirely unwinnable. You just have to make one major attack to turn the tide. Heather is in favor of helping what little remains of Ludmilla’s defenses at her palace. Heather says breaking up the attack going on there should destroy the rest of Peter’s forces or at least the majority of them. At that point he won’t have enough people to take the city, let alone hold it given that Ludmilla will still be alive at that point.

When you ask if there is any other alternative, Heather says, you all could attack Peter directly since he’s probably still aboard his ship. The problem with that is, there is still a good-sized fleet near the Holgard docks. Heather says casting magic at the ships might bring a few of them down, but not before the rest of them start firing cannonballs back, and who knows if you’re going to get Peter or not.

Still, if you take out Peter then it isn’t like you’re going to have to worry about him ever trying this in another five to ten years and having to deal with it again.
> You attack the fleet
Cut off the head and the rest is going to follow.

“We need to take out that fleet. If Peter gets away, turning back this invasion isn’t going to matter.” You say.
“And if Ludmilla dies, then what?” Heather remarks.
“Well I dunno, but worst case scenario, one of us picks up the pieces and takes over the city instead. Not like we’d do any worse.”

Heather’s a little surprised to hear you say that, though you just sort of came up with it in the moment.

“I still feel very strongly that we should help the baroness. However I guess you have a point about Peter. It’s not ideal, but I guess we’ll have to split up.”
“Split up?”
“Yes, seeing as my students held their own against a trained diabolist I’d hope they’d be able to handle some mundane orcs.”
“That’s a terrible idea, we’re going to need all the firepower we can get!”
“Don’t worry, I can handle it myself. Besides, it’ll be a lot harder for them to focus on a single smaller target rather than a group. You should go with my students however. They probably should have someone to back them up for protection. I mean there’s not much you can do to help against a bunch of ships anyway. Speaking of crews, where is the rest of your people?” Heather asks.
“Don’t ask, in fact after this is all over I might not even have any people. Anyway, I still think splitting up is a bad idea, but I guess if you say you can handle it yourself, I trust you.”

With as much rest as you’re going to get under these conditions, you and the student wizards are soon on your way to the palace. Heather parts ways with you, but you really wish she didn’t. She still looked very tired for one thing and you’re not entirely convinced that you shouldn’t focus on one thing instead of splitting up.

You don’t have many problems on the way there, but you do come across a few unexpected faces. It’s some of the Nocturnal League. They look like they’ve already been in a few scrapes.

“There you are boss! We’ve been looking all over for ya!” one of them remarks.
“Well, you’ve found me, and I hope for your sake, you’ve come to help.” You say.
“We have! Um, we’ve managed to save couple of our brothels from getting too fucked up. We’ve also been having people take the whores back to headquarters and stay there until it’s safe.”
“Glad to hear we’re making Holgard safe for whores again at least.”

You get an idea.

“Okay, you lot are going with these wizards to the palace. I want you to do everything in your power to protect them. Seriously, it’s the most important thing in the world right now.” You say and start walking off.
“Wait, where are you going boss?”
“I got protection of my own to do. Don’t worry about me. Just do what I tell you!”

Not questioning your leadership again, your people follow your orders and you run off towards the docks. You just hope Heather managed to get there since your own trip to the docks isn’t without struggle.

When you finally get within sight of the docks you see several ships burning and sinking into the water. Looks like Heather is already getting to work as you see a lone figure running about casting magic into the bay area.

You run towards her and then immediately have to take cover as the sounds of several cannons are fired in Heather’s (and your) direction.

The area was already half destroyed from the initial attack and pillaging, but with Heather’s recent attack on his fleet, Peter is determined to destroy the entire harbor and then some.

As you hide behind a partially destroyed building. Deafening explosions are all around you. Temporary loss of hearing aside, you’re otherwise fine. You look out from the rubble and still see Heather encased in a glowing blue shield of some sort. However, you also see several smaller boats rowing towards docks. Heather’s putting up a good fight, but you need to go help her.

You run towards Heather and another cannon explosion hits not far from you. The force is enough to throw you to the ground and you’re pelted by bits of debris. With your head now bleeding and feeling dizzy, you slowly stand back up only for another nearby explosion to knock you back down again.

This time you struggle to push yourself up and look up just in time to see Heather fighting off some of the sailors that have managed to get to the docks (or what’s left of them).

You stand up and begin firing wildly at the sailors though Heather is easily destroying them with a chain lightning spell.

With the wave of Peter’s men dead, Heather takes a quick breather and it’s at that moment she finally notices you. She nods. You nod.

And then another volley of cannons fires off and completely obliterates everything in front of you.

You fly backwards and eventually slam into something made of harder stuff than you are and you go unconscious.

You’re out for who knows how long, but by the time you wake up it’s dark and the sounds of battle have died down though your hearing still isn’t very good and your head is throbbing.

You stagger around a bit before getting your bearings. In this darkness several burning fires provide most of the nearby illumination. It’s nothing but destruction everywhere.

“Hey! Hey you!” a voice calls out.

You spin around and see five men dressed for battle. They don’t look like Holgard Watch either. You nearly go for your pistol and that’s when you realize you don’t have it anymore. The only weapon you currently have on you is a dagger still in its sheath and you’re not likely to succeed a confrontation in your condition.

You could run, but you’re still a bit dazed and they’re already almost on you.

“Who are you? We’re trying to clear the streets of people right now and don’t need anyone skulking about! Where is your home?” one of them says.
“Huh? I…I live…um…in Teckleville.” You say desperately trying to find the words to get out of this.
“Teckleville? Never heard of it! What the hell are you doing out here then?”
“I was… I was visiting my sister.”
“Visiting your sister? Was she a whore here?” the man laughs along with his fellows.
“No…I look…my head really hurts and I’m a little dizzy…”

The man suddenly grabs you by the shirt and slams you up against a nearby destroyed wall.

“More than your head is going to hurt if you don’t start answering my questions! You say you were here to visit your sister, but that smells like bullshit to me! You look like a common thief trying to take advantage of the chaos! Well that shit ain’t gonna pass now that Baron Peter Varsakken is in charge!”
“Peter Varsakken?” you ask.
“Yeah! He visited his sister too and decided he liked the city so much that he took it in the name of the Delantium Kingdom!”

Well that’s it. The struggle has been lost and you need to get the hell out of here somehow.

“Please, I’m no thief! I’m just a bard and I was just here visiting my sister when the…liberation began. The baroness’ men wouldn’t let anyone leave and killed anyone who tried! Not to mention my sister was scared so of course I stayed with her. When the fighting got really bad even her home wasn’t safe and looters…(choke) took her. I tried to fight, but I’m not a fighting man and it was just luck that I was only smashed in the head and left for dead. I later got up and tried to find her, but…the violence…I never saw so much violence before…I thought of my sister…and…(Sniffle).”

The man that grabbed you relents slightly with his grip.

“I just sort of got lost trying to hide from the bloodshed and before I knew it there was an explosion and I woke up here. Now I don’t know where my sister is and I fear the worst…(sob).” You say really trying to put on the tears by rubbing your eyes a lot.

The military soldiers look at each other and the one that grabbed you pulls you off the wall and begins motioning you to go.

“Fine. Get out of here. Go on back to your village or wherever you come from bard. And remember to sing the song of Peter Varsakken’s glorious victory here today!” the man shouts and give you one last shove before moving on.

Now free, you hurry along the way and find the quickest sewer entrance and enter. You figure you can move around down there with less hassle and get out of the city quicker.

You briefly wonder if you should go back to your headquarters to check if there is anyone there, but really it’s still better to just get the hell out as quickly as possible. Besides, the Nocturnal League has practically got to be dead here now. Might as well move on to your back up plan, which is to head to Jicol.

You eventually get out of Holgard and with your hands you dig up your private stash that you hid in the nearby wilderness. You figure you got enough coin for a trip to Jicol though you’re going to have to walk to the nearest city which Klyton.

It’s a long walk too, but fortunately the route from Holgard is no longer impeded as much by a lot of woods and roads are much more prominent now. With any luck, you’ll run into a Klyton carriage on its way to Holgard and you can tell them the news and get a ride back.

One month later...

“Jicol huh? Yeah I guess I can take you along, but not for free obviously.” The trader says.
“Will this suffice?” you reply and show him a few platinum coins.
“Yeah, that will do it. You’ll have to sleep in the cargo hold though and if I find out you’ve messed about with any of the goods down there, well if you aren’t familiar with the term keelhauling, you’ll become very familiar. We leave tomorrow morning. Don’t be late.”

You leave the trader and head back to where you’ve been currently staying in Hessla. You thought you’d never get a ship to take you to Jicol. Less ships have been coming through Hessla lately thanks to the invasion at Holgard. Also all known pirates have been banned from entering Jicol. You guess that’s why not many ships from here are currently allowed to travel there.

The next day you board the trader ship and make your way to the cargo hold which contains mostly spices and cloth material that you’d have no interest in stealing anyway.

You imagine it’s going to be months before you actually arrive in Jicol, and it’s probably not going to be a comfortable trip either. On the plus side, you’ll be glad to eventually see Vera after this miserable time.

Days pass into weeks and you more or less keep to yourself and just eat with the rest of the crew when its time then go back to your place in the cargo hold.

Then as you’re sleeping one day…

“Oh come on! This is bullshit! I’m a fucking registered citizen of Hessla you can’t fucking rob me!” a voice says. Sounds like the trader.
“Apologies, but shit is tough all over nowadays. Besides you need to relax, we’re not taking all of it. Just a little bit.” A deeper voice says.
“The Governor of Hessla is going to hear about this Zamed! There are certain laws in place for a reason!”
“Telling the Governor of Hessla? You think that’s a wise thing to be threatening me with Flint given the circumstances?”

You hear the name Zamed and your immediately sit up and accidently hit your head, cursing in the process.

“Who else is down here Flint?!” Zamed says
“Just some extra passenger that paid coin.” Flint responds.

Before you know it, you see Zamed and some of his people along with the trader. You aren’t sure how this is going to go, but you’re ready to pull your pistol. You just wish it was multiple shots like your old one.

Zamed squints a little and then speaks.

“Wait a minute. I know you. Shit, thought you died in Holgard.” Zamed says.
“Almost did.” You answer.
“Well Flint, this is your lucky day. You can keep all your cargo, I’ll just be taking this one.”
“I thought pirates were currently banned from Jicol.”
“Jicol? Oh wait, you actually think I was going to take you there? To Vera?”
“Call me an optimist.”
“Wrong day for optimism, friend. No, gonna take you to the Syndicate. They’ll pay a nice price for you. Not sure what you did to piss them off, but they really got it in for you.”
“I figured those orcs weren’t just wrecking my businesses on accident.”
“Indeed. Well we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The choice is yours.”
“Not gonna be the easy way I can tell you that, and if you attempt to do this the hard way, you’ll have a bullet in your head before you can make another step.”
“Pfft, Vera always went on about how great you were with a pistol. She always bragged about you. The way I see it, if you were so great then why the hell did she betray you?”
“What the hell are you on about?”
“Clueless idiot. Vera’s been in cahoots with the Syndicate for a long time now. She was also in on the whole invasion. If anything I’m saving you time because if you got to Jicol, she would have only turned your ass in to the Syndicate herself.”
“What? I don’t believe you. Vera would never betray me, let alone hand me over to the Syndicate!”
“It’s of minor importance. However, you may be right about her not turning you in, she always was a little too sweet on you. Talking about you even after we…y’know what? Fuck this, I can just bring in your head…”

Zamed pulls his pistol and you fire landing one right between his eyes as promised. However this isn’t enough to deter the rest of his men who rush at you.

You fight with your sword as best you can, but eventually you are cut down.