Chained - 3

Pleasure, so much pleasure! My mind is a white blizzard of sensation so intense it defies simple description.

It was pulsing, singing, roaring and screaming through me, radiating from bruised and broken flesh, joints and even organs.

I’d been cycling Soil through my Inventory for what felt like eternity, snaring me in the depths of that sensation. Each cycle forcing Inventory to expand as I repeatedly hit and then pushed hard against the limit of its capacity. Cycles that slowly stretched its ability to handle more. Even as pleasure rolled through me, pleasure, as my ears drums ruptured, intense orgasms as my eyes burst from the pressure bearing down on me. Pressure that was killing me with such delightful slowness as each orgasm hit harder still.

There was no true release: it had caught me in endless waves of that pleasure/pain ripping through flesh and mind. One wave atop another, building higher and higher, and finally it happened.

Each cycle I had tried the mass of metal I was leaning against and without expecting a difference, I try again. Surprise burst through my mind as it vanished into my Inventory. As the pressure smashed me through the vacuum I had created and against now bare stone, soil that I had dug out and cast aside cascaded inwards burying me, before it all disappeared. The soil, the water, the rock and the blissful pressure causing the pleasure to surge and send me into a thrashing climax.

Convulsions bounced me on a hard surface. Coughing out water, I drew in lungs full of deliciously frigid air, and screamed with ecstatic release. Release, pleasure, and more release. Every motion now pounds healing flesh against the unyielding ice I can feel beneath me. Sensation’s that a lifetime ago would have set me screaming in pain, just adding more pleasure to the bliss. Mud and rocks slid free from my flesh as the Power of Mother’s gaze makes me shudder, overloaded within the sensations.

#Child#

The word of Her Will makes itself known into the reality of this place only after my bliss receded. With unsteady legs, and knees still shaking with aftershocks, I slowly gain my feet and turn to face Her.

“Mother, I have completed your will.”

She surely doesn’t need me to tell her; I doubt I’d be here if I hadn’t. The sliver of health remaining even now made me aware of the closeness of Death’s kiss. Yet my tutors were insistent in my learning Hell’s formalities; Mother may set them aside but not me.

#Set it forth upon the ice where I might see it#

The mass released from my Inventory rocks on the ice and I took in the shape revealed. The memory of my first moment flashing within my mind. But the egg I pulled from Inventory is larger than the links of Mother’s chains. Memories of the membrane rubbing against my legs as I pushed and pushed, trying to break free ripple within my mind. Nails far longer than I remember in life rake against the material I could see despite the sheer darkness. I had been home, a spike of happiness, then burning hot, standing in echoing tunnels, and hearing screams for help. The memories shivered against me. There had been metal ringing on metal, the sound had washed over me, and then the light called me home.

Memories enfolded me, putting me back at the moment when I had sent a punch out and felt its impact hard against a curved wall. The wall gave a hollow thump and the sound of the ringing rose, something in the beat lending my punches force. Each impact brought only more pleasure as I sent each strike rocketing in time with that echoing beat. Every punch felt good, the impact through my knuckles delighting me. Long nails let me dig into the finally broken wall even as I ignored the trick my mind was playing on me, symbols and then words flashing in my mind.

In desperation to get free I ignored everything the priority was simply to get beyond the wall. Blue hands with nails as black as coal began enlarging the break once the first piece was clear. It was then I stopped, recognising the deep blue of my bare skin; I was still in shock when chains reached in and drew me swiftly forth. The edges of the shell cut deep into me, and I felt a surge of pleasure even as I bleed, orgasming from razor-sharp edges that had sliced even into bone. Caught shuddering amid that first orgasm, they set me down and I tried to stay upright. Ahead of me the bizarre had become real: the cavern, forges, Kytons, and most of all Mother. It was in that instant I knew I either was completely insane or the impossible had occurred. Yet with the cavern’s ordered intensity, the frozen Hellscape and its horrific occupants, somehow I’m more at home than I’ve ever been before; so far removed from my understanding, and I choose the impossible instead.

This egg was quiet and motionless, even as I glanced between it and Mother.

#Use the closest Anvil.#

“Another egg besides mine after so long, Mother?”

Puzzlement is clear in my voice, and I wonder how the attendants who had fussed over my ‘birth’ will react.

#This is the first I laid, you my last.#

Something in the way she emphasises the words set my pulse on edge with fear and renewed pleasure so soon after I had gained calm. Unable to do anything else, I turned towards the nearest forge. It seemed identical to the forges that had plunged into the depths with me. If they were the same ones they all sat restored to their places, and made me wonder at the purpose of my fall. Then again Mother had retrieved he from the depth, did it have a purpose at all except for torment sake. So I did as I instructed, I re-ignited it and set to work, finding everything where I needed it. A steel bar was soon glowing brightly. With measured movements I drew it forth, and to that tempo burnt deep in my bones, I brought my hammer down. As the strike rings true, I hear the egg rock.

As the hammer rose, the steel glowed in my vision invoking memories I had set aside. A collar gleaming in my submissive’s hands, the delight as he nodded his acceptance of the commitment. The smile of delight when he offered it up so I could place it around his neck. The world swam as it clicked in place and in its shiny surface my skin burns. Darkness fell to strike me just as this hammer shapes the metal, and its wake came a rippling liturgy of commentary. They went streaming so fast past my shocked awareness I didn’t read them all, but among them some stung, yet others were insightful.

Achievement Unlocks

Damned. - (Just that, Damned. By someone, or something, with significant power. Not that knowing who is responsible would help you now.)

[Race Changed: See ‘Profile’ for outcome]

Better put a ring on it. - (Committed. You gave a submissive a special collar, and they said yes. It took a lot of courage to commit. Pity you died right after it.)

[+1 Willpower. ]

Steel Heart. - (Compassion in a steel heart. You see the pain of others and know what they need. They need to kiss your feet, not get a kiss better.)

[Sense Motive Unlocked!

Sense Motive Bonus Ranks Applied!

Sense Motive (1->10)]

Purist. - (When you do something you do it well, and don’t dilute it. Never provided a submissive customer with intercourse.)

[+1 Stat Bonus]

Guarded. - (Convinced your parents that everything was normal even with a Submissive tied up and hidden in your room, and fetish garb under your robe.)

[+2 Stat Bonus

Acting Unlocked!

Acting (1->20)

Addition Bonus Condition Met:

1) Client paid extra.

+1 Willpower. ]

Collar Doctor. - (Gained your Phd, and then continued checking temperatures with a paddle)

[+3 Stat Bonus

+3 Intelligence.

+20 Knowledge Skill Bonus.]

Top of the World. - (Turned your endeavour into a full-time profession, flogging others instead of flogging goods.)

[+1 Stat Bonus

+1 Wealth option Unlocked!  - option negated because of Curse]

Self-Made Woman. - (Continued profitable endeavours for five (5) years in a profession of your own choice.)

[+2 Wealth Option Unlock! - option negated because of Curse.

+2 Charisma.]

Greater Tertiary Education Achieved. - (Completed and passed with distinction. Three (3) or greater years of Tertiary education.)

[+1 Stat Bonus

+10 Knowledge Skill Bonus

Class options Unlocked!]

Leash of Life. (Gained clients as a professional Dominatrix, it not only pays the bills it comes with pets.)

[+1 Stat Bonus.

+1 Charisma.

Intimidation Unlocked!

Intimidation (1->20)

Acting (20) -> [B](10)]

Voice of experience. - (Provided wisdom that enabled others to avoid situations you learnt the hard way.)

[+1 Stat Bonus

+1 Intelligence.

Class Option Unlocked. ]

Steeled with a Kiss. - (Give your heart to someone, and after they walked over it, locked it away.)

[+2 Stat Bonus ]

[Planar transfer beginning]

A dark limbo devoid of sensation had spewed me forth into a dark space, but at least I could feel again. Underfoot textured stone is hard and cold, but the darkness now sits about me more normally. While I can see nothing else, a breeze drifts over my skin, causing naked skin to goosebump in the cold. Amid that weight of darkness, I hear a voice screaming for help. Though raised in fear and shock, I recognise her voice and as I step towards that sound in the darkness, I feel more than sense the wall ahead. As I laid my hand against the stone, light flared, and a smith’s hammer struck. The echoing ring drowning out Rach’s screams as the light in the tunnel grew brighter than a spotlight. As that light washed over me, I found myself within close walls. I didn’t have even a moment to wonder if I dreamt about my friend’s screams or heard them true.

Those moments had passed so quickly when I had lived them but as I work the metal, blow after ringing blow; they reoccur again a slide show moving slowly in my awareness. Even as other noises come to life around me, my invigorating work continues holding me fast. The slithering of chains and padding of feet acknowledged in my mind, but not drawing me from the hypnotic anvil’s beat. The egg cracked as I quench a heat-glowing blade and turning; I see the attendants’ chains reach in but they can only guide the newborn forth. Fine scales of blackest Adamantine I have only seen on Mother cover the hatchling from snout to tail tip. It exits the egg under its own power, the edges that scrape against its hide don’t even leave a scratch. After it takes its first awkward steps, it sits down and takes a bite from its twelve-metre-long shell. Newborn teeth gnaw for a few moments before it rips a piece free and sets about chewing.

One of my sisters had watched my work and the quenching of the newest blade of Hell. When I had racked the hammer I’d used, she took a bar previously set to heat and began her own work on the next beat. The rhythm of the smith’s hammers had resumed in the cavern, feeling as if Mother had never interrupted them at all.

#There is an Erinys ready to talk of the contract. Lead Sidero to greet her. #

#Ensure the items are ready by the time she returns home. #

Among Her returned attendants, the one who collected my things moves from her station gesturing towards the cavern’s side. Without waiting they lead the way, and I follow in their wake. Infernal flesh already healed needs no rest, regardless the shocks the day has brought. A sloping path carved through the glacier leads us up and turns deeper into the wall’s northern reaches. As we move deeper I watch the sway of the chains and remember standing within the cavern again for the first time.

The memory as rich within my mind as the chains that had dragged me from the shell remain in place to hold me gently upright, as the pleasure fades away. Two others that I knew somehow were Kytons like me came towards me, with a red bundle of chains somehow suspended between them. Without even a hand upon any link, they move, dance and reach for me.

#The first and only gift you will receive my Child, wear your chains with pride.#

I feel the words deep within my bones as the chains settle about me. As they touch against my skin, the sense of the two who had brought the chains towards me is breathing against my skin. The moment I try to understand their closeness, my sense of them draws my awareness into the chains upon my skin, and they retreat. Suddenly the weight of the chains is upon me, and I’m holding them alone and the weight crushes me to the ground.

#Hold them in your mind, and direct them to move in accordance to your Will.#

After long moments of grappling with the impossible weight pinning me down, I slowly made it to my feet. When I take that first awkward step in time with the hammer’s strike, I feel its power within my flesh.

#Wear them well. Take her to receive instruction. She has a long road ahead. #

* * *

The lone Erinys in the meeting chamber matches the others I’ve seen on the war front, except cleaner. Black wings, blood-red hair, sharp and feral features, with an edge of mean bitch, and eyes that look like they’d rather kill you and forget the questions. All atop a lean body, meant for running, killing, and fucking with mortal’s minds and bodies alike. Not to mention the need to add: flying, lassoing, dealing with foes by arrow or blade, or serving as a lawyer in Hell’s courts to their dating profile. The black wings flutter, and the red lasso tied to her belt brushes against her leg pushed by a non-existent breeze as she steps towards me after we were introduced.

“Sidero, this is your copy of the contract terms the Summoner has agreed to and signed by an Infernal adjudicator. Ensure you fulfill every one of them according to the letter of the contract.” The Erinys tone is as cold as the glacier ice that serves as the chamber’s walls.

She doesn’t seem inclined to explain as she impatiently holds out a thick rolled and wax sealed scroll for me to take. The moment my fingers touch it, the knowledge of its contents flood through my mind. A surging rush tingling within my flesh, as the spike of information brings a surge of pleasure. When I sigh in delight at the sensations, I see amusement flicker across the Erinys features.

“When should I expect the Summoner’s call?”

Their look of amusement turns to distaste as my husky voice emerges as a breathy sigh. These latest sensations causing the aftershocks to reawaken.

“Within the next two cycles: longer than that triggers contractual penalty clauses.”

With those words she vanishes, leaving me cursing up a storm. The bitches get wings, and they can Teleport.

The attendant had left once she introduced me; I slowly go through the contract and compare it to the clauses pressed into my mind. Though perhaps it was the nature of all provisions for Devils, I didn’t want to assume they matched.

“This contract outlines the agreement for the supply of services and the payment required in return. Parties represented in the contracts are: Gaius Januarius Domitius, weapon smith in service to the Church of Vulcan, and Representatives of Archduke Asmodeus, Lord of the Ninth Plane of Hell, and Ruler of Hell.”

I could feel the urge to roll my eyes at the document full of double speech like a EULA when I just wanted to shoot a bad guy. There was a sense of endlessness about it, speaking of minor niggling details too unimportant to worry about. An urge to furl it back up crawls within my mind, but the same sensation prompted me to begin anew. This wasn’t a game - a Soul was at stake. Eventually I continued onwards, checking again through the recital, definitions, and conditions of precedent, which gave enough details about the required capabilities of the Kyton they required.

Even before getting to the main clauses of the contract, I’d read over a thousand lines of finely spaced calligraphy. My tutors had force fed me most definitions, but there were a few new ones. The contract’s clauses were a snake nest that promised, and yet later cancelled, and lost in the tedium were clauses screaming trap.

With nothing to do now but wait, I extend my awareness through all my chains and stretched them out. I will them to keep moving in a serpentine dance around me as I force myself to read.

* * *

[Summoning Notification

You have received a summons from Gaius Januarius Domitius, via your ‘Use’ name, with permission from an authorised representative of Archfiend Asmodeus

They meet conditions to compel you to respond. ]

I willed Inventory to store my copy of the contract as reality twisted, and a tunnel of burning brightness drew me in.

The tunnel walls are flames twisting around me are a hurricane force drawing me through the eye of the storm. A wall of light waits for me at the other end, yet I’m lightly stepping across a threshold with no impact felt. A stone as smoothly polished as marble lies beneath my feet; my eyes adjust rapidly from the dimness of my waiting chamber to the brightness here. They had set ornate columns about the room, framing elaborate mosaics on the walls, all calling out the glory of Vulcan. Though if he is so mighty, why do they need help a Devil’s help?

Though I can’t see the Mana I can taste it in the air. A flicker of my tongue brings the full scent of the room through my mouth: coal, steel and a bitterness of saffron too heavily applied, masking the copper of blood willingly offered. The combined textures roll around like satin, teasing the inside of my mouth as I look over the waiting audience. The contract only included a Summoner, but there are four within the chamber, all appearing like extras from Ben Hur.

The two further away have the distinct appearance and vibe of guards, and I wonder why they’re even present. They stand so precisely in their burnished steel armour. A completely classic roman look to my eyes, and I wonder how it’s possible. From the bands set around the torso, plates segments over their shoulders, and a polished helmet to complete the image. The scabbards at their sides sit empty as their gladiī are already drawn. Their blades gleam with sparking arcane energies, the blades at least not for show. Their grips tensing as I take another step, and my chains slither and clink about me.

They look a matched set with their hard gazes resolved and determined. I’ve spent some with army veterans who’d seen combat and that presence shows in these men. Perhaps a recognition of their own mortality, yet their dark-brown eyes are as hard as stone and fiercely determined. Neither looks the type to faint away from trouble, and as I step forward across the circle inscribed on the floor, they don’t pale under the Mediterranean complexions. Though their eyes narrow, and those mouths so nicely kissable, draw tight under their classical Italian noses, the tension in faces highlighting the cleft in their chins. Closer I see they are alike but not identical, fraternal twins perhaps if not that, then certainly they are brothers very close in age. Their helmets making it hard to judge their exact height but they weren’t tall somewhere around one-seventy centimetres.

The other two reminded me of Abbott and Costello in comparison. If Abott had done weightlifting, and Costello had been born with a platinum spoon stuck up his arse. Costello’s complexion is shiny with beads of sweat making his bald head glisten in the light of crystal shards illuminating the chamber. Classical roman features would have given him a dignified look if they hadn’t been overgrown and hidden by a mask grown to excess. The guards weren’t small men, and he easily outweighed them both combined, despite being at their shoulders in height.

The last man I examined looks as if he has worked hard his entire life, and found purpose in it. A broad brow, and finely shaped nose with blue eyes speaking of sheer will, fitting for one that has made his living shaping metal to his will. His features show burn marks, and more spot the visible parts of his arms. He wears simple but sturdy clothing: a long tunic belted at his waist, caused curves that emphasise the breadth of his shoulders, and sandals secured by long lengths of leather wrap up his legs in what I remember is a Grecian style.

“I have been provided the contract. If you are in agreement with the terms, then sign and we shall begin.”

The stillness of the chamber is palpable as my sibilant accent of the infernal tongue causes eyes to widen. All the terms and conditions in the contract concerning capabilities and not once had I seen anywhere that I actually needed to speak their tongue. I could, and indeed did, but there was nothing requiring I make that clear. The Devil is in the details indeed, just like infernal tongue itself.

“What is it saying?”

Wow, this should be fun, who are you rich boy.

Analysis

[Name: Flavius Aetius

Class: Centurion / Noble / Merchant

Level: 10 / 32 / 32

Health: 622

Mana: 0

Melee Attack Power: 22

Combat Skills: Gladius [Ad] (2), Spear [J] (22)

Details: A member of prominence in the Aetius family of Novus Rome, his older brother holds a senatorial position. While he undertook compulsory military service he never actually fought, his family influence keeping him stationed in the capital.]

Okay so rich boy isn’t the Summoner that’s a relief.

“She requires the contract to be signed,” said Gaius, his response more than enough to allow me to pick out his identity without other clues. A pedestal with a scroll and broken wax seal sat atop it, so close beside him it’s obvious who is the Summoner.

“Then do so quickly,” snapped Flavius, gesturing towards the pedestal and scroll.

“I still have details of clauses I wish confirmed.”

“Sign it at once,” Flavius snarled, as Gaius unwound the scroll. Drawing forth a scroll from his toga, he held it over the brazier in his puggy hand. “Or when I burn this, you will not get a replacement.”

The smith’s gaze is as hot as the brazier flames before he steadies himself and quickly signs the top of the scroll sitting beside him. I feel energy pulse in my copy and don’t need to confirm the deal has been sealed. It vanishes a moment later to be stored in Hell’s legal archives. Around the edge of the circle, I feel the restraining force waver and disappear as the scents in the chamber grow stronger and the Mana dissipates.

“Did he ask about clauses that affect him?”

My question elicits a confused look from Gaius, a state I find easy to read after months of dealing with Devils.

“He did not,” replies Gaius after a momentary hesitation.

“What are you saying to it?”

“She had a question of some contract details now that it’s signed.”

“You will depart for the northlands...”

Whatever he’s about to say cuts off as I move again. Distracted by his own berating of Gaius, he doesn’t react in time as I grasp the arm waving the scroll near the brazier and wrench it from his grip. While I don’t know what it is, I don’t like it when others whip my pets. As the guards move towards me my bladed chains rise in the air; I was careful not to injure him in keeping with the contract’s terms.

“Stop! Attack her, and the contract allows her to kill us,” Gaius shouts.

The guards pause for a moment, looking between the rich boy and me as I let the tension draw out by keeping their master in my grasp. He swallows in surprise and I taste the stench of his fear, my chains weave spikes move as silent as a grave about his face. As one tenses to try his luck, I let the rich man-boy’s wrist go, and step back.

The chains move to guard me as I grant them their own sentience as I look over the scroll he threatened to burn. A moment later I find a grim smile twisting my lips, as I see a declaration forgiving family debts of a Domitius family and restoring various properties to their name. While I don’t know the local currency, a forearm long list restoring property and forgiving debt may indeed be motive to sell one’s Soul. The longer I read it, the more tension I see within Gaius. There is nothing within my contract about this scroll.

“Was this a case of summoning a Devil for a task or your family loses everything?”

“Yes.” Gaius replied with bitter firmness.

Quick steps take me to his side, and I tap his nose with the scroll and playfully keep it from his first grasp at it. As Flavius sputters in rage and threatens, my smile stays in place, and Gaius swallows nervously at its appearance.

“What do I get for it?”

“Hell already has my Soul,” Gaius stated flatly and I enjoy the spirit and defiance in his gaze.

“I’ll settle for one favour while you’re still alive. Nothing that conflicts with the contract, and you have a right of refusal, though I keep right of the favour till you fulfill the request. It will only be fulfilled if I say in advance it’s a favour that repays this debt. Value can be no more than the smallest property on this list being returning to your family, but could include you hurting but not killing someone for me.”

Gaius hesitates and when I bring a chain close to the scroll, he spits out a word in haste.

“Agreed.”

“Agreed.” I reply and hand him the scroll, letting my fingers brush against the firmness of his hands.

Actually, this might be fun in so many ways.