A Whole New World

****

Content Warning: This story will feature (in later chapters) some BDSM content, while this is will strictly be between consenting parties and nothing extreme, it will be present. While the tags do say slavery, without spoiling too much of later chapters, it will fade. Additionally, there will be no questionable consent or anything along those lines, (aside for maybe the second chapter, and very lightly).

****

Note from author: While this is not the first time i have written, it is the first time writing smut/erotica, so please all type of comments/criticism is appreciated. This initial chapter doesn't have any real sex, although there is some spiciness to it, and really just sets the scene. The good stuff smut will likely start in chapter 2-3.

****

Something was going on, Laurel could sense it. From the way people hurried past her, to the murmurs of whispers that filtered past the thin walls and into her room. It wasn't much, but excitement filled the air. It was well past curfew, and she knew under normal circumstances she'd be reprimanded, and surely handed a punishment. Yet with everything that seemed to be going on outside, Laurel doubted she would even be noticed.

She pushed open the door as silently as she could and slipped outside, seeing servants move with haste, and seeing other girls like herself starting to cautiously open their doors and peer out into the hallway. As they stepped out, none of them wore anything more than a sheer slip, doing nothing to hide their figures.

Laurel was, of course, used to this by now; however, when her parents had sold her two years ago to cover debts and after failing harvests, it was quite the shock. Mistress Evermore's School for Perfect Girls certainly had a strict dress code, though not in the way most would have initially thought. While the title of the school seemed innocent enough, enough that when she was younger and more naive, Laurel hadn't realised what the school actually was. It was no preppy boarding school, nor underfunded public one like she had attended back on her home planet. No, it was brutally simple what Mistress Evermore taught: sex.

Mistress Evermore would be disappointed to have it referred to in such a way, and she preferred to call it: "Catering to the needs of the Aristocracy." It was in no way a lie, but it certainly painted over some of the worst aspects. Such as the uniforms.

"Laurel?" Marcy, the girl who bedded to the right of Laurel, asked. She was standing mostly in the hallway, and the lights behind her made her sheer slip almost invisible. Years ago Laurel might have blushed, but now it was simply life, no reason to make it weird. "Do you know what all the fuss is about?"

"No. You?" She had some idea, almost always when some potential buyer, or as Mistress Evermore liked to call them, suitor, came around, there was commotion. Yet nothing had ever rivalled the activity that was being shown. She doubted there would be more if the school was on fire.

"It has to be someone important, that's for sure."

"I wonder who," Laurel said, looking down the hallway. She was tempted to stop one of the servants and ask, but she knew better. Standing out in the hallway she would be overlooked. Even if Mistress Evermore came out and saw them, she'd just be shooed back to bed. But actually drawing attention to herself? Laurel would be lucky to be able to sit afterwards.

She was about to duck back inside her room and get some rest when she spotted Lila running back. Lila was always the girl who everyone wanted to be, who flaunted the rules, but who no one would ever emulate from the punishments that she received. There was a rumour that she was a masochist, and most of the time, Laurel believed it. Yet if anyone knew what was happening, it would be Lila.

As she ran by, Laurel reached out and grabbed her hand, drawing her close. "What did you see?"

"A prince is here," she said, giggling a little.

"That would explain the rush," Laurel said, she didn't think they had ever hosted a prince. Various lords, yes, countless rich boys and minor nobility, also yes. But never a prince.

"That's not all!" Lila grabbed Laurel's hands tight, nearly bursting with excitement, "He's from Earth. You know what that means!"

"Earth?" She heard it clearly, and knew exactly what they meant, yet had trouble believing Lila. Over the thousand or so years which had passed since humanity learned how to explore and colonise other worlds, countless rebellions and wars had been fought. Currently they were in a relatively peaceful period, yet that was due to the fact that no one dared go to war. Not with the Kodiaks ruling over the vast majority of the core worlds. Any power which controlled Earth, homeland and cultural capital of all empires, already commanded massive power, yet the Kodiaks were different. So far humanity had never encountered any alien life, however, the Kodiaks were close. They were from Earth, same as Humans, yet when a radioactive asteroid slammed into earth in the ancient past, it created them. Only the Kodiaks knew what they could do, but Laurel had heard stories. Stories of entire planets being destroyed, of new life being made, great distances travelled in the blink of an eye. They were mythical. They were terrifying. "Is he..."

"Kodiak? Has to be. Who, or what else could an earth Prince be?"

"Yeah... He--"

"Back to your rooms! All of you!" Mistress Evermore's voice shouted down the hallways. It was unenhanced by any speaker or microphone, she didn't need the extra volume. "Just because we have a visitor I will not allow my establishment to go to the dogs!"

Laurel jumped and quickly waved goodbye to Lila as she ran down the hall, quickly jumping into her own room and closing the door. Laurel followed suit, and a second later sat down on her bed. A real Kodiak, she had never thought she'd meet one, and certainly didn't hope so. Her parents had told her stories when she was little about them, about how they would turn up to planets and in a storm of lightning and fire, take it for themselves, massacring anyone who wasn't Kodiak. Why any Kodiak would want a Human was beyond her. She heard they thought of Humans as inferior.

Yet one thought comforted her, if only ever so slightly, she had only been here a little while, most girls who were ready to be sold had been at the school for at least five years. She was the right age, she had just been sold later, but she knew that if there was a prince, Mistress Evermore would only show her best wares. Likely she wouldn't even see him.

A few minutes later she tucked herself back under her sheets and tried to fall asleep, yet she was unable to, for some reason she still was energetic, which didn't make any sense considering the day she'd had. Earlier she had just collapsed into bed, barely a second before she was out. Now thirty minutes passed and she was still awake. She hated to admit it, but the thought of the Kodiak must have been keeping her up. Eventually, however, she was able to find blessed sleep.

****

The next day Laurel was awoken by the loud ringing of bells over the intercom. That wasn't unusual, it happened everyday, and she had begrudgingly gotten used to it. However what was unusual was the short message which followed afterwards, said by Mistress Evermore, "All Ladies please make yourselves look presentable and gather in the main atrium in an hour."

That was definitely unusual, it was strange enough that they were meeting before breakfast, yet what was most interesting was that it was all of them. Usually Mistress Evermore handpicked a couple students who she thought had the highest chance of wooing the buyer. Never before was everyone called together. Her suspicions only got worse when she remembered it was the Kodiak Prince, and Laurel began to wonder if something nefarious was planned.

At the same time, she knew that whatever he could do, it would pale to what Mistress Evermore was willing to do if she wasn't ready and there at the atrium. What Mistress Evermore classed as presentable was a dress which Laurel had been given, and periodically resized for, on her very first day, and since, rued wearing it. It was a lovely shade of dark green, it would make an emerald seem shabby, but it could hardly be called a dress. All along it, slits were cut out. While on the front it didn't look horrible, it showed a fair amount of cleavage, but that was to be expected, the sides and back were the worst. The dress went down to the floor, yet that did little for modesty, as the dress had a slit on either side which went up to her mid thigh. Above it were a series of smaller cuts, which while they looked beautiful, swishy, and ornate, only showed more skin. Above her ribs, the dress disappeared entirely, and showed her entire back. Truthfully, it wasn't that revealing, and compared to the slip she currently had on, it would feel like she was wearing mediaeval armour. Laurel had even gone out in the halls naked before, forgetting a towel when showering. But there was something special about Mistress Evermore's school, there were no men. For two years other than the occasional glimpse of buyers and men doing labor, she had only seen women. To be out in anything less than what she had worn when she wasn't a slave would be mortifying.

But she had to wear the dress.

****

The main atrium wasn't that large of a room, and along with herself, there were only about thirty other women in the room with Laurel. She tried craning her neck to see over the tall figures around her, (they weren't that tall, she was just rather short) to try and see the Prince, but as far as she could tell, he wasn't there. At least that's what she thought until she remembered that he was Kodiak, he could be there with them, just invisible, or using any manner of tricks. Just at the thought, Laurel felt her legs go slightly weak, and goosebumps raise over her skin.

"Are you alright?" Marcy asked, looking down at Laurel with slight alarm.

"Yeah, just worried, that's all."

"Worried?" Lila asked, "Why? If he picks you, you'll never have to worry about any of this again. Plus you know what the Kodiaks do to their slaves."

"I don't think I do?" Laurel asked, hearing her voice go faint. The last thing she needed to hear was that Kodiak did something horrible to their slaves, or anything like that. She tried reminding herself that she would never be picked, but the echoing sentiment seemed to lose value every time she thought it.

Lila snorted in amusement at Laurel's tone, "They say they treat them well."

"Really?"

Lila laughed, a little too loud, and she received a stern glare from Mistress Evermore, "No, they-"

She was cut off by the sound of the double door at the end of the hall violently swinging open. Laurel whipped around to look in that direction and saw someone standing in that doorway. She expected a monster from the force imparted on those doors, yet they stood with composure before walking into the room. They entered into the light and Laurel was able to look at them better, and she saw that he was about the same age as they were. Laurel didn't know why, but she was expecting someone who was older. Additionally, he wore a smile, and when his bright green eyes swept past her towards Mistress Evermore, she felt her heart drop to her feet. It might have just been the fact that she had been only around girls for the past two years, but almost immediately Laurel found that she was watching him with bated breath. She almost wouldn't mind being picked. If he wasn't Kodiak, that was.

Mistress Evermore remained unstartled through the sound, but as he walked across the floor, she stood up from her chair and turned to face them. "Ladies, may I introduce to you, Crown Prince Alexander, second in line for the Kodiak throne, the Duke of Earth, and our Suitor today. He had a... particular way he would like to find his lady, so I ask you to form an orderly line, going from the door to the far wall."

Laurel fell in line, bordered on either side by Marcy and Lila. Lila had made sure she was closest to the door, and by extension the Prince.

"What do you think he's going to do?" Marcy asked, trying to keep her voice quiet.

"I don't know, but I hope he picks me!" Lila said, leaning forward to look at what the Prince was doing.

Laurel smiled a little at her friend and leaned forward as well, looking under Lila's substantial bust, there she could see the Prince start. He asked for the first girl's hand, and took it in his grasp. He only held it for a moment before he discarded it and went to the next girl down the line. Again and again each time he shook his head and continued.

"What's he doing?" Laurel asked.

"Isn't it obvious? He's reading their minds, seeing what they're thinking of."

Marcy seemed doubtful, "Is that even possible?"

"Of course it is! He's a Kodiak, after all."

When it came time for Lila's turn, she was already holding her hand out and had her eyes closed. Laurel thought she could hear slight moaning coming from her, and could only imagine what she was thinking of. Still, the Prince's expression didn't change, which led Laurel to think he wasn't reading minds, otherwise he probably would have turned beet red, and perhaps vomited.

Lila's disappointment was obvious, yet that wasn't what Laurel was paying attention to. This close, the Prince was nearly intoxicating, Laurel found herself staring into him. Terrifyingly, he noticed as well, and gave her a small smile. Laurel nearly fainted.

Yet she managed to keep enough of her wits to present her hand when he asked for it. Despite thinking that he couldn't read minds, she still tried to think of something she didn't think he would want. Yet as soon as she did. Laurel stopped, why was she doing that? Never before had she felt like this about someone. She wasn't sure what to think, she didn't want to be sold as a slave, and she surely didn't want to be sold to a Kodiak, yet this one didn't seem so bad.

Fortunately, she didn't have to think, for the moment both of their hands touched, she felt a kind of energy that she had never felt before course between them. It was wonderful, but at the same time revealing. In that brief second, she felt what he was feeling, disappointment, and a little bit of envy, before that turned to surprise and then happiness. In the same way she could feel herself laid bare for him, her maelstrom of emotion for him to view. It was worse than being naked.

It lasted less than a second before he pulled his hand away, too quickly, and turned to Mistress Evermore, "I have found her."

Mistress Evermore clapped very daintily and smiled, her shrill voice cutting through the ballroom, "Perfect! Lady Marquis, stay, the rest of you may leave."

"Lucky," Lila muttered, bringing Laurel back to this planet, to realise she was still holding her hand up, the impressions of his hand still lingering. She dropped it, the rush of air brushing off the last traces.

She forgot to say goodbye, was too busy looking up at the heavenly figure which almost towered over her. He wasn't looking at her, save for small glances that just made her blush more. Without looking, he asked; in a voice quite enough that only she could hear, "Marquis? That sounds French."

Laurel started to laugh before she turned it into a cough and looked away, "Maybe, I've never even been to Earth. My grandparents probably just chose it because it sounded fancy."

"I think that'll change soon," he chuckled, "But, in our day and age, Names really mean nothing, even those human eugenicists who are so inbred their chins are a foot long aren't meaningfully from anywhere."

It was true enough and she laughed politely. But a bigger question loomed over her mind, more important than polite conversation. "What was that, the feeling when our hands touch--"

He shushed her and shook his head, "I'll explain later, once we're out of this place, but please believe me when I say you don't want the slaver to know." He spoke slaver with much scorn, and Laurel thought it beyond hypocritical, he was after all, buying a slave, from said slaver.

Mistress Evermore was starting to walk over, smiling to the Prince while Laurel could see her take out a metallic object from inside her handbag. "Are you sure? If it's petite ladies you are looking for, I can find countless others with more drive and more experience than Lady Marquis, she's only two years along in our program."

"No," he shook his head, "I felt an immediate connection with Miss Marquis, she's exactly what I'm looking for."

"Very well," Mistress Evermore said, obviously displeased, "If you are to follow me, your Majesty, we can talk next steps," she turned to Laurel, "Hands please."

Laurel recognised the metallic object as a pair of handcuffs as she held out her hands, knowing it was pointless to resist. If she did she might end up with more than just handcuffs on.

"That's not necessary," The Prince said, "I really--"

"I insist, company policy," She shook her head, and reached up to attach a leash to the collar that Laurel, and the rest of the academy, for that matter, was wearing. She turned to the Prince, and tossed the end of the leash to him, he barely caught it. Laurel could see a hint of blush on his cheeks, a sentiment deeply reflected in her own. "But you can hold this if you want."

"Ah... sure," he said, flashing a look back to Laurel and shrugging. He mouthed: "Sorry."

It only made Laurel blush harder and she walked closer to him, kind of wanting to rub her hands on his and see if the same feeling pulsed through her again, but it would be more than obvious, with the leash in his hand and his hand raised slightly because of it.

"Now, our Academy offers several options for our newly departed Ladies which allow their new masters to customise their appearance and experience. Some of these are what you might expect, hair dying, nail painting, artificial tanning, what have you, but we also offer several more... interesting options," Mistress Evermore said as she walked, eventually coming to a large holoscopic screen on the wall and stopping before it. It showed the logo of the school, a dove wrapped in thorny branches, a rose blooming in the centre. She flicked the mouse and a page emerged which showed several different options which could be checked and the associated prices. "Now, you can view the advanced options here, but should I just sign you up for the complimentary package?"

"Is it required?" he asked, "Or at the very least, what does it include?"

"It's not required, but it is complimentary, meaning without charge," Mistress Everemore siad, though slightly gritted teeth. There was only one thing she despised more than a misbehaving student, and that was a cheap customer. "But it includes a freshening up of your Lady, final appearance enhancements, all her paperwork as far as medicine, vaccines, and the like are concerned, and three complimentary outfits."

"Fine," he said, "I want the most minimal of everything."

"As you wish," Mistress Evermore said, and hit enter. As soon as she did, a door to her right opened up, the door being retracted into the wall above, and two women came out. They looked much too old to be students and were dressed too nicely to be cleaning staff, which meant that they likely were there to help Mistress Evermore do something. She looked to the Prince and motioned to the leash in his hands. "Can I have that back?"

"Oh, yeah," he carefully handed Mistress Evermore the leed, making sure to avoid pulling on it harshly.

Mistress Everemore muttered her thanks before holding it out, one of the other two women took it and started to lead Laurel away, towards the still open door. Laurel hesitated long enough to see Mistress Evermore turn to the Prince, "She'll be gone for a couple minutes, getting ready and freshening up while we can sign ownership paperwork and square things away."