Arcana Pt. 02: A Succubi's Desire

Weariness and exhaustion caught up with her. She found herself unable to continue past the fire and so she sat down beside it. The fire was warm despite its small size and she found comfort in it. Her body was still exhausted and even with the flame, she felt herself growing cold. The fire sank a little.

"The fire burns low." A deep voice said behind her.

She tried to turn, but her body wouldn't. She saw the fire flicker and one of the sticks popped, collapsing inward a little bit. A tall character walked around the fire and sat down across from her. He only wore deep maroon pants and a gold band around his head. He had broad shoulders and a muscular chest. Hair was very prevalent upon him, coating his chest and belly like fur. He had a brown mane that spilled down his shoulders and a thick, bushy beard that wrapped all the way around his chin.

He clasped his hands together near the flame and blew gently on it. The fire grew in size and warmth washed over Yun. She sighed and flexed her fingers, able to move some of her body again.

"Yun, your fire is weak and dying. Why do you not tend the flame?" He asked sitting back on his palms.

"I don't even know where this is or who you are. I got stabbed in the heart... I died... I think." Yun said.

"Ah." He nodded and reached up.

Above them was now a mandarin tree. The man broke off a few dry branches and tossed them into the fire. It crackled merrily and grew a little. More feeling returned to her and she could move her arms a little.

"Who are you?" Yun asked.

"Sun Wukong! No doubt, you've heard of me. My exploits are legend, I'm sure." He smiled a toothy grin.

Yun's eyes widened, "Sun... So is this the mantle then? Like when I talk with my grandfather?"

"Uh-huh." He nodded, poking at the fire a little.

Shame blossomed inside Yun and she looked down at her knees, "I must be a huge disappointment to you. Inherited your mantle and all but I couldn't even survive a month with it."

Sun clicked his tongue and chortled a little, "Disappoint me? I do not expect you to impress me. One does not expect anything of the Monkey King. The Monkey King does what they want, how they want, and none can tell them otherwise."

"But you're the Monkey King." Yun said.

"So are you. At least, you're supposed to be." He cocked his head, "It seems to me that you don't want to be the Monkey King."

"Want to be him? You were my bedtime stories. I heard tales of you all through my childhood. I revered you and thought you my hero! Come to find out my dad has your mantle and he gave it to me. It was a dream come true! Except... I suck." Yun exclaimed. The fire grew brighter for a moment and then it sank lower than ever when she finished. Her body shivered and stiffened again.

Sun sighed and plucked a few more branches from the tree. He stirred the fire and blew on it, making it rise again. Warmth returned to Yun and she sighed. He leaned back and blew out a breath, "Since you became the Monkey King, you've never once accepted it."

"What? Of course I have. I have your staff and I kicked a whole bunch of demon butt. The mantle gave me strength I couldn't imagine. It let me workout with a literal ton of rock." Yun said quickly.

"No, it didn't. You did that. You keep saying, the mantle did it, your power did it, you have the power of the Monkey King. Have you once said you are the Monkey King?" Sun asked.

"I think I have." Yun said.

"Oh." He smiled, "Well have you ever meant it? Have you ever truly believed it? Yun, you are the Monkey King. You don't carry my mantle or use my power. You ARE the Monkey King. Do you understand?"

"What does it matter if it was my strength or yours. I was using it. But now I'm not." Yun sighed and slumped against her knees. The fire fizzled a bit and shrank down to little more than flickering embers.

Sun shook his head, "It matters Yun. You have spent all this time searching for purpose and meaning, for cause. You keep thinking you needed to choose these powers instead of them coming to you. Well they're right there and you haven't chosen them. Not once have you been the true Monkey King. Look at the fire, Yun. I can stroke it no more. Without you, it burns low."

He stared at the glowing coals and Yun looked at them too. She thought about his words. She hated admitting she was wrong, but he was right. She was so caught up in everything that was happening, so worried about doing right with these powers that she never just did. She wanted answers but she never listened. She sought purpose but it had been there all along. Nalschiel was right, her purpose was whatever she chose it to be. She felt so damn stupid for dragging her feet this whole time. Wasn't the Monkey King supposed to be able to walk on clouds?

The fire reappeared on the coals and grew up a little.

"That's it. You understand now. The Monkey Kings powers are not yours to use. You are the Monkey King and it is your own power. What is a few little demons to the might that can bring down ten thousand celestial troops?" Sun smiled brightly and sat upright.

Yun felt her spirit rising. If she was here, then she wasn't dead yet. She had things to do and the first was to kick that asshole Gregarian's tiny sack squarely through the top of his head. She watched the fire suddenly surge and grow to six feet in height. Raging heat washed over her and fire surged around her. It wasn't painful though. The fire didn't feel of pain. It felt of passion, and desire. It surged with lust and excitement. It was every good emotion she could imagine and it felt fantastic as it licked her body. As she reveled in it, it grew even larger. She stood in the fire and it reached up to the heavens, becoming a roaring spire that made her feel more alive than ever. All around her, the grass erupted outward into a gorgeous valley. Mountains loomed on the horizon and beautiful blue skies streaked overhead. A wind blew over her and the fire was carried off to the sky where it burned brightly, brighter and larger than the sun had ever been.

She laughed wildly, "What is this? What is all of this?"

"This is your soul, my descendant, and you are alive once again! The fire is your spirit and it very nearly went out! Now go, Monkey King, and show the world your glory!" Sun said with joy radiating from his face.

"Right!" Yun said and the light flared around her.

*******

Nal was leaning over Yun, tears streaked down her sorrow-worn face. Yun reached up and caressed her cheek.

"Mistress!" Nal hissed seeing her move.

"Heya. What was that about not loving me?" Yun smiled.

Tears welled fresh in her eyes and she gave a choked sob, "Yes. I do love you."

"Great to hear." Yun smiled and got to her feet. She released all of her power and bright light shone from her body. A long golden tail flicked out behind her and a crown of pure sunshine appeared on her brow. She lifted her staff and said loudly, "I think its about time we put an end to this."

With three steps as swift as a dancer, she strode on the air itself and swung the Ruyi Jingu Bang at the barrier with all her might. It didn't stand a chance and the magic shattered into specks of darkness that blew away from her. Gregarian raised the knife and she lunges towards him... A moment too late.

With a sickening crunch, the knife sank into the flesh of the innocent girl and her body jerked upward. Blood flooded around the knife and dark power exploded from the altar. Light shone momentarily from the girl and then was consumed by the darkness.

Just as Gregarian was looking up in success, she caught him across the face with one of her feet. The impact snapped his head over backwards as his body went flying off the altar. He struck the far wall with a splatter that threw entrails everywhere.

Alex's specter laughed as the power rushed out of the chamber, "It's too late! You've failed! The Arcana is opening and this city is doomed!"

He disappeared before Yun could swing her staff at him.

"Oh fuck me." Dom cursed.

Hail leapt up on the altar and looked at the girl, "Son of a bitch. Dom, how fucked are we?"

"If I go now, I can interrupt the Alex's network before the portals are open too long. Some things will have already gotten out though. I have to hurry." She said.

"Then go, you stupid fuck! Run!" And before she called her a stupid fuck, she was already gone through a portal.

Yun leaned on her staff and grimaced at the dead girl, "That's the second dead child I've seen. I'm starting to understand Caroline's reaction towards me a little better. Wish I could hit that sonuvabitch again."

Hail looked over at the mess that was left of him, "Don't need to hit them again when the first blow was like that. Come on, we're gonna have a lot of work ahead of us."

She pulled the knife out and gathered up the girl's body. Yun picked up Pedro's and followed her.

*******

The next afternoon, Hail had called them all over to Caroline's cafe to talk. The city had to hadn't erupted into chaos yet, in fact everything seemed to be going normal. Kate switched the cafe's sign to closed and joined the table.

"So nothing seems to be burning down yet. Does that mean you stopped whatever was going to to happen?" Yun asked, leaning idly back in her chair. She wore jeans and a tight sweater. Beside her sat Nal in a hip skirt and a rather slutty top, but her skin was at least white and she wore her usual illusionary boots.

Dom shook her head, "No. I didn't. The portal to Arcana was open for at least ten minutes."

"Wait a second. Is nobody going to ask about that skintight little thing Dominik had been wearing down there? It was practically framing that curvy ass of yours." Nal said with a lusty glint in her eye.

"It was the outfit GoGo wears when she's being a superhero. I think its fun and I like zipping around on those skates with gravity magic." Dom said with a sigh and a roll of her eyes. "Back to the important conversation."

"Gotta admit, if we hadn't been fighting to save lives, I would've been real distracted." Hail shrugged.

"Really Viktoria? Don't we have bigger problems!" Dom exclaimed.

Katelyn raised a hand, "I am curious, what is Arcana? Why is it so dangerous to open a portal to?"

"Arcana is a realm of pure will and emotion. There are countless dangerous creatures there and nobody just opens a portal to it." Dom said.

"But that doesn't explain why it's so dangerous. Is it just the creatures escaping from there? Why would they want to open so many portals to it?" Yun said.

"Its not multiple. It was one huge one. Kate, what is magic?" Dom asked her.

Kate thought for a moment, "Someone changing reality according to what they believe it should be. It's will made real."

"Exactly. And Arcana is a whole world of pure will, no guiding force. Its just a world of endless raw magic. So even air floating out of it is dangerous because it is made of magic. A portal open for two seconds lets in some air from Arcana. That cloud of magic floats over to your neighbors and engulfs their dog. Maybe it does nothing. Maybe it starts changing it into a chimeric beast of hell. We don't know. There's nothing controlling the raw magic." Dom said, waving a hand about.

"Oh shit. So this huge portal being open for ten minutes let out a lot of magic. No telling what it might change or fuck up. Are we gonna be okay?" Yun asked with wide eyes.

"Don't know. Likely we will because Arcana has more of an effect on normals than Mythics. We're going to see a whole lot of people popping up with magic powers or changing into dangerous creatures. We have to get a lot of resources here to start collecting the fresh Mythics as soon as possible." Dom told Hail.

Kate looked around, "Okay but what about things that could've snuck through. Where was this monster portal anyway? Underground?"

"Do you remember the fear spell Alex had woven through the underground? When we dispelled it, we didn't go around and muck up everything. Just tore it up enough to stop it working. Well Alex came back from the dead and helped someone repair it." Hail said.

Dom continued, "And using the power of a pious sacrifice, they garnered the help of a massive demon to empower the network. The way Gregarian had it repaired, instead of radiating an immense fear, it opened a metaphysical connection with Arcana through the entire network. Nothing physical could pass through it but magic could seep in like poison gas. If the portal had remained open long enough, real passable portals would've fractured reality in the underground to let through creatures but I headed that off. I imagine Gregarian hadn't planned on me finding them so soon. Five minutes later and the portal would've been open long enough for chaos to ensue."

"So what's the long and short then." Caroline raised three fingers, "Bad guy is dead, but so is the girl and her body guard. Magic gas has been released all through Seattle. Now we need to be on the lookout for people with magic powers or superhero mutations. That about it?"

"Seems it." Hail nodded.

"So how would someone go safely to Arcana then, anyway?" Kate asked.

Dom pointed at her, "No. No, you don't. But if you ever do though, plan a staging area. Open a rift to an alternate dimension like my own pocket world. Go to Arcana from there. There isn't anything there but chaos and madness. Wizards don't just go there for fun, they have a reason and they get out as as quickly as they can."

"Alright, I get it. I won't try. You make things sound exciting and curious though." Kate grumbled.

"Well if that's it, I think Nal and I will be off." Yun stood up.

Hail looked up at her, "If you still want it, that job position is open on my team."

Yun smiled and shook her head, "No, it's not my place. I've got other things to do anyway. I've got some ideas on how to make money being the Monkey King. Why anyway?"

"You showed something in the fight yesterday. I think you could do good." Hail said.

"I know I could do good, and I will. But in my own way and my own time. If I come across anyone, I'll send then your way. Have a good day everyone." Yun said and walked out the door, Succubus on her heels.