Chains of Corruption

"Th-thank you mistress." Diedra says meekly before leaving as well.

You smile at the tough goblin girl as she awkwardly walks to the exit, cum dripping down her stubby legs and onto the floor. You are quite tired now and decide to head back to your room. Upon returning, you find Kira fast asleep and once again hogging the bed. You move her over and close your eyes. Before you know it, it's morning already.

Chapter 17: Impact

You awaken to find Kira awake and ready before you for once.

"What's got you up so early?" You ask coyly.

"Priscilla said she's gonna train both of us today!" Kira exclaims.

Maybe this was decided last night when you were with Farah and Diedra.

"Good, then maybe you will understand that you can still be useful to our group without brute strength." You reply.

"It sure would be nice to have it though." Kira jokes.

"Power corrupts people. They can never go back to how things were once they've obtained it. It just, changes people." You were speaking about your world but you realize your words pertain to you as well.

Kira objects, "But you don't seem any different than when we first met Mika."

"That's not true." You reply, "I have done things here that I would never have even thought about if I was back in my world. I don't know if it's the corruption or this blessing, but I am definitely different than when I first arrived. That night at the lake for instance, I saw a slime girl and had sex with her. Normally, I would want to only be intimate with one person, but here, I don't know how to describe it, it just feels natural to be with anyone I want, whenever I want."

That sounded a lot better in your head but it's out there now.

Kira smiles and says, "I saw that too, you know. You were really giving it to that goo girl, I got so wet I started fingering myself."

She really is kinky. She probably enjoyed it when Megumi and her peed on you too. You are definitely going to get her back now. Just then, a knock comes from the door as it opens and Priscilla waves.

"Are you two ready to begin?" She asks with a smile.

The three of you make your way out onto the deck and begin training. Priscilla instructs you to continue from yesterday while she shows a few things to Kira. The day seems long and with only blue skies and clouds in view, its hard to tell how much time passes. Eventually, evening comes around and all three of you are spent. You didn't realize how tired you could get from using magic, better to learn now though rather than in combat. Farah's crew have prepared a fine meal for everyone and you can't wait, all that training really worked up your appetite.

As you feast, Priscilla says, "You've made good progress again today Mika, I'm thrilled to have such an exceptional student, and Kira, even though you're limited as far as the spells you can cast, you've greatly improved your concentration and your spells should be far more effective now, not to mention your transformation."

"Oh yeah! Mika, I can stay as the archer for longer now, only a few minutes more, but still!" Kira says excitedly.

"That's great, I'm proud of you." You say.

"Ughh, what are you my mom?" Kira jokes and the three of you share a good laugh as you finish your meal.

Later on, you are walking along the deck admiring the stars when you notice Farah standing alone on the bow. She has one arm folded beneath her breasts supporting her other arm which holds an intricate looking pipe.

You decide to join her and say, "In my world, I'd never bee able to see the stars this clearly, they're beautiful."

Farah smiles as she looks at you, offering you her pipe and saying, "Yes, they're the reason I became an airship captain. I wanted to study them, but I'm not great at all that science crap, so I settled for just being able to gaze at them from way up here."

You don't know what's in the pipe, but after taking a drag you deduce it's similar to tobacco and take another long drag.

Farah looks upward as she says, "The road you're on will most certainly lead to tragedy. I like you Mika, and I'd hate to see you go off and get killed. I know you want to save your friend, but sometimes, resolve just isn't enough."

You calmly stare out into the dark night sky, handing the pipe back to Farah before saying, "Maybe you're right, but if there's even a slim chance that I can succeed, I'm going to take it."

Farah sighs and places her hand on your shoulder and says, "You're a good person and your friend is lucky to have you. Be careful out there tomorrow."

Farah smiles and walks back towards the bridge. You spend a few more moments letting the wind rush through your hair and admiring the stars before turning in for the night. The next morning during breakfast, you are talking with Kira and Priscilla when suddenly an alarm starts ringing and red lights flash along the walls.

The crew instantly spring into action scrambling to their posts as Farah's voice rings out over an intercom, "We're under attack! Impact in 5, all hands, battle stations!"

The Elysium is rocked by a violent impact and you lose your balance. Using the walls for support, you and Priscilla make your way to the deck where you see thick black smoke pouring out of the side of the Elysium.

"We have to do something!" You yell over another smaller explosion.

Priscilla nods and says, "Kira, see if you can help put out the fire below deck. Mika, try to deflect some of the blasts away from the ship, I will try to raise a barrier around the ship."

Without words, you rush to the other side of the deck and see another blast coming towards the ship. Purple lightning crackles around your fingers as you charge up and release a huge stream of electricity. There is a massive explosion and the entire ship sways. You turn your head and see Priscilla with her arms outstretched and a light green magical aura surrounding her. Another blast in the distance is heading straight for Priscilla and you rush to her aid. The explosion is much closer this time and it knocks you off your feet. You stand and see a crewman being thrown off the ship by another explosion and you get the sense that you're falling.

"Engines 1 and 3 have been hit! Were losing power, I have to try to set her down before..." An explosion can be heard followed by static noise over the intercom as Farah's voice cuts out.

Priscilla starts expanding her barrier, but it only covers about a third of the ship.

"This is as much as I can do! It won't be enough.." Priscilla's voice trails off as the ship descends below the clouds.

The landscape below is a vast desert as far as the eye can see. You rack your brain and remember something important. When Hakon first showed you how to use magic, he infused some of his energy into you. What if you could do the same and power up Priscilla's barrier? It would be risky, you could end up turning to ash, but at this point, the ship will crash and you'll die anyways.

You focus your energy until you feel Mara's blessing awaken, but you don't stop there. You continue to concentrate and soon, you can feel subtle vibrations in the air around you. You notice they are coming from the people on board the Elysium. This must be their natural frequency! You walk up behind Priscilla and place your hands on her shoulders. The vibrations emanating from Priscilla intensify and you begin trying to match her frequency. Suddenly, you can feel the magical energy flowing through Priscilla very clearly and spot another incoming blast.

You unleash your energy into Priscilla, being very careful to monitor both frequencies. Priscilla's barrier changes from light green to a brilliant white and rapidly expands well past the edges of the ship. Explosion after explosion hit the magical barrier but inside, you can no longer feel the impacts. Expending your energy like this is very difficult and just as you wonder how much longer you can keep this up, you notice the desert sand is approaching rapidly. The barrage seems to let up just as the Elysium is about to crash, but you and Priscilla continue to hold the barrier, trying to mitigate damage as much as possible. A few moments later the barrier comes in contact with the sand.

The ship crashes down hard, and although the barrier dissipates on impact, it was enough to keep the ship mostly in one piece. The force of the impact throws you and Priscilla off the ship and you tumble through the air and hit the sand hard, blacking out instantly.

You smell fire and cough, which sends a shooting pain through your torso. You open your eyes and try to sit up, but and incredible pain hits you immediately. You look down and see that you are half buried in sand and a jagged piece of metal is piercing your stomach.

You try to concentrate but you feel very weak and notice you are lying in a pool of blood. The blood has clumped together in the sand beneath you as you struggle to your knees. The sky is almost dark and you look down at your wound again. Your blood is slowly swirling down the metal and dripping into the sand as you slowly make your way to a nearby rock and lean against it. You grab the metal bar firmly and begin trying to remove it. The process is excruciating and more than once you almost pass out from the pain, but through sheer willpower, you get through it and dislodge the piece of metal from your gut.

Blood begins flowing freely now and you press your hand against the wound trying to stop the bleeding. You look around and spot the Elysium half buried in the sand and begin to stumble over there. You pass a few dead crewmen before coming to a huge hole in the side of the ship. Small fires still burn here and there, but some of the crew survived somehow and are trying to put them out.

You walk into the ship and hear one of the men yelling, "We found the captain but she's trapped!"

You absentmindedly stumble around and follow the men to the bridge where they are trying to push some metal debris out of the way. They manage to move it enough to get access to the door but fires still rage inside the bridge. The men scramble trying to get water for the fire, but you walk over to the door and open it. The heat is intense and the flames lash out at you. You shield your face with your other hand and stumble over to Farah.

"Stupid girl..." Farah coughs up a bit of blood and says, "Forget about me, you have something more important to do right?"

You ignore her words and slowly bend down and help the woman to her feet. You drape her arm around your neck and just as you make for the door, a small explosion throws fire in all directions, trapping you and Farah in the inferno. You keep walking slowly towards the door and raise your free hand towards the flames.

You put everything you have left into it, which isn't much in your condition, but frost quickly accumulates in your hand and you release it at the flames by the door. The flames instantly crystallize in a spectacular reddish orange hue and some collapse under their own weight due to their irregular shape. You make it out of the room and hand Farah over to her crew. One of them comes over to you with tears in his eyes and thanks you for saving their captain. You are about to reply when suddenly you collapse into the man and black out.

Chapter 18: Reflection

You feel liquid being dripped into your mouth and you groggily open your eyes. Farah is sitting against the railing on the deck of the Elysium holding your head in her lap. She is holding a wet cloth to your face and squeezing it, letting the water drip into your mouth. You try to sit up and are reminded of your injury by an intense pain.

"Take it easy now, or your wound will open up." Farah says comfortingly.

"Is everyone alright?" You ask putting your hand to your head.

"Not everyone made it, but thanks to you and Priscilla, some of us did." Farah says.

It dawns on you that you haven't seen Kira or Priscilla yet and begin looking around. The only people you can see are crewmen bandaging their wounds and trying to clear debris.

"Where are Priscilla and Kira?" You ask.

"They're alright, Priscilla seems to have been lightly wounded when she was thrown from the ship. She's resting now and Kira somehow avoided injury altogether. She's watching over Priscilla as we speak." Farah says reassuringly.

You are relieved that they're alright and sit against the railing next to Farah.

"So what now?" You ask.

"Before we went down, I sent an emergency signal back to Cyldell. They should have sent rescue by now, but they aren't as fast as the Elysium so we might be here for a few days. Don't worry about us though, when you're ready feel free to head to Ardent City, it should be in that direction." Farah says pointing out into a seemingly endless expanse of sandy dunes.

"I think I need to rest for a while first." You say looking at your bloodstained armor.

There is a decent sized hole where the metal punctured your armor and a generous amount of dried blood around it.

"Me too." Farah jokes as she helps you to your feet.

Farah guides you to the room Priscilla is in and says, "The other cabin was destroyed so you're gonna have to share the bed, sorry."

You look up at Farah and say, "It's alright, I don't mind."

"Mika! I'm so glad you're ok!" Kira says as she enters the room and hugs your face.

"Yeah, I'm glad you weren't hurt." You reply.

Kira responds, "Sometimes being small has its advantages."

You smile and lay your head back as Farah turns around and begins ordering her crew to salvage what they can from the ship as she limps out of the room.

"You were hurt pretty bad Mika, are you sure you're ok?" Kira asks inspecting you from head to toe.

You examine your wound closer and although you are sure the metal bar completely pierced you, it doesn't feel like the wound goes all the way through you anymore.

"I think so, I guess this is Mara's blessing at work again." You say, amazed by how quickly you are healing.

"Everybody thought you were gonna die..." Kira says as tears begin welling up in her tiny eyes. "I knew you would pull through, but still, I hate seeing you like that, all bloody and barely breathing."

"At least we're all ok now. I'm going to try sleeping for a while. I'm still pretty tired." You say as you close your eyes.

"Ok feel better. I'm gonna go help Farah and the crew." Kira says as she floats to the doorway.

Several hours later you awaken to find it's the middle of the night, and you check your wound again. It is still quite deep and on the outside, doesn't appear to have healed much.

"I guess even Mara's blessing has it's limits." You think aloud as you remember how much energy you used when the ship was under attack.

"That's right." Priscilla says, scaring the shit out of you.

You instinctively flinch and you clutch your stomach in pain.

"Sorry, haha, I woke up a while ago. I checked your wound and I think at this rate, you should be good to go in another two days or so." Priscilla says as she sits up against the headboard.

"This is taking too long." You say looking defeated.

"You can't rush things like this, it will only make things worse later. All you can do now is rest so relax." Priscilla says.

You look up at Priscilla who is smiling and say, "I'm not talking about that. I mean Gwen. What if the demons have killed her, or turned her into their slave?"

Priscilla leans over and hugs you while saying, "You can't think like that, not after coming this far. You said you would see this through to the end and if you falter now, you will surely fail. Steel your heart, if anyone has a chance against the demons, it's you, and you're not alone. For all we know, they might not have done anything to her yet, you just have to keep that flame of hope alive and keep moving forward."

Her words hit you hard. You know you can't give up, it's just hard when you know someone is suffering and you can't help them, but Priscilla is right. If you show weakness now, you will fail. You know you have to be strong not just for yourself, but for Gwen's sake as well. Memories of you and Gwen getting accepted to the same college and starting your first year there flow into your mind. The emotional toll of everything that has happened and all that you have yet to process hits you all at once and tears begin streaming down your face.

In between sobs you manage to say, "Thanks, I needed to hear that."

"Everyone doubts themselves from time to time, but the only thing you can do is stay true to yourself." Priscilla says with a smile.

This lizardgirl seems completely different than the drunken tough ass that you first met. She has obviously been through a lot and has a wealth of knowledge at her disposal.

Just then, Kira flies in and says, "Oh you're both awake. I was gonna check on you two, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling fine, I just needed to let my magical energy recharge." Priscilla says confidently.

"Yeah I feel better than before, but I'm gonna need to let this heal some more before I can leave." You say.

"That's good, can I get you something Mika?" Kira asks politely.

You shake your head and Priscilla says, "Perhaps tomorrow after my energy has been fully restored, I could try a simple healing spell, I've never been very good at them, but it couldn't hurt."

You thank her and then she says, "By the way, I was curious Kira, why are you so attached to Mika? Fae folk tend to keep to themselves from what I hear and yet you seem to enjoy being around others."

Kira flies over and lands on your thigh where she sits and says, "I'm her friend and I want to help her." Kira crosses her arms and says, "It's not like she reminds me of anyone."

Priscilla looks at you and smiles before saying, "So who was she? Your mother? Or how about your sister?"

You chime in, "Well she likes seeing me naked, so maybe it's her lover."

Kira's face visibly reddens and she gets an embarrassed look on her face as Priscilla adds, "Ooohh, so were you madly in love or is she the one that got away?"

"It's not like that!" Kira exclaims. "She was... a friend."

"Was? What happened?" You ask.

Kira looks sad as she says, "She was killed. It happened back when I first left home. I didn't come down here alone, my friend Yazmine came with me. She was tired of all the rules too and we decided we would leave together. I don't think I could have made it on my own at first, Yazmine and I had a really hard time adjusting to the new environment. We made so many mistakes but we were always there for each other and little by little we started getting used to it. One day we were out in the woods and we were feeling a little naughty so we started kissing. We didn't know that someone was watching us and when we were distracted he jumped out and grabbed both of us."

Kira pauses for a moment before continuing, "He was a big wolf and he was snarling right in our faces. Yaz tried to use magic and he did let go, but... then he swiped his claws at Yaz and she slammed into a tree. She fell down and just... laid there, blinking for a second before she stopped moving. Then the wolf grabbed her and... he ate her!"

Tears well up in the fairy's eyes and she says, "I didn't know what to do so I ran. Then after I finally thought I had come to terms with it, I thought I saw Yaz again, being attacked by goblins. I didn't even think about it, I was just protecting my friend. Mika looks so much like her, just a lot bigger. I've always hated myself for just running away like that so when I heard Mika saying she was going to fight the demons, I don't know I guess I just felt like I had to repay Yaz somehow for saving me that day." Kira says as she wipes her tears.

You are stunned. You had no idea this cute little fairy was carrying such a heavy burden all this time.

"I had no idea, I'm so sorry for bringing up bad memories." Priscilla says.