Tablet Master Ch. 12

Shaella laughed. "Smart girl."

"Can your spell cure me of my famine?"

"I can remove your sickness, yes, but it won't last unless you eat something," Shaella said, shrinking to one meter tall. "I can also create a few basic things, like bread and milk, but not meat. I could alternatively enchant a glass of water that would be imbued with all the nutriments your body requires for a full day's worth of food. No taste but filled with all the vitamins."

"That sounds perfect," Rhaya said. "Make me one of those glass of water and then remove my sickness."

Shaella used her magic to extract clay from the ground and then shape it into a bowl. She filled it with water from the lake, enchanted the water and handed it to Rhaya before removing her sickness.

The girl stood up and stretched her arms and legs.

"Wow, that feels amazing," Rhaya said. "It's like I was never sick!"

Shaella observed her mistress in silence, pondering ways to reverse the roles somehow by manipulating the little Khavi into doing her biddings instead.

"Why was I unable to summon you for ten days," Rhaya asked after a moment.

"I don't know, but it probably has something to do with the fact that my body was destroyed."

"I think I almost died too," the girl said, bobbing her head slightly. "Damn it was incredible though! Did you enjoy it as much as I did?"

"Almost," Shaella said. "I was denied satisfaction, but it was very pleasing while it lasted."

"Will your body be destroyed if we do that again?"

"Probably, unless you free me from your commands so I can stop even when you keep begging for more and tell me to continue."

"Ohhhh... Right," Rhaya said. "You had to obey even if I didn't command you. I guess I know what to do before we do it next time, but not now."

"It would be wise to release me from that order in advance," Shaella said, seizing this opportunity. "Last time you clung to me like a moth to a flame because I got horny, which is something that happens very often with me... you know, being a Succubus and all... you may not be in your right mind to liberate me when that happens."

Rhaya nodded a few times. "Yeah, you're right. Your pheromones really enthralled me now that I think of it. I command you to ignore all my commands whenever we are having sex. I command you to stop having sex with me before you to vanish. I don't want to go another ten days without you."

"Smart girl," she said, shaking her head. "I'd have preferred being freed of any and all commands coming from you, but I guess it would be too much to ask."

Rhaya frowned. "If you did what I ask without me having to command you from the start, maybe I would have to make it so strict."

"Fair enough," Shealla said. "I enjoy our rivalry and I will take great pleasure following your orders... to the letter."

"Yeah, I figured," Rhaya said. "You're like an evil Genie in a bottle, except it's a Tablet."

The girl's face brightened up with a grin. "I command you to be a Good genie to me, and not to obey my orders to the letter, but with all your wisdom and knowledge so that the result would be what you believe would please me the most based on all your knowledge of me, my taste and my desires."

Shaella glared, pondering for a moment to let the command sink in. "Smart girl," she sighed.

"What now," Shaella said.

"I want to know more about this Tablet," Rhaya said.

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"Tell me what you know about the Tablet?"

"I know it controls me," Shaella said. "It's connected to my soul, which was parted in two to limit my powers, my memories, and controls me. I know of no creature strong enough to do something like this to me alone, not even a God, but multiple Gods, maybe. Possibly as punishment for something I can't remember. I can't physically move further then two kilometers from either the Tablet or you, I have yet to test it to know for sure. I can't harm you in any ways, trust me I tried, and I must obey all your commands. That's the extent of my discoveries."

"Okay, good... good... Gods? Really? I know you're a Succubus, but couldn't a mortal, yet powerful wizard, entrap you in the Tablet?"

"I strongly doubt any mortal could muster up the energy it would require, and that's if they had the knowledge to perform something so unique. I'm not a typical Succubus demon. They're powerful, yes, but not as powerful as many other demons, like the Rahkshasas. Without getting into all the boring detail, Succubus are spawned only when an Incubus and a Succubus chose to procreate, or are forced into it, through a unique ceremonial orgy involving at least five mortal that will die in the process when their soul is absorbed, merged and reshaped to inhabit the fertilised eggs and sperm. I wasn't spawned like another Succubus. I was spawned in an actual egg, fertilised from multiple sperm from other demons, including from my creator, the God and father of all Rahkshasa, along with a thousand souls merged to shape mine. The more souls, the more powerful. If one has five souls, she is five time stronger than any mortals. I'm basically a hundred time stronger than a typical Succubus. Also, the last thing I remember is me heading to meet with a God and his Pantheon, so chances are, they did this to me."

"How strong would a Dragon be compared to you?"

Shaella scoffed. "Even an adult Dragon is no match for me. An ancient one, if he wasn't lazy for most his life and did learn various forms of magic and a lot of spells might be a challenge or of similar strength."

"The Tablet is stronger than you though," Rhaya said with a smirk.

"Indeed."

"So, you're a mighty Rakhshasa-Succubus Demon, but you're trapped in a stone." Rhaya laughed.

Shaella shivered as the intense pleasure brushed over her like a cold shower. She mustered every ounce of willpower she had to crush the impudent mortal, but fell to her knee instead, almost climaxing before the automaton took over her body.

Rhaya through herself at Shaella, obviously influenced by the sudden burst of Succubus pheromones, but Shaella wasn't in control anymore.

She watched helplessly from the confines of her own brain as Rhaya penetrated her vigorously.

Without a link to her body, Shaella didn't feel anything and she might as well be watching the wind blowing through a field of grass.

The girl's words were true though and they echoed in her thoughts until she finally regained control of her body.

Rhaya laid at the edge of the water, her feet dipping in while she cooled down from a few orgasms after using her body like an almost inert sex doll.

Shaella was infuriated, but she knew how to divert her anger so she wouldn't lose control again. The little Khavi didn't know, but her life would end at the very first chance Shaella would get, be it in a day or a thousand years. She would be free eventually, that, she had no doubt, and she would find Rhaya, or her soul if it had moved on to a new flesh bag, but she would have her soul for all this.

"This was amazing," Rhaya said. "You didn't move much though, why?"

"I wasn't in control of my physical body once again," Shaella said. "I wanted to kill you for your insolence and the Tablet took over."

Shaella cleansed herself with a spell, staring blankly over the lake. She could see a small town on the other side and many small boats.

"How about we make a deal," Rhaya said, standing up.

Shaella raised one eyebrow at her.

"I wasn't mocking you," she said. "I think you are the most beautiful creature I've ever seen. I was told a lot about Succubus and other demons, including the Rahkshasas and I wouldn't have thought I'd ever encounter one, least of all a hybrid one. I didn't put you in this Tablet. I stumbled upon it in my most vulnerable moment and you saved me from a life of misery."

Rhaya bowed before her with one knee on the ground. "I can't imagine how humiliating it must be for you, but I can relate, in my own mortal way. I know the Tablet prevents you from hurting me, but I wish we could be friends instead. Even demons have friends, right?"

Shaella quirked her brows.

"Mates then? ... or anyone you would actually have fun talking with and sharing experience and stuff?"

Shaella shook her head.

"Anyone you can count on when things go bad?"

Shaella sighed.

"What can possibly make you happy then?"

"I'm happy when I absorb a soul," Shaella said. "I'm take great joy in tormenting people I don't like or when I slaughter the loved ones of my enemies."

"Yet you have no one to share all this pleasure with."

"I don't need anyone to share it with," Shaella scoffed. "I wouldn't want to share any amount of a soul with someone else either."

"I understand we are very different, but what if you did have someone who'd be willing to risk her life to help you, would that make this person... you friend?"

"I've never needed anyone's help," Shaella said.

"You do now," Rhaya said, holding the Tablet up slightly.

"You'd risk your life to free me from this curse?"

"Yes, yes I would."

"Why?"

"Because I want to be your friend," she said. "I want you to see me as the only creature in the universe that actually cares about you enough to come to your rescue. I don't expect you to love me and go out of your ways to please me, but if you'd only ever consider me enough of a friend you wouldn't want to kill me all the time or see me suffer, just so we can both maybe enjoy those things together instead, I'd be happy."

Shaella laughed.

Rhaya stared, her eyebrows furrowed.

"What you just said would probably sound heartbreaking for other mortals and possibly even supernatural creatures who are soft and weak and pathetic," Shaella said, scoffing the last word. "You are food to me, you are the match one uses to light a candle, the berry one pluck from a bush to try and satiate starvation, you are nothing to me. Could you become friend with a berry?"

"If that berry could talk, had some level of intelligence, even if it would be lesser than mine, and if that berry had the ability to control me because of something another bunch of berries, or a God worshiped by those berries did to me... yes!"

"You make a good point," Shealla said. "But I still can't be your friend. We can make a deal, I have a very strong tendency to keep my word unless deemed necessary to break it, but I don't have friends and I have no need for friends."

"Can our deal enforce that you wouldn't try to sabotage me, torment me, hurt me, or kill me?"

"It can," Shaella said.

"Can our deal enforce that if I need your help one day and it would be easy and convenient, maybe even profitable for you, you will provide such help?"

"If formulated properly, it could."

"Well that's basically what being friend is."

"You can call it whatever you want little Khavi," Shaella said. "Just remember that I'm a Rahkshasa-Succubus Demon, I take pleasure from pain and suffering, I love killing and corrupting and I seek powers over all else. Even if you help free me, which will most likely be the result of me doing a bunch of things for you all the way until we find the answers and solutions to this problem, you will still always be the little mortal Khavi who made me do things I didn't want to do, and this... infuriates me on so many levels I can barely contain my urge to kill you every second that passes."

"Then I guess I'd better make damn sure you never get out of this Tablet," Rhaya said, reading her name from the Tablet.

"What is your-"

"Don't do anything and don't talk," Rhaya said, interrupting Shaella as she reappeared.

"I thought I'd call you whenever I need something from you," Rhaya said. "Turns out I have to wait a whole day when I put you back in there, so I'll have to tolerate you being outside."

Shaella smiled.

"Here's how it's going to be," the girl said. "I command you to transform into a winged horse now."

Shaella changed into a magnificent black mare with a long fiery red tail and mane, and leathery wings matching her own.

"I command you to do and say nothing. I command you to answer my questions when asked. I command you to do as I say, when asked, even if I don't use the word command."

The girl took a saddle from a shelf and strapped it on Shaella's back.

She felt pleasure growing within, but she willed it away. She didn't want to lose control to the automaton for good. This situation had escalated to a level far beyond anger. The girl would pay.

They were in a small barn with another horse nearby. There were other animals such as cows, pigs, chicks and sheep, but not so many of each.

Rhaya hopped on her back and kicked her flanks.

Shaella didn't move.

"When I kick your flanks," the girl said, "You move forward."

She kicked her flanks again.

Shaella had already thought it through the second she heard the last command. She dashed forward with her flight ability.

Rhaya was lying on the floor of the barn a few hundred meters behind when Shaella stopped.

"Come back here," the girl shouted as she got up."

Shaella flew back just as fast, glaring.

Rhaya was glaring too, snarling even as she climbed back up.

"I thought you couldn't hurt me," the girl said, rubbing her scratched knee.

There was a moment of silence before the girl growled.

"How were you able to hurt me?"

"It would seem I have found a loophole," Shaella said. "I will find a way to get you killed."

Rhaya grumbled.

"I will find a way to bind you through so many commands you'll be both a little puppy and a weapon of mass destruction!"

Shaella laughed.

"If you can communicate with me telepathically, I want you to do so."

Shaella would normally be able to speak in anyone's mind and even read and dig into their memories to find out everything about them, but her psychic abilities were inaccessible, so instead, she had to cast a spell that had similar effect, allowing them to communicate mentally.

How long will it last? Rhaya asked mentally.

"Two hours," Shaella answered verbally.

I want you to answer my questions and communicate with me through this mental bond until I say otherwise.

Yes, mistress, Shaella said through the mental link.

Now, when I hit your flanks, the girl said, you will move forward, walk of flight, but at a pace that won't cause me to fall. Also, from now on, you will obey my orders in the most convenient way for me to the best of your knowledge so that the result will be optimal and beneficial to me.

As you wish, mistress.

Take me off into the air and if I ever fall, you are to catch me, or save me before I hit the ground, no matter what and no matter how.

As you wish, mistress, Shaella said as she flew up into the sky gently.

The small farm faded as they moved above the clouds. She'd spin and let her drop, but the Tablet wouldn't let her. The girl was a challenge and Shaella always liked challenges.

The girl had her fly for hours until they saw the circular city with streets that looked like a coil. It was a huge city by the sea, it had a large river, a cliff as well as a forest within two kilometers distance.

Shaella flew down to a small waterfall, the furthest of two, where the other one was huge as both came from the clifftop.

The girl jumped down and rushed to jump over a dead tree and into a narrow tunnel.

Change into a Khavi and follow me, Rhaya said, hurrying into the cave.

Shaella followed her mistress through the narrow path, through a cold pond and into a huge cave where the Khavi had established a large community. Three buildings were carved directly into the stone and had a natural watering system coursing through each.

Rhaya looked around nervously and hurried towards the building on the left, using her tentacles to assist her jump, reaching over twenty meters into a door that appeared to have been placed there for that purpose.

The girl jumped two more times, from one door to another before entering the building near its top. Shaella followed.

Rhaya entered an apartment and found nine Khavi in a coma in the apartment.

"What the hell happened here?" she shrieked.

I don't know, mistress, Shaella answered.

Heal them while I look around, she pointed at one of them and rushed outside.

Shaella examined the first Khavi for a moment. Without her other powers, she couldn't diagnose what was wrong so she simply tried every spell she knew that could help. Nothing worked.

"They're all like this," Rhaya shouted as she ran back into the apartment.

Why haven't you healed them? She asked, glaring at Shaella.

I tried every spell I know and none of them works, Shaella said. I don't know what caused this, but it's magical and very powerful.

Who would do such thing?

I don't know, mistress.

The girl sat on the bed, next to one of them and took her hand.

"You probably don't remember me by now," she said softly. "I think I know why I'm so different and why everyone's been treating me so bad all these years. It's because my body doesn't age as fast as you and because I will remember everything in my life, unlike you. I know you were all jealous of me and I also understand why everyone was against Bahk staying with us. He'd risk making more like me."

Rhaya stood with conviction. "Dragon born Khavi are the future of our specie," she said. "I will find a cure and I will prove my worth to everyone so that others like me will not be cast away."

Shaella scoffed.

"What?" Rhaya shouted, glaring.

Nothing, mistress, Shaella said. Your situation is typical and the only reason you may achieve greatness and prove your worth is because I'm here to do your biddings, but go ahead, linger on that idea of you saving all of them because you're a Dragon born Khavi if it makes you feel better.

The girl snarled.

I need gold, Rhaya said. There is a powerful wizard somewhere near here, not in the city, but I don't know where he lives exactly. He can probably help, but he will require payment. What's the fastest way to get gold? Tons of real gold, not that fake one you mentioned.

Depending on the amount you need, Shaella said, stealing from a few nobles would be the fastest and easiest, but breaking into a king's vault would result in a much bigger amount, but a lot more problems to deal with afterwards.

Let's fly around, Rhaya said. I was told he lives in a fortress of some sort. If we can find him first, we can ask how much he needs. If we find a noble during our sweep, we'll rid them of all their wealth.

As you wish, mistress.

Shaella barely made it to the clouds when she spotted a convoy of fancy chariots. The idea of dilapidating those nobles to benefit her mistress was music to her mind. She couldn't miss the opportunity.

I see a convoy down there, Shaella said.

She'd have pointed her finger, but Rhaya had her change into a flying horse again.

Without causing me to fall, I want you to change into your true form and grow as tall as you can, Rhaya said. Follow my lead...