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The baths at Calin are something else, indeed. The cool tiles soothe Kret's soles, and the warmth of the steam makes her shudder. Attendant girls stand on either side of the door, and others keep their distance as they prepare the water with oils and salts from exotic shores, causing the steam to waft up with a sublime scent.

One of the servants approaches Kret and bows, giving the kobold a closer look at their attire. Their smooth skin is wrapped in cloth around their chests, adorned with golden trim. While their stomachs are uncovered, a cloth wraps around their hips and drapes not even down to their knees. They are tied by a knot by their thigh and easily removed if requested by their mistress.

The servant speaks up, not lifting her head, and asks, "Is there anything we can do for you, miss? Vi- our previous employer hired us to provide anything he needs, and we can do the same for you."

"Once Vijaya is cleaned up and has his wits about him, you send him to me. Until then, you can leave me alone." As she says this, she slips into the water, sighing as the warm liquid caresses her.

Now alone, she realizes that this is perhaps the first real bath she has had in complete privacy, with no one rushing her. In her harlotry days, she'd be allowed a cold bucket on most occasions and a communal pool when special guests were to be tended to. The best bath she ever had was when she got consumed by that cube of gelatin and acid in that dungeon. Nothing beats an acid bath, but this is the next best thing.

"Finally," she hisses. "Time to relax..." She says as she lowers her face into the water, blowing bubbles without care.

"You can't be serious," Kret says, shaking her head. She runs her hands along her frills, petting herself. "Relax? You have so much work to do."

Groaning, she turns away, setting off to scrub some of the caked stomach juices from the lamia off of her. The warm waters had loosened them, but stubborn flecks of crust and lining clung beneath her scales. "No, this is great. This is good. I need a break."

"Are you really great, Kret?" Kret asks, her growl tickling her ear with doubts.

She shudders, cupping her head reflexively, but she blinks and looks to see no one. She takes a deep breath and dares to continue. "What else is there to do, then?"

"The bard still lives. He still goes unpunished. He was right in your grasp, and you let him get away. The very reason you started this fool's quest for petty revenge is getting further and further away from you. Heading towards a being, you can't possibly overcome, and that is out of your grasp forever. Then you'll have to admit all the abuse getting here was for nothing but a pathetic dream that you were a thing deserving respect. Can you really be so stupid as to think you need to celebrate this temporary victory? Or should? Or can?" Kret hisses these last words.

"I'm not stupid," she says, squeezing her eyes shut. I just want to be left alone. I can relax. No one will mess with me now that I'm in power." Kret opens her eyes and takes another calming breath. But it comes out shaky and does little to alleviate her nerves. "Not even some Dark Queen."

"Oh, yes, just like how no one messed with Vijaya? Just like how one overzealous slave didn't crumble his whole empire by speaking out of turn to one individual?"

"He was already planning to go against her! He was already bringing her down on himself." Kret argues. "I would work with her, certainly! Tell her it was Vijaya's plan and that I took care of him." She slides some into the pool, down to her mouth.

"That's right," Kret says, "You'd roll onto your back and show your stomach like the proper little toy you are." Kret lifts herself up from the water. "Maybe whoever takes over for you will put you back on your knees as a pleasure slave again, just where you want to be." The contempt drips from her lips into the pool.

Kret throws herself forward, fists clenched. "I never asked to be in charge to begin with!" she shouts, her voice echoing throughout the bathing chambers. Kret blinks, glancing around. Her fists unclench. Despite being by herself, she doesn't feel very much alone.

She rises out of the pool, letting the water drip off her scales and onto the tile. The stains and flecks of grime are still on her, but she no longer feels like cleaning them off.

"And where do you think you're going?" she asks. "Running away from your problems again?"

"No!" she shouts, placing a hand on her chest. "Of course not! I could get used to being here, but I just want to"

"With that attitude, you won't keep this place for a week or catch that bastard bard. But fine, if you want to just step back from everything and relax, let's relax," she says, her hand moving down her body, scratching the underbelly.

Kret shudders, looking down as her hand trails down along her form. "I really shouldn't..." she says, though a smile runs up her mouth. After all, I am pretty tired, but..." she tickles down at the bottom of her torso. I guess I could take some time to relax more actively with myself," she whispers.

"Why not?" she asks. "You deserve to treat yourself like a queen. After all, you are a powerful sorceress, not some street whore." her words fill with a sudden harshness as she says these last few. She pauses to breathe, to calm. "Take your time, relax with yourself." a bit of the harshness of 'street whore' creep back into her mouth. "Use your body, just like everyone else has used you."

Kret lets out an aggravated sigh and leans up against the wall, letting her body slide down along the polished surface. "Just shut up already. You're ruining everything."

"Am I? When was the last time you enjoyed yourself?"

She scratches her knees. She wants to say something flippant, but no defiant wind fills her sails. She turns away, and her teeth clench as she hisses, "I don't... remember..."

"You've had a hard time, what with all those people using your body. You've only ever known what it's like to hate yourself. I should know. That's why you hear your own voice telling you to sit down and be nothing more than a good little slut. It's the only way you know to relax." Her hands go to her shoulders, giving her a slight massage.

Kret hisses in slight relief, feeling the fingers work over her shoulders and neck. As she does so, she taps her knees to silent music, sighing and feeling the hot breath roll along the back of her neck.

That's when she blinks and opens her eyes, only to see both her hands on her knees and resting on her shoulders.

Kret leans in, whispering into Kret's ear. "Don't worry about this. We don't need a heart attack. Just relax," she says, nuzzling against her cheek. "You never have to be in charge. You can finally relax and enjoy yourself like you want but never could. Let me take control, just like you always do when things get rough..."

"W... what?" Kret asks, her eyes fluttering as she feels Kret's scales press up against her back, arms draping over her shoulders and scratching over her. Her toes widen at that, and she sighs, leaning back into Kret's touch.

"Oh, did you not think about it?" Kret asks. "This body of yours is always just someone's rag. They find you, they stick something in, they dump their lusts into you, and then they throw you away." Kret moves around herself to look Kret in the eyes. With her talons on kret's face, she slowly runs them down, pressing firmly. "Then, I come around to clean up the messes you so desperately love to wallow in. If not for me, you'd still be in that gutter, turning tricks for pocket change. You wanted more from life, so I signed you up for that adventuring party. The bard seduced you and robbed you, leaving you a scared little mess, violated, betrayed."

Kret gasps as the talons are pressed hard into her shoulder, as much from pain as pleasure.

"I sucked it up and chased after him. The Mistress of the Mistress wanted to envelop you in a murky pit of sentient slime and shove your body against the glass for a bunch of sick perverts to toggle you like a piece of meat. I brandished your magical power and kicked that bitch into her own trap. Khusk kidnapped you. She made you a slave and shoved that fake cock of hers up into your body, telling you it was to learn some lesson. You rolled over and took it; I listened to her words." She grips Kret's wrists, talons digging in, pulling herself close. "I grew stronger through the pain.

"And my care for you continued when we entered this damned city. When Vijaya made you a pet, I seized the opportunity to escape. Do you really think you could have shouted at that scary beast of an ambassador? Do you think you would have been able to survive the attacks of that lamia? Could you crawl your way out of a creature's stomach covered in bile and the poor sods who were there before us and then do what had to be done?" She jerked Kret's arms to the side and leaned in close, nipping at Kret's neck. Kret gasped as the teeth raked her scales. "I save and feed you, and you don't care. You just want to roll back over and relax. I earned my place here in this palace, and you want to take that away from me?

"They walk all over you, and you let them. It's become quite clear that you can't take being on top. You need someone telling you what to do, like some whimpering chick. If that person has to be yourself, then so be it. You can just delude yourself into thinking that you're still letting someone else be in control, even though the thing you're taking orders from is just a voice inside your head!" She bit into Kret's neck and held it. Kret could feel the teeth digging in, tugging and twisting lightly, just on the edge of drawing blood.

"That's-no, that can't be right? Can it?" She tugged at Kret's grip on her wrists but was held firm.

"Mmm, are you having doubts?" she asks, releasing kret's neck. "This was your idea, you know. You wanted to just step back and relax. This way, we both get what we want. Let me have control. Let me give you the orders. Let me be the powerful sorceress in charge of a criminal empire. Let me be everything we're not," she says, releasing a wrist to grip Kret by a horn, pulling her down to the floor. "You'll just have to sit back, curled up in the corner of your mind, no longer a bother to anyone, especially yourself." She releases the other wrist and straddles kret as she sits against the wall, tail tucked under her rear. "Who knows? Maybe I'll let you out sometimes and order a big, strong man with rippling muscles and rugged good looks to have his way with you. Have them pretend they like you or even love you. That is if I'm feeling generous."

Kret breathes heavily as green-taloned hands rake across Kret as she moans and writhes beneath them, pulling her in close to keep her nice and tucked away in her subconscious. "Yes, that's it. I think I understand..."

"You just want to be left alone."

"Yes."

"You want nothing more than a normal life. Unbothered, unmolested, and just enjoying the things you enjoy."

"Yes."

"You just want someone else to give you the things you want," she says as she hooks Kret's shoulder with a talon. "You don't want to do any hard work yourself."

"Yees...?"

"You don't want any control; you want to give it all up, " she says, pulling Kret tight inside with her hooked claws.

Kret grabs her wrist, her eyes fluttering open as if still in a daze.

The other Kret growls, trying to pull away, but she cannot. "W... what the hells?"

"No..." Kret whispers, quieter than a wisp. To Kret, the words are deafening, reverberating off every wall.

The other Kret's eyes jolt open wide as she sees the dreamy gaze focus upon her. "What did you just say?"

The deafening whisper continues to echo. Kret takes it in herself again and amplifies it. "I said... NO!" She pushes the other Kret away, throwing her across the decadent tiled floors of the bathhouse.

"Oh, so now you grow a spine. How cute."

Kret stands. "Are you disappointed in me? I thought you wanted me to be a better person."

The other Kret huffs with contempt. "There's a lot of things we want that we're never going to get." She gets to her feet. "Why now? You lay down for everyone but yourself? How pathetic and broken are you that the only one you ever try to stop is yourself? You know I'm right, and you hate it. You care so little for yourself that the thought of making something of your life is unbearable."

"No-"

"Stop saying that!"

"No!" Kret presses on as she advanced. "You're right, I did leave it to you to say it all those times, but I'm saying it now." Kret stands before the other Kret, eye to eye. "No!"

"Why?" she hisses through her teeth, clenched so tight that they threaten to shatter under the pressure.

"Once I stepped back, what would you have done? What is it you want with a criminal empire?"

"'I'd have power. I'd be strong. I'd catch that bard and see where things go from there. I may enjoy keeping him around for a while. Cut out his silver tongue and put him on a leash. Get creative. Or be quick about it, with no more ceremony than a butcher with swine. We could have that if you would just fuck off!"

Kret frowns. "And then what? More of the same?" the other Kret nods. "I didn't give enough of a shit about myself before, but I'm not going to become that. I- I'm taking a stand now. I have been fucked, abused, beaten, betrayed, and suffered in so many big ways and in an unimaginable number of small ways. B-but that was wrong. All those people were wrong! And If I became just like them, then everything they did to me was deserved. I would just be another shit stain in this shit world." Kret jabs her chest with a talon. "But I deserve better! I deserve better than them or to be them."

"You deserve nothing!" the other Kret grips Kret by the face, talons pressed just beside her eyes. Kret pulls back in shock. "Deserve? Where did you get the idea that you deserve anything! They used you because they were strong, and you were gutter trash. But I will make us be anything else. I took our pain! I pulled us through! I became strong! Now I can do what I want. 'Deserving' has nothing to do with it. If it did, you'd best hope the Dark Queen is kind to her pets."

Kret struggles in the other kret's renewed grip. "Strong? You didn't get stronger; you just got callous and cold. You're just cutting loose everything of worth, everything that is us!"

"There is nothing about us that is of any worth. We are deadweight and are stronger for being anything, everything; that is not us. Strong, decisive, in control, feared. Now we are the ones who can make others suffer."

"You are not strong. Anyone can hurt others. You can hurt someone without meaning to. You can hurt them when all you mean to do is help. But can you make someone happy? Can you make yourself happy?" the other Kret is silent, seething.

Kret's expression softens some. She wraps an arm around the other Kret. "Maybe I can." Kret slips a talon into her mouth. She waits a moment before pulling out an acid-dulled talon, bleached white, smooth, and rounded off.

"W- what are you doing."

"What you interrupted. I'm enjoying myself." Kret reaches down and presses the dull talon against the other Kret's slit. "I don't hate myself. But maybe I've been too afraid to love myself, to care about something when it seems like it will just keep suffering. So much easier to hate it than to keep suffering along with it. Isn't that right?" Other Kret's glare falters. "That's why you hate us. That's why you can't stand being us." the dull talon slides into the other kret, gliding smoothly. Kret wiggles it gently. The other Kret sharply breathes in, holding back any further signs of pleasure. "It breaks our heart to see ourselves get abused time after time. So you say I don't deserve to be treated well. You build up this hate for yourself but can't even enjoy it. You are me, and you're too disgusted by that to even enjoy the suffering of what you hate."

"Shut up!"

"No! You enjoy NOTHING! You'd be the queen bitch, using your power only to maintain your power. I just want to relax and enjoy what I enjoy." Kret presses deeper into herself, pushing against her sensitive interior walls. "And I want to enjoy myself." They moan together.

"A-and leave me to clean up your messes?" the other Kret snarls and rakes her talons down Kret's back. Kret screams, arching her back into the intense feeling. She reflexively twitches her finger inside the other Kret. "I'm the survivor, not you. You lay down, and you die for everyone. That's what you do. That's all. You. Do. I make you live, and I hate it. I hate what it is I make live, but I do it you ungrateful bitch!"

Kret says nothing. She closes her eyes and focuses on pleasuring the other Kret. She seeks out all those rarely touched places, the overlooked spots that a callous lover only scrapes out of luck. The other Kret's sharp grip loosens as she holds back moans and gasps. Kret leans in, smelling the stale gunk of the last few days mixed with the exotic oils of the bath. "I have neglected myself for too long. I should make up for that. I hope this is a start." Kret says.

The other Kret speaks between hard swallows and poorly suppressed moans. "You'll just lead us into more misery. We need to be strong, or calloused, or whatever the fuck you call it. We need to be that, or we'll just be the suffering gutter trash we are."

"You find that the world is cruel, and all you can think to do is to be like it. To go along with what we hate? That is what's pathetic."

"Pathetic? Pathetic!" the other Kret tackles Kret to the ground with a screech. Talons slash at Kret's chest. Kret gasps, feeling a warmness flow down her body. It burns with exotic oils and grime. Kret throws the other Kret off her, talons scrabbling across the tile. The other Kret picks herself up and looks at Kret, tears rolling down her face. "You would be nothing without me. A corpse. A cum rag. A writhing mass in a vat. Take your pick. Without me, that's all you'd be!"

Kret looks from the crimson trickles running down her chest to the other Kret. She looks different. She is the same kobold, but the kobold beside her is covered in tattered rags, dirt, and detritus from every event that led her here, and the scars of those many encounters marring her scales. Kret's breathing normalizes as she looks at her, shaking her head as she says. "W- what is this?"

"This is us," Kret says, propped up on her shaking arms, her eyes narrowing. "The pathetic little mess the two of us have made of ourselves. Quite the difference a few weeks can make, don't you think?" She lets herself drop back to the floor.

Kret tries to feel disgusted, but she can't. She tries to feel revolted, ashamed, angry, afraid, frustrated, anything. She tries to deny the kobold is her. She cannot. Both kobolds shed tears. Silence takes hold in the bathhouse.

The other Kret speaks first, looking away from Kret and up to the ceiling. "Maybe that's why you hate me. Without me, you would be dead in one form or another. Then you could relax like you wanted." Thick black lines trace from her eyes down, where tears collect and concentrate all the dirt and grime in their path.

"No. I don't want that. And I don't hate you. You hate me. You hate that I go through this. That I let it happen. But you're wrong; I don't just let it happen to me."

The other Kret scoffs.

Kret continues. "Because I have you."

The other Kret looks back at Kret. "What?"

"I need you. You're right. But you need me too."

The other Kret tries to scoff again but falls short and falls into listening.

"You know when we last worked together? It was the bard." Kret laughs. "Back to that damn bard."

"Together? You got seduced and robbed. I got you off your ass to follow him."

Kret shakes her head. "You said I deserve nothing. Why would you get me off my ass to follow some bard if all there was to get was a slim chance at some meager coin and petty revenge? Who was the revenge for? A pathetic kobold who didn't deserve to be treated well anyway?" Kret slams her fist on the floor with a dull thud. "No! I said I deserved to be respected, to be treated well. That I should be a person of value. I said that. I decided that." Kret props herself up on her elbows. "And then you got me off my ass to pursue that dream. You don't just want to survive. You want to make something worth surviving. You need me for that, or else you might as well die and be rid of me like you said you want.

The other Kret had nothing to say

Kret continued. "You don't want that any more than me." The other kret weakly nodded. "But I know what we both want." Kret crawls over to the ragged, worn-out kobold. She closes her eyes and focuses on a new use for her magic, one of kindness and care. Acid seeped from her tongue as a thick gel as she lowered herself down, starting with the neck. Kret licks away the grime, with acids scouring every speck of detritus away. She leaves bright green scales behind, shining in the bathhouse lights.

"W... what are you doing!?" the other Kret gasps, closing her eyes. She weakly tries to push Kret away, but there is no true desire in her shove. The ware of so much suffering is scoured away with care.

Kret looks up from her cleaning."You're lying to yourself if you don't think you like this feeling. You want to be loved. You want someone to take care of you. You want to be seen as a beautiful woman in the eyes of the men you love. Because we both do. And I want to survive and be more than I am. I want to have the power to not be afraid. Because you do. We both do. And we'll only get what we want together. You want to be a victor. I want that to mean something. You want to be in control. I want to be of value to someone. So, value me." Kret resumes cleaning the grubby kobold. Rags break apart at the touch of acid.

The other Kret closes her eyes and lets herself enjoy the tingling of the acid bath. She feels her tears run anew as Kret's tongue leaves her feeling brand new. But she cries as she knows the acid will not remove it all. "Be beautiful? Loved? Look at us. Look at all these scars. We're too broken for that."

Kret looks back up from her care and shakes her head. She wraps her arms around the other Kret's head, hands petting over her horns as she whispers. "We both have these scars, Kret, But these scars don't make us broken, not when we can fix ourselves. These scars come from what makes us us. We are beautiful for surviving. Don't let them hold us back. They are what we've overcome, not what we are. We are Kret."

The other Kret nods. "I think I could love you." Kret smiles and resumes cleaning the other Kret. The other Kret's face and chest shine, free of all the buildup. "Maybe you are worth keeping alive and free."

Kret runs her tongue along the other Kret's slit. "And I would not be here without you."

The other kret writhes as the acids tingle at her most sensitive areas. The tongue begins to delve deeper, cleansing her. "S- so where do we go from here?"

Kret withdraws, just long enough to speak. "Let's find out." The kobold, who so rarely got to choose who she pleasured, dives her acid-slicked tongue back into the kobold who so seldom was treated with care. They take in each other's joy and, together, find joy in themself. They knew this moment would not be fleeting, for there was so much for them both to discuss...

Kret's tongue explores her dirtied scales, scouring away the mess her previous actions have accumulated. Her body and soul face this cleansing as she learns to appreciate every inch of her body. It has become clear to her that her decisions, life, and troubles are all part of her.

She's off in her little world, her tongue taking on her most recessed areas. She works her flexibility, finding herself finally curled up into a ball. Her tongue presses up to her slit.

The sound of voices from beyond the door breaks her out of her trance, and she actually gasps as she realizes the position she has herself in. But, despite the warning of newcomers to the room, she keeps her actions up. The door opens up, and stepping into the room with the click of claws on tile are the two newest servants to be added to her latest collection. Vijaya slouches forward, the yellow kobold's head hanging low in the shame of his newly enslaved position. He lost his title and his ostentatious garments. All he has to his name now is a collar hooked to a leash, and the former guard, Chance, is holding that leash. The cat boy is dressed like the serving girls. He has a short skirt and a top wrapping around his chest. He nervously fumbles with Vijaya's leash as he looks at Kret.

One of Kret's eyes opens to see them, her tongue sticking out, her scales bubbling with her acid bath.

"Uh... I... you said you wanted us to come in right away, earlier, so..."

Kret scrambles, grabbing a towel from among the many amenities in the room, covering herself up as she glances from one of the boys to the other. She shudders at the sight but then stands tall, collected. "So... you really did prepare yourselves for seeing me again, didn't you?"

Chance gulps. Vijaya just falls to his knees. "There's no g-greater power than you, my mistress..." the defeated kobold says.

Kret looks at him, her stomach gurgling with a sickness. She turns away from the kobold to look at the feline. "And you? Are you enjoying your new station?"

"I... well," Chance says, looking down at Vijaya. "I mean, it was kinda fun and all, you know, fucking my former boss, but... now It just kinda feels weeeiiirrd?" His voice trails off a little bit as he adds, "Plus, I kinda tortured the guy with my spiked cock and stuff...."

Kret closes her eyes, wrapping the towel so that she only has to hold it with one hand. She runs her fingers through her frills and sighs. "I... got a little power hungry. I'm not really in the feisty mood right now."

"B... but you were just licking you-"

Kret holds up her hand. "Let's... Let's just put that aside for now, shall we?" She walks up to the two of them and frowns as she gets closer to Vijaya. "You... you really came in here because you're ready to be a good servant?" she asks him, keeping her stony gaze.

He nods, the corners of his lips twitching.

"Tell me the truth," Kret says, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Look at me when you say it."

Vijaya winces but reluctantly turns his gaze up to the powerful sorceress before him. "M... my empire was destroyed the moment you revealed my conspiracy. My life ended when you... when Aelis..."

She pulls her hand away and nods. "Right," she whispers, clenching and unclenching her fist. "That was, well, a moment of extreme passion. She ate me, I ate her. These things, uh, happen, I guess." She coughs, walking past them. "I need to figure out what to do next. Vijaya?"

The kobold whimpers, looking up at her. "Y-yes, mistress?"

"This 'Dark Queen' you worked for... where does she live?"

Chance shakes his head. "Oh, n-no, miss, we-we can't see the Dark Queen! She lives on the other side of the W-wild lands. It'll be a danger just to get there!"

"But if we don't," Kret says, holding her hands behind her back in a very leader-like posture, "then she's just going to do what everyone else tries to do, destroy what I've struggled so hard to have."

"Ah, right," the cat says. "So, uh, Bo- Vijaya? Do you know how to get there? You've visited before."

Vijaya growls. "I've been there. It would be suicide to go. She will kill me, or worse."

"Would she kill the slave of a slave?"A... slave?"

"I don't want to run this place, but I don't want someone worse than you in charge. So, I'll go to her and offer my willing servitude. I will be beneath someone but would not be without power." She smiles a sad sort of smile, her magic crackling between her fingers. "It's just the world that fate has given me. I don't care about being on the top of the food chain. I just want to be happy where I am, and...I think I'm happy enough knowing I can be right here if I wanted to be." She looks over towards the two of them and smiles." But you know what? I'd be happiest if I had some people to share in my travels. So, what do you two say?"

The two males glance at each other and then back to her. "You... you want to be... friends?" Chance says.

She shrugs. "I suppose I could still take from the coffers if you want to be paid. As for you," she looks to Vijaya. "I'd like to start off on the right foot this time. The two of us are not so different, I'd bet. You now know my pain. I know because I gave it to you. And for that, I'm sorry. I know we can't have Aelis back, but I can't let you get destroyed by this Dark Queen. So, you'll have to come with me.

"To the Dark Queen's Lair."

"Better with me than alone, right?"

Vijaya's predator claws click nervously upon the tile floor, his lips peeling back over his teeth in a grimace.

Kret places her hands on his shoulders and smiles just a little bit. "I made you suffer. You made me suffer. Perhaps I went overboard. Perhaps you had too much fun in your torture. But, I'm done with retribution with you. I've decided you, both of you, have had enough."

"T... then, what will you do with us?" Chance asks, his ears flickering downward.

Kret sighs and lowers her towel, showing herself off to the two males. "I suppose I should give you two something in return since we are going on a trip together.

Chance gulps. "Well, that's nice and all, boss, but."

"Don't act like you don't like it," Kret asks, rubbing her thumb over Vijaya's horn.

Chance's tail flicks back and forth as he looks down to the dejected kobold. "W... what do you have in mind?"

Kret moves her fingers downward, wrapping her fingers around Vijaya's exposed length.

Vijaya gasps, breaking his silence. His eyes widen as he stares into Kret's eyes. "W... why are you...?"

"I've been reflecting," Kret says. "And, I can't help but wonder if I'm not still looking into a mirror...

Vijaya looks away, a growl rising up from his throat.

"Am I wrong?"

He pushes her away, and Kret stumbles back a few steps into Chance. The cat tries to support her, but she slaps him away.

"Excuse me for trying to connect with you!" Kret spits

"You might have had the opportunity if you didn't bring the wrath of Estrasa upon us. My entire enterprise provides so many opportunities. Do you know how many people died for me to sit on that throne and give so much to the people of Calin?

"Consider the lives you ruined so that you could ruin more? Is that what you want me to do? You got what you deserved for ruining their lives, don't you think?"

"I don't care about them! I'm talking about those who died doing nothing but trying to help me by trying to make sure I was more than some street lizard scrambling for change."

Kret takes her turn to be silent as Vijaya stands up tall, his shoulders back, taking a deep breath as he closes his eyes. "I started off as a slave to society. I fought and killed to become the top of this organization. I may not have been a slave back then, but there were those above me who saw me as little more than the pet I was. I made sure to make them believe I was worth the respect I fought for, but now, here I am, your pleasure slave, and you try to make yourself seem so high and mighty over me. Surely, I would have given you a life you would have enjoyed!"

"Don't you think I don't know that!?" Kret snaps back at him. "I literally just had an identity crisis over my decision. Maybe I would have been more compliant if you didn't treat me like dirt."

Vijaya's snarl grows, finally standing up to her, face-to-face with his new mistress, his forehead pressed to hers. "Maybe if you kept your damn mouth shut, I wouldn't have thrown you to Aelis."

"Maybe if you hadn't run things like a monster, I wouldn't have had to act like one just to get this far! If you and yours had just tried for more than yourselves." She looks away from him and the mirror behind him with disgust.

"Maybe If there was more in this world than slaves and masters, I could have afforded such weakness, to let down my guard! But we see how relaxing turned out for me, right?" He yanks on his leash.

"Maybe if I didn't have Chance tear your ass apart, I wouldn't feel so bad!"

"Maybe if I just told her I loved her, I could have been a better friend!"

Again, the bathhouse is drenched in an eerie quiet, leaving Chance to awkwardly clear his throat to break up the regret-fueled staring between them. "I think we have a lot to unpack here between you. Perhaps it's best if we just...

"Quiet, Chance!" Kret snaps.

The feline stands tall but then tilts his head. "W... wait? 'Chance?' not 'Fuck-"

"You heard me!" Kret barks, snapping her fingers. "Take the leash off him."

"You want me to what?"

She glares at him. "And I thought you were the obedient employee."

Chance yelps and squats down, undoing the leash and wrapping it around his arm. Vijaya grumbles, running his finger over the collar that remains. Chance is left standing there, gulping as he fondles the length of leather and watching the two kobolds look at each other.

"You think I unjustly punished you for what you did to me?" Kret says, taking a deep breath. "Very well, then give me what you think is appropriate compensation."

Vijaya snarls, pouncing on her and immediately wrapping his arms around her throat. She falls back, her head splashing into the water. The male roars incoherently as his fingers press against her scales.

Chance yelps and takes a few steps forward, only for a puddle of acid to appear at his feet. He yelps as he steps into it and backs off, blowing on his hurting feet. Whimpering, he can only watch as Vijaya strangles the life out of his fellow slave. "She was my dearest friend! Nothing can bring her back, nothing! Do you understand? Through all that hardship, she was someone I could rely on to trust, and now, she's gone!"

Kret wraps her legs around him, pulling him in close. His length stiffens as he rubs up against a kobold's body. The surprise makes him let go of her. Why would he find any pleasure with this witch? For a moment, Vijaya sees both their faces reflected in the waters of the pool almost as one, and he stares, mouth agape, and finally sees what she saw.

Kret pushes herself up and rolls him over onto his back. Vijaya hisses the pain from being pounded by Chance earlier shooting up his body.

Kret straddles the former boss and looks him dead in the face, water dripping off her snout, which sprinkles onto his own. "If she was really your friend, you wouldn't have treated her like a tool." with that, she slides off of him, letting her body linger over his length as she pulls herself away. It leaves him confused as she stands up, shaking the water from her ears. "Now, if you're ready to accept we both made mistakes, we must clean up this mess for which both of us are responsible."

Kret faces away from the disgraced former boss, only to stop when she feels something, the sensation of scale brushing against scale. She curls her tail up to touch the appendage grasping her, only to pause when she realizes it is Vijaya's tail. She looks into the kobold's eyes, seeing in them a spark of his old self and feeling, for a moment, a strange pang in her heart.

She tugs at the tail, but it does not let go. She scrambles back to him with a snort, climbing onto his body and holding him down by the shoulders.

"Nothing I can do," Vijaya says, his whisper harsh, yet not with malice, "will bring her back. But you... you are a great warrior, and I will forever appreciate your support."

"If anything," she says, sitting up tall on him, backing up, feeling the erection between his legs. "It's you supporting me. What is this? Do you love me now that I control you? Do you admire a strong woman?"

"No..." he growls, his hands moving up, claws scratching down along her scales. Her eyelids quiver a moment from that before she grabs him by the wrist. "

She rolls her shoulders, lifting herself up a bit. "Well, I suppose we can both do to blow off some steam, can't we?"

With that, she slides herself down, her slit taking in his length. Vijaya's eyes flutter back as he feels her surround him.

She now slides her hands away from his wrists, lacing her fingers along his own.

The male kobold breathes pleased breaths through his teeth and shakes his head."

She rolls her hips over him, closing her eyes, letting the feeling of fulfillment wash over her form, her hands holding onto his as the two consummate some unspoken contract between mistress and servant.

Meanwhile, Chance stands behind them, still dressed in the servant girl's outfit. He sheepishly rubs his arms at the sight of the two so entangled with their combined lusts. He closes his eyes and leans back against the wall, just shaking his head. "I just hope I don't have as many issues as they do..."

"I heard that," Kret snaps. She snickers and turns her attention back to Vijaya. Both Kobolds look each other in the eye. With her lying atop him and eyes fluttering half-closed, she groans, her walls contracting around him.

He lets out his own cry of pleasure as he pushes up, filling her. Soon, she sighs and rolls off of him, lying down and staring at the ceiling. "If only..." she pants... "every problem could be solved with a good fuck."

"Thi... this isn't over," Vijaya says. "But, a good lay is a good start.

"Chance..." Kret says, her voice is breathy and tired. "G... get the servants to prepare us for travel."

Kret left behind Calin with all of its glamour and pampering. So many people there are now living in the shadow of some mysterious Dark Queen the kobold had never met, and all of that is thanks to the rash decision she made to attempt to free herself from her former boss, now her manservant and companion.

Now, it is just them and one of the many guards who worked there, traveling through the woods of the Wildlands, braving beasts and fey and all manner of other creatures, just to make sure that no one else has to suffer.

The first few days had been quiet—an eerie calm permeating the entire scene, as if even the insects had frozen with primordial terror. This quiet drives her to open her mouth, say anything, to end it all.

But before she can find words, the feline guard, Chance, perks his ears up. His tail stands tall, and he hisses as he stands his ground between his boss and the shrubbery nearby.

"What is it?" Kret whispers, but soon, she, too, hears the frantic screaming and the pounding rush through the brush

The panicked adventurer bursts out from the deep foliage of the dark and dangerous forest. Chance drops his halberd and grabs the man by his shoulders, digging fingers into his disheveled leather armor.

"Hold, man!" the feline says, moving his paws up from the man's shoulders and cheeks. "What troubles you?"

Kret stands there, ready to cast a nasty spell. Her fingers tingle with arcane energy as she stares at the situation. She glances at Chance and admires the normally timid feline and this new swell of courage. It's quite different than the scared boy she had teased when they first met.

Vijaya shakes as he cowers behind her. The initial shock of this total stranger jumping at them sent him toward the surest course of survival. Yet now, he can't help but mutter a curse to himself before shuffling closer, but not too close, to the situation.

The man pants, his eyes wildly searching Chance's before he finally speaks up. "The... the Dark Queen... she... she attacked my party."

"What?" Chance gasps

Kret glances off towards the brush. Vijaya finds himself retreating once more.

The man continues. "M-my companions, my companions, and I attempted to seek her out to destroy her and bring peace to the land, but she found us first. Her power is terrible... she killed some of my companions and turned others into monsters. It was... it was just four of us left when all was said and done. And she looked to us, produced a spring of water from the ground, and told us that if we wanted to live... if we wanted to serve her, we had to drink."

"Tell me you didn't," Chance says.

The adventurer closes his eyes, swallowing a large lump down his throat. "I... it turns those who drink it into monsters. Two of our number took the pact and swore allegiance to her. I watched right before my eye as my companion warped and twisted, laughing as his transformation became complete. I couldn't stay there, so I ran and found you."

"If the Dark Queen is there," Vijaya says, "Then we don't have to go all the way to her tower to see her."

"B... but you mustn't go to the spring!" the man says, shaking Chance now. "It'll change you. It'll destroy what you once were."

Chance narrows his eyes now and leans in, his whiskers twitching. "I'm going to ask you again, friend. Did you drink the water yourself?"

"You're not.." The man gulps again. "You're not planning on drinking from the water yourself?"

"Absolutely not!" Kret says. "I just want to parley with her."

"Parley?" The man says, his mouth twisting up in a smile. "You want to parley. But that's... you can't... not without drinking from the spring."

"No way in the inferno will I turn myself into a monster for the Dark Queen."

Just then, the adventurer rears back, letting out an ear-splitting screech as his skin bursts into ribbons of leather. Inside his ribcage, a squirming red worm writhes and pokes out from underneath.

"We need to get out of here!" Vijaya says, grabbing Kret's hand.

Kret burns Vijaya's hand, making the yellow kobold yelp and step back. "I am not running from some pawn when I'm here to seek audience with the queen." She takes a deep breath and throws her arms forward. A glob of acid hits the skeletal being straight in the writing red mass, the worm within squealing as it plops down onto the ground.

It continues to writhe, even as its host collapses into a pile of bones, and the creature clicks a sharp, beak-like appendage, aiming itself right at the sorceress. Just as it lunges for her, the blade of Chance's halberd slams down, separating the worm's head from the rest of its body.

Sick, high screeches accompany the last throes of the monster. Chance pants, looking up to Kret, and Kret nods, heading down the road. Vijaya, meanwhile, stares in disbelief at the creature that had once been a human and runs his fingers over the roughed-up scales on his palm. "Seems like you two don't need me around here, huh...?" But the two are far enough ahead not to hear him. With a lingering look, he eventually steps out of the way and follows his fellow companions.

They march until the sun hangs high, and the air becomes warm and thick. They stop and make camp, planning to continue once the protective pall of night has fallen. Kret lays back with a sigh as the strain on her muscles releases. Vijaya lowers himself into the dirt with a grimace. Chance gathers firewood.

Vijaya shifts and tries to find a comfortable position on the ground. He looks to Kret while pulling a stick out from under his rear. "We should be more careful. Estrasa's minions won't always be that easy."

Kret opens a single eye to look at him as she lounges. "Relax. We took care of it easily."

"Yes. You and Chance did." Vijaya replies as he lies down in the cool dirt.

Chance returns with wood. Vijaya volunteers to make the fire. The trio gathers around as flint and steel are struck repeatedly.

"How much of that monster's words do you suppose we can trust?" Chance asks.

"I have no idea," Kret says. "All I know about this queen is that she's evil and likes to use monsters."

"There is some truth in his words," Vijaya says. He slips with the flint and strikes his finger. "Shit!" the flint and steel fall beside the dry wood.

"Here, I got it." Kret flicks a finger at the wood, and it catches fire. "So what do you mean?"

Vijaya looks at the lit fire and stops licking his cut. "Many creatures came to Aelis and me; they looked like horrors, but their minds were sharp. She's a tyrant and a monster and will toy with people however she sees fit. But If she offers people free will in exchange for loyalty, then I must assume that is the truth."

"So, she has enchanted water in this forest that turns people into monsters with incredible powers but are still thinking and feeling?" Chance says, shuddering. "Let's be sure to stick to our canteens for now. I don't want to see what things we'd become."

Vijaya begins cooking food from his pack, frowning at the bland trail food. "Seems odd she'd leave these around where anyone could use them without ever meeting her and swearing allegiance. It's just free power to anyone who wants it."

"Perhaps it only works if you swear allegiance to her, or maybe without allegiance, you lose your mind," Kret muses."

Chance begins cooking as well. He points out to Vijaya that his food has caught fire. "What if she asks you to do it when you meet her? I mean, after all, you're going to beg her to be her servant, aren't you, boss?"

"I just learned to love my form. I'm not going to give it up easily. What if she offers you that power, Chance?"

"I'm not sure. Power would be nice, but I'll follow you and Vijaya," Chance offers Vijaya some of his unburned food. Vijaya mumbles out his gratitude, eyes down. "But I'd rather not follow her. If that's the price to become a monster, or at least to keep your mind as one, I'll pass. I've been the bottom boy in every job and relationship. Tired of it. But it's not worth it. I don't like Estrasa. I like my body. Though I wouldn't mind removing the spines. From... down there. Certainly would make it easier, more pleasant for my partners." He glances at Vijaya and gives an apologetic grin. Vijaya waves him off.

The conversation moves away from Estrasa and her monstrous transformations to Chance and Kret's shared experiences of being on the bottom, leaving Vijaya to himself to think about it. Would he do it if offered? If he could just take it for himself? If he had to? If he wanted to?

The events of the previous day weighed on their minds. The ravings of the madman, his twisted, tearing transformation right before them, the idea of the cursed or blessed springs ahead. The canteens ran dry. Refilling them was an anxious endeavor.

The night is full of sounds in the woods. Shapes shift by in the distance. The kobolds and cats see clearly through the dark with their dark sight, but the thick underbrush obscures everything. They can see just enough to begin to know how the dull-eyed humans feel in the dark that kobolds call home.

Morning comes, with a fine morning mist crawling across the forest floor. The fog remains even as the sun rises increasingly into the late morning.

Kret holds out her hand for the two travelers to stop. In front of them is a small spring of clear water, the canopy parted enough for the sunlight to glisten in on its waters, making it sparkle with a magical glow.

"Do you... do you think that's it?" Chance whispers

"Only one way to find out," Kret responds, "and I'm not too keen on trying it."

Before Chance can respond, a shadow streaks by the three of them, whipping past the feline and grabbing Kret, yanking her up into the trees!

The kobold hisses as the creature holds her up by her horns. Kicking and cursing, Kret tries to escape, but the grip is too firm, and another hand reaches down, grabbing her tail, pulling it up, and keeping her suspended in the air.

"Boss!" Chance shouts, taking a step forward with his halberd in hand. The creature seems to be leading them away from the spring, the way they were going. Vijaya notices this, glancing back at the water, the manic adventurer's story ringing through his thoughts.

Kret twists around for a better view of her captor. The creature is a mass of arms and limbs, ending in vicious digits curling around branches and trunks. In the middle of the mass is a long, canine face, its features so gaunt as almost like a skull draped in tight flesh. It rolls its tongue out, panting as it hunches over, extra hands and claws moving to point nasty nail blades at the kobold's throat. "I am the guardian of this spring. The Dark Mistress only permits those joining her to drink from here. So, I ask you now... do you swear your allegiance to Estrasa... or shall you die by my hand?"

Chance glances over at Kret, seeking any sort of assurance from her. The kobold, however, hangs with the claws to her throat and is even more poised right by her maw. Any wrong move could trigger the creature's ire and lead to a swift, messy death.

"What do you say, little cat?" the monster coos, its fingers scratching against Kret's scales. It is your decision to make, after all. She can't make it for you. Did you ever want more power? Do you wish to become something far greater? Something that will no longer be pushed around?"

Chance's hold on his halberd wavers, his eyes flicking back and forth. His whiskers twitch, and his ears swivel. He's practically frozen, utterly unsure of how to answer it. Should he take the deal? Should he become a monster serving Estrasa and calm this beast down? Kret wants to be a servant of Estrasa, sure., But... is it really what he wants?

"I-" His answer is interrupted when a loud splash breaks the silence of the forest. All three glance back to the spring, only to see Vijaya within it, lapping up the water like a thirsty dog.

"Whaat!?" The monster roars, dropping the kobold. Kret tumbles through the trees, but Chance rushes forward, leaping into the air and wrapping his arms around her. He smacks up against a tree, tumbling down and groaning.

Vijaya gulps down more of the crystal clear water, standing up as the monster lunges forward at him, howling in a horrific mix of steel against stone. The kobold, however, doesn't cower. Instead, he spins around, his tail whipping at the monster. Once it makes contact, its increased size smacks across the monster's face, sending it into another tree.

Kret crawls out from under Chance, only to stare wide-eyed at the sight before her. Vijaya's shoulders rise and fall as he breathes heavy, growling breaths. He stares off toward the creature, only to step closer, his elongated tail splashing into the water. His clawed toes scrape against the ground as if his feet had become too heavy for him. Soon, he falls. His snout stretches and cracks as more sharp teeth fill in. Fabric tears and shreds to reveal his yellow scales underneath, some of them flaking off as fabric falls from his body

Estrasa's monster reaches two arms up and grabs a branch to hang from it. It stares down at Vijaya and cackles. "Oh, so you have joined us? The first few moments are painful, so I forgive you for lashing out."

The kobold roars, the sound of his voice shaking the branches of the trees. Suddenly, his body elongates, his horns become longer and longer, and his tail seems to engulf him, becoming his whole body.

His serpentine form shoots out, wrapping around the many-armed creature. The twisted guardian meets the eyes of its attacker. The shifted feral face staring at it is recognizably Vijaya's, and unbound to any masters or mistresses.

Chance rubs his back and pushes himself up, only to yowl in surprise at the sight. "B... Vijaya. He's... he's become a dragon!"

"A dragon?" Kret says breathily. "A real dragon. Can this water actually turn kobolds into such things? Does the Dark Queen have such power?"

The lindworm wraps its constrictor-like body around the multi-armed beast, its maw right before the monster's face. The guardian shudders and cries, trying to get out, but Vijaya won't let it. "Please, ungh, I was only doing a job. We are on the same side. We both serve Estrasa. We're both her-"

A loud crack silences the creature. Its eyes glaze over in a milky pallor as it slumps over.

"W... wow, Vijaya, you're, like, really powerful now!" Chance says, holding himself up with his halberd. "Way to go. I guess that stuff really does change you, but lets you keep your-"

The dragon opens its mouth wide, engulfing the corpse with its maw. Like a serpent, it slides the monster down into its gullet, the dead thing stretching the inside in a macabre lump that slowly pushes down along its form. Once it swallows the creature whole, the dragon sighs and turns its attention back towards Chance and then towards Kret.

Kret clenches her fists, though her knees shake at the sight of this giant dragon before her, staring her down, licking its snout, and with little or no recognition of its former companion and usurper.

Vijaya lunges forward, but not before Chance can jump in the way, knocking Kret to the side. The feline yowls as sharp teeth dig into his side, his eyes so wide, they seem like they could burst out of his head. Tears roll down his face as he holds his hand out to Kret, his incomprehensible screams made into a babble of pain and suffering.

Kret stares at the pathetic creature, pleading for help in the most delirious of ways. The dragon shakes its neck, feathers forming like a crown over its head and body. The feline's pleas are silenced, and the dragon throws him, causing him to tumble limply like a ragdoll across the forest floor. He doesn't even give him the dignity of eating the feline, letting his body crumple to the ground a mess a few feet from the spring.

Kret is too shocked to even speak as the dragon rises up before her, his mouth opening, jaw dripping with blood and spring-clear saliva. Now before her is a beast with the power equal to what he wielded as the leader of the crime syndicate, perhaps even more.

When he lunges at her, her whole body wraps in flame. Though he chomps at the ground around her, picking her up, he soon howls, flinging her away as the fire burns his tongue.

The sorceress rolls along the underbrush, tiny licks of flame forming where her magic touches. Brambles tears at her traveler's outfit, bruising her body.

Kret pushes herself up, keeping her snarls to herself, but her attention quickly shifts to Chance's limp form, which lies just next to her. The subtle rising and falling of his bloodied side reveals to her the horror that he still lives with those grievous wounds. Slowly, she holds her hand out, the magic pooling up from deep within her. "I'm sorry..." she whispers. "You don't deserve a slow, painful death..."

Kret glances up to see that the dragon has turned its attention elsewhere, thrashing about and destroying trees in its bacchanal of power. She glances at the injured form and disappears, seeing the spring nearby. Focusing her magic, she lifts up the feline's form, slowly, silently, dragging his dripping body towards the spring. "Maybe... maybe you'll be yourself... maybe you won't die because of me... maybe..." She closes her eyes and lets go, the form splashing down into the water of the spring.

The dragon freezes, then turns its head, its jaw curling into a smile as it slowly slithers toward her spot. But as it approaches the water, something far different erupts from the water, reborn into this world as some other kind of horror.

The dragon backs off, circling the newly emerged creature. It is a gelatinous ooze of amber slime shaped like a feline, with the skeletal structure of the upper body surrounding a throbbing pink core. Around its grinning skull is the outline of what could be a calming face, juxtaposed with the grim display beneath This slime lashes around, the goop from its arm slashing towards the dragon and clinging to its feathers. It falls to the ground, thrashing around, roaring in pain as it fights to remove the slime.

"C... Chance?" Kret asks, pushing herself up to her feet. "Are you... still you?"

The slime spins around towards her, its jaws widening as it lets out a distorted, gurgling hiss. It leaps towards her, but she falls back, watching as the bones clatter to the ground in a mess before the slime reconstitutes around them. Kret scrambles back, waving her arm and setting the foliage in front of her ablaze.

The slime rises over the flames, the light reflecting off of its body, but looming ever upwards is the dragon, which wraps its tail around the slime, seeking to crush its bones.

But Chance is too loose and slips through the dragon's grasp, climbing along its feathers and leaping up over its impressive form to land on the other side.

Kret already made a run for it but kept her eye on the back, only to yelp when the dragon barrels through the firewall as if it were nothing. Now, the kobold has two creatures behind her, each of them seemingly mindless, each of them after her.

She rushes through the forest, unsure of which direction to take. Her smaller size makes it easier to avoid some of the pitfalls, but the way the dragon destroys the trees around it ensures that it will eventually get to her, no matter what she does.

The sound of water fills her ears, and she wonders if either of these creatures can swim. There is no time to figure that out as she turns toward the sound. Soon, the roaring river is before her, and she leaps into it. The wild rapids carry her away, and she fights to keep up. Through little glimpses between being underwater, Kret sees the slime stop at the edge, lashing back and forth in indecisiveness. It's forced to turn around and splash into the face of the dragon, which roars and snaps its jaws, fighting off the other monster.

Kret watches the scene, saying nothing as she's left all alone once again, with only the ever-increasing sound of the rushing water to keep her company.

As the two disappear from her view, and the water drags her off towards the center of the river, she grabs onto a piece of driftwood for safety. The water is so loud now. Why is it so noisy? She looks over her shoulder, back behind her, and screams, though her voice is drowned by the roar of the waterfall before her. Soon enough, she falls over the edge, tumbling down the falls and crashing into the churning waters below.

The water beats at her body like a dissatisfied customer getting their money's worth. But soon enough, the water throws her away, just like everything else. It spits her out on a nearby shore, where she coughs, sputtering and clinging to the rocky soil for some sort of foundation.

She's alive. She's not mortally wounded. She may be battered, but on the inside, she is much worse. Maybe she and Chance would have been able to defeat the monster. Maybe the feline wouldn't have turned into some abomination; perhaps she wouldn't be fighting for her life if Vijaya hadn't decided to bathe himself in the transformative waters. The reasons why he made that decision are lost to her, but the sight of the feline in his grasp, begging her for help with maniac babbling, never leaves her. She can't even ask Vijaya why he did what he did. She can't be certain if he tried to help or betrayed her outright. That's the worst part. It's his fault and the fault of that damned queen.

Just as she had finally had companions, they were gone. Estrasa would pay. And so would Vijaya.