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Over the next week, the Drakkaren found himself growing both more-and-less-amused with his current residency: for one thing, he had lost the power to fight back against the Masters and Slavers... and for another, he met all his new Inquisitors.

He had been assigned four different Inquisitors, all with different styles and specialties, who would work with him in the torture chambers of Hell, or sometimes just his own home. One of them â€" a skeletal, creepy, robed demon â€" called himself the Duke of Eternal Night, and Zerrex had made the mistake of asking him dryly if it would be okay just to call him Bones.

The undead drake had not taken kindly to this comment, and Zerrex had ended up in an illusionary world for the next six hours, tempted by every kind of alcohol in the mortal and demonic realm as people around him drank, were cheerful, and generally had a good time. It didn't sound like much, but it got the reptile's mouth watering at the thought of only a sip of whisky, as people shoved booze at him and constantly offered him a drink... but he couldn't shove them away, and they always just laughed, laughed, laughed...

At the end of that first day, he was sulky... but the next day was worse. On the one hand, at least Bones would talk to him a bit and had some good one-liners. The Inquisitor that greeted him on Do, however â€" what Zerrex called his Tuesdays, because they were a meh but not usually too-bad day â€" was completely silent. The Drakkaren didn't even know his name, but decided to call him Godfreed, the last name of a mafia executioner in a documentary he'd seen on criminal organizations.

Godfreed did not speak, was a bit chubby, and was clothed from head-to-toe in black: an executioner's mask through which shone two beady brown eyes, and only a few thick brown hairs sticking up here and there out of his collar and gloves. At first Zerrex had attempted conversation after realizing he wasn't a Slaver, he had continued to stare at Zerrex silently for a few moments... and then when Zerrex had narrowed his eyes and glared back, he'd held out a hand and a chainsaw had appeared in it, and the tortures had begun.

Godfreed was untalented and clumsy, but he certainly got the job done: he seemed to favor mortal power tools and anything that was rusty or blunt, and Zerrex spent most of that day howling in pain as he was dissected, cut apart, and went through several unspeakable procedures that did Gods-knew-what to his body. At the end of it, he was left on the floor in a puddle of his own dried blood, panting hard and snarling... and Godfreed hadn't even bothered to patch him up completely afterwards, leaving a large, gaping wound in his stomach and his clothes torn to ragged pieces and scattered around the room.

Day three was ‘Sir Orphus Landem Dulcard,' a mad bat in a long monk's robe with glowing red and black eyes that swirled like the skies above, who went into a monologue that lasted almost two hours when he first met Zerrex before revealing that he was another illusionist... although whereas Bones had mentioned he specialized in temptation, Orphus specialized in the strange and twisted. Zerrex had ended up drowning inside a massive glass jar of a terrible substance that he spent an hour hoping wasn't what he thought it was until Orphus made it vanish, and then he cheerfully said: "Yes, it was shit."

Zerrex ran outside and spent the next twenty minutes vomiting, and then a few more dry heaving after that when Orphus kicked him over in it before the reptile found himself in another illusion, tied to a massive, ugly penis as it plowed a massive, smelly vagina. The reptile felt ill at the smell of musk and bad sex, but on the other hand he could imagine worse... and Orphus, meanwhile, was still chattering away somewhere outside of the illusion.

By the fourth day, Zerrex was miserable for obvious reasons, and not looking forwards to seeing his last Inquisitor... before a huge, bulky elephant with a double row of tusks and a third eye strolled into the room, gazing at Zerrex imperiously from beneath his golden crown as he adjusted his black body armor, announcing that he was Duke Terronius... and for six hours, the Drakkaren was plagued by his worst fears before the torture finally ended, and the last Inquisitor left him to be comforted by the twins.

The fifth and six days of the week, Zerrex could spend however he wanted, but he was still a prisoner and thus subject to the whims of the Masters, Slavers, and any wandering Inquisitors he might happen across... but the reptile completely refused to move on Kan, instead going into a long meditation after thinking for a while on the four new Inquisitors he had. While Selena humiliated him and cut him to pieces, the others seemed more psychological than anything else... even Godfreed in his own way, despite his use of physical torture. After all... the bastard doesn't talk, doesn't chat, and only lashed out at me when I looked him in the eyes... so we have Temptation, Degradation... no... Temptation, um... well... I can't think of the word for crushing someone's will, but that's what he's doing... Orphus is definitely Degradation... and Fear or Terror.

The reptile decided that if he had to put up with these Inquisitors for the entire duration of his stay in Hell, he was going to damned well fight them as best he could. He meditated on this, on how to let go of his conscious self and reflect or simply allow their different specialties to pass through him... but the moment the day ticked over to Tipet, he went outside with the twins and said he'd like to train.

Both of them were skeptical of whether or not this was a good idea... but he coaxed them into it, and he spent almost ten hours working with them in hand-to-hand, the twins trading off on one-and-one combat with him and then both attacking him at once until Mist fell over, and Shine muttered that she had to rest as well. Zerrex, meanwhile, was panting hard... and he toppled over onto his back, mumbling that it was probably a good idea.

Two hours later, however, he had them teaching him every rune and incantation they knew, which both were far happier to do. Once done with theory, on the other hand, they wanted to watch Zerrex practice... and the lizard sulked his way through a few moderate level spells that they had just taught him, mumbling about how he was fascinated by the ideas, but he hated magic and he could never perform any of properly.

The twins were patient with him, however, aiding him when he messed up and healing whatever minor wounds he caused himself until the Drakkaren flopped over and complained that he was sore... and the twins gladly went about massaging his body over and doing what they could to ‘make him feel better.'

However, as Zerrex was slowly but hungrily kissing Shine, while Mist lapped at his hardening shaft, the door was kicked open... and all three stared with a blush at Selena, who stared back for a moment before snapping: "Zerrex, get your dick back in your pants! And you two, get off him... you're supposed to be guarding him, not sexing him up!"

"Someone's jealous!" Mist said teasingly, then she winked and wiggled Zerrex's penis as the Dius blushed deep red. "You can come and have some if you want... he's more than big enough to go around for all three-"

Selena looked absolutely livid at this idea, however, and immediately ran forwards and kicked Zerrex in the crotch, the reptile letting out a wheeze before she chased Mist and Shine around the reptile as he curled up in the fetal position and clutched at himself, yelling at the twins so quickly in demonic he couldn't even understand it. Finally, she chased them out of the house, then glared at Zerrex before snapping: "Is this why Carmen chose them?"

"What do you think?" Zerrex asked sulkily, tucking himself back in his pants and carefully standing up with a wince, and Selena stared at him for a moment as he leaned forwards, then he glared at her. "What?"

"I uh... I didn't think I kicked you that hard." she said stupidly, rubbing the back of her head before asking in a meeker voice: "Are you uh... leaking at all? I mean... I didn't pop anything, did I?"

"You stay the hell away from my crotch. I'm not even going to make a ‘kiss-it-better' joke because I'm scared you'll bite one off." Zerrex said miserably, and then he grasped himself as he leaned forwards a bit, letting out a long groan. "So is this my torture for today? You're going to just kick me in the balls until I curl up and die?"

Selena sighed, walking over and wrapping a companionable arm around him as the reptile twitched a bit. "Oh, stop being so morbid. Today isn't a torture day, today I'm supposed to train you." She paused, then added in a quieter voice: "We're going to go to a small, private arena, away from the Masters and the Slavers. I don't want another altercation breaking out."

The Drakkaren nodded, straightening and adjusting himself through his pants with a wince before glancing over her mildly and saying: "I just want you to know that I've been practicing magic with them for the most part, and physical sparring yesterday. I really need some more weights, though..."

"I'll see if I can authorize moving some of your stuff here." Selena said absently, as she held up a hand and created a portal before rubbing her other gently along the Drakkaren's back. "Now come on, big guy. We've got a lot to do today."

She stepped through the portal, and Zerrex followed before blinking as he stepped onto sand, gazing back and forth at the empty arena and asking slowly: "So... what exactly are we doing today, anyway?"

Selena rolled her shoulders as she walked a few paces away to pat a large wooden crate firmly, and then she turned around with a slight grin, saying cheerfully: "Target practice, to begin with. I've got a little surprise for you here... but first I want to go over some of the spells we were practicing earlier."

The Drakkaren groaned, then he paused and glanced around the arena, a few silver glints catching his attention in the stands that surrounded the large ring they were in, muttering quietly: "There's Masters here, Selena..."

She frowned and looked around the arena, then shook her head in distaste and said dryly: "Don't worry about it, Zerrex... they won't do anything as long as I'm here. They're probably just here to watch and make fun of you if you screw up, or to judge if the stories about you taking on an entire garrison of Masters and Slavers is true or not. You need to concentrate more on- Zerrex, watch out!"

The lizard blinked and tilted his head, and then a glass bottle shattered against his skull and he made a face, looking irritated as Selena gaped a bit at him. He reached up and rubbed his head slowly, then slowly turned in the direction the bottle had come from to see two Masters standing and laughing together from the nearest row of seats. "Hey. Go away, I'm trying to learn stuff."

"Like what, how to suck your own dick? I thought you already knew how to do that!" one of them shouted, and Zerrex frowned a bit as he rubbed at his head again, brushing away some glass absently. That... made no sense at all. "Hey motherfucker, I'll train you if you want, on how to be a real male and not hide behind bitches your whole stupid life!"

"Ignore them." Selena said dryly, as she created a fireball in her hand and threw it at the pair of Masters, and they immediately ducked for cover before it struck the spot they had been a moment before, cracking a large, marble pillar and knocking a seat out of position. "They're like fucking vultures, I swear. Gods, someone is leaking information about you to Az'Iriel... and I'm not liking where this all is heading."

"Hey fucker! You killed some of my brothers-in-arms, I'm gonna fucking kill you!" shouted another voice furiously, and Zerrex blinked as he looked up at one of the higher viewing balconies, where a goat-demon in an X-shaped bandolier and plain pants was slowly aiming a long, silver arrow, a cruel grin on his face. "Better run, asshole!"

Zerrex's eyes narrowed as several of the other Masters yelled, egging the demon on as Selena snarled and strode forwards... but Zerrex shook his head, holding an arm out to the side and asking in a mutter: "Will I get in trouble if I break something?"

"We'll blame it on them." Selena replied, and then she glanced to the side, another thrown bottle exploding in midair as she snarled a bit. "Make it quick, though, I don't want to be pulling arrows out of you."

Zerrex nodded, then he created a sphere of energy in one hand, focusing more power into it as it became tinged with darkness, waiting as the goat demon snarled before finally releasing the arrow... and Zerrex twisted to the side, drawing his arm back as he moved. The arrow shot just past him, cutting through the scales above his waist... and then the Drakkaren lashed out with the sphere as the goat-demon ducked behind the balcony wall.

The sphere, however, headed instead for the flat bottom of the balcony and struck dead-center, exploding and sending the goat creature hurtling into the air with a scream of surprise, his limbs flailing before he fell through the hole in the floor of the balcony and several large chunks of stone following him down into the stands below. Selena snorted in dark entertainment, then she shouted angrily, as several of the Masters glanced at one-another nervously: "And if any of you other halfwits try and fuck with this training session, I'm going to start breaking dicks and necks!"

That was enough to get most of them to leave with loud grumbles... and then she sighed, looking over at Zerrex mildly and saying irritably: "You're becoming a real magnet for trouble, you asshole. Why can't you just fuck a bunch of chicks and get a harem following you around? The succubi would probably gladly claw the eyes out of the Masters on your behalf."

"That would be cheating." Zerrex responded mildly, then he added in a mutter as he looked down at his hand: "Like the rest of this magic crap. Do I really have to do this and learn all this, Selena?"

"For the hundredth time, yes, you do." she said dryly, looking at him tiredly, and then she shoved him backwards. "Now come on. Let's get to practice."

The rest of the training session went fairly smoothly, at least. There was one other vengeful Master who attempted to spear Zerrex with silver javelins, but a frustrated Selena immediately set him on fire before flying up to the stands and stabbing the rest of the javelins he had brought with him through his body until he looked like a pincushion, and then she'd torn off his penis for good measure and screamed at the other horrified Masters present she'd do the same to any of them as well. While Zerrex appreciated her tact, he thought she might be showing just the slightest amount of being overprotective and possessive.

Other than that minor interruption, though, they were left in relative peace and silence. The only other interruption came when Selena had opened a crate and one of the Masters had exclaimed she was using a kiddy toy to play with a kid, and Selena had whipped the lid at the offending minotaur Master and broken his jaw, which had effectively shut up the others.

The machine she produced was a skeet launcher: Zerrex had used one himself for target practice in the past, but he'd never been much good with it. What Selena wanted to practice with him today, however, was both his accuracy and using the combat spells he'd started to learn, which made Zerrex miserable as he remembered the time they'd first attempted something like this.

The Drakkaren's best elemental affinity was with Earth, and even that was shaky â€" no pun intended. Selena had also been a bit discouraged, when she'd explained that earth-based spells tended to be difficult for even talented mages to use... and Zerrex had been unable to perform any of the techniques they'd tried, but had especially failed on the combat techniques, only managing to hit himself in the crotch with a spike of rock after hours of practice.

He'd also been given a crash course in understand the difference between Light and Darkness as Elements and as Energy: whereas the Light Element was often the power to heal or to create and use light, and the Dark Element was the ability to cause grave injury with only a look or shroud the world in illusions or shadows, as energies they acted very differently. Light Energy was pure energy focused and bound tightly together, and Dark Energy was chaotic, explosive and unpredictable, often tempered with the passions and pain of the creator. To avoid confusing him too much after explaining this, Selena had started referring to Dark and Light Elements as Holy and Unholy, and that had helped Zerrex out a lot.

The reptile still didn't understand why he couldn't just bust out his energy abilities whenever he needed to pound something at a distance, and this had frustrated Selena further... but she had been patient in trying to work with him on his elemental magic, but eventually moved it to a back-burner. He also didn't understand how he was supposed to hit objects in the air with Earth magic that generally didn't go very far from... well... the earth... and then Selena had adjusted the launch mechanism of the skeet shooter and said dryly: "You're going to learn that goddamn earth spike spell. And you're going to learn to hit moving targets. You're going to do this because every time you miss or fail the spell, you're going to get hit by a clay plate."

Before Zerrex could protest, the Dius had turned on the launcher and a clay plate had come flying at him, and the Drakkaren had winced as it bounced off his chest and shattered. For two hours he attempted to cast the spell and intercept the flying plate, until finally he'd managed to not only properly cast the spell, but hit the object hurtling at him, and he'd cackled before another plate had flown over the spike and whacked him in the face, knocking him over onto his back.

Selena had turned it off after that, noting that he had indeed improved, at least, as she glanced around at half-formed spikes of earth and then the few larger, thicker spines of rock and sand, before she said mildly: "Create a shockwave."

Zerrex winced: this spell never, ever turned out well for him or anyone around him, and a crowd of Masters and Slavers had gathered to jeer in the stands and laugh at him... and then he grumbled at the look on her face and rose a foot, biting his tongue a bit before mumbling the incantation and stomping hard down onto the ground.

Giant ripples shot out in all directions through the sand from beneath his feet, the ground shaking violently as several loose parts of the arena collapsed, Masters and Slavers falling all over each other with yells of shock. Another, louder aftershock ripped through the arena a moment later, knocking the skeet machine over and causing Zerrex to wobble on his feet as the balcony he'd blown up earlier collapsed away completely, and then Selena rubbed under her muzzle slowly as she murmured: "That was more of an earthquake than a shockwave, but whatever. Look, you completely smoothed out the sand of the arena, though!"

Zerrex glanced at this and made a face at the perfectly-flat surface he was now standing on... and then several Masters fell over the edge of the arena and the Dius touched down and folded her leathery wings onto her back, adding dryly: "Well, it was perfectly smooth. You should be proud of yourself, though, Lord Zerrex... once you learn to properly control your energies, you'll actually be quite the threatening demon warrior."

"Wonderful." Zerrex muttered under his breath, then he rubbed the back of his head slowly as she created a portal, saying mildly: "Are we going now? Because I feel sore and tired from all this abuse."

"You're such a baby." Selena snorted and grabbed the back of his head, ruffling his hair as she shoved him through the portal, and Zerrex winced and struggled free of her as they stepped back into his home, where Mist and Shine were apparently redecorating as Shine hung a tapestry up on the wall and Mist fitted a small table in the corner. "What... what the hell is this?"

"Queen Carmen gave us permission to outfit this home a bit better, since we'll be staying with Lord Zerrex." Mist said with a smile, bowing to her before glancing over at Zerrex and pointing at the silver longsword and shield hung up on the wall. "I hope that's okay... the sword can still be drawn in case of an emergency and everything, even though it's behind the shield..."

"That's fine..." Zerrex said softly, glancing in amazement as he noted the subtler cleaning they had obviously given the small room as well, before he paused. They had also removed the hay and blanket... and instead there was just a big pile of enormous red cushions in the other corner of the room. "Is that..."

"I hope you like it! We're getting a blanket, too, just because I know sometimes that's comfortable." Shine said cheerfully, then the two sisters strolled over to him as she finished hanging up the tapestry, Selena glaring at the twins as they dragged him away to sit on the cushions... and they really are pretty comfy. I could do okay with this. "We'll also be getting a few more odds and ends, but we aren't permitted to take your input on anything... this is supposed to be a plain quarters, after all, and you haven't even been given your work detail yet, so it should still be a plain home."

Selena grunted something, crossing her arms as she said flatly: "The mines? No frigging way. That's suicide, Zerrex... the twins can't follow you everywhere in there, and you'll get sent to some secret ‘employees only' area where the Masters and Slavers will beat you to death with shovels... or worse, get some of the broken slaves who work up there to do it for them, so no one suspects anything. I don't like it, I don't like the idea at all."

"You worry too much, Inquisitor Selena." Shine said irritably, glancing over at her with a frown. "We're more than capable of defending Lord Zerrex and keeping an eye on him... and it's not so much the Slavers as the other Inquisitors I'm worried about, personally."

"Oh yeah?" A pause, and she tilted her head, asking curiously: "Who'd you draw anyway, Zerrex? I've tried to keep up with the information flowing down the grapevine, but the Princess changed it every few months or so to try and choose what would ‘suit you best,' and I have to admit, I don't know every Inquisitor. There's a lot of us in Hell, after all."

"Uh... psychological torturers, for the most part, it seems like." Zerrex said morbidly, shaking his head a bit as the twins put their full attention to massaging along his body and chest, Mist slipping behind him to rub along his shoulders as the Drakkaren tossed one of the red cushions out onto the floor in front of him, and Selena sat down with a smile that quickly paled. "The Duke of the Night or something like that... I call him Bones... um... a big scary bastard who looks like a Slaver, but he didn't say a word to me so I just call him Godfreed... a creepy asshole named Orphus who made me do things that are going to make me puke if I think about it, and some high-and-mighty jerk named Terronius. Guess what he does. And I really do not like the expression on your face right now."

Both Mist and Shine looked up at Selena with a frown as she gave a weak laugh, and then she rubbed the back of her head slowly, muttering quietly: "Lord Zerrex... that's one of the worst possible groups you could get. Only Feliz, the Duke of Eternal Night, I know personally... and he's a lot sneakier than it seems. Don't fall into the trap of his pretend-friendship... he'll just use it to tear you apart." She glanced to the side with a snarl, then shook her head quickly and added in a murmur: "And as for the rest? If the Slaver-guy uses mortal tools, then it's probably St. Saul, the Cursed One. Mortals of the Unity religion know him as King Laurence the Third, though, I believe."

Zerrex stared, leaning forwards and murmuring softly: "You mean... the Bloody King? The whole ‘kill a witch twice to ensure she's dead' and ‘strike the sinner seven times with the blessed tools of God' King?" He paused and leaned back, making a face. "That's beautiful. I have the architect of modern religious torture as one of my Inquisitors. What a surprise he's down in Hell."

"That's what happens to a lot of religious whackjobs... those who would force their faith unto others, rather than praise Heaven and leave the punishing to those entitled to do so." Selena said mildly, nodding a bit. "Monarchy especially tends to end up in Hell, because there's been very few truly righteous rulers... many people would sacrifice an entire nation for their loved ones, after all, and while good... it is also wrong, as I think you can understand."

The Drakkaren nodded with a sigh, rubbing the back of his head and looking dryly amused. "I feel like this comment is directed at me somehow. I'd argue with you, but I'm currently still trying to get my head around the fact a King who used to kill the ‘satanic offspring of two lustful sinners' when they had a kid before they were married is torturing me, and apparently doesn't speak at all."

Selena snorted at this, shaking her head and saying quietly: "He used to be... very vocal in his opinions, I believe. The rumor, however, is that he one day pissed off the wrong Inquisitor with his ramblings on how this was all wrong and he should be at the right hand of God in Heaven... so they had his tongue cut out with a special blessed blade and the wound cauterized with hellfire. He can no longer speak, even if he wanted to... but instead it seems his bottled-up ravings took over his mind, and he thinks he's God's servant in Hell, here to punish the wicked through the use of the tools he gave mortals the plans for. He often forgets to restore his victim's wounds afterwards with the ‘Return' power granted to all Inquisitors."

"I've been curious about that, too." Zerrex said mildly, leaning back as Mist and Shine began to massage slowly along his biceps and arms... and he had to admit, they were very good at what they did. "You always heal my wounds after I'm torn apart... yet you have no healing magic yourself. How the hell does that work?"

"The Scholars." Selena said simply, shrugging a bit as she leaned closer to Zerrex, glancing back and forth as she muttered with one hand up by her muzzle: "I'm not supposed to talk about it, but using one of several special incantations granted only to Inquisitors, I can completely reverse whatever damage I do to you. It's supposed to be an automatic casting once the torture sessions are complete, but for whatever reason, the Bloody King isn't forced to cast it."

Zerrex frowned at the ground in thought at this, and Selena tilted her head and gently stroked under his muzzle, guiding his eyes back up to meet hers and asking a silent question. But he only shrugged a bit and said quietly: "I don't like it. It's yet another hole in the powers of the Scholars and the Scribes... Gape is still on the run, there's rumors about places in Hell that are completely unexplored and dungeons outside of Monarchy powers in the Plains of Despair, and I've heard of other Inquisitors and Royals who don't obey the same rules as everyone else. And then, of course, there's me." He smiled a bit, looking down and murmuring quietly: "The way I'm treated, this warm welcome I've received to what's supposed to be Perdition and mayhem..."

"I know it bothers you." Selena stroked his face gently, and then she sighed, grabbing him and firmly pulling him down into her lap, and Zerrex closed his eyes as she began to play through his hair and rub along his horns slowly, the twins blinking before Mist smiled a bit and moved to rub his chest, and Shine gently started to massage along his legs, working slowly along his knees and thighs with her talented fingers. And for a little while, everything was quiet... but everything was also okay, and that was what mattered.

But after a while of comfort, Selena stood up and said gruffly she had to go, vanishing quickly through a portal... and Zerrex was left relaxing with the twins for a little while. But the next thing he knew, Bones was opening the door and saying mildly: "Come, Lord Zerrex. Today we're going to have some fun."

This time, Bones brought him to a strip bar where alcohol flowed like water in the smoke-filled tavern, Dius and succubi twisting their bodies in rhythm to a deep bass beat that emanated from several large, pulsing orbs that flashed neon light over the moving strippers in their tight and tiny leather outfits, several of them already completely naked as they gyrated around their poles on the stage.

The Drakkaren made a face at this... and then Bones tapped him gently on the shoulder and pointed over to a pair of large tanks, and Zerrex stared at them: one was filled with water, and the other with some sort of alcohol, and the latter had several large barrels above it he guessed constantly supplied more booze... since on the front of the tank there were several nozzles for drinking out of. And inside both were a pair of Dius or Daius dancers... it was too hard to tell, since as they moved to the rhythm, they changed their shapes in beat to the time under the water in silky, divine movements.

"That must be... so dirty." Zerrex muttered as they sat down at a table, feeling a shiver roll through his body as he saw a demon in a plain tunic put his mug under one of the faucets and pour himself a glass, the dancers giving him a seductive look as he catcalled and hammered against the glass with his free hand. "I mean... I..."

"Tempting though, isn't it?" Bones leaned forwards on one arm, and Zerrex could hear the wistfulness of his voice... but he kept in mind Selena's words as the skeleton added mildly: "I wish I could have a drink from there myself... but at least I can have one of these."

He reached into his robe and pulled out a cigar, the same brand as the General had smoked... and it was almost like the reptile felt a flicker of the wolverine's presence as the Inquisitor slipped the cigar into his fang-filled mouth and lit up, smoke floating up through the drake skull's eye sockets as he said softly: "You know, I can still taste it... and it's delightful. This particular product we grow right here in Hell... it was imported to your mortal world a couple thousand mortal years ago by a very poor farmer who sold his entire family into slavery for a ‘rich, fine weed that would one day be worth millions.' So I suppose you can thank him in part for the blossoming of the tobacco industry... but you know, I never dealt in soul-trading myself." A pause, and then he added apologetically: "I'm sorry, I'm being rude. Would you like to light up? Or hey, can I buy you a drink, lapdance or just a plain fuck? These Dius live to serve, after all... and there's all sorts of things you can get in this wonderful little dirthole."

Zerrex made a face and declined in an inarticulate mumble, and then Bones shrugged and leaned across the table, smiling slightly at Zerrex and saying softly: "I specialize in one other thing Lord Zerrex, just so you know..." He paused, then stood up and cleared his throat, snapping his fingers, and the other lights in the room faded as a spotlight snapped on over him, saying cheerfully: "Hello everyone, I am the Duke of Eternal Night, and I'd like to welcome all of you to my club, the Tarnished Soul!"

Zerrex stared in horror as people clapped and cheered around the room, and then Bones pointed at Zerrex, and another spotlight flashed on, the Drakkaren wincing and covering his eyes. "And here with me tonight is Lord Zerrex himself... and as a special gift, girls... take him into the Dream Tank and drown the bastard for the next three hours! Everyone, give it up for your entertainment and entertained tonight, the very Lord Zerrex himself!"

People cheered, roared and yelled as the Dius stripped came off the stage, laughing and dragging him towards a side door that the reptile was terrified was not an exit... but before he could resist, he felt a chill roll down his spine before his body began to move on its own, a forced, mask-like smile spreading over his face as his arms and legs moved of their own accord, wrapping around the Dius and making them giggle and purr as the reptile's eyes rolled in his head in fear. As hard as he tried, he was completely unable to move a single muscle in his body... and he knew that Bones wasn't just grinning because of the way his jaw attached to his skull now. Goddamn son of a bitch! No, no, no no no no-

Calm down! Ravenlight snapped in his head, and the Drakkaren almost twitched at the sound of that voice as he was led through the small door by the Dius, who relaxed their bodies a bit and sighed, looking miserably at Zerrex and obviously recognizing he was being controlled by some other force as one murmured a weak apology. Use this to your advantage to beat the fucker at his own game... he wants to play with body control? Fine. Let's see him make you drink, though... Zerrex, you better not be the weak-kneed fuck you act like half the time. This is not just a test of your willpower... this is a mental duel.

The Drakkaren shivered a bit at that thought as he felt his body automatically climbing a ladder, and he was unsurprised to see two hugely-muscled demons slowly sliding the lid off the tank full of alcohol on a small track system. The reptile was disgusted, however, when he felt his body automatically undressing itself... and then he threw up his arms and leapt into the tank filled with what he instantly identified as whisky... and potent whisky at that.

It flooded his nostrils, wet his tongue... and the reptile shivered as cravings he could not begin to describe flooded his body, made him want to drink the tank dry as the two shapeshifters swam around him and the tank slowly closed. The reptile felt his need to breathe growing in his chest as the control slipped free of his body, and he felt one of the shapeshifters moving to play with his hanging member as the other kissed him hungrily... but he focused all his strength and will, he closed his eyes to block out the sight of the people screaming and cheering on the other side of the glass as he floated... and then he slowly lowered his head, clamped his muzzle shut, and crossed his arms as his feet touched the bottom of the tank and the shapeshifters began to swim and dance around him.

He would not allow his lusts to get the better of him... he would not allow his weaknesses, his failings, to control him. He had chosen a different path to cope with his alcoholism then many others had or would, and he had decided to take his life into his own hands and trust, trust in his strength and recognize that his family would catch him, should he ever fall... but that in the end, it was his responsibility. He had seen other addicts, and he had even attended AA... and as he floated there, he blocked out everything else around him â€" the touching, the whisky, the screaming crowd â€" and remembered, focusing instead on memories of his past.

He had first attended a meeting in Valise after a year of working at a bookstore, after reading some of the literature and finding it both good and bad: in theory, of course, he thought it was wonderful. Recognizing one's failings, taking steps to better one's own self, and most of all, letting go... but it was here that he thought things began to get shaky, and so he had decided to see for himself how people handled themselves at AA meetings and how the organization worked.

It was curious: some of the nicest people he'd ever met attended the meetings, not the stereotypical drunken scoundrel or dregs of society. Quite the contrary, in fact... he'd seen plump housewives and cultured accountants who probably spent more on a suit than he had on his little home. But of course, there were people who had hit the lowest of lows as well, dirty and unkempt, and one or two rocking infants or trying to hold their toddlers still as one of the senior members chaired the meeting and invited everyone new to stand up.

Zerrex hadn't really wanted to, but all eyes turned to him, and he introduced himself with the classic: "Hi... my name is Zerrex, and I'm an alcoholic." They had all greeted him warmly back, and then he had sat down... and the first story an aged wildcat told truly did touch his heart and made him think about his own life. Of course, with his strange metabolism and body, he had always tolerated even the strongest alcohols without much complaint... but it wasn't like the noonday demon hadn't ever taken its toll on him, either.

He attended ten meetings over the course of the week: first one a day, and then he was invited by a meek Dragokkaren who had formerly been a clone soldier to a private meeting for Drakkai-only who had been in the war and had turned to alcohol to try and silence their own consciences. Zerrex had agreed, and he had attended three of those special meetings of male soldiers who all were still proud of their country despite the turmoil they had gone through for her, and the pain she had caused the world with Narrius's rulership. Those, he thought, had been the best, the private meetings... but he noticed something in the public meetings he did attend.

One, there was a lot of gossip... and a lot of the time, people didn't actually pay attention to what was being said by the speaker, no matter how heartbroken they were or how deep their message was. And with a rotating ‘chair' of meetings and another person that was selected at what seemed like random to head a special reading, it seemed too unpredictable. He also heard a lot of talk about sponsors and higher powers, which got him vaguely interested in the whole thing... but he decided to cut back to attending three public meetings a week and two closed.

The most awkward part was when he'd been asked curiously how long he'd been off the booze by one of the Dragokkaren he knew... and the reptile had shrugged and said honestly he had no clue, but likely about a year. He had frowned a bit at the murmurs of applause and the fact the chair had dug out a ribbon, telling him firmly that meant that from now on, this was his birthday. The Drakkaren asked what the hell that meant, and the Dragokkaren had laughed and said that all alcoholics get two birthdays: one where they were born to the world, and one where they were reborn, after they gave alcohol up. Well... he hadn't phrased it exactly like that, but it was what the reptile got the sense of, and he didn't know if it was a good idea that they rewarded their members rather frequently with little coins and badges for sobriety or not, especially when he discovered a relapse meant almost nothing, other than active alcoholics weren't permitted to attend meetings. That, of course, didn't mean the group wasn't there for them, as Zerrex quickly got a lesson in AA politics in his fifth week.

Several people had latched onto him: a young, gantsta possum in the public meeting circle and two Dragokkaren from the private meetings. Although he'd been invited to do several things for the AA functions â€" and he honestly found it a bit bizarre that people were asking him to do these things after only a month â€" he'd made it very clear he had no experience and wanted to learn more before he actually started taking on more of the group's responsibilities. He was fine with going to the weekly business meeting that occurred after the private meeting, to help them count out the money they collected from passing around an old hat after each AA meeting â€" they had some special name for it that he couldn't remember... â€" but that was about it.

He'd also said that he had no phone, but made the mistake of writing down his address as part of a large chart one of the people in the business meeting kept with his sobriety date, first name and last initial. He didn't know why he was surprised when, two days later as he was relaxing with Cherry snoring in his lap, there was a sound rattle of knocks at the door.

Cherry, thankfully, hadn't done much more than leap up and dive for the nearest firearm... and Zerrex had glared at her before placidly striding over to answer the front door. The possum had been standing there, shivering a bit and holding his arms, his wool cap tight over his head as he asked him if he could maybe come in for a minute.

The Drakkaren didn't really want the possum here, but there was a very easy solution for that problem, and he led him out to sit in the den with Cherry. It had been a short visit, and the possum had left looking grouchy: the Drakkaren had been very clear on people only showing up if they were desperate, however, not when they needed money for lunch.

On the other hand, when he went back to the meeting he attended after the weekend, he heard a lot of rumors and nasty talk about himself circulating through the crowd, and he made a face. He thought for a moment about mentioning this is likely why half of them went back to drinking, but he recognized that it would both be in bad taste and would likely get him kicked out of the meeting, so he restrained himself and instead just tried to concentrate on the speakers and the fact that this here was a group of people doing their best to combat an incurable illness that bit at every level of society.

But it was like some glammer was wearing off, like he was starting to see beneath the pleasantries and masks of support now. He started seeing a lot of selfishness, neglect, and something he didn't quite understand... and so he booked an appointment with a psychologist, of all things, to discuss ‘personal problems' he was having. It was an expensive hour to pay for just to talk about something he was already figuring out on his own, but he wanted to make sure he wasn't stereotyping or just seeing a few too many bad days at meetings.

On the other hand, after a banter about a few stresses in his life that Zerrex mostly avoided, the reptile stated that he was a drunk â€" he wasn't much one for semantics â€" and that he had noticed something in AA that he'd like to ask about. The psychiatrist had gestured at him to continue, and he'd asked: "Is it possible to... to start becoming almost addicted to an addiction treatment?"

Now this had lit the interest of the shrink, and Zerrex had gotten a free twenty minutes of extra lecture on substance abuse and treatment methods, which amounted to a few much-shorter statements: yes, it was possible, and yes, there were such things as support-group-addiction... and furthermore, there were even treatments for that, something the reptile found mind-boggling.

The reptile, armed with this information, had gone back to AA and started watching it from a more-distant viewpoint, trying to avoid interacting with people as much as possible â€" not exactly hard, since the only time he ever really talked was in the Dragokkaren-only meeting. He also noticed something else, too, though... in his private meetings, the Dragokkaren seemed to rely less upon the support group and the idea that the philosophy of AA than they did upon each other, and he thought that the deep kinship between all of them was acting almost like a workout partner: it kept them safe, it kept them motivated. Hell, he'd never even heard the word ‘sponsor' used, although some of them had mentioned thinking of a higher power... but he didn't think they'd ever even attempted to give up their free will to this ‘higher power.' Perhaps they'd seen too much of what kind of thing could happen with that when they had served under Narrius... or perhaps they were just trained far-too-hard in military propaganda like: ‘There is only the UNIT, there is only the TEAM, there is no YOU or ME.'

Zerrex noticed something else, as well... that different sponsors had different methods, and some would only take on one sponsee at a time, while others took on multiple... and the latter always had far-worse results. He also realized that in the public meetings, despite the fact that everyone had come together to support each other, the rich stayed with the rich and the poor stayed with the poor, rarely comingling and treating each other with hidden disrespect... and perhaps worst of all, he noticed what exactly giving up free will to a higher power could let you get away with.

When he asked for help down the stairs, for example, since his leg was aching far worse than usual ever since he'd taken an embarrassing spill off his motorcycle, a female had smiled at him patronizingly and said in one of those sycophantically-calm voices: "Oh dearie, just trust in your faith and your higher power! It will help you through everything, darling, just give it time."

Zerrex had been left gaping at the top of the short flight of stairs leading down to where they usually met, and he'd staggered into the meeting feeling infuriated and strangely-betrayed... and he also decided to see if he could pick out some of these fanatics and screen them for his own little research purposes. Maybe it was a bit sick, but he wanted to know what they behaved like compared to him... and moreover, if it was really worth wasting so many hours of his life a week when he could be working of not walking several blocks to get to a meeting full of hypocrites and jerks.

He'd enlisted Cherry and Marina's help, while Cindy had just been horrified by what he was doing... and that, of course, had only made Cherry all the more gleeful and willing to do whatever he asked, even going so far to say she'd be glad to test their higher power against a shot of vodka. That had earned her a glare, and she'd backed off before meekly agreeing to do things his way, and so he'd sent her out to keep an eye on one of the more-easily-accessible members to see how she handled everyday life between picketing abortion clinics and taking care of her children. Marina, on the other hand, he sent after the possum that had showed up at his home and then started all the rumors about him.

Cherry had taken to her job with enough hidden spy equipment to arm an entire wing of the Secret Service Intelligence Agency, and Marina had wandered out with a notebook and some pastels to work on an art project. They had continued this over two weeks while Zerrex did his own recon of the AA meetings he attended, Cherry writing notes and Marina drawing small, cartoony comics here and there of the more-interesting things she ‘saw' with her mind, and then Cherry had presented him a formal support and Marina had given him a small book of sketches with a look of distaste on her features.

He had glanced through the latter while Cherry, in her brisk, no-shit professional voice, recited off important times and events over the last two weeks. What the two had found on these people Zerrex had successfully tagged was rather disturbing... and although he realized it was an invasion of their private lives, there was no better way to get actual data on how people acted then when they didn't realize you were looking over their shoulder.

There was a lot of scheduling around the meetings, instead of around the children, for one part... and whereas Zerrex recognized one of the sayings of AA was: ‘sobriety first, and then everything else will fall in place,' he wasn't exactly hot on the whole idea of scheduling his entire life around his AA meetings. On the other hand, some of this stuff he could stack to not understanding because he'd never done any of the twelve steps AA members used to cleanse themselves either, and he still had no sponsor and didn't plan on getting one... in fact, after reviewing some of the ways this wonderful idea of a support group had been twisted, he likely wouldn't be attending any future meetings or bother following the program, either.

Sure, it was easy to get on a soapbox and criticize... but Zerrex thought he'd earned the right to, with the fact he had compiled reports on the way this admittedly-small sampling had acted outside of meetings... but with the phone tap Cherry had put in place and the relevant conversations she'd typed up, it broadened into a much-larger net. He found pointless gossip, rumor-spreading that bordered on slander â€" there were a few good ones about him being a wanted criminal in Hez'Ranna for war crimes â€" and a lot of talk about the program, but none of it actually relevant to the daily lives of the people or their problems. It was always AA this and the program that, and how terrible, terrible their lives had been, and how still no one understood them, wah-wah-wah. There was much praising at the altar of self-pity, in other words, and Zerrex found it disturbing and disgusting how inflated they had become... quite literally, they had only changed substances, and although the support group didn't cost anything, the necessity of it in a person's life was defended with just as much vigor and viciousness.

The reptile wondered idly if the people who ran these big AA conventions were alcoholics themselves, or if they just recognized how much money they could make as he read about some upcoming one in the logbook Cherry had provided... and then he made a face and shook his head a bit. The stuff Marina had gathered was worse, because he could see their thoughts in her art... and again, there was no caring, no compassion for anyone other than themselves, and a lot of twisting of the program.

He recognized it was partly because of the way AA was set up, to encourage self-reflection and recognition of one's own values... partly because of the ‘disease' itself... and partly because of Ire sanctimonious society, which encouraged people to suck up all the attention they could and inflate their own egos and to look at everything simply as a mirror to see how they were reflected in it. In a way, it was almost like communism: the idea itself was brilliant, but it would never work in a world made up of mortal creatures with mortal needs and mortal desires.

The reptile had attended another week of meetings... and then he'd cut himself loose and embarked on a different path. He kept himself busy with work and with his family... and he always had Marina and Cherry and Cindy there with him to offer support, and little Mahihko cheerleading in the background, which was at least cute.

But now, here he floated in a tank full of whisky, battling his inner demons and temptations as a pair of shapeshifters danced around him and rubbed at his body, and people outside the tank howled, yelled, and screamed at him to do something, anything... but he let it roll over him as he meditated, instead, moving from memory deeper into himself to contemplate why exactly he was being tempted with this, among a thousand other things, when he knew that getting a demon drunk was almost impossible, except with very specific â€" and rather toxic â€" beverages.

He thought it amounted to pure domination-submission... that Bones wanted to humiliate him and start breaking his will, which only made the reptile want to beat the skeletal Inquisitor all the more at his own game. But he kept his passions quiet for now, instead keeping himself calm and at ease.

The other advantage he'd had is that he had done suffocation and air-control tortures in the past with Selena, until she'd finally taught his once-mortal body that there was no need for even an Initiate to need to breathe in this plane where things were far more energy than physical form. It was hard to give up old habits, though, and demons still did pant, gasp, wheeze and hiss themselves much as mortals did; Selena had explained it by saying dryly that it was the same when Zerrex made one of his stupid gestures â€" he didn't actually need to, but it just tended to happen anyway.

In the tank, Zerrex could feel the dancers grasping both of his arms, dragging in him in a slow circle before adding a tilt, as well, and the reptile knew he was twisting and flipping in all directions at an increasing speed in the amber liquid... but he resisted opening his eyes or letting himself rise too much to the surface from his meditation, instead simply flexing his body and then relaxing. He continued to stay calm and quiet, even when he felt some strange force beginning to crush his lungs inwards, and he knew Bones was becoming frustrated.

After two and a half hours, the reptile heard the top of the tank being opened before something wrapped around his neck, and his eyes opened in surprise before he made a face, gagging a bit and tasting whisky before he was jerked out of the tank and up onto the back, and Bones gazed down at him in obvious disgust as the two enormous demons stood beside him, the reptile quickly throwing the pole-thing they'd gripped him with off his neck before looking up at the Inquisitor as he said coldly: "You're a hard nut to break, Lord Zerrex. But that's okay. Don't worry, I'll get you next time we play this little game... for now, get the hell out of my sight."

"You're a sore loser." Zerrex reached for his clothes, and Bones kicked them into the whisky, the Drakkaren narrowing his eyes a bit. "Now that was uncalled for."

He paused, then turned and spat, wiping at his tongue and mouth as Bones growled at him. "You achieved nothing, Lord Zerrex, not a goddamn thing! I wouldn't be acting so cocky if I were you, not with all the years of fun and torture we have ahead together. So enjoy your... your little ‘victory,' but it was pointless to show off how tough you are this early in the game."

Bones snorted and waved a hand, then he strode past the reptile, shoving a Dius out of his way and almost knocking her into the tank as Zerrex snorted, then he fished his pants out of the amber liquid and dug in one pocket for the Northern Star he kept on hand. He pointed this to the side of the two burly demons and created a portal, then trudged through it as the two demons continued to glower at him.

A moment later, Zerrex was back in his own home, the portal of darkness closing down behind him and Mist and Shine staring, then one of them snarled as the other crossed her arms with disgust. Mist came forwards a moment later, uncrossing her arms to touch his face, and then she murmured: "Stay still for just a moment, Lord Zerrex."

The Drakkaren did so, frowning a bit... and then he blinked and glanced down at himself, feeling suddenly dry as the reek vanished from his body and the taste from his mouth... and a strange heat tingled over his scales as she stepped back with a sigh, Shine muttering: "What a son of a bitch. I thought there was a law banning Inquisitors from using particular vices to torment their prisoners?"

"It depends on how much they abused the substance and their reaction to it, doesn't it?" Mist muttered, checking Zerrex's body quickly over, the reptile feeling almost embarrassed by the one twin's motherly tendencies. "We know all the same things, Shine, I don't know why you're asking me."

"We can ask Selena, then, the next time she stops in." Shine said with a grumble, then she paused as Zerrex blushed a bit, his penis reacting almost immediately to one of Mist's hands brushing his shaft and twitching. "Have you been a bit... pent up, Lord Zerrex?"

"He brought me to the strip club he owned... there were uh... pretty shapeshifters circling and rubbing against me the entire time." Zerrex cleared his throat a bit, rubbing the back of his head and looking embarrassed, and then the twins grinned at each other as Zerrex stared, holding up his hands as Shine approached and dropped to a kneel on the other side of his leg. "Hey, whoa now, I'm not going to... oh Gods..."

Shine leaned forwards and slipped the head of his penis into her muzzle, suckling gently back on it as Mist slid around behind him, and Zerrex felt his eyes widen a bit in surprise as her tongue slowly lapped between his buttocks and gently touched against his rosebud. Slowly, one twin moved behind him as the other moved in front, and Shine pushed her maw firmly upwards as the Drakkaren's shaft begin to harden, taking the already-impressive flaccid member down her maw and grasping his hips tightly as she let out a quiet murr of pleasure.

Behind him, Mist pushed her muzzle gently forwards, and Zerrex lowered his head as he grasped Shine's horns with both hands, grunting quietly as she slid down toying at his tailhole to lapping slowly at the back of his testicles, breathing in his scent and then settling her mouth against one large, hanging navy-blue orb, suckling teasingly back against it before sliding her long tongue out of her maw to lap teasingly at the back of his sac, and she reached her hands up to stroke gently over his chiseled abdominals from behind as Shine's own hands massaged lightly along his hips in slow, gentle circles.

Shine rocked her head forwards in slow, quick pulses, her eyes closed in what looked like ecstasy at the feeling of Zerrex's thick shaft pushing and thickening down her throat, the head already lodged well into her neck and only digging deeper as she rotated her jaws slowly at the same time. Inside her maw, her skilled tongue was dancing and twisting in ways he didn't think possible against his penis, and it was all the reptile could do to hold onto her horns and groan in quickly-rising pleasure as he felt his member quickly taking on the consistency of tempered steel in her jaws.

The two were working to please him in ways he hadn't imagined possible, as Mist dragged her tongue slowly from his dangling, enormous testicles and along the bottom of his groin to trail between his buttocks and tease once more at his tailhole, and he could almost feel the hidden rhythm the two were moving in as his body pulsed with pleasure at the way they were so readily pleasing him. Shine, meanwhile, pushed herself hard forwards, grinding her nose into the bottom of his abs for a few long, blissful moments as he felt her teeth teasingly brush the very base of his obsidian member, and he wondered stupidly for a moment just how she could fit him so easily into her jaws, as his head tilted back with another loud grunt of pleasure.

A moment later, Shine drew suddenly and quickly back with something between a sigh of longing and a moan of pleasure, the reptile's huge shaft bouncing out of her jaws and pointing upwards at full, massive erection, several long streamers of drool hanging from it and down to her maw before she licked her lips and wiped slowly at her muzzle, grunting hungrily: "Fine, Mist. Your turn."

Mist slowly drew back from where she had been working her tongue against the reptile's tailhole with a wide grin on her face, and the two guided Zerrex around in a circle as he released Shine's horns and stared down at them, before the more-aggressive twin grasped the front of his hips as she shoved her muzzle between his legs to began hungrily lapping and teasing at his testicles, while Mist wrapped her fingers around the base of his huge length and stroked the slick, bulging black-fleshed member a few times, gazing up at Zerrex tenderly as her other hand stroked over his powerfully-muscled chest slowly.

The reptile groaned quietly, his eyes rolling back in his head and closing as he gaped at the ceiling in ecstasy, barely able to believe the sexual pleasure rolling through his body as Mist began to teasingly and slowly drag her tongue along the lizard's enormous shaft and flick teasingly around the edge of the glans, while at the same time she slowly stroked the base of his huge, stiff member. Her other hand continued to move over his chest slowly until Zerrex reached up and seized it tightly in one of his own, the other resting on his lower back as Mist grinned widely and slowly pushed her face against his cock, whispering up to him: "Oh Lord Zerrex, our sole and only Master... you have such a strong, powerful grip... it matches the rest of your thick and immense body..."

Zerrex only managed a grunt of pleasure in return, his legs trembling slightly as he felt Shine nuzzling into both testicles, mouthing one and then nipping playfully at the other before she slowly kissed down his inner thigh, then slid backwards to push her muzzle lightly against his tailhole. He felt her tongue slide around it slowly, then push forwards, and the reptile's eyes opened in surprise as she probed her long tongue forwards into the passage of his anus, lowering his head as she gave a muffled sound of bliss at using her talents upon the one she and her sister called Master.

Mist slowly guided Zerrex's shaft down to rub her muzzle teasingly against the sides of the long penis, grinding the huge cock against her face and gazing up at him adoringly, her other hand continuing the slow but potent rhythm along the lower half of his shaft as the other one stayed tight in his grip, and then she opened her maw and guided the head of his huge penis into her mouth, closing her jaws slowly, agonizingly slowly around his penis, and Zerrex felt a shudder roll through him even before she began to teasingly bob her maw over the thick head of his black-fleshed cock.

Shine kept up her own rhythm, teasing along spots that got Zerrex off he hadn't even known he had, her muzzle grinding forwards against his buttocks as her hands rubbed firmly against his hips, and Zerrex felt himself beginning to breathe harder, sweat rolling down his scales as his muscles bulged and flexed as one of her hands moved down between his legs to begin to tease with his large testicles, adding yet more pleasure to the already-incredible electric bliss rolling through the reptile's body.

In front of him, Mist was starting to move faster, his hand clenching hers harder, but she only released a murr of pleasure as she moved up and down his shaft hungrily, looking up at him with adoration and complete submission as her other hand continued to stroke in time with her bobbing movements, twisting her grip gently and squeezing occasionally as her tongue moved with the same mysterious skills her sister's had. And behind him, Shine was growling teasingly and moving with speed and strength as she bobbed her own muzzle, her long tongue probing into regions Zerrex thought no one had gone before as he twitched and tried to resist the urge to grab Mist's head and begin thrusting madly until he drowned her with seed, with enough left over to soak Shine head-to-toe.

Then the two suddenly moved back in perfect synchronicity, Shine dragging her tongue along the bottom of the reptile's tail as his cock came free of Mist's mouth with an audible pop, and Zerrex felt himself twisted to the side before the Sisters roughly shoved their muzzles onto either side of the base of his penis, their arms wrapping around each other and the Drakkaren's waist tightly to grasp a buttock and anchor themselves forwards, and Zerrex automatically reached down and grasped the back of both their heads as he stared down with a hungry, surprised groan of pleasure, feeling his shaft twitch violently just as the sight of the two of them working at his massive penis with such ardor.

They worked their way slowly up and down along his shaft in perfect rhythm, their tongues blissful against his penis as he felt heat growing, growing, growing in his loins... but before the Drakkaren could move, the two slid their hands free from around his waist and grasped his cock, their fingers lacing tightly together as they began to stroke his further-stiffening shaft rapidly, and Mist moaned, gazing up at him with need: "Oh please, Master, please! Soak us, soak us with your seed, mark us as your humble servants!"

"We need you, Master, we adore you and worship you... let us taste your strength in your seed, our Master!" Shine added, her own eyes full of hunger and adoration... and Zerrex felt his hips automatically thrusting into their grip as he grinned widely, but he was too lost in the haze of pleasure to respond with anything but animal sounds as they leaned forwards eagerly and guided his huge shaft down towards their faces and open mouths...

And a moment later, the Drakkaren arched his back with an inarticulate roar, his eyes closed tightly and head thrown back in ecstasy as his thick load shot out over the faces of the twins, who moaned hungrily as volley after volley of his seed shot over them, splattering their faces and landing in their mouths as they began to stroke him harder and faster, milking all they could out of him as Zerrex's grip tightened on the back of their heads, grinning down at them before growling in pleasure as the twins turned to each other and began to kiss hungrily, moaning through their locked jaws as his load splattered out over their faces and muzzles.

It seemed like minutes before the flow slowed to a halt, a bit of seed trickling down from the head of his shaft before Mist and Shine leaned forwards, releasing his huge member as first Mist took the head of his cock into her mouth, suckling back on it and making Zerrex shiver in pleasure at the feeling of her maw over his sensitive penis... and then Shine did the same, rubbing her tongue over the flange of his obsidian member before pulling back, and the two quickly but effectively made their way along his shaft with their tongues, until he was left standing and panting quietly, drawing back with his member sparkling with their saliva like a polished ornament... and then he stared as Mist closed her eyes and leaned forwards on her knees as if in prayer, and Shine gently grasped her beneath the chin before slowly, painstakingly licking the Drakkaren's still-warm seed from her face.

At the same time, she looked seductively at the Drakkaren, as Mist shuddered in pleasure at the feeling of her twin sister's tongue dragging gently along her muzzle and then along her jawline, tracing out every last streamer of seed before she slowly drew back... and now Mist repeated the process on her twin sister, before she lowered herself back and the two held seed-soaked hands out to each other. Tongues scraped over palms and slid between fingers, and then they wrapped their arms around one-another and slowly pressed their bodies close, their jaws locking once more as twin pairs of breasts gently ground together and hands massaged along skulls... and finally, they drew apart and gazed up at Zerrex, Shine saying hungrily: "Anything for you, Lord Zerrex..."

"We'll be glad to put our own show on for you... and then you can maybe put that to work on us..." Mist added, licking her muzzle with a wide grin... and then she arched her back and let out a soft moan as Shine leaned down to drag her tongue gently between her sister's breasts and slowly up her throat. "We are your Iuratus... in death, and beyond. We are your property, and yours to do anything with... and all we ask in return is the honor of your presence when you wish us to be near, and the bliss of you enacting whatever makes you happy upon ourselves and our eager bodies..."

"We are yours, Lord Zerrex... we will never turn on you or condemn you, we will never hate you and always love you and adore you... you will always be our Lord and Master, and should you wish it, we will turn on any who would dare turn against you... be it the Princess, the Warlord, or God Himself..." Shine added quietly, and then the two stood as Zerrex licked his muzzle slowly, his huge member pulsing slowly as he grasped his painfully-erect penis in one hand, and slowly strode over to trade gentle, quick kisses with him.

The Drakkaren knew he probably should be training instead of wasting his time banging his bodyguards... but the twins were a pair of extremely compelling demonesses, and he felt himself slowly giving in to the locked-up desires and darkness that so many demons now had been telling him to release. As they looked at him adoringly, he felt his breath quickening, his voice rough as he ordered: "Then worship your Master... Shine, you can start with my feet, and you Mist, can start at my chest... and I want to hear you praising me at the same time for being so generous, since I know how talented your tongues are and I'm sure they can multitask."

The eyes of the two flared up, and Shine immediately dropped to all fours and lowered her mouth to lap at the top of his foot, her other hand massaging his ankle slowly as Mist kissed down from his neck... and she was trembling against him in excitement, her body radiating an impressive amount of heat as her hands moved over his chiseled chest, the Drakkaren feeling another lock give away in his brain as she murmured hungrily: "Lord Zerrex... to be treated to such kindness as this by you is..." A pause, and Zerrex glanced at her before frowning as she gazed at the door, and she snarled angrily. "Shit!"

"Oh, how the fuck can that even happen?" Shine muttered from the ground, sitting up, and then the two looked at Zerrex as they signed in unison, the reptile looking back and forth in confusion as Shine added darkly: "There's something going on outside, and we can hear the alarm call for invasion in our minds... Mist, if you would?"

Mist nodded as Shine stood up, and then they pulled Zerrex over to the cushions and put one of the larger ones over his body, covering his crotch and bulging penis snugly as he stared back and forth in confusion and misery, wondering stupidly for a moment if he'd just proven to them what an animal he was and they wanted out before the door burst open, and Amiglion staggered in, flailing his arms as his scythe bobbed through the air behind him, now dressed in a black tunic and chain pants.

He fell over, and the butt of the scythe whacked him in the kidney, Death muttering on the floor before he jumped up and rubbed at his head, glancing at the flushed twins and then at Zerrex before he blushed deeply himself and covered his eyes. "Oh my God, I am so very sorry! But um... um... shut up, Grim, I can remember!" He parted his fingers, peeking through them as Mist and Shine glared at him angrily. "Mist, Shine, you two are to report immediately to the Princess for temporary reassignment. The Warlord's forces have invaded through a pocket dimension in the Circle of Wrath â€" surprise, surprise â€" and they're currently staging an attack against one of the dimensional breaches near Spiraling Peaks. I'm taking over watching Lord Zerrex."

"Wonderful." Shine muttered, then the twins turned around and dropped to a kneel as Amiglion stared in shock, the female murmuring quietly: "Our apologies, Lord Zerrex... we should move out to help ensure the safety of this world and the mortal realm."

"But we're being rude... Lord Zerrex, do you permit us to leave?" Mist asked quietly, glancing up curiously as Shine bowed her head in embarrassment. "If you wish it, we will stay here with you, gladly... we will not turn on our word. My sister spoke hastily out of the assumption that you would want us to go, since we may have displeased you by not finishing our promised duties."

"Don't talk like that." Zerrex blushed deeper himself, waving one hand and keeping the other tight on the pillow covering his crotch. "You made me plenty happy, believe me... and protection of the mortal realm, our former home... comes first above all else." He paused, then added quietly as the twins looked up with matching smiles: "You are my Iuratus, and you serve me faithfully and well. I treasure your companionship."

The two stood and saluted, Mist's eyes overbright with joy and Shine looking proud of herself and her sibling, and then the two pulled their huge cleavers off the rack on the wall they'd installed and quickly vanished through a portal Mist created, both giving Zerrex a final, longing look. Amiglion, meanwhile, was brushing himself off a bit before he looked at Zerrex curiously for a few moments, then asked mildly: "So uh... is your penis behind that cushion? And is it as big as I'd heard?"

"What are you, gay?" Zerrex asked with a frown, and Grim bounced a bit behind Death as if laughing, as the Naganatine crossed his arms and looked offended.

"Actually, I'm androgynous. I have no sexual parts, since they weren't needed when my race existed." he said seriously, and Zerrex stared for a few moments before Amiglion laughed and slapped his knee, leaning forwards with a grin. "Nah, I'm just fuckin' with you! But yes, I'm gay, and would be more than happy to show you my two penises."

"I get the feeling you're screwing with my head again." Zerrex responded mildly, and Amiglion shrugged a bit before making gimme-motions, and the Drakkaren clutched the pillow together with both arms against his body, looking horrified and wishing his erection would go away... but the soft fabric grinding up and down against his penis wasn't helping much with that. "Urgh, you're like... Cherry, but stupid and weak. No wonder everyone says Grim's the brawn and the brains."

The scythe rose up in the air, and then undeniably nodded as Amiglion spun around and made a shooing motion, before flailing and grabbing at the polearm, which shook wildly back and forth. A moment later, however, the strange creature tossed the polearm out the open door and quickly slammed it shut, grumbling to himself as he turned around and said plainly: "I bet your dick isn't that big, anyway."

Zerrex glowered at this, recognizing that the creature was just trying to hit a nerve, and then he pulled the cushion away and Amiglion did a double-take. The Drakkaren made a face, then covered himself with the pillow as Death rose his hand and said mildly: "I take that back. Can I suck you off?"

"Already had that done. Go away, I don't like you." Zerrex said moodily, and Amiglion snorted before using his long, dexterous tail to hook a chair out from under the table. He sat down, making himself comfortable, and then Zerrex sighed a bit. "You aren't going to leave, are you?"

"Hey, I didn't even ask for this job, honestly!" Amiglion shrugged, looking entertained as he laced his fingers in his lap and began to twiddle his thumbs, gazing around the small room curiously. "But if you want me to be totally honest, I am one of the best guardians in Hell... not everyone knows what a pussy I am, and you know, you hear ‘Ooh, it's Death!' and people go ‘Whoa! Death!' and freak out and shit." A pause as he glanced down, and Zerrex softened at the ashamed look on his face. "But the real reason they probably had me here is because I'd be useless on the battlefield... and Grim, at least, will be able to protect you at all times, and should be more than enough to keep the Masters and Slavers at bay.

"But that reminds me!" Death sat up a bit, smiling slightly as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "Work orders for the mines... with today's ruckus, you'll be starting tomorrow, and it looks like you have fourteen hour days, no breaks, at um... just says ‘basic' here for everything, so I have no idea what kind of wage you'll be paid or even what you'll be doing. I just know that they mine a lot of crystals and precious stones out of the mines past the garrison."

Zerrex made a face at this: he knew that itself would mean trouble for him on an almost daily basis. And since his torture sessions could last anywhere from three to six hours in the mornings, it meant not a lot of time for actual training or just resting... and he found himself hoping idly that they put him to work dragging carts or doing something else that required a ridiculous amount of physical effort on his part. Maybe if I mouth off they'll make me wear a cement vest... I could probably do that. I just have to be careful to avoid making them beat me instead. "Alright... thanks, Amiglion... but what about you? Aren't you supposed to be... you know, out being Death?"

"There's a bunch of us... I think I told you that before, though." Death paused and shrugged, making a face as he leaned back with a sigh, looking miserable and tapping his fingers against the table. "Almost one for every different world that filters down into this Hell... last time I counted, there's a hundred and twenty-three of us, and about a hundred and twenty-two of them are better than me at the job."

Amiglion shook his head a bit, and then he glanced over and smiled slightly at Zerrex's curious and sympathetic look. "Hey, don't get me wrong... when I fight hard, I'm not a pushover... but you see, the other Grim Reapers and their tools are all just... more talented at the job than I am, and we easily cover every world, even if there's countless... everything out there. Very rarely does a Death have to be dispatched to take care of a particularly-bothersome soul... and sure, for the first few million years, it was fine. Then again, I was also always okay with God's decision to give the Naganatine jobs... hey, I'm sorry, I'm rambling and I really don't want to bore you and get off to a bad start with you."

"No, please go ahead." Zerrex said courteously, nodding and looking at the creature with interest... and Amiglion smiled at him hesitantly, blushing a bit as he slowly rubbed at the side of his head.

The Naganatine continued to look embarrassed for a few long moments... and then he nodded and spoke quietly, leaning forwards a bit and looking nervously back and forth, despite the charmed tapestries on the wall that had every privacy ward imaginable on them. "Okay, but... I'm not supposed to talk about this, but I guess I can let out the big punchline to the guy who kicked my ass and stayed in Hell anyway.

"Look... the world... the universe itself, isn't that old, in technical terms. God is like... well, I can't speak his real name, but I can tell you it ain't what any religions think or say, because a mortal would probably explode if he attempted to say his name, literally." Amiglion made a bit of a face. "I mean, shit. Not out of malice or anything... but just because God is God.

"That isn't to say he created everything... at first, actually, there were only a handful of us in all the wide expanse of the universe, a universe filled with... strange worlds, big rocks, and empty dimensions, and beautiful stars and elements." Amiglion closed his eyes as he leaned back in the chair with a soft sigh, hugging himself a bit. "I was one of the First Twenty, created... hundreds of millions of mortal years ago. And for the longest time, we really did all live in the same mortal timeframe, and we were happy for a long time, too... but as you've probably realized by now, being immortal has its downsides."

He smiled faintly, shaking his head slowly and saying quietly: "And God... God was always so... thoughtful. He was big and strong and handsome, and he was loving... so loving. Fuck, it makes me so... so mad when I see these idiots saying fear God, fear God's wrath, ‘cause he was never, ever like that at all... he was understanding. He was always ready to listen, or offer you a hug when you were down, or just play a game if you were bored. He gave and gave and gave to us, even when we all started arguing with each other because we knew each other too damn well...

"And then there was what we call the Great Split. I'm not sure how many mortal years ago it was, but God said he wanted to create more life... he wanted to separate our world, Eternity, into a different plane where time flowed far, far slower... and it would be made into a glorious city, a wonderful place for what he called Souls, like us. He referred to us as Souls, because back then we had no physical bodies, only this shape, the shape of the Naganatine... and in what he called the physical plane, he would release energy and create a primal force that would allow the universe to shape itself.

"God was always so damn curious... he... he wanted to know where we all came from, where he came from, how he came to be and how he had the power he did." Amiglion nodded slowly, murmuring quietly: "When he talked about it, he always said he had just... opened his eyes one day and there he had been, full of knowledge and sitting alone in the clouds of what would become Eternity... and he had been so alone.

"So he had created us... given us individuality, emotions, and let us shape each other and shape and teach him about behavior and how things worked. God used the same idea to create life on the physical plane... he created nature and the primal forces, combined the elements and gave them shape... but all those things created Life. Life that looked nothing like the Nagatine." Amiglion smiled a bit, looking faintly amused. "What a pissoff, huh? God creates Evolution, Evolution creates Life, Life creates Religion to worship a God that worshiped Life. He spent so much time making notes and researching every tiny evolution, and he was so proud of everything... and you should see what he did to Heaven! When he saw the first trees come up, he went nuts and started making trees everywhere, saying it was a brilliant idea to clean the air and reproduce the necessary elements..."

Amiglion laughed at the memories, smiling warmly and waving a hand. "God was great, but he was... he was too nice." he quieted, and then he said softly: "Because he realized that almost everything was turning into energy and dissipating when it died, including the Souls he thought would automatically come up to Heaven. He discovered Belief... and all things hold their own beliefs, Lord Zerrex, from the rocks to the trees to the other Naganatine... and I have to say that some of them were furious with what God was doing.

"They thought it was offensive, that it was blasphemy, that whatever had created God would strike him down for building a new dimension and turning what we had thought of as the Garden of Space into a giant sandbox laboratory. It got so bad that God was forced to imprison about half the Naganatine, one of whom was a raving, cruel lunatic named Mephistopheles Thull... but we'll get to him later."

He paused, taking a slow breath, and then he looked at Zerrex with sadness in his eyes. "As I said before, God was... too nice. He discovered belief when some of the first life forms evolved enough to think coherently and started telling stories to each other, on an island now sunk deep into the depths by terrible weapons of war. And then one of them killed the other... and that Soul floated up to Heaven.

"God was horrified by how Life had lashed out pointlessly at Life... and looking around Eternity, he had no idea what to do. The imprisoned Naganatine had already made existence unpleasant for everyone, and he knew that more of these Souls would cause even greater unpleasantness... and so for the moment, he did the only thing he could do and put them in a ‘time-out,' in the dimension you call Limbo." Amiglion made a face, shaking his head slowly. "A pocket dimension he found that was nothing but white space... leaving them to tend as they would to each other and ‘think about the bad things they had done,' in God's words.

"But God also found out, with his experimentation on the worlds, that there were other gods in some of those rocks... and some of them were very furious indeed with what he'd done. On your realm, for instance, God was shocked to discover a vast amount of what he termed ‘evil' coming out of a hole in the ground... and when God explored this, he found the first concept of mortal Hell.

"Inside this pocket dimension were toiling Dragokkaren, what were called Hellbreed in those days, all of them serving the whims of a dark goddess with great evil powers. She, like God, like all of us, had a soul... but it was filled with that same dark essence, and try as he might, God couldn't understand why she would use her own impressive powers to create a race that served only her and did terrible things in her name. When he faced her himself, they ended up in a terrible battle, but God wounded her and banished her from the pocket dimension she had created, and she fled into the world, taking on a physical form as many of her Hellbreed escaped with her.

"God would have tracked her, but he realized other godly creatures may exist... and so he went on a great search and assigned one of the Naganatine to watch over Heaven. By now, we had our jobs, and back then I was one of the teachers, and we helped these dead mortal souls learn and become... less animal than they had been on the world, but many others were sent into Limbo. When God returned, he was disheartened and said he had encountered creatures even older than him... but for the most part, they were interested only in themselves, and would have no part in any of his ideas and often attacked him with savagery."

Death paused, rubbing the back of his head and looking embarrassedly over at Zerrex... but the Drakkaren shook his head and gestured for him to go on, and the Naganatine nodded. "I... as life began to evolve, some mortals began to use magic, and others somehow came into possession of terrible powers... and more and more were simply being sent to Limbo, but very few ever regretted what they had done wrong, or even realized that they had done something worthy of punishment. He also noted some souls that should have passed away refused to, and these mortals often turned into terrible creatures... and so I was given the job of Death, to ensure the safe passage of souls and that people would let go when the time was right, to avoid souls wandering the world or the appearance of liches and other powerful undead.

"Of course, we couldn't keep up... and one day, one or two thousand mortal years before mortals began recording their history at the year zero, a powerful mortal came to God with an idea. His name was Lucifer, and he was half-Dragokkaren and half-wolf, giving him a very strange appearance, and he had always shown great service to God and his subordinates, so God readily glanced over the plans... and he saw Hell. But a different Hell... a Hell of teaching, and where those who did things that were wrong would undergo punishment for it... not out of cruelty, but to make them understand what they had done wrong."

Death quieted and shook his head slowly. "Two visionaries, working together. They created the ranks of Angels, they renamed Eternity Heaven, and they also created the ranks of Demons... and God and Lucifer worked together to build Hell, and God put Lucifer in charge of their joint effort and named him his right hand, and also created the first demons and all their types. Everything was centered around Justice... but the problem was that God forgot the power of his own First Breed, the Naganatine, and those who had tried to rise up against God and all the evil souls in Limbo were dumped into Hell.

"It was instant war. Mephistopheles was one of the most powerful of our kind, so powerful he broke free of Hell and hid away in the mortal world, even creating himself a physical form when it was required. Due to the difference in energies and the exertion of breaking out of Hell, however, he used up much of his strength... and not long ago in mortal years, he was defeated by none other than the Judge of Death, White Phoenix."

Zerrex gaped at this, then he stammered: "Tinman's father... you mean, Tinny's father defeated one of the most powerful demons ever to live?"

Amiglion nodded, smiling a bit and saying quietly: "Yes... the one you called Tinman had the bloodline of Mephistopheles flowing strong in his veins, because White took on the demonic abilities of Mephistopheles after his defeat... his body took a long time to learn how to handle such a terrible power, but I think he learned to do an admirable job by the end of his life." Amiglion glanced to the side, then over to Zerrex, murmuring softly: "But before he escaped, Mephistopheles was behind the first civil war in Hell, war on the Central Throne in order to get to Heaven itself... until one day, God was forced to have Lucifer retreat back to his right hand. I hear now he serves as an Archangel in Heaven... and God retreated into silence long ago, in despair of what Hell has become and unable to do anything about the rampaging souls on all the physical worlds.

"Now his hands are full with Az'Iriel, as well... because if Hell ever floods onto the mortal coil and takes even one world over, Lord Zerrex, Heaven will be choked." Amiglion looked at Zerrex grimly, shaking his head slowly. "The Warlord doesn't realize or doesn't care about what he's doing... but if he takes over the physical world, enslaves it, and corrupts it, he'll begin to disrupt the order of things as the physical plane is slowly consumed by Hell's power. Everything works by maintaining a perfect balance... and if that balance is disrupted, then Heaven will topple quickly to Hell... and if all things become Hell, then that may result in what I guess is best described as self-destruction of the universe."

"Wonderful." Zerrex muttered, sitting back and shaking his head slowly... then he stood up and made a bit of a face, glancing back and forth as he held the pillow over his crotch. "Hey, uh... do you have any pants I can wear?"

"Why so self-conscious? Everyone else walks around naked... it's the Circle of Lust, dude." Amiglion said airily, holding his arms out to the side with a wide grin. "I can probably get you some rope to tie yourself to your legs, though, if you're worried about dangling yourself over a pit or into something nasty."

"You're nasty." Zerrex said sulkily, then he sighed and sat down, looking morbid, the pillow still covering his crotch. "And I'm not an incubus, nor am I into constant nudity. So... if you try to grope me, I'll kick you in the head."

Amiglion only laughed, however, and then he leaned back and leered over Zerrex. "Hey, whatever it takes to get me a piece of the infamous Lord Zerrex. Gods, I bet you're wishing you could hide all that away right now, aren't you?"

"Shut up." Zerrex said grumpily, sitting back against the wall and looking miserable. Yeah. So I'm sensing many terrible things in the future.