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The Grandmother's Gift

Prologue

For Engy

By Draconicon

At the bottom of the tower at the center of Maiyone was a portal of sorts. It did not go merely to Hell, but to many of the ventral planes. Most were under various levels of blockade and warding, but there were a few that were vaguely more benevolent - insofar as the lower planes could ever be - that were allowed greater contact with the world above. Most citizens of Maiyone required an appointment to be allowed anywhere near the portal basement, but those that served the dragon that ruled the city were allowed...more or less unrestricted access. More or less.

In this case, one such member, a stingray by the name of Ailsa, was having tea with an adopted grandmother demon. Of course, such age differences were scant and hard to see on the visual spectrum; an immortal demon that could look however she liked and a stingray that was imbued with sufficient demonic traits that she could do the same were hard to pin down to a certain age, but if anyone had borne witness to their time together, their mannerisms would have made it at least seem as if they were related. The purple-lavender stingray sipped at her cup, rippling black rising in steam fumes from the porcelain, while the purple-skinned demon smiled at her from across the table.

"Dear, I wish you would come down to my place rather than calling me up here," the demon said, shaking her head as she pulled her kimono over her chest once more. "I understand that you have obligations, but dear, really, you're better than this. You could be a queen with me."

"I could, but I like it up here," Ailsa admitted, shaking her head. "There's something about corrupting things that just feels better than changing them outright."

"Oh, no, no, I understand that. Every demon in the world would understand that. No, dear, it's the fact that you...oh, dear, I don't want to be rude after you've been such a good girl."

"Might as well; I prefer honesty, you know that."

"Yes, yes, dear. You do. You're simply terrible at bluffing."

"I won at cards."

"No, dear, you were allowed to win. We wanted you to feel good about yourself. Next time, it won't be so easy." The demon smiled, delicately pulling herself upright. "If I may?"

"Sure."

"I think that you limit yourself with how small they all are."

"...Heh, you haven't seen -"

"No, no, dear, please. Listen to me." The demon shook her head, folding her hands in front of her. "I've seen the people that live here. Your 'master' - and dear, please, must you submit to a dragon of all things?"

"Gran, come on, we've been over this."

"Yes...yes, I suppose that we have."

It was a regular 'dispute' between the two of them, and hardly a surprising one. Dragons and demons were rivals in dominance, pushing for power wherever they could to deny it to the other. It ruffled feathers with most demons to find one of their own under the power of another, but Ailsa and her 'grandmother' had reached an understanding about that. Ailsa lived under the dragon but would not become just another little thing, a possession. She lived here as a student as much as anything else, and that was something that the demons could respect, insofar as they could.

"But back to my original point, my darling. Must you...submit to this? I know that you have less experience than my daughters, or my other granddaughters -"

"Kinda hard to miss that. I mean, I wasn't born a demon."

"Hush, hush," the demon said, shaking her head. "We will speak no more of that. You are a demon in my eyes, dear, and that is all that matters."

Ailsa smiled, but it died quickly as the older demon continued.

"But whether it is down to experience or not, really, you must develop some standards. Demons are due the greatest things in life, and you are not just settling for less, you're not even lifting a finger to make them what they should properly be. I mean, just - look at the alchemist. He -"

"He's a good friend," Ailsa said, her tone as heavy a warning as ever there could be.

"I know, that isn't my point. You've seen how debauched he is."

"And?"

"And it could be better! Dear, dear, how much do I have to spell this out for you? You could be using your magic constantly. Your power could have already swelled him to a fuller sac, made him drool from his shaft perpetually. He could be leaving more slime trails than a slug all around this tower, and you are leaving him with little more than his own potions give him? Dear, dear, I have raised you better than that. In these few short years, I know you better than that."

Ailsa didn't say anything. Instead, she just shook her head, lifting her cup to her lips and taking another sip of her tea. The demon continued as if she had been given an engraved invitation to do so.

"And the lion. Surely, if he is so interested in his various kinks, he would enjoy his parts being grown to show them off, to display his lust with the sheer size of his endowments. And your master -"

"Are you seriously going to insult the guy that makes me cum my brains out?"

"Yes, because he's not doing it enough for you. Oh, dear, please, understand that I'm not saying this because they're bad -"

"Sounds like you are."

"But they're just not...they could be better. And you deserve better, darling. Why don't you -"

"Because I have other things to do." Ailsa sighed, putting the cup of tea back down. It shimmered into nothing but black vapor. "Thanks for the tea, but I think I'm going to be going."

"...Have I hurt you, dear?"

"No, just..." The stingray sighed. "Look. I'm going to go. I've got some stuff to think about."

"Dear. I'm sorry."

"Yeah. Sure."

"I am."

"Are you?"

The demon didn't answer. Ailsa didn't push. As the stingray left, shimmering through the portal that marked the boundary between the stairs to the interdimensional passage and the world above, the demon shook her head. She turned, making her way back down to her world below, a dull shimmer marking her passage as she left the meeting point between the worlds behind. Black steps carried her further down, and she felt the soft thud of every footstep on the way. She sighed.

"I wish you'd see things the way that I see them..."

The demon shook her head. She'd been Ailsa's assigned mentor and guardian for nearly three years now, ever since she had come to the tower and opened this space to the planes beneath. Other demons had vied for the position, wanting to be the one responsible for bringing hellish knowledge to the young one and help her in her task to help undermine dragon rule - despite the treaty - but she had been given the privilege and the power to guide the young woman along.

Now, if only she could get Ailsa to realize just what it meant to have the power she did.

She's settling for so little, she thought as she walked down the steps to hell, absently rubbing the rising tentacles as she did. The mortals all around her could be so much more...enjoyable if she just let loose...

And yes, Ailsa was contenting herself to be a cog in the machine in that city, allowing all the others to do what they wanted, taking their pleasure and leaving her with little to none. She was not taking control of it, not warping entire neighborhoods with corruption, nor bringing the mortals to light-headed moments of blissful slavery. She could be doing everything...

Well, of course, not everything. She could be caught and tossed out on her ear at that point, but she could be doing something, particularly to the other members of the 'harem' that she had found herself part of. That was more than doable.

And...

The demon stopped thirteen stairs down from the portal as a thought struck her. There was...a way.

She thought about it for a moment, the tentacles running along her legs like needy kittens begging for attention, and she absently stroked them as she ran the thought around and around in her head, examining it from every angle, studying it for any weaknesses or flaws. There were a few, of course - there were always some, when dragons were involved - but as long as she offered this as a true gift (which it was), then yes, yes, it should work.

She turned off the stairwell, following paths of darkness and shadow that were only visible to demons. Along the way, she leaned down, picking flowers of heaviness and heat, of fire and darkness, crushing them between her fingers as she walked and holding the juices in her fist. One by one, the flowers formed into something else, something different, something far more potent than the sum of their parts.

And as she combined that in turn with the power of her magic, it became something better still.

The demon swept her hand through the air, and like a curtain it pulled back, revealing a lab of power. A deep cauldron bubbled in the fabric of reality, the flames keeping it hot and blue inside. She closed the passage behind her, squatting down to look into the bubbling waves within.

She saw, as expected, the dragon's court. She had left it that way, knowing that she would come back. The black dragon that ruled the city met the succubus as she returned from her meeting, and the demon watched as her honorary granddaughter exchanged words with the master of the tower. They were not happy words, from the look of it, and she felt some small guilt for the exchange with the young one.

But not much. Not enough to stop what she was doing, or admit that she might be wrong.

She doesn't understand, the demon thought. When I give her what she's missing, when I give her what she's a little scared to give herself, she'll be happier, and she'll appreciate it.

Shaking her head, she flicked the edge of her hand along the surface of the cauldron. The scrying spell followed the dragon as he made his way to one of the private chambers at the top of the tower. She could feel the pressure of his magic, the great spells that warded against the curses and magic of Hell still burning hot around him. He had laid them down the moment the portals opened, and not a demon existed that wasn't begging for the chance to break them down and put him under their spell.

None had succeeded. She doubted that her power would be sufficient; after all, while she was a demon of the seventh circle, she was still bound to Hell, lacking the strength to break free, and one that could not easily travel the universe was not powerful enough to break down one such as he.

That said, she was still intelligent enough to notice the one gap in the spells that the dragon had laid down. His protections were focused on curses, on malicious spells that were used to harm others to spread pain and suffering in the world above. That was not the point or purpose to the spells that she had in mind for this. No, no, no, she would not curse those that waited in the tower.

She would bless them, instead. Bless them with the power of Hell, with the true depravity that they deserved as companions to her granddaughter, adopted or not.

She took the juices gathered in the palm of her hand and cast them into the cauldron. As the flower's drippings spread across the surface of the bubbling liquid, she whispered her words of power and the gift of her blessing.

"Grow," she whispered to the surface of the water.

It was a simple word, but the best of spells were simple things, little pieces that built on the reality that was already there. The demons had long since known that. The dragons could twist and create, ripple and shift the world as much as they liked, but demons understood. If you started with what was already there, if you worked from a solid foundation, you could make something that lasted the test of time, and would remain broken and altered to what you wanted it to be.

She cast the spell again and again, whispering to each of the different members of his harem. She found the yellow dragon, squatting down over a cauldron of his own.

"Grow," she whispered.

The spell changed again, focusing on one member of the harem after another. A lion. Two other dragons. Little creatures that had been pulled in from other realities. Kobolds. Everything that lived in the tower above that pledged fealty to the dragon rather than her granddaughter would be affected by her spell, drawn to be more true to themselves, showing more of what they really wanted.

She smiled, bringing the spell back to the dragon as he settled in one of the private chambers. She heard him whisper for the lion through her spy spell, and she knew what would soon happen.

"Grow," she whispered, as if she floated at his side. "Grow, grow, grow..."

When Ailsa realized what had happened, she imagined that her granddaughter would thank her. It would be far more demonic for a while in the tower. Far, far more demonic, and far more exaggerated.

The End

Summary: A demon matriarch looks out for her granddaughter and starts causing chaos.

Tags: No Sex, Nudity, Balls, Cock, Feet, Spell, Magic, Series, Impending Lewd, Impending Growth, Impending TF, Dragon, Stingray, Demon, Lion, Kobold, Various Species, Engy Commission,