A pink haired woman walks through a snowy wood, tall mountains not far in the distance. This was the forest known as the Woods of Delusion in the Runespeech, a place she normally wouldn’t tread. She has experienced enough illusions and mind games for an entire life, in her opinion. But, as much as the woman hated it, the giants of Ashla had a custom. To be allowed into the city and granted citizenship, a trial must be completed. This rule was so strict that having a proper citizen of the city vouch for her hadn’t swayed the authority on this. Though at least it had convinced them to allow her help with the task.

“Do you sense anything, Vari?” asks the help in question. Her Atenia, half-giant and half-kitsune.
Vari, short for Lovaria, had her form memorized, without even having to look. Eight feet tall and with the muscles of an aurochs, the image of the ultimate warrior in the minds of all but her giant kin. Her short hair is as dark as the deep caverns in the earth, and she is dressed in impressively sewn-together furs like most of the denizens of the mountain city Ashla. And, on her belt hangs0 a sheathed sword sized for someone much smaller than herself. A gift from her kitsune mother, according to her.

Lovaria takes a moment to listen closer: trees swaying in the breeze, soft snow falling. But no sign of their quarry, the demon Malphia. Hunting her wasn’t just a trial, it was free labor, because the authority of Ashla was too incompetent to deal with the woman responsible for whisking away their best warriors to locations unknown themselves. For all it’s many, many flaws, at least the officials of her home city of Thezmer cared when their underlings started going missing. She would know, they hunted her relentlessly when she deserted. Crossing over to the nation of Aethel and beyond was the only thing that allowed her to escape them.

“No, nothing, Aten.” she responses, sweeping her gaze across the forest. In the distance, the sun was falling below the mountains, and less than a mile ahead there was a small clearing. Perhaps this was a sign that they should rest.

“Let us stop at that clearing up ahead, my dearest. We will not track this demon if we are too exhausted to put one foot in front of another. Besides, night fell hours ago.” Lovaria says, her voice matter of fact like usual.

“Awww, okay, my love.” replies Atenia, “Do you want me to carry you the rest of the way?”

“Thank you, but no thank you.” Lovaria grumbles in over exaggerated annoyance.

Atenia shrugs, “Okay then Vari, let me know if you change your mind.”

The two women arrive in the snow covered clearing. Thankfully, the snow was falling gently and hadn’t piled too high. Besides, the two of them were well adjusted to the cold climate. Especially Lovaria, who’s home city was even farther south than they were now.

Setting up the camp is a simple task, between their shared survival skills. All the hunters and warriors of Ashla, who were usually one and the same, learned how to survive in the hostile environment that was their home, and Atenia was no exception. And while not all the tricks Lovaria had learned to survive while on the run were useful here and these sorts of things were not the focus of her magical study, she still knew how to set up a camp with a few invocations, some sunstones dug up near Ashla, and a large sigil drawn in the snow.

In a few minutes, she has a ward against the elements and beasts of the snowy woods, as well as a magical alarm set up while Atenia cleared out snow and made a fire with the sticks she liked to pick up all the time. After it was all done, Lovaria collapses into Atenia’s arms, snuggling up to her. Though that would never be a word she’d describe it with. It was not the magic that tired her out, but the walk. They’d been traveling for over a day at this point and had only rested once before now.

“You okay, Vari?” Atenia asks, the concern obvious in her voice.

Lovaria pats her arm in reassurance, “I am fine, just tired from the road.”

“Is there anything I can do then?”

Lovaria considers for a moment, before smiling, “Carry me closer to the fire.”

Atenia rolls her eyes, but complies, picking up Lovaria and stepping closer to the fire, which was only a few steps away. Lovaria snuggles her face against Atenia’s chest in response, making a purr-like sound of contentment.

“Very cuddly tonight, are you?” Atenia asks, her voice a bit amused.

“Mm, it is just so cold, my dearest. Won’t you keep me warm?” Lovaria says, already knowing the answer. Her dearest Atenia could never resist her.

“Hmm, if you insist.” Atenia rolls her eyes affectionately.

Together, they both lay down a sort of large blanket made of patchwork furs like many other pieces of giant craft. Usually this would be laid under to retain heat against the biting cold, but in the heat-retaining bubble created by Lovaria’s magic, they don’t need it for that purpose. Instead, it just makes for a good barrier against their bodies and the slowly warming earth.

Lovaria pushes Atenia down onto the blanket, though given how much stronger the half-giant was to her she has no doubt that she was letting the smaller woman guide her. Lovaria gets on top of her dearest, her spotted feline tail flicking in excitement for what she plans to do.

“Hmm,” Atenia hums, “I thought we were just going to cuddle, Vari?”

“We could, but this is such a dreadful errand we’ve been sent on. Wouldn’t you like to do something fun to distract from it for a little while?” Lovaria purrs in response.

Atenia considers for a moment, though they both already knew what she was going to say.

“Sure, just get off me so I can take off my clothes.”

Lovaria smiles widely, “Oh, no need, I’ll get it for you.”

Crawling backwards until she could reach the drawstring of Atenia’s fur trousers, Lovaria undoes them and starts to pull the many layers of clothing separating her from what she wants out of the way. Atenia lets her, though she averts her eyes in embarrassment as Lovaria reveals what looked to just be underclothes with a strange metal ring with runes carved into it that was weaved into the fur around the groin area. But they both knew it was much more.

Lovaria traces a finger around the metal circle and mutters a certain incantation she knew well, and as she does the runes of the ring glow with blue light, and from it emerges something quite explicitly phallic in nature, though translucent and of the same color as the light emitted by the ring. The object had been a personal request of hers from the exiled dusk elf smith that had once been her teacher. Though she was more famous for her ghostly blades that bypassed armor.

Atenia once had a similar thing of flesh and blood; but it had been replaced by the magical object Lovaria activates now, and was eventually reshaped into something that would be used more often with the help of Lovaria’s spellcraft. They both consider it quite the upgrade.

While it wasn’t a blade, it did possess similar abilities to the ones made by the same maker. So, when Lovaria positions herself above her dearests ghostly member, it passes right through her clothes and the head rubs against her labia.

“Mm, getting right to it then?” Atenia asks, her voice wavering a bit with pleasure. The extra work Lovaria had to do for Rai to get the wearer to feel what they would feel with a flesh and blood phallus continued to be worth it.

“Yes, my dearest. You know that I am not a patient woman, and if I want something I do not wait to take it.” Lovaria replies teasingly, her voice filled with challenge.

Atenia smiles slyly in response, “My love, if you want me to bounce you in my lap you just have to ask.”

Lovaria rolls her eyes in faux annoyance, “Be silent, my insolent darling. Just nod if you’re ready for me to put it in.”

Atenia considers for a moment, then says, “I’m plenty ready, are you sure you are though? It’s pretty big, maybe a bit too big for you, shortie.”

“First of all, it is not too big, I specifically requested for it to perfectly adjust size throughout its use. And second, I told you to be silent, you mountain of a woman!” Lovaria huffs.

Atenia laughs, “Fine, fine. Just please tell me if it hurts, Vari.”

“Oh, I will, you do not need to worry about that, my Aten.” Lovaria sighs, trying and failing to keep up her facade of annoyance in the face of her beloveds concern.

Lovaria lowers herself, holding the base of the translucent member to help guide it inside her. It felt a bit strange at first, how it narrowed itself to part her folds and slowly expanded the deeper it got until the entire glowing blue shaft disappeared inside her. At its full size, it was likely quite large, though she couldn’t really see it. It rubbed against all the most sensitive spots inside of her every time she moved even a bit, and she was shaking with pleasure and excitement by the time it was fully in.

“Having fun, Vari?” Atenia asks her, smiling a bit smugly. Though she looked to barely be holding it together herself considering she was gripping the blanket below them.

“Speak for yourself, Aten. You look like you will orgasm any moment.” Lovaria scoffs in amusement.

“Hmmm, how about we bet on that then? Bet that I can make you cum before you make me.”
“What for? I don’t make bets without something to gain, my dear Aten.”

“Mm, if I win, get me a treat.”

Lovaria narrows her eyes, “That’s it? It sounds quite vague.”

“Mmmmhm! That’s all I want.”

“Okay then. Mm,” Lovaria lets out a small sound as she shrugs and the phantom dick inside her moves a bit, “w-well, I want a new staff. I’ll handle the details; you just order it.”

“Sounds good to me,” Atenia grins, “makes sense you’d want something long and hard. Cute sound, by the way.”

Lovaria just narrows her eyes further and says, “Just start thrusting, now.”

Atenia shrugs, very amused, “Okay, princess.”

Atenia leans up into a sitting position, with a hand on Lovaria’s back to keep her from falling off. And with strength far greater than most small folk, though still with surprising control and gentleness, Atenia starts to thrust up into Lovaria. The ring that manifests the ghostly strap-on hits Lovaria’s sigil-marked fur clothing at the end of every thrust in, though any sound that makes is drowned out by the sounds of catfolk pussy being fucked.

Despite her attempt at retaining a haughty demeanor, Lovaria couldn’t help but grip her Atenia tight and bury her head in her chest muffle her whines and moans. Her body was quite sensitive when she was turned on, which she had chosen when she had gotten the opportunity to recreate it so many years ago, but it made acting superior difficult sometimes.

“Awww, getting weak already, my love? Need me to slow down?” Atenia teases, while not slowing in the slightest.

“N-no, I don’t.” Lovaria responses with an overplayed growl, “I’m just, ah, just a bit sensitive. Doesn’t mean I won’t last longer than you though.”

“Hmm, sureeee.” says Atenia, trying to hide her own pleasure with her teasing. The magical ring had been something Lovaria had gotten for her quite recently, and while she’s used it more than once, she still wasn’t quite used to how sensitive it was. Already she is close and has to slow her thrusts slightly in order not to cum then and there.

Lovaria is nothing if not very perceptive, and when she feels Atenia slow, she raises her head out of her cleavage and smiles.

“Slowing down, are you? What, can’t handle it?”

Atenia just grunts in response, clearly not trusting her voice to be steady enough to speak.

“Mmmhm, I knew it. Feel free to sit back then, my dearest. I will set the pace.”

Reaching up to grab Atenia’s shoulders, Lovaria uses them as leverage to bounce on the ghostly cock almost as fast as Atenia’s thrusting had been earlier, though with much less care and much more aggressiveness.

As Lovaria rides her, Atenia goes right back to gripping the blanket below, this time hard enough to disrupt the dirt beneath. She has her beautiful, obsidian black eyes screwed shut. That wouldn’t do.

“Aten, open your eyes, I have something to show you.” Lovaria says commandingly, though with no small amount of flirtation, as she pauses her riding to strip off her top clothes to expose her breasts to her Atenia.

Atenia does open her eyes, and smiles when she sees her Vari’s lovely chest.

“Showing off are you?”

Lovaria rolls her eyes, “Just trying to make sure you look at me, my Aten.”

“I’d love to do more than look, to be honest.”

“Feel free to then, my dearest. I know you love my body.”

“I love more than your body, Vari.” Atenia says warmly, “But yes, I love it very much as well. Enough talking though, you stopped, and now I wanna be in control.”

With her usual care and gentleness, though also with surprising speed, Atenia rolls forward so that Lovaria is underneath her. Lovaria quickly recovers from the shock of being flipped over, still with Atenia’s spirit strap inside her and says dryly, “Well now I am going to get dirt in my hair, you barbarian woman.”

It’s Atenia’s turn to roll her eyes in mock exasperation, “Oh, you’ll live. It’s happened plenty of times before. Now, stay still, this barbarian woman is about to ravage you.”

Atenia is too large to put Lovaria’s legs over her shoulders, so instead, she lifts them up, and holds them there with one hand. Her large, fluffy fox tail wraps around Lovaria’s waist, like an oversized faintly glowing belt.

“Wrapping me up in your coils are you?” Lovaria comments, “Like a snake.”

“Don’t compare me to a snake, Vari. You are alone in thinking those things are cute.”

“I think they’re more than cute! The ice snakes of the far south are very interesting, especially when compared to serpents of hotter cli-” Lovaria’s lecture is cut off by the sound of a moan as Atenia slowly thrusts deeper into her.

“You can tell me about snakes another time, okay princess?” Atenia assures her.

Lovaria grumbles, acting more annoyed than she was, but doesn’t disagree. That would be too distracting from her goal after all, to not orgasm before her Aten. Something that was feeling less possible by the second. Being on top had allowed her to control the pace somewhat, but now she had no such ability, and as Atenia continues to fuck her and her unoccupied hand roams across her body, it was getting harder to hold back.

“O-okay, I’m close, Aten. I admit defeat.” Lovaria stutters out, clutching Atenia’s tail tightly as her half-giant lover pumps in and out of her with teasing fingers on her sensitive clit. She would never admit defeat like this in any situation to anyone else, but Atenia has a way with her.

“Such a good girlll, Vari. Cum for your barbarian.” Atenia praises her in response.

Lovaria does exactly that. She whimpers and whines as she orgasms, her usual facade of stoic calmness completely washes away as she clings to her dearest. After a few moments however, she comes down from the intensity and starts to purr contently again.

“Enjoyed yourself, I see.” Atenia teases.

The cat woman opens her orange eyes and looks at her lover with a tired, but satisfied, expression.

“I did. I am surprised you lasted so long; have you been working on your stamina?”

Atenia smiles sheepishly, “Actually, I may have turned the sensitivity on it down while you were distracted showing off.”

Lovaria furrows her brow, “So you cheated?”

“From a certain point of view, yeah.”

“No, not ‘from a certain point of view’. Objectively, you did!” Lovaria sighs, “You devious trickster. I was going to offer to help you climax as well, but I suppose you’ll have to take care of that on your own now tonight.”

“Fair enough. Do I still get that treat at least? How about cuddles?”

“Hm, only if you do well on this mission.” Lovaria says, her annoyance fading just as quickly as it had arisen, “But yes, of course we can cuddle. Nothing you did would disallow that with me, you ridiculous woman. Just give me a few moments to clean up with a spell, we’re way too sweaty.”

Atenia smiles and lets Lovaria do just that. And when she finishes, they cuddle for a while before it is time for Lovaria to sleep and Atenia to take the first watch.

Lovaria dreams of happy things, as she always does around her Aten. Her joy was like a shield against her nightmares.

Suddenly, after what feels like hours, Lovaria awakens. And instantly, she knows something is wrong. According to the sky, it is midnight, not a couple hours past it like it usually was when she woke from her night rest. She had only slept two or so hours. She can tell that what awakened her was the magical ward she had set up earlier, like the sound of a bell but more of a feeling down her spine. A feeling of danger. However, she doesn’t hear what possibly could have trespassed. The night is silent, other than the sounds of trees swaying in the breeze and falling snow.

Too silent, actually. Where was her Aten?

Lovaria springs up with cat-like grace and agility, and to her relief, she sees her dearest keeping watch, sitting with her back to her. Quietly, she approaches her and softly taps her shoulder. She doesn’t respond. Panic shoots through Lovaria, and she quickly rounds her to see her front.

Her eyes are closed, but she is breathing. She must have fallen asleep while on watch, the fool of a girl. Lovaria softly shakes her, trying to remain subtle. And when her eyes start to open, Lovaria gently puts her hand to her dearests lips as a sign for her to stay quiet. Atenia obeys, even as obviously tired as she is, she knows when Lovaria is serious about something.

Lovaria makes a gesture like she is connecting Atenia and herself with an imaginary string. And then, Atenia hears Lovaria’s voice in her mind.

Something has crossed my ward, Aten. Something with a will to make it past my defenses, and subtle enough to stay hidden from us.

Atenia responds, her expression deadly serious.

Okay, what shall we do then, Vari?

But before Lovaria can respond to that, she hears a sound. The soft sound of something treading on the snow a few feet away, somewhere between where the ward starts and where Atenia and Lovaria are. Almost imperceptible, if her hearing was not as sharp as it is and she wasn’t on high-alert then perhaps she would not have even heard this.

Lovaria looks out into the darkness, lit only by the stars and the arch of light across the northern sky. If anything is out there, which Lovaria was sure that there was, it hid itself from her sight well. But she knew it was there, and thus it could not hide from her.

She makes a sign as if she was pushing something down with two fingers and mutters the word for ‘grovel’ in her native language of Thezmeran. And immediately, she hears a yelp of surprise, and in the snow a few feet out appears a large, wolf-like creature, which falls to the snowy ground in submission to Lovaria’s spell.

Without a word having to be said, Atenia lunges forward with her small sword in hand, and before the beast can break free of Lovaria’s magic, the blade plunges through its neck. The wolf-thing twitches like a dying creature, but instead of growing still, it turns into a dark mass blacker than the night sky. And this mass collapses into nothing.

“Good work Aten.” says Lovaria, as she rushes up to check up on her dearest, relieved to find she had come to no harm in the short struggle.

Atenia smiles, “It would not have been possible without you, my love.”

Lovaria shrugs, “Most likely. Now, have you any knowledge of what that wolf-creature was?”

“I’m not sure. But most likely some form of animalistic demon. It collapsed into Darkness, returning to the Realm of Darkness probably.”

“That would make much sense. Perhaps a minion of the demon we hunt.”

“Likely, yeah.” Atenia says as she looks out into darkness, her night vision not as good as Lovaria’s but still better than most of her giant kin. “Now, where is their mistress?”

“Hmm, I am not sure.” says Lovaria after a few moments of focus, “For now, nothing seems out of place. Perhaps that will change once we’re on the move?”

“Can’t you use some sort of magic to find her?” Atenia asks, waving her hand in vague approximation of one of Lovaria’s spell signs.

Lovaria shakes her head, “Maybe if I had a day or so to set up a detailed enough ritual circle and something appropriate to act as a catalyst. I would likely also need some assistance from a mage with more skill in that area as well to search the whole forest, however. While just barely, it is outside my usual skill set to detect exact locations of specific creatures.”

“Damn, well, I’m confident that when we do find her you’ll be able to take her down no problem!”

The cat woman rolls her eyes, but she smiles, “I appreciate it Aten, but I assure you I do not need reassurance. I am as confident in my abilities as I am knowledgeable on what is beyond them.”

“Now,” Lovaria continues, “do you need to rest, Aten? I do not wish to scold you, but you were dozing off on guard earlier.”

Atenia smiles sheepishly, “Sorry, Vari. You know how I am when I’m bored. Don’t worry though, I am well rested enough to stay on the move!”

Falling asleep when bored was not very surprising for Atenia, she could sleep in virtually any environment and would if she wasn’t appropriately stimulated. One of her many quirks.

Lovaria sighs, “It is fine. Now, we should focus on the task at hand. Gather up our supplies and hide our camp while I cast something.”

While Atenia collects their things and hides the signs of their passage, Lovaria begins to consider what magic they would require. She has no need to cast a spell for protection from the elements, staying on the move will keep them warm. And they were both dressed, and unlike many of the peoples further north, made to withstand the bitter cold of the south. So, the only ward they required was an alarm to prevent them from being sneak attacked. With some effort, she could attempt to copy her earlier alarm ward into a more mobile form. But she had a better idea.

Lovaria removes her gloves and opens one of the powder containers in one of her winter jackets many pockets. Wetting two fingers, she dips it in the ground-up wolf bones and with them draws a small rune on her forehead that her teacher Rai had taught her so many years ago. The rune was sedru, which symbolized hearing.

She then mutters a few words in her native tongue, and suddenly, the sounds of the forest grow clearer. For the next hour or so, the spell will improve her already great hearing by leaps and bounds, though she finds it trivial to focus on the sounds that were most important and tune out the others. The spell was one she had learned long ago in Thezmer, in a memory only hazily remembered. Though she had changed the components somewhat after her time with Bloody Rai the runesmith, for she had forgotten what the spell had originally required. Much of her knowledge of Leiralian Warping was this way.

“There. I should be able to pinpoint anything closer than a few yards. Aten, do you have everything?”

“Yes, Vari! We’re ready.” responses Atenia, with her large pack that held all their supplies.

With all preparations settled, they set off once more. It is not long until Lovaria hears what sounds like light footsteps, though some sound heavier than the others. More of those wolf-like demons perhaps? It was as good a guess as any, and a decent lead as well. So, Lovaria turns to Atenia and with the same magic she had used earlier, says in her mind.

Aten, I hear what may be our quarry, or at least something that may lead us to her. Be as quiet as you can, we will ambush them.

Atenia nods wordlessly, and suddenly the sound of their passage grows much quieter. If not for Lovaria’s proximity and enhanced hearing, she likely would not be able to hear her at all. This illusionary ability was another gift from Atenia’s kitsune mother, and no accidental one either. She had willingly sacrificed one of her tails to give her daughter this and more, and it had saved both Atenia and Lovaria more than once.

Time marches on as Lovaria follows the sounds of footsteps, and Atenia follows her, both sneaking through the darkness. Because here, the canopy was thick, and only the barest bits of light from the stars and northern arch broke through to shine upon them. Soon enough, Lovaria sees a group of creatures through the darkness. They almost blend into it, if it wasn’t for the dim light shining through this part of the canopy, they likely would have.

Lovaria’s guess had been correct, it was a whole pack of the same demon that had tried to sneak up on them earlier. They are led by a creature that looks similar to the others but is the size of a horse. And sat aside the massive beast’s back is a woman. The first thing Lovaria notices about her is her apparent fragility. The woman is thin, unnaturally so, and her height is almost as lacking as her musculature. More disturbing however is that she is pure white. Hair, skin, eyes; all of her is as pale as snow.

Malphia, it must be her. Follow my instructions, Aten.

Lovaria doesn’t need to hear Atenia’s response to know that she would do as she told her to.

I need you to cloak us both from her and her beasts senses so that they do not see us as they get closer.

Hmmm, I’ll try. I don’t think I’ll be able to maintain it for long though, especially considering I doubt they just rely on their vision.

That is fine, it does not need to be too long. I just need to cast something.

Okay, I can do that then.

She starts the incantation as soon as she hears Atenia’s confirmation in her mind, and as Atenia softly drops her travel bag in the snow.

“Symbols of power in the form of the spoken word, I call on you. Form destruction against her who insults me.”

As the first words leave Lovaria’s lips, a small part of her worries about Atenia’s illusion not working. She pushes that thought to the back of her mind, absolute concentration is needed.

“Kindle the blazing flame and burn her nerves to ashes.”

As Lovaria says these words she moves a finger along her staff, tracing the rune kenaz that was carved into it.

“Let the bitter cold of the southern wilderness paralyze her muscles.”

Her finger moves down to the rune of isaz. She has become absorbed in her chanting, bound to see it through despite any obstacle.

“Let her mind, her heart, her very being, fall into nothingness.”

She traces the penultimate, unnamed rune. One that was never carved or named but had a shape which could be remembered.

“Kill my enemy, words of power.”

With the tracing of the final rune, wun, and the final words spoken, Lovaria’s spell is complete.

…

And for a moment, nothing happens. Then something does.

First, one of the wolf-demons collapses wordlessly in the snow.

Second, Malphia’s head swivels around with astonishing speed and turns not to face the dead wolf, but to face Lovaria’s direction, and she smiles a cruel smile.

Third, the pale woman speaks.

“Oh, you should not have done that. Your magic is not powerful enough to bypass my reflective wards, you simply alerted me to your presence. Now, come out of hiding, I know where you are.”

Lovaria curses under her breath, and Atenia looks grim as she stops maintaining the now useless illusion. They’d been caught, all due to reflective magic that Lovaria feels she should’ve detected. She is not used to engaging in combat with other mages, she has never had to before now.

“There you are, such fascinating specimens.” says the woman as the pair emerge from hiding, “You must be here to enact vengeance on me, for taking your people.”

“Yes, we are.” says Lovaria, schooling her previously panicked expression.

Atenia already has her hand on her sword, though she hasn’t drawn it yet. And similarly, Lovaria is clutching her staff tight, searching her mind for a spell that would be useful here. With the strength of Malphia’s wards, she didn’t have many options.

“Mm, not surprising. Which settlement are you from? The big one looks local to the area, if unique. But you, little mage, do not look from around here.”

“I am not local, yes.” says Lovaria, trying to subtlety determine exactly how many wolf-demons this woman commanded, “I come from further south, I was banished from that land however.”

She sends a telepathic message to Atenia as she speaks to Malphia.

Draw the ragall rune into the snow for me, Aten. Be subtle.

“The frozen wastes? You must be quite resourceful then. Tell me girl, do you see a safe way out of this situation you’ve found yourself in?” Malphia says, her voice almost playful.

There is a few tense seconds until Lovaria answers. Atenia wordlessly draws her sword the tiniest bit out of its scabbard as one of her feet works.

“I would be a fool to tell you if I did.”

“Was worth an attempt.” Malphia shrugs, and her smile returns, “Regardless of your plan however, it simply will not work. Now, I will give you one opportunity to lay down your arms and join your people. What do you say?”

“Under consideration.” Lovaria lies easily, “First, tell us, what reason did you take these people? To build an army to fight other demons? To feed off their emotions?”

The demon woman laughs, “Both close guesses, but they are not for me to feed off. They are for my arena, and that is all you need to know.”

A gladiatorial arena then, Lovaria thinks. That would make sense. She was kidnapping Ashla’s better warriors.

“I suppose it makes sense that even creatures of Darkness love a good show. Makes more sense even, from a certain point of view.” says Lovaria.

Atenia completes the rune, and the spell takes effect before Malphia can respond. Fourteen of the wolf-demons vanish, sent back to their realm of origin. The only enemies that remain are Malphia and the creature she sits astride.

Lovaria is immensely grateful to past her for teaching Atenia a few runes, if she hadn’t known the rune of banishing that would have been impossible. However, even with it to lighten the load of weaving the incantation into her words, it had taken a lot of focus.

Immediately, Atenia leaps into action. In one swift motion drawing her blade and slashing at Malphia. The demon leaps back with incredible speed, tumbling off her mount in the process, and when she turns to face her attacker once again, Lovaria sees a large gash in her face, dripping black blood. If Atenia’s blade was normal, she likely would’ve missed. But it was always difficult to tell the exact length of a kitsune morphing blade, and once you did, it tended to change ever so slightly to throw you off again.

“Clever! But it will not save you.” Malphia growls before snapping her fingers at her one remaining wolf, “Deal with the spellcaster, Muriel.”

The wolf obeys its mistress’s will in a heartbeat, and races straight towards Lovaria, while Malphia engages Atenia.

Lovaria is knocked to the ground when the wolf tackles her, and just barely blocks the wolf’s jaws with her staff. It is a powerful thing though, much more powerful than her. And even her magically reinforced stick likely wouldn’t survive if it decides to bite just a little bit harder. So, before it can do that or pull back for another bite at her, Lovaria hastily traces the xisech rune that is carved on her staff.

Suddenly, the wooden stick morphs into a snake. A snake that proceeds to immediately sink its fangs into the wolf’s neck, delivering enough venom to paralyze a giant right into its bloodstream. The beast collapses to the side, thankfully not landing on Lovaria.

Lovaria scrabbles to her feet, and sees the melee Atenia and Malphia are locked in.

Atenia duels with her sword and brief bursts of her illusions. Making illusionary doubles, turning invisible for seconds at a time, likely interfering with Malphia’s senses as well when possible. It is obviously quite exhausting for her though; she isn’t able to concentrate on any one illusion at a time.

Malphia on the other hand fights like one of her wolves. Her nails had grown into long claws, and she uses them to swipe at Atenia with unrelenting ferocity. She shows no sign of exhaustion.

Time seems to slow as Lovaria desperately puzzles out how to stop this monster of a woman. Her staff could not be changed back, turning it into an ice serpent was its last trick, and without it her spellcasting abilities were much more restricted in speed and potency. And while the snake was supernaturally tough and had potent venom, it was already starting to crumble into snow as the energy that manifested it fades. Her bag of tricks is running low.

Lovaria’s attention is brought back to the fight from the sound of Atenia’s blade falling to the ground. She watches as her Aten collapses, bleeding from a horrific number of cuts across her body that stain the snow red.

Malphia stands atop her body, looks over to the nearly fully dissolved ice snake and the corpse of her pet and says, “Impressive, I never thought you’d have a trick like that. Unfortunately for you, I have a similar one.

She flashes her metallic looking claws, each almost a foot long. Lovaria had been too focused on the wolf to notice earlier, but now she could see the almost clear venom that seems to coat them.

“If you killed her I will de-” speaks Lovaria, her voice rising with the wrath of a raging blizzard. But Malphia cut her off.

“She’s not dead, don’t worry. Just paralyzed. She’s quite the fighter, I would be amiss not to add her to my collection. Of course, I cannot say the same for you.”

The demon smiles a cruel smile, “You are quite the impressive mage, and cleverer than that by half. Too clever, in fact. I have no doubt that you would destroy any restraint I made for you or the other girl. Which is why you must die.”

Before Lovaria can scoff at this, tell Malphia that if she couldn’t imprison her then she certainly couldn’t kill her, she feels a stabbing pain in her chest and falls to her knees.

“W-what is this?” she sputters out. It feels like she had swallowed knives, and that they were tearing her apart from the inside. Certainly she couldn't be doing such damage with just words, especially since she seems to be weaving them into sentences like Lovaria had done.

“Simple, girl. I am destroying you. I need no incantations, no symbols, no sacrifice. When I will you to die, you die.”

“B-but that isn’t possible. All magic demands something more than just mundane words.” says Lovaria, searching her mind for some sort of explanation. She feels like she is missing something that had once been obvious to her, but right now all she finds is pain. There isn’t even any terror or rage like there should be, those disappeared when the pain had started.

“Demons are not subject to mortal laws. Now die, girl.”

With those words, Lovaria’s vision goes dark, and she slowly stops feeling anything at all.

…

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…

“Greetings, Lovaria. Exile of Thezmer, student of the runesmith Bloodstained Raiment, lover of the warrior Atenia. I see that you need our assistance once again.” says a calming, perfectly level voice.

Lovaria can’t bring herself to respond, or to open her eyes, or to do much of anything really.

“Hm, she must have really gotten you good with the emotional drain then. If only we could fix that like we fixed the damage she caused to your internal organs!” the new playful voice laughs, like she was telling a joke to a friend.

“Stop playing, she is in no state for that.” a third, familiarly gentle voice chastises the second.

“I was being serious though!” the second voice responses, clearly offended.

“Calm yourselves, sisters.” the first voice speaks again, and the other two quiet instantly, “We are here simply to help how we can, and provide her the first step on her journey to save her lost love. Understand?”

“Of course.” says the gentle, familiar voice.

“Fineeee, if you both insist.” whines the playful one.

“Good.” the first continues, “Now, when you awake, make your way to the Compass City Saarmit. The journey will be harsh, but there you will find someone who will help you. Goodbye, Lovaria”

“Safe travels.” wishes the gentle voice.

“No, get into dangerous adventures! Stuff worth writing down later.” argues the playful voice.

“She’s not just for your entertainment, you know!”

The two voices continue to argue after that, but their voices quickly fade, and Lovaria only hears silence once more. For the first time in over a decade, her nightmares return.