Not the development he expected

Claude walked slowly down the corridor of the ship. Schedules were a somewhat fluid thing when one traveled the stars and went from planet to planet. That being said, the crew was more or less on the same schedule and it was their evening now so the hallway was empty. As he passed the door to Ernest and Opera’s quarters, he heard a moan. Pressing his ear against the door to check, he smiled.

“Harder!” Opera moaned. “Fill me with that glorious cock.”

Clearly the two Tetrageniots had rekindled the passion in their relationship. Claude was happy for them and a little aroused by Opera’s erotic moans. A part of him wished he could see what they were doing. His hand moved and suddenly he was looking down at Opera’s naked back as a cock plunged in and out of her. Hands pulled on her long blonde hair, forcing her to arch her back as she knelt on her own hands and knees before him. The abrupt shift in perspective was a little jarring and it took Claude a second to realize he must be seeing out of Ernest’s eyes. He couldn’t feel anything, so he didn’t think he had possessed Ernest, but he had no idea how he’d done the scry or if Ernest was aware of it. Somehow, he pulled back and then sagged against the doorway, blinking rapidly. He could still hear Opera moaning happily, so clearly whatever he'd done hadn't been detected by her or Ernest. Once the hallway stopped spinning, Claude pushed off the wall and continued walking. There wasn’t any doubt that he could use symbology. But again, he’d done so without really meaning to. Celine had said he needed to focus his intent to cast a spell, so how was he casting these spells?

He was staring at his hand and contemplating his sudden fortune, if it could be called that, when he realized he’d walked into the cargo hold. Glancing around, Claude could see that he was definitely alone. Figuring now was as good as ever, he held up his hand and tried to again form a symbol for wind. He focused his mind, clearing away all other thoughts, and visualized the symbol, trying to write out his commands to blow a gust of wind. After a few minutes of focus and straining until his head throbbed, nothing happened. Claude lowered his hand and sighed. What am I doing wrong?

“Claude?” Rena’s voice made Claude jump and spin around. She smiled at having caught him by surprise. “What are you doing?”

“Just…” Claude blew out a frustrated sigh. “Trying to figure out this whole symbology thing. I feel like I can use it, but I just can’t figure out how to actually do it.”

Rena stepped closer and placed a comforting hand on Claude’s chest. “I know Celine is a lot more knowledgeable about symbology than I am, but I don’t know that she knows everything. The way she described casting a spell is nothing like how I do it.”

“Really?” Claude gave Rena a curious look. “How do you do it?”

Rena blushed. “I…uh…just do it.” She quickly tried to explain when she saw the confused look on Claude’s face. “I mean I don’t do all that focus and writing that Celine talked about. I just know what I want to happen and I…make it happen.”

Claude thought about that. The spells he had cast had all just sort of happened right when he really wanted them to. Was his symbology like Rena’s? He focused on the idea of a gust of wind again, only rather than forming a symbol he just tried to make it happen. Nothing. Claude sighed but then smiled as Rena slipped up to hug him.

“You’ll figure it out.” Rena murmured into his chest as Claude wrapped his arms around her.

“Maybe,” Claude tried not to grow frustrated. His eyes fell on the statues of Dominariel and Alluriel. While Alluriel was a pile of pieces, Dominariel’s stood proudly. Claude glared at the statue, finding it more smug than proud. He had a sudden desire to wipe the look off the statue’s face. As he lifted his hand towards the statue, both Claude and Rena gasped in surprise as a magenta symbol appeared in front of his fingers.

“Claude, you’re doing it!” Rena exclaimed excitedly.

Claude tuned her out and focused on his feelings. Frustration turned to elation. He wasn’t really sure what he was doing, but clearly he was casting a spell. He felt more and more power build into the symbol, far more than he’d used on Precis or Ernest. His skin began to perspire as his body pulsed with power. He was beginning to worry he might be making a horrible mistake when suddenly all the power rushed out of him and a column of magenta light lashed out to strike the statue of Dominariel.

Rather than explode from the impact, the statue became suffused with the bright light, marble white shifting to luminous magenta. Claude and Rena gasped in surprise for a second time as the statue began to move. The arms flexed and the shoulders rolled as if the statue was working out kinks in muscles it shouldn’t have. As the light emanating from it began to dim, the statue’s magenta color faded to a tanned flesh tone. Claude and Rena found themselves staring at a naked man, rather than a statue.

“Ahhhh.” The man sighed and rocked his neck in a circular motion. “That worked out better than I thought.”

“You…you’re…Dominariel!” Claude couldn’t believe what he was saying, but he knew it was true.

“Indeed.” Dominariel smirked. “No need to bow. Freeing me from that wretched state of limbo is subservient enough.”

“But…but Alluriel killed you.” Rena was equally shocked.

Dominariel snorted. “Yes, I heard the story she wove for your little party of adventurers. Ignorance and denial.” He snorted again. “My love was too soft hearted for her own good. She didn’t even follow through on her plan to die.” He smirked again. “She came crawling back to me, thinking to join me rather than simply waste away. Which reminds me.” His hand lifted towards Claude.

Claude floated off the ground as pleasure and power rushed through him. He silently screamed as another beam of light shot out of his chest to strike the pile of pieces that was Alluriel’s statue. The pieces lifted into the air and began to reconnect as they became suffused with magenta light. Unlike Dominariel, the statue remained a glowing magenta construct as Dominariel pulled it against his hip and kissed it…her. Claude dropped to the floor and stayed in a crouch as he tried to recover. He felt spent, though his body still tingled with pleasure.

“I’m sorry, my love.” Alluriel sounded different than she had in the audio log. Her voice was more hollow.

Dominariel ran his hands along her glowing magenta body. “Fear not, my dear. Your body will be perfect soon.” He gestured towards Rena. The blue haired girl let out her own cry of ecstasy as she lifted into the air. Claude struggled to his feet and tried to hurl himself at Dominariel. The man contemptuously flicked his other hand at him and Claude was flung backwards to be pinned against a wall. “Your little slut will be fine, hero. I just need a little of her essence.”

Claude flexed against the pressure holding him to the wall. Try as he might, he couldn’t free himself and could only watch as Rena continued to writhe in the air. Alluriel’s glow began to fade until she too was a beautiful creamy flesh tone. Dominariel groped one of her breasts and she shivered against him as she stared up into his eyes. Rena dropped to the floor as the pressure holding Claude to the wall disappeared.

“See.” Dominariel barely inclined his head in Rena’s direction. “Probably the most intense orgasm she’s ever had, but she’s fine.” He smirked. “Though I’m sure you can show far greater pleasure when you start using the gifts I’ve given you.”

“Gifts?” Claude hurried over to help Rena stand. He saw that her eyes were a little glazed, but she was rapidly refocusing on the encounter.

Dominariel’s hand continued to explore Alluriel’s body as she snuggled up against him. He gave a snort of incredulity at Claude. “How do you think you so masterfully bent that other little slut to your will? You’ve been with two women before her and have very little experience. I’ve given you potency and skills from centuries of experience.”

“What is he talking about Claude?” Rena sagged against him. Her legs were still a little wobbly from the orgasm that had ripped through her body.

Claude didn’t answer her, more from his own shock than an attempt to hide the truth. It dawned on him that Dominariel must have read his mind or shared his memories or something along those lines. He eyed the man warily. Alluriel’s log had made him out to be some domineering beast, and while he certainly was doing as he pleased, he hadn’t been overtly threatening. “What do you want?”

“Ha!” Dominariel laughed. “A loaded question. There is a galaxy of pleasure just waiting to be experienced. I’d offer to let you join us, but I’ve seen your mind and know that you wouldn’t be willing to share your ladies. Not that I blame you.” He clutched Alluriel possessively and smirked as he saw Claude push Rena behind him. “Fear not. I won’t steal any of your sluts. After all, you freed me from my imprisonment and centuries in there has taught me something of benevolence.”

Claude wished he had his sword or a photon pistol. This was a man who had corrupted an entire world and led it to ruin. Claims of benevolence hung empty before those facts. “We won’t let you ruin another world.”

Dominariel’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t possibly think you can stand against my power, boy.”

“You wouldn’t be the first one to think that,” Claude tried to speak with more bravado then he felt.

“Perhaps.” Dominariel quickly glanced about the cargo hold. “I suppose we could test your convictions, but as I stated, there is a galaxy of pleasure waiting for us. I suggest you grab hold of something.”

“What?” Claude tensed, ready to block an attack.

Instead, Dominariel leaned down to capture Alluriel’s lips in a passionate kiss. His arms pulled her into a tight embrace as a bubble of magenta energy shimmered around them. The bubble lifted off the ground, and as the two demigods continued to make out it hurtled towards the cargo bay door, tearing through the metal like it was paper. Emergency alarms blared as air rushed out into the vacuum of space, threatening to pull Claude and Rean with it. Claude had already been holding onto Rena and tightened his hold on her as they both slid towards the opening in the ship. He grasped a cargo strap and clung to it as Rena clung to him. Air continued to rush past them and their vision started to go dark at the edges. After clinging for their life for what felt like hours, but couldn’t have been more than half a minute, the emergency blast plate slid down to cover the hole. Rena and Claude sagged against each other, gulping air and thankful to not be floating in the cold vastness of space.