The tragic tale of Leonis

Precis and Celine arrived back at the ship before Opera and Ernest. Precis headed immediately to the bridge to see if she could find a way to play the log they’d recovered. Claude, Rena, and Celine all made her promise that she wouldn’t tinker with anything until Opera got back. Celine noted that Precis had given both Claude and Rena some inquisitive side eye before she disappeared to the bridge. She also noted that Rena kept giving Claude covert little smiles. Smiling to herself, she made an excuse to Claude and then dragged her blue haired roommate back to their room to get the scoop.

“So did you do everything I told you to?” Celine grinned eagerly once they were alone. It was obvious something had happened.

“Not exactly.” Rena blushed and stammered but eventually relayed most of what had happened in the medbay.

Celine was surprised at how far the two love birds had gone. She’d honestly expected Rena to run away as soon as either of them got naked. I’m even better at playing matchmaker then I thought. She was a little disappointed that it meant Claude was definitely off the market for her, but she was genuinely happy for Rena. Of course, that also meant Claude was off the market for Precis, so now she had a whole new problem to sort through. Not that she had to mother everyone, she just enjoyed doing it.

With everyone else busy, only Claude was there to greet Ernest and Opera when they came strolling up. He gave them an inquisitive look as they walked up the gangplank. Opera was wearing Ernest’s boots and tightly clutching his jacket about her body. It was pretty evident that she didn’t have anything else on under it. Ernest was consequently barefoot and immediately sat down to rub his feet as Opera dashed passed Claude. She looked simultaneously embarrassed and also incredibly pleased with herself.

“Looks like you two had a…productive excursion,” Claude smirked at his friend. Ernest gave him a wink back.

Later, everyone assembled on the bridge to see if they could play the log Celine and Precis had recovered. True to her word, Precis had waited for Opera before tinkering with anything and the two of them were now both laying under the communications console fiddling with wires and cables.

“The complex you describe sounds like it might have been made from the same material as the tower.” Ernest was debating with Celine while they waited. “Once we review this log, I wonder if Opera can modify her scans to look for whatever that material is so we can see where other structures might be.”

"I had a similar idea." Celine nodded conspiratorially. "If there are more underground structures, we might find more logs or possibly other clues to who the more advanced builders were."

“Let me finish one project before you plan the next one.” Opera’s voice came from inside the communication console. Precis said something as well, but it was too muffled to hear. Both girls giggled after whatever she said. Eventually they climbed out from under the console and closed it back up. “There.” Opera rubbed her hands together and punched in some commands on the console. “The crystal was a highly dense memory lattice intended to project a 3D construct. I have no idea how to make it do that without studying the original display console. Fortunately, we should at least be able to get the audio out of it.” Precis waggled her hand at her. “Maybe,” Opera conceded just as a burst of static sounded painfully from the ship’s speakers.

Thankfully it was brief and then a soft melodious voice began speaking. “…is the final record of this planet’s rise and downfall. As protectorate of the Leonidans, I, Alluriel, have taken to recording this tale. The first thing you need to know is that I am not a Leonidan myself. I and my partner, Dominariel, crashed on this planet hundreds of years ago. I know not what star catalogue you may be using, but the people of this planet refer to it Leonis. Our starship’s crash was witnessed by a tribe of Leonidans and they sent a party of warriors to investigate. At this point, the Leonidans were incredibly primitive, hunter-gatherer tribes still using stone weapons. A feline species with many superstitions, they perceived Dominariel and I, both Morphus, to be gods from the sky.”

“Do you know what this means!” Ernest blurted out. “We have concrete, historical evidence the Morphus are real!”

“That’s nice, dear.” Opera patted his hand. “Now shh!”

“Dominariel convinced me that with our starship in ruins, it would be best to play along. We could easily perform wonderous miracles to convince them of our godhood using our technology. I would like to think that we had benevolent hopes of helping the Leonidans. It was quite easy for us to take the small tribe who took us in and equip them with tools and talents they’d never even dreamed of. Within a year of our arrival, the tribe had essentially evolved from the stone age to the early iron age. We were still nowhere near to a point where we could attempt to repair our ship but we were making leaps and bounds in the tribe’s understanding of things. This ultimately proved to be our downfall.”

Claude whistled and shook his head disparagingly. He could see Ernest nodding with him in agreement. The Pangalactic Federation had learned the hard way about the dangers of interfering with underdeveloped planets and accelerating their evolution. The whole point of the Underdeveloped Planet Preservation Pact was to prevent that mistake from happening again. Granted who knew how old this log was.

“With increased power and knowledge our tribe began to conquer the other tribes. I knew nothing of the tribe’s actions until the first spoils were presented to us. I would like to think Dominariel was equally naïve but looking back after everything else, I now wonder. Regardless, our tribe’s warriors conquered a nearby tribe. Presumably hoping to curry favor with us, they presented the daughter of the other tribe’s chieftain as a tribute to us. We were both shocked. Despite what you will learn about him later, I know that even Dominariel did not seek human sacrifice. But what were we to do? Gods demand tribute. If we rebuked them, we risked upsetting our status and upending our entire attempt to evolve them to a point where we could repair our ship. In my first act of weakness, though surely not my worst, I abdicated responsibility and told Dominariel to do what he thought was best. To this day, I wonder how things would have turned out if I had chosen a different path.”

Though only audio, everyone on the bridge was listening with rapt attention. All eyes were locked onto the communication console, as if looking at it could conjure up images to go along with the tale Alluriel was weaving.

“This part will forever be etched in my mind. Dominariel approached the terrified girl. He stood over her for several minutes, looking down on her and then back to me. I like to this his decision weighed on him, but I will never know. Before the entire tribe and me, he pinned the girl to the ground and violated her. Yes, he **** the poor child. To his credit, he was not brutal. Both Dominariel and myself are practiced symbologists. He used some rudimentary symbols to heighten the girl’s pleasure and by the end of the ordeal she was mewling with need and desire. But it was **** none the less. I was aghast. Not only had he committed an atrocity, but he had also violated the sanctity of our own union. Later he told me it was the only way he could think to claim tribute without killing her. I could see the logic of it, but I also hated him. And thus, in my continued weakness, I made the situation worse.”

“Weeks later, our tribe conquered another tribe. Though Dominariel and I had both stated we didn’t want it, we were ignored. As before, a tribute was brought to us. This time a young man. I was still angry at Dominariel and reacted emotionally. Almost as soon as the boy was presented to us, I pushed him onto the ground and rode him. Yes, I committed **** too. Dominariel is a surprisingly contradictory and emotional man. While he thought I should forgive him for his transgressions, he took great offense at my own. There before the entire assembly he marched right up to us and claimed we while I still rode the young man. I regret to say that I found the experience quite enjoyable and it turned into an even bigger spectacle than when he'd taken the chieftain's daughter. It also set the stage for further decline in both the Leonidans and ourselves.”

Claude could see mixed reactions to the story. Ernest naturally had a speculative look as he took all the information in and catalogued it. Rena’s face was bright red and she had a hand over her mouth. Precis’s eyes were big and she occasionally shot Claude a quick glance that suggested her curiosity was piqued. Celine and Opera seemed to be the only calm reactions. Opera was nodding her head, though Claude was unclear as to what she was agreeing with. Celine merely tapped her chin thoughtfully. For his own part, he found the story equally tragic but surprisingly also a little arousing. Not that he condoned ****, but something stirred within him as the tale continued.

“Precedent had been set. Very quickly our tribe, which was slowly absorbing the tribes it conquered and thus growing even larger and stronger, moved from simple conquering to conquering and ****. If the gods did it, why not the soldiers. The presentation of tributes also became more and more debase. I concede that I was as caught up in the pleasure of them as Dominariel. I did, however, try to lessen the atrocities and began teaching the Leonidans some of our more erotic symbology, hoping to make things enjoyable for the conquered as much as the conquerors. We had already taught them functional symbology for working the land, so it was easy enough to transition to the more precise spells that evoked pleasure and subservience. The next several years were a blur of hedonistic conquest and depravity. The Leonid symbologists also made improvements to our erotic symbology, culminating in the ability to transfer energy built up during intercourse into another being.”

“I confess to not knowing what was more addictive, all the pleasure we were engaging in or the rush of power I felt when I absorbed the energy created by it. Not only was the power intense, but for at least Dominariel and I, it was enhancing. Our bodies were rejuvenated and our personal strength in symbology grew. The Leonidans also used the technique but only received temporary bouts of strength or endurance, so perhaps there is a physiological component to the symbology that I did not understand. Regardless, my life and Dominariel’s were greatly extended and we became gods in truth. We ruled for centuries, slowly conquering and seducing the planet…but no longer attempting to improve it. Society naturally devolved. No progress was made in anything that did not lead to pleasure or dominance. The concept of family became nonexistent. Men and women alike trade partners with ease. The closest thing to family would be the harems formed by those with the strength to hold them. Child raising was seen as merely preparing for a new generation of lovers and **** became common place.”

“My own revelation came randomly as I strode through the streets one day. Calling it a street would be an exaggeration. The roads were mud packed trails full of refuse. Buildings crumbled with neglect and decay. The people were largely sickly and starving, save those in power. We had taken a burgeoning world and turned it into a despoiled wasteland. I was more shocked than that first moment, so long ago, when Dominariel first set us on our course. I rushed to his side and pleaded with him to see what we had done. He laughed at me from beneath a sea of concubines. I then made the last of my mistakes and lashed out at him in anger, attempting to compel him to obey me with the twisted symbology we had developed. Either he had grown more practiced in it than I or I was simply weak from neglecting its use. Either way, he easily resisted me and then used the same symbology to compel me.”

“As I previously stated, Dominariel is a contradictory and emotional man. He gave me to his trusted lieutenants to…teach me the error of my ways. I spent the next…I don’t know how long being constantly ravaged by multiple men. While we both indulged deeply over the centuries, Dominariel would always possessively claim me whenever he saw me with another man. For him to casually hand me off to his underlings was what tortured me more than anything they did. I apparently mattered so little to him that he didn’t even realize when his compulsion over me wore off. In my sorrow, I allowed myself to just descend into what pleasure I could take from the experience and lost track of time.”

Any sense of arousal at the story had long since vanished for the listeners. Claude was happy to see that what desire had initially stirred in him had long since turned to disgust and empathic sadness. Despite the tragic nature of the story, no one could turn away from it. Everyone felt compelled to keep listening.

“Then, one day, I had another revelation. Rather than strike at Dominariel, I would contain him. Being no longer held by his compulsion, it was fairly easy for me to ensnare and compel his lieutenants that were still having their way with me. With them completely enthralled, I began a slow plan of entrapment. Dominariel was so uncaring and lost in his own pleasures that he wasn’t even aware I had left with his men. I ensnared more workers and unearthed our ancient starship. For five years, I used the remains of our starship and my own symbological powers to craft five towers at cardinal points around Dominariel’s palace. When he finally did notice, I acted the perfectly subservient slut that he expected me to be. Our time together almost made me rethink my plan, but I was through being weak and pressed on.”

“The Leonidan symbologists had long since lost any useful magics that were not erotically inclined. Feeling I had no time to retrain them, I used those symbols they could manage to construct a ritual that would cage Dominariel in his palace. After five years, my plan was successful. I was able to place a symbological ward around the palace, trapping Dominariel and his slaves inside. Though I felt for his slaves, I could do nothing for them. For the next several decades, I tried to reeducate the masses and pull them out of their debaucherous slump. I made some progress and perhaps I could have succeeded with more time, but it was not to be.”

“One night, I looked to the heavens and saw a shooting star. In that meteor, I sensed an ancient yet familiar power. To my horror, it crashed right through my wards protecting the palace. I quickly tried to replace the wards, but even if I’d been prepared, the ritual takes some time to perform. Dominariel had not been idle in his imprisonment. He must have sensed the power in the meteor like I had and he somehow gained control of it. Before I could even begin to reenact the ward ritual, a massive wave of energy exploded out of the palace and rippled across the entire globe. Everywhere it touched, the Leonidans fell into a lust fueled craze. Within hours, the entire planet was one unending orgy of debauchery. Even I could not resist it. The most I could do was retreat to the sanctuary you now find yourself in, bringing with me a handful of Leonidans to sate my own enraged appetites.”

“Nonstop, sex filled days passed until I found myself attempting to arouse a corpse. All my lovers had died from exhaustion. As horrifying as that was, I still could not fully control my own lusts. Pleasuring myself directly, I dared to venture out of my sanctuary and discovered that the rest of the planet had suffered the same fate as my companions. I suppose it is possible one or two were like me, wandering the wastes tending to their own needs, but if so, they would not last long. At this point all I could do for Leonis was investigate Dominariel.”

“The palace was empty. Dominariel had obviously long since used up all the slaves that had been trapped with him. I finally found him in the central chamber of the palace, crafting some sort of elaborate symbol of power. I realized that he had used the planet’s orgy to draw in power all at once and coalesce it for his scheme of escape. I prepared myself to fight him, but he surprised me by inviting me to join him. With the power he had amassed he said we could transcend our mortal bodies completely and finally escape the planet. We could travel the stars as gods of lust. I almost believed him, but I could see in his eyes that he held no love for me anymore. He only saw me as another conquest or trophy. I lashed out at him with my symbology, not trying to compel but to kill. Either his arrogance had led him to believe he could easily overpower me or he simply believed I was no threat. Either way, I caught him off guard and hurled him into his symbol of power. The same magic that had drawn power and life from the entire planet’s populace did the same to him.”

“With Dominariel dead, I left the palace. As far as I know, the symbol is still there as I had no interest in tampering with it. A year has passed and I still cannot sate my desires. I can manage them enough to seek sustenance, but I only scrounge. I believe my will to live died with the Leonidans. Soon my meager supplies will run out and when they do, I too shall pass. One last ghost of what was once the planet of Leonis.”

Another burst of static sounded before the log completely cut off, leaving the six listeners to wrestle with the knowledge they had unearthed.