the D4

Blue crept slowly along the craggy rocks of the desolate mountain path as she watched the humans below. They were fascinating, but she was the only one of her many sisters to think so.

Long ago, if the stories were to be believed, her people owned the skies. Now, they kept in hiding to avoid being discovered and wiped out like most of those who came before.

Blue didn’t care about that, though. The stuff the humans had was neat, and she wanted it.

The hiker in the front was male—she was sure of that much, though the one behind him was a mystery. He—she? Was covered from head to toe in bright fabric that rippled in the chill breeze that whipped through the peaks around her.

At least the man had his face out. It let her see his beard.

Blue liked beards, though she couldn’t really say why. She’d never had the chance to examine one up front, but the idea of something that declared its masculinity appealed to her in a way she could never quite express to her sisters.

The humans rounded the corner and vanished from sight, and Blue flapped her wings as she lifted up and swooped to her next perch.

There were more humans these days. Her sisters were already talking of moving again, of going deeper into the mountains, farther and farther away.

Soon, Blue was going to have to make a choice. She knew that, and she hated it, so she didn’t think about it.

Instead, she thought about the pack the figure in the back was wearing. It was smaller than the man’s, but she took it off frequently when they rested. If Blue could swoop in at just the right moment–”

“Hey, did you see something?”

“What?”

“Like, up on that rise? I thought I saw someone standing there. Looking at us.”

“C’mon, babe, you’re imagining things. Let’s get moving. The guide says this is a six hour hike, and I think we’re behind already.”

“Fucking Christ. Alright. I swear there was someone there, though.”

“Way out here in the mountains? Pfft.”

“Very mature. Alright, let’s go.”

* * *

The final contestant to emerge into the courtyard all but exploded through the door. Kevin barely got the chance to look at her before she darted forward, glanced at the open sky above the courtyard, and launched herself into the air in a burst of motion.

The four sided die in his hand launched itself like a blue comet after the airborne woman, and for a few seconds Kevin even thought she was going to get clear. She had nearly cleared the courtyard walls, which would have put her out of line of sight of any of them, before Lily managed to reach a hand up and point at her.

The moment her finger locked onto its target, the woman’s motion started to slow dramatically. She stopped entirely a moment later, then reversed direction as the magnetic pull of Lily’s magic took hold.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” The woman—the harpy, Kevin realized as she was reeled in by the succubus—never stopped struggling. Or shouting, until Lily got her close enough to hit with another blast of magic that removed her ability to speak.

“Well she’s a feisty one!” Lily’s chuckle was met with an array of concerned looks from the rest of the now assembled party as the thrashing woman was finally set down on the flagstones in front of the group. She went very still, then, which allowed everyone to finally get a good look at her.

“The final member of your party, the D4, Blue!”

Blue was a similar height to Elsie, though the fact that her head kept bobbing as she turned it this way and that made it difficult to pinpoint. She wore what looked like a men’s shirt, though it was tattered and the sleeves had been torn off to give her more freedom of movement in her arms. Or, in her case, her wings.

From knuckle to shoulder, Blue was covered in bright blue feathers, though the hands at the end of each looked familiar enough. Her head was likewise covered in feathers in place of hair, though they were far softer and more downy in appearance. Her frame was lean and muscular, though it still didn’t look as though she should be able to lift herself, let alone put on the burst of speed she had just displayed.

Wide dark eyes darted around in the middle of a face that was more cute than sexy. She might have been anywhere from twenty to thirty years of age, but the combination of a deep tan and somewhat dirty skin made it difficult to be more precise than that. Her bright yellow eyes scanned across the faces of everyone assembled until they reached Kevin’s face, at which point they widened comically.

Blue finally stopped struggling against Lily’s control, and the succubus let out an exaggerated sigh. She took in a deep breath that threatened to pop open the front of her dress, then finally asked, “Blue, would you please introduce yourself?”

Blue whirled in place and stared at the succubus suspiciously. Lily stared back for a few seconds, then repeated, “Blue, would you please introduce yourself?”

The second time, her command reverberated with power and Blue immediately began speaking. “Blue is a harpy. Is… twenty seven summers old? Lives in mountains with boring sisters, wants to do interesting. To be interesting.”

As soon as Lily’s power was released, the harpy turned and glared at her, but it lasted only a moment before she returned to staring at Kevin in fascination. The succubus took advantage of her distraction by blasting her with the same golden magic she had used on all of the others, and Blue’s face went slack.

“Now that was exciting, it looks like Blue couldn’t wait to get started on exploring! It should only take her a few moments to recover, and then we can get on with the ground rules and finally get started.”

The group shared uncertain looks, but only Hwa spoke. “I do not like to be made to wait.”

Lily practically purred at the kumiho, “Don’t worry, your chance to take some initiative will come soon enough.”

The expression on the Korean woman’s face darkened, but she did not deign to respond to the obvious provocation. Fortunately, neither did she have to wait long. A few moments later, Blue finally managed to struggle through the disorientation caused by the succubus’ magic, and Lily walked forward and turned around to address the cast.

“Alright everyone! I’m sure you all have a lot of questions, but I’m going to ask you to hold those until I’m done with my explanation. Some of you have also already heard parts of this, but for those of you who haven’t, I’d like to welcome you to Harem Hotel’s first classic dungeon crawl!”