Kinktober #28

This is a Monster Girl Encyclopedia fanfiction.

Possession / Leash

Though the streets were silent, the pubs were filled with joyous singing and cheerful music. Such was every evening in Balthmore, but on this evening many monster hunters had found themselves taking refuge in the pub. As had Thomas, 58, who was in a particularly talky mood.

"Now forgive an old sailor his candidness, but what business do you yongins got being monster hunters, huh?"
"Old man... who else will be?" The posh monster hunter with slicked black hair said. There were about seven monster hunters in the bar that evening. Eleven if you count their support.
"Now that's a dumb question, young man! The question you should be asking is who will live your own lives, when you're out there giving away the best and most important years killing, and dying, at the behest of some old men with more money than problems?"
The long haired monster hunter who, until now had behaved in a suave and carefree manner, gave Thomas an annoyed glare.
"Really, in this time of your lives you should go out there in the world; work, travel, meet a girl... or a boy as the case may be, make friends, make money or make a fool of yourselves. The time for throwing your lives away hunting monsters comes later, when all that is behind you!"
"...and we're all too old and decrepit to do the job?" The monster hunter with broad shoulders and large frame said, "Look man, the pure and simple truth is you need strength to do a tough job like this!" He flexed his arm and patted his bicep.
"You don't need muscles if you got just a little bit of wit!" Thomas tapped his own temples with his index finger, earning a chuckle from a heavily armoured hunter "Why there's no sense in punching yourself out of a problem at all if you have the cunning to avoid the problem to begin with! Now forgive an old sailor his ranting, but... acck!"

The female hunter with a short red ponytail behind her wearing a breastplate over a blue doublet pulled Thomas by his collar close to her and looked him straight in the eyes, "Make no mistake, old man; when he says strength what he means is independence. A monster hunter must be ready to at any time follow the word of the Chief God without a moment's delay, even if it means alienating your friends and killing your own family. A hunter is alone. Always. Thus a hunter must never rely on anyone but him or herself. When you get old you need to be looked after all day every day, and even basic tasks become difficult to handle. That is why it's a job best left for the newer generation."
Shortly following the hunter's speech Thomas tried to pull himself loose. The hunter lost her grip, letting Thomas slip towards the exit.
"Hope you nice folks have a pleasant evening." Thomas left the bar.

"That was unnecessarily cruel of you, Sarah." The heavily armoured hunter said to the female one.
"I did not tell him anything that was not true, Simon, nor anything he did not need to hear. This may turn out to be a humbling experience for him, and an edifying one."
"Still, he came here to relax just as much as we did. Leave the hostilities for the monsters." Simon placed his feet on the table and leaned in on the chair, "Isn't that right Ofelia?"
"Ah, sir... " The girl in a chinese dress fashioned into a dark purple habit said, "Please leave me out of this. For now, let us enjoy the evening."

The spoken of plans scarcely lasted ten minutes before the doors blasted open, and a very fat priest in a pot haircut ran inside, pale as a ghost and an expression of delirious terror, "Hunters! Everyone! Terrible news afoot! I had a vision just now! A vision from the Chief God herself, so terrible I almost fell off my chair!" The priest took a few moments to catch his breath, "Monsters!" The instance this one word was uttered the hunters rose to their feet with hand gripping their weapons, all of them were now facing the old priest, "The monsters are coming! They are travelling towards us as we speak, from the south east! Oh goodness have mercy on us!"
"Priest... are you sure about this?"
"On the honour of my cloth, I am! I most certainly am! In a vision not fifteen minutes ago I heard the voice of the Chief God herself, and the Chief God spoke to me and warned me of the monsters marching here at a fast pace! If not dealt with, they will arrive here in the city before the next day is up, take it for themselves and do ungodly things to the men and women at their mercy!"
"Do not worry, father." Simon patted the priest on the shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile, "We shall not let them set so much as a foot in this Order town. Isn't that right, hunters?"
"Count me in!" The huge, muscular hunter smiled boisterously as he grabbed the halberd leaning against the wall at the entrance, "I've been itching for a good fight for a while now. Wouldn't miss it for the world!" The other hunters followed suit, grabbed their weapon and armour, got their mounts ready and by sunrise were supplied and ready to take on the monster threat they had heard of.
"We are all ready, Simon. We are waiting for you only." Sarah said from above her gray horse.
"Yeah.... we'll be just a minute behind you. At the last minute something urgent came up with sister Ofelia, and we won't be able to leave just yet."
"Very well... but any delay will not be an option. If what the priest told us is true then we are going to need all the support we can find."
"Hey, you know me! I'd never let down a pal!" With the charming kind of smile only Simon could muster he pointed his index finger towards Sarah and winked at her. Being the only one immune to this sort of charm, Sarah simply sighed and galloped towards the desert in the south east.

Simon mounted his brown horse with white spots and pulled Ofelia up behind him. As she wrapped her arms around him, he galloped with great speed towards the north west.
"How... how are you holding up?" Ofelia asked.
"As long as I'm with you I'll be fine. One day they will understand, but deceiving them like this was... necessary. Besides, it's not like they are actually going to find any monsters where they are travelling."
Ofelia nodded. The Chief God and the Fallen God, whom Ofelia worshipped, were two sides of the same coin, sisters in a way and once having served the same end. Thus their spirit energy held a semblance to one another that only the most astute mind could distinguish. Therefore a priestess of the Fallen God could conjure the illusion of a message from the Chief God to their adherents, tricking them into serving the Fallen God and guiding them towards her grace.
What the priest had heard in his vision was in fact the message Ofelia had sent him.
The union between a hunter and a monster is one of the gravest perversions in all of Orderdom. If they knew who Ofelia was, and what she meant to Simon... there was no chance they would be allowed to live. That is why it was necessary to send them away under false pretenses, so they could elope in peace.

Once they were past any sign of civilization, Ofelia relieved her anthropomorphis spell and reverted back to her succubus form. "Ah... finally. Do you have any idea how hard it is to maintain that spell when so close to a man one loves as much as I love you?"
Simon couldn't help but smile, "Rejoice, Ofelia. No longer will you have to hide your nature. We will be within the Demon Realm by the evening."

After an hour of travelling, Simon and Ofelia dismounted at the ruins of an old temple city from a forgotten civilization. Time alone had worn the greatness the walls and pillars once held, slowly joining them with the dunes of which they had been immersed.
The silence seemed out of place in a place that once must have held such life and prosperity.
"Why good morning, the both of ya!" Simon drew his sword to face the old, retired sailor as he came out from behind the remnants of a house wall.
"You! What are you doing here, old man?"
"What am I doing... I live here! Forgive an old sailor for telling how it is, but not all adventurers can afford a warm bed and a bowl of soup every night."
"You idiot! You can't live here! Don't you know monsters are lurking around in old abandoned ruins all the time?"
"Then what are you doing here? And forgive an old sailor his gaush sense of fashion, but that tail and those horns is an ill fit for a woman in priest habit."
"That's none of your business old man!" Simon sheathed his blade.
"Look... " Ofelia said, "We would love to stay and talk, my good sir, but we really are in a hurry for something of the utmost importance."
"I wasn't gonna stay around here much either. Forgive an old sailor his crassness but I really need to take a leak." Thomas returned behind the wall from where he came.

"Thank you, Ofelia. I suppose you still have a better grasp on situations like those after all."
"Someone needs to take care of you after all, am I right?" Ofelia giggled, and Simon gave her a kiss on the mouth.

The both of them walked to the square of the abandoned city, where a large red circle was inscribed in the rose marble tiles, surrounded by eight stone pillars standing by the corners of an octogram painted within the circle.
"Is this it?" Simon asked.
"This is it. This magic circle will get us back to the Demon Realm. In five minutes time I shall have activated the magic of this place, and you will be free. We... will be free."
"Touching." Though the voice was particularly shrill it was unmistakably that of Sarah's. Simon and his aide froze in their place, before the female hunter walked into the circle from behind one of the pillars, "Yet there will be a change in your schedule I'm sorry to say."
"S-sarah!?" Simon said and gripped his sword, "How did you...?"
"You think of me the same fool who can be tricked like the rest of that rubble? I thought you knew me better than that Simon. Or can it be that your brain has been as corrupted as your heart?" Sarah glanced towards Ofelia but Simon walked in front of her, "I was suspicious when my scouts hadn't mentioned the monsters approaching already, but long before that I had noticed your little aide was wearing chain links as ornaments... like the priests of the Fallen God would. It didn't take long to figure out that harlot had used her viles and cunning words to lead you down a crooked path."
"This has nothing to do with her! I... I chose this path myself!" Simon's words had Sarah raise an eyebrow, "I had been thinking recently... thinking about why I became a hunter. I did it to help people, to fix a world that needed to be fixed; and to be the one recourse for those who had none but needed them the most. And yet... from the moment I became one, all I seemed to do was kill innocent people. Hurting them. This cannot be the way I wanted to walk... when I met Ofelia I learned that there can be peace. Humans and monsters can live together."
Sarah listened intensely to Simon's words, "I understand," Sarah sighed and smiled with relief, "You are just weak, that's all. You probably have always been weak. A monster hunter needs to be ready to follow God's word without hesitation. It is not for us to judge and decide. If you do, that proves you lacked the strength to be a monster hunter. This just goes to show that none are beyond making mistakes, even the Chief God. Fear not, Simon, this is an easy mistake to rectify." She drew her rapier from the sheath hanging by her thigh.
"You... damn you.... don't you dare insult my resolve!" Simon's fingers wrapped firmly around the hilt of his sword and drew it out, but was kept from charging towards his fellow hunter by Ofelia's gentle hand upon his shoulder, "Simon... please don't."
"The one who is insulted is me. I abandoned my family, alienated my friends and never once felt the touch of love. All there is to my one life is God's words and the will to carry them out by the letter. If you think that is not exactly what I need to do as a monster hunter you are indeed insulting my resolve."

"Fellas! Please! Calm down now, no need for shouting. No need at all." Thomas stood between the two monster hunters, "You just make it harder for yourselves; friends are supposed to be there for one another. Now why don't we sit this one down with a flask of whiskey and..."
"Begone, peasant." Sarah slapped Thomas across his face and sent him crashing into a wall, falling limp to the ground, "owww..."
"Haah!" With the speed and ferocity of a tiger Simon charged at Sarah with both hands clutching his sword and closed the distance between him and Sarah in an instance. He delivered a chain of slashes while fleeting feet moved around his opponent. Each strike Sarah effortlessly dodged away with even far greater speed than Simon's while keeping her rapier up to block against high blows. Being proficient with time magic, her speed and reflexes were matched by none as she perceived the world as moving in slow motion compared to her. Even so she knew better than to engage Simon carelessly in a situation like this, since not only was he more heavily armored and had a heavier weapon, but his experience in melee combat overshadowed hers by significant margin. One of Simon's ascending strikes ended with his blade hanging over his head. His sword began glowing with brilliant golden light as he closed the distance and threw down the sword with far greater speed and **** than usual. Sarah simply evaded his blade with inhuman speed, and as it sunk down into the ground, a pillar of golden light rose up and split the marble in two, leaving a six foot fissure in front of him as the light fades.
Not losing even a bit of momentum Simon slashed at Sarah with an ascending cut that ended in a guard against high strikes. He kept tracing her movement as she focused on evasive footwork, until all of a sudden his body ceased responding to his mind. He couldn't move, or change his stance or even fall down; simply being frozen in place like a statue. His eyes traced down to the floor, where he saw a glyph of time magic inscribed on the tile under him.
"So predictable. You take my magic too lightly, and look where you ended up." Using the tip of the sword Sarah scratched a wound into the back of Simon's hand in the form of another glyph.
"SIMON!" Ofelia yelled out in terror.
Though they were surrounded by the hot desert air, the air Simon exhaled was could be seen with the naked eye as a white fog, as in the frigid climes. His skin slowly lost its colour, and frost appeared on his hair and eyebrows, "And so sir Simon met his fate at the mercy of one of the hunters against which he turned his back. Take solace in that you will become a far better ice statue than you ever were a monster hunter."

As Sarah saw the succubus take flight and launch towards them, she raised her sword to stab her down the moment she entered reach. Ofelia offered a prayer to her god and from her palm a bright white light shot out right into Sarah's face, temporarily blinding her.
Ofelia flew away with him to behind a building, where she could lay him down on the ground and treat his injuries.

"Ugh... this is what you get for trying to help." Thomas walked in on them dizzily, rubbing his head.
"Please sir, you need to leave. This is very dangerous. If you stay around here..." Ofelia looked down at her lover, who kept getting colder and colder regardless of anything she tried.
"What's wrong with the young fella?"
"The glyph..." Ofelia ran her finger across the symbol in his flesh, coloured dark red from the frozen blood, "it's got an affixation property to it... as long as the glyph is there I'm unable to remove the magic... but my healing magic doesn't work on a wound made by a monster hunter's blade... at this rate he's gonna... he's really gonna..." Ofelia closed her eyes as they filled with tears and shook her head.
"Hmmm, forgive an old sailor his scant knowledge of medicine, but would you mind me trying something?"
"...do it... if you got any idea... any at all... just... without him I... I just can't..."
Thomas produced a knife from his belt, tried to scratch the symbol on Simon's hand but his skin was too cold and hard. Instead he raised the knife in an icepick grip and stabbed him with all the strength he could muster.
"AHHHHHHH!" Simon cried out in pain, Ofelia's teeth gritting at the sight.
The glyph however was compromised.

"You... ah...." Between Simon cringing in pain and the realization that Simon might actually survive this, Ofelia was too far too bewildered to know what to do. She looked between Simon and Thomas.
"You're quite welcome." Thomas said, a smile forming under his dark moustache.
"Oh... oh! I need to treat his wound!" Ofelia gathered the stuff she needed to treat the wound, when the shadow of a woman loomed over them from above.
"You and your so-called lover can not escape your fate so easily." Around thirty feet away, on the roof of a particularly large house, Sarah's rapier gently stabbed the sand the passage of time had collected on it, and drew out a complex circle around herself with remarkable swiftness, "You think you can interfere with the business of the Order of the Chief God and live to tell the tale? You are sorely mistaken." Sarah held her rapier in front of herself like a crucifix with eyes closed as if in a prayer. Around the circle fire appeared, the flames rising high in the sky while circling like water down the drain, converging to a single point high above the tallest buildings in the lost city.

"Listen, young lady!" Thomas said and scratched his head, "Why don't you let these little love birds go in peace. What harm have they ever really caused you? Now forgive an old sailor his loftiness, but wouldn't it be better to let bygones be bygones?"
"If he can no longer serve the Chief God, he must take the techniques and secrets of the monster hunters to his grave! Our very way of life is at risk if I neglect my duties at this very moment!"
Thomas sighed, "I was afraid you would say that." Thomas took off his waistcoat and shirt, revealing his crooked, skinny frame. He took something out of his bag, a pink dog collar with red hearts painted on it and attached to a pink leash. Thomas attached the collar to his neck and with the leash held in his hand he put his clothes back on.
"Remove the limiters of your strength." Thomas said as the ball of fire in the air kept growing, now so dense the flames appeared solid and so bright it could be confused with the sun.
Sarah pointed her rapier towards the group, and the ball of fire, easily the size of a building, hurled itself towards the spot where the three of them stood. Ofelia hugged Simon as the flame grew closer fast.
Thomas picked up a huge pillar and smashed it against the fireball like a baseball before it could even get close and exploded it in a blast of smoke and dust that sent the rubble that was once the pillar flying off hundreds of feet away.

Ofelia and Simon blinked in disbelief as they saw all of this go down. Did that silly old man just lift up something that would be heavy for even the strongest of monsters?
"Ow! Oww ow! Ow!!"Thomas held his hand and kicked the air as he writhed in pain on the ground. His hand was swollen and coloured purple, and from how it was warped into a claw it appeared he was unable to move his fingers.
"Sir... please calm down. Let me take a look at that." Ofelia ran towards Thomas and took his hand, saying a silent prayer to the Fallen God and letting her magic flow through her. The purplish hue faded into Thomas's ordinary tan and the swelling subsided. Thomas clenched his fist a couple of times to confirm he had regained his dexterity. "You will feel no pain."
"Thanks... that's very encouraging, but... I'm more worried about you. What exactly did you do?" Thomas did not respond, but stood up to face Sarah.

Using simple yet agile motions of her wrist and fingers Sarah traced a green glowing trail with the tip of her rapier. Thomas picked up a large stone and tossed it at Sarah with **** enough to devastate the building she was standing on; though she slipped down before the stone could hit her or before the building could collapse; and slipped between the buildings.
Thomas picked up another stone and ran after. When he turned a corner he met Sarah with the tip of her rapier aimed straight at his face, making Thomas toss the boulder on the ground and back off into the wall.
"Do you really wish to challenge me, old man? I am a hunter. A killer. Not of people, but of the predators of people. It will be little effort on my part to skewer a commoner who would wear a novelty dog collar in a situation like this. Think carefully, is this really how you want to end your life?"
Thomas said nothing and did not move away, staring at her with focused eyes.
"Good." Sarah dipped the point of her rapier in the sand, "I was not going to let you walk away alive anyway. Not after slighting my pride like this.." With amazing speed and accuracy she began drawing out a text of arcane script in the sand.
Thomas was sure this was something she needed to do in order to use her magic, and needed to disturb her before she was finished. Either by kicking the sand or by pushing her away.
But he didn't. He couldn't. Even though it was pointed down in the sand and preoccupied with drawing, the rapier looked so pointy and sharp... and the risk of being stabbed to **** was not something Thomas could accept without a second thought.
Within a second her rapier pointed towards Thomas, and the sand became animated, crawling towards Thomas then leaping at him.
The sand was moving too fast for Thomas to run, and soon his feet were immersed. Soon after the sand came to a sudden halt and hardened into stone.
Sarah walked briskly towards him with her rapier pointing towards him.
Thomas raised his fist over his head, aiming it down at the rock sealing his legs.
His hand trembled. "You will feel no fear."
His fist sank into the rock with devastating ****, shattering it like glass. Thomas kicked away the debris and lunged away from the blade and towards its wielder, who evaded him with graceful steps and slashed at his hand with her rapier. She didn't manage to break his skin, but it was enough to crush his hand and make him drop the leash. Thomas retreated instantly before catching the leash once again.

"Do you think you can get the drop on me because I underestimate you? If so then it may be you who underestimate me. I have figured out exactly what kind of trick you are using. That pink collar, that's a **** collar of dark elf origin used to dominate the men that they capture. The one who holds the collar has to obey the verbal commands of the one who holds the leash; but it also works for commands like 'go to sleep' or 'ejaculate'. In other words, the one holding the leash has greater control over the one wearing the collar than the one wearing the collar has over himself; which means you now have greater control over yourself than you otherwise would. That is why you can conjure hysteric strength at will, and eliminate pain and fear. Did I get all of that right?"
Thomas didn't answer but stared back at Sarah with focused eyes.
"Of course you won't answer me, you're afraid you will inadvertently give yourself a command that you then have to follow; which will compromise your chances of victory. A clever trick, but it comes with a price. Even if you can give yourself the strength to crush steel, your body won't become harder than steel; and in the end will be what is crushed." Sarah looked down at Thomas's hand now crooked and swollen from striking asunder stone,
Since she had figured out the trick her victory was pretty much assured. Since he did lose his grip on the leash for a moment, his commands must no longer apply and he had to repeat them. 'Remove the limiters of strength', 'you will not feel pain', 'you will not feel fear'. In order to face her, Thomas needs to speak all those commands. But he will only be able to speak at most one command, before Sarah will finish a spell, and once a command is spoken she will know which spell she has to use in order to swiftly defeat him.
The time needed to use the magic item, and that he can't use the item without exposing vital information... those are his weaknesses.
Thomas was caught in a trap of his own making.

"...obey the green scroll."
"...what?"
Thomas kicked the ground, shattering it to a crater as he launched himself towards Sarah.
The Green Scroll was a list of commands Thomas had written in case he found himself in a heap of trouble he couldn't talk himself out of, named for the green ribbon he had tied it with. He had figured out he didn't need to speak the commands directly, but if he ordered himself to follow some other commands, written or spoken, he would obey them all as if they were spoken by himself.
Of course he didn't know where the 'green scroll' was now, but it didn't matter since he knew what it said, and that it contained all the commands he needed to survive any battle.
Sarah stepped to the side in just the last minute, moving behind and between stone pillars while engraving in them glyphs of power. After whispering to herself a word of incantation the pillars flung themselves towards the old man who is her prey. The first one he dodged under, the second he punched into pieces.
Next she had two pillars fling themselves at Thomas at once so as to have him crushed between them. Thomas grabbed one of the pillars and smashed it against the other like a baseball bat.

Sarah looked with frustration at the old man managing to engage with her most powerful magic. Thanks to the collar he was a powerhouse for sure, but Sarah had figured out another weakness in his collar trick, one she had to time just right in order to exploit.
Sarah retreated into an alleyway and held her rapier before her, ready to skewer the retired sailor the moment he appeared around the corner. That trick won't be running out of fashion soon.
Thomas however wouldn't fall for that again, entered the building and smashed his fist against the stone wall. Sarah heard a thump on the wall behind her as it cracked as if hit by a sledge hammer, and dodged out of the way just before a portion of the wall collapsed and Thomas leapt at her like a tiger. She raised her rapier, spinning it over her head so as to cut him, but before she could he smacked her, sending the sword flying far away before punching her on her chest plate.
The punch was enough to crush the metal and stagger her significantly. Before she could fall to her back however she caught the ground with her hand and pushed herself up so as to backflip to her feet.
Thomas charged at her again, but now the rhythm of this battle had become familiar. When he threw a punch she caught his arm and flipped him over, tossing him on his back.
It doesn't matter how fast you are if your opponent can predict your movements, or how strong you are if your opponent can use your strength against you.

Sarah pushed her foot against Thomas's chest and wrung the leash from his hand.
The old man wouldn't be able to draw his strength from the collar without exposing the leash. Once the opponent caught the leash, he was under her control. That was his fatal weakness.
It felt good to step on the old man like the bug he was. Sarah smirked in triumph looking down on the defiant Thomas.
He fought well, but she was a born hunter.
Maybe one day he will turn into a decent hunter as well.... in another life.
"Stop your heartbeat." Sarah said.

20 YEARS EARLIER

"Ahahaha!" The middle aged sailor's slapping on the table was a sufficient trial of the old, cloaked woman's patience, "You deal in magic? That's hilarious! We could use some magic on board our ship if you get what I'm saying!"
"I think you had enough, Thomas." The bearded sailor patted the shoulder of his **** colleague as he passed him by, "Will you stop bothering the old woman now?"

"Bothering? No! I'm not bothering her, we're talking business! I want a... Hehe.. a goose.. that lays Golden eggs! No, a bell that gives donkey ears to those who hear it toll! Ahahaha! No!" Thomas took out his pink leash and collar and slapped it on the table, "I want a magic collar... Where the master is the one wearing the collar and the one who holds the leash has to obey! That's how I see it! The pet is always the one in charge, ahaha!"
Ignoring Thomas's incoherent cackling, the old woman picked up the leash and collar and held it between her thin, veiny hands, "I can easily change the configuration of this magic item, but it will cost you six silver."
"Worth every copper, hehe!"Thomas dipped into his purse and pulled out some silver coins inside his fist and between his fingers, then dropped them off the table, "How... How much is this? Is this enough?"
"Sure... But I require a moment of silence to concentrate. Now leave me alone for just this moment."
"I'll drink to that!" Thomas finished his tankard in one fell swoop then landed face first on the table...

PRESENT DAY

Thomas grumbled how that moment came back to him at a moment like this.
The fact this trick managed to save his skin just made it worse.
However, this young lady was simply wrong. Thomas was alone, not by choice but because at this point in his life, nothing else was available. His wife had passed away when he was young, his son had been sending less and less letters since he had left the nest, and he had stopped seeing any of his friends soon after he left work.
"Go to sleep." Thomas said, and Sarah fell to the ground on top of the old man, "And dream of those dear to you that you left behind."
No one should be content with this life if they have a choice.

Ofelia and Simon watched in shock and bewilderment as the superior hunter fell down at the mercy of the retired old sailor who slept in abandoned ruins. It took a while for Simon to understand what had happened, for to him something like this wasn't possible.
As far as Simon was concerned, Sarah would fall to the ground as reliably as the sun or the moon would.
"Is... is it over...?" Ofelia clutched Simon's hand tightly.
"Yes... it's over now..." Simon hurried to Thomas's side with Ofelia following behind, "Old man, you did it! You really did!"
Thomas didn't respond. To him Simon's voice was static noise within the static noise that had begun to occupy his ears. Thomas had exhausted himself, more than he should; more than what otherwise would be possible. His heart had been racing far beyond its capacity during the fight, and now it was beating more and more irregularly. He felt the pain in his body subside, along with his capacity to feel anything.
"Old man? Come on! Old man!" Simon shook him gently but got no response other than Thomas's raspy breath.
His tunnel-vision allowed him to see nothing except a foggy blur, but something appeared before him; something he could see clearly.
More clearly in fact than anything he had ever seen.
"Mildred..:" Thomas whispered, managing to warp his lips into a faint smile as his trembling hand reached upwards towards his dead wife, "...I've missed you Mildred... my love... I'm ready to see you now. Wilmore has grown up... he doesn't need me anymore... it's been so hard without you... so lonely without you... but finally we will be together again..." A single tear ran across Thomas's cheek as his vision faded to black.

When he opened his eyes again he was in a bedroom the size of the largest living room he had seen, the gold coloured tiles reflecting the room like a mirror and large ornate pillars lined up against the entrance to the balcony upon where a small garden had been planted. He was covered in a white blanket as thin as a beetle's eyebrow and soft enough that he could imagine clouds were made of this stuff.
Was this heaven?
Thomas shook his head.
If this was heaven Mildred would be there.

As he was completely nude under the blanket he wrapped it around his waist when he climbed out of the bed and walked towards the balcony. He stopped in his tracks as he passed a full body mirror, finding that the man staring back at him wasn't himself.
Well, that wasn't completely true. It had been him, a long time ago; when he was a young man. He used to have a swimmer's physique, narrow jawline and long dark hair.
Thomas stroked his well-shaven chin and the handsome features of his face. It was all so smooth now.

Eventually he made his way out of the balcony. It was night outside with a red crescent moon hanging in the sky. Tiny orbs of white light appeared out of thin air and disappeared just as quickly, and strange looking fruits grew from the trees reaching from the ground outside the balcony. He looked up over a beautiful landscape of a temperate forest.
"You are awake." It was Ofelia's voice who spoke, "I wasn't sure you were going to make it, but... you've proven to be a man full of surprises."
Thomas turned to face the dark priest, "Forgive an old sailor his prudence, but did someone take off my clothes while I was ****?"
Ofelia ignored the question and presented to him the pink leash and collar Thomas was so familiar with, held between her hands, "I believe this belongs to you."
Thomas took the collar and leash, and beheld it like he would an old friend, "You know, I got this thing over 35 years ago at Port Niffaneria. I was considering getting a dog at the time but hadn't made up my mind. That's when I ran into this very nice old fella who just happened to sell this most excellent dog collar at a steal of a price."
At that moment Simon entered the balcony as well, "That was probably a fence of monster girl items who needed to get rid of his stock before he was caught with it."
"I never did end up getting that dog, but my son and his friends started playing with the collar, as kids do. He found out strange things were happening when you wear the collar, so I took an interest in that, and tried a few things out to see what it could do. I guess thirty-five years of that will make you pretty good at using it."

"I... thank you so much, Thomas. We are in your debt. You... really didn't need to go to such length just for our sake."
"I didn't do it for you, you silly yonguns! I did it... for myself I suppose. Now forgive an old sailor for going on a rant, but even an old blockhead like me can tell that young lady made no sense at all! Sure, doing what is expected from you isn't the easy way, no one is saying that, but that doesn't mean going against the grain is! Why confronting yourself when the real world doesn't match your beliefs, questioning yourself and what it is you really believe and then to accept it with an open heart... why doesn't that actually take more strength than to blame whatever it is you do on the one giving you orders?"
Simon and Ofelia look down on the floor, hold each others' hands and look back to each other.
"Where the hell are we anyway?"
"This is the Green Demon Realm Famnaria." Ofelia said, "I opened the portal here while you kept Sarah preoccupied. As soon as we discovered what state you were in we... we had to bring you here quickly. We... couldn't save you, not in your current state. So... we infused you with demonic energy. You are... you are now an incubus."
"Incubus!? Why is that what's up with my yongun face?"
Ofelia nodded.
Thomas shook his head, "Umph... now I have to go back to learning to take care of my hair again, oh what a pain... Now if you excuse me, I wasn't done sleeping! It's been a long day for me and I still need to have a nap. And why don't you learn to knock next time?"
"Ah... we'll be here if you need anything." Simon said, "And... thank you once again." Ofelia and Simon left through the entrance obscured by curtains alone, and Thomas jumped back into bed, looking up into the ceiling.
Thomas sighed, "Forgive an old sailor his slipperiness," he whispered to no one in particular, "but it seems I won't be returning to you just yet, cupcakes. Not while the yonguns out there still need me."