Struggle

The magic theoreticians postulate that demons are manifestations of arcane substance, corrupted by misfired black magic.

The demonologists claim that demons are etheral creatures from the Planes of Demonia, which warp magic to manifest on the living worlds.

The priests of the Earthen Lords believe that demons are incarnations of ultimate evil. And they possess no souls.

That very morning, the succubus demoness Pursha fought a **** fight to preserve her mental essence from being devoured by the starved demon beast within.

Do demons have a soul?

Pursha believed in that.

That's why she prevailed.

When the ever hungry beast of lust and devastation had been subdued, Pursha was once again left virtually powerless.

The temporary high after her passionate lovemaking with the servant maid Winna hadn't lasted that long. The spells of command on Winna and the most recent mind visualization of the college's arcane net had quickly consumed the small amount of arcane power she had gathered. Other minor spells had added to that constant strain - like retooling the silly rags Aaralon had brought her. That little incident had almost most effectively thwartet her plans. She needed to feast today - without having to rely on her arcane abilities to conjure complex illusions of her outer appearances. That's why she had risked to deplete her magic reservoir and set the raging demon beast free. She had no illusions what would have happened if she had lost that inner struggle. The demon beast would have taken over, went berserk in the college, possibly attacked and drained several hapless humans, and been destructed by the combined might of the college's magicians.

Gladly she had prevailed. But again the cost had been dear.

Pursha felt so terribly weakened, she just cowered in a corner of the library room, her knees pulled to her breast, her body slightly shaking. She had long released the door lock as well as any other magic wards she had placed on this room to stay undisturbed since Aaralon's summoning. She just sat and waited.

Luckily she didnt have do wait that long. Silently the door swished open. Steady feet kissed the floor until they stopped. Pursha glanced around the corner of the shelves and saw a young man; one too young to be a fully trained sorcerer. She smiled. Quickly she leaned back, closed her eyes and drew upon the few remaining strands of arcane essence scattered on the vast plane of her mind. Not enough to cast even a simple spell of enchantment on the young student. But just enough to mask her wings, horns and ebon eyes. Still keeping to the small niche she stood up and breathed herself. She had only this one attempt. She mustn't fail.