Part 5
Swiftfoot:
Jack and Cora had gone to bed, and Moroka had gone with a five of the ladies to his room, I just finished fucking the brains out of another five, using plenty of magic doing so, I am now brimming with energy gained from the sex act. I decide to go exploring the castle of our lovely host and hostess, casting a greater illusionary version of myself, capable of making love to the ladies should they work, it would take a whole lot of powerful perception for them to tell it is an illusion. I then cast greater invisibility and silence on myself I slip unnoticed out of my room and start exploring the castle, I am most interested in the tower where I presume Jack keeps his secrets.
Cora is not behaving like herself, and as incredible as it sounds, I am sure some powerful magic is messing with her mind, I want to know what that magic is, I had also come into contact with Jack's cum, and noticed its magical properties, I have used such magic myself, even tried it on Cora in the past, but it had no effect on her, or not much, she did not seem to mind it, but she did not get addicted as I would have hoped, I also think it is strange she wears a collar all the time, and as I was fucking her throat I felt around it and it is seamless, that tells me it must be magical.
Also she never would have let anyone fuck her pussy or ass, she said her ass was only for pooping, and she was saving herself for mister right, and Jack does not match what she told me she was looking for, hell Moroka is a better match physically, but mentally I am a better match, but she wants someone who can melt her heart with a song or poem, make her laugh at her jokes, someone who she feels is as capable as her in intelligence, wisdom, strength and dexterity, someone who can catch her if she is trying to run away and actually defeat her, but do so gently, and someone that would not have to do those things, but would melt her heart with just a smile. I do not think such a person exists and I believe that eventually she would need to settle on an existing man. Jack Wade feels wrong to me, though I admit that it might be that I am jealous of him, and want to be him right now, or rather I want Cora to be mine.
I spot the magical defences on the entryway to the tower, and the two guardian constructs. I silently cast a shell around me that also makes me invisible to magic, draining the very last drops of sexual energy, and I slip past the guardians and using a phase spell I pass through the door without opening it. I spend hours slowly working my way up the tower, looking at all the tomes and reagents and materials and objects Jack has, with great envy, I confirm he knows sex magic, he has more tomes than I have even seen on the subject at all the places I have been, I almost get lured to start reading the books, but instead I continue up further, I find a summoning circle of exceptional power and quality, and my heart is filled with intense unease and dread, I can feel how much death has happened in this room, yet I see no trace of it, I spot a research journal and read through it.
Jack has created some rather powerful spells and artefacts, and there are long sections of him going into mad rants about making Coraera that fucking evil bitch pay for killing his father and fucking up his own life, and the life of his mother, and I learn how the collar and his ring works, of his dagger, and later I see him have some sort of twisted sense of love and lust for Cora and making really powerful wedding bands, though if I were him I would have added more to them, if he really does hate her, yet lust for her, and want to be sure she can never leave him, he should have added something to them for that, but he did not.
I can see that the collar would weaken Cora's resistance to his magic, and that is probably why the magical cum worked so well on her, and also he is really powerful, from using that dagger to kill many powerful creatures, draining their life and magic. I spot a deck of cards next to the book and pick them up and look through them and I feel their magic and they speak to me "use me, but beware, each of my cards can do weal or woe." I had heard stories about decks of many things, and this one is more powerful than most in the stories, and it talks too, I consider for a few moments "I can't take you, Jack will notice." I say and it answers "no, he will not, he has not used me for a whole year, he does not listen to my callings for him, I want a new person to use me, I told him that if he does not use me, or give me to someone soon I will find my own way. Use a minor creation spell to make a deck of cards that look like me and he will never notice I am gone, I know you can do that, Swiftfoot."
I smile and do as it asks creating a fake deck that feels like it does, the only way to tell it is a fake is to try to draw a card from it, as that will reveal it is not actually what you think it is.
I hurry back out of the tower, grabbing a few reagents and materials from the piles of them that litter the lower levels of the tower and I phase back out of the door and sneak over to Jack's and Cora's bedroom. They are both sleeping and I slip like a ghost up to them touching Jack and silently casting a spell to force him into deeper sleep, and I feel the spell take hold of him and slip the rings off his fingers and using some of the materials I stole I create two rings that look the same and are connected to the real rings via their new holder, I can however not put the wedding band on so I create a third ring that let's me control and access its powers. I put the collar controlling ring on and the one that controls the wedding band and hide them both and put the wedding band away in one of my pockets.
I caress Cora's hair and kiss her cheek "I will find a way to save you" I whisper in her ear and then leave their bedroom. I head to my own room and to my bathroom and lock the door and probe the rings to figure out how they work, it is not too hard for someone as clever as me, I find the dagger in storage and bring it out looking at it, it whispers to me urging me to use it, I nearly succumb to its desire to be used, it must have acquired a personality from all the power surging through it as it was used. I put it away in the ring again.
"Use me" the deck says, it sounds almost desperate.
"I don't get why you like being used so much, many of the things you can do would cost a lot of energy to perform, both the good and bad things, so why do you like being used?" I ask genuinely curious "if you tell me I might consider using you, there are many things I desire in life that I do not have, but I also have a lot of things that I would rather not risk losing, including my soul."
The deck is silent for several long moments and then says "each time someone draws a card from me I am granted a surge of energy from their soul interacting with the fabric of reality, and then I draw further power from bending and breaking reality, altering it, I know from you mortals limited perspectives granting a wish or giving you more powers may seem like it should cost me something, it does not, I operate on a level far beyond yours, and yet you can benefit from what I do, or not, beware that I have not been used in a little over a year, and if I am not used in 13 months I am able to draw a card for the one who has claimed me as my own, and I am not as lucky as most mortals are."
"What?! Did you tell Jack this?" I ask.
"No, he never asked, and he has not been close enough to me to talk with for a long time, but he already fed me so much that I was thinking of giving him some more time and a warning." the deck says "I however do like your trickery, those rings, although a lot less powerful than the artefact level items they link to, are really ingenious, just imagine how powerful you can become if you use me."
I look at the deck and I feel a really strong urge to draw a card, so I start shuffling the deck to think about it, as I do the bathroom fills with a glow of a myriad of colours, some that I do not even know what to name, I can sense the extreme potential of the deck. Finally I stop shuffling and the deck makes a very creepy sound of pleasure "I love being shuffled" it says with a purr.
I draw a card, the sun, I feel a surge of power and a four clover leaf glowing with golden light and encased in a diamond appears on a silver chain around my neck. "Hmm interesting" the deck says "the greater amulet of luck, any time you invoke chance, you do so twice and choose the outcome you like most, lucky halflings."
"Wait, so I get to draw two cards from you and choose one? Or throw dice twice and choose one? Always?" I ask incredulously.
"Well that is how it will seem to you, but to outside observers you only throw the dice once or draw one card, though I gain twice as much power from each card you draw, so I love this, and in fact both realities become true. Though you can never access the abandoned path, I can however." The deck says.
I shiver a bit and then grin and draw another card, I see two cards: Jester and Balance, I take the Jester and feel a surge of energy and draw two more cards: The Void and Comet, I pick Comet "next time you defeat an enemy you will grow more powerful" the deck says, I get a brief vision of the other me, his soul being ripped from his body as he screams and slumps over in a coma, Moon and Idiot, I choose the moon, a ring appears around my finger, the ring is made of silver and has a big moonstone gem, inside it dances seven sparks of moonlight "seven wishes, oh my" the deck says. I shove the deck away from me and breathe heavily, my heart racing. "What? Why did you stop?"
"I saw what happened to the other me, what happened to his soul?" I ask and feel terrified and bad about what I did, to the other me.
"His soul was ripped away and placed in a gem and tossed across the planes, in time someone will find the gem, and maybe release his soul if he is lucky, or maybe use it to power a magical ritual or item. Why should that concern you?" The deck says.
"Because it is another person, another version of me even, and I did that to him" I say.
"Correction, he did it to himself, only he does not have that lucky amulet that you have, and now you have wishes, just imagine what you can do with them and your brilliant mind Swiftfoot."
It takes several long moments for me to shake off that bad feeling, why should I care about another person in a reality I can never visit anyway, I have always prided myself on being selfish, enlightened self interest I call it, but still that really bothered me. Then I look at the deck again, it calls to me, and I feel the urge to draw more cards, I always had trouble stopping gambling, and now with this amulet of luck I feel like nothing can possibly go wrong, could it?
I draw another card: Donjon and Skull, "fuck!", I choose skull and I see the ground under the other me open up and he falls and the ground closes leaving no trace of him except the deck of many things laying on the ground where he vanished, and in the room appears a powerful wraith, an avatar of death itself, wielding a scythe, I just barely duck away as the wraith tries to reap my head right off. Without thinking, acting on reflexes, I draw out the dagger with the blue gem blade and stab into the wraith, it screams out and disintegrates, I feel an extreme surge of energy flow into me from the dagger, cold, malevolent, dark, raw power, I collapse onto my knees and then I feel a second surge of energy, my own energy, growing more powerful, but I am tainted by the dark now, I can feel it, I sense that I can now draw life energy from the living and feed upon it, and I have a strong urge to do so. I look at the dagger and send it away.
I hear laughter in my head from the deck "such power, yes... come draw another card, do it!" I try to fight the intense desire to draw another card, but I can't resist all the desires in me, so I choose to fight the desire to drain life and I grab the deck and mix it "I hate and love you" I say to the deck. "I know" it says to me.
I draw a card: star and knight, "always improve yourself, for you can not rely on others" I say and pick the star and feel all aspects of myself improve, while my other self gains a powerful warrior ally. "Yes you can only trust yourself, and me."
I draw another card: fates and throne, I stay in the long moment for a long time, to avoid something really bad, or to have a castle and riches and land to rule over, it is not an easy pick, but I am a travelling soul, staying in a castle all the rest of my life, ruling over people, that is not me, I pick fates and the deck says "in the future you can avoid any one situation of your own choosing. Once." I see the other me be whisked away to his own castle.
I giggle as the insane rush of drawing the cards wash over me, exhilaration of winning, so addictive. I draw another card: rogue and fool, "ack!", I pick fool and I see the other me, the door to the bathroom bursts down and Moroka, my close friend, bursts into the room and before the other me has time to react Moroka grabs him and slams him into the wall so hard his head and back breaks. I feel sickened by seeing that and scared, but I also feel weakness coming over me and I am forced by the deck to draw another card: Vizier and Idiot, I pick Vizier "I will help solve any one problem for you, by giving you advice" and see the other me look really dumb as he draws again. I draw again as well as I want to feel good again, Gem and Star, I pick star and feel myself improve in all ways and I stop drawing cards as I watch the other me gleefully nearly drown in gems and gold.
I am trembling and put the deck of cards back into its box "don't forget, draw cards from me within 13 months or suffer the consequences."
I try to send the deck away into the ring for storage but it just says "no" in my head and remains in my hand. I put the deck away in my pockets, and that works, I assume it is fine with being in an obvious container rather than hidden in a ring, but my pockets are nice ones that let me put many things away without showing any sign of being bulky, useful for someone like me, a scoundrel, rogue, bard, and sorcerer.
"Actually I think I will ask you for advice" I say to the deck with a thought.
"Yes? What conundrum is it you want to solve?" the deck responds in an amusing tone in my mind.
"I want to figure out how to defeat Jack Wade, make Cora see the truth about him, and win her heart." I say.
"It will be hard for you to do, he has one of the fates cards as well, so he will escape at least once, he is also the most powerful sorcerer in the world. As for telling Cora the truth, you can do that easily, just share it via the wedding band, what you learned about him, and what you know of sex magic, she will then know it, but she will still be addicted to him, easiest way for her to get rid of that addiction is for her to be freed from the collar, but you now have that collar under your control, so she is yours now, you can make her do anything you want, do you want to give up that power? As for winning her heart, you can do what Jack did, otherwise all bets are off. You are not her type after all, she considers you a good friend and she does not mind sucking you off, to keep you interested in her, she loves having you play your violin as she sings, but love, no she does not love you." The deck says "I will give that information to you for free, and then when you decide on one of the paths I can give you final advice on how if you require it."
I frown and I can sense that most of what the deck said is true, but also I feel like maybe it is twisted towards some end. I think a while looking at myself in the mirror, deep into my own eyes, I look at the rings on my fingers that only I can see, then I connect to Cora's mind via the wedding band I show her the journal I read, the twisted evil of Jack, and why she is in love with him, I then remove all the restrictions on her magic from the collar, but my selfish darker nature does not want to free her from it just yet.
Continued in Part 6
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