Read Chapter 1
Contains: Lesbians, Angst, Conversation Of Religious Torture, Trans Lady Lead, WoC Lead
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Things change us. Change can be scary, a monster out of control. A creature breaking the habit. Of course a bad change can just be bad an empty hole of pain where once laid dreams. Give a bad change long enough and maybe it will be good. Maybe it won't. All stories are about change some for the titillation of an audience, some for a deep reason, some just because change happens. Things always change as the count of words ever grows inside your sparkling mind hearing the tale of love,pain, and change.
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The Trio sent by the order of light were split into two groups. Trucey the paladin with her potentially true love Serena who had turned into the queen of the undead. Jillian with a nun who hates witches covered in some strange goo. Things weren't ideal but they weren't the worst they could be so you can decide how the glass is.
As may have been very well hinted there is trauma and about to be laid out. Please continue at your own risk I am sure they would want you to laugh and smile.
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Trucey
Here I was walking a path, forgetting my mission, my traveling companions, all because Serena showed up and smiled at me. It was baffling but I was also still tired. I wanted to keep going forward but rest was ultimately what I needed.
Reading me as ever Serena smiled and moved over to a tree. She did the same spell as Jillian had just a bit earlier, conjuring a small house forming from the tree to give us shelter. I gasped “How much magic can you do?”
Serena giggled “I guess all of the kinds now. I learned witchcraft from my mother, holy magic from the order, and darkness magic from becoming the queen.”
I pout “Wow, well this could have came in handy when we were traveling together.”
Serena shrugs “I couldn't remember how. My witchcraft would only come out when I felt one of our lives were in danger.”
I was confused, why wouldn't she remember. I could remember the early days of childhood, back from when I hadn't even dreamed of being a Paladin. Had she hurt her head, was it some amnesia that was reactivated?
I had to ask my gal pal what was going on. I manage to say nervously “If you don't mind I would like to know what you mean by couldn't remember.”
Serena fangs bite into her lips, she didn't want to talk. I was about to say it's okay when the words spill out of her “I don't know if your ready but you know that the order doesn't look kindly at witches among many other things. They wouldn't allow me to remember it, a Paladin couldn't be a witch….“
I heard her words but they were hard to understand. I gripped my best dearest friend finally muttering out “So the church made you forget. I should report this to the elders surely they wouldn….“
Serena looked a bit mad as she placed a finger on her lips “let's not talk about the holy light right now.”
She seemed so serious like, like her words could end the world. Not that it wasn't totally true. Serena's words could end my world as best buds we were as close as could be. I know her words could snap me out of existence if she so wished. That proposal almost did, before I remembered the guidance of the light.
Serena asks “Would you come with me to this lake, armor off. I'd like you talk with me by the waters.” The striking dark skin woman, although the being a queen of the night perhaps had her a shade lighter, had smiled at me hoping I'd come.
I grab her hand and cheer “Yes, I will trust you.”
I turned my hand to the straps holding my uniform together, As the armor began to leave my body I felt more and more distressed. My mind thinking more of the proposal. My best friend. Could best friends get married? Just to have a kid and live in a house - maybe die of old age together, you know?
Once I was in just a tank top and some shorts, Serena in a show of good faith also removed most her garments, although she was wearing a rather sexual outfit under the clothing that supported her breasts. Well, I assumed it did, as the thin fabric holding them up didn't exactly leave much to the imagination. She was so stunning, I wanted to watch her as a muse for the rest of my days.
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Jillian
As much as I loathed to be stuck with the nun, keeping her safe was part of the mission. It appeared she was valued to some degree or else she wouldn't be here.
What was more important than that was Serena was that attacker? It felt like forever since I saw her. I needed to find her and make sure its her. Maybe it be a chance to take the kids and run away from the empire. There was no space on the planet not touched by the empire less safe than living under its heel. I understood that now. I could make a home in a forest or the magma canyons no one dared go there.
I grab Kat and ask half hearted “Are you ok?”
Her reply seems equally distant “Yes… witch.”
Obviously she was the type to oppose me for my mere existence. Every part of me was an affront to the laws of the land. Regardless, until I could confirm that Serena was free of control I couldn't let this girl get more hurt than needed.
Still there was this strange feeling in me, perhaps something to do with the black slime. It was best to take a moment to clean it off and then work on any anti curse I could do. After that I could try to sky rocket us ahead and look for Trucey.
I grab the nuns hand and she blushes faintly, but not letting go as she says “I...I Don't need assistance from the likes of you. Once we return to the Paladi….” She suddenly wraps her arms around my waist “Hehe your pretty.”
Oh no, it was taking effect rather fast on the nun, well I had the resistance to handle it for a while so - to the lake!
It wasn’t too hard to find the water, a simple spell you learn as part of basic magic is how to find water, how to find food. After all staying alive is key to being a good witch.
I began to strip down, encouraging her to do the same. Her eyes locked onto me. Clearly something had shifted. I snap my fingers at her “Are you going to ogle me or get clean?”
Kat bites her lips and joins me, as we strip our bodies removing whatever it was on us.
There was a lingering desire in her eyes, I have had flings since I left behind my last love, her sweet hands and face…
Yet, they were all fleeting moments. Her clear desires made it tempting but I was an adult and I was going to make sure she and I were of sound mind before we made any choices. I would tell my children to do the same. In particular with a nun they are just covered in holy filth. Perhaps the waters will wash that away too.
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Trucey
To think at any moment someone could be doing the same thing as you. Removing your clothing to take a dip into a lake. Yet I somehow was sure that no one else was a Paladin removing armour to wash with her former best friend turned Vampire queen. Serena and I waded in only our undergarments as she sat in the water, her reflection showing unlike the many tales of vampires. Of course, in the order we were taught these stories were untrue of the most evil of vampires, but could Serena be truly so wicked? So vile to be unbound by the typical traits of a vampire? Or was it a matter of simply her rank as ‘queen’.
Serena asked me “Do you ever think about the alignment chart we were taught at school? Paladins are lawful good, so we seek to make the world better in the best way. Monsters are always evil and generally chaotic.
“So is it then when the fangs of the late vampire queen were against my neck that I became evil? Or was it when they stripped me of my mind when I became good? Or was it when I picked up my first spell book under mommy’s care that I was evil or...it could be that all of it is a lie. The whole thing is an illusion, dressing up their system’s control. If I kill a killer and I have a badge I am Lawful good, if I kill a Paladin I know is a killer I am evil. Do you believe in alignment? ”
What was I to say to this? She brought up a good point, but it was blasphemy - not unexpected from the queen of Vampires, but Serena used to be one of the firmest believers. And did I imagine it, or did she let something slip in the middle there? I had to get her to talk more.
I sat beside my closest friend and laughed. “It reminds me of when we would speak of philosophy although your perspective then seemed to be slightly different. I don’t know if it’s right, if I am being honest. I feel like seeing you makes me question everything. Perhaps I am under a hypnotic spell.”
Serena grabs me and pulls me in towards her, our bodies touching, my heart races, blood boiling with this strange feeling. I wanted more of our flesh together, in particular my lips to hers. Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to. Serena’s eyes glow pink and blue and white spiraling as I look into them. I suddenly felt calm, relaxed, beyond myself like I was in sleep. She looks away and teases “That is what it feels like to be under my power, at least until I give a command, worry not I really do not want to control you. I don’t want to harm you… Well, not in any way you don’t like.”
She leaned back in the waters and sighed. “I guess questioning is good enough for me to tell you what has happened.”
I smiled. Finally, a testimony this is what I lived for generally on a job, and here it was more exciting learning more about my beloved...friend. I ask like a dog needing a treat “Please tell me.”
Serena floats on her back and begins to say “Before I was the fastest blade in the order, the mystic sword, before any of that I was a witch.
“It wasn’t just for the herbs I would take in private, the herbs that keep me blooming as a woman that you were so kind to help me keep secret. Witchcraft was also simply how I lived. I was born to parents I can barely remember, the last thing I remember is a scar on my back that has since faded - so much it is hardly visible. I fled into the woods, these vary woods to become myself, to be myself. There is more to that I will share soon, but what matters for now is I was taken in my my mom, Jillian.”
There is a clear distress as she brings up her mother, a pain so deep it seemed her eyes may break into tears at any moment. Yet she doesn’t and it hardly dawns on me that a witch named Jillian was one of my companions. It was possible, but I needed to process this whole tale.
“She gave up a lot to take care of me, and then adopted others, I had sisters and brothers, and siblings who were in between, or even outside. I didn’t know humans could be like me, like her, like us. I lived happily in our little home outside the town, safe from the order but safe from the natural havoc. Yet as I grew, I learned more of the order’s evil, while I’d had my fair share of brushes with their scum in my youth, I didn’t know how wicked the church truly was. I grew angry. I had to do something, I just had to. I asked my mother and siblings to join me in an uprising, to take back the beloved lands that once belonged to everyone and now belonged to the few. To fight against the people who would grab someone like me and...I….”
She jumps up, out of the water. Soaring in the air, she slams her fist right through a tree her rage, the explosion of force filling the air with the dark magic of a vampire, a black smoke that fills the air as well as her emotional outburst
I was worried that I should go to my blade, and yet I still trusted her. I simply stood up out of the water, extending closer my arms out for her. She flies down and wraps her arms around me. We embrace and it is as if all is right for a second. Until her tears fall down my shoulder, a wetness much scarier and crueler than a harsh ocean.
Serena wept in my arms, but kept talking like she needed to, like I needed to know it. “They took me, and they made me someone different. The me you knew was me, I lived it. When I broke out even a little they would send us to private prayer. When my feelings for you would grow too much, when I’d think of acting on them, I would be brought back to that room and reminded that I no longer was allowed to be. That it was only by the pain of others I was even allowed to continue… Mine was the life of a sinner getting to mask as a warrior of holy light, or so I remember in one instance where I was almost totally free. I don’t know if you would even want to be friends with me, the old me, before they did all that. My love for you is real, it hasn’t left me, but you never knew me and I don’t know if Vampire Queen me is the real me either. I...I don’t…”
As she sobs in my arms, I can’t help but squeeze her, desperate to comfort her even as she pours out so much that makes my heart break and my head spin. She stops her shaking, and continues past. “I... want to show you something else. Let’s get dressed.”
The vampire moves to my armor as I see a dark magic covers it. She states plainly “Trust me, for now this ward is needed, if you chose to fight me it will be removed, this just suppresses magic until you let it go. I want you to be able to think for yourself while we go to Clawz.”
This was so much, I couldn’t even really think. My head was crowded, what she was saying made no sense, yet when she said them they sounded like total truths. Was it the curse of the vampire queen corrupting her memories of the holy light, was it something more? Without Jillian here I couldn’t really even know. All I knew was that my heart was saying to trust her at least for now, so I did. So whatever Clawz was, I would follow, follow like I followed her to places that should have been certain death for us before.
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Jillian
Through my deeper familiarity with such cursed matters as the enchantments of black ooze that had covered me and Kat, I had managed to avoid indulging the horny creature’s advances. I conjured bath towels for us to wrap up in, by which I mean whistled for my owl friend Iris to swoop in and fetch us towels from my bag, and threw one at the nun.
I sit next to Kat and grab her hand feeling out the magics to see what may be affecting her and us. What was odd was the slime didn’t seem to be placing anything, but whatever it’s effects were, they seemed to degrade some other magics. It was possible it had affected the Holy Light’s magics, but it didn’t seem to just be that. Well, it was was away now, and a spell to remove hexes should leave the progress where it was. I was not yet in the position to be rescuing nuns if she even needed it.
Kat asks me shaking me a bit “Jillian! What was that stuff on us.”
I smirk, replying “Nothing for you to worry about now child of light. Not as if you would believe a witch. ”
She pouts “I totally could believe you! You saved me when I was going to fall, right? You helped me with whatever it was. The Holy Light clearly has blessed your magics! You must be a very special witch, after all - why else would I feel this sense of history between us?”
I couldn’t help but laugh a bit. I felt like a jerk, but I only had so much energy for kindness anymore. I shrug “You know, holy lady, you’re coming on real strong. I am not really looking to take on a pet project. I’ve got plenty of guiding to do with my children.“
I look over to Iris, who was perched on a nearby tree, her wings draped down the top and so long they covered its branches. She was a very big owl when she wants to be. She flies down and I pat her side “To answer your question, it seems the ooze was just removing some kind of ‘seal’ of magic you had on you. Probably just some ward-against-evil thing or something they put on you. Don’t worry you have me protecting you, so evil isn’t going to touch you more than it has. Unless the
Holy Light shows up. Anyways, we should get going~”
Kat frowns, saying “I was trying to be nice, maybe you are just a jerk.”
That Necklace I had found was glowing again and I smile raising my hand to her, I felt so strange. “Come on cutie, get on and hold onto my waist - if you want to touch me so bad, then hang tight.”
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Trucey
“This place will mostly talk for itself” explained the sweetest person I had ever met in my life. We walked forward, now dressed and dry.
Serena and I walked up towards a gated town, tall stone walls around it keeping it safe. I'd never seen it on any map, who could have built this outside of the empire’s rule?
Then suddenly, a giant golem and a wolf woman appeared, both looking ready to crush us. Had they raided the town, how did they just pass the gate?
The wolf hisses, fangs bared squarely at me, “This town has no room for Paladins, be gone or face my claws.”
The golem’s voice boomed as she towered over me, “You will be crushed.”
Serena removed her hood and walked forward. She charged some dark magic in her hand and the guards flinched in fear. But then suddenly, Serena began to laugh, the magic in her hands fading. The other two joined in seeming just as amused.
The wolf moves up to her, putting her arms around her “Ahh, Serena welcome back. Got this Paladin as a thrall for good or something.”
My hand shifted to the handle of my blade. Her arms were around Serena, my Serena… not that I am possessive or anything. Just, like, she's a monster - and aren't the wolves and vampires arch enemies committing monster-on-monster crime?
Serena turned back to face me. “Welcome to Clawz, Trucey. These are my friends, Freia and Jasmine.”
She gestures as she introduces them, Freia was the wolf woman and Jasmine was the golem. Golems could have names? But I’d heard they were soulless rocks, weren’t they? I felt uneasy but my hand left my blade.
Serena watches me calm and leave my sword, before adding, “This is the girl I’ve been talking about.”
Jasmine pats Serena on the back “Did she say yes, kid? Or is she still all holy and devout?”
Serena shrugs “It’s complicated but I am not gonna talk about her like she’s not here. Anyway, she is my guest so don’t worry, I claim responsibility for the devout hottie.”
We walked inside the gate and this was a moment that changed my life forever.
I saw little goblin girls helping a selkie sew some clothing. An undine carrying a barrel of water, while holding another man's hand. I saw a harpy woman with powerful things holding a ogre girl, giggling and laughing in the skies.
It was all there, just a bit out of where my eyes could see from behind the wall. I couldn’t believe this, yet here I was. I, I needed to think more, I needed to sleep, I needed to explore. I... fainted, the world fading black, but my head doesn’t hit the floor. I am caught by Serena, sinking into her arms to rest, as the new phase of my life had begun.
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Read Chapter 3