Carmina Imperatori

<div align=center> The night was thick about the succubus as she sat in the lotus position upon the mossy ground of a clearing within the Forbidden Forest, so far it had not lived up to her expectations, there were dangerous creatures here to be sure but she had not yet encountered one she could not handle. The thick trees and the scent of the night winds carried the sweet smell of nature wafting about her.

Much of the night she had already spent in deep meditation, buried within the core of her own energies, that flickering dance of chaos that existed deep within her very soul. Creatures born of the darkness, beings that were normally found only in the nightmares of children had gathered about her, drawn initially by the sweet scent of fresh flesh, but in her altered state those nightmare beings laid down in a circle surrounding the demoness, held at bay by the chaotic energy deep within her, yet wanting to approach and feast on her flesh.

Finally her eyes opened, her self induced trance coming to its natural conclusion and the succubus spread her wings as she rose to her feet, a wave of chaotic energy spreading outwards disoriented the gathered creatures, and the Succubus vanished from among them.

In truth she went nowhere, her mind had reached out to the dangerous creatures and enshrouded their senses with the impression that she had vanished, but she instead simply walked out from the encircling creatures, slipping between the clamoring press of vicious monsters, beasts that fell upon one another as she left them behind her, tearing each other to shreds in her wake.

But such was the nature of a succubus, be it man or beast those about her sought to use her for their own ends, whether they wished to sleep with her or eat her they would fall all over one another to seek her approval or to sink their teeth into her! She would always leave a wake of chaos behind her, families torn apart and broken hearts, beasts fighting one another just for a single taste!

Noiselessly she slipped through the forest like a wraith, her bare feet passing over leaves without a single crunch, flickers of dark energy passed silently over her flesh, rising from exposed skin and sinking in once again as the energy she had built up during her meditation sought to discharge itself, she had filled herself up far beyond her capacity after all!

Without warning though the succubus fell to her knees as her energies fled her body with a sudden rush, her lips parted and a scream of panic filled the air as she clutched at her head, her body rippled and shook as her abilities ran rampant within her in the void left behind by her energy!

If anyone heard the pained shriek and were drawn to her they would find a girl lying crumpled on the floor of the forest, a pair of denim shorts hugging her hips and covering little more than her pelvis, a black tube top shrouded her diminutive chest from prying eyes but that left a vast expanse of exposed skin, but not a scratch could be seen on her skin, something odd considering the number of bushes she must have passed through to get here!

Her brilliant crimson hair, had she been standing would have fallen clear to the back of her knees, but laying upon the ground it spilled about her like a pool of blood, at five feet in height the demoness was not the most impressive of figures, but there was one saving grace had any hunter of the supernatural stumbled across her, her wings and her tail had drawn into her body and her skin had reverted to its more 'natural' sunkissed human tone.

But as darkness swum across her vision Naamah's final, almost subconscious note was the sound of chanting coming from somewhere close by. </div>

<div align=center>Paladin, that impression, and the sensation of discomfort that continued shifting within her body gave her that impression, never had she actually met a holy warrior of the church, but the one who had trained her, the one who had fathered her and taught her all she knew had spoken about them at length. She had never mentioned that Paladins had cybernetic implants though!

"Hrmph, you don't know as much as you think you do it seems, I don't have any desire to hurt people, or to cause decay Blue, I love life and mortal beings too"

The question about who she served though made her recoil a little again and finally she reached her full height, at five feet flat however that was not exactly imposing, the Succubus seemed truly shocked by the implication that she served another being and her eyes opened wide, her eyebrows rocketing up for her hairline.

"You are kidding aren't you Blue? Who do I serve? What do you think demons are?"

Naamah pushed herself off the tree, her smile broadening for a moment in triumph before trying to brace herself upright, but the succubus tripped and her head swum in disorientation again, a step, a second, and then she was face down on the ground again. The demoness rolled onto her back and looked up at the sky before offering a string of curses that would have made the most hardened sailor blush!

"You think you could ease up on things a little Blue, I'd rather not be face down on the ground if we're going to have a lengthy conversation."

But the demoness was not done yet dealing with holy people, be they the simple, everyday clergy of churches or holy paladins that fought against her kind on a day to day basis they weren't the kind to listen to what she had to say, truth be told she was expecting any moment to find her life ending at the powerful mans hands.

"But I suppose you want a real answer hrrrm? I am a demon, a succubus if you must know Blue, my father is Lily, a Succubus like myself, we serve ourselves and our own self interests, sure there are a bunch of idiots down below that want to rule over other demons, but we want nothing more than freedom Blue, the right to do as we please without anyone ruling over us, do you think that's so much to ask?"

Whether he accepted her words or not, whether he remained aggressive and wanting to kill her or whether he thought of her a little more kindly after her explanation she began to work her way back towards the tree, attempting to ascend it again so she could stand once more before the powerful man who had so easily rendered her unconscious.

Whatever else he thought about her, there was something that was doubtless laudable about her determination, even faced by someone so clearly in charge the Succubus was unafraid of the powerful man, she displayed no sign of anger, even at being restrained, in pain and powerless the demoness was facing the warrior with an unshakable confidence.

If he were to end her life she would meet her end with a grin!

"So what now Blue? You going to kill me before I can turn completely evil and start trying to kill every living thing or will you untie me and let me go?"</div>

<div align=center>In that moment she was certain her life would end, in that moment she knew she would see for the first time in her life the flames of her 'fathers' home, she knew she would have to find some way to claw her way back to the Earth if she ever managed to return at all, and for just a moment her facade cracked as the man prepared his strike, fear crossed her fine features and her eyes closed.

But then the pressure around her wrists faded, the Succubus opened a single eye, just a crack as she looked down at her hands in surprise before looking up at the man she thought to be a paladin, this close the pain that burned within her surged, but she had expected much worse!

She recoiled, falling to her hands and knees in an attempt to get away from the powerful man once again, while she might have been a demon, while before his assault she might have looked composed and in control there was a moment of true, human vulnerability and surprise on her face.

"What... Why?"

It was all she could manage for the moment as she tried to put a little distance again between herself and the warrior who had chosen to set her free. But she was alive! And how alive she felt! It had been a rush, knowing her life was a hairs breadth from being ended and the Succubus felt a new flood of strength flow through her, for just a moment all burning within her body ceased as new energy and a surge of adrenaline screamed through her system, she even managed to pull herself to her feet and stand unassisted, albeit unsteadily before the warrior.

"So... I take it you're not going to kill me today Blue?"

Her breath was coming quickly and she was poised to run if he made an aggressive move towards her, but if he had truly wanted to hurt her he could have done so much more easily while she had been restrained! It seemed she had some reason to hope that she wasn't going to die just yet!

But as the adrenaline began to fade, dissipating into her system once more the pain from the mans presence began to return, the fear for her life was slowly diminishing and her power was diminishing with it! She was growing less and less confident again, but her curiosity was replacing it, despite the danger, despite the threat of physical violence she had much she wanted to know, much that it seemed only the man before her could answer!

"Tell me, why did you want to know who I served? Who did you think I served? What are you and how did you suppress my power?"

She was full of curiosity, and now that the threat to her life seemed to have diminished a little there was an almost innocent expression on her fine features! Wide eyed and curious, wanting to know all she could discover about the world about her, and about her own nature and powers!

"I should confess, I don't know anything about what's going on below, I only know my 'father' and myself, I've never met any demons other than us and I know only a very little about my abilities, if there is something specific you want to know then tell me what it is and I'll try and find out, but if you don't want to associate with a demon then I'll leave you to your... whatever you were doing in a dark, forbidding forest by yourself"

It seemed without some imminent threat to her life curiosity tended to override caution and now she was faced, not with a threat, but with a source of invaluable information! If she could learn to overpower or work around whatever he was using to hold her powers at bay, if she could learn to hold onto her abilities even in the face of someone who seemed able to strip them away from her at will then she would be much more able to combat similar situations in the future!

After all, if there was one man who could seal her powers there would doubtless be others, if not on this island then out in the world beyond the Academy!</div>

<div align=center>"Hmph, you want evil beings who rule over weak willed and weak minded people? They're called politicians"

The demoness couldn't help but give a small chuckle at that, but the information he gave was truly interesting to her, even though the pain from his defensive ability, whatever it was lifted from her the Succubus felt her powers still slow to return, her energies churned within her as a dark hunger and she felt a need to feed growing inside her. It was something she was going to have to take care of when she could.

For the time being though curiosity overwhelmed everything, he was a man out of time? A man displaced from his home? The succubus couldn't help but wonder what things were like, obviously her own kind still existed, but it seemed that in his time demons like her were controlled by more powerful beings.

"Heh, so you're not Blue, you're gold?"

The Succubus approached, slowly at first, but with a mounting confidence, eventually she even took a seat on the ground, patting the surface beside her in invitation to Aurum, although admittedly she didn't expect him to take it.

"Then we should probably talk Blue, take a seat, tell me what you know of demons, of these... Lords of Chaos, perhaps there are ways to keep them from ruling other demons in the future you come from"

She held up a hand to forestall any talk of disrupting the time stream or of paradoxes that could destroy the entire universe, she didn't care about any of that, all she cared about was that in the future he came from she would be unable to do as she pleased! She would be nothing more than a slave to someone stronger and that was not something she wanted!

"It might create a divergent time line, it might completely erase what you think of as history, but you came back here for a reason Blue, perhaps it's this, you smell like a soldier, you seem like the sort who'll take lives if he has to, what if you could stop war from even beginning?"

The demoness' eyes sparkled with a wicked sort of glee, every protestation of a lack of desire to kill mortals or cause chaos seemed to be evaporating with the sheer delight that came from the possibility of fiddling with the destiny of the entire universe!

"I don't know what ghosts of your past you came to exorcise Blue, but what if you could prevent them, they aren't ghosts of the past at the moment surely? They're ghosts of the future."

Perhaps she was naive, perhaps she was simply seeking the fun that would come from messing with an entire timeline, but perhaps, just perhaps she also had the best intentions of her own kind in mind! That would surely be a mind bending thought for the soldier, if it even crossed his mind in the first place!

But whatever the case might be for the time being she was out of danger and sharing some... Sorta civil conversation with a man from another time! She still had much to learn, about his time, about his abilities and how they interfered with hers! A mage? That answered some questions, but what powers could seal hers so completely!

"I need to learn more, if you do come from the future then you can help me, you have already shown that you can strip my powers from me and you can cause me pain just by being near me. If you can teach me how to do that then maybe I can learn to be a better demon, maybe I can help keep other demons from being controlled in the future you come from"</div>