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Ziara found herself in the alley she knew so well, but something was different. The streets that were always alive with people were silent, and the first thing she thought was that she might have died. She looked around and then at herself and felt the pains in her stomach and bruises on her body radiate.

“You have had a difficult life young one.” A kind voice said.

Ziara looked around and saw male with his wings extended one white and one black. He walked toward him as his wings disappeared in a shower of lights. The man walked toward her, but she didn’t feel scared. She was used to sensing danger, but there was none of that feeling here. The man squatted down beside her and gave her a smile and nod.

“Who are you?” Ziara asked.

“Well I am called many names, but because you wear my rune around your neck you can call me Mercer.” The man said.

“Mercer?” Ziara repeated knowing she had heard that name and then she looked down at her neck and saw the necklace and pendant with the rune and her eyes went wide.

“If you truly have faith your voice can be heard little one.” The man said with a gentle tone. “I know life has been hard for you, but you always strive to endure. I know that often it seems life isn’t fair, but breath you take gives you an opportunity to regain karma from your previous life and truly change. Your hard work and your pleas have brought me here to give you a chance to do just that.”

“You really listened to me plea?” Ziara sniffled as tears ran down her cheeks. “Everybody says I am nothing but trash, but you listened. You really listened.”

“You are not trash little one.” The man said. “I will give you a chance, but it is up to you to take advantage of it. I will give you two boons, but what you do with the opportunity is up to you.”

Ziara watched as the man reached down and placed his hand on her head and a sudden burst of energy flowed into her. The energy seemed to flow through her, and she had never felt so empowered before. She it flows through her bones as they started to feel a warm river run through them, and then her skin seemed to tingle all over her body and the hunger pains and bruises seemed to fade away.

The moment the energy started to settle a new type of energy seemed to flow into her body and the sensation made her feel truly good. She had always felt that a shadow had been cast over her soul, and people could see it, but now that shadow seemed to totally dissipate, and she felt lighter somehow. She finally felt the energy stop flowing and she looked up to see the man standing over her again.

“The first gift I gave you is that your body and mind have been completely restored to what they should be if you were at your peak, and the second boon is something you will have to find out for your self. I can not help you with coin, goods or even your standard of living, but take this opportunity to find a path and follow it and redeem the negative karma your previous lives have saddled you with. Good luck little one and if you truly do follow the right path then we might see each other again.”

Ziara watched as the man faded away and disappeared in front of her and she wondered if this was but a dream. She felt no hunger or pain and as she looked down on the ground where it was caked with mud was a rune and a simple sentence under it that read ‘Trust in your self and the path will become clear.’

She sunk to her knees and kowtowed to the spot where the words were formed. She kowtowed three times and said. “I will devote my life to repaying your kindness and my heart and soul wishes only to serve you.”

Ziara words echoed and soon she awoke and could hear the bustling sounds of the city. She stirred from her position and found that she had no hunger or pain like the dream, and she looked down to ground and saw the rune emblazoned in the ground before her. She knew then it wasn’t a dream, but she was visited by the gods and her oath she said in that dream was repeated as she moved and kowtowed. She stood up and felt stronger than she had ever felt before. She looked at her hands and saw they were firm and even though the grime caked her body still. She knew she was changed now, and she knew she had to find her path like the man she knew was a god had suggested.

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Jerald felt another drain on his energy and knew that he would need a good sleep to recover. The fact that he felt tired made him feel somewhat happy, because it was a normal reaction in this crazy situation, he was in. He leaned back in his chair and let his eyes close and thought about sleeping there and now, but that thought was instantly changed when he heard a voice.

“Master please command me.” A sultry voice said.

Jerald looked up and saw a beautiful woman that looks had an Asian or Native American look to her. Her body looked to be around 5’9” tall with a petite body and voluptuous chest. Her eyes were slightly slanted with emerald green irises. She was wearing a gray pants and tunic that left her shape to be displayed clearly. Her hair was long and black and hung over her shoulders and she had a small gem that was round the color or forest green on her forehead.

Jerald looked at her knowing he was slack jawed, and it took him a moment to remember what he was doing before he dreams walked. He recognized her as the demoness that he pulled from the soul pool, and tried to calm himself and then finally asked. “What would you liked to be called?”

“Please master name this humble servant.” She said.

Jerald thought back to the name and it was way to long to say, and as he traced it, he quickly decided and said. “I will name you Cora.”

“Thank you master.” Cora said. “Is there something you want me to do?”

“Cora how much do you know about sanctuaries and how they work?” Jerald asked.

“I don’t know much, but my previous master had dealt with some of the sanctuaries before.” Cora stated. “The person that claimed his life was a sanctuary owner on the devil path.”

“Can you access the system information here?” He asked.

“If you give me permission then I can access most systems here, but even with access there are some things I can not alter or use.” Cora stated.

“Like what?” He asked.

“The creation and destruction tools I can not use, but once something is created, I can interact with it and aid you with it. I can not create seeds or other followers, but once they are bonded to you, I can interact with them and if you build me a persona I can even go down to the world with limited power.” She explained.

Jerald focused on her for a moment and her screen appeared and he went directly raising her permissions up to the max. He paused at the restrictions tab and changed it so she could have free will to be herself, and hoped that she wouldn’t do anything that caused a negative effect. He was her slave for all things, but he wanted her to be happy or at least content since she was the only person he would be in contact with in the sanctuary for a while.

He confirmed the status change and he saw her eyes widened but she still stood at attention. He smiled and said. “When you’re not doing something that I order your free to learn and enjoy the sanctuary, and give your opinion if you think it will make things better here.”

“Thank you master.” Cora said with an emotional tone.

“Alright I need to get some sleep and something to eat.” Jerald said as he groaned a little as he had to get up.

“Let me cook something for you master.” Cora said.

“Alright.” Jerald agreed as he was just to exhausted after the dream walk.

He sat there with his eyes closed and may have even dosed off when Cora came to him and nudged him into wakefulness. She had made him some type of stew or soup and something that looked like bread. The food smelled good and he picked up and started eating it and it tasted terrific. He finished it quickly and felt satisfied and even more sleepy.

“That was great.” Jerald said as he pulled himself off the couch and headed for his bedroom. He made it there and didn’t even undress before getting into bed and falling asleep.

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Cora looked down at her sleeping master and could only smile, because unlike her last master this one had gained her respect. She was very close to her soul dispersing permanently, and her hopes that somebody would pull her from the hell she was in was remote at best. Her life before was made up of abuse and mistreatment. She was one of hundreds of succubi under his control, and she had died as a pawn of one of his scams gone wrong.

As a succubus, her and the other succubus mainly were used as intelligence and manipulation operators that used their sex appeal and ability of illusion to gather information or turn who ever they could. She had done that as well and why she felt an incredible rush of energy from sexual acts she always had to worry about if her master was happy with what she did was good enough.

She looked at her current master and still felt the power keeping her faithful, but it was different than her past masters. He did not restrict her at all, but gave her freedom to do what she thought was right. She knew that he was attracted to her, and as her master he had every right to do what ever he wanted, but he held back, and she could tell that even though he had lust in him. It was pure emotion and not the overbearing lust that most masters had for demonesses of her kind.

She sat down next to him on the bed and reached out but hesitated before finally pulling a lock of his hair out of the way so she could see his face more clearly. She felt a trickle of energy enter her finger and go up her arm and spreading through out her body. It was warm and felt good to her, and was overjoyed at getting a good master. She would make sure that he was happy with her and she would serve him well. A person like him would obviously take more than one person as his wife, servant or concubine, but she was the first and she would make sure that she at least made a good impression on his heart so she would never be abandoned again.

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