Chapter 18: Vow and Rebirth

I watched as Cecilia walked over a large magic circle on the ground as she examined an old book in her hands. She was completely naked and so was Lily who was standing awkwardly at the side of the room. The spell apparently had a tendency to destroy clothing so the pair had stripped down. She’s been setting up this magic array for the past hour and she’s now double-checking everything. If this array can really bind someone’s soul then I don’t want to know what happens if Cecilia makes a mistake.

The prep also took a decent amount of time. I had to kill off a group of guards that were patrolling the road and take two of them, prisoners. Why? Well, this magic array needs to be written in blood, human blood. This spell was for the [Soul Vow] and the blood of the first guard was down on the floor. The second guard is for the next spell, to change Lily’s appearance. He was bound in the corner of the room and gagged as he looked on in terror at what was unfolding in front of him. Cecilia told me all magic has a price, the greater the sacrifice the greater the effects.

The Elysian Empire apparently once had spells they could sacrifice the souls of people as fuel for a great spell. The spell had the power to level a city but it required several thousand sacrifices. That spell called [Yaga’s Gaze] could create destructive power that was out of reach of even the Arch Angels or at least if the Arch Angels didn’t use their holy relics. There was of course a catch for that, the spell would leave the land uninhabitable after the smoke clears. As for why it is uninhabitable the book Cecilia read did not say although she did have the suspicion that the magic would taint the land. There were apparently places with cursed land where some past battle has irreparably scarred the area. Making life there almost impossible except for those that are perfectly adapted to that region.

Finally, Cecilia was satisfied as she snapped the book shut and she walked over to a circle of runes within the array.

“Lily, stand over there at the other circle of runes,” Cecilia said.

Lily hesitated for a moment before she found the courage as she stepped towards the circle of runes while being careful not to step on any of the blood marks.

When she was finally in position, Lily was face to face with Lily in the center of the array. The two were now only a meter apart and Cecilia held out a hand.

“Grasp my forearm,” Cecilia said.

Lily obeyed and grasped Cecilia’s arm and Cecilia did the same with her. Then Cecilia’s eyes glowed as the runes around the room began to light up in a crimson glow. From the corners of the array, blood-red chains appeared around the array. A pair of chains also appeared next to where the two of them were standing. The chains rose out of the ground and wrapped themselves around their arms locking them in place.

Then Lily cried out in pain as the chains began to steam. Cecilia grit her teeth as she tried to endure the pain. We knew the spell would be painful but I guess it hurt more than expected.

“Lily we can’t go back now, we have to finish it…” Cecilia said.

“Ok… it hurts but I think I can do it...” Lily replied as she shut her eyes trying to endure pain.

“Do you swear your soul to me?” Cecilia said.

“Yes…” Lily replied.

Then I noticed a pair of magic circles appeared on each of their backs. The chains that were hovering behind them began to thrash violently. Then two chains slammed into each of their backs where the magic circles appeared. The two of them gasped in pain as the chains began to crackle with red magical energy.

“Do you swear to always keep faith with me?” Cecilia said as her voice shook.

“Y...yes…” Lily gasped out.

Again I saw another two magic circles appear on their backs, this time they were lower, closer to the waist. Another set of chains flew to them striking them and the pair let out a scream of pain. Lily was now shuddering from the pain and Cecilia was taking in quick rasping gasps.

“Do you swear to serve me... eternally and never betray… me…” Cecilia gasped out.

“Yes…” Lily choked out tears now running down her face.

Finally, the last sets of chains struck the two, this time the chains connected to the sides of their heads right above the ears. The two screamed in agony as their bodies convulsed. The chains crackled with red energy, red lightning striking the ground around the array. From my vision, I could see the power of the spell, to me it looked like a technicolor show as the ether rose and thrashed from the power of the spell.

Then I heard an ominous voice echo out from the array.

The pact is made…

Two souls now one…

I spotted another rush of energy course up from the chains. I saw red electric-like sparks course along their body and the two screamed even louder, their screams threatening to tear their throats.

Souls ever bound, never apart...

Never one without the other…

Chained eternal…

The entire array glowed and a final rush of energy rushed along the chains. The two then went silent, their eyes wide, their mouths open in silent screams. I could hear them gagging as if the pain was stopping them from breathing.

Then suddenly the chains vanished and the array vanished, all the markings were gone. The two crumpled to the ground. The two panted on the ground as they struggled to recover from the ordeal. I slithered over to Cecilia and I saw her reach down between her legs. When she brought her hand up I saw it was wet. Then I noticed the distinct scent of urine from the pair. I guess the pain was so bad the pair wet themselves.

“You might want to clean up first,” I said dryly.

Cecilia blushed as she stood shakily to her feet.

“Disgraceful…” Cecilia muttered.

“It could be worse, you could have shit yourself,” I replied with a laugh. Cecilia shot me a glare and I raised my four arms in surrender, a smirk still on my face.

Cecilia got up and walked over to Lily who was still panting on the ground. Cecilia helped her to her feet and the two of them walked shakily over to the large fountain bath in the middle of the room. The two of them sighed in contentment as they sank into the hot water and Lily leaned her head on Cecilia’s shoulder, eyes half-closed.

Cecilia for her part leaned her head on Lily’s shoulder and I saw the two of them were holding hands under the water.

What is this? What’s going on?

“Erm… did something change?” I asked as I looked down at the pair of women.

“I don’t know, I think so…” Cecilia said as she looked at Lily in a mixture of fondness and confusion.

“I think the binding of our souls… the spell created affection between us… the book did say it would create a bond that would make us more loyal to each other… what I said... the commands for the spell could be said by either of us…

At first, I thought the one saying it would be the master… but I think it’s more than that?” Cecilia said as she looked at Lily who was looking up at Cecilia lovingly.

“I feel like I care for her… a little...” Cecilia muttered.

“I would do anything for you…” Lily replied.

Huh, ok… so it wasn’t exactly like a master-servant binding… this has a bit of a soul mate type deal. But then again its obvious that Lily likes Cecilia alot more than Cecilia likes Lily. So I guess it was kind of a master servant thing?

“So you two love each other?” I asked curiously.

“I don’t think I do… Lily, would you die for me?” Cecilia asked.

“Without question…” Lily said breathlessly as she gazed lovestruck at Cecilia.

“Well, I wouldn’t… the spell mentioned that there would be a superior and an inferior. I think I care about her but not as much as she does for me… since I said the words I think I’m the superior and she is the inferior… I thought it meant a master-servant relationship, I didn’t expect it to be this…” Cecilia muttered as she turned to face me. Although her words seemed a little cruel to be said in front of Lily, Lily didn’t seem to care in the slightest.

“Are you still you?” I asked, getting a little worried.

“Yes, I think so. I just have some affection for Lily but I think for Lily it’s… something else.” Cecilia said.

Hearing this I switched my senses to perceive pheromones, when I looked down at the pair I saw Cecilia was giving off a little bit of it. As for Lily, however, the pheromones were pouring out of her as she looked at Cecilia.

“So I guess it was stronger than we thought, at least we don’t have to worry about her betraying us,” I said with a shrug.

“Yes, I suppose so…” Cecilia muttered in reply.

“You are concerned,” I said as I crossed my arms.

“Yes, I did not expect the spell to change me, I do not know what else it has changed,” Cecilia replied.

“Have your goals changed?” I asked.

“No…” Cecilia replied.

“Then there is no problem, isn’t caring about someone good for you humans?” I asked as I tilted my head.

Cecilia may know that I am a hatchling but she has no idea that I used to be human. She does know I am quite intelligent, and she isn’t wrong. I have a perfect photographic memory and I realized I could analyze things much better than before.

As it stands Cecilia was still more knowledgeable and more competent than me. However, I feel with some study I could soon easily exceed any human. After all, my mind does not forget, and from what I heard do not age either. Apparently, Devourers are immortal, like some of the more powerful creatures. This means my mind will not atrophy with time, my mind is just a bottomless pit for which to store knowledge.

“Yes, I suppose it is,” Cecilia replied as she furrowed her brows, clearly disconcerted with this development.

“Must be nice…” I said with a smirk and Cecilia gave me a wry look as if I was mocking her. I could see it in her eyes, she thought I wasn’t capable of feeling such emotions. I still was able to, it was just significantly reduced, the emotions were there but they were far from strong enough to influence my decisions.

“So you two rested up? Ready for the next part?” I asked as I turned my gaze to the guard who flinched as he saw me turn.

“Yes, I think this is enough for now,” Cecilia said as she stood back up.

Lily immediately stood up and as I approached the guard I noticed Lily following Cecilia like a puppy. That spell is some insidious stuff, Lily isn’t a servant… she’s a slave to her passion…

I reached for the guard and he began to thrash as he realized I was about to do to him what I did to his fellow. I picked him up with one hand as I listened to his muffled screams behind his magical gag.

I brought him over to the cauldron that Cecilia had just emptied of the last guard’s blood. The spells require fresh blood, the fresher the better. Ideally, the blood should be out of the body and laid out on the floor within an hour.

I flipped the guard upside down over the cauldron and he thrashed even more. It was honestly getting quite annoying so I squeezed the guard and I felt some of his bones crack under the strain. As I squeezed him he struggled to move as I compressed his body, he was frozen long enough for me to turn one of my hands into blades and slit his throat. His body twitched as I drained his blood into the cauldron.

Out of the corner of my vision, I notice Lily isn’t as horrified as she was the first time we did this. Now she was just starting lovingly as Cecilia, completely ignoring the human being we were draining dry right in front of her.

Cecilia then raised her arms as they glowed blue and some of the blood flew up in a thick stream before finally coalescing into a ball above her head. She walked to where the last array used to be and she waved a hand. A stream of blood exited the orb above her and drew a rune onto the black stone floor. Cecilia proceeded to almost dance, with each movement more blood came forth from the orb and the array slowly began to take shape.

In the back of my mind, the human part of me once again couldn’t help but feel the sight to be slightly disturbing. The rituals looked… demonic… I guess it wasn’t that surprising considering this magic can trace its origins to the demons. From what Cecilia has told me the Divine Heavens and the Searing Hells were literal polar opposites. The denizens of heaven preach order, chastity, and moderation. While the creatures of the Searing Hells cry for chaos, promiscuity, and indulgence.

One is about controlling your desires and one is giving in to them. Terra on the other hand lives in the middle, with the creatures here predisposed to a mix of the two. That was why the Angels and Demons were locked in a perpetual tug of war for Terra. For if one side manages to fully shape Terra in their image, they would have a significant growth in power and territory.

Finally, the array was done and I noticed there was this ominous-looking pentagram on the floor now. Is Cecilia sure this is the right array? This looks like some demon summoning shit…

Sure enough, Cecilia magicked a book into her hand and began to examine the runes below her. It took her about half an hour but she was eventually satisfied and shut the book.

“Is this the right one?” I asked as I looked down at the array.

“Yes, this will allow me to sculpt her body to my ideal image,” Cecilia said.

“Ideal image?” I asked.

“Yes, a spell that allows you to manually change each aspect of an individual’s appearance is too difficult to control. So this simply takes the ideal form that the caster has in mind and implants it over the base body modifying it.

So that’s the reason why it is difficult to revert to the original form after the fact as if the caster. In this case if someone attempts to control it through a mental image, the image may be imperfect due to the limitations of memory. This problem will be compounded if the individual casts this on themselves since a person rarely looks at their own reflection as much as they see visages of others. Thus, it is highly likely they will not revert to the original appearance correctly.” Cecilia said as she looked up from her book.

“Hmm, I see…” I said with a nod.

“Now then Lily… come here...” Cecilia said.

Lily smiled as she obediently rushed over to Cecilia. Cecilia pulled her in for a kiss and Lily practically melted into her embrace. Cecilia then went behind her and hugged her.

“Will you do anything for me?” Cecilia whispered into her ear.

“Anything…” Lily replied as she turned her head and looked longingly at Cecilia.

Cecilia grabbed Lily’s left breast with one hand and began rubbing her inner thigh with her other hand. Lily let out a wet sigh as she shut her eyes enjoying the feeling.

“Anything?” Cecilia asked again before running her tongue along the side of Lily’s neck.

“Anything…” Lily replied again as she visibly shuddered from Cecilia’s tongue.

“I will make you beautiful… Do you want that?” Cecilia asked.

“Yes… anything for you…” Lily replied, breathing deep and her face flushed.

I looked a little stunned at the sight of the two women. It was odd honestly, I knew homosexuality was a thing but I never really understood it. Then again I did die extremely young so perhaps I would have understood if I lived long enough…

Although I suspect this is something else, Lily was giving off a lot of pheromones but I noticed that Cecilia was giving off significantly less. I suspect this is just some sort of manipulation, she is probably just doing this to make sure Lily will do what she wants her to do.

Cecilia made Lily lie down spread-eagled in the middle of the pentagram. Each limb and her head in a segment of that five-pointed star. I took one last look at Lily’s original body, I am quite sure this is the last time I will be looking at her. She was an adult and actually a year older than Cecilia who was 18. However, her body was almost childlike in comparison to Cecilia’s voluptuous figure. In fact, she looked like a teenager with her adolescent face, small petite breasts, a skinny frame, and narrow hips.

I was honestly quite curious about Cecilia's ideal form for her… what was her definition of beauty I wonder?

Then the spell began and the array began to glow an ominous red. Lily gasped as her limbs locked and her body convulsed. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as her body started to change. Her petite body started to warp, her face becoming more beautiful, her hips widened, her legs began to stretch and her breasts enlarged.

This wasn’t a pleasant transformation, as her body changed tears began appearing on her body as blood began leaking from the wounds. Then once that specific part of her stopped changing the wounds resealed themselves. I could see her skeleton changing as her bones shifted and her organs began to move to accommodate her new body. This change wasn’t nice either, I could see the bones fracturing and straight up breaking.

This spell lasted a lot shorter than the last one, only lasting a few minutes. By the end of it, Lily was almost unrecognizable. The only thing that remained was the blonde color of her hair and her green eyes. Her face looked kind of similar but I could tell her facial structure was now a lot nicer than it was previously. Lily wasn’t ugly before, in fact, she was quite pretty but now she was drop-dead gorgeous.

Her body was also completely unrecognizable, as Cecilia helped her to her feet I beheld the changes in all its feminine glory. She now had an extremely shapely figure much like Cecilia, in fact, their bodies looked extremely similar, large breasts, narrow waist, curvy wide hips, and long legs.

Idly in the back of my mind, I wondered if this is some thinly-veiled narcissism, the similarities were definitely there between them. If they had similar faces they would pass for sisters now. Is this perhaps Cecilia’s way of saying that she saw her body as the ideal of feminine beauty?

“Is this what humans find beautiful?” I asked, feigning ignorance.

“Oh yes…” Cecilia said in a voice filled with desire as she ran a hand along the side of Lily’s body.

“You may not understand this friend, but a body like this is a powerful weapon…” Cecilia said as a wide smile appeared on her face.

“A weapon?” I asked.

“Yes a weapon, few men will have the will to resist such temptation… while the weapons of men are roaring, threats and brandished blades. The weapons of a woman are whispers, seduction, poison and knives hidden away in the bed-chamber.

You have no idea how many great men have fallen to the promised warmth of a woman’s touch. These great men have great armies, powerful mages, wealth beyond imagining, and the authority to make thousands kneel. Under normal means, you will never get past his guards, his layers upon layers of personal protection.

However, with a beautiful woman, these great men will invite her in willingly. She will walk right past his warriors, mages, and fortifications right into his bed-chamber. Where he is alone and vulnerable…

That great man will think of nothing but stabbing her with his rod but he won’t be the only one doing the stabbing that night...

Even if the woman does not kill him, there are other ways to snare him. If the woman is sufficiently beautiful and skilled in the art of love. She can give him things only she can give, the fool will lose himself to that sweet rapture that only she can provide…” Cecilia said as she turned to me and gave me a wicked smile.

The once-great king...

Will be a slave to that passion...

The once-great king…

Will be nothing but a puppet on strings...