Elven Forest, A large elven city

 

What do you do with a fire that burns as long as the air is present?

 

Ivangor had this thought as he watched his city burn. They had been fighting it desperately for days now. Hahaha! He laughed sadly at this thought.

 

He was currently covered in soot, with burn marks on his exposed arms. His leather armor had many scorch marks on it. The lower half of his beard had been charred off, leaving the chain that bound it to hang pointlessly. The new end of his beard was a solid ball of black, that had fused with the chain.

 

Looking over he saw an elf running with a bucket of water, and tried to yell for him to stop. Instead, he issued a few raspy coughs, as he watched the elf making a mistake.

 

The water vaporized as soon as it contacted the fire, briefly putting it out. The yellow gel mixture began to hiss and bubble angrily, before exploding into flames. The burning gel was shot everywhere, and the helpless elf was quickly engulfed in flames. The elf had time to issue one painful cry before he was reduced to charcoal, and even the ground underneath him began to char.

 

Ivangor sighed sadly. If you threw water on it, it exploded and threw the gel everywhere. It also began to burn even hotter as a result, as if using water pissed it off. The gel would naturally bubble and pop, spreading itself rapidly. The fire also pushed the gel along, like a tumbleweed in the wind.

 

The moment the fire started they had amassed to take care of it. They expected some retaliation from the beastmen after their raid. The mages laughed at the small fire, and immediately conjured some rain...

 

Originally it had been a pool of goo and glass, probably a pond in size. The moment the rain came, all hell broke loose. The downpour put the fire out for all of 10 seconds, before the whole pool began to roil, like a titan about to unleash its fury. Everything was filled with fire and explosions, fire rained from the sky and began competing with the conjured rain. The globs of gel that were ejected into the sky began exploding as they contacted the rain, this spread it even farther.

 

They were completely caught in the blaze, and many elves turned into matchsticks. The rain died the moment the mages did, and only he and some lieutenants escaped. The massively high temperatures created massive waves of fire, and they have pushed the remnants of the gel along on its happy path of destruction.

 

I can only wait for it to burn out. Kicking dirt on it only caused it to explode. I can only guess it was the water in the dirt...

 

Ivangor was lost on what to do in this situation. Elves were falling in droves, as the thick smoke spread into the city.

 

“I will make those filthy animals pay 1000 lives for every elf life lost today. I will bathe their cities in an ocean of blood to wash this shame away.” he vowed. “I should never have let that Hyena escape!”

 

-

28 days earlier...

Succubus homeland, Rex's Lab

 

Rex was starring intently at the magical fuel he had made. In truth, he had noticed some properties after using it for a while. It evaporated when it was used up, which seemed to be a property of the ethanol, and its slow reaction speed seemed to come from the paraffin.

 

“Is it just stealing the properties of what I added to it?” Rex wondered.

 

Rex had heard of alchemists in this world slaving away to create new concoctions. He was wondering if this might be how they did it.

 

“I wonder just how far I can take this?” Rex wondered aloud.

 

Sitting at a desk in his lab he leaned forward as he extracted a few drops of the fuel onto a piece of paper. Reaching over he pulled his candle out of the holder and held the paper to it. The paper ignited releasing a very bright flame.

 

“It burns really hot and slow. It has the properties of both ethanol and paraffin. The water I extracted originally, was removed from the fuel mixture. The mana has got to be suspended in here, but I can't see it. I wonder what else I can put it in.” Rex mumbled to himself.

 

Dunk!

 

The dull bell that Rex used was pushed open, as Kira strode proudly into the room. She had a large burlap bag on her back and strutted right up to Rex, head held high. She placed the bag on the ground making a heavy sound. Rex glanced down to see it was filled with magic stones. Looking back to Kira, her horns were now pointed to the sky.

 

“You are like my plot armor, always bringing me exactly what I need!” Rex said happily as he patted her head.

 

Rex glanced back down at the bag trying to estimate how many stones were in it.

 

“We managed to hunt over 100 sharks today! 105 to be exact.” Kira said smugly.

 

Ideas began to form in Rex's head as he made some plans.

 

“Hey Kira, we need to dig a well, and line it with clay, then fill it with fuel and fire it. After that glaze it the same way. I think I might be doing something dangerous, but we will see.” Rex said as he explained.

 

“What are you going to make?” Kira asked in awe, Rex never said anything was dangerous before.

 

“I have no idea, and that's what makes it so fun!” Rex said as he sighed to himself.

 

The two kids stood up and walked shoulder to shoulder.

 

-

3 days later...

Outside Fang city, Beastmen plains

 

A hyenaman had arrived at the gates on all fours, huffing loudly as he desperately caught his breath. He had been chased by Elven King Ivangor for 2 days straight. If you retraced the hyena's steps you would find a path of destruction leading back to his home city.

 

“That goddamn elf chased me for 3 fucking days!” The hyenaman said hoarsely.

 

His fur was patchy and falling off in areas. He was covered in cuts and scratches and had stains on his fur from dried foam that came from his mouth. His eyes were baggy, and his eyeballs were completely bloodshot.

 

“It's King Fourpaw of Savage City!” One of the beastmen guards saw him sprawled in front of the gates.

 

“Savage City was destroyed at Ivangor's hands!” Fourpaw yelled angrily. “There is nothing left of my fucking city, then he chased me out with my tail between my legs!”

 

The guards were shocked at this news. While Fourpaw was the weakest beast king individually, he had the largest army.

 

“My army didn't get to do shit against that damn elf. It was like he was running through a field of reeds!” Fourpaw was crying as he remembered it.

 

He had baited Ivangor back to use his army, thinking he would get some payback. Most of his missing fur was from Ivangor picking up weapons from his fallen soldiers, and throwing them at Fourpaw. Surrounding Ivangor just felt like putting yourself right where he wanted you, as this just allowed him to kill even more freely.

 

“Why! Why was he born an elf! He'd make a perfect beastman!” Fourpaw lamented to the sky.

 

HAHAHA! A burst of loud laughter seemed to reverberate through the gates as a tall walking Tiger appeared.

 

“look at what the mangy dog dragged in!” Tiger King Lior said in derision.

 

“You go fucking deal with Ivangor for 3 days!” Fourpoaw screamed at Lior.

 

“Did you bring that madman here! Are you out of your mind!” Lior yelled as he went on high alert.

 

Lior began looking around everywhere, expecting to see an elf just appear in the field with an angry scowl. His heart was hammering in his chest as he took in every detail carefully.

 

“He quit chasing a day ago! But now you can't fucking laugh, can you?” Fourpaw began to shiver and looked traumatized.

 

“Are you gonna let what he did to you stand?” Lior said with some disdain if he did it would make all beastmen look bad.

 

“Of course not! I want the shamans to produce a new magic flame to burn the elves' prized forest down! I want that damn elf to feel what I felt when I was powerless to save my city from him!” Fourpaw roared in madness.

 

The shamans were a group of beastmen who were trained in alchemy. When the Mad King of the high elves used the Cursed Chain of Cruelty to suck the life out of the world, a lot of the professions were hunted down. Some alchemists from the high elves found their way into beastmen hands, and the shamans were born. Fang City was the main place of trade for beastmen.

 

A beastman fell into a warrior culture, everything was about the hunt and war. Carrying coins was disgraceful, a warrior's only greed should be for blood. All of the commerce was handled by females or slaves. A craftsman could be male, but he would always have an attendant. A male craftsman would just craft, it was considered a different kind of warrior. The shamans found a way around this, as they usually demanded absurd ingredients and reagents, they claimed coin was useless to their craft.

 

A beastman's slaves and wives were all a part of his pack, until they left, or were eaten. Killing a member of a beastman's pack was the same regardless of their status within the hierarchy. This meant based on what kind of pack leader you were dealing with, you might be on the menu. The 12 beast kings were leaders with packs large enough to form cities, and 12 was all they could support. While a keep and wall was stone for dealing with monsters, everything else was wood and tents. Within a month of hearing Fourpaw was in Fang City, his pack would reform around him, he had no reason to do anything but wait.

 

-

At the same time...

Succubus homeland, Rex's Lab

 

Kira was watching in interest as Rex was cooking salt in a frying pan. It was an enchanted frying pan he had made, sparks and miniature lightning bolts seemed to travel through the salt. The smell was foul, but metal was forming from the salt.

 

Kira continued to alternate her gaze between the frying pan and Rex. She had to give her eyes a break, the amount of mana that the metal had in it was blinding after all.

 

“What are you making?” She couldn't help but ask?

 

“I am using electrolysis to separate the sodium chloride into chlorine and sodium. Sodium is a metal with some really interesting properties so I want to see what adding mana will do to it.” Rex explained in his usual calm manner.

 

Rex continued to roughly stir the salt, making the piece of sodium he had, bigger and bigger. He would occasionally mutter to himself, but this was common. He could have entire conversations with himself sometimes. It was unusual, but she figured it was a racial thing.

 

“If I am right about how this works, this is going to be incredible! I need to come up with some kind of mana detector, sodium should never form so readily like this, this must be the property of the mana. If I had to guess, I bet it is direly trying to stabilize the sheer amount of mana in it, and since it can only form sodium in this environment, that is what it is doing. I am taking it out of its comfortable and safe, salty form. ” Rex was laughing as he added more salt into the frying pan.

 

The lump of sodium was now the size of a fist. Rex picked it out of the frying pan and dropped it straight into kerosene. It was one of the oils he got from the black tar. When he tossed in a second piece, the two pieces of sodium joined together in the kerosene.

 

“Yep, that confirms it. It is direly trying to equalize the mana, and this is making it way more reactive than it would ever be under normal circumstances.” Rex said confidently. “I need more mana than what I have. Kira, I have a great idea.”

 

Kira looked at him curiously, his ideas usually meant fun afterward.

 

“I want you to do another fishing trip. Heavily chum the waters and even use some shark corpses to do it. Wait till they are in a frenzy, then take the lid off this jar, and drop it straight in the middle of them, right into the water jar and all.” Rex explained up to here. “ Make sure you get away as soon as you drop it, it will be very violent.”

 

Kira looked at Rex with awe, then at the growing ball of metal in the kerosene.

 

“Is that the great weapon of the succubi?” She asked in wonder.

 

“No, this is just a toy. I'm curious if it will do what I think it will.” Rex said as he laughed then paused. “Why do the succubi listen to you?”

 

“If our plan succeeds I will replace my mother, at that time I will be in charge of protecting the statue of the great ancestor. At that time I will explain to you how our leadership works, and how it is passed on.” Kira said solemnly.

 

“I will just assume it is some succubus thing.” Rex mumbled.

 

Kira reached for the sodium, but Rex stopped her.

 

“You should get your sisters together first. I want to make this even bigger!” Rex said laughing mischievously.

 

-

 

Kira was flying above the waters, below here was a large group of sharks. They had fished 6 out, then cut them up and returned them as chum. Some of the shark monsters were fighting, and fins were surfacing everywhere.

 

“Why did we need to go fishing again so soon?” One of the sisters complained.

 

“We're not fishing, we are trying out a new weapon of the succubi.” Kira explained patiently.

 

She was holding a clear glass jar, a piece of metal floated inside that was the size of two fists. She had to fight Rex, to get him to stop adding more to it.

 

“This is probably for her pet, while I admit he does make useful things, this is a bit overboard.” One of the sisters sighed out.

 

Kira was starting to get annoyed with them. They were only about 60 feet above the water, but it should be fine she thought. She pulled the lid off the jar and dropped it all like Rex had said to.

 

All of the succubi's eyes watched it slowly begin falling towards the ocean. Most of them were looking in ridicule as the piece of shiny metal was just that. It fell slowly and sank, jar and all. For a few seconds, nothing happened and a few succubi started laughing. Then it all stopped as an earth-shattering boom was heard and the water began to roil. A giant wave was forced up and almost touched the succubi's feet in the air. Pieces of dead sharks and blood dyed the entire spout red.

 

This was just the beginning though as water spouts began forming everywhere. They could hear series of booms coming from the water. The more amazing part was that they could see what was happening to the mana in it. The sharks were like dull sausages swimming under the water, and the sodium was like the sun. The first blast had fractured it into pieces and shot them everywhere. It was now reacting violently as it created tons of little water spouts.

 

The sodium would rapidly disperse in the water as if it was turning into gas. Then it would just explode, and shoot out a pressure wave in the water. The sharks were being turned into a paste in droves, some taking 5 or 6 pressure waves and turning into liquid, falling apart in the water. The sisters who had been laughing in disdain now all had looks of horror. A lump of shiny metal had released its fury and killed hundreds of sharks.

 

Pieces of them were floating on the ocean, many didn't leave an intact corpse. Kira could see tons of magic stones sitting on the bottom of the ocean. These were from the unfortunate few that didn't get to leave a corpse. For a succubus, the longest part of fishing was how long it took to kill the sharks and lead them.

 

“Alright sisters, today the succubi have had an amazing catch! We must gather all the magic stones now, then dispose of the pieces.” Kira took lead immediately.

 

If Rex was the mind that would create the great weapon of the succubi, then she would be the one on the front lines, to command its use!

 

Kira looked at the burlap bag that had served her on many fishing trips and saw its inadequacies. 105 sharks had filled it to bursting, and she now had 3 times that she would need to carry. The sisters were using harpoons attached to vines to drag the corpses to shore. One of the sisters had removed her clothes and dived into the water to get the sunken stones. All the monsters had been scared away by the explosions.

 

-

1 week later...

Fang City, Central Plaza

 

Dora had infiltrated Fang City per mistress Kera's orders and was doing reconnaissance. Kira had made it clear the future path of the succubi was in information. Dora had been chatting with the local beastwomen as she did some shopping. She had taken the form of a dogwoman and was just casually walking between the various stalls.

 

Most of the stalls sold various types of foods, the catches of the pack leaders. These were ironic, as they were run by emaciated slaves. Most of the construction was leather and cloth, a type of sheepman produced fine wool they would sheer and sell. It was the main cloth of the beastman, the elves preferred fine cotton or silk.

 

“Have you heard King Fourpaw is planning to set fire to the elven forest? Do you think he wants to start another 10-year war?”

 

“He's just posturing, that monster Ivangor will just kick them back into our territory. Unless the Ape King personally goes, there isn't anyone who can fight that madman one on one.”

 

“How much longer do you think Ivangor has to live? How old is he now?”

 

“Ivangor is only like 120 years old, he is still quite hearty for an elf. He will be our nightmare for a few more generations still. At least he keeps the pups in line!”

 

These types of rumors had circulated the city one by one. A report had been sent back to Kera, and from her to Kira. It was said she and her consort were creating great weapons for the succubi, and she had promised they would create a truly mighty weapon. The crux of the succubi was their low birth rates, they were one succubus for every army of any other race.

 

They had been raised to believe this was only proper, due to the sheer number of advantages that the succubi possessed as their birthright! Dora had often dreamed of strutting through the battlefield, battling waves of charmed enemies! One lone succubus versus an entire army! This was the passion that every succubus should crave!

 

Mistress Kira will need to do something grand in this situation if she wants to earn my vote.

-

At the same time...

Succubus homeland, The Exchange

 

Kira was wrapping up her paperwork for the day, she had been taught to fully read and write. She could do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Once a week she came to implement new changes that Rex would come up with. The coins had taken off on the island, and some prisoners even died for them.

 

The reason was the introduction of alcohol on the island. It came in a black jar that her sisters made, using her old kiln. It said “Canabus” in white letters glazed on the jar. The other reason they moved was so Kira could begin teaching her sisters, she felt this was a better use of her time. If Rex needed something he only needed to open his back door and yell.

 

His constant habit of arguing with himself when he worked had made Kira afraid to have him around the sisters.

 

I need to help him fix that...

 

She sighed as she finished checking the new jobs they would be offering. The idea was that the best miners who turned in the best ore would get the option to work on special ore veins Rex wanted to be mined. They would be moved out of the mine and live near the lake, this is also where their ore would be dropped off. Then they could order directly from a stationed succubus.

 

Rex had been obsessed with alchemy lately and the ore had piled up over the 6 months since they had been running the exchange. This was a much better ore production method than the succubus bread! As robbery had started to become a problem, Rex was planning on opening the second floor of the exchange. He had called it simply the “SuccuBank” and said he would explain it in detail later.

 

Kira needed to talk with Rex anyway. The war they were trying to push between the elves and beastmen was calming down slightly. It was said that the Hyena king was planning to send men to burn the elves' forest.

 

The economic crash would take time to take full effect on the elves, and Rex wanted them to start selling their prized slaves to recover. The city-owned slaves did most of the work for the elves. The elves built their kingdoms on the backs of inferior races as they put it.

 

Rex had given her an entire stack of plans, and she was slowly implementing them as her successes slowly cemented her influence. She had to thank the great ancestor for coming up with such a foolish system for the succubi. If she hadn't had her eyes opened the more she interacted with Rex, she wouldn't have realized how flawed it all was.

I will never let anyone hurt him again!

 

The sisters had finally started to see what she had! Rex had produced lots of weapons in the last week, all toys as he put them. Waxes that caught fire in the air, a powder that lit up and melted through steel quickly. It was all rather shocking, everything looked so mundane but it was all so destructive. He had steadily been creating more and more chemicals, as he could use existing ones to make more. She couldn't keep track of all the names or what they did.

 

I wonder what he has made today!

 

She was happy as she put away her paperwork for the day. She would get to go home to her future husband. She was one of only 6 succubi in history to get married! She was the first in history that didn't leave the succubi to live with her man either. Shifting her mana around allowed her wings to slide out of her exposed back. When she got older she would have this feeling in her whole body, and that was how they transformed.

 

Beating her wings quickly she flew out of the hatch in the roof, it would be taken care of by a sister later.

 

Humming a gentle tune as she got some lift, she was at the top of the volcano in less than a minute. Looking down over the succubi village she started looking at the life force around. Rex was the youngest on the island aside from her, so he stood out. It was like a bright flame amid candles, and soon she saw one pacing frantically in front of the house.

 

Looking closely from up in the air she was able to make out his expression as he mumbled.

 

That is the same face he had when he told me to take my pot to my people! He must have made something incredible!

 

Angling her body, she began to flap her wings frantically. Her husband was eagerly waiting for her, how could she make him wait any longer? It took moments for Rex to see her approaching.

 

“Kira! There you are, I made a horrible mistake! I tried to dispose of all the white phosphorous, thermite, and sodium I produced. It all started fusing as I just got it too close together! I threw it in paraffin to stop it from reacting with air, but it started combining with that. I had to keep pouring in more, and more to cut off its reactions. I finally got the smart idea to pour pure ethanol over it, as this would stifle the reactions completely! The issue is it isn't combining, and now the ethanol is evaporating!” Rex looked horrified and out of breath as he explained to her.

 

Kira listened in awe as she knew all of those materials as they left an impression on her. When she thought of this powerful new creation she couldn't help but ask in excitement.

 

“Is this the great weapon of the succubi?!” Kira asked.

Rex looked at her as if she was a fool, it was a look she hadn't seen before. She didn't have a reference for it so she just patiently waited for him to answer.

 

“Yeah, that's exactly what this is! It is so dangerous, it cannot live here a minute longer! I am going to use ethanol to remove the oxygen from the room. I need you to take the gel and fill jars with it until it is all gone. Then get it the hell out of here! It is a calamity just waiting to happen!” Rex looked like he had seen a ghost as he looked at the pit in the middle of the room through the window.

 

The fluid was clear under the ethanol, it looked almost harmless. It was currently completely still as if it was sleeping.

 

He must have known I needed this!

 

Kira looked at Rex resolutely as he pushed her into the room, she was firming the resolution in her heart. Rex began messing with chemicals as they began to react and release a fog.  As a thick vapor was released he covered his mouth and looked at her. 

 

“Count to 300, I will be finished by then. We need to move before the ethanol is completely gone.” He said as he rushed for the door. He closed it and began to clay it sealed. Looking down at the pond of liquid, she began to count in her head.