Rex stood amid a cliffside city. His hair resembled something Einstein would be proud of. He could see hundreds of little domiciles, they were all little square houses made of clay. Looking around it was quite a magnificent sight. He turned and looked back at the 12 succubi that stood behind him.

 

Everything makes sense now!

 

His gaze stopped on a little girl.

 

She looked back at him curiously, her large eyes blinking slowly as she looked back at Rex.

 

I have never had a stronger feeling... to just reach out... and strangle somebody!

 

His eyes were twitching, and his little fingernails were digging into his palms.

 

-

6 hours ago...

 

He could hear the wings of the succubi as they glided down, one by one.

 

“Hey look! They destroyed his oven! That was how he baked my pot as we do with the bread!” He heard an enraged little girl's voice.

 

Everything had gone quiet with her condemnation. He could hear ragged breathing and hurried running.

 

They are going to kidnap one of the succubi, and it will be over...

 

He could hear what sounded like bodies colliding, and wrestling around. The sounds of breathing were getting louder as the struggle seemed to get more intense. Rex's breathing caught in his chest as he listened for any sounds of who would win.

 

A little face poked through the bushes and looked shocked to see him there.

 

“What are you doing here? Why didn't you stop them from breaking your stove?” She looked at him as though this was a reasonable question for a child.

 

Rex was stunned, but his thoughts were interrupted by a female moan.

 

“Why are you hiding in there? You should come out, and show the mama's how you made your pot.” She said this excitedly.

 

“What happened to the men out there?” Rex asked cautiously.

 

“The mama's are eating them right now. Hurry up, they will finish soon!” She said excitedly to show off how her pot was made. It was like a kid at a talent show.

 

Rex stared at her stunned, he almost wondered if she was threatening him. He had more questions at this point than he knew what to do with.

 

Are those prisoners so starved for women, that they will just throw themselves off a cliff?!

 

The situation had been settled before they even landed. This was the only thing he could conclude. They hadn't even called out or said anything. If a truck was driving towards you at 80 mph, you would at least take the time to scream, right? From this reaction, they clearly couldn't wait to die.

 

“Why don't you let me know when they finish, I want some time to mentally prepare.” Rex said calmly.

 

I want to wake up in my bed. Throw my b&#@* wife out of it, and go back to work! Yes, that's what I want right now!

 

He didn't know when he started crying, it must have been thinking of work. There were so many fond memories of that place.

 

I want to return to my world, where every 4 years I can choose, whether or not it will make sense!

 

The thought that he would miss the neighbor's dog, who reminded him to work in his yard daily. By kindly pooping in it every single morning.

 

Or the polite man who cuts him off on the highway in the mornings. Waving at Rex happily in greeting with his middle finger.

 

I want women to be women again, and not walking bear traps!

 

“The mama's finished eating, are you gonna come out now?” She was still staring at him in the hole.

 

The die had already been cast, the longer he waited the worse it would be. Everybody dies someday, he was unfortunate enough that he would get to experience it twice. Rex took his time slowly climbing out, he wouldn't rush to his death.

 

He slid through the bush, and slowly stood up.

 

He saw 12 adult succubi and looked at the piles of clothes on the ground.

 

There were only 3 of them?! I could have escaped!

 

The frustration had been steadily growing over the last few days. Nothing had gone right, and everything that could fail had. He thought he had planned carefully, and he would be able to journey the world freely. Now he was sitting in front of a death council, they all looked at him like he was some oddity.

 

“Did you make Kira's pot?” The one who asked was a succubus he was familiar with at the exchange.

 

“Yes, I did.” Rex answered.

 

“I remember you from the store, you wanted information.” She seemed to remember him too. ”You're the one who is immune to our charms.”

 

Rex looked confused at this new information, this was news to him. He looked at the 12 beautiful women, he then looked at his pants. He wasn't old enough to know yet if everything was working, why were they rushing him.

 

What the hell do you expect out of an 8-year-old?!

 

His thoughts came to a sudden crashing halt when he remembered one word “Magic.”

 

“Does your charm normally affect children?” Rex had to ask since he had the thought.

 

“Of course, a succubi's charm is their strongest power.” The succubus said seriously.

 

The more information he got, the more questions he was left with. He simply couldn't take it anymore.

 

“Why do you eat the prisoners?” This question had been at the top of his mind.

 

They made food, and dealt with water, why did they need to eat the prisoners here?

 

“Why do you eat bread?” She responded as if it was simple.

 

“But you made the bread, can't you just eat it too?” This logic contradiction had been tormenting him.

 

“We feed the prisoners, and they feed us.” She responded.

 

Sometimes the simpler an answer is, the worse it sounds. His confusion must have shown as she elaborated for him.

 

“We can't eat bread or anything else, we can only eat people.” Finally, he got the answer.

 

It finally started to make sense. The picture was coming into focus. He could finally see the road, even if it leads straight to hell.

 

“How many other territories do the succubi own?” He decided since he had gone this far down the rabbit hole already...

 

“What do you mean? This is our home.” She replied confused.

 

Every time he made any progress with these creatures, they found some way to throw a wrench into it. He was trying so hard to make them make sense in his mind.

 

“How many of you live here?” He asked.

 

“This is all of us.” A different succubus answered proudly.

 

Okay, the gears have completely stopped, I have fallen off the roller coaster...

 

“Are you gonna show us how to make pots now? Haven't we answered enough of your questions?” This was a long-haired succubus, she was one of only two.

 

They would not even give him time to think. There were easily hundreds of prisoners on this island.

 

Have I missed something?

 

They had only given him short answers, this had been the trend. He took a deep breath and began rapidly processing everything he had learned. There were too many questions unanswered, he was forced to make too many assumptions. He took a deep look at his little tormentor, she had caused all of this!

 

“Aren't we gonna fix the oven now!” The little girl seemed oblivious to the pain she caused him.

 

She seemed so excited to make more pots, he hadn't even noticed her when he was making them. This was his only real chance to get more information. He would be forced to obey her whims, and hopefully, she will just answer his questions. This was his thoughts as she followed right behind him to the destroyed kiln.

 

The prisoners had done a number on the kiln and shattered it into various pieces. The shelves and roof were the annoying part, as he would need to completely remake it. The only good thing was that he had plenty of material for glaze now. The issue was behind him though.

 

He felt uncomfortable with her right there, it was like being stalked by a tiger. It didn't take long for the duo to arrive at the kiln. The extent of the damage could be seen from a distance. The rest of the succubi were at a bit of a distance away, watching everything he did intently.

 

Why do I feel like I have returned to that diner? I wonder if any one of them is named Natasha?

 

It took all of his control, to stop himself from bursting out laughing. Have you ever wondered, what it looks like to go insane? He asked himself this constantly, as he had been on the razor's edge since he got here. The constant pressure was slowly causing new things to come out of him.

 

Rex began going through pieces, humming to force himself to calm down. He looked over at the little girl next to him and smiled at her gently.

 

“What is your name? “ He asked simply.

 

“Mur'Kira! But the mama's just call me Kira.” She said watching him put pieces together.

 

He was assembling it like a puzzle, putting pieces together that fit. He would make a thin clay, and use it to mortar everything together. His movements were very agile, as he continued to put the pieces together.

 

“My name is Reginald Otem the 3rd, but my father wanted me to be domineering. So he always called me Rex.” He explained softly. “Unfortunately, I couldn't live up to his expectations. I only really liked to build things. I can't tolerate seeing something broken right in front of me.”

 

Rex began mixing clay, and obsidian powder with water. Using a stick to stir the mixture, and his ax head to apply mortar. He was slowly putting the pieces back together again.

 

“If something stopped working, I had to take it apart. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I began to be able to put it back together.” Rex talked about all of this with a gentle smile on his face. “Even till this day, I have never made my father proud of me. So, what do you like to do?”

 

This question seemed to stump her a little before she came up with an answer.

 

“I look for people for the mamas to hunt. They aren't as good at it after all. “ She sounded proud of this.

 

Rex just laughed along with her, setting down the ax head, and reaching out with a clean hand. He patting her head like he would a small animal. This seemed to make her happy, as she laughed along with him.

 

“How often do you hunt?” Rex asked curiously.

 

“Were only allowed to once a month. Most of the mamas are already done.” She sounded disappointed by this.

 

“That's no fun, what do you look for in prey?” Rex asked.

 

So I can change it immediately!

 

“It's age. The younger they are, the more life they have.” She said this as if she was mimicking someone else. “A succubus should always aim for the most meat!”

 

She giggled happily as if she pulled off some prank.

 

Rex was left with a feeling of dread.

 

“That's some really good advice!” Rex laughed along with her.”Oh, yeah, what were you gonna do with that pot I gave you?”

 

Rex's mood deflated here, he had to make a new shelf and roof. Everything else was able to be put back together.

 

“I don't know yet, but it is so pretty! We have rocks that look like it, but not a pot!” She said as she explained.

 

“Do you collect anything else?” He continued the conversation.

 

“What's collecting?” She asked him curiously.

 

“See these two tools? Each of them is different, Kira. As a human, I can't dig my fingers freely into the earth, or chop down trees with my hands.” Rex started explaining. “We craft and collect tools. This is how we can do anything that others can do.”

 

“You sound much weaker than we succubi!” Kira sounded proud. “We can freely change our appearance, and our charm is our best weapon. When I get old enough to hunt, I am gonna join the sisters too!”

 

“Why don't you hunt now?” Rex asked.

 

“I don't have the lower mouths yet. I'm like a butterfly without wings, at least that is how I was told about it.” She said as she tried to explain it.

 

Some things have a miraculous effect, no matter how crazy someone is. This was like a demented person having a moment of clarity. Those two sentences caused his brain to stop. He had been doing mental gymnastics to understand the little girl, and this statement had been so left field...

 

He completely stopped all his movements, and turned, and stared right at her crotch. While her shorts were in the way, he couldn't help but imagine. His gentle countenance was completely gone, and he looked at her as if seeing something alien.

 

“what is it?” She asked as her tail seemed to fidget.

 

“It's nothing, why don't we start making some pots?” Rex said flatly, all expression gone.

 

-

 

And they had made pots, as he explained the entire process to her. Holding nothing back, as he explained how the glazing process works, and how color was determined.

 

She didn't understand any of it until they were about to fire it. Then she decided that she wanted a kiln of her own. The “Mamas” all happily agreed with her, but they wanted it at their house. Rex thought he would get a gentle embrace, and fly to the summit. But it turns out succubi can't fly under much weight. Not to fret though, as these women had a carefully thought out plan.

 

-

 

Rex was laying on his back, with all four limbs in the air. Various vines were wrapped around his waist and various joints. He looked over at a group of 12 succubi all holding vines, then at the various rough knots all over his body. Laying on the ground like a dead animal, all limbs in the air. Rex had a sudden thought.

 

Why am I doing this?

 

This thought died in his mind, as he was violently pulled off the ground. The succubi had gotten speed as a group, and took off. And now he was being pulled along for the ride.

 

It's like being in a slingshot, but you never get released.

 

The G force was awful in this position, and since the pressure wasn't uniform it felt like being in a washing machine.

 

Oh, god, please make it stop!

-

Rex stood amid a cliffside city. His hair resembled something Einstein would be proud of. He could see hundreds of empty little domiciles, they were all little square houses made of clay. Looking around it was quite a magnificent sight. He turned and looked back at the 12 succubi that were the cities only residents.

 

Everything makes sense now!

 

During his flight, Rex had time to carefully analyze everything that had happened up to this point. He was deeply regretting all of his life decisions, he wanted somewhere to vent this fury. His body's age affecting his emotions, this was clear to him. Every interaction he, and the little girl, had played through his mind, as he imagined himself strangling her.

 

The worst part was, she had given him all the pieces he needed. The picture was finally revealed to him.

 

The succubi were like pets of the demon faction. If he were to compare them to aborigines, then they have never passed the first step. They didn't have enough food to viably sustain a society. It was as if humans could only eat beef. Cities would fall apart, as humans would be forced to hunt larger areas.

 

Rex glanced at the 12 beautiful succubi, and little girl. They all seemed proud of their home. It looked like 12 supermodel sisters living in a cliff city. These were the equivalent of the succubi's elderly or in-firmed. All of the able-bodied, and young succubi, had gone hunting and fight alongside the demon faction.

 

A succubus' charm is like a passive, that gives you +100 to charisma in a game. A normal person would have like a 5 for reference, and a movie star maybe a 10. A succubus would have the ability to turn this off normally. He looked sadly at the 12 succubi on the cliff, but these don't. They were a liability on the front lines and had to be retired.

 

Looking back at it now, he had only seen the succubi in groups, it was for their safety. These succubi couldn't be guards, it would be like hiring nudist supermodels. The reason the exchange worked, is only one prisoner could get through the bars. By the time the other prisoners dealt with the charmed man in the way, the succubus would have fled.

 

Glancing at a small clay oven, another realization dawned on him too. Succubi don't eat regular food, one of them came up with the exchange scheme as a way to make the prisoners work. The bread recipe was a succubi tradition, it hadn't changed in over 200 years. It wasn't their fault they couldn't taste it, it was the flour's fault for being processed differently after a few centuries.

 

The bread was worth more to the succubi because they had to trade ore for it. If their charm worked on other races then it was almost positive it would work on monsters. Humans came from animals, and it was safe to assume these races came from somewhere. If you dig into ancestry enough, you have to come to some divergent root.

 

He had been thrown in some third-world country, and he had to build a world map on what he could find. The succubi fed on other living creatures as their sole sustenance. This would be a taboo to humans, probably similar to how we view cannibals. The only place a cannibal would fit in is among other cannibals.

 

If the entire demon faction was like the succubi, he would have to make a decision.

 

Do I want to swim in a shark-infested lake?

 

Rex looked at the little girl who was trying to decide where she wanted her kiln. Her tail was dancing around animatedly, as she used her hands to explain things. He could not see her as anything but a tiger cub, that will grow into a man-eating monster. Humans talk about eating like it is the most natural thing in the world. All you had to do was replace the word “eating” with “killing” when talking about a meat product.

 

Hey honey, I am going to slaughter some steaks, and I was thinking of genociding some eggs to go with it.

 

If he were to think of succubi as the new humans, then at most he would be the little dog they keep in their purse.

 

“By the way, where did you learn demonic at?” He was asked this by the receptionist succubus.

 

“What do you mean?” Rex was confused.

 

“You have switched languages so fluently, what other ones do you know?” She looked at Rex with interest.

 

This question hit him hard until he realized that it only made sense to have a language barrier.

 

His gaze fell on the little girl.

 

If I couldn't understand you, everything would be better.

 

Rex blamed her for all of his recent happenings. He had stood rooted on this spot for over 10 minutes now. The feeling of vertigo he was experiencing was unfathomable, he had always had a fear of heights. He couldn't be an architect, because when he designed a building and saw himself inside of it.

 

I nearly had a panic attack designing a high rise, I had to breathe in a paper bag...

 

“I, I'm not too sure.” Rex answered automatically in a bit of shock.

 

“You just spoke in fluent Elven though!” She seemed even more excited.

 

I can speak that filthy tongue...

 

Every time he thought of elves, a picture of a grizzled old filthy elf appears in his mind. The elf's eyes are bulging, and his jaw keeps opening and shutting. This old elf is making stabbing motions with a shank, and his other hand is steadily pointing at Rex's ore. The meaning is clear if he does not want to see a crazy elf, he better give up the ore.

 

This must be how racism starts...

 

We create stereotypes as a way of knowing how to interact with a race or thing. We simplify because you don't want to mess up before you even have time to insult the individual. The issue with stereotypes is that they are insulting by virtue. This was the great quandary humanity was facing, how do we make it easy to understand everything without it being insulting.

 

“How did you get to our island?” She asked him again.

 

“I don't know.” He said this had been eating at him too.

 

“You can speak dwarven as well?” She said excitedly.

 

“Like I said I don't know, it all just sounds the same to me.” Rex answered automatically.

 

He was getting overwhelmed at this moment. It didn't make any sense that he could speak other languages without knowing. The confusion was only growing the more he thought about it. He remembers speaking to many different denizens, even the pantherman.

 

The succubus interrupted his thoughts as she walked towards him and pried his mouth open. She was much stronger than she appeared, then her tail came and held his upper jaw in his mouth. She used her free hand to tightly grab his tongue. Leaning forward she peered intently in Rex's mouth, moving his tongue this way and that.

 

He had grabbed her tail, and could not get it to budge. The spade was in his mouth running along the top of his mouth, it was directly tickling his throat.

 

You need to move, or I am going to puke in your face!

 

Fighting the gagging had gotten too hard, he couldn't see through his tears. His legs were so shaky they wouldn't support him. When she finally released his mouth, he felt like he had been born again.

 

This relief did not last a few moments before he was being twisted and turned again. She was now staring deeply into his ears.

 

Is she counting the hairs?

 

The creepier part was when she looked at his eyes. It was too close, he kept looking at the death trap on her face. His life was flashing before his eyes, as he felt like he was staring down an oncoming train. He did not breathe a sigh of relief until her lips were away.

 

“You have a weird type of ability. I also imagine you could read anything you saw. You won't be able to learn to write though.” She stated clearly.

 

Rex was confused until he thought about it. If he couldn't see their language, then of course he couldn't learn to write it.

 

“I don't know why it would use up all of your mana though, you won't be able to fight like that.” She said this as if it was a mystery to her.

 

It felt like having his wife suddenly hand him the keys to the car he had always dreamed of. Then he found out she had prepaid 5 years of his salary for it. Magic had been something he had dreamed about, and now he found out it was all gone.

 

“Hey! I decided where I want my stove!” He was interrupted by a little girl's voice running up to him excitedly. “Hey, why are you so sad?”

 

Rex smiled at her gently.

 

“Let's go make you a stove Kira.” He said calmly, ignoring the fact it was the middle of the night.

 

Rex tried to take a step, his first since he got here, but he failed. He realized the ground seemed far away all of a sudden. He didn't realize he was falling until Kira had caught him. It sounded like she might have been saying something, but it was getting drowned out in all this blackness...

 

-

 

He had a dream he was on a pirate ship, wearing a long coat, and a funny hat. Kira stood next to him in matching female pirate attire, they looked like 2 kids playing ship.

 

On a large 80 cannon galleon, there were the various prisoners in pirate attire with swords and flintlocks. They sailed under a black flag with a skull and crossed succubi tails

 

The crow's nest had been converted into a rifle reloading station, and succubi swooped around in the sky carrying guns.

 

They blasted apart ships and became rulers of the sea.

 

-

He awoke to the smell of bread baking and opened his eyes. He could see Kira, and one of the long-haired succubi baking bread. They both looked like they were taking it very seriously as they adjusted the heat.

 

Kira quickly noticed him and chirped out.

 

“Hey, you are finally awake!” She seemed happy, then instantly got mad.

 

“I want to build my stove. I waited 2 days for you to wake up!” She seemed more aggrieved than Rex was.

 

“I was asleep for 2 days?” He asked.

 

“Yeah, you were even talking in your sleep and shouting things out. “Turn to port, and give them a full broadside! Angle the cannons to 38 degrees then send them to the depths!” You said all kinds of things like that” She looked at him in curiosity. “Just what were you dreaming about, you were talking funny too?”

 

Oh god... what else did I say...

 

Rex had awoken from one nightmare, right into another one. He just couldn't escape, the worse part was that his new body sleep talked.

 

I want... to just curl up... and die...