A splendid, warm and spacious room, looking like it was straight out of a palace—the walls made of white marble, and scultpures of beautiful bodies in throes of either agony or extasy lined up against the walls. The walls themselves stretching up to a high, glass ceiling, looking up at an unreal, glowing sky. Faint harpsichord music came from somewhere in the distance. How did I get there?

"She won't be any good... Jealousy eats through her heart," a female voice behind me caused me to turn around. "Yet she's incapable of making use of it. She's too meek."

I saw a podium, with a luxuriously decorated black sofa on top. In it reclined a succubus with enormous hips, unbelievably thin waist, perky, yet full breasts and a smooth, elegant face with high cheekbones and sharp eyes. Her ears resembled elf ears more than human ones, her skin was shades of red, turning peachy near her head, and her thick horns curled up and spiraled sideways. Sprawled leisurely on a large white and gold pillow, wearing skimpy, light, see-through clothing with multiple sequins, in addition to countless rings, signets, necklaces and bracelets gleaming with gold and rich stones, she idly gazed around the room. Even her wings had rings with gems attached to them. Before her stood Ra'zizi and the succubus she argued with before, both bowing low in respect. Unlike the demon before them, they kept their wings in a polite droop.

"Worshipful matron, my honorable sister is observant," Ra'zizi responded, without looking at the other succubus. "Yet, being perceptive, Megremael is nonetheless prone to foolish conclusions, such as this one."

Her sister's wings seemed to shake menacingly at the words as I started circling them, but she didn't break the bow.

"Matron Xsamairi," she said, without looking at Ra'zizi. "I request you hasten the decision of the next anteheraldess. Ra'zizi has found it suitable to try and upset the order in the harem ever since-"

"Matron Xsamairi," Ra'zizi cut her off, "my honorable sister covets my power no less than she covets yours. Yet, without being able to stop me from my supposed transgression, would she really do for a harem's heraldess with her lack of cunning?"

Megremael's wings seemed to shake a bit more violently. She opened her mouth to fire a counter, but immediately stopped when the reclining succubus spoke.

"You are a nuisance Ra'zizi," her words seemed to have an echo to them, but like with the rest of her kind, they also had a flirtatious, brazen quality to their sound. It was deeper than any one I've heard, though still decidedly female. "You have no respect for your elder, and you barely care to school your little sisters," she lazily waved her tail around, a letting a small diamond piercing on the tip glimmer in the light.

Walking around the two, I could see a smile form on Ra'zizi's face. Xsamairi lifted her finger and Ra'zizi's back straightened, so that the reclining succubus and her would look each ether in the eyes.

"Answer me," the matron said, "do you plan on usurping my power?"

"No."

"Do you plan on usurping power in general?"

"... Yess," Ra'zizi answered with a widening smile.

Xsamairi started leisurely tilting her head left and right, as if considering her options, before continuing, "What do you have that places you above your elder?"

"A burning desire. A strong donor," Ra'zizi answered. "And a plan to follow the herald's steps," she turned to Megremael with a smirk, "unlike my honorable sister, strong though she is."

"You have no clue what a plan is, you little s-" Magremael started talking back to her, but her voice suddenly disappeared.

I watched in awe how the succubus was lifted up in the air, wincing. Looking behind me, I saw the matron holding her other hand up.

"Do not butt into my conversations, Megremael," her voice sounded way deeper, and it had another, more distorted echo to it. Ra'zizi giggled, watching her sister flail around. In a moment, however, she also was lifted off the ground, turning and tossing in the air.

"Do not make light of my talks, or my punishments, Ra'zizi" the matron chastised her.

Ra'zizi seemed to become more agitated and started mouthing something.

"-ister! I was making fun of my sister!" she complained, glancing at the increasingly-angry Megremael. When the latter didn't get to speak, but instead only managed to flutter about in place, Ra'zizi started grinning and chuckled at her before being silenced again.

The two were suddenly collided against one another, squeezed head to head and breast to breast and brought writihing close to Xsamairi, who looked both over with now glimmering bluish eyes. After a short moment of deliberation, with a concluding tone, she stated,

"I shall make a decision about heralding when I see it fit." She looked left and right at the two sisters's faces. "Either of you want to make a point, bring me my crop," her voice demanded. "The better shall have my favors, no exceptions."

No sooner did I see the two sisters falling back to the ground, away from the matron, that my body felt like it was being stretched like rubber. Being first swiped through space so hard my vision blurred, I am then abruptly thrown to my side, spinning in the air before tumbling and sliding across rough ground, kicking up dust with such force I thought my brain would tumble out of my skull. The pieces of rusted steel in front of me already clued me in to the identity of the next speaker.

"You are making progress," he announced inside my head while I picked myself off the ground, looking up at grotesque mounds of flesh bound by wire or nailed to planks. "Pick up the pace."

"Sure..." I said, straightening my back out through the vertigo. "But... how do I know when I'm done?"

The air fell silent. I cowered when a dull rumble sounded to my left, expecting another sting in the chest. Instead, the air seemed to ripple and darken, and out of a swirling smoke that formed at around my eye level, a long, slim object appeared to form. After a few seconds, its upper end flattened and thickened, and in a short moment I realized it was a clenched fist, palm turned towards me. Without a clue as to what to do, I carefully took a step forward. The flesh of the floating hand and forearm appeared withered and darkened, as if it was smoldering in a fire. I heard a strange humming come from the object, and just as I took another step, the smoke around it stopped swirling. The hand opened, revealing a pentagram inscribed in a circle carved into the dark flesh. The wounds appeared to glow slightly with a yellow-orange light instead of bleeding. There was a slight static sound in my ears.

It took me a moment to realize what was going on. Instinctively I looked down and bent my arm to look at my left hand. Opening my palm, I couldn't even get my eyes to focus before the static noise suddenly raised to a piercing crescendo.

I opened my eyes. Stephanie was double-checking her dress while standing in the door to my bedroom. She saw me raise my head and appeared as if she wanted to say something, but stopped herself just before, raising her finger, blinking rapidly, then putting her fingertip to her lips.

"I'll need... your help..." I muttered, body still waking up.

With a smile, she announced, "I know. I'll see you soon for a follow-up," then went down the corridor.

I looked around and Eris was nowhere to be seen. Only Suzanne, butt-naked, laid sprawled on my bed, shuffling and trying to pull the sheet towards herself while drooling. Not a minute later I got a text from Eris.

"OMG Last night was rad," she wrote, then added a lot of fire and devil emojis. "See you soon, Hell's lost property."

What I've done must have been right, I thought. I remembered to look down at my left hand—a third line was now etched into the skin, burning. It joined one of the other two, making a partially crossed-out V-shaped scar that stretched almost from the wrist to the base of my fingers. I smirked. Now I could see, not just feel what they all wanted, deep down. All besides Eris, that is.