At least that infernal jostling has stopped. Isirtila thought as she hung against a hard surface, trying to ignore the pain coursing through her body. I am sorry my mistress. She sent a silent prayer to her goddess resigning herself to the inevitable, her hallowed eye sockets burned as tears began to well in them.

It was supposed to be a simple summoning; her mistress, the goddess Lilith, had assured her that it shouldn’t take more than a few days in this foreign land before she could return to her side. Yet here she was weeks later on her deathbed wondering where it all went wrong. 

I should have known there was something wrong the moment they summoned me. But… she remembered her mistress' last words to her.

“Be careful in that world.” Lilith spoke to her in a dream. 

Isirtila purred softly as the warmth of her goddess’s gaze fell on her, happiness filled her knowing she could be useful to her in some way. “Of course, mistress, I will return to you I swear it.” Unlike the many other worlds, the demons lived in a very power-based class system, where the strong rule over the weak without question. And nothing stood above the gods of their worlds, many demons swearing “everlasting” (though sometimes fleeting) loyalty to them. The gods would in turn use their “followers” to gather more strength and attempt to rise even higher. 

Isirtila believed herself lucky to be a succubus. Sure, she had to travel to many different worlds and fulfill fantasies for unworthy mortals, but unlike the other demon gods, Lilith was cunning, and did not use her followers as sacrificial pawns in fruitless wars in the hopes of skimming a few souls from the leftovers. No, her mistress was always planning, keeping a close eye on her domain, not bothering with any of the other gods unless they strayed too closely to her or her kin. She never demanded souls for her favor either, knowing that the dead did not pay; instead choosing to only deal in mana contracts, the few souls that had been forced on her were promptly drained of all their power and tossed into whatever harvester world was nearest at the time.

  “This should be an easy contract, yet I can’t shake the feeling of something odd.” Her goddess voice echoed in her dreams bringing her a euphoric feeling as she felt her power entering her. “I worry for my precious few girls that are left.” Her voice became sullen, “if it comes to returning or surviving, you must survive. I would rather our kind be alive in the cosmos than buried in our home world.”

Isirtila knew full well of the stories, her mistress told all her sisters them over and over. How their kind use to be found in every system, in every corner of the galaxy. Millions of them, then the war came. From what her mistress told them it was like a plague, what had taken millennia to build came crashing down in the span of years. Whole worlds went dark, galaxy’s vanished, entire races as old as the primordials themselves simply disappeared. Whenever anyone asked what had caused it their goddess simply answered, “I never got close enough to find out. I took what precious few daughters I could and hid us away.” As time went on she would expand her stories as she searched for others of their kind, always praying that more than the couple hundred or so she could hide in her realm hadn’t been the only survivors.  “I have found some things out in the time since; however, it was a creature that should not and will never exist again, the mother system has removed whatever it was from the cosmos in fear that even speaking about it would revive it. Two, it took all four of the primordial to fight put a stop to it. And finally,” she always paused, when Isirtila was younger, she believed it to be for dramatic effect. “it’s still alive.” She would never say how she knew, but as Isirtila and her sisters grew, she learned that whatever that creature was, where ever it was, it was the singular reason her goddess never partook in the demon wars. and why she was so protective of the few succubus left.

Demons rarely reproduced and given that she was only able to save a mere hundred of them even after thousands of years they were still much too few in numbers for her liking. Lilith wished to return her race to its former glory, standing at the top of the demon hierarchy even with their handicap in physical combat. Succubi used to be the top information gatherers and assassins in the galaxy, with their predisposition for deception and stealth they were unrivaled in both fields. They use to be called on by the gods themselves to spy on their own worlds and now they were nothing more than sex slaves for overzealous mortals. It tore at the goddess’s heart, yet nothing was too great a price if she could rebuild even a fraction of the empire they once had. Even now some mortals are realizing her daughters were more useful than simple toys, bringing back nations worth of mana for her when they were called. It would be soon that she would be able to grant her daughters the gift of fertility and their numbers will grow even larger than before. She had already spoken with the mother system and the primordial court; if she could expand their network to even half the size it used to be they would allow her and her daughters a world of their own as well as an aether spring so they could grow. If that thing ever awakens, she will not allow her daughters to be lost again.

Isirtila was broken from her trance by the sound of the door being torn open, she could feel mana pour into the now open cart though her mana sense was much weaker than her sisters she could still pick out a veritable buffet of mana before her. 

Someone coming… is that fire mana. she nearly scoffed, flame mana was her least favorite but as her mistress would always say, beggars can't be choosers. Just a bit closer, all I need is for it to touch me and I'll suck them dry. She could hear heavy footsteps that rocked the cart, each foot fall causing pain to rock her body disrupting her “play dead” act as she gritted her teeth not to yell.

She heard him stop and whisper something in the language she had heard the smiling man use, she assumed it to be whatever it was these humans spoke. At least he’s a man, it’ll be easier to get the mana from him. All her thoughts stopped when a second voice answered, using her strength to lift her head. There's two of them? how? She knew her mana detection was nothing compared to her sisters; she was even teased for it being the only of her sisters who couldn’t tell how strong someone’s mana pool was unless they made contact, but she was still able to pick up mana, even types now, she should definitely be able to sense a whole person. Unless they are hiding? Or maybe they are both fire types and they are masking each other? 

She put on her best mocking smile and spoke. “Back for more fun?” she knew if they were here they were likely with the smiling man, and as such likely not able to speak her language just as he had.

“Demon.” That one word was all it took, to hear someone speak her language. Her mind nearly crumbled when she heard the high childlike voice.

Someone came! She nearly called out, her emotions spilling from her as the burning in her eyes grew again. No, I can't be sure, just because it knows what we are called in my language, it could be a trick. Remember what you were taught, always be weary, always verify, never assume.

“You’re not the man who pulled my wings off.” She tried to hide the desire in her voice waiting for the smaller voice to talk again.

She could hear the two rustlings as a few words were exchanged. The male is large, very large given where his voice is coming from. The little one… might be a girl? A succubus? One of my sisters! She couldn’t help but hope as she sent prayers to her mistress hoping that someone had finally come to free her.

She felt a warmth wash over her, one that was reminiscent of her mistress power that caused her whole body to relax as she let a soft sob escape her lips before the world was engulfed in noise. 

“no!!!” she screamed out, her mind aflame as the hard surface behind her buckled. Her only thought was that she was used to lure more of her sisters into a trap as the sounds of splintering wood filled her ears, followed by very masculine grunting followed by laughter that came from below her.

They must have killed that big man! Where is my sister! Her mind raced as the laughing started to move closer to her. No! she thrashed about in her binds, doing nothing more than reopening her wounds as bloody tears streaked her face. She yelled every obscenity she could think of before the man finally spoke.

She couldn’t understand him, yet his voice sounded calm as she felt a large hand grasp her shoulder. Instantly she went to pull the vile flame mana from this man only to pause as her mana sense kicked in full force.

This…. This man…. Her entire being was engulfed in fire as she quickly canceled her mana drain. Unlike that weak smiling man, this man before her could easily kill her. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind as he spoke in an apologetic tone. I had sucked almost a human’s worth of mana from him in the blink of an eye! How is he not… What in the mistress is this man! Fear gripped her as she released what little water she had left in her. 

She did not fear the smiling man, he may be able to cut her flesh and hurt her body. However, he would never be able to scratch a demon’s core with his pitiful strength, and Isirtila had come to this world with a well of power, a final gift from her mistress as she sent her into an odd situation, her warning “always trust your gut. If something seems out of place than something is, find it and use it. If you can’t then run.” As she flooded her body with the power of a goddess, pulling her to the top ranks of her sisters by blessing her as a seed. She had what she believed was enough mana to keep herself alive for years if she didn’t waste any. Yet all of that was nothing before the man that stood before her, only one word in her mind. hero.