Corruption of Waifus (Corruption of Champions/pseudo-Waifu Catalog) (Patreon)

“What do you think, Edryn? Are they corrupted?”

Those were the first words I understood, as I blinked away the heat-baked fog that had covered my mind. What I saw when my vision cleared was…somewhat off putting. Well, more distracting and mind boggling than off putting.

After getting lost in the desert, and walking for who knows how long, I was in front of a city that looked like a cheap replica of Agrabah. That wasn’t the confusing part. The confusing part was the fact that the guards at the entrance to the city consisted of a rather busty fox woman and an even bustier centauress. The centauress was holding some sort of crystal, about the size of my head if I was eyeballing it correctly, in her hands that was giving off a soft glow.

“They’re clean,” she said, turning to look at the fox woman.

The gray-furred woman gave a smile, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and guiding me into the city. I honestly had a hard time making out what she was saying, my brief moment of clarity from the potential heat stroke dissipating. The next moment I understood what was happening, I was in what looked like a tavern with a mug of something white in front of me.

I looked at the contents of my mug, before lifting it up and taking a whiff. It smelled like milk, but not quite. But, seeing as I could feel how cold it was even from that, I took a sip. Like the smell, it tasted not quite like regular milk you’d get from the store. But most importantly in my opinion: it was cold. The resulting brain freeze was well worth the sensation of the ice cold chill radiating out through my body.

“Alive again?” the voice of the fox woman asked, making me pay attention to my surroundings. She was sitting across from me, a mug of her own in front of her, and the rest of the room… it honestly looked like I’d walked into a furry’s wet dream. My apparent drinking partner’s voice broke me from my distraction, drawing my focus back to her, “You must have been out in the desert for a while, you were put in that chair three hours ago. Name’s Urta.”

“I… I’m Sal,” I said with a rasp. “Where am I?”

“This is the city of Tel’Adre, but you’re looking confused enough that I’m guessing that you’re from even further afield than most. Does the name Mareth sound familiar?” she asked, taking a sip from her drink. I shook my head, making her hum as she set her drink down. “Figured, you looked like someone who was either stupidly unprepared or walked through a rift. Humans are a rarity as it is, and ones dressed like you are even rarer.”

“Rift? And what do you mean dressed like me?” I asked, the brain freeze beginning to fade.

She gave a nod, “I don’t know the details, you’d have to talk to the eggheads in the tower, but every so often a rift will open from Mareth to some other world. They typically only last a few seconds, but sometimes someone or something will slip through before they close. They started forming a few decades ago, when the demoness Lethice started her war, and have been occurring with ever greater frequency.

“But, the most important things to know: demons, mutagens, and sex. From what the other Riftwalkers I’ve talked to have told me, the local demons probably aren’t like what you’re thinking of. They aren’t interested in killing or torturing everyone and everything. They’re focused almost entirely on sex and sexual slavery. Next up are mutagens. Almost everything you find that you can eat or drink that hasn’t been properly processed will almost certainly cause some sort of mutation. It may be subtle, but typically it will be something obvious like growing a horsecock. Finally: sex. Sex is an everyday thing here on Mareth. Unlike pretty much every world a Riftwalker has come from, lust and arousal doesn’t fade over time here. Sooner or later, if you don’t take care of it, you’ll become so horny that you’ll do anything or anyone to get off. Understand me so far?”

“Demons wanna rape everyone, food’ll change me, and everyone’s horny?” I asked.

She gave a shrug, which drew my gaze to the interesting things it did to her chest (Damn, she wasn’t kidding about this place making everyone horny), and said, “Good enough.”

I turned my attention back to my empty mug, “What exactly was this?”

“Purified succubus milk,” was her immediate answer, making my head shoot up to look at her in surprise. “Don’t be so shocked. Succubus milk is one of the few things that’s just as hydrating as water, and especially in a desert like this it’s a lot easier to find. Purifying it’s a bitch, but it’s necessary.”

I give a slow nod, before asking, “So… what exactly should I do now? I have no home, I doubt my money’s any good, and don’t exactly know how to fight.”

Urta hums contemplatively, before saying, “I might know someone who’d be willing to teach you to fight. She’s got a thing for underdog stories and helping people down on their luck. But her… enthusiasm takes some getting used to. Ya interested?”

“Does it come with a roof over my head and the chance to earn some money?” I drawled. Urta chuckled and stood up, my eyes drawn not to her jiggling tits, but her other notable feature. “I’m sorry, but… can I…”

Urta shot a look my way, but I was too distracted to notice more than that. After a moment she let out a small laugh and said, “Yes, you can touch it.”

Permission granted, I reached out and carefully ran my hand along the appendage that caught my attention. It felt even better than I imagined it would. Maybe it was this world, but I couldn’t help but consider what it would be like, going to bed and waking up with it sandwiched between us, big and long as it was.

“You really like my tail, don’t you?” Urta asked, amusement rich in her voice.

“It’s so soft and fluffy, how can I not?” I defended myself and reluctantly pulled my hand away.

She gave a laugh, her head shaking in amusement, “You’d be surprised how few people notice.”

“You’re right, I would. My disappointment in other people is immeasurable, as is my glee at getting to experience such floofy perfection,” I said with dry seriousness.

That got another laugh from her as we left the bar, heading down the street until we reached what looked like a dojo. A banner hung over the entrance with a stylized spiral symbol, with a triangle on the opposite side from where the spiral started. There was the sound of fists against wood coming from inside, and Urta led me in. I was greeted by the sight of a woman with short, black spotted fur, a muzzle, a long tail just above her toned ass, and paws instead of feet. One of said feet was currently turning a stone pillar into a pile of gravel with a series of kicks.

The cheetah woman spotted us, and her face lit up as she jogged over to greet us, a sheen of sweat visible through her fur, “Yosh! It is good to see you again, Urta-san!”

“Hello, Li,” Urta greeted the apparent martial artist. “This is a new Riftwalker who stumbled into the city a few hours ago. Think you can take him in and get him trained to the point he can handle himself?”

“Yes! I will have him trained to a satisfactory level in a week! And if I cannot do that,” the now named Li began, only for Urta to interrupt her.

“I don’t need to know, just get him trained up. Thanks Li,” Urta said before turning around and leaving.

I watched Urta leave, already missing the feel of her silky tail, before turning back to Li. I opened my mouth to introduce myself, only for her to grab me by the wrist and drag me inside. I had a very bad feeling about the upcoming week, and understood what Urta meant about Li’s enthusiasm.

[center]Six Days Later[/center]

I will give Li this: in spite of how badly my muscles hurt at the end of each workout, she knew her stuff. The intense training regimen she subjected me to, combined with the various shakes and drinks she had me gulp down on a regular basis, had turned me from an overweight tub of lard whose best hope in a fight was falling on the other guy into someone who, in her words, ‘would be considered an average taijutsu practitioner six months out of the Academy.’

It wasn’t much, but I’d take it. She’d even allowed me to peruse the various books and scrolls she had in her personal library after we were done training for the day. And what a find I’d made in those books. I don’t know if she didn’t realize what she had, was insanely trusting, or what, but from what I’d read in one of the books, I’d managed to figure out the basics of the local magic system.

It was all based on arcane links and metaphysical resonances, if you had enough of each then you could do damn near anything. Sure, there were the flashier forms of magic, like hurling gouts of fire or bolts of lightning, but those were much more limited in what they could do. Even the most powerful destructive magics, the ones that could destroy cities or split mountains, were based on sympathetic connections.

Just as part of an experiment, I went through one of the smaller, more subtle spells in the book. Using a few strands of hair from Li, and burning them as part of the casting, I carefully put away the spell book and waited. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the puzzled form of Li entered the guest room I’d been loaned.

“Li, is something wrong?” I asked.

“No, nothing’s wrong,” she said, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to figure out why she felt the urge to come to this room. Shaking her head, she looked back to me and asked, “Have you been taking care of yourself? Not ignoring your needs?”

“Haven’t really felt any so far,” I told her. “You’ve been keeping me so busy and tired that even if I had felt the need to, I’ve been too tired to do so.”

“You’ve come a long way,” she said in my… defense, I think? “Tomorrow is your rest day, enjoy it, maybe head down to The Wet Bitch and visit Urta.”

I gave her a confused look, before it dawned on me, “Is The Wet Bitch the name of the bar Urta brought me to when I arrived?”

Li nodded with a grin that showed her feline teeth, “It is indeed! I myself will be heading out of Tel’Adre as part of a patrol, so I will be gone until nightfall. You should head out and explore more of the city.”

“I just might do that,” I mused aloud, all the while considering how to take advantage of the opportunity before me. I would go visit Urta, but not until I’d made a thorough investigation and inspection of the premises for the sort of reagents I’d need for my idea.

Sure enough, Li was gone by the time I got up, with a note saying that they’d left with the dawn. I grinned, and made my way to her room. Like I figured, the hand and wrist wraps she’d been using the last couple days hadn’t been thrown out yet. Oh they were in the trash, but the bin hadn’t been taken out. Grabbing as many as I could along with a pair of scissors and a hairbrush with a tangled knot of her hair in it, I made my way back to my room and got to work.

First, I rolled out an extra one of the bedsheets and started drawing. If Li saw and asked, I’d just say that I saw it in one of the books and like the look. But just in case I’d buy a replacement before she got back. Once the circle was finished, I placed the blood and sweat stained wraps in eleven equidistant points. Then came the hair, which I placed in a small bowl and lit on fire. Carefully reading from the book, I chanted the words within, weaving reality to serve my will.

I continued chanting for the next two hours, adding the scraps of her used and soiled wraps to the fire as I went. In the end, it should be just enough metaphysical resonance in all of my preparations and actions to complete the ritual. Finally, I finished speaking the words and held my breath. If it worked, it’d be obvious, if it didn’t, I probably wouldn’t remain conscious long enough to regret it.

To my delight and relief, there was a flash of emerald light, moments before the sheet I’d drawn the circle on, the remaining discarded wraps, the bowl, everything I’d used for the ritual turned into dust before dissipating. Standing up, I rolled my neck, figuring that I’d have the final confirmation either tonight or tomorrow morning. For now, I was going to go visit Urta.