October CYOA #2 - Play it Safe (Patreon)

Previously, Ky’li was captured by soldiers of the Horned Crown Imperium. You all voted and the outcome was...[Play it safe]

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“Say what you want about me,”Ky’li spat. “But I never betrayed my home.”

“Whatever you say, exile. It doesn’t change the fact that Lord Taulic now owns you.” The soldier bent and grabbed his cheeks. Behind his mask, the man smelled like cruelty. “I’m sure he’s going to be fascinated with the opportunity to corrupt one of your pixie ladies.”

Ky’li had thought about casting a spell to shift his way out of the situation but the statement stung. Once again, he was she and this time it was going to get him fucked. Literally. Besides, with this many hostile people around him there was no way something like a sparrow was going to get away.

His captor lifted him off the ground. Two others clamped his ankles in heavy iron shackles. Weakness spread out from the rough metal, the cold steel draining his magic. The contact was so chill it almost burned. Dropped to the ground, he collapsed in a heap.

“Amazing how much of an effect just a little steel, a little civilization, has on your wilder races. I remember watching an elf die from the iron collar around their neck. Shame it doesn’t affect dwarves at all.”

“What about the rest of these dogs?”

“Bring ‘em along, I’m sure someone will want them.”

Lifted roughly back to his feet, Ky’li and the other prisoners were marched towards the demon quarter of the city. He was sickened even further as people refused to look at the procession, each and every person averting their eyes. He wanted to blame them, but he knew there was nothing to blame them for. The Imperium was everything in this realm and so many others. Dissension was a luxury only those with nothing could afford.

A dimension gate was something he never thought that he would see in person and yet, moments after his capture, he was standing in front of one. The rune-covered ring was easily larger than most buildings, the shimmering within was only a hint of the promise of alien worlds.

Dragged up the ramp, he was trust through and in an instant was in another time, another place. The air was heavy, thick with ambition and pride. This was the realm of demons. 

“Welcome to Hel’ail, exile. Your new home.”

After that they were carted off to another company of soliders who put him in with the other women prisoners. Many in the box car huddled to themselves, but one passenger stood out.

Pacing back and forth was a very tall demoness with bright red skin. The scales of her arms and legs were an inky black and she was dressed in torn breech-cloth pants and a tunic with a triangular collar. Curving back over her pointed ears and wavy blonde hair were the stumps of two horns, but it looked like they had been snapped or shattered. Was she an exile as well? Could she be an ally to escape at some point?

Right now she was probably not much use to anyway. Despite her swagger, she looked haggard. Her face was gaunt and her arms would shudder when ever she stopped moving. Most of what he knew about demons said they consumed energy of some kind from their victims. He wondered what she ate. It obviously was not something present in their confines. 

As he felt the train lurch to life, he pulled out his pipes and played a song for traveling. She approached him, her emerald-like eyes sparking around star-shaped pupils.

“I have no tasted happiness in what feels like a life time. Tell me, little pixie, how is it you still have hope?”

“It is all I can carry with me of home outside of what fits in my pockets.”

The demoness reached out, her hand halfway to bone thin. “Can I touch you, pixie? Can I drink until I am not parched?”

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[How does Ky’li react?](choose one by 10/6 at 10pm)
A) Decline contact.
B) Allow contact, but act passively.
C) Allow contact and eagerly engage.
D) Allow contact, but take command.