[b][u][center]Proving Power Through Pleasure Part 1 For Repanbo By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b] On her island off the coast of Maiyone, Drakina looked down at the intruders that she’d subdued only a few days ago. They were a collection of adventurers, people that had come here to ‘defeat the great monster’ that lived here. In other words, her. She narrowed her eyes at them as they cowered in their chains, humans and elves and a single token ‘monster’ among them in the form of a half-orc that was bound in chains and piercings to hold its obedience. They had forced their way through the village at the south side of the island, they had tried to ‘free’ her people from the domination that she held over them, and they had preached at every given opportunity about the evil of her ways, of how she was a monster that needed to be taken down, a threat that needed to be ended. Behind her, another dragon, her apprentice, was rubbing the back of his head. She didn’t look over her shoulder at him, but she could see him in her mind’s eye. Pink with green specks through his scales, Gann had been present when the adventurers showed up, but he swore that they weren’t the ones that he had gotten in contact with, the ones that he had invited to the island for her pleasure. Shaking her head, she looked down at the adventurers again. They had come to her cocky and arrogant, confident and unafraid. Now, they trembled before her, putting new meaning to the phrase ‘shaking in their boots.’ Armored, armed, and only restrained by mortal chains, they still lacked the courage to get back to their feet to fight her again. As well they should. She had held back at first, hoping to have a bit of fun with them, but as soon as the word ‘monster’ came out, Drakina knew that this was not a fight to indulge in. This was a fight to end. The purple dragoness flicked her fingers at them with a single word. “Begone.” The earth shook, and she forced her will upon it, channeling her power through the stone beneath her feet. The edge of the cliff rattled, the chained adventurers beginning to scream. In an instant, she forced her will on the energy that connected the rock to the greater cliff, and severed it. Their screams filled the air as they fell, then were silenced as the wind changed direction, picking them up and carrying them into the distance. Their armor twinkled under the moonlight as they were sped off into the distance, becoming a star that swiftly disappeared. “Good riddance,” Drakina muttered, shaking her head as she turned from them. “Now, Gann. We must discuss [i]your[/i] punishment for all of this.” “I swear, Mistress, I didn’t invite them.” “You told me that you had put out invitations, did you not?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. “I did, but not to them. I wanted something fun for us – for you, in particular.” Despite herself, the dragoness smiled. A little slip, but really, no more than she expected for her student. For all that he had been bundled up and swaddled until he learned his place under her, he was still one to push the boundaries and hope for more than he got. He had probably planned this in hopes that he would be allowed one of the toys at the end of their little fight, some token of her esteem and appreciation. Perhaps that might have happened, if he had chosen better adventurers. For his failure, however… Drakina lifted her hand, purple magic already burning in her palm. It turned from the flickering energy of the world to a powerful purple fire, one that flitted between her narrow fingers, over and under them like tendrils of the ethereal plane. She allowed it freedom to roam for now as she decided what she wanted to do to her student. Nothing permanent, she decided. Overall, he was a good boy, but he had his moments where he forgot whose authority actually ran the island. He needed to remember who he had submitted to. She had been a bit too gentle with – There was a flicker in the energy through the island, and the dragoness paused, the magic fading from between her fingers. Gann breathed a sigh of relief, though it ended quickly as she clenched her hand in his direction. A gag of purple light coalesced into something more solid and gooey, gumming his mouth shut as she glanced back towards the village on the south side of the island again. “Someone else just arrived…” “Mmmph!” “Stop trying to pull it out. You’re going to manage that,” she said absently, focusing her attention on the lines of energy that ran through the island, the powerful cords of magic that she’d laid down when she moved her. There was something out there, something that was strong enough to pull at – TWAAAAANG! Drakina’s eyes widened slightly as one of the strings ended up being pulled by someone else, sending a rumble through the earth and through the air. The dragoness felt it coming her way, a powerful charm spell that was meant to take down anyone in its path. [i]Well, now…[/i] Smiling, she flicked her will across the cord of power, sending a spell of her own to meet it. If this spellcaster was anyone of consequence, she would expect her spell to be slowed, perhaps even dodged, but that was the extent of the power that she expected. Instead, her power collided with the charm spell, and they slammed together with the force of two rampaging bulls. Drakina raised an eyebrow, watching as the spells ground against each other, neither one able to make much headway along the cord of power. “Well, now…well, well, well now…” The dragoness’s lips turned up in the slightest of smiles as she shifted her plan. A simple twist of her fingers sent another spell down a different cord, a different line of power that she had laid down. The connection between her and the different parts of the island were many, and her spell followed four other lines before coming together again behind the charm spell. It was smothered in short order after that, the energy dampened and put down. Gann was still grunting and grimacing and fighting the gag that she’d shoved down his throat, and the dragoness chuckled as she looked back at him. He looked almost like a hatchling as he fought his own teeth and tongue, trying to pull his jaws open again as the goo kept dragging his mouth closed again. The way that he was constantly working against himself was rather amusing… But not amusing enough to take her attention from the others on the island. And there were others, four of them, that had just landed on the south side. The one that had attacked her through the cords of power was a mage – no, a sorcerer – but there were three others, one other that was heavily magical, one that was more physical, and one that seemed to straddle the lines between many. An adventuring party, she realized, and one that obviously had a little more cohesion than the one that she had just dismissed. She slowly chuckled. “Gann. Just how many adventurers did you invite?” “Mmmph? Mmmp-mmmph!” her apprentice said, pointing to his mouth. “Just think it, little one. I can hear you.” Her apprentice grumbled, but he did as she told him. As his thoughts slid across their bond to her mind, she saw his plans. To invite others to the island, to give her the challenge that she had lacked for so long. It was not merely the challenge of finding people that were strong enough to take her attacks, as so many of the heroes complained of in other worlds, but finding those that could force her to fight harder, to push more just to avoid losing. The first group, she saw, had been an unintentional ripple from the original plan. Someone had heard the invitation and passed it on, and those biased folk had come to try their luck against her, not for pride or glory or pleasure, but for the religious reasons of ‘ridding the world of evil.’ This one, on the other hand, had been the original group to be invited, one that had gotten a little drunk and spilled the location before they could make their way here, thus why the other had arrived first. Drakina severed the connection before she could hear what they were able to do, not wanting to spoil herself. The dragoness flicked her wings out, feeling the night air caress them, the cool breeze warming the further along her wings it went until it reached her core. By then, it was warm as the smoke coming off a fire, and she smiled as it blew across her. “Mmmm, perhaps you will not need a punishment after all, my dear,” she said with a smile for her apprentice. “But that will depend [i]entirely[/i] on just how good this group is. Tell me, Gann. Will I have fun tonight?” Her apprentice pointed once more at the gag in his mouth. Ordinarily, she would have disciplined him for that, but she was feeling generous. She collapsed the spell, and the ooze slid from his mouth like a load too large to be contained in the jaws. He coughed, sputtering, then managed a smile. “You’ll be in heaven, Mistress.” “You’d best hope so. You’d best hope so.” The dragoness took one step forward, then flapped her wings. The air currents on the north cliff face of the island caught her, and soon, she was airborne. # The four adventurers that had made landfall were trying to be quiet, though they knew that there was little point. Velera had already told them that the dragoness knew that they were on the island, and if that was the case, they didn’t have much chance of hiding their progress. Still, they decided that it was better to play it that way for a little while longer, just in case. Velera, the sorceress that had cast the spell to find the dragoness, was the one at the front of the pack. Though human, the woman had managed to take on a few dragon features from her many experiments with sorcery, pulling at old blood and adding a bit of new blood to make herself more powerful. She walked with ease along the sandy beach, making her way forward with her head high, her eyes bright – quite literally glowing, in fact – and her skirt and leather top flicking in the wind. Behind her came Bunti, the half-orc barbarian. The other woman of the party, Bunti was dressed in nothing but a loincloth, her olive-green breasts on display, her nipples pierced through with silver that dangled down, weighted with the heads of dragons in miniature. Rippling muscles cascaded along her body, and she carried a greatsword in either hand, carrying the armory of two people for herself. Behind the warrior walked the bard, an elf that went by the name of Tharun. He was their chronicler, their storyteller – and yes, he was very good at it, thank you very much – and he carried with him a bandolier of throwing knives, as well as a rapier at his belt and little finger instruments that were hidden in pockets in his flamboyant, puffy outfit. Picking up the rear was their druid, a lizardfolk named Saldith. The scaly man was followed by a wolf on either side, the beasts padding along with him, and his wooden armor clicked and clacked as the pieces tapped against each other. The sand churned beneath his feet, the creatures beneath rising to greet him, but his attention, like the rest of the party, was on the village just a little ways north. “No sign of her yet?” Saldith hissed from the back. “No. At least, I don’t feel anything on the cords of power,” Velera clarified. “She hasn’t cast anything since I caught her last spell.” “You mean since she caught yours,” Tharun chuckled. “She’s a lot stronger than she looks, okay? I thought that I was strong, but…” “But what?” Tharun asked. “She just killed that spell. I have never felt someone do it like that; I thought we were pretty equally matched –” “Scary thought,” Bunti grunted. “Isn’t it?” Velera said. “But she was just playing. That was one spell against mine, and then she drowned it with another spell that she snuck behind it. She’s…wow. She deserves the legends.” Nobody spoke up against that. They had known the score coming here, and not one of them had come expecting this to be easy. They knew that they were going up against one of the most powerful dragons that had ever lived, one that had been in existence for who knew how many thousands of years, and who had spent that time facing down threats that would have made the world tremble. Now, it was their turn…and they planned on making a legend of their own, though for different reasons. Velera called them to a halt at the edge of the sand, looking towards the huts in the distance. The village was calm, quiet, and every member of the party knew better than to trust that. “You feel anything magical out there?” Tharun asked. “More than I’d like, to be honest,” the draconic human said, shaking her head. “I think that they’re all at least low-level sorcerers themselves.” “All of them?!” “Near enough. I don’t think there’s anyone over apprentice level, but there are at least thirty of them.” Thirty apprentices. Even if all they could cast was something like magic missile, that was a lot of magic to be dealing with. The four adventurers looked at each other, and then at Bunti. The half-orc smirked. “I gotcha.” “Let’s call momma to her toys,” Saldith muttered. The whole idea was to draw the dragoness out, to make this Drakina be a little less focused, a little more intent on what was happening to disrupt her island. The more that they could do to keep her from being focused on them when she arrived, the better. They were going to have one chance to try and ambush her, and they couldn’t afford to waste it. Other adventurers might have come here to free the village, or to take down the great and powerful dragoness that ruled the island. Such rewards as would have come from that would have been great, but that wasn’t what Velera, Bunti, Tharun, and Saldith wanted. That wasn’t the reason that they had gone out into the world to start adventuring, and it wasn’t why they were here today. They were here for the dragoness, because it was rumored that no one could beat her. They were here because they wanted to test their strength. They were here…because it was said that the dragoness was more sensual than any succubus, more sexual than any spell of lust. And they wanted to see what that was like, if they could conquer her. Every one of them carried a fantasy, every one of them carried a hidden desire that they wished to live out with the dragoness. Today, they would find out if they were worthy to take her down and have that fantasy. They approached the village slowly, Velera taking a few steps back and allowing the half-orc to take point. If there was any of them that would be able to tank the damage that the sorcerers could put out, or better, move faster than the sorcerers could react to, it was Bunti. The muscular woman was already at the forefront of every fight, and more than once, had managed to end it before the rest of the party could get involved. Usually, she didn’t even have to use her rage, though they didn’t count on that tonight. They moved in silence, Velera counting out where the dragoness was on the island as she passed by the cords of power, until they were at the outskirts of the village. A silhouette looked up from whatever it was doing – possibly fucking – and pointed at them. “Bunti. Charge,” Tharun said, and the half-orc did just that. # As she flew over the island, Drakina took her time to gather what information she could about the people that had come to visit. The adventurers were cautious, she was surprised to see, and they were taking their time to get off the beach slowly, methodically. Every now and then, she was able to look at them through a spy spell that she had set up down there, but she was surprised to find them looking for traps as much as they were. They were all unique, too. While there was only one pure human – and he would be an interesting one to change, starting from such a base species – she was rather happy to see that there was a human woman with some dragon features. She would be fun, indeed, someone to test herself out against. It was hard to tell more than the most basic things about them from such a distance, but she was able to enjoy what she saw. The females, in particular, seemed more than willing to show themselves off. The orc’s breasts were thrust forward, nipples hard and perky with the piercings through them, and the occasional view from beneath showed her that the half-orc wasn’t exactly chaste. There was some wetness coming down, either from being in the nude or in anticipation for something else. The males were slightly less eye-grabbing, mostly due to the horrible colors that the elf wore, but the lizardfolk was an interesting one. He wore wooden armor, and she doubted that it was plain wood, likely enchanted to stand up to more damage. That said, she imagined that he would be fun to affect with her pheromones, to see how long he could keep casting his spells when she was around. More than that, his wolves would be a variable in combat that she hadn’t had for a while. The two bitches were very, very loyal, and unlikely to be swayed without a great deal of power behind the charm spell in question, so she would have to find a way around that. The more that she saw, the more that she found herself looking forward to this fight. It had been a long time since she’d dealt with someone…competent, and she needed the break after dealing with the first party that had made their way onto the island. They had disappeared from her spy spells for a while, though, and Drakina didn’t know quite where they had gone. She coasted on the winds, looking down on the island until – TWAAAANG! It was less of a spell and more of a direct attack this time. The dragoness felt the surge of panic in her underlings, and she twisted her wings in against her back, dropping into a dive from the sky. They were at the village, and that meant that her people were being drawn in. [i]Mine.[/i] # Bunti had done the job, alright. She’d run in and slammed through the defenses that the sorcerers had put up, taken a few punches from their spells, and then knocked them off their feet. The flats of her greatswords meant that they went down hard, their breath knocked out of them, and then they were sitting ducks for the rest of the party. Tharun had run between them, whispering soft songs in their ears that turned into echoing lullabies. It had required little more than a second per person to take them down, and the sound echoed from their ears, still, showing just how far down they had gone. Velera had charmed some, put others to sleep, and still others had been paralyzed beneath her touch. Spells were spent, but they were small ones, minor ones, things that would not be useful in a grand fight with someone more powerful than she. Then there was Saldith. Those sorcerers that were getting back to their feet were knocked down again by his vines, pinned by his wolves, molded into the houses with wood-shape and then held in place and restrained by their own homes. One by one, the adventurers did what they did best, and removed the threat to the area. They met in the center of town. Bunti was sweating hard, leaning against her blades, but she wore a grin as big as you might have imagined she could. The half-orc nodded at her comrades. “Think that’ll be good enough?” she asked. “If she didn’t feel that, then she’s dumb and deaf,” Velera said, rubbing the side of her head. “I’m not attached to these people, and [i]I[/i] felt that.” “The question is, do they matter to her?” Saldith asked, gathering his wolves. “They are just random people, after all.” “Ah, but you don’t understand the narrative significance of them,” Tharun pointed out. “They are here, and why else would they be here except that they are important to her in some way?” “…Just, random people?” Velera asked. “Well, to us, but this is her story. She is powerful enough to craft tales of reality, where the world reflects nothing more than what she wants. Nothing is here that she doesn’t want to be here, whether that is the sand, or the grass, or the buildings on the north, or this village. If she didn’t want it here, if it didn’t matter, then it wouldn’t be here.” “Does that whole idea include us in the ‘wouldn’t be here if she didn’t want us here’ category, Tharun?” Saldith asked. “…Probably.” “Great.” Regardless, the adventurers had set the trap. They knew that the dragoness was likely coming, and that meant that they needed to be ready. Tharun took one of the nearby rooftops, hiding beneath the thatch that formed it and taking out one of his dart launchers. He had a number of weapons for a ranged fight, and he knew how to use them properly, to the point where there was no danger of hitting the rest of his companions. He had trained long and hard to avoid ever hurting one of them from a distance. Then there was the human woman, Velera. She took one of the huts just off the center of the village, pulling the leather cloth closed so that she had a bit of privacy. The hut was not very big, and as she embraced her magic, it only got smaller. Saldith hid himself in shadow, blending into the darkness, pulling the wood of one of the huts around him like a blister over fluid. His wolves wandered the village, their noses perked up, their eyes watching the sky. And Bunti, strong Bunti, stood in the middle, her blades at her sides, her head tilted towards the heavens with a roar of challenge. A roar, it must be admitted, that was answered all too swiftly. A whistle was all the warning that they had, a whistle of wind blowing by wings, followed by the thunderous crack of someone slamming into the earth at bone-breaking speeds. Dust and grass and embers from scattered fires rose, obscuring their visitor, but no member of the party doubted who had arrived. As the debris cleared, the purple scales of the legendary dragoness glimmered in the remaining firelight. She strode forward on long legs, supported by bare feet that shimmered wetly. Her thighs were damp, too, stained with juices obscene from both of her sexes. Her shaft, the discontinuity of the dragoness, swung slowly from side to side, almost like a blade across the whetstone of her sac. Her wings flared out behind her, fanning the smoke away, and one hand rested on her broad hips, the other under her chin. Her breasts bounced slightly, the heavy purple globes topped with a darker nipple, framed by a wide disk of flesh just beneath it that was somewhere between the two shades. And as she stood there, she smiled, chuckling to herself. “You thought that attacking my people would be a [i]good[/i] idea? I was hoping that you four would be more intelligent than the last bunch.” Bunti blinked, not quite stupidly, but not quite brightly, either. She cocked her head to the side, one big sword over her shoulder, the other against the ground. If anything, she looked like she was waiting for something… And Tharun knew she was waiting for him. The bard looked down the sight of his crossbow, taking aim at the dragoness’s shoulder. His darts would do best if they could slide into the scales somewhere near the bigger veins and arteries. Not to drain her, but to make sure that the potions and poisons on the tips were carried somewhere more vital more quickly. “Let’s see how intelligent she finds this,” Tharun muttered, pulling the trigger. # Drakina had to admit, the half-orc woman looked a lot more attractive in person. The muscles were thick, the breasts large, the hips wide; the one thing missing was a bit more of the orc pudge, something that she could easily give the other woman as soon as this fight was done. She was, however, distracted. Almost distracted enough to forget the fact that there were more adventurers than just this one. Almost distracted enough to lower her magical shields. But not quite so distracted as that. Tink. The dart stopped, frozen in place against her spell. The shield around her extended to a half foot off of her person, and the dart quivered there, held in the bubble. In, surprisingly, rather than just outside of it. She saw a hint of movement on a rooftop to her left, and the dragoness smiled as she pinched the dart around the back end. Turning it around, she saw that it dripped with some sort of poison, and she shook her head, tossing it over her shoulder, embedding it into one of the huts around her. “Well, then. I think that’s as much of a warning as any of you deserve.” Drakina chuckled, her eyes starting to flare as she called the magic to her. “Let’s see what you have to offer…” And with that, the half-orc roared again, charging. The blades whistled through the air, one coming up as the other came down. One launched sand at her face, the other tried to cut at her arm. There was no holding back, no attempt to disable her; obviously, this party knew that it had to go all out right from the start if they wanted to win physically. She pulled her wings in tight again, spinning between the blades. She didn’t bother throwing them apart or warping them. It had been too long since she had the chance to use her own body, to fight with her muscles and claws the way that the ancient dragons had. So, the purple dragoness jumped close, grabbing for the half-orc’s wrists. She squeezed, and the green-skinned woman gasped, her eyes going wide as her swords were halted in place. They were of a height, the pair of them, and Drakina smirked as she leaned in, her snout almost brushing the orc’s nose. “You’re stronger than this. I can tell. Go on…let it out…let me see everything you have to offer…” “You want Bunti angry?” the half-orc growled. “I want Bunti angry.” “Heh…Fine.” The half-orc roared in her face, and suddenly, their equalized grips were no longer equal. The brutal woman swung her arms up, and Drakina went flying, the big greatswords on either side following her up. She had just enough time to hit one with her tail before Bunti leaped after her, grabbing the other blade and cutting the air. The slice was fast and strong enough that it carried the night wind with it, and even though Drakina managed to flap backwards to avoid the cutting blade, the impact of the air still caught her. The dragoness spun backwards, flying head over heel before she managed to flick her wings out and stop herself. In the meantime, Bunti had hit the ground, the half-orc bending her knees – “Oh, yes…” And then jumping again. Drakina grinned as she flapped to the side, avoiding the cut and the air that followed, swinging her tail around to try and knock the orc back. The blade moved faster, catching her tail before it could hit, and the dragoness was forced to pull it back before she could have it cut off. [i]Well, now…this is much better…[/i] That was two. The half-orc, the sneak – Another ‘tink’, and she knew that that one was still looking for her. She glanced over her shoulder, seeing a bigger dart this time. It had gotten about halfway through the shield, and she shook her head. [i]That one has magic resistant dart heads, the half-orc has blades that are anti-magic…[/i] That was going to put a whole new spin on the fight, that was for sure. And she still hadn’t seen the other two. They were probably waiting for the next opening, or waiting to run in as back-up, holding their positions so that she didn’t pick them off right then. Drakina didn’t much like waiting. She preferred to know her opponents, after all, and that meant that she needed to see them. Making a mental note to restore the village, the dragoness reached out with her power again. She touched the cords of magic that ran through the island, grabbed hold of the extensions that had come from her village and the sorcerers therein. She felt their will that had raised the huts, that had given them homes. She felt the power that they wielded, the commands that they had given the earth to give up the materials for their houses. And then, she commanded the earth to take it back. With nothing more than a thrusting fist and a grunt of effort, the huts collapsed, stone walls, thatch rooves, wooden furniture, everything and anything that had been drawn from the ground was shoved back into it. She heard the grunts of surprise from the other party members, saw an elf leaping from a collapsing rooftop, saw a winged creature darting from the window of a building that was about to disappear. The only one that was not quick enough was the one that had made himself a part of a house, the lizardfolk. He was dragged up to his waist into the earth, pinned in place, and his wolves ran across the village, darting to him to try and dig him out. Then, Bunti. Drakina spun just in time to see the half-orc leaping at her again, greatsword at the ready. On instinct, the dragoness reached out for the other greatsword, only to find her magic fizzle as she tried to grab it and call it to her. [i]…Whoops.[/i] Throwing her arms up in a last-second defense, she managed to keep the blade from cutting her stomach open. She couldn’t, however, keep the hilt from jabbing into her guts and knocking the air out of her lungs. “OOOF!” Bunti knocked her out of the air and into the earth, the pair of them sliding for dozens of feet through the loose-packed dirt. They finally came to a stop at the edge of the village, the green-skinned woman standing on her chest, the greatsword pressed against the side of the dragoness’s neck. “Heh…heh…” “…Ow.” The dragoness shook her head. “That was a good one.” “You strong. For a witch.” “Heh. And you’re fast, for a thug.” “Done?” “Not even close…” This was the first time that someone had managed to do this much to her in a long time. She wasn’t about to let this fight end just yet. For once, there was a doubt – even if it was only a tiny one – that she might win. It had been so long since she’d felt that. Too long. [b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]