Chapter 3

“I cannot believe you!” Ember paused and poked up with his hand, pushing aside one of the hanging drapes in the third of the pleasure rooms. June, who was looking increasingly irritated at the delay in their progress, tossed her head.

“What?” she sounded entirely unapologetic. “You’re the Unconquered, you’re going to live until you die.”

“I- what?” Ember looked down at her.

“Unconquered, like the Sun, are immortal. They live until they are killed by some monster or another. You’re going to get plenty of chances to fuck your Lunar Wife – but you won’t get any if we don’t get the Starshrike working in time. Or do you think that Jerin Kah is going to just sit on his laurels while a new Unconquered is up and about and his empire and emperor is in danger?” June’s tail snapped from side to side in irritation.

Ember tried to grapple with the mental idea of living forever. It refused to form – the same way that the idea of growing old and creaky refused to form. There was just the mental image of this moment. And, more accurately, the mental image of the most beautiful saris in the world, naked and quivering underneath him, their rump thrust into the air, ready for him to finally, at long last, lose his virginity. And not just to Korrine or one of the other pretty girls in Rataka village. No, he was going to lose his virginity as the Unconquered, the chosen hero of the age, to one of his Lunar ... Wives! Gods, it still felt weird to think of Chirp as a wife.

That mental image was why he scowled at June. “I think you still could have at least been a tiny bit more polite...” He paused, seeing her expression. “ ... I mean, you have to be at ... least ... once in...” He trailed off. “You’ve never been polite, ever, have you?”

“Oh, glorious Unconquered,” June said, her voice full of false supplication. “Do you think I’m being a mite rude because I think trying to get a millennia old ship out of drydock before we get murdered by an imbued knight of the Regency is slightly more important than you buttfucking your Lunar Wife?”

“Saris!” Ember thrust his finger at her.

“The incarnated pairing doesn’t care what their gender is!” June said, flinging up her hands. “The Third Unconquered was a girl, but she was still the husband to her five lunar wives. And half of them were men!”

“And you don’t see a problem with that?” Ember asked, stepping out of the room and opening the door to a chamber that looked as if it had been used for sparring practice. There was a dojo mat where he could make love to Chirp. There were some hanging targets that Chirp could cling to while he made love to them. There was a wall ... Chirp could totally get some against that wall. Ember blushed. Okay. Maybe he was a teeny bit distracted.

“Oh no, you may need to be slightly uncomfortable while wielding the unfathomable power of the Sun and Moon,” June said, then stepped over to one of the sleek, small doors that were mounted in the wall of the sparring room. She took hold of a small knob that thrust from the side of the door and swung the door open, her tail lashing out to wrap around the small bat that tried to flee from the tiny room the door was used to keep shut up tight. June flicked her tail and tossed Chirp at Ember, as if they were a skolsbol. Ember caught Chirp with both hands and held them close, nuzzling the top of their tiny, fluffy head.

“Now can we please get this ship going?” June asked.

“No,” Ember said, glaring at her. “You can head to the bridge and you can start to get ready. Do whatever you need to do to get this boat into the water without me – but I’m going to spend a little bit of time with my Lunar, hugging them and kissing them and making sure everything is all right. Got it?” As he spoke, he noticed a tiny flicker of golden light along his arms, small beads of flame along his knuckles. They winked out nearly as fast sparks flung from a fire – so fast that he half wondered if he had imagined it.

June stood still, her tail not even twitching. Then she let out a soft snort. “Wait, water? You think this ... you think the Starshrike is, like, a raft but nicer?” She laughed.

“Where else would a ship go?” Ember asked.

June just cackled – turning around and walking away.

The instant she was gone, Chirp glowed and grew. When the light had faded, Ember found himself nose to nose with his Lunar Wife, and his eyes were meeting their eyes. Soft ruby. Tiny gemstones. Ember felt his heart hammering in his breast and a nervous tremble shot along his arms to his palms as he gripped their skinny hips. Chirp smiled, ever so slightly. Their fangs glinted. Ember wanted to kiss each fang individually. Then lick their neck. Then he’d begin to nuzzle and lick his way along their throat to their chest, then start to play with their nipples and-

“Hey-” Chirp and Ember said at the same time. Ember blushed, then stepped backwards.

“Sorry, you-” they said in unison again. Ember closed his eyes and Chirp giggled, nervously.

“This is weird,” Chirp said.

“Yeah,” Ember said, nodding and opening one eye. “Uh, sorry about June.”

“Is she always like that?” Chirp asked, their brow furrowing.

“Some ... most ... yes, all the time, yes,” Ember said, chuckling. He licked his lips. “We should, uh, we should get to the bridge. This ship isn’t going to get itself ready by itself.” He nodded, then slowly looked down. His hand and Chirp’s hand were interlocked again – their fingers clasped. Chirp blushed, furiously.

“We should! And, maybe, get to know each other. More. I mean. Since y-you can’t love someone you just met,” Chirp said, their voice growing softer. Their eyes flicked down and to the side.

“Sure you can,” Ember said, hurriedly. “Like ... I once met this really cute, uh, bat saris. Who ... had lovely red eyes and...” He blushed as Chirp ducked their head forward, their hair tumbling forward to conceal their face. It didn’t quite conceal their huge, goofy smile. “And really sexy fangs. And a perfect butt.” Ember grinned as he heard Chirp’s giggle. He leaned in, kissing the top of their head. “But we should get to the bridge...”

“Yeah,” Chirp whispered. Their free hand was teasing along the hem of his pants.

“And do work...” Ember murmured into their hair. His lips traced down to their forehead, kissing Chirp’s pale skin, feeling the softness of them. Chirp’s hand pushed his leggings down, freeing his cock with a single quick shove. Their hand closed around the base of his red member and they crooned, wordlessly. Hungry. “And ... oh gods...” He moaned as Chirp began to gently pump their palm up and down his cock – their thumb teasing his foreskin gently.

Chirp shivered. “It’s really big.”

“Thanks! Unconquered!” Ember choked out. He’d never felt someone other than, well, himself touch his cock. And his cock definitely had not been so large. The combination of both new facts wormed their way into his head and he marveled at the way that he felt the familiar pleasure and pressure of jerking himself off with the unexpected. He had no idea what Chirp’s hand was going to do – they tightened and adjusted their grip, and the strangeness of it made every moment a tense, wondering exploration. Chirp giggled as Ember moaned, their bodies pressing together as Chirp adjusted their grip to keep jerking Ember off.

“I like your big cock,” they whispered.

“Good to know,” Ember rasped into their hair. Chirp began to nuzzle and lick at Ember’s neck, their tongue darting out and away, as if they were worried about touching for too long. But with every fluttery little lick, Chirp pumped Ember’s cock faster and faster, their fingers tightening, their palm warm and soft and so perfect. Ember closed his eyes and clutched their back, drawing Chirp close to him as they whimpered quietly against his neck. He felt their fangs teasing along his skin, teasing. Teasing. Then Chirp made a tiny mrrr noise and bit him. It was a shocking, sudden penetration, and rather than a flare of pain, the only thing that struck Ember was the intense pleasure of it. His cock twitched and surged, his balls clenching so tightly that it nearly hurt. His cum spurted along Chirp’s forearm, soaking their skin up to the elbow as Chirp drank Ember’s blood with eager gulps.

Ember blinked a few times, wavering and wobbling.

Then Chirp jerked backwards with a squeak, their ears twitching up in alarm, the points quivering. They clapped their hands over their mouth, then gulped one last time.

“Uh ... I have questions?” Ember asked. He didn’t feel faint exactly. At least, not faint like he expected losing a great deal of blood would have left him. He felt more dizzy like he had just had the most amazing orgasm in his entire life. But Chirp turned to flee before Ember could ask a single question – but this time, Ember was ready for them. He reached out, caught their wrist, tugged them around, and pinned them up against the wall, their bodies pressed close together.

“Sorry!” Chirp squeaked.

“Chirp, it’s okay,” Ember said, panting. A thin line of blood spurted from one of the tiny puncture holes on his throat.

“I’ll never drink your blood again,” Chirp said, bobbing their head hurriedly. “It’s just, your neck! It was right there. And smelled so good. And then I was getting all ... intense and ... and it was instinct. Wild instinct!” They lapped at Ember’s neck, their tongue flicking along the holes they had left in his skin. The holes closed and Ember felt his dizziness fade slightly. Chirp, though, looked mortified. “I’ll never drink your blood again after that one last little lick!” They nodded. Then licked the smear of blood off Ember’s neck – a quick, moaning lick that left their red eyes rolling back into their head. “Mmmh! Auh! No!” They flung their head aside.

“Chirp!” Ember laughed. “Chirp, you can drink my blood. I mean, what do people even use blood for? I can totally spare, like, five, six ... gallons?”

“Uh, lots ... lots of important things, actually,” Chirp whispered. “Also, I think that’d be all of your blood, my Unconquered.”

“Pff!” Ember, like most young men who had just gotten their first handjob from a woman (or saris in this case), was feeling generous. Chirp, meanwhile, was surreptitiously lifting their cum splattered arm to their mouth to begin licking tentatively. The first lick made them moan softly, their eyes closing slowly as they licked their dripping, white smeared palm.

“Uh, I’ve heard girls say it tastes bad,” Ember said, slowly as Chirp licked each of their fingers clean, smacking their lips with satisfaction.

“Unconquered,” they said, which seemed as if it’d be a great explanation for most things in Ember’s life for the foreseeable future. At that moment, the floor decided to quake, rock, shake, and finally settle down to a consistent thrumming, as if the entire ship had started to buzz like a gong after it had been struck. Chirp, who had flung their arms wide to stay balanced, wrapped said arms around Ember’s shoulders, while Ember planted a palm against the wall to keep himself from skidding along the floor. His other hand tugged his pants up. Then squeezed Chirp’s butt. Which was entirely required, one hundred percent necessary.

“What was that?” Chirp whispered.

“Uh, I think June got the ship working,” Ember whispered back. “Come on.”

He slung Chirp into an easy carry – finding them quite a light weight. He wasn’t sure if it was because Chirp was the sexist twig that he had ever seen, or if it was because of his incredible Unconquered strength. Either way, it was easy to bound through the corridors, up the stairs, and into the bridge of the Starshrike. The first thing that Ember noticed, to his irritation, was June sitting in the golden throne that was earmarked for the Unconquered. Her leg was propped up on her knee and her tail laid over the armrest as she pressed her fingertips together, her lips skinned back into a wicked grin. Ember gently set Chirp down on the ruby chair, then stepped over to the golden throne.

“Ahem,” he said.

June rolled her head back. “Did you finish buttfucking your Lunar?” she asked, her voice laconic.

“Firstly,” Ember said, ticking the points off on his fingers. “There has to be a better term than buttfucking-”

“I think it’s kinda cute, actually,” Chirp whispered, softly.

“Secondly!” Ember said, louder. “No. It was a handjob.”

“How restrained,” June murmured, leaning expansively on the armrest.

“And thirdly,” Ember said. “That’s ... my chair.”

June pursed her lips, then stood casually up, with the grace that she exhibited in all things. She stepped past him, her tail prodding his chest. “You have some cum on your shirt,” she murmured. Ember looked down, scowled at the damp spot, and started rubbing. As he rubbed his shirt, June walked over to the chair that was decorated with the lapis gemstone and took her seat there, spinning the chair about as she did so to begin touching various controls on the desk that thrust out from below the large, curving window that looked over the sweep of the Starshrike.

“Question,” Chirp said, raising their hand. “Is each chair for a different Lunar ... wife?” They bit their lip, looking very cute.

“Yup,” June said. “Lapis handles flight and sensors, Ruby and Amethyst handle the weapons, Pearl the communications, and Agate handles the shields.” She tapped one last switch and, through the forward window, Ember could see the silvery metal of the drydock opening. He rubbed his palms together, excitement buzzing through him. Finally, this ship was going to- He blinked and jerked his head back around to look at June.

“Did you say flight?”

The Starshrike exploded out of the mouth of the Temple of the Third Unconquered with a scream of rent air and a streak of golden contrails.

The Starshrike flew, as June was more than willing to explain to a half awed, half terrified, half delighted Ember, by harnessing the magical powers of its engines and then creating a ‘river’ of mana beneath it. The mana was invisible and insubstantial, but the Starshrike could harness it to fling itself forward at incredible speeds. That was about how far she got into the explanation before Ember stopped understanding exactly what she was saying. And this was with June using her very slow, talking to babies voice.

Seeing that she was at the limit of his understanding, she tapped a few buttons. “Now, lets head back to Rataka,” she said. “You might want to tell your parents that you’ve been chosen by the Sun to remake the world in your image. Seems like something they might want to know.”

The Starshrike swung around, nose angling towards the distant horizon. Very faintly, Ember could see the towering shape of the swords that marked the edges of his village. But he could also see something else. He stood, slowly, and then shaded his forehead, narrowing his eyes. His body flickered with tiny embers of golden light as he exerted his power as the Unconquered – and the horizon became clear, as if it had been etched in stone.

Rising from around the swords was a thick pal of black smoke, spreading outwards into the unmistakable fan of a truly massive pyre. Ember felt his stomach turn slowly over. “June,” he whispered. “Top speed.”

June did not talk back. Not even a little. Instead, the Starshrike shot forward, slamming through the air with such speed that Ember was pitched back into his chair. As he sprawled there, Chirp reached out – and he took their hand, squeezing tightly. The forest that had taken him the better part of a day to traverse on horseback whipped by underneath them, while flocks of birds were scared into the air by the scream of the mana engines behind them. But then they were over the rice paddies, and over the village of Rataka itself.

The larger buildings were still burning. Many of the smaller ones had collapsed. And there were bodies in the streets – being picked over by strange, angular beings. Ember didn’t wait for June to bring the Starshrike down. Instead, acting on instinct, he sprinted for the door at the side of the bridge. Flinging it open, he leaped outwards into the biting, howling winds. His clothing billowed around him and a golden light flared around his body as he drifted down towards the ground – landing with a grunt before what had once been the village storehouse. The glow and the grunt of his impact both drew the attention of the figures.

They weren’t human. Even considering the diversity of humanity in the Land, these beings were clearly something else. They were tall and skinny and extremely pale. They had a few too many joints on each of their limbs and their fingernails were long and clawed and black. Their eyes were black all the way through and their teeth were glittering needles, while their mouths skinned backwards in huge, crescent shaped smiles. But it was none of these oddities that made Ember feel their inhumanity.

It was the smell.

The brassy, vitriolic scent.

“Demons,” he whispered.

“Got it one...” one of the smilers said, cocking its head – its voice was somewhere between a nasal whine and a screech. It kicked over the terrified looking corpse of a guard and then stood upon his chest. Its toenails were long as its fingernails, and they dug into the corpse’s ribs with a meaty crunch. “Viridai, Sixth Circle of the Vitriolic Depths, shard self of the Devourer, at your service, oh Unconquered.”

Viridai bowed and swept its arm wide.

Ember snarled, clenching his fists so hard he felt the knuckles creaking. Above him, the Starshrike was swinging around – seeking to find a safe place to land without knocking over any more buildings. “There’s only fifteen dead people here,” he said, his body trembling. “Where are the rest of my family? My friends!?” He stepped forward, glaring at Viridai.

“Do you think I’m afraid of you, Unconquered?” Viridai asked, crooning. “You kill me and my subshards, we simply reform in Hell. And you are not any the wiser as to where Knight Jerin Kah took-”

One second, Ember was standing about ten paces away from the demon. The next, he had closed his hand around Viridai’s throat and brought it swinging around and smashing into the ground. The impact was fierce enough to shake the ground and when the dust had cleared, Viridai was sprawled in a crater, its too long limbs twisted unnaturally. Which didn’t say much, considering how it had already looked unnatural. But Ember put his bare foot onto its chest and glared down at it.

“Are you really so mind bogglingly, universe shattering, Cycle endingly stupid that you think it’s a good idea ... a really good idea ... to fuck with an Unconquered after you kidnapped his family, his friends, and his entire fucking village?” Ember snarled. “I just learned that my previous incarnations completely altered how reincarnation works as a retirement plan for their bureaucrats! Now, where, in there, do you think a sixth circle sub-shard of a half rate malformed devil whose green flame is barely hot enough to scorch a flower fits in when it comes to threatening the Unconquered, chosen of the Sun, Toppler of Thrones?”

Ember leaned forward, putting more weight on his foot. “So...”

“Jerin Kah summoned zeno devils to take them to Nex-Ho, don’t hurt me!” Viridai screamed, lifting up their clawed hands.

Ember felt the intense urge to take this demon and twist it apart with his bare hands. But instead, he breathed in a slow, deep breath. This turned out to be a mistake, because the air stank with brass and smoke and the smell of blood. He still forced himself to step backwards and off Viridai’s chest. He turned to find June and Chirp, both of them having sprinted over from the Starshrike, gaping at him.

“Hot...” Chirp whispered.

June, though, was ... not looking turned on.

She was looking a tiny bit scared.

“H-Hey guys!” Ember said, trying to look casual and normal. It was hard, considering his whole body was glowing with rippling, glowing flames. “Just, uh, questioning this demon here, uh, nothing too it. Just normal, every day Emberish stuff. Heh.” He gulped.

“Ember!” Chirp pointed.

Ember turned in time to see Viridai and his fellows – each of them drawing up into a line – grinning wickedly at him.

“Let us see what the Unconquered’s essence tastes like. I’ve heard it’s delicious, my selves!” Viridai cackled and sprinted forward, its claws glittering fiercely. It slashed at Ember’s face. Ember, reacting with instinct, bent almost in half, the claws sweeping through the air with a whistling crack. Five glowing, greenish lines were traced in the air by that arc, smelling of ozone. Ember put a palm down on the ground, then shoved himself away – twisting in the air. He landed on the smoldering roof of the headwoman’s house, the thatch groaning and a flurry of sparks filling the air.

“Gave you a chance, buddy,” Ember said. He sprang backwards, sailing over the burning roof, and landing on the far side. He could hear the cackling of the demons – but he focused instead on his palms. He clapped them together, rubbed, then took hold of the foundation of the building. His shoulders trembled. His teeth clenched. And then he heard the ground creaking. Cracking. Crumbling. The whole building trembled as a spiderweb of black cracks appeared on the ground beneath his fingertips. The cracks spread further as he wrenched upwards, standing from a kneeling position. His arms trembled as he hefted the entirety of his headwoman’s house above his head. Plaster rained down. So did sparks and bits of thatch. One window flung open and a shattered collection of pottery came raining out.

The knot of demons gaped up at the shadow cast by the house.

Ember, his teeth drawn back into a fierce grin, stood just a bit taller, then brought the house whistling down onto the heads of the entire cadre.

The resounding crash that filled his ears made him wince. Splinters hazed the air and he lifted his arm to shield his face as the wood fragments and bits of plaster went flying. When the smoke had cleared, the house was burning even more fiercely now, the flames having been fanned by the motion and the stirring, the same way a poker could stir coals. A series of glowing, greenish sparks of light came floating out of the wreckage, making a soft woosh woosh noise as they darted about. Ember realized, suddenly, that they were the essences of Viridai and his shards. But before he could move, they shot over his head...

And then June, springing past him, swept a brass bottle through the air. When she landed, her tail plunged down and slammed a cork that was covered in holy mandalas into the bottle’s neck. She turned on her heel, tossed the bottle into the air, then caught it again in her other hand, grinning.

“Sixth circle,” she said, casually. “Minor facet of a demon’s personality – low powered, very specialized. But useful, none the less.”

“Whoa,” Ember whispered.

“Whoa!?” Chirp flung themselves onto his back, wrapping their arms around his shoulders. “You dropped a house on them!”

“Y-Yeah, but...” Ember blinked. “Holy crap, I dropped a house on them!” Then. “Holy crap I dropped the headwoman’s house on them, she’s gonna kill me!”

June snorted. “Someone’s gotta kill you eventually. But when it does happen, I suggest you pick someone more powerful and impressive than ‘middle aged fishwife.’ It’ll look a bit suspect if your next incarnation has to be told that you were punked out and killed by Pekka of all people.”

Ember wobbled, his knees having chosen that moment to turn to water. He sagged and soon, he was sitting on the ground, with Chirp’s legs wrapped around him, their arms tugging him into their lap. Though Chirp was skinny, Ember himself was also not exactly the most strapping example of manhood – so him sitting in their lap was far from impossible. And it felt pretty good to feel their cool fingers brushing through his hair. Ember tried to focus on what the demon had said – looking up at June as she slid the bottle into her backpack, where it clinked and clattered against others.

“The demon said that Jerin Kah summoned something called zeno devils-”

“Good,” June said, her voice quiet. “That will give us some time to train you up before you go after them.”

“What?” Ember blinked up at her. “Wait, what do you mean time? They’re heading for Nex-Ho, that place is only a few days away! We have to chase after them right now!”

June put her tail against his nose, preventing him from standing. “No,” she said. “A zeno devil is a sixth circle demon – facet of the Waste that Wends. They’re aspects of the concept of entropy, wasting time, and paradox.” She shook her head. “And thus, they have a single power ... but it’s a devilish one. If you chase after a zeno, you will always be halfway away from reaching them – no matter how fast you go. The only way to stop a zeno is to let it get somewhere ... then chase after it there and hope you get to it before it can fly again.”

Ember opened his mouth to argue. Then he closed it. “If you’re always decreasing the distance halfway, you’ll never reach it. Oh, that is mean.”

June looked mildly shocked that he had gotten it, but concealed it with a tiny toss of her head. “Come on. Lets bury the dead...” She sighed, softly. “If Rataka is ever going to come back, it should do so without hungry ghosts waiting around.”

None of them knew the words – but at the end of the day, Ember hoped that being laid to rest by the Unconquered himself would be enough to render most ghosts happy about their place. He was privately happy that he barely recognized each body that he had laid down. He’d have hated to bury Korrine, or Jagatai. Or ... his mind shied away from the mental image of burying his own father. Instead, he focused on the digging, on the gently laying to rest, and finally, the moment of silence. As they stood, the sun closed his eye and the world was plunged into the gentle light of Lapis and Amethyst. The purple and the blue mixed to create something somber, but not too chill and distant.

Once the silence had passed, June sighed. “All right. Lets get to training.”

“Well, I’m pretty badass already,” Ember said, grinning. “What more do I need?”

June rolled her eyes. “You beat an overconfident Knight and some sixth circle demons. If Jerin Kah had fought you seriously, then this might have been a very short incarnation.” She flicked her finger against his nose. Ember yelped and rubbed at it. “See? Can’t even dodge that.” She shook her head, frowning. “Each incarnation has a different strength to begin with. Yours, so far, seems to be ... being really strong.” She nodded and Ember flexed dramatically – which made Chirp giggle. “So, I think it makes the most sense to at least figure out how to use that strength properly.” She grinned. “How do you feel about learning martial arts, Ember?”

“Uh...” Ember blinked at her. “It ... I ... w-wait, don’t I need a sifu to learn martial arts?” his eyes widened. “Oh my gods! Are you a master of Dragon Talon style? Or ... Five Fold Devil Arts!?”

“No,” June said. “I’m a thaumaturge, do you know how hard it would be to learn thaumaturgey and martial arts?” She cut him off before he could even get a word out. “Very. But I also happen to know a retired sifu who can help you.”

“Wow,” Chirp said. “You know a lot of people and things for a teenager.”

“She’s two hundred years old, actually,” Ember said.

Chirp’s red eyes widened. “Whoa!”

“You know, uh, I’d prefer you not mention that to everyone we meet,” June said. “People get mad at devil-born enough already without adding jealousy and a desire to vivisect me to the mix.”

“Why would someone be je-” Ember shut himself up. “Right. But I can’t keep secrets from my Lunar.” He gestured to Chirp.

“Yes you can, you can do so exceedingly easily,” June said, her voice dry. “The Unconquered is the husband. The Lunar Wives-” She pursed her lips at Chirp’s little flinch. “The Lunar Wives and Saris are subordinated to their Unconquered. So, technically, you could tell Chirp to jump off a bridge without breaking a sweat.”

Ember looked aghast. “Yeah! Well, I won’t then!”

June regarded him. Then, her tail twitching, she smirked. “Good.”

The three of them stepped onto the Starshrike. There, June toggled some buttons that caused clouds to drift down and surround the vehicle – shrouding it from people on the ground. Once they were flying, they would look like nothing more than a particularly swift cloud – and if they flew as high as they possibly could, even that would be hard to determine. From the immense heights that they swept along at, the Land looked like a vast tapestry – a tapestry of forests, plains, rivers, and the glowing dots of cities. Looking through the window, Ember shook his head slowly.

“I can see why the Third Unconquered built this thing,” he said. “Though, how are we going to avoid drawing attention when we actually land the thing?”

“That is a spot of bother...” June muttered.