Chapter 8: Bedbugs

With Aithorn assisting with alchemy and procuring materials, Noah secluded himself in his home, writing out runic equations and sketching molecular structures. The memory tea had succeeded in bringing back old formulas from his past, and now he just had to fiddle with them a bit and experiment. With each new drug he created, he would expose it to bacterial samples and observe their reaction under the microscope. These diseases were formidable adversaries, but with the combination of elvish and modern medicine, the tide of battle was turning.

After burning the morning hours looking through his microscope, he took what he had and went to see his patients. However, as he and Aithorn made the walk, they encountered three different fistfights between the citizens, and parties screaming about offenses and long-buried grudges, ruining what was supposed to be a city of quiet serenity.

“Is Sylphtoria usually like this? I didn’t think elves were so prone to random acts of violence and anger.” Noah asked.

“I don’t know what’s going on, I’ve never seen it this violent here. I heard that things have turned utterly chaotic while we were gone,” said Aithorn as he and Noah watched soldiers arrest the brawlers.

“Maybe it’s fear of the epidemic making everyone crazy. You normally see this kind of behavior during famine, economic struggles, and political polarization.”

“Things don’t change here as rapidly as they do in human societies.”

“But clearly, something has.”

They reached their destination, but there were even more sick people now than the day before, all at different stages of infection.

“What is this?” Valia asked as she watched Noah mix white powder into a glass of water.

“These are called antibiotics. If this medicine doesn’t cure you, it’ll at least get the bacterial count so low that your immune system might be able to fight off whatever remains.” He handed her the cup, and she took a deep gulp, but nearly spat it out. “Yeah, I added some sugar to make it sweeter, but I imagine it still tastes pretty awful.”

“You got that right,” she said with a grimace.

“Even if I can cure this, unless we figure out the source, it’s just going to keep happening.”

“Maybe Balil isn’t the original source of this disease,” said Valia. “Maybe he caught it from someone else. Unfortunately, we can’t exactly ask him about it.”

“Either that, or the source is somehow environmental, maybe in the water, or...”

“You! Human!” Noah turned, seeing a male elf pointing to him, his face covered in lesions. “You did this to us!”

“I’m the one trying to cure you.”

“Liar!” He charged towards Noah, reminding him of Clemens, but this time, when the punch came, Noah grabbed his arm, twisted it, and brought the man to the ground. The disease had robbed him of most of his strength, but hysteria had amplified everything he had left.

“Calm down!” Noah barked, but the elf was howling profanities. Aithorn helped tie the man up and return him to his bed, but he had to be gagged to stop his screaming.

“Damn it, this city is coming apart at the seams,” said Aithorn. He then noticed a peculiar look on Noah’s face. “What is it?”

“All those people fighting before, I think they’re infected.”

“But they weren’t showing symptoms.”

“Yes they were, at least they were showing one symptom, but the rest are sure to follow. Muscle pain and spasms, nausea, dizziness, skin lesions, and psychosis; these are all symptoms of ergot poisoning.”

“Ergot poisoning?”

“It’s the result of eating wheat and grains infected with mold. In various world histories, those suffering from ergot poisoning have believed themselves the victims of witchcraft or demonic possession. This world must have something similar, where the mold carries these bacteria. It’s possible that each symptom is the result of different kinds of mold contamination in Sylphtoria’s bread supply. Maybe Meralda and I succeeded in curing Balil, but every time he ate contaminated bread, he just made himself sick again.”

“Is there any way to prove this?”

“Using alchemy and the bacterial samples we’ve collected, we can test the bread to see if any contamination is present. We just need a large sample size”

“You don’t understand. The wheat for our bread isn’t grown in large fields. It’s grown in gardens spread across the entire Anorvan forest. Even if you can prove its contaminated, there is no way to isolate the source.”

“But if we can find the contamination and prove the theory, then that’ll be enough for the queen to order the burning of all the bread and wheat in the forest. You guys are surrounded with food and can use druidism, so this isn’t exactly going to cause a famine.”

“What do we do?”

“I’m going to back to the house and write out the formula. I need you to get some soldiers and collect bread from every home in Sylphtoria.”

Before, Aithorn would have insisted on keeping Noah under watch, but he just nodded. “I’m on it.”

Thus, they split up. Noah returned home and began working on the test, while Aithorn and several soldiers went around the city, gathering as much bread and grain as they could find. They arrived at the house with carts, wheelbarrows, and sacks full of suspected food. Noah and Aithorn spent the rest of the day testing the bread and continued their work long into the night.

The moon hung high overhead when Elisandra woke up with a start, lying in bed with her hands tied to the headboard. She could see Noah standing over her with a twisted grin and a sadistic gleam in his eye. After all of her earlier dreams, his presence should have set her ablaze with lust, but her mind was clear, as though coming out of a haze. Now, all she felt was primal terror and anger towards Noah. Her instincts were telling her she was in danger.

She tried to activate her magic, but felt it being jammed. A metal collar was secured around her throat, enchanted to seal away the magic of whoever wore it. These were typically used on prisoners of war, criminals, and slaves with magical abilities, and now the queen was feeling the bite of the cold steel.

“Good evening, Your Majesty. I’ve come to service you again. Only this time, it’s not a dream.”

Elisandra felt her blood run cold. “What is this? What do you think you’re doing?”

“Taking my prize. All those fantasies you’ve had before, I implanted them in your mind, grooming you to be a proper toy. I taught you to crave my touch and to shamelessly offer yourself to me.” He slid his hands between her legs, molesting her with his slithering fingers. She tried to fight back, but her efforts failed. “See? Regardless of what you may think or feel, you got wet as soon as you saw me. Your body is now my property, even if your mind doesn’t accept it. Now it’s time for me to break you in.”

“I will have you executed for this!”

“You expect your guards to execute their new king? Scream all you want, they can’t hear you. Nobody can save you from me, and that collar has sealed away your magic, so I’m free to violate you however long and perversely as I want. By dawn, I’ll be God in your eyes, and you will beg me for my touch, beg me to be defiled. Your subjects will see their slut queen submitting to their new lord. They’ll see me sitting on your throne as you ride my cock.”

He then ripped off her nightgown, exposing her naked body. Elisandra wanted to cover herself, but there was nothing she could do. Noah roughly grabbed her breasts and slapped them, making her wince. “Goddamn, look at this body. It’s like you were made to be my fuck slave.”

He began sucking on her tits voraciously, devoid of all the grace and gentleness he’d shown in her dreams. He’d bite down on her supple flesh, making her scream in agony and covering her breasts with deep teeth marks. While he chewed on her areolas, his hand was busy between her legs, violently fingering her, and filling her with rage and disgust.

She cursed him with every foul word she knew, but he seemed to enjoy it. He punished her when she tried to resist, forcing her legs apart and smacking her clitoris. The sound of his hand bruising her soft skin and her cries of pain echoed through the palace, but were heard only by them. He raised his hand, drenched with her feminine essence, and jammed his fingers into her mouth.

“Sweet right? Your filthy whore body submitting to me.”

He then disrobed, exposing his member, which pointed at her like a blade. He climbed on top of her, hefting it in front of her face. She tried to turn away and keep her mouth clenched shut, only for him to grab her chin and flash a knife in front of her eyes. “One of these is going to go in your mouth, depending on how well you behave. So, are you going to be a good pet?” She glared at him with eyes full of hatred and refused to nod, but she slowly opened her mouth. “Wonderful, you know your place.”

Noah then forced his cock into her mouth, and the taste of man, which had once tantalized her, now made her want to retch. She didn’t pleasure him as she had in her dream, and just let her jaw and tongue go limp. Noah grabbed his head and brutally skull-fucked her as punishment, shoving his cock down her throat and making her spasm and choke.

She could not think of a worse experience in all her life. She glared at Noah with unbridled hatred, using all her self-control to keep her gag reflex from going off. She pulled at her binds, realizing that one wrist wasn’t as tightly wrapped as the other. She put all her faith in that opening, supporting herself as Noah raped her mouth. He finally pulled out, leaving her gasping for air and crying.

“I thought that you were a kind man, but you’re just as much the monster that Leuca said you are. Death is too good for you.”

“You’ll learn to love me.”

With a scream of fury, she pulled one arm free and tried scratch Noah’s face, instead ripped out a handful of hair. In response, he smacked her across the face, bruising her cheek and leaving her stunned as he wrapped the ropes around her wrists even tighter than before.

“You’re going to pay for that.” He flipped Elisandra onto her stomach, taking a few moments to slap her ass raw, then once more getting on top of her. “I was going to fuck you the usual way and save this for the coronation, but you need to be thoroughly broken.”

“No! Don’t you dare!”

She screamed and thrashed, but Noah’s cock was driven into her anus like a hammered nail. Not only had the queen never been touched there, but Noah had gone in dry, and his balls-deep thrust left her screaming. Noah offered her no mercy; he began fucking her as hard and fast as possible. Elisandra had no idea that anything could hurt this much and knew that Noah was making it painful on purpose, taking pleasure in her humiliation and suffering.

She could feel every inch of his cock sliding back and forth in her ass, threatening to tear her open. Each savage thrust sent ripples through her flesh, sickening her as if her entire body was being simultaneously violated. She cried into her pillow, begging the spirits and gods alike to save her, but her prayers went unanswered, and Noah raped her mercilessly until she passed out.

When she finally woke up, Noah was gone, but what had happened before was no dream. The metal collar was still around her throat, her wrists remained bound, and Noah’s hair was clenched tightly in her fingers, tinged purple from the lack of blood flow. Her backdoor was bruised and bloody, and the bite marks on her breasts had swollen up with each tooth mark clear as day. She wept in pain and humiliation, then took a deep breath.

“GUARDS!” she screamed.

“Noah, Noah, wake up!” Aithorn shouted, shaking him awake.

Noah groaned in acknowledgment, slowly coming to and realizing how sore he was. He lifted his head, finding his face stiff from being pressed to his desk and crusted with dry ink and drool. He and Aithorn had been working late, testing bread and grain samples, and must have fallen asleep. Already suffering from a headache, his immediate sneeze felt like a punch between the eyes. As he rubbed his head, he thought he felt a bald patch.

“Huh, what’s going on?”

“I hear armor, swords, and hurried steps. A lot of soldiers are heading this way, and I doubt it’s for anything good.”

Noah rubbed his eyes and groaned. “Fuck, I hate waking up like this. Why can’t people wait until the afternoon to arrest me? I don’t know what they want, so try to get them talking, find out what’s going on. Something must have happened last night, and if they see me first, they may just kill me without giving me a chance to speak.”

Noah splashed water on his face while Aithorn stepped outside, just in time to answer over a dozen elven warriors, led by Lour, his face red with fury.

“Stand aside, Leuca! The human must die!”

“Tell me what’s going on. What is it that you think he did?”

Lour spoke calmly, if only so that no other elves in the area would hear him. “He infiltrated the palace and raped the queen.”

The words hit Aithorn like a slap, leaving him stunned with a look of indescribable horror. “What? No, that’s impossible!”

“He tied her up, sealed her magic, and violated her. She pointed him out by name. She even ripped out some of his hair in the attack.”

“You don’t understand, Noah has been here all night with me. We were testing samples and investigating the disease.”

“All night? You mean you never slept?”

Aithorn’s heart sank. “This can’t be happening.”

“Noah told the queen he had been controlling her dreams, manipulating her emotions. When he came here, he said he possessed magic of a nature he couldn’t identify, but has refused to speculate further.”

Aithorn turned and looked into the house. “NOAH!” he roared. However, Noah was gone, as if vanishing into thin air.

“He couldn’t have gotten far! Do not let him leave the city alive!” Lour ordered.

The soldiers scattered, and the daily rhythm of Sylphtoria was twisted into a dire manhunt. Every soldier and capable warrior was recruited to track Noah down, combing the forest and searching the city from top to bottom. For the queen’s sake, the official story was that Noah had attempted to assassinate her. Lour’s first stop was to the disease ward, where Valia lay among the infected.

“I swear, I haven’t seen him.”

“Lady Valia, if you’re covering for Noah, I’ll have you executed right alongside him.”

“I don’t care what you say, there is no way he did this.”

“You know his past, his crimes. How is this not something he would do?!”

“Because it doesn’t make sense. Noah’s crimes in Uther were done out of revenge, but the rest of the time, he’s annoyingly rational. What possible reason could he have for attacking the queen, of all people? Noah cares about one thing above all else, and that’s breaking his curse, so unless you can tell me how this would benefit him in that regard, then you have the wrong man.”

“So you truly know nothing of his activities or whereabouts?”

“I swear in the name of the spirits, I don’t know where his is, but I do know he is innocent.”

Lour glared at her. “I’ll leaving guards here to keep watch. If he is foolish enough to come see you, you’ll suffer the displeasure of watching him die.” He turned around and walked away, leaving two soldiers at the entrance to the house. Valia dropped her head back onto her pillow and cursed in elvish.

“I didn’t do it.”

Valia nearly jumped from her bed. She couldn’t see Noah, but knew he was there. “Noah, are you crazy?! No matter how softly you talk, they’ll hear you!” she hissed.

“They won’t. I fixed my noise-cancelling tool. It’s under your bed. Just don’t let them see you moving your mouth and we’ll be fine.”

Valia rolled onto her side towards his voice. “Tell me you’re innocent. Honestly, it sounds like a fairly Noah-ish crime, and I hate even having to speak the words.”

“Of course I’m innocent. Aithorn and I were performing experiments and tests all night. Next thing I know, I’m sleeping at my desk and Aithorn is shaking me awake. You said it yourself; this crime makes no sense. Someone attacked the queen and is trying to frame me.”

“Who would do that?”

“Since I came here, I’ve been attacked by two different human-hating elves. It’s been clear from the beginning that I’m not welcome here.”

“But raping the queen? No elf would do something so horrible just to pin the blame on a human.”

“Well maybe it’s not about hating humans. Maybe the queen has a stalker or an enemy, and they’re using me as a scapegoat. If so, then she is still in danger.” Noah sighed. “Anyway, how are you feeling right now? I’ve never looked at any of my patients with my magic active, but all of you appear to have almost no mana at all.”

“Really? With everything else going on in my body, I guess I never noticed. I was wondering why my symptoms were gone, but I was still so exhausted. I thought it was just because of the crazy dreams I’ve been having.”

“Wait, dreams?”

“It started a few days ago. Sometimes I dream about you and me in bed together, and other times, I have horrible nightmares. There have even been dreams that made me wake up in the worst mood, just angry at everything. I thought that special relaxation medicine was causing it, but everyone else is also complaining. It must be the fever.”

Realization struck Noah, with a lightbulb above his head brighter than any paladin spell. “No, it’s not the fever.”

For the rest of the day, the elves searched Sylphtoria and the surrounding areas for Noah, leaving no stone unturned, but despite their efforts, he was never found. They assumed he had fled the city but took preventative measures to protect the queen. Guards stood throughout her bedroom, and a holy barrier shielded the palace. Finally, night fell, and the Nadoku began to sing.

So focused on detecting footsteps, the guards didn’t consider infiltration from above. An intruder soared over Sylphtoria, flying on moth-like wings biologically shaped to produce no noise for ultimate stealth. This entity wore the robes of a Nadoku, but was far from holy. It landed atop the palace and entered with ease, unhindered by the magic barrier. With the antennae sprouting from under its hood, it could detect the flow of ambient mana in the palace and count each guard. They were all awake.

The creature spread its wings and silently shook them, releasing a cloud of dust into the air. The dust filled the palace, and the guards dropped to the floor, locked in a deep sleep. The creature approached the queen’s bed, with Elisandra utterly defenseless. From within the robes, a tail extended, encased in an exoskeleton and lined with wriggling legs like a centipede. The creature hung its tail over Elisandra, and a long stinger protruded from the end.

“I’m afraid the end has come for you, Your Majesty,” a woman’s voice uttered. “But I’ll be merciful and grant you one last pleasant dream before you die.”

The end of the tail then dropped onto the bed, severed by an invisible slash and soaking the sheets in blood. The woman shrieked in agony and darted around, trying to find her attacker, only to scream again as her wings were slashed. She could do nothing to defend herself from the savage barrage of punches that came next, seemingly coming from all angles, beating her into submission. She couldn’t see, hear, or smell anyone near her, but the punches coming were all too real to be the result of magic.

Her antennae could feel shifts in the ambient mana, confirming that something was happening around her. If there really was a person here, why didn’t she detect them when she entered the palace? Even if someone could subvert her physical senses, the only way they could avoid exposure was if they had trained to relax their mana flow to match the ambient rate of the environment.

She fell to the floor, groaning and spitting up blood, and after several kicks to the ribs to erase the last possible spark of resistance, she felt someone kneel on her back, someone she couldn’t see. “Who are you?” she hissed as her wrists were bound.

Noah released his invisibility and appeared on top of her, wearing a gas mask. “The good doctor, making a house call.”

Keeping the creature pinned, he conjured a magic tool from within his ring, activated it, and tossed it nearby. An explosion of wind swept through the palace, blowing away all the dust and clearing the air. He then aimed his hand out at the open sky with a spell card and began firing flashbangs outside of the palace. They exploded in the air like fireworks, lighting up the sky and alerting all of Sylphtoria with deafening thunderclaps. It took only moments for Lour, Aithorn, and a squad of soldiers to bust open the doors and swarm inside, causing the bioluminescent flowers to light up the palace.

“Noah! You bastard!” Aithorn roared.

“Easy there,” Noah said as he removed his mask and drew a knife. “Before you go trying to skewer me, maybe you should take a look at the real culprit.” Noah shredded the woman’s robes, pulled them away, then stood her up, leaving all the elves to gasp in shock at the culprit underneath. If not for her gray skin, sharp fangs, and wicked eyes, she’d be quite beautiful, especially in such an alluring outfit. She hissed in fury and struggled against Noah, but he held her still.

“She’s the one who attacked the queen?” Lour asked.

“And triggered the epidemic. Oh, hold on.” Noah reached into his pocket, drew a pouch, and then tossed it to Aithorn. “Those are smelling salts. They should be able to wake up the queen. You know I loathe explaining things more than once.”

Aithorn first woke up the guards to ensure it was what Noah said it was, then used it on Elisandra. “Noah!” she exclaimed.

“Please, Your Majesty, the one to direct your wrath to is this monster right here.”

“Drop dead, you worm!” the woman screamed.

“She is the one responsible for everything: the disease, the violent incidents, and even your attack. She’s a succubus, one of the last remnants of the Profane menace, born of Zyrga. How many of you can say you’ve seen one of these in the flesh?” His words shocked everyone in the room.

“Succubi sneak into people’s homes at night and give their prey sensual dreams,” Elisandra murmured. “Those dreams cause a powerful mana reaction that the succubus feeds on, draining them like a parasite.”

“Not just sensual dreams. She’s been giving people nightmares and flashbacks of past traumas and grudges, riling them up, making them violent.”

“But this doesn’t make sense. No succubus or unholy beast has ever managed to enter Sylphtoria. The sunlight and Nadoku’s prayers burn them like fire!” Lour exclaimed.

“That’s right, which is why no one would ever suspect one. Suffice it to say, you became complacent. But see this necklace she’s wearing? It’s the Hunter’s Moon Amulet, a powerful defense against all holy magic, one of the relics Valon is accused of stealing. It seems he is innocent in this case. Of course, that wouldn’t be enough to protect herself. To avoid detection, she needed a way to conceal the effects of her feeding.

She’s been infecting her prey with this disease so that everyone would attribute their lethargy and dreams to being sick. No one will notice their low mana when they’re struggling just to hold down breakfast. She’d dose them with a whole plethora of germs, each with a different symptom so that no single potion could cure them. That’s why all the medicines Balil took helped him only temporarily. She’d infect him as soon as he was cured, making it look like nothing could stop the disease.”

“Human bastard, how did you figure it out?” the succubus cursed.

“Valia told me about the dreams everyone is having, and then I noticed the dust you leave behind. Did you know it’s mentioned in legend? Parents often tell their children about succubi to scare them, saying that if they touch themselves at night, a succubus would be drawn and suck the life from them. If a boy’s room were dirty, they’d scare him into cleaning by saying it was succubus dust, and his soul was in danger of being devoured.

What better place to disperse it than a forest where everything is covered in pollen? I wasn’t exactly twiddling my thumbs while everyone was searching for me. I was studying pollen samples from all over Sylphtoria, examining your leavings with my microscope. It seems I have you to blame for my allergies.”

“You black-hearted parasite! How dare you twist my thoughts?! Elisandra swore. “But why, why am I not sick? You never drained my mana, so why did you give me those dreams? Why did you attack me?!”

The succubus laughed. “To distract you, of course. You wouldn’t focus on the plague if you were too busy fantasizing about this human here. That’s right, you all should know this. Your pure, elegant queen has been lusting for this human since she met him! The seed was there, I just had to make it grow by giving you those dreams. You men wouldn’t believe how much she enjoyed herself, imagining this stranger using her however he saw fit.”

Noah grabbed her by the throat to silence her, glaring at her with inhuman killing intent. “But when you realized how close I was to curing the disease, you decided it was time to get rid of me. You altered the queen’s dream to make her think I was attacking her, and while she was doped by your sleeping powder, you left plenty of marks and evidence to make it look like it really happened. You even ripped out a chunk of my hair and dropped it on the bed.

I found your dust on my desk this morning. You may have dosed me with that powder a few times, but I’m certain you never entered my mind or changed my dreams. Tell me, is it because you were too weak to get in, or too afraid of what you would find?”

The way she looked at him, it was evident that his accusation was correct, but still, she smirked and gave a cruel laugh. “Clever, wasn’t it? I even stopped when you were hunting down that monster, so that every dream would happen only when you were nearby, making it even easier to pin the blame on you.

It was quite difficult to resist. I loved looking into her sleeping mind, watching her dream of every climax you’d give her. Do you want to know what I sodomized her with? I’ll give you a hint: it’s an item in this room. And yet despite all the pain I inflicted on her last night, no matter how much she screamed and begged me to stop, she still managed to cum.”

Elisandra released a howl of fury as she pointed her hand at the succubus, with a green magic circle around her wrist. Roots shot up from the floor, wrapping around the succubus with bone-breaking force. They slithered up her body, tearing her flesh, snapping her limbs, and making her cough blood. The only thing keeping her from screaming in agony was her inability to breathe.

“Don’t kill her! I still have questions!” Noah yelled.

The queen tightened her hold on the succubus, and before Noah could intervene, she crushed her to death, with all her blood pouring from her mangled corpse. Everyone was silent, trying to process everything they had just seen and heard. The only exception was the queen, not even trying to conceal her anguished weeping. Noah wrapped a blanket around her and went over to Lour.

“You should take your men and leave.”

“But the queen...”

“If she needs you, she’ll summon you. Do you think she wants all these eyes on her right now?”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to make her a cup of tea and help her through this. I have experience and training you don’t. I’ve proven my innocence, and if there was ever a time for you to trust me, it’s now.”

The cold, disdainful look on Lour’s face melted away, and he spoke purely on faith. “I understand. Please, do whatever you can.”

Lour and his soldiers departed, and Noah walked over to Aithorn and handed him three scrolls. “We can’t leave that mess there. Use these scrolls to break it down into dust and remove it.”

“Got it.”

Aithorn worked fast, using the scrolls to break up the hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon-based molecules within the splattered succubus. He reduced the gore to flameless ash and swept it up. The queen sat silently and watched him with hollow eyes. At the same time, Noah moved to the firepit used earlier, built up a flame, and then used it to heat a tea kettle. He returned to the queen’s side and presented her with a steaming mug.

“This will help,” he said, sitting at the edge of her bed.

“Thank you,” she whispered with her voice hoarse. She took a deep drink, sniffed from her tears, and released a gasp of relief.

“Is there anything else I can do for you?” Aithorn asked.

“No, Leuca, thank you. You are dismissed.”

It was clear on his face that he didn’t want to leave her, but he looked to Noah, saw him nod, and departed. Now it was just Noah and the queen. “My Lady, I am so sorry for everything that has happened. What can I do to ease your pain?”

“Can you wake me up from this nightmare? I don’t know how I can face my people now. It’s only a matter of time before the truth gets out. Imagine what they will think, the queen of Sylphtoria, violated by an inhuman monster. I’m too sullied to sit upon that throne. I should give it up, let Leuca or another family member take my place and spare this kingdom further shame.”