Dungeon of Lust: Managing Otherworldly Beauties

A pitiful laugh escaped Awilix’s lips.

"What an odd creature you are. Where have you been hiding this rage? Or was it always there? Only coming about now that you’ve got someone weaker than you to pick on? I’ve met a lot of people like that in my life, though I didn’t expect you to be like them."

Toy raised her fist again, but Awilix made no motion to resist, causing Toy to stop her movement, her balled knuckle hanging in the air.

"Since when did I say you were weak?"

"Your fist conveyed that one."

No words drifted from the goblin’s pursed lips in response. Instead, she lowered her arm. Yet, she still sat straddling Awilix.

The cat laughed, then mocked:

"Tch. Really, still intent on not giving me an out?"

Toy’s stare only hardened.

"Not until you tell me. Tell me who you are. Tell me everything, spare nothing."

Awilix could play dumb all she wanted and shout, ’I’m Awilix, dumbass!’ But her mood was trounced by her current circumstances. She knew exactly what Toy meant, and she didn’t have it in her to pretend like she hadn’t.

Awilix made one last minor effort of resistance, but Toy caught her wrists and slammed them into the ground, firmly trapping her.

The cat sighed as Toy’s face hovered mere inches above her own.

"Fine, goblin. You want to know? You really want to know a tale from the world you long to remember? Well, let me enlighten you..."

’Let me tell you a story of fate’s reconciliation of damnation.’

After a wry chuckle, Awilix began recounting the first years she could remember.

On her fifth birthday, she was sent into the forest alone with not even a shred of fabric to cover herself, only allowed to return home once she killed something.

The rules of the ritual were loose, as whatever they killed decided their fate in life. If they killed a snake, they’d be a destined traitor; a warthog, a destined warrior; a mouse, they were destined to be weak.

Of course, the kids didn’t know the connotations; all they had drilled into them were the rules and the idea to seek the largest game they could.

The child, naked and afraid, tried; she really did. But after two days, she couldn’t take the strain of the wilderness anymore and returned to camp with a maggot as her hunt.

That was the moment her fate had been decided.

Even if she had potential, no one in the tribe would ever care or notice.

Not to mention they cared not for feeding her.

Why would they give the weak link resources?

It was better for the tribe to invest their food in the more adept and promising hunters, letting the weak starve and die; however, they’d never outright kill her unless she displeased the gods.

After all, if one still has the will to fight, they can rise.

Adversity creates the most powerful warriors, right?

Yet Awilix never rose. Her circumstances didn’t allow it.

She continued to eat scraps, scavenging whatever she could. She was rail-thin. If anything was even half her size, it was innately stronger than her.

Then, upon her tenth birthday, she was made to fight in duels with other children of her tribe — duels where killing was allowed, the Ma’I’shok.

She expected to die in those duels, truly; however, she was so weak that the other children never had to use force to kill her. Nor did any make a display by doing so.

It would only make an impact to kill another strong rising warrior. It was better to keep Awilix alive and use her to test new skills.

In any case, Awilix was able to survive these duels.

Upon her fifteenth birthday, she was sent into the wilderness and told not to return until the ’Shakur’ accepted her — until she awoke her Aspect.

Their word for Aether.

Yet she failed.

She spent multiple weeks barely scraping by before returning to the village with no Ability, begging for food.

It was as she groveled, begging, that her father kicked her down and stood over her.

"Third-born. All you’ve ever done is disappoint me... prepare for Ka’Shon."

It was then that her fate as a maggot was expressed in full.

She was sent slinking away, crawling in the darkness.

The only thing that allowed her to survive the darkness was clinging onto another.

A girl named Selene, who’d been sold, then abandoned by her master. A girl who’d been subjected to the same fate as Awilix, but she rejected it.

Selene fought back against the world, and Shakur responded.

It took a couple of months for Awilix to truly warm up to Selene, but when she did, she slowly learned what family was like. She learned what it meant to love unconditionally.

Her worth wasn’t decided by what she hunted or how strong she was, but just by her being there with Selene.

The two young girls traveled from town to town, to villages and cities, taking up odd jobs.

They were like flies, buzzing around a world that didn’t want them.

They’d grown inseparable. Both knew they had no obligation to travel with each other after they survived the forest and got on their feet, but three years passed, and the days they hadn’t spent together were few or nonexistent...

Making a lighthearted vow of revenge they’d never accomplish — they vowed never to leave each other’s side until their impossible tasks were completed.

Yet Awilix’s past caught up with them both when her family learned of her survival.

They learned that a child of theirs had defied the gods’ will.

She’d looked back.

Therefore, they had to kill her and eat her if they could, all to make what was wrong right.

Still, they underestimated her, only sending one assassin — her brother.

Unfortunately for Kane, Awilix had quite the companion with her now.

Selene, even though much weaker than Kane, fought back desperately enough to give Awilix the opportunity to kill him. Yet...

’Tch.’

And afterward, Awilix didn’t know exactly what prompted her actions, but she decided to honor a tradition in the tribe.

She danced with Selene’s corpse.

It was that day the Shakur responded to her; it was on that fateful day that she denied Selene’s soul reincarnation.

Upon that realization, with fury blazing in every facet of her being, Awilix went on a rampage.

She killed everything that crossed her path — human, beast, demihuman. It didn’t matter. None were spared from her slaughter.

It was through such atrocious acts that she was able to rise in strength quickly and unlock her second Trait, [Eclipse].

It was also then that she paid a visit to her tribe, to make good on the vow of vengeance which had started as a joke.

And she did just that.

Collectively, the tribe was much stronger than her.

But...

[Eclipse], combined with the absence of care, was a deadly combo.

One by one, she killed them all until only her father and she remained.

What pissed her off most was the look on her father’s face as he killed her, along with his last words.

With a smile, Vishik said:

"Ah, Third-born, you were an Uhr’Tine. I’m honored to give birth to a warrior like you."

Then he died. He died, rejecting Awilix’s hatred.

Soon after, Awilix succumbed to her wounds as well. That was the last thing she remembered before she was drawn to the Dungeon of Lust.

"There, happy?"

Toy scowled.

"No."