Chapter 164: Late Night Experiment

The group of adventurers fell asleep without a hitch. After all, they'd practically spent the last week in a cycle of grinding. They'd expanded their skills, however much possible in that short time frame and each was content with their efforts. That is -- all but one.

She stood in the darkness, gazing down at the sleeping succubus. The imp's arms were placed on her hips, there was a certain power in the pose, thus she often adopted it where applicable. The only problem was --

*I hate being short. Plebs, they look down on me. One day, they will all kneel before me.* She thought inwardly as she stared at her tent mates. Katrin was fast asleep, as was Agni, only Shula remained up -- and with good reason.

"Now is the time." She whispered to herself, this was partially to test if either of them would react. Silence filled the air as she awaited any kind of reaction. When none came, Shula knew it was time to put her plan into action.

There was a certain aspect of her abilities that she'd recently become aware of -- the ability to manipulate and guide dreams. Due to her late night hijinks, she quickly came to understand the better nature of her abilities. What she did not fully understand were its applications. Thanks to Gates and Gigi's suggestions, all of the adventurers had begun to look at their current skill sets in a different way. Shula was no exception.

One night, while performing her nightly ritual of toying with Katrin, something strange happened. It was this occurrence that Shula wanted to test. Her target for the evening would be…

"Definitely you." She whispered as she began to hover towards the sleeping succubus. Soon she was levitating just centimeters away from her bondmate , floating in an unlikely position just parallel to the sleeping succubus. She reached out a single hand and pressed her fingertip gently against Agni's forehead. A gentle blue glow issued forth from the point of contact, like a ripple traveling across the air. Shula took several deep breaths and closed her eyes, she focused on the sound of Agni's breathing and soon managed to sync herself with it.

Slowly, surely Shula began to recede into her own thoughts until she found herself in a placid place devoid of light, sound or movement. She felt as if she was the only source of all these notions within this place. This only lasted for the briefest of moments before the boundaries of Agni's consciousness became clearly visible in the form of memories which played out as a series of soundless images. Next came her thoughts, which resounded from everywhere at once. The extraneous ones sounded more distant and low, while her prevalent ideas seemed up close and personal.

Shula focused even further, allowing her to begin filtering through this sea of consciousness until she arrived at the earliest possible memory she could find.

"Tsk." She verbalized her disapproval, for the memory she could access was Agni's first upon coming to the world of Adventia.

"So much for that plan." She said as she folded her arms. The "plan" referred to an idea, one hatched to help Agni confront her own traumas. By revisiting past memories and safely using her class abilities, the hope was to speed up the process of coming to terms. Instead all Shula could access was… this.

"Waking up in a pool of water." Shula found that based on her own whims she could rewind or even slow the memory down. It hovered before her, like a gigant living painting -- vivid in unexplainable ways. The closer Shula moved towards the images the more drawn she felt. Out of curiosity she reached out and touched the memory's surface. It wobbled, almost like jello and began to ripple like the surface of water.

In a flash of light Shula found herself in a different place -- one that was familiar yet also foreign.

"Huh? What the hell just happened?" She asked as the imp looked around. The place was the Wilderness Tabernacle, specifically the spawning pool.

"Am I inside the memory? What the hell?" Shula asked, though no one would provide an answer. She cast her gaze downward and noticed a disturbance in the surface of the otherwise calm pool of water. A young woman burst forth, taking a deep breath as she broke the surface of the water.

It was Agni, at least Shula recognized this form as Agni. It was her, prior to becoming a succubus. An ordinary woman, nude in a strange place deep within the forest. She watched as Agni looked around , making an effort to survey her surroundings. She explored her own body for the briefest of moments -- all before being interrupted by Wayla, the guardian of the Wilderness Tabernacle.

"Ugh. Just when it was about to get X-rated." Shula said as she floated towards the scene.

"Go away old woman. You're ruining things." Shula remarked with a wave of her hand. In that instant Wayla disappeared, turned to particles of magical dust.

"O-oh shit. I killed her." Shula said, taken aback that Wayla seemed to be blown away on a whim. What's more, 'Agni' seemed completely caught off guard by this.

"What the hell is going on?" The woman stammered as she splashed around aimlessly in the pool of water.

"Hmm? You can't see me?" Shula asked as she floated downward, closer towards the pool. She locked eyes with pre-Agni and waited. Indeed, as she surmised -- the bewildered woman in the pool could not see her.

"Wait...a...minute.." Shula said slowly as realization began to dawn upon her.

"You are tressssssssssssssssss-passingggggggggggg." Shula said as she endeavored to make her voice sound as creepy as possible. At the same time she focused her intent, the intent to be heard.

"Uwah! Who said that?" pre-Agni said as she recoiled and sank downwards, submerging her mouth below the surface of the water.

"You are trespassing. Get out...get out…. Get outttttt." Shula continued her nonsensical prank, much to her own delight. She'd never seen someone exit a pool so quickly.

"I-I'm sorry! Please, whatever you are, I apologize!" pre-Agni shouted as she also bowed her head.

"Bwa. Ha ha ha ha!" Shula erupted into laughter, she couldn't help it after all.

"I….is something funny?" pre-Agni said cautiously. The once creepy voice now sounded more youthful, like that of a teenager. Shula pressed her hand against her own mouth, partially because she realized her own gaffe.

*I forgot to cancel the sound of my voice.* She thought inwardly.

"Ahem. I suppose I should cut you some slack. I'm your guardian angel." Shula said, willing herself to appear before pre-Agni.

"Angel? R-right… why do you have the wings and tail of a demon then?" pre-Agni said as she slowly began to back away.

"This? This is nothing. See?" Shula said as she willed her appearance into something a bit more angelic (and tall).

"See what?" pre-Agni asked as she cocked her head to the side in a questioning manner.

"Huh? It didn't work." Shula said as she lifted her hands to inspect them.

"Suspicious. Definitely." pre-Agni said as she stepped away even further. Her senses were practically screaming for her to run.

"I'm not suspicious. Why are you like this?" Shula said, partially pouting as she folded her arms.

"That's something a shady person would say." pre-Agni said as she turned on her heel and began to run away.

Shula sighed and snapped her fingers. In an instant pre-Agni was dropped on her behind, just a few meters away from the spawning pool.

"What sorcery is this? I don't taste good. Please, I have children." pre-Agni blabbered off a list of random things, most of which weren't even applicable to the situation.

"Ugh. This is not going the way I thought it would." Shula groaned as she glanced down at the young woman who was currently prostrating herself.

"Time for a rewind." She murmured. She took an extra few moments to bask in pre-Agni's fervent pleas not to be eaten, sacrificed or possessed before Shula decided to reset the entire memory.