The Ouroboros Saga Book 1: The City of Emerald Scales (NSFW parts)

[Zigra]

Prologue

They were beautiful. Ifurita's eyes grew misty as she held one of the newborns in her arms. Sasami put her arms around Ifurita from behind and pressed her cheek against Ifurita's while looking upon the newborns with a smile.
Though the newborn serpents were merely minutes old, they already had tiny colorful feathers upon their wings. Such were the qualities of the ophidian creatures known as couatls. Ifurita and Sasami had come to know these plumed serpents as some of the most wondrous and majestic creatures they had ever had the pleasure to become acquainted with. And the two of them felt an even greater honor to be allowed to oversee the birth of an entire clutch of the serpents before their very eyes.
But the greatest esteem was for the mother of these babies. For the mother couatl, there could be no higher reward than to have Ifurita oversee the birth of her offspring. For Ifurita was an aspect of the Couatls' patron deity, Jazirian, and Ifurita's presence here was seen as a blessing from the Goddess Herself.
As the mother couatl nuzzled Ifurita's open cheek, Ifurita knew what she had to do next. Her lips parted, and she began to recite the blessing of the Snake Mother.
"Virtue untested is merely innocence. Each journey is a journey into death, but each death is a rebirth. The ultimate knowledge is peace. Teaching, learning, and the nurturing of life are the greatest of virtues."


                                                                  * * *
.
As the mother couatl rested with her clutch, Ifurita and Sasami returned their attentions to a group of Sarrukh children whom were in their care. The Sarrukh were a race of anthropomorphic snake people who hailed from the world of Abeir-Toril and of whom the Couatls were sacred spiritual leaders of.
As Sasami looked upon the group of younglings before her, she was still amazed at how different the two sexes of this race were from each other. The males were bipedal, standing upon two legs. The females, on the other hand, had no legs. They had a vaguely humanoid upper torso complete with a pair of arms, but the bottom half of their bodies were like snakes.
"Mama Ifurita, will you tell us another story?" one of the female children asked.
  "A story? Which one would you all like to hear?"
The younglings looked around at each other questioningly, trying to decide among themselves what they wished to hear.
"May we....hear something about the Goddess?" one youngling asked.
Ifuirta smiled.
"I know just which story to tell you all. Over the past six years, I have told you much about the nature of the Snake Mother. What I have never spoken of is how I myself came to know of Her and become a part of Her. It is also the story of how I first came to know my soulmate." Ifurita said, giving a knowing look at Sasami with that last part.
Not only were the younglings now listening intently, but so was Sasami. She had seen memory flashes of Ifurita's when their minds had joined on numerous occasions, so she had a basic gist of how Ifurita and Jazirian assimilated with one another. But, in the six years they had been together on their mission, she had never heard her fiance' tell the story in words.
"I know I have told you all of my time in the world of El Hazard, and my meeting with the boy named Makoto Mizuhara. This story begins immediately after that......"

[Dr.Soviet]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the contributions to this forum you've been doing, seems to generate a lot of traffic too!

[جبريل 無道]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the contributions to this forum you've been doing, seems to generate a lot of traffic too!

Moo Moo, you shouldn't feed the ick lizard compliments after midnight... there's no telling what type of horror he will grow into

[Zigra]

 Ifurita found herself adrift in a vortex between worlds. The Eye of God had done what was predicted, and now Ifurita was on her way from El Hazard to Earth. Or at least that's how it should have been. Something was off. Ifurita could feel it. A shift of some sort. The only way she could describe is was as if her path had been diverted, though how and why she could not guess at.
The vortex of the wormhole she traveled through faded, and Ifurita landed lightly on solid ground. Much of her energy had been depleted. Strangely, she felt no weakness within the wormhole, but when she arrived on a solid planet she felt so weak that she collapsed.
Before her consciousness left her, she saw it- a massive domed building. Wrapped around the building was the stone carving of a green serpent, it head pointing to the sky with its jaws opened wide. And then darkness.

                                                                        * * *

"Is she awake?"
That was the voice Ifurita heard as she began to regain consciousness. There was an unusual feeling sweeping over her, as if energy was being restored to her body.
As she awoke, Ifurita looked upon a sight that would have startled and even scared most human beings out of their wits- the large head of a viper. However, Ifurita had no innate fear of reptiles, so she didn't even flinch at the sight.
She did find a couple other things highly unusual. The first was that the snake head was attached to the body of a buxom human female. The serpent-headed woman was completely nude, and Ifurita guessed that woman didn't have any problem with being around her in such a state.
The second thing Ifurita found unusual was something about the appearance of not only the serpent woman, but the entire surroundings as well. It all looked.....different...than how Ifurita was use to seeing things. Like the very substance of the room and the flesh of the woman beside her seemed like it was different from the substance that Ifurita, her clothes, and even the entire world of El Hazard was made up of. She simply had no words to describe it.
  "She should be ready to speak to you now, my Lady." the snake woman said to someone unseen.
Out from the shadows stepped, no slithered, another woman. This woman was different from the snake woman who healed Ifurita. The upper half of this new woman was entirely human, a raven-haired beauty with light brown skin. It was her the lower half of her body that was unusual. The lower half of the woman's body was entirely snake-like, and she had no legs and slithered along instead of walking.
"Tell me, strange woman, who are you and where do you come from?" the raven-haired snake woman said, with the slight hint of a threatening tone in her voice.
Ifurita wasn't the least bit intimidated.
"Before I tell you anything, I want you to tell me where I am." Ifurita said defiantly.
Apparently impressed by Ifurita's defiance, the dark-haired woman smiled slyly.
"You, strange woman, are in the city of Hlondeth upon a world known as Abeir-Toril. I am Hlondeth's ruler, Dediana Extaminos."
Dediana gestured to the serpent-headed woman.
"Take this otherworlder to join the other....guests."
As Ifurita watched Dediana leave, something about what Dediana said caught Ifurita off guard. How did Dediana know Ifurita was from another world? Was it because of the strange otherness of Ifurita's appearance? And just what was this strange world of Abeir-Toril, and how did she end up here instead of Earth?
"Come with me, otherworlder. Now that you have the strength to walk again, I shall show you to your new quarters." said the snake-headed woman with a coldness that reminded Ifurita all too much of herself before Makoto freed her emotions.


                                                                     * * *

The walk was short, but interesting. Everywhere Ifurita looked, serpent imagery abound. The pillars that held up the ceiling were carved to look like green snakes, and the very walls around looked like they were made out of scales. All of it made from that same otherness that seemed to make up the fabric of this strange world.
And it didn't stop with the architecture. The few people Ifurita and her guide passed by were snake/human hybrids, just like said guide. And from what she saw, no two of these people were exactly alike. One male individual looked mostly human, aside from being completely hairless and having a body covered in scales. Then there was a woman who also looked mostly human, aside from the scaly tail coming out her backside. And like her mostly nude guide, these people didn't seem to favor clothing too much.
Ifurita, on the other hand, was made to wear a cowl with a hood to cover her head and face. The guide said that this was because they didn't want Ifurita's appearance to raise suspicion. When Ifurita asked the guide if a mysterious hooded figure wouldn't seem suspicious anyway, the guide simply told her that people of the palace would simply assume that figure was Dediana's next meal. Ifurita didn't want to ask anything further after that.
"These are your quarters." the snake-headed guide told Ifurita, "You can get acquainted with your fellow otherworlders until Lady Dediana calls for you."
Ifurita's eyes widened a bit at the mention of "otherworlders" being in the room. She thanked her guide and quickly stepped in the room. This was no mere guest room. What she saw rivaled the throne room in Roshtaria's royal palace. It was a large hall with a pool of water at its heart. The pool was surrounded various luxuries, pillows, and cushions while trays of food were set up in various places.
What was more reassuring to Ifurita, though, were the people sitting in the room. All of them female, these women at least appeared human. And, unlike everything else she had seen in this world, these women were made of the same substance that Ifurita herself was made of. All of them looked up at their new roommate, a few seeming happy, and a few looking at her more seriously. She removed her hood to let the women get a better look at her.
"Hello there!" said a pink-haired beauty who stood and rushed towards Ifurita. This woman's hair was tied back in a ponytail by a black bow. Her attire consisted of a black dress with a black leather corset making up the top half.
"It's so nice to see somebody else join us in this strange place." the pink-haired woman said, taking Ifurita's hand, "My name is Akasha Bloodri.......oooooo, you're blood......it smells so nice....".
Ifurita somehow never saw it coming, despite all the senses and defensive mechanisms built within her. The pink-haired woman, Akasha, planted her lips on Ifurita's neck. Ifurita felt a tiny pinch on the spot where Akasha place her lips, and then sensed a tiny drain in her blood.
Confused, Ifurita looked around, and noticed all the other women in the room rubbing their necks, apparently all too familiar with this occurrence.
That wouldn't be the last time that Ifurita was caught off guard. A surge traveled through her body, a wave of pleasure that she had only felt once before. It all occurred when somebody behind her had grabbed her buttocks.
"Nice!" came a voice behind her, "I don't think I've ever felt such a plump rump before!"
Ifurita collected herself from her near-orgasm to she the girl who had latched on to her. She saw the face of a young girl with blue eyes. This girl had long blond hair with a red bow tied to it. The girl wore a white, red, and blue outfit that the memories Ifurita got from Makoto registered as being the uniform of a Japanese schoolgirl. Ifurita guessed that she was in her mid teens.
"Such indecent behavior for a girl your age, Minako. For a girl of any age."
Those words came from a dignified looking woman with silver hair tied back in a ponytail and silver eyes to match. She wore a light purple outfit that Ifurita's mind registered as a Japanese kimono.
"And you, Akasha, need to learn some restraint and control your vampiric urges." the silver haired woman went on.
With those words, the woman called Akasha removed her mouth from Ifuirta's neck. A small trickle of blood dripped from Akasha's lips.
"I'm really sorry about that, Miss....?" Akasha began to ask.
"Ifurita. My name is Ifui...ooooo!!"
Ifurita's moan came from the fact that Minako still had her hands all over Ifurita's bottom, eliciting sighs and groans from the other girls in the room.
"Pleased to meet you, Miss Ifurita." the silver haired woman said, "Now that we know your name, it's time for the rest of us to introduce ourselves, starting with me. My name is Kiyone Masaki."


                                                                    * * *

"Do you really believe these women will serve your....Sseth's purposes?"
"Yes." a voice answered Dediana from behind the shadows, ignoring Dediana's slip of the tongue, "They all have special powers and talents that will be useful to us against Sekolah's minions. But, the one that impresses me the most is the newcomer. Though she came to us in a weakened state, I sense a power in her greater than all the others combined. She will make a worthy sacrifice once her quest is complete."
"And that....beasts?"
"They might both be  useful to us. The male can join these women in their quest, while we can keep the female in order to motivate him. I will leave it to you to prepare our guests for their impending journey."
Dediana felt the other presence leaving the chamber, and felt a wave of relief. That is, until the presence spoke its final words.
"And, Dediana, let me remind you of one thing- if this fails, you will face an end far less noble than that of a sacrifice to Sseth."

[Zigra]

Chapter 2

To normal human eyes, the dungeon would have been pitch dark. But, to the senses of a yuan-ti halfblood, the darkness was nothing. The dungeon keeper navigated his way through the blackness with full confidence, not being handicapped by the blackness.
The keeper finally arrived at the chamber he was looking for and peered at the creature inside. The keeper felt more than a little disgust at what he viewed- it was like an anthropomorphic version of one of the children of the hated rival of the keeper's god.
"Well, Spawn of Ubtao, Lady Dediana may have use for you after all."
The creature, already awake, grumbled at the strange title the keeper gave him.
  "My name is Bronto Thunder." the creature mumbled.

                                                            * * *

  "That's.....fascinating." Kiyone said as she listened to what Ifurita told everybody about her background. "After Lashara and Neese, you are only the third among us who does not originate from a variation of Earth or some colony of it."
Of the two young women that Kiyone spoke of, Ifurita learned that Lashara Moon was the young empress of a galaxy far away and unknown to any Earthlings. Neese was a teenage priestess of a world called Forcelia.
All the other young women present were native to Earth, save for a woman named Sephira Earthlight, who was from a Earthling lunar colony. But, what was odd about this group of women was that they seemed to hail from different Earths of different alternate realities. Yuri, a young purple-tressed policewoman, came from an Earth from a reality where there was no intelligent alien life in the Milky Way galaxy. But a plethora of alien races were well known to the two universes that Kiyone Masaki and a teenage girl named Eiko Magami originated from. Likewise, Minako Aino and Yumiko Ichinose were two girls with sorcerous powers who each came from separate universes where magic worked differently from one another.
The strangest example of all, however, came from two women named Sachiko Kuonji. The two Sachikos were the same woman from two apparently parallel universes. That seemed to baffle everybody except Minako, who would eventually provide an explanation.
"Now, Ifurita, you're probably wondering where the hell you are and why so much of this world looks strange." Minako spoke up.
"Oh, dear, here we go with this story again." Yumiko sighed.
"I, for one, find it fascinating and even enchanting!" Sephira said.
"Well, I can't say much about where you are," Minako proudly went on, ignoring the other comments, "but I can explain why everybody looks so different. You see, Ifurita, you and all the other girls in this room are what we call animated. The world we are currently stuck in, on the other hand, is live action."
"I...don't understand." Ifurita responded.
"She means we're all cartoons. Particularly of the anime variety." Yuri chimed in with a bored tone.
Ifurita could only give a confused facial expression.
"I...take it they don't have cartoons where you're from." Minako said, sighing when Ifurita shook her head. "Well, if you don't already know the difference between animation and live-action, then it's really difficult to explain it. However, as far as we can tell, it doesn't really matter. Despite how strange everything in this world looks, it appears that we can still interact with it as if we were a normal part of it. We can eat their food, drink their water and whatnot just fine."
Minako began to grin devilishly.
"I bet we could also do the nasty with live-action people as well!" she said.
Minako then received a bop on the head from Yumiko.
"That is enough filthy thoughts out of you for today!" the pale-haired sorceress said.
"It's so hard to believe, all this time I've been a fan of anime, and it turns out that I am an anime character!" said a timid brown-haired girl by the name of Haruka Nogizaka
"And what of those two?" Ifurita asked, looking at the two Sachikos, "Do you have any explanation for why there are two of the same woman?"
"Ah! I thought you would never ask!" Minako said excitedly. "Well, I can't say for certain, but I figure that they are something akin to the same character from different adaptations of the same series. Like, say, a manga and it's anime adaption."
Ifurita still couldn't comprehend what Minako spoke of, and at that point figured it was best not to try. Instead, she decided that she had to get what information on the world these women found themselves in that she could.
"So, you say you have no idea where we are, but what do you know?" Ifurita asked.
"Probably not much from what you yourself already learned." Kiyone answered, "We are in a city called Hlondeth populated by strange human/snake hybrid people. The world we are on is called Abeir-Toril. But, beyond that, we don't know anything, because they haven't told any of us anything since they've kept us all here. They've treated us well so far, but....we don't believe that they have anything good in store for us."
Ifurita blinked.
"So, you've felt it too?" the former demon god asked. Some of the others nodded.
"There is.....something horribly wrong with the people of this city." Neese began to explain. "We all feel it. It's not just that they are humans mixed with serpents. It's that whatever magic is blending their human blood with serpent blood is dark and unholy in nature. We're all afraid of what purpose they may be keeping us here for."
The group was silent for a good long while before their silence was broken by an individual entering the room. Ifurita recognized the individual as the same snake-headed woman who brought her to this room.
"Dediana will see you all now." the snake-woman announced.

                                                                  * * *

The group was brought to Dediana's throne room, though it lacked an actual throne. The Extaminos woman's serpentine body lay sprawled out upon a pile of cushions, all while surrounded by a small group of women of various snake/human hybrid combinations. Having been in the throne room of Queen Diva, as well as the palace at Roshtaria, Ifurita was really no longer impressed by ornate displays, but the others in her group looked at the vast room with is snake themed architecture in awe.
"Welcome, all of you." Dediana greeted them in a tone that Ifurita noted was both welcoming and mocking at the same time. "I know you all wonder why I wished to meet with all of you, and I shall get to that soon enough. First of all, I wish to discuss what you may have already been thinking about. As you have all figured out by now, each one of you comes from a different world from this one. You have all ended up in our city, Hlondeth, around the same time frame, and why that is we still don't know. However, one thing we are sure of is that most of you have special powers and abilities that could prove useful to the people of this city."
"There are the two of you with sorcerous powers" she said looking at both Minako and Yumiko.
"There is the vampire of which is quite unlike any vampire on our world," she said looking towards Akasha.
"A priestess of an alien deity." she said to Neese.
"A girl whose strength rivals that of even the mightiest dragons." she said to Eiko.
  "And there is the woman whose power is great and mysterious to us." she said looking at Ifurita.
"Which brings me to why I have brought you all here." Dediana went on after a brief pause, "For the last five years or so, the Sea of Fallen Stars, the sea that our city is on the banks of, has experienced a dire menace. A race of carnivorous fish people known as the Sahuagin have become a blight to both the races living below the sea, and to coastal nations and cities like our own. For most of known history, the Sahuagin had been confined to the Alamber Sea by an underwater mountain range. But, in a recent catastrophe, those mountains were crumbled and now the fish men have free reign over the entire Sea. Our city has been among those that the fish men have raided. However, there is something different about the attacks on our city. These particular attacks have been led by the priestesses of Sekolah, the shark goddess of the Sahuagin. Meaning the Sahuagin have some larger designs on Hlondeth."
"What does any of this have to do with us?" Kiyone inquired impatiently.
"No nonsense. I like that." Dediana responded. "In this city, the people are devoted to Varae, the Snake God. There is a myth that our faith began several millennia ago with a great saurian progenitor race who were Varae's chosen people. This progenitor race were the bearers of four sacred aquamarine gems which were said to be the key to the power which their civilization once thrived on. That sums up that part of our myths about that race.
"Now, however, we know this was no myth. Shortly before your arrival, one of the gems was discovered beneath the catacombs of this very city. And with it, there were ancient writings that gave us possible clues on the whereabouts of the other gems. And then you all appeared in this city. Now, the priests of Varae believe that you all have been chosen by the Snake God to go on quests to find the gems, and it is believed that when the gems are found, we can finally crush the Sahuagin and restore our birthright as Varae's chosen race.
"But, you are not the only ones who will partake on this quest."
Perfectly on cue, as if they could hear Dediana's commands from outside the room, a group of serpent men guards dragged a large, chained up creature into the room. The creature was strong enough that the guards could barely drag it along. Ifurita, Kiyone, and the rest of the group's eyes widened in shock at what they beheld. Even Ifurita recognized the creature from Makoto's memories. A dinosaur. In particular, an apatosaurus or brontosaurus. Or at least that was what it most resembled. This creature, standing about twice the height of a human being, was more like a bipedal anthropomorphic version of a brontosaurus with pale blue scales and blue eyes to compliment the scale color. The brontosaurus man even wore an unusual outfit, telling the group of women that it likely wasn't a mere unsentient animal. Nobody saw Lashara tense up.
"Let me go!" the brontosaurus man kept shouting in a deep, rumbling voice as he struggled, further confirming his sentience.
The guards finally got the bronto man before Dediana and, after a continued struggle, forced him to kneel.
"This vile spawn of Ubtao has been nothing but troublesome since he appeared in our city." Dediana explained, "However, rather than just killing him and being done with it, I decided that his strength could be of use to me, and I will have him join you women on your quest. He will oblige if he understands what is good for his mate."
At that last comment, the bronto man calmed his anger a bit, and a look of sorrow appeared on his face.
"With that, I give you all a day of rest before I give you further details of your quest. I trust that you will all serve me well."
Kiyone nodded before Dediana dismissed them. Ifurita looked around at the other girls in her newfound group of comrades. While Kiyone responded to Dediana's orders with full confidence, the others were far more anxious. 
Nobody asked Dediana because they already knew the answer. If anybody in this group failed their mission or refused to partake in it, Dediana likely had a nasty end in store for them.

                                                                    * * *

After being escorted back to their room, the girls felt it was time to get acquainted with their new comrade. Minako was filled with childish glee over the dinosaur man.
"Are you really a real live dinosaur!?" the blond girl asked with her eyes alight.
"Umm, yeah." he replied glumly.
"THAT'S SO AWESOME!!!!" Minako exclaimed.
Neese, the only one among them who didn't seem awestruck by the dinosaur man, strolled up to him calmly with a warm smile on her face.
"What is your name, good sir?" she asked him.
"Bronto Thunder. I'm from the planet Reptilon."
"Bronto Thunder. Reptilon. Such...original...names." Yumiko said snidely.
"And who is the mate of yours that Dediana spoke of?"  Neese asked, ignoring Yumiko's comment.
"Her name is Apatty Saurus (Yumiko said "sheesh" quietly at the name). She's my fiance'. I was returning home to Reptilon from a mission to visit her. When me and my team arrived home, Apatty greeted me, and then this strange light came out of the sky. Whatever it was scooped me, Apatty, and my friend Ichy up into it. I don't know what happened to Ichy, but Apatty and I landed in this strange city with snake-shaped buildings and whatnot. I landed on top of something squishy, I don't know what, and....that human woman over there (he said pointing to Lahsara) screamed at me and ran away. Then, all these snake people appeared and took me and Apatty prisoner. I haven't seen Apatty since, but now that snake woman has threatened her life unless I do what she says."
Neese blinked as she looked back and forth between Bron and Lashara.
"You....two have met?" Neese asked.
Lashara's eyes began to water as he grew more upset.
"Yes, I know that monster!" the young empress cried, "He killed my fiance'!"
Everybody's eyes widened in shock, but nobody was more surprised than Bron himself.
"Umm, what?" Bron asked.
"My fiance', Photon!" Lashara cried some more. "He was brought to this world along with me. But, shortly after we arrived here, that blue monster over there fell from the sky and crushed him!"
Bron now knew what it is he accidently stepped on when first arriving in this strange world. He suddenly felt too much shame for words. The others in the room could tell from hearing both sides of the story that the said incident was purely an accident on Bron's part, but it was apparent that they would have trouble convincing Lashara of that.
While the two Sachikos and Haruka tried to comfort Lashara, Kiyone walked up to Bron
"I know you didn't mean anybody any harm." she said. "We've all been separated from loved ones here. But, rest assured that we will find a way out of here, and not only will we find your mate, but the rest of us will be reunited with the ones we love."
"Well, most of us." Yuri smirked, causing Lashara to cry harder.
Bron seemed to feel some assurance from Kiyone's words. But, as Ifurita thought about it more, she wondered if they would be able to keep Kiyone's promise.

[Zigra]

Chapter 3

The Entity processed the information before her. Another new arrival in Hlondeth. This one was different than the others. She could sense the essence of her sister within the new arrival. But what what the Entity's sister playing at by bringing this newcomer here?
Even worse was the possibility that the Yuan-ti within the city could find out the newcomer's true nature and what they would do if they learn the truth. The Entity's three facets debated the situation.
"Sekolah must make a preemptive strike upon Hlondeth and collect these newcomers to bring before us!" the Weaver declared.
"No! Such an act could undermine whatever Sister is trying to accomplish and perhaps put her in greater danger!" the Preserver cried.
The two facets waited for the third to make her judgement. She pondered the possibilities before she gave her answer.
"There may be a less dangerous way for Sekolah to act." the Empowerer announced, "And, the most rewarding part of this, perhaps, is that the Yuan-ti will never see it coming."

                                                                   * * *

"Can't sleep?"
Ifurita looked up from the book she had been reading. She saw Akasha's smiling face looking down upon her. Standing next to Akasha was a nervous looking Neese. The others had all gone to sleep by now, but the three of them remained awake.
"I don't require sleep." Ifurita said plainly. There was another reason why Ifurita did not wish to sleep, but she kept that to herself.
There was a moment of silence before Akasha nudged Neese with her elbow.
"Go on, talk to her." Akasha told the young priestess. Neese stepped forward, growing even more nervous and flustered.
"Lady Ifurita, I....I...believe....you are my mother." Neese finally said meekly. Ifurita raised an eyebrow.
"Go on." Ifurita responded.
"When....when I was a little girl, my mother told me stories of how I was sired. Though she was officially married to a sorcerer named Slayn, and told everybody outside the immediate family that Slayn was my father, my mother and Slayn both secretly knew that he did not sire me.
"Indeed, my mother told me that I was not sired by any man at all. She said that the one whom sired me was a goddess unknown to the world of Forcelia. This goddess appeared to my mother first in the form of a great plumed serpent, but then transformed into a beautiful woman with pale skin, light blue hair, and ruby-red lips. My mother and the goddess made love, and I was conceived.
"For my entire life I had never seen or met this goddess that my mother said had sired me, and I could find no record of such a deity ever being worshiped or recognized on my world. But now, on this strange world that I have been sent to, I finally meet a woman that looks exactly like the goddess my mother described. It is you! You are my second mother!"
Ifurita was silent. It took her awhile before she could respond.
"Are you certain of this?" Ifurita asked.
"Completely." Akasha chimed in. "As a vampire, I can read and sense various things regarding people's blood. I can sense that you and Neese share the same blood. You are indeed her mother!"
"Very curious." Ifurita said. "Despite what the title I held at El Hazard, I am no goddess. I have also never been to this world of Forcelia, nor do I know anything about plumed serpents. But still.....".
This was not the first time that Ifurita met a girl claiming to be her daughter. Back on El Hazard, Ifurita had an encounter with a girl named Alielle who made a similar claim. Alielle said that she was the daughter of Ifurita and a woman named Misaki.
What shocked Ifurita even more was that Misaki was supposedly the maternal grandmother of Makoto Mizuhara, making Alielle a sort of aunt of his, and that Alielle was sent by her half-sister, Makoto's mother, to El Hazard to make sure that Ifurita's destiny with Makoto played out as it should. Ifurita related some of this story to Neese and Akasha.
"So, it is quite possible that, at some point in my own future, I go back in time to your world and conceive you with your birth mother." Ifurita explained. "Although, the part about me arriving in the form of some manner of serpent perplexes me."
With that said, tears began to swell in Neese's eyes. The young priestess couldn't hold her emotions back any longer, and she ran over and embraced Ifurita. Ifurita did not resist or push Neese away. Instead, she returned Neese's embrace and put her own arms around the girl. A smile formed upon Ifurita's face, which pleased Akasha immensely as it was the first time the vampire had seen Ifurita smile since her arrival.

                                                                    * * *

A short amount of time passed. After her emotions had settled down, Neese finally fell asleep, lying against Ifurita's side. Ifurita stroked the girl's hair gently as Akasha looked on. But, while she may have had a smile on her face, Akasha could see some worry behind Ifurita's eyes.
"Tell me what troubles you." Akasha said warmly as she sat next to the former demon god.
Ifurita looked at her a bit surprised.
"Do my troubles really matter compared to what we may be facing soon?"
"Yes." Akasha answered, "Don't think for a moment that the rest of us don't care. We've all been pulled away from our homes, and some of us have been pulled away from somebody we care about. In the short time that we've been here, we've come to know each other and to support one another through this uncertain time. But, the one person we still don't know much about is you. You've been quiet ever since you arrived, and we wonder and even worry about you. So, you can tell me anything you like."
Ifurita let out a meek smile, the first time Akasha had seen her do so. Akasha swore in her mind that it was the most beautiful smile she had ever seen, despite the sadness behind it.
"On my homeworld of El Hazard, I recently came to know two people who have touched my life like I never believed anybody could. I already told you of Alielle, the girl who was my daughter from the future. But, there was also the boy named Makoto Mizuhara. For ages, longer than any normal human lifespan, I had existed under a form of slavery and bondage, and knew nothing else. Makoto freed me from that. He also, quite literally, touched my soul, and brought out emotions within me that I never knew I had.
"Eventually, the time came when I had to leave El Hazard. My supposed destiny was to be sent to Makoto's homeworld of Earth, where I would be reunited with him. However, I instead ended up on this world. Now, I have no idea if I will ever reach Earth or be reunited with Makoto again."
Before the first tear formed in her eyes, Ifurita found herself in Akasha's embrace. Ifurita could hear and feel the vampire choking up in tears herself.
"I...think I understand how you are feeling, Ifurita. I left behind two people I love as well. There was a boy, Tskune Aono, who I had fallen head over heels for. The problem was, my teenage daughter, Moka, in a rather...complicated...situation loved this boy as well.
"When I sacrificed myself to destroy my ancient enemy, Alucard, I prepared to die under the expectation that I would leave Tskune and Moka free to pursue their love, and no longer be in their way. But, instead of dying, I ended up on this strange world. Now, I don't know what I should do. I don't know how Moka and Tskune would react if they knew I was still alive, especially since my feelings for Tskune are now known to both of them. I even wonder if I should return, or if I should just stay here and continue to let them believe I'm dead."
As Ifurita heard Akasha's sobs, she returned the vampire's embrace. Once the two of them were finished letting their emotions out, Akasha sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I guess that's enough crying for now." Akasha said, "Tell me, what is it you've been reading all night? I can't read the writing in any of these books that they left us."
"It's a history of this city and of the Extaminos family that has ruled it." Ifurita answered, "Because a part of my brain works as a universal translator, I can read it. Anyway, this city-state of Hlondeth has been ruled by the Extamios family since its founding centuries ago. What I found interesting, though, is that the Extamnos, as well as the rest of this city's inhabitants were once entirely human. In the city's early history, the Extaminos family was devoted to a deity called Ilmater, a god of mercy and martyrdom, whose religion sounds similar to Roman Catholicism on Earth. Despite being devoted to this human-like god, members of the Extaminos family were enamored with reptiles, especially snakes.
"A turning point in their history occurred when the city was attacked by an army of creatures called kobolds that came up from a subterranean realm called the Underdark. Just when the city seemed lost, the patriarch of the Extaminos family was said to have received a vision from Ilmater to use the family's vast collection of reptiles to ward off the kobolds. He did as the god directed, and the army of reptilian creatures drove the kobolds back into the underground, as well as disappearing themselves.
"When the smoke cleared, the Extaminos family decided to search the underground sewers and tunnels for their lost pets. They found the army of reptiles gathered around a small and seemingly forgotten underground altar. The altar was dedicated to an obscure snake god called Varae. Upon learning of this deity, the Extaminos family then believed that Varae, not Ilmater, was their true savior, and turned to the snake god's worship.
"They also discovered ancient writings at this altar, in particular a scroll which gave them instructions on how to contact a race of serpent people called the Yuan-ti. They followed the spell to summon these snake people, and it worked. The Yuan-ti appeared before them, and offered to show the Extaminos family how to merge their own blood with that of the snake people. So enamored with reptiles, the Extaminos family gladly accepted the offer.
"Now under the sway of the Yuan-ti, the Extaminos family decided that the whole city should join them. First, they drove most of the priests of Ilmater from the city. Those priests that did not leave were held to be sacrifices to Varae. The temple of Ilmater at the city's heart was converted to an even larger temple to Varae called the Cathedral of Emerald Scales, which, to this day, is considered the jewel of Hlondeth."
"Next, they decided to convert the rest of the city to their new religion. It wasn't hard to do, as, much like the Extaminos themselves, most of Hlondeth's citizens saw the use of snakes to defeat the goblin army as a sign that Varae was their true savior. And with that, a magical breeding program began where the people of the city had their blood mixed with snakes like the Yuan-ti, a breeding program that continues to the present."
Akasha was silent as she took in this information. She had always believed that vampire society was cruel and brutal, but the snake people of Hlondeth, with their fanaticism to this snake deity and and their use of some manner of dark magic to mix their blood with serpents sounded just as sick in its own way.
"We've got to get out of here." Akasha said in a near whisper.
"I know." Ifurita replied. "But it won't be easy to do so. Before I arrived here, I had developed the power of transporting between worlds and the power to transport over long distances. I would have used it to help us leave here, but somehow my power has been muted. I suspect that when Dediana's servant gave me energy, she also used some manner of sorcery to put a limiter on my powers. Just the idea that they can do something like that so easily disturbs me."
"Yeah, and I'm also worried about Kiyone." Akasha said.
"You detected it too?"
"Of course. She's been trying to keep it secret from everybody, but it's easy for a vampire like me to sense. Not only can I sense her blood, but the blood of another human being inside her. I'd say that she's about two months along."
The two of them were silent for awhile. While part of it was over concern for Kiyone's child, something about the subject of motherhood troubled Ifurita, and she and Akasha had been confiding in each other quite a bit already, Ifurita decided she now wanted to voice her worries.
"Akasha, there...is something I want to tell you. It's something nobody else besides maybe Makoto knows. I told you I don't require sleep. That is true, but there is more to it than that. The reason I didn't want to go to sleep tonight is because I have.....nightmares.
"I've had these nightmares for as far back as my memory goes. The worst part is that they happen not just when I sleep, but also when I'm deactivated. When I was in stasis for 10,000 years on El Hazard before Makoto awoke me, I had nightmares every day of those ten millennia.  When my emotions were suppressed it didn't bother me. But, now that my emotions have been fully awakened, I'm.....scared....to sleep again."
Akasha gave her a warm smile.
"Don't be afraid." Akasha said. "If you wish to sleep tonight, I will be there for you. I have....special vampiric abilities that can help you with your nightmares. I use to help my daughter to ease the frequent nightmares that she use to have, and I know I can help you as well."
"Thank you, Akasha." Ifurita said with tears forming in her eyes. It was the most open Ifurita had been with her emotions since she arrived in Hlondeth.
With the sleeping form of Neese at her other side, Ifurita finally went to bed in Akasha's embrace. Feeling more relaxed, the former Demon God drifted away.

                                                           * * *

Less than an hour later, Akasha awoke, practically on cue. It was finally happening. She could sense it. Ifurita's nightmares were setting in. Akasha pulled the sleeping form of Ifurita, who was beginning to toss and turn in her sleep, to her own body.
It would have been easy to simply shake Ifurita awake, but in the long run that wouldn't truly make her nightmares go away. Akasha had a different solution. Vampires of her breed had the ability to enter the dreams of others and even interact with whatever took form in those dreams. If somebody was trying to harm Ifurita in her dreams, Akasha could fight them off. Akasha often used this ability to help her young daughter Moka, who often suffered horrorifying nightmares due to being infused with Alucard's blood, to overcome her terrible dreams.
Akasha gently pressed her forehead to Ifurita's. A glowing emblem appeared on Akasha's forehead, and she closed her eyes. She felt her spirit being projected into Ifurita's mind. Soon, the world around Akasha began to take new shape.
The first thing Akasha saw in this new world was a woman holding a child. The woman looked much like Ifurita, though not an exact twin. Akasha then got a look at the child the woman was holding. The child was like a much younger version of Ifurita, and Akasha knew at that point that the scene showed a young Ifurita being held by her mother.
Ifurita's mother, still holding the child in her arms, was running down a corridor, and Akasha followed them. Akasha could tell from the desperate way the mother ran that somebody was after them. Before Ifurita's mother could get far, a doorway in the middle of the corridor closed in front of her, blocking her path.
"Did you really think you'd get far, Sylia?" came a female voice from behind them.
Akasha and Ifurita's mother, apparently named Sylia, turned to see a young-looking woman with tan skin and white butch-cut hair standing a little ways down the corridor with two armed men beside her.
"Please, Kalia, leave my daughter alone!" Sylia cried. "She's done nothing wrong!"
"Oh, don't you worry. I don't plan on killing your little girl, abominable spawn of a heathen deity though she may be. No, I have other plans for her....for both of you."
Kalia's armed men moved in. Akasha was tempted to fully manifest herself into the dream to attack them and protect Ifurita and her mother, but she had to hold off on that. Akasha believed that there was something more to this nightmare than Ifurita being taken away at this moment, and she would have to let it play out so she could strike at whatever that was.
As Akasha sorrowfully watched as Ifurita was ripped from her mother and both of them dragged away by the armed men, suddenly the world around Akasha began to fade away and be replaced by a new scene. And it was horrific. Akasha looked upon little Ifurita being stripped naked and strapped down front-first to what appeared to be an operating table. The girl was letting out a shrill scream as she struggled to get free from her bonds. As this happened, a man approached Ifurita with some manner of scalpel, apparently intending to operate on her without even putting her under anesthesia.
Now it was apparent to Akasha what was going on. Akasha had some knowledge that Ifurita was at least partially cybernetic, but now she realized that Ifurita must have once been human. And the ones who ripped the girl away from her mother were now going to turn her into a cyborg.
Akasha had seen enough. It was now time to make her move. She made herself fully corporeal in Ifurita's dream world and wasted no time in grabbing a hold of the man who intended to operate on Ifurita. She pulled the man aside to where little Ifurita couldn't see what was going to happen, and then bore her vampire fangs and buried them into the man's jugular. With her fangs she violently ripped the man's neck open and then left him on the ground to bleed to death.
Two armed men, the same ones who pulled Ifurita from her mother, rushed in. They opened fire with some manner of laser weapons. It did them no good. The damage that the weapons did to Akasha was regenerated as quickly as it was dealt. They fired at her even more furiously as she approached them, but it was for naught. In an instant, Akasha gave one of the men a swift kick to the gut. The force of her kick caused the man to be completely atomized into nothing. The second man panicked, but could do nothing as she did the same to him.
With the assailants all dead, Akasha then rushed to the operating table and released little Ifurita from her bonds. She quickly pulled the crying girl to her and held her in a motherly embrace, trying her best to hold the girl in a way so that she couldn't see the blood dripping down Akasha's face.
"Mommy! I want my mommy!" the girl cried.
"Shh shhh, it's alright. I've got you now and I won't let anybody hurt you anymore." Akasha said trying to reassure the girl as best as she could, knowing that she couldn't reunite her with her mother.
"What is your name?" came a voice from behind them. Akasha turned her head to see Kalia standing behind her.
"Akasha. Akasha Bloodriver."
"I'll keep that name in mind when we meet again." Kalia said.
Kalia then vanished from the dreamworld, leaving Akasha more than a little confused. Akasha pushed those thoughts aside and continued comforting little Ifurita.
In the waking world, the slumbering form of Ifurita nuzzled close to Akasha's bosom while Akasha tenderly held her close.

                                                                        * * *

Upon a different world in a different universe, a lone young-looking woman sat in a meditative trance. Suddenly, she was snapped awake from that trance.
"Looks like somebody has decided to spoil my fun." Kalia said with an evil grin.

                                                                        * * *

"What is the meaning of this?! Why have I been awakened from my slumber?!" Dediana growled.
Unmoved by Dediana's anger, her snake-headed servant explained the situation.
"You have...guests....who wish to have an audience with you. I believe you will find what they have to say worth your time."
Dediana grumbled and got out of her bed. Making herself presentable, she slithered from her private quarters and towards her throne room. Once entered, she gasped at what stood before her. She never expected to see any of them within her throne room.
The Sahuagin.

[Zigra]

Chapter 4

There were three of them, the Sahuagin representatives. Two of them were indistinguishable from each other. They were bipedal creatures, standing about six feet tall, covered with blue scales, darker on the back and lighter on the belly. They had many fish-like features, including webbed feet and hands, gills, and finned tails, with additional webbing down their backs and elbows and even where their ears should be. Their fish-like heads had massive jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth and their eyes were huge and bulbous.
The third representative, however, stood out from the other two. There was nothing fish-like about her, save for her webbed hands and feet. She looked almost completely human, except for the afore mentioned webbed hands and feet, her light blue skin, even darker blue hair, and a pair of pointed elven ears. A malenti, Dediana mused.
The malenti were bizarre aberrations among the Sahuagin race. Strange mutations that appeared in the form of Sea Elves, the hated enemies of the Sahuagin. It was not known why malenti were born to the Sahuagin, but due to them resembling the most bitter foes of the Sahuagin, few malenti were allowed to survive past birth, most becoming dinner for their parents (sahuagin being big on cannibalism). Occasionally, a malenti would be allowed to survive to adulthood because the Sahuagin sometimes found them useful in infiltrating sea elven communities. However, the malenti were just as hated by the Sea Elves as they were by their Sahuagin brethren, mostly because the existence of the malenti suggested some manner of relations between the Sea Elves and Sahuagin that neither race wanted to acknowledge.
And it wasn't just beneath the waves that the malenti found themselves unwelcome. Even now, Dediana felt a measure of disgust at the presence of the malenti female before her.
"Greetings, Lady Dediana. I am Laqueel, High Priestess of the Shark Goddess Sekolah." the malenti woman said plainly.
"Oh really?" Dediana smirked. "They actually allowed a malenti vermin such as yourself to become a priestess? The standards of Sahuagin society must have really sunk low."
Laqueel bit her lip. Despite becoming a high priestess, the first malenti in Sahuagin history to do so, she was still on the receiving end of bigotry everywhere she went. She could even sense the two guards she brought with her quietly agreeing with Dediana. In Sahuagin society, Dediana's words would have been enough to incite a duel to the death (likely with the victor eating the body of the loser), but Laqueel grudgingly knew that this was neither the time nor the place.
"My office among the Sahuagin is an unimportant matter." Laqueel said dismissively. "I am here because you keep within your city something that is sought by Sekolah herself. Is it not true that you have a group of visitors from other worlds?"
"How do you know of that?" Dediana asked, her eyebrow raised in suspicion.
"The Great Shark tells us much. We also know of a specific individual named Ifurita. Sekolah has a great interest in this individual. We wish her to be brought to us. The other visitors of are no concern to us."
Dediana was stunned.
"And if we refuse to give her to you?" Dediana inquired further.
"We have otherworlders of our own in our grasp. One of these otherworlders has immense power over the ocean waves. If you do not bring Ifurita to us, this otherworlder will unleash a great tsunami upon your city. We have it on the word of the Great Shark that Ifurita cannot be harmed by flood waters, so she will survive and be ours for the taking if we destroy your city. However, we would prefer that she be brought to us peacefully."
Dediana remained silent as she pondered Laqueel's threat.
"You have 24 hours to decide." Laqueel announced.
Dediana gritted her teeth in anger as she watched the malenti priestess and her two sahuagin guards leave the room. This was a very bad situation, as Ifurita was the one whom Medussana, the city's priestess of Varae, claimed would be most important for the upcoming ritual.
While Dediana pondered what she should do next, her snake-headed woman servant was lost in thoughts of her own.

                                                                 * * *

Ifurita slowly awoke. She had no idea why, but she had just had the most refreshing sleep she could ever recall having. Somehow, she understood that the nightmares that had plagued her her entire life would never bother her again.
As she opened her eyes, and her vision and senses came back to her, she found herself face-first in Akasha's cleavage, with the sleeping vampire's arms around her. She also felt Neese clinging to her from behind. Rather than be embarrassed by this situation, Ifurita smiled and pressed herself against Akasha even more. Though last night's dream had faded from her memory, she understood that she now owed the vampire much, and she felt warm and at peace in her arms.
"My my my, isn't this a salacious sight!" came a voice from the foot of the bed. Minako stood at the edge of the bed, a devious grin upon her face. "If you three were really planning to get down and dirty with each other, you should have invited me in on the fun!"
Ifurita chuckled lightly, amused by Minako's words. She felt Neese, who had apparently been awake already as well, jump up beside her.
"No no! It's not what you think, Minako!" the young priestess cried. As she tried to protest further, she suddenly found Ifurita's arms around her.
"Good morning, you!" Ifurita said to Neese joyously. She gave Neese a peck on the top of her head and then rested her face upon Neese's head. Akasha, who was also just waking up, smiled at them.
"Oh, wow." Minako said in bewilderment over the change in Ifurita's behavior. "You two must have given Ifurita a really good night if you were able to make her display a personality."

                                                                 * * *

As the entire group prepared for the morning bath, they all noticed the change in Ifurita. Where she had been stoic and displayed little emotion when she first arrived, she now seemed happy and even a bit cheerful (at one point Minako would even remark that now Kiyone and Yumiko were the only boring ones of the group, which earned her a bop on the head from Yumiko). Ifurita was also cozying up to Neese and Akasha quite a bit, which bewildered everybody else.
But, there was one new facet of Ifurita that blew everybody away- her smile. Now that they all had the chance to see it, they all had the chance to see it, each one of them thought that Ifurita had the prettiest smile they had ever seen. In fact, each one of them now believed that Ifurita may indeed be the most beautiful woman they had ever known (even Bronto Thunder, who came to see Ifurita as what he imagined Apatty Saurus would look like if she were human). Ifurita's smile and beauty was enough to even brighten the mood of Lashara, who, the others would note, never spoke of Photon again.
They all gathered to the large pool of heated water that made up part of their living quarters. At Akasha's request, Dediana had the water in the pool mixed with special herbs, as plain water was painful to the touch for vampires of Akasha's type.
As the girls prepared to undress, two individuals were reluctant to join them. One was Bronto Thunder, which was understandable considering he was a guy (even if he weren't human, or even a mammal for that matter). The dinosaur man sat off in a corner nervously, trying to avoid looking at all the undressing women.
The other individual who was reluctant to unclothe was Ifurita. She stood by the edge of the pool and looked at the others apprehensively.
"What is the matter, mother?" Neese asked her, making the others wonder what she meant by "mother", though they remained silent.
"I...I've never exposed by body to others before." Ifurita explained.
"A virgin, huh?" Minako quipped. "Well, don't be shy. We're all dying to see what sort of goods a hotty like you has!"
"You need not be afraid. We're all friends here." Kiyone assured her while Yumiko smacked Minako upside the head.
Ifurita smiled slightly. Her misgivings eased a bit, and he slowly touched a finger to the middle of her breasts. This caused a reaction that enveloped her body in a blue glow. The other girls were in awe for a moment before the glow subsided.
When the blue light faded, Ifurita's nude form stood before them. Everybody's jaws dropped. Minako experienced a wet orgasm in the pool. What they all beheld was the most voluptuous and curvy body they had ever seen. Only Lashara and Yumiko's bodies came close to rivaling what they all saw. This body, combined with the beautiful face that came with it, convinced all of them that they were in the presence of perfection.
"And I thought I was the biggest hotty here." Yuri whispered with a quiet sob.
"Say, umm, Ifurita, could you, perhaps, turn around for us?" Minako requested.
Ifurita didn't quite understand why Minako would want her to do such a thing, but she did as Minako asked. All the girls in the pool gasped. Minako had said that Ifurita had the roundest and plumpest rump ever, and now that they all saw it, they knew that Minako spoke the truth, and Ifurita's backside was a thing of pure beauty.
When everybody still gawking over her, Ifurita finally turned back and walked into the pool. The girls quickly gathered around her, making her feel a bit uncomfortable.
"Ifurita, if we can ever get out of this place, I.....I want you to come back to my home galaxy and be my queen!" Lashara said with a hint of begging in her voice.
"No! Please come to my moon Kingdom of Sphere and be my co-spouse with my husband!" Sephira begged.
"You can come back with me." Haruka said. "I would love to share all of my anime and manga with you."
"Forget all these skanks!" Yuri growled. "I have greater beauty than all of them, and it would be totally hot if you lezzed it up with me!"
"She's my mother!" Neese announced. "She'll come with me to Forcelia so we can be a family!"
As the girls began to interrogate a flustered Ifurita, Kiyone shook her head while Akasha buried her face in the palm of her hand. It reminded Akasha all to much of the rivalry between her and the other girls who vied for Tskune's affection when she was "Outer Moka". Minako, however, had an idea, and she whispered it to Kiyone and Akasha. The two of them looked at her and nodded in approval. Akasha then stood to address everybody there.
"Everybody, this is nonsense!" she chided them. "There is no reason why Ifurita should choose just one of us. We all love her, so she should be with all of us."
"That's right! From here on out begins the Ifurita Harem Plan!" Minako announced.
The girls whispered and chatted amongst themselves. From the tone in their voices, it appeared as if they believed this was a good idea. Sensing their unanimous approval, Yumiko stood along with Akasha.
"That settles it." the pale-haired sorceress said. "We will all work to protect Ifurita. I will protect her with my sorcery."
"We'll protect her with our Hiraikotsu!" the two Sachikos declared.
"I'll protect her with my strength!" Eiko said.
"And I'll protect my mother with the power granted to me by the goddess Marfa!" Neese announced.
Akasha and Kiyone felt relieved that they now had the group working together. Akasha looked to Ifurita to see her reaction in all this. Akasha expected Ifurita to be completely flustered and try to back out of this like some indecisive mook male lead of a harem anime, but when she looked at the pale-skinned woman, she once again saw that pretty smile.
"Thank you, everybody." they all heard Ifurita say.
"Now, there's just one thing missing in all this." Minako said, tapping her finger to her chin. "As great as this impending trib-fest will be, Ifurita is still going to need a good man or two to bone her in that nice ass of her's (Ifurita's face turned bright crimson at this statement). Now where are we going to find a good male to do that?"
Minako looked over at the other side of the room where Bron sat. The whole time he had his back turned to them, trying desperately to stay out of the matters unfolding.
"How indecent!" Yumiko scoffed. "He's not human! He's not even a mammal!"
"Oh, please! We're anime characters, Yumiko. We get it on with anthropomorphic animal people all the time!" Minako asserted. "Now, if we could only get Bronto Boy to join us in the bath."
"Leave that to me." Eiko said, stepping out of the water.
The redhead stepped out of the water and approached Bron, who still refused to turn and look at everybody. She quickly grabbed him by his tail, and with her ungodly superhuman strength she dragged him towards the pool, with him protesting the whole way.
When they came to the pool, several of the girls ran out to him and the group began to tear his clothes off, after which Eiko dragged him into the pool. As the dinosaur man sat in the water more than a little embarrassed, Ifurita swam over to him and gave him a big hug.
"Thank you for joining us." she told him.Bron would never say it aloud, but this was one of the best things that ever happened to him.
Unbeknownst to the group, somebody was watching them at the entryway of their room. Dediana's snake-headed servant woman marveled at the display before her. With the way these girls laughed and played, you would have never known that they were all essentially prisoners in a city of great evil.
The snake-woman was especially concerned about Ifurita. The priestess of Varae's plans for her were horrendous enough, but now the Sahuagin wanted her for unknown reasons.
"I won't let them have you, my love. Not after I've come so close to getting you back." she said.

                                                                     * * *

A few miles out to sea from the shores of Hlondeth, there lay a large reef teeming with all manner of fish and other sea life. The Sahuagin under Laqueel's charge used this reef as both a temporary fort for their campaign against Hlondeth, and also a makeshift shrine to Sekolah.
As Laqueel and her guards approached the reef, she was greeted by a trio of great white sharks which patrolled the area. She lovingly fed them each a fish. These sharks were more than just mere guards of the shrine. No, they were the sacred beasts of Sekolah herself. Whereas the Sahuagin were merely servants of the Great Shark, sharks, especially great whites and megalodons, were the actual children of Sekolah, and the Sahuagin held them in the highest esteem, even considering the lives of sharks more important than their own.
'Indeed Sekolah's sacred children have shown me far more regard than my own people ever have.' Laqueel pondered in her thoughts.
The malenti priestess swam into an entrance in the reef, and then swam through its various passageways until she arrived at her destination. It was a small section of the inner reef that held a magically maintained air pocket. This area had been set aside for one of the otherworlders that had been taken in as "guests" by the Sahuagin after a vision from Sekolah prevented the Sahuagin from eating the otherworlders.
Laqueel entered the air pocket and approached the quarters of one of the otherworlders. Upon arriving, Laqueel could already hear the sound of the special instrument that the otherworlder enjoyed playing. Something called a "violin".
Laqueel entered the quarters and beheld the otherworlder playing her "violin". The otherworlder was a young human girl, in her late teens, with aqua-green hair and delicate features. While playing her violin, the girl had a certain grace about her which Laqueel compared to fish gliding through the sea. The average sahuagin may have seen the human girl's features as hideous, but to Laqueel's eyes she was astoundingly beautiful.
"Michiru." Laqueel greeted the girl.
"Lady Laqueel." the girl greeted back, a warm smile appearing on her face.
Michiru lay down her violin and the two of them ran to each other and embraced one another. Their lips soon joined. They remained like that for a good long while before Michiru motioned Laqueel to sit with her upon the bed that had been provided for Michiru (an item that sahuagin raiders had collected from a shipwreck).
"How did it go?" Michiru inquired.
"I believe Dediana fell for my bluff. Now all that remains to be seen is how she responds."
While Michiru certainly had the power to flood Hlondeth as Laqueel told Dediana, the claim that Michiru would actually do so was a lie. Michiru was not the kind of individual to wipe out a city of people, even if they were as evil as these serpentfolk were reputed to be.
"What will happen if they hand her over?" Michiru prodded further.
"She, along with you, will be betrothed to me, as Sekolah has promised."
"And if they refuse?"
"I will have to organize a full raid of the city to acquire her. I hope it does not come to that, but I will not lose her."
Michiru smiled and rested her head upon Laqueel's shoulder.
"I find it funny how you can be so madly in love with a woman whom you've never even met." Michiru remarked.
Laqueel could understand why Michiru would find such a thing odd. But to Laqueel, it was more than just some shallow fantasy. For her entire life, Sekolah had shown her visions and dreams of a One whom she was destined to be with. A beauty with pale blue hair, alabaster skin, and ruby-red lips by the name of Ifurita. The visions were so vivid that by this point Laqueel felt she knew this woman well and had grown to love her. And now Ifurita had finally appeared, only to fall into the hands of the yuan-ti that Laqueel's forces were instructed by Sekolah to attack.
"Michiru, if I do have to make a full strike against Hlondeth to get Ifurita from them, would you stand by my side during the strike?"
"Of course, I'll help in any way that I can." Michiru told her with a smile. "If this Ifurita woman is as beautiful as you say, I have no problem with sharing you with her."
Laqueel then rested her head against Michiru's.
"And maybe I can convince Fisheye and that ichthyosaurus man to help us out as well, seeing as you've treated them with good hospitality." Michiru added. 

                                                            * * *

"Foolish halfblood!"
The venomous words coursed through Dediana's ears as she found a clawed hand grabbing her by the hair of her head and forcing her over a dark pit. Within the pit, Dediana could barely see something slithering around.
"You actually considered handing over the Avatar to the Sahuagin when she is the one the Devourer hungers for?!"
"Lady Medussana, if we don't hand her over, the whole city could be in peril!" Dediana desperately explained.
"Once the Devourer has fed upon the Avatar, the power of Sseth will be enough to save the city. I highly recommend that you abide by the Devourer's wishes if you do not wish to become her next meal!"
The yuan-ti priestess the let Dediana go unharmed and slithered away. The ruler of Hlondeth was left to ponder her situation.

                                                              * * *

Ifurita and her friends had finished their bath and were now dressing back into their clothes. Only Ifurita and Akasha heard somebody enter the room.
"What do you want?" Akasha asked the snake-headed servant coldly.
"I...have come here because I wish to help you all out of the city." the snake-woman said, everybody's attention now turned towards her. They all murmured amongst themselves.
"And why would you want to do that?" Kiyone asked skeptically.
"Because the high priestess of this city has horrendous plans for all of you, and because I cannot stand to lose the one I love all over again." the snake-woman answered. They all stared at her uncomprehendingly.
The snake-woman lowered her head. Suddenly, she was enveloped by a blue light (similar to the one that enshrouded Ifurita when she removed her clothes). When the light faded, the snake-woman was gone, and was replaced by a human woman. She was a remarkable beauty with soft facial features, pink eyes, a pair of dots upon her forehead, and sky-blue hair that ran from her head down to the back of her feet. It was like the painting of Aphrodite being born from the sea.
"My name is Tsunami."

[Zigra]

Chapter 5

Tsunami. Kiyone mused at the woman that appeared before her and her friends now. The mother of Jurai's tree-ships. Kiyone had heard all the rumors and legends that Tsunami could take on a human form that was nearly identical to Jurai's second queen, Misaki, and now it appeared those rumors were indeed true. Tsunami even had the twin dots upon her forehead that Misaki had. And the beauty of Tsunami's human form was a sight to behold.
Without a word, Ifurita approached Tsunami. To everybody's shock, the former Demon God quickly locked lips with Tsunami in a passionate kiss. Tsunami did not resist, and, in fact, only continued to kiss Ifurita even more eagerly while the marks on her forehead began to glow. The sight of the two beautiful women kissing, in addition to the fact that Tsunami was completely nude, caused everybody else in the room to suddenly require a change of clothing.
"Umm, I take it you two, ahem, know each other?" Kiyone asked in bewilderment.
"She is the mother of Makoto Mizuhara, the boy I love and wish to be reunited with." Ifurita explained as she parted her lips from Tsunami's. "Though, as Makoto's mother, she was known by the name of Sasami. And, I also feel that I have known and loved her in another life."
"Yes, something like that is true." Tsunami said affectionately. "However, I don't have time to explain further. I need to get you all out of this city. And, yes, Bronto Thunder, I do intend to rescue Apatty Saurus. But, as my power has diminished due to a.....conflict.....I was engaged in, I will need some aid in rescuing her."
Tsunami eyed others in the group whom she believed might be able to help her, such as Akasha, Minako, Eiko, and Yumiko. However, Ifurita clasped Tsunami's cheeks and turned the Jurai patron's attention back towards her.
"I will be all the help you need if you will unseal my power. There is no need to get the others involved." Ifurita told her. That was not what Tsunami wanted to hear.
"Ifurita, I sealed your power away because I did not want you to flee this world after I had come so close to getting you back. While I'm confident you will not do that now, I do not know if your power will be adequate to stand up against the foes that may await you."
"I understand your concern, my love." Ifurita replied. "But, you must know that I have to go where you go. I don't entirely understand it, and you obviously know more than I do, but I feel like we are entwined with each other somehow, and whatever fate awaits you is something I must share."
"And I have to go, too!" Bronto Thunder jumped in. "Apatty Saurus is my mate and I have to help save her somehow!"
"So be it." Tsunami sighed. She then turned towards the others. "Because Ifurita does not want the rest of you to get involved, I will respect her wishes. With my power I am going to send all of you to a city called Mezro which lies in a far away land. The city is watched over by a deity named Ubtao, who is an ally of mine. He will offer you protection until Ifurita, Bron and I rejoin you."
The girls muttered among themselves. Then, one by one, they each took turns giving Ifurita a hug.
  "Take care of yourself, my friend." Akasha told Ifurita. "I will watch out for Neese while you are away."
"Be careful, Mother!" Neese said with tears forming in her eyes.
"I will.." Ifurita reassured her with a smile. She then up at all the others. "You all have been so good to me while I've been here. I promise I will return to you all."
With that, they were all prepared for their journey. The marks on Tsunami's forehead began to glow again. The mother of Jurai's treeships then whispered something into Kiyone's ear. Kiyone had only a brief moment to take in what she was told before all of them vanished.
"So.....now what do we do?" Bron asked.
"You'll need somebody to help you get into the temple where Apatty Saurus is being held. I'm the one who can help you do that."
The three of them turned to see Dediana standing in the entryway.

                                                                * * *

All three aspects of the Entity looked upon the new development in Hlondeth with disbelief. The Entity never predicted that she would appear in Realmspace so soon. It was a sign that the Re-Unification was coming together much more quickly than anticipated.
However, there was a problem. She, along with Sister's avatar, were now putting themselves in grave danger. They would need aid if they were to get out of Hlondeth alive.
"We shall now do things my way." the Weaver announced. 

                                                               * * *

"W....why would you want to help us?" Bron asked Dediana dubiously.
"Oh, do not read me wrong. I do not care what the three of you do with your friend once you rescue her. I'm helping you because I may need your aid in taking back my city from a force that has it within its grip. Come sit with me while I tell you all a little story."
Dediana slithered up and settled upon one of the guest room's seat cushions. The other three soon joined her.
"As you know, the people of my city venerate the snake god Varae. It is also an open secret among the people that Varae is actually an aspect of an even greater serpent deity known as Sseth. My family, the ruling family of this city, has always had close ties with the priests of Varae, who worship the god in the Cathedral of Emerald Scales, which lies at the heart of this city.
"In recent years, I've had a bit of a.....rivalry....with one of the Cathedral's high priestesses, Medussana Mhairdaul. Medussana is a yuan-ti abomination, a sub-type of yuan-ti that is almost completely ophidian, who hails from the Black Jungles of the Chultan Peninsula far to the south. When Medussanna came to Hlondeth, she has desired to wrestle control of the city from me and my family. She wouldn't openly attack me, but she tried other ways to undermine me and to turn my people against me.
"That all changed about five years ago, shortly after an event the people of this world call the Time of Troubles. After that cataclysmic event in this world's history, a.....newcomer....came to our city. The creature calls itself The Serpent Sibyl. Some simply know her as The Devourer. This monster, said to be a hybrid of a yuan-ti abomination and a type of demon called a marilith, came to our city from out of nowhere and declared that she was an avatar of Sseth himself. And she had enough power to back up that claim.
"Since the Sibyl took up residence in the Cathedral, Medussana has declared her full devotion to the monster. Under the Sibyl's power and guidance, she has managed to slowly erode my power over the city, and has reduced me to an unwilling puppet ruler."
"So, what do you want us to do about that?" Ifurita inquired.
"It's quite simple, really. If I help you get into the Cathedral, I want you to slay the Sibyl so my power in this city can be properly restored. And I know you can do that, Tsunami, for I am aware that you have fought Sseth himself and won."
Ifurita and Bron looked at Tsunami questioningly.
"Yes, it is true that I have fought Sseth and imprisoned him within his realm." Tsunami explained. "But in doing so I used up much of my power, and I haven't even come close to regaining it. I do not know if I can stand against the Sibyl."
"And, if you know that I imprisoned Sseth, Dediana, then you should also realize that an unknown power has taken up his mantle and is granting power to Sseth's priests in his name. I don't know what the Sibyl's possible connection to this mysterious power is."
"Your concerns are noted." Dediana said, almost brushing Tsunami's words aside. "However, I do have a plan. I happen to know when the Sibyl slumbers. If we get into the Cathedral while the monster sleeps, you should be able to kill her before she can wake up. Or, at least banish her to whatever hellish realm she hails from."
Tsunami thought about it for a long while. Finally, she came to a decision, though the hesitance was clear upon her face.
"Very well. If you help us rescue Apatty Saurus, I will do what I can about the Sibyl. But first, I must unseal Ifurita's power as I promised I would."
Tsunami reached over and gave Ifurita a slight touch. Ifurita's head swam as she felt the rush of power course through her body.

                                                               * * *

Even from within their air pocket quarters Michiru and her two otherworlder companions, a highly effeminate young man with blue hair who called himself Fisheye, and an anthropomorphic ichthyosaurus man named Ichy, could sense that something major was astir. There was commotion outside, and at one point she could hear the sound of some manner of horn echo through the water. Were they preparing for battle again?
Laqueel soon entered the quarters. A look of excitement and anticipation was spread across her face.
"I and the other priestesses have received a vision from Sekolah. We are to strike Hlondeth with full force. Not just our outpost, but all sahuagin within the Vilhon Reach. Not only that, but I received a vision that the other priestesses did not. I am to finally find and meet with my Destined One during this battle, and I am to save her."
"I see. Do you need us to do anything?" Michiru inquired.
"Yes." the malenti priestess answered, suddenly looking in Ichy's direction. "In particular, Sekolah requires your services in a very unique way."
Laqueel touched Ichy's chest. His companions looked on in concern as he cried out....

                                                                 * * *

Ifurita and Bronto Thunder looked on in awe as they beheld it. The Cathedral of Emerald Scales. Ifurita recognized it as the structure she viewed when she first arrived in this world before passing out.
The Cathedral was a semitransparent dome structure made from emerald marble and emerald glass panes that towered above all other structures Hlondeth. A gigantic stone constrictor snake wrapped its coils around the entire dome with its head lying atop the dome's highest point turned  upward so as to spit a continuous fountain of water high into the air that then rained back down upon the area around the Cathedral.
As they approached the building, they came upon the wall encircling it. The wall was a sculpture carved in the form of an amphisbaena, a type of mythical serpent with heads at both ends of its body. At the Cathedral's entry points, the two heads of the amphisbaena wall-sculpture faced each other as if locked in combat. Ifurita noted the guards that watched them from the eyes of the serpents.
Ifurita still wondered if their plan would work. Dediana and Tsunami, the latter once again in her disguise as Dediana's snake-headed servant, were bringing Bron and Ifurita, both bound in chains, to the Cathedral as sacrifices for the Sibyl. Dediana would bring them to the prison pantries where the prisoners (some of which were used as food for the yuan-ti in the temple) were held. Apatty would be there, and they would take the opportunity to release her. Tsunami, meanwhile, would make her way to where the Sibyl slept and hopefully kill the monster, and they would all teleport out of there.
Ifurita found herself wishing they could simply teleport in the Cathedral as well, but Tsunami quickly shot that idea down. Apparently, the Sibyl would immediately sense Tsunami's divine power being used and might awaken. Tsunami preferred that the creature remain asleep when she tries to slay it.
They stepped through the gateway, the guards keeping an eye on them the whole way. Within the ophidian wall on both sides of the walkway to the temple was a lush miniature jungle shrouded in mist. It was a truly beautiful sight.
"I would not recommend any of you step foot in there." Dediana whispered to them. "You do not want to know the sort of horrors that dwell within those woods."
They finally made their way into the temple itself. Beneath the great emerald dome was a cavernous chamber held up by a forest of jade pillars. Bizarre serpents of a species Ifurita could not identify wrapped themselves around each pillar. Patrols of vaguely humanoid snake creatures called ophidians kept watch over everything within the structure. A continuous rain of water from the fountain above poured through tiny holes in the ceiling, and the entire inside of the temple was wet and slick.
The group finally came to a pit at the heart of the temple. This, Dediana told them earlier, led down the lower chambers of the temple, where prisoners like Apatty were being held, and also where the temple's priesthood lived. The dwelling place of the Sibyl was even deeper down. Ifurita took a deep breath as they made their way down the pit's stairs.

                                                                        * * *

The monster slumbered in her pit. As she always did when she slept, she called out to Him. The one who made her an incarnation of Himself. During an event called the Time of Troubles, when all gods worshiped upon the world of Abeir-Toril were cast down into mortal avatars by the Overgoddess Ao, the snake god Sseth had chosen the Sibyl as His avatar. In this new body, Sseth worked to restore the ancient Yuan-ti empire of Serpentes in the Black Jungles. Sseth even tried to expand his influence into the jungle land of Chult, where, in Sibyl's body, he fought the tyrannosaurus rex avatar of the deity Ubtao to a standstill.
But, eventually the Time of Troubles ended, and Ao allowed the gods to return to their realms. Sseth left the Sibyl's body, making her feel more invigorated than ever before. And she sought to finish the work Sseth began when he used her body. However, a problem arose. After Sseth returned to his realm, the Sibyl's connection to him was lost. She constantly called out to him in her sleep, but he did not answer. Even more curious was that Sseth's priests were still receiving power from something, though the Sibyl was certain it wasn't from Sseth.
The Sibyl continued calling out to her god. Then, she heard something. Someone called out to her. An answer from Him?
"Nah, I'm not your god." a female voice told her. "However, I do have some information to pass on to you that you might find interesting."
"Who are you?!" the Sibyl demanded to know.
"My name is Kalia. And, you should know that you have some intruders in your temple."

                                                                  * * *

Ifurita doubled over, clutching her stomach. The others looked at her with concern.
"What is wrong?" Tsunami whispered to her.
"I....don't know. It's as if something was probing my very soul, and whatever it was caused me a great deal of pain." Ifurita answered.
"Whatever is causing you pain, you need to deal with it. We are almost at the prison pantry where Apatty is being held, so we've come too close to our goal to have it fall apart now." Dediana told them coldly.
As harsh as Dediana's words were, they all knew she was right. Ifurita collected herself and they all continued on. They passed several different specialized sections of the temple catacombs. There were armories which provided Hlondeth's defense forces with their weaponry. There were the brood chambers where the Yuan-ti kept their eggs. There were laboratories where, as Dediana told them, grotesque experiments were performed by the Yuan-ti upon hapless prisoners.
The yuan-ti that they encountered along the way were quite different from the ones they all saw in the city above. These yuan-ti were almost completely snake-like, save for a pair of arms and vaguely humanoid upper torsos. "Abominations" this sub-type of yuan-ti were called. They were said to be the sub-group of yuan-ti that lorded over the other three sub-groups.
At last they came to the prison pantry where Dediana said Apatty was being held. As they walked in, there were a pair of ophidian guards stationed at the inside of the entryway. Supposedly, these guards were not there to keep others out, but to keep escaped prisoners in. Everybody save for Dediana were mortified at how this prison area doubled as a sort of kitchen. The Yuan-ti did far more with their prisoners than just keep them for sacrifices to their god.
The four of them finally approached a particular cell. Bron had all he could do to keep himself from running up to it. He knew who was inside. The cell's occupant closely resembled Bron himself, save for the fact that she was a little bit smaller, and had a feminine body shape, including, oddly enough, a pair of breasts (Ifurita had no idea why a reptilian creature would have those). Apatty Saurus.
The sound of others approaching her cell caused the sauropod woman to slowly awaken. She immediately recognized her male counterpart, the man she loved, standing outside the cell.
"Bron!" she cried as she quickly got up and ran to the front of the cell. She reached out past the cell bars and clasped her hands with an overjoyed Bronto Thunder.
Now was the time to get everybody else out of there, Tsunami realized. She tried to use her power to send Bron and Apatty away to Mezro. Nothing. Ifurita noted the worried look on Tsunami's face.
"What is wrong?"
"I can't transport them away. Some magical force is blocking my power." Tsunami answered.
"I should have figured that you were betray your god, Dediana!" came a hissing voice from behind them.
They turned around to see a group of yuan-ti abominations blocking their path, all of them holding crossbows pointed at the Tsunami and her group. The abomination that stood at the front of this group stood out. Like the rest of them, this one looked mostly snake-like, save for a scaly human-like head that was covered in countless snakes in lieu of hair. The creature closely resembled the Medusa from mythology back on Earth. Medussana earned her name well.
"Bring the five of them to The Pit. The Devourer would like to meet with them, especially the pale-skinned one."

                                                                 * * *

Tsunami and her group found themselves in a large chamber. At Tsunami's insistence, they did not struggle when the yuan-ti troops took them away. As Medussana indicated, there was a gigantic hole at the heart of this chamber. The Pit that she spoke of.
As they were brought to The Pit, they could hear a rather rustling sound coming from it, like something scraping against concrete. It grew louder as they got closer. Then, the monster rose up from the hole......

                                                                 * * *

At Hlondeth's port, sentries kept a watchful eye out at the sea before them. Sahuagin raids in recent months meant these sentries had to be vigilant to watch out for incoming assaults from the fish men.
"What is that out there?"
Two of the sentries viewed something approaching from the distance. They weren't sure what it was, but even from that far out they could tell it was large. One of them looked at the approaching object through a viewing scope. His jaw dropped.
"Varae's scales!" he cried.
The object approaching Hlondeth was no boat. It was a gigantic fin.

[Zigra]

Finale

The creature stood as tall as the chamber, and towered over Ifurita and her friends. The Sibyl could truly be called a monster. Even those who do not fear reptiles would likely shrivel up in fear at the sight of her. Her legless, green-scaled body mostly resembled a serpent, yet her upper torso was vaguely humanoid upper torso with bare feminine breasts. At the sides of her upper body were four arms, two arms short of making her look like a Hindu deity, and a pair of gigantic bat-like wings stretched out from her back.
But, the most chilling aspect of the creature was her face. Her elongated face was vaguely snake-like, but far more demonic. Her open jaws showed rows of dagger-like teeth beset by a pair of vampiric fangs, while her long, slobbering tongue hung from her mouth. Even worse were her eyes. White pupil-less orbs that were devoid of any warmth or compassion. As a whole, the Sibyl seemed like a creature that could just rip out one's soul and eat it right then and there.
The monster lowered herself to get a closer look at the group. Her baleful gaze had Bron and Apatty nearly frozen in fear, making them hold each other close. Even Dediana shrank back in fear. But, Tsunami and Ifurita were unfazed. Not only did Ifurita feel no fear, but something about the sight of the Sibyl caused a strange urge to swell within her being. There was something inside her that told her that this monster was her responsibility to put an end to.
Ifurita didn't realize that her feelings were being reciprocated. When the Sibyl gazed upon Ifurita, something flashed within the creature's nearly forgotten memories of when she was Sseth's avatar.
"YOU!!!" the Sibyl hissed at Ifurita, "YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE, WHORE-MOTHER OF THE COUATL!!! AS A PRICE FOR YOUR INTRUSION, I SHALL DEVOUR YOU WHERE YOU STAND!!!!!"
The monster prepared to strike and Ifurita, and Ifurita and Tsunami stood ready for the attack. However, something caused the monster to pause in her tracks. The Sibyl looked up towards the ceiling of the chamber.
"INVASION." the monster muttered.

                                                                    * * *

Hlondeth's coastal patrolmen tried to sound off an alarm to get everybody to evacuate the area. But it was too late. The waves of the tsunami crashed into the city's shore. The people at the harbor barely had enough time to scream before they were all swept away.
The waves quickly moved further into the city. People who could hear them tried to run, but the water pushed into the streets too quickly for many to get away. It wasn't long before the water crashed up against the wall surrounding the Cathedral of Emerald Scales, shocking the guards and sending an alert throughout the upper level of the temple.
Those who either survived the waves or managed to get to higher ground soon gazed upon the source of the disaster. First they saw a gigantic shark-like fin rising from the water in the sea. They soon saw that the fin was part of a larger entity rising from the water. The beast that stood over the devastated harbor had a vaguely anthropomorphic body with blue-grey skin. Its head resembled something akin to a reptilian dolphin. With its hunched posture, the reptilian-dolphin monster stood nearly 300 feet tall.
As the beast observed the destruction its arrival had wrought, it let out a triumphant screech that could be heard miles away. It began to lumber slowly into the flooded city. Then, the survivors of the flood saw something else coming out of the ocean behind the behemoth. Countless man-sized creatures surfaced from the water and followed the monster. Sahuagin. This disaster was not just a random giant monster attack. It was a full-on military strike.
Hlondeth's defense forces, those that had survived the tsunami, sprung into action. From surrounding buildings and other vantage points, the yuan-ti pureblood soldiers fired flaming arrows at the monster and any sahuagin in range. Some sahuagin went down, but the arrows bounced harmlessly off the monster. Still, the attack seemed to annoy the behemoth tremendously. It snarled at its various attackers and then reared its head back. Then, it let out a gargantuan blast of scalding steam from its mouth, launching it at any attackers in range. Any yuan-ti that got hit by the blast were quickly burned to death. Feeling further motivated by their guide-monster's strike, the sahuagin soldiers triumphantly charged onward.
Standing atop the kaiju-ized Ichy were Laqueel, Michiru, and Fisheye. As the three of them observed the carnage brought upon Hlondeth, Michiru held her hand to her heart and felt immense sadness. Even though she knew the serpent people of this city were evil, she almost couldn't bear to see them slaughtered in such a way. Laqueel remained stoic and expressionless. Michiru knew that even if Laqueel felt terrible about what was unfolding, her race's beliefs and dogma wouldn't let her show it. Fisheye put his hand on Michiru's shoulder and gave her a look of understanding and concern. He at least empathized with how she felt.
Kaiju-Ichy at last approached his destination. The Cathedral of Emerald Scales. As he lumbered towards it, his riders realized that the dome of the Cathedral and the stone serpent encircling it were about as large as kaiju-Ichy himself.
As they drew closer, they could see the yuan-ti troops retreating inside the Cathedral. Laqueel and her companions weren't entirely sure what the snake men were going in there for, though they assumed it was because the Cathedral would provide them some manner of shelter. Little did they realized that there was far more to it. Abeir-Toril was a world full of dragons, krakens, and other great behemoths. It was only natural that Hlondeth's defense forces had some measure to combat such beasts......

                                                                    * * *

With the Sibyl distracted, Tsunami and Ifurita saw their opportunity. The two of them nodded at each other and smiled slyly. They both joined a hand with one another, and then each stretched their free hand outward. An orb of blue energy manifested before their outstretched hands, and then was released and shot at the Sibyl. The orb struck the monster in the chest and exploded. The monster groaned in pain as it reeled from the unexpected attack.
Then, the whole chamber was in an uproar. The group found themselves surrounded by dozens of yuan-ti guards who were ready to strike at them. Ifurita and her friends were more than ready for their attack.

                                                                     * * *

Kaiju-Ichy and his riders arrived at the Cathedral. Laqueel and Michiru could both sense something wrong, so Laqueel ordered Ichy to approach with caution.
When Ichy moved closer, a sudden change took place. The fountain of water that sprayed from the mouth of the stone serpent encircling the Cathedral stopped. Then, the stone serpent....moved. Its mouth closed, and it lowered its head and looked towards the invaders. The serpent slowly slithered itself loose from the dome, and hissed at Ichy. A challenge. Ichy found himself eager to meet that challenge. He let out an ear-shattering screech in reply.
With great urgency, Fisheye quickly manifested a large hoop made of water that was big enough for him, Michiru, and Laqueel to step through.
"Hurry! We need to get into the temple while these two are distracted!" he told them. The three of them quickly ran through the hoop and vanished. At the entrance of the temple, a second hoop of water appeared, and the three of them stepped out of it and ran into the temple as Ichy and the serpent lunged at each other above them.

                                                                    * * *

Surrounded by snake men, Ifurita somehow felt no fear. Holding Tsunami's hand, that feeling that had swelled within her at the sight of the Sibyl only felt more intense now. It was a feeling she first remembered experiencing when Makoto freed her emotions, something that the control mechanisms inside her suppressed. Now, with Tsunami by her side, what lay dormant inside her was now ready to awaken.
Ifurita's body began to glow with blue light. A massive wave of this blue energy burst out of her body and expanded outward. It left her friends unharmed, but all the yuan-ti and even the Sibyl herself were thrown back when the wave hit them.
The wave kept expanding outward. It quickly left the confines of the chamber and spread throughout all levels of the Cathedral. At the top level, Laqueel's trio was prepared to combat the guards that stood before them when the wave suddenly burst out from the lower levels, knocking down their would-be opponents, but leaving them untouched.
In less than a minute, the wave shot out across the city. Everybody it touched was thrown to the ground. Laqueel's sahuagin troops were not as lucky as she was, and were all floored by the force. Ichy and the stone serpent were unaffected. The divine powers that infused their giant bodies apparently made them immune to the shock wave, and the two of them continued their fight across the city.
"What on Earth was that?" Fisheye asked in shock.
"That....was her." Laqueel answered.

                                                                      * * *

In a distant land, a being came out of her meditative trance.
"She has finally appeared." the being announced to her congregation.

                                                                      * * *

The yuan-ti guards in the Sibyl's chamber looked upon Ifurita with awe. Ifurita was surrounded by a glowing aura. But, what stunned the onlookers the most was that the aura had a shape. It appeared in the form of a great winged serpent. However, unlike the Sibyl, this winged serpent was a creature of immense grace and beauty.
"Oh my, she's so beautiful!" Apatty Saurus said excitedly with hearts in her eyes. Apatty's words caused Bron to suddenly have thoughts of a having a foursome with Apatty, Ifurita, and Tsunami, but he threw those thoughts in the back of his mind, as this really wasn't the time for them.
"YOU DARE ENTER MY HOUSE AND TRY TO USURP MY POWER, WHORE-MOTHER OF THE COUATL!" the Sibyl growled angrily. "I SHALL CRUSH THE LIFE OUT OF YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS!!!"
Ifurita said nothing in response. The serpent-aura around her simply unfolded its wings, and Ifurita took to flight. Tsunami joined her, and the two of them charged at the Sibyl.
On the ground, Medussana knew something was wrong. Yuan-ti were normally masters at psionic attacks, yet somehow her psionic powers were not working. She suspected the same might have been true for all the others in the chamber. She guessed that whatever that wave of energy was, it disabled their psionic capabilities, which now meant that they had to fight with only tooth and claw. Already, the guards who began attacking the brontosaurus man were having extreme trouble as he proved to be too strong for them and easily smacked them all aside.
"Well well well, I guess the playing field has leveled a bit, my dear Medussana." Medussana turned to see Dediana standing behind her with a devilish grin upon her face. Medusssana had quick reflexes, being part snake, but Dediana's reflexes were equally fast, and Medussana was unable to dodge when Dediana spat a spray of venom in the priestess's face. Medussana hit the floor and cried in agony as she clasped her eyes.
Dediana picked up the blade that Medussana had dropped. Without a word, she struck at the priestess and then watched as Medussana's head rolled away. She mused at what a nice trophy that head will make before she turned to look up at the battle between the her new friends and the Sibyl.
Ifurita and Tsunami fought well, but they were at a stalemate. Tsunami's still weakened state combined with Ifurita not fully understanding her newfound power meant that they couldn't fully get the edge against the Sibyl. They wondered how long they would last, and Ifurita could tell that Tsunami was beginning to wear down.
Their fight wouldn't last long. Everybody in the chamber, including the three combatants, found their attention drawn upward as a swirling vortex suddenly opened up in the ceiling. Three figures lowered themselves from the vortex. The three figures looked somewhat like yuan-ti abominations in that they were snake people with humanoid upper torsos, and yet these were clearly not yuan-ti. Their scales were thicker and more armor-like, and their heads were a mixture of ophidian and saurian features with red slitted eyes. The two figures on the sides had purple-blue scales while the figure in the middle had white scales. The white one wore an ornate crown upon its head, seeming to signify it as the leader.
"It....can't be them." Dediana whispered to herself.
The Sibyl hissed in defiance at the newcomers, but they were unfazed. The white one stretched out its hand, and then the Sibyl fell into sleep. The white serpent person then turned its attention to Ifurita. Ifurita tried to back away, but a wave of the serpent person's hand caused her to fall asleep as well. Tsunami rushed in to try and help her lover, but a wave of the white serpent person's hand sent her flying aside.
"We do not need you." the white serpent person told her in a feminine voice.
An invisible force then lifted the unconscious forms of Ifurita and the Sibyl towards the vortex. At that moment, Laqueel, Michiru, and Fisheye rushed into the chamber. They arrived just in time for Laqueel to see the woman she came to find disappear into the vortex before the vortex vanished. The malenti priestess dropped to her knees.
"No." she said to herself, tears beginning to swell in her eyes.

                                                                    * * *

Far away from Hlondeth in the jungle land of Chult, Ifurita's haremettes waited in the city of Mezro. Akasha felt a pain in her chest. Somehow, she understood what it meant.
"Something has happened to Ifurita." she told the others.

                                                                    * * *

Bron and Apatty Saurus rushed to help the fallen Tsunami. She was a bit dazed, but okay. With their living god and their priestess gone, he yuan-ti guards that were left in the chamber quietly stood down from their attack. They all knew that they were to answer to Dediana now. Dediana herself approached Laqueel, who was still on her knees with tears flowing from her eyes.
"Now that the one you came for is gone, you should probably call off the attack upon my city." she told the malenti priestess. Laqueel looked at her for a moment, and then nodded.

                                                                     * * *

The group exited the Cathedral, and came upon an unusual sight. The stone serpent that once encircled the Cathedral stood triumphant over the unconscious form of kaiju-Ichy. Apparently, Ichy had lost the fight. The stone serpent then slithered back and wrapped around the dome, turning to a statue once more.
"Is that...?" Apatty began to ask.
"It...can't be." Bron answered. "Even dino-volving wouldn't have made him that big."
"It appears he is still alive." Laqueel said. "Since his purpose is fulfilled for now, he might as well return to his regular form."
Laqueel  touched the giant's arm, and he quickly shrunk, down to a size that was about as twice as large as a human. Then Bron and Apatty saw that it was indeed their lost friend Ichy. The two of them ran up to his unconscious form.
"He should be awake shortly." Laqueel told them. "I shall leave you two to attend to him while I deal with my soldiers."

                                                                        * * *

Laqueel kept her word. At her command, the sahuagin soldiers pulled out of Hlondeth and returned to the sea. Since they saw themselves as the victors of the conflict anyway, they had no problem with following her orders.
The surviving people of Hlondeth, on the other hand, were left to deal with the wreckage of their city. As a sort of penance, Laqueel, Michiru, and Tsunami used their powers to remove the seawater from the city streets, which would help with the rebuilding process.
After they helped as much as they could, Tsunami, Laqueel's group, Bron, and Apatty all stood before Dediana in her throne room. There emotions ranged from amusement to horror as they saw Medussana's head upon a spike near Dediana's seat.
"I have called you all here to discuss the beings that took Ifurita and the Sibyl." Dediana announced. "I...believe I know who they are. Tsunami and Bron, you may both remember that when I told Ifurita and her friends about a mission I planned to send them on, I spoke of a saurian progenitor race that is responsible for the creation of the Yuan-ti. That progenitor race is called the Sarrukh, and I believe it is they who we witnessed today.
"The Sarrukh are a primordial race believed to be the first sentient race upon Abeir-Toril. Builders of great civilizations and wielders of great magic, they dominated this continent for several millennia. They are also the creators and ancestors of all non-draconic reptilian races, including we Yuan-ti. We don't know all the details, but at some point their empires crumbled, and Yuan-ti legend claimed they went extinct. It would seem that Yuan-ti legend was mistaken."
"So, what do these beings want with Ifurita?" Laqueel inquired.
"I cannot say what their full intentions are, but their taking of Ifurita and the Sibyl most likely has something to do with the fact that they are avatars of the couatl goddes Jazirian and our god Sseth respectively. Our legends claim that Jazirian and Sseth were once aspects of a greater deity called the World Serpent, who was the primary deity worshipped by the Sarrukh."
Dediana noticed that Tsunami had been quiet the whole time, and she looked even more sad about this situation than Laqueel.
"But, there may be some hope in getting Ifurita back from them." Dediana went on. "My mission for Ifurita and her friends involved finding three stones that belonged to the Sarrukh and may have been the key to the power of their civilization. We even have leads on where these stones may be located. If we continue that mission, we may be able to unlock the secrets of these beings and learn to combat them. We may even discover what they have planned for Ifurita and could get her back from them.
"Tsunami, I want you to go gather all of Ifurita's friends and prepare them for this quest. I'm sure they will be eager to help out."
Tsunami's mood began to brighten a bit.
"Aside from this matter, what do you intend to do with the Cathedral now that Sseth is....disposed of?" Tsunami asked.
"We'll see. There may be...another...serpent deity that we can dedicate it too very soon."

                                                                      * * *

Akasha and friends jumped to their feet when they saw Tsunami appear before them. They stopped in their tracks when they saw the sad look upon her face and that Ifurita wasn't with her. That told them all that Akasha's fears were true. Tsunami slowly told them the whole story of what went down.
"I...I'm sorry. I failed you all." she said to them tearfully. Akasha slowly walked up to her and gave her a gentle hug.
"Don't worry. It wasn't your fault. If we all work together we can get Ifurita back. I know we will."
Everybody cheerfully voiced their agreement. For them all this was the beginning of a grand adventure.

[Zigra]

Epilogue

There are realms far beyond time and space as it is understood by mortals. Worlds and universe never guessed at except in myths and folktales. From one such realm, an ageless being observed what occurred in Hlondeth, in particular the acquisition of the two avatars.
Things were going splendidly, the being believed. Pil'it'ith and her Sarrukh followers were accomplishing all the tasks he gave them, and she held up her end of their bargain quite nicely. Plus, he would also have to thank that goddess, Tsunami, for imprisoning Sseth, which made everything that happened up to now possible. A wicked grin spread across the being's elongated face.
"Soon." Set told himself. "Soon, the power of the World Serpent will be all mine!"

                                                                  * * *

Set did not realize that he himself was being observed. The Entity's three aspects had not expected Set to play his hand in such a manner. However, in the end, Set would play right into the Entity's grander designs.
With that thought in mind, Shekinester set her plans into motion.

                                                                    * * *

Kalia chuckled as she approached the stasis pod. She peered at the woman inside. The woman was nearly identical to Ifurita in appearance, save for some minor differences and a different hairstyle. If Akasha had been present, she would have recognized the woman as Ifurita's mother.
"Well, Sylia, looks like your little girl has gotten herself into quite an ordeal." Kalia said to the unconscious woman, as if the woman could hear her. "But, it may not matter. Your other daughter will still prove useful to me regardless of what happens to Ifurita."
Kalia walked up to another pod, this one standing upright. The woman inside this pod looked a lot like both Sylia and Ifurita, save for her raven-black hair and red eyes.
"Isn't that right, Galatea?"
The dark-haired woman's eyes slowly opened.

                                                                   END