This is still a story of the Becoming Monsters Universe by Ai Loves, setting used with permission. All canonical and mechanical errors are my own. The yarrb is the creation of FelisRandomis, used with permission.

  —

  Chapter 35: Needs of the Many

  The first and most obvious thing to happen was my body beginning to glow a pure blue. This faded after a few seconds, but I could see all seven of my dies glowing faintly in the same hue with the power I had invested in them. Focusing, I shifted my skin to a toughened form. Not much, just enough to be obvious.

  The others didn’t change when I did. Odd, that was how this was normally supposed to work. Then again, “normal” was nowhere near where we were operating. The buff spells Mirrors had access to normally were not from other people. I checked my mana pool, it was not draining particurly quickly at the moment. I had time to figure this out.

  “That kind of tingled, love. What are you doing?” Lucy was of course the most in-tune here.

  “It felt like he was trying to spread a Shapeshift around. See his skin?” Trust Emily to recognize her own power. “Probably a visualization problem. Jay, you need to picture it affecting us.”

  “Might work?” It was difficult for me to hold all seven images in my head to invoke it, so I focused on Whitney and Paige for this one. They would, theoretically, be the people I used it on most, being my other front liners. As I did so, I saw their skins change… and on Whitney, I saw a greenish glow. Once they changed, though, I found it easy to back off the focus, merely maintaining it. The mana drain wasn’t too bad, yet. “Whitney, I’m seeing a secondary glow on you. Do you have any conditions active?”

  “Not that I know of? You checked me for curses on the bus, only thing I can think of is my Regeneration ability. Maybe you can see it because you have it?”

  I looked around the circle. Now that I knew what to look for, there were simir glows around a couple of the others. Could be? “I can see Emily and Amber glowing. Emily, do me a favor and release your Shapeshifting.” She did so, and the glow faded. “Yep, definitely buffs, probably from ones I can use. Amber has one, but I’m not going to ask her to empty her Pockets. Let me try something.”

  I released my hold on what I already had going, returning Whitney and Paige’s bodies to normal. I then focused on Whitney’s own glow, and triggered Radiance again. This time, I momentarily got a Status window popping up.

  ***

  Jackpot activated!

  ***

  Ah. So this was not, in fact, normal. It went out to all of my seven, and imbued them. My mana was dropping by nearly a percent every second, though, so no matter how nice helping everyone’s Regen was I wouldn’t be able to do it for long. I dismissed it, the green leaving most of the dies. They all wore thoughtful looks at the update, attacking the possibilities from several angles.

  Emily spoke up. “I have an idea which might sound crazy, it comes from something I could pick up ter in my Css. Willing to try it?”

  “Sure.” This morning had started with crazy. The fact that I had all eight of us naked in the same room again in the same day was crazy. It would take a lot to even give me pause.

  “Okay, then.” She seemed to be picking her words exceedingly carefully. “I need you to pull all the power from your battery. If this works, you might burn through your supply. Go ahead and spread around Shapeshifting like you did the first time. No mental image with it.”

  That was an odd one, but alright. Couldn’t hurt. I did what she asked, checking my stocks again. Over 75% on mana, and my drain was minimal.

  “Ladies, I want everyone here to visualize something very clearly and precisely. Remember what we talked about the other day, after Jay went to bed? I figure that will be obvious enough if it works. Just in case, I want you to try to use your own power if you can. It might not work, but if it does this will let most of us do this for much longer. Jay, I need you to close your eyes, so that we know it isn’t you doing this. Keep an eye on your Stats while you do.”

  I was rather curious where this was going. Still, my mana wasn’t draining too quickly. Not much to look at with my eyes closed. There was the sound of giggles. “Jay, how are you doing?” It was Paige, I think. Something sounded a hair different.

  “Pretty well. Looks like, whatever is happening, it isn’t pulling much from me.”

  “Think you have more than about ten minutes in you?”

  The mana meter ticked down by a percent. “Probably about that.”

  “Good. Open your eyes.”

  I did, and what I id eyes on almost didn’t register. Boobs. Boobs everywhere. I got bum rushed, knocked onto my back, and buried in boobs. More like BOOBS, the smallest one I could see still looked like it may or may not have fit inside the alphabet, covering me like the warmest, softest weighted bnkets of all time.

  My eyes, my mouth, my hands were all occupied. Beautiful breasts in white and brown and tan and red (hah! I knew that pair) practically drowning me in pleasure. That is when I felt something very distinctive and very enjoyable at my groin. Warm, wet, and shaped just for me, I’d know the feel of Amber spearing herself on my length anywhere. Over the weeks, she had been remade in body to perfectly suit me, and what suited me was a lot of pleasure for her as well.

  She swam in the same ocean of breasts that I was happily drowning in, and I could feel her delicious contractions as she orgasmed several times. Between what the others were doing to me and that assault, I bsted up into her with plenty of mana to spare. It took some time for the others to realize I was tapping out, given that Amber was rgely lost in an orgasmic haze, I was fairly thoroughly muffled, and tapping at their breasts felt much the same as pying with them. In the end, when the dies realized what happened, they all shrunk themselves down to normal proportions and let me up.

  “Emily, did you get the information you were looking for?”

  “Oh, yes. At least for this ability, you can enable it for us to use instead of forcing it onto us, and if you do that we use our own stores. Or, mostly, anyway, I’ll have to do a comparison ter to see for sure.”

  For myself. I was still panting and sweating from this phase of the experiment. I did, however, have about a quarter-tank left, and a need to figure out if we had a major mobility and access bonus at hand. Other tests could wait until we were somewhere that wouldn’t wreck the apartment.

  “Okay, st experiment for the evening. Amber, not sure how yours will work with it, but if I can get everyone here a tiny Pocket temporarily, that will be exceedingly useful. Everyone, pick a small object, and on my signal visualize putting it away in a Pocket like you see Amber do.” There was a little bit of a scramble as everyone grabbed something appropriate for testing. This time, I focused on Amber’s green glow and activated Sapphire Radiance once more.

  In a startlingly rapid rush, the glow spread across my team, leaving me alone. My mana dropped from 26% to under 10% instantly. “Alright everyone, you only have a couple of moments to test it.”

  Amber’s worked perfectly, there were a couple of ctters as one or two of the others didn’t get the mental image quite right, followed by a much louder one as my mana ran out. All six of the ones borrowing the power suddenly found their chosen objects, ranging from forks to balls to coins, showering to the floor. As I moved to dismiss Radiance, I noticed one more odd thing. That green glow had spread to everyone on use, but was still there for everyone. It hadn’t disappeared the way Shapeshifting did when I dismissed it.

  I shook my head. The sight augmentation granted by the ability faded out. “We have a lot more experimenting to do, I think. Exploration. For now, though, we all need to sleep. Been a very, very long day.”

  Gloria took a step and seemed to shiver for a moment. Almost all of the girls were seeming a bit dazed, a hair off. Like their senses weren’t quite dialed in. Probably the after effects of the shapeshifting and the long day. We all got to bed quickly, my wife cuddling up with me, and we fell asleep fast.

  For the third night in a row, I stepped out into that ft onyx pin. This time, though, there was a ndmark. A mirror, fifteen tall and five wide, perfectly reflective and framed in silvery metal. It seemed more like an opening to another room than a surface of its own. As I walked up to it, I began to see myself. Only… not quite.

  The vision of Jeremiah Kithkin I saw in that mirror was enormous. Easily a dozen feet tall, broad and powerful. On his left hip was my new saber, scaled to his enormous size. He was cd in mail formed from links so fine that it seemed like cloth at first gnce. His forearms were gauntleted, his boots armored, his wings sporting guards at the vulnerable joints. An example of true Power, in figure and bearing, much more like the Incubi who had given our Race the reputation I had fought against for the st few years.

  Behind him in a semicircle were seven figures, indistinct but quite feminine. I chanced a look over my shoulder. Standing silently there, reflected in the mirror, were my seven dies, arms at their sides and expressions bnk. Even beyond that, they seemed… different. A rumbling bass voice sounded. “Ah, so you noticed. Good, that will save some time.”

  I looked up at him. “I can tell that you are me, but I guess my first question has to be what kind of me you are?”

  He grinned, the lopsided kind of smirk I occasionally saw in old photos of myself. “I’m who you know you can be. I’m the sum of every Racial and Css power you know about. A construct of the mind, reminding you of what kind of potential you can work towards.”

  Seemed a bit awkward to be that size, personally. I dropped my eyes back down, to the women behind him. All were exaggeratedly sexual, enormously proportioned and obviously ready. It was a hunch, but their bnk looks didn’t seem imposed. They were just like that, tools to be used when needed and discarded when not. “And the women behind you?”

  “Oh, I thought that would be obvious. You took the first step towards them this evening.”

  No. No, it could not be. I had fought too hard to avoid this.

  “Ah, you see it now. Deep in our soul, where we are standing, you recognized the blessing Amber gave to herself for what it was. Beauty, pleasure, obedience. It made her perfect for what we needed. This evening, you spread that blessing. They will serve us, let us hit the truest potential we have.”

  I could see them in more detail now. There was Lucy, lewdly leaning forward and offering herself. There was Whitney, possessing curves well beyond anything she would normally develop, standing tall and strong. The only one who was easily recognizable was Amber, the holder of the Curse. At least, the original one. The one I had tried to break, and failed. “The choice isn’t set yet. The course can be changed.”

  “Changed? I think not. We actively had them shapeshifting right before we spread that blessing to them. Their bodies have already begun to morph, like Amber’s did. That cannot be undone. Our Mana pool is empty, you cannot possibly use Cursebreaker on all of them in time. Once they awaken, their minds will begin to shift. To stop it otherwise takes an enormous cost, one we are not set to pay. Pain and suffering are the price, paid by the one who spread it in the first pce. Us.”

  I shook my head. “I’ve paid that price more than once. I will do so again, and gdly.”

  My own inner demon just continued to grin. “Then demonstrate. Slice away at ourself. I can’t stop you, if you hold true to it, but that is not how we gain our power.”

  Calmly, carefully, I stepped forward to the mirror. I was nude in this realm, unequipped, but I didn’t need it for this. Drawing back my left fist, I smmed it into the mirror before me with all my might. The crashing sound was shockingly loud in this quiet pce, and a spiderweb of cracks spread across its surface, shards falling to the bck ground.

  I found one, razor sharp and the size of my forearm, and then a remaining fissure in the ground, still glowing purple from two nights before. I knew what I did here was mostly symbolic, and this was a symbol I was in dire need of. The edge of the mirror shard glowed with the power that lingered from my Cursebreaker, with what I was deliberately imbuing into it. I stepped forward to the first of my Demonesses. My wife. As I did, she seemed to animate. She tried to speak, it did not work.

  “Lucy Kithkin, lover of children and heart of our group, I need you to listen to me.” She held still. “I’ve made a mistake, and fixing it is going to hurt. Please stay with me, and please forgive me.” In my eyes, I could see the bindings, tied at the surface of her womb. I could feel a corresponding uncomfortable warmth on my body. I would not need to harm her to do this, hopefully. With my bde, I carved the sigil from my body, the searing pain taking me. I felt my left ring finger burn, where I always wore our wedding band. A ring around its base was scarred as if burnt.

  After an eternal moment, it was done. I could see my wife was in pain, scars marring her perfect skin where the sigil had been, but alive and without true harm. I had to breathe. I had to take it on faith. I had to do this again. I stepped forward. Gave my wife a hug, felt her hug me back. She would be okay. The others needed my help.

  Next was Whitney, and in my sight I saw her struggling. The bindings were across her upper arms, right where her strength was greatest. “Whitney Cunningham, attainer of strength and protector of our group, I need your trust. I have to protect you, today.” The shard carved circles around my biceps, and matching scars appeared on Whitney with a silent scream. Still, she stood fast, and nodded to me as my right middle finger was marked with fire. She hugged me, too.

  Sarah was also struggling, but hers eased as she saw that I had found something that was working. She cried for my suffering, and in my sight she was bound at the wrists and forearms, her creativity kept in her head. “Sarah Castellán, gatherer of information and inventor of our group, you see what is happening. This is the only way through I can see.” She nodded at me, and braced herself. My forearms exploded with pain as I carved the binding free, and my right pinky joined with them. Sarah had to be helped to her feet as she leaned into the hug, scars now marking her.

  The next seemed to be fighting against herself. Emily had to concentrate to force herself to stay as herself, she sensed that one shift would be all it took. At the base of her spine, at the base of her tails, she was bound. “Emily Johnson, preserver of life and healer of the group, your current struggle is near its end. We need you, just as much as you need us.” Slowly, she nodded at me, and I felt the length of my spine fre with pain, as did my right forefinger. Emily sank to her knees with both agony and relief, and put her arms around me.

  I stood and strode over to the smallest and most human of our number. Gloria’s eyes were closed, her lips moving in prayer. Her head turned towards me, her prayers not ceasing. “Gloria Santos-Cruces, servant of the Lord and anchor of the group, I am here. We may not know quite why you came to be with us, but we remain. As long as we are able, I would like to remain together.” Her legs were bound just above the ankles, and when I cut the bindings away my left pinky joined in the agony of freedom. She practically colpsed into me, silently sobbing.

  Paige stood, shoulders hunched and wings drooping. Helpless to speak, helpless to act, and for perhaps the first time in her life without options. “Paige Evans, seeker of perfection and motivation of our group, you have been tossed into much this past week. Yet, you still stand, and we stand with you. You are not alone, and this struggle is not yours alone to fight.” Her bindings were cruelly tight across her thighs, hobbling her confident steps. The scars left there when I cut them away from myself almost seemed to support her, as my left middle finger acquired a scarred ring of its own. She spread her arms, freely offering her embrace.

  And then there was Amber. The source of what I was now purging. As the others were freed, I could see the chains encircling her body, and knew this one would be hardest. “Amber Nichols. You never got the chance in your life to find out who you were, not really. This curse has twisted you. I hope, in the years to come, we can help you to find this knowledge, so that you can be that person. We will always be your home, your shelter in the storm. Now, let us be rid of what has bound you so long.” The shard of gss exploded in my hand, seeming to fy my upper back. The chains surrounding Amber cracked, then stretched, then finally shattered. She was free, and her tears flowed freely. My left forefinger burned like the others, joining them in pain and joy. For the first time, her arms around me had no hint of coercion

  I wasn’t done, not yet. There was one more being touched by this curse, one st point of contagion that must be purged. I had to make sure my dies were safe, that an errant thought would not be our undoing. Though I stepped into this without hesitation, I didn’t know that I could do it again.

  I stared back at the mirror, at the shattered reflection staring grimly back at me. He was diminished, now. Perhaps eight feet tall and much less massive. I could see little past him in the distortions of what I had done, but could not perceive his sves at all. They were no longer there, rescued from the fate I had unknowingly consigned them to. “Jeremiah Kithkin. I have one st detail, one st thing to do. What has come to pass can never do so again.” I bent down and picked up one tiny shard of what I had been holding, burning my hand like the ember of a roaring fme. “I am the leader of this group. This family. They have come to lean on me as I have come to lean on them, none of us complete without the others. I cannot see where the curse yet hides, but I will not let it come back. I reject the fantasy, for the reality of what we have made together.”

  The burn I felt was one that would be hidden to an observer, crisscrossing fine lines beneath my hair, but I knew I’d feel those scars. My right ring finger burned, and the eight of us were united.

  The gss of the mirror before me shattered and fell, all that remained within the frame an aching red void. A wound which needed to scab over, to heal. My dies could suddenly move again, could speak, and they crowded around me. I could stand, take comfort in their presence. I turned on my Cursebreaker sight, and they were all clear of what I had done to them. Only the scars remained. Scars would heal.

  The Shield still stood. My family still stood. After everything we had been through, we were only stronger than before.

  “Everyone, I don’t know if you’ll remember this in the morning, but this is what I’ve been coming to the st couple of nights. Not sure exactly what everything represents, but welcome, I guess.” I smiled a bit.

  Sarah quirked an eyebrow at me. “Thought there would be more filing cabinets in your head. Corkboards. Maybe a bed somewhere.”

  We ughed. Slightly hysterical, slightly too loud, but we ughed. “Alright, real deal. I don’t know how much of what I just did is metaphorical, and how much we are going to wake up to. Emily, I need you to be our healer again. Check out the marks on everyone as much as you can, but please, be careful.”

  She nodded and got to work, grabbing Amber to help her. They started by checking each other, not able to look at their own marks, then proceeded to examine the others. It was impossible to judge the passage of time in this pce, the skies offering no clue to how long things were taking. We were nude, too, and though it meant the view was amazing it also meant that I could not just check my watch. It didn’t seem long enough, though, by the time they got to me.

  Emily and Amber id me down gently, following all of the scars and marks. Unlike the others, there were quite a few more on me. Emily gave me the update as they did. “There is some good news. For most of us, all of the wounds and scars seem… superficial, almost. What you ripped out didn’t have much of a chance to set in. They’ll heal over time, most likely a few months. Amber’s are much more significant, even if they’re hidden by her fur. I’ll be working with her to help that along, and the process will not be a pleasant one if they persist to reality in the same state.” Amber was silent, but I could see that certain motions were hurting her as she checked me.

  “I think I’m going to call that a win, then. See anything of note on my own set?”

  “Yes, and you might be reevaluating that assessment in a moment. Nearly all of your wounds are as significant as Amber’s. About fifteen percent of your body is covered by them. You aren’t Critically Injured again as far as I can tell, thankfully.”

  “While I’m not a fan of the process, I’m gd you have a comparison point for that.”

  “Save it. They are resisting magical healing, which means there’s no easy way through it. No way to wake up okay one morning. Either your mind and soul have been deeply harmed, or you’re going to wake up to years of physical therapy. That doesn’t even count the oddities with your hands.”

  “Oddities?”

  “Make a fist with both hands.” I did so. “Now, extend them all the way.” I did that, too.

  “Not sure what’s so odd about that.”

  “You have what appear to be third-degree burn scars ringing the base of every finger besides your thumbs. I’ve been studying Incubus physiology the past couple of weeks. You should still need the muscles and tendons there in order to use your hands, and best I can tell they don’t exist anymore. Yet, you still function.”

  I looked at my hands, and could see what she meant. The circle around each of my fingers looked like it was down to skin and bone, the flesh itself gone, the scar a bright white that stood out from my stone-gray coloration. Still, they weren’t exactly hideous. An outside observer would be forgiven for thinking that they were natural. Perhaps rings. If rings they were? I’d wear them proudly. Eight of us. Eight rings. Eight struggles and sacrifices to unite into a coherent whole. I chose to wear my wedding band over the one I earned unbinding Lucy. It belonged there.

  Wait. Wedding band. I was nude a second ago, but as I scrambled to my feet I felt the weight of my equipment. Manashed shirt. Mail. Shield gauntlet. Saber. Badge. The others were manifesting their own gear as I watched. Armor and wands, sword and gun and whip. My wounds hurt, but it was a distant thing. Ignorable, and I would have to ignore them for now. My subconscious was warning us of danger, one which could be fought directly, and we needed to be ready.

  I was shouting warnings, my dies shaking out into formation and getting set, when I heard the rumble. From what once was the mirror, a shadow crept. “So it ends, Jeremiah Kithkin. You refused to come into my reach, and now you leave your mind and soul open to my influence. I am here now.”

  What stepped forth was so rge it had to stoop down to fit through that giant red portal. Its humanoid body dripped with inky bckness as though it were sweating smoke, what little I could see of its flesh scaled in simir darkness. Its hands ended in terrible cws, and its face contained exactly one discernable feature. A single eye, drawn in white as if an icon, centered on what should have been its face.

  The Cursebringer had come.