ResidentDeviant

  Lilith wove her tale beneath the stars, her voice carrying the weight of centuries. She spoke of her origins—not as a queen, but as a lesser succubus in the demonic courts, using her beauty and cunning to survive while secretly studying the politics that swirled around her.

  “For centuries, I positioned myself within conflicts between greater demons,” Lilith expined, watching the firelight dance across Sera’s enraptured face. “I appeared to support all sides while secretly undermining them.”

  In fact, I was just a regur pyer for the first six months, Lilith thought with an inward smile. Just grinding levels and learning the game mechanics while rolepying a scheming succubus.

  “Each confrontation left me with more resources and followers,” she continued. “My influence grew steadily in the shadows.”

  Sera nodded eagerly. “The Whisper Years,” she murmured. “My grandmother spoke of this time, when you gathered power unseen.”

  Lilith hid her surprise at hearing a term she’d never invented. The lore had truly taken on a life of its own.

  “Then came the War of Burning Crowns,” Lilith said, her voice dropping dramatically. “Seven demon lords exhausted themselves in a fifty-year conflict. I allowed them to weaken each other while I built my strength.”

  What she didn’t tell Sera was that the War of Burning Crowns had been her masterpiece of social engineering. She’d spent weeks sending private messages to rival pyer-kingdoms, stoking their conflicts, spreading misinformation, and making contradictory alliances. All while her small city-state expanded unnoticed in the game’s eastern territories.

  “When they were at their weakest,” Lilith continued, “I struck in a single night—the Crimson Feast. By dawn, I controlled territories never before united.”

  God, the forums exploded after that, Lilith remembered. Pyers were furious for weeks. Some even threatened to quit the game. But the developers loved the drama—it was free advertisement.

  “You founded Nocturne upon your enemies’ ashes,” Sera said with quiet reverence. “And your capital, Umbra, rose from the ruins.”

  “Yes,” Lilith nodded. “Though some of my defeated enemies became my most valuable allies.”

  She thought of pyers like SpeedBall96 and VoidQueen, who had acknowledged her victory with surprising grace. Instead of quitting, they’d offered their remaining territories as vassals, becoming her most trusted companions. Those unexpected friendships had been among Jacob’s most cherished gaming retionships.

  As Lilith described her ascension—the moment when she’d finally became an Ascended Succubus—she watched Sera’s eyes widen.

  “The Seven Days of Violet Light,” Sera whispered. “They say the skies above Umbra burned with your power for a week.”

  That was just a special effect the developers added after I was first to complete the Demonic Ascension quest line, Lilith thought with amusement. Cost me three months of grinding rare materials.

  “Within a century, I became not just a Demon Queen but Empress of Nocturne,” Lilith concluded, deliberately vague about the final years of her reign. “I established systems of governance that elevated my realm beyond typical demonic brutality.”

  In reality, I just wanted a stable pyer economy that wouldn’t crash every time we went to war, she mused silently.

  Throughout her story, Sera had listened with unwavering attention, occasionally muttering, “So that’s how it happened,” or nodding in confirmation of some detail she’d apparently heard before.

  Lilith fell silent for a moment, watching the fmes dance between them. Then she added the final, crucial piece: “And then, four days ago, I simply… appeared here. There was no warning, no grand spell, nothing. One moment I wasn’t, and the next I was, standing in a golden pin beneath twin suns.”

  She met Sera’s gaze directly. “The world I knew is gone. My empire fallen. New countries have emerged, and I’ve barely begun to grasp what’s happening.”

  Sera’s expression shifted from wonder to sympathy. “The Shattering changed everything. The world was remade.”

  Lilith stood, brushing dust from her clothing. Her wings flexed unconsciously behind her, catching the firelight in iridescent patterns.

  “Now that you know my story—the truth, not the legends—do you still wish to accompany me?” Lilith asked, her voice gentle but serious. “As you’ve heard, I was ruthless and cruel to my enemies, and sometimes even to my allies. I am not the glorious saviour your grandmother’s stories painted me to be.”

  Sera remained seated, her eyes fixed on the fire. For a long moment, she said nothing, and Lilith wondered if she’d finally shattered the half-demon’s illusions.

  Then Sera looked up, and Lilith was surprised to see not disappointment but a deeper, more grounded admiration in her amber eyes.

  “My dy,” Sera said slowly, “I never expected you to be perfect. The fact that you built your empire from nothing, through cunning and determination rather than birthright or prophecy, only makes your achievements more remarkable.”

  She rose to her feet, standing tall despite being several inches shorter than Lilith. “If anything, knowing you weren’t born to power but seized it through your own strength makes me more certain that you can do so again.”

  Lilith felt an unexpected warmth spread through her chest at Sera’s words. She’d expected the truth—or at least, the partial truth she’d shared—to diminish her in Sera’s eyes. Instead, it seemed to have transformed Sera’s mythical worship into something more substantial: respect.

  “Besides,” Sera added with a small smile, “I’ve spent my life helping others survive. If there’s even a chance you might create a pce where half-breeds and other non-humans could live without fear again, I want to be part of that.”

  Lilith nodded, surprised by how much Sera’s continued faith meant to her. “Very well. We’ll leave for the border of the Wastends in half an hour. Gather your things.”

  As Sera checked her belongings, Lilith found herself reflecting on the strange twist of fate that had brought her here. Jacob had spent years crafting Lilith’s backstory, building her empire in the game, never imagining that someday those virtual achievements would become historical events in a real world.

  The developers interviewed me after “The War of Burning Crowns”, she remembered. They loved the story so much they made it official lore, even created special quests around it. Other pyers contributed their perspectives too, and the whole thing grew beyond what any of us had originally created.

  Such was the nature of Infinity—a game where pyers actually shaped the world’s history. Where guilds could evolve into countries if they acquired territory, and countries could be reduced to guilds if they lost it. Where the bance of power shifted constantly between Empires, Kingdoms, and City-States, each tier having different resource requirements for development.

  Lilith gnced at Sera, who was gathering her supplies nearby. The half-demon woman had lived her entire life believing in legends that Jacob had helped create through gamepy and rolepy. It was surreal and humbling in equal measure.

  In the game, fifty years passed in just ten months of real time, Lilith thought. Events that took me weeks to orchestrate became centuries of history here.

  She looked toward the horizon, where the morning sun cast long shadows across the ndscape. Soon they would journey to what remained of her empire—an empire she had built pixel by pixel, conquest by conquest, in another reality entirely. What would they find there? And more importantly, what would she do with whatever remained?

  For the first time since arriving in this world, Lilith felt not just confusion or fear, but a spark of purpose. If her fictional history had somehow become this world’s reality, perhaps she could rebuild what had been lost—not just for herself, but for people like Sera who needed a pce to belong.

  * * *

  Lilith watched as Sera finished checking her equipment, adjusting the straps on her small pack and securing her daggers. The half-demon woman moved with practiced efficiency, each motion speaking to years spent on the road.

  “I’m ready,” Sera announced, slinging her pack over her shoulder. “If we maintain a good pace, we should reach the Sorian border within three days. There’s a small valley with minimal patrols that we can—”

  “We’re not going on foot,” Lilith interrupted, crossing her arms.

  Sera paused, her brow furrowing. “The main roads have checkpoints, especially near the borders. Even the smaller paths are watched.” She gnced at Lilith’s imposing figure. “Were you thinking of hiring a carriage? That might draw more attention, especially if the driver remembers us ter.”

  Lilith’s lips curved into a smile. “We’re going to fly.”

  “Fly?” Sera blinked, her eyes drifting to Lilith’s magnificent wings, then down to her own back where only vestigial wing protruded from her shoulder bdes. A faint blush coloured her cheeks. “My dy, are you going to carry me? I can’t exactly fly on my own.”

  The image fshed unbidden through Lilith’s mind: Sera’s body pressed against hers, arms wrapped around her neck, their forms locked in a close embrace as they soared through the sky. Heat bloomed in her chest, spreading outward in tingling waves. She shook her head, both to clear the thought and answer Sera’s question.

  “I have a better idea,” Lilith said, her voice slightly huskier than intended.

  She closed her eyes, focusing on the Flight spell. The knowledge unlocked in her brain just as it had with her other abilities—an instinctual understanding that seemed to rise from muscle memory rather than conscious thought. This time, however, Lilith deliberately slowed down, examining each component of the spell as it formed in her mind.

  Lilith noted how some aspects matched exactly what she remembered from the game’s spell descriptions, while others differed subtly. The duration remained the same—one hour of flight time—but the keyboard controls had transformed into intuitive mental commands. Perhaps this was how the VR update would have worked, had she ever experienced it properly instead of waking up in Lilith’s body.

  “What better idea?” Sera’s voice pulled Lilith from her analysis.

  “Oh, right.” Lilith focused on Sera, extending her hand toward the half-demon woman. “Síirvéel áahaara,” she intoned, channelling her magic.

  Blue-white energy swirled around Sera, coalescing behind her back into translucent, ethereal wings that shimmered with arcane power. Sera gasped as her body lightened, the gravitational pull on her diminishing as the spell took full effect.

  “The spell should st about an hour,” Lilith expined. “You’ll notice the wings starting to fade before it expires completely, so I’ll have time to either recast it or in worst case catch you before you fall.”

  Sera experimentally rose a few inches off the ground, her eyes widening with wonder. “By the old gods,” she whispered. “I’m flying!”

  “Not quite yet,” Lilith said with a small ugh. “You control direction and speed with your thoughts. Imagine yourself moving forward, upward, or turning, and your body will respond. It takes some practice, but it becomes natural quickly.”

  Lilith demonstrated by lifting gracefully into the air, her own wings barely needing to move thanks to her innate flight ability. Sera followed, wobbling slightly as she adjusted to the mental commands required to navigate.

  “My Queen! This is incredible!” Sera excimed as she stabilised herself about ten feet above the ground.

  “Sera,” Lilith reminded her with a raised eyebrow, “we agreed on ‘Lilith’ or at least ‘Lady Lilith,’ remember?”

  “Sorry, my —I mean, Lady Lilith,” Sera corrected herself, looking both embarrassed and delighted as she executed a small turn in midair. “This is beyond anything I imagined possible. I’ve dreamed of flying since I was a child.”

  Lilith felt an unexpected surge of pleasure at Sera’s joy. The half-demon woman’s face was transformed by wonder, her amber eyes bright with excitement. Something about that expression made Lilith want to show her more wonders, to see that look again and again.

  “Come,” Lilith said, gesturing toward the horizon. “We have a long journey ahead, and this is just the beginning.”

  Together they ascended, leaving the forest clearing behind as they soared into the open sky.