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"What do you think happens when you have the resistance?" Srida's question broke a silence that had been lasting for over half an hour, both of them lost in their thoughts. It made Leo's head lift up a bit and he took a while to consider the question.

"Well," he said slowly, "I can't answer that really. I know Dobrin wants to root out a couple of the upper hellions that are particularly problematic, then after that..." He shrugged, though it looked like kind of odd when he only used two shoulders to do so. "Well, I think I'll be left to my own devices I suppose. Kind of a scary though honestly."

Srida sat on that thought for a bit. "You really could pretty much go anywhere," she finally said. "Not much could catch you, and if you're resistant to hypnosis and petrification, you only really need to worry about being charmed."

He nodded. "That is my biggest concern," he said. "But who knows, I'll probably make my way back to Stillrock honestly. It seems like they have a good system going."

"I'm inclined to agree..." Srida said slowly.

They had been working her hard and she hadn't had nearly as much time as she'd hoped for since arriving, but she certainly understood the reasoning coming from their perspective. Multiple demons raided or stole from the rockfruit farm on a daily basis and it took a vigilant guard to keep them at bay. And yet as busy as the guards were, they all kept repeating how Leo and Srida hadn't seen a real_raid yet. Apparently a _real raid constituted twenty or thirty demons in a pack, usually working together under the direction of a hellion, probably through some variant of hypnosis. The demons were usually smarter and worked as a team, and more often than not usually left at least one member of the guard injured.

"Yeah," Leo said, his voice a bit more cheerful than normal. "I'm not going to lie, after my first couple weeks down here, I didn't expect such a warm welcome from the locals."

That made Srida shake herself a little bit. She was still having a hard time remembering that he'd been down here fighting off demons with the umbral scourge for a couple weeks before Andreas had arrived and taken the gorgon form. To Srida, it felt like the two of them had arrived at the same time.

"They are pretty friendly," Srida agreed. "Even Daria, when she isn't beating me half to death." The last bit was muttered as a something of an afterthought but there was still respect in her voice. Srida had indeed learnt a lot from Daria in the last few weeks, even if the lessons had been painful.

Movement above their heads drew the attention of both of them with a sharpness some might have found frightening. Srida's glance was more wary than predatory, but Leo's eyes were locked onto the imp flying above them with a dangerous focus.

"Not often you see an imp that can fly," Srida commented idly, keeping her eyes on it until it had flown out of sight. Apparently their presence had frightened it and had made a run for it the moment it had deemed it safe.

That comment drew a nod from Leo. "Not at all. Why?"

Srida thought about it for a moment. "Do we see imp hellions often? I doubt many warlocks take that form at all before they come down here. It's probably easy for imp hellions to get their wings, it's just that there aren't any to begin with. Only the lucky few demons that are born with it get their wings."

"Right, it's our souls that let us accumulate power," Leo said absentmindedly. "They're stuck what they're born as."

Then he turned from where the imp had disappeared from view--going towards Stillrock actually. "Can you fly with those wings? I saw you use them a bit earlier."

Srida chewed on her lip. "I don't know," she finally admitted. "That little trick I did to get on the pillar was more instinct than deliberate, and I'm nervous to try flying. What if I fall from the air?" The fear of death was something very real for her. Other hellions would just spawn again, without their stored power sure--but it wasn't the end. For Srida, it meant being stuck down in the umbral plain, something she wasn't ready to come to terms with yet. No matter how hard it was going to be to pull off, she still had a way out.

A playful nudge from Leo knocked her sideways but she had no trouble keeping her balance on virtue of her tail alone. It just naturally swung out and nicely counterbalanced for her until she was upright again.

"You have wings," he said, a combination of bemused and flabbergasted, "and you're scared to fly?!" He could hardly believe it.

Suddenly shamed, Srida found herself looking at her feet. "I would have learned!" she said embarrassed and squirming under his gaze, "this is just my second time in this body! I haven't had the chance!"

Leo was rolling his eyes and shaking his head at her. "And here I thought you were just walking with me to be nice. Gods!"

Srida went to push him back but he just swayed out of the way.

"Fine," she said with a mock sneer. "I'll learn now."

Ignoring his approving look at her response and willingness to put fear at the wayside, she spread her wings out slowly, fluttering them slightly and testing them against the air. Each limb was probably ten feet long and started at her shoulder, the membrane that extended between each of the wing's fingers going all the way to her lower back where her tail met her spine. When her wings were spread out and ready to catch the air, it was surprising how little movement it took to actually move her body. The tiny test beat she gave them actually pulled her backward enough that she had to take a step back to stay on her feet.

This learning experience could be perilous indeed.

Setting her jaw, Srida knew there was only one thing to do from here.

Leaning forwards so she was more perpendicular to the ground, the large but slow beat of her wings caught the air like it was thick as water and lifted her about two feet off the ground. The moment her wings were at the bottom of their motion she fell back down like a brick, landing gracefully enough, but still off balance. Frowning, she tried again.

This time, she only beat her wings about two thirds of the total distance they could move, then locked them in place. Leo watched as she was lifted about a foot and half off the ground again, but this time drifted down to it a little slower. Her second little touchdown was far more elegant than the first.

He nodded approvingly. "Now try a couple flaps in a row?"

"I know, I know" Srida said testily. "Give me time!"

This time when she beat her wings, she gave it a bit more force. It was nowhere near the full amount of power she could put into it, but it was enough to give her a bit of upward momentum that didn't immediately end when her wings finished their downwards motion. Ignoring Leo's suggestion of flapping her wings multiple times, she just caught herself in the air again and drifted downwards. Srida wanted to get used to how her wings would carry her upwards and how her motion would crest in the air before coming back down. Once she was comfortable with that, she could beat them again and try to time it with the beginning of her downward motion so she could hover.

After a couple more rises into the air and drifting back down to the ground, she gave it a go.

It didn't take her long to get the hang of timing her wing beats to lift her back up slightly just as she started downwards, effectively letting her hover by bobbing up and down in the air by a couple feet. With some practice, she could definitely smooth it out.

Grinning at Leo, she touched back down again. "Well, I know I can hover now, which means I'm safe."

"Walking before you run," he mused. Then his voice took on an oddly inspiration tone. "Well, now it's time to fly."

Nervous but excited, Srida jumped as she beat her wings, this time intent on going up.

With each beat of her wings bringing her higher and higher into the air, the rush Srida felt only went up the further she drew from the ground. It wasn't just empowering or liberating--it was euphoric. The highest Srida had ever been in her life had been overlooking cliffs, or perhaps the fifth floor in a tower in the overworld. To watch the ground rapidly shrink down beneath her, to watch boulders become pebbles and Leo grow to the size of a mouse was so incredible that for a moment Srida truly forgot her predicament in the umbral plain. Her wings held the air like it was a solid tangible thing, the membrane that stretched between the fingers of the limbs pushing against it like it were water.

Only minutes before she'd been frightened to hover several feet off the ground, but now the way she held onto the wind, floating above the land seemed nothing short of trivial. Srida whooped in glee and continued to fly, beating her wings a few more times to pick up speed then settling into a glide. Tilting her body to the left, it was remarkably easy for her to pull into a sharp turn and then out of it again. She had been scared to do this? It felt nothing short of natural for this body! When she saw how far she'd flown from Leo in such a short time, it gave her a start. He was positively tiny in the distance! How fast was she going?!

Srida dropped into a slow descent, first by angling herself downwards, but then by flaring her wings more against the air when she started picking up more speed than she was comfortable with. It was only when she started nearing the ground and Leo again that she realized how fast she was going. By instinct she flared her wings aggressively and was almost in an upright position when she was done, coming to almost a dead stop fifty feet above the ground. From there she found it surprisingly easy to drift to the ground with only a couple more beats of her wings to keep her descent slow. When she landed not five feet from Leo, he was grinning at her.

"I don't think I've ever seen you with such a wide smile," he said, sounding genuinely happy for her.

Srida realized at that moment that she was grinning like a fool herself, and felt no compulsion to stop. Adrenaline was still racing through her and only amplifying the feeling of euphoria that had come when she'd been rising further and further into the air.

"It's incredible," she said breathlessly. "Nothing I've done before has even come close to that..."

"Flight is one of those things that doesn't really get old," Leo agreed, his own smile still wide. "Where I'm from we have some, uh, means that lets us fly as well. Artificial wings I guess."

"Wait, you've flown before?!" There was surprise and shock in Srida's voice. How did he live with it if he knew what he was missing?! Srida wasn't sure that she could ever live without this again.

He shrugged. "Several times. Of course I've never actually had wings like that..." one of the tentacles coming from his back poked one of her own wings playfully. "But these aren't bad either. I can wait until I get mine."

She looked at him earnestly. "I really don't want to go back to being a gorgon," she said, the disappointment in her voice not really cutting through the leftover euphoria from her flight. Srida had to go back up in the air. She couldn't stop now.

"Well it's certainly safer than this body, isn't it?" He gave her a sly grin as his lower right hand took her own, and then used his upper hand to gently run a claw from his index finger of the red skin of her wrist. There was no force behind it, but the natural weapon still left a faint white line on her skin, and sent a shiver down her spine.

"You're right," she said quietly, a little more sober now. "The gorgon's body is a lot safer."

The claw disappeared back into his finger and he looked a little guilty. "Well, I didn't mean to dampen your mood too much, but if you do want to escape, you can't be vulnerable to simple stuff like claws. But this is the only chance you're going to get for a few days. Get back up in the air!"

He released her hand and stepped clear of her, making a grand gesture for Srida to get back up in the sky. Grinning, she complied.

Once she was up in the air again, Srida found herself practicing maneuvers in the air just for the fun of it. She climbed high up until she was near the cavern roof, then dropped into a true dive and pulled out of it once she was moving at speeds that were downright frightening, each time a little closer to the ground. She found herself flying all the way to the cavern's ceiling and grabbing onto one of the stalactites, hanging onto the tip for a few moments before letting go and going to into free fall, then finally catching herself in the air once more. All the while she practiced this, Leo had taken off in a run. He was making his way back to Stillrock and a respectable pace, so Srida stayed in the same general vicinity as him, able to explore this way and that simply because of how fast it was to fly.

The journey took a little over an hour, before they neared territory where Srida grew worried about being seen in her current state. In that time, she had picked up flight like she'd been born with it, effortlessly twisting through the air with spins and dives, able to land on any tiny platform she could stand on, and even performing what Leo called a "hot landing," where she approached the ground rapidly and slowed to a stop the last moment before touching down.

That last one scared her a little bit and just for safeties sake, she decided it was probably best not to do that unless necessary, but it didn't stop her from practicing it one last time before she changed back into a gorgon however. Heading towards Leo in an almost vertical dive she pulled up last second with several furious beats of her wings that brought her to a stop only ten feet off the cave floor. Grinning, her feet touched down lightly and she folded her wings.

"You really like doing that, don't you?" Leo didn't seem to be chastising her over the dangerous maneuver however, in fact, he seemed to envy her.

"I get such a rush," she said breathlessly, knowing the expression of glee that occupied her face. "But that's the last time, I just-"

"It's important you know how to do it in case you need to," Leo finished for her, sounding completely understanding. "Entirely reasonable."

Srida nodded, glad he agreed. "I should probably change back now though," she sighed, more than just a little sad she had to give up her wings.

"Find a smaller cave in case there are prying eyes," Leo muttered, glancing around suspiciously.

"The guard doesn't come out this far," Srida started, but then saw his expression, "but I agree. Better not to leave clues."

She found herself looking around as well for the telltale small overhangs or holes in the wall that seemed to be so prevalent in the umbral plain. While in the process of looking, the nagging instincts of her body returned, surprising her. She hadn't even noticed that while flying, the constant lust that seemed to burn in her as a succubus had been extinguished by the euphoria of rushing through the air. Unfortunately now it was back stronger than ever, leaving her feeling extremely turned on to the point where it was distracting.

The succubus pursed her lips. Perhaps it would be good to change back into a gorgon.

"Over there looks like a good place," Leo said, pointing with a lower arm to an overhang that seemed to turn a corner as it went deeper into the stone wall. He glanced to Srida as though seeking her approval--strange, considering his normally authoritative demeanor--so she nodded.

Then he licked his lips with more nervousness than normal and spoke again. "About the hypnotic resistance..."

Right, Srida thought, annoyed, but trying to not let it show on her face. One part of her--the succubus part of her--was thrilled at the idea, and that annoyed Andreas. He couldn't shake the strange idea of having sex with a man, and hated that it sounded appealing in this body.

Instead of outright saying no, she bit her lip. She had a perfectly rational reason for putting this off.

"I did a lot of damage to the naga when I pulled the part out of its power web out," she said nervously. "I don't know if I can put something into yours without doing the same. I'd need to...experiment."

The displacer beast nodded slowly. "Of course." His tone was that of a man who'd been told of a minor setback, but there was also a lack of disappointment in his voice, which Srida noted. What was he thinking about this whole situation?

Perhaps she was overthinking it.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," she said curtly, perhaps a bit more so than she intended.

Several beats of her wings crossed the distance to the cave mouth in seconds, and she quickly slipped around the corner that was indeed inside.

Safely out of Leo's sight, the temptation to use her tail to relieve herself of her burning sexual desire grew much stronger. The tip was already at her thighs before she stopped herself, looking down between her legs scornfully. Srida's tail really was unique for a succubus, as thick as her leg at the base and around five feet long, slimming down to the thickness of her pinky finger at the tip. Most succubi only had tails as thick as their thumbs at the base, and tipped with the customary spade. Like theirs, Srida's was also completely prehensile, though it really was another full-fledged limb and not just a tool for balance. And she could use it to pleasure herself so effortlessly...

No. Not really thinking, Srida started the transformation back to a gorgon, and was immediately glad when the lust and the magic that came with being a succubus was the first to go. The fact that she hadn't just masturbated and left a very noticeable scent in the cave was a relief to her now sober mind.

From that point onward, it was already becoming textbook--her wings pulled into her back and vanished, legs and tail merged into one enormous serpentine lower body, and scales crept up and covered her upper body as well to some level or another. It was curious that the changes to her head came last, first with the tongue and fangs, the latter growing in and the former split in two and lengthened by a foot.

Her hairsnakes came last. Feeling her long jet-black hair clump and twist into semiautonomous living creatures atop her head was certainly strange, but the vision that each little snake gave her was invaluable. It only took a few seconds for Srida quickly remember just how much she liked being able to see everything around her at all times, and how it made her feel so much safer.

The once again gorgon glanced down at herself, content. Her once voluptuous figure was lean and athletic looking once more, and though her hips were still wide, the giant snake they turned into looked natural in their proportions. Of course they were wide, they needed to turn into a giant snake! Though she was incredibly disappointed by her now lack of wings, it felt nice to move with her serpentine form again. It had a certain grace and power that was backed up by her ridiculous weight, giving her body a physical presence she kind of liked.

Srida slithered from the cave and headed back to Leo, mildly annoyed when she realized the distance that she'd crossed in seconds with her wings now took about two minutes at a walking pace. Leo was waiting there for her, holding her top in one hand and casually tossing it to her when she drew close.

"Thanks," she said dryly, pulling it back on over her head. It was slightly tight as it was and when she was a succubus she couldn't even get her breasts in it. They'd just popped out when she'd transformed.

"Back to normal," Leo mused.

Srida looked down at herself again, though with the hairsnakes it wasn't really necessary. "Well the other body was certainly closer to being human, but you're right, this body feels safer."

Leo turned and started walking back towards Stillrock, leading the way on the beginnings of a trail through the sandy dirt that covered the ground in this region. "It suits you," he said, as though trying to reassure her. "The other body is obviously the peak of femininity, but your personality doesn't fit with it. The gorgon fits you, and it's refreshing."

That left Srida trying to puzzle out what he'd just said. Most people would take someone telling them they had the personality of a gorgon as quite the insult, but Leo hadn't sounded like he was throwing shade.

He was a soldier after all, she thought dryly. But he had been right in saying how her personality hadn't fit that of a succubus. They were all beautiful, and beautiful people got treated a certain way, which led to them acting...No, that's not really the case either.

It took Srida more than a few minutes of walking down the path in silence to realize he had been calling her tough.

***

They arrived in Stillrock about thirty minutes after Srida had changed back into a gorgon. They'd spent the last little while moving at a quick pace, and the last few minutes of that getting their story straight. They'd largely been doing their own thing but had crossed paths an hour or so ago and decided it'd be a good idea to head back to civilization. Leo liked roaming the outskirts after all, and Srida just valued her alone time. Both truths, but neither was the entire thing.

They passed the guards at the main entrance tunnel without any incident, getting friendly nods and a smattering of small talk, then continued onwards towards the kitchen to get another meal of rockfruit. The flight from earlier had worked up quite the appetite from her. Leo momentarily broke off to head back to his own little cave, apparently having left some bowls there and needing to return them to the pile. They were all carved from stone, and while not necessarily rare, it still took someone a couple hours to make one so the kitchen didn't like people holding onto them. They were in limited supply.

It was when Srida entered the kitchen that for the first time since entering the umbral plane, things went truly, seriously wrong.

She wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings, her hairsnakes were obviously taking everything in, but her mind wasn't doing anything with what she saw. So focused on getting to the food, she didn't notice the imp in the corner until he screeched.

"That's her! That's the warlock!"

Srida's head snapped around instantly, already having seen the little imp point directly at her while standing on his seat. It took a moment to register what she was looking at, but then it all came to her in a flood. She had seen that face before. It was the imp that had seen her enter the umbral plain and kill the gorgon. And the wings. It had been the imp she and Leo had seen flying away from them earlier.

A string of expletives ran through Srida's mind as she realized just how dire her situation had suddenly gotten. A cursory glance told her Gowris and two other members of the guard were in the room, which had falling into utter silence. All eyes were either on her or the imp.

Srida made her decision while the echoes of the imp's cries were still ringing over the stone. She had hardly been able to take out a feral naga on her own. She had no chance against all these trained solders, even if she could cast and was willing to kill them. If she started throwing lethal force around, they would undoubtably retaliate. But she also knew the mythos that surrounded warlocks down in the umbral plain. None of it was good, and they were generally considered second to only the umbral scourge himself in terms of danger.

In literally the blink of an eye, Srida was out the door. Her serpentine body exploded into motion and got her outside of the kitchen and she immediately forced the transformation to start. There was only one way out: over the lava lake. By the time the next person was out the door--a lesser devil she didn't recognize, Srida was already running on two legs and her wings growing in. By reflex she had grabbed a practice spear as she shot out the building, the ball on the end of it ready to ward off anyone who came at her.

By the time two more people were outside the kitchen and anyone outside had more than a confused look on their face, Srida was in the air.

_" Srida!"_The bellow echoed through the air with even more authority than she could have imagined from Gowris. When she looked back he was also climbing into the air on his own wings, and growing in size. He only did that when he was ready to fight. Panicked thoughts leapt through her mind. She knew he could easily grow to triple his current size with how powerful he was, and catching her in the air would be effortless for him.

Desperately pulling on some of her power, Srida fixed a rune in her mind. A none lethal impact spell--very simple and taught to all students as a method of self-defense. Designed to knock assailants back from the caster, it had a wide spread and didn't really hurt to be hit by, and mostly threw the victim off balance.

Srida fueled it with the power from the demon she'd killed several days passed and launched it at Gowris. The spell had so much power it cracked like thunder in the air and blasted the dragonborn back so aggressively he actually went tumbling downward like he'd been hit by a sack of bricks.

Thankfully he caught himself in the air before he hit the ground, but he didn't take the hint and started after her again.

Srida had to launch the spell at him three more times before he realized he wasn't going to be able to catch her--and probably realized she was deliberately using non-lethal force. When he did let up, she was far above the lava lake and Stillrock was a small blob in the distance.

That's when it really started to sink in what had just happened.

It settled over her like a slow shock, the realization that she couldn't go back there, and Srida found herself flying numbly after some time. She hadn't appreciated it at the time, but now she was starting to realize just how much they had provided her.

Food, shelter, safety, training, community...the list went on.

All of that, gone.

That was when the dread started to set in.

"I'm screwed," she whispered to herself, voice lost in the wind of her flight.

Perhaps, perhaps not. She was a warlock after all.

I should have tried to talk it out, lie-

No. That wouldn't have worked. Or if it had, then what? Suspicion? And if they hadn't bought it, I never would have gotten out. I only had those few seconds to escape.

Her thoughts chased themselves in circles and it was only when land came into sight on the other side of the lava lake that she started to shake herself out of it--or bottled it up for the time being.

The disciplined, work focused part of her mind took over.

She needed food. She needed shelter.

She needed to survive.

End of Part One