Illusions of Grandeur - Chapter 1

Story by mizor4 on SoFurry

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#1 of Illusions of Grandeur

After living a hedonistic life away from civilization, Lace decides to risk living in a nearby city in search of something more.


Lace tried to relax, to let the familiar fog of Salazzle's scent suppress her thoughts. Even the enthusiastic efforts of one of Salazzle's harem, a small amorous lizard with its snout buried between her thighs, left her more anxious than satisfied.

Despite being a Zoroark and incompatible, the affectionate Salandit always seemed happy to spend time with her when unable to attend their true mistress. Not that she didn't enjoy it, but today she let her Salandit companion lap at her sex more out of acceptance than desire.

Sunlight filtered through the large gaps in the forest canopy which let the small meadow thrive, a rocky outcrop holding the trees at bay and creating one of Salazzle's favorite basking spots. Salazzle idly toyed with one of her Salandit nearby, trailing a finger down the smaller lizard's belly and teasingly avoiding his exposed shafts.

Another Salandit made soft ecstatic noises while mating his mistress. Salazzle's long tail curled around him, holding him tight against her willowy body, black scales outlining her deep violet underbelly and the pink licks of flame accenting it. Lace always admired her enticing beauty. Several other Salandit surrounded her in various states of audacity, some watching hungrily from the periphery, others daring enough to approach and grind themselves against a leg or shoulder. Occasionally Salazzle turned to grace one of them with a fond lick.

Lace whined quietly before she could stop herself.

"Just go already," Salazzle said, her voice lazily content but tinged with impatience.

"I can't," she replied, beginning what had become an almost daily ritual. An overwhelming sense of deja vu prevented her from reexplaining the reasons why. Instead she growled in frustration.

Salazzle took out her own annoyance on the Salandit she'd been teasing, pulling him close, her long fingers wrapping the smaller lizard's flame accented back, and taking one of his shafts into her mouth. Salandit squeaked in pleasure, curling around her long muzzle and shivering in blissful relief. She must have been teasing him for some time.

Salazzle licked her lips. "Will it help if I force you to leave?" She let her Salandit fall limply to the grass in a happily twitching heap. "Because I'm about ready to drug you into a stupor, but I think you've spent too long around me for that to work any longer, and it will make this lot even more of a handful." She crooked a finger towards a Salandit who jealously watched his satisfied friend.

Lace knew Salazzle was only trying to help. Her savior and adoptive mother proved a ferocious and devoted guardian despite a devoutly hedonistic existence. But Lace hated distracting from Salazzle's pleasures, especially after everything Salazzle had done for her.

"Tomorrow," Lace decided aloud. "In the morning."

Salazzle merely rolled her eyes and snatched a passing Salandit to occupy idle hands. The obvious doubt and dismissal hardened Lace's resolve. She would leave tomorrow, needed to. But for one last warm afternoon, she could indulge in simple pleasures.

Lace let her head fall to the side, only to find a Salandit sunning itself next to her. He leapt up at the sudden attention and scrambled to mount her muzzle. His hind legs positioned his pelvis right up against her snout, hemipenes already emerging from his slit and letting a saccharine musk nearly overpower Salazzle's pervasive pheromone cloud.

She nuzzled against his belly in amused resignation before choosing a shaft to run her tongue along. The others must have sensed her acceptance, and while she couldn't see much beyond Salandit's gray scaled belly, she quickly found one of her paws filled with the warm slick heat of another Salandit's arousal. Despite their small size, each smooth scaled body radiated a dizzying heat that amplified their intoxicating scents, ceating powerfully influential cocktail.

Lace let it consume her, time distorting into a pleasurable blur. The slow burn of Salandit's oral affection disappeared, and she whined. Tiny claws pricked at her belly, and a gentle pressure spread her plump teardrop lips, an intense heat suffusing into her belly.

She would leave. The thought drifted somewhere near the fringes of consciousness as if in protest of her current situation. A sudden liquid heat oozed across her cheek, soaking into her fur and neck. Only then did she notice the way Salandit's body quivered against her, claws prickling the back of her head. She'd miss the adorable little creatures.

The first barely slumped out of the way before another moved into to lap at her sodden fur before presenting himself for similar treatment. Lace let her eyes drift shut to focus on the maelstrom of sensation in and around her body, the heat, the very air she breathed sending heavy reverberating waves of delight through her belly and limbs and brain. The Salandit between her thighs picked up an erratic pace, his smooth hips pressing insistently against her plush lips, his other shaft relegated to the crook of her leg.

Another spurt of heat washed across her paw, pooling against her wrist, the bitter scent of cum adding a welcome contrast to the cloying sweetness of Salazzle and her harem. Feeling their seed paint and permeate her sent Lace over the edge, and her body writhed in the first of doubtless many thought blanking orgasms.

Later that evening when the sun flirted with the horizon, Lace retreated to a nearby stream to try and clean herself. Fur retained cum far more effectively than scales, and she had to scrub at the sticky remnants of her afternoon dalliances. She didn't mind though, the simple act of grooming herself, and a reprieve from Salazzle's intoxicating presence let her think clearly.

She didn't have enough possessions to need to decide what to bring. Everything she owned fit neatly into a small pack. The large town lay about three days to the south east, and she vaguely remembered the way, having made the trip once before, to the outskirts of it anyway.

The icy water didn't move quickly at this part of the stream, leaving her soft fur to drift weightlessly in the gentle currents around her legs. Usually she kept her long mane wrapped around her neck, but her head needed just as much of a cleanse as everything else. After significant effort, she dragged herself back onto the shore looking like some kind of emaciated creature, fur clinging to her in a way that left her reflection in the rippling water grotesque. Even now, alone and waterlogged, she maintained the illusion that hid the scars covering the right side of her face.

Ever since she could remember, it had just been her and Salazzle. And her harem of course, but they never seemed like a crowd, not like she'd seen in town - dozens, maybe hundreds all milling about, congregating, buying and selling things. She hadn't bothered to get a closer look than that, purchased her basic alchemy supplies and fled back into the forest. This time, she'd be trying to join that chaos.

It took a few hours to dry without the sun's help, and Lace still returned to Salazzle's cave damp and disheveled. Salazzle lay at the center of her harem, all slumbering peacefully, one of the rare times no one engaged in mating or other sexual indulgances, though she smiled at a Salandit fully erect even in sleep, one of his shafts leaving a glistening trail across his belly.

Once again enclosed with their pheromone influence, the spark of desire flared to life like a buried coal exposed to the air. Lace found it easy enough to ignore and shimmied her way into the pile of lizards, their bodies warm and comforting, some of displaced Salandit crawling back atop her once she settled, their heat turning the air humid. She lay her head against Salazzle's hip, and received a fond stroke along her cheek in return. Lace slept easily.

***

A pleasant, full sensation woke Lace then next morning. One of the Salandit she favored yesterday penetrated her, but his hips barely moved, instead holding himself inside her, perhaps in a questionable attempt to not wake her. She rolled her eyes and placed a hand against his back, drawing him just that extra bit deeper.

"Fine," she whispered, "but hurry up." Her partner chirped happily and buried his face against her fuzzy belly before taking her in earnest. Lace couldn't deny that it helped soften the nervous edge from her thoughts, but she couldn't let herself grow lost in their affection. Again.

A thick blossoming heat seeped deeper into her belly a short time later, Salandit's cock twitching happily, and Lace stroked his head until she felt him withdraw. An eager snout slipped in to take the first Salandit's place, serpentine tongue searching for the thick cum slowly seeping towards her entrance, but she gently pushed him away and stood, biting her lip in determination.

Her small satchel and few belonging lay in a neat pile inside a crevice at the rear of the cave. She retrieved the river-smoothed chunk of jade one of the Salandit had gifted her. Lace had secured the stone in a simple leather strap. Normally she had no use for jewelry, but she wrapped the stone around her wrist and quickly finished stuffing everything else into her pack. Then, far more carefully, she wrapped the six glass vials in a thick soft cloth to protect them, her greatest achievement and the real reason she planned to visit the town. When she turned back towards the entrance, Salazzle stood watching her with soft lavender eyes.

"So you really are going?" An amused smile curled her lips.

Lace drew in a deep breath, puffing up her chest. "Yes. You're right. I've been putting this off too long."

"Of course I'm right." Salazzle swooped forward and drew Lace into a fierce hug against her fiery body. The syrupy sweet haze corrupted Lace's senses, and she took one last deep breath of the infections aroma that had grown to represent not only pleasure but a sense of belonging.

"I'll miss you," Lace whispered in a small voice.

"You're always welcome here." Salazzle nipped Lace's twitching ear. "But you'll find what you're looking for. Just think of us once in a while, perhaps when in the embrace of a particularly talented lover." Lace laughed and wiped her eye on Salazzle's shoulder. Salazzle playfully shoved her towards the cave entrance. "Go build your own harem."

So for the next day, Lace trudged through the sparse untouched wilds, her ability to create illusions making it easy to travel undetected, and she made no effort to approach any other pokemon she spied from a distance. Practicing her illusions kept her occupied for the most part, and she created a little miniature of herself to try out new changes.

Sometimes she'd alter her appearance for the Salandit's, or her own, amusement. She liked to look pretty, and she experimented with subtle changes, making her red markings a touch more vibrant, how the light played across her flowing mane as if it were smoldering, a bit more sheen to her smokey gray fur, the blacks blacker, the fluffy bits fluffier. Nothing so obviously fantastic that it defied reality, but enough to draw a second look.

By the time she stumbled across the wide river that marked where she needed to turn south, she'd settled on an appearance. The townspeople probably saw more people in a day than she had in her life, but hopefully they found her as alluring as he hoped.

Dusk of her third day of traveling fell before she made out a field of flickering lights spreading alongside the river. It seemed even larger than she remembered. Far larger. Nerves battled with a more general ache of exhaustion and hunger. She foraged a bit during her trek, but pushed hard to arrive before full dark.

Not that she needed the cover of night to hide, but fewer people walked about, but not so few as to clearly mark her an outsider if she had to reveal herself. The town had grown, maybe closer to what stories described as a city. Several stone buildings two or three stories high marked street corners, and strange towering contraptions flanked a dock built along the wide river. Lace slunk along the streets, trying to ignore the stench of filth and so many bodies all packed together. An unnatural sulfurous smell lingered in the air, faint enough she couldn't tell where it came from.

Her weary limbs demanded food and a place to sleep. Now that she crept through the maze of buildings and strange sights, she regret not taking the time to feed herself and approach in the morning. She didn't have any money, and those who congregated in large groups like this had a reputation for being stingy when they weren't openly hostile to outsiders.

Not that she minded sleeping out in the open normally, but in such a strange place - her fur prickled at the thought of trying to rest while so exposed. One night on an empty stomach wouldn't kill her, but it wouldn't leave her in a very good mood either.

Lace weighed her options when she noticed the first of the strange creatures. A group of three bipedal beings walked closely together, each of them leering into the shadows between hushed conversation. They wore strange colorful fabric over their bodies, but uncovered arms and legs had no fur, neither did their heads except for the very top.

Lace gawked at them. The only thing that came close to such an odd looking creature were some of the stories she'd heard of humans. But that didn't make sense. Humans lived very, very far away and in stories. This had been a pokemon settlement. She had seen pokemon walking the streets too. Had they joined with the humans?

Somehow, Lace felt even more alone, and no amount of wondering would lead her to an explanation without far more information about what was going on here. Humans didn't have claws or even powers, at least in any of the stories she heard, but they were always dangerous in a nebulous kind of way. Coming here had been a mistake.

The city had a hidden design to it, pockets of activity interspersed with several streets leaving her in solitude. Even on the deserted streets Lace stuck to the shadows. Illusionary cloak or not, all the buildings and windows left her surrounded by convenient vantages to spy from. It made her fur bristle, and she nearly stumbled more than once on the uneven stones that paved the street while trying to look in six directions at once.

Lace almost turned back for the forest, but even dusk's final glow began to fade, and her feet hurt, and- A low growl let out the tiniest fraction of anxiety and exhaustion. She needed- The alchemist! How had she not thought of him first? If anyone here would be willing to help her, it would be him. She just had to remember where he lived.

When she visited a few years ago, the small home he ran his alchemy shop from lingered near the edge of the town, close to the edge of the forest. The city now extended far further from the river bank than it had, treeline cut back to accommodate, but she wandered in the direction closest to her memory of the place.

Nearer the outskirts, fewer lights and people left the packed dirt streets dark and silent and foreboding, as if even the boxy, towering buildings and empty windows knew she didn't belong. Once the houses started to spread out instead of crowding along too perfect lines, she knew she was getting closer, smaller wooden structures replacing those of stone.

Lace almost gave up, looking more for a secluded spot to curl up than the alchemist's home, when she found a neat building encircled by a large herb garden. The fresh, pungent scents of too many different aromatic plants made her nose itch, but she far preferred it to the unwashed stench of the city.

Light glowed faintly around the door, but cloth covered the windows preventing her from peeking inside. It had to be him. Her weary body demanded it. Lace cautiously approached the door and knocked. Nothing happened immediately, though she sensed motion from the other side.

Then a hesitant voice spoke, though the door didn't open. "Is someone there?"

"Sorry to bother you, but you're the Serperior alchemist, right?" Lace fidgeted, staring at the rough wooden door and ready to flee if she misjudged.

After a moment's pause, the door creaked open, a large red eye peering out from the warm crack of light. "Is someone injured?" he asked.

Relief washed over Lace. Her first success since arriving in this strange city. She forced her face into a smile that didn't bare her fangs. The illusion that enhanced her features still cloaked her. "I bought some supplies from you once a few years ago." Her ears twitched beneath his unblinking scrutiny. "I was hoping I could ask for your help." She winced but lack of sleep and food left her mind slow and too grumpy for tact.

A dexterous vine opened the door the rest of the way, Serperior's long body wound in a way to block the door if she tried to rush past. His proud head tilted down to peer at Lace. "You're that strange pokemon that could create tricks," he said.

"You remember!" Lace couldn't help but laugh. She'd made an illusion of the two of them play fighting during her previous visit. Her humor faded quickly though. "I saw the humans here and- I don't have anywhere to sleep." Her eyes dropped to the wooden floor of Serperior's home, the boards worn smooth from years of his serpentine body sliding across them. "You were kind to me."

Serperior sighed. "Come in." His body uncoiled and he moved to let her slip inside before closing the door.

Biting her lip, she admitted, "I don't have any money."

He snorted. "You didn't have any money last time you were here either."

"I can help you with, um, something, though. If you need help with anything." Lace still clutched her bag close to her side. Did she tell him about her concoction? Perhaps she should find out more before offering her only real asset. If that didn't interest him, she had nothing.

The entirety of the main room displayed devotion to his craft. A large clean workbench stood in front of the largest window and held a number of delicate glass instruments and two mortar and pestles. Tall shelves lined the walls containing all manner of jarred and dried herbs, mosses, filled vials, and cloth packets. A fresh pungent scent filled the air with too many unfamiliar plants for her to pick out any individual one she recognized as they all mingled together. A smaller shelf and table on the opposite side of the room held far more mundane appliances, and food that left Lace's mouth watering.

Serperior already made his way towards a crackling hearth. "We can worry about it tomorrow," he said and pulled a kettle away from the fire. A moment later he extended a steaming cup of fragrant liquid towards her with a vine, another wiry appendage holding a cup of his own.

Lace accepted it awkwardly, her large claws not used to handling such a delicate container, and the thought of breaking it after he offered to help left her nearly shaking hard enough to spill its contents. The warm drink had a slight bitterness that made her appreciate the sweet floral aftertaste that much more, and heat suffused her chest, relaxing some of her fatigue. The refreshed energy only left her more anxious however, the silence stretching, Serperior watching her with pensive red eyes as he sipped his own tea.

Lace didn't know what to say, but the way Serperior watched her left her feeling inadequate, like she were supposed to do something. "Thanks," she offered in a small voice.

Serperior's expression didn't change. "Why have you come back to Vitend? Are you here for supplies?"

Of all the things she didn't want to think about, that ranked pretty highly, and her shoulder slumped. Lace cradled the comforting heat of her cup in both hands. "I don't know," she admitted. "I thought I wanted more than living in the forest, maybe see why so many lived in a place like this." She perked up. "I made something! A mixture using the tools you sold me. I brought some."

Serperior raised an eyebrow. "Medicine?" He leaned in closer, and Lace had to suppress the urge to reach for her bag.

"I - don't think so." She'd never really known what to call it. "I can show you-"

His expression grew skeptical at her response and he waved a vine dismissively. "Plenty of time for that tomorrow. It is already late and you look half ready to tip over."

Lace grimaced but didn't argue. For a moment she thought he'd be excited to hear about her creation, but he probably knew far more about alchemy than she ever would. A heavy sigh deflated her chest. "Why are there humans here?"

Serperior's tail flicked, and he glanced towards one of his large shelves of her jars. "That too is perhaps a better topic for later. It's been complicated, and I doubt anyone but they know their true reasons." He examined her again, looming - not in a threatening way, but one that left her feeling like prey nonetheless. "Are you hungry?"

Lace almost dropped her cup. "Yes!"

Serperior shook his head but let his vines retrieve a large wooden bowl filled with an assortment of plump berries - red and blue and rich purple. Lace's eyes widened and ate three without tasting them before noticing the way Serperior watched her. Embarrassment warmed her cheeks, and she licked sweet juice from her muzzle before forcing herself to slow and savor the juicy flesh. The final berry tempted her sticky claws, and she shot Serperior a furtive glance before reluctantly leaning away from the nearly empty bowl.

Lace yawned. "They were very good."

Serperior's verdant green scales glinted in the sputtering firelight, his yellow markings appearing a deep gold, eyes large and ruby. "You can sleep near the hearth if you like."

She would like that, and crawled towards the glowing coals. With a full belly, the last of her borrowed energy failed, and her eyes refused to remain open. Lace curled around her satchel, hugging it close to her belly with her back to the soothing embers. "Why help me?" she asked, but fell asleep before he could reply.