Chapter 9: 9: Choices (Part 1)

Laptops and modern amenities aside, this Neth’lareese place possessed an incredible assortment of familiar technology I could relate to that I wouldn’t have expected to see from a place I’d always thought of as hell. Aside from the arena itself which appeared ancient yet well-kept, the rest of the buildings surrounding it were practical by design. There was even a small stall-like building next to the arena that offered odd trinkets looking like stylized caricatures of various creatures. The characters being sold were popular arena contestants according to the multilingual signage I happened to notice hanging above the storefront’s window. I didn’t get much time to gawk though because Lulu had a firm hold on my hand.

“Do we have to be in such a hurry?” I complained, my voice straining while I attempted to keep my balance. Despite my still injured leg, Lulu seemed intent on vacating the arena grounds and its immediate vicinity as hastily as possible. She kept up her own pace and I was simply being taken along for the ride. The best I could do to keep up with her was to grit my teeth and hobble through the jarring pain piercing up from my right leg. I’d been healed to some degree and I was royally grateful to whoever it was who’d been committed to my recovery. My knee seemed to be in good repair compared to when Kregnok had crushed it, but the healer hadn’t completely restored the broken bones in my leg.

“My, my little bubble, it seems you’re in quite the big rush, and poor Lyssa looks to be suffering rather excruciatingly right now as a result. Mightn’t you take it a bit easier on her after such a vicious matchup in the arena? Mayv’lar wasn’t able to fully restore her to health after all.” A voice came from behind us. In the brief encounter we’d had earlier, I recognized the concerned tones belonged to Zavis.

Lulu paused her movement and let out a deep sigh but continued to hold fast to my hand. Walking hadn’t been this difficult since I’d sprained my ankle back in my elementary school days so I welcomed the reprieve despite however brief it might end up being. “Lulu and Lyssa are going to the baths so Zavis doesn’t need to worry.” I happened to pick up on subtle underlying tones that suggested Lulu didn’t want to have Zavis accompanying us.

“What a coincidence, Mayv’lar and myself were just headed there ourselves! Why don’t we all go together then?” Mocking tones of excitement rang out and I could hear the clap of hands coming together.

Turning back, I observed another was beside Zavis. Unlike Lulu, Zavis, or myself, this fourth member of our forced get-together had a less human appearance. Though I couldn’t see his face through the white veil he wore, the parts of him I could see were far from what I’d expected. His body was covered in a thin gray-brown fur and he had three-fingered hands. The middle finger of each hand were both abnormally long and each also looked to have about seven unique joints.

A pensive sigh escaped Lulu and she seemed to submit to the new company. No longer rushing her pace meant I didn’t need to suffer nearly as much from the jarring and painful forces acting on my right leg with each step I took. I still hobbled but unlike Lulu, I gratefully welcomed Zavis and Mayv’lar’s presence, largely because of the slower pace we now took.

The four of us walked the entire way to the bathhouse in awkward silence. Lulu kept to herself, tugging at my arm every so often whenever she noticed me looking back to see if Zavis and Mayv’lar were still actually behind us. The two of them moved so eerily silently it felt unnerving enough for me to have to keep checking.

“We’re here.” I’d expected Zavis be the one to cut through the strange silence between the four of us but surprisingly Mayv’lar had been the one to chime in.

“Woah, this place is huge!” I exclaimed, taking in the ornately decorated structure we’d stopped in front of. Swirling gold painted designs abstractly mingled between solid green and red bases all across the building’s outer surface. The lack of windows above the obvious ground floor suggested that the double roofed bathhouse contained no actual upper levels. While I stood there gawking at the abstract design of the building, Zavis and Mayv’lar passed in front of me.

“It is a pretty impressive structure the first couple of times you see it.” Mayv’lar commented, pausing beside me to gaze at the building himself. “Even now I still find it difficult to comprehend this establishment having been constructed by goblins…”

“Wait… goblins built this place!?” I couldn’t contain my astonishment, nor my disbelief at what Mayv’lar had just said. I’d read plenty of fantasy novels that included goblins and none ever attested to them being able to bring this sort of structure into existence. From what I understood, goblins were little green monsters with big ears and long noses that liked to kidnap women and rape them… why would anyone want to trust goblins with a place like this?

“Come.” Lulu tugged at my hand, eagerly urging me to go inside.

The inside of the building left me equally impressed by its design. The entryway into the bathhouse greeted me with a high vaulted ceiling that easily measured two regular stories in height. Long dragon-like figures arched around the ceiling’s perimeter, connecting to an enormous crystal chandelier that hung down from the middle of the semicircular reception room.

“Welcome to Pok-Nok’s bathhouse.” A gruff female voice rang out. Despite the tone, her voice oddly managed to fill the room with an alluring tone. My eyes drew towards the reception desk and my jaw nearly dropped to the floor at what I saw. It was a female goblin, having the telltale long nose and pointed ears each measuring the full width of the goblin’s face. But unlike my fantasy expectations, this goblin’s skin possessed an almost human color to it. Cycling back a moment, the realization of a female goblin actually existing had me thoroughly scratching my head. Weren’t goblins all supposed to be male? “Something wrong?” The female goblin asked, pointedly staring in my direction.

“Ah! N-no! Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare.” I bowed apologetically.

“No need. Females like myself aren’t very common but we do exist.” The female goblin threw me a smile and winked. “Name’s Pok, and I’m your hostess while Nok is out, and probably for the rest of the day since he’s at a bar getting sloshed that good for nothing lout…”

“Thanks for having us.” I politely replied.

Lulu stepped up to the reception desk and pulled out a bag of coins I couldn’t recall her having before. “Lulu pays for two. The guys can pay for themselves.” Extracting two silver coins from the bag, Lulu placed them on the counter.

Pok pulled out a device resembling a magnifying glass and passed it between her eye and the coins. “Looks good. Enjoy your stay. Just follow the rules and I won’t be forced to kick you out before your time is up.”

“There are rules?” I asked, looking around to see if there was a board somewhere that listed them. I couldn’t see anything posted anywhere…

“Two rules.” Pok held up two fingers. “One, do not agitate or attempt to anger the imps and two, sexual acts of any kind are not allowed in any of the bathhouse facilities. Breaking either rule even as a joke will earn you a lifetime ban from Pok-Nok’s Bathhouse.”

“I see… Those rules seem easy enough to abide by.” I noted, following Lulu into the back when Pok opened a painted wooden gate to allow us through.

“I sure hope so. Don’t go and be like the incubi from last week.” Pok responded, accepting silver coins from Zavis and Mayv’lar before allowing them through the gate as well.

I decided against asking about the supposed incubi incident. A part of me was curious, but seeing as I was going into those same baths right now, I definitely did not want to know about it…

 

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“These are… communal baths?” My features flushed at the singular door leading into the bathing area. There were no male vs female entrances to be seen, just the one singular swinging door that led into a changing room. Lining the wall in front of the door were a multitude of receptacles with signs above each one reading:

 

A clean body is a naked body.

Leave all belongings here.

Birthday suits only beyond this point.

 

“Indeed they are, what exactly were you expecting this to be?” Zavis offered me a quizzical expression.

“I dunno, a segregated bath?” I shrugged, watching Lulu step up and willingly become the first to offer her attire to the greedy receptacle units. Pulling her arms into the dress she wore, Lulu pushed the black clothing up and over her head, letting her excessively long hair guide it to the floor at her feet. My face flushed a shade of pink at the sight of Lulu’s naked body and I averted my eyes. How could she strip like that without a care about three guys standing nearby who could be watching her?

“That’s an unusually human thing to suggest.” Mayv’lar commented.

“Well sorry for sounding human! I-it was just a suggestion!” I hastily retorted. Stepping up to one of the receptacles, I promptly removed the tattered shirt I wore. My heart was suddenly racing as I attempted to cover my naivety over not knowing what demons considered to be normal. I didn’t know the first thing about acting like a demon, but I guess in the grand scheme of things demons didn’t exactly care about genders… I guess that was why Lulu didn’t appear phased by her own nudity. The only demons I’d seen who looked even remotely like humans were Lyssa whom I currently possessed, Lulu, and now Zavis. It did make me wonder why there were so few of us who possessed largely humanoid forms when practically every other demon had more twisted shapes and sizes…

Bunching up the shirt I looked to the receptacle and paused, spent a moment searching to figure out how I was supposed to use it, then cautiously looked to Lulu. “How do we use these things?” I asked, pointing to the receptacle with one hand while holding the shirt up for her to see in the other.

“Oh…” Lulu stared blankly at me for a moment. “Like this.” Crouching down onto her knees, Lulu gathered up the dress she’d shed and pulled the rest of her hair away from it. Standing again, she placed her hand on top of the receptacle and spoke her name. When Lulu spoke her name a green bar of light appeared on the previously black surface above where her hand lay. The light passed under her hand, moving to the base of her palm before disappearing. “These machines read your biometric data and allow you to use them to safeguard your stuff from thieves.” Lulu demonstrated by removing her hand. As soon as she did, a spiral indentation appeared on the receptacle’s top, which then retracted away from the middle until a perfectly circular hole replaced the once solid panel. Black cloth lazily dropped into the receiving hole and I heard an audible clink come from the bag of coins she’d revealed earlier. To conclude her demonstration, Lulu backed away from the machine and the open hole sealed itself once more.

So register yourself with the machine and then it detects whether your physical presence is near enough to warrant unlocking itself… Interesting. Not even my world had this sort of technology… It felt strangely sci-fi, and not something I’d expected from a world full of demons. Then again I’d seen a multitude of modern conveniences since arriving here in Lyssa’s body so I don’t know why I felt so surprised to be seeing these machines.

Placing my free hand on the receptacle I spoke my name. Or rather I spoke Lyssa’s name… The same green light appeared and scanned my hand before opening up to receive my items. Tossing the shirt inside the receiving machine, I then proceeded to remove the shorts I wore. Stretching the band that held the shorts in place around my now feminine hips, I lowered the shorts enough to let them drop to the floor before bending over to pick them up.

“It’s surprising to think that you’ve spent the last twelve hundred years fighting in that arena and yet when it comes to modern appliances like these security terminals, you lack any knowledge about them...” Zavis’ spoke.

His voice startled me. I hadn’t expected to hear him coming from right behind me. I was abruptly reminded about how I now possessed a female body with female private parts. Hastily I crouched down onto my knees, wincing from the pain that shot up from my injured leg. It was for a good cause though, I needed to hide my careless exposure from Zavis. “W-why is that surprising?” I stammered, my face flushed. I waited a brief moment for the pain to subside before returning to my feet, whereupon I promptly plopped my shorts into the security machine and stepped back. It took me a moment longer to regain my emotional composure. Instead of continuing to be aware of my nakedness however, I dwelled on the part where Zavis mentioned Lyssa being twelve hundred years old!

“I suppose it’s not all that surprising. But wouldn’t you get bored of fighting in the same ring and similar opponents all the time. You used to be far more ambitious back in the day…” Zavis’ words held a hint of inquiry to them. Was he suspicious of me? Honestly it didn’t matter. There was no way in hell I would ever set foot back in that arena ever again!

“Yeah, I guess, but I won’t be fighting anymore so it’s not like it matters anyway.” I shrugged.

“Won’t be fighting?” Both Zavis and Mayv’lar simultaneously resonated together in shocked surprise.

“Why should I keep fighting if it’s boring?” I responded, turning to give the two my full attention. I decided to use their own words to back my portrayed decision. It was probably best not to tell them that my real reason had been because I was deeply afraid for my own life and didn’t want to risk it again by needlessly fighting. Surprisingly Zavis had managed to undress himself in record time. With as much professional looking clothing he’d been wearing I hadn’t expected him to be done changing into his birthday suit as fast as Lulu or myself. His humanoid body was also quite toned. Lyssa’s body possessed a good smooth muscular tone but Zavis’ looked like it belonged to a man who aimed to shape his body while maintaining a slim form. Conveniently Lulu stood between myself and Zavis, preventing me from seeing all of him. She held a concerned look on her face.

“Enough talking. Lulu wants to bathe with Lyssa, now.” Her hands turned me aside and started pushing me away from Zavis and towards the bathing room’s entrance.

I couldn’t ignore Lulu’s hands as they pressed against the bare flesh of my back. It drew me into realizing that this, like everything else that’d happened in the last twenty-four hours, would be a strange new experience for me. I was used to communal bathing with other people of the same biological gender as myself. But those experiences were all done while wearing swimwear. This would be my very first time taking a bath with people of both genders while being completely naked…

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