Chapter 109: Chapter 105: Those Whom Death Parted

Liam set the deer he was holding down, frowning at the city gate in front of him. It was closed, which was unusual; there was still plenty of time before nightfall, and the guards hadn’t given notice that the gate was going to close early when he left. Adam was on duty at that time, and he was normally pretty diligent about this sort of thing.

“Excuse me!” Liam called out. “Why are the gates closed?!”

An oddly familiar woman emerged from the guard post. “Sorry, but gates are –” She cut off as she caught sight of Liam. “Liam!” She exclaimed. “Oh, thank goodness, we’ve been looking for you.”

Liam frowned. “Not to sound rude, but do I know you?”

“I’ll explain once you’re inside.” The woman said. “Sit tight for a second, I’ll get the gates open.” She headed back into the guard post, and a moment later the gates began to raise. Once the gates had gotten high enough for a person to pass through, they stopped raising, and the woman peeked her head out of the guardhouse. “Come in, and leave the deer there.” She instructed. “We’ll have someone take care of it.”

Still frowning, Liam ducked under the gates and walked into the guardhouse. “Why is the guard looking for me?” He asked. “I don’t recall doing anything wrong.”

Once he was fully inside, the woman shut the door and lowered the bar. “Orders from the top.” She said. “As for who I am…I’m Adam, or was this morning.”

“Say that again?” Liam said, taken aback.

“This morning I was Adam, then they converted me and now I’m Ada.” Ada said calmly. “And the Queen needs to see you.”

“What’s conversion, and why does Queen Titania need me? I don’t follow.” Liam replied, mentally preparing for a fight. Whatever was happening wasn’t normal, and he didn’t trust this Ada in the slightest.

“That will be all, thank you, Ada.” Another woman said, walking into the room confidently. “Mr. Smith, we’re going to be taking you to meet the Queen immediately.”

“Why does Queen Titania need me?” Liam repeated. “You’ll have to forgive me for being skeptical, but I’ve never even met a noble, much less a royal; why would the Queen herself take an interest in me?”

The woman snorted. “Duchess Titania does not need you, Liam.” She said. “All will be made clear once you meet the Queen, but until then we’ve been given orders to stay quiet.”

Duchess Titania? Whatever the case, this situation was setting off all sorts of alarms in Liam’s mind. He made a snap decision, turning and using all of his strength to leverage the door’s bar up and open it. He didn’t get very far, the confident woman casting a spell before the bar was even half lifted. In response, a rope darted through the air, grabbing him and deftly tying him up.

The woman, already holding the other end of the rope, walked up to him. “This is not negotiable.” She said, grabbing him and slinging him over her shoulder like he weighed nothing at all. “Don’t struggle, you’re only going to injure yourself if you do.”

She lifted the bar with one hand and pushed the door open, then ran out the door and began to barrel through the streets. Liam entertained the idea of resisting, but the woman’s iron grip and the speed with which she ran indicated that she was a significantly higher level than he was, so he quickly gave the idea up.

He wasn’t able to get a great view of the city from his position, but what he did see was…odd. The streets were far emptier than they should have been, and of the few people that Liam did see, not a single one was male. Were all the men being rounded up for some reason? That was possible, but it seemed highly unlikely; that seemed like a monumental task, and people would certainly be fighting back…right?

“Um…” He said. “Can you at least tell me what’s going on here?” He asked. “Why is no one around?”

“The Glens has formally surrendered to the swarm, and the capital is currently undergoing conversion.” The woman replied, not even slightly out of breath.

“Surrendered? To the what? Why?”

“You’ll see.” The woman replied vaguely.

No matter what he tried, she wouldn’t answer any more of his questions, so he reluctantly dropped the subject and began to formulate a plan of escape. Unfortunately, he had next to no information on this woman or her abilities, and being jostled around on someone’s shoulders wasn’t exactly helping him keep a clear head.

After a surprisingly short time the palace came into view, and the woman stopped in front of the gates. “Captain Isadora, I’ve got one of the people the Queen needs to see.”

The gates swung open, and Isadora brought Liam to one of the outer gardens before setting him down. “I’m going to remove the rope now.” She said. “Don’t get any funny ideas; I’ll catch you the moment you so much as think of running, and the people you’ll be meeting with are strong enough to kill you with barely a thought. You’ll be very quiet and cooperative if you know what’s good for you.”

She chanted a quick spell, and the rope vanished. “Was this all necessary?” Liam complained, rubbing his wrists in annoyance. “Maybe I would have been more cooperative if you just explained.”

“Like I said, I was given orders to keep quiet. And even if I wasn’t, I doubt the information would have made you any more cooperative. I know it wouldn’t have –”

Liam didn’t get a chance to hear what she was going to say as a sudden wrenching sensation assaulted him, and he very suddenly found himself in front of an absolutely enormous tree. Directly in front of him was a small hollow with a swirling portal, monsters moving in and out of it busily.

Strangely, they didn’t pay any attention to him, nor did they pay any attention to the wolfkin woman striding towards him. Much like Ada had been, she felt oddly familiar to him, like he had seen her face before, though he would have definitely remembered someone like her. She seemed to be a couple years older than he was, with blood-red hair and tight-fitting clothes that showed off her ample curves. In short, she was well inside of his strike zone, and he would have tried to pick her up the moment he saw her.

“Liam.” She said flatly. “I wish I could say it was nice to see you again, but it’s really not.”

“Excuse me?” Liam replied. “This is the first time we’re meeting, what’d I do to deserve this?”

The woman frowned. “Mostly just being a relentless playboy, ‘the enemy of all women’ as Robin would say. I know my class didn’t really go over ethics, but I can’t help but feel at least a little responsibility as your teacher.”

“Hold up there.” Liam said. “What’s your name? I really can’t remember you.”

“You wouldn’t.” The woman said. “Ophelia Sylvain, formerly Owen Sylvain. I taught your tracking and scouting classes a few years back. Yes, I’ve changed a lot, get used to it, most of the people in your life are going to change a lot in the coming days, yourself included.”

“What?”

Ophelia sighed. “I’ll let Mistress explain. Follow me, please.”

She turned and began walking towards the portal, and Liam hesitantly followed. “Mistress? Is this that Queen person people were talking about?”

“Yes. And don’t get any big ideas about wooing her again, she’s happily married and has no room for someone like you in her life.”

She stepped through the portal, and Liam followed, entering what appeared to be a city made of wood. “Again?!” He said. “Do I know her?”

“Yes, and you wronged her terribly.” Ophelia replied icily. “I wouldn’t test her patience again. She might forgive you if you’re rude…but I doubt her wife and girlfriend will be so kind.”

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Ophelia led him through the streets, and when he pressed for details, she stonewalled him, refusing to answer any questions he had. But…as they walked, he had a bit of time to think. His brain refused to accept the idea that the incredibly attractive young woman in front of him was the crabby old man who had taught the scouting courses back at the university.

Aside from the fact that Ophelia was thirty or forty years younger than Professor Sylvain, she was a wolfkin, and he had been a human. Her attire, while not explicitly lewd, was a far cry from the conservative clothing that Professor Sylvain had favored, and the only thing they really had in common was that their faces looked alike, like they were siblings or something.

Eventually, Ophelia led him to a building that was larger and slightly more…official-looking. Ophelia walked up to the large double doors, pushing them open and announcing her presence. “Mistress, I have brought Liam!” She called out.

Someone said something that Liam couldn’t quite make out, and Ophelia nodded, looking back at Liam. “Come in.” She instructed.

Liam nervously walked into the building, into what could only be called a throne room. It was dominated by four thrones at the far end of the room, three of which were occupied. Five or six armed women flanked the sides of the room, but Liam’s attention was fixated on the three people on the thrones.

The most attention-grabbing was the woman on the left, a tall, extraordinarily well-endowed woman wearing a flowing white robe. She glowed softly, and her perfect skin and attire gave the impression that a goddess had descended and was sitting on the throne.

On the right side was the least attention-grabbing woman. She had blonde hair and red eyes, and was slightly familiar, but the only thing that really stood out about her was her cold gaze. It felt like she was trying to kill him with her gaze, and he had to quickly turn his attention away before he became too uncomfortable.

Finally, there was the woman in the middle. She was a foxkin with five large, bushy tails, wearing some sort of ornate dress. She was much more familiar than the woman on the right, but Liam couldn’t quite put a name to her. This was the first time he was seeing a foxkin with more than three tails, so if he had known her before, she must have had a race evolution in the intervening time. That meant she was over level one hundred for sure, which…checked out with what he had been told. There was no way he could fight back.

“Liam.” The foxkin said. “I assume you know why you’re here.”

Liam panicked. He genuinely had no idea why he was here; he had pursued a few foxkin women in his time, but it wasn’t like any of their relationships had ended on particularly poor terms. Yes, there was that one who had caught him with another woman, but they had both long-since moved on, and he was pretty sure she didn’t have the orange hair and fur that this foxkin had. Probably.

“Well?” The foxkin asked impatiently.

“Um…n-no, Your Majesty.” He admitted. “I don’t.”

The woman on the right stood up angrily. “How can you not?!” She yelled. “After everything you’ve done, you dare to pretend like you can’t think of a single thing we might have issue with?!”

“Amelia.” The woman on the left said gently.

“R-right.” Amelia said, hastily sitting back down.

“I think I see how it is.” The foxkin said. “Liam, what is my name?”

“I-I’m sorry, but I d-don’t know.” Liam stuttered. Something about her presence made him feel very, very small and insignificant, and he couldn’t keep full control of his mouth. “T-this is my first time seeing a f-foxkin with more than t-three tails and it’s throwing me off. P-perhaps if I had a picture of what you l-looked like before r-race evolution?”

The foxkin sighed, and then her form…deflated. She became smaller, her tails folded into one ragged tail, and the odd dress she was wearing changed into a very plain shirt and some equally plain trousers. “How about now?” She asked.

Though her face hadn’t changed much, she had lost that…pressure she had before, and Liam was definitely sure he had dated her in the past. He quickly ran through the names of women he had dated in his mind, but none really stood out. The only one that really popped to mind was Lia, but he was pretty sure that was the name of the girlfriend that had died while he was dating her, so that couldn’t be it.

“R-Roxanne?” He ventured.

“It really is as bad as Robin said.” The foxkin sighed, her appearance shifting back to the regal one she had had before. “Does the name Lia ring any bells?”

Liam frowned. “I-I thought she was d-dead.” He stuttered.

“That’s the one.” Lia replied. “Amelia resurrected me, and one thing has led to another and now I’m taking over the world.”

Liam could feel his brain shifting into overdrive as it tried to comprehend that statement. “R-resurrected? World domination? What?”

“She’s a Hero, she figured it out.” Lia said, waving a hand nonchalantly. “And while she was working, you didn’t even attend my funeral. You had another girlfriend days later. Care to explain?”

“W-well, I f-figured it was w-what you would have w-wanted.” Liam managed. “F-for me to m-move on.”

“Eventually, yes, but not before my body was even in the ground.” Lia said sharply. “Look, the only reason you’re here today is because I want to make one thing absolutely clear; we’re through. You’re a piece of scum who was only ever interested in getting in bed with me, and now that I’ve had a taste of what real love is like, I’m wondering how I even deluded myself into thinking what we had was normal.”

“It’s not your fault.” Amelia said. “He caught you when you were emotionally vulnerable from the death of your mom.”

“And by the time I had moved on, I still didn’t see anything amiss.” Lia said. “Look, Liam, there are a lot of people who want you to be given some sort of harsh punishment, something like menial labor or being pressed into some degrading service, but that’s not how I want to do things here. I will be willing to pardon your crimes, on one condition.”

“Y-yes?” Liam said hopefully.

“After your conversion, I need you to track down each and every one of the girls you wronged and apologize, do whatever it takes to earn their forgiveness, starting with me, now.” Lia said. “And no having sex until you do. I know you’ll be eager to test your new body out, but that will have to wait.”

“N-new body?” Liam asked fearfully.

“Of course. Just like Ophelia, and just like everyone else in the Glens, you are going to become a part of the swarm.” Lia said, spreading her arms out grandiosely. “I’m sure you’ll be curious as to what it feels like as a woman. And yes, you will become a woman, everyone will. Think of it as an added bonus; you get to understand your romantic targets on a deeper level!”

The way she said that left no doubt in Liam’s mind that she knew Liam didn’t see that as a bonus. “Now, you may begin.”

Liam blinked, then his brain caught up. “I-I’m sorry, Y-Your Majesty.” He said. “I-I o-only saw you as a c-conquest, and that was w-wrong of me. I-I will be more s-serious in the future.”

“Good. Ophelia, take him away and convert him. And Liam…don’t come near me or my family ever again. I can’t promise that they’ll be able to hold back if you try to get up to anything.”

“Y-yes, Your M-Majesty.” He said.

Ophelia grabbed him, a pleasantly cool off-white substance seeping through her palms and spreading across his body. “Let’s go, mister.” She said, hauling him away as his consciousness began to fade. “Maybe this time around, you’ll do it right.”