The New Journey of an Old Soul

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Few months had passed since Neleh’s conversation with Shalheira the Chosen of Elune. Nimue was taking Neleh towards the headquarters of the Inquisition. She had managed to get the girl a meeting with the current leader of the inquisitors the Grand Inquisitor Yunalesca. Neleh had already managed to absorb almost all the relevant teachings that acolytes are usually taught, before they begin their practical training, which is what Neleh’s sister Selene was currently also doing. After practical training the acolytes usually started specializing on their chosen paths as priestesses.

The fact that Neleh had managed to absorb teachings that usually took several years in little over a year presented Nimue with a slight problem. The girl had already been a special case because acolytes were usually only accepted after their Awakening, and now her fast learning compounded on the issue. The girl already knew everything that a standard priestess should know, and could figure out a lot more with her sharp mind. Her control over holy power was frighteningly efficient, and Nimue had few times seen Neleh skip right over the incantations and prayers used to control the holy power. That of course only happened when the girl thought no one was looking. The problem wasn’t her skill; instead the problem was that she was too young to have those skills.

The practical training of acolytes took two primary forms. More peacefully oriented priestesses mainly performed ceremonies and rituals either for the grand temple or a temple in a nearby city or village. They also healed the sick, and advised on spiritual matters. More combat skill oriented priestesses took part in expeditions of the guards or the hunters. There was no point in assigning Neleh to the first duty, since the girl had already taken part in far more important ceremonies and rituals that acolytes normally did, notably the new year’s ceremony among them. People were also reticent to take advice from someone so young.  It would simply be a waste of the girl’s talents to have her shackled to duties she could already perform better than most full priestesses. The practical usually took a few years, depending on the individual acolyte, and that time would be wasted if the girl was forced to perform such routine tasks.

The second type of practical was much better suited for the girls talents, considering her combat skills, but that came with other difficulties. Neleh had already been attacked once, and if she were to operate outside the city, could draw unwanted attention towards whatever parties she took part in. So instead of helping those parties, she might put them in more danger instead. The bigger problem was her age again. The hunters and guards would not be able to trust a girl that young. Especially if the girl had to go around with her hood up and face masked. She could theoretically earn such trust, but that would be a long and grudging effort.

To solve the issue, Nimue had gone straight up to the Grand Inquisitor and explained her reasoning. The girl would in a way skip over her practical, and the Inquisition would have more time to train her and give her a practical of their own choosing instead. The Grand Inquisitor had not been too thrilled about the idea, mainly because she also considered the girl to be too young. There was also the fact that the Inquisitors were perhaps the most exclusive group in the entire elven empire, and the requirements for joining were even higher than for those that wanted to become a part of the royal guard of the empire, the Legion of the Phoenix. Much like the Legion, one didn’t apply to become an Inquisitor, the Inquisition recruited those it chose, and usually that honor only fell upon proven priestesses with lots of experience. Nimue knew the girl's talents though, and had some idea about her potential, and had at the very least managed to get her a meeting.

“Now remember, I only got you the meeting, even getting you tested is not a certainty. It’s your job to convince the Grand Inquisitor.” Nimue said when they had arrived outside the meeting place.

“Do not worry. I have an idea that the Grand Inquisitor might find interesting.” Neleh said with confidence, and went inside the meeting room, leaving Nimue outside.

The woman behind the desk was tall and statuesque. Her face showed the markings of a life hard lived, and even had a fairly sizeable scar above her left eye. The woman’s sharp and piercing eyes snapped to Neleh and sized her up and down. Any normal person would’ve felt naked in front of those eyes, all their secrets laid bare for judgement. Neleh was just amused by the look. Her piercing gaze was nothing when compared to the gazes of the Asura war gods or the torturers of Inferno. The woman’s blue hair was cut short just above her ears in a cut favored by warriors.

Neleh gave the woman a warrior’s salute, with a slight bow.

“So. You are Nimue’s little prodigy. I’ve heard quite a bit about you. Tell me why I should give any time to Nimue’s crackpot idea. Why would the Inquisition waste time on someone who looks like she should still be hanging on her momma’s apron strings?” Yunalesca was exaggerating quite a bit. Although Neleh had still not reached her eventual full height, she already matched the average height of an elven woman, and her lean muscle and warrior’s balanced and smooth gait gave her a sort of dangerous presence. And while the Inquisitors gaze was piercing, Neleh’s eyes held something much stronger than steel, and the deep blue of her eyes invited anyone to swim and drown in their depths.

“Straight to the point. Good, I like it. You’ll want me among your ranks now for two reasons. Firstly because it is a weird thought to have an Inquisitor as young as I am. If you have trouble with the idea, think how unlikely it would be for those I’m looking into to imagine me as an Inquisitor. That allows me to work more freely and in secret. Majority of the Inquisitors are from a similar mold, so it would be advantageous to have some people that were more…unexpected.” Neleh said with confidence.

“That is a fair point. But that still doesn’t give me a reason to choose you specifically.” Yunalesca said, not yet convinced, even if she could immediately see the upsides of the girl’s idea.

“That brings us to the second reason. Simply put, I am incredibly talented, smart and my potential is nearly limitless. With the training and guidance of the Inquisition, I’ll be the best Inquisitor alive within ten years. I have already learned everything Nimue has to teach me, I could already beat you in combat, and I haven’t even had my Awakening ceremony yet. I know for a fact that I will also have talent for magic.” Neleh’s voice oozed confidence. This wasn’t boasting, this was simply her stating an obvious fact.

The Grand Inquisitor stared at the girl, stunned for almost a minute. Her eyebrows had shot up almost to her hairline, and her mouth was slightly open. Then she burst into an evil laugh. She had never met anyone with a confidence like the girl had. You couldn’t have confidence like that and carry on with such certainty without something to back it up.

“You have me intrigued little girl. We will have you tested, and we’ll see if you really can stand behind your words.” Yunalesca said still chuckling.

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The tests Neleh had to go through were rigorous and many. The first test simply tested her skills as a priestess. She was forced to cast several complex holy spells smoothly in a row, while being bombarded with questions about required knowledge. The second test was a series of tests of physical ability. If she was to use her warrior skills as something to qualify her as an Inquisitor, of course she had to prove them. The tests were easy to Neleh, but got her a little annoyed with their repetitive nature. They were covering ground she had already proved herself in.

The third test however was something that immediately got her interested, and promised to wash away her annoyance. She was led to a dim room under the Inquisition headquarters, into an area that looked like a prison. Yunalesca herself gave her the explanation and instructions.

“The previous tests were only something to tests you as a priestess and a warrior. Even if you did excellently, don’t let it get to your head. The next three tests are the real obstacle, where we check your suitability with the Inquisition.” She opened the door into a large prison cell with several tools of torture, and a male elf chained to a chair. The man cursed and spat at them, with rage in his eyes.

“Inquisitors must be able to do whatever it takes to complete their mission, and they can’t have a queasy stomach about how they get their information. This is where we separate away those of weak character. This man is a murderer and a rapist. He is a part of a ring of similar minded individuals. I want you to dig out anything you can about his compatriots from him. You can use anything in this room to get the results. Only thing is, if you can’t get the information, you can’t kill him. If you fail, we can allow our professionals to get the information out of him. Do you understand?” She turned towards Neleh expecting her to look queasy. This was the test that weeded out the majority of potential candidates. Priestesses usually had a very gentle nature. It took a very different type of person to do this. She didn’t expect the small grin on the girls face.

“Oh yeah, I understand. I think I know just the thing. If I may, could you please wait outside? I will make sure he will answer your questions.” Neleh said, now with a positively evil grin. Suddenly Yunalesca felt that it was a very good idea to not to be in the room, when the girl did whatever she had planned.

After she exited the room, Neleh rubbed her palms together. She had wanted to test if her little ability worked using holy power for added strength and control, just like it worked with magic. She felt it would be a good idea to warn the goddess first. ‘Elune, I’m going to test if an old ability of mine works with your power as well as it worked with magic. You might want to abstain from listening too closely for the next while.’

“Alright, I think I already have some idea on what you’re thinking. I’m intrigued as well. You have my permission to proceed.”

Neleh approached the man that was now cursing at her. “Alright little twerp. Here’s the deal. I’m now going to sing you a little song, and after I’m finished, the nice little Inquisitors are going to ask you some questions. If you choose not to answer those questions, I’m going to be very disappointed, and I’ll have to come back and sing to you again. Do you understand?” She only got more curses as an answer. “Excellent!”

Neleh had always loved using this particular ability on rapists. Out of the three prime sins, rape was the one she personally hated the most. She gathered the holy power, and laced her voice heavily with it. And then she started to sing the Song of Khali.

She knew immediately that holy power was working just as well as magic for this purpose. The man went silent for a few moments after hearing the first notes of the haunting melody. And then the screaming and crying started.

The strength of the screams stunned even Yunalesca standing outside the door. She had attended and personally performed many similar interrogations, but usually the screams were those of pain. These were screams of bottomless sadness and despair. And most of all fear. No fear was not the right word she thought; these were screams of hopeless terror. She had never heard anything like it.

The basic principle of the Song of Khali was an attack on the soul and the imagination. The song took control of both and caused the victim’s imagination to summon images of his or her greatest fears, and caused the soul to feel certain emotions. Terror like the dragonfear cause by Prime Dragons.  Sadness and hopelessness like those when losing everything dear to you. Humiliation and pain of having what you love most taken and defiled in front of you, while you watch helplessly. The desperation of having the most terrible things imaginable done to you. All that and several more it’s kind, except amplified a thousand times, but without granting the release of death or madness.

Neleh had run into the concept for the first time when she had seen a whole fortress conquered by a single being, with nothing but a song. All those defending had killed themselves in despair. Neleh had just refined the idea and ran with it. The basic emotions could be elicited by anyone able to sing the song. The important part was that the skill of the singer was what decided on how much those emotions were amplified.

After a short period of singing, only lasting for less than 30 seconds, but what felt like an eternity to the man, Neleh stopped and walked closer.

“Now. The nice Inquisitors will come back inside, and they will ask you a few questions. You will answer their questions right?” Neleh asked with almost a gentle voice, tears and powerful nodding being the answer. “If you don’t answer them, I’ll have to come back, and we wouldn’t want that, now would we?”

The man shook his head so hard it was a miracle his neck didn’t snap. “Please! Please, never again! I will tell them everything.”

“Good boy.” Neleh said with a small pat on his cheek.

She tapped on the door, letting Yunalesca know she was done. The Inquisitor looked inside hurriedly, and didn’t see any damage on the man’s body. Only, the man was crying uncontrollably.

“All yours.”  Neleh said with a grin. This had really allowed her to release some pent up stress.

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The fourth test was designed to test her mind. She was presented with numerous difficult scenarios, and had to give suggestions on how to solve them. She was also presented with moral choices with no obvious right answers, which were designed more to map her personality. Neleh had no problems with this portion either. She came up with numerous possible solutions to all the problems, ranging from borderline genius to outright brutal. The testers were also impressed with her sharp questions, meant to make the situations more clear.

For the final test, Yunalesca led her to a shrine and a pool similar to the one in the grand temple. She was told to enter the pool and pray for the approval of the goddess. Yunalesca again personally explained the reasoning.

“Inquisitors often operate outside the laws. That is our job, to punish those that the law can’t. We are often the judge, the jury and the executioner in one. And we are answerable only to Elune and the Inquisitors above us. For this reason the order can’t have too many members, and every member is marked by the goddess. The mark allows the goddess to monitor us wherever we go, and strike us down should she decide we are out of line.” Yunalesca showed a small tattoo like marking that glowed on her shoulder. “This is the moment of truth, on whether the goddess deems you worthy. No matter what happens to you after this, even if you get thrown out of the order, the marking is permanent, and Elune will have her eye on you for the rest of your days.”

Neleh entered the pool naked. She knelt down in a position of prayer. ‘Alright, here we are. Do your thing. You’ve got me marked already, but let’s see to the formalities.’ The goddess simply gave an amused laugh and the light of her power surrounded Neleh.

Yunalesca scrunched her eyebrows when she didn’t see the mark on the girls shoulder. Clearly the light signified acceptance, but there was no mark. “What is going on? Why are you not marked.”

“I didn’t get a mark on my shoulder, because I’ve already been marked for ten years.” Neleh said and showed the glowing marking above her sex. The other nine markings in the same place where not showing, but Neleh knew they were there.

“Well then. Welcome to the Inquisition, apprentice Inquisitor Neleh. Your training starts next week. Until then, I’ll try to come up with ways that we can improve your training…” (Yunalesca)

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Nimue was quite ecstatic when Neleh returned and told her she had been accepted into the Inquisition. She had known the girl could do it, and it was nice to have others validate her opinion. Neleh decided to go tell Solana the good news as well. Her new position was not something she should be advertising, but as her warrior skills trainer she should know what was taking time away from her lessons. Neleh and Solana had grown much closer during the last few months, after Neleh realized their mutual attraction. Despite Solana’s interest, it was a bit of a challenge to get her involved in someone as young as Neleh.

Neleh thought this was a good excuse to take her out with the excuse of celebrating. They had already been on a couple of what could be called dates. Neleh was slowly getting Solana more used to physical contact while in a romantic setting. That in turn allowed Neleh to try and get her more excited, and maybe even horny. If Solana got excited enough, then maybe Neleh would be able to lure her into something that could help the older elf over her hang-ups.

Solana in turn was being driven to insanity by Neleh’s antics. She couldn’t believe the effect the young girl had on her. Solana had never had much interest in romance. Her skills as a warrior were her focus in life, and the thing that had brought her happiness so far. Neleh on the other hand brought out feelings in her that she didn’t even know existed. She found herself mesmerized in training, watching the movements of the nubile girl while she went through the hard training regimen. The girl also had maturity far beyond her years, and had a personality that just kept pulling you in. And of course the girl was beautiful, beyond anything Solana had seen before. To top it all off, the physical contact that the little nymph frequented was making her horny beyond all measure!

In short Solana was in love, and was falling harder and harder every day. When Neleh asked Solana to go out and celebrate with her, Solana agreed in a heartbeat. Solana’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head, when she noticed that Neleh took her to a restaurant famed for its romantic ambiance. There was gentle music being played in the background and the place was filled with couples. A surprisingly large amount of girl couples as well. Neleh of course turned the heads of everyone in the restaurant, which made Solana feel proud for some reason she couldn’t’ explain to herself. She also missed that she herself was the target of quite a few admiring looks.

The dinner was good, and despite her embarrassment Solana managed to keep up with the conversation. The main reason why Solana was so embarrassed was because despite their booth being in a bit more secluded part of the restaurant, the pair was drawing quite a lot of attention. In addition Neleh kept moving closer bit by bit, and Solana kept drowning in her eyes. Finally the two were sitting right next to each other and Solana was unable to get a single syllable out of her mouth, which opening and closing rapidly in a half panic.

Neleh had finally had enough of Solana holding herself back. She got up and swept the jittery Solana into her arms, and kissed her like she meant it. The kiss started with gentle little pecks, but when Neleh was able to draw Solana along into the kiss, she got more demanding and passionate. By the end Neleh could with confidence say that she had thoroughly checked Solana for any cavities with her own tongue.

She had to hold Solana up when it was done. She was as limp as a rag doll, and her head lolled to one side, her eyes unfocused and her mouth slightly open and licking her lips. Neleh knew she had her now, and the older woman would only offer token reluctance anymore. She chose to simply lift the woman in her arms and carried her to the door of the restaurant. She pressed the price of their meal to the owners hand, told they had had enough and thanked them for good service. The owner opened the door for them with a wide grin. He had seen the whole thing, and thought it was cute how the young girl was handling the grown woman.

Solana started coming back around when they were traveling along the street, towards the nearest inn of decent repute. When she asked for their destination, she only got a grin and a shush as an answer. In truth she had a pretty good idea about what would be happening next.

Neleh had not been a big charmer in her old life, but she had learned a few things that she now applied while taking Solana up to a room in the nearby inn. She had learned that most women, despite all their meticulous preparation don’t really think they’re attractive, especially to someone younger than them, or at least they believe that some part of them is patently un-attractive. Because of that they really love being convinced that they are in fact attractive and sexy. She had learned that you can almost always find something about a woman to appreciate and compliment. They don’t want lies, they want you to honestly like something about them. And it’s not always something about their body.

She had learned that if you find a way to honestly care about a woman, she can tell, and she’ll appreciate that more than almost anything else you do. She had learned that if you play honestly to their hopes and dreams, and downplay their fears, it might be the best gift you can give her. So when she was slowly taking off Solana’s clothing, she kept telling about all the small, and large, things she appreciated about her. She kept whispering her appreciation and desire into Solana’s ear while ever so slowly peeling of their clothing one article at a time, while planting little kisses on every expanse of skin that she uncovered. Solana made delicious mewling sounds during Neleh’s slow and gentle administrations. With both of them deliciously naked, she led Solana to the bed. By now the woman’s desire had become obvious in her eyes, but there was still a slight tinge of fear as well.

The final thing she had learned was that if you take care of a woman’s sexual needs first, and only then worry about your own, she will do almost anything to help you handle those needs. So Neleh decided to dedicate herself for that task next.

Spoiler :

She started kissing down from Solana’s lips, taking the time to appreciate her neck, and give a little nibble to her ear. She continued down her body, spurred on by the soft gasps Solana was making. When she reached her breasts, Solana tried to cover them with her hands, clearly embarrassed about them, but Neleh didn’t give her the chance. She gently but firmly took a hold of Solana’s hands and pushed them above her head. Neleh’s lips kissed little circles around her nipple, until Solana gave a small frustrated mewl. When she heard that, Neleh sucked the nipple into her mouth and gave it a small experimental bite. The gasp this time was clearly appreciative, so Neleh got a little rougher with Solana’s breasts, before continuing southwards giving small kisses and a gentle caress to her stomach. The nerve endings above Solana’s uterus gave a burst of positive shudders. When Neleh got close to Solana’s sex, she kept kissing around it, giving her a little tease, kissing her inner thighs instead. She could smell the Solana’s excitement, and could see her lower lips glistening with nectar.

Solana was making small frustrated sounds, and forcefully pulled Neleh’s mouth to her quim. Neleh got the first taste of Solana’s juice, and found the taste to her liking. She started giving long gentle licks all the way from Solana’s butt cheeks, to the top of her pussy, clearly avoiding touching her clit. She danced her tongue around her clit, and gave her lips little rubs with her fingers, finally inserting a single digit into Solana’s tight tunnel, giving small jerking movements. Solana’s hips bucked up from the bed, only her heels and neck still touching the mattress.

When Neleh noticed Solana getting close to her release, she finally attacked her clit. Solana lay back down and flopped while Neleh licked, pressed and sucked her clit, doing everything except bite it off. Solana saw stars as her orgasm burst through her. It felt like her whole body had broken into fragments and exploded like fireworks. Her hands made fists, then opened and grasped into fists again, as she tried to grab for something she couldn’t see. It’s good she couldn’t reach Neleh’s hair, because she’d have torn it out at the roots. She tried to scream but she had no air left and she only managed to make half choking gasps. Her pussy writhed and she produced thick squirts of clear juice that splashed against Neleh’s chin. Neleh instinctively lapped at Solana’s pussy lips, sucking up that juice and swallowing what she could get into her mouth.

At that precise moment Neleh owned Solana, and Solana would do anything to ensure that Neleh would do this to her again. Neleh knew when to pull back. She did and stared at Solana’s pussy lips, which moved on their own accord as her muscles flexed and she shuddered through her cum. Solana was now making little mewling sounds that made Neleh think she was crying. She immediately crawled up on her hands and knees, and put her face in front of Solana’s. Solana was crying, but she was smiling too, and Neleh’s heart relaxed as she reached for Solana’s face.

Something had broken free inside Solana. “I love you so much!” She sighed and almost forcefully pulled Neleh down for a kiss, not caring that Neleh’s face was covered with her juices. It was a sloppy, wet kiss, and as far as Solana was concerned, it was the best kiss she’d ever had.

“Ready for round two?” Neleh asked with a small grin.

Solana’s answer shocked her. “Yes, master.” Neleh had known Solana was a submissive type under her warrior exterior, but not to this extent. Well she could deal with this too.

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Neleh and Asheara had forgotten a slight detail about their bond, which now came back to bite them. When Neleh took Solana to the inn, Asheara could feel her daughter’s desire and horniness through the bond, and this in turn made Asheara extremely horny. She was still meeting with a customer, when the first waves of desire hit. She could feel her body get warm with the desire, her hand on instinct reaching down towards her waist, while her quim spritzed the first droplets of wetness. She hurriedly showed her customer out, and practically ran back to her bedroom. By this time Neleh was busy eating out Solana, and Asheara had gotten hornier than she had ever been.

She leapt into her bed, ripped off her clothes and started rubbing herself off harder than she had ever done before. Problem was, Neleh was only getting started on the other end of the bond, and as they had discovered earlier, when both of them were feeling the same emotions, those emotions compounded on each other. In this case their desire and horniness kept compounding.  Asheara had to rub herself off a dozen times, and it was more the fact that it was getting painful and her quim was getting rubbed raw that caused her to stop.

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This compounding effect of course reached Neleh too, and she lost herself completely in the desire and pleasure. Something broke inside her as well. Both Neleh and Solana were blind to anything happening around them, and thus didn’t notice when the whole room burst into flame when Neleh lost control completely. Every surface and every piece of furniture in the room was covered in weird blue flames, which also covered the lusty couple completely. Weirdly enough the flames didn’t actually burn anything.

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Gabriel was lost in thought while her scouting spells suddenly alerted her. She had been extremely frustrated, because the wars and conflicts had drawn all the celestials helping her into trying to resolve the conflicts. She had had to make due by placing searching spells in every location she traveled to, which would alert her if anything that didn’t belong to this world were to happen. And now the spells in Rhi’a’non had detected something matching that description.

“Flames of Life? Well now, that isn’t something this world can produce. It seems Little Flame is living up to her pet name. She didn’t leave everything in her old life behind after all.” Gabriel had a grin on her face, and prepared to travel to Rhi’a’non. Now she had both a location and something for her spells to look for.

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Author's note: Yes, I made the chapter 18 into 18+. Say thank you for our proofreading wonder of a Loli Archmage. The primary sexual content is in spoilers, no real plot elements there. The scene itself is there for a reason though, as you will note I wasn't able to keep all sexual content inside spoiler tags.. This is my first bat at writing something risque, so it might be a bit iffy. As a side note, this became the longest chapter so far even without the content inside spoilers..