152 These Cold Lips - Chapter One (Free Chapter)

Note: This is the first chapter of a short story that I will be posting on my Patreon in a few weeks. It's a... well, much more sensual story than The Adventurer's Academy is, however, it takes place in the same world as T.A.A. So, I'm giving you this preview in case you want to check it out.

Enjoy!

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When Liri opened her eyes for the first time, all she felt was cold.

The air was so cold that, before she even took her first breath, chills went down her arms. Her lips parted and a dry, raspy, sound came out of her mouth as she attempted to inhale. Sweet, much-needed, thin air went into her lungs and Liri felt like she could focus a little better now.

Because of that, the first question that came to her mind was:

[Where am I?]

She blinked a few times, her sight gradually improving and adjusting to the darkness of this room to where she could see that she was staring up at the ceiling. She was laid down on something soft, as she realized when she tried moving her fingers and found them touching cotton.

One, two, three slow, gradually more and more relaxing breaths, and soon, Liri felt like she had the strength to sit up. She felt incredibly stiff. It was as though her limbs hadn't moved in ages, as just the motion of lifting her torso resulted in multiple soft cracking sounds ringing out all throughout her body.

"Ah…" Liri hissed as she felt a headache begin, and then promptly end, like multiple functions in her mind had suddenly begun to operate all at once. The same thing happened in the rest of her body, with her stomach, her heart, and various other organs all spontaneously activating. Mindlessly, Liri brought her hand up and looked down at it.

For a moment, she thought there were big cracks going up her arm, however, upon further inspection, she realized it looked more like her veins had turned black. Her skin was a sickly grey as well, and although she couldn't quite remember what her skin had looked like before, this color didn't exactly feel right to her.

[Actually…] She thought, looking down at the rest of her body. [I can't remember anything. Well, aside from my name.]

"A-."

She tried to speak, but her voice caught in her throat. It felt like her body had forgotten how to produce words.

"Ahh…" Eventually, she let her voice out. It almost felt like singing.

Then, Liri heard a gasp and her head snapped up.

She hadn't noticed her until now, but there was a woman here, sitting right beside her, staring down at Liri with nothing short of shock and awe on her face.

Liri didn't know much about the situation she was in, but she knew for a fact she'd never seen this lady before. In addition, she also knew the woman was downright beautiful. She had silky black hair that reached just over her shoulders, a sharp face, and a pair of fierce blue eyes that were peering back into Liri's own right now.

"… It worked?" The woman muttered as Liri looked around again, trying to see what else she'd missed. "It actually worked?"

She looked down and noticed that she was tied down to the bed she was laying on. As she saw her own naked body once more, her brows narrowed. In the center of her torso, between her breasts, was a black spot that cracked outwards like old pottery. That spot was where those black veins stretching across her body were coming from.

Confused as she was, she looked toward the woman sitting beside her.

"Ehm…" She tried to push the words out, hating how awkward it felt to speak. "Who… Ahem," she cleared her throat, trying hard to form the words with her lips. "Who… Are… You…?" She finally managed to ask, after a short moment of struggling. She tried again, then, hoping she could sound more natural. "Who are you?" The words came out faster this time.

The woman ignored her, though. Instead, she reached over and poked Liri on the shoulder, in a way that felt funny.

"… It did," she mumbled, looking away. "B-But…"

As the woman continued to poke her, reaching out and giving her wrists a squeeze, Liri just watched her, half-amused.

The woman's bright blue eyes then met Liri's own, and she must have noticed the mirth on Liri's face, as she quickly tried to regain her composure.

"Are you okay?" Liri asked.

At that, the woman finally seemed to want to respond.

"I should be asking you that," she muttered.

The lady stood up, her eyes looking Liri up and down before she then cautiously extended a hand toward her. Shaking, she slowly undid Liri's bonds, and the girl's body was free, though Liri didn't bother to stand. She felt tired.

The woman, however, disagreed with that notion.

She raised a hand and aimed it at Liri from a short distance away. Then, she spoke.

"… Get up," she said.

And Liri's body followed the order.

Both the woman and Liri were shocked. Her body had moved on its own, with no direction from Liri.

[What?] She wondered, looking down at herself. [What did she do?]

Liri also noted that, mostly, all she felt was confusion. She wasn't scared, or nervous. She just wanted to know what was happening. If anything, the woman's presence was the only thing that made her calm down a little.

"Uh, okay," Liri said. "I'm standing now. How did that happen?"

"S-Stop talking," the lady said, and Liri nodded.

[Weird. My body's just… listening to her. I mean, whatever. As long as she tells me what's going on, I don't really care. Wait, should I care?]

Then, the lady got a little closer and looked deeply into Liri's eyes.

"… Who are you?" She asked.

Liri, of course, didn't answer. She'd been directed to stop talking, after all, and it soon became clear that the only thing Liri understood about the situation was that she needed to follow this woman's orders.

Whatever they may be. If she asked Liri to jump off a bridge or try to somehow cut her own head off, Liri would do so without so much as a second thought. She had to, and she wanted to.

"Uh, right, you can talk again," the lady added with a wave of her hand.

And then, her voice came out naturally. Given that this was one of the very few things she knew about herself, she answered confidently.

"I'm Liri," she said with a smile. "Hi."

"…" The woman just looked at her for a while. "And, you aren't going to try to kill me?" She asked so quietly that Liri nearly didn't hear her, as she poked and prodded different areas in Liri's body.

"Nope," Liri replied. "Though… I don't really get any of this," she added, looking around. "I mean, where am I? Who are you? Who am I? Well, I mean, I know my own name, but, you know, like, who am I?"

At that, the woman looked back up into Liri's eyes.

"My name is Naemira, and you are in my home. As for who you are…" Naemira took a deep breath. "If… If everything is working as intended, then, you are my thrall."

At that, Liri blinked.

"Oh. Uh… Cool," she said, tilting her head slightly as she gave Naemira a confused look. "What does that mean?"

The woman calmed down slightly, her shoulders visibly lowering as she nodded to herself and then took a step forward. With her back straight and her arms crossed in what looked like a commanding pose, she stated:

"It means that you are to do whatever I tell you. You exist to serve me, understand?"

Despite the cold confidence with which she said this, however, Liri felt the anxiety swelling up within her. Literally, she could feel the woman's nerves as though there was something allowing Liri to tap into the woman's emotions directly. The sensation compelled Liri to do something to calm her down.

She smiled brightly at the black-haired woman, taking a step forward just as she had.

"Awesome," Liri replied casually.

The stunned expression on the other woman's face, coupled with a slow pair of blinks, was enough to make Liri giggle to herself.

"What?" Naemira stepped back, one elegant brow arched high as she stared at Liri in confusion.

"Um, is something wrong?" Liri asked.

"Why are you so happy about this?"

"Uh… I dunno," Liri shrugged, before pulling that smile back. "But I don't really have any issues with doing whatever you tell me to. If anything, I kinda want to."

The other woman's analytical eyes continued to scrutinize every part of Liri for a moment. She seemed as though she couldn't believe that the grey-skinned woman standing in front of her was real. It looked as though she finally managed to accept it, however, and inhaled slowly as she turned away from Liri.

She walked over to the door and gave Liri a look before gesturing for the woman to follow her.

"Come on, then," Naemira stated quietly. "I can't believe this," she said to herself quietly, but Liri did catch it.

She couldn't follow just yet, though. She did want to know one thing, after all. If Naemira wanted to tell her, anyway.

"W-Wait," Liri said.

"Hm? Did you change your mind?" Naemira asked, narrowing her eyes at Liri. She still looked skeptical.

"No," the girl quickly clarified. "But, you didn't tell me."

"… Tell you what?" Naemira asked, puzzled once again. It was an emotion she'd expressed a lot in a very short amount of time.

"Who I am," Liri answered. "All I can really remember of myself is my name, and a few things. I know I'm human," she began to say, as she walked toward Naemira. That alone made the other woman tense up, but Liri continued to approach her. "I know that I'm young, I know what it's like to go to sleep, to eat, to breathe, all of that stuff… I can almost remember a place called Libera, but that's about it. Outside of that, it's like I woke up and forgot everything that happened on every day before today," Liri told her. "So, do you know who I am?"

As she heard the question, Naemira kept her hand on the doorknob loosely. She looked back into Liri's eyes, and her reaction, an expression of guilt, came so quickly that Liri felt there was no way it could have been forced. Well, either that or she'd rehearsed it so well that Liri couldn't tell. However, just a couple of seconds after Liri had asked, with utmost certainty, Naemira shook her head and replied:

"No."

With that being said, she opened the door and walked out of the room, expecting Liri to follow.

And, although she was disappointed, Liri did just that. All the while, she couldn't help but ask:

[Does she really not know? Oh well...]

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Note: There you have it. Like I said if you want to read the full story once it drops or you want to read the next 4 T.A.A. chapters, head over to my Patreon. (link on the T.A.A. story description)