Chapter 13 - Succubus

"Succubus?" Raina frowned slowly standing up in caution, "I never told you about my ability, how do you know that?"

"It's not exactly an 'ability' per se, more of... your species," Solon explained, "You've most likely already realised what you can do is completely different to the simple powers of others. They have simple powers like controlling wind, moving dirt, et cetera, but that's about it. They can't expand their powers only master them. You on the other hand continue to grow more powerful and gain new abilities. You're different from the others. That's what I mean by your species. What you have isn't simple powers like the others, it's powers derived from your race. A Succubus."

"No. You're mistaken." Raina shook her head, "I only awakened a few days ago. I was just an ordinary girl before that,"

Soron let out a sigh, "You unlocked them a few days ago. It just laid dormant within you the entire time,"

"There's no way," Raina shook her head, "So you're telling me I had powers before 'That day'?"

"...What day?" Soron blinked in confusion,

"That day, you know? The day of the Miracle. When that rock fell from the sky and everyone started getting powers."

"Oh, of course," Soron nodded, "That rock has nothing to do with your powers. It only introduced a gush of mana into our planet. That's why everyone else started getting powers. The mana will start to fade out after a few hundred years." He shrugged his shoulders.

"And you know this because...?"

"I've been running around their dreams for the past few years. So many classified information all stored in here," Soron chuckled, pointing at his brain, "You'll be able to do that too soon. Seeing your current progress, in about a few weeks, give to take,"

"You never explained," Raina focused back on the subject, "How do you know so much about 'my species'?"

Soron ran his hand through his hair as he sighed, "I knew a succubus. She told me a lot. No, more like, she wrote down everything she knew, and passed down the knowledge to me," He opened his hands as a thick book suddenly formed; the same book he seemed to always be reading. "Everything she knew. Everything I know. Written down on these pages."

"Another… succubus?" Raina flinched, "Where can I meet her?"

Soron hesitated as the book dissipated once more, "She's not here anymore,"

"She left? Where'd she go?" Raina asked, sitting straight with great interest,

"I mean she died, Raina." Soron sighed, "10 years ago,"

"10 years ago.. Before the apocalypse? How did she die?" Raina's jaw dropped open,

"She stopped," Soron answered, "She gave up her succubus lifestyle."

"...Why?"

"Because she was loyal," A short voice crack rang out from Soron as he looked at Raina, "She was loyal to her husband."

"She was married..?" Raina whispered in response, her eyes frowning as she hesitantly pointed to Solon.

"When her husband died, she didn't want to do it with anyone else. So a few weeks after that, she passed away. Leaving behind her only child."

"You..." Raina's eyes widened, "That succubus... was your mother?"

Soron nodded as he handed the book to her, "She gave me this knowledge in case I needed it,"

"Are you a succubus too?" She whispered, slowly taking the book,

Soron shook his head, "The chance of a succubus offspring is incredibly rare. All I inherited from my mother was her dream-walking ability and her looks. I've been able to dream-walk as long as I can remember. The 'miracle rock' as you guys call it, only seemed to have amplified it."

"Amplified it.. how?"

"You've witnessed it already," Soron pointed at the book, "I can bring objects from dreams into reality. Before that, all I could do was enter dreams,"

"Isn't that... overpowered...?" Raina raised an eyebrow as she stared that the book in her hand,

"It takes a lot of concentrating," He admitted, "Once I lose focus, it just disappears,"

As he said that, the teacup he had given her a while back slowly faded away, "If I forget any details, it'll disappear from the object,"

"You memorised the entire book...?" Raina realised as she quickly flipped through it. The fine print of each word within the few hundreds of pages completely clear and legible,

"I've had 10 years of practice," Soron chuckled, "Seems it was all worth it. I'll let you borrow it for a few days if you want."

"You're willing to manifest this book in reality for a few days?" Raina frowned, "That's going to be a lot of concentration,"

Soron let out a laugh, "Don't worry I don't have anything planned, and I know that thing like the back of my hand. I can recreate another one at the same time if you wanted me to," He clicked his hand, another 3 of the same book appearing beside him.

"Let's get you out of here," he suddenly stood up, clicking his fingers, the bars of the cage slowly sliding back into the ground,

"What is this thing made of, by the way..." Raina suddenly frowned tapping the cage bars, "I couldn't even make a single scratch on it when I tried,"

"That's going to have to be kept a secret. We might need to use it again when a particular succubus goes wild." Soron replied as 3 books beside him vanished.

"Wait," Raina suddenly paused, "You said that succubus is a species right,"

"Yeah?" Soron nodded, standing by the doorway,

"I'm pretty certain my mum's not a succubus," Raina muttered, "Well, 95% sure... Fine, more like 80% sure she's not a succubus. How am I one...?"

"Yeah, your mother wasn't the succubus. Your dad was," He answered,

"My... dad...? My dad was a succubus?" Raina's mouth dropped,

"Not exactly a succubus... More like an Incubus... The male version. More rare and powerful," Soron nodded,

"How do you know about him?" Raina frowned, "He died a few years ago. Just after the apocalypse actually."

Soron opened his hand again as a framed picture appeared on his palm, an image of a man and a woman with pitch-black hair standing side by side with a wide grin plastered on their faces as their hands were intertwined with each other.

"Your dad's Wayland Everstein, right?"

"...Yeah," Raina nodded, taking the photo and looking at it closer, "What in the world are they wearing..."

The two looked to be wearing some sort of black luxurious robe with purple lining, the fabric almost transparent, but definitely alluring to look at. A closer look and it seemed the passbyers stood in the background also seemed to be wearing similar attire, walking around inside a dark majestic castle-like building,

"Is that your mother?" Raina suddenly realised, pointing at the woman beside her father; the resemblance between Solon and his mother seemed almost uncanny,

Solon nodded, "It was taken back where they were from, the Demon Realm," He explained, "That's how I found out about your dad,"

"Were they a couple?" Raina frowned, "What happened to them?"

"Your dad had a high rank in the Succubus world. He was an incubus and was part of the Everstein bloodline. My mum on the other hand was part of a branch family. Someone who had no chance to ascend the throne. Born from some random succubus with no surname. Your dad and my mum fell in love, but you know the gist, the elders disapproved."

"And they got kicked out of the Demon Realm...?" Raina guessed, to which Soron nodded,

"But when they were kicked, they got separated. Mum lived her succubus life for a while, trying to look for your dad, but eventually, years turned to centuries and she just... gave up. Found someone she liked. She married him and settled down. and you know the rest."

"And my dad probably did the same..." Raina muttered,

"Yep, and that's how you and I were born,"

"But I still don't understand, how did you find me?" She tilted her head,

"I found traces of your dad a few weeks ago when I was just roaming through people's dreams. I looked into him and found out he was married, then I went and dug into his wife. Found out she was part of the Resistance. Infiltrated the Resistance and tracked her record. Blah, blah, blah. Found she had children with him and then located you back at that mansion,"

"My mum's a part of the Resistance...?"

"Was. Now, seems like so are your siblings too," Soron nodded,

"And you... went to the mansion specifically looking for me?" Raina frowned,

"Not specifically you," Soron shook his head, "I was just curious about my mother's previous lover and the potential that one of you three might turn out to be a succubus. And sure enough, you helped me confirm it when you entered my dream and killed all those people back there,"

"And now that you've found me... want are you planning...?" Raina slowly squinted, suddenly not trusting him,

"Honestly, haven't got a single thing planned. I was just going to sit back and watch you do your thing," He replied, "But, after watching you for a bit. I realised you really know nothing about yourself, so I had to step in after last night's incident."

"You didn't come here out of jealousy or something, because I got that succubus gene and you didn't?" Raina confirmed,

"You think I want...that?" Soron suddenly frowned in confusion, his hand pointing up and down at Raina as if demonstrating what 'that' was, "No way, that seems like a curse rather than a blessing for me. I'll take what I have right now over the powers of an incubus any day... No offense."

"Offence taken," Raina chuckled, a black mist forming around her body as a casual black shirt and shorts formed over her body, "But, it's a shame, you can't do any of this," She grinned, handing back the towel he had draped over her, only for it to disappear in her hands,

"But, I can," Soron teased, pointing at the vanished towel,

"Guess what, I can do it too," Raina suddenly smirked,

"Wait. Stop," Soron put his hand over his rolling eyes at the realisation of what she meant, "Keep your clothes on, lady."

"I'm just kidding," Raina laughed walking up to him to give him a small punch before walking out, "Come on, let's go, you virgin."

"Hey! Y-You know that's not true," Soron shouted after her, "Take that back! You definitely know that's not true!"