Suikoden - Taint of Power

Author's Note: I began this around the same time as "Turning Tides." I was considering cutting down on some of the less savory aspects of this story, since I wrote them to get across the effect that her treatment had on her, but then I realized. People only care about what's popular. Write about Rosa in any way that doesn't ruin her, it's largely ignored; write about Rydia, you get flocks. I began writing because there were games and characters I loved that nobody else would write about; they were too busy using the ones that would get them a shitload of readers, even going so far as to force pairings that should never happen, just because people want to see it. So I don't care if this goes places that people don't want to go, I'm not doing it for ego strokes. The premise of this story is thus: how can we really be sure that Odessa died in the sewers?

Dirty water pooled around her head with each whoop and hack that churned it from her lungs. She softly groaned and rolled to her back. A dark stone ceiling and a drop's splatter to her forehead greeted her when she opened her eyes. Her ears acknowledged the steady, rushing flow of a river. Sensorium lagged as it was by the consequences of her revival, her soggy clothes weighed on her as she sat up, and the foul stench of the dank Lenankamp sewers jogged her last memory.

"I'm a failure... as a leader..." she looked out at the stream and sulked.

"Ohoho, you're a failure as a leader, but I know we can find some use for you yet."

Odessa winced and peered into the darkness, "Who are you?"

"You don't know your enemy? Your assessment of yourself sounds spot on." A hole of light opened in front of Odessa, the white silhouette of a woman rising from its center. She took shape, her hair turning sandy blonde striped with blue, facial features scrunched into sharp definition. Her blue and purple robe revealed the brilliance of its colors as the hole closed.

"Lady Windy."

"I knew you couldn't be dense enough to forget the name of someone as great as myself."

Odessa grinned, "Heh... you came too late. My end is... near."

Windy scoffed. "Did you think I would let someone who challenged my authority escape through death without my permission? I've healed your wounds. You won't die, and that's exactly how I want you."

Two more white holes caught Odessa's attention, boulders rising from their empty pits and slabbing against two metal doors to each side of the sewers. The force broke them to pieces that hid all but the tiniest cracks.

"You might be wondering about that," Windy said. "I've found that I used the last of my Conqueror Runes on a 300 year old boy and have none to spare. That might be a blessing; my laziness might have led me to waste a rune on one that does not need nor deserve it."

"Excuse me?"

"You're scum like the rest of what floats down into this sewer. An appropriate way for a woman of your type to give her last gasps. We will have much to discuss about the curious choice you made; I'll let you get your bearings with your new prison for a day."

"This is meant to hold me?"

"Your puny resistance might have a worm or two inside my castle, and I would so hate for my failed leader to have her cover blown while I prepare her to infiltrate the enemy ranks. This part of the sewer has all the makings of a prison cell. I know how much you love the sewers. You used them for your camp. I decided to make it easy on us both and hold you where you would feel most at home."

"This won't work, people will search for me."

"No they won't, or have you forgotten what you told our mutual friend Tir McDohl? Anyone who asks him where you are will hear how you're on some long trip, while Tir and his closest allies believe you're dead. Nobody is going to look for you, Odessa Silverberg. You're mine."

The Court Magician disappeared as suddenly as she'd appeared, sinking into her portal.

Odessa surveyed her surroundings, discovering an obvious exit. Leaping into the water, she swam against the current to the metal bars and tugged them one by one. Their strength held in the row from left to right. A dive beneath the water's surface brought no gaps in the impenetrable security, try as she might to discover one by grasping about. She gave up the attempt after much effort and let the stream carry her back, drifting up to the side where she found herself when waking.

"Until I find an exit, I can at least avoid sickness," she thought. Eyeing the impassible slit where the current left her makeshift prison, Odessa removed the button of her cape and let it fall, stepping out of her boots and scrunching her white pantyhose down her legs. The untying of her corset made her black, long-sleeved chemise hang loosely. She laid against the wall as she discarded her gloves and undergarments, caught off guard by the drowsiness that sank in.


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"Uhn..." Odessa held her pounding head as she sat up and looked about. It took her senses a second to remember the circumstances that led her here, at first perplexed by how the sound of rushing water replaced chirping birds, and the churning stench of sewage filled her nostrils instead of the sweet scent of springtime flowers. Her recollection complete, she got up, only to find...

"What happened to my clothes?!"

"You weren't using them, were you?"

With the voice, came the person. Windy teleported into the makeshift cell.

"Have you no sense of common decency toward a human being?" Odessa griped.

"I'm terribly sorry. I attended a royal ball this evening and I had not thought that my classy attire might disagree with sewer scum. Quite like a commoner sampling a slice of cake after a life of bread."

The vile in Lady Windy's tone brought rage that turned the normally calm Odessa's lily white complexion to a bright shade of rose. "I was raised an aristocrat, and I can say I show more class sitting naked in this sewer than you have wearing the finest clothes."

"Ohoho, you lie to yourself with such spirit. A rat brought up among people is still a rat."

"If you will not give me back my clothes, you prove everything bad I ever thought about you or the empire!"

"A fair trade. Are you prepared to serve me and quell your movement?"

"Never! Too many men and women have died fighting the injustices of the Scarlet Moon Empire."

A dark grin spread, pushing the corners of Windy's lips to the bottom of her cheekbones. "I would be lying if I said I wanted you to submit so easily. That would have taken the fun out of recruiting you."

Odessa tried to read Windy's features, and failed. "What 'fun' would that be?"

"While you were sleeping, I attached a few very special runes, in very special places. You might want to take a look at your buttocks."

Her forehead wrinkled with wrought confusion, Odessa twisted just so to view the black edges of a rune stopping short of her hip. A toss of her head to the other side gave her a view of the other one noted by the Court Magician.

She looked up at Windy, "My hands weren't good enough?"

Windy's features twisted into a smug pout. "How disappointing. I thought you would give me an entertaining shriek when you saw them. The first one acts in a way we can both agree makes this situation much more pleasant. It maintains your health. A life in the sewers could cause many kinds of nasty illnesses."

"And the other rune?"

At that question, Windy... giggled? It sounded unnatural from such a woman, too girly for her mature frame. "A flawed Hazy Rune. Your body is too vulgar for my refined tastes, and as long as I'm being forthright with you, I chose that space because the runes spell out 'ho' when placed together."

"Ehehe," Odessa giggled, catching herself a second later. "Wait..."

"Ah, I see the most important rune has begun its work," Windy smiled. "I thought the Hazy Rune would activate first. As I recall, the first day allows only one command from someone else. Odessa Silverberg, would you kindly put your hands behind you and spread your legs."

Despite her defiance, Odessa found her body unwilling to cooperate with the demands of its owner. Just as the court magician had said, her hands pressed into her lower back and she splayed herself vulnerable, water-dripping sex on display to Lady Windy.

"I thought you said you couldn't stand my 'vulgar' body?" Odessa spat, indignant.

"I can't, but in my travels, I found a rare specimen. Something that thrives in dark, warm places, and I've kept it safe until I could find a woman like you. Prepare yourself." Concentrating her magics into another teleportation spell, the cruel lady conjured the white pit and watched with glee as it rose up. In its majesty, the plant creature's green vines snaked their way up the former resistance leader's legs, discovering that which it craved most and diving inside.

"You... evil, conniving..."

"Bitch?" Windy's heart pounded with excitement at the shock on Odessa's face, her own tone turned joyously perverted as she took on that title and recounted her past. "When I was a little girl, my sister and I lived in some dingy, backwater hovel of a village. We were pathetic, really. A pack of weaklings trying to keep a rune safe from a world growing more powerful each day."

"Oooohhh," Odessa moaned and glared all the abuse to her poor, slowly ravaged slit back at the tainted court magician. She imagined laying a smack on Lady Windy as the woman sauntered closer, yet her arm refused to move from its pre-ordained location as she felt her enemy's breath on her neck.

Windy sniffed. "You reek of the sewers. That's what this beast prefers. Imagine how much this thing will love you by the time you submit to me."

"I'll die before I submit to someone like you!"

A savoring thought came to Windy as she forced a pained groan with a sharp twist of Odessa's nipple. "Do you think I was born a vile bitch? After my home village was slaughtered, I understood the need for power in this world and sought runes that might give me what I wanted. Your tiny mind could never grasp what it's like to spend nearly 400 years on this quest. One day, I happened upon a very curious rune. I didn't know until it was too late. The longer you wear it, the more it twists your soul."

"...Twists your soul?" She gave Windy a cautious eye once the woman came back to her front, assessing the bluff as Windy advanced it.

"Not directly," she gave a flirty look, unconscious from its well-trained use. "I used to be a kind, gentle woman who cared for the well-being of others. When I attached that rune, my life changed forever. The first man I crossed after I found that rune told me to shove a stick up my... well, I'll simply say it didn't feel very pleasant."

Suddenly, a jerk of the plant's vines forced Odessa's crotch to thrust forth. Its deliberate worming deeper into her folds touched upon her sweet spots, once secret to all but her delicate fingers. She felt it probing places she had dreamt of offering Flik, a suggestion she dared not act on by breaking the unspoken rites of chivalry.

"Are you listening? Hmph. I should have known not to provide you with a partner until I explained myself. Perhaps this will catch your attention."

Odessa gaped as she witnessed Windy lift her dress, the Court Magician fondling her own red sex. The mockery of her plight made her muscles course with all the strength she would need to break free of the raping plant... if she had the control to use it. Her stance of submission infuriated her, appearing almost in polite honor to the command placed on her as she fought not to budge one inch from it.

"There now, something to keep the attention of a barbarian."

"Your treatment of me is barbaric!" Odessa threw back at her.

Windy laughed, "Soon, men and women came to take advantage of me. I mated with wild dogs, provided oral stimulation for more than 1000 men and women, served as a tavern outhouse for a year. Much as I loathe to admit it, those were the nicer suggestions."

Between gasps and groans, Odessa thought on Windy's suffering. The size that must've felt ready to split her groin, throat gagging on something between her lips, sentenced to daily shaming with any number of harsher fates untold. Her heart went out for the woman, saying all she could think to say to such awful events.

"Oh my... I'm so sorry you-," Odessa sniveled as a vine slowly, roughly advanced toward her womb.

"Ohoho, pity for me?" Something hateful in the failed leader's once loving eyes when a slap crossed her cheek excited Windy, passing down to that which she prized most. "Do I look sad? Boohoo, I was debased and used. Every day, the rune helped me to see human nature for what it is, and I learned to love it. Such depravity... my hunger for power turned into lust. I began to fantasize about bearing a second True Rune, masturbating to orgasm as I thought of leading whole armies to conquer the world. Village by village, they would..." she held the gap between stomach and groin. "They would... ohhh...."

Suddenly, Lady Windy's hands crept past the sandy-blonde, blue-streaked hair that lined her muff, matted down against her skin by arousal. The act to contain her pleasure became a trigger to its very pursuit. Her fingers pushed deeper. "I gained my freedom when I embraced my treatment and learned to use people like they used me. Did you think I would secure a position as court magician to Barbarossa in any way other than to let him explore my depths and allow his seed to drip from my face?"

"You're sick," Odessa said, head turned aside.

"Not sick. Honest. As you can see, the effect is permanent. The longer you resist, the more twisted you will become. I wonder, how will the rune change you? Will you become a whore? A savage? Or will you become as hungry for power as me? We could use a jester in our court, but oh... jesters are meant to be funny. I'm afraid that position won't suit you."

As those words left Windy's lips, Odessa felt the hot pulse of a rune throbbing in her buttock. Fog formed in the air from the Hazy Rune, its smell changing to suit the environs as it cloaked over key places on her body. The barest silhouette of her sex and bosom showed through the thin veil, her ass spared the airy cover.

"At last," Windy said. "I won't have to see that vulgar thing when I come to train you."

"You mean brainwash-," she reeled as the plant probed a soft spot.

"It doesn't matter what you call the process. I had the rune on my hand before I gave it to you. It should be fun to see how attaching it to that thing you call a vagina influences you in the coming months. I shall return tomorrow. Enjoy your time with that creature, it's ever so hungry."

Odessa hardly paid the sorceress mind as Windy took her leave. For all her disdain, she could merely wait as a prisoner freely offering her jailor's creature a chance to uncover the many secrets of her body. Stuck in rigid pose, she winced while the vines tested and explored the dark cavern of her folds.