Suddenly A Succubus-Chapter 43.4

Suddenly A Succubus-Chapter 43.4

Back in her apartment, Amara was still frustrated after her interview with Imani. She’d been angrily pacing from room to room, occasionally breaking off pieces of raw cookie dough and baking it in her hands. The process had calmed her down slightly, but more importantly, time passed quicker when she had something to focus on.
“Stupid fucking Coven, coming in here and hurting my friends,” Amara muttered, popping another tiny cookie in her mouth. “And who the fuck does Imani think she is? I bet she’s just trying to get on our good sides to rat us out at the first sign of trouble.”
Amara reached for another glob of cookie dough, but found the package empty. With a frustrated groan, she tossed the wrapper in the trash and started digging through her fridge.
She was running low on ingredients, and knew that another grocery trip needed to happen soon, but that could wait. As her eyes wandered from item to item, she found it increasingly difficult to decide on a meal. She didn’t even understand why she was still hungry, she’d made a massive dinner for herself earlier, and had been snacking ever since. However, as she felt another pang of hunger, she realized what it was she truly needed.
After checking the time, Amara knew that Nick was probably asleep by now. Could she reach out to Tessa? Maybe she’d want a way to blow off steam after dealing with her Coven all day. Halfway through drafting a text, however, she stopped.
Wait a minute. When Mom was here, she stressed that our affinity for illusion magic comes from our ability to manipulate the Dreamscape. I figured out illusions really fast, but I haven’t bothered with dreamwalking ever since I got Derek to fess up to all his shitty behavior. I’m way stronger now!
Amara deleted the message, then ran back to her bedroom. She plugged in her phone, then set up the same ambient rain noise she’d used back when she’d been visiting Derek’s dreams.
She jumped on her bed, dispersing all her illusory clothes and grinning with satisfaction as soft bedsheets began settling against her naked body. Instead of laying down, however, she stayed in a sitting position as she closed her eyes.
Okay, the goal is not to fall asleep. When I was doing this before, I was able to see the Dreamscape as Derek woke up. It’s a strange white void with streaks of color zooming around in the distance. Maybe those are dreams? The goal is to go there on purpose, not to end up there because a different dream ended.
Amara crossed her legs and leaned against the bedroom wall. She’d never been a fan of meditating, but with no real ideas on how to proceed, she pulled out her best imitation.
Calm, measured breathing. Deep breath for two counts, slowly release it over four.
She pictured the Dreamscape in her mind, memories of her time in Derek’s nightmares filling her thoughts. When she hadn’t been torturing him, it had been quite peaceful.
As the minutes passed, she lost focus on her immediate surroundings. The bedsheets didn’t matter anymore, the white noise from her phone faded into the background. Even the plush mattress underneath her seemed to float away, caught in an unseen current as Amara focused on stepping into the realm of dreams.
Her breathing grew heavy, and she swore she almost caught herself snoring. Knowing that wasn’t the goal, she panicked and opened her eyes, ready to reset her surroundings and start over.
However, she was no longer in her room. Her familiar bedroom walls had disappeared, replaced by a seemingly endless gray-white void. The occasional streak of dark gray made Amara feel like she was inside a marble sculpture, and she wondered if she should move closer to examine the strange material. Before she dared to move, she looked down at herself to see if anything had changed.
Thankfully, she seemed to be completely intact. She was still completely naked, however, which somehow didn’t feel appropriate for the Dreamscape. Deciding this was a perfect chance to test her abilities, she tried to manifest a simple pair of sweatpants and a tank top. To her delight, the clothes appeared exactly as desired.
Now appropriately dressed in her pajamas, it was time to explore. She spun around slowly, looking in all directions as she tried to understand her surroundings. There was obviously no sense of gravity, and she was able to spin upside down without consequence, but that also meant she had no reliable way to keep track of where she was.
Does the Dreamscape even have physical locations? Like, I’m here, but where is here?
To play it safe, Amara manifested a massive bed in the void beside her. It resembled her own bed in every aspect but its size, as Amara had made it much bigger. With any luck, she hoped this would serve as an anchor point for her return trip.
Further inspection of the space nearby didn’t give her any helpful insight, so she picked a direction and flew off. It was hard to gauge distance in the Dreamscape; she had no way of knowing if a particular color splotch was small and close or massive and far away. Thankfully, after a few minutes of aimless wandering, she managed to close in on a large, reddish-orange streak.
Moving as carefully as she could, she placed a hand on the color. The substance, whatever it was, danced around her fingers as if she were touching a river, and her touch seemed to agitate it. It swirled faster and faster, growing larger with each second as it began to encompass Amara. She began to see images in between the patterns, flashes of green and white that grew larger at an alarming speed. Before she had a chance to react, the reddish-orange cloud had completely enveloped her, then vanished completely.
The white void of the Dreamscape was gone as well, replaced with a setting that Amara quickly recognized. She was standing in a large field dotted with trees and pathways, surrounded by various academic buildings.
This was the quad.
It appeared to be early winter. Heavy clouds obscured the sunlight, and most of the trees had lost all their leaves, but the campus was still devoid of snow. A gust of wind blew across the campus, shaking the trees, but Amara didn’t hear the familiar rustling of leaves and branches. For some reason, despite the absence of any kind of sound system, the entire field was blasting heavy rock music.
The music caught Amara off guard, but thankfully it was easy to manifest small, noise-cancelling earbuds. Now that she was able to focus, she began walking around the quad to discover whose dream this was.
Thankfully, that task proved incredibly easy. At the edge of the quad, walking with a pair of headphones on, was a student Amara recognized. She had bright red hair and a tank top that showed off her impressive, muscular physique. She paid absolutely no attention to her surroundings, and was bobbing her head to the pounding music.
Amara watched from afar, following from a respectable distance as she wondered what Ruby might be dreaming about. As she waited, a flash of light caught her attention, but it didn’t seem to be coming from anything in particular. On several occasions, the ground seemed to quake slightly, but it was hard to tell if that was part of the dream or a symptom of the heavy music.
Ruby was nearing the corner of the cafeteria when another figure began approaching her. At first, this figure was a nonsensical blob of muted colors, but when they reached out for Ruby, their form cemented into another familiar shape.
She was now looking at Vee, exactly how she’d looked the day of Brandon’s invasion. Vee pulled Ruby’s headphones off, and the music filling the clearing faded into the background. Ruby shouted in protest, asking Vee to return her headphones, when she saw another shape that had just materialized in the clearing; a reaper.
Ruby immediately panicked, screaming in terror as the reaper stepped closer. Vee shoved Ruby’s headphones back into her hands, then briefly closed her eyes to take a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, radiant angelic energy burst forth. She floated several feet into the air, the rest of her body beginning to glow as well, and she spoke with an unnatural presence.
“Child! Be not afraid. I’m here to protect you. Go inside and stay with the others. Now!”
Holy shit, is that what happened? Vee looks incredible!
Grabbing her headphones, Ruby took one last look at the reaper before turning and running. She took the concrete steps three at a time, but ran for much longer than Amara anticipated. Before her eyes, the steps elongated, and by the time Ruby reached the top, each individual stair was nearly as tall as her.
Behind her, Vee had vanished completely, and a reaper was furiously running up the stairs in pursuit of Ruby. She climbed over the last stair, then began running for the entrance of the cafeteria, but another reaper crashed down in front of her. This reaper was nearly twice as big, and looked exactly like a massive dragon. Its powerful claws cracked the concrete as it stepped closer, and Ruby tried to turn and run, but the ground warped around her. Her steps were slow and arduous, and the sidewalk angled higher and higher while attempting to tip Ruby backwards towards the beast.
I had no idea Ruby was so shaken by the attack. She seems nice, she doesn’t deserve this.
Amara cracked her knuckles, then replaced her pajamas with her chitinous armor. Her true form appeared in a burst of hellfire, and with a triumphant shout, she threw herself at the massive reaper.
With a single punch, Amara dislocated the monster’s jaw. It roared in pain, then turned away from Ruby to focus on her. The familiar rush of combat began to excite Amara, but she forced herself to calm down. This was only a dream, and the creature wasn’t real. If anything, this was a perfect chance to further practice her dream-warping abilities.
When the reaper pounced, attempting to crush her beneath its massive claw, she simply urged the dream to bend to her will. In much the same way she could take control of fire, she pushed her presence into the dream, and told the reaper that it was powerless against her.
Raising a hand, she stopped the incoming claw without so much as flinching. She curled her fingers around one of its talons, then lifted the creature up and spun around. She slammed the beast down to the ground, using the impact to revert the sidewalk to its regular state. This made it easier for Ruby to stand, although her relief was short lived.
The second reaper was crawling into view, and Amara sighed in frustration. With a heavy grunt, she leapt into the air, taking the larger reaper with her. It was impossible to ignore the heavy rock music in the background, and it began blaring a triumphant chorus as the fight continued. Amara spun around in the air, hurling the already damaged reaper down at the smaller beast, and both creatures screamed in pain. With a final shout, Amara summoned a burst of hellfire behind her and propelled herself towards the ground, landing on the creatures and blowing their skeletons to pieces just as Ruby’s song ended.
Using her control over the dream, Amara quickly dispersed the corpses of the monsters. All the bones that had scattered after her attack vanished, leaving her completely on her own.
“Amara! You saved me!” Ruby shouted. She ran close, throwing her arms around Amara and hugging her tight. As she pulled back however, her eyes were wide and full of concern. One of her hands, the one that had been gripping Amara’s back, was covered in blood. “Oh my god, Amara, you’re hurt!”
What? No I’m not. Although, the first time Ruby saw me, I was limping into the cafeteria after killing a reaper. She’s expecting to see me hurt, so the dream probably changed itself to suit her expectations.
Deciding it would be fun to play along, Amara made an exaggerated fainting motion and fell into Ruby’s arms. She landed softly, the muscular girl catching her without issue, and she felt the dream shift around her. They were no longer next to the cafeteria entrance, they were in the bistro on the bottom floor. Ruby was standing over a couch, and quickly laid Amara down before pulling out a first aid kit.
Amara let Ruby bandage her up, curious what Ruby’s subconscious mind would do next. If nothing else, the physical attention felt nice, and Amara doubted there was a hotter nurse on campus. She assumed Ruby was a powerlifter, as nothing else would explain her muscular physique. Her arms were thick and powerful, yet as they wound a bandage around Amara’s shoulder, she also felt how gentle Ruby was capable of being. By the time she’d finished with the bandages, the powerful scent of her arousal had filled Amara’s senses.
I wonder how far I can take this.

Chapter 43.4