Chapter 09

The Night of Nyx

It was a bad day and it was still far from over.
Grace was sitting on a rock at the beach, listening to crying.
Soot was still recovering from her spanking - she hadn't even pulled up her panties, as she prefered the sea breeze to cool off her scorched backside. Merta was sobbing a bit, as
Zack's behaviour had frightened her a little.
But May was in the worst predicament of them all, and she was wailing and crying her heart out.
Grace hugged her awkwardly.
"Come on, girls!" she cried. "We must keep together!"
Yes, this was clearly calling for a group hug.
"Zack... h..hates me now!" wailed May.
"There, there," patted her Grace. "No, he's just upset. I will talk to him. I'll even tell him that you told me, May, and that I kept it from him. I'm guilty here, too."
"But..." sobbed May.
"He might punish me too," nodded Grace, "but I hope he'll understand."
"Will he spank me for what I did today?" asked May.
Grace grimaced. "I don't really see how he wouldn't."
May nodded. "I..I want him to spank me. I want him to forgive me. Even if it will be as bad as what Soot got."
"He really meant business this time!" barked Soot. "I have a delicate skin, you know - it's not made for such beatings!"
"You should try to sleep," said Merta. "I'm tired, too."
"Sleeping here?" complained Soot. "It's cold outside. Someone could attack us!"
"D..don't you complain!" cried May. "It's our fault Bro has no more money. We should..."
"We should what?" countered Soot. "Get some? I won't steal unless he specifically asks me to. And can you come with a better idea that being a waitress who gets spankings for money?"
Merta turned around and slapped her face. Soot let go of her bottom and touched her face.
"What are you..."
"What are you doing?" cried Merta. "Don't you see how miserable she is? Putting salt into her wounds, do you like to do that?"
Soot sighed. "You're right, I'm silly. Sorry, May, I didn't mean it. Let's go to sleep."
"And I will try and find Zack," said Grace. "He needs to talk to someone."

I was walking along the beach, storming in my head.
My own sister betrayed me. But did she?
She took a spanking from stranger because she was too afraid to confess to me. No, that wasn't really betrayal, I realized.
That was failure.
My failure.
We should have no secrets in front of each other! Why didn't she trust me? If she told me, I would spank her, sure, but it would be over in a minute, and this way...
She had to be uncomfortable for those two days. That's why we got all those bathroom breaks in the coach.
"I failed as a guardian," I said aloud.
"No, you didn't."
I turned around. It was Grace.
"It took me a while to find you," she said. "Are you still angry with May?"
"Angry?" I shook my head. "I don't know what to think anymore."
"You should talk to her," she said. "Have a long talk. It will help, trust me."
"I don't feel like talking to her," I said. "Not now."
"In the morning, maybe?" she suggested. "You have to talk eventually."
I sighed. "Well, I..."
The sand erupted around us and pale lines shined and moved. We were enclosed in a large structure made out of pentagons and hexagons.
Perfect ending of a perfect day, really.

I hit the structure with my fist. Although there was nothing visible apart from the edges, the pentagons and hexagons were solid.
A face became illuminated by pale light.
"Don't bother," said Nyx. "You can't break it."
"Zack?" yelped Grace. "Who is it?"
"I'm Nyx," said the face. "I wanted to talk to the boy. You shut up."
"What do you want to talk about?" I cried.
"Why do you protect the girl?" she asked.
"Isn't that what a guy is supposed to do?"
"Raia has attempted to destroy this world," said Nyx calmly. "If it wasn't for other Geomancers who sacrificed their power and their lives to seal her, she would succeed."
"That was Raia! Merta is not Raia!"
Nyx nodded, although it was barely visible.
"You are right. But both of them are instrumental for our Queen."
"I don't understand!"
"Raia's geomantic powers were only a part of what she could do," said Nyx. "She also possessed power of mental manipulation. This is why she was so strong. In her prime, she could change enemies into allies at whim. She could make her enemies kill each other. Every command she gave was obeyed by everybody. How ironical that she is dying now because of her own power."
"Dying?"
"Raia was sealed by a spell so powerful that it sucked all the power," she said. "Geomancy ceased to exist - there was no power left. But some of the Geomancers survived - and in time, their descendants came to be the only ones who knew the secret of Raia's seal. Our Queen was one of those descendants. But she realized the truth - she realized that Raia was a powerful resource she could use."
"I won't go back there," I said slowly. "That's what Merta said the first day we've met. Who is she? And what did the Queen do to her?"
"Merta," snarled Nyx, "is nothing but a facade."

"It's hard to sleep here," said Soot.
"Yes, lots of rocks," nodded Merta.
"They are not really soothing to my bottom, do you know what I mean?" smirked Soot. "And I'm not used to sleeping on my stomach."
"May is already asleep," pointed out Merta.
"She was not spanked! Hey, Merta, can't you create something soft? With geomancy?"
Merta thought about it.
"I don't think so. All my designs are rather... pointy."
Soot grimaced. "Not much good, then. I can't rest like that."
"If it's the rest you want, you can rest forever."
Soot and Merta turned around.
An unfamiliar girl was standing there. She only looked about ten years old. And she was grinning.

"We were sent by the Queen," said the girl, unemotionally. There was a strange, metallic overtone to her voice. "We were sent to bring Merta back to her."
Merta was staring at her in utter shock.
"You are... Pauline..."
"Don't call us that!" barked the girl. "Our name is Swarm. You will go with us."
"I'm not going back," said Merta.

"You're wrong!" cried Grace. "Merta is a good person! I heard about Raia! She was evil, there is no way she could masquerade as Merta!"
"And yet she did!" snickered Nyx. "You see, our Queen did only weaken the seal a bit, to allow some geomancy to sneak back into the world. She didn't break it. Raia couldn't leave the seal. Everyone else could come and go as pleased, but not her! And so... the only way for her to escape was to become someone else..."
She laughed. "Oh, did she take us by surprise! She manipulated her own mind, creating a naive personality the seal wouldn't recognize.  She just walked out, then she switched back to Raia, one quick dodecahedron... But she got herself cornered! She was too perfect creating that fraud! That girl is slowly eating her away, dissolving her memories, taking over her powers... Raia is dying by hand of her own creation! Oh, what a beautiful irony!"
Grace trembled. "You won't talk about Merta like this!"
"You know," continued Nyx, "it might be better if we let Raia disappear. Merta is much more... docile. She won't make such trouble. And the blood is the same, too. But Merta, she lacks the knowledge. And the Queen is very much interested in Raia's knowledge."
"What's this about the blood?" I asked. I remembered what Raia told me. Don't let the Queen get my blood...
"They blood of the True One awakens the power."
I turned around, because it was Grace who spoke those words.

"You don't have a choice," said Swarm. "We have power to bring you back."
"Excuse me?" called Soot. "What exactly is happening in here?"
"Yeah!" said May who had just woken up.
Swarm appeared miffed. "This does not concern you. Merta is a fugitive. We will bring her back."
"Merta is our friend!" cried May.
"We will protect her," added Soot.
"And I won't let you take me back," said Merta. "I'm stronger than I was before."
"What about it? You need precise diagrams to use your power. Drawing them takes time. We will not provide that time."
"I remember you," said Merta quietly. "I remember when they took you to me. How scared you looked. What did they do to you, Pauline? What did she do?"
"WE ARE NOT PAULINE! WE ARE SWARM!" cried the girl and thrusted out a hand to grab Merta.
Soot hit her forearm with her elbow, hard.
But her arm passed right through it.

Grace looked determined.
"She was the True One, the Perfect One, wasn't she?" she barked. "The most powerful one who ever lived! And you just... feeded on her like vampires and her blood has changed you."
"How do you know?" shrieked Nyx.
"I can read," said Grace. "There was a book about Geomancers in the Lord's library. Who are you? Answer me!"
"I am Nyx!"
"No! I mean who were you before? Who were you before the Queen gave you the blood of true Geomancer? Before she turned you into this... this monster!"
Nyx chuckled. "Monster? I got power! Look!"
Her face started to move.

"We see that you begin to understand," chuckled Swarm. Her hand was grasping Merta. But that hand was no longer attached to her arm.
"What are you?" whispered May.
"We have already told you. We are Swarm."
Swarm's hand started to move. It changed shape as it moved.
Merta cried out when a flesh-colored choker settled around her neck.
"Now you have no choice," said Swarm, satisfied.
May desperately tried to tear it down from Merta's neck, but her fingers passed right through it.
"If you do it again, we are going to tighten it," said Swarm. "We do not wish to harm her. But we are quite content to cause her pain."
"Zack will get you!" cried May.
"The boy is being dealt with by my colleague," replied Swarm. "He is in no position to help. We shall demonstrate..."

Pale lines were flashing in the darkness around us.
"This is me!" she shrieked. "I am the Night herself! Who could hope to be more?"
"And yet," I said, "you can't feel the sun's rays ever again."
"I never could before."
The malice of those words chilled me.
"Darkness in the heart," I whispered.
"I am one of the failures," said Nyx. "Like the others. But the Queen doesn't lose the hope. One day, she will find a perfect one. But... there is no more blood of the True One. Raia must come back to the Queen."
"Why are you telling us all this?" said Grace. "Do you really hope we will give her to you?"
"I only wanted to explain," said Nyx, and this time, I detected a real sorrow in her voice. "Raia is already captured. The Queen has sent Swarm to fetch her."
Then something started to choke me.

"Curious," said Swarm. "She doesn't appear to be feeling pain. We have to investigate this further."
She moved towards Merta. Her right hand transformed in a long, thin tentacle. It probed along Merta's face. Then it slid lower...
"An amulet," mused Swarm. "Appears to possess no apparent power. But there must be something..."
Then she cried out.

Suddenly I was holding a sword again.
"What are you doing?" cried Nyx. "You are but a fool!"
I raised the sword and my arms were suddenly filled with power.
I striked.
And the barrier shattered.
"You can't defeat me!" shrieked Nyx. "Not at night!"
"But I'm not going to fight you," I smirked. "I have better things to do than to fight a shadow."
When I started to run, with Grace's hand in mine, I felt as if numerous chilly blades of grass were tapping my back. But I just ignored them.

"She was only threatening," I explained to Grace while running. "She couldn't really hurt us, because... well, all the darkness here, that's her. But her power is only limited. Imagine your body was suddenly enlarged hundredfold - but your strength stayed the same. You couldn't do anything but lie down."
Nyx's face appeared beside me. "You are good to figure that out," she admitted. "It's hard for me to not be dissolved in the true darkness. But you can't save the girl. Swarm is... very effective."

Swarm was holding her arm in shock. Her hand, or the tentacle she morphed it into, were gone. The tentacle has literally crumbled into dust.
"What did you do?" she cried. "There was no power!"
May and Soot jumped on her.
And she exploded.

Swarm's body dispersed and lost its shape. Now there were thousands of tiny dots, flying through the air, buzzing incessantly.
"Swarm," whispered May. "So that's why..."
Dots coalesced and Swarm's head appeared in the midair.
"You bastards!" she shrieked. "You will die!"
But there was still Merta. She tore the choker from her neck and ducked. Then she drew something into the sand.
A blazing flame has erupted from the ground. Wherever it touched the dots, they were going out with a poof.
Swarm shrieked. "No! That hurts! Stop that!"
And then, the reinforcements came.

I ran back into our "camp" in time to see disembodied head floating in the air, shrieking in pain.
That wasn't a sight for stable minds.
"You wouldn't be Swarm?" I asked. "You should get away. Before you get... hurt."
The unburned dots coalesced. The redulting lump was changing shape for a bit, then it reformed into a five-years old girl.
"You let him escape, Nyx!" she cried. "Why?"
"I'm sorry," said Nyx's face, materializing in the air next to her. "I have..."
"You shall explain that to the Queen!" interrupted Swarm. "But now... Aaagh!"
Merta has thrown her bag over Swarm's head. She moved it and the head went off. She quickly sat on the bag.
"You won't be going back anytime soon!" she gleamed maliciously.
Swarm just shifted and reformed the head. I noticed that one of her arms disappeared.
"You made a mistake, girl."
She smiled.
And the dots erupted from the bag, tearing it to shreds. They surrounded May...
May cried out. And again. Again.
But I was running towards her, at top speed.
My sword was gone, but I still managed to grab May's shoulders and swing her towards the fire.
Some of the dots flared, but most had managed to get away quickly enough.
"You will pay!" cried Swarm. Her voice was still a bit metallic, but she sounded just like a little girl throwing a tantrum. "We will kill you! All of you!"
"That's enough, Swarm," sighed Nyx. "Today, we lost."
"We never lose!" wailed Swarm.
"We lost," repeated Nyx firmly. "There is another day. And another fight." She nodded towards me. "I'm looking forward to meeting an opponent like you again," she said.
Swarm finally composed herself. She threw one last hateful look to us, then she reached down and began to draw.
When the dodecahedron folded, I could barely see Swarm sticking her tongue at us, before she disappeared together with Nyx's face.
"That girl..." said Soot, amazed, "was a Geomancer."
Merta nodded. "There will be more. I know it! They are serious, they want to send me back!"
"Back to where?" asked Soot.
"That's not important," I interjected. I wasn't prepared to share with others what Nyx told me. "The important thing is that we should get some sleep. I don't think they will be back today."
All the girls nodded.
"Oh, and - Soot!"
She looked at me.
I pulled my jacket off.
"Put this under yourself," I said. "You shouldn't lie on the rocks with that bottom."
She actually blushed - or was it only the fire acting up? "Thank you, Zack."
I looked at May. She was looking sheepishly.
I hugged her firmly.
"I'm sorry for what I said," I whispered. "You are my dearest little sister no matter what you do. And I always, always forgive you."
She kissed me. "Thank you, Bro!"
"But you are still getting spanked. Tomorrow," I told her.
She nodded. "I know. And I'm really glad for it, Bro. Because if you spank me, then I will know I'm truly forgiven."

In the morning, before the girls woke up, I nudged sleeping May a little.
She opened her eyes, slowly.
"Yes? What's happening?"
"We are going to take a walk on the beach, May," I told her. "Just you and me."
She nodded. "Yes, Bro. Good idea."
We must have looked like a couple, walking along the beach - if not for Merta's hairbrush I was holding in my hand. May threw glances at it, occassionally.
"I'm sorry I got so angry with you," I said. "I have said things... that I shouldn't."
"That's OK..." she whispered and glanced at the hairbrush again.
"You should tell me," I told her. "You should trust me enough to do that."
"I will..."
"You messed it up in the restaurant good, didn't you?"
May nodded. "Yes... I know... I was bad in the restaurant... I didn't tell you about my punishment... and I messed the dress store yesterday." She sighed. "I'm... going to get it real good, right?"
"May, I won't punish you for the restaurant," I said to her.
"You won't?"
"The owner did that. And he overdid it. That was way too harsh! I swear to you, May, if I ever meet him, he's going to get a piece of my mind! But he punished you for what you did and that's why I won't."
"Ah. And... the other two things?"
"For keeping it secret... well, you didn't exactly lie to me, did you?"
"No!"
"And I think your bottom must have hurt a lot these last two days," I continued.
"Yes... It was... bad."
"Then I think you can consider yourself punished for that."
"Thank you!"
"But - there is still the dress store trouble yesterday," I said. "Which is where this hairbrush is coming into the picture."
May sighed. "I knew it was too good to be true," she complained. "Are you going to spank me... a lot?"
"I'm going to give you a spanking you deserve," I said.
"Ah. Yes, that's exactly what I was afraid of," sniffed May.
We went further, and after a while, she asked: "Where will you spank me?"
I looked around. The beach was empty, it was still early in the morning.
"Where would you like me to?"
She lowered her eyes. "Here," she said.
"Here?"
"I want you to give me my spanking here and now," she said and tears welled in her eyes. "I don't want to go any further with this... this guilt inside of me."
There was a flat rock and that's where I sat down. I pulled Merta towards me and across my knee. She yelped a little.
I started to spank her. Over her skirt.
"Huh?" She seemed to be confused.
"You are my sister," I pronounced, as I was spanking her skirt-clad bottom steadily. "I will always love you and protect you. And that's why you are getting this spanking."
Even though it was through the skirt, she was starting to feel the heat. But I continued. I spanked slowly, but firmly.
"This will be a long spanking, May. And it will be the worse the longer it will be."
She sniffed. "Yes, Bro."
"What do you think about that?"
"I..I deserve it."
I spanked further. Then I stopped.
"I'm now going to raise your skirt and spank your panties," I told her. "So it will hurt more from now on. Should I?"
She nodded. "Yes, Bro. Please... raise my skirt and spank me on my panties."
A few seconds later, she was gasping and squirming as I was peppering her blue panties with spanks.
Strangely enough, it was a great feeling spanking her on panties - maybe because a guy has rarely such a good view of them. When a girl is spanked bare, her panties are tangled from all the kicking and she never lets you take a peek otherwise.
The panties didn't cover the whole of May's bottom and I noticed that the tops of her thighs are becoming rather red. She was also squirming rather a lot now. But I spanked until I heard the first sobs.
"It's time to take your panties down," I announced. "May I?"
May blushed. It was no match for the blush on her bottom, but I could say she was really embarrassed.
"Pl..please, Bro... take my panties d..down... and s..spank my bare b..bottom."
She started to cry softly when I bared her. I patted her head. "This has to be done," I said. "You understand, right?"
She nodded and I started the bare-bottomed spanking.
The panties didn't provide much protection, but now the embarrassment has kicked in, too, and soon she was crying freely and kicking her legs. I had to leg-lock her - she could easily stub a toe this way.
I put all my brotherly love into this spanking. I couldn't say what was hotter - May's bottom or tears flowing from her eyes. Finally I stopped.
I let May calm down a bit, but I didn't let her get up.
"OK," I said. "Your punishment is over."
"O..over?" May was puzzled. "But... what about the hairbrush?"
I stood her up. "I think you were punished enough. I won't use the hairbrush... unless you want me to."
She started to cry. "I still feel a bit guilty, Bro."
"How much?"
She shrugged. "I don't know."
"Well, maybe ten smacks with the hairbrush will get rid of it," I smiled.
"I hope so!"
I didn't sit down again, I just bent her forward and raised her skirt again. Her panties were still down.
"Hold on this, please."
I patted her head again and I swinged the hairbrush.
*CRACK!*
"Aaaah!"
*SMACK!*
"Nooo!"
*SMACK!*
"Yeeeouch!"
*THWACK!*
"I'm OK! You can stop now!"
"Not a chance, Sis," I smiled.
*SPANK!*
"It hurts!"
*CRACK!*
"Iiiie!"
*THWACK!*
"Enough!"
*SMACK!*
"Ouch! No more, please!"
*PLOP!*
"Please!"
*THWACK!*
"Waaah!"
As I released her, she started to run around, grasping her well-spanked bottom. It reminded me when I saw her spanked for the first time... Dad gave her a spanking at the pond for going in the deep water without telling anyone. She jumped just like that afterwards.
I chased after her and gave her another hug. She was crying as I was telling her how proud I am at her for taking her punishment without any fussing (I passed over the pleading when she got the brush).
"You are... the best brother I could have," she told me when she calmed down.
I nodded. "Aren't you a lucky one, right?"
She laughed, for the first time in a long, long while.

End of Chapter 9

May's Readers' Corner:

Wheeow, I'm so glad it ended well! Of course, I got a spanking of my life - but I didn't really think I could get out of it without one! So, I'm writing this Readers' Corner standing up, but it was well worth it!
Hmmm... there were no readers' responses this time, so I thought I could do a little bit of preview? These are hard to do, because Fulgur never knows in advance what he will write!

So, the Chapter 10 will deal with our attempts to get some money for the ship. Me and Soot got this really neat idea - and this time, we wanted to take Merta to ensure it won't be something Zack would spank us for! But Merta is gone! And so is Grace! And Zack really does help us raise money we need... but I know he is worried about the girls! Oh, will they get it when they come back... I bet! But at least it won't be me, not this time!

So write up, and we will meet at Chapter 10 - A Maid's Secret! Bye!

May

  May's Retrospective Readers' Corner:

Oh yeah, I got it good here! But I deserved it. Probably... OK, certainly. Sheesh!
I don't know what I should write in here anymore. Fulgur has posted the next three chapters one after the another - and they really don't need Retrospective corners of their own!

Oh. Wait a minute, yeah, they do... There are still some issues Fulgur would like to give you. How much? Three chapters to go? Oh, sheesh...

May, signing off!