Vaid Empire: Conquest

Author's Note: After many years, Vaid Empire: Conquest has finally reached its one hundredth chapter. What started as a small passion project has blossomed into a world that I am deeply devoted to and proud to work on.

Since starting this series, I've experienced births, deaths, and colossal life changes. I've grown alongside this story into an entirely different man, and it will always hold a special place in my heart.

Countless evenings have been spent writing deep into the night. There were many moments of stress and frustration as I sought to meet deadlines I had committed myself to, and many instances of struggle and doubt as I pondered how best to continue the story. Despite all this, VE: Conquest's gradual progress has been greatly rewarding, and my dedication to this story remains as strong as it was at the beginning, if not more so, having watched these characters and the world of Ayphieal grow.

To those that were there at the beginning, I am deeply grateful for your support, and I hope you've enjoyed this series thus far as much as I have. To new readers, welcome, and thank you for joining us.

Much has changed over the course of one hundred chapters, though it's time to return to where it all began as Dominax finds refuge in Nitri.

Enjoy!

***

49th of Silla, 19 AVE.

Kingdom of Vaidrin, Near Nitri.

"It came this way," Dominax heard the echo of words from long ago whispering from the past as he examined the deep marks in the reddish dirt. The forest breeze ran gently through his silver hair.

He could almost feel Cendra The Elder and Briza creeping through the rainforest at his back. They were little more than imaginary ghosts, for on this hunt he was truly alone.

Emerging from the trees into a circular clearing, he found the prey he sought. As if waiting for him, bright feathers fluttering in the humid wind, the beast's serpentine body slowly uncoiled to meet its foe. A horrid head rose to regard him, its long beak parting to display the rows of sharp teeth waiting inside.An Avidion.

Their eyes met, two monsters lurking among the trees. No blade stood ready in his empty hands. No armor protected his body. Wearing only his repaired one-suit and cloak, Dominax appeared as little more than a plaything before the beast's long body, more than twelve feet in length. Yet it lingered in hesitation, as if weary of the fire behind its foe's gaze.

Dominax took a step. The Avidion made its move. Using its pair of arms to hurl itself through the air, sharp teeth sought to consume Dominax's flesh.

Fists tight, lips pulling into a savage sneer, Dominax sent the beast's head whipping to the side with a hard punch. Momentarily stunned, it released a horrid screech before striking swiftly once more, yet he was faster.

Sidestepping, dodging, he avoided the vicious beak like a dashing shadow, toying with his foe. Hand shooting out to snatch a fistful of feathers, he ripped a brightly colored clump free, earning a pained roar.

Electricity danced across his knuckles, erupting into violent bursts of lightning with every brutal punch. The beast's claws and teeth fought frantically to defend itself from what it could not catch.

The powerful tail whipped forth. Dominax didn't flinch. Shielded by his power, bracing his muscles, he caught the lower portion of the beast's body as it sought to slam into his chest. The blow would've sent another man flying. His feet merely dug into the dirt.

His hands burst into flames as he gripped the feathers of the thick tail. The Avidion screeched, its head twisting around to meet him. A fist halted the attack, arms wrapping around its long neck.

Roaring, thrashing, the beast rolled to escape, yet he held firm, pulling his prey down atop him as he was forced onto his back. Fighting in the dirt, he snatched the frantic beak, fingers prying it open. With silver eyes glowing with fury, he pulled the beak further and further apart with both hands.

When he felt a sickeningpop, the beast's struggle ceased as its long body fell limp.

There was no one to assist him as Dominax easily shoved the heavy corpse off his chest. Standing, seeing the beast's hands continuing to twitch, he took the head and drove his thumbs deep into the eyes that had dared to meet his.

All signs of life left the creature as he discarded its head to the dirt. Peering up from his kill, he saw the flicker of a white cloak disappear behind a tree.

Blood stained his hands as he looked down. Though he knew what lurked in the rainforest, he peered up once more. Again he saw a young man step out from behind a tree, silver eyes falling to the Avidion. When Dominax blinked, the vision vanished, and he reached down to finish his hunt.

***

The ruined gates of Nitri stood open before him, laying shattered by time. Hardly was an inch of the old walls visible beneath the overgrowth of vines and vegetation. With the dead Avidion strung across his shoulders, several times larger than his body, Dominax marched through the open wound of his home's failed defenses.

Hints of what had been continued to linger, yet the rainforest fought to reclaim the land. New trees filled the area, standing where his people once stood, as if rising in their memory. The once lively settlement now echoed only with the distant noises of the rainforest.

His camp stood in solitude near the center of Nitri. Among the hundreds of wooden poles and stones marking the dead, his sleeping mat was rolled out at the base of the short obelisk. He dropped the heavy Avidion beside a crude firepit that sat nearby. Crouching, only a single spark of flame from his fingertips was required to reignite the embers.

Peering up from the building flames, the young man waited, sitting across from him on the opposite side of the firepit.

"I know you," the vision muttered, silver eyes watching the flames. "I know what you've done."

Dominax ignored him. He had heard it all before.

His black hair and pointed beard matched the shade of his tunic, decorated with a crude chest plate and a Turinis belt. "You buried them both." The young man nodded towards the obelisk. Its surface was the only stone untouched by vines, for Dominax had torn them away. "You're here because you buried another."

Dominax gritted his teeth. He began to pull the feathers from the Avidion. Whatever this was, whatever the source of the vision sitting before him, he didn't have to listen.

"Of what use is the throne you forged if they continue to fall?" The young man shook his head. "You old fool."

It was useless to argue with himself, yet as his fingers dug into the Avidion, tearing skin from flesh, he couldn't help himself. "You know nothing. You were a fool yourself, believing you could save the world without a price." Bones snapped beneath his strength, blood dripping from his fingers. "You bled, yet I've bled more."

When he looked through the flames again, the young man was gone, and he was once more alone.

***

After preparing a small portion of the meat upon a skewer and roasting it above the flames, he had his fill before discarding the rest.

It was nightfall by the time he laid down upon the sleeping mat. Touching the obelisk near his head, feeling the cool stone against his hand, he knew what lay buried beneath him.

Hardly did his body require sleep anymore, yet as he stared at the black void above through the trees, he forced himself to slip away, seeking to relinquish reality, if only for a while.

The dream was as vivid as the previous nights. He continued to feel the cool stone against his hand until he recognized where he was, feeling warm lips against his neck.

"I love you, you know."

The voice soothed him, as if hearing his home. Disoriented for a moment, he saw Briza, alive, pressed against his side.

"As do I, my lord."

The second voice followed quickly, as if competing with the first. The sound of it made him recoil instinctively, yet the young man he was inside merely chuckled. Head turning, he saw Xenia at his other side.

"A memory," he thought to himself. His surroundings became clear, recognizing the bed inside their tiny hut in Domani. He saw the crude walls, knowing where they were would one day be buried deep inside The Grand Pyramid. His dream was a lost reality now decades gone, an echo of the past. Every touch of their exploring hands had once occurred, caressing their shared mate.

The date came to him, as if written forever in the fabric of time. It was the forty-fifth of Fixuin, five years before the rise of The Empire. Every detail was vivid, as if his mind had been cast back, watching through the eyes of his younger self, feeling his pleasure, his thoughts, his emotions, his ambitions.

Dominax was uncertain how such a vision of the past was possible, yet he clung to the dream, never wanting to leave. He watched his younger self caress the soft skin of his lost women, their bodies bare, their bellies round with their mutual pregnancies.

He knew this day well, the end of the day Lord Kixanil and his allies had sought him out. Hours ago, he had demonstrated his powers, and hours ago they had knelt before him and pledged themselves to his throne. He could almost savor the echo of his victory, near the start of his rise, though it was tainted by the knowledge of the long journey ahead. The young Dominax he was inside of would indeed rise and indeed suffer.

"Cling to them, you fool,"he thought to himself, a warning that couldn't alter the past. "Hold them until your final breath, else they'll slip from your grasp."

His silver hair was now black. His armor had been stripped away, joining his women in their natural state. On his back, he watched Xenia sensually maneuver her way down to his groin, her soft hand gently claiming her prize.

"Look how eager it is," Xenia said, eyeing his manhood as it rose to attention. A hunger lingered in her gaze, an ambition that had once pleased him. "It knows of its triumph. It knows our bodies belong to it."

Briza watched as Xenia licked up his shaft in a slow, seductive motion. Blushing, face hardening as she saw Dominax's interest, the stronger woman joined her female competitor, licking the other side.

He lounged in pleasure, savoring the feeling of the women he had impregnated as they worshipped the cock that had granted them their babies. His groan spoke of his satisfaction, his voice deep, though not quite what it'd become in time.

Every lick echoed from the past to meet him, feeling his true body shift in his sleep. Every act, every deed they committed could not be undone, forever written into the history of reality. The past was as solid as stone, unchanging, yet hints forever remained, whispers that a Vaid could sense if they concentrated. To watch the past in detail as it had occurred, a vivid vision, was a gift that went beyond his understanding. Why now? Why this memory? Whatever the reason, however it was possible, he never wanted to leave.

To see Briza as she had been brought him a soothing peace he didn't deserve, watching her lick. He felt the thoughts of his younger self as he peered at Xenia, feeling his lust, his attraction, lacking the bitterness of the future.

When she could delay her desire no more, Xenia granted his cock a final lick before moving to mount him. The feeling of her soaking lower lips rubbing lightly against his manhood forced him to groan, remembering her loins well. "Are you ready, my lord? Do you want to greet your child?"

"Vixin," he thought, feeling the tingle of his loins as he touched her pregnant swell. In mere days his daughters would be born, the first members of House Vaid. At the moment, inside a hut that no longer existed, he was the only Vaid.

"Oh no,you'renot riding him first," he remembered Briza saying, watching her begin to push Xenia back, cautious of the woman's pregnancy.

Xenia fought back, giving Briza a playful shove in return. If only he had known the true emotions that sat behind her seductive grin. "You always get him first. Not this time."

She was no match for the stronger woman's handling, for Briza forced her way into his lap. "Thistime too. When you've been at his side since birth, you can go first."

Touching her powerful thighs, he remembered the feeling of her muscles beneath her feminine flesh. The first vagina he had ever claimed prepared to take him once more, and as she slid down to accept his length, the squeezing tightness inside was as familiar and calming as the sound of the moan she uttered.

"Your greed knows no end," Xenia said, yet as she watched her rival rock her hips, a curious smirk played across her gorgeous lips.

Briza moved carefully, cradling her pregnancy as she began to bounce up and down slowly upon his cock. His manhood slid deep with every movement, sending tingling pleasure through his loins that he could never forget, no matter how many countless women he had experienced in the decades to follow.

His hand reached up to hold her belly. The feeling of her pregnancy made his younger self groan with primal satisfaction, yet Dominax thought of his firstborn with sorrow.

"Cendra," he thought. Looking into Briza's pleasured gaze, he wondered if she had already decided to grant their daughter the name of the woman that had raised them together. "You would've been awed by the woman she's become, Briza."

His flower was inside her womb, ready to come forth, ready to become an imperial princess that would seek glory for their dynasty. She would give birth herself, continuing Briza's legacy, allowing a piece of her to live on. As his younger self moaned, caressing her pregnancy as his cock slid in and out of her tight vagina, Dominax merely thought of Cliax.

"He lingers in the jungle while you linger in the past. They all do."

As if to banish thoughts of the future, Xenia's hands crept around to grasp Briza's breasts from behind, granting him a show. The stronger woman gasped, moving to swat them away, though she quickly surrendered to her experienced touch as her fingers found her nipples.

He remembered chuckling. No matter how many nights they spent together as a trio, Briza still required a moment to grow accustomed to the touch of another woman each time as if it was her first.

"They're a little larger now, though not quite enough to match mine," Xenia teased, toying with her sensitive buds. Biting her lower lip, the pleasure she took in feeling another woman's breasts was obvious, delighting in the touch of soft female flesh. "They're swelling to nurture your child, my lord. Of course, if they aren't enough for her baby,mineare more than adequate to replace hers."

Briza rolled her eyes in annoyance, only to moan. Enduring the skill of both Dominax and Xenia, she required mere moments before she began to shake in his lap, her body seizing as she orgasmed.

Her vagina tightened around him, as if embracing his cock, knowing their time together was limited. Dominax savored every second of the memory, his cock buried deep inside his first lover, the vagina that had made him a man. When she recovered, slowly lifting at Xenia's insistence, he felt her slipping away, losing her forever.

"Myturn," he remembered Xenia say as she replaced her rival.

His younger self had different plans, however. Grabbing her hips, he maneuvered her onto her back, careful to avoid harming the child in her womb. She nearly purred in anticipation as he claimed control, rubbing his tip against her wet sex.

"Yes, put it in. Use her juices to slide inside me," Xenia demanded, moaning as her neglected lower lips contracted with need. "Let my loins taste hers."

Briza's lips parted in mock disgust, yet she couldn't conceal the arousal reddening her cheeks. He remembered meeting her eyes as he pushed his hips forward, seeing the lust she did her best to hide.

His cock slid inside the traitor, the woman that would one day take Briza from him. His younger self released a deep moan that oozed from his smirking lips, feeling his cock slide inch by inch into her soaking tunnel.

"Ooohhh...my lord..." Xenia's pleasure echoed through the small hut. Outside, Domani was little more than a large camp gathered around the pod, the future Chamber of Deliverance.

The sight of every thrust coaxed Briza's need until she could no longer endure. Relinquishing her false reluctance, if only a little, she moved to mount Xenia's head, trapping her pretty face between her strong thighs. Hardly was it the first time she had felt her rival's tongue, yet as Xenia began to eagerly lap at her lower lips, Briza gasped as if the sensation was new, moaning.

He saw Xenia's hands exploring Briza's thighs, clearly delighting in the feminine shape of her legs as her tongue continued its skillful work.

"At least she...ahh...hascertainuses," Briza chuckled, gradually growing accustomed to the sensation until she relaxed.

The two women before him were long dead, yet their pleasure echoed from the past. Dominax's younger self leaned to meet Briza's lips, his hands caressing their pregnant bellies as their tongues dueled.

Dominax savored the children growing in their wombs, his seed, his legacy. Both would grow into divine beauties. Both would give him grandchildren. Both would share his bed. Somehow, he suspected that Xenia would approve of their incestuous explorations had she known their daughter would one day spread her legs to accept his cock, falling pregnant from his seed. Feeling Briza's warm lips against his, however, he couldn't help but feel a flicker of guilt.

"It is her nature, Briza. As is mine."

None of his children had yet to be born, yet Xenia moaned between Briza's thighs as she enjoyed the cock that would sire thousands of sons and daughters in time, spreading countless siblings for her unborn daughter across the world.

"I love you," Briza whispered. The words were a dagger to his heart.

Slowly, Dominax came to understand. He felt the pleasure of his younger self. He saw the women that had once been in his grasp, one his love, and one hecraved. His first daughters grew within their wombs, ready to be born.

He had everything.

In this moment, a single memory, he was richer than a God Emperor. Domani was but a tiny shadow of what it would one day become, yet he had allies to protect his people. He didn't rule all of humanity, yet he held power and influence over the citizens of his High-Chiefdom. The peaceful life Dorian had wished for him would never do, yet the throne he craved was in his grasp, albeit a small one.

He felt Briza's lips against his. She lived. Xenia moaned, competitive, though not yet murderous.

"Irith," he thought. He hadn't yet met her, though to meet her would mean that Briza had already been killed. In this moment, he knew only the sorrow of losing Cendra The Elder, the cause of his rise, his rebirth. Soon, he'd know the agony of Briza's death, and when Irith took her place, he'd lose her as well.

His younger self moaned. There was no going back. There was no undoing his deeds. Feeling himself growing closer and closer to his finish, he didn't want to leave.

In this single moment he was whole.

The tension of his loins shattered as he found his finish. Pulling free of Xenia's tightness, he groaned with every clenching of his testicles, sending thick ropes of potent seed to coat their pregnant bellies, claiming the women he had bred.