Corruption of Souls

Ch.79

The next day, with Visilia’s new triplet fox sons properly attended by her personal Scinox attendants, the demon alicorn was willing and eager to get right to action. Even if she had an embarrassing moment this morning with trying and failing to fit into her armor, what with her larger bosom and booty and wider hips. Thankfully that was a quick trip to Andre to fix.

It was actually a bit worrying, but Urta wasn’t about to stay home even though she’s beyond hyperpregnant. In fact, her pregnancy is part of what gives her so much power, so she’s better off like this than if she ever had an empty womb. That said, at least her Dragonslayer armor was still perfect for her.

As for Us and Alduin, We’d provided Andre with dragon bones left over from the feast We had in the caves. The armor was like a second skin to us E-Dragons, being all stony and scaled while entirely encompassing our bodies and hiding nothing of our body shapes. Although, Andre did work dimensional pockets into the breastplate and groin armor for further comfort. This along with a special feature of the armor allowed us to be flat-chested or conform to our bosoms for plunging cleavage to be able to retrieve items from our inventories.

“Aw, no cleavage?” Urta whined playfully as she puffed her chest out in her own armor’s gratuitously plunging neckline.

“I don’t understand modern dragons and other species’ obsession with teats. They’re for feeding things.” Alduin huffed and We snorted in amusement.

“You just haven’t had them long enough to enjoy them yet.” We teased our general, who crossed her arms over her flat chest with her wings tight to her back since she still wasn’t used to her new sense of balance. That and not having two huge orbs of squishy flesh and milk in front of her definitely threw off her balance.

“As much as I enjoy hearing you girls talk about your tits, how about we get started on this trip?” Visilia asked after she checked the Crusader gear she had was on properly and wasn’t pinching her anywhere like it was before Andre worked his magic. The way her breastplate jutted out before with how it wasn’t meant to contain such delicious motherly boobs was hilarious. If she gets much bigger, she’ll be rivaling the rest of us for bust size.

“Sure thing Visi. Tartarus has multiple access points across the world and the nearest one should only be a short flight from here.” We declared before turning towards the several of our wives and Spike who were here to send us off. “Alright Cocoa, Honey, Sabrina, Spike. We trust you’ll keep Unity from imploding while we’re gone?”

“Pfft. You kidding? With those secretaries of yours and my experience, I’ll keep things on the up-and-up with the bureaucracy.” Spike declared before looking at Alduin, who stared back. “Seriously. Just ask already.”

“Ask what?” Alduin demanded and We growled lightly at her. “I’m just looking okay? I’m not interested in getting physical.”

“If you weren’t interested, you wouldn’t be looking. Or fantasizing. Or fighting a ladyboner.” Honey disapprovingly exposed with her empathy allowing her to read our prudish sister-general.

“Cocoa keep spies out.” Cocoa affirmed with a nod and then vanished in plain sight. That will never stop being spooky and cool.

“Just don’t get all of you immobilized with pregnancies. Only Urta and Wiatr can make it home from that.” Sabrina warned in exasperation. Hey~! We’re not that bad...often...usually.

“Alright! That’s enough assurances ladies. Lets go before we have second thoughts and just have a massive orgy or something.” Urta marched out of the foyer and the rest of us followed her. “Now then, I can’t fly, so someone will have to carry me. Thankfully my navel pearl can also make me as light as a feather. Where to?”

“The nearest bridge to Tartarus is actually to the east on the isthmus, bordering the Griffin Kingdoms. It is in a canyon and looks eerily like The Argonath from Lord of the Rings or The Valley of the End from Naruto from the pictures We’ve seen.” Apparently, every Bridge of Tartarus was rather iconic and dramatic.

“Ugh, the Griffins? Those national fanatic pricks? Our culture is best, our people are the best, our army is the best, our government is always right, equality for all, blah blah blah.” Urta gagged as we lifted her up and started flying.

“Nationalists? Great.” Visi groaned as she held her head. “Communism, or Facsism?” She asked, but this left Urta and Alduin confused.

“Huh? What are those? Some form of feudalistic monarchy or constitutional?” Urta questioned in confusion. Considering Equestria is a “Constitutional Monarchy” at its root, but with the power spread further than just a king or queen as an Oligarchy, that was a reasonable assumption since all she’s experienced before was pure feudalism.

“Neither. They’re newer kinds of ruling that most nations I guess have not reached. Hm, how to explain it? Facsism is nationalism on the extreme. Willow’s world has some very good examples of how bad that is.” We morphed some slime through our gauntlets and mingled a tendril with Urta’s Argent goo to share images and written words with her on the subject.

“Really? Those death camps sound familiar to me, some old reports of how the Griffins dealt with the corrupted, but they’re not fascists, they don’t believe everyone should conform to their way of life. What about Communism?” Urta asked and We shared what Willow knew about Communism with her. Including the memes. Especially the memes. All the memes~!

“That does sound more like the griffins. Aside from those hilarious things you call ‘memes’. Anyway, they sound more like this China save not exiling their original monarchical rulers. The griffins have the king then this elitist group runs the place, but everything is owned by the state and rationed out. Altogether it isn’t a bad system, but they treat their prisoners way worse than reasonable. They’d be better off just dumping them off in Tartarus instead of the torments they put them under.” Urta declared with her observations newly enlightened.

“What sort of torments?” Alduin asked while she did some banking to get used to anthro flight.

“Public executions, live experimentation, slave labor. The list goes on. They’re cruel and unethical when it comes to crime and punishment. I’d advise going to war with them as soon as possible, because while they don’t have much of a standing army right now, they can get one up quick the moment they’re not being harried by demons.” Urta warned us.

“We’ll take that into consideration.” We commented as our sharp draconic eyes caught sight of small airplanes off on the horizon. They looked like Equestrian Curtiss P-36 Hawks. Wow that’s outdated, but that’s why we’re selling them. Keep the top of the line for us, sell our outdated surplus. What is that huge plane following behind the Hawks?

(<3)

“How much further is this place?” Alduin impatiently questioned, since We’d spent the past couple of hours flying in a straight line along the Equestrian half of the isthmus connecting our continent to Griffonia’s continent.

“Just a little further Alduin. Have patience.” We chided Cynder’s sister while still keeping an eye on the planes that were suspiciously too far from Griffonian borders or waters. Urta was clearly right. They’ve probably claimed several small islands out in the ocean already.

“These featherheads aren’t gonna start shooting at us, are they?” Visilia questioned while she kept an eye on the interloping military vehicles and their accompanying flights of armored griffins who kept their distance from the shore, but were clearly watching us.

“Not with us inside Equestrian borders. They wouldn’t dare try without sparking a war.” We told her as we flew towards the rather obnoxiously ornate obsidian bridge on the isthmus that rose from the earth and simply ceased halfway when it met the southern shore at the end of a canyon with two giant greek-armored demon statues standing on either side of the free-standing half-bridge. This place, aside from the ocean shore, looked like it was ripped from Naruto.

“Do you think they’re compensating for something?” Urta snarked with an amused snort at the muscular and very masculine statues with their broad-bladed spears forming a sharp triangular arch over the bridge. So dramatic and cool!

“Probably not. This is Tartarus here. So is everyone ready?” We double-checked with a bit of nervousness on our own part. Willow’s knowledge of what her world’s mythological Tartarus is along with Daring’s knowledge of what this world’s actual Tartarus is made us uneasy.

“The sooner we’re out of sight of those commie assholes, the better. I want to get to the bottom of this damned corruption.” Visi huffed in frustration and an absent rub of her groin in obvious memory of what being a herm did to her.

“You have to ask My Queen? I’ll lead.” Alduin flexed her claws and walked forward, vanishing in a water-like ripple through the otherwise invisible portal framed by the bridge and spears.

“After you love.” Urta cheekily told Visi before following our lover in. We looked at the planes one more time to see them heading for some islands further out from shore that had some ships landed there.

Damn it. This is just what we don’t need.

Sighing in resignation that greedy loveless assholes will always find a way to ruin what little good there is in the world, We stepped forth and went from a temperate windy perch on the shore of a beach to an oppressively hot and dry dark interior. This was paired with a huge black-furred anthro cerberus hound with a massive bust that stood nearly fifty feet high and wore Greek plate armor as she imperiously leered down at us.

“Who are you and what is your business here in Tartarus?” The center head demanded and then all three of her noses sniffed the air. “With a Royal? That’s not right. Queen Nina and her sister haven't left Tartarus in ages.”

“We are Princess Waitr! These are Our Knight, General and Mate. Urta, Alduin and Visilia. We wish to explore Tartarus for answers on the Corruption.” We replied to the giantess, who if she was a chocolate lab instead of a doberman, would’ve been a shoe-in for Cocoa.

“We see. Are you sure you wish to enter? This is a place of eternal suffering. Surely your quest for answers need not delve into this place.” The left head stated as the right head whispered into the center head’s ear, causing her to hum.

“Yes. This is our most solid lead. We need to enter.” We replied with certainty and the three heads looked at each other with side-eye glances.

“Very well, you do so at your own risk.” the right head declared and leered down at Visilia. “Whoever you are, do not attempt to demand anything. Royal you may be, but you are not of our royal family.”

“Like I’d even try. My own Tartarus is full of willful jackasses. I’m not about to try and herd this colony of cats too.” Visilia huffed and the cerberus actually tittered. Well, the left head did, getting the other two to leer at her reproachfully.

“Anyway, you don’t smell of the Traitors. Just don’t try to cause trouble and everything will be fine.” Cerberus then howled in three different octaves simultaneously, and the gigantic obsidian gates behind her that were hidden by the darkness rumbled open. “Enter, but beware. Tartarus is usually a one-way trip.”

Suddenly, We were inside the gate and it clamored shut behind us, sending the four of us jumping away in shock. W-what the fuck was that?! We were in front of her, then we’re suddenly in here?! There’s no way the Corruption got out this way if it is from here. Judging by her comment of traitors, that just became more likely.

Now then, we’re stuck here in Tartarus for now, so we carefully watched each other as we navigated the seemingly endless giant halls sized to comfort for people of the Cerberus’ stature. Eventually, we came across the prison proper instead of empty halls with doors made for giants. Said doors were locked and there was no way into them either, so this was just where we’d ended up in our aimless wandering.

There were more cerberus guards here, both female and male. They simply looked at us, sniffed, then dismissed us. They wouldn’t speak to us either, which was both rude and intimidating. Have you ever tried to talk to one of the guards outside Buckingham Palace? It was like that, only instead they were literal giants and giantesses.

However, soon enough We encountered a section of the prison that wasn’t holding monstrous entities or insane elder dragons, one meant for more modestly sized folk. It was here we found other, similarly armored guards of various species. Despite this, they all had a clear tie-in of having horns, either ‘devil’ or goat if not a unicorn of sorts. If unicorn, then their horns had a much more pronounced flute spiral, giving them a more ‘ribbed’ horn.

“Halt! State your business!” Demanded one of the two guards on the entrance to the normal-sized section of the prison.

“We’re here to seek the source of the Corruption. To discover what caused it and possibly help us figure out how to fully reverse it.” We told the blood-furred unicorn, who sneered in his response.

“So the Traitors have caused so much trouble that good folk have to come here. Enter. Continue on through and you’ll eventually leave the prison for the city. Mind your behavior and you won’t find yourselves in a cell.” The stallion declared and we all nodded in agreement before entering the ‘normal’ prison area.

Holy shit, it’s like a who’s who of big baddies here. There’s a goat who just has to be Grogar. I think that’s Catrina. Oh! There’s Tirek!

Then that means the pink pegasus filly must be the genocidal maniac Cozy Glow. We were all disgusted when she chuckled and turned around to twerk at us. Ugh, We can smell her Corruption from here. Twilight said she drank something from Lust demons when she tried to take over Equestria for herself, but We didn’t think it was enough to turn her into one.

“Why is a child here?” Alduin questioned in confusion even if she was as disgusted as the rest of us.

“It’s a long story.” A young teen she may be, but she earned her place in this dungeon.

“Aw, you don’t want to be friends?” The teenager giggled with an unhinged and malicious grin.

“Cozy, will you stop? You know full well your cell will shock you and then you’ll be tormented by the guards. I don’t want to hear how much you enjoy that again.” Tirek grumbled disgustedly, the withered old centaur pointedly ignoring his neighbor in favor of reading his paperback book.

“Let’s just move one.” Urta gagged in disgust and we rushed away from the depraved scene.

“We should just find the way out. The guard said to just head on through, so let’s keep going straight.” Visilia reminded us and we did just that. Guards nodded to us as we passed and looked at Visi in bemusement, like they weren’t sure they should do more than just nod to her. “It feels so weird to be someplace so similar to home but not.”

“I bet if I was in a desert nation that wasn’t Saddle Arabia I’d feel the same way.” Urta commented before we emerged into a massive hallway like back at the entrance and a Cerberus giant, this one quite male if looking exactly like the woman on the gate otherwise, nearly stepped on us and he stumbled around us frantically, even tripping and falling to his hands and knees, giving us a good look up his armored skirt.

“Woo! Nice balls boy~!” We declared excitedly and he responded by hurriedly getting to his paws and nearly ran away, his short tail pressed tightly against his skirt in embarrassment. We don’t know why they have so many Cerberi or how, but with hunky guys and gals like them guarding the outer layers of the prison, it’s no wonder almost nobody has escaped this place.

“Hot damn those were nice. Enough objectifying them though, all I know is that they’re much more organized and numerous than my world’s cerberus. If we had these numbers, they’d be fielded instead of left with the home guard. Then again, why are they here if they could do so much better elsewhere?” Visilia groused uneasily at the implication that Tartarus needs a small army of giant three-headed dog people at home more than bringing justice to the ‘surface’ world as is their sworn duty to their sister dimension.

“That is worrying...” Urta muttered before up ahead from a much more ornate mahogany door on the right side of the hall emerged a blood-red coated demon alicorn mare in guard armor. She looked similar to Visilia, except not as thicc and tall from her pregnancies, nor did she have the sexy battle scars on her snout. “You have a twin!”

Visilia groaned in annoyance as the mare looked in our way and blinked in surprise. “A doppelganger? No, wait.” She even sounded like Visilia if with less maturity as she sniffed in Visi’s direction and approached “Who are you? You smell like family, but that can’t be right.”

“We are, at least by dimensional standards.” Visilia shrugged and sighed. “I’m Visilia Themis, Princess of my dimension’s Tartarus.”

“I’m Ailisiv Metis, Warden of this Prison. Odd, why are you Princess when I’m the Defense Secretary?” The dimensional double named Ailisiv questioned with intrigue. The fact she is almost completely unbothered by our presence could maybe have to do with the fact that we’re not in a rush and there’s no way guards wouldn’t be all over us if we weren’t meant to be here.

“I’m an only child.” Visilia replied snippily. Wait. Is there a story here?

“Odd, I have an older sister. I guess not everything carries between dimensions.” Ailisiv’s reply filled in plenty of gaps. Hoo-boy. No asking about the deceased older sibling along with the mother, got it. “So to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit…” Aili sniffed Visi again. “Big sister?” How did she decide that with smell? Why is Visi looking a bit proud?

“I’m here with my future wives Wiatr and Urta along with my future sister-in-law Alduin to look for answers to the origins of the Lust demons. Could you help shed light on this matter?” Visilia asked her dimensional twin who nodded grimly.

“Yes, but I don’t want us to hang around the prison. Come along, I’ll bring you to my Older, well, Eldest Sister.” Ailisiv replied before leading us further onward along the obscenely massive hall.

“Who is your sister?” Alduin asked, completely ignoring the red flags the previous conversation had. I didn’t miss the twitch of Visi’s left ear! Forgive her love!

“Ninia, she’s the Princess of Tartarus. She runs the kingdom while I run the prison and our endlessly beleaguered military.” Ailisiv informed us with a weary sigh and a droop of her wings.

“What could have such formidable warriors so strained?” Visilia questioned worriedly as she patted her younger not-twin on the shoulder comfortingly, her gauntlet making a light metallic clang on the younger woman’s pauldron. It was oddly relieving to see Visilia so easily warm up to someone.

“The Corruption of the Traitor many years ago. The first Corrupted, or I guess they’re called Lust Demons now, was Lethice. She was a Knight in service of Velka who requested a more nonviolent solution to sinners. We Tartarus Demons were an all female race in this dimension, so we never had a male here and had to leave our realm to breed.” Ailisiv informed us and nodded to a male demon as we passed.

“That changed with Lethice’s blasphemous experiments. Thanks to them, now we bear male offspring too, along with finding out something we never knew due to us being purely female before then.” Ailisiv sniffed deeply in the direction of a passing demon stallion, who blushed brightly and hurried along. We too tested his scent and found ourselves incredibly aroused out of the blue.

“We doubt it's the same in every universe, though it begs the question as to why the people of our realm get addicted to a male Tartarus demon’s scent. It may involve something during the age of Dark because before that we had males and the male Tartarus demon scent was normal. I’m not about to complain though. Sniffing a male’s mane as he cums in you is incredible when his very scent sends you sky high in bliss.” Ailisiv declared with a shameless smirk.

Heh, good to see even across universes that Visilia is a hot-blooded sexy woman.