Enlightenment Through BDSM

To be fair, Kalia had really tried her best. She’d explained that the rabbits would be bigger, that the rabbits would be faster, that rabbits would be demons from the very depths of hell bent on my destruction, but like, who really believes all that? Obviously it was a prank, right?

It was not a prank, and I’d only realized that a little bit before I found myself sprinting away from one of the Great Dane sized creatures on the very edge of the town outskirts, the monster baring its teeth at me as it leaped at my throat. They were disturbingly lanky, with long torsos and even longer legs.

“What is this!” I shouted as I ran away. 

“Rabbit!” Dreck answered, bringing his axe down behind me, a sharp squeal following the thud as it hit its target.

“Duck!” Kalia said. 

“Ducks too?” I screamed, trying to find my new predator, but it was a fraction of a second before I understood what she meant. My body moved on its own, obeying her command and kneeling to the ground in a slide as I saw another of the giant rabbits flying over me with its teeth bared.

We were further up the valley, in the midst of brush and farmland, only a handful of lone wooden houses and the river running back towards town acting as the only real landmarks. We’d apparently been hired to deal with rabbits that had taken a liking to chickens, pigs, even some cattle. Kalia and Dreck were in the process of explaining exactly how that was possible when the first one had jumped out of the grass at me.

“What do I do?” I said, jumping back up to my feet.

“Fight back,” Kalia said as she went to stab the rabbit that had flown over me, “behind you.”

My body moved on its own again, spinning around on my heels just in time to see a third creature jump out of yet a different brush. How did she even see that one coming? I thought as it flew through the air at me, but before the train of thought could continue, my wiped itself clean, blank except for one single thought.

Soul Strike.

I felt it, ki, whatever that was, welling up in my center and then traveling down my arm as I threw out a punch, only the second punch I’d ever thrown in my entire life. My fist collided with the rabid rabbit’s head as the energy within my reached my hand. There was a pressure buildup between us, like a gust of wind had somehow been contained between my knuckles and the rabbit’s cheek, a pressure that condensed all at once and then expanded all at once, blowing away both the animal and my arm simultaneously.

“Soul Strike!” I shouted. I had really meant it as a question, more of a “what the hell was that?” But I did know the answer, as readily as I knew I existed. It was simple, undoubtable logic to me: I think, therefore I am, and I am, therefore I can Soul Strike.

“Again,” Kalia said, but I was already in motion, my left arm this time heading for the rabbit’s flank while it shook its head. 

That pressure happened again, the explosion of force between us. This time I realized it really wasn’t wind though, just a sudden outward pushing as my fist hit my target, blowing the two of us apart again.

“Dreck, problem, her DPS is bad, really bad,” Kalia said, turning a concerned eye towards me as she used her rapier to fend off the one on her. What hells was DPS?

“I thought she had a skill for that,” the orc said as he shoved his rabbit away with a giant kick and turned towards mine, landing his axe head straight down on the thing’s head. I braced myself for blood, gore, mutilation, but none of those things happened, just the rabbits head being knocked into the ground, bouncing back up to normal shortly after as Dreck winded back to swing again.

“She does; I don’t know what’s wrong” Kalia said, backing over to me as Dreck let out a long roar.

All three of the monsters turned their eyes to him at that, screaming out their high-pitched whines in response before charging at him. 

“Come on Mai, attack from behind while they’re distracted,” Kalia said, winding her weapon back for a thrust before darting in herself.

I followed after, consciously this time. It was an unnatural feeling, knowing I had to obey the command because of our pact, but as long I was choosing to do it of my own will my body wouldn’t be taken over, it seemed. That in mind, I went for the only thing I really knew how to do. I pooled that energy up in my core again, shot it through my body, collided with my fist, and was blown back once more.

“Shit,” I said, shaking my hand. I’d tried hitting harder that time, but if it did anything it only hurt my wrist. But something was better than nothing, right? So I pulled back my arm and readied another punch, pulled from my core, threw it out…

Nothing. I mean, I hit it with my fist, but no burst of energy, nothing welling up inside me. It was like I’d tried to start a lawnmower, pulled on the cord as hard as I could, but the motor didn’t start. 

Soul Strike, which had been an absolute certainty just a few moments ago, had failed me.