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Wet Cherry of Truth	By : uztre Category: +S through Z > Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Views: 96295 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not own or claim ownership of or make any profit of any of the characters or other elements of The Witcher 3 contained within the story.

Chapter List
- 22
- 23
- 24
Summary:
Yennefer closes a bargain with the famous Master Mirror and lands in an illusion of her past, in the year 1239. While repeating her research with Irene again, Yennefer finds out about the truth of herself and her past more than she is ready to accept first, then appreciates it.
Tags: No sex, infertility, experiments
Notes:
- Spell-checked on June 17, 2018
"Man of Glass..." Yennefer muttered and stepped backward, face pale and eyes tore open. When she was an adept in Aretuza, future sorceresses were able to attend an elective course called 'The sweet kiss of necrophages, cursed beings, spectres, and demons' run by Mistress Irene van Engelsberg, who was, without a doubt, the most distinctive researcher in the field of paranormal activities and supernatural creatures. The provocative hint in the title was intended.

Since the vast majority of the adepts used to enrol for offensive courses, Irene was forced to change the name into something which seemed to sound more attractive, even though the course itself was mainly about the study of the involvement of dead and spectral beings in the continent's history, their so-called bitter-sweet impact on the continent's history Irene like to say. And the famous Master Mirror had left many marks over the last centuries, and none of them was positive or good...

... quite the contrary actually.

"Ah, my humble reputation precedes me, apparently," Gaunter O'Dimm smiled warmly with cold eyes. "But it's not a surprise that Irene's most talented student seems to know me, I guess. She always spoke so highly of you-"

"What have you done to me?!" Yennefer tossed in, voice shaking with frustration and uncertainty, not being sure anymore what of the last twenty-four hours was real and what was a reflection of her imaginations and inner cravings.

"Me?" Gaunter O'Dimm countered calmly but surprised, pointing his index fingers to himself. "What makes you think that I'd have something to do with your situation?"

Yennefer's head fumed, fists doubling. "So your appearance here and now is just a sheer coincidence? Do you take me for an idiot, demon?!"

"Coincidence, never." Gaunter O'Dimm's smile never ceased. His eyes continued to glow icily. "My appearance, if you believe it or not, is actually more of a personal nature. Unfortunately for both us, it's a question in need of an answer only you possess."

"If you think I'd consider making a pact with you--"

"A pact? What a mean word for a life-changing contract and relationship... Whatever. In this very case, I only have a question for you," Gaunter O'Dimm pointed out and scrutinized Yennefer's motions, who calmed down a little bit and pursed her lips, kept eye-contact and placed her hands on her hips, implicating the counterpart her growing scepticism and deep annoyance. "But I see in your eyes you have a lot more questions than me buzzing in your head."

"I'm not interested, demon. Go. Away!"

"Alright, alright... What if I pay you for the answer to my question with an answer to one question of yours? A so-called quid pro quo business."

"I KNOW what quid pro quo means, demon."

"Then you know too that we'd be equal partners in this affair... But if you don't look for some clarity in your life, then I suppose I should better propose my question to Triss Merigold in Novigrad."

"Triss? No, wait!" Yennefer shouted a little bit of jealousy when she feared he was leaving for sure, then bared her teeth and looked around. He got her, and under any other circumstances, she would have immediately refused Master Mirror's proposal and sent him packing, but not this time, in this most confusing situation of her life.

"Why should Triss hold the answer to a question only I suppose to have?"

"No, no. A deal doesn't work that way, milady. It's always payment before delivery. I have to pay you before I get my reward in return," Gaunter O'Dimm explained, tilted his head forward the way his creepy eyes' sparkle never lost eye-contact. "We better keep the social courtesies of deal-making, don't you think?"

"You think you're so smart, right? Mentioning Triss' name to pique my envy."

"Did it work?" Gaunter O'Dimm smirked devilishly. "Do we have a deal now?"

There was an eerie silence while Yennefer was weighing the pros and cons in her head.

"Three answers, not one. And they have to be given in detailed, believable ways. Simple yes-or-no answers are not allowed. I sincerely and truthfully have to see reason and need to empathize with your answers."

She expected to hear his denial but to her surprise, the Man of Glass only kept smirking and didn't seem to be upset by her poor bargaining skills, even amused as he stepped very close to her and looked squarely into her violet eyes.

"Deal?" Yennefer asked again to make sure she was serious, even though she had millions of questions and three were absolutely not enough.

"Alright. Deal. Your first question. I'm listening."

Being surprised about the quickness of his acceptance, Yennefer didn't know first what to ask than to swallow and take a deep breath. Now she asked herself what his question could be if he was ready to accept her counter proposal this instantly. Her nervousness increased, the seriousness of her situation coming back to her mind once more. Yennefer tried to remember Mistress van Engelsberg's, Irene's lessons about the famous Master Mirror, things a victim had to be aware of if he or she was forced to deal with him.

There were too many.

And Irene's lessons were decades ago...

"And...?"

"Let me think my entire question through first, demon!"

Gaunter O'Dimm chuckled.

"Everything... Everything I've done during the last twenty-four hours, every decision I made and every word I said... I only did because I was under the influence of black magic and the three items containing the potion, collar, and love egg Netek Rivay and Javvar Azol forced upon me... and Irene and I developed together during our studies and experiments to solve the infertility issue of all sorceresses forty-three years ago?"

"Wow. You don't intend to go easy on me right from the beginning."

"You didn't say anything about the complexity of the questions, demon. Deal with it. Or do you like to cancel our deal?"

"I never cancel a deal and I never cheat. You should know that, milady."

While waiting for the answer, Yennefer felt how her heart was throbbing faster and faster by the second, hands getting sweaty and knees shaky, with the unpleasant feeling nagging at her that she hadn't interpreted the signs correctly; the potion, the collar, the love egg, Netek's hints of 'bitches', their 'true purpose' and the patriarchy, and Javvar Azol's slave contract of black magic.

If individually considered, these sexual innuendos and items weren't really conspicuous. If taken all together, however, every word, topic, and object was the product of their studies and findings.

"Interesting question," Gaunter O'Dimm replied, arms crossing behind his back. The raven-haired Sorceress made the impression of someone who lost her roots and at the same time perfectly knew who and what she was and still refused to believe it with all her might. A dark truth of her past she used to forget about and ignore. "And so refreshingly specific."

"And?" Yennefer asked, hoped his answer would be a 'Yes!' with all her heart.

An evil smile crossed once more O'Dimm's pale face.

"I've an idea. Why don't you show both of us the answer to your question?"

Before Yennefer had a chance to ask what the devil he was talking about, the Man of Glass quickly clapped his hands two times in a row and everything in the room including the furniture, walls, and copulating nobles turned upside down and burst into flames, and then vanished into a void of grey and dark colors, the nauseous and biting smell of vaporized human flesh filling her senses. Yennefer felt like her inner organs folded together and large joints painfully clicked one after another.

For a millisecond of eternity, there was only darkness and nothing else.

Only peace.

Love.
As Yennefer opened her lilac eyes, and the pain and woozy feeling inside her stomach subsided, she caught sight of a beauty, a place she thought she would never see again: Garstang, the palace on the Isle of Thanedd. The walls of the palace were emitting a strong aura and blocking magic interference, thanks to Nina Fioravanti who was a sorceress and a mistress of the forces of the earth elements, working for many years to create the strong aura and anti-magic fields protecting them. People, such as adepts and scholars, merchants and peers were crowding the streets and pursuing their businesses.

Standing on one of the countless terraces, the raven-haired sorceress was reveling in the past, as she turned around and caught sight of the famous magical academy of Aretuza, more specifically the Loxia, the lowest level of Aretuza. It was a huge reception complex for clients and visitors occupying the southeastern foot of the mountain, well known that most visitors to Thanedd Island used to see only Loxia and were not permitted access to the other areas.

Everything looked so real and alive, Yennefer could even get the beautifully sweet scent of the cherry blossoms all around the island. As her head tilted forward, her amazed sight wandered over her outfit of black and white, five-inch heeled boots and black leather, which she remembered being fashion decades ago, in the year 1239.

A strange feeling of shock and nostalgia rushed through Yennefer's petite body of now sixty-six years. "This must be a magic delusion, a creation, and reflection of my memories and mind. Nothing of what I see and sense here is real! It can't be..."

"Demon, you had your fun. Now let me out again. Immediately!"

Her yelling draw people's attention, making their heads turn in her direction.

"I know why you brought me here. I'm not interested to go through all this AGAIN!"

Yennefer was close to losing her patience with everyone looking at each other.

"DEMON! I'm serious. If you don't send me back, I WILL K--"

"Yennefer?!" She heard a familiar voice walking from behind and coming closer. As she turned herself, her eyes widened in surprise. It was Radcliffe of Oxenfurt, a mage as well and good friend of her. Later, we were also an advisor to king Demavend III of Aedirn like she was - or going to be yet. However, he was among the reported fatalities of the incident during the coup on Thanedd Island in 1267 when he sided with the North.

"Who are you talking to?" Radcliffe asked with confused eyes.

"No one. Just move along and leave me be."

"You're scaring off the people with your crazy show here."

"Who cares about those nitwits and their feelings... Just leave me be!"

"Alright, alright," Radcliffe granted and walked off, and just before he was in the Loxia, Yennefer heard him muttering, "What a crazy bitch of Vengerberg."

Before she could yell something in response, Yennefer heard her stomach growling of hunger, eyebrows raising. "What the hell is going on here?" She thought, little bit panicking at the circumstance. "How can I be hungry in a magic illusion? This is not possible!"

"Yenna? What are you doing here? I thought we'll meet each other in my personal quarters?" Another familiar voice resounded through the air, this time coming from the entrance of the Loxia.

"Iry..." Yennefer uttered at the sight of her former best friend.

"Radcliffe told me you'd be standing here and talking to yourself... Is everything alright?" Irene asked, worried. "You're so pale, and you're shivering, by the Goddess. Did you see a ghost or something?"

Yes, she literally did.

Her.

"I-I d--"

"You can tell me when we're in my room. Come on. I'll teleport us."

Even as Yennefer tried to say something, Irene grasped her arm, opened a portal and dragged her into. One moment later, they were already standing inside a room the raven-haired sorceress thought she would never see again, surrounded by bookshelves, vials, and plants. Irene's private chamber was parted in four places; a bedroom, a guest room, a kitchen, and a living room containing three large couches, a round table in the middle of it, and worktable at the end. Pictures of monsters such as fiends and necrophages were hanging on all sides.

"Do you want something to eat, Yenna?" Irene asked from her own little kitchen nearby. "Or maybe a drink. Orange juice, tea, wine-"

"Wine sounds perfect to me." Yennefer made herself comfortable on one of the designer couches, crossing her legs sideways and bracing her back.

After a short moment, Irene tottered into the room on her five-inch heels and handed over a glass of wine and a wooden table full of assorted cheese slices and cold meat. "Here, my love. Wine from Nazair, vintage 1203, and exquisite veal the way you like them."

"Thank you, Iry, for everything." Yennefer's eyes moistened as both bandied looks. Even if all this was an illusion, the urge to embrace her best friend became so strong that she gave herself up to the idea and hugged and squeezed her. Irene's heartbeat was real as much as her counter-reaction of pressing her closer.

"Oh, my ugly one." Irene caressed her back. "You don't wanna tell me what's going on?"

Yennefer wished the tears from her eyes and smiled again, decided to tell nothing to her former best friend. If this world was the specific kind of illusion she was taking it for, then it made no sense saying something to people around her. Since she couldn't be absolutely sure, however, Yennefer decided to wait and see what was going to happen yet. There was a reason for the Master Mirror' sending here.

"Just missed you, you know."

"You don't wanna tell me the truth, then," Irene smiled back warmly. "Yenna, what are you plotting again?"

"Oh, many things, actually. How to seize the temerian crown, how to sell Aretuza out from under your nose..."

"You humor is flawless as ever. Now I really know you are up to something."

Both sorceresses laughed and took a sip from their glasses.

"So why did you want to see me so urgently, Irene? Thought you were on an excursion to study creatures in Ofir," Yennefer asked, trying to say the same things like last time.

"I was, and I found something you're gonna like to know."

Yennefer forgot how beautiful and classy her former best friend was, her blue eyes and red lips stealing other women's show in no time. With her height of five feet ten and only one hundred thirty-nine pounds, she was towering over and outclassing every other sorceress on the continent, making them envious of her long, shiny legs and crispy butt while always wearing exquisite and sexy outfits from Passionata and other very expensive labels only a few people on the continent afford.

When Yennefer was an adept, she had learned a lot of fashion and makeup by watching Irene who was her professor at that time. There was no day where she didn't look perfect, and like how she showed off her long, toned frame in a form-fitting get-up that clung to her curves. Her outfit was amazing, as Irene rocked a black jacquard knit long-sleeved top with a matching skirt from the Resort 1240 collection from Passionata. The silhouette was so sexy on the blond sorceress while the print made it pop for her early morning appearance.

While the form-fitting, clinging silhouette was even a bit sexier than Irene used to wear, considering she has an affinity for crop tops seeing her rock this hot came as no surprise. Irene complimented the ensemble with a pair of bold red platform pumps which added a refreshing pop of color to the outfit, and Yennefer knew that red was her favorite color after all. As always, Irene looked so sophisticated, matching her pointy pumps to her signature red lip while wearing her hair straight with her bangs framing her face, making her entire look pure perfection, an angel's similitude through and through...

... and Yennefer's girlhood idol.

Her former best friend's beauty and exquisite trendiness even induced a very famous seeress of the academy to pass a comment which spread through the wizardly world: 'You look exactly like the famous, twenty-eight-year-old singer and songwriter from this other world'. No one knew who the seeress was talking about, but her reaction was enough to linger in the people's memory.

"You want more wine?" Irene asked and sat down next to her, left arm leaning on the couch while crossing her legs, smiling.

"The news are so bad, huh?" Yennefer joked.

"Actually too good to not get drunk with joy."

"And what is it now? Don't keep me in suspense here, Irene."

"Remember when you asked me for help in regard to your... wish?"

Yennefer acted the ignorant.

"You know, for my research about species which are threatened with extinction, I have surveyed many mating rituals and sex practices so far. After the last excursion to Ofir, I've come to new findings that could be used to solve your problem, Yenna."

"Really?" She asked with fake curiosity. "I mean how?"

Irene handed over a roll of paper. "Since I've concentrated my research to get more information about the creatures copulation acts, I've also surveyed different species' reproductive organs and found out that some species share these same one feature; ALL females and males have perfectly healthy reproductive organs, even though they are hundreds of years old. And the female desert trolls I had the chance to dissect in Ofir were seven hundred fifty years old and had no atrophied ovaries including other physical constraints," Irene explained fully of excitement. "Their reproduction capabilities were and still are in perfect state. It's amazing, right?"

Yennefer drunk the whole glass in her hand and then refilled it to the rim, remembered how overwhelmed she was when she heard Irene's news the first time and tried to act as much enthusiastic as possible. "How is this possible?"

"I carried out more specific tests and tried to get to the bottom of it. Don't know perfectly how yet, but the key lies inside the creatures' metabolism system and own magic energy flow which naturally runs through every cell of their bodies similar to ours. These two elements seem to make them immune against ALL natural impacts such as aging, and yes, sterility too."

Slugging down the wine all at once, Yennefer locked her lilac eyes on the roll of paper. Although she was gone through all this already, the imagination of getting pregnant and conceiving children stung her like the last time.

"That's not even all, Yenna," Irene added. "I've found out that all female monsters' wombs and ovaries have actually the same consistency in terms of flexibility and adaptability like ours."

"But this would mean that..."

"Yes, theoretically speaking of course, and since we sorceresses share so many biological and magic similarities, we should be able to adapt these abilities... Yet we need to conduct further and more advanced research. Are you alright?"

"Yes, it's just... I never thought the solution for our sterility problem would lie in the creatures own reproduction biology. It's unbelievable," Yennefer lied.

"After two decades of simple data gathering, I'm just glad I've reached a point where I can make more assumptions and draw further conclusions."

"I assume you haven't told anyone anything yet?"

"No. Why should I? I don't have here anything concrete and the slightest word of it would turn the Board of Sorceresses against me before I could say 'Bugger off, bitches!'" Irene uttered and chuckled together with her. "And we both know that even if I had something specific and academically reliable here, Tissaia and Philippa would undertake all possible measures to destroy it. And then I'd be forced to bitchslap and put them over my knee."

Both laughed once more.

Yennefer always liked Irene's bluntness and candor. In contrast to other mistresses at the academy, she treated her students with respect and kindness, regardless of their stand and situation. Instead of leaving the adepts alone with their problems and giving the cold shoulder, Irene spoke to them, helped with private tutoring, motivated them to never give up and praise them for doing things right. She always acted like a good mother than an egocentric, grim and smart-aleck mistress treating them in a lofty manner.

After her suicide attempt soon after admission to the academy, Yennefer remembered vividly that it was Irene who came up immediately after it to her and put her arm around her, whispered her that everything was going to be okay from now on, that she was there for her, no matter what and despite all politics and rules, and then kissed her forehead and cradled her the way her real mother never did.

This was the first time in her life Yennefer felt existent, loved...

However, what the students and people appreciated about her character, the other mistresses did absolutely not, especially Philippa who was her all-time archnemesis and, how Irene described her more likely, one slimy pimple on her perfect butt. Even though both powerful sorceresses were at the same age, they were poles apart in terms of gender roles and family portrait.

Unlike the vast majority of the sorceresses at Aretuza, Irene was a strong advocate of traditional gender roles, femininity, marriage, and polygamy. She had nothing against people having the opposite view but held the firm belief that for a working, healthy society and for all children's sake, all women and men on the continent had to stay loyal to their biological roots and accepts their roles given by nature itself.

What did Irene intend to exactly say by that?

Simply put, she was seeing monogamy, a practice of being married and having sex with only one partner at a time, as an unnatural, misogynistic, and antisocial nonsense that especially reduced women to an object of bartering for family politics by robbing them of their personal freedom and forcing them to put their own biological and sexual needs to breed as much healthy offsprings as possible before the social policy.

For Irene, monogamy was only a romantic construct to lure women into falsely believing that their lives were safer, more stable, and easier with only one spouse. However, it was often the main reason for domestic violence, oppression, rape, sexual dissatisfaction, incest, and unfaithfulness. Because of what some old men and women in frocks - the Church of Fire and the Temple of Melitele - were considering and preaching to be right, people would have been forcing themselves to a way of living they actually and biologically didn't want but must to.

Irene was totally convinced that polygamy, a form of marriage in which a man as the head of the family could have more than one wife at the same time if wanted to, was the right and natural type of family. Polygamy would promote individual rights and freedom by giving women chance to choose the males with the best genes and financial capacities, no the ones their parents deemed right. Polygamous relationships would also remove a lot of the stresses and strains that came with bringing new children into the world and family, which would be the best marital structure for the support and empowerment of women by far.

And at the same time, polygamy would demand more from men, forcing them to constantly improve themselves and learn how to be patient, reliable and strong leaders of their communities. Men would need to learn to value female counterparts and not to take them for granted or see them as property. Polygamy would change the view men had on prostitutes, single mothers, and widows by helping them to find a way into a stable and protected environment of families again.

As if this extreme opinion wasn't controversial enough in an environment full of feminists, so-called social justice amazons, and infertile witches, Irene went one step further by claiming that women who sought to be equal with men would lack ambition. There would be biological reasons why humans, dwarfs, gnomes, and elves had only two genders, and the holy institution of marriage was their socially and ritually recognized union.

A man would lead, provide and protect his female and children, helping her to flourish and be happy. A wife, in return, would support him, give him cheerful companionship, console him and admire him. She was a mother to his children and ensured that his home was a peaceful haven for him to come home to and recover. Men and women were biologically made for each other with neither being inferior nor superior. In Aretuza, Irene strongly stated that all mistresses should stop planting misandrist lies in their adepts and students' minds, and tell them the truth...

... that we, sorceresses, needed the men. And the men needed us. Period.

After this statement came out of Irene's lips, centuries ago before Yennefer was actually born, Philippa tried to expel her from the Brotherhood of Sorcerers and the academy for the rest of her life. She accused her of double standards and misogyny. Irene, in return, accused Philippa of an antisocial personality disorder and feminism and turned the tables by bringing forward evidence proving Philippa's secret plotting in the redanian and koviri peerage behind the Brotherhood's back.

All at once, it was Philippa's future which was at stake, the political mess causing her to withdraw all her actions against Irene to not risk getting expelled in her place instead. As Yennefer asked her once how she had gotten to this information, her blond mistress replied with a devilish smile: 'I didn't. It was my husband. Just because a woman doesn't wear a ring, Yenna, it doesn't mean she can't be in a marriage and in love with her man.'.

Yennefer adored like a living Goddess of emancipation and femininity until today.
After both sorceresses talked with each other, they decided to get to the bottom of Irene's findings. For Yennefer, it was extremely strange to live through all these things again. As it seemed to her, everything was running pretty normal, especially time.

Unlike other magic fantasy worlds, however, the one Gaunter O'Dimm dungeoned her was totally unusual and if it's like the same she was going to use for their research later as well, more powerful than everything she had ever seen in her life.

Over the next days, Yennefer stayed at Aretuza and tried to act normal, seeking for any anomalies in the illusion but didn't find any. It became even stranger as she met people she hadn't seen or heard of. Under normal circumstances, an illusion was built upon the main captive's memories and mind, therefore filled with entities she remembered to speak and deal with and the logical interdependencies that comes with it. Simply explained, when the illusion was running in a place like an academy, then her mind's subconscious was logically assuming that there had to be students, mistresses, classes, schedules as well.

If there was a sun, there had to be a day-and-night cycle.

If there was a cart, it had to have four wheels and so forth.

Therefore, every world of illusion was always as consistent and real as its captive was ready to take for it. And that was the fact about this illusion Yennefer was so amazed and scared of at the same time. This very illusion of the Master Mirror seemed to bend the magical rules of illusions in a way they became obsolete. In other words; she wasn't the one who controlled the end of the duration but the illusion did itself.

As Yennefer made this assumption, panic overcame her for few minutes. Even though she knew why the demon had sent here, the entire story's beginning and ending of the research lasted twenty-two years. Twenty-two years in real time. But Yennefer didn't want to sit in this illusion for so long...

"I knew there had to be a catch..." She thought. "You're so stupid, Yen."

For that reason, the raven-haired sorceress made a final decision. Since she knew what the big issues and challenges were in the first place, she had to skip them and accelerate the research the way it was finished much quicker. The only problem was that she and Irene never solved the infertility issue, actually...

Perhaps, the Master Mirror sent her for that very reason, so she could end the research and solve the infertility problem of all sorceresses once and for all.

But what had all this to do with her question?

Confusion over confusion...

Yennefer's violet eyes were locked on her personal diary, fingers skimming over the brushstrokes of her own handwriting. Counting the year 1242, whole three years after her first arrival in the illusion, she and Irene made great progress in their secret research to find a cure for the sorceresses' infertility, even though the acclimatization for Yennefer lasted very long and was harsh in many perspectives, especially of sexual sort.

Like going cold turkey on sexual desires and rough, merciless anal pounding, the raven-haired sorceress went through countless nights of self-punishment and sweaty masturbation in Irene's guest room she bunked in for the duration of the research.

The very first days were the worst, as Irene knocked on the third day on her door in the middle of the night. Fingers still pressing against her pristine clit, Yennefer startled up and fell off her bed, trying immediately to hide any signs of the lewd, soggy scene.

"Yen? Can I come in?!"

"Why, what's the matter?

"I've here something for you."

"Can it not wait till morning? I'm trying to sleep here..."

"I'm afraid not."

Yennefer grunted, adjusted her nighty and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Alright, come in!"

Irene slowly opened the door and stepped in, holding a golden casket in her hand.

"I'm sorry to bother you so late but..." The blond bombshell sat down next to her. "I'm not able to take all your panting and moaning anymore, you know."

Cheeks running red like a tomato, Yennefer was speechless for a moment.

"I don't want to know why you torturing yourself and your little... Yen so much..."

Yennefer was a sixty-six-year-old woman, now feeling like a fourteen teenage girl when her mother had caught her in the act of masturbating herself. It was embarrassing and beautiful at the same time, experiencing her motherly best girlfriend in such way.

She really had missed her.

"Iry?! I'm not a girl anymore!... It's just complicated."

"Alright. If it's just that, then you'll like this. Open it."

Eyebrow's arching in surprise, the raven-haired sorceress took out a princess butt plug made of stainless steel, having a tapered tip for easy insertion, a narrow neck for the body to grip with a violet diamond, and a wide base to ensure it didn't move further into the anus then wanted. It was gorgeous and something she really needed now.

"It's an extremely useful sex toy to deal with your urges the way they don't hinder you during your daily life. I'm using one too," Irene explained lovely. "This one I've bought especially for you, my ugly one."

Yennefer didn't know how to react than to hug her.

"Thank you, Iry."

"Yet it doesn't replace a twelve inch, big, fat cock, of course," Irene winked with a smirk.

"You are voracious!" Yennefer chuckled girlishly and rolled her eyes.

"You have no idea, my love." Irene continued to smirk and before she went out, turned herself to her and added, "Now I can finally find some sleep again. Good night."

Yennefer shook her head, still grinning. "Night."

Even though the whole way of sexual abstinence was filthy and brutal, Yennefer managed after a year to get in control of her primal urges and to focus herself on the project. Thanks to the butt plug, of course.

And what were the main issues regarding the infertility problem of the sorceresses?

As widely known and proved by many scientists, every woman's reproductive capacity was based on two elements.

Firstly, the pituitary gland located at the base of the brain, which was secreting hormones that acted on several glands and the ovaries, which in turn produced other hormones as well. Secondly, the ovaries themselves, small glandular organs about the shape and size of an almond located on opposite sides of the uterus in the pelvic cavity and attached to the uterus, which possessed the role in producing the female sex hormones and gametes that got fertilized to form embryos.

Life.

With sorceresses, these two key elements of fertility were either altered or atrophied. A recovery or magic regeneration wasn't possible, the condition permanent. To put it simply, the goal of their secret research was to change these definite facts by finding similarities between the sorceresses and the creatures spread all over the continent.

So it happened that quickly after comparing Irene's existing data and studies, they came to the conclusion that they needed more empirical data to confirm existing theories to useful facts. To get such empirical data, both needed real-time analyses of female and male human beings and creatures and their coexistence and mating processes.

Since the Board of the Sorceresses at Aretuza would have never allowed them to bring monsters to the academy or run the greatest whorehouse in the history of the continent, they went further by the creation of an illusion in which both parties had to live together. After establishing a portal in Irene's bedroom leading to an unknown cave hidden beneath the ground of the academy and furnishing it to a laboratory.

To get the unbiased and comparable data, Yennefer chose the radical and totally forbidden idea to magically create an illusion like the one she was inside right now but of much bigger size, a continent to be more accurate, which resembled the early days where human beings lived in caves and chased their preys with wooden clubs and spears. Placed in different areas and relieved of their memories, the groups of species would live and evolve in a natural way, and constantly provide them with the data they were looking for. The same went for all the creatures, of course.

When Irene heard about it, her blue eyes gaped wide open in shock and amazement - like the first time. And what was the catch?

To magically create such a fictional world in size of a continent, Irene - as an archmistress of black magic consisting of demonology, necromancy, and artefact compression - needed three things: A population of thousand people and hounded creatures with the equal number of men and women including humans, dwarfs, elves, and gnomes, a very large cave of one hundred thousand square yards, black magic allowing them to capture the test subjects' souls and trap them into soul gems. When the test subjects' died, it was possible to reanimate them by deflecting and planting their souls into new bodies.

A totally forbidden and inhuman procedure.

The part with the black magic was relatively easy to apply, the other things not. In reality, they puzzled their head over those things for several months. In this illusion, however, Yennefer came straight to the point once more. The problem with the cave wasn't its size - which was an easy snap - but the fact that they had to literally set up the greatest megascope someone had ever built, use egg-shaped crystals the size of her own head, and draw the largest pentagram in the history of modern magic, was a challenge on its own, not to mention of the costs coming in addition with the necessary shielding of the entire cave with dimeritium tiles to prevent any leak of magic energy.

With all these things together they could bring a magic singularity which was the portal and shell of the world and illusion they lovely called Westworld. This way, they were able to gather data without coming into contact with the test subjects in any way, or negatively influence their decisions and behaviors. The one thing that mattered at the end was to ensure that the primary impulse of all the test subjects' actions was based on their genes, not on social restrictions or anything else.

But in that case, the entire project would have definitely gotten too expensive and practically inapplicable for both of them.

So, who was going to help them with all these things?

The logical demanded that Yennefer and Irene needed an investor, someone who was so wealthy that he could provide them with all the creatures and humans they needed, and who was discreet and not of the community of mages. In other words, Irene's secret man and husband.

Irene never told her his name or what he was doing, only that he had agreed to support them by providing human capital and a fund without a withdrawal limit. Yennefer always assumed he must have been a sorcerer as well since they were already together for three centuries, and respected her wish to keep his true identity hidden.

Even from her.

In this illusion, Yennefer just left it that way. During her time in the reality, however, she went to the next bank store of the Vivaldis in Gors Velen and asked the bank manager to pay her off the entire sum of the fund. The bank manager told her with a husky voice that they would only have two million crowns in their bank vaults at the moment. If this wouldn't be enough, she only needed to give them two more days, so they were able to collect their liquid assets from other stores in the region as well.

In the total sum of thirty-eight million crowns.

Like it just happened yesterday, Yennefer remembered vividly how her hands had shaken at the thought of having so many crowns in her own possession. Later, she found out that the fund itself was a special financial construct called fund-of-funds owned by different companies and organizations, but unfortunately by no specific names.

Yennefer didn't give up so easily.

During an entire week, she visited several bank stores on the entire continent and tried to let her pay off as much cash of the fund as possible. In the end, she stopped doing this by one hundred sixty-three million crowns, a value five times higher than Novigrad's domestic annual earnings.

This was the very moment when Yennefer realized why Irene must have been able to afford this kind of living standard she used to present the world. Even Karl Rhyst, an owner of a dimeritium mining and shipping company, was known to be the continent's richest man and in possession of perhaps thirty million crowns. So, whoever was standing at the end of this fund's food chain, was obviously in a league by himself.

Yennefer never told Irene something about her findings in terms of her husband, of course. And since the plan was to make sure that the money was there when they needed it, Yennefer left it be that way and boosted their project by buying all the necessary things they desperately needed.

And as impossible the whole plan sounded, Irene's secret husband was able to provide them with all the things they were in need of, including the part with one hundred creatures and thousands of so-called 'volunteers', women and men who signed off a contract of their own free will to contribute to this project. During their time in Westworld, they and their families get compensated for absence and possible risks of death.

With all things and factors being in place, both were able to finally the establish the illusion and run the first cycle after adding the human and animal test subjects to the world. A cycle was precisely five thousand years long, in their time. In the real world, one iteration lasted only seventy-two hours. The magic term for this method bore the name 'time compression', which was a derivation from the art of artifact compression.

After only two months, they had already gathered information about sixty civilizations and hundred thousand years of time, having more data in terms of reproduction, social behavior and evolution, and biological anthropology than anyone could have ever imagined before. Every new cycle produced new results including new nations, societies, political systems, and historical outcomes.

The same went for the creatures which always seemed to find their place in the world and ways to survive by breeding strong babies and marking their territories. Monsters were an essential factor and part of every ecosystem. In the cycles in which people simply wiped the monsters out from the world, the technological and social advance decreased significantly.

One of the reasons lay in the proven fact that human beings needed the creatures in perspectives of danger, science, and philosophy to grow and reflect their own existence in relation to theirs. Without them, the comprehension of magic never gained a significant foothold and no research of the magic art commenced in any cycle.

At the very moment, these findings were confirmed, Irene leaped for joy and smiled from one ear to the other the whole month long. Apart from her social beliefs, she was known to be a firm advocate of the highly controversial hypothesis that every species of magic origin was part of the natural balance and food chain. All species' were in equilibrium if they learned to live with the monsters and accepted them as part of the environment.

They were also able to confirm the theory with the wombs' consistency and answer the question how female creatures could get hundreds of years old and still conceive children; by using the magic energy flow inside their bodies to burn every and each sperm's energy value in their wombs. In return, the released energy regenerated their atrophied cells, a process triggered by a special hormone sorceresses didn't possess anymore.

A wonder of nature and magic.

And they learned too that the male mating partners were reacting to the body temperature as a result of the hormone release affecting the pituitary gland and the extrinsic secretion of pheromones as a result of the females' ovulating cycle, the smell of her vaginal lubrication to be more precisely.

This was the perfect time when Yennefer decided to attend the problem with infertility, the actual purpose of their entire research, and developed two things which should help to replicate the process and solve the sterility once and for all times.

In the beginning, the female test subject had to drink this potion. It was meant to initiate the first wave of endorphins by deceiving the body of being now in a state of ovulation with the skin secreting pheromones by sweat and excessive vaginal lubrication - sweet and fruity pussy juices. Between two and five hours after drinking the potion, the female test subject has to put on this magic collar as well. It was meant to affect the pituitary gland and boost the hormone cycle and sex drive in a sustained manner.

To copy the semen burning process, however, they needed to go one heavy step further by turning the pentagram around, reversing the polarity of the magic flow into its opposite and expanding the two items by another one, a love egg. Its purpose was to keep the female test subject's horniness at the highest level possible and her magic energy flowed steadily. Without it, they weren't able to initiate the regeneration process by the black magic.

Both were cock-a-hoop when the regeneration of the first sorceress' ovaries worked. Unfortunately, it worked just in the beginning. The regeneration progress stopped and even regressed after some time again. A heavy setback for both sorceresses spoiled by so much success lately.

After some investigation, they came to the conclusion that a sorceress was depending on actually three things in order to regain full reproductive capacity: A constant flow of cum, a constant brimming womb, and most importantly sperm of high quality. In other words, they had to tempt the affected test subjects to have more sex, a lot more. Only this way they could keep the regeneration process going.

One more time, Irene and Yennefer were delirious with joy to see their experiment and research taking such an important step forward. In only three years in this illusion, they achieved more than in thirteen years in the real world.

And this was a very good thing.

To collect to more useful data about sorceresses, they even increased the entire population from thousand to ten thousand test subjects by adding nilfgaardian, ofiri, zerrikanian, skelliger men and women into the world as well.

The key word was slavery, and neither Yennefer nor Irene was proud of it.

As if this wasn't disgraceful enough, they increased the number of sorceresses in Westworld by magic-gifted girls who were rejected to join the academy, exmatriculated or failed, including seasoned magicians who were living as healers, witches, and seers all over the continent. Additionally, Yennefer manipulated some mature sorceresses' love eggs in the magic academy as well, only a few at the beginning to not attract too much attention, especially Philippa who was in control of the RIT, Reverse Indoctrination Program.

How did they manage to deceive the bitchy Lady Owl?

Since Irene was still a professor at the academy, she bypassed the black magical connection between the love eggs and its crystals, and override the properties. The manipulation itself was only higher intensity which brought the adepts unbridled orgasms in unwanted and public situations, and since they couldn't complain and risk to get kicked out of the academy, many girls were trying to endure the pleasure the whole day and week long.

After some short time, Irene addressed these poor girls and insinuated herself into their confidence, gave them a chance to deal with these challenges in better and pleasurable way helping them to cool off again. The affected adepts had no idea about their love eggs' true reason of malfunction, being teleported into Westworld too with the only difference in comparison with the slaves that their memories were remaining intact, and they returned back to their classes again when time had come.

To preempt possible brain damage, both sorceresses configured these items and made sure that they deactivated themselves at the very moment when the level of horniness, satisfaction, and daily ovary regeneration had reached its peak. Those who took their collar and love egg off after their session went involuntarily through a short crisis of conscience, confusion, and disorientation, a natural reaction to the disturbed pituitary gland and the hormone cycle.

A fact Yennefer had totally forgotten about and now hated more than ever...

Shortly afterward, it became clear once more that the purity of all the men's semen wasn't going to suffice to fully recover the fertility. The project's progress stagnated again and the problem seemed to be highly based on the sperm quality itself, respectively the gene pool. Recently entering the six hundred's cycle, Irene and Yennefer found out that the zerrikanian and ofiri men had the most potent semen and genes, not because of the skin color but the inherent preference of tribal societies and systems.

According to the aggregated data, it was statistically provable that in patriarchal societies and nations, women's fertility and happiness were the highest and the men's potency the best. The contrary involved societies and nations in which women's individual rights were existing or high, their access to political and nonpolitical positions given, and fertility rate low or even missing.

Yennefer watched once more how Irene, radiant with happiness, danced with joy until she could catch her again. It was her best friend's most controversial hypothesis, and she achieved to academically and statistically prove it, its meaning a mass destruction bomb that could call everything into question what Board of Sorceresses, Philippa, believed in. Regardless of how morally questionable the entire research was, they could never ignore such profound results. A leak, even the slightest, had the potential to ignite a political firestorm in the magic academy none of them would survive.

And that was exactly what happened in the reality.

On the first day of May in 1252, Yennefer's birthday, their entire project came out like a bomb and was revealed to the public. On that day, only Irene was in the laboratory and surveying their research, unaware of humiliation coming up to her. Yennefer was far away at the meeting with the royal council in Vengerberg, visiting king Demavend III and his dimwit of aristocrats. As she heard what happened in Aretuza, she immediately teleported herself to Irene's personal chamber, but it was already too late.

How did Philippa and Board of Sorceresses find out?

Pretty easily if considering the circumstances.

An ordinary adept snitched on them, told the Board about the research and Westworld. Headed by Philippa, the mob consisting of Tissaia and the other sorceresses immediately used the portal in Irene's bedroom and teleported themselves down to the main hall and laboratory. To their utmost surprise though, they didn't find anything. No megascope, no reverse pentagram, no singularity to another world, no research, no collars, no potions, no love eggs, no dimeritium tiles. Nothing. A clean as a whistle one hundred thousand square yards cave, with the only exception of remaining eighty-seven horny adepts spread all over the place, masturbating and licking each others' pussies and tits like there were no tomorrow.

Philippa fumed with rage and took Irene to task and made an example of her by trotting out the most devilish lies, destroying her academic career and life by accusing her of getting it on with creatures they found in her private room; a nekker, a baby basilisk, and kikimore.

Irene's pets.

During the whole time, while they were razing her private chamber to the ground and burning all the innocent creatures alive, Yennefer remembered how her best friend remained totally silent, cold and distant. Her eyes didn't move like her posture and motions. As Yennefer found the moment and the courage to say something, Irene suddenly starred at her with her piercing blue eyes, ordering her to keep her mouth shut, and then smirked at her with a following wink.

Even in her darkest moment, Irene could only think about protecting her.

Her ugly one.

Yennefer remembered the very moment when Irene finally honored Philippa with her attention before she was kicked out for good and told her, "Phil, you were always a worthless lesbian horse cock lover and the filthiest crack whore of the continent. And next time when we meet each other, I will personally make sure that everyone will see you that way forever."

And then, Irene spat on Philippa's face and teleported herself off without giving her lesbian nemesis a way to counter. Over the next years, Yennefer tried to locate and find her motherly girlfriend, to no avail. A few years later, she heard that Irene had found a new investor to proceed with her 'inhuman' experiments, which was total bullshit of course since she had her super-rich and powerful husband on her side.

It didn't change the circumstance that people kept talking and telling lies about her. During all those years, Irene never contacted her, and after meeting Geralt and especially Ciri, Yennefer totally gave up the idea to ever see her best friend again. The entire infertility problem persisted like Yennefer's wish to become a mother. Without the financial power though, she let an attempt go at that.

All this happened in the real world.

Everything from now on was completely new to her and happened for the first time.

In the illusion in 1242, Yennefer took extraordinary precautions to make sure that none of those little spoiled brats of adepts was able to talk to anyone without their explicit knowledge. Funnily, their anthropological findings didn't stop there.

Using the data of more than thousand dead civilizations, Irene was able to correlate the men's potency and sperm quality with the women's fertility capabilities and to make a sociodemographic profiling, subdivided all human beings into personality types. A sweet chuckle escaped Yennefer's lips when Irene gave her the abstract of her findings. Nonetheless, the results were as much revealing as those before.

The findings were showing that there were actually existing three most important types of men and women, consisting of alphas, betas, and gammas.

The gamma man was mostly an introvert trying to get his voice heard. He had intelligence but he was not close to an Alpha or beta male. In fact, he was something in-between. In the society, they were the ones who will just nod their heads to everything their superiors had to say and the ones who never said what they actually think about something. A man like this lacked self-esteem and enjoyed being alone, and when he fell in love, he used to be too blind to see when a woman took advantage of him and he would have rather lived deceived than leaving her.

The most important characteristic of a gamma female was that she liked to be caught. But only a man strong enough could make her settle down and start a family together. A woman like this was always collaborative and ready to help. If someone wanted to rock her world, he needed to be a really strong man or she wasn't even going to look at you. A Gamma woman knew that she needed a man to complete her and she stuck to that rule, knew her worth so she was going to settle for a man who deserved her.

The beta man was seen as good as the Alphas but with more emotions and feelings. Beta guys were all those nice guys who women wanted to meet and marry one day. They were the kind of guys women preferred to have kids with and felt that they could be their best friend and their lover at the same time. He felt comfortable enough to go out with his friends and to have a good time but when it came to talking, he wasn't quite sure that he could do that. All in all, a Beta man is more down to earth than an Alpha male and it used to be much easier to form a stable relationship with him.

A beta female was like the good sister of an Alpha female. She was the one who did all those things that nobody else wanted to do and somehow she always got less attention than an Alpha female. The Beta female was reliable, a good friend and a good listener. She could be sometimes passive-aggressive and think that it was better if she didn't react like she felt because in that way she could prevent fights. Women like this often didn't think that they are attractive and were really anxious about competing with other women, so they tended to end up with someone they weren't really in love because they didn't want to be alone.

The Alpha male was the most desirable man of all, the one who was good-looking, the leader of the pack, a poison for all women and the one who ran his business so well that all of his business partners were jealous of him. A man like this is a born leader, so when he spoke, the rest of the people around him kept their mouths shut. He was used to be always at the center of attention and when he was talking, people looked like someone put a spell on them. If a man like this saw a woman he was attracted to, he didn't hesitate to approach her immediately, not giving her any chance or time to refuse him. From a man like this, people were always hearing some cute pick-up lines making any woman fall for him. Because that was the only way women used to fall for guys like this.

Alpha women had beauty, charm, intelligence and knew how to handle difficult situations very well and their worth. Such a woman was just fine being on her own and was always bossy and sarcastic but also progressive and loyal. The rest of the women used to look at her like she was a living Goddess. An alpha woman was someone who thought with her own head, not really listening to what other people had to say. Also, she was used to be very emotional beneath her cold exterior and never revealed her true face if not necessary. A woman like this had been hurt before and that was why she didn't want to let people do it to her again. So, she usually remained peaceful beneath her mask of a strong and sometimes cynical woman and didn't get intimidated by strong guys, telling them what she thought, no matter the circumstances. A woman like this was born, not made. The perfect mother and first concubine of an alpha man and his tribe.

"Sounds anything familiar to you, sweetheart?" Irene asked lovely as Yennefer read the last word to her.

"No... nothing," the raven-haired sorceress expressed with fake seriousness, suppressing a cheesy smirk.

"Nice try, Yenna." Irene gave little touch with the side of her shoulder to hers.

"Say, what is your husband's personality type then, Iry?"

"Guess what!"

"A gamma boy?" Yennefer joked.

"A gamma boy with a fortune of two hundred million crowns?... No, I don't think so."

The raven-haired sorceress' lilac eyes gaped open, somewhat shocked.

"You know..."

"Of course, sweetheart. Or did you really think he wouldn't get wind of your actions?" Irene chuckled sweetly. "But to be honest, he expected you to do this."

"I hope I didn't cause you any trouble, Iry. I was just curious, you know."

"Trouble?" Irene chuckled again. "Yenna, I was surprised you didn't take some money and went shopping at the next Passionata store. If you ask me, my ugly one, you're wearing the same stuff too often. And you could really need some new boots and bias cut skirt, and don't let me say something about your lingerie... A crime against fashion."

"Excuse me that I've tried to bring forward our little secret research here, Iry."

Having her blue eyes on the billboard, Irene was skimming over the figures and numbers of their research, seeking for patterns. With her glasses, the blond sorceresses looked amazingly hot even for Yennefer's standards, wearing a short skirt which let her long, smooth legs shine in the torchlight, not to mention of her platform pumps, of course.

"Iry?" Yennefer asked innocently.

"Yes, my ugly one?"

"Have you and your husband talked about me? I mean... If you say it was him expecting me to be curious..."

Irene's gaze shifted to her as a short smirk crossed her angel face.

"He has funded our entire project and supplied us with pretty everything including slaves and monsters, Yenna. He wouldn't have done all these things if he didn't know a little bit about you."

"But what did YOU tell him about me? You can't tell he knew me before we started this project here."

Irene's short smirk turned long.

"Oh, my ugly one. Barrett knew you before we both met each other here at the academy."

Sitting on the couch they bought especially for the laboratory, Yennefer was bereft of speech and words. "Wait, what are you saying?... How is this possible?"

"Do you really think it was Tissaia who detected your magic affinity and took you from your family in Vengerberg? No, Yenna. It was Barrett. He gave her the tip. Honestly, you wouldn't be here if he wasn't there, my love."

"But... does that mean you knew me before my... you know, too?"

"No, I didn't. He told me about all this only when I asked him for his help to fund and equip our project here. I had no idea about his history with you."

"There is no history!" Yennefer barked, angry but didn't know why.

Walking toward the raven-haired sorceress, Irene sat down right next to her and placed her glasses on the table nearby. "Yenna, look at me. Come on, stop pouting like a little girl and listen to me." She crossed her legs sideways and grabbed Yennefer's hand.

"This, my ugly one, this is real. What we have together, no one can take away from us. And it will always be that way. Barrett is just a guy who maybe crossed your life few times and that's it. You shouldn't be reading too much into it."

"Barrett and just a guy, Iry?" Yennefer blurted. "HE is richer than Lan Exeter and Novigrad together. HE has provided us in only three months with thirty creatures and thousands of people from different nations. And I haven't even mentioned the dimeritium piles for our cave here, and the slaves. Barrett is anyone but a simple guy, dammit!"

"I still can't see the problem here, sweetheart?"

Yennefer cleared her throat. "The FUCKING problem is that I've been hunted by a shadow all those years and I had no FUCKING idea about it, that's the FUCKING problem!"

"We never use that F-word, Yenna. You know that. It makes us sorceresses sound like stupid cunts and this is the last thing we want, right?!" Irene ranted with a wagging finger. "And stop pouting, little girl. This doesn't suit you. You are old enough now!"

Yennefer folded her arms and took some deep breaths.

"Then tell me everything about him. Who is he really? What's his profession? How long do you know each other? Where does he come from? What--"

"Slowly, Yenna. Take it slowly. Why do you want to know all this?"

"What if I want to become his wife as well?" The raven-haired sorceress bluffed in the next round, lying.

"Oh, my sweet Yenna," Irene just smiled and hooked some strains of curly hair behind her ear, softly caressing her cheek while looking deeply into her lilac eye. "You have no idea what you're talking about. You better stick with that little boy, Istredd, and marry him. Play it safe like almost every woman on this continent."

"But I don't need safety, Iry. I need I man like yours. Or do you fear competition?" Yennefer joked. Irene's smile turned into a dominant smirk.

"Competition with a sixty-nine-year-old girl? Funny. But I think you didn't understand what I was trying to say to you, my ugly one."

Yennefer pouted at the hint of her young age.

"You are one of the most beautiful women on the continent and used to be treated by men with fake respect and fake kindness, worshipped as a living goddess among so many. A circumstance that allows you to call the shots and be the man in the relationship," Irene explained in a calm way. "And why do men accept their pity role so willingly? Because they want to shag you, put a ring on your finger and show the world what a big stud they are. Then, after some time when they finally got all these things from you and they can't suffer you anymore, they will not only abandon you but the fake love you both thought it was so real all the time as well. And you know why all this happens actually, Yenna?"

"Because I played it safe in the first place..."

"Exactly. You as a woman allowed it to happen. You chose the easy way, like most women on the continent. But for so much more, you need to leave the pony farm of useless beta and gamma boys and enter the dark forest where alpha males go hunting women like us while chasing the weak. You just have to venture into the rabbit hole because only there you'll find true purpose and love in this damned world."

"And are you?"

"What?"

"In love..."

"Since the first day and without stopping," Irene smiled with closed lips. "Are you too?"

"With Istredd?"

"No, with your lingerie...of course with Istredd, hollow chicken."

"I don't know..."

"How is he in bed?"

"What the hell does that have to do with it?"

"Everything, my precious. Now answer my question."

"Good... Istredd is good... yes, he's good..."

"So bad?!"

"I said good, dammit," Yennefer countered and couldn't stop chuckling.

"Does he pull your hair and makes you beg him to fuck harder?" Irene asked with a deadpan expression. "Spits on your face and spanks you few times when you disobey?"

"Istredd? No... Never. He would never dare to such things to me."

Irene shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"My precious, why are you still wasting your time with this gamma boy, then?"

"Don't call him like that, Iry. Istredd has other qualities."

"Such as?"

"He... he has a mansion in Aedd Gynvael and a modest fortune--"

"You're with him because of his money?" Irene interrupted. "Did you learn nothing from me, girl?"

"Look who's talking! Since the first day we met, you're always wearing these expensive Passionata outfits, Louboutin heels, and makeup. Don't tell me you've been buying these things by yourself."

"No, you're right, Yenna, I don't. Barrett does, actually. But not because of the reasons you and all those sluts of sorceresses in this academy might think," Irene countered, cleared her throat. "I chose and tried every outfit, pair of heels and lingerie on while Barrett was present and approved of it. He did, or better say is doing this NOT because he wants to swagger about his fortune BUT he likes to see me in those things as much as I do. Barrett always treats me like the Queen I am and deserve to be. Nothing else."

"You haven't still told me anything about him, Iry. Do not think I didn't recognize that."

Irene tilted her forward and kissed Yennefer's forehead like a mother her daughter. A warm and loving feeling scrambled through her veins when her best friend looked straightly into her lilac eyes. "So, you want to know something about my man, do you? Then let me describe him in a way you should get the right feeling of him."

After coughing slightly, Irene scrutinized Yennefer's face first before getting dead serious herself. "Barrett doesn't ask, Yenna. What he claims, he gets. What he craves, he takes. Without asking, playing or pussyfooting around like all the other men on the continent. Barrett is everywhere and nowhere, a true gentleman who has a lot to say but chooses to remain silent in front of fools. Barrett is the Devil and the Angel of Light in one person. He and no one else decides whether you are worthy to make his acquaintance. When time is right, my love, he will make his move and test your worthiness and cleverness the evilest way possible," Irene's eyes stated, blue eyes glowing.

A strange silence fell over the laboratory as Yennefer felt too overwhelmed by her best friend's monologue that she needed time to think through all the things she said. Irene stood up again and walked to her billboard, leaving the raven-haired sorceress alone with her thoughts. After few long minutes, the blond bombshell's voice suddenly resounded through the entire place.

"Aretuza on Yenna. Hello? Do you hear me? Irene asked funnily by raising her hands.

"Yes... what, what?" Yennefer startled.

"I've something here that might be interesting for you. Look."

As Yennefer stood before her friend, she handed over sheets of paper, an abstract.

"What is this, Iry?... It says here that the alpha man's sperm quality is eighty percent higher compared to others, and an alpha woman's fertility the best in turn if she has sex with such type of men."

"Yes, my ugly one. But you should read the last part of the conclusion too."

Yennefer's eyebrows arched in amazement before she looked up at her blond friend and then at the paper in total disbelief.

"Yes, it's the truth," Irene nodded, the left corner of her mouth slightly open.

"This... this can't be real, Iry. I mean this would change the whole gravity of our research... If this comes out, this would... would... cause a war," Yennefer muttered, still trying to comprehend the last written lines while the sheets of papers were jittering between her fingers. "Wow!"

"I know, sweety. Unbelievable, isn't?"

"Are you sure? I mean did you recheck the figures and tested the model for outliers--"

"Of course I did. In this case, seven times in a row. The gist remains the same; the reason for the stop of the regeneration process at the eighty-seven percent level is linked to the main problem why we cannot pass magic abilities to our offsprings by genes. Not knowingly and willingly, at least."

"The Elder Blood paradox..." Yennefer muttered, absorbed in thought. "But this doesn't make sense. The dominant genes are always female. Lara Dorren was the activator."

"Well... not quite. According to all data and results we achieved so far, Lara Dorren could only have been the holder of the mutagen which made the transfer of the trait possible. And this only because she was the female in the relationship and therefore the one who was able to get pregnant and conceive the child," Irene explained as if the whole statement wasn't totally crazy and against common knowledge. "However, the carrier of the dominant gene was Cregennan of Lod. The Elder Blood could only exist because of his excellent semen and genes... if there wasn't something really odd to say here too."

Yennefer looked confused. "What can be stranger than all this, Iry?!"

After waiting a moment and making the raven-haired sorceress burst with curiosity, Irene shortly caressed her forehead and replied, "Cregennan cannot be the sire, actually."

"What- that's rubbish-- why?!?"

"Because no human, elf, dwarf, or whatever has the necessary, dominant trait inside his genes. It's not natural."

"A very interesting theory, Iry."

"It's not a theory!" Irene tossed in. "A damn fact. Since we have information about almost all creatures and human beings' reproduction and social abilities, it's actually quite easy to prove that." Yennefer snorted and shook her head. "Yenna, I know I'm not a biologist but I CAN analyze, interpret, and draw conclusions out of stochastic values. And this is the truth!"

After sighing off few times, Yennefer looked in her serious friend's eye.

"How high are the chances that you could be wrong?"

"Very, very little. We're talking about data consisting of thousand adepts and sorceresses, forty creatures and monsters, multiplied by five million years... We're in a situation where we know more than anyone else about all species and their traits."

"I was afraid of this..."

"Everything in this world is about nature. Every human being and creature's decisions, behaviors, and actions have its core origin in its genetic code and DNA. And this is why the key to all our salvation, and the solution to your sterility problem, is going to be in there too."

"Ciri..." Yennefer thought with a touch of irony.

[Clap] [Clap]

Two heavy claps resounded through the laboratory as Irene's face and movements hardened and stopped. Turning around, Yennefer saw Gaunter O'Dimm appearing behind her with a broad, cold smirk, eyes locked on hers.

"You!" The raven-haired sorceress' eyes flashed and head reddened.

"Hello again, milady. Hope you finally have gotten your answer."

"THREE YEARS, DEMON. You incarcerated me in this illusion for THREE YEARS!"

"That wasn't my choice. Remember?" The Master Mirror said and cleared his throat after conjuring up a roll of paper in his hand and raising in the air. "You said, quote, 'Three answers, not one. And they have to be given in detailed, believable ways. Simple yes-or-no answers are not allowed. I sincerely and truthfully have to see reason and need to empathize with your answers'. No word from my side would have ever sufficed to please you, milady. You needed to achieve your first answer by yourself."

"Great! And what was my first question again?!" As Gaunter O'Dimm was up to open his mouth to say something, Yennefer interrupted him and yelled, "Oh, how can I be so forgetful?! Oh, wait. YOU locked me up in a damn illusion for THREE YEARS!!"

"Are you now done sulking, milady?"

"No..." Yennefer folded her arms and pursed her lips. "Let me wallow in my self-pity a little bit longer, demon!"

The Master Mirror rolled his eyes, maybe for the first time in his existence.

"Anyway... Your original question was, I repeat, quote, 'Everything I've done during the last twenty-four hours, every decision I made and every word I said... I only did because I was under the influence of black magic and the three items containing the potion, collar, and love egg Netek Rivay and Javvar Azol forced upon me... and Irene and I developed together during our studies and experiments to solve the infertility issue of all sorceresses forty-three years ago?'. And what's your answer to this question now, milady?"

Yennefer sighed and looked into his eye for a long time.

"Do I have to pronounce it?"

"I'm afraid yes. Like the question, the answer has to be uttered to become valid as well."

"Then no, dammit."

"I'm sorry I couldn't hear you."

"I said no, demon! I didn't do all the depraved things because I was under some influence of black magic or some things," Yennefer admitted with reddish cheeks and swollen lips.

"And?"

"And what?!"

"Your personal insight. What was it after those three years?"

"Do I really need to say it out loud?"

"No simple yes-or-no answers, remember? This was your own rule. Come one."

Yennefer gritted her teeth and furled her eyebrows to make her violet eyes sparkle, breathing heavily while staring at Irene nearby. It was like someone was holding a mirror up to her face.

"I did everything because I was already a depraved bitch who loved big, thick cocks, rough anal sex, and gangbangs way before I was drugged, collared, and turned into a cum-craving shrew," she admitted with her own pussy getting wet and itchy, eyes motionless and like hypnotized. It felt good to confess the truth with her own lips.

"I did everything because I was always longing for men who would teach me the ins and outs, treat me like an inferior slut, humiliate me, use me, and rape me way before Irene even mentioned something about her findings... And to be perfectly honest, the three items didn't take anything from me," she added and felt like she was getting a great burden off one's chest. "They just helped me to live out my darkest fantasies I always possessed but never had the courage to stick to. The same is true for all the other sorceresses."

Gaunter O'Dimm's dark expression didn't change for few seconds before it contorted in a long smirk and faint chuckle, his arms folding behind his back. Opposite to him, Yennefer had difficulties to interpret the Master Mirror's new emotions and posture as she stared at him with puzzlement.

"Oh, you are good, demon. Really good," Yennefer acknowledged, savoring the beautiful feeling raising inside her body.

"I have my moments," he uttered confidently. "But let's finish our business now. Tell me your second question, milady?"

"Only if you promise me to answer me the next two questions in two or three sentences."

Gaunter O'Dimm nodded and agreed.

Licking her lips, Yennefer shortly reflected and asked, "It was Barrett who gave Karl Rhyst the hint about Ciri's possible location to lure me to Velen, right?"

"No, actually not," he pointed out straightforward. "This guy... Barrett doesn't work this way, milady. If he wanted to have you in Velen, then he would have simply taken you there. Pretty easy. Your last question. I'm listening."

Yennefer raised her eyebrows in surprise and still had so many questions to ask. However, she decided herself for the most important one that came up her mind.

"Tell me where to find Ciri, my--"

"Daughter, I know. Sadly, I can't be of service."

"Why not?"

"There are certain things even I cannot meddle with," Gaunter O'Dimm admitted. "Ciri is hidden from my gaze, she's beyond my reach."

An annoying sigh escaped Yennefer's lips as the Master Mirror added, "But finding her's not what should concern you most - because you will, I'm certain of it, milady Yennefer of Vengerberg."

"And what should concern me most instead, demon?"

Gaunter O'Dimm didn't say anything, just coldly smirked the most devilish way ever.

"It's my turn now with the questioning."

"Alright. Hit me!"

"Is Geralt of Rivia a man who stands by his word, if he's given an important task?"

Yennefer had to chuckle, expecting a question of a much higher scope.

"Geralt always stands by his word... as long as the task has not too many morally reprehensible consequences at the end."

"I see. Thank you for your honesty, milady," the Master Mirror bowed respectfully. "And now I think we're really done here, until next time of course."

"There will certainly not be a next time--"

[Clap] [Clap]

Before Yennefer could finish her sentence, the Master Mirror clapped his hands two times again and everything including herself and Irene disappeared in the darkness of time and space the same way she got into the illusion the first time.
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