The air in the chamber was constantly kept at a level that encouraged deep breaths. Maintained at a few degrees above room temperature, Richard's skin always felt on the verge of perspiration, edging the line between comfort and passionate. These elements were keenly noticed on the first day, but they'd become as much a conditioned norm as the constant binaural voices speaking of suggestive surrender, and his mantric exercises that kept his wits about him. Even the smallest change like a new vocal track stuck out to his senses, readying him for more manipulation. 

But the moment he noticed the new vocal that resembled Elowyn's voice was the moment internal identifiers began blurring, softening awareness. She'd returned, and had triggered him somehow. A barrier of thick metal and mechanical wiring between them, Richard could still sense her smile, envisioned pearly-whites surrounded by a lush, almost shimmering burgundy lipstick shade, smiling a sweet smile, not quite feigning innocence, but not quite flaunting manipulation either. Something about it beamed confidence and cooperation, his bunkered profiling mind ruled, forgetting that he was trying not to think of her appearance altogether. 

Thoughts of Elowyn recently left a tangible feeling in him, or against him. It was...like velvet. Precisely an enduring velvet, something that took attention away from the chamber opening. Nerves willingly connecting with the feeling, it could've been just her words, or the touch of her fingers against still-exposed skin, or whatever was being fastened around his neck as eyes slowly opened to a blur dressed in black making him smile involuntarily and dreamily.

"Congratulations on graduating to the next phase, my good man."

Whispered words and fingers trailing down his skin felt as velvety as her dress looked, errantly wishing for the wherewithal use his limbs to embrace his complimentary mistress.

"Follow me to the ceremony hall," Elowyn hotly whispered, tugging on his earlobe with her teeth teasingly. Richard rose past a sluggish speed he expected, revealing to him how shackled to her suggestions he was. Blurry peripheral vision revealed no guards or other chaperons around, meaning he could make a play for escape, but she was rightly confident in his will following hers. He tried to take advantage, even shifting his naked feet in another direction to trip himself over and short circuit the trance somehow, but all he could feel was the cold air wafting over his chest and colder metal on his soles suppressed by the warmth of the sight of Elowyn leading the way in a triumphant strut and hot feel of leather pants creating friction against cooperative thighs and a straining erection.

Eyes on Elowyn, Richard somewhat notices the changes in scenery around her shifting from brightly-clinical to a wooden warm. She was escorting him back into the main house. He tried even harder to notice the best areas to breakaway, to force muscles to move anywhere but forward; it proved another futile attempt as they reached a staircase, and Elowyn's hand on his shoulder and the back of his neck incentivized a protruding erection more than freedom could.

Richard was reduced to being pulled ahead, and noticing where he was on the property was much less grandiose than he'd seen before. Still kept up to their standards with aesthetics, but much smaller in scale, and tucked away from prying eyes. The climb up the stairs was at least three flights, before they reached one of the bedroom hallways, and entry was made into a large bed chamber. It looked like a stately guest room, with a fireplace, pleasant furnishings, a connected bathroom, and a private terrace where daylight brightened most of the room.

"Welcome to your new accommodations, hopefully an upgrade from what was," she smirked from behind him. Holding his hips, she gently pulled him back to whisper something else in his ear, and suddenly more than a modicum of consciousness returned to him. Suddenly more than Elowyn's form held clarity, and Richard could move independently.

"You're starting to get a little pale, darling," she reached out with a finger to comment on his skin color, and he reactively recoiled, afraid of the effect of another "simple" touch. Now it surprised him that he could move away, though his skin was still ready to receive her touch.

"Why don't we converse outside? Fresh air and sunlight could do you some good," she smirked again walking away, leaving him with the choice of following for once. Flooded with multiple options felt alien, the ability to legitimately escape, to attack or restrain her, to do whatever; as she knew he would, he calmly walked out on the terrace to join her at the table with tea ready to serve.

"Your spirits are high today," he commented, knowing he was speaking from himself.

"Are they?" she grinned, pouring him a steaming cup of earl grey. He immediately picked up the delicious scent, wondering when she became aware of his favored flavor of tea.

"Allowing me the most autonomy I've had in days, giving me access to more of the house, your confidence in my adherence to your suggestions in or out of trance; signs point to 'yes'."

"Perhaps I'm just in a rewarding mood, giving you the freedom and pleasure to do as I say." she sipped her tea.

Reduced to paltry nourishment he barely tasted while in trance, and knowing whatever was in the kettle would've affected her cup as much as his, it was hard to resist the urge to swallow his whole cup in one go, and slowly sip like his mistress did.

"Perhaps, but perhaps also whatever plans you have involving me and this party of late has gone exceedingly well. And on the cusp of the victory you've carved out for yourself, you choose to celebrate it with your apparent slave than your family."

"You still believe your slavery is merely 'apparent'?" Elowyn slyly tried to direct the talking point elsewhere, letting her shoe tease his leather pant leg coquettishly. It made Richard smile as a hand slipped down under the table to gracefully bring her foot to his lap, leaving his mistress with the uncertainty of his actions uncurving the corners of her mouth. After a large sip of earl grey, he lightly removed her heel, trying to ignore the velvet material on the shoe in favor of the manicured and well-kept foot he began massaging.

He tried not to laugh at the suspicion creeping into her face.

"'Worry' doesn't really suit a Mistress in-control of her domain and property."

"Nor does bellend tamperment suit my property, but we'll see what you make yourself eligible for," Elowyn sweetly threatened.

"Wouldn't dream of it, as I'm sure you can attest to, Mistress Elowyn." Removing bite and sarcasm from his voice to utter her title they both knew was strategy, but also let it play out as if it was genuine. She at least knew he was fighting the genuine pleasure, similar to his ministrations from massaging hands.

"If I'm remembering your financials correctly, the Parnassus slave-making venture has been very, very leveraged up, roughly up to 65% of the net now. That sounds very 'all hands on deck' to me. And when only one of the principle three are allowed to work on the biggest threat to your operation, that certainly makes a statement."

"Mmmmm," Elowyn pretended to be wholly amused, "continue to probe my good man. It's interesting to see a side-effect of my own probing make you believe in your foolish facade as auditor."

"Facade would imply that I didn't audit, which could be foolish on the part of whomever didn't review the report I left. But...I suspect an auditor was merely hired to confirm what you already expected. You believe in the spirit of this venture, but not the exorbitant cost of the assembly line, which is a staple tactic in keeping the Parnassus coffers full. They don't heed your counsel often, do they? Certainly not as much as your contribution."

Had he not been so good at working the stress out of her soles, Elowyn might've been tempted to frown and show displeasure; instead she slipped her foot out of her other heel, and placed it above the one in his lap, silently demanding both be serviced.

"The relief I'm sensing in you must mean some of the guests of your recent party have given assurances that this venture is paying off..." Richard suddenly remembered something from a previous conversation. "But that's not all you're worried about, is it?"

The pair locked eyes for a second, and the way hers narrowed didn't deter his investigative thinking from running aplomb.

"You're sharing your current victory with the one you want to learn from...that doesn't just give you an edge in the business, that gives you a staunch defense against...against your own family..."

Elowyn's gaze turned accusatory, but softened as his filled with involuntary confusion and unexpected compassion.

"They fear your prowess that much?"

"You didn't fear Ella's?"

"That's not the same thing, Mistress Elowyn," he tried to state accusingly, his tone failing at being reminded of the existence of the apprentice he failed.

"You share the same fearful symptom of powerful men taking steps to ensure talented women in their lives do not stand equal with them, let alone naturally rise above."

"And when the time comes, will you allow another woman, or anyone to rise above you?"

"If they're truly above me, perhaps."

"Perhaps..."

"You may as well worship my feet while your mouth is feeling petulant," Elowyn said sharply. Something about how she said it cut ahead of other thoughts and brought his limbs to move to obey. The foot he brought to his lips escaped, and waving in-front of his face, evading his grasp, leading him down to the floor where he began to cover the tops in kisses. She enjoyed Richard's treatment for long seconds, sighing as she didn't deny the words levied at her, reflecting upon the Dolls that were, and were to be, and who could be amongst them. 

Leaning forward, Elowyn refilled both empty cups. "Have some more earl grey along with my toes." Moving back to his seat, he brought her feet with him, sipping slowly on the tea and her toes, strangely enjoying the combination. 

"I suppose we have more in-common than I anticipated. Hypocrisy must seem irrelevant to those acting as predator and prey."

Looking up from his tea and worship, something she said carried a gnawing bite to Richard's ears.

"'Predator' too bitter or blunt a descriptor? You can supplant them with 'persuader' and 'pliant' if you wish. Do those appeal to your sensibilities more?"

He looked everywhere but in her direction while considering.

"That was not a rhetorical question."

"Yes, I do prefer those words," he managed to speak up. "May I ask you a question, Mistress."

"You may."

"Does 'persuader' and 'pliant' appeal to your sensibilities as well?"

"'Predator' or 'persuader' is as interchangeable to me as 'prey' and 'pliant' should be to you."

"Meaning my persuading days are over?"

"That's more than 'a question,' Richard, but to generously answer it, perhaps not," Elowyn's answer was teasing, and cryptic.

"Then perhaps a pliant, and a persuader, can find comfort in your generosity...and the liberation...of your honest feelings..."

"Mmmmm," Elowyn settled a little deeper into her chair, fingers hitting a point on her soles that produced a small surge of pleasure. Reaching back to masseuse and anatomy teachings, a pleasant foot massage disarmed the recipient for points Richard knew could maximize pleasure. Timing pressure-pointed pleasure with triggers set him on his way to the most sound escape plan open to him.

"Your service is truly rising to match the sanctuary you have now," the words came seductively, pointedly at his ears, lobbying a pleasing sensation back that urged him on.

"Of course, Mistress; you have earned this, this liberating feeling. Quants often know the lonely celebration of a master plan perfectly coming to fruition, with so few, even those directly involved, aware of the breadth of a brilliant strategy; like a grandmaster of chess beating a novice with legitimate effort, all they want is another grandmaster to appreciate the lengths they've gone, and I do appreciate you, Mistress Elowyn."

Slowly stroking more points that sent waves of pleasure up her legs, words and ministrations both served in helping the Lioness Parnassus luxuriate in being acknowledged.

"So many pawns on the board that never realized they were, and only one proved Queen so effective, they don't know they were pawns of your color until all they've known is being in your service. The liberation of turning adversaries into allies, being allied into your service, must feel intoxicating."

Elowyn seemed very unaware of the low levels of hypnotic magnetism emanating from Richard's fingertips, increasing the effectiveness of his persuasive massage tenfold.

"Your plan was successful, you are spoiled with the rewards of the war you've won, you are free to be yourself...liberated to feel pleasure...the pleasure of liberation...the liberation of letting go..."

"Letting...go," Elowyn sighed deeply, lost in the words and feelings she'd worked hard to earn, momentarily granting herself a relaxing set of deep breaths. "Letting go...let...go...let go...let go...Richard..." rhythmic breathing found a pattern to parrot the words she heard, and words she wanted obeyed, her relaxed side beginning to usher the dominant side she was more than obliged to unsheathe in this place. "Mmmmmm, let...g-go to the pleasure, the pleasure of my sanctuary...where you are content...where you are controlled...."

His uncovered back arching slightly, tensing from the pleasure coming from constant conditioning, pleasure interrupted the pulling flow in his hands, enjoying what it meant to lose himself in something rather than guide it, given another reminder of the pleasure he could fall into when Elowyn took the reins. He blinked himself back to a sobriety and control he fought to maintain for so long, ignoring the tiredness that weighed on softening muscles.

"Yes Mistress, content and controlled within your liberation...I want to let go...I want you to let go too...I want to share this deep pleasure with Mistress Elowyn...Mistress Elowyn deserves this pleasure...."

"I do deserve this pleasure...you want to give me pleasure...you want to please...obey me to please me Richard...don't hold back...don't force it...just let it happen...it's your nature now....it's natural to give in....so natural to obey..."

He tried to force more Soombakiya into his hands and into her feet, but found trouble doing so; fingers, hands and arms tempted by the prospect of letting natural things happen without effort. The massage continued as he fought to top from her bottom. Watching a hand of hers slide down the black velvet fixed his attention, tugged at his eyes, made his neck tingle with the sensation wrapped around it, as if a velvet collar held fast over his skin.

Elowyn's hand reached out to grasp Richard, to guide him as she wanted. He was giving pleasure, surrendering almost of his own volition, but she wanted more. Lost in the pleasure herself, she reached out without looking at him, unwilling to tip her head forward and disturb the sensations shooting into her brain; with the reach of the hand to grasp something, her other reached down her dress, to what looked like a small pocket.

Richard's noticed where her other hand was heading, keenly seeing a pocket filled with something. Smoothly reaching inside of it to grasp whatever it was and toss it far from her reach, he felt a thin chain inside, making his eyes widen as she deftly removed it from the small confines, using his foot-holding hand to gently pull Elowyn forward to have her behold his retrieved topaz stone.

The jerked motion opened her eyes quickly, and showed her the pendant, twinkling with bronze light by his magnetic grasp.

"Yes Mistress, now you can find real, true liberation. Free yourself from worries or cares...let there be nothing but the light before you."

"Free...yourself...nothing but the...light..." words came out stuttering, very unlike the woman lording control over him for several days, making him grin.

"Very good, Elowyn."

That set off a twitch in her facial features, and she focused on him with the light between them. 

"Free yourself...free...to obey...you are free to obey now Richard," stuttering words gained power as her hand moved quickly brush his fisted one, weaking it enough to slip interlacing fingers between his, trapping the chain, using her own energies to set the bronze stone ablaze with color and palpable energy. Their grips held firmly, the stronger duel came the magnetic concentration forcing eyes to stare at it. It was very reminiscent of the duels Richard remembered along his journey to mastering that tactile Soombakiya, competing with monks in palm battles over whom held the stronger control and possessed the stronger mind; he was eventually unbeatable in his craft, and was very surprised Elowyn managed to hold her own. If he was ever inclined to teach Ella his tricks, he would've sent her to learn with the monks instead of being a less-than-enthusiastic teacher, telling the Quant that Elowyn herself could have made the same journey. His wildest dreams couldn't have shown him a heiress taking private vacations away from her controlling clan to rundown parts of the world, learning a mystic skill most of the world wasn't supposed to be aware existed.

The look of determination on her face told him how underestimated Elowyn Parnassus truly was, when either of them could look away from the gem.

"And now you see how useless it was to bring force to inevitability. Everything has led you here to me, my good man. All you strengths that turn to weaknesses, all your powers that become mine. Now you see...now all you see is all that you can see..."

With monumental effort, she physically pulled both of them to stand, raising the pendant to stay between them at eye-level while kept her tone smooth, assuring the Quant of her dominance.

"I see you know the ways that make a mind want to fixate, need to fixate. And you see the effort it takes to maintain this energy, to compete with someone in this, just as you feel how easy it is to let that effort slip away, to let everything slip away as the energy takes hold, drains from your arm, and flows into mine; this is the inevitability you speak of. It's only a matter of time before it happens, and I won't blame you in the slightest when it happens, that slight slip, that iota of effort that leaves you, and takes you with it..."

Richard nearly smirked as the slip he spoke of occurred sooner than expected, his arm moving forward as hers let up and moved back. Her grip never weakened as she took a step back, nor did the convincing, reverberating words beginning to match the intensity of the topaz.

"And of course, you know where it is going, as you are leading me there, showing me where you want to go, because I want you to go there. Everything you speak of draws you closer in, because everything you speak of belongs to me. The energy that feeds into the crystal, that draws your eyes, and draws your concentration, that draws your thoughts, that draws your mind, that draws your body, that draws your arms, that draws your hands, that draws your fingers, that draws your energy into my crystal that draws all of you into my container of influence, drawing you in magnetically, drawing you in mesmerically, drawing you into whatever I fashion, a blank canvas that will please your artist and owner, however and in whatever form I deem. Drawn for me, drawn to me. Drawn to obey, my good man..."

The cylindrical, confusing, rhythmic induction threw him for a loop, making him nearly stumble as he pushed forward, loving seeing the socialite retreat in-front of him, before the energy pulled him back, as he forced her off the terrace and back into the room.

"And you so need a good man in your life, Elowyn, don't you? The topaz surely is evident of that." As she further backed into the room, his hand reached behind her dress to steady how far she could move back. Soombakiya energy in the other hand grasped velvet, making his cock twitch as it began to enlarge, savoring the possibly sexual conquest to come. "No one appreciates who you are, everything that you are. But I do. Your husband takes no joy in letting you lead. But I do. Your son feels as if he can't trust your guidance. But I do. The wealthy and servile men give empty platitudes and show you no real respect. But I do. None of them can hold a candle to what you are, can make this crystal blaze to empty a mind of nothing but pleasure that makes surrender your only thought. But," the steadying hand reached further down to hold her ass, trying to bring her forehead closer to the crystal. "I do. I can and will show you how wonderful it is to feel and experience this energy, as you requested, as you always wanted. You're not the only one whose wanted this...I do too."

Making Elowyn's eyes arch up to stare at the crystal, close to the canopied bed, Richard believed victory was finally his. Her small smile confirmed it, until something startling reached inside of him. Taking inspiration, Elowyn's attracting hand reached into his leather pants and found how hard the exchange was making him, the small smile turning evil.

"Yes, my good man, as I requested, as I wanted. And you couldn't help but give it, give in, to me." His eyes widened as he took in more of the blazing topaz than he meant to, too surprised to allow anything else to fill his vision, too manipulated to realize she'd been guiding him to the bed since she grasped his pendant-bearing hand. In more control of both of them, she turned them around until his back was facing the bed. Gently pushing him down his knees bent to allow his naked torso to fall onto velvet black sheets, besieged by the material that flashed bright bronze glints from the light. Lost to his pendant while still holding it, he saw the light within the light, something that burned deep into Richard's iris allowed Elowyn to assume control. Hiking up her dress to straddle his legs, she resumed stroking his engorged cock, enjoying the feel of even pubic hairs drawn to her touch.

"I wanted a Quant, and you came to me. I wanted a teacher, and you've taught and continue to teach me wonderful lessons. I wanted a slave, and you opened yourself up to me, while making it a fun journey to get there. You are such a good man, the kind I deserve, the kind a Lioness feasts on like an exquisite meal. And that light you see within the light, it is another sanctuary for you. Within the power you hold lies a greater power, something beyond your control, beyond your resistance. You are enamored by it, consumed by it, and you know you have no access to it without me. You are not strong enough to produce it, but Mistress Elowyn is. And only in Mistress Elowyn, are you afforded power," she pressed the pendant to his forehead, watching his eyes roll back.

"Only in Mistress Elowyn, are you afforded pleasure," Her magnetized thumb toyed with his bellend, letting precum make it slick. Moving a hand between her legs, she coated her fingers with her own juices, stroking his cock more vigorously. She heard her name moaned before she covered his mouth with her slick vagina. Bending her own torso to continue stroking his erection from behind. Keeping the pendant on his forehead, she rocked herself atop his increasingly-eager lips.

"Only in Mistress Elowyn, are you afforded existence." She moaned hard, cumming easily over his face as she felt him utter "Yes Mistress Elowyn" mid-worship. The hypnotist cackled at the thought of the Lioness Parnassus being eaten alive.

***

"Yes Mistress Elowyn," was his continued chant, until Richard came back to himself, beginning to control his breathing, looking down to see his magnetized hand the one stroking him. Elowyn was gone from the room, but her presence remained somehow, or was just sorely missed by his body. Taking his hand off of himself, he looked around to find her or evidence of how long he'd been there, before looking ahead, above the fireplace, to see a large portrait of Elowyn Parnassus. He could feel the vanity in it, as she wore the black velvet dress that his skin longed to be in contact with. She sat on a throne alone like an uncrowned queen, legs crossed, wearing the same  black velvet heels he removed from her feet earlier. And somehow better than the way her body wore her dress was the expression she wore, a focused gaze directed at whomever viewed the portrait, a touch of arrogance, a larger touch of seduction, all placed on a bedrock of triumph of influence. 

Focusing on every detail of the painting facing him on the bed, his hand found his engorged self again and ashamedly surrendered to his own feelings, and finished himself off, chanting her name. 

After coming hard and long, he took time to clean himself up, and search for a way out. As high up as he remembered climbing the stairs, the bed sheets were probably ineffective for rope-making purposes, not to mention some of them weren't dry. There was no exit but the door they entered from, which she had to have exited from. For the sake of exhausting all possibilities, he tested whether it would be as easy as twisting the doorknob; he couldn't believe how easily the door did so for him. Ready for potential guards at the door, he readily launched himself forward.

Falling head-first into what he expected to be the hallway, vast befuddlement came over Richard as he found himself back in his mental bunker. Since awakening for the first time, he realized he was experiencing things in his avatar form, as the room he occupied now only existed in his mind. Panic emerged through the confusion enough for him to lock the door with every mental effort and otherwise he could. Hands leaning against the symbolic steel, breathing hard, he tried to piece things together, and wondered what had transpired, especially what might've been encouraged amnesia. Glancing back for a brief moment, the bunker greatly resembled Elowyn's sanctuary for him, complete with open terrace, canopy bed, and enchanting portrait above the fire place. He stared at her face, Elowyn's focused stationary look like a taunt, before blinking and shaking the imagery away. He glanced more at his space as a whole, feeling shades of the sanctuary ready to overwrite his bunker. 

Horrific realization washed over him as he began noticed acute differences about the air and conditions. Things felt more temperature-controlled, breathable, and liberating for him ironically. Compared to the incarcerating enclosure, the bunker simulated a comfortable environment, but Elowyn's prepared sanctuary rated higher than both, enough for his body to subconsciously latch onto those conditions. The next phase she spoke of didn't even require a restrictive brainwashing chamber; enough of a foundation was established for him to serve as the bedrock of his own capitulation, rewarded for it with a sanctuary that screamed Elowyn Parnassus in too many ways.

"Sanctuary is service," he caught himself whispering, gasping at the thoughtless utterance. Slapping himself felt like the best way to bring sense to his lips, but they gasped again to find his avatar naked and down to leather pants instead of fully dressed; he trembled at the thought of looking up at her portrait again, reading a look of approval for his attire. Desperate to fight the ground she gained and chip away hard at the foundation upon which his sanctuary lied, he dropped to a meditative cross-legged stance on the floor, banishing the intrusion as best he could, with less heart in his determination.

"A calm mind is controlled, is freed, is mine."

"A calm mind is controlled, is freed, is mine."

"A calm mind is controlled, is freed, is mine."