~Should I even try damage control? There's......just so much...I don't even know where to begin....~ My stomach turned and I closed out the browser window before shutting off the monitor and making my way over to my bed, tossing everything to the floor in frustration before crawling into bed and curling into a ball. Wrapping myself in the blankets, I clung and sobbed into them until I fell asleep.
By the time I woke up and pulled the blankets off my head, the sun had already completely set. ~Ugh....great, so now my social status is permanently fucked AND I've slept away most of my first day off....~ I laid in bed for another fifteen minutes or so, apathy and boredom warring within me until finally I literally rolled out of bed, pulling the comforter with me and using it to cushion my fall, hitting the carpeted floor with a dull *THUD*.
I pulled the comforter over my head as I shuffled out to the den, dropping the wrapping down on the sofa before ambling around as I prepared to soothe the pain of my social execution away with an overdose of Disney brand saccharine. Once the stack of DvDs reached a foot and half tall, I made my way to the fridge, a long, drawn out expletive escaping my lips as I realized I had no snacks to fuel my expedition out of reality.
Anger welling up in me at the realization that I would have to go outside to get what I wanted, I slammed the door of the refrigerator, storming back to my bedroom to retrieve my shoes, throwing on a hoodie, pulling the hood further up over my head than normal to help obscure my face, hoping that if I were unfortunate enough to run into anyone who knew me enough to recognize me, wouldn't. Grabbing my keys, I locked the door behind me and made my way out into the cold Autumn night, jamming my hands into my pockets in an attempt to hold onto whatever warmth from inside the house that I could.
As I made my way down the streets toward the corner store, the streets were unusually empty, even for it being this late and cold. While I was thankful for the lack of people, the fact that there weren't any cars or even animals was honestly beginning to leave me rather unsettled, a hauntingly unnatural silence hanging in the air. ~It's fine....it's just late and cold and everybody is at home.....on their computers.....looking at my hacked-ass social page..~
I could feel the expression drop into one of obvious aggravation, my sense of apprehension giving way to a stupor of annoyance. This mire of annoyance didn't last long however, as the almost deafening silence was broken by a single high-pitched meow, the sound making me jump slightly, my head snapping in the direction the sound came from to see a little calico cat standing on the fence surrounding someone's yard across the street.
The cat meowed again, pacing back and forth a bit on the supporting beam of the picket fence, it's tail straight up in a sign of friendliness and it's gaze locked dead set on me. ~Awwwww! What a sweetie!~ I cooed mentally at the adorable sight, making my way over toward the calling animal without hesitation.
"Well hello there. Aren't you just the sweetest thing?" I called as I reached out and stroked the cat, who moved into my affections enthusiastically, purring and meowing quietly. Amply distracted from my angst by my newfound friend, I lost track of time, only snapping out of it once I caught some motion out of the corner of my eye, turning my head slightly and shifting my eyes to look over toward it without looking too much like I was paying attention to it.
After a bit of focusing I could make out a single, masculine figure walking down the sidewalk toward me. At first I thought little of it, probably just someone out doing the same kind of thing I was, getting something to eat or the like and so I gave it equally little thought when he turned and walked out of sight. I was just about to turn my attention back to my new friend, but as I was turning my head back what sounded like muted speaking caused me to double take just in time to see two more silhouettes dart across the street, seemingly chasing after the first, one of them calling out .
~Wait a second...that voice...~ it took a moment for me to remember where I recognized the voice of the other from, a slow steady realization like bending a twig until it suddenly snapped. "Oh helllll no" I muttered under my breath as I turned toward where the two had disappeared and began to run after them. The soft, hallow sound of my frantic footsteps against the rough pavement filled the air as I followed behind the figures, making each turn through the streets as I saw their fleeting images had, gaining on them bit by bit as they snaked through back allies and across the streets until finally I found myself at the edge of the park, having been so preoccupied with catching up to them I hadn't minded where I had been heading.
Hunching over, I let my hands come to rest on my knees as I attempted to catch my breath, my chest stinging and tight from the pace ~Ugh....the park, it had to be the god damn park again, didn't it?!~ As the pain in my chest began to ebb away, I took a few hesitant steps onto the path, the darkness of the canopy swallowing me up. My eyes flit around frantically as I made my way down the paved path, a steadily growing sense of unease welling up in my mind as I went further and further into the park, though I attributed it to the fact that I was walking alone in an unlit park at night and pushed it to the back of my mind, determined not to let the little bastard who'd done me so egregiously wrong do the same to whoever it was he was tailing.
It didn't take long for me to realize that in the cloak of darkness I had completely lost my trail of my targets, and so I wandered aimlessly around the trails through the park for a while, staying as absolutely silent as I could in the hopes that I would pick up on the sound of his voice again, though as the anger that had seeped into my mind began to filter out again now that I'd lost him, it began to wander to just what would happen if I -did- find him again out here. If he had so little empathy as to do what he'd already done to me, what would be able to stop him and his buddy from just attacking me for trying to get in the way of his next mark? What if they beat me bloody and left me in the park? What if they did something even worse.
I brought my arms tightly around my sides as I tried to push the tendrils of dark thoughts the fear I'd earlier suppressed sent into my conscious mind back, an expression of nervous anxiety slowly creeping over my face. My enthusiasm to confront and foil the plot of my malefactor quickly waning, my wandering began to form into a very planed path of travel as caution won the battle in my mind and I started to make my way out of the park.
The victory my prudence had won was short lived however, as the voice I'd been seeking at last found its way, though quietly, to my ears. While the voice was quiet, like before it didn't seem so much that he was trying to be quiet so much as he was partially obstructed and somewhat far away, the sound seeming to come from a good thirty or so feet away off to my right.
Lowering my head a bit to try to keep my face obscured, I slowly and casually made my way in the direction the voice had come from, recognizing the supreme irony of the location as being quite near where my phone had been snatched before, though a bit further off and seemingly behind the topiary hedge art the park put up to draw more people into visiting.
The voice becoming clearer as I crept closer, things were going just about how I'd expected, a scowl forming over my lips. "W-whoa, hold up man....hey, buddy...hold up a minute! We're not dangerous or anything, I just-" the boy's voice was suddenly cut off by a loud sound that I can only describe as sort of pop of air, but in reverse, followed by the same unsettling silence as was in the city. I jumped a bit at the sudden startling noise, having to bite my lip a bit to stop from swearing under my breath as I hunkered down and continued to creep closer, my eyebrows furrowing heavily as my eyes went wide at the sight I beheld.
While it was surprising enough that none of the three figures I expected to be standing there were, my close proximity to the ground helped me notice something much more interesting beneath the bed of fallen leaves that littered the ground; dimly glowing red lines seemingly burnt into the ground, forming a circled pentagram roughly ten feet in diameter.
~Okay....this just went from strange to straight fucking weird~ I slowly and cautiously knelt down and crawled closer to the circle. As I drew closer, I could swear that I could feel some kind of energy flowing out from the symbol, though it wasn't like anything I'd ever felt before and it was making my hair stand on end. Fascination and curiosity made the compulsion to reach out and touch the symbol overwhelming but not so much so that I was willing to touch it myself, and so I looked around for a moment until I found a fallen stick, scurrying over and taking it up.
Crawling back over to the symbol, I squatted beside it for a few minutes, simultaneously curious and terrified of the thing, inanimate and seemingly benign as it was. After a brief pause, I reluctantly reached out and jabbed the length of wood into the symbol burned into the ground, the red-hued earth gave way unceremoniously, pushed aside and reveling yet more beneath with no fanfare.
"Huh...well.....that was kinda' disappointing actually...." I muttered tossing the stick further into the circle and giving a soft huff, feeling a bit silly for expecting more when a thought crept into my head. ~Could that son of a bitch be recording me?!~ Feeling a flair of anger well up in me as the thought completed itself, I started to shoot to a stand, but in my headstrong aggravation I wound up loosing my balance, my eyes widening as my arms shot out to catch myself as I fell into pentagram.
As my hands struck the earth, a sudden and overwhelming sense of distortion and displacement washed over me, followed by a severe nausea, and though I felt like heaving, every muscle in my body seized up cold as my vision blurred heavily as if there were tears in my eyes. The blurry mass before my eyes suddenly took on a sharp red hue as that same strange noise from before found its way to my ears again, the blurriness coming back into focus as I felt my muscles come back under my own control again, making me gasp for breath now that the act of breathing was mine to preform.
The air that filled my lungs was strangely cold and had a somewhat metallic taste. As I slowly began to lift my head to look up from the ground, an overwhelming sense of dread slowed my movements. As I looked up, the view that was reviled to me looked almost exactly like it had before, though now everything was every so slightly blurry and had a red tint to it. Far more shocking than the distortion in my sight however, was the sight before me.
Not but twenty feet in front of me towered a massive humanoid figure standing 50 feet tall. The figure's skin was dark slate gray, it's physique powerfully muscular. Silently staring down at me, the being's gaze was intense and terrifying, every bit of it's eyes emitted light, dimly at the edge and growing more bright the closer to the middle. It's sclera was blood red, it's iris slit like a lizard and fiery yellow, a painfully blinding white light emanating where you'd expect the dark of an iris in a normal person.
This fierce gaze stared down at me through the veil of long, messy hair, a glossy jet black in color. Protruding from the top of the great giant's skull were two long boney horns that first came straight up out then curved sharply forward at nearly a 90 degree angle and coming to sharp points, giving it an even more threatening appearance. The titanic figure's right arm lay casually at it's side, but it's left was held at roughly chest height, balled into a light fist and holding the two young men I'd been following, struggling in a wild panic but not seemingly in any pain.
After a short moment of silence that felt like forever, I gasped loudly as I came back to my senses, stumbling back onto my ass, still staring up at this titanic, demonic figure, who's intense, silent gaze met mine. A scream was welling up in my throat, my sense of control over myself having slipped again for a while until the being's shadowed lips finally parted, loosing a voice both loud and yet whispered that could be felt every bit as much as heard, a sort of deep, bass filled growl behind every word. "You....were not expected."
I just sat there, half awe-struck half terrified until finally the panicked struggling of his captives turned to hysterical screaming as the two uselessly pounded their fists against their captor as they begged me to help them. "W-what....?!" I managed to squeak out, immediately embarrassed at the meager sound of it.
"Did not expect you would come here...All the better. These two....." the giant quickly snapped his head to face the two in his grip "their souls drip with sin....with malice...malice you have suffered...." it's head turned back to face me again. "I know the anger you felt....the indignation you've suffered for their amusement...." The being's lips curled back reveling an inhumanly sharp set of jaws the likes of which I had only ever seen in monster movies, wickedly sharp and pointed though unlike the horrid snagged maw of those movie monsters these were pearly and clean, fitting perfectly together with an attractive symmetry.
"QUICKLY! I ACHE! CONDEMN THEM! FORGO THEM THEIR ABSOLUTION AND SWEETEN MY MEAL!" his tone and disposition had suddenly become ravenous and angry as he knelt down closer to me, my head snapping to my left as his huge hand came down beside me to brace himself, his captives screams becoming unintelligible once again as they were manhandled. "I-i.....I-i don't........wait, you're going to EAT them?!"
"Yeeessss....the sinner shall be punished and I, sustained. Now do it! Rebuke their blackened souls that I may feed!" Of all the things to snap me back to reality, it just had to be this. "W-why?" I managed to stutter out, slowly regaining my confidence as I shakily stood up, never taking my eyes off the colossal form still towering over me despite it's lowered stature.
"What?" It's beastly eyes narrowed, a tone of confusion in it's voice as even his captives fell silent in surprise at my response. "If y-you're just going to eat them, what does it mater rather or not I choose not to forgive them?" Angrily the brute curled his free hand into a fist, raising it slightly before slamming it back down beside me, the tremor of which nearly knocked me off my feet again. "STUPID GIRL! JUST DO IT!"
A tense silence seemed to draw out forever, finally being broken by a rather unlikely source "If you're so hard up to eat someone, eat her!"another short silence, just long enough for the titanic figure to shift it's gaze back to its captives "Yeah, yeah, she's into that! You'd be doing her a favor! She won't fight or anything, just let us go and she'll practically walk right down your throat!".
I could feel anger welling up in me again, slowly filling me up and pushing out the fear that held me glued in place. Their arrogant, ignorant, selfish pleas were simply too much, their souls utterly devoid of empathy or compassion. Tears of frustration flooding out from my eyes, my hands balled into fists of rage as my voice burst screaming from my lips. "YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES! " all eyes were again on me, but at this point I couldn't stop myself even if I wanted to, not that I did. "YOU REALLY ARE COMPLETELY INCAPABLE OF CARING ABOUT ANYONE BUT YOURSELVES, AREN'T YOU?! I'M THE ONE PERSON HERE WHO COULD EVEN TRY TO HELP YOU, BUT YOUR FIRST THOUGHT IS TO JUST THROW ME UNDER THE BUS! I SHOULD JUST LET HIM EAT YOU, YOU KNOW THAT! THE WORLD WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT YOU!!!"
My voice echoed out into the night, brilliant red staining my tear streaked face as stood there, glaring defiantly back at the bullies held helpless before me, a toothy grin spreading over their captor's face. "Then just speak the words....I renounce you....send them to the black pit that they deserve" My eyes narrowed as I turned my gaze to lock eyes with the giant as best I could, choosing to let my focus rest on the whole of his face "No......I refuse....I refuse to sink down to their level....they don't deserve my condemnation and I won't give them the satisfaction of it...."
The giant's smirk warped into a cruel sneer as he leaned his face in closer "Such bravado.....and what if I threaten to devour you as well?" My blood went cold, my heart feeling like it had fallen into my feet, though my anger and frustration now held me as fast as fear once did.
"And? Didn't you hear them, I'm into that sick shit...." my voice was cold and mocking, my words so intentionally chosen, plucked verbatim from the defacing of my social media page. "...why should I trust you anyway, you won't even tell me why you want me to do it in the first place."
A deep, aggravated growl rumbled out from the giant's throat "Very well....I.. am a deamon" there was another drawn out pause, the giant before me seemingly expecting some kind of a reaction out of me, my expression falling into one of mild annoyance once I realized. "No shit..."
His expression suddenly flared into one of anger again, his voice coming in a loud, offended shout "SILENCE!!". It didn't take long for the titanic figure to regain his composure, his two captives sobbing pathetically by this point, though neither he nor I were paying attention to them. "Your mortal world and this astral shadow that divides it from the eternity infernal has not the ambient energy to sustain me.....so I have decided to subsist by devouring the flesh and souls of the sinners that walk this earth.......they have not undergone judgment however, the state of their souls uncertain even in their own mind and so the darkness I devour is weakened...but you....these malicious worms have slighted you greatly, and so their damnation or absolution are yours to decide...should you choose not to forgive them their wrong doing, the darkness in their souls will root, and so will sustain me far longer....now...." the demon growled in annoyance again before continuing to speak "speak the words!"
His somewhat long winded explanation took long enough to wind me down slightly, causing me to change my posture a bit, bringing my right arm over my stomach to hold my left at the elbow. "So....if you can't sustain yourself normally here why uh.....are you here?" my questioning prompted another growl, though by this point I had accepted the situation as hopeless, figuring one way or another I was going to be the encore. "Hey! You can't ...uh..." I stumbled for my words for a moment "condemn them....and you seem to be pretty desperate....so if you want what you're after, indulge me...."
A long, drawn out hiss snaked out from between sharpened teeth, but after moment of aggravated consideration, the demon gave into my request. "Arrogant mortal......you know nothing of the worlds beyond this one. Your kind believe yourselves so knowing of demon kind.....no. It is a place of endless strife, eternal war, all of it meaningless. Tyrant lords rise, rule, and topple unceasingly, lesser demons eternally seeking to seize on an opportunity, any moment of weakness or misfortune to usurp any other in the hopes of becoming a dark lord themselves and perpetuating the cycle just as they had before, only from another point of the circle of endless suffering. It is relentless...." he spat the last word with contempt
"So, as is my nature, I schemed....but my machinations were not a bid for power, but release. And so I managed to steal away across the barriers to this world, only to find myself in this pitiful state....preying upon degenerate mortals to maintain my presence in this world..." for a fleeting moment, I felt a pang of sympathy for this titanic demon before me.
Had he so desired, at any moment he could have crushed or devoured me or his captives, and though he would clearly not release them, his manner spoke volumes of the disdain he held for the act. "Is your incessantly boundless curiosity yet sated? Claim your recompense that I may feed! Hurry and I will let you leave this place while I enjoy my feast...". I am normally staunchly against acts of revenge, so it took every ounce of willpower I had to speak my next words....
"No"
His eyes shot open wide and I could swear for a moment he was going to simply reach over and squash me. A wild, rage-full look shot across the giant's face and I could see the muscles of his jaw tense as he grit his teeth in anger. Emboldened as the apathy of having been pushed too far had made me, I thought it wise not to press my luck and so decided to preempt his anger with a more detailed response. "Hear me out......you obviously have the upper hand here so you have nothing to loose from doing so...."
His expression softened ever so slightly as he pondered the thought for a moment, then moving down from one knee to sit back, crossing one leg in front of him and bending the other at the knee, propping the elbow of his free hand against it "You test my patience......this had better be good". Having him more at ease now, I walked a bit closer, extending my arms out to my sides a bit as spoke
"As much as I loath these two.....I don't want to condemn them. What they did was wrong...." I shifted my gaze to look at the two figures who'd long since stopped wriggling in the giant's hand, fatigue from panic having resigned them to quietly watch this spectacle, a deep and scornful scowl forming on my lips as I silently scolded them "....very wrong....but they deserve the chance to learn from their mistake.....but even if I don't condemn them, you're going to devour them anyway, right?".
Blazing eyes narrowed slightly as he made his response "Yes. They will sustain me less, but I must feed all the same....and they have brought this upon themselves" a deep sigh escaped my lips as I walked closer to the demon, reaching up and placing my left arm against his leg and leaning against him slightly, averting my gaze to the ground as I contemplated the situation.
~No matter how this goes down, they're going to get eaten ....it's not fair...but he doesn't seem to think that either....he didn't just attack them for no reason, he chose them because they were guilty of something bad....~ I continued to think silently for a brief moment before I looked back up to him "Alright then, tell me this....you chose these two for their sinfulness, and want me to condemn them to drive the final nail into their coffin so to speak, right? So it's not just their body you're feeding off of....it's something more....abstract. Well.....what if someone were to sacrifice themselves to you....willingly?".
The titanic demon arched it's brow at my suggestion, but didn't yet speak, the feeling of being silently judged quickly weighing upon me enough to bring me to speak again "Well? You said that condemnation of their soul would sustain you more.....so then what about willing volition? I-if...." I could already feel my resolve quickly wavering at the suggestion, but if I could save their lives, I wanted to, hoping that maybe it would be enough to reform them and thinking that saving two lives was better than one. "I-if I give myself to you....would that sustain you more than damning them to that fate?"
"You would willingly sacrifice your life to me to save the lives of these degenerates...these reprobates who have done you such grievous harm?" His tone had changed entirely, all traces of anger and impatience now replaced with curiosity and skepticism. "Well....if you would honestly set them free....a-and...I figure this isn't the first time you've done this...so if I can keep you from having to do it again longer....then yes...."
My admission was met with a slow, chilling laughter and an even more unsettling grin that reminded me of the maw of a shark. "The lamb, willingly sacrificed for that of the mongrel dogs.....very well....but if your plan was to send them back in the hopes of bringing rescue, or warning others of my presence here....I'm afraid you're going to be sorely disappointed...."
The demon brought his captives up before him, bringing his free hand close to them as jolts of red electricity began to arc between the gray flesh of his looming hand and their bodies, causing them to scream in pain. "NO! YOU SAID YOU AGREED! YOU HAVE TO LET THEM GO....AND ALIVE!" I shrieked, balling my hand into a fist and futilely slamming it into the demon's leg, a look of shock and betrayal on my face.
"I will uphold my end of the deal, mortal, but while I will return them to your world....they shall remember NOTHING of this encounter!" another bout of thunderous laughter erupted from the demon's throat, his captives loosing consciousness. Turning his hand over, he let the two drop from his grip at a height that would have caused severe damage, causing me to make a sudden jolting motion toward them, but my feet were stayed as their bodies faded away entirely about halfway before they would strike the ground, leaving me alone with the great hulking behemoth that held them captive.
Tense silence filled the air as the demon's gaze fell upon me and mine back to him in return. The urge to turn tail and run was overwhelming, but I knew even if I were it would be for nothing, I would be outrun and caught in an instant. I was entirely at this unholy titan's mercy.
"Knowing now, that those you've saved will remember nothing of your selfless act, do you regret it?" His words felt as cold and cruel as the trickery itself, and I couldn't deny the resentment beginning to grow within me. "It's disappointing......but no. I'm still glad I could save them...and my integrity....nothing you did could make me stoop as low as them.....".
There was another brief pause before the demon's expression softened again, turning almost sympathetic before reaching out to me with a surprising degree of cautious consideration, setting his open hand before me and waiting for me to step onto it instead of roughly grabbing me up as he'd seemed to have done with those I'd followed here.
I stared at the massive hand before me silently for a moment, swallowing once nervously before shakily reaching out to steady myself and climbing up onto his hand, losing my balance and falling to a sit against the soft, warm flesh of his hand as he brought me up closer to his face. "....they did not deserve your absolution" The demon had lowered the volume of his voice considerably to accommodate me, practically a whisper to one of his size I imagined.
"Y-you're....probably right... they won't...they won't even remember....so they might just go on doing things like they did to me....but....if I hadn't...then they'd never have gotten the chance to try to turn around...so....I'm still glad I could give them the chance to be good people again...." my body trembled wildly, my voice equally shaky with fear as I sat, helpless, before the being I now knew would be the author of my fate.
"Are you afraid?" What kind of question was that I thought, taken aback by the apparent concern the demon now displayed for me. "Of course I am....I mean....I know what I've gotten myself into...well...I guess I don't..but....I..um....." I couldn't bare to make eye contact with him, the unsettling change of pace in the situation allowing my mind to wander to the countless what-ifs of what was to come, one standing out above all others. "H-how badly....is this going to hurt....?"
My voice was cracking at this point and it took everything I had not to just curl up into the fetal position and close my eyes, wanting to just get the whole thing over with...it was nothing like any of the stories and pictures I'd enjoyed before, the dynamic of the situation depressing and full of terror and helplessness. "I would not put upon you the suffering I would to the two you've saved...I take no joy in this mortal, I am not the sadistic, torture obsessed monster your self proclaimed holy men would have you believe me to be...."
"I see...I...guess I should thank you....heh...hehehe....I guess that sounds kind of strange..." I couldn't stop shaking. For all the confidence I'd shown earlier, I did not want to die, and the ironic nature of how it was going to happen was just too much for me.
"It's alright. I understand your plight more than you realize...I've watched you for a long while now....yours is an interesting little soul...." his words confirmed something I'd been wondering since this had all started, though the thought hadn't been able to force it's way past to the forefront of my mind with all that had been happening. "You've...been watching me, huh? So....be honest with me....you're that guy with the red eyes from the park, aren't you?"
The demon gave a small nod "Yes....when I broke through to this world, this....park, as your people call it, is where I emerged....when I realized that I could not sustain myself as I could in the infernal realm I came from, I tarried here in the attempt to prolong my feedings by as much as possible, observing your kind first hand. Such an interesting mix of contradictions...".
"Yeah...I guess we humans can be a little strange like that...but I think it's important that we're free to make our own choices....even if those choices can be vile ones....b-but....Listen...don't take this the wrong way....uh...." I paused for a moment, realizing for the first time I hadn't ever addressed the giant who now held me directly.
"I'm afraid I don't know what to call you..." a short, disgruntled grumble emanated from the demon's throat, a look of annoyed hesitancy overtaking his expressions as he averted his gaze by tilting his head back a bit and looking up to the sky. "Did....did I say something wrong?".
"No.....when first I came here, I felt it far wiser to observe humanity at a distance and not interact with them. I have seen how your kind fear anything different.....anything they don't understand. That which they don't understand, they fear...that which they fear, they hate....after the ordeal you've gone through, I'm sure you understand what I mean. However, given the situation we're in now.....what is to come....I feel it only right to grant you this. My name is Alar'ak....the clanless..."
I could feel a look of confusion come to my features as he'd said the second part, though he was quick to elaborate"..to abandon the wars of my lord was treason of the highest order, and so my clan name was part of the sacrifice I had to pay for my freedom....not that I have ever enjoyed claiming that bastard's name."
Even though he was about to devour me, I couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for Alar'ak. This fate wasn't being forced on me out of some sick desire for sadistic pleasure or entertainment, but sheer desperation. "Alar'ak....That's an interesting name...well, anyway....please don't take this the wrong way....but the longer we draw this out....the harder it is for me to accept....the more time I get to think about things, the more I want to keep experiencing them...so if it's okay with you...." it took all the courage I could muster, but I managed to pull myself to a stand, a defiant look of determination and readiness on my face "I'm ready to finish this".
Alar'ak eyes slowly closed in a look that seemed to portray a cross between sorrow and shame "I understand......." his eyes half opened again after the brief pause in his speaking "...I don't want to hurt you, so I must trust you to see this through.....but...as much as it is to ask of you....trust me....I swear to you...it won't hurt...you're not in the purely physical world that you're used to....there will be no burning....no suffocation....I mean you no malice...and so it will be something like falling asleep...".
~Well....that's a cold comfort at least.....~ I thought to myself, balling my hands into fists at my sides and gulping again nervously as he brought his face up to the edge of his hand, his humongous jaws opening up as wide he could make them, forcing him to close his eyes in the process. Taking a few slow steps forward I pressed one hand against the saliva slicked ivory spires that were his teeth, taking a deep breath and letting it out between pursed lips.
As I stood there, staring into the dim entrance to the abyss that was the gaping maw before me, I couldn't help but think that, if ever there were a time to strike and get back at Alar'ak for what was about to happen, it was now. Surely I couldn't cause him grave harm, but he was now at his most vulnerable, and I knew all to well how much pain in a place as sensitive as the mouth could hurt. I closed my eyes and tilted my head down as I felt a sort of sly smirk cross my lips, steadying myself for what was to come but even now refusing to give in and let this get the better of me.
Opening my eyes again, I braced myself against the hard slickness of one of his teeth with one hand, bringing my leg up to steady myself against the one next to it as I shimmied my up between them until I could roll forward, tumbling onto the soft, wet mat of flesh that was his huge tongue with a loud squish. A sort of grimace came to my face as my cloths were quickly dampened by the warm, slightly viscous liquid that now clung to me as I struggled to find my footing, the muscle beneath me having far more give than any surface I was used to walking on.
The air that swirled around me now was warm and slightly sour, a barely noticeable breeze coming and going past me as Alar'ak seemed to consciously keep his breathing light for me, an act I appreciated almost as much as I appreciated that he'd kept his mouth open so that I could still see. ~Well....heh....I guess everyone goes eventually...and hell.....at least I got to experience this before I do.....never thought that would happen, right?~
My mind was buzzing as the terrain upon which I stood began to arc sharply downward, the breach to the fleshy tunnel that was his throat just before me. ~Alright....c'mon.....you can do this...just....just do it....don't think about it, just...DO it....~ I was mentally screaming at this this point, but somehow I still found the force of will to sit down against Alar'ak's tongue, splaying my legs out, though he jolted a bit as I did, likely from the tickling sensation I'm sure I was causing in the back of his mouth.
~Okay....well...this...this is it...~ I pressed my hands down flat against his tongue with the intent of pushing off and sliding down, though the tactile sensation I found as I did caused me to wait a bit, finding it strangely enjoyable. After taking a brief moment to explore the texture of Alar'ak's tongue, I pressed forward, my body sliding easily forward and down like I was on a water-slide.
Try as I might, I couldn't contain the sharp shriek that escaped my throat as I felt the support beneath me give way, free-falling a bit before I found myself caught, pressed against on all sides by the gentle yet firm pressure of the muscular walls of his throat, slowing my decent greatly. ~Oh....god....~ my mind was slipping greatly at the absolutely overwhelming sensations I was feeling now, my body slowly being pulled further and further downward by muscular contractions all around it, my head tilted up so as not to be smushed against the wall of muscle that was pulling me downward, saliva now covering every inch of my body and soaking my cloths completely through. This strange and, stranger still, enjoyable sensation continued on for what felt like far longer than it should have when suddenly the motion was halted sharply, a strong resistance from the muscles beneath me pressing against my feet. My body was forced into a more compressed posture, pushed tighter and tighter against the resistance below, a growing give spreading out from the center of where I was being pressed against until suddenly my body was pressed through the resistance.
I tumbled into the darkness of Alar'ak's stomach as I was pressed past his throat, eventually coming to rest against the wall of his stomach, my landing far softer than I could have ever expected. The air around me was intensely warm and thick, my mind falling into a heavy haze the more I tried to catch my breath. Every attempt I made to regain my footing was quickly thwarted by the constant shifting of Alar'ak's stomach, never managing to get any further than sitting up. After a few moments, my will to struggle quickly faded and I just laid back back into the soft, moist cradle of Alar'ak's body, closing my eyes as my consciousness began to fade though in a strange manner I'd never experienced before. A sense of displacement washed over me, as though my mind had been separated from my body, vertigo overtaking me, feeling as though I was falling away from my body and the further away I got, the closer I came to unconsciousness. Further and further I fell, my awareness of everything slipping away piece by piece until finally....
T H U D~!
"........owwwwww" A slow groan of pain emanated from my throat out of reflex, a stinging pain in the back of my head, a uniform firm hardness meeting the back of my body as I laid against it. It took a good few minutes for any cognitive thought to return. ~Unnghh....why am I so groggy....what....what's going on~
Conscious thought began to claw its way through the utterly solid haze in my mind. As I tried to move I found myself unable, caught up by warm soft cushioning on all sides, and had to struggle for a few minutes to untangle myself from what I found to be my familiar blankets. "Unnghhhh....my head...AH~!" I gasped in pain, brilliant light flooding into my eyes with blinding pain as the blankets were pulled back from my face.
"JEEZ.....UGH, WHAT THE HECK?!" I blurted out , pulling a hand up to cover my eyes, managing to shade them enough to muster a squint. Looking around, the familiar sight of my bedroom greeted me expediting my mind's return from the haze. "Ungg....." another painful groan as I pulled myself free from my blankets, realizing I'd tumbled from my bed down to the floor in my sleep, and so was the origin of the pain resonating from the back of my skull, though I thought it strange that the rest of me seamed unusually sore.
A short burst of panic started to well up in the back of my mind as I suddenly realized that I had no idea what time it was, and so I hurried over to my computer, pulling the chair back from the desk with one hand as I reached out and pressed the power button of the monitor with another. Sitting down, I quickly moved the hand I'd turned the monitor on with down to the mouse, jittering it slightly so as to rouse the computer from sleep mode. As the screen flickered to life, I quickly moved the mouse down to hover over the clock in the lower right corner, a relived sigh escaping my lips when it reaffirmed me of the date, and that I wouldn't have to worry about having overslept going to work.
I idly looked down to my hand on the mouse as I was beginning to stand up from the computer, something snagging in the back of my mind and causing me to stop, realizing I was forgetting something, the sight of my hand on the mouse the key to what it was. ~Why.....why do I feel like i'm~ my train of thought was immediately snapped back onto it's iron rails, my eyes widening in shock as I quickly navigated to the social media site I used, finding my account in the same sore shape I expected it to be in. "Damn.....why couldn't that part have been a dream...." I muttered, nearly spitting the words.
Standing up from the computer I turned to walk out of the room, searching back through my mind over the memories of the bizarre and unusually vivid dream, remembering the details bit by bit. As I walked through the hallway to the living room, I stopped at the door to the bathroom, pausing as I looked into it, then down at my cloths, lifting my arm up and giving the sleeve of my hoodie a wiff, quickly recoiling from the scent. ~Jeez....must have sweat up a storm in my sleep....not surprising I guess though....~
I shuddered at the feelings flooding back through my mind as I detoured into the bathroom, stripping and tossing my cloths into the laundry hamper before starting a hot shower. The warmth of the water felt soothing over my skin as I cleaned myself deciding to sit down in the shower stall for a while and brood in the comfort of the shower as I dwelt on the memories of my dream. ~Heh....well....I guess that was as good of a way to deal with this terrible situation as any....ungh....probably made a huge mess in the living room too....must have picked up some kind of booze at the corner store.....that would explain why I still can't remember all of last night ~.
A soft, disappointed sigh escaped my lips as I sat there, the temperature of the water slowly starting to fluctuate toward cold and forcing my hand at getting out. After shutting the water off, I stepped out onto the tile floor, making my way over to the cabinet that I kept the towels in and pulling out one, tossing it over my head and tussling my hair, drying it out before pulling it back down, staring into the mirror that rest on the wall above the sink, letting out another sigh as my lips scrunched into a sort of scowl.
Wrapping the towel around myself I began to reach down for my toothbrush, but as I did, something in the mirror caught my eye. "What...the hell...?" the words made their way from my mouth free of my bidding as i hunched down a little further, noticing a strange bit of discoloration on the skin of my back. I gave a slow, nervous gulp as I reached up and hooked my index finger between the towel and my skin, pulling down gently, a shocked gasp escaping my lips as the cloth fell the floor. I was speechless as I shot to a stand, pulling my arms behind my head and lifting my wet, matted hair up as I turned my back to the mirror and looked back over my shoulder.
The reflection that greeted me seemed shockingly alien; a massive tattoo was scrawled across my back in red and black ink, a jagged, spiky circle with several spires jutting out from it. Beneath the circle were glyph like symbols I didn't recognize, beneath which was a pentagram, and within the center of it, the most shocking aspect of the tattoo; a set of gaping jaws rimmed with large, sharp looking teeth. My blood ran cold at the sight of the foreign marks on my body, my whole body trembling as I slowly lowered one arm and reached over the opposite shoulder, my quivering finger reaching out to touch the mark, my teeth gritting with the expectation of pain.
"I told you it wouldn't hurt, didn't I?" I let out an ear piercing scream, shooting back from the doorway that the sink was beside at the sound of the unfamiliar voice in my home, my panicked reaction causing me to tumble unceremoniously off the side of the sink, against the toilet and down the the floor, the various impacts causing stinging jolts of pain to shoot from where I'd hit, though for all the pain I felt, I couldn't make a sound.
Silently I lay there, naked and helpless on the floor as I stared up through the doorway I'd haphazardly left open in my haste to bathe, the red-eyed man I'd seen so many times recently at the park standing there in the hallway staring down at my nakedness with a slightly bemused expression. "W-what...are...you...doing...in...my house...." I managed to croak out, breaking the tense, awkward silence that seemed to go on forever.
"You don't remember? I'm not surprised.....last night's ordeal took quite the unexpected toll on me as well....." The man began to step toward me, causing me to scramble back against the shower stall in instinctive fear, the urge to scream welling up in my throat though falling back as he seemed to recognize my fear, stopping his advance and squatting down in front of me.
~Oh my god...there's someone in my house...how the hell did he get in my house....what the fuck does this guy want with me....oh god I always thought he was a little different but kinda' cool but....~ suddenly a thought clicked into place in my mind; holes in my memory, strange dreams of this guy being a giant demon...had I gotten drunk and brought this stranger home in my despaired stupor? "Oh god......I brought you here...didn't I?"
My tone quickly shifted from panicked to mortified as I averted my gaze by tilting my head to the side a bit, bringing one hand up next to my eyes as I groped out for the towel with the other, not finding it until my unexpected guest reached down and picked it up, reaching out and handing it to me as he replied. "Yes and no....You wanted to come back here, but you couldn't walk well, so I suppose I brought you here..."
His voice was deep and soft, alluring in an utterly delicious way I would have loved to listen to more were it not for the mortifying circumstances, which brought another thought to my mind as I covered myself with the towel in an attempt to save some semblance of dignity. "We....we didn't...?" I motioned between the two of us with my hand, causing him to cock one eyebrow heavily .
"No..." His answer was a bit terse, though I was far too relieved at knowing I had saved some face to prevent myself from letting out a relieved sigh. "....though....I'm surprised you're not more interested in the mark on your back...." my relief was short lived as I looked back up to him, a look of anxiety on my face. "Last night was not a dream....." I felt like I was going to faint.
"W-what...do you mean....that's....that's not-" I was cut off as he reached out and took my hand, slowly guiding me into a stand, my mind too shocked to even think of resisting "Not possible? No....I didn't think so either....to be honest with you....I'm not entirely certain how it happened....but you and I...." He reached over my shoulder, pressing his warm hand against the cool, wet flesh of my back over the tattoo, a sudden intense and indescribable feeling suddenly pinging through my mind as his eyes suddenly began to shift in color, the red of his iris flooding into his sclera and over taking it, a brilliant yellow taking its place as a faint white light began to emanate from his iris.
~We are now somehow bound~ His voice now echoed in my mind, though not the voice I'd just heard, no, this was the inhuman voice of the demon in my dream. ~Your willingness to sacrifice yourself to save the others...your trust in me...my trust in return....we unknowingly performed an ancient writ, you and I, and now your life sustains me, your body and soul anchoring me to this plane.... no longer do I feel the unbearable emptiness that drove me to feed....~
He released his hand from my back, his eyes suddenly shifting back to their normal state. "When the writ ended, you and I had been returned from the shadow I'd drawn us into, and each of us marked with the symbol you bare on your back....". I just stared at him like an idiot, it was all so much to take in and I still wasn't sure if I believed him or if I was just going insane.
"A....Alar'ak?" I squeaked out, getting a gentle nod in return as his hand found its way over my shoulders, embracing me in a gentle, reassuring way "Yes....I am Alar'ak....though no longer clanless....as now I serve you" I felt my eyebrows shoot up at this unexpected declaration. "You....serve me?" my voice was full of disbelief, though again he gave a reassuring nod "Ooookay then....well Al..."
A look of confusion shot over his face as his head cocked back, taken aback by the abbreviation of his name "My first order is to give me some damn privacy so I can get dressed.....go...wait for me in the living room or something..." my flabbergasted tone matched his expression as he withdrew his arm from me uttering a confused "Very...well?" before making his way out the door, turning toward my bedroom and walking out of sight into it, causing an unamused look to fall over my face.
"Wrong....way" he quickly walked from my room back through the hall, causing me to chuckle a bit at his misunderstanding ~Well....I guess I've got a lot more to think about now than that stupid website...~ I thought as I moved into my bedroom, shutting the door behind me as I got dressed and ready to go talk with my new demonic partner.
theartofmadeline
stormborns
areudirty
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