Chapter Text
I scratch at my skin, fingers making contact with the swelling buds. One bursts, and I bite down on my tongue. The ichor-soaked purple petals itch, and I rub one, focusing on the velvety texture. Another one blooms, followed by another, another, another, another.
My eyes flicker closed, and I’m plunged into both a dream and a lake.
I break the surface, gasping and coughing, choking on the air. Something curls around my foot, and it pulls me under. I fight the water, slashing at anything I can reach. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Fish stare at me, and I manage to snag one for a second before it squirms away.
A woman’s laughter echoes throughout the water, all I can hear. She sings in an old language, one with no translation.
I try to bend down, and I realize my clothes are gone. I don’t have time to even do anything about it because I immediately get sucked down a coral tube. I paw at the open mouth of it, but it crumbles in my grasp. The tendril tightens, and I begin to cry.
The tube changes colors from purple to red to black to white to pink to green to silver to yellow.
I’m spat out onto a plate and left gaping from a dying fish. The cold air stings, and I force myself to stand up. The table is huge, decorated with massive sweets and beautiful confections, and the plate has intricate details. I make my way off it, and a giant fork slams down beside me. I jump, and a low chuckle sends me running. More silverware joins the chorus, jostling me.
A knife gets stabbed into the table right in front of me, and I skid to a stop.
Delicate fingers suddenly close around me, lifting me into the air. I pound on them, but they don’t let go. I get a glimpse of the woman holding me, mainly her glistening golden eyes, before she pops me into her mouth and swallows.
I hit a forest floor and look around. There’s a wooden log close by, and I step under it. Something beats at my back, and I reach around to find a pair of wings. They flutter a bit, and I take to the air.
The beautiful land I’ve found myself in has an odd look to it……almost like it’s fake.
Where am I?
As I fly, I come across a mansion, and one of the windows is open. I dive inside and close it, then look around. It’s elegant and done in shades of red, white, and black with hints of silver.
What is this place?
“There you are,” a young woman says, and I stop.
She has silver hair and golden eyes, and she takes me by my arm and drags me into another room. This one is identical to the other, and I can’t break free from her grasp. She pulls out some clothes, and I feel my face flush.
It’s……it’s what the humans call lingerie.
The pieces are sheer black with bits of lace, and she dresses me and does my hair as if I’m a doll. She puts on a similar outfit and smiles, putting on red lipstick.
“He’s ready for us,” she says.
She brings me to yet another room and sits me on the bed, and a naked young man comes in. She sits beside me and positions herself, and she……..
She presses herself to him, her breasts swallowing his cock, and she moves up and down. Their twin moans set me on edge, and I shudder violently.
My ichor is boiling, and my hands are trembling.
The two have moved without me noticing, now locked together in passionate, carnal intercourse. The door to the room is gone, and flowers break forth from my flesh. Golden ichor coats me just as his semen coats her.
My jaws open, and I scream.
|•|
Darkness surrounds me, and I thrash around. Footsteps echo down the hall, and within seconds, arms are trapping me in place.
“Take a deep breath, relax, inhale, exhale,” a man says. He winds one hand in my hair, and I pull back and bite down on his other arm. He cursed and draws back, and a light illuminates in the darkness.
It’s Narscie, and Velina comes slinking in not a second too late. Her wings are gone, but she positions herself behind him.
They both smell like sex, and my dream slams into me like a pickaxe. I throw myself backwards, eying them both.
“What do you want from me?!” The words rush out of me, and I bring the blanket over myself, over the thin nightgown I was provided. “Just let me go!”
Narscie sighs and signals to Velina, who rolls onto her back and summons a thin strand of light. She begins to play Cat’s Cradle as he moves closer.
“You’re stuck here, I’m sorry. If I had known…..I’m sorry. This is truly our fault. I had wanted…….what the humans call a girlfriend. Velina thought to abduct you,” he says.
“Well, maybe you coulda asked,” I mutter. “Seriously, why can’t I leave? Why won’t you let me?”
“It’s……complicated.” He runs a hand through his hair and looks away. “The Underworld isn’t any ordinary place. Perhaps I should say that……I don’t quite want you to leave. I-I’m sorry, but I can’t control it yet. I only became the ruler fairly recently and-“
“You don’t want me to leave, so want me to leave,” I say. “Please.”
“It’s not that simple, though I wish it were.” He sighs again, then frowns. “Your skin, what happened?”
“What?” I glance down and find several flowers have bloomed, most likely in my sleep. “It’s nothing to worry about. It happens all the time.”
Narscie nods and stands, and Velina follows him like a moth to light. “We’ll leave you be. I’m very sorry, Uzilia, but I hope we’ll find a way for you to leave.”
“Just go away,” I mumble. “Go.”