Chapter 35 #2
I’ve watched her far too much to not notice even the smallest of changes.
“How do you feel?”
“Honestly? Quite invincible.” She chuckles. “But I know I’m not that invincible.”
“You’re more so than me.” I point out.
“Well…” She looks around, closing her eyes and breathing in the air. “I can hear everything. Smell everything. It’s so—”
“Amazing?”
She nods. “I never realized there was so much more to nature than what my limited senses could pick up. Now I can even hear insects flapping their wings. I can smell the blood from thousands of steps away. Goodness, Nyk!”
“Your lifespan is also increased now. You should comfortably be able to live hundreds if not thousands of years.”
At that, she blinks in surprise.
“That’s… a long time.”
“Not for me.” I shrug. “You’ll soon learn to see time differently.”
“But hundreds of years?” She whispers. “Everyone I know will die and—”
“I won’t.” I add solemnly. “I’ll be there with you. At every step.”
She stares at me, a blush marring her cheeks. “Right. You’re right. You’ll be there. My best friend.”
Auch. If she twisted a knife into my heart it might have been less painful than that sentence.
I force a smile. “Exactly. So don’t worry about anything. I’ll keep you company. Forever.”
“That’s nice of you,” she murmurs, averting her gaze. An uncomfortable silence settles between us. After a few moments where neither of us knows what to say, she clears her throat loudly.
“Your turn now.”
“Huh?” I frown.
“Your potion. Let’s make it.”
“Right… I should…”
“Are you scared?”
“A little. I’ve heard the process can be painful. I might be out of it for a while.”
“I’ll be here,” she immediately says. “And if something dares attack…” She points to her muscles. “I’ll kick them out.”
I laugh in spite of myself. “That’s right. Now you can protect me.”
“Damn right,” she says confidently. “You’re safe with me, Nyk. And once your meridians are cleared, you’ll be able to absorb some energy from the embryo. With both of us powerful enough, the chances of making it alive out of the forest are much higher.”
I nod. She’s right.
Alas, it’s time to do this.
Taking the other ingredients I brought with me, I mix them all together in a container before dumping the last part—the dust of the Wilka horn.
The mixture bubbles as it mixes and becomes homogeneous.
Moe gives me an encouraging nod as I bring the container to my lips.
The cool brew touches my tongue, the taste bitter and sweet at the same time. I down it all in one go. That wasn’t so bad…
Then my eyes roll back and I fall.
The temperature of my body reaches a pinnacle. Sweat clings to me, leaving no part untouched. It beads onto my forehead, and drops make their way down my face. My lashes are heavy, the salt drops making my eyes itch.
I twist and turn as a wave of pain ricochets through me. It starts with a wave of heat around my brain, moving to my ears as a loud tingling. As if it had a mind of its own, it continues down my throat, into my chest and arms before going lower into my pelvis and legs.
A cold compress is pressed against my forehead. It taps gently against my skin, trying to take away some of this scorching heat.
It’s almost as if a storm of fire rages through my veins, cleansing them, purifying them.
It must be working, I think somewhere deep in my mind. This feeling must be my meridians getting cleansed.
That thought becomes a mantra that helps me through the successive bouts of pain. I vaguely remember turning to the side and retching as more of the blockage gets removed. Through hazy eyes, I see black impurities on the ground.
Those…they’re from my body. Thousands of years worth of blockage have to be eliminated in one go. The black tar comes from deep within me, from every faulty meridian.
I’m not sure how many rounds of this I go through. I only know that with each time, I feel lighter.
My throat is ragged from eliminating all this black tar. My body is simply exhausted from trying to clean itself.
But it keeps going.
Time and time again, until less and less black impurities come out.
When I’ve stopped throwing up, the temperature of my body starts stabilizing. I’m not longer sweating as much as before, nor am I so dizzy.
The haze over my mind starts dissipating until only the echo of the pain remains.
A comfortable lull settles within me and I let out a content sigh.
I don’t know how much time has passed or how long I’ve been in this wretched state.
But in spite of how badly I suffered, expelling all that black tar and expunging all the dirt from my meridians, this current state is worth it.
There’s a quietness that wasn’t there before.
My mind is at peace, content with just being.
My body feels much lighter, as if I could move from one stop to another with a mere thought. A door of potential opens in front of me, and just thinking of the opportunities before me right now makes me euphoric.
It worked. Those words loop in my mind.
Perhaps I had some doubts before. But now I’m certain.
I’m finally free.
My mind starts to register my surroundings again. I’m no longer foggy and delirious. But with this new clarity comes another feeling.
I frown. The word euphoria keeps repeating in my mind, though I’m not sure why. Every single thing I feel, I relate to it: pleasure, euphoria, dopamine.
A tingling sensation arises in my lower stomach, like a colony of ants has made its home there.
“Ah!” I cry out.
My eyes snap open. I’m on my back, and above me is the damp ceiling of the cave.
Craning my neck, I glance downward. I’m fully naked.
Naked and aroused.
A figure is nestled between my legs, her face buried in my crotch.
She raises her head slightly, her lips gliding up my shaft with practiced ease. She puckers her lips over the head of my erect cock.
“Moe?” I ask, shocked and confused.
She swirls her tongue over the underside of the head, giving me a cheeky wink.
“Does it feel good, Nyk?” She asks in a breathless voice.
I nod, speechless as I stare at her.
Saliva drips from her mouth and onto my cock. She uses her hands to lubricate the shaft before taking me once more in her mouth.
She swallows my entire length. I can feel the tip of my cock hitting her throat.
My hips shoot off the floor as pleasure unlike I’ve never felt overwhelms me.
“Mmm,” she purrs low in her throat. The vibrations make the entire experience that much more decadent. I squeeze my eyes shut as the climax builds within me.
“Moe,” I whisper.
Her teeth graze against the sensitive skin and I jolt back in surprise. But she doesn’t let go. Her nails dig into my hips, keeping me in place.
Her eyes, a deep magenta, stare at me unflinchingly, her mouth still on me.
“You’re not Moe,” I say as the realization hits.
She pulls back just enough to reveal sharp fangs. They graze the underside of my shaft and I let out a groan of pleasure.
“You like that, don’t you?” She asks seductively.
“It’s…you…” I grit out, barely able to enunciate.
The Scarlet Lady. That double-faced monster.
“Aren’t you happy to see me, Nyk? It’s been a while,” she murmurs, her hands gripping my cock tighter.
“Let me go—”
“Tsk, tsk,” she clicks her tongue. “I thought we’ve already gone over this. I am your friend, Nykander.”
“Stop! Don’t show up as Moe. I can’t… I can’t stand to look at you with her face?”
“Why?” She raises a brow. “Don’t you secretly wish she did this for you too?”
She leans in and gives my erection another lick. I struggle to speak, the pleasure too extreme. But just as I think I can’t take it anymore, the glint of her fangs nearly blinds me before a savage pain ravages my body.
She bites my cock off.
Her bite is so strong, it only takes one bite for the upper half of my dick to be separated from the root.
Blood sprays up like a geyser, staining her face. She doesn’t mind it. In fact, she revels in it, enjoying the bloody spectacle.
“What the fuck!” I yell, half in pain, half in disbelief.
Shock envelops me, probably from the blood loss. I don’t even know if what I’m seeing is right, but her lips pull back to reveal bloody teeth holding onto my decapitated dick.
Her expression is smug. The corner of her right lip is tipped up.
Keeping the eye contact, she spits the piece of flesh to the side. Her mouth is a bloody mess as she smiles at me. Red is streaked all over her cheeks and forehead.
I’m frozen on the spot, unable to react as she crawls up my body until her face hovers over mine.
Blood drips from her mouth onto mine. She presses her hand on my jaw, holding me still as she lays her bloody lips on mine.
“You’re useless,” she mutters against my lips. “How does it feel being so helpless?”
I shake my head but she holds my jaw tightly in her grasp. “You lay here, selfishly pursuing your dream while your beloved suffered for you.”
“W-what?” I whisper.
She smirks at me. “Wouldn’t you want to know?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
At the mention of Moe—the true Moe—my focus becomes singleminded. I don’t care about my severed dick anymore or the pain radiating from that spot, or the blood that keeps leaking until I might hemorrhage to death. As soon as I hear that something happened to Moe, nothing else matters.
She leans back. With the snap of a finger, the dark, barren ceiling turns into a motion picture. It’s Moe. And me. She’s next to me, holding a damp cloth over my forehead as she tries to cool me off. She does this time and again. For hours on end.
And then…
Bat-like creatures swarm into the cave, flying straight toward us.
To protect me, she places her body atop my own, fielding the attacks as she can.
But that means their sharp claws scratch away at her skin.
At first, it’s light, superficial cuts. But the more they attack, the deeper the wounds become.
She’s steadfast, though. She doesn’t let go of me. No matter how much pain she’s in, she continues to protect me at the expense of her own safety.
Although the attack ends, it’s far from over. Every few hours, another swarm of those creatures attack. And every time, Moe covers my body with her own, shielding me from any harm.
She’s a bloody mess. Although she heals, even that begins to slow down after repeated blows. To ensure she’s fully healed, she drinks some more liquid from the Wilka.
She doesn’t have to withstand those blows. Now she’s fast enough to dodge them all—even fight back.
But she doesn’t, because that would leave me wide open.
The repeated attacks would undoubtedly kill me.
So she sacrifices herself instead. She bears the pain. She grits her teeth at the way her flesh breaks.
My eyes are filled with tears as I see the full extent of her actions. But no matter how grateful I am to her, to see her risk herself like that…hurt like that… I think I’d rather die.
“Perhaps I will grant you that wish,” the Scarlet Lady murmurs against my ear.
She’s still atop me, her nails dug into my skin.
I lay motionless on the ground, bleeding, tears spilling.
Perhaps I do deserve to die…