Chapter 2: We're Not In Kansas Anymore
Well, fuck.
The altimeter on my wrist dropped, 500 ft, 400, 300, 200. I was about to die.
A great many things rushed through my head moments before impact, my family, the friends I had just gone skydiving with, my life had been a simple one that's for sure. I would even say that I had the most normal life out of anyone I'd met, though I never did get a girlfriend, never had sex, I was twenty one as of today. Finally going skydiving for real had been my present from an old friend of mine. What a shitty way to die.
That was all I got to, my body smashed into the ground at terminal velocity, and everything stopped making sense. A blinding light filled my vision, and then a darkness I couldn't have imagined in life replaced it.
Was this purgatory? I was never a very religious man, I wondered if that mattered. Would I be sent to a place for those who didn't believe, hell maybe. Before I could think on it more, a voice called out, seemingly from all around me.
"Hello human, do you know who I am?" It said, distinctly feminine, though carrying itself with force and an unspoken statement of power.
"God? I thought you were a guy?" I was confused, what was going on, was I even dead?
"I am A god, though not one from your world. Do you understand, human?" I was baffled, I was talking to a god from another world, how? Why? Eventually I gathered the strength to ask.
"U-um yeah, I think I get what you mean. Why are you talking to me though? Did I do something wrong?" Now that I understood, my mind was filling in the answers to questions I had yet to ask. What if she, it, whatever they were, what if I was going to be punished for something I had done, was I going to hell?!
"Now now, I'm not here to kill you, quite the opposite actually, I am here to give you a second chance at life!"
I was completely dumbfounded, flabbergasted, too shocked to speak. My mouth tried and failed to voice the confusion "W-wha?"
"However, there is something I want from you in return of course, a task I need you to complete. Does that sound fair to you?", after a few seconds of silence, "you do understand me right? I don't have all day."
"Yea- yeah I got it, um, so what would you have me do?" You would think I would question this situation more. However, the fact I had even died to begin with had yet to fully sink in, and I had just been offered a second chance. Critical thinking skills went out the metaphorical window for the moment.
"Excellent! So you agree to help." I didn't think I'd said that yet.
"N-no, I didn't, wait a minute, you have to explain what I'm going to have to do first!"
The air seemed to still for a moment, wait was it even air? The place I currently was seemed to be nothing, pure black stretched out in every direction, like a night sky without a single star in it. An endless void.
Thus, when the floor, walls, and furniture materialized from thin air, I was surprised. Looking down I could see I had a physical body as well, something that I had been lacking for the past few minutes.
A woman also materialized before me, a very odd looking woman, but one that was scarily familiar. Radiating a black purple mist, crowned with an ornate looking pair of four horns, with silver colored hair and pale purple skin, I might not have recognized her even now, if not for the massive black snake tail in the place of legs and general lack of clothing.
That made no sense, that was just a story, and even then, none of the monster lords had the power to travel between worlds. Right? Then it dawned on me, and I remembered my voice.
"You're…, You're the dark god Alipheese. Holy shit, what the hell is going on!?" This was without a doubt real, dreams were never this vivid, and I could still remember how I'd died before.
As for the god, she looked very amused, as if she was watching a comedy play out in front of her. "Well, I guess I don't need to ask that question now, are you still interested in my offer?"
That question? I wondered what she meant by that, until it hit me. "Wait! You know about- about the story?!" If she knew about that, then that meant-
"You seem to understand what this means. Good, I would rather not have to explain it to you. As for your question, yes, I know about the visual novel. Being trapped in a pocket dimension only really works for so long, after a while I figured out how to peer into other universes. I still can't look into my own, unfortunately the seal at least prevents that.
"Now, however, I require help, while I cannot watch my little creations from here, I know that Ilias will be putting her plan into place soon, a gut feeling really. I believe we can help each other, I revive your soul into my world, and you do whatever possible to prevent Ilias from succeeding. Understand?"
I nodded, then I remembered something. "Wait won't Luka and Alice save the world anyway? Why do you need me?"
"That is assuming my world is one of hundreds where Luka does not die, and the entirety of monsterkind is not eradicated. I do not want to gamble with those odds." That made sense to me, there were dozens of encounters that Luka could fall to throughout the game, even if Ilias would rewind time up until the fight against Alice, afterward there were still many opportunities to fail.
"So, what should I do? I mean I guess my best bet would be to tell Tamamo and have her handle some of the problems before they occur, but that would be next to impossible since Ilias is watching Luka the entire journey. So even then I would have to wait until Yamatai at the very least. Hmm."
Alipheese stared at me for a moment before speaking, "I do not care how you achieve it, only that you do, if you accept this deal, and do not follow through," Her eyes took on a dangerous glint, "you will endure pain worse than your mind can currently comprehend. So, the question is this: Do you want to pass on? Or do you want a second run?
(linebreak)
It had been two weeks since I literally fell out of the sky.
I glanced over to my left. Standing next to me was a boy, whom you all know as Luka, about 5 feet 2 inches, rather short for his age, with purple hair atop his head, a rather impractical cape, and the ugliest sword I'd ever laid eyes on. Even uglier than portrayed in the game. On the other hand the Monster Lord, Alice's, beauty exceeded mere drawings tenfold. I imagined everything would be more vivid since this was real life, not art.
We'd made it out of the Treasure Cave, having successfully acquired Poseidon's Bell. Luka had only just figured out that Alice was the Monster Lord, although it's more accurate to say that Tamamo had told him directly by addressing Alice as Monster Lord. I had to pretend to be shocked at the revelation, which earned me a suspicious look from Alice, who had already not bought my story about why I was traveling with Luka. But the important thing was that Luka didn't challenge Alice immediately and die. Ilias had to be pissed.
Speaking of Ilias, Alipheese had blessed me with some unknown magic to help me along on my journey. I wasn't completely sure what that magic was good for, or how to use it, but it seemed to passively allow me to sense when Ilias was watching us. Alipheese had also told me that it would allow me to use elements, although I wasn't exactly sure how I was supposed to do that.
I was excited, in a strange sort of way. While I was from a version of earth, my father had been from a place he called the Void. When I'd grown enough, he'd told me about it and the multiverse that we lived in, I'd never thought I'd see it myself. While circumstances could be better, this was still a dream come true for me.
So far, things went about as expected. Luka had a few minor scuffles, what with monster trying to rape him constantly. So far they'd mostly ignored me. I hoped it was because Luka just smelled better and it wasn't that I was undesirable or something. Not that I wanted to get raped or eaten. I just wondered why they were fixated on Luka. I'd been heroic, or dumb enough, to intervene at one point when he'd faced a roper, since ropers, unlike the more gentle monsters that made up most of Ilias Continent's natural population, were carnivorous. That had nearly gotten me killed, as suddenly I had a monster girl's undivided attention. That meant Luka had to bail ME out, but he didn't mind at all. He was a hero, after all. But I felt like deadweight. I would have to learn how to fight so that if Luka needed saving I could do more than offer up my own self as a meal.
I also suspected that Luka enjoyed having company other than the taciturn Alice. While Alice was polite and sometimes even warm, she clearly didn't know what to make of me and our conversations were infrequent. Yet she just kept staring at me with vague disapproval. Of course, she also looked at Luka that way, so maybe that was just how she was.
I'd run into Luka in Ilias Village, not by accident of course. I'd been sent to do a job, and he wasn't hard to find. I convinced him that I was a traveler who wanted to document the world and write a guide. I figured that a story like that would give me all the reason I needed to stick with him like glue. Not long after, Alice crashed to earth, but since I was already Luka's companion, she couldn't easily tell me to take a hike, even though it looked as if she clearly wanted to.
"Hey, David," Luka said to me.
"Yeah? What's up?"
Luka was very easy to get along with, and if I'm being fair to Alice, so was she. Luka got the tsundere act. I only got a little mistrust. She seemed to respect my intelligence, whereas she constantly insulted and denigrated poor Luka.
"What have you written so far?" Luka asked me.
"Oh, mostly just the stuff we've seen so far," I responded. "Who would have thought we'd run into two Heavenly Knights so quickly? I just can't believe it!"
Although I'd known they would be on this continent, it still felt so surreal. Like Alice, the drawings in the game didn't do them justice. Granberia reminded me of the Void's legendary gladiators, although I'd expected her to be taller. Tamamo had actually been a little taller than I'd expected, and a little more mature, more preteen than child. The pressure that comes with their presence is hard to describe. I guess the game did it about as well as it could be done. If a Heavenly Knight is ever in your presence, you'll know it.
"What in the world were those two thinking?" Alice said, moving next to Luka and I. "Relations between humans and monsters are bad enough, but the stunt Granberia pulled made things so much worse. And Tamamo, why does she want to keep humans from crossing the Southern Sea? I mean, I sorta get it, but that's just not the way."
I'd tried to point that out myself, but Granberia and Tamamo hadn't really been in a listening mood. Granberia had given me a stare that nearly knocked me down from the sheer intimidation of it, and Tamamo had laughed and told me I was adorable. She had been so condescending that I felt two feet tall.
"It's a short journey," Luka noted. "If that yoma you mentioned doesn't bother us, we should make it before nightfall tomorrow."
We were all dog tired from the long walk to and from the Treasure Cave, and Alice had set a fast pace, since she was impatient to leave the continent once she had found out that there was little good food to sample in Iliasport due to the blockade.
All I could think about was our upcoming confrontation with the third Heavenly Knight. A particularly murderous one at that.
Back at Iliasport, things went as expected. Alice did her eye trick on the captain, we boarded, and we were off.
I was staring out across the sea, watching massive waves seem to break across an invisible barrier all around us, the storm clouds above us were gone as well, the night sky in view from the deck. Luka was training with Alice, learning the demon skull beheading technique on the deck of the ship.
Eventually I got tired of watching the waves, exhausted, I trudged back to the cabin below deck. A mistake, I was halfway through taking off my shirt when I felt a presence next to me. I froze, my entire body locking up the moment I realized that, no, it wasn't Luka or Alice coming back from training.
"Hmm, not bad looking, though, you could use a bit more muscle~." With that sentence, a slimy appendage grabbed the top of my shirt and pulled it fully off my body. I felt my heart stop, in front of me was none other than the Heavenly Knight of wind, Alma Elma.
Holy…. Alma Elma was easily the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, and I might have appreciated the fact that she was alone with me in my cabin if not for the small detail that she was a stone cold killer. Her body was a biological scandal, so curvy that I had no idea how she managed to stand upright, much less play with the wind. She was taller than I expected, definitely taller than me, perhaps a full six feet or more. Even if she didn't have wings, a tail, and horns, she would have never passed for human.
"So, you're one of the humans who fought Granberry?" she asked. "Interesting. Let's play a game."
Faster than a mere human like myself could react, her tail wrapped around me. Even mere contact with her tail was arousing, but again, my fear took precedence because I knew what her intent was.
"This game is called Beat the Clock," Alma Elma said as she kicked open the door and hauled me onto the deck. "You and your friend have to last one minute against me. If you win, I'll let you pass onto the Sentora continent. If you lose…. Well, I can tell by your expression that you know what will happen. Why aren't you excited?"
"Look, you really don't have to do this!" I protested. I hoped and prayed that she would only use her tail, just like she did in the game. But now she had two opponents. She might not behave the same way. I was in a near panic. If she didn't handicap herself in some way, we were lunch.
"You know, you're right," she replied, pausing. "I don't have to do this."
"Yeah, exactly!" I exclaimed. "There's no reason for us to fight! We can get along!"
"Yeah, but what would happen if I just let every human on a boat get past my storms?" she asked.
"We're the only ones who have the bell!" I argued desperately. "And we have the Monster Lord with us!"
"You see, and THAT's why I don't have to do this," Alma Elma said.
"Thank you," I said hopefully.
"But I want to. Because I feel like it. I don't need any other explanation."
Alma Elma resumed marching towards where Luka and Alice stood on the deck. Sailors scattered and ran below decks as they caught sight of her. When Luka and Alice saw the succubus, with me in tow, Luka was surprised, but Alice just seemed irritated. Alice had obviously sensed her presence long before she had entered my cabin.
"Put him down!" Luka yelled.
Alma Elma only smiled in response. That smile was stunning. It was also seductive. It was the kind of smile I imagined a woman gave a man when she was about to give him all the pleasure in the world.
"So you're the other one, huh?" Alma Elma asked, appraising Luka. "You're a ballsy one, especially compared to your friend here. If he wasn't so busy peeing himself he would have surrendered to me already. I'm glad he didn't, though. That would be much less fun."
Suddenly, Alma Elma flung me towards Luka. I was surprised that I didn't hit the deck hard. A gentle landing, all things considered.
"Monster Lord, according to your orders, may I eliminate these two who have been attacking monsters?"
"We're not attacking monsters!" I objected. "They attack us!"
Alma Elma smiled again, a smile that said that she knew that every word she said was bullshit. I began looking around for a weapon. Luka readied his sword.
"These two are getting no special treatment from me," Alice said. "I'm only traveling with them because I'm curious about them."
"So that's how it is," Alma Elma said, almost exactly as she said it in the game. Oh fuck, I thought.
"Your majesty, I urge you to reconsider!" I said desperately.
"What the hell did you just say?" Alice retorted, her eyes turning dark. Uh oh.
"You witnessed all those fights! Not only were we attacked, we didn't even really harm any of them! She's not carrying out your orders, she's violating them!"
Alice's eyes returned to their normal coloring and she smirked slightly.
"The boy makes a compelling argument, Alma Elma," Alice said. "While there is no argument he makes that can compel me to protect them, this could be construed as a violation of my orders, despite your portrayal of this as fulfilling them. What do you have to say in response?"
Alma Elma seemed taken aback. This she had not expected. Unlike Granberia, however, who stammered and stuttered when confronted by Alice's logic, Alma Elma was an expert gaslighter.
"I concede the point," the succubus said, giving me a brief moment of hope. "But the fact remains that the purple haired one fancies himself a hero, and heroes are the enemies of all monsters. I cannot let an enemy make it to the Sentora continent. That is consistent with your orders of self defense."
Alice looked at me expectantly. I guess I had to not only fight my own battles, but argue them as well.
"Luka isn't that kind of hero!" I contended. "He wants monsters and humans to get along!"
"That's right!" Luka agreed. "I don't want to be your enemy!"
"You say that now," Alma Elma laughed. "But do you really think you're the first human to have that dream? It's a childish belief."
"Preach it," Alice mumbled.
"Sooner or later you'll come to hate us, if you survive that long," Alma Elma continued. "And that's why you can't be allowed to survive. Well, you can, you're harmless, but the hero…. "
"I'm not just going to let you kill him!" I exclaimed. Even if I couldn't fight her, I wasn't going to stand by like Alice was prepared to and let her eat him.
"If you're with him, you're against me," Alma Elma shrugged.
"Alice?" I asked hopefully. She simply turned away and folded her arms. Oh, God.
Alma Elma proceeded to make a great show of demonstrating how she would violate us, showing off her body. She described things I didn't even know were possible. Finally, she waved her tail in front of us. The mouth of the tail opened, showing us the fearsome yet alluring insides. What would that feel like? I wondered, staring.
"Oh, I see that got your attention," she chuckled. "How about this? I'll defeat you both, using only this tail. I'll suck you both dry, then I'll eat you."
"You sure do talk a lot!" Luka said challengingly.
With that, Alma Elma flung herself at Luka, who deftly dodged the tail, although his counterattack with his sword caught nothing but air. Well, if another monster is going to focus on Luka, I thought, I might as well take the opportunity to find a useful way to help him. I resumed my search around the deck and located a cannonball. I ponderously lifted it and chucked it right at her head, or at least that was the plan.
Even though Alma Elma seemed to be focused on Luka, I knew that she could hear threats on the wind, and a cannonball being thrown generates quite a bit of wind. It flew by her head harmlessly into the water. Luka continued to strike at her, to no avail. He had no chance to even nick her. She, on the other hand, was making a complete fool of Luka, slapping him around with that tail, her hands literally behind her back as if they were tied.
Okay, she moves faster than the wind, so how do we beat that? I thought. The only thing to do was keep the pressure on and hope she'd have to resort to using her hands or feet, or maybe one of us would even get lucky and hit her. Yeah, right.
Still, I had to keep trying or else I might as well just feed myself to her. I picked up another cannonball. Or started to, anyway. As I looked up, a huge pair of breasts were in front of me. She didn't even have to touch me. I dropped the cannonball, almost on my foot, and fell backwards, right onto my keister.
Alma Elma's tail flashed to my crotch, removed my belt buckle as if she'd performed this maneuver with just her tail many times before, and began rubbing the mouth of her tail against my penis. She didn't even suck it in, only rubbed, as if her tail was kissing me. Even that was too much for me. Just a few seconds of that nearly made me come, which would have put me into critical ecstasy, not that I would have become any less useful than I already was.
Give Luka credit, though. Alma Elma had to stand still to work on me, and Luka wasted no time taking advantage. He sprinted as fast as he could, and performed the move he had practiced just moments earlier.
"Demon Skull Beheading!" he shouted, his sword flashing towards her head.
"Ara?" she said, withdrawing her tail from me just before she was about to suck me into it and finish me. She had no defense other than to block the attack with her hand. She actually stopped it with both hands, catching the sword between them.
I scrambled backwards, trying to get out of range, even though the fight was probably over. Thankfully, my futile gesture proved to be unnecessary.
"I guess it's my loss," Alma Elma said cheerfully.
"What?" Luka asked, confused, trying to pull his sword free of her hands.
"I said I wouldn't use my hands or feet, only my tail. I had to use my hands to block your special move that SOMEBODY apparently taught you."
Alice folded her arms and smirked at Alma Elma.
"But now that I know what you're capable of, I won't be so easy on you next time," Alma Elma warned, releasing the sword and causing Luka to fall onto his back. "Is that okay, Monster Lord?"
"What you want to do is fine, Alma Elma,' Alice retorted. "Isn't that always your way? Now, is there anything else, or can we enjoy the rest of our trip in peace?"
"Just one more thing," Alma Elma chuckled, turning her attention to me. Extreme fear and arousal warred within me, with fear winning by a hair. Alma Elma could almost smell that combination of lust and fear. "Next time we meet, I'm going to violate you with my hand, my mouth, my tail, my pussy, and many more ways that you can't even imagine. No matter how much you beg, no matter how much you cry, I won't stop. Oh, are you scared? Or are you looking forward to it? I hope you think about it a lot until the next time we meet."
With that, she vanished in a blast of wind.
Flopping onto my back I could hear Luka and Alice talking, Suddenly Luka appeared over me looking concerned.
"I'm fine, Just tired, who knew that'd be so exhausting?" I laughed a bit, "you uh, you mind helping me get to the cabin? I'm afraid of what'll happen if I try to walk." For a moment he appeared confused, then grimaced and looked vaguely uncomfortable.
In the end He helped me up and into the cabin downstairs, Alice trailing behind us, at the same time the sailors came up from below deck, some of them congratulating or thanking us for driving off Alma Elma. I guess that since they weren't above, the sailors didn't realize that Alice was the monster lord.
When we got back to the cabin room, all three of us plopped onto the beds. It seemed like Luka was a bit angry with Alice for allowing Alma to toy with us like that, and her general disregard for our lives. No one felt like having that conversation at the time though, so we all agreed to save it for the next day.
With heavy eyes I fell asleep within minutes.
Author's Note
This was fun, especially the Alipheese part at the beginning. Now is probably the time I should mention that Ditmag, the man who i am currently uploading Luka's Story for, is helping me write this. You can all thank him for the sexual violence that was Alma's fight. Go check his stuff out on ao3 if you want, though it'll all be on FF in a couple of weeks.
