"Fire and Perdition"
The Slayer sat in his lonely corner on the first floor of the Nexus, his dark and gritty form illuminated only by the incandescent light of the half-hearted candles scattered throughout the realm between realms. His armor was rusty, his shield and weapon all but forgotten, and his mind as clouded as the colorless fog slowly but surely choking the life out of Boletaria.
Boletaria. The kingdom he had come to save.
The kingdom he had failed to save.
Not for the first time, the Slayer tried to remember how long ago he had set out from his home on his journey to this fabled kingdom, only to die shortly after arriving and finding himself bound, like so many others, to the Nexus. Weeks? Months?
Years?
It certainly felt like years as far as the Slayer was concerned. He had long ago forgotten the place of his birth, the faces of his family and friends, even his own name. Boletaria had taken everything from him, just as it had from so many others. Now he was little more than a ghost, a fading spirit, trapped and bound to the Nexus until the day he disappeared entirely, his mind lost and the memory of his existence all but forgotten even by those who had known him best.
There had been a time when the Slayer would have struggled valiantly against such a fate, a time when he had journeyed into the deepest and darkest realms of Boletaria in hopes of saving it from itself. He had been a true Slayer, then, a warrior, a hero, practically a monster. The 'Slayer of Demons,' they had called him, and that was exactly what he had been. Large or small, young or old, he had cut them all down in his time, taken everything from them, even their souls, every bit of magic and energy reinvigorating him and preparing him for the next battle.
Indeed, there had been a time when the Slayer had been almost as feared as the demons themselves, and he liked to think he could see the fear in his enemies' eyes before he struck them down like the corrupt and diabolical filth they were.
Alas…that was a long time ago.
Though mighty in his time, and full of vigor, like all warriors before him, there came a point at which the Slayer's armor grew heavy and his sword unwieldy. His movements grew sluggish, his eyesight clouded, his mind no longer as sharp or as quick as it once was. And, little by little, he began to fail. Demons he would once have eaten for breakfast began to catch him off-guard, obstacles he used to see from a mile away suddenly surprised him once again.
It had been a slow and gradual race to the bottom after that, like so many before him. One failure became two, became three, became a dozen. He died again and again and again, waking up in the Nexus weaker and weaker each and every time until he simply…ran out of steam. It wasn't merely his body and mind that were fading, but his soul, his very spirit, the only thing he had left of his former life.
Soon enough, he began to give up on that, too.
The only thing that had kept the Slayer going, the only light in his perpetual darkness, had been the Maiden in Black. The mysterious woman, young and beautiful, but also vaguely unsettling, with her pale skin, black hair, and wax-covered eyes. She had always been there to revive him, to bring him back from the edge of death, to encourage him to continue fighting, if only for a while longer.
It was his destiny to slay the demons and put the Old One to sleep, she had told him. Of all the warriors who had come before him, he was the greatest among them, he was the one who would undoubtedly save Boletaria. He was, for all intents and purposes, the Chosen One. That's what she had told him.
She had lied.
As the Slayer grew slower and weaker, and spent more and more time huddled in his lonely corner in the Nexus, he saw the Maiden in Black less and less. She no longer spoke to him, or sought him out, or even seemed to notice him. He was no longer the Chosen One, the Slayer of Demons; now he was just one of the myriads of other lost souls trapped in the Nexus, little more than a ghost waiting to fade away forever. It was a fate the Slayer had all but resigned himself to.
Until the new hero came along.
There were always new arrivals in the Nexus, of course, unwary travelers who had lost their way, or warriors who died along the fringes of reality with just enough strength left in their souls for the Maiden in Black to bring them back from the dead. But most of them served little purpose and gave up after their first few forays into the demon-infested kingdom, and instead resigned themselves to the Nexus, just as the Slayer had done.
One of them, however, was different. A young man, strong of body and noble of mind, had not given up like the rest. This young man had ventured forth into Boletaria again and again, just as the Slayer once had, and came back victorious each and every time, stronger than ever and bearing a new demon's soul, to the delight of the Maiden. Through the Maiden, the young hero grew stronger, learned new soul arts, touched the demon within her.
From his lonely corner in the darkness, the Slayer saw and heard all of this, listened to the Maiden in Black as she praised the young pretender, granted him magic and strength, offered him aid in any way she could. The Slayer saw every interaction and heard every word spoken.
And the Slayer grew angry.
For the first time in (weeks? months? years?), the Slayer felt something other than hopelessness and despair: he felt anger. Frustrated. Hatred.
Jealousy.
The Slayer latched on to his anger, gripped it tightly, determined never to let it go. It hurt, it hurt dearly, but the pain was so much better than the emptiness and nothing that had sustained him. The anger gave him life, gave him energy, rekindled a fire in his heart, a fire he tended to as he watched the Maiden interact with the young hero again and again and again.
Every word of praise the Maiden in Black offered to the young hero was another arrow striking the Slayer in the heart, every small smile or coy comment a twist of the knife. But still, he watched on, and on, and on, feeling the fire within him grow stronger and more dangerous with every passing day, allowing the hatred in his heart to fuel him, to keep him here, if only for a while longer.
How long the Slayer allowed the fire within him to grow, he never knew. Weeks? Months? Years? It didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that the fire was there, that it raged within him, kept him alert, kept him aware, kept him from fading into the darkness.
And then, one day, after countless ages, the fire within him finally burst.
It was hearing the Maiden refer to the young hero as the new 'Slayer of Demons' that did it, that pushed the original Slayer over the edge and into the abyss. The hero had taken everything from him, it seemed, not only his fate, his adventures, his Maiden…but now his very name? His title? All he had left in the world?
That, of all things, would not stand.
The Slayer's body groaned as he pushed himself up from his position in his lonely corner of the Nexus, dust and cobwebs fluttering and falling all about him as he stood, a testament to the length of time he had spent hiding there like a coward. The fire within him grew bright and angry, pushing him forward despite the sand in his veins and the fog in his mind, his rusted armor creaking and grinding as he took his first steps in what must have been ages.
The young hero was gone by the time the Slayer approached the Maiden in Black, but it mattered not; he wasn't here for the hero, after all. He was here for the one who had lied to him, the one he had given everything to, the one who kept him alive and alert for so very long before abandoning him to the darkness as she had no doubt done to countless souls before him.
The Slayer wanted the Maiden in Black, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him.
"Ah, brave soul, it hast been long since last I saw thee," the Maiden said as she turned to look upon the approaching Slayer, the creaking and grinding of his armor loud enough to alert her of his presence. Her voice was as sweet and familiar as when last the Slayer had heard her speak to him, perhaps even with a hint of fondness, as though she had longed to speak to him again, but he did not let that stop him.
More manipulation. More lies. Nothing more.
"How may I be of service to thee?" the Maiden asked, unencumbered by the Slayer's silence or his unsteady gait. If she felt the rage boiling within him, she made no hint of it, even as he came to a sudden stop before her. "You seek power, dost thou – "
The Maiden never finished her statement, however, for the Slayer interrupted her by grabbing her lamplighter's pole and tossing it aside. A moment later, she was forced onto her knees by the strength of the Slayer's armored hands, stumbling slightly despite herself, perhaps surprised for the first time in an eternity.
"What dost thou want of me?" the Maiden asked, softly but clearly confused, as the Slayer began undoing his trousers. She knew not what was happening, yet somehow managed to maintain her oddly calm composure, a development which only seemed to anger the Slayer even further. "Prithee, tell me what needest of me. I am here for thee and – "
With a start, the Maiden found herself interrupted by the Slayer yet again, this time as he shoved his fat cock past her lips and deep into her warm and welcoming mouth. The woman groaned lightly as she felt the Slayer's erection push deeper and deeper inside of her, forcing her tongue to run along his ancient shaft even as she felt the head of his cock pushing against the back of her throat. Before she knew it, the entirety of the Slayer's member was buried in her mouth, with her nose pressed against his unkempt abdomen and his balls against her chin.
Above her, the Slayer groaned as he buried his cock down the Maiden's throat, the fire within him growing stronger by the second the longer he felt the woman's warm mouth wrapped around his throbbing erection. Her warmth, her wetness, even the little sounds she made as he stuffed her mouth full of his meat; it was all overwhelming, deliciously so, the first stroke of pleasure he had felt in so very long.
How long had it been since last he felt the touch of woman? Since last he felt himself sheathed to the hilt inside a lover? Since last he let himself go and shared his seed with another?
Weeks? Months?
Years?
No longer.
Groaning loudly and with not a thought to the wellbeing of the woman on her knees before him, the Slayer slowly began to pull his thick meat out of the Maiden's mouth until only the head of his cock pressed against her slick lips…before thrusting himself wholly inside her again, forcing her mouth wide open and once again savoring the warm and sensual pleasure of her throat gasping and choking around him. And then, he did it again…and again…and again…
On and on the Slayer went, rapidly thrusting in and out of the Maiden's mouth, holding her head with his armored hands in order to keep her from moving away or trying to dislodge him. The fire within him kept him going, spurred him on, energized every thrust into the woman's mouth even as his ancient and unused hips groaned in protest. Where once even the mere thought of copulating in his present state would have seemed strenuous to the Slayer, now it seemed all he desired in the entire world was to ravish the Maiden for all eternity.
The Maiden, meanwhile, seemed to take her punishment in stride, unsure of how to properly react but also not struggling or fighting back in any way. She remained on her knees and even began bobbing her head back and forth as the Slayer above set the rhythm with which he fucked her mouth, running her tongue up and down and all around his thrusting shaft in order to better lubricate him. Whether she did this specifically to pleasure the Slayer or simply to make her ordeal less cumbersome, perhaps even she did not know.
"Gllugghh…" the Maiden gagged loudly as the Slayer fucked her face, pushing and pulling his ancient cock in and out of her mouth, smearing her lips and chin with trails of saliva. She looked up upon the Slayer as he slid in and out of her lips, bobbing her head obediently all the while and moaning along as she went. "Mgghh! Gckkh! Mmmmm…!"
It wasn't long before the Slayer was driving himself into the Maiden's mouth so hard that the sound of his hips and balls slapping against her face began to echo within the Nexus. The Slayer knew the other souls trapped in the realm could see and hear what he was doing – hell, he could see several of them watching, some in interest, others as though in a fog, as he fucked the woman's face – but he cared not.
Lost and useless souls, the lot of them, just as he was. They would not interfere.
All the Maiden could do was bob her head and lick the meaty shaft thrusting in and out of her mouth as the Slayer fucked her face with no regard to anything but to his own pleasure, his own anger, the fire raging within him. He buried himself to the hilt inside her every time, pushing his hardened length down the woman's tightening throat and gasping as he felt his cock stuff her esophagus. Whether he was blocking her airway, the man cared not; she was a demon, after all, wasn't she? What need had she to breathe?
And so it went on, with the Maiden gagging and moaning as she simply allowed herself to be ravaged by the forgotten Slayer, offering her services to yet another brave warrior albeit in a way she had not expected. The fire burning within the Slayer kept him going, fueled every thrust, even as he buried his cock down her throat and kept thrusting harder, faster, and deeper.
Alas, just as the Nexus had sapped the Slayer of all other earthly delights, so too had it drained his stamina, and it wasn't long before the man felt his end approaching. Thrusting wildly and desperately into the Maiden's mouth in his final moments, the Slayer opened his mouth and then groaned as his climax came upon him. Rope after rope of thick, hot cum burst from his cock as he continued to thrust angrily, painting the inside of the woman's mouth white with his seed.
Though the Maiden was surprised when first she felt the Slayer begin to empty himself inside her, she adapted remarkably quickly, allowing her mouth to grow quite full before swallowing the salty liquid as best she could, even shivering as she felt it slide down the back of her throat and into her stomach. Several more gulps followed as the Slayer continued to ejaculate in her mouth, until at long last he pulled out and fired the last load onto the Maiden's face, covering her wax-covered eyes in some wax of his own.
Once he had caught his breath and was able once more to open his eyes, the Slayer took a step back in order to look upon what he had done. The Maiden remained there on the floor before him, still on her knees, panting and gasping, her mouth and chin both dripping with saliva and streams of his seed. The wax covering her eyes was likewise covered by his hot and salty cum, and her hair was ruffled and mussed from how he had handled her.
The Maiden was brought low, humiliated, covered in his seed after having serviced him as no mortal before had ever dared. It was everything the Slayer could have ever wanted.
But still, the fire burned within him.
Before the Maiden had time to react, much less to recover from the brutal face-fucking she had just received, the Slayer was upon her once more. She gasped as the strange black cloth covering her chest was torn asunder by the warrior's armored hands, revealing for the first time her modest but ample breasts, like a pair of wondrous evening moons, pale and plump and ripe for the picking. A moment later, the rest of her clothing was torn away and discarded, leaving her entirely naked, fully revealed, her pale flesh visible for all to see.
For the briefest moment, the Slayer held back, taken aback by the Maiden's beauty. He had found her gorgeous before, in a mysterious and potentially dangerous way, but unveiled as she was before him, her beauty seemed unparalleled in all the land. Pale, alabaster skin like the light of the moon, raven-black hair, a slender and almost fragile form that all but begged to be broken. Her breasts were full and perky, her legs long and quivering, and her bare cunt glistened in the candlelight of the Nexus, already slick with want, promising the Slayer everything he could have ever wanted and more.
The Maiden in Black – no longer in black – was beauty personified. She was an angel, a temptress, a goddess of the moon and stars.
And the Slayer was determined to be the man to ruin her forever.
Forcing the Maiden onto the cold floor of the Nexus, the Slayer sheathed himself inside her in one swift thrust, quick enough and hard enough even to make the mysterious Maiden cry out in pain or surprise. With her naked legs thrown over his shoulders and her bare back pressed to the ground, the Slayer immediately went about claiming the Maiden as his own, thrusting roughly and deeply inside of her right from the beginning.
"Uhn! Uhn! Ahn! Ugghnnn!" the Maiden cried out as the Slayer bent her over like a mating press and slammed his erection into her again and again and again. Her nimble fingers, unsure what to do, grabbed hold of the slick floor beneath her, her alabaster legs all but useless in her current position. "Oh, S-Slayer…!"
If the Slayer heard the Maiden, he showed no sign of it, nor would he have cared much if he did. The fire raging within him kept him going, kept him thrusting, his hips slamming against the Maiden's bare buttocks as he fucked her harder and faster, driving the entirety of his cock into her warm and welcoming folds. With one hand, he grabbed at the woman's breasts, bouncing wildly as they were in time with his vicious thrusts, and wrapped the other around her slender neck, all but choking her, pressing her to the ground even as he claimed her as his own.
The Maiden could do little else but writhe and squirm in both ecstasy and agony beneath the brutal Slayer, all but pinned by the muscular man, fueled as he was by hate and anger and spite. The Maiden knew well these emotions – had seen them many times over the millennia, though without ever experiencing such things for herself – and understood the power that accompanied them. The Slayer bred her not like a lover, or even like a human, but like a demon, an animal enraged, a monster claiming its victim in such a way that there was no question as to its dominance.
And yet, just as the Maiden had adapted to having her mouth used as a cocksleeve, so too did she adapt to being bred like a wild animal. On and on the Slayer went, thrusting deeply and wildly into the Maiden, panting and groaning as he fucked her harder and harder, and the Maiden responded as best she could.
She bucked her hips like a wanton slut, throwing her naked ass back at the Slayer as he slammed into her again and again, causing the sounds of slapping flesh to fill the usually quiet Nexus.
She arched her back and pushed her tingling breasts into the Slayer's grasping hands, gasping and shivering in delight as she felt his armored fingers tweak and pull at her sensitive nipples.
She moaned and groaned, if softly and unsurely, as the Slayer's fingers tightened around her throat, pinning her to the ground as he ruined her from the inside out.
And still the Slayer went on, harder and harder, faster and faster, deeper and deeper. He was little more than a demon himself now, lost in the pleasure of the Maiden's cunt growing ever warmer and ever slicker around his mad and thrusting cock. She was tight, almost impossibly so, like a virgin, and every thrust into her quivering insides sent wave upon wave of pleasure coursing through the Slayer's reinvigorated soul. She was perfect, the perfect woman, the perfect lover, the perfect outlet for the rage and anger and jealousy burning deep within the Slayer's chest.
"Oh! Ah! Uh, uh, uh! Slayer…!" the Maiden moaned, her head thrown back so she couldn't see the man fucking the life out of her even if her eyes had been uncovered. Her entire body shook and squirmed beneath the strength of the Slayer, her legs quivering and her ass already red and sore from its constant pounding. "I…I am here…for thee…and thee only..!"
This time, the Slayer certainly heard the Maiden's words, but it meant little; he had heard her say such things before, not only to him, but to others as well, and knew the words for the lies they were. If anything, hearing the Maiden lie to him only strengthened the fire inside him, forcing him to slam into her harder and at even greater speeds. The fire within him raged on, and on, and on, and the Maiden took each and every brunt of his ferocity in return.
For how long the Slayer rutted with the fair Maiden, he knew not. It could have been minutes, hours, or days; it was all the same here in the Nexus. Did weeks pass? Months? Years?
It didn't matter.
All that mattered to the Slayer was that the Maiden was brought low, left pinned to the floor like a mewling child as he fucked her into submission. Her alabaster skin gleamed with sweat in the gentle candlelight of the Nexus, her entire body writhing and squirming like the naked mess it was as it took brutal pounding after pounding. The Maiden's cunt was red and sore now, yet still slick with desire and in constant need of more, as evidenced by the vigor with which the woman continued to moan and buck her hips in time with the Slayer's thrusts.
"Thee! Thee! Only…for…thee…!" she cried again and again, shivers of pleasure running up and down her spine as the Slayer took everything she was willing to give, and then even more still. She was a mess, her black hair tossed about, her pale flesh covered in marks and bruises, everything bouncing and jiggling and bucking and squirming.
As the fire within him grew ever stronger, ever more powerful, ever more desperate, the Slayer's thrusts became likewise. Slamming his hips into the Maiden's delicate buttocks, he buried himself to the hilt in her tightening cunt again and again and again, pushing himself so deep inside of her that her stomach practically bulged from his size. The sounds of their lovemaking echoed throughout the Nexus, filling the empty darkness with the song of flesh slapping wildly against flesh.
Finally, after what felt like literal ages to Slayer and Maiden alike, the Slayer let go of the woman's neck and breasts and instead reached down to take hold of her voluptuous buttocks, each armored hand tightly gripping one bare cheek. Still slamming into the Maiden with everything the fire within him allowed, the Slayer lifted her ass from the floor even as he bent her over further, pressing her knees to her breasts as he thrust downwards into her sopping cunt, evidently intent on piercing her womb and filling her with every drop of his seed.
"Slayer, Slayer, Slayer…!"
It was the Maiden's desperate and pleading cry for release that served as the catalyst for the Slayer's, and the mighty warrior practically roared as he buried himself to the hilt inside the mysterious woman and finally let loose everything the fire within him had been holding back. The Maiden's impossibly tight cunt practically clamped closed around the Slayer's thrusting cock as he buried himself in her folds and unleashed a veritable river of seed, as though determined to fill the woman to the very brim.
Beneath him, the Maiden gasped and mewled adorably as she felt the Slayer ejaculate inside of her, feeling for the first time the warmth of a man's love as it filled her innermost sanctum, her most intimate of chambers. She felt every last drop of love poured into her, and shivered in dark and desperate pleasure in response, every muscle in her well-fucked body tightening as her pussy drank deep of the Slayer's seed.
By the time the Slayer had fully emptied himself inside the Maiden, she was literally overflowing with his juices, every inch of her womb filled with his liquid fire and with the remains leaking out of her cunt and down into the crack of her ass. The Slayer remained within the Maiden for a few moments more after he finally finished, catching his breath and striving for clarity, before he finally withdrew and then let go of her, dropping her unceremoniously to the floor where she lay like a hapless child.
Standing, the Slayer looked down upon his handiwork…and felt nothing. He felt no victory, no triumph, no joy. He did not feel regret for what he had done, nor guilt, nor sorrow. Like so many of the empty husks he had faced and fought over the ages, there was nothing left to him, no soul, no humanity, nothing.
At last, at long last, the fire had gone out. He was gone. There was nothing left.
Nothing but the Nexus.