The Curse
In a world where the gods lived among their children, humans thrived with their blessings: a single drop of their divine ichor. Superhuman feats have become rather commonplace, yet not mundane. These blessings were only given to people with the title of "Adventurer," which is granted to those in a god's family, or Familia.
Naturally, since the peak of the supernatural have lived among humans, the dangers of the supernatural exist too. Minotaurs, goblins, kobolds, orcs, and all kinds of monsters imaginable starved for the blood of humans. But those who really have a hate for the gods and their children, would be the original children of the gods: the devils.
The devils and their ilk are intelligent monsters that want one thing: the end of humanity and the death of the gods. Technically, two things, but they're intertwined. The death of gods ends the blessings that empower and protect humanity. If done in reverse, without the worship of their children, the gods grow bored and start wars amongst one another again then lose their powers, making them quick and easy prey. Seeing that the humans were weaker than the gods, the devils decided to target the weak humans first.
And so the devils used their craftiness to wage their war against humanity, although the latter was largely unaware of it. Wars were waged, massacres were committed, and inhumane acts of violence were done against humans by humans themselves. Kings lent their ears to the advice of the devils and sacrificed their sons to mad gods and unholy wars all for the sake of gold. Queens would leave their beloved kings and chase after men that devils raised up, for their fingers brought the strongest ecstasy and their seed was delicious to the tongue. Fathers were pulled into the lusts of the world and their children rebelled while mothers whored themselves and were imitated by their own daughters. Once the kingdoms were falling apart, the devils set their pets upon the humans to rend them limb from limb.
What the devils didn't expect was for heroes to emerge, blessed by the gods themselves, to fight against the dragons, hordes of orcs, and the dens of goblins. Humanity triumphed thanks to these heroes and would continue to prosper until the gods came down from heaven to live on earth.
Bell Cranel ran. He ran for his life. Sweat poured his body in buckets as dread welled in his stomach. His legs felt numb to the pain already but Bell still ran.
"Come, hither, boy," a voice snickered just behind Bell's ear. It was playing with Bell, that much was obvious. It walked at a relaxed pace but somehow still kept up with Bell's running speed. "I won't eat you."
Bell dared glance behind him and regretted it.
The devil was right there with its wide grin. Pale white, soulless eyes stared into Bell's soul, reading it like an open book. All of Bell's secrets and all of Bell's dreams were laid bare before the devil. Death was held in one hand of the devil while a lifetime of curses and disaster was carried in the other hand. It was dressed in a dark violet cloak that used human bones for fashion. Its feet walked but made no noise. Its cloak flapped against the wind but there was no wind whistling by.
Bell lost all strength in his legs and dropped onto the ground.
"Aha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" the devil laughed as it circled around Bell. "Tell me, boy, what is your name?" it asked as if it didn't already know. Its grin widened even more, if that was even possible.
Bell turned to lie on his back and face the devil. He shakily drew his knife and pointed it at the devil.
"Futile," the devil spat but didn't make a move.
"My," Bell began in between heavy intakes of air. "My name is Bell… Bell Cranel!"
"Bell huh. Now where do I remember that name," the devil muttered thoughtfully. "Ah, now I remember. You're that Bell Cranel," its grin returned threefold. It eyed the spot where Bell was laying a second ago to find it empty. "Ha-ha! Go crawl and hide! I will find you!" it sniffed the air like a bloodhound and slowly walked through the bushes of the forest. It found Bell halfway through a rabbithole. The devil laughed and grabbed Bell by the leg and hoisted him.
"This lowly one would usually offer you two choices. A life of suffering or death." Bell stabbed the devil's arm several times over but the devil didn't even flinch. Its milky white eyes bored into Bell. A violet color swirled from the sides of the eyeballs before forming a circle around the center, creating irises that were slightly less scary than empty eyeballs. "But you? You're special. This lowly one can only offer thee a life of suffering." The devil passed Bell to his other arm and held him by the neck. "Now, now, hold still while this lowly one curses you."
A flash of steel dismembered the devil's arm and the devil let out a shriek of pain. Its arm dropped to the ground and dark blood flowed onto the grass, decaying them immediately and cursing the ground to grow thorns for the next few years. Bell dropped with the arm and coughed, finally able to breath.
The devil whirled around to see its aggressor, a woman clad in white and the gray of armor. Her blue boots reached up to her thighs and a scabbard on her side. She had a slim short sword, an arming sword, wielded one handedly and at the ready to stab the devil. "Are you safe?"
Bell coughed. His throat was dry and parched. "Y.. Yes."
"Good, can you run?" she asked.
"I can try."
"Go. I will hold this monster back."
"What a cute little girl," the devil laughed scornfully, its hand having grown back. "Step aside, Ais Wallenstein, or you shall surely die," it unslung its weapon from its back, a rusty glaive.
"Tempest, Ariel," the blonde girl named Ais adjusted her sword and waited for the devil to make the first move.
"Very well," the devil stood at its tallest and towered thirteen feet over the swordswoman. Its glaive, easily ten feet in length, cut through the hardwood trees as it sang for the girl's blood.
Ais jumped over the swing and dashed forward. The devil took a step back and swung his glaive once again before Ais could even close half of the way. It aimed a little higher, cutting away Ais' ability to jump over the attack, forcing Ais to move back. This was futile as the blade stopped midair and nicked Ais in her sword arm. Crimson blood flowed across the glaive the devil smirked.
The devil drew the blade to its fingers and carefully wiped off the blood. It licked off the blood on its hand. It grinned and cackled in madness. "Ahhh, a virgin's blood tastes delicious," he relished in the moment.
Ais took this moment to attack and aimed for the devil's heart with her sword. The devil took notice and backhanded her away. The girl hit a tree and grunted as the tree fell over from the force. She got up and managed to black the devil's glaive as it fell upon her. The difference in strength between her and the devil was immense though and Ais was driven to her knees.
The devil closed the distance and grabbed Ais around her waist. "Tell me, life or death?"
Ais, still gripping her sword, stabbed straight through the elbow. The devil shrieked and dropped her. "Ye little—" it cursed and swiped its claws at Ais. Ais easily dodged and closed the distance. She made an effort to cut the devil's neck but the devil raised his other arm to block. Ais cut the devil's arm but wasn't able to chop it off. The devil jumped back to create space but Ais needed to keep close, so as not to give it the range advantage.
Ais stabbed and slashed the devil several more times in its retreat. No decisive blow has been struck yet, the devil was almost as fast as Ais and was stronger. Ais' sword was not that large either, so the wounds she caused the devil were not devastating but were like cuts from a knife. Unless she dealt a decisive blow, the devil had the upper hand.
The devil decided to ditch its glaive, the range advantage was lost. This caught Ais off guard as the devil brought its fist up and caught her sword in one hand while the other grabbed her by the abdomen.
"Finally caught you, annoying bug," the devil spat as it tugged Ais' sword and threw it away. Its wounds healed, but slower than before. "Now tell me, life or death?" it snarled.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" the devil's attention was drawn elsewhere by a battlecry. It shrieked when a sword entered its eye and exited its mouth. It dropped Ais once again and grabbed at the air. It continued grabbing around, reaching for the thing that harmed him. Bell yelled once more as he jumped from the trunk of a broken tree and onto the devil's face. He aimed for the throat of the devil and slit it wide open. Dark blood dropped onto the ground and the devil caught Bell by the throat.
"You!" it gargled as it tightened its grip around Bell's throat. "I curse you to die! I curse you to death!" it spat as blood clogged its throat and flowed from its lips. Its one good eye glanced at the Ais girl on the ground and its grin came back. "You are to die unless you are to take the virginity of a woman every fortnight!" the devil's smile could shatter mirrors. After all, no woman would want to lie with a weakling and would be willing to share him. Ahhh, the boy's only choice right now was Ais and the rumors that the devil heard about the girl regarding men were not pretty. "This, I, Sagarel the Vile, curse Bell Cranel with!" the devil laughed until the blood in its throat made it gargle and choke. It dropped Bell and spread its black wings before it disappeared into the night sky, dripping its venomous blood and withering the grass where it fell.
Bell grunted as he got up. "Miss Ais!" he ran towards his savior who was sprawled on the ground. "Miss Ais, are you okay?"
The girl looked dazed as she pushed herself up. She recognized the young man drenched in blood running towards her. She nodded her head. "I am relatively fine," she glanced at her arm which still had an open wound. She shakily got to her knees and onto her feet. She nearly fell over but the boy caught her in his own shaking arms. "Thank you," she said softly as she adjusted herself.
Ais took a look at the boy. His irises were a deep red. His hair, which was matted in dirt, sweat and blood, would've been a radiant white color. His face was young, as young as she was if not younger, and looked as innocent and naive as a rabbit. "I am assuming your name is Bell Cranel?" Ais asked.
The boy nodded with a small smile. "That's me," he said. His eyes turned worried when he saw the wound on Ais. "Do you have anything to patch your wound?"
Ais glanced once again at her bleeding arm. "My camp is nearby, we could go there and stay for the night," she took a step away from Bell and almost dropped to her knees once again if the boy didn't catch her.
"Careful," Bell said. "I think I could carry you there. Just tell me the directions."
Ais acknowledged his support and looked at the stars in the sky. If that was the north star and Ais traveled south east to save Bell, then they should travel north west to return to her camp. Ais raised her uninjured arm and pointed Bell in the camp's direction.
"Oh, here's your sword," Bell handed Ais her sword, Desperate, back.
Ais gracefully took it and wiped off the devil's blood on her skirt before sheathing it. "Let us go."
The duo limped through the ruined battlefield and into the untouched flora of the forest. The echoes of the downward strike had damaged Ais more than she had liked while Bell was exhausted from running away.
Their walk was rather silent. Bell was too shy to speak while Ais wasn't one to initiate a conversation. Soon enough they reached the camp and they were greeted by a smoldering campfire and an erect tent. Bell gently guided Ais to the tent before putting some tried twigs onto the fire. He had to blow the small flames to ignite the twigs and to keep the fire going. Once he was sure that the fire wouldn't die out, he turned his attention back to Ais, who was about to deal with her wound.
"Let me help," Bell said. Ais casted him a glance before lowering her unwounded arm and letting Bell check her other arm. "Do you have any potions?" he asked. Ais shook her head. "That would be a problem…" The wound was deep but didn't touch her bone. The blade of the glaive was pretty rusty and there's always a chance of infection. The wound had to be cleaned. "How about clean water and alcohol?"
Ais silently reached into the tent and drew two flasks. She handed them both to Bell. Bell carefully opened one and saw that it was water. The other contained some red wine. The water might not be enough though…
"There's a river a little north. You can draw more water from there," Ais said.
"Thank you. I'll go later," Bell grinned and started rinsing his dirty hands with the flask of water before disinfecting it with the wine. He shook his hands to dry it a little. "Can I see?" Ais lent Bell her arm. Bell daintily rinsed the blood off with some water and cleared the debris that was around the wound. "I'm disinfecting it," he said with sympathy. Ais nodded and Bell poured some wine onto the wound. She winced a little at the sting of alcohol on her wounds. Bell once again rinsed the wound with the cool water. "Could I borrow a clean cloth?"
Ais looked through her travel bag and pulled out the only clean cloth available: her white, unused undergarments. "This is the only one I have left," she offered the cloth to Bell. Bell's face turned a deep shade of red and leaped backwards.
"Wha-wha-wha-wha-what are you doing?!"
"You said you needed a clean cloth," Ais tilted her head.
"But that— That—"
"It's fine. You aren't going to do anything perverted with it," Ais narrowed her eyes. "Are you?"
"I'm not!" Bell promised.
"Then it is fine," Ais offered it once more.
Bell took in a deep breath and gently took the cloth used for undergarments. It wasn't those lacy panties but a simple pair of panties. "You won't be able to use them anymore," Bell said.
"It is fine."
Bell sighed and with a ton of hesitation, tore the piece of undergarment apart. He had an instinct to sigh in sadness but pushed that feeling down. He wrapped the undergarment around the wound and tied the bottom and top parts tightly, so it wouldn't fall off. "All done," Bell said and took a step back, to give Ais the space she needed.
Ais admired the makeshift bandage of Bell before nodding. "Thank you."
Bell grinned and scratched his head. "You're welcome," he bowed his head right after. "Thank you for saving me back there. I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you."
"I heard someone was in trouble, it's only natural that I would help."
"Thank you, nonetheless," Bell straightened up. "Umm, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? I'm Bell Cranel."
"Yes, I heard from that monster earlier. I am Ais Wallenstein," Ais said.
"Miss Wallenstein–"
"Just call me Ais," Ais interrupted. "That's what you called me earlier."
"Miss Ais then…" Bell blushed. "Do you know what that monster was?"
"I do not. I can only assume it was a Xeno."
"What's that?"
"It's a monster that has gained intelligence," Ais explained.
Bell didn't understand it much but just nodded. "I should… I should probably go and take a bath to wash away the blood," he picked up the empty flask that held water earlier. "I'll also fill this back up. I'm going to be right back," he said as he disappeared into the woods.
Ais sent him away with a wave before being left alone with her thoughts and the crackling of the fire as it ate away the twigs. " 'The virginity of a woman or you'll die…' " she muttered under her breath. "What kind of curse is that?"
Aight. That's that. Another plot fic with smut… Or is this a smut fic with plot? Who knows.
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