Goddesses of the Under-Keep

* * *

Now Elric, I said to myself, you've trekked the width of a continent, seen countless sights of immeasurable complexity and exoticism, fought foes of a monstrous sort, but this very well be the most exotic being you've ever laid eyes upon. The being in question was, of course, a woman. But what a woman. Tall, at least my height, which is an impressive feat in and of itself. Even sitting at a table as she was, I could see the sultry beauty in her movement, the suppleness of her white flesh. Her raven hair cascaded down bare shoulders as clear blue eyes gazed back at me. Her crimson lips, coloured like fresh-spilled blood, were full and inviting, moistened by the tip of her tongue in the most sensual manner. She bore a tattoo on her chest, a delicate marking of a crescent moon. The tattoo sat almost in the hollow of her ample breasts, which themselves were barely contained by a scant bra-like garment made of leather and fur. Her midriff lay bare and a tiny garment of the same material was tied about her hips, a garment which served only to cover her most sensitive of female regions. The full, ivory expanse of her long, exquisitely shaped legs were exposed, unclad, and her delicate feet were protected by simple sandals that bound about her ankles. Her garb was like that of one of the feral women, and though she was lithe in build, she lacked the broad shoulders, raw musculature, and ferocious expression of one of these tribal folk.

I was no stranger to women myself, but had, in all honesty, never laid with one. My work as a mercenary afforded me myriad opportunity, but minimal time. Thus, when this vision of lustful temptation smiled in my direction and bid me come sit beside her, I leapt at the chance. Without an active contract, I was whiling away my time and money in this small-town tavern, and this woman appeared to be rather willing to occupy my downtime.

"Elric Ravinus." I said politely, situating my muscular frame onto the small wooden chair across from her at the isolated table.

"Aeryna," she said simply, "just Aeryna. You didn't come over to talk, did you, fighting man?"

At this point I felt her brush one of her sandaled feet against my leg under the table, moving it steadily higher until it rested between my thighs. She pressed lightly with her toes and my heart skipped a beat, my hands tensing up in anticipation.

"No, m'lady," I replied, "I assume you have no desire to converse, do you?"

"Not in the least," she responded with a wicked smirk, "but my home is not in town."

"I'll walk a continent and back if I must." I hastily stated.

"Oh you'll do nicely." purred Aeryna. "But the entrance to my home stands in a hollow, under a high hill east of town. Come to me tonight, Elric, and I will assure you a night of minimal rest."

Before I could reply, Aeryna rose and walked around the table, her every movement alive with a deliberate sensuality. Closer up, I could smell her sweet aroma, the honey-like fragrance of her flesh, her hair, like some intoxicating supernatural perfume that befuddled my mind with attraction. Aeryna fell upon me, wrapping her porcelain arms around my neck and covering my lips with her's. Her teeth scratched and bit at my lips whilst she pressed her body against me. Then the kiss was broken, and she was gone, walking away at a calm pace, her legs carrying her away with long, visually-gratifying strides.

I had to sit still for a moment and calm my heartbeat, wiping faint traces of blood from my lips. The woman kissed hard. My heart pounded like a war-drum and I had half a mind to charge after Aeryna and carry her away in my arms. But there was something ethereal about her, despite her startlingly, almost assertively real presence; I felt that if I chased after her, I would not find her in the streets, only in the location which she had specified. A house under a hill, I assumed built into the terrain itself, east of town. My objective was clear.

I paid my fee to the bartender and strode out into the quiet streets. The sun had only just set and the already sparse population of this forest-bordered town was now homeward bound for the night ahead. I had no home here and stayed regularly at an inn across the street from the tavern. But not tonight. I set my self to the east and began walking out of town, watching as the houses diminished in number and grew farther apart until the dirt road became a stone-strewn trail, which led into the thickly wooded area beyond the eastern border of the township.

The woods were dark and dense beyond compare, blotting out the dwindling light of the recently-set sun. But even in the encroaching darkness, I discerned the rise of the ground in a northeastward direction. Separating from the path, I began breaking through the brush, crashing through scrub and low-hanging branches, pushing thinner trees aside and crushing tall grass under my boots. The sound of forest creatures drifted to my keen ears, but I felt no concern, for the steel blade at my side could, rather easily, allow me to fell any animal who might fancy me a suitable prey.

The trees thinned only slightly as I came to a low hill and began to circle it, seeking a house. As I expected, I found a wooden door in the earthen slope, which yielded to my turning of the knob. Stone steps and thick stone walls greeted me. Who in Hel's name carved this place of stone?! The steps sloped sharply inward into dark depths, though a faint illumination hovered at the end of the dark passage. As I descended down into and below the hill, my means of entry swung closed by its own weight, a dull "thud" echoing down the steps.

The illumination grew brighter as I reached the bottom of the stone steps and walked across a tiled floor toward the only door, which stood partially ajar before me. Pushing this heavy oak door inward, I strode into a room illuminated by torches set in brackets near each of its four corners. Other doors exited this room, but all were closed, and the door behind me, heavy as it was, swung to as well. But I was not alarmed, for I was armed and my only possible aggressors would have to come from doors which were clearly visible. I would not be surprised.

The room was relatively unadorned, save for a high-backed wooden chair that sat against the wall opposite the door by which I'd entered. The chair had what appeared to be a soft cushion upon it, and on that chair sat a woman, red-haired and pale-skinned, as tall as Aeryna and sharing the other woman's radiant sexuality. But this woman wore only a tightly clinging black robe, cut low enough that I could see a crescent moon tattoo, like Aeryna's, identical in fact in placement and design. Her eyes met mine and the woman smiled invitingly.

"You are Aeryna's man, Elric the fighter, yes?" she asked in a stern yet quiet tone.

"And you are?" I returned.

"Kressa, friend of Aeryna, keeper of her sanctity." she answered.

"Keeper of--"

"Her sanctity," she repeated, "her well-being. And thus, approver of her... decisions."

This last word was pointedly directed at me. I did not quite know where to proceed from this point. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Kressa did.

"Kiss my feet." she ordered.

"I beg your pardon?" I demanded, drawing myself up in an intimidating and indignant manner.

"I withhold the right to send you away," she said firmly, her voice taking on a hard edge, "or to admit you into the chambers beyond... and Aeryna."

"Chambers?! How vast is this dwelling?" I inquired, curiosity getting the best of me.

"Irrelevant!" she insisted. "Now get on your knees and worship my feet, or Aeryna will go wanting tonight."

Men are so easily motivated to loathsome self-degradation by lust for a beauteous maiden. Well, I was at least. Pent up as I was, never knowing the glory of carnal relations, I was compelled to act on this Kressa's demands, odd as it all may have been. Thus I walked across the floor and knelt before the robed figure in her chair, lifting the hem of her robe. Kressa's feet were slender and bare, white as snow and baring the sweet scent that emanated from the rest of her shapely body, a scent much like Aeryna's.

I took first one of her feet into my hands and began to kiss it, lavishing my lips over the top of her foot, then kissing the instep. She raised her foot further so I could press my lips against her cool, sweet sole. Kressa let out a low hum of contentment.

"Between the toes, Elric." she ordered, her firm tone tinged with the heat of arousal.

I could not say no, lest the lithe Aeryna go this night well-rested. I raised my lips to Kressa's delicate toes, each nail painted a deep red, and began to suck on them individually, letting my tongue run between them one by one. I repeated the process with her other foot: kissing and licking it, then sucking on and licking between her toes. By the time I was done, Kressa was fidgeting excitedly, her thighs squeezing together in excitement.

"Remove all your garments," she demanded, panting exuberantly, "you will now consummate your good intentions for Aeryna, with me, her keeper."

"But I came here for--"

"Disrobe or depart!" she snarled.

What could I do, for want of Aeryna?! I had to obey, and Kressa was, though odd, not an unappealing woman. I stepped away from her and stripped off my garments: boots, pants, lightly armored shirt, and my weapon, organizing them in a pile by Kressa's chair. The woman rose, standing at my height and effortlessly tearing away her robe to reveal a hard body, firm breasts, finely sculpted limbs, and unblemished skin. I stared in awe, even as she took my head in her hands and, with a strength surprising, drew my head against her right breast, burying my face against it.

"Drink." she hissed.

I was perplexed, but as she'd positioned me such that her right nipple pressed against my lips, I assumed she desired my attentions thereupon. I began to suck, gently at first, then harder as a sweet nectar came forth from her, filling my mouth with its cool essence as I sucked eagerly now, drinking deep as a sensation like the fluttering of a million wings resonated in my every nerve.

When Kressa at last pulled me upright, I was dizzy and lightheaded, I staggered yet she held me in her vice-like grasp.

"W-what was that?" I asked, in an enthralled tone.

"Our essence," Kressa hissed, squeezing my shoulders ever tighter, painfully so, "to make you, not as us, but with our... durability. Our longevity."

"What?"

"You shall, with regular doses from myself and the others, live forever, and be not unbreakable... but you will reassemble if, rather when, we break you." now she was growling like a beast.

"You... you're mad. What is this?!" my voice was filled with an unfamiliar emotion to me: fear.

I noticed the changes just as Kressa heaved me off my feet with no effort at all and hurled me like a rag-doll across the room. I struck a wall and fell to the floor, dazed and agonized, but still I watched Kressa as she began to change. She grew taller at first, resembling a giantess of sorts, her head reaching near the room's vaulted ceiling which I'd hitherto not noticed. Tendril's broke off from her in great wisps, wisps that were quite solid and whipped about until her body, save her face and head (now much larger as was the rest of her), was no longer a curvaceous woman, but a gelatinous mass of no discernable shape, tentacles rippling from her "flesh."

I struggled to my feet and hastily appraised the situation. Kressa stood between me and my belongings. Rather, she sat or lingered, for this gelatinous being with Kressa's beautiful head had no feet of which to speak. She did not, however, occupy the space between myself and the door by which I entered this room. My muscles sprang like a steel trap, propelling me toward the door with a mighty bound. I ran for it, but barely made it through the door. I could see them there, the stairs, the door, freedom. But I never made it, not even close.

The tentacle that snaked around my waist and arms was solid, it felt like flesh, with a solid core like a wire, but one built of steel, though about the thickness of the widest part of a human thumb. It's surface was smooth and in many places moist or slime-flecked, like much of Kressa's newly-revealed body, for perhaps it was there that the slime originated. My arms were pinned to my sides, immobile and ineffective as I was hoisted off the ground and twirled about, wound in the extended tentacle as it drew me ever closer to Kressa. By the time I was face-to-face with her, our noses almost touching, the tentacle wrapped me from my shoulders to my ankles.

"What are you?" I demanded, struggling without result in my binding.

"A being immortal," she growled, her face now larger than mine like that of a giantess, "like Aeryna and all of our sisters who bare the crescent mark and inhabit the Under-Keep of this land."

"Sisters? Land? There are more of you?" I gasped in horror.

"Tunnels, catacombs that span the width of the known world!" she proclaimed, her voice booming with malevolent pride. "And many of our kind dwell herein. All of them women, shifters of shape though this be our true form of origin. And you, our male."

"Your male? Only I am here? You have no others?"

"None that we've not devoured out of boredom." she replied. "But stoic as you are, breaking you for eternity should suit us..."

I let out a scream, a scream of unrelenting terror at the cosmic horror that now beset my mind. Eternal damnation amongst these... creatures, Aeryna being one of them. I would know no peace, if I could not escape this doom. But, entirely immobilized as I was, escape was completely out of the realm of possibility. My scream was cut off by Kressa, who pressed her now giant, slavering wet lips over my mouth, smothering my voice as her tongue slid over, around, and in my mouth. She kissed me ferociously, moaning into my mouth, her saliva mixing with, in fact entirely eclipsing my own. I gagged and gasped as the kiss continued, as she began to cover the entirety of my face with these horribly sloppy, slobbering kisses, agonizingly biting my lips and my ears as she kissed me thoroughly.

"Such a good boy." she moaned when she was finished with this disgusting onslaught, my face now slimy and dripping wet.

"Oh Gods help me!" I screamed in terror and dismay.

"No Gods here!" she laughed. "Only Goddesses, more beautiful and powerful than you could possibly imagine. Now, worship us!"

The binding tentacle released me for a moment, only to be replaced by two others which seized my wrists and held them tightly above my head, dangling me in the air, still entirely helpless. A tentacle lashed out then, extending to great length, whirling through the air before snapping hard against my back with an agonizing "CRACK!" I cried out again, but the breath was knocked from me when another tentacle followed through with a whipping swing, cracking hard off my shoulders. One after another they whipped down my back, shoulders to heels, then switched to the front of my body and worked their way up before returning their whipping, flesh-bruising attention to my back. Kressa looked at me in sadistic joy as I shuddered and screamed, tears rolling down my face, gasping and pleading for mercy.

"No, stop!" I wailed pathetically, my strength forgotten and useless. "Please, Kressa, I beg you. Please! Somebody help me!"

"Scream for me, Slave!" she snarled.

"Help me!!"

The whipping subsided at last, but the respite was temporary and minimal. Kressa pulled me in, pinning me against her heaving, gelatinous bulk, which parted to engulf my manhood and testicles, squeezing them tightly in the warm, soft substance that comprised her being. I groaned in an unwanted pleasure as she contracted that area of her body in pulsing, squeezing motions up and down the length of my shamefully erect penis. But this pseudo-pleasure was not without its misery. A tentacle began to creep down my back, probing at my backside lightly.

"Please, Gods no!" I whimpered.

"That's Goddess, little Slave Boy!" Kressa corrected. "And Goddess Kressa says... yes..."

The thumb-thick tentacle, strewn with its sweet-smelling slime probed slowly in at first, forcing me to emit faint gasps as I felt its penetration. That gasping turned to a low, drawn out moan as twelve inches of tentacle slithered into me, probing and wriggling. My dismay only grew as two, then three, then four more tentacles crept over my flesh and began to push in as well.

"It's too hard." I screamed, even as Kressa's bulk worked me to a most unpleasant orgasm. "It's too much."

"Nothing is too much for your Goddess." Kressa replied, ecstatic from my misery.

But the tentacles slowly retracted, those binding my arms replaced with one around my waist.

"But perhaps," Kressa mused, "you were too easily broken. Perhaps you won't amuse us."

"What are you going to do?" I pleaded like some weak child.

"You won't waste my time," she explained, "or Aeryna's. I'm going to eat you."

My scream was short as Kressa's lips sloppily smothered my face. She grew larger now, her lips smothering my head with their wetness, her tongue wrapping around me, drawing me into her mouth. I wept as my body scraped over her teeth, as her tongue moved me to the back of her mouth and I beheld the yawning chasm of her throat. I felt myself, wet and agonized and violated, sliding forward, headfirst. The tongue arched and tipped me forward, down, down, down Kressa's throat, where my screams could not be heard, nor would they ever be...

* * *

Waking up was my only indication that I'd at all fainted. My arms were above my head, held, it felt like, by bands of iron wrapped in leather and attached to the ceiling. I was naked and felt the air on my skin, felt my bruises and lacerations respectively ache and sting. Though it was dark, it was not pitch dark, and I saw a light approaching me in the distance. As it drew near, I figured it for a torch, and was proven right when its wielder stepped into my range of sight.

Aeryna, clad as I'd seen her in the bar, holding a torch which she fixed into a wall bracket. I writhed in my bonds, wanting to strike and harm her, but my arms were held high and my slime-drenched self could do nothing about it. Aeryna approached me and caressed me with her soft hands; a thorough an invasive exploration of my body. Leaning forward, she began to lick the slime from my face whilst I grimaced and cursed her. My cursing was cut short as she painfully jerked my head down to her bosom and forced me to drink more of that intoxicating nectar that would so curse me with immortality.

"Kressa held you in her mass until you passed out," she explained, "then she merely forced you out of her body. Our membranes are so usefully permeable."

"Aeryna, p-please," I begged, "this is surely not what you want."

"You're right," she replied, "I'd have suspended you by your balls, not your wrists. But we'll save that joy for later. Have you noticed the device?"

At this moment I became aware of a sensation which had hitherto escaped my notice, due to my more pressing matters. A cool, metal sensation between my thighs, and the familiar throb of arousal. I looked down and beheld the strangest of devices, simple yet in truth, hopelessly intricate. It appeared only as two rings, a smaller one locked around my erect member, a slightly larger one locked around my scrotum. These rings, cast in no steel I'd ever seen before, joined together, and at first appeared smooth until closer inspection revealed almost imperceptible holes along each band.

"Keyholes." explained Aeryna, as if detecting my thoughts. "Our shape-shifting allows us to generate tendrils thick or thin as we like, and in this case, thin enough to slip into one of those holes and unlock it. But," added she, "each of us can only unlock one, thus you must satisfy many, though not all, before the device is unlocked and comes away."