Raska Tales: The Fallen General

The General grinned, planting a soft kiss on her neck before pulling out from her cunt and sitting down on his heels. Eyes wide and lips snarling, Moitri whipped around to face him with a blind rage sending white flames erupting from her long, white hair.

"WHAT DID I-"

Zerry dove forward, wrapping his arms around her back and beneath her ass to hoist her upward as he stood in the same motion. He drank in her surprise with his lips, kissing her deeply as he used his finger tips to shift his cock back in line with her sex and drive himself back into her hole. His kiss swallowed her approving groan as he pumped his Goddess with all the speed he could muster while she held onto him for dear life.

When that final, glorious rush built up in the both of them, she dug her nails hard into his back as his knees began to buckle. Unable to contain herself, she finally broke their kiss to unleash an echoing cry over his shoulder as he gritted his teeth and thrust himself into her to full depth. In their climax, a light erupted from Moitri's belly and Zerry's body shuttered in and out of existence as his "seed" erupted into body.

With the last of his strength waning, he fell to his knees and gently lowered Moitri down to the floor. Ultimately he collapsed beside her, spent and drawing in exhausted breaths as she shifted to rest her head on his chest with one hand wrapped around his arm and the other holding over his heart.

For the time they lay like that, just enjoying the silence, he almost forgotwhatshe was. How he had come to be here. Until those dark eyes raised to meet with his. That mischievous grin of hers returning as she sat up, stretching her arms and pushing her bare chest out for his viewing pleasure.

"That... that was worth all my efforts," she hummed, bracing herself with one arm and running her free hand along his chest toward his stomach, then over to her belly.

"I can feel it now," she stated in a low, blissful voice. "The familiar essence of your soul helping set the anchor for Haruyal's to grow..."

Her eyes closed as her smile showed teeth. A grey crystal materialized from the void to hover just in front of Moitri's navel. Zerry awed at the gem, blinking as he felt his own heart pull toward it. Mesmerized, he sat up and, with a careful grace, reached to touch it. Only the Goddess took his hand and quickly pushed it away.

"Do not."

Tears flooding his vision, the General asked, "Is that..."

"Yes," Moitri confirmed. "She is unconscious in this state. Dreaming. I can sense how powerful a mage she could've been had she grown up. Magic in her mother's line and a spirit powerful enough to bend a formidable amount of magic to her will. Now... she'll be something more than that. When my essence joins the mix, and she becomes my daughter..."

A proud grin crossed his face with those words. Elation swelled his chest as he sucked in a deep breath and thought of her beaming face, hair more brilliant than polished gold and eyes like fine steel. Each passing moment he felt more like he had when Leliat realized she was pregnant.

"How long will you carry her?" he asked, turning his gaze to Moitri's midriff.

In response, she rubbed a hand over where his eyes fell and stared at the gem still floating before her. "To you, I could make it seem instant. Put you to sleep until I wish for you again. For me... without Necela, it would take twelve years. The Ethereal taking a physical shape is a power reserved only for my kin and I. And yet this is how she must come into existence. Absorbing my power until she can take the first shape. And then for nine months, she'll grow inside me as a mortal, human child would."

Zerry frowned, but nodded as he looked up into Death's eyes. "Every moment I wait will be worth it. Every zet, of every zetra, of every zetran, of every day, will be worth it. For my little girl to have a second chance."

She beamed. "In my suitor I have made a fine choice."

The Goddess manipulated her hand, and what was Haruyal was drawn into her body to complete the ritual. The child's essence quickly took root within and began drawing upon Death's power. And not for a second did Zerry take his eyes away from the spot where she would soon grow. Tears formed in his eyes, his smile stretching wide as he chuckled with excitement.

"It seems so fragile, the crystal, yet everything that is my Ruya is there. You say it is both spirit, and soul, but I don't quite understand that. The difference, I mean."

"Few mortals do," Moitri responded. "I can't blame them, as it is a complex relationship between the three essentials of life."

"How so?" He questioned while leaning in. "How do the essentials work?"

The Goddess raised an eyebrow to him, and then grinned at his apparent interest. "The three... They are what makes up intelligent life, whether it be human, Elven, a dog, a horse. All are made of the body, the spirit, and the soul. The body is the vessel, possessed by the spirit. The piece that is everything that is you. Your thoughts, your feelings, your likes and loathes, all found in the spirit. But the soul, that is... The canvas, as it were, from which spirits draw upon to form. To anchor them to their vessels. A soul will possess a body, and from it a spirit will grow and take shape."

"A dark soul can breed an evil spirit, a good soul can breed a benevolent spirit. However, how the person chooses to live their life can reshape their spirit, and with a strong enough spirit, the soul itself can change. But should the soul be removed, the spirit will have nothing from which to feed or anchor it to its body. The body dies then, the spirit goes on to the afterlife, and the soul comes home to me."

He frowned as he took in this new information, looking to his own hands with wonder then back to her. "What do you do with it?"

She grinned and stared off into the void of her home.

"I take them in, keep them contained to my realm as they recover from the life they had. Feed from them as needed and consume the darkest of the lot to sate my hunger. And you sent me many, many of said souls."

Zerry half-grinned, preparing his witty retort before stars flashed in his vision, his eyes blurring out as they tried to focus on Death's now sorrowful face. The Goddess leaned in to place her hand upon his forehead and steady his dizzy mind, if only to comfort him as his slipped once again from consciousness.

"Time is short now. My duties call, as do the preparations I must make for our child. I'll wake you again when the time is right. When I have a body for you to take yourself."

........................

Deep beneath the surface of Raska, below where even the Dark Elves made their hearths, Moitri walked a lightless path. The world sang around her at this depth. The stone a symphony of the world on which she held her claim. Even the shadows themselves were humming along.

She felt it before she saw it.

The feeling of untainted darkness sifted through the air around her. Coming down the tunnel and stopping at her feet. More came from behind. From her sides. From above. From the darkness itself. All watching. Waiting. Respecting her space as they knew her power all too well.

"I will take one of yours," she declared. "Young is my preference. Giving me none, however, means I leave with all of your souls."

"Not offer..." whispered several voices at once.

"No bargain," hissed others.

"She tries to robs ussss."

The creatures hissed and whispered around her in hushed words. Some tried to leave, but then Moitri narrowed her eyes and sent a pulse of her power whipping through the air. Barriers went up, the fleeing creatures screeching bloody murder as they crashed against them. The group of demons cowed away from her, hissing and screaming amongst their own until at last one came forth from the ranks. Alone.

It had no shape, it moved like a ghost, its "body" like smoke. When it came to some sort of form before the goddess, it held a silhouette not unlike that of a human. It took a knee before her and spoke with raspy, hushed words.

"What do you... offer, Lady of Death, for such a... sacrifice that you ask of us?"

She frowned upon hearing such a bold question. As if it had a say in whether she took what she wanted or not.

"Aside from the last of your kind here surviving a little bit longer?" she asked, tilting her head to the side with a placid expression.

"Die we will... if you take our young. So few we have... we need... life from to feed... for new young... to survive."

"Oh, how you Shadow Shifters have fallen," Moitri chided, shaking her head. "Psions of the depths crushed you thoroughly haven't they? That you dare not hunt beyond what is left of your territory?"

Every single one of them hissed at the mention of their enemy. The spokesman's form becoming erratic as anger disheveled it.

"Speak not of the Dark Ones... Evil... We want only our shadow... want only to live..."

Moitri sighed. Perhaps in sympathy. Perhaps in annoyance. She couldn't tell herself. She only extended her hand and with a magic grip latched onto one of them. It shrieked, but the Goddess was unchallenged as she pulled it from the shadows and straight into her physical grasp.

Using more magic to keep it contained, the goddess ignored both its protests, and those of the others as she forced its "face" to her. The two hollow, red glows of its "eyes" quivering in fear as she brought her other hand before them.

"Feed," she ordered.

Those glowing orbs shuttered in confusion before Moitri growled with enough ferocity to send even the fiercest of Underdark predators into a tremble.

The Shadow Shifter's body solidified, settling on the form of a small bat before it bit into one of her fingers. Fresh blood lit with a dim crimson glow dripped from the deity's finger and into its innards before she released it. With a terrible shriek the demon fell to the ground, shuddering as the essence of a divine flowed through its insides. In moments, one Shifter split and became two, and two became four. The original laying in a shaken mess that quickly melted back into a black fog.

"Goddess blood!" several demons hissed.

Death knelt down and took hold of one of the newly spawned Shifters, grinning as it instantly took the physical form of an infant human. Curling up and "sleeping" in her arm with little more than a shift in its spot and a whimper from its new-found voice. Cautious not to cause harm to the other demons around, she pressed a finger into its mouth and struck it aglow.

A satisfied air came about her as the Shifter held strong against the direct light. Something that would prove fatal to any of its "normal" brothers and sisters.

"This one will do," she said aloud, withdrawing her extinguished finger.

"New younglings..." the lead Shadow Shifter whispered.

"Born of my life essence, strengthened by my power," Moitri added. "Do not waste their lives. I will not grant such a boon ever again."

With the Shadow Shifter in the crook of her arm, the Goddess waved her free hand to open a portal before her. Ignoring the new shrieks of the demons as they gathered their newborns and fled, she stepped back into the void of her home realm. The gateway shut behind her, just as a cyan glow lit up to her front.

Even with her attention set on the creature of darkness that she held, she couldn't help but chuckle aloud at the new presence she sensed. Only when the glass-like wings and frail antennae of her sister spread from her blue body did Moitri bring her eyes up. Her normally piercing gaze softened to accompany her now pleasant smile. "And the immortal pixie of the night shows at last."

Solid, dark blue eyes sparkling like the night sky opened and trained on Death before a humbled grin developed below them. This new guest took a step forward and relaxed her stance as her transition from ethereal to corporeal completed. Her gaze immediately shifted down, looking first to the living child of darkness held by her sister, then to what the Death Goddess held inside her.

"I see why you were insistent on speaking with me," she commented warmly. "Congratulations."

Moitri's cheeks took on a violet tint. "Thank you, Necela. The time felt right, and a worthy sire was found."

"Must be an extraordinary individual. Though I am curious why you have a young Shadow Shifter with you here."

A sly look developed on the death Goddess' pale face. She knelt down to set the demon on the ground, allowing it to lose its physical form and turn to a cloud of black smoke. Only the soft glow of its red "eyes" allowed either goddess to see where it was, though it didn't stray from Death's side.

"An experiment I wish to try with the essence of my daughter's sire," Moitri said before standing and looking to her sister. "After all, who better to guard her than her own father?"

Necela raised an eyebrow and rubbed her chin. "Do tell."

Her sister extended her hand out and materialized a grey jewel in her palm. A frown instantly drew down on Necela's face with her eyes narrowing over the red glow that shimmered within them.

"Why do you have a matching soul and spirit? How?"

Still holding her devilish smirk, Moitri answered, "Calia agreed with what I had in mind, so she allowed it to me. I wish to plant him in the demon I have here. So he can watch our daughter and protect her as her immortal guardian when I cannot."

"Has he agreed?" Necela growled, and her sister nodded before locking her gaze with her.

The mental connection was instantaneous, and the meeting between the General and Moitri played out before the Life Goddess' eyes as clearly as Moitri had lived it. From the General's final moments alive, to the moment Moitri crystalized his essence and put him in the state he held now. But for everything Necela witnessed, what stood out beyond anything were his words, "For my little girl, I would pay any price..."

When the connection between the sisters broke, Necela stepped back and blinked several times over to clear the lingering images from her eyes. An overt sadness dawned over her as she looked to the crystal her sister held. With only another pause did she finally nod and bring her hands to a glow.

"I'll help you in this request, Sister. I take it you would wish for me to expedite your daughter's growth as well?"

"It would be appreciated," Moitri answered, rubbing a hand over her belly. "Unlike you, I cannot use puppets and Nightwatcher familiars for the duty I carry out. And I would refuse to risk her health while she develops."

"I understand, Moitri. What of your General? If I bond him with the Shadow Shifter, I cannot guarantee he will remember his self."

"I don't need him to," Death answered coldly. "He need only remember his love for our child. Forget not yourself that I still hold a piece of him within me, and should he need to remember everything, it will only be with my presence after she has grown and I am ready to give her a sibling."

"Another? Already?" Necela asked incredulously.

Moitri nodded and looked to his crystal. "A single child seems hardly enough when I consider all the trouble I am going through for him. And for what he has done for me, I feel that General Xerivan Edson here has more than earned my affection."

...............

Eyes thrust open, he bolted forward and hit the ground. Bright, red eyes blinked and darted every-which-way. Something grabbed his shoulder and he jumped. What passed for his physical form exploded, and as a black cloud he now hovered over her against the ceiling of the room.

Right then he recognized her. Silver hair, pale skin, the black eyes... She stood in a dark, semi-transparent nightgown, holding a child in her arms. At once something calmed him just as something... someone called to him. With sound unheard by his current shape, he returned to a more solid state then and lowered back down to the floor. He quickly settled on the form of a human male, modeling himself after... himself? He had an image in mind of a human... what could have been him? Upon seeing him finalize how he looked, the woman... smiled.

"Xerivan... Zerry... Welcome back," she said, a melodic tone to her voice as she looked to the infant in her arms.

He stepped forward and closed the distance between them though focusing solely on the child. A beautiful child. A girl. He raised his hand, and with a great deal of hesitation, brought it to her forehead. First touch had molten rock flowing through his chest when he felt her soft face. His glowing eyes quivered as he swept her silver locks of hair aside and caressed those pudgy cheeks.

"Perfect, isn't she?" the woman asked, and he immediately nodded.

"Do you remember her name?"

His attention shifted to the woman and he blinked at her with obvious confusion.

"Haruyal."

He blinked again, looking back to the child.

"Ha-roo-yall..." he repeated, his voice a hollow whisper as he stared at her sleeping face.

"Yes. Our daughter."

Once again his gaze came up to Moitri, and he cocked his head at her. The Goddess saw the confusion, and sighed with disappointment. "You were mortal, once, Xerivan. You will remember it all, at a time when I see fit to grant you those memories. When Haruyal grows up. But until then, I charge you with safe guarding her. To see our daughter survive in the mortal realm as I must tend to mine."

He frowned and looked around at the house they were in, the single room home with all its basic furnishings. There was no source of light at the moment, but that didn't stop him from seeing with demonic eyes. With another questioning look, he turned back to Moitri.

"Survive... protect... her... here?"

She nodded. "There is a mortal couple that owns this place. The wife is barren, but she and her husband are... kind people. My sister took pity on their plight, and the price I must pay for her help in bringing Haruyal to life is gifting my child to them to raise, to not come to her until she is of age. I wish only for you to protect her until then."

"You... must... leave?"

"I spent a year away from my duties, Xerivan. Using my leave to carry, birth, and care for our daughter. Much longer and lost souls will starting turning back to the mortal realm."

Moitri walked over to a bed in the corner of the room, laying the infant down and fixing a note to the blanket she was wrapped in. Xerivan stepped forward, wrapping his arms around the Goddess' waist and resting his head on her shoulder. The Goddess sighed, resting her head against his and caressing his cheek.

"Care for her... my love," Moirti whispered. "I will be watching. Iwillbe waiting."

Xerivan closed his eyes, and when he opened them, she was gone.

Unsure of what to do, he changed his shape, taking that of a small wolf pup and curling up beside his sleeping child. There he waited in the dark, staring at the little girl with his mind fighting for any memory to bear about her. For something to recall about his past life. But all he could bring forth was images. A child running through the forest, casting a spell from her hands, laughing along with another child... a brunette not much older than her.

A sister?

Before he could contemplate the question, the latch on the door opened, and he turned to a smoky form to hide in a corner as the couple came in the door. Right on cue, Haruyal began to wail. Her infant cries drawing attention almost as quickly as they struck a flint to light the candles on the wall beside the door.

At first they bore looks of shock, staring at the child in their bed, then to each other like an act of a divine had unfolded before them. With an obvious show of caution, they approached the child; the wife taking the note from the blanket and reading it over with her husband.

"She's alone, Hector," the wife said, looking to the girl still crying in her blanket.