Aiden's Demise
#4 of Commissions
Aiden is a moth prince used to the privilege of his royal blood, but when he's caught by an orc for fun it's a rude awakening. Note that there's bug crushing in this story, so if you're not into that best skiddadle.
A gift story for my buddy Pawseeker on twitter. ;3
"Unhand me, you buffoon! You're touching royalty," the helpless moth Prince Aiden cried out as the green orc pinned him down with one finger. The dim grey of the beastly man's eyes seemed to tinge with pleasure as he watched the insect squirm.
Where are they? My guards? My servants? They wouldn't let me go on this mission alone. Aiden looked to the small castle, located just outside the Beast King's castle, as if expecting someone to come out and save him. He'd set out not long ago in search of his adviser only to be caught fluttering by the wrong kind of huntsman.
From the looks of him he had to be a high ranking orc. He wore his silver hair in a tied back bun, with several throwing knives and daggers spread across two belts going down his chest and waist underneath a thick black cloak. Muscles outlined his body, making him look all the more intimidating.
"Grem'pa knows not what you say," he snorted, sliding the bug down. "Nor does he care... Grem'pa cares only for funny twitch from antenna." The brick wall made Aiden's fuzz tingle, his body effortlessly dragged from one spot to the other.
The small prince looked his assaulter in the eyes with defiance. He wouldn't let the compromising position he was in break him. If anything he welcomed the challenge and continued to struggle, batting his weakened wings.
A bitterly cold wind blew in, uncharacteristic for the middle of spring. "Ugh, cold..." bellowed Grem'pa, his body shivering. "Need inside."
He looked at Aiden and for just a moment the bug had hope he'd be set free. A hope that the orc promptly snuffed out, revealing a small jar underneath his cloak. It was the perfect size. No way. It's like he was expecting to find me here or something! Aiden thought.
This was more than an inconvenience now. The jar glistened in the fleeting moments of sunlight, a sight Aiden normally adored, in to something bitter. Sour. "I won't forgive you for this!" he shouted with everything he had only to be met with deaf ears.
Grem'pa tossed Aiden into the jar and stowed him away under his cloak. Night was fast approaching and it was a long journey to get home. Fortunately for Aiden there were some holes in the top lid for breathing, but the lack of any light at all was torture.
If only I could just squeeze through, he thought, looking up at the holes. He flew up and bonked his head on the top repeatedly. "C-come on...!"
Exhaustion wrung every drop of energy from the prince. Unable to continue, he fell to the bottom of the jar. "This isn't the end... I know it."
Grem'pa hummed to himself merrily as he ascended the mountain path leading to his cave. Night winds continued to torment him on the way up, rocks covered in mud and slicked with rainwater adding to his misery. He lost his footing every so often, leading to a miniature "Earthquake" for Aiden, still helpless in the jar.
A particularly nasty slip made the orc's hand tremble, barely able to hang onto the slippery cleft of the cliff side while the rest of him hung freely. "Argh," he grunted, swinging his legs from side to side. Despite the chill in the air, the monster started to sweat, steady beads rolling down his biceps.
Before his lone gave out he found another hold again, and breathed a sigh of relief. "That close... Was too close." His breathing turned ragged, the excursion taking more out of him than he'd otherwise like to admit.
Meanwhile ahead he could see the opening to his part of the mountain, and in knowing he was close, he found the strength to keep going. The rest of the way went smoothly--near death experience notwithstanding. Another night Grem'pa had managed to tame the mountain. Tonight wouldn't be the night he finally fell.
Grem'pa tore his cloak off as he stumbled into the cave and lit a torch to give himself light. He'd heard of things like 'lightbulbs' before, but didn't trust it. If he couldn't wrap his head around how it worked he didn't want anything to do with it and no one down there could change his mind.
One by one the torches revealed more of the cave. A study desk, fireplace, pile of feathers, seemed to be all the orc needed to be happy. Luckily for Aiden the light from the torches brought him back to life.
"Ah," Aiden gasped, his focus stuck on the lights. An inhuman urge took over him and he lost sight of his plight. No amount of danger could pry him away from the electricity that ran through him at this moment. He knew without a doubt that he needed that torch and he needed it now.
The orc slammed the jar down on his study desk and disappeared deeper into the cave, grumbling to himself just out of earshot. Aiden fluttered around mindlessly in the jar, overly stimulated by the abundance of torches around him. By the time he finally stopped he realized just where the jar was positioned on the comparatively massive table.
"Oh, oh my..." he muttered. The jar sat at the edge of the table, nearly teetering off the edge. Aiden's mind raced with possibilities. I'm gonna have to, aren't I? Aw man...
He looked over the edge at the hard cavern floor and weighed his options. It seemed obvious, but dangerous at the same time. All it'd take was a stray piece of glass and Aiden was done for. He had to be careful about this, and he needed a plan afterwards.
At the same time Grem'pa could come back at any moment, and Aiden's chest tightened knowing it. Time ticked away, seconds feeling more like hours, weighing down on Aiden's final decision to break free. If this works then I can't just fly away. He'll come out and see me, and I'm way too tired right now to fly fast enough to get away. I'll have to do it the old fashioned way and sneak out.
"Okay," Aiden drew a deep breath, gathering his strength at the far side of the jar. "One...two...three!" With as much force as he could muster he bolted and tackled the opposite wall. His prison jiggled a little, but failed to fall. "C'mon... C'mon!" He tried again, and again, each attempt moving the jar a little more than the last.
Fuck, I can't keep doing this forever. Aiden slumped against the glass wall. The jar was almost there it just needed a little more. "O-one..." Aiden huffed, trying to stand only to collapse out of breath.
In the end it turned out to be just what he needed. The last bit of weight to throw the jar over the edge and send Aiden falling to the ground. Everything happened too fast for him and he just barely managed to brace for impact at the last second.
When Aiden came to again he rolled over onto his back. He could hardly believe he was alive let alone relatively unscathed besides a scruff here or there. As much as he'd love to celebrate in the moment, he restrained himself. This was no time for celebration--his people were waiting for him and Grem'pa wouldn't be glad to find out his source of entertainment had disappeared into the night.
Aiden rose to his tired feet again and dragged himself to the corner of the cave, hoping the darkness of the crease would keep him hidden from the beast man's sight. He looked up at the torches watching over him, and his heart race. A certain kind of sadness bit into him--the kind that left a bitter taste in his mouth. This orc will pay. I swear that he will, he thought.
"Ah... Refreshing..." grunted a familiar voice. It was enough to make Aiden freeze up and latch onto the cave wall as if for protection. "Oh buggy much fun with Grem'pa tonight... Much indeed. Notch up top."
Grem'pa strolled through the cave, wearing only a slightly damp loincloth. The cave filled with his potent musk--if anything was definite to Aiden at that moment it was that his foe had worked up a sweat back there. There wasn't an inch of the room that didn't smell of rank, orc manliness and the potency made Aiden dizzy.
Whatever happens I cannot get stepped on. Those cracked old orc feet are definitely wet to the touch by now... The thought made Aiden shiver, but he couldn't tell if it was out of disgust or something else. Something about this cat and mouse chase that gave Aiden the strength to keep going.
"What... WHAT?! Where is!? The mothy is..." Grem'pa slammed his fist down on the study table, and growled. "Gone... But can't gone far." He crouched down and stared at the cold, cave floor sternly.
The orc brought down a torch. "Oh-oh..." Aiden shook as he watched the shadow of the corner--the only thing keeping him hidden from Grem'pa, flee from him in mere seconds.
Aiden couldn't wait any longer. He had to try to make his escape through the cloth covering the open cave mouth. Booming footsteps loomed closer, making the ground shake beneath the little moth prince's feet.
He scurried along the floor as quietly as he could. He'd almost made it when he noticed he didn't hear the second footstep for a while. Despite his better judgement he looked back to see Grem'pa right behind him, his leg in the air.
If Aiden could sweat--he would be. But he could only tremble in fear as he looked up at the massive foot coming down on top of him.
"Caught!" Grem'pa declared proudly.
Aiden made one last attempt to get away. He leapt into the air and spread his wings, fluttering them hopelessly. It was too late. He knew already.
Grem'pa's foot came down hard. Aiden's body just couldn't handle the weight of his massive foot crashing down onto his weak, fragile body. Only made worse by the little dig Grem'pa did into the cave floor, grinding his toes, and then his soul, down onto Aiden.
It wasn't so much as pain, his body could hardly understand what it was he was feeling. One thing was for sure for Aiden though. He'd been beat. Beaten by an old orc that was now turning him into paste on the worn sole of his cracked foot.
The world went dark for Aiden and slowly, he lost consciousness. Those brief moments of him getting stepped on played over in his mind over and over again. He couldn't stop thinking about it. In a sick way he almost wondered if he wanted this. If somehow he got some kind of enjoyment out of the torture?
Damp with sweat, and stuck to the bottom of the orc's foot, Aiden came to again. Wait, I'm alive? Aiden looked around into total darkness. He reached out and felt something soft. Something made out of cheap cotton he'd never dare get caught wearing.
That's when he realized it: he was in the orc's sock. Grem'pa filled the otherwise quiet cave with snoring, which echoed all around. It was enough to give Aiden more of a headache than he had already.
"Finally a way for me to get away..." The moth felt around inside the sock, searching for a hole. He was in luck there wasn't just one opening there were several. It seemed the orc didn't take care of his socks--let alone wash them. At this point Aiden was used to the orc's musk though.
Something about the pungent aroma made him breathe a little easier. As strange as it was to him. He didn't have long to dwell on it if he wanted to escape.
Aiden peeled himself off the old orc's foot and slipped out through one of the sock holes. For a second Grem'pa seemed to come to again. Aiden stopped, hugging one of Grem'pa's toes from the outside.
The orc bellowed something incoherent, and rolled over. Aiden was safe.
"Here I was thinking I wouldn't get to catch a break, geez..." Aiden mumbled to himself, sliding down from Grem'pa's foot.
On the way to the cave opening Aiden thought back to his encounter with the orc. How he'd felt helpless the entire time. Unable to do anything.
There was something bubbling inside of him there between the helping of anger and despair. He felt something for the orc. And he hated himself for it.
Since he was the prince no one in his kingdom would ever treat him the way that orc did. It was awful, painful, traumatizing... Exhilarating.
That's when he saw it from the corner of his eye. The last lit torch in the cave. Aiden knew what he had to do.
He picked up a twig off the ground, only a little bigger than his body, and flew up to the lit torch. A shred of doubt crept along the back of his mind, but he had to silence it. Now was the time for action.
Aiden lit his twig on fire, and in passing through the cloth sealing the cave off to the outside world, set it ablaze. The fire quickly spread across the cloth. Aiden looked behind him one last time, but kept himself from flying back in.
He had someone else to save.
Thanks for reading! Enjoy the story, please rate, favorite, and let me know your favorite part in the comments! ^w^