A strange awakening
#2 of A Fine Trophy
Back to the present, he placed his claws upon the strange tomb and gazed at the threads. He had wondered if he had done it right, and stared at where the occupant would be. He had a strange feeling in his chest, one he hadn't felt before, or since that day. He seized the casing and wrenched it from the shelves and traced a single claw along the surface. There was barely a sound, but a faint line could be seen following the trail. With that, a small hissing sound issued out of the crack, and the cocoon split apart. The fluids and contents spilled out upon his lap. He quickly sifted through the contents and discarded the husk, finding what he had truly been hoping for. He gazed at her face, a face that he hadn't seen in nearly 6 thousand years.
His pulse raced as he wondered had it worked. Had it worked? Did it work? He hoped that it had not all been for nothing as he gazed upon the lifeless body. If it didn't, what should he do? Should he restart the process? He'd never be able to live with himself had he known that he'd killed such a delicate thing, let alone leave it in his collection. He eventually settled for consuming the corpse and spare the grief of failure. He raised her to his maw, and opened wide. Just as her hair was just in his mouth, she coughed and spluttered. It appeared that the 6 thousand year old girl was alive, preserved by whatever strange magic he had made. Even through all this time, age hadn't touched her features, and she wiped her face, only to relive the 6 thousand year old event. Her body was petrified before his presence, but she knew that this time, something was different. On that occasion he had looked fierce and destructive, but this time he appeared quite tame, and his eyes burnt not with fury, but with a warm friendly glow.
Thinking twice, she considered her options and decided to end herself. She drew her ceremony dagger and brought it to her heart. In that split second he had knocked her hand aside, the blade cart wheeling through the air, quite pathetic and forgotten. He pinned her hands against the floor in an attempt to suppress her. He ran his claws along her body to find any other weapons, but she misinterpreted this severely. She struggled, and he let her go, quite amused with her actions. She decided that she wasn't going down without a fight, and raised her hands in preparation for a spell, before she could even open her mouth, he was across the room, his hand clamped over her mouth. His tail coiled around her anaconda style, and brought her to his face.
"I didn't keep you 6 thousand years to kill you, or let you kill yourself" She wasn't quite sure how, but she was sure that this thing was talking to her. She shook her head to shake the feeling out, but was asked "You are fine, yes?". The voice was in her head, his mouth unmoving. It spoke telepathically one way or another, and it was slightly unnerving. Her head was spinning, first she's captured, then imprisoned, kept alive for 6000 years, and now a demon is asking her if she's fine? The voice boomed once more, "You are fine, yes?!"
It repeated about 5 times like a broken record before she finally understood and replied a hasty "Yes!"
He grunted in agreement, small sparks flaring from his eyes. "It wanted to talk?" she thought. He stood up again, holding her with his tail as he picked up the discarded dagger in his hand, weighing it softly, before crushing it with his bare hands, then incinerating it. He opened his hands and the dust blew away. She got the message.
"Your name." the voice asked.
"What?"
"Your name" it replied. In fact, it more than replied, it bombarded her with "Your name". The words came out slowly, as if he was struggling with the words.
She snapped after the 50th time and screamed out "Chloe" before her head exploded from the voices commands. Satisfied, the voices stopped, and he let her down. She dusted herself off and looked at the room.
It was certainly a large room; after all he was quite large himself. It was a large stonework den, built; it seemed, in between two cliff faces. There was certainly no way out, as all the doors were of ridiculous size, and were impossible to move. He left the room while she got familiar with the surroundings and left her to her own accords. Instinctively, she looked for escape, but knew it was futile. She sulked and sat defiantly in the middle of a large pile of strange animal pelts. Grael was back, and a large animal (hard to say what) with a barrel of some beverage was slung over his shoulder. She gazed at the mammoth meal, and he dropped them on the floor while he went out, and re-entered with a smaller series of items including a very small table, most likely for her. He gestured that she should eat, but she didn't know whether she was having dinner, or was the dinner.
Sitting in a simple chair was Chloe, behind a table for herself. A small chickeny thing and a goblet and pitcher was already set for her, and the large carcass and barrel for Grael.
Chloe picked up her cutlery and started hacking at the large chicken thing; while Grael, with less grace, seized an entire leg off the cow thing and at it in one go.
"You should eat, you must be hungry" By now she had learnt to reply quickly to prevent her brain from overloading, and nodded politely.
"Yes, I am slightly famished" with that, Grael seized the large barrel, and using just his claw, flipped the top off and downed the whole thing in pretty much one go. The small fires in his eyes grew to blazing infernos, before quickly dying down once more.
She gazed at the strange blue liquid in the goblet and swilled it around. The aroma was strong, and smelt of some sort of berry, but the taste was quite different. It was thick and syrupy, and tasted oddly like lemon/tea/saltwater. Chloe wasn't sure exactly what it was, but she knew that she didn't really like it. He gazed at her, and she met his gaze. Oddly none of them looked away. He seemed entranced by her, captivated, and it had nothing to do with the barrel of wine he just downed.
"My name is Grael," the voice said "and welcome to my realm. I'm sorry I didn't say so earlier. I hope the food is to your liking" This surprised her more than anything. That was the longest and most meaningful thing he had ever said, and for once didn't repeat until he got a response. He looked rather embarrassed, and if demons could blush, he probably would be, but she couldn't tell from his fierce face. His gaze went from her face, and went to his meat carcass thing before he hacked yet another strange limb from the creature. He ate it quickly, and didn't think twice about his actions. She was curious by this stage. First it offers dinner, and then it's introducing itself? This was certainly a strange day. When they were done, the carcass was little more than a few bones, and Chloe's meal was almost untouched. Grael took a glance between her and the chicken-like thing, and ate it all, bones and all. He gestured that he'd clear the table, and he did so, carrying the tiny cutlery to what resembled a kitchen. As he turned around, he didn't notice that a knife was missing from the set, and promptly received it in the left thigh.
It went little more than an inch, before snapping. Enraged, he whipped around, great streaks of fire raging from his eyes. He ripped the blade out of his flesh, the wound sealing instantly. His friendly embers were now deadly pillars of flame, and he grabbed her two hands with his one. Hissing, he lifted her up to his face and she saw that face 6000 years ago once more. He made a throwing motion, and she was thrown 80 feet across the room, landing on the large pelt pile. He was instantly across there, being gifted with phenomenal speed which was unsullied by age. Before she could get up, he had pinned her down.
His breath was hot upon her face, similar to that of a fireplace. His right hand held both of hers above her head on the bed, while his free left hand ran up to her stomach. It made a playful scratching motion, to which she recoiled in pain. His face was right up to hers, and she anticipated the worst. She had really pissed him off now, and was ready to pay the consequences, for that was certainly better than living here as his captive. His jaws widened as he got closer, but at the last second his head tilted to the side, and he clamped his face around hers, in what resembled a rather crude and brutal kiss. He felt her thrash about, and she knew it was hopeless, but she tried none the less. She savored the strange sensation as she had never dreamed of her first kiss to be with a demon.
Her body gave in as she submitted to her desire. His jaw widened further, and she thought that he would engulf her head, but something wet, large and slippery was prodding at her lips. She pondered the feeling, and felt a whole new one. It parted her lips and was now forcing itself into her mouth, where it reached her own tongue. They locked and circled each other, but it went further in, touching the back of her throat. Her eyes widened as it went in further. Soon, almost 1 foot of it was in her throat. It probed her linings, trailing over the ridges in her throat. She thought the feeling was odd, but didn't mind. She whimpered and moaned a bit. His free claw moved from her stomach upwards to her breast, tracing its fine contours. All of a sudden he let her go, and drew back, his tongue retracting so quickly that she gagged. She stared up at him as he walked away and left the room. The voice simply said "sorry" and he was gone.
*end second chapter*
Ultima-Dragon
7/3/07