Depraved Corruption: Aching March

Editor's note: this story contains scenes of non-consensual or reluctant sex.

*****

Aelthalarion couldn't fathom before the battle started that it would end in his capture and that his entire existence was about to be irrevocably changed.

He awoke, groggy and vaguely nauseous, and uncertain of where he was. The sky was bright, too bright, causing him to close his eyes. He just needed a little bit more rest.

He opened his eyes again, shaking his head slightly, and slowly leaning up. The stars burned bright in the night sky, and the ground was illuminated by the pale moon light. His elf vision was more the capable of seeing in this dim light, so he looked into the distance. After a moment, he realized he still wasn't quite sure where he was. A wide green plain. Mountains he didn't quite recognize. A forest in the distance. Was he even still in the homeland?

Aelth lifted his hands to rub his face and suddenly noticed he was bound in manacles. The manacles reeked of corruption, and he realized they were inset with Profane distone. "What is this?" he demanded, before slowly turning on his butt.

As he turned around, he realized that there something even more horrifying than the corrupt manacles. A wererat. A corrupt creature bred from the vermin of the world. They came in many shapes and sizes, some far more horrifying even than the one before him.

This one look like it was roughly his height, maybe even slightly taller, with a very dark black fur, though he noticed white specks. Perhaps it was aging? He smirked. The lives of these creatures were miniscule compared to the lives of he and his elf brethren. It wasn't wearing heavy armor, as he knew some of these creatures did, but it instead wearing lightweight clothing and simple leathers.

He shook his manacles at the creature. "I demand you release me," he said simply, raising his chin as he did so. When he did that, he realized that a metal collar was around his neck as well. He couldn't see what was in it, but if more Profane distone was next to his throat, who knows what could happen.

The creature looked at him with glowing red eyes, tilting its head to the side.

"Immediately!" Aelth yelled.

The creature raised some kind of rod and pointed it at him.

"What-" he started to ask when a bolt of something hit him. His entire body spasmed in pain, holding it for several minutes, before he passed out.

Aelth woke, groggy, and still uncertain where he was. It seemed like it was still night, though the moon was in a different place. How long as he been out? He could hear water, and he groaned as he lifted himself. He realized he was completely disheveled, and filthy from head to toe. His armor was gone, as was his weapon, and he was still in these damn manacles. He had no idea what the Profane was doing to him, but he hoped to get out of them before he started growing more eyes.

He turned and sat up. They were in a different place. How had they moved without him knowing? There was no fire, the ratman was just standing, watching him. He noted that the ratman wasn't wearing leathers anymore, but just a simple cloth tunic. It didn't have pants or shoes, standing on clawed feet, and carrying in his clawed hands a rod. Well, he didn't want to get hit with that again, that was... very unpleasant.

The ratman's long fleshy tail swung behind him.

Aelth noticed that the legs, arms, and what part of the ratman's furred chest were visible under the tunic seemed to be covered in fairly taught muscles. He was starting to suspect maybe this creature just dragged him from place to place.

"What?" Aelth asked.

The ratman pointed at the water in the river.

"Release me first," Aelth responded, holding up his manacled hands.

The ratman pointed at him with the rod.

"Wait, wait," he said wincing.

The ratman pointed at the water.

"Okay," he said. He groaned as he stood, still very sore from the battle, the pain stick, and what he assumed must've been a beating that he couldn't remember. He took slow steps toward the water, trying to look around and get a better sense of his bearing. These ratmen prefer to go below ground, which he assumed he would be, except that they couldn't burrow beneath his homeland. But this river, these trees, he didn't recognize this place.

The ratman hissed at him.

He stopped and looked back at the creature. He knew they could speak, though he didn't know if it could speak the elf's tongue.

The ratman motioned with his rod, toward the elf's clothing.

Aelth sighed deeply. "Fine," he said, and began pulling off his pants. He removed his underwear as well. His boots were already missing, probably because they were armored, and he had nothing but his shirt at that point. He tried to figure out how to remove the shirt with the manacles on when he felt a clawed hand yank at it.

With a hideous sound his shirt was ripped from his body.

"That was fine linen, you animal," Aelth barked at the creature.

The ratman laughed. At least, that's what he assumed the repeated scratchy sound was. Aelth turned back to the river, and the ratman shoved him, causing him to trip as he fell into the water.

Thankfully this river was not very fast moving, and Aelth was soon able to get himself back on his feet and above water. He spit out the water, coughing, and trying to shout something at the ratman. He almost instantly began shivering from the cold water, but as he stood up the beast began slathering him in some kind of greasy, smelly substance.

"Unhand me!" he shouted, trying to twist away, but the ratman grabbed his collar, and yanked it low, causing him to bend over. As he did so, the ratman began rubbing the grease against his ass, and deep into the crack of his ass. "Stop it!" he tried to command. He suddenly realized he was dangerously close to the ratman's crotch and saw that the beast had no underwear on. His furred sheath and balls were quite a bit larger than Aelth would've expected, had he ever thought about it before in his life. Which, prior to this moment, he had not.

The ratman responded to his cries by dunking him under the water and holding him there. Aelth tried smacking at the creature's legs, but to no avail. He thrashed around, unwillingly rinsing himself off.

Suddenly Aelth could breathe again, as he was hauled up out of the water, and on to the riverbank. He was dragged, stumbling, over to the small campsite that his captor had setup, then dropped onto a small hide blanket. He curled up on the blanket shivering slightly. It was much colder than he remembered from before being unceremoniously dunked, and now he was naked as well.

The ratman pulled off his tunic, and walked over to a bush, hanging the tunic there. He turned around, and walked over to his bed, then grabbing something, approached Aelth.

Aelth looked up and realized this beast was covered in black fur and muscles. He had no doubt that he could kill him with a few swipes of his clawed hand. He noticed though that the creature had gathered some kind of substance on his hand.

"Warm," the ratman said in the common tongue.

Aelth furrowed his brow. "Start a fire," he replied in common. The ratman shook its head slowly, and crouched down, slapping some of the substance on Aelth's arm.

Aelth quickly withdrew his arm, and tried to wipe the substance off, but succeeded only in rubbing it in. His arm was much warmer now. Apparently, it was some kind of primitive hedge magic. He shook his head. "No," he said, "Leave me be."

The ratman shrugged, and returned to his own hide mat, sitting down, and staring at Aelth.

Aelth began shivering, and soon it became nearly uncontrollable. The cold was starting to hurt, especially against the contrast of his arm, which was still quite warm. He knew he'd be unable to sleep, and slowly rolled back over, looking over at other pad.

Red eyes, glowing in the dark, watched him.

Aelth breathed in and out slowly. If he died of cold, what good would his pride do him? Obviously the ratman didn't want to be spotted - if the situations were reversed, he wouldn't be starting a fire either. Of course, he would've killed the ratkin if the situations were reversed. Easily. He knew it.

"Okay!" He said loudly and sighed. "I'll take the balm." He started to get up, and before he knew it, the rat was on him, shoving him back down to the mat. It had a big, clawed hand on his thin shoulder, pressing him against the mat. Aelth immediately felt warmer from the beast's presence but was still alarmed, and stared at him. "Wh...what?"

The rat tilted his head to the side. "Beg."

Aelth narrowed his eyes and looked away. The rat moved its warmth away from him, allowing the seemingly slight breeze to instantly rob him of warmth. Aelth immediately began chattering, and he cried out, "Okay!"

The rat stared down at him, and Aelth closed his eyes. "Please," Aelth begged. "Please cover me in balm."

The rat scooped out some of the balm onto its clawed hands and motioned for Aelth to roll over. Aelth did so slowly, still feeling physically sore. Suddenly, a glorious warmth began spreading along Aelth's back. It rubbed balm all along his shoulders, along his arms, and then down his back. It also rubbed along his legs, and then began rubbing the balm into his ass. Aelth furrowed his brow at the creature continuing to fondle him, "Hey, don't-"

"Over," it suddenly barked.

Aelth slowly rolled onto his back and started to object to needing any more, and the rat hissed at him. The elf decided silence might be the best approach to surviving this and closed his eyes.

The warm hands coated his hairless chest and his sides, before sliding down to his legs, coating the front of them. It moved to his inner thighs, coating them equally liberally in the balm. Then the creature put its hand on his scrotum and began rubbing the balm. At first, Aelth expected it to burn, but just like elsewhere in his body it felt so very pleasant, and so very warm. "D... don't," he asked again. The creature ignored him.

He didn't want his body to react to it, but he realized to his horror that he had an erection. His cock became rock hard under the hands of this beast. The beast did not leave it be, either, to his shame. It began applying the balm directly to his hard cock, stroking up and down slowly.

Aelth squeezed his eyes shut as pleasure flowed through him. He tried to shove the pleasure down, but it crept pushing up. He wanted to try to stop the creature but succeeded only in putting his hands on the ratman's furry arm, which the ratman seemed to ignore as well.

And then suddenly - the ratman's hands were pulling back, and the sensations were gone. Aelth opened his eyes suddenly and looked up. The ratman was looking down at him. The elf realized his captor also had an erection - only it was considerably larger than his own. Bigger in girth and longer. He tried to resist glancing down at his own thin cock, but his eyes moved before his brain could stop. He tried to not look back, but the ratman's cock was definitely more impressive.

The glowing red eyes backed away from him, as the ratman returned to his hide pad, and sat down.

Aelth stared at him for a moment, and looked down at his own erection again, then curled up onto his side, and tried to sleep. At least he was warm.

---

Aelth snapped his eyes open, realizing it was daylight. Was it all a dream? Not a dream, a really terrible nightmare? He looked down at his naked, manacled self, and realized it was not. At least the manacles weren't connected together by chain or something... Though... were they even really manacles then? He looked at his wrists and noticed there were some small loops attached to the manacles. He wondered what they were for.

A shadow loomed over him.

Aelth slowly looked up at the ratman, who was now fully dressed again, and beckoning him to his feet. The elf slowly stood up, still a little sore, but noting he felt much better. Perhaps the balm was healing as well?

The ratman grabbed his wrists, and suddenly slapped them against his neck. Something clicked, and his manacles were stuck to his neck.

Oh.

"My clothes," he said weakly, and turned to look back at the riverbank. He heard another click and suddenly the ratman had attached a leash to him. The ratman quickly packed up camp, shoving everything into his pack, and then took Aelth's leash.

The ratman gave it a tug, and began walking into the forest, with the lithe elf marching naked behind him. Aelth could feel the magic of these forests, they had to be somewhere near his homeland... but why couldn't he recognize it?

It seemed like they walked for days, but Aelth knew it had to be but a few hours. He'd always hated walking, preferring chariot pulled by white lion, though normal chariots would suffice. He wasn't sure where they were, or where they were going, but the ratman seemed uninterested in delays.

Or so he thought, as suddenly the wererat stopped, and Aelth bumped into him.

"Oh, sorry," he said instinctively as he backed up. He cursed himself for apologizing to his captor. He looked up at the sky realizing that dusk had already fallen. Had so much time passed? The ratman turned around and unhooked the leash and his manacles.

Aelth breathed a sigh of relief as he was able to lower his arms. He saw that they had stopped next to a pond. The ratman quickly made camp, similar as before, with just two hide pads. Then the ratman pointed to the pond next to them. Aelth was dirty, of course, having marched naked through a forest, but "Surely not this again," he nevertheless protested.

His captor's response was to grab him by the collar and throw him into the pond.

Aelth thrashed and gasped, before coming up for air. He breathed heavily, "I'm getting really sick-" he got out, before suddenly he was being slathered in that gross, smelly grease. He felt like time was repeating itself. Once again, held close to the ratman's crotch - closer this time? And once again, the ratman groped him all over, before hauling him out of the lake and dropping him onto a pad.

Aelth breathed heavily on the pad, staring up at what little sky he could see through the tree. He sat up onto his elbows and realized two things: The ratman was completely naked this time, and he was again freezing, even though he knew the forest should be warmer than that. Maybe it was that grease the ratman used? Although, for as gross and disgusting smelling as it was, his skin was remarkably clean.

The elf looked up as the ratman approached with the balm. He motioned for the elf to roll over and Aelth sighed deeply. Not a lot of point in waiting until he was writhing in pain. He rolled onto his stomach.

He closed his eyes, almost wincing in anticipation, when he felt the warm wet hands on his back again. He inhaled sharply and squeezed his eyes shut. It shouldn't feel good. He tried to focus on his imprisonment, and the battle, but it felt hard. Difficult to remember the battle. As the ratman rubbed the balm into his skin, he found it almost impossible to focus on anything beside the feeling of the warmth.

Also, he thought, it was definitely a healing balm too. The soreness he was feeling felt like it was ebbing away.

Soon he had his back, and his legs, and then the ratman was again rubbing the balm deep into his ass. He even rubbed it directly on his back entrance, which made Aelth furrow his brow. He didn't understand why that felt good as well, but he blamed the balm.

When he felt the hands lift, he slowly rolled onto his back. He kept his eyes closed, hoping that maybe he could ignore the fact that it was a rat man doing this to him. Soon, balm was spread on his chest, on his legs. As the ratman's hands moved up his thighs, he spread his legs. It was what his captor wanted, he reasoned. No point in tempting the beast to strike him. He felt the warm hand on his balls, which caused his cock to twitch. He tried to stifle a groan but failed miserably.

It began slathering the balm on his rock-hard erection, giving it a few strokes, before once again leaving him.

Aelth shook his head, refusing to open his eyes, and rolled onto his side. Sleep came only fitfully.

---

Once again it was full daylight before Aelth's eyes opened. He furrowed his brow. Usually, he was up with the sun, but something... He looked down at the manacles, which still stank of corruption, and then over at his captor. The ratman never seemed to sleep. Every time he looked at him, he was staring back at him with glowing red eyes.

"What's your name?" Aelth asked.

"Narrtur," the rat replied.

Aelth noticed that its voice was much lower pitch than typical ratkin. He breathed deeply. "Well, Narrtur, I suppose the agenda for today is more walking, hrm?" he asked in elvish. In talking, he noticed his own voice seemed higher pitch than Narrtur's.

Narrtur walked over to him and pointed at the pad. Aelth noticed something he hadn't before. He'd seen Narrtur at this angle, but it was in thinking about his voice that he realized Narrtur had a large scar running across his throat, mostly hidden by the black fur.

"Pack," Narrtur said in common.

Aelth rolled his eyes. Of course. He stood up, still naked though slowly becoming accustomed to it, and began packing up their makeshift camp. After a few minutes, they were walking again. And again, his manacles were attached to his neck, and a leash fashioned to him.

Aelth was sure of it: This forest was completely foreign.

"Where are we, anyway?" he asked Narrtur. No response. After a moment. "Narrtur?"

"Narrtur first," he replied.

Aelth furrowed his brow, trying to figure out that response. He refused to let himself seem stupid in front of the ratman, so he walked in silence until he suddenly realized - Narrtur was telling him how to address him. Aelth sighed. Thankfully that had only taken a few miles, but he definitely thought that it shouldn't have taken him that long.

"Narrtur," he said first, "Where are we?"

"Forest," Narrtur replied. "Deep forest."

Aelth furrowed his brow again in confusion. At first, he thought he was just giving him an obvious answer, but then he started to realize that the forest, indeed, seemed extremely old. Areas of the world like this were usually an anathema to the ratkin's kind, but Aelth thought maybe that wasn't something to bring up.

They walked mostly in silence, until Aelth felt his legs give under him. He stumbled forward. Narrtur turned as he stumbled, and the elf fell to his knees, unable to stop his fall with his hands bound to his neck. Narrtur grabbed his hands, and Aelth realized he was again face to face with the ratman's crotch. He was just glad he was wearing pants this time. Aelth looked up slowly, into those glowing red eyes, and swallowed. "Sorry," he apologized.

"Narrtur," he said, as though reminding.

Aelth blinked. "Sorry... Narrtur."

Narrtur slowly, seemingly effortlessly, lifted him to his feet. Then he unhooked his manacles, removed his leash, gave him the pack, and pointed to a spot on the ground. Aelth understood and sighed. He could try resisting, but he had no interest in experiencing the pain stick again. And if he didn't know where he was, trying to run was... He glanced at a darker spot, farther away in the woods... a problem.

Some forests, like this one, were filled with magic.

Some magic filled forests, like this one, were filled with life.

Of those magic-filled, life-filled forests, he couldn't think of a single one that didn't have very large, very hungry predators wandering among the roots of their ancient trees.

So that presented a problem. He couldn't tell how this rat was avoiding notice, but until he could, he was going to have to try to survive. After setting up what could only generously be termed a camp, he realized Narrtur was pointing behind him.