Lilith's Fall: Eden's Rise Ch. 02

Spoiler Tags: Transformation, MtH, Male to Futa, FH, Monstergirl, Angel, Mermaid, Submission, Femdom, Futanari, Transgender

Helal faced off against the strange bug-woman and took charge of the situation. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Ah, right, names... That is a thing. You may call me..." She lightly tapped a fist into a palm. "Chi. That shall be my name. As for what I am doing here-"

Helal cut her off with a forceful chop diagonally across the space between them. "Actually, I don't care. Do you mean us harm?" Helal's eyes blazed as her hand drifted from her body, her fingers curled into a now familiar grip around a hilt that didn't yet exist, but soon would.

"No. I mean you no harm." Chi looked decidedly unconcerned by my angel's threatening posture.

Helal narrowed her eyes, her body stilled for a moment and she lowered her stance as if to spring into action. Then she relaxed. "Fair enough." Spinning around, she kept her body between me and Chi while she spoke. "El, I need you to go gather everything into the packs. We can't stay here anymore."

"We're leaving?" I looked forlornly around the area and into the shadowy recess of our cave. It wasn't much, but it had become familiar and had started to feel like home to me after all the time I'd spent with Helal there.

"I'm sorry," Upon seeing my sadness, a pained look crossed Helal's face. "I know it sucks, the next time we settle we'll try to make it more permanent." Her eyes hardened. "Especially now that I've seen how far God is willing to go to chase me down. Escaping is not an option." Fear tightened the edges of her face, making her look a thousand years old and everything in my body screamed out to comfort her. "We'll have to conceal ourselves and prepare and then, when it comes to it, fight."

I threw my arms around her shoulders and gave her a brief hug before putting on a cheerful face. "Okay. I'll go get us packed." While moving towards the cave, I gave Chi a grateful wave. "Thanks for saving me."

Stiffening in surprise, Chi recovered to sketch a small bow, and closed her overly-large eyes as she did. "It was my pleasure."

As I threw our stuff haphazardly into our packs, Helal approached Chi, intent on having a clarifying little chat. "I don't know who you are, or what you intend with El, but I will not let you hurt her."

"Strong words coming from you. I was told you were pledged to protect her." The winged woman looked decidedly unimpressed with my almost-significant-other's posturing. "You do not scare me."

"I don't care if I scare you. It's not my intention to scare you. I just want to make sure that we understand each other." She stalked two steps closer and let her golden wings unfurl. This made her seem several times larger, her eyes glowing with crimson luminosity, as smoke spilled from her mouth with every word. "If you hurt or betray El, I will do everything within my considerable power to pay you back in kind."

Despite her words, Chi's tail sprung up over her shoulder in a defensive stance and her gossamer wings fluttered nervously.

Helal let the moment hang heavy for a moment before giving a nod and dismissing her wings. Once she did Chi darted forward, far quicker than any human, moving with insectoid agility. Taking Helal by the throat she lifted her into the air with ease.

"And I want you to understand me. I have a vague recollection of the moments before I started to become what I am now. So I know what you are capable of and what she holds in her heart. For all intents and purposes she created me and I would give my life to guard that heart."

Helal's eyes bulged as she scrabbled at the forearm that held her off the ground. Then, as quickly as she'd approached, she retreated. The ex-Crusader rubbed at her throat while the bug I'd transformed rubbed at her arm where the shiny black carapaced flesh leaked smoke from a pair of handprints that marred its surface.

"Seems we understand each other," Helal said around coughs, looking warily at Chi with newfound respect.

Likewise Chi looked back at Helal, saying nothing as she stalked over to me after I emerged from the cave and took both the packs from my arms. One was tossed to Helal while the other one she held close to her chest.

"I'm not that weak. I can take it," I huffed at the confusing bug-woman.

"I know you can take it," she said with that same inscrutable lack of inflection. "But I wish to ease your burden."

Helal possessively slung an arm around my shoulder and began to march us away from the cave. I cast it one last sentimental glance before wrapping my arms around my torso and squaring my shoulders in the direction we traveled. That night, I brought up a topic that was long overdue to be discussed. "Helal, we need to have a chat."

Helal stopped her slow-motion calisthenic exercises and wiped herself down with a dirt-stained shirt. "What's bothering you?"

"It's something that I should've brought up a while ago. After we let each other know our full names." I fiddled with the edge of my shirt nervously. "How much do you know about Christian mythology?"

"Not much. Never was much for sociology. I've picked up a few bits and pieces here and there." A guilty look crossed her face. "On the whole my interactions with the denizens of your plane... Well, let's just say that they did not lend itself to cultural exchanges or friendly discussions."

"I thought so." Taking a deep breath, I collected my thoughts before beginning to lay out the major strokes.

God.

Adam and Eve.

Satan and the apple.

The relevant bits of what my fuzzy memories could recall from the time my mother had occasionally taken me to church to listen to a sermon.

That'd always confused me, seeing as she had that special room in the back of the house that we were forbidden from entering. I'd spied on her one time and the rituals she'd conducted seemed remarkably different than what I'd experienced in the church.

By the end of my retelling, Helal looked about as confused and consternated as I felt.

"That's more than a fair amount of coincidences."

"I know, right? Any insight into why this might be?"

"None that I know of. Offset parallel planes might be one explanation. But I've only got a vague grasp on the principles behind the theory." At my obvious interest she continued with an elaboration. "Certain planes overlap one another like sheets of paper. When observed from the outside, as if held up to a light source, the image on the two of them bleed into one another." Helal frowned in thought. "But it doesn't really fit. The offset portion, and why these stories might exist in the past of your world... Especially in such a distant time frame..." She shrugged resignedly. "I've no idea why that might be."

I kicked my toe idly through the dirt. "Damn. I was hoping you might be able to use it to get us out of the mess we find ourselves in."

"Sorry, nothing like that. We'll just have to do our best and what comes, comes. The future has yet to be written. Although it is pretty flattering to imagine that your people named an entire plane after me. Welcome to Hell," smiling she waved her hand in a wide arc, gesturing to the dusty red land around us. "It does have a certain ring to it, doesn't it?"

"Supposedly a place where the damned are punished for eternity, not the most pleasant idea. Also, you should be a man. Or a beast, or something, and have cloven hooves and horns like a bull."

Snatching my hand, Helal twirled me around until I settled next to her body. I stared up into her lovely red eyes. "Pure propaganda, El. They may label us as damned and sinful, but we know that this isn't a punishment, it's freedom. And eternity doesn't sound so scary if I have someone to share it with. Plus, I think I'd look pretty good with horns." She sketched those imaginary swooping arcs from her temple with her pointed fingers.

My heart trilled at those affectionate words and I gently swayed with her. My ear fit perfectly into her shoulder and I soaked in the moment. The resolve to create a home for us only hardened, crystalized, my chest thrummed with warmth at her touch and our closeness.

"Mother of Monsters, huh?" Helal teased softly in my ear, using the label I'd told her had been given to the historical Lilith figure.

I blushed just from the tone of her voice and bashfully hid my face by tucking my chin against my chest.

"I don't see it. Everything you touch is filled with caring, joy, and love. That's about as far from monstrous as it gets."

I hesitated for a moment before responding in a thin voice, almost too quiet to hear. "I'm touching you."

"My point stands."

My smile rivaled the brightness of the sun as a few happy wayward tears snuck from my eyes at her roundabout confession. She finished our two-person slow dance with a gentle kiss. I wandered off in a daze, stars in my eyes as I heated some water over the campfire to boil some of my potatoes for dinner.

Later that night, I scooched my sleeping bag up next to hers and boldly reached out to touch the back of her hand that lay in front of her almost-asleep body. Without otherwise responding, she curled our fingers together. Looking up at the strange sky, I began to believe, truly believe, that everything might work out just fine.

For three days we duly marched, the tension palpable between my two companions. While they didn't exactly show any warmth between them, there was also a sense of mutual respect. Conversation was few and far between as each of us were locked into individual thoughts. Occasionally Helal would hand me her pack and stretch her wings to dart into the sky. Then I caught my first glance of our destination: A thin dark line that squiggled across the landscape.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"If you're thinking a river? Yes. If you're thinking a natural wellspring of fresh brewed cider? Then I'm sorry but you're going to be disappointed."

I giggled at the attempt at levity.

"Actually, El, there's something I've wanted to talk to you about before we get where I think we should set up our base."

"Oh yeah?"

Does she have a secret like my mythological quandary?

"Your work on the temporary camp got me thinking..." She paused to observe me carefully as she asked a question. "How would you feel about living underground?"

I opened my mouth, intent on issuing a knee-jerk rejection before taking a moment to think about it.

What sort of problems could there be that we couldn't solve with magic?

My face scrunched with distaste as I digested the suggestion.

Upon seeing this, Helal started to make her case. "It'll allow us to create as much space as we want without making ourselves easily found. A more permanent structure should allow us to set ourselves up with more amenities. I know how much you've been missing a shower or a bath."

I almost allowed myself to be swayed before I shook off the dream of feeling truly clean. "But won't we be trapped when they finally find us," I said, trying to think of potential negatives before we committed ourselves to this.

"It also allows us to limit the engagements. Inside a tunnel, the natural barriers keep them from using their greater numbers to overwhelm us. If we can keep the fight to one on one, I think we have a better than even chance of making it too costly to keep up their pursuit."

Frowning, I pinched my brow together. "But in such a situation there wouldn't be enough room for you to swing your sword, would there?"

Flashing a cocky smirk. With a flash of her eyes, she formed a shield composed of boiling fire and a straight shaft of steely flame, capped with a white-hot blade that distorted the air around it with the furious temperature differential. "What makes you think I'm not proficient with most weapons?" With a jaunty wink she dismissed the weapons and pulled me into a kiss.

"Alright, so I underestimated your fighting prowess. We all bow before your martial might, oh great one," I told her sarcastically. Placing my hands together like I was playing, I dipped my torso into a shallow bow. "... Most?" I asked, quirking a single eyebrow upward.

She blushed. "Despite all my best attempts I am utter trash when trying to hit someone with a bow and arrow. How did my instructor put it...? I believe he labeled me 'a danger to myself and everyone around me.'" Helal adopted a gravelly voice and put one fist imperiously behind her back and the other in front of her heart. "The safest place to stand when Ms. Morningstar is shooting is directly in front of me."

I giggled at her impression. "Good to know you're not successful at everything you try."

"Ack." She covered her mouth with a hand. "I've let you know I'm not perfect. The illusion is ruined. What am I going to do?" While dramatically bemoaning her fate, she threw her forearm exaggeratedly over her eyes.

"That illusion was broken the first time I did the laundry after one of your workout days." That set the both of us off on a round of laughter, the mirrored song ringing out into the burgundy dirt while Chi watched us silently.

I sighed sweetly once the laughter ran out. "I love this, La. I wish we had time for more of this. We could both use some more silliness."

She faced forward, tightened her shoulders, and I could see her jaw clench from my view of her profile. "We'll get it. I promise."

"Anyway, you've convinced me. Let's build a subterranean home. And we shall live as mole-people," I joked.

"Mole-people?" she asked seriously, her face twisted with curiosity at the unknown term

"Nothing. It's just a silly phrase."

"Okay. To mole-people," Helal cried like she was leading a silly charge, shedding the seriousness like water from a duck's back. She pulled me against her side and pointed in the direction the river we steadily marched towards. Giggling, I wrinkled my nose with amusement. I leaned just a tiny bit deeper into her, loving the way she felt around me. Like a guardian or a set of armor, there to protect me from everything that might do me harm.

The river, once we had gotten to it, was only impressive due to the otherwise uniformity of the planet up to this point. The water was surprisingly clear, and darkened the dirt around it into a deep ochre. Falling to my knees, I scooped up a bit. It tasted as refreshing as it looked.

Surprisingly warm, but good. Much better than the conjured stuff. That tends to taste off for some reason.

Helal laughed at me as I looked back at her, the drops of water rolled off my chin from when I slurped it out of my palm.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Narrowing my eyes suspiciously, I wiped the stray droplets from my chin, clearing the dampness from it. "So... what now?"

"Now we start building our base."

"Our home," I said, keeping my eyes on her.

"Our home," she agreed. Her affirmation sounded like the love she refused to profess.

And with that, we got to work.

Helal did most of the heavy lifting. She began with the plan of the home, as she sketched out what she wanted me to follow into the dirt with her finger. My contributions mostly extended to expansion of the kitchen and questions that made her explain her reasoning while I nodded along. After about the third time, I began feeling foolish as she described the importance of narrow passageways that limited the methods of engagement by invaders.

"If we do it this way, while not as comfortable, it should make it so I can prevent any flankers from getting around me to threaten you. And if we need to rest we can drop this section of the tunnel to obscure our movement and retreat. It should take them time to map out the unused passageways before they find the real one."

Nodding my understanding, I chewed on the side of my lip.

I'm just wasting her time. She's so much better than me with everything. It's better if I just get out of her way and do as she suggests.

It was only after she finished up that she noticed I was upset. "El... What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Ducking my head, I looked away from her and clenched the fabric of my pants into fists.

I'm nothing.

"It's obviously not nothing. Talk to me, please."

"It's silly."

Cupping cheek, she brushed her thumb across my face just under an eye. "If it's important enough to do this to you, then it is definitely not silly. Is it something to do with your health?"

I shook my head.

"Are you homesick?"

I shook my head again.

"Do you want to play twenty questions?"

A sharp exhale led into a single broken chuckle, and I hesitated for a moment before whispering a soft. "No."

"Then... I don't know what to do. I guess I could force you to talk," she jokingly teased at a pour attempt at levity.

My eyes went wide and I began to nod. Slowly at first then with increasing vigor.

"Okay, I guess. Lilith," she said firmly, and I nearly shivered at her imposing tone of voice. "Tell me what's wrong."

The ghost of the rune twinged on my forehead as my brain fell back into a well worn groove of acquiescence and submission. A sense of relief washed over me and it became infinitely easier to tell her my problems. "I feel useless. It would be so much better and quicker for everyone if you just told me what to do without consulting or explaining everything to me."

She took a deep breath to compose her thoughts before she spoke. "I'm going to address your points one at a time. The first thing I need to tell you is that you're wrong."

I frowned and tears filled my eyes.

Of course I am.

Helal looked guilty as if she'd unintentionally kneed a dog in the side of the head. "No, no, no. That's okay. Everyone is wrong from time to time. And anyone who tells you differently is lying. Or a cosmic entity with the power to bend reality to it's will," she said, lowering her voice with deep resonance.

Her ploy worked and I gently laughed, the sting of her reprisal muted by her joking.

Unless...

"Do those really exist?" I questioned with endearing naivete.

"Not that I know of. I think you're being too harsh on yourself, El. You're comparing my strength to your weakness."

"That's what I'm saying. You're so strong."

"But not at everything."

I scoffed.

"I'm really not. I'm absolutely useless at all sorts of things."

"Oh yeah?"

"Sure. I'm a terrible sick person. The absolute worst, I moan and complain all the time." Half-closing her eyes, she stuck her tongue out. "I'm not a good teacher, I lack the patience."

"I thought you did fine with teaching me magic."

"Spellwork. And you are a very good student. Trust me. God tried to have me running drills once and..." Helal made a low whistling noise. "Never again."

"What happened?"

"I'll regale you with the tale of my teaching woes later. First, let me ask you a question: El, how would you classify your cooking?"

"Middling to decent," I said after I had taken a little time to consider it.

"Well, compared to the barracks or what I used to make for myself, I can honestly say that they're some of the best meals I've ever had. There's just something about your home cooking..." A wistful expression crossed her face. "Damnit. Now I've got myself hungry enough that I'm practically drooling. If we hurry up, do you think you could make something before we go to bed tonight."

Thrilled with her praise, I managed a pleased, "Probably could do a boiled potato. I think I could summon some butter that would be simple but tasty."

"See. That's what I mean. I am dreadfully awful at that sort of thing. Could you figure out how to make a pie?"

"I mean... It's not that complicated, I'm sure you could-"

"Ah. But I can't. You, however, can. There's nothing to be ashamed of for not being as good at something. Which coincidentally leads me into my second point. What you were doing was important. Your questions were good. Not only is it nice to have another set of trusted eyes reviewing my plan, just the process of explaining myself to you helps to ensure that I've fully thought it through and haven't missed anything simple."