Lilith's Fall: Eden's Rise Ch. 03

Spoiler Tags: Transformation, Femdom, MtH, Male to Futa, HF, Domination, Submission, Adventure, Mermaid, Bondage, Monstergirl, Transgender, Angel

Helal called a meeting to outline our duties if it came to a battle. The tension in the room was palpable, the taste of sour fear hanging on my tongue. My role was fairly simple, Helal and I had previously held private conversations, so I wasn't surprised by her expectations.

"Is there anything we should know about the men who showed up last time. Belial, the ice one, and... the invisible one," I finished, unable to recall his name.

"Adam. He handles light particles, he can turn himself and those around him invisible. His range isn't very far and he excels in subterfuge. He is also my brother."

"You shouldn't have to fight your brother," I said, eyes distant as I thought of my own.

Helal snorted. "I want to fight my brother. He's a pain in the ass and deserves to be put in his place. Belial, however, he was my second in command. I never would have thought... I believe he has taken my betrayal of my father as a betrayal of our shared ideals. He is a dangerous foe, stubborn and loyal to a fault. He prefers attacking and defending with water manipulation and thermal absorption."

"Just say ice you pompous prick," Tartarus interjected from her somewhat separated positioning near one of the walls.

Helal continued, undeterred by the interruption. "He isn't the fastest, but his stamina is legendary amongst the command structure of the Crusaders. When they attack, I am certain he will be amongst the first to engage. He will never forgive me for abandoning my command." Shaking her head sadly, Helal looked more bothered by this than the thought of coming to blows with her brother. "I wish... I wish I could show him the dark side of my father's ambition. If he had seen what I've seen..." She mused.

"Could we?" I asked.

"Could we what?"

"Convince him to switch sides? If he's like you say, maybe we don't have to fight. If you could show him why you did what you did, is it possible to garner an ally? Surely you have some people who would listen if you got the chance. Could we broker peace without having to fight at all?" I asked, hope blooming.

That hope would prove to be short lived.

"I am not well liked, and while he may be a tyrant, God has a way about him that makes it hard to say no to. He makes you crave his approval and doles it out so rarely that when he does..." A wistful expression pulled at her face. "It makes you feel special, and cherished. He is adept at it and it would be hard to fight that sort of shrewd influence."

"Like father like daughter," Tartarus groused unhelpfully on my behalf, quiet enough that only Alora heard. She responded with a stern tentacle swat across the arm. Tartarus rubbed at the spot and shot the mermaid a dirty look.

"But it is possible. I'm sure there are others who might share the same concerns that forced me to leave but I don't know who they might be as no one has ever shared them in my presence."

"So," I started, trying to revive the hope. "We have a new gameplan: First we try talking to them. Then we resort to violence if and only if it is necessary."

"I don't mean to salt your fields, El. But it will be necessary. One way or another we will have a fight on our hands."

"But that's only if they find us? They might not find us, right?"

"..." Helal didn't respond but the look she gave me did an adequate job of showing me what she thought about the odds of that happening.

I slumped onto the sofa.

Not very likely.

"Chin up. If there is anyone that could convince them the folly of their actions it would be you, Lilith. Do not let their foolishness dim your light," encouraged Chi.

It surprised me that such a positive sentiment came from her. She always seemed so expressionless and cold.

"Thanks."

She laid her black chitin hand over my knee and gave a soft squeeze. "No requirements for thanks are necessary. The way you smile is more than enough a reward for me." Inclining her head slightly, she left the common area toward her room, Alora joining her along the way.

Smiling, I wandered toward the kitchen. I think I'll make some potato salad for Chi tonight. I saw the way her face lit up after tasting it last time.

Whistling to myself, I mentally began to assemble the necessary ingredients, my mind momentarily quiet of the worries that were growing stronger every day as the invasion loomed closer and closer.

It was still two days until the estimated first contact when the initial skirmish occured. I was tootling away in my garden when Chi ran into a Crusader scout. Under Alora's orders, the butterfly woman hovered just under the cloud cover, her lungs straining for oxygen against the thin atmosphere. Her glittering eyes scanned the landscape spread out beneath her. A short while later they locked onto a small white dot that zipped beneath her. The scout was a thin woman, with swooping white wings. Her focus was on the ground, searching for anything amiss amongst the otherwise monotonous crimson earth. Unaware of the danger that lurked above, the Crusader scout continued about her business.

Bringing her tail into position between her legs, Chi began her ambush. It began with sickly green swirls coating her hands as she gathered aether. It took her longer than Alora and much longer than me, cycling the energy from her core to her hands and down through her tail. Three orbs formed, one for each hand and tail. Gritting her teeth with the strain, she spooled out a thin thread of aether that shot out like an arrow toward the angel's feathered back. The angel noticed and had time to twist in the air but it was already too late. The moment Chi's tracer thread attached the fight was essentially over. Beams of concentrated aether emerged from each of the orbs, weaving and combining into a single projectile that followed the path of the tracer to the unfortunate scout. The upper-right quarter of the scouts body melted and her body plummeted toward the ground, already dead. Silence reigned for several seconds before a bellowing hunting horn shattered it. Turning her attention to the east, Chi prepared herself for the battle to come.

"Lilith," Alora said, approaching me from behind. She'd ditched her larger tail for legs in order to get here. "I need you to remain calm."

Her words had the exact opposite effect as I immediately panicked. My mind conjured dozens of possibilities about why she would come to me like this.

Is she hurt? Sick? Did something poison her? Did the river dry up?

Before I traveled too far down that path, Alora continued. "Chi needs your help.'

"Is she ok-"

"She's been shot. Or, rather, she will be shot. In about thirty seconds. So I need you to fly up and catch her before she's skewered by a long fall onto the treetops."

Gaping at her for a second, my eyes bulged.

Alora cut me off before I could protest, a tendril wrapping around my calves and thighs to boost me up through the trees. "You won't be able to miss her."

"We'll talk about this later," I threatened before I rose out of sight. With nothing to do but the task given to me, I tried to center myself and not think of all the ways this could go horribly wrong.

I've failed this so many times I feel like Edison making the lightbulb. This better be the one that works.

In the distance storm clouds darkened the horizon, releasing an occasional low booming sound as lightning flashed like a firecracker. Tilting my chin up to the sky, I started my unorthodox method of flight. I wasn't good with air like Helal, but I was good with vacuums. Not the tool used for cleaning floors, but rather the spaces that contained almost nothing. Which, as it turned out, are much lighter than air. After placing a few of the self-sustaining orbs discretely about my body, I reduced my effective weight to almost nothing. Once that was done, I needed just a little propulsion to send me floating in the direction I wished. A small ball of dirt formed in each palm before it was jettisoned behind me, the reactionary force sending me sailing forward into the sky. Drifting upward, I scanned for any sign of my friend.

I spotted Chi as she burst underneath the sparse cloud cover. Facing the sky, she used her wings to control her descent and glide. A green burst like that of a laser from any number of science fiction shows shot out from her. The attack seemed to drain whatever strength remained in her and she went limp. Her wings folded around her like a cloak as she began to tumble uncontrollably through the air. Putting on a burst of speed, a bolder the size of a horse shot out behind me. My aim was true and I slammed into the free-falling woman. I tried to grab her but missed, her arm slipping from my grasp as we bounced off from one another. We weren't far enough from the ground for me to have time for more than one additional shot at saving her. Dispelling my orbs, gravity reclaimed its hold as I focused on my gossamer winged friend. Another boulder tossed above us closed the distance.

Now that our relative velocities were close, it was much easier to capture a leg and pull her up into my arms. Unfortunately this approach also meant that we were now both tumbling towards the ground with fatal speed. I felt oddly calm as the greenery grew larger and larger. Reaching out, I opened a pathway through the branches, the trees bending to my request. Conjuring a single vacuum orb, I managed to negate most of our mass and then some right before we slammed into the ground. My brain rattled around in my skull and Chi groaned at the impact but I had successfully kept us from splatting against the ground. I popped the orb before the rebound could take us too high. It released a sharp crack that sounded like thunder as the air rushed to fill the empty space. My knees protested the four foot drop, but I successfully kept my grip on the wounded butterfly.

I laid her delicately on the ground, straightening her wings so they weren't uncomfortable beneath her. Her blood was blackish-green, seeping from her wounds to stain my hands.

"Lilith, you came for me." She coughed, coating her lips with that same hateful color. "There were..."

"Hush now," I interrupted, my eyes darting around her body to catalogue her injuries.

It looked like some madman had gone after her with a pencil. Her body was peppered with shallow puncture wounds that leaked blood. The worst was the one on her inner thigh that gushed with every beat of her heart. Leaning into it, I staunched the bleeding with one hand, while I ripped a strip off my shirt with the other. The makeshift tourniquet did a decent job of keeping her alive, but rapidly filled with the monstrously-colored blood.

A cracking sound preceded one of my boulders implanting itself halfway into the earth next to us, just missing crushing us to death. Blinking at it with wide eyes, I shook off the near miss and refocused on what was important.

Her voice was weak but Chi was determined to speak. "I am glad I got to meet you. And Alora. Thank you so much for Alora. When you see her, tell her..." Chi continued talking but I paid her no mind.

I'm not letting her die on me. Not like this. Not again!

I pressed my palms firmly into her wound, ignoring her pained groans, fighting to keep her life-sustaining fluids in her body long enough for me to save her. My skin began to ache, feeling hot like a sunburn wherever her blood touched me. Mind racing, I couldn't settle it enough to perform spellwork the way that Helal taught me. Panic stole reason. But my need to save her remained.

I have to do something.

Therefore, I did the only thing I could think of. My sense of aether opened wide and I could see Chi's energy levels falling. Grasping all the energy around me I shoved it into her body, hoping to bolster her with aether the same way my hands covered her wounds did with her blood. Her back arched as if defibrillated, nearly throwing me off her. Her wings settled against the ground, unnaturally still and rumpled. I pleaded with whatever forces were listening to help her.

Nothing responded.

It was just me and her and I was failing her. Then, under the glut of aether I'd forced into the area, her appearance changed. It was like her body was composed of a grid of pure aether. It felt almost familiar, yet slightly sour, like an onion that'd been left in the sun for a couple of days. The most intriguing part was the snapped threads that coincided with wounds on her body.

Has my brain shattered? Did I finally lose it? Whatever. If I can use this to save Chi... I have to at least try.

My finger's looked raw, like they'd been dunked in boiling water, but I couldn't feel the pain as I used them to fiddle with the split ends of the closest wound. To do so I had to let off the pressure and her caustic blood gushed before settling into a steady trickle that stained the grass between her thighs.

I have to work fast.

There was no time to be gentle, taking the ragged thread, I tied it off to the closest node, leaving the pattern irregular but closing the hole. It looked flimsy so I injected a bit more energy. The woven magic threatened to buckle under the strain but it eventually accepted the aether and grew thicker, no longer threatening to break. Chi writhed in pain but she was slow and weak. I kept working. The raw flesh of the cavity's edges began to reach for one another, leaving her skin unmarred and whole once more.

It worked.

Chi coughed and her blood dribbled down her chin to pool at the hollow of her throat. Her tail instinctively clutched at me, winding around my waist, the chitinous bulbs unnaturally cold.

But I'm not working fast enough.

The next ten minutes felt like hours as I worked as fast as I could. Closing off breaks in the woven pattern in her body, repairing frayed threads, and reinforcing the entire structure, I went from task to task as fast as I dared. Until suddenly there was nothing left to do. The nature of Chi's threading was different. But that didn't matter when she took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

"I am... I am alive? But Alora said..."

I tossed myself across the top of her body, hugging her to me. "I did it. I finally saved one." Then the twin waves of relief and exhaustion crashed over me and carried me away from consciousness.

The sensation of a cool, wet compress on my forehead roused me. Looking up, I blinked my eyes, Alora's and Chi's concerned faces swung into focus. Alora held a wet strip of cloth against my eyes. It was the same fabric I'd made for her to cover up her lack of eyeballs.

"Chi..." I held my hand up and touched her cheek, tears leaking from my eyes. "I did it. You're okay."

Chi took my hand in hers, covering it with her other, patting at the back. "You saved me, Lilith."

It was like a weight had been lifted from my soul. Like a ghost, like that Crusader's ghost, had finally been exorcised from my shoulder. I felt redeemed.

"How did you save me? How did you heal me?" Chi questioned softly, running her hands along the portions of her once wounded skin.

"I don't really know. It was mostly panic, desperation, and instinct. Maybe Helal or Tartarus might be able to explain more."

"Regardless, thank you."

"What were you doing out there anyway Chi?"

She shared a questioning glance with Alora who first shook her head before giving a nod.

"Two days ago, Tartarus warned us about the appearance of more Crusaders onto the plane."

My blood ran cold.

"I was out there watching and... discouraging, any scouting forces from venturing out too far. The main force will probably reach the forest in the next couple of days.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"We did not want you to worry," Chi said, averting her endearingly large eyes. "And I thought I would be... capable of handling it on my own." She ducked her torso at the waist, deeply bowing. "I was wrong and apologize for that."

I took the opportunity to touch her again, her face smooth, soft, and, most importantly, whole. Recalling the pain, I frowned at my unmarred flesh. "My hands..."

Chi grimaced and her bow dipped even lower.

If she goes any further she's liable to tip over.

"Chi, you don't have to-"

"Turns out my blood is highly acidic. Enough to chemically burn you on contact. Alora-" Her voice hitched for a moment before she continued. "Alora treated you with some sort of mashed flower. That helped but it was Tartarus who showed up and fixed them before disappearing. I... I... Failed you, Lilith."

"It's okay, Chi. You did what you thought was best to protect us and our home. I don't appreciate being lied to. But I do understand why you did it."

The time of reckoning is upon us. I just pray that our preparations are enough to drive them off.

My assurances seemingly made Chi feel even more guilty, her wings drooping and her arms clenching by her sides.

"Would someone care to explain what happened here?" Helal questioned coldly as she strode into the room.

"Everything's fine. I'm okay now," I said waving my hands to show her I was telling the truth.

"That's nice, El. Were you not fine earlier?"

Urp.

"And why do these two look so guilty? Anyone have anything to confess?" Her implacable tone sent shivers down my spine, both the good and the bad kind.

What the fuck is wrong with me? Why would I react like this? Although her dominance has always been arousing... Focus! Now's not the time to be daydreaming.

Tartarus popped up next to Alora, laying her arm across the stiff mermaid's back, propping her up. "They made first contact and helped limit the enemies intel."

"And what were you doing?! When El was getting hurt?!" Helal's eyes blazed. Crowding Tartarus' personal space, she loomed over her.

The genius loci did not respond to the provocation. "You do not intimidate me. And do not try to displace your guilt. We do not deserve your accusations. We are all adults and capable of making decisions without consulting your holiness," Tartarus mocked. "Even, Lilith. Or are you finally showing your true colors, daughter of God."

Helal looked like she was millimeters from decking the aether-obscured woman. I popped to my feet and ignored the world tilting as blood rushed from my head. Stepping between the two, I barked a short, "Stop it." Pushing them away from one another, I pointed my finger at Tartarus. "Stop provoking her." I turned my finger on Helal once Tartarus shrugged her shoulders and held up her hands. "And you. Why are you so hostile? We are all on the same side here."

Helal hissed, keeping her eyes on Tartarus before I captured them with a pleading stare. She deflated, like a basketball hit with a nail. "You were hurt and I wasn't there for you. I am supposed to be there for you."

Awww.

"As sweet as that is, and it is sweet. Really, really, sweet. I think if we're going to get through this, everyone has to be there for each other. Like how Tartarus was there for my hands."

"Your hands?" Helal took them and held them in front of her face, turning them to and fro to examine them from every angle.

Turning the tables on her, I captured her hands and gave her knuckles a triplet of gentle kisses. "They are fine now, thanks to her. Just like Chi is fine thanks to me." I didn't try to keep the pride from my voice or the preening from my face. "I saved her, Helal. I saved her. I flew up and caught her before she could hit the ground."

Helal melted under my expression and she lost her combative attitude. A wry smile crossed her face and she hugged me. "Good job."