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

Helal seemed to grow uncomfortable, having run out of things to say. Her weight shifted from foot to foot. Eventually the silence proved too much and she asked a quiet question. "May I join you?" She gestured at the space on the mattress next to me.

"Of course. Feel free." I scooched over to the side of the bed.

Helal moved slowly, carefully setting each foot on the step before lowering her weight onto it, obviously deep in thought.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

Maybe I missed a spell. Let something through that got her hurt and she doesn't want to worry me so she's hiding it.

Helal shook her head sadly. "Of course you would ask me that. After I treat you like..." She trailed off, her hands moved with machine-like rigidity as they peeled off her armor.

"What do you mean?"

"Of course you don't even see it. You probably aren't even capable of it, after what my people did to you. After what I allowed my father to do to you," she muttered. Her fingers sketched over the smooth surface of her breastplate before she tossed it aside, the heavy metal clattered as it wobbled against the solid ground.

I bit my lip, my brain working against my complaints but I forced them out anyway. "I know I don't deserve the way you spoke to me. I know that." Soft but firm, she had to strain a little to hear me. "But I also understand how stressed you must- We all... I put such a tremendous burden on you. Some friction is expected and probably healthy even. I don't blame you and I certainly won't hold it against you. It hurts me more when you treat me like a broken little doll; one to be safely hidden away in a chest because the slightest bump might shatter me. I am stronger than that. I can help. I want to help. Please don't keep me safe." Keeping my eyes low, I pleaded with her, crawling on my knees until I was on the edge of the bed.

"You're so kind. I don't deserve you," Helal said as she divested herself of her pants.

"If anyone does it would be you."

"Do you still see yourself as a man?" Helal inquired suddenly.

Caught off guard by her question, my furrowed brow tilted back, our eyes meeting while I took in her nakedness. It took me a long time to respond as I was struck mute by her statuesque physique, her athletic feminity towering above me like a divinely crafted edifice. Gaping like a fish, words were slow to return, coming in drips and drabs to my suddenly scrambled brain.

"You... Uh... Pretty... Um... I..." I blinked. "What was the question again?"

She smiled and joined me in bed. Like wet clay or steel bars, I was hers to be molded and bent into position as she willed. When she was done our legs were twisted together and her hands played with my stomach and my ass. The embrace both thrilled and calmed me, knowing she cared enough to hold me like this soothed my frayed nerves.

"I was wondering if you thought of yourself differently after..." Her hand drifted upward to gently cup my breast. "These changes?"

A sound that was dangerously close to a purr rumbled in my throat before I answered. "I mean... Yes? How could I not? So much has changed? Why does it matter?"

"I was talk-... I was curious, is all, if you still thought of yourself as a man?"

I sipped at the question like it was a steaming cup of tea. "I guess... not." The words came out slowly, the conclusions and realizations occurring even as I spoke them aloud. "I haven't really thought about it before, but I feel like my- with everything that happened -like my self-image has been changing in the background. I mean, look at everything that's happened: First my free will was taken. Then my body was twisted. Then I traveled to an entirely new planet and was responsible for the creation of two-" I held up my fore and middle fingers to emphasize the point. "-two creatures that I never thought would exist outside of stories."

My eyes glazed at the memory of Alora's affectionate tentacley hugs and the expression that Chi made when she snatched a morsel of food from my fingers.

"And they are wonderful. I believe I told you before that I hated my name. Lilith," I said my name slowly, letting it linger in my mouth. I shook my head, a wry smile tugging my lips. "I told you that I used to be bullied for it. I used to hate hearing it. I could never understand why my mother called me that. Now, though..." I fiddled with a bit of her sunset-colored hair, rolling the strands between my thumb and forefinger. "I don't mind it as much. It's comfortable. Lilith is the one who dances with Tartarus. Who messes with the primal force of magic to grow entire forests. Lilith is the one who gets to be held by a fierce warrior while they make love. Being Lilith is not so bad."

"El..."

I continued on, my momentum carrying me forward. "Then Alora starts calling me Mother. And, do you know what? It felt good. I normally avoided that kind of responsibility as a man. But now... To have those kinds of worries... It feels like I'm part of a family again."

"Don't you still have siblings?"

"Yes, but it is different. Time took them on a path that diverged from mine. They had their own families and I was happy for them. But I didn't feel as connected to them as I was when we were children with Mom and Dad watching over us. I never realized how isolated I'd become until you took me in. And then Chi and Alora... I am useful again." I looked at Helal to see her stunned expression. "Sorry... I guess that was a lot of me talking about myself. What about you? Do you see yourself differently since you've split off from the Crusaders?"

Helal's mouth opened and closed, her eyes blinking like she was caught under the bright glare of a spotlight. "... I don't. But I think I should start. Self-reflection has never really been my strongest suit."

"That's okay. We all have things we're good at." My eyes glittered with mirth. "Get it? Because that's-" I couldn't see it, but I could feel the strength of her eye roll.

"Yes. That's just like what I said to you when we began to build this home."

"I quite like being on this side of the conversation. And it still rings true."

"Going back to the original discussion, so you think of yourself as a girl now?"

"I think of myself as me. I guess if I had to put a label on it I shade toward the feminine side of things, but I honestly don't think it matters all that much." I rotated in her arms so that we faced one another. "Is it such a big deal for you? Does it... Does it change the way you see me?"

"No!" Her fingers squeezed my buttocks, partnering with the vehemence of her denial not at all. "I just... You just spent so much of your life as a man... I was curious about how you felt about your changes."

Covering her hand with my own, my eyes danced as I led her deeper into the valley between my legs, down into the wet cleft that waited for her there. "I feel like my feminine side has made quite a few compelling arguments about being a good change."

The smile grew slowly, tugging her cheeks up as her eyes began to smolder.

"But it probably wouldn't hurt to test it out again," I said, biting my bottom lip playfully.

"Have I ever made it hurt?" Her fingers started curling through my damp folds, fiddling with my labia as my cock began to swell.

"If it did, I can never recall it afterward." I moaned, burying my face into her breasts as my body folded around my center, much like I had with the pillow but for a very different reason.

"You know what has always helped me to unwind and sleep?" She had that look in her eye that turned the question rhetoric.

She cannot be serious. I thought she was just teasing.

Helal could tell what I was thinking. With a deft shove, she flipped me over onto my back, pinning me to my bed. Her lips feathered across my neck, working their way upward to whisper into my ear.

"I am serious. This will help."

For the first time in what felt like days, my heart beat faster for reasons other than gut-churning fear and nervousness. I leapt at the opportunity that had presented itself.

Literally leapt.

I threw myself at Helal hard enough that our foreheads thwacked together. After a grimace and a shared glance we devoured each other. Our bodies came together, writhing around one another like entangled snakes. Only there was no apple, no curious young girl to tempt. Just two people trying to find some solace in a universe that seemed arrayed against them.

Smoke filled the room as she burned my clothes free from my body, their smoldering remains littering the bed around us. I buried my nose in her neck, absorbing the comfort that came from her scent while peppering her collarbone with kisses. Her skin sang where it skimmed against mine. Fingers sketching my contours, she lowered herself down my body until she engulfed my crowning jewel in her mouth, the tip of her tongue twitching against my clit.

"Ohhh," I cooed. Then, before she could tell me otherwise, I took the initiative and swun my leg over her head so I could return the favor. She tensed at my sudden move, her instincts still on alert from the extended time facing down her ex-comrades. My initial thought was that she might be mad at me. I tried to placate her with some tentative licks across her labia, all the way up to her soft mons. Her relaxation cascaded into my relaxations.

"That's good, that's very good," she praised gently.

My arousal charged brain lapped up the encouragement. I buried my tongue in her pussy. Her thighs pinched uncomfortably at my head and I had to pat her in an increasingly desperate manner until I captured her attention and she released me from her wonderful, but oxygen free, prison.

Exposing my clit with two fingers, she laved it up and down with her tongue. Somehow infusing her slick appendage with warmth, the heat soaked into my groin, fueling my arousal. Her free hand applied gentle tugs on my cock, working shaft up and down with leisurely speed. The soft care she brought to her was nowhere to be seen in her animalistic thrusting of her pussy into my face.

Her plaintive cry of joy held hands with a burst of fragrant fluids that soaked her labia and my chin. The expanse of her quivering thighs muffled my own moans as my seed slipped from my shaft and trickled down her hand. I released a breath that felt like it'd been stored deep in my soul. My eyes blinked twice and closed as my body relaxed, enjoying the gentle waves of feel good neurotransmitters that swam through my brain. Before I even realized it, I was asleep on one of Helal's toned thighs.

"That's an ego boost," Helal chuckled. Moving slowly at first, but with increasing confidence as I failed to stir, she gently extracted herself from my embrace. Leaning on her side, she gently freed my face from untamed strands of rich-black hair. Slipping backward she was halfway off the bed when I began to whimper, the nightmares already invading. A pained expression tugged at her lips and a sadness crept into the corners of her eyes. It quickly left, replaced by a caring smile as she curled back next to me, taking my hand and kissing it before settling it over her heart. The gentle thump of her heart escorted me back into a deep and dreamless sleep. With a soldier's experience, Helal found her own rest, her body taking what solice it could from the respite bought by friends.

When we returned to the frontline, Alora and Chi had everything well in hand, or tentacle as the case proved to be. The mermaid was choking out a duo of soldiers with her aether tendrils, waiting until they were blue in the face to release her grasp. Their compatriots pulled their still breathing forms back from the battle and Alora let them go. I was glad she didn't stain her conscience with their deaths. Chi, on the other hand, had no such reservations. A condensed stream of caustic fluid was directed through a hole formed for that purpose, melting a man's helmet and head down to the bone. After everything I had already seen, I only flinched and turned away, trying to center myself as Helal and I tagged in for Chi and Alora. The two leaned heavily on each other while making their way towards the common area.

Helal put on her game face, summoning her weapon and shield. Her colorful eyes met mine and she nodded. My face white, I returned it, stretching my senses out even as the Crusaders took a couple of pot shots with arrows at the draining water barrier. Helal caught the weakened bolts on her shield while I drained the aether from any additional salvos. Their magic cut off, another pair of doomed challengers stepped down the hallway with grim expressions to face off with my unbeatable angel.

Things went okay for a while as we traded off shifts; we alternated between defending and too-short periods of rest. But, as time passed, the reality of our situation reared its ugly head: we were being worn down. Like a sand castle at the edges of the serf, the structure holding us up was eroding. I could tell that it wouldn't be long before everything came tumbling down.

Then Helal started breaking out the artifacts. I asked about them during the moments of respite and Helal was more than willing to sate my curiosity. There was the shroud of Turin that she wrapped around her waist like a sash. She said it helped ease muscle soreness in addition to a modest rejuvenative effect that cleared up the plethora of cuts and scrapes that came from exchanging blows with dozens of challengers.

A tablet of stone the size of a piece of paper was activated by a whispered incantation after she told me to rest for a bit. I obeyed, nervously twitching as I sensed the pooling of aether that preceded some spellwork. The aether whipped out and was sucked into the tablet, the runes glowing for a moment before the spell reflected back at the caster twofold strong. Impressed, I sat on the wall and sipped at some water, grateful for the break. She called it the commandment of a wise man named Jesus.

Most of her artifacts she'd stolen when we left the camp were defensive in nature with one terrifying exception: a white powder that looked suspiciously like salt. Originating from the plane of Sodom, it was a terrifying weapon. Helal handled it with care, tossing the thick leather pouch a good twenty feet into the center of the tunnel before burning away the casing, leaving an innocuous looking pile. Then she blew it onto the enemy troupes with a sustained blast of wind. Whatever organic matter the powder settled upon was quickly converted into that self-same powder. The Crusaders retreated before the horror wrought by the terrible weapon. The doctor who diagnosed me when Helal discovered the problems with my command rune appeared and deftly neutralized the powder with smoke from a burner. The drifting plumes seemed to be magnetically aligned with the powder, zipping towards it when it got close, blackening the human sized piles of white beneath leather and steel armor.

Maybe we can do this. Maybe we can drive them off and win.

But we weren't the only one holding things in reserve. It began with the synchronized sound of marching feet. The frontline fighters hugged the wall as they slipped into the back of the crowded tunnel. What they revealed wasn't the familiar shielded figures. It was the bottom of the pole with dirty soles of enormous feet tied to it.

"A crucifix," Helal swore.

The pallbearers lowered the object to the ground and retreated. It was a man, strung up on a pair of thick logs that crossed on his upper back, all of his limbs secured with thick-iron bands in triplicate across arms and legs. I couldn't see his face from this position. A woman emerged from the crowd. Lithe and svelte in all the right ways, she moved with a casual sultriness as she approached the man's head, bending over to whisper into his ear. At first nothing happened. The man's arms and legs began to bulge as a sense of foreboding washed down the hallway. It began with a series of high pitched snaps, like someone was smacking on a tightly-wound oversized guitar. That happened in a trio of three snaps with decreasing intervals when an enormous crack echoed throughout the tunnel as the man shattered his restraints, pulling his arms and legs free from the wood shards, the metal bands clanked to the floor.

Lanky, gnarled, unwashed hair covered the brutes face and shoulders, hanging down to his lower chest in ropey vines. The thing that made him stand out the most was his size and physique. He could best be described as a slab of muscles assembled into a vaguely humanoid shape. Still, despite his obvious strength, I felt a greater sense of danger from the girl. My throat felt tight as a strange warmth stole across my body.

"Shit. That's Samson and Delilah," Helal cursed upon seeing the duo. Inhaling sharply, her upper chest ballooned as she drew her shoulders back. The exhale was accompanied by a rolling wave of flame the slunk across the ground, clinging to it like napalm and filling the corridor with superheated air. I noticed the danger a moment before it struck and pictured a curtain of mountain fed water dripping from the ceiling. Imbued with magical cold, my makeshift barrier barely held up as the thermal bloom washed across it. The man, presumably Sampson, stalked at the edge of the fiery floor like a prowling cat. Delilah walked up next to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. Stretching up on her tiptoes, I could see her painted crimson lips form whispered words into his ear.

"Nice save," Helal remarked.

The heat continued to build in my chest and I had a moment where I thought some of it might have slipped through the watery veil.

No. Not just my chest.

My hand darted between my legs where a familiar heat was growing. Throbbing, my cock strained at the fabric of my underwear as I gasped at the unnatural arousal.

My breasts, nipples, and sexes too. Has to be magic.

Spreading my senses wide, I couldn't detect any active sources of aether. Wide eyed and panting I turned toward Helal.

"It's Delilah. You have to find a way to counter her seduction before Samson crushes us with his implaccable strength."

"Can't you just cut his hair?"

Helal looked at me like I was crazy. "... What are you talking about?! He's nearly impervious to aether-working along with his ridiculous musculature. We have to stop or subvert Delilah so that Samson becomes a non-issue." Darting in for a quick kiss, she dismissed her weapons and summoned an enormous metal tower shield that scratched against the ceiling with a dragon etched into the front face.

Stop the mystical yet somehow not mystical force of arousal that is somehow enslaving an unstoppable barbarian... When I put it that way, how hard can it be? Okay... I just need to get started...

There was a loud clang and Helal's feet slid back three feet. Grimacing, her eyes blazed as she poured out a new wave of fire from the mouth of her shield.

Just the start...

A hole in the shield appeared, suspiciously fist like for a moment before Helal managed to get it closed.

Come on, start. You can do it Lilith.

Only I had no clue how to do it and my lover was getting beat to shit. Unable to do nothing I scowled.

Fuck it!

Angry and scared, I reached into the aether. I didn't really have a plan other than to do something and hope for the best. Fortunately for me, I had someone looking out for me before I could do something foolish. Tartarus' body formed in front of me and she shoved me up against the wall, disrupting my collection of energy.

"Lilith, try asking, not taking."

My fists clenched and shook under the desire to deck her. "This isn't time for some mystical bullsh-"