Ranni's Dominion Pt. 01

Ranni's Dominion

Part 1: Malenia

The body slumped to the floor, blood pooling beneath it as the long blade was pulled free from its chest. All was silent again in the Haligtree roots.

"I am Malenia, blade of Miquella" said the sultry voice of the blade's wielder, "and I have never known defeat." Her great wings retracted as she stood proud in the shallow water, catching a reflection of her rot-ridden body in the ripples. I will never know defeat she told herself. It was time to rest again. She turned and began to walk back towards the great roots of the Haligtree.

"What...is defeat, truly?" said a small voice from the entrance of the chamber. Malenia stopped in her tracks. Another challenger? So soon? She was still in her empowered form, her lithe body prepared for battle. Her fingers twitched around the base of her great blade. The voice spoke again.

"What is victory, for that matter?" The voice was confident, despite its softness. Whoever was speaking was not afraid of her. "How does an Empyrean define such concepts?" it said, never faltering, ever so sure of itself. Malenia turned.

Standing at the edge of the shallow pool of water was a small figure wearing a large, wide brimmed hat. Four jointed, mechanical arms were held in deep consideration as two intense blue eyes stared into Malenia from beneath the brim of the hat. Ranni.

Malenia leapt into the air, wings unfurled and blade poised to strike. It didn't matter who came before her. It never mattered. I will never know defeat. She readied herself, feeling power surge through her, and gripped her blade tightly.

Suddenly she stopped. No, she was being held. Frozen. She couldn't move. Something she couldn't see was stopping her, holding her entire body paralysed. She could barely breathe. Ranni.

"Calm thee, sweet Malenia," she said, tender but not mocking, "I hath come with an offer". Ranni's eyes continued to stare into Malenia's; two of her doll arms were still poised, hands together in front of her face, ever considering, ever contemplating. The other two were held out in front of her, palms facing up, manifesting some power that Malenia wasn't even aware Ranni possessed. When had she become so powerful?

"When indeed, sweet Blade of Miquella," she said, a wry smile curling the corner of her lips. She could see her mind too? What was happening? Ranni giggled and took a step closer to Malenia's suspended body.

"A Tarnished warrior in my service recently took uponst themselves the title of 'Elden Lord'. I was...surprised that they had not already stumbled upon your dwellings" she said, glancing around at the rank chamber before continuing, "nevertheless, thou wouldst marvel at the power an Elden Lord doth possess. Twas such a shame they could not keep it"

Ranni was smiling now, a beautiful yet fierce smile. Malenia felt her stiff body descending; she was unable to move as she floated closer to the ground, until she was face to face with the witch. What was Ranni going to do? She leaned in closer to Malenia's face, close enough that she could feel the breath of her words on her cheek. She wasn't even aware that dolls could breathe. Two puppet-like hands caressed her face as Ranni began to whisper, intimately.

"I am all things now. Conjurer, shape-shifter, witch, consort..." she breathed, getting closer to Malenia's face with each word. Cold, hard lips touched her rotting skin.

"...wish-granter"

Arms outstretched, Ranni pushed Malenia away with her invisible tendrils, forcing Malenia's arms outwards and making her drop the blade. Always, Ranni kept that piercing gaze focused on Malenia, transfixing her in body and mind.

"What If I toldst thee that I could restore thine body? Rid thee of the rot, clear the Scarlet blight from all but thine luscious hair? Make it so that the only crimson is flowing through thy veins, and thou art as thou once was?" she asked, walking closer to Malenia's outstretched form again as she held her in mid-air. "I could make thee whole. I could make thee feel again"

Those last words she spoke. What did she mean by...feel? It had been so long, Malenia had forgotten what her body even was before the rot. Had she ever been...whole? What would that even feel like? She wanted to remember.

"Then it is done" said Ranni. She had already read her thoughts, she had already begun to weave the incantations. Her arms whirled in intertwining circles, filling the chamber with golden light.

All Malenia could feel was pain. Parts of her body and soul that had wormed their way into her very being were being forced out, cosmic influences and dark magics were being uprooted and expelled. It felt like it was turning her inside out. She could feel muscle regrowing, skin knitting itself together, bones realigning. Her arm was reforming itself. Her real arm. Spasms of agony pulsed through her body, snaking from her toes to her head, slowly at first, the pace quickening with each passing heartbeat. The pain left echoes of pain, a dull sensation which was replaced again and again by more pain. Wounds were closed within and without, her head felt like it was going to explode.

Suddenly, she was aware that she could hear her heart beating again. It was cold in the chamber. She was keenly aware of the cold, the wet touch of the water on her feet. A thousand sensations rippled across her skin, overloading her senses for the first time since she could remember. Her skin...it was soft. Vulnerable. An armoured, artificial golden arm lay discarded on the ground next to her helmet, like useless relics of the past. She was new, reborn. The rot was gone. Feeling exhausted, she collapsed.

Hands were holding her; she could feel them, four warm hands supporting her body and holding her. Warm hands.

Malenia opened her eyes. Ranni's steely, blue eyes stared back at her, but everything was different to how she had remembered. There were no cracks on Ranni's face, her cold skin seemed...flushed with colour. The mechanical joints were gone, she was flesh and bone and soft skin, just like her. She still had her four arms, but they were much more human now; warm and tender, with blood rushing through them. Two of the arms began caressing Malenia's skin.

The fingers lightly traced lines down from Malenia's forehead, down her cheek and along her neck. She could feel the sharpness of Ranni's fingernails along her collarbone, the touch so gentle, yet simultaneously so sweet and inviting. The fingers from both hands continued downwards and began circling her breasts. She felt a finger from each hand touch her nipples; the sensation was new and unexpected. She shivered gently as the feeling sent electrical jolts up the back of her spine, through her hair and into her scalp. Was this...pleasure?

"Yes, my sweet," Ranni whispered, "I can show thee much more...if thou desirest." A pause. A nod. "Very well."

Malenia couldn't move, but she was no longer being compelled. She just didn't want to; for the first time in her life, she surrendered. She could think of nothing else in this moment. Her eyes were closed, taking in everything she could feel. Ranni's fingers drew circles around her nipples, gradually winding wider and wider, dragging her nails ever so lightly along the skin. More electrical jolts, more shivers. Malenia could feel something awaken in her, not in her heart or in her head but...between her legs.

Ranni sensed the awakening. One hand clasped a breast, the sudden pressure taking Malenia off guard and causing a sharp intake of breath, whilst another hand traced a wavy line down the centre of Malenia's chest, towards her belly, slowing down the further it got. Malenia could feel other hands grabbing her thighs, as well as the sudden warmth of Ranni's legs underneath her. Ranni was kneeling down, slumped in the cool water. Malenia lay motionless, her back on Ranni's lap, completely at her mercy. Still that finger of hers followed its snaked path, around Malenia's belly button. Slowly it moved. Now below it, now going...going...

Another hand, palm against her thigh, edged itself from her outer thigh to her inner thigh. She could feel it moving upwards, driving a wedge between her thighs, moving to meet the other hand, to find the meeting place where Malenia had never been touched before, as far as she knew.

It was warmth, it was all warmth. Malenia was dewy there, she wasn't even aware of that fact until she felt Ranni's fingertips glide effortlessly along the rim of a new pair of lips. She gasped, unwillingly uttering a sound amidst the silence. What was this feeling?

"Dost thou wish me to enter?" came the voice. A pause. A nod. "Very well."

Malenia's breathing was faster now. The heartbeat that she had only just gotten to know again began to speed up. She had forgotten that she felt cold earlier. All she knew was warm, intimate, and ever so intoxicating. Ranni's power was great, but the power she held over her now, with four hands sending waves of pleasure through her with each passing moment, was unfathomable and undeniable. Ranni could not be denied, and Malenia had no intention of ever denying her again.

She felt a fingertip slowly passing between the opening in her legs, gently gliding inside of her. The sensation throbbed through her abdomen, grabbing at the base of her spine and causing it to arch involuntarily. She had been holding her breath, she didn't know how long for. Ranni's finger pushed further, deeper inside her, every inch igniting a part of her body that she didn't even know she had. She clenched herself around it, the fit and form perfect, as if this was the wholeness that Ranni had implied. As the finger withdrew slowly, every spark of ecstasy she felt going in repeated itself, retracing their paths along her nerves, arching her back again.

She wasn't ready for the moment when Ranni inserted it again, faster this time, until she was buried within Malenia to the knuckle. There was a beat, a moment passing where Malenia's held breath floated, almost leaving her chest, then Ranni curled her finger ever so slightly, pushing against a point within Malenia that broke her silence and caused her to moan loudly as Ranni pulled the finger out again, slower this time. As Melania eased into the motion, Ranni continued, in and out, keeping the slow pace as her other hands caressed Melania's squirming body, holding her breasts.

Melania felt Ranni's lips on hers. A kiss? It barely registered at first, so overcome was she with her body's rippling reaction to Ranni's fingers. A tongue slipped inside her mouth, caressing hers as soft lips touched again and again. She couldn't bear to keep silent, her moans muffled by Ranni's mouth as she continued to kiss her, her finger still working its magic between her thighs.

Another hand crept around Malenia's waist and ventured towards her sex, stopping just above where the finger was now pumping in and out of her. Somehow, just when Malenia thought she would explode from pleasure, another new sensation overcame her entire body. Ranni's other hand caressed a spot just above her opening which was even more sensitive than her skin, her nipples, her insides...the combination of the penetration and this new touch caused her back to arch even more. The breath was held, then she was hyperventilating, gasping, moaning, kissing, writhing, all of it completely taking over her. She didn't even notice the second finger entering her alongside the first, stretching her wider.

All four hands were moving faster and faster now. Ranni's two fingers pumping in and out of her, one other hand rubbing in circular motions, the other two caressing Malenia's lithe form as it convulsed on Ranni's lap. The feelings and sensations were gathering in a crescendo, rising and rising until Melania thought her soul would leave her body. Her legs began to quiver. Her back almost bent double. She let out on great cry that echoed throughout the chamber. She thought she would die in this surrender, and it would be a perfect death, a death filled with ecstasy and fulfilment, of satisfaction and pure lust, of joy and mirth and tenderness. Her chest was heaving, she felt giggly. She felt light. She felt completely limp and powerless, yet her body was moving and convulsing beyond her control. She felt warm, she felt like a dam about to burst. Ranni's arms began to clutch her tighter and tighter as she felt the climax approaching, the end of it all, the final surrender.

There was silence. Malenia's chest pulled in breath after breath as her body clenched again and again around Ranni's fingers. She shivered, spasm after spasm as she felt each digit of each finger slowly withdrawing from within her. Her legs were still twitching. She was alive. She was still here. She wanted more.

She was keenly aware that at some point, Ranni had stopped kissing her. Opening her eyes, she gazed up at the witch. For once, those cold blue eyes weren't staring at her. Ranni was looking into the distance, at the entrance to the chamber. She was smiling.

"A finger maiden. How apt"

End of Part 1