The Creators Ch. 03

Willowbud didn't starve anymore. Willowbud didn't beg anymore. Willowbud didn't hurt anymore. I saw though Corruption's eyes, and she saw through Willowbud's. She made the hard decisions easy. Stealing became easy, hurting became easy, killing became easy. Willowbud wasn't a loner anymore; she made friends. A gang of thieves and burglars, of thugs and killers, and she was the worst of them all, the ring-leader. She swore them to secrecy, she told them she'd torture them to death if they told a soul of her true nature, and they listened; they'd seen her do it before. Banks were robbed, stage coaches were held-up, gambling halls were ransacked. Willowbud's gang became notorious, and she got a name for herself: Night Eyes.

Night Eyes grew from a girl, to a teenager. Night Eyes began to get strange desires. Night Eyes became very interested in brothels. She paid the madam, she walked up the stairs, and she found the woman. Night Eyes didn't like how the woman touched her, how the woman controlled her, how the woman led her through lust like a child. Night Eyes took control, Night Eyes grabbed and choked, Night Eyes pulled and thrusted. The woman screamed, the woman begged, the woman pleaded, and Night Eyes laughed. The woman surrendered, the woman moaned, and the woman came; writhing in a euphoria that was forced upon her. Night Eyes discovered something that night; Night Eyes found that she liked to rape.

STOP! I screamed. Please stop!

You are who you are, Willowbud, Corruption said comfortingly. You should accept and love yourself, as I love and accept you.

That's not me! I said, choking on tears I couldn't cry.

But it is. Corruption hissed, I didn't make the decisions for you, I just made them easy.

I hate you.

Only as much as you hate yourself. I took that hatred away, didn't I? You think that winged-warrior you're fucking can give you peace? You will pour your self-loathing into her, you will make her bear the burdens of your conscience, and you will drive her away.

No, I croaked, she will stay with me.

She will not, Corruption said consolingly, apologetically, and you know it, Willowbud.

Leave me! I will never see you again!

Oh, you will, Corruption chuckled, her voice as alluring as it was threatening, we can't avoid each other for long, can we? We're kindred spirits, Willowbud; we belong together.

Leave me, I whispered, please.

For a moment, I thought she had. The dream faded from my mind, the sounds of the woman's pleasured screams and horrified sobs dwindling to a drone. The world became black and silent.

It's absolutely lovely this time of year, Corruption whispered, her voice so loud it echoed in my skull, in Tentigo.

ASTRID

It was dark out when I felt the disturbance. I opened my eyes, and saw Willowbud shaking me awake. Her green eyes gleamed in the moonlight, and they were wide with terror. She said something about Tentigo, about the ancient Sentients, about Corruption. Her sentences were jumbled and frantic, but I deciphered the meaning behind them. I threw on my armor with practiced speed as Willowbud tied the harness to my body. I strapped the Sword of Iona to my back, and launched us into the sky. It was dangerous to fly at night, but the Gratoran Wall shielded us from wind gusts, and the desert was barren of nighttime predators. The dim tree line of the Tentigo Tropics finally appeared in the darkness, and Willowbud directed me to the location of the colony. I thought it might be hard to find in the night, but it was easy; the raging fire in the treetops marked it starkly against the black sky.

"Oh no!" Willowbud cried, her voice barely audible against the rushing wind.

I flew over to the blaze, which burned crimson with the wet tropical wood and spewed smoke into the night air. Beneath the billowing layer of refuse and heat, I saw the chaos. The nymphs were like savages; killing, raping, and burning. They committed their atrocities with grins stitched across their faces as though the grimace was a permanent fixture to their manic portraits, their black eyes gleaming in the flame. Even the wounded and dying cackled their death throes with the mirth of the insane.

"What has happened to them?" I gasped in horror.

"Corruption whispered to them," Willowbud replied solemnly, "and they listened."

"Can they be saved?"

"No," Willowbud said quietly, "she didn't meld with them; she broke them completely. She doesn't care about them."

"But she cares about you?" I asked, looking down at the top of her horned head. "You know Corruption, don't you?"

"She's an old friend," Willowbud said dryly, "and she misses me very much. Drop me on that plateau; I need to feel the earth."

I swooped to the jutting rock that towered above the trees, and knelt so that Willowbud's feet touched the granite. She looked over the landscape, from the burning treetops in the valley below, to the hillside adjacent to our plateau.

"Willowbud," I asked carefully, a sickening feeling forming in my stomach, "what are you going to do?"

"What I have to," Willowbud replied, her voice cracking. She was crying. She stepped out of the harness and walked to the edge of the outcropping, trying to keep her composure as she assessed the landscape; she was failing. Her hands were trembling, her knees were wobbling, and her feet moved almost drunkenly. I walked behind her and wrapped her in my arms, embracing her in my love, pulling her to the safety of my bosom. Her haggard breathing grew steady, her drumming heart calmed, and her quivering body relaxed to solemn equanimity. A moment of peace passed between us, and then the entire hillside sheared as though it had been cut with a knife, and swept across the burning colony in seconds. The fires were quenched beneath the earth as the trees flattened and the huts disintegrated. The roar of shifting earth was deafening, but the silence that followed was somehow louder. Soft whimpers broke the still air as Willowbud collapsed to her knees in front of me. I held her to my breast and stroked her hair as she wetted my sleeve with her sorrow. I nuzzled my lips and nose into the nape of her neck and kissed her softly, trying to ease her anguish.

"She wanted me to hurt," Willowbud cried. "She knew it would be easier to get to me."

"She's gone, Willowbud," I whispered. "She can't hurt you anymore."

"No," Willowbud sniffled, "she's been behind us this whole time."

Icy fear crept up my spine as I slowly turned my head. I'd seen astral beings before, the formless blurs that flitted aimlessly about like fireflies. This thing—this woman—was not formless. She was a sleek silhouette of a human woman with eyes that bore white irises, but black sclera. Her face was heart-shaped and decorated with almond eyes, a pointed nose, and lips that pouted and creased with a cupid's bow, and her subtly-curved body moved with a languidness that was both seductive and unnatural. She smiled to me, and the set of white teeth she displayed contrasted her entirely-black figure.

Astrid, she said without her lips, her voice speaking softly into my mind, her words hissing with a soothing drawl, valkyrie of Iona, daughter of High Guard Freydis, bearer of the Sword of Iona. I am truly delighted to make your acquaintance.

"Don't touch her, Corruption!" Willowbud yelled raggedly from behind me, "It's me you want!"

Willowbud is very taken with you, Corruption smiled, stepping toward me. It would seem that the best course for me, would be to take you under my wings and let her follow in your footsteps.

I reached back for my sword as the sinuous black figure neared me. I pulled the weapon from its sheath and swiped downward in a deft practiced motion, but the blade only passed through her. She reached forward, and touched a hand to my cheek. My sword dropped from my hands, and clattered to the stone.

Oh... gods... the pleasure! A mingling of joy, sexual ecstasy and horror swelled within every inch of me. Its euphoria brought tears to my eyes, and my body to its knees. I stared up at the woman's black eyes, looking into those promising white irises that smiled back at me.

You don't have hatred, Astrid, she whispered soothingly, her voice caressing the back of my mind, but you do have ambition, and I can work with that. Your mother is the High Guard of Iona, but why should she be? Didn't you win the sword from her? They say you won it on luck, that Freydis stumbled before she delivered the critical strike, but isn't the warrior who keeps her footing the better swordswoman?

"Yes," I said, my grin hurting my face, my eyes flowing with tears, "yes! I was the better warrior that day! I should be the High Guard!"

Of course you should, Corruption laughed, her agreement filling my heart with joy, we just have to get your pesky mother out of the way. How do you think we should do that?

"Kill her!" I laughed, clapping my hands in glee. "Kill her in front of everyone! Kill her so that everyone knows I was always her better!"

That sounds like a fantastic idea, Corruption smiled, kneeling so that our faces were at eye-level, and what do we do after?

"I will take Willowbud with me to Iona!" I said excitedly. "I will make love to her every night, and become pregnant with her child! I will show the world how much I love her, how devoted I am to her, how I will kill and die for her! I will help her conquer lands, I will slaughter her enemies, I will erect statues of her upon the ashes of cities we've razed so that all know that Astrid and Willowbud are the masters of this land! I will birth her a child, and spawn a new dynasty; an empire the likes of which the world has never seen!"

But what of the other gods, Astrid? Corruption asked, her lips nearing mine. What of the Life Giver and the Heat Bringer?

"They will bend the knee!" I laughed manically. "They will prostrate before the true god, Willowbud, or they will be crushed!"

That is an excellent plan, Corruption whispered, her lips baring no breath. I can make it happen, Astrid; all you have to do, is kiss me.

I leaned forward to accept her kiss, but I felt a familiar hand stop me. I looked over my shoulder, and saw Willowbud shaking her head. She was crying, still grieving for the weak pieces of shit she buried under a hillside. I will help you kill millions more, I thought as I looked at her. You will learn to be strong; I will help you. I turned away from my god, and parted my lips to accept the promise of Corruption. A hand of stone burst from the ground and clasped my face, pushing me backward. I screamed my objection as Willowbud intercepted Corruption's kiss with her own lips.

WILLOWBUD

Hello, old friend, Corruption whispered in my mind. It's been too long.

I dropped to my knees as the euphoria took hold of my body. It raced through every vein, electrified every nerve, awakened every muscle, and sank its dopamine into the darkest depths of my mind. Her lips opened against mine, and poured her sweet kiss into my mouth. I felt myself melting into her, leaning toward the promise that lay between her lips, but I resisted. I'd resisted her before, I'd cast her out before, I could do it again. She parted from our kiss, her eyes smirking into my own.

Oh, child, she chuckled, you've grown so much since we last saw each other. Just a year ago you were running brothels and leading street gangs, now you're destroying colonies. What's next, I wonder; cities? Kingdoms? Empires?

"Fuck you," I laughed, my euphoric grimace glued to my face, "go rot in the hole you crawled out of."

Ah, but you don't care for that kind of power, do you? Corruption smiled, ignoring my wrath. You have a taste for something more personal... more intimate.

"You have nothing to give me," I cried out, cackling my words through my mania, "nothing I want!"

For you, power is only as good as the people who know you have it, Corruption sighed, clasping her hands together behind my neck and smiling at me. You need to see their subservience; you need to see their awe and fear. You need to see their pain.

"You don't know me!" I screamed, "Not anymore!"

You made such sweet love to Astrid, Corruption whispered, pressing her ethereal black body against mine, separating her thighs about my waist. You were so kind to her, so loving in the way you took her virginity. That's not you, Willowbud; I know how you really like to treat women.

"Not me..." I said, the seduction melting into me, weakening me, "...not me..."

Yes, you, Corruption laughed softly, trailing a teasing hand through my hair, don't deny it, not to me. I remember the things you did to your whores. I remember the things you made them do to you, and to each other. I remember the feeling it gave you, the power you lusted for. We could do those things to Astrid.

"No..."

She is so devoted to you, Corruption smiled as she pressed her crotch to my erection, so unconditionally in love with you. She said she'd do anything for you, Willowbud, and she meant it. I know you enjoy raping women, but I think I can give you something better. It's only a small step, after all, to go from love to slavery.

"No," I said, the words seeming to come from elsewhere, "I don't want to..."

Imagine her on her knees, Corruption gasped as she took me inside of her, staring up at you with eyes full of devotion, full of love. Imagine her in chains; begging you to stop, begging you for mercy; then begging you to keep going, and begging you for more. We can turn your guardian angel into your disgusting whore.

"Please..." I murmured. Corruption's dripping heat surrounded me, her vulgar muscles consumed me, her body sunk its intoxicating warmth into my flesh.

Imagine twisting her, breaking her, molding her until she becomes the woman you want! Corruption moaned. Isn't that your darkest desire, Willowbud? To take something beautiful and pure, and turn it into something as dark and twisted as you?

"No..."

We both know why you are the way you are, Corruption whispered through her lust, her delicate fingers petting my hair affectionately. The woman you're pretending to be died in that alleyway all those years ago. They broke you, they stole your innocence, they robbed you of virtue and goodness; that's why you do it to others. That's why you see someone as whole and pure as Astrid, and you want to make her just like you.

"...please..."

It's why you melded with me so seamlessly, she hissed, her tongue licking across my trembling lips. I don't judge you, Willowbud; I accept you for what you are. I love you more than anyone else ever could, because I know you to the marrow.

I didn't respond. Words would not form in my mouth, and thoughts would not string together in my mind. Corruption's temptation was a needle for a junkie, a bottle for a booze-hound, a pipe for an opium addict. It was the promise of self-acceptance, of a life without shame, of freedom; true freedom. The freedom from yourself. She wrapped her legs around me and embraced me like a lover, like a mother. Her kiss found its way on my lips, and her pelvis found its way to my crotch. She drew me into her vile seduction, her intoxicating cancer. I took hold of her, I lifted her weightless form, and I turned her around. I bent her over, planted my hands into the fat of her ass, and I fucked her like she knew I wanted to. Dominating, controlling, hateful. My hand came down on her ass again and again, my other hand took hold of her black hair and ripped it backward. The muscles on her back flexed in strain, the movement of her hips became desperate, her face looked up at me from the tops of her black eyes and gave me the expression I wanted. Fear, pain, pleasure. I knew she was manipulating me; I knew she was seducing me, but I didn't care. I just wanted to hear her scream, I just wanted to hear the tones of her surrender, and she gave them to me. She screamed that sweet tenor of shame, agony and ecstasy, that harmony of weakness, of acceptance, of submission. She gave me that power; the power to make someone need something that hurt them, the power to make someone love something they hated. The power those men had over me all those years ago, when I died and was reborn in that dark Drastin alleyway.

I can make you love yourself, Corruption whispered telepathically, the sultry drawl of her mind contrasting the panicked screams of her mouth. I can make the pain go away, Willowbud. I can make you invincible to your own soul.

"Just... one... thing..." I managed to say through my fugue state of lust and hatred, through my fog of desire and disgust.

Anything, Corruption whispered back, her mouth now sobbing and begging.

"Not... Astrid..." I said, my mouth growling and moaning, my hips slamming into her, "you... can't... have... her!"

She won't save you from me, Corruption said apologetically, and you can't save her from yourself.

"NOT... HER!" I screamed, feeling the pressure in my loins reaching the boiling point.

OK Willowbud, I accept. Corruption said softly as she wailed agonized pleasure from her mouth. Welcome back, old friend.

I stopped resisting her. I gave the last of myself up, and drowned in her sweet temptation. Corrupt me, twist me, use me. Make me who I already am. I'm yours, my beautiful hatred, my twisted love, my broken soul.

ASTRID

My mind faded from Corruption's power, and focused on the scene before me. Willowbud looked like she was trying to break the black spirit in half. Corruption's head was forced skyward, her neck stretched backward, her chest jutted forward, her belly distended, and her back arching so vulgarly that her ass was level with her crown. This lecherous curve was anchored by the vicious pull of her hair, which strained her scalp as Willowbud sadistically yanked backward. Despite the pained position she was in, Corruption's mouth wailed an ecstasy so intense her voice was cracking. Her black eyes bulged, her screaming lips quivered, her body swung from her pulled hair like a lecherous pendulum, smashing back and forth onto the fulcrum of her penetration as she writhed helplessly beneath the god. Willowbud fucked the astral being with inhuman speed, rippling supple flesh outward from Corruption's battered backside. The two vibrated and writhed in a performance of violent lust that matched the animalistic symphony of their mouths. Sadistic growls mixed with pained screams, snarls mixed with whimpers, laughs mixed with sobs. Their connected forms accelerated into a blur of jiggling flesh, flailing hair and spraying fluids. They moved faster and faster, harder and harder, driving their hate-fueled joining into a brutal crescendo that built and built until it reached its soprano note, and the two vibrated upon the paralytic precipice, stuck in a moment of primal intensity that held them in rigid stasis. Then, they came. They came violently, screaming with throes of release that wracked their forms into a splay of powerless flaccidity. Corruption's arms and legs gave out, and she collapsed to her stomach. Willowbud dropped to her knees in euphoria, and she fell upon the spirit with her cock still buried. The two panted and heaved in the last tremors of their lust, and then they kissed. A hedonistic vulgar kiss of pure avarice. Corruption stared at me from behind Willowbud's head, and gave me a parting wink before she melted into black wisps. Willowbud drank in the misty essence of the Sentient, and then rolled to her side, and went limp.