The Heart of Riven

She waited for a reaction, but got none, raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow at him.

"A man of few words, I see," she muttered. "You asked me why I brought you here, and the answer is simple. I have waited an age to fulfill one last wish. What is it that you truly desire? Weapons? Glory? Peace? Or could it be something...simpler than that?"

"Guardian!" Lumia whispered, her voice coming through his helmet's earpiece. "Don't listen to her! Any wish that she grants will come with some terrible price. We have to get out of here!"

"Desire is a sweet nectar to my kind," the Ahamkara said, the glow of those blue eyes drawing him in. "Greed, a fine wine." She leaned her hands on his armored shoulders, standing on her toes as she brought her face to his neck, as though taking in his scent. "And you...you are rife with it. You covet her, don't you?" she added with a sultry chuckle. "The Awoken Queen, such ethereal beauty and grace, just out of your reach. She sees you as little more than a useful pawn, you know. There is nothing that you could do to earn her gratitude, let alone her affection, but here..."

She lifted her hands, placing them on either side of his helmet, slowly lifting it from his head. He could have resisted, he could have shouldered her slight frame aside, but something compelled him to let her continue. Once it was removed, she let it fall to the floor, cupping one of his stubbly cheeks in her hand. Her blue skin was like silk, softer and smoother than he could have imagined, her dainty fingers stroking him gently. He knew that this was not the real Queen, yet he could feel her warmth, she was flesh and blood just as he was.

"Here, even a desire so outlandish can be fulfilled. You can have Mara Sov in all the ways that you've always wanted, you need only wish it."

"Guardian!" Lumia hissed, still hidden somewhere nearby. "So help me, if you don't turn tail right this second, I'll..."

She trailed off as Mara Sov's lips met the Guardian's. At that moment, he ceased to care if she was real or not. The taste of her kiss was befitting of a Queen, the skill of her tongue beyond compare, the Guardian able to do little other than return her embrace. He pulled off a glove hastily, reaching up to cup her cheek, finding her skin just as smooth and as delicate as it had always looked. He moved up, delving his fingers into her feathery hair, stroking it as their embrace dragged on.

The Ahamkara was right, desire was ruling him now, the prospect of taking Mara Sov right here on the marble setting a raging fire burning inside of him. He tore open her jacket, the Queen loosing a mock gasp as she smirked up at him, pushing out her ample chest in invitation. He reached for her cleavage, but she stepped out of range, the Guardian blinking his eyes at her in confusion.

As he watched, she shrugged off the jacket, letting it fall to the floor, hooking her manicured nails into the maroon fabric of the body glove that she wore beneath it. She ripped it apart, blue flesh spilling between the torn threads, her breasts bouncing gently as they settled. They were perfect handfuls, so pert and firm, tinted the same unnatural blue as the rest of her. The Ahamkara cupped them in her hands, a surge of longing dizzying the Guardian as he watched her butter-soft fat spill between her slender fingers, her boobs deforming in her grasp like putty.

"You can have all of me," she whispered, tearing more of her garment to reveal her flat midriff. "You need only wish it. Say it, say that you wish to lie with me."

"I..."

He hesitated, his mind racing. His heart was pounding like a hammer in his chest, his erection straining against his armor, lust threatening to overrule logic. It was at times like this that he relied on Lumia's judgment, she was the little angel on his shoulder, the voice of reason when he was being impulsive. She seemed to sense that he needed her, a whisper coming to him from the darkness.

"Don't..."

"I won't hurt your precious Guardian, little light," the Ahamkara said. "Quite the opposite."

Seeing the object of his desire standing before him, ready and willing, was more than the Guardian could take. His resolve broke, the Ahamkara seeming to sense it, her smile broadening.

"I wish...to lie with you," he said as he took a step towards her. She opened her arms in invitation, the Guardian wasting no time, plunging his hands into her chest. He took greedy handfuls of her bosom, her delicate flesh filling his palms, the sensitive breast tissue beneath the doughy fat giving them an irresistible springiness. He brought one of her nipples to his mouth, a deeper shade of blue than her velvet skin, trapping it between his lips. He felt her hand on the back of his head, encouraging his mouthing. Could it be that she felt pleasure? This was more than a simple illusion.

"You are so eager, O lover mine," she cooed as he trailed his fingers down the smooth muscles of her belly. "I grant you your wish, you shall have me. All of me..."

He crawled his lips up her chest, kissing her neck, her scent intoxicating. She smelled like a garden of flowers, each breath bringing with it some new aroma, a perfume of unearthly sweetness. She sighed contentedly as he bit her gently, one of his hands sliding down her back, gripping her butt through the form-fitting clothing that she wore. He felt more yielding flesh, and beneath it, the rubbery muscle that gave her rear such an appealing tightness.

How would the read Queen have reacted to him copping a feel of her ass through her suit? She would probably have killed him on the spot for his audacity.

"Have your fill of my flesh, Guardian," she purred as she arched her spine to push her cheek into his hand. "Sate your hunger, feed me your desire."

He was already removing his armor, pieces of it clattering to the marble floor, his underclothes soon following. Mara watched, amused as he hopped on one foot to cast off his boot, the Queen laying her hands on his chest as he returned to her side. She pressed down on his muscles as though testing their firmness, stroking his scarred skin, her touch as gentle as a summer breeze.

"Guardians of the Titan order have always...intrigued me," she admitted as her glowing eyes played over his muscular frame. "I wonder, how much can you truly endure?"

He slipped his fingers beneath the torn fabric of her body glove, feeling warmth and wetness greet him. She was as smooth as silk down there, a pair of soft, plump lips parting to reveal the satin folds of her vulva. She was slick, hot, ready for him. Just the feeling of her damp flesh set his heart afire, and he found himself drawing her closer, keeping her pert cheek clutched firmly in his other hand as he mouthed at her neck.

As he slipped a digit into her welcoming passage, her velvet muscles seized around him, gripping him tightly. Mara loosed a comely whine, her breathy voice sending a pleasant shiver down his spine, her hips rolling as she fought to take him deeper.

"You are so brash, Guardian," she chuckled. "Will you take me here, on the marble? I don't suppose that your beloved Queen would allow something quite so...disreputable. No, I think that she would have you take a knee in service to her."

The implication was not lost on him, the Guardian kneeling in front of her, planting lingering kisses on the blue skin of her toned belly as he went. Up close like this, there was an ethereal quality to it, as though rippling energy was moving just beneath its smooth surface. She reached down to run a hand through his dark hair as he slipped his tongue into her navel, arriving level with her crotch.

He reached out, tearing away more of the fabric, Mara seeming to enjoy his eagerness. The shredded garment seemed to vanish as though it had been transmatted away, leaving her wearing only the belt that hung around her hips, and the leather boots that rose to her knees.

There wasn't a hair on her body, her thighs as smooth as glass, the Guardian unable to resist stroking one of them in disbelief. Before him were her lips, flushed pink with desire, the rosy color contrasting with her icy complexion. He watched as a bead of her excitement dropped to the floor below, sparkling like a tiny diamond as it fell.

"Well?" she cooed, peering down at him from above. "Serve your Queen."

The Guardian leaned closer, his lips meeting hers, his tongue darting out to graze her vulva. He traced the delicate folds of her loins with its tip, her flesh like folds of velvet, her juices making her slippery to the touch. She smelled like jasmine, her taste that of a kiss, his pace becoming greedier as she reached down to grip his hair in encouragement.

She began to grind her hips against his face, seeking out more stimulation, biting her lower lip as he lapped obediently. Their position was limiting his reach, so she lifted a leg with all the flexibility of a gymnast, resting the back of her knee on his broad shoulder. He sank the tips of his fingers into the meat of her thigh as he mouthed and licked, delighting in how it yielded, as soft as memory foam.

He realized that Lumia was floating nearby, out of Mara's reach, but close enough that she could see what was happening. He could feel the Ghost's single eye on him as she watched, the subtle twitching of her shell indicating nervousness or indecision. They spent every waking hour together, a Guardian and his Ghost were inseparable, and privacy was not something that he ever expected. Still, it felt odd to do this in front of her.

"We have an audience," the facsimile of Mara cooed, turning her gaze to the hovering drone. Lumia averted her eye conspicuously, her shell spinning about her round core. The Guardian got the impression that his old companion would have blushed if she had been able.

Mara tapped her heel against his back, returning his focus to her. He slid his hands up her thighs, cupping her ample rear in his hands, holding her there as she shivered contentedly. Her delicate flesh was as putty beneath his fingers, impossibly soft, bulging into his palms when he squeezed. As he pressed his fingers deeper, he felt firm muscle resisting him, bouncing back to its original shape when he relented. How he had admired the Queen's rump, her singular choice of clothing leaving little to the imagination. Finally, he could just grab it, knead it like fresh dough.

"Enough," Mara said, her long lashes fluttered as he withdrew. "I shall show you a kindness that the Queen of the Awoken would never afford you. On your back, now."

She waved her hand, and he did as she asked, lying down on the cold marble as she stood over him. He admired the way that her rosy vulva glistened, the subtle rows of muscle beneath her flat belly, the gentle swaying of her breasts as she moved to stand over him. She lowered herself down, kneeling between his parted legs, her fingers brushing his aching shaft as it throbbed in the cool air. He lurched, Mara chuckling at him, wetting her lips with her tongue. They were so full, his heart racing as she brought them to within an inch of his glans, her warm breath teasing him.

"How often these lips must have chastised you," she cooed, the Guardian grimacing as she made him wait. "How often she must have spoken to you in that cold, detached tone, never suspecting that all you could think about was taking her head in your hands and filling that smart mouth of hers."

The Guardian delved a hand into her silvery hair, its moonlight color shining in the dim light of the chamber, easing her down.

"That's the spirit," she purred, his heart skipping a beat as her glowing eyes met his. "Your lust is a sweet honey to my kind. Set it loose."

With a grunt, he pushed her head down onto his shaft, Mara relaxing her throat. Her lips glided down his length, kissing his base, his glans sliding deep into her gullet. He felt her tense, muscles like wet satin seizing around him, the unbearable tightness making him gasp. He could feel her tongue moving, swirling around his shaft, the soft lining of her cheeks cradling him. She pulled back, the suction making his head spin as she pursed her lips, leaving a sheen of shining saliva in her wake. She paused there with his tip in her mouth, her tongue darting across it, sweet jolts of pleasure rocking him.

"W-what are you doing to my Guardian?" Lumia chimed, daring to float a little closer.

"What does it look like, little spark?" Mara cooed as she held his pulsing member in her hand. "How long has it been since you brought him back? Has he not yet sated his urges in your presence? No wonder his desire commands him so."

Lumia watched as Mara swallowed the Guardian up to the hilt again, his spine rising from the floor, her skilled tongue teasing the sensitive underside of his glans. He tried to lift his arm again, intending to take a handful of her perfectly coiffed hair, but something resisting him. He turned his head, his eyes widening in alarm as he saw a thick, muscular tentacle wrapped around his limb. It was easily the diameter of his wrist, its surface covered in scales of lilac and grey, the same that he had seen covering the giant beast upon entering the room. Its tip was capped with bony plates covered in cruel spines, but they weren't touching him, he was only being restrained.

"Guardian!" Lumia wailed, "watch out!"

He tried to break loose but found that his other arm had been similarly bound, his legs suffering the same fate as appendages like slithering snakes coiled around his ankles. The scales were oddly smooth, powerful muscles rippling just beneath them, even the exaggerated strength of a Titan unable to break their grip.

"I-I'll bring down the ship and transmat you out of here!" Lumia continued, "hang tight!"

"Hang tight?" he grumbled, "where am I gonna go?"

"No, I think your Guardian will be staying right where he is..."

Mara's comely, honeyed voice had become deeper, a feminine growl that captured the Guardian's attention. He looked up to see that the Queen's chiseled features were changing, her feathery hair receding, morphing before his eyes into something new. Smooth, blue skin became scale, a mask of interlocking bone plates growing over her face. Her tight, toned body was growing, a long tail trailing on the floor behind her. Manicured nails gave way to sharp talons, breasts receding into a flat, reptilian chest. Her hips widened even further, her torso elongating, thick muscle bulging from beneath the leathery hide.

In an instant, the object of his desire had taken the form of an Ahamkara, the Wish Dragon returning to its true form. Now that he could get a better look at its strange body, it really did look like the mythical beast from which it got its name. It had four long limbs that ended in clawed hands and feet, stout thighs dimpled by iron muscle, its digitigrade legs jointed at the heel. The way that its hips flared out from its long torso gave it an oddly feminine appearance, the muscles in its slender midriff flexing and tensing as it moved, its powerful tail curling as it loomed over him. It must have been nine feet tall, more if one counted the tail. This was a fraction of its prior size, but it was still more than sufficient to alarm him.

Atop a sinewy neck was the head that he had glimpsed earlier, a mask of bone separated into four plates, the bottom pair making up the lower jaw. They split open to reveal rows of razor teeth, a prehensile tongue that must have been a foot long sliding out to glance his cheek, the pink flesh leaving a smear of saliva on his skin.

The creature crouched over his immobilized form, those tentacles emerging from its neck, oddly enough. There were six in total, he could see two that were still retracted into its body, only the bony spines at their tips visible.

"Let him go!" Lumia protested, retreating a little as her eye darted about nervously.

From beneath the bony mask came a husky, mocking voice, joined by the clicking of sharp teeth as the beast spoke. It was gravelly, yet feminine, the same tone and inflections that had passed Mara's soft lips emanating from this monster. He heard it in his mind as much as with his ears.

"Your Guardian should be more careful about how he phrases his wishes," she chuckled, the contrast of her appearance and her voice confusing the Guardian as he lay beneath her.

"I never wished for this!" he shot back, the Ahamkara cocking her armored head at him curiously.

"But you did, O lover mine," she purred. "You wished to lie with me, I heard it from your own lips. I am not Mara Sov, however. I am Riven of a Thousand Voices, the last of the Ahamkara, and you are now bonded to me..."

"Did I not warn you?" Lumia hissed. "I told you that Wish Dragons were crafty, but you were thinking with...with your thingy!"

"Now isn't the best time for an I told you so, Lumia!" the Guardian grunted as he struggled against his bonds. "I'm about to get eaten!"

"Eaten?" Riven cooed. "No, sweet morsel, eating you would be counterproductive. You made a wish, and I will keep my word. My kind are bound by the wishes that we grant, even if we might use the space between words to turn those wishes to our advantage."

"W-what are you talking about?" the Guardian snapped. "What advantage?"

"I told you, fool," she laughed. "I feed on your desires, your greed nourishes me, and a wish..." She sighed, rolling her head back, the Guardian feeling her tentacles tense around his struggling limbs. "A wish is a rare feast these days..."

She was still speaking in Mara's voice, had she none of her own? The bone plates that made up her mouth weren't even moving, perhaps this creature could not reproduce human speech at all, and had to use some kind of magic in its stead. With a start, he realized that he was referring to this alien reptile as a she. It was the voice, and something about the way that her flared hips tapered into her slender core...

"A transmat would be great right about now, Lumia!" he grunted as Riven crouched over him. She brought the chitinous plates that made up her face closer to him, her large head winding on her snake-like neck, parting them like a mouth to expose pink gums and sharp teeth. A droplet of her saliva dripped to his cheek, the Guardian trying to recoil, but having no place to go. There was no carrion on her breath, she smelled just as sweet as Mara had, his brain responding to the familiar scent of her perfume despite himself.

"I can't contact the ship!" Lumia replied. "We're stuck here!"

"Why are you so eager to be rid of me?" Riven cooed, her serpentine tongue sliding out to lick his cheek in a mock kiss. "Do you find my true form...objectionable?"

She reached down to place a hand on his bare chest, the Guardian flinching as he felt her claws prick his skin. As they slowly slid down towards his erection, he anticipated their sting, but she didn't cut him. Her touch was as light as a feather, her long digits wrapping around his shaft, giving it a gentle squeeze. The lilac scales that coated her four-fingered hand were so smooth, almost indistinguishable from skin, cooler than the blood that was pulsing through his member. As she gave it another teasing stroke, his diminishing erection returned with a vengeance, the creature loosing a satisfied purr.

"Perhaps you do not find me so monstrous after all, O lover mine..."

"Why do you keep saying that?" he wondered, his eyes wandering down her torso. She was always in motion, always shifting, moving. She rocked her wide hips from left to right like a cat preparing to pounce, the swaying motion making the toned, sinewy muscles in her midriff flex beneath her hide. She had no navel, and her chest was completely flat, but something about her fluid motions hypnotized him.

"It's a spell!" Lumia warned, still keeping a safe distance. "She means to gain power over you!"