Chapter 78: Chapter 78
Andrea and the rest of the army stood ready, their fingers tightening around their weapons, watching as the shadows’ lord, who looked nothing like his old self, fought against something none of them was able to see, waiting for his signal, for an opening of his making to move, not many understood why did the human king leave, nor what was the shadows’ lord fighting, all they knew was that they had one last order, one which was going to end the war.
Eren, on the other hand, glared at the bastard who dodged another one of his attacks, he was fast, too fast, but the shadows’ lord was only warming up, feeling his newly acquired powers itching to come out.
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Wrapping his arms around her waist, Eren pulled the woman named Ayartma to him, his eyes studying her every reaction, his ears catching her faint purrs, the woman was a wanton, driven by lust and desire, wanting to reclaim her formal glory of the temptress she used to be, and he planned to use that.
“I must tell you, I am a demon, we don’t know softness, everything we do, we do it like the savages we are!”
“Tempting!” the woman purred as he tightened his grip around her waist, enjoying the foreign roughness and thrilling edginess.
“I will make it hurt!” unknown to her, the shadows’ lord meant his words literally, not hinting at anything from what she understood, he needed her to be off guard, which she was, maybe out of blind trust in her powers, or maybe out of lust and desire, Ere, didn’t care much, to him, it was all another battle, one of a different kind, where he had to use a different kind of weapons.
Tightening his hold on her waist and digging his nails in her flesh as she placed her palms on his exposed chest, mumbling about how rough and raw she wanted it, how she wanted him to be the beast he was with her, Eren happily obliged as he bit down on her neck, his hand leaving her waist to rip off her ragged dress, making her gasp in surprise, diverting her attention from the bite.
Eren always watched with wonder as men and women lost themselves to lust, when under it spell, they were nothing like themselves, and from a very young age, he learned to control himself, not let himself slip into that sweet trap, knowing it would leave him exposed and vulnerable.
And that was the case with Ayartma, the warmth of his body, his overwhelming masculinity, his intoxicating scent, and the way he intentionally flexed his muscles under her touch, making her think he was as affected as her, feeding her divine feminine ego, all those elements exposed the oblivious Goddess and made her vulnerable, a clueless prey letting her guards down as she inched to drink from the forbidden river.
She moaned and shivered as he bit her harder, pushing her toward one of the cave’s walls, her blood flooding in his mouth, heavy, warm, and delicious, saturated with the creation energy she carried within her, her blood, however, wasn’t as sweet as his fair lady’s, and Eren doubted that Sara’s blood was that tasty and addictive to him because of her divine half, but just because it was hers.
The heady feeling of the hands roaming her body freely, exploring it roughly, had the Goddess throwing her head back, giving Eren, who was slowly but sturdily drinking her blood, careful not to let any drop slip away and warn her, more access and more space to work with, he was still surprised at how easily she gave in to him, maybe because her wounded pride mattered more to her than her safety, or maybe it was the effect of loneliness, whatever it was, it seemed to work.
Reaching down to her private parts, Eren used his fingers to spread the wet lips, coating his fingers with their wetness before sliding them inside her, the act not bringing any sort of pleasure to him, but do wonders to her as he moved in and out of her mercilessly, her hands nested themselves in his hair, grabbing his wet locks harshly, her moans filling the cave as she neared her release, the first she had in centuries.
She felt alive, in those few moments of pleasure, with a man, a real man, a living man, pleasuring her, something nudged her in the back of her mind, some remaining shreds of sanity but the feeling of having company, one of quality at that, quickly washed it away, leaving her with the feeling of pleasure.
As he sucked more and more of her blood, Eren felt his body temperature going higher, a painful discomfort settling at his lower stomach, his core, but what caught him off guard were the images that appeared in front of his eyes.
A man who slightly resembled Henry, but only a little, golden sands and a crystal castle, naked men, and finally her, Historia.
Blood memory, Eren concluded, burying his shock under his rationality, he was seeing Ayartma’s memories, and even when they were blurry and mixed, he was still able to relate them to the things she told earlier.
“I…I feel…a…” Eren watched as the woman reached her climax, her walls tightening around his fingers, this was it, he told himself, the moment where she was the most vulnerable, biting harder, he sucked her blood urgently without holding back, taking her by surprise as pain mixed with pleasure, not knowing that it was the last thing she was going to feel.
Licking the remaining drops of blood of her wound, Eren placed the drained body down, carefully, knowing that she had already suffered enough, a decent treatment after her death wasn’t too much to ask.
Eren tried to focus on the shattered memories in order to divert his mind from the growing pain he was feeling as it turned from mere discomfort to a vivid excruciating pain and scorching heat, but it was all of no use as it only kept on increasing, he felt it slowly spreading inside his body, like an infection, not sparing an inch, eating him up with it heat, his every cell felt as if it was about to explode, his organs felt as if they were being dipped in lava, his knees gave up on his and he fell to the ground.
Eren didn’t remember the last time he screamed in pain and agony, but it must have been long ago for him to forget how to because the only thing that left his mouth was silent pained air, and even that burned his throat, wrapping his arms around his burning core, trying to breathe and failing, his lungs bled, his skin burned to the point where he started clawing his own flesh, unable to take the pain, he wanted to peel out his skin and gauge out his burning organs, for the pain was insufferable, worse than anything he had ever experience or made anyone experience.
Blood started oozing from his open wounds, the ones he caused himself, and then his every hole followed, his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and every single pore in him bled, his body was jerking violently, like a slaughtered animal, hitting the walls and trashing on the ground.
He knew what was happening to him, the damn creation energy, this time raw and pure, and just too much, it was too much for his blood to carry, or maybe it was the battle between the creation energy and the dark energy, whatever it was, it was tearing him apart, his every muscle, his every bone, and his every cell.
“The creation energy is a force of life, as it peer, the dark energy is a force of death, and in between there is the natural path that every creature had to walk, there is a balance maintained between the two without them blending in each other, life keeps on feeding death, and death keeps on giving meaning to life, each with their particularities while still being the missing puzzle piece for each other” Eren heard the voice of a man, in the back of his mind, lecturing someone, Ayartma, however, the voice sounded almost familiar, the wise tone it carried reminding him of someone, but he couldn’t focus on who as he felt life leaving his body, the darkness which was a part of him was consuming him as if he was a part of it instead, he wondered when did his darkness grow to be that strong, and the answer came in the form of another memory, of the same man whose face was hidden, “The purest shadows and darkest are born under the strongest lights!”
Eren didn’t have it in him to decipher the words or even focus on them, for all he could focus on was the pain he felt as the two energies fought inside of him, each trying to dominate the other.
The pain was too much, to the point where it made the mighty lord wish to die instead of experiencing it, and if it wasn’t for the paralyzing pain, he might’ve ripped his own heart out, and while being in the clutches of despair, he wondered what would things be after death, what would he become? what mistakes will he make in the afterlife, if there was one, and was there a chance to fix the mistakes of this one, Oh he had many, he didn't regret most but he surely did deeply about the latest, the ones that concerned a particular girl…
That girl, with the angelic face, so beautiful when she was a child, and so beautiful when she grew up to be a young lady, so beautiful when angry, so beautiful when kissed, so beautiful when sad, so beautiful when she smiled, so beautiful when she slept, so beautiful when embarrassed as she tried to dance…
Savoring the after taste her memory left on his mouth, Eren smiled sadly, his self-loathing resurfaced again, telling him he deserved to die the way he died, alone in the depths, and surprisingly death didn’t seem like a bad idea as he knew that loneliness was going to destroy him the way it destroyed Ayartma, he deserved the suffering and he knew it, he deserved the loneliness and having her face to accompany him in his last minutes was more than he could ask for.
To have her face to look at until his last minute, Eren wished if things were like that, to actually have her, by his side, but he also knew he didn’t deserve it, instead, he deserved the suffering.
It was just another hopeless wish, one which he added to the pile of other wishes he had, the ones he knew to be doomed, like having a family of his own, having a place where he truly felt home, and having the girl he loved.
What would she be doing now? he asked himself, the question ringing over and over again, maybe she was dreaming about him? No, that was too much to ask, he was sure that he would only appear in her nightmares, maybe she was tending to her father, or gathering some raspberries from the forest, or maybe she was in danger…
Maybe she was in danger!
The mere idea had Eren’s heart pound like a caged bird, and for the first time, he noticed that the battle inside his heart had calmed down a little when he was thinking about her, only to be back to how it was, but he didn’t care about the pain as he did before, for the idea of her being in the shack, unprotected, in danger, had every nerve in his body waking up.
He couldn’t die! He told himself, his life wasn’t his anymore, he couldn’t allow himself to die and leave her behind in this cruel world, No, he thought, wondering how to defeat the pain, how to leave the depths, and how to win the war against those who threatened to kill her.
Focusing on the pain and then on himself, Eren wondered why did it subside a little when he thought of her, but he didn’t need an answer, Sara was his light, with her, the chaos inside him was put to rest, she was his peace, and she brought out the human in him…
Could that be it? His human blood? Could his human half be the middle ground between the dark energy and the creation energy, between life and death, the joint, it made sense, as humans always stood in the middle between Gods and demons, and therefore, what he needed to do was to strengthen those joints.
But first he needed to balance the energies as the creation energy was dominating the dark one, and to feed his dark energy, he pulled the shadows of the cave and then the shadows of the depths toward him, the purest and darkest shadows were those who were born under the strongest light, and what stronger light there was than the light of the center itself!
The shadows were indeed the purest he had ever sensed, so dark and thick, untainted, ancient, rushing towards their lord, seeping inside his body and mixing with his blood, the process wasn’t easy, in fact it was more painful than before, but he had a smiling face looking at him, encouraging him, reminding him of her, that she needed him, and for her, he fought the pain, fought the chaos, and fought the battle, for her he fought, he resisted, until the pain became something else, and he himself became something else.