Chapter 27 : Late Evening
Although Anton had no way of knowing what to expect when the dark elves finally awoke, he certainly couldn't have ever predicted that it would be this.
After they had both lost consciousness, Anton took the dark elves down from the hanging bar and quickly removed all of their bondage gear. Leaving them clad in nothing but their underwear, he then laid them out on the dungeons king sized bed. After setting up his chair next to the bedside, he waited for them to awaken.
Unsure of what they may do, or how they would react to him, Anton decided to reattached the light chains to their collars as both a precaution as well as a deterrent to any further aggression or attempt to flee. Little did he know, this would not be necessary.
Anton couldn't be positive which of the dark elves it was that woke first but when he spoke to her she cringed away from him and refused to speak back. Instead she immediately curled herself up in the fetal position and softly whimpered as though she were still in pain. When the second dark elf awoke she reacted in the exact same way. Hiding their faces and refusing to even look in his direction, both of the dark elves had slowly and stiffly moved to the opposite side of the bed from him and huddled together in the corner. With the chains still attached to their collars, this was as far from where he sat as they could possibly get.
Curled up as they were, and with their foreheads pressed together, it was impossible for Anton to get a clear view of their faces. If it were not for them constantly twitching their flattened ears and the soft sounds of them murmuring to each other, he would have thought they had both gone back to sleep. As it was, all of his attempts to speak to them were met with nothing but the same panicked cringing and fearful whimpers.
After some time of this he began to worry that he may have taken things too far with them, and had perhaps even damaged their psyches in a permanent way, when finally they began to speak.
"Please, Master..." whispered Kianna as she continued to keep her face hidden "Please... No more..."
"What?" questioned Anton in a soft tone "What was that?"
The dark elf groaned at the sound of his voice and pressed herself in closer to her sister.
"Please... Please stop!" she whimpered around a sob "Please, stop burning me..."
"...I, I'm not!?" exclaimed Anton as he leaned forward in his seat "Kianna we're done already. Its over! I'm not going to burn you anymore!"
The dark elf was quiet for a moment before she began to shift back and forth in obvious discomfort.
"...But it still hurts?" she whimpered softly as she hugged her arms around her torso "It burns..."
"Please, give it back..." whined Fiona as she twisted to the side and pressed herself against the bed "Please! Please give it back!...I'm sorry!"
"What, what are you two talking about!?" questioned Anton as he stood up and moved closer to them "What burns?"
"Everything!" cried Kianna as she began to sob "It burns, when I move it burns!"
"My, power..." groaned Fiona "You took it away, you... I'm sorry! Please, give it back!"
Anton stood still for a moment as he gazed down at the quivering dark elves. Loosening his grip on the chains, he let them melt away into nothing as they fell from his hand.
"Girls, I'm not doing anything to you!?" he exclaimed as he creased his brow in concern "I'm not burning you. And I haven't taken anything away?...I'm not even sure what's happening right now!"
"...But its, its gone!" whimpered Fiona "Its all gone!...All of it!"
Twisting herself even further to the side, she turned away from her sister and hid her face against the bed as she began to cry in earnest.
"Please..." begged Kianna as she tilted her head upwards and finally looked at Anton "It hurts... Please!"
Seeing her anguished eyes filled with tears, Anton acted without thought and dove onto the bed where he started shifting back and forth on his knees as he quickly made his way to the dark elves. Once he reached them he immediately put his hands on them and looked them over as he searched for anything that could be causing them this distress.
Whimpering loudly, Kianna frantically got up on her hands and knees and crawled onto his lap before laying against his chest and curling herself back up.
"It's alright, Kianna!" reassured Anton as he wrapped an arm around her "I've got you! You're not burning anymore!"
"It hurts..." she whined as she laid against him and began to tremble "It hurts!"
"Where!?" asked Anton as he frantically looked her over "Where does it hurt!? Show me where!"
"Ev-everywhere!" cried Kianna as she looked up at him and blinked away her tears "My whole body hurts. When I move....In my muscles, and in my head....When I breathe....Ev-everything hurts!"
"It's!? It's still burning you!?" implored Anton as he looked from her to Fiona and back "Just like before!?"
"...No?" whimpered Kianna "Its, its not the same... But it, still hurts, it burns..."
"...It still burns?" repeated Anton as he again turned to Fiona "...And no power?"
"Please, please give it back!" whimpered Fiona as she cringed away from him "I'm sorry!"
With his eyes tightened in thought, Anton went silent for several moments as he shifted his gaze back and forth between the two dark elves.
"Kianna?" he soothed as he hoisted her up a bit against him "Can you feel your power? Or is it gone as well?"
The dark elf shook her head as she sobbed miserably.
"It's gone too..." she whimpered before looking away in an attempt to hide her face "I'm sorry!"
"Okay! Okay, I know what's wrong now!" exclaimed Anton in relief as he tightened his hold on her "I'm so sorry girls. This is all my fault! I should have planned for this!"
"Wha?" implored Kianna as she looked back up at him "Wha, what's happening!?"
"It's your mana. Your mana has been completely drained. That's why your body is in pain." explained Anton as he shifted his arm over and planted his hand on top of Fiona's head "And why it feels like your power is gone. It's because it technically is..."
Fiona stiffened at his touch but rather than cringe or try to pull away she merely stayed still and kept her face hidden.
"It's gonna be okay though..." soothed Anton as he flared his aura and doused the dark elves in a cloud of comforting warmth "You just need a little time for your mana pools to refill themselves, and then you'll be back to normal. I promise! Everything is going to be okay..."
Kianna sighed heavily as she let his aura seep into her body.
"Please... it hurts..." she whispered as fresh tears formed in her eyes "I'm sorry..."
Anton's face hardened as he stared down into her pleading eyes.
"...Okay, just hold on a second." he whispered as he tightened both the arm he had wrapped around her as well as his grip on Fiona's head "I need you both to stay calm, alright. I'm going to try to help you, but you have to stay calm so I can focus on what I'm doing. Do you hear me?"
Kianna's eyes widened with hopefulness as she nodded her head and pressed herself back against him. Fiona whimpered softly as she too tried to relax.
"Just stay calm..." soothed Anton as he let his own mana slowly flow through his aura and out into the area around him "Just a tiny bit... That's all you should need..."
Within moments, the gems attached to the dark elves collars began to faintly glow in response to the mana Anton had released into the aura surrounding them. Carefully, Anton focused the concentrated mana outwards and let it flow directly into the bloodgems.
Fiona and Kianna both gasped in unison as the trickle of energy began to seep into them through their collars and immediately started to sooth their aching bodies.
"Slow..." breathed Anton as he focused on keeping the flow of power in check "It's okay girls... You're going to be okay..."
Kianna began to coo happily as not only did the burning throughout her body began to subside, but the pain that she was plagued with was replaced by a kind of warmth that was both familiar and welcomed. Her mind, as desperate for relief as she was, could still instantly recognize this warmth and the presence behind it for what it truly was, Anton, her Master. This was his power, she knew it, she had felt it before, and just as before her entire being was now flooded with the delicious sensation of this warmth, the heat of his power. And as this relief permeated throughout her body a subliminal realization began to form in her mind.
Anton was here for her. She had just been angry with him, furious, hateful even. To the point that she had attacked him and had done everything she could possibly do to hurt him as badly as she possibly could. She had wanted to hurt him. To make him pay for the pain that she had gone through. Pain that he himself had warned her would come. Pain that he had regretted even before he caused it. She knew that he didn't want to cause this pain, yet she didn't care, her rage would have to be satisfied, and as such, joining with her sister, she had attacked him. She had wanted to attack him, to hurt him, to drive him away and make him fear her.
But he didn't.
Despite this conflict and everything she had thrown at him, here he was, still here with her. Caring and concerned, comforting her, understanding her, helping her.
Holding her.
Seeing her in need he acted. And now using his own power he not only sought to ease the burning within her, but to once again protect her from pain.
He was here. She wasn't alone.
"Yes!" cried Kianna as she wrapped her arms around his neck "Yes!"
"Wha!?" exclaimed Anton before being cut short as Kianna pressed her lips into his and began to kiss him deeply and needfully.
Surprised by the sudden affection, Anton lapsed in his focus as he lost himself in the intensity of Kianna's kiss.
