Guilty X Creatures

Chapter 3 : Morning

"Okay, so... Not that I'm really complaining here, cause this is actually pretty good..." said Fiona as she lifted a forkful of long noodles up out of her bowl "But why are we eating soup for breakfast?"

"Because it's what came out of the breakfast bucket this morning." said Kianna.

"...The what bucket?" questioned both Fiona and Mica in unison.

"The, the breakfast bucket!" exclaimed Kianna as she pointed to a small blue bucket sitting on the kitchen counter "Master said we should try something new everyday this week. So I put a bunch of recipes in those buckets over there and this is the one we got out of the breakfast bucket today."

"...Oh....Okay, I guess that makes sense." nodded Fiona as she looked from the bucket back to Kianna "But why did you put a noodle soup recipe in the breakfast bucket?"

"Well, the recipe said to put eggs in this. So I thought it was supposed to be some kind of breakfast soup..." explained Kianna as she looked down at her bowl and grimaced sheepishly "But now I don't think it is..."

"Yeah, I don't think it is either!" laughed Fiona.

"Hm, I think it works well enough." chuckled Anton as he lifted a large, whole mushroom out of his bowl and took a bite out of it.

"You're just saying that to be nice." said Fiona.

"Not really. This is legitimately good." said Anton as he turned to Kianna "You did a great job with this."

"...Thank you." mumbled Kianna as she blushed and laid her head against Anton's shoulder "I'm glad you like it."

"...Hey, so?" said Mica as her tail did a slow, nervous looking loop behind her back "If I put a recipe in one of the buckets and it gets chosen, will you really make it?"

"...If you? Of course!" exclaimed Kianna as her eyes lit up with excitement "Yeah, I'd love to make something for you! You just let me know what you want and I'll be happy to make it!"

"Okay, cool. Thanks." said Mica "I'll just put it in the bucket though. That way it's still fair..."

"Aw! No, don't do that! You can just tell me!" whined Kianna "I want to make something that you like right away!"

"...Nah, that's okay. I'll just put it in the bucket." mumbled Mica as she dropped her eyes down to her bowl and quickly started eating again.

Kianna went to say something more but stopped short as Anton glanced over at her and shook his head.

"...Well, yeah that's fine then. If you'd rather just do it that way, then I guess it's cool." mumbled the dark elf "But you better tell me when what I make is the thing you like though! Seriously!"

"Okay. I can do that." nodded Mica.

"Good." said the dark elf with an affirmative nod.

Smiling softly, Anton continued his meal for a bit before looking back up at the rest of the table.

"So, what's everybody's plans for the day?" he asked casually.

"Argh... Cleaning, again..." grumbled Kianna "It's crazy how fast this house gets dirty..."

"Yeah, actually! About that! Hey, Tessa!" exclaimed Fiona as she looked over at the mantis sitting at the end of the table "Were you the one who left a bunch of feathers all over the couch in the living room!? Did you eat a bird in there or something!?"

Currently in the process of investigating her soup by holding a forkful of the noodles up in the air and getting a smell of them with her antennae, Tessa clearly didn't seem to be at all impressed with what was being offered for breakfast today. And aside from shifting her eyes over to the dark elf as her name was called, her face remained blank as she made no effort to confirm or deny the allegations laid against her. After staring at Fiona for a moment, she silently went back to examining her food.

"...You know, I don't know why I actually expected you to answer me." mumbled Fiona as she narrowed her eyes at the mantis and shook her head "I must be an idiot or something..."

"Agreed." nodded Mica.

"Shut up, you." muttered Fiona before looking back at Kianna "Anyways, all those feathers need to be cleaned up too. And the couch sprayed with a disinfectant. Or you just burn it, or whatever."

"Yeah I'll add it to the list..." grumbled Kianna as she laid her head back against Anton's shoulder and pouted up at him "Cleaning is hard, and it never ends..."

"Yes, it is. And yes, it never does." chuckled Anton "Though, if you're starting to feel a bit overwhelmed... Maybe you should try recruiting some help?"

"...From where?" asked Kianna.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe from the people sitting at this table?" offered Anton.

"What!? No! Fuck that! You said she was the maid now! And cleaning is all her job!" exclaimed Fiona.

"No, I never said it was all her job. Now I did say she was in charge of it, yes." said Anton as he gave Kianna a sly grin "But I never once said she had to do it all by herself."

Kianna blinked before her eyes went wide with understanding.

"You're completely free to take advantage of all the available minions you have right here, Kianna." smiled Anton before glancing at Tessa and chuckling as he found her making a pile on the table of all the apparently unwanted vegetables she had taken out of her soup "Well, maybe more like the available minions and the one trouble making mascot..."

"Oh this is gonna be sweet! With this much help I can easily get everything done in time to make dinner!" said Kianna as she clasped her hands together in excitement "Okay everybody! Today we are going to give this entire house a super deep clean, from top to bottom! We're gonna make this place shine!"

Just as she finished speaking the soup broth runoff from the pile that Tessa had made started to stream over the side of the table, and a loud dipping sound filled the air as it began to puddled on the floor.

"Oh goody... Well there goes my fucking day..." grumbled Fiona with a sigh "Just fucking lovely..."

Later that night Fiona flopped down onto her bed in exhaustion. The work she had done that day wasn't necessarily hard but was very tedious and mind numbing. Kianna had tasked her with, among other things, wiping down all of the walls throughout their large house with a washcloth and cleaning all the windows. Tasks which had taken her literally all day to complete. Although things would have probably gone by quicker if she hadn't spent so much time trying to shirk her duties by running off and hiding... maybe...

Regardless though, by this time she was done with the day and ready to just sleep these memories away. And so with this idea set firmly in her mind, she rolled over onto her side and quickly fell asleep.

-

In the expanse in which Terra existed, there was a defined separation between what would be considered Reality, or everything that actually existed physically, such as Terra itself, the planes of Heaven, Hell and the many artificial realms, and the space that was beyond all that, a space known as the Void.

The Void was believed by all but a few of the most well versed researchers to be completely empty. As technically nothing actually existed there beyond raw, cosmic energy. And any physical matter that entered the dimension would be almost immediately destroyed by said energy.

Those that knew the truth however, even if they couldn't prove it, were aware that it was this same cosmic energy that was what was used by matter to form at the quantum level before shifting into Reality and taking on a physical, atomic shape. And as such, everything that existed, or would ever exist, was built from this infinite energy that was only found within the expanse of the Void.

In other words, the Void was in all actuality not only the birthplace of Reality itself, but of everything and everyone in it as well.

Although there was no direct link between Reality and the Void, dimensional rifts between the two did exist, and were even possible to create. Naturally, tiny rifts would occur when energy was transferred from one dimension to the other. This took place whenever matter formed at the quantum level, or when an atom was completely destroyed and the spent energy shifted itself back into the Void through a form of radioactive decay. Other random rifts could also happen when light shifted back and forth from waves to particles while moving through space and occasionally when heavier forms of energy, such as gravitational pull, raw mana flowing through a leyline or thermodynamic and electromagnetic energies were suddenly and rapidly diffused down into nothingness.

These minuscule rifts paled in comparison to the true gates that could be opened by creating artificial wormholes that traveled in and out of the Void, and by those connections that formed spontaneously during dreams.

Through some poorly understood mechanic involving the electrical activity taking place within a brain experiencing REM sleep, a semi-stabilized quasi rift between the dimensions could be accidentally created. And through this rift it was possible for a person's subconscious mind to temporarily slip into the Void.

Generally, these travels into the Void would be for the most part indiscernible from an actual dream. As a mind in the Void could, with thoughts alone, manipulate the cosmic energies in such a way that they would create a landscape that while not actually real, would still exist for the visiting mind, at least visually. Since the act of waking up was enough to break these connections and close the rifts, and as it wasn't possible for a mind to lose its full link to its body in this manner, these mental excursions were generally considered to be harmless.

Or at least, the travels themselves were considered harmless.

Unfortunately, this activity could potentially attract the attention of one of the chaotic denizens of the Void, and any encounter with a Voidling in the Void was never without its dangers.

This wasn't to say that every Voidling was villainous in its intentions. Quite the contrary. Many of them were actually very friendly and playful beings. And some some were even heroic in their nature.

The montauk for instance were a race of small, bipedal teddy bear or canine-like entities who gave the strong impression that they were essentially some kind of living cartoon characters. This disarming appearance was very much a ruse though. As these little beings were actually quite powerful combatants, and would take it upon themselves to befriend any dreaming children that had accidentally found themselves in the Void. The montauk would then defend these innocent children and would readily fight off any of the other more sinister Voidlings who tried to target them.

And target them they would, as aside from being summoned directly, traveling through dream rifts was one of the easiest ways for a Voidling to enter into Reality. And once free to roam about as they please, many of them that would use these pathways would often turn around and possess, or even consume, the still sleeping dreamer who had inadvertently let them through.

Luckily, it was the rare Voidling that would even desire such a thing, as the vast majority of them were not fond of the constraints of existing physically, and as such had no interest in ever leaving the Void.

There were those who still posed a danger within the Void itself though. As these, often parasitic entities, would find dreaming victims and absorb not only their life force, but their very essence as well. Draining these often helpless minds of their memories, knowledge, emotions, abilities and finally their consciousness itself.

Those greedy Voidlings who cared not for leaving their victims alive could easily take so much from them that they would leave their victims as mindless, brain dead husks that without immediate treatment, would quickly slip into a coma and die.

Though there were many different kinds of Voidlings who practiced this ghoulish activity, there was one species among them whose infamy was above all the rest. This was a creature whose hunger for the taste of fear was so renowned that their very name had become synonymous with terror itself. So honed were the capabilities of these entities, and so awful was any encounter with them, that they lent their namesake to those most fearful of all dreams.

Amongst themselves, and to those who were well versed about their kind, they were known as the mara, but to most people of the world they went by a very, very different name...

-

That night, Fiona's sleep started out as nothing but a fuzzy, dreamless fog until blinking herself into a soft awareness, she suddenly found herself standing in the middle of an elegant uptown club, and staring eye to eye with an extraordinarily beautiful woman.

The setting surrounding her had a dark and subliminally mysterious vibe to it that would have fit perfectly into any noir film set during the early half of the last century. The dark forms of other club goers moved in a foggy haze around her as she stood stock still and gazed at the woman before her.

Standing at the bar with one long leg crossed demurely in front of the other, the woman wore a slim, formfitting dark red colored velvet gown which perfectly accentuated her curvaceous figure and featured a single split down the front which showcased her smooth, shadowy dark, hosiery clad legs.

With shimmering, silver colored hair and smooth skin that radiated a deep, golden blush. This woman was the very type example of exquisite.

She had the overall appearance of a humanoid of some kind, and yet, her amber colored eyes that seemed to glow like embers in the dim light, left little doubt that there was something distinctly different about her. And what her true identity may be, was impossible for Fiona to tell off hand.

Not that the dark elf even cared in that moment, captivated as she was by this radiant creatures knowing gaze, she took a step towards her.

The woman smiled softly, and moving with a predators grace, she slipped away from the bar and made her way to Fiona.

Moving towards one another in unison, the two quickly met face to face and without a single spoken word from either of them, they slipped their arms around each other and fell into the flow of a slow and sensuously hypnotic dance.

Wearing an equally enticing, solid black evening gown which hugged her slender frame just perfectly, Fiona brought her own confident, sexual charge to the duos rhythmic movements.

Shifting the lead back and forth between them, the two women led each other on an odyssey across the dance floor until finally, her excitement at its limit, Fiona slowed her movements down to a crawl and cupped her hand against her partners cheek.

"Your name..." she gasped through a whisper "Tell me your name..."

Smiling playfully, the stranger kept her eyes locked to Fiona's as she let her hand slide down to the small of the dark elf's back and pulled her in close.

"You are not the one I was sent here for..." she whispered softly as she let her lips hover just before Fiona's "Sadly for you though... I'm not very good at taking orders... I was always better at, twisting, them..."

"Sadly? Orders?" questioned Fiona as she tried to close the gap between her lips and the woman's "What do you mean by sadly?"

"I mean that sadly... You caught my... eye..." whispered the stranger.

"...Oh, did I?...And is that a bad thing?" asked Fiona around a smile "Cause it doesn't seem like it is... Seems like it's pretty lucky to me..."

The stranger's smile broadened as Fiona boldly slid her hand through the split along the front of her dress, and gripped her upper thigh.

"Really lucky..." breathed Fiona as her irises lit up with excitement "What's your name?"

"Hmm..." hummed the stranger as she eased back "My name..."

Slipping away from Fiona, the stranger seemed to glide about as she stepped back and then moved around the dark elf.

"If you really want to know..." she said over her shoulder as she headed towards the clubs exit "Then follow me..."

Fiona's eyes shifted back and forth in their sockets as she watched the stranger's hips sway from side to side as she walked away. Blinking, the dark elf quickly shook her head and made to follow after her.

Stepping through the exit, she found herself suddenly standing in the threshold of an elegantly decorated bedroom. Thinking nothing of this, the dark elf kept her eyes locked to the woman standing before her and breathed out a small gasp as the stranger's dress suddenly slipped away from her shoulders and fell to puddle at her feet.

Drinking in the sight of the woman's naked form, Fiona remained completely still as the stranger slowly turned around to face her.

"A small treat... Before the end..." said the stranger as she rolled her shoulders back and presented her ample bosom to the dark elf "Now come along... I'm waiting..."

Stepping forward without hesitation, Fiona reached out and cupped the stranger's offered breasts with both hands before leaning in and kissing her deeply.

Meeting the eager dark elf with her own fervent hunger, the stranger wrapped her arms around Fiona and held her tightly.

Lost in the heat of their kiss, Fiona let her tongue and hands all explore freely as she savored the strange, tantalizing flavor of the woman's mouth. She froze in her motions as a soft, gleeful yet ominous laughter suddenly filled her head.

"No escape now..." spoke a voice that seemed to come from nowhere.

Surprised, the dark elf tried to pull away from the stranger's lips but found herself locked in place and unable to move. Blinking open her eyes, she found the stranger's amber irises staring right back at her with an amused and hungry looking expression filling her gaze.

"Fight all you want... You'll burn no different than the rest..." said the same disembodied voice from before.

Angry now, Fiona tried to struggle in earnest but was unable to free herself from the stranger's grip. A raising panic began to fill her chest as she started to feel a faint heat begin to form wherever the woman was touching her.

More laughter filled her head as the intensifying heat began to spread out until its burn surrounded her entire being.

"No escape!" cackled the voice.

Fiona's eyes widened as she watched the glow in the woman's irises suddenly flare until her entire eyes took on the appearance of molten hot coals. Fiery, with a red hot hunger swelling within them, their message to the dark elf was clear. They would be the last things she would ever see.

"No!" cried Fiona in her own minds voice "Stop! Let me go!"

"No escape!" repeated the voice amid louder laughter and a growing burn.

Trapped and helpless, Fiona could do nothing as with a rising panic, she felt the first snips of her essence being ripped away from her.

Raging and screaming in her mind she fought with every once of her will against the monster that was merrily consuming her alive. Bit by bit, every facet of her being was slowly being eaten away by the heat that surrounded her. She reeled in agonized horror as a torrent of her memories raced by her minds eye on their way to be stripped away by the creature that held her in place. As each snippet of her life disappeared in front of her, one memory suddenly stuck out from the rest, and desperate and terrified Fiona reached out and clung to it with all that she had left.

It was a memory from weeks ago now, of Anton's face as he sat, laid out in his bed and spoke to her.

"Did the thought truly never occur to you, Fiona?" he said as his eyes tightened in sympathy "That you could just ask me for help?"

"...Help!" screamed Fiona into the very Void itself "Please! Help me!"

Delighted at the terror that rang out so strongly from the little morsel in her clutches, the woman holding Fiona did nothing to silence her victim, and in no way tried to stop her as she cried out for mercy.

Her arrogant smile faulted just a bit as she thought she suddenly felt something. Pausing, she looked down at the dark elf in her arms and as she did, she felt it again, a tiny, barely even there... pulse?