A Prophecy of Tainted Silver

Chapter 5 - Shadows of the Past

Mels sighed as he closed a dusty book floating in front of him and placed it in the growing stack of books beside him. He had moved from the table to sitting up against a bookshelf, as Crystal napped in his lap. To his right, past the stack of books, Corbas was reading from his own selection of books, with Vai sitting beside him and Ezzi lying against his side. He was quiet and studious, while Vai was unafraid to grumble to herself in apparent annoyance, while Ezzi sighed and yawned. Everyone was tired looking through these books.

Mels himself took a small break to look down at the blonde woman in his lap: his lover. She smiled as if dreaming of something pleasant. Her hands were resting on her bare belly, and it, along with her very generous bust were rising and falling gently. He couldn't help but smile and gently stroke her golden locks. She seemed to react to his touch as she cooed softly and turned her face towards him, nuzzling closer to his crotch.

"She's still sleeping?" Vai asked, a small dose of venom in her voice. "You know, I can see why you're into her. It's so sexy how she doesn't help with research at all."

Mels wanted to respond, but held his tongue, silently agreeing with her. As much as he understood and trusted Christi, Crystal wasn't much help right now. At most, she helped to protect Christi's mind, but they seemed to be out of sync, one personality dominating the other, at least for the moment. That was Mel's theory anyway, as he couldn't hear Christi's thoughts any more.

They're the same he reminded himself, but even with her literally in his lap, she felt so distant. Crystal was lovely, and sweet, but not what he needed right now. They need to know more about the Eye, some better hint of what they were looking for. Only Christi knew, but Crystal...

Mels turned around and grabbed another random book off the shelf. Letters and Archives of Gawain Barlow IV, vol. 3 he read of the title. He doubted it would be helpful but at this point, even a little information was helpful, and he began to read.

Vai seemed to finish as she loudly closed her own book. "Still nothing about the Eye of Xoan," she said bitterly, and Mels couldn't help but empathize. "At this rate, the sun will be up before we're even through half of these. I thought you holy people knew what you were looking for."

"As we said before, we only have some idea," Mels said in defense, "The point of coming here was to get more information about the Eye of Xoan."

"If that's true, then why are we here if we're not even getting paid?" Vai fired back.

" 'Cause you think Corbas falling for traps is hot?" Ezzi answered cheerfully.

"Ezzi, please."

"Well, I suppose it's true that we're not really compensating you three," Mels said, "So if you feel that strongly, lets take what we can and Christi, Rickard, and I can come back another time."

Vai had no response as she seemed to consider the offer. As she did, Ezzi looked around the room and made an observation

"Hey speaking of which, where is Rickard?"

Mels looked up and around the room and saw that Ezzi was right. The seasoned Argentsori was indeed absent. And a bit more distressingly, his aura of holy magic was absent.

"I'm not sure," Mels answered.

"Great," Vai said, "Another unhelpful member of the House, that's exactly what we need right now."

"I'm sure he's just in another part of the library," Corbas said softly, his first comment in quite a while.

"I'll look for him!" Ezzi announced, standing up from Corbas' back, adjusting her straining top.

Vai blew air from her nostrils. "And you're accusing me of being horny?"

"At least I can admit it!" Ezzi said defiantly, before turning to Corbas. "Don't wait up for us, baby." With a peck on his nose, she walked away and disappeared around the shelf.

"I can see why you're into her," he said to Vai with a knowing smile. "Always cuckolding Corbas?"

"It's... complicated," Vai responded. Seemingly detecting her hesitance, Corbas went in to scritch behind one of her long, pointed ears. She didn't stop him and in fact, Mels watched as she leaned into his hand. "Listen, I wasn't meaning to make fun of your woman earlier."

"I know," he said, looking back down at Crystal, as she continued to sleep soundly. "Like you said, it's complicated."

Satisfied with the answer, she proceeded to grab another book, leaned against Corbas' chest, and continued studying. Both he and Mels shared a knowing look before returning to their own books, and silence fell over the room once more. Though Mels couldn't focus as he kept glancing down at his lap. It was a few moments of this before he realized he was hoping she would wake up. The kobold's word burrowed into him, and he thought back to a year ago, the day he entered her mind and confessed his love. To both Christi and Crystal. Ever since then he did his best to accept that despite how different they seemed, they were the same woman he loved.

But in this moment, shut out from her mind, he couldn't help but feel as though Crystal wasn't here. He felt a bit guilty harboring the thought, to love only half of Christi. With another glance downwards, he lightly shook her shoulder.

"Hey," he near-whispered, trying to wake her softly. It took a few more light shakes, but eventually she lazily opened her eyes. Her purple eyes, Mels took note of. They met, and she smiled up at him.

"Hi Melsie," she said with a yawn. "Is it morning?"

Mels shook his head.

"Oh," she said, still not fully awake. "Did you want something?"

He hesitated when she asked that. "How is Christi?"

His heart sank a little as her smile faded and entered deep thought, looking past him up to the ceiling. When she looked back, her doe-like eyes were full of worry.

"I'm not sure," she said softly, "I haven't heard from her in a little while. Sorry baby."

Mels paused to consider her answer. Though he recognized that it had only been a handful of hours since they switched in the garden, it seemed off that Christi was absent to this extent. She must have really exerted herself, he speculated, but he had to admit he was lost in the dark.

He was about to ask another question, but was interrupted when Ezzi's scream echoed through the library. Everyone looked up, but Corbas was the first to move, as he was on his hooves in seconds and followed the source of the scream around the corner. The rest followed, going deeper into the library, past dustier books and more rusted armor until they found Ezzi in the hall, fallen and pushing herself away from something with her dagger in her hand.

"W-Who are you?!" She cried as the others approached her. Mels unsheathed his sword, prepared to fight off another trap, but when he rounded the shelf to see what threatened the kobold, he froze in utter befuddlement.

Before him, obscured in the shadows of the shelves, was a demon. That much was certainly true, as a woman with ink-black skin, surrounded by a purple glow stood before them. She was mostly nude, save for a shadowy veil that lightly obscured generous, bare breasts and pussy. Her long, curly dark hair flowed like water behind her. And her glowing purple eyes, they seemed...different somehow. Kinder. But she was still a demon, and thus Mels wielded his sword against her, with Crystal beside him.

"Please," the demon said, her voice soft and lacking any malice. She held up her hands in self defense. "It's not what it seems."

"Then tell us who you are, demon," Mels growled as his sword grew alive with golden flame. Beside him, Crystal's staff glowed brightly in a similar manner, and behind them, Corbas stood defiantly, protecting Ezzi, as she hugged onto his leg.

"What did you do with Rickard?"

The demon advanced towards them, causing everyone to step back cautiously. "He's safe, I promise," she pleaded. "I know you won't believe me, but Rickard and I, we're one and the same, symbiotic."

"You're right, we don't believe you!" Vai announced as she bared her fangs.

"And you still haven't told us your name!" Crystal said, a comment that caused Mels to glance at her. A hint of Christi, he thought, but he turned back to the demon.

"Please, you have to trust me," she said, still advancing, "I can't say my name."

"Why not?" Mels demanded.

"It's cursed," she answered.

"Well obviously!" Crystal responded, "Like, all demon names are cursed."

Another hopeful glance from Mels. As the conversation turned hostile, the demon then turned to Crystal with pleading eyes.

"Christi, of all people, you should know," she said, "My relationship with Rickard, its' complicated, but I truly mean him no harm."

The whole group was still cautious of the veiled woman, but Crystal, on hearing her original name, seemed about to lower her staff. Behind her, Corbas and the kobolds continued to back away, but seemed to be less sure of brandishing their weapons. Mels, however, was still suspicious, and despite the pleas, could not let go that the demon still had yet to reveal her name, which would allow them to exorcise her. Even still, he had to consider that she seemed to not be an immediate threat.

But it was then that he began to hear whispers in his mind. He didn't want to listen, but they insisted. And with no choice in the matter, he heard them and understood them.

"You're name," he said to the demon, "It's Innozen, isn't it."

That's when the room got quiet, and all eyes were on Mels. Including Innozen's.

"How do you know that?" She asked, her voice tinged with fear.

"It is, isn't it?!" Mels asked more forcibly.

"Mels?" Crystal asked, her eyes boring into his skin. Mels looked back and for a second he saw her. Christi, in her eyes. But it was fleeting. When he turned back to Innozen, he saw that she was standing as stiff as a board.

"Run," she said. She spoke with two voices, the other was Rickard's. "Run. All of you. Now!"

They couldn't. In fact none of them could move so much of an inch. Moments later, they were all shoved backwards by an invisible force. Weapons were dropped. They stopped when they were thrown into metal arms. Mels looked down and found that the arms of the armor held him in its grasp and, more distressingly, a figure with veiled, black skin wore the armor.

He was in the grasp of the demon, along with the others. Beside him, Crystal was being groped, and the poly throuple suffered a similar fate. He heard feminine giggles in his ear as his captor ran its hands over his abdomen down to his crotch. His arousal spiked, and from the strained moans beside him, he assumed the others were experiencing something similar. Even as his concentration faded, he looked forward and locked eyes with Innozen, who was frozen in place, kneeling with her arms behind her back. She wore an expression somewhere between fear and regret.

Mels wanted to break free, think of any plan, but the demon groped him and Crystal. When he heard sadistic laughter echo through the library, any instinct of defiance died almost instantly, like some sort of incantation. Around them, the candles that illuminated the library were lit with purple flame. Trying to focus even as his cock was being stroked, he heard the laughter concentrate above him. He looked up to see what appeared to be a dark, billowing dress descending from the ceiling. When it landed in between the trapped party and Innozen, it whirled around and settled until it eventually revealed a woman. When she looked back at Mels, he instantly recognized her, and his eyes grew wide with shock.

It was Lady Avilyna, the owner of the cursed manor. She smiled widely, blew him a kiss, before turning back to Innozen.

"Hello Innozen," she said cooly, her low voice almost cutting through the air like a knife. "How have you been your visit so far? Enjoying my collection and my new traps?"

She walked up to Innozen, pacing around her slowly. As he watched, Mels wasn't sure Avilyna wasn't a demon as well. Her aura of Corruption was overwhelming, even without the demons trapping the party.

Innozen couldn't look at Avilyna as her hair was played with, but she refused to respond. The sadistic woman then leaned down and placed her hands on the demon's shoulders.

"Don't want to even introduce me to your friends?" she asked playfully right into Innozen's ears. Again, the demon did not speak, though her expression grew dire as she looked at Mels.

Avilyna also met his eyes, and smiled. "That's fine," she said as she stood up, "Perhaps they'll moan their names when my revenant demons corrupt them."

As she announced that, the voices in Mels head grew louder as he felt his pleasure build. The revenant stroking his cock seemed determined to climax him, though he did his best to resist. Beside him, he heard clothes ripped and moans and gasps growing louder.

"No, stop!" Innozen blurted out, "please, they're innocent."

Avilyna chuckled darkly as she walked in front of the veiled woman. "Ignorant is more accurate, I think," she said, "As it seemed I interrupted a particularly important conversation, didn't I?"

She squatted down and tilted Innozen's chin to look up at her. "About your name?" She said, "I think names are quite important, and I think you agree. Afterall, you have two, and you hid one from them."

Even with the haze created by the revenant's handjob, Mels focused on Avilyna's words and considered them.

"Avilene, please," Innozen pleaded to the sadistic woman. "I know you're angry at me, at him, but please don't punish them. Punish me instead!"

For the first time since she appeared, Avilyna frowned. She stood straight up, and raised her arms from her sides. As she did, the flowing dress grew tighter on her pale skin, magically wrapping around her and becoming a second skin, even trailing up to her head. She fully transformed, as her skin turned as black as midnight, and was then covered in a flowing veil, though the woman was gone, and in her place was a male demon, tall, muscular, with short wavy hair.

His arms dropped. "That is NOT my fucking name," he said. His voice was filled with venom, so much that Mels felt Avilyna's was much more pleasant in comparison.

Innozen tried to speak again, but her face was slapped before she could, a crack that echoed throughout the library.

"And don't pretend you're being altruistic, you manipulative cunt," he spat as he took her face in his hand. "I know I could punish you, and believe me, I'd love to. But after decades and decades of doing so, you've learned how to take it. And perhaps that's my fault." He took his hand from her face and took a fistful of her hair, pulling it upwards to look forward. "But now I see I have a new way to punish you. So you're going to watch as I slowly corrupt them, these peasants you failed to protect. And I'll find more, until I've tainted the soul of everyone you ever loved or cared about for years to come."

The voices in Mels' mind grew overwhelming, and in turn his pleasure built and built, until it reached a peak. He felt pressure in his crotch as his cock climaxed, releasing his seed onto the floor. Even still, his cock remained painfully hard and sensitive. Mels gritted his teeth, trying not to moan, but the world around him faded as he tried to gain focus. He felt the holy magic in his body being smothered, as his thoughts turned to nothing but sex and lust.

"After that," the demonic man said to Innozen darkly, "pray I finally get bored and simply kill you." He moved in front of Innozen, one hand still gripping her hair as he took his cock in his other, stroking it right in her face. Mels' vision faded more and more. This whole time, he tried to listen for Crystal, or Christi, or just someone, anyone but the moaning voices in his head. All he could sense was his cock being stroked and his backside being molested as he was dragged into a sea of pleasure.

As he closed his eyes in an attempt to focus on something beyond the voices, he heard... a familiar voice. He knew it as the voice that told him Innozen's name. He hesitated to listen to it, but he recognized it felt different from the others voices. In his head he chased after it, past the wave and it grew louder and louder.

Eventually, he reached out and grasped onto it, and the voice became crystal clear.

Mels' eyes snapped open. "Bazzonal," he said weakly. The revenant holding him stopped, loosening his grasp on him.

With this opportunity, he broke out of its arms as energy flooded his veins. He turned and placed his hands on the revenant's breastplate, and he felt holy magic flowing from his palms into it. He tightened his grip, and in moments the revenant was engulfed in golden flame, turning to ash.

Time froze as he recognized he only had a few seconds to make a decision. Invigorated with holy magic, he looked to the rest of the party, to Crystal. They were being pleasured against their will, but the aura of corruption weakened. Behind him, the demon used Innozen to pleasure himself. He initially wanted to save the rest of the party, but in this split second, he recognized an inexplicable potential in Innozen. Something else familiar.

Time sped up again, and he turned towards Innozen and the demon. He ran, grabbing his sword from the ground, which glowed bright with golden flame. Approaching the demon's rear, he braced and swung down at his back.

The demon turned to black smoke, causing Mels' sword to swing through nothing. The black smoke moved behind Innozen and reformed, not back into the demon, but back into Avilyna. As she reformed, she took an air of nobility and pride, her hands clasped behind her. She stood tall, looking past Innozen and down at Mels as he took a fighting stance.

If Avilyna felt threatened, she did not show it, and instead took on a studious expression, looking at Mels closely.

"Interesting," she said in a tone Mels couldn't interpret. Before he had a chance to fight, she stepped backwards into the shadows of the shelves. Mels felt the overwhelming wave of Corruption disappear.

Taking a deep breath, he looked down at Innozen, only to find her standing up.

"Step aside," she commanded, and Mels obeyed instantly. Any hint of what just happened was not in her voice as she stepped towards the remaining revenants.

In her hand, a silver sword materialized, and as she took it, the image of Innozen peeled back, revealing Rickard the Argentsori underneath it.

Mels watched in awe as Rickard stopped, braced, and with both hands, swung his sword, releasing an immense golden beam from the blade aimed at the trapped party. It passed through them harmlessly, and the revenants trapping them were obliterated instantly, leaving not even ash. The beam met the wall, and the library itself shook and cracks formed in the wall behind the party. The candles of purple flame turned back to their familiar orange glow. Holy magic filled the air once more.

Many questions assailed Mels' mind, but his entire world became Crystal as she watched her stumble. He ran up to her and caught her in his arms, hugging her tightly. She hugged back.

Mels?

He heard Christi's voice, and he tightened his arms around him.

I'm sorry I couldn't protect you,

he said back.

It's ok, I'm fine. I know it's hard to understand but Crystal has been helping me regain my strength.

Mels felt as an aura of holy magic grew stronger within his lover, making her body feel warm against him. He reciprocated as they continued to embrace.

But I can't come back, not yet,

she said in Mels mind.

His hug weakened slightly as he stepped back a little, looking into her purple eyes. He wanted to protest, and bring Christi back, but he conceded, recognizing his failure to help her.

Don't blame yourself, please,

she pleaded, sensing his doubt.

I know you're strong, continue to be strong. For me.