Spoiler Tags: Transformation, Femdom, MtH, Male to Futa, HF, Domination, Submission, Adventure, Mermaid, Bondage, Monstergirl, Transgender, Angel
Helal called a meeting to outline our duties if it came to a battle. The tension in the room was palpable, the taste of sour fear hanging on my tongue. My role was fairly simple, Helal and I had previously held private conversations, so I wasn't surprised by her expectations.
"Is there anything we should know about the men who showed up last time. Belial, the ice one, and... the invisible one," I finished, unable to recall his name.
"Adam. He handles light particles, he can turn himself and those around him invisible. His range isn't very far and he excels in subterfuge. He is also my brother."
"You shouldn't have to fight your brother," I said, eyes distant as I thought of my own.
Helal snorted. "I
want
to fight my brother. He's a pain in the ass and deserves to be put in his place. Belial, however, he was my second in command. I never would have thought... I believe he has taken my betrayal of my father as a betrayal of our shared ideals. He is a dangerous foe, stubborn and loyal to a fault. He prefers attacking and defending with water manipulation and thermal absorption."
"Just say ice you pompous prick," Tartarus interjected from her somewhat separated positioning near one of the walls.
Helal continued, undeterred by the interruption. "He isn't the fastest, but his stamina is legendary amongst the command structure of the Crusaders. When they attack, I am certain he will be amongst the first to engage. He will never forgive me for abandoning my command." Shaking her head sadly, Helal looked more bothered by this than the thought of coming to blows with her brother. "I wish... I wish I could show him the dark side of my father's ambition. If he had seen what I've seen..." She mused.
"Could we?" I asked.
"Could we what?"
"Convince him to switch sides? If he's like you say, maybe we don't have to fight. If you could show him why you did what you did, is it possible to garner an ally? Surely you have some people who would listen if you got the chance. Could we broker peace without having to fight at all?" I asked, hope blooming.
That hope would prove to be short lived.
"I am not well liked, and while he may be a tyrant, God has a way about him that makes it hard to say no to. He makes you
crave
his approval and doles it out so rarely that when he does..." A wistful expression pulled at her face. "It makes you feel special, and cherished. He is adept at it and it would be hard to fight that sort of shrewd influence."
"Like father like daughter," Tartarus groused unhelpfully on my behalf, quiet enough that only Alora heard. She responded with a stern tentacle swat across the arm. Tartarus rubbed at the spot and shot the mermaid a dirty look.
"But it is possible. I'm sure there are others who might share the same concerns that forced me to leave but I don't know who they might be as no one has ever shared them in my presence."
"So," I started, trying to revive the hope. "We have a new gameplan: First we try talking to them.
Then
we resort to violence if and only if it is necessary."
"I don't mean to salt your fields, El. But it will be necessary. One way or another we will have a fight on our hands."
"But that's only
if
they find us? They might not find us, right?"
"..." Helal didn't respond but the look she gave me did an adequate job of showing me what she thought about the odds of that happening.
I slumped onto the sofa.
Not very likely.
"Chin up. If there is anyone that could convince them the folly of their actions it would be you, Lilith. Do not let their foolishness dim your light," encouraged Chi.
It surprised me that such a positive sentiment came from her. She always seemed so expressionless and cold.
"Thanks."
She laid her black chitin hand over my knee and gave a soft squeeze. "No requirements for thanks are necessary. The way you smile is more than enough a reward for me." Inclining her head slightly, she left the common area toward her room, Alora joining her along the way.
Smiling, I wandered toward the kitchen.
I think I'll make some potato salad for Chi tonight. I saw the way her face lit up after tasting it last time.
Whistling to myself, I mentally began to assemble the necessary ingredients, my mind momentarily quiet of the worries that were growing stronger every day as the invasion loomed closer and closer.
It was still two days until the estimated first contact when the initial skirmish occured. I was tootling away in my garden when Chi ran into a Crusader scout. Under Alora's orders, the butterfly woman hovered just under the cloud cover, her lungs straining for oxygen against the thin atmosphere. Her glittering eyes scanned the landscape spread out beneath her. A short while later they locked onto a small white dot that zipped beneath her. The scout was a thin woman, with swooping white wings. Her focus was on the ground, searching for anything amiss amongst the otherwise monotonous crimson earth. Unaware of the danger that lurked above, the Crusader scout continued about her business.
Bringing her tail into position between her legs, Chi began her ambush. It began with sickly green swirls coating her hands as she gathered aether. It took her longer than Alora and much longer than me, cycling the energy from her core to her hands and down through her tail. Three orbs formed, one for each hand and tail. Gritting her teeth with the strain, she spooled out a thin thread of aether that shot out like an arrow toward the angel's feathered back. The angel noticed and had time to twist in the air but it was already too late. The moment Chi's tracer thread attached the fight was essentially over. Beams of concentrated aether emerged from each of the orbs, weaving and combining into a single projectile that followed the path of the tracer to the unfortunate scout. The upper-right quarter of the scouts body melted and her body plummeted toward the ground, already dead. Silence reigned for several seconds before a bellowing hunting horn shattered it. Turning her attention to the east, Chi prepared herself for the battle to come.
"Lilith," Alora said, approaching me from behind. She'd ditched her larger tail for legs in order to get here. "I need you to remain calm."
Her words had the exact opposite effect as I immediately panicked. My mind conjured dozens of possibilities about why she would come to me like this.
Is she hurt? Sick? Did something poison her? Did the river dry up?
Before I traveled too far down that path, Alora continued. "Chi needs your help.'
"Is she ok-"
"She's been shot. Or, rather, she
will
be shot. In about thirty seconds. So I need you to fly up and catch her before she's skewered by a long fall onto the treetops."
Gaping at her for a second, my eyes bulged.
Alora cut me off before I could protest, a tendril wrapping around my calves and thighs to boost me up through the trees. "You won't be able to miss her."
"We'll talk about this later," I threatened before I rose out of sight. With nothing to do but the task given to me, I tried to center myself and not think of all the ways this could go horribly wrong.
I've failed this so many times I feel like Edison making the lightbulb. This better be the one that works.
In the distance storm clouds darkened the horizon, releasing an occasional low booming sound as lightning flashed like a firecracker. Tilting my chin up to the sky, I started my unorthodox method of flight. I wasn't good with air like Helal, but I
was
good with vacuums. Not the tool used for cleaning floors, but rather the spaces that contained almost nothing. Which, as it turned out, are much lighter than air. After placing a few of the self-sustaining orbs discretely about my body, I reduced my effective weight to almost nothing. Once that was done, I needed just a little propulsion to send me floating in the direction I wished. A small ball of dirt formed in each palm before it was jettisoned behind me, the reactionary force sending me sailing forward into the sky. Drifting upward, I scanned for any sign of my friend.
I spotted Chi as she burst underneath the sparse cloud cover. Facing the sky, she used her wings to control her descent and glide. A green burst like that of a laser from any number of science fiction shows shot out from her. The attack seemed to drain whatever strength remained in her and she went limp. Her wings folded around her like a cloak as she began to tumble uncontrollably through the air. Putting on a burst of speed, a bolder the size of a horse shot out behind me. My aim was true and I slammed into the free-falling woman. I tried to grab her but missed, her arm slipping from my grasp as we bounced off from one another. We weren't far enough from the ground for me to have time for more than one additional shot at saving her. Dispelling my orbs, gravity reclaimed its hold as I focused on my gossamer winged friend. Another boulder tossed above us closed the distance.
Now that our relative velocities were close, it was much easier to capture a leg and pull her up into my arms. Unfortunately this approach also meant that we were now
both
tumbling towards the ground with fatal speed. I felt oddly calm as the greenery grew larger and larger. Reaching out, I opened a pathway through the branches, the trees bending to my request. Conjuring a single vacuum orb, I managed to negate most of our mass and then some right before we slammed into the ground. My brain rattled around in my skull and Chi groaned at the impact but I had successfully kept us from splatting against the ground. I popped the orb before the rebound could take us too high. It released a sharp crack that sounded like thunder as the air rushed to fill the empty space. My knees protested the four foot drop, but I successfully kept my grip on the wounded butterfly.
I laid her delicately on the ground, straightening her wings so they weren't uncomfortable beneath her. Her blood was blackish-green, seeping from her wounds to stain my hands.
"Lilith, you came for me." She coughed, coating her lips with that same hateful color. "There were..."
"Hush now," I interrupted, my eyes darting around her body to catalogue her injuries.
It looked like some madman had gone after her with a pencil. Her body was peppered with shallow puncture wounds that leaked blood. The worst was the one on her inner thigh that gushed with every beat of her heart. Leaning into it, I staunched the bleeding with one hand, while I ripped a strip off my shirt with the other. The makeshift tourniquet did a decent job of keeping her alive, but rapidly filled with the monstrously-colored blood.
A cracking sound preceded one of my boulders implanting itself halfway into the earth next to us, just missing crushing us to death. Blinking at it with wide eyes, I shook off the near miss and refocused on what was important.
Her voice was weak but Chi was determined to speak. "I am glad I got to meet you. And Alora. Thank you so much for Alora. When you see her, tell her..." Chi continued talking but I paid her no mind.
I'm not letting her die on me. Not like this. Not again!
