The Umbral Messiah

The silver sky and the silver sea met in the horizon to the infinite.

Every footstep taken left a ripple, the only sign the silver sea was anything different from the sky. Looking up through the silvery water, visible more as shadowy impressions than in truth, were the slumbering dead, their faces peaceful.

This was the place.

Sinking into the sea felt like a deep, comforting chill, echoing through the body, the soul, the bones.

Eyes closed.

No no no no no no not yet.

Sleep now.

Sleep the sleep of ages.

Not

yet

.

The sound of a spine unbreaking is the most hideous thing in the world.

***

Sari's eyes opened and she gasped in a lungful of air that burned. Her eyes widened and she jerked her head upwards - she was laying on her cheek in a floor that was heaped with bodies. Orc bodies. They were cast down in a vast pile, blood soaking into the sand around them. She scrambled, desperately, and tumbled off the pile, rolled, and fell into a river. The ice cold water shocked her and reminded her of where she had been, even as it swept her away from the island of bodies. She surged upwards and, for a dizzying moment, saw where she had been: The joining between new, elegant orcish sewage works and cracked and natural caverns. Pipes and drains ran down here, and several black armored figures were tossing bodies from the walkway along the edge of the room and onto the island of natural stone that sat in the center of the underground river that the pipes drained into.

Then she was pulled down by the current. Water washed over her head and shot up her nose. She flailed, then burst from the water again, catching up against a stone wall. Her head slammed and something caught, yanked, and twisted her around. She flailed, writhed with every limb, then went under again. She tumbled head over heels, grabbing at her face, and feeling a hard bump on her scalp. Then she was tumbling away again and, at last, was spat out of the underwater river and into open air. She fell.

Plunged.

Came up again.

And, finally, fetched up against a sandy shore. She coughed and wheezed and dragged herself up onto another underground bit of sandy rock. She was in this jagged, hideous cave, the product of countless ages of quiet, living stone being worked upon by the water rushing to its home. She coughed, retched up water from her throat and then thumped onto her side. She gasped slowly, her eyes closed to thin slits.

"Well, Rana?" she wheezed out. "Gonna...ah...gonna...fucking...fuck." She closed her eyes, rolling onto her back. Something felt odd under her back, fetched up against her rump. Sari opened her eyes to thin slits and saw no sign of Rana. Instead, she was beginning to realize just how...odd it was that she could see the roof at all. Not only could she see every stalactite and curved arch of natural stone, but she could see it all clearly, without any sign of shadow or shade. It was as if a preternatural light suffused the entire room, but from everywhere at once. She blinked, slowly, then sat up, looking around the underground shore. There was no sign of where the light was coming from.

She was also naked.

And

red

.

Sari froze. Her hand lifted up as she gaped at the red shape of her palm. IT was the same red that the strange 'cursed' blade had revealed - but now, rather than stopping at her wrist, it shot down her arm, to her shoulder to her...breasts...belly...

Even her cock. Though that was, ahem...

"Oh my," Sari whispered. Her hand cupped the strange sheath that her dick emerged from and she hissed through her teeth as she felt the sensitive

knot

that throbbed at the base. Her tail whipped behind her, slapping the spade-tip against the sand with a tingling, stinging sensation. Sari hissed, then jerked her head around, her eyes widening in the darkness. A

tail

. She had a

tail

!? She looked back at her hands and saw that they weren't just red. They had fierce, midnight black nails that tapered to thin points. She flexed her hands experimentally and the nails expanded even further, becoming deadly weapons in their own rights. She put her hand to her face, using her thumb to...

She had fangs now too.

"What the fuck," Sari whispered.

Then her head jerked and she laughed to the empty room. "Well, this is interesting!" Sari sprang to her feet, stretching her arms up, moaning as she enjoyed the languid grace of her body. Her eyes glittered and she smirked. "A physical body...I guess it worked! Sari?" She looked around - but not seeing herself, her brow furrowed. Then her head snapped back to the other side and she shuddered, her stance shifting from confident and sensual to huddled and confused. Her arms locked over her chest and she backed against the wall.

"What the fuck!?" She hissed.

Silence.

Sari bit her lower lip, hooking her fangs over her new naturally ruby red lips. She stepped to the rushing water and found that some of it diverted into a small pool. Kneeling, she looked herself in the face. Same features, just red and fanged and pointed of ear. And her eyes were two glowing yellow-orange coals with cat slits.

"That explains the supernatural vision," Sari said. But it

didn't

explain how it felt as if-

Her head jerked up.

"Rana!" she said.

Her head cocked to the side and her features shifted and she smirked, speaking quietly. "Ohhhhhhh! That's how it worked, my lady!" She stood, then bowed to thin air, as if bowing to herself. "Forgive me the temerity. You were so wounded, I had to bond my demonic essence to your body to restore you to life."

Sari jerked upright, once more in full control of her body. "You're

in

my head now!?"

Her features twisted into a wicked grin. "In a lot more than

that

now, dear."

Sari put her hands over her face. "Fuck!"

Her hands slid away and that smirk was back. "Well, it's not

so

bad. Do you know how troublesome and annoying it was to not be able to

feel

anything? To have to just enjoy watching you stumble around like a cute little virgin?" She grinned, wickedly. "Maybe you'll let me take this body for a spin..."

Sari shook her head, her features once more assuming their normal expression. "It's

my

body!"

Rana laughed, throwing their shared head backwards, her voice echoing off the stone walls. "And you had a tail when? Oh, try climbing the walls. Just. Try. You'll like this." She seemed to actively

step back

from taking control, rather than Sari taking control once more - the shift was subtler and less pronounced, and Sari looked around herself tentatively. She shook her head slowly, her tail lashing nervously.

"I wish you could go back to just walking through walls," she said, walking to the nearest wall. She put her hands on it and felt an instinct she hadn't realized she had reared up. Rather than looking for handholds, she simply scrambled, her feet pressing to the wall, arching slightly as she, in a flash, found herself hanging from the ceiling. Her eyes bugged as she realized her feet had become longer, arched, with thick toe-claws and hooflike protrusions that mimicked high heels, all of them pressing to the rock with supernatural closeness, keeping her rooted. She craned her head up, and peered

down

at where she had been.

"Whoa," she whispered.

"See?" Rana purred out of the other side of her mouth, her eyes glittering - taking control of just throat and lips to whisper to her bonded partner. "My Messiah, you're a

natural

."

"Don't...don't call me that," Sari whispered, shaking her head. She let go of the ceiling - planning to drop, feet first, to the ground below. Instead, her feet remained attached and she swung down, dangling from the roof, her body hanging like a deadly ambush predator. The sense-memory of closing her arms around a soft, sensitive mortal throat and wrenching the chin hard like

so

was so burning-present intense that she almost mimed the gesture before she shook her head and yanked her feet free. She should have fallen head first onto soft sand.

Instead, she tumbled and twisted around and landed on her 'heels' with a soft thump, arms spread. Her eyes widened.

"Was that you?" she asked.

"You're a natural," Rana said. "I'm merely providing some delicious coloration. I was never a killer."

Sari decided she didn't want to examine what that meant about her. Her tail writhed and twitched while she frowned. "The Black Walkers must have taken my gear," she said, looking down at herself. "And...they killed Charlotte." Her hand clenched as she scowled.

Rana lifted her chin, slightly. "Then it sounds like maybe a

killer

is exactly what we need, my Messiah?"

Sari bit her lip as her eyes flared. "Maybe it is." She paused. "I...am I really..." She looked down at herself. "Am I really the Umbral Messiah?"

"Yes," Rana said, simply. "Master Phenrig planned for you. And he picked me most

precisely

my Messiah. I too am loyal to the prophecy." Her hand slid along her body - along Sari's body - and paused at her hip as she flicked her tail confidently. She showed her fangs in what some might have mistaken for a smile. "To the

prophecy

, my lady. Not to your father."

"My father?" Sari asked. "Amh Krahos Zhoark Shegar Esuiberus Kalkameron Morn. The Devourer of Stars and Singer of Endings, Thousand Headed Deity, Wheel Smashing Lord and Cycle Breaking Death Word." She bit her lower lip, slowly. "B-But in all my textbooks, he was listed as a sleeping god. Quiescent, uninteresting!"

Rana blew out a sigh and shook her head. "My lady, those books were provided for you by Master Phenrig. Your father sired

many

children, but it took a mortal to find the

right one

. So many were..." She sneered. "What was the scientific term? Cisgender." She rolled it on her tongue. "Pathetic weaklings who were so slothful and uninterested in the glory of transformation that they didn't even

imagine

wearing a dress." She spat disgustedly beside herself. "Weening them out took time."

"Weening them out?" Sari asked, frowning, her tail stilling.

"Scrying them, testing them, putting a few on Rebis potions - but, well, most of them rejected it," Rana said, snapping her fingers. "But you? You were perfect."

"I...don't remember other apprentices," Sari said, biting her lip.

"Of course you do!" Rana laughed, her eyes glittering. "Those mute servitors that waited on Phenrig's every whims."

"Those were my sibs!?" Sari literally

sprang

backwards, her back slapping against the rough stone wall of their underground sanctuary. Her look of horror melted into Rana's bemused expression.

"Not by then they weren't," she said.

Sari's horror returned to her features. "That! Doesn't! Help!"

Rana took the reigns again. "Then think of it like this. Each of them was born with a spark of demon fire in them. Without control and guidance, that fire would have burned them up anyway. You only survived this long because you were a fit for purpose. And...furthermore, think on

this

, my lady..." She licked her lips, slowly. "Phenrig and your father have one vision for the Umbral Messiah. But the Prophecy is still in

our

hands." She crooned, softly, holding up her palm, then clenching it into a fist. "Imagine what we could do, together, my lady!"

Sari looked at her clenched fist, lowering it slowly. "Yeah," she said, softly.

"Imagine..." Rana took a step forward, then crouched by the water. The flowing liquid rushed past as she dipped her fingers into it - then drew them out. In her supernal vision, the dark water droplets almost looked like blood, flowing and beading and dripping. "...we could free everyone serving under some feudal lord. We could cast down the Free Princes and damn arcanists that think they can direct and

order

the world as they want, just because they have power." She grinned, slowly. "We can get revenge for Charlotte and Tanner and every other person that has died to the petty squabbling of the Corpse King and her enemies, and we can then

revel

in the rewards."

Sari blinked back into control. "What kind of rewards would a hellspawned murderer get?"

Rana laughed, and then brushed her hands through her hair, standing and grinning.

"As much as we can

take

, my lady. We can teach this world to adore us. To worship us as a living

goddess

. You are the Messiah, my lady, and your dark majesty will bring them to their knees in delight..."

Sari shuddered as she stepped back into control. Her cock was achingly hard and her tongue tingled with the image of that. Of people, freed from their bonds and their masters, looking up at her, praising her. Chanting her name.

Sarilandos! Sarilandos!

Her full name had a musical elegance to it. She thought back to her demonic lexicon to find the name and grinned.

It meant

Lustful Conquest of Worlds.

Sari dove into the underwater river with fluid grace and reflected, as she swam...

She

liked

the ring of that...

***

Sari's head broke the water after what felt like an eternity of swimming through endless dark passageways. She had emerged back into the orcish tunnels - and as she peered up from the dark water, she saw a trio of orcs walking along a path, naked, their hands bound behind their wrists. They were all males and looked as if they had been badly battered in their fight and were now being marched along by a pair of Black Walkers. The human mercenaries to the Corpse King were carrying spears and using them to shimmy the orcish men forward, to what end, Sari could not guess. Silently sculling forward in the water, her clawed fingers drawing her towards the rocky outcropping that provided the walkway for the men and their guards. She scrambled up with shocking speed and even more shocking stealth, feeling her tail tensing and curling up and over her shoulder. The spade tip of it hardened into an obsidian black blade, extending out sharpened edges that made her shiver with excitement. She practically felt Rana's caressing hands along her back as she stepped up, silently behind the first of the Black Walkers.

"Did you-" the man said.

Sari took hold of his head and twisted it around, helmet and all. Leather straps and metal buckles cracked and snapped almost as loudly as a spine, and the man dropped in a clatter of mail and armor, completely unable to withstand her strength. The other Black Walker spun around, with spear in...

her

...hands. Sari casually ducked aside and swept her tail down, the obsidian edge of it sheering through the spear with a spray of splinters. She kicked out and her strangely jointed feet contacted with the Black Walker's cuirass - both heels impacting as she took her entire weight on her palms. The impact sent the woman over the side of the walkway and into the water with a splash. Sari drew her legs back with slow, languid grace and swung them around underneath her. She smirked at the orcs who gaped at her.

"You're free. Finding others. Get ready to resist. Where's your Queen?"

"She's being held captive in the castle. I-" One of the orcs started, but Sari didn't have time for questions. She jerked her chin.

"Go." Her eyes flared in the darkness and she wondered how much of her body they could even see. Orcs had dark adapted eyes better than most humans, but...still. It was nothing on this crystal clear perfection that she could see now. The orcs stumbled and ran away, their nude bodies vanishing around the corner. Sari licked her lips, then sprang off the side of the path, her body arrowing into the water with almost no splash at all.

A few moments later, the coughing and spluttering Black Walker was thrown back up onto the path, her back crashing home. Her coughing and spluttering echoed against the walls as Sari drew herself up and out of the water slowly. Languidly. She crawled atop the armored and, to be honest, still armed woman. The woman grabbed at her hip, yanking her knife free, but before she could drive it into Sari's bared breast, Sari grabbed her wrist and pinned it down. Her finger sliced the leather strap of the woman's helmet and flicked once - sending the helmet tumbling off. The woman was cute, with a button nose, nut brown skin, brown eyes, brown hair, and dark black freckles that speckled her cheeks like a fine dusting of inverted stars.

"F-Fucking hellspawn," the woman hissed, her eyes wide. "T-The...The Corpse King says...he...he's gonna..." She tensed as Sari's clawed fingers sank into the edges of her armor. Metal creaked. "He's gonna..."

Her cuirass came apart with a clunk as Sari tossed it aside so hard that it embedded itself in the wall with a

crunch

.

The Black Walker's eyes widened and the cloth padding she wore beneath did not quite hide the hard ache of her nipples as she whispered. "Hellbeast..."

"My name is Sari," Sari crooned, her eyes meeting the other woman's eyes. "And I just...have...a...few...questions." Her clawed finger brushed along the edge of her throat, feeling the thundering, rushing of her heart beat. Sari shivered. Her cock was so hard - the newly demonic member that she was sprouting was pressed to the Black Walker's thigh. The Black Walker trembled with eagerness and fear alike. Sari could

smell

it.

"Ask them," she hissed.

"What are your plans for the orcs?" Sari kissed her throat. Sucked, gently. Nibbled. The girl moaned, her eyes fluttering half shut.

"R-Round them up...ah! Don't kill them unless, ah, we have too." She squirmed. "T-The deaders are all heading back to boats. They're packed up, heading out!" She gasped as Sari nuzzled her way down to her breasts, using her fingers and her teeth to draw aside clothing and bindings, revealing her almost flat chest. She licked at one dark brown nipple and drew a mewl from the mercenary. Sari felt an eager, heady rush of pure, blinding lust blazing through her and knew she

had

to have this delectable morsel. Her hands gripped and she tore, drawing aside more clothes in a tattering, ripping spread. The Black Walker writhed, not quite pushing her away as Sari crooned.

"Then let me give you something to take with you back to the boats," Sari purred, cupping one dark thigh of the slender mercinary. "What's your name?" She kissed, then licked along the sleek muscle of her thigh, down to the wild thatch of her pubic hair, the smell of her arousal and her eagerness tingling on her tongue and in her nose. The merc bucked her hips despite herself, her thighs flaring as she writhed upon the cave floor - cushioned only by the tatters of her clothing and the scraps of her armor. Her body gleamed with sweat and her eyes seemed almost glazed with eagerness.

"Wh-What are you doing? I...stop..." She whispered, then grunted as Sari's tail whipped around, wrapping around her throat, squeezing firmly enough to still her tongue but not stop her heart. Sari grinned and leaned forward, locking her eyes.

"Your name," she purred and let her tongue unfurl, slowly, teasing along her lips. The trembling girl moaned.

"Laya..."

"Laya. Lovely." Sari leaned forward, fastening her mouth around Laya's dark lips - red-black and brown merging against one another as Sari let her tongue sweep into Laya's mouth, then down her throat. Laya squirmed and kicked slightly as Sari started to tongue-fuck her throat with eager wickedness, her eyes gleaming as she leaned into the kiss, her hands gliding along Laya's sides, down to her hip, gripping and squeezing her as she rocked her hips, grinding her blazing hot and achingly hard girldick against Laya's wild muff of untamed pubic hair. Laya's eyes rolled back into her head slowly until Sari drew her mouth back, then her tongue back, popping the tip free at the last second. Laya let out a choked gasp, then moaned.