Asimi

Melina

All seemed well, but that was just the surface, wasn't it?

She stared at the pair from a far, a small piece of bread in her hand and a cup of boiling hot water in the other. After their failed attempt to enter the reaches of Caelid, they decided to head southbound, being more thorough with their search compared to before.

However, that wasn't the only development that had occurred. A person whom her Tarnished had interacted with entered the Roundtable Hold, a bright determined expression adorned on her face. It was quite surprising, seeing the clear-cut contrast between her and the other denizens of the safe space. Though she appeared to only be resting there for a short while, restocking her supplies for a potential further journey.

In other news, the "Blue Witch of Cold Moonlight" suddenly made her presence known, in the Church of Elleh, near where she had dropped him off no less. The nerve of that woman. What was she up to now? Steer him clear of the path she had laid for her Tarnished? Then again, his current path as of yet was orchestrated by her, so it'd be a tad hypocritical to say this.

Still, she waited there. With a bell in hand, and a set of spirit ashes in a pouch. The blue woman sat on her piece of rubble in silence, patiently waiting for him to arrive. Melina shrugged, a plan formulating in her head at the course of action she was to take if she wanted him to get stronger faster. Coincidentally, Castle Morne has been more rowdy as of late. It wouldn't hurt anyone if her Tarnished were to quell the revolution. For what he was to do with the problem, wasn't on her hands, whatever it was, as long as the job was done then everyone could be happy.

Wait… why was he talking to a silver puddle?

…

Dave

"Please wait, proud tarnished warrior!" A silver goop exclaimed right as I was about to swing my sword down at it. Confusion washed over my eyes as I cautiously watched it, my left hand flaring up just in case it tried to do something. "I can aid you. Please, just hear me out."

Slowly lowering my weapon, I stood on by, watching as the tension between us gradually lowered. "Speakth thine words, sludge. Time is of the essence, after all." Much to my surprise, it was Vestia who led the conversation, taking a step forward from her spot.

"Thank you for listening. I am Asimi, my true form is that of a Silver Tear. I am a simple being who can assume the shapes of other living things… But now, I have gained knowledge. I speak, and ponder… and live, in fear of death."

"Don't we all. Then again, I wish I could die right about now, this pain has been aching at my-" An elbow to my gut was enough to shut me fuck, the brief pain making me turn towards the person who did it to me. Oh, right. "Apologies, I was getting a bit too ahead of myself."

"If that is the case, then what does thee wish to fix thine problem." Crouching down, Vestia got a closer to the blob, sort of meeting it eye-to-eye. "If thine conscience is doubting itself, then perhaps it would be best if thou were to relocated to a place where its less likely something were to come across thee?" She suggested, only to be turned down as it brought up another offer.

"O' mighty tarnished warrior, I need not enter greener pastures. Let me keep the life I have been granted, in exchange, I offer you power. Simply set your lips upon me and breathe in deep. I will live inside of you, and grant you strength untold."

Both of traded weary looks, drawing our attention between the metallic liquid and ourselves. "Not to rain on your parade, but could we take this outside?" I began. "Don't mean to sound rude, or anything of the sort, but I think it would be wise for us to at least discuss it before going in head first." Asimi bobbed up and down, giving us enough of a signal to move just a few meters away from the artist's shack, our voices hushed.

"Which one of us is going to take the offer?"

"My role is only to support thee. And with the promise of strength on the line, it would be better if thou were to be its vessel." She wasn't wrong, a little bit more wouldn't hurt. Then again, would it be wise to allow the slime to potentially have knowledge on my deal with the Rot God? Which could spiral out of control very fast, possibly leading to Nurgal abandoning my body to the Scarlet Rot, or allowing the Silver Tear further access of my body. At the same time, Vestia could use the help, a bump to her offensive and healing output would be a great boon, plus there would be very little to exploit. However, that line of thinking was selfish and would put, tempting as it was.

My beloved's face immediately perked up, her lips parting as an idea entered her thoughts. "Though, if thou shalt choose to, then I shall graciously accept thy offer."

To that point, I had one last worry. "Still, what if Asimi's acting with malicious intent in mind? Putting something into your body that shouldn't be there is a lesson that any parent would teach their kid, and it's only magnified here more than any other situation. Would it really be sensible to do so?"

The air grew silent between us, my eyes drawing upon her blindfold. "Dying would do thee no good, especially since the threat will reside within thine body. Should thou simply die- though I can only hope otherwise-, then Asimi will still exist alongside thee. It almost feels-"

""Like there was never a choice to begin with."" We said in unison, coming to the same conclusion.

"An illusion of choice. Always hated those."

"Very few options, and so little time. What is thou to do now?" She quarried, an imaginary eyebrow raising. "Thine plan and subsequent actions are but a mystery waiting to be solved, aren't they not?"

"You could say. However, if it were to come down to it," I paused, my breath hitching as the words failed to form in my mouth. Could Asimi really be trusted? To not pop her like a balloon? Fuck it. "then I'd be the one to put the suit on."

"Are you sure? Content with thine decision? Is it truly thy wish for events to play out like this?" Moving closer, she held both of my hands, pushing them close to each other. "… If that is genuinely, positively how thoust wanted things to turn out, then I have no choice but to whole heartedly follow along the same path, right?"

Damn the deal and trying to keep it a secret. As long as she was safe, then there was no need to worry. With a plan in mind, we walked back to the shack and gave her our answer. "I'll do it." As the words left my mouth, she moved towards me in the drop of a hat, the Silver Tear closely observing as I inhaled deeply. Then, it slowly entered my lips, slithering its way deeper and deeper inside my body.

Though, almost immediately after, my gag reflex kicked in, the sudden urge to regurgitate the mass growing stronger and stronger with each passing millisecond. Taking what was left of Asimi by the hands, I scooped handfuls of her mass and pushed it all the way down my throat, eventually consuming her whole, my lungs desperately gasping for air.

A moment longer and it felt like I would've died. Coughing a grayish mist, the taste of iron spoiled my taste buds, staining them as I tried to search for anything that could remove it. The taste was bitter, like raw coffee grounds or the skin of a lemon, absolutely disgusting. 'Onward, to our glorious future, my host.' Her voice rippled through my head, as a long, drawn-out bout of laughter could be heard in the distance. This wasn't going to be fun, was it?

""In fairness, nobody said it would be.""

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[A/N: I've hit a crossroad in the plot. Do I write smut, or do I write the next scene? One will make the chapter come out longer. I'm a vanilla type of man, and making emotional smut is kinda my thing, I try to make it have meaning beyond fuck. But sides that, the next chapter should also be the first 3k chapter of the fic, so that's nice. I'll shift to my other fic so I don't get bored of this one, though, writing this never gets old. "Fuck the Devil" is getting a global warming devil and I'm still amazed at my creativity. Copy and paste stuff below.

Anyways, if you find anything wrong in the fic, let me know. I would love to hear your thoughts, opinions, and what I could have done in place of what is present.

Also, join discord server. I have one.: discord . gg / eTb2kPab4z

I also have a pa- tr eon at pa- t reon / balls1124 For only dollar or more, you can get access to 2 more chapters beyond the current one. That's pretty neat if I do say so myself.

With that being said, time to drown myself in self-loathing and writing!]