Burning Rage - 3

"Congratulations." He spoke, a rarity in of itself. A man of all beings, guarding the exit to this accursed place. Of the traps and treasures that served to entice. Who had clapped so happily, his eyes closed.

And when he opened them, taking in the sight of the student who stood upon the very ground he was to protect. Guard against those hopefuls who thought themselves oh so clever.

A glare as he took one step… another… then another. His hand raising from that same synchronicity that he had kept for so long. But when I turned and tried to back from that glare of his. Oh so malevolent in its power.

Oh' how I was placed under that same power. As a hand reached over my shoulder, whispering word after word. 

Incomprehensible to my ears. But as I leaned into that touch, surprising even myself. For was I that touch starved… not for the attention of a lady… of a girl who would so readily throw herself upon my body with but a moment's hesitation.

But for a man, one so different in presence to that same monotony that represented naught but my life. That confidence that spoke of dozens of dozens of years of experience taken only the hard way.

For what was a man, in this field, if not one of the greatest wills. Who endured the constant harassment, of those telling him that he would never be worthy, that all he would amount to was a mere servant. Licking the toes of their success.

I turned my face up, reaching his eyes with my own blank ones.

"Thank you… for the praise. But I feel…" I trailed off, feeling that same malevolent gaze pass over mine once more.

"Of course… this was not the true test… No, to call it a test would be wrong." He paused, bringing me down to my knees. And with that same motion delivering both of our bodies to some already set table.

My own vision was filled with the sight of treats and sweets, of gifts and wrappings that had never been opened. Letters that stood sealed, sat on those same presents.

And just as the vision came, so too did it leave. The only presence that my own sight could focus upon was the man in front of me. His gaze set melancholically to the high sky that stood above us.

The moon that hung so low. Granting us rays of blinding gray. I chuckled, to myself and only to myself. For all in my vision was just another shade of gray. Yet even so, was it not ironic that the only one I found beautiful… oh so beautiful, was the indifferent rays of that orb in the sky.

Truly…

"I only say this… and for you only…" 

My vision stayed upon that moon. Ignoring all but the rays it sent down, blinding me to the sight that my vision granted me. For I knew…

"Drop out, please. It is not worth it."

I shook my head, closing my eyes but not my vision. For the soul that I saw to my side was one of absolute desolation. Completely consumed by that same self loathing that he projected in his voice.

"I won't… No, there is no possible way for me to stop now."

He sighed, "Then I wish you luck on that journey of yours, may it be more fortunate."

I smiled, brushing the absent hair from my eyes. A smile echoing on my face.

"And of you too."

Yet when my vision once more returned, that same monotone gray, it was not to the man that had so readily shown his weakness to me. But of that same plains. Filled with nothing but the tortured and corrupted souls.

Their rabid jaws readied to knaw me to death, to take not only my life but my blood and flesh too. For that was their corruption. Their objective.

So I would fulfill that desire of mine. Touching my hand over the face of the closest, bringing that same jaw of his down to the ground. Where I touched my knees, dirtying my clothes. Yet as I smiled, healing his wound of my own volition.

Of that taint, feeling those same claws, of dozens of other monsters carefully claw my clothes away. Even as their own found ultimate peace. Turning to dust under the careful ministrations of my healing.

My own voice echoing through the plains, grunting the pain that I felt. Whisperings of the void that had been so integral in the collapse of their mental order.

For what else could it have been but some cruel god.

Another desire. One so familiar and yet again so traumatic. But I endured it with a smile. Letting them slake their mishandled lusts over my body. One at a time, taking a kiss from my mouth, their own oh so dominating. 

But with each of them, I healed, with each that turned to dust with nothing but a possessive touch. They found… not fear, but hope. Was that their souls telling them of salvation? Or was it their conscience finally fighting back.

Either way I found no difference, for all that they fought to be the first to take what they thought to be my purity. A soiled body.

I turned and stood, dusting the dirt from my knees as I approached those monst- No, I corrected myself, not monsters. Tortured beings.

I felt their pain once more. And when all was said and done, the last held tight to me, her breasts heaving with the cries of her own. That same tail between her legs holding tight to my leg. 

It disintegrated nearly the moment after. But with that last tear, showing the humanity of their situation. I found my own wetting my cheek.

But still I smiled, for if they were to go, to dissipate back into that same ether, then they should go with the sight of happiness. Knowing that their deaths were not in vain. That even in death they had brought at least one person happiness.

And maybe at the pearly gates of the Goddess's embrace that they could proudly proclaim that they deserved to be given salvation.