Ilias’ Plea

It was strange… I felt cold, yet… warm at the same time? I existed, yet despite my best efforts, I was entirely unable to muster up any ability to move a body part whatsoever. Did I even have a body? I mean, of course I did, I walked to the bus stop just yesterday. Yet at the moment, I certainly didn't feel like I possessed any sort of corporeal form…

"Henry…"

A gentle, angelic voice called out from the ether, which suddenly grew much clearer than before. White, fluffy clouds surround me from all sides, except from straight ahead of me, where a bright, warm light shone down and casted a heavenly aura around me and the entire area. I realized now that I seemed to have found my voice, which I promptly used to call back out into the foreboding void.

"H-hello?" I shouted out meekly, coming off much less brave than I was hoping. In all honesty, it sounded downright pathetic. "Is someone out there? Where am I? How do you know my name?"

"Please, one question at a time. I only have one mouth, well, I suppose I could give myself more… B-but that's beside the point!"

Was this godlike entity being sassy with me? No real higher power could possibly talk like this… I supposed that for now I'd need to play by its rules.

"Okay… Why can't I see you?" That was an obvious question to get out of the way. The answer was probably that my mind would implode upon seeing her true form or something really out there along those lines, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"Oh, I just thought it would be more dramatic like this. Here you go!"

With that, the bright light ahead of me flashed to an almost blinding luminosity, before dissipating and creating the outline of a young woman about my age. As the finer details took form, I noticed some oddities to her appearance.

Other than the odd choice of clothing in a loose, skimpy-looking white dress, this woman bore a large pair of angel wings sprouted from her upper back. Her hair was blonde and silky, without a single imperfection visible to my eye, along with a beautiful halo-like crown around her forehead. Surely, she was a quite a sight to behold…

This "goddess" must've noticed me gazing upon her for a little longer than one might consider appropriate, as her face began to grow frustrated in appearance.

"You done?..." She looked at me with unimpressed, half-lidded eyes. With that experience, I began to recall some of the less humbling aspects of my personality. Usually, I was much better at hiding these sorts of things, being able to cover my perversion with relative ease. It would seem the shock of the whole situation had caused me to slip.

"Yeah, sorry…" I gazed down at the cloud floor below my feet in shame. That sure was some first impression to make to an actual deity. Still, she quickly chippered up, and regained her regal tone and demeanor.

"*Ahem* Well, I suppose some introductions and explanations are owed to you. I am known by many names, but most commonly I am referred to as Ilias, goddess of all humankind…" Ilias struck a majestic pose at the end of her speech, flapping her wings for good measure.

"Well, forgive my apparent insolence, but I don't believe I've ever heard of a goddess of humanity called Ilias before…" I simply stood watching with confusion. This woman didn't seem to resemble the god of any religion I was familiar with. The goddess frowned at my remark for a moment, before quickly regaining her composure.

"That is because you do not come from my world. The one you inhabit is quite mysterious to me, and I have only ever met one of its former residents before." She grew saddened at the mention of this other, almost as if she was speaking of a dear friend long forgotten.

"I see… I think. Care to tell me about this other world, your omnipotence?" Ilias stifled a giggle at my final remark. Had I said something foolish or rude? I certainly hoped not, speaking to a god, only to be smited for insulting them within the first five minutes would surely set a record for something…

"Please, feel free to dispense with the pleasantries, Henry." That was another question I should ask. How did she know my name? Thinking about it for even a moment, the answer was blatantly obvious: she was a goddess, of course she'd know such a trivial thing. "Yes, very well. Its quite complicated to explain in great detail, so I shall simply leave you with an abbreviated account. Long ago, when this world was formed, along with it came two types of creature each born from either the light or dark. I, Ilias, am the goddess of the human people, who inhabit great cities and villages, ruled over by monarchs or government bodies." I nodded along.

"Sounds simple enough. That's practically how we run things where I come from." Ilias smirked, as if she knew some secret that I didn't.

"Indeed, but what I neglected to mention were the creatures born from the dark…" She spoke as if she was retelling some childish ghost story around a campfire. Certain things about this goddess struck me as oddly childish… "Yes… Monsters. Beasts who hide and roam throughout the fields, forests and caves that prey upon the good, innocent men…"

"Why only the men?" Ilias stopped for a moment, struggling to find the correct way to phrase her response. There must've been something horrible, if it was causing even a powerful goddess to grow uncomfortable.

"Well… These are a special variety of monsters. They assume the basic shape of a human woman, disregarding certain details, and use this as a way to gather their major food source." What? Why would they need the body of a woman to eat a man? Unless…

"And if I may ask, what exactly is this food source?" My perverted mind was beginning to race, predicting what this deep dark secret actually is. If that was so, then I might have just come across the jackpot of alternate dimensions…

"I don't suppose there's any elegant way of putting it, really… The monsters in this world feed off of human male semen." I knew it. Was this a dream? Of course it was, what was I thinking? I could never hope to come across such a perfect and wonderful reality as the one presented before me. I paused for a moment to look up at Ilias, who had once again taken on that unflattered expression from before. I hadn't even done anything!

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Perhaps it was a bit rude of me, but I couldn't help but feel as if the mood in the "room" had become significantly less serious and foreboding with this revelation.

"I'm a goddess, I can read your thoughts." Oh… That explained a lot. I'd need to be careful of that in the future. Ilias sighed with exasperation. "You truly are the scum of the earth. Which is just what I need…" I peered up in confusion. Shouldn't I be fried by a lightning bolt at this point?

"I'm not sure I fully understand?" I needed to tread lightly here as to hopefully not upset her any further. Regardless of my opinions regarding her attitude, Ilias was still clearly a being of immense power.

"Recently, I had a rather humbling experience in a mortal body, which taught me for the first time what it truly is like to feel with the flesh. I learned a lot about myself from that, yet still I feel that there is much more that I was unable to. Now, I believe I have found a solution. With my power, I can link my mind to yours. I'll be able to see what you see, and feel what you feel. All you must do is go out and seek such experiences with the monsters of this world." So… She wanted me to be her guinea pig to feel semen-eating monster women? That brought up even more questions than answers, I thought.

"If that's the case, then why bring me? Surely, it would be much simpler to use a male from your world for something like this." Ilias shook her head in response. I was starting to find that my questions were seemingly all negatable to her…

"The quality of semen in the men of my world is subpar compared to that of yours. I have seen before the effect it can have on attracting monsters through the man brought here before you, but he is unfortunately no longer reachable…" That made me worry. I knew there had to be some sort of catch to all of this, and I thought that this might be it.

"I-is he dead? Because I won't go on a suicide mission if that's what you have planned…" Ilias laughed at me again. Honestly, could she not give me at least a little sympathy for my concerns?

"No no, he's perfectly well. In fact, his work has made your journey that much easier. With the help of his partner, the monster lord, a strong peace ties together human and monsterkind. You will find that very few monsters are actively hostile towards you." She raised up her hand, and formed a small ring with it out of thin air.

"What's that?" I looked at the piece of jewelry. It was extremely beautiful, with a smoothly polished red stone embedded on the top.

"Although there is peace, the things I need to experience would still most certainly result in the, albeit pleasant death of you. This ring will allow for me to easily bring you back to life in these scenarios. As long as you wear it, not even the worst of monster techniques can permanently destroy you." Pleasured to death… that certainly sounded like a hell of a way to go. Albeit as she said, not all that unappealing to my dirty mind. I took the ring, finding my body was starting to take an actual form, before asking a final question.

"How many monsters are out there?" Ilias pulled out an old leather book, skimming through it for a moment.

"I'm not quite sure of the exact number… But it's certainly somewhere in the hundreds. Take this book with you to keep track of who you've met." I took it and stuffed it in a pocket of my newly-formed satchel. Suddenly, the implications of what Ilias just told me hit me like a truck.

"H-hundreds?!" Before I could protest further, a warm light began to envelop me as I felt my body disappearing to what I could only assume was this new world of monsters.

"Farewell, and good luck, dear Henry!" The last thing I saw was the kind smile of Ilias as she waved goodbye to me. But rather than filling me with determination, all I could think was that I'd been dragged into a horrible mess…