Beneath It All

Being dragged away doesn't seem all that bad...

It sure as hell surprised me though.

Firstly, I was fine being held in someone's comfy and warm embrace. Minding my own business, as I tried to figure out the muscle connections of my wings.

Secondly, out of nowhere I'm being pulled by something solid and slimy as the tendrils wrapped itself around every part of me, while overlapping in some sections, as if to make sure I don't receive any type of damage.

Thirdly, what the hell is quicker than my summoned reaction speed?

...

Not including Atulil.

It being slimy you wouldn't think it would have such a solid grip... but it felt weird...

Going through the Odd Portal was the strangest feeling, even stranger than the last tendril transport that I had gone through.

1. I could clearly feel every twitch it made, like a full body massage, as it quickly moved. Which made my body slowly start to feel weird.

2. The slimy stuff on it smelled of a sweet aroma and was intoxicating enough to cloud my head. Plus my skin was absorbing it like lotion!

3. I wanted to fall asleep in this unknown embrace as it felt good to do so, but kept waking up because it kept doing something I couldn't figure out why...

4. Every time it tried to pry in-between my legs and sent unknown feelings of pleasant shivers through me as it kept quickly yet randomly strongly twitching that my body could feel.

5. The feeling of drifting to sleep but trying to stay awake and firm was really difficult as the tendril seemed to be teasing me as it pulled me closer to the portal.

6. In the Few glimpses I got while trying to stay awake did I see everyone, every power effect all going extremely slowly which puzzled me as I couldn't hold on anymore and let my body fully relax.

7. The portal did not have the portal feeling that every portal gives, like motion sickness, it didn't have any... It felt more like going inside your own or your best friends house

That one moment that I relaxed was when we went through to the other side of the portal where darkness appeared. It put me fully to sleep as I could feel the downward free falling feeling as we passed a lot of darker shadows that also seemed to be asleep.

A small sun-like pressure suddenly appeared from above as Soran was being pulled along the ranks of sleeping monsters. Once the Light poured in did the Tendrils jerk Soran down so suddenly that her hair had been caught on a Statue, solid sleeping humanoid being, with its arms outstretched as if it was meant to catch something falling.

The sudden stop was enough for her to be yanked free from the grasps of the Tendrils as they fled without a care to layers beneath the Statue at the cliff as it disappeared into the bottom of the suspended island looking platform full of statues.

"Wha... what just... happened?" Soran asked as the feeling that should be painful just felt like gentle tugging on her hair as she slowly woke up while dangling by the hair above an endless spiral drop. "Oh! Dear Me!" She gasped as her night vision kicked in with a small bit of haze fog.

Flap Flap Flap

"Shit! Not Now!"

She freaked out, as her new wings flapped in unison when she tried to figure out her current predicament. The flapping made her swing which led to the Statue holding their hands outstretched as if it tried to catch something. Now with her hair entangled in its hand that was slowly closing into a fist as its head slowly moved down towards her. As if was moving extremely slowly, like her summons were, when she was grabbed by the Tendril.

From another perspective one could see a faint transfer of an odd energy given off from Soran as she kept swinging closer to the Statue which soaked up what she was giving off. The Statue's eyes barely cracked open in a very sleepy state, eyes full of Haze as it tried to see what had awakened it as if it was something precious.

In doing so, he tried to bring what he caught closer to him, but unbeknownst to both of them, the ground under the Statue wasn't stable to begin with and was starting to crumble.

Noticing that her wings kept brushing closer against the Statue that held her hair, every flap made her slightly confused as she tried to see what kind of Statue it was.

Though she did manage to grab the thick muscular arm just behind her head to relieve herself of the odd sensation she kept feeling. Pulling herself up slowly had slightly shifted the Statues weight as the ground crumbled faster making them tilt towards the endless pit.

The Statue, which had slowly been bathed in the odd energy given off from Soran, was waking up and was able to open its eyes enough to see her hands on his one arm as they fell. Noticing that he couldn't move as he used to, tried his hardest to bring his arm higher so that her waist was in reach of his other hand as he tried and focused on protecting her with his body... no matter the state he was in! He knew he was a bitch to kill and wouldn't die easily.

(??? Pov)

You know the feeling of going to sleep for a few minutes but it being half a day later?

That's what it felt like as I and my team caught on endlessly and countless times. Taking turns taking breaks, lasting as long as we could before tagging out.

Who's smart idea was it to go through the Unknown Rift as a Raid Party... WITHOUT A GOD DAMNED HEALER!?!

Good thing is though... It looks like the raid was successful! Whoo hoo! I can find a wife and settle down since I've trained these Arsenic Simple Minded Weird Beings (who's souls seemed to always disappear at the oddest of times repeatedly) to be the best of the best and no one will need my overwhelming might!

Or so I had hoped...

The ground shook as the corpses of slain beasts suddenly disappeared and Tendrils rose up from all around us as a horrid Cackle sounded from everywhere and nowhere.

"Those Fools Fell For It!! MWAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" It laughed to its hearts content as we huddled back to back ready for any surprises.

"Lambs To The Slaughter! Oh That God Of Tricks Was Right! This Game World Of Real Life Is So Much Fun! So Many Souls To Feast On!"

"?.?"

"But Sadly I'm Full From All The Monster's Life Forces! So I have A Better IDEA!!" The Tendrils made a dome above us and shouts could be heard from the edges as the ground broke away and everything just dropped.

Everyone in the Raid Party fell hard back on the ground and tried to get up as some instantly turned to stone. Feeling something was not right I forced my body to move since I was more difficult to Petrify, making my way close to the edge. I saw that there was nowhere to go and the entrance was nowhere to be seen.

Sighing, I casted all the buffs I could muster on myself making layers upon layers on my skin as they were also Petrified with me as I fell into a state of not quite sleeping.

For how long?

I do not know.

But once in a while I could feel something coming up from Below as it snaked its way around my Raid party and took one member at a time when it would come up then disappeared for sometime.

Only to repeat itself.

Until one day? I could feel a presence falling from above.

Like a Falling Star.

I willed my body to move, no matter how slow I seemed to be able to move...

I Must Catch That Star!

Reaching my hands out as I predicted the trajectory, in case I missed it because of my slow moving issue. I could not see anything... Only an energy of Hope as it drew closer I could feel something coming off of it that made my body feel just a tiny bit lighter as I closed or twitched my hand, (unsure of which but I did something), as I felt something flow through my palm.

I Caught It!!

...

Now... What did I catch exactly?

I could feel energy slowly seeping in through the stone skin and revitalizing my body as I slowly regained the ability to move.

Wanting to protect this light of mine, I tried to bring it closer, as I did it kept swaying. As it got closer the more energy I was able to absorb as small parts of stone started to fall away from different locations as I forced my eyes to try and open.

The Light of Hope, as I saw it, did something and I could feel weight on one of my arms... it feels like small hands... Trying to grasp at something...

Why would a Falling Star have hands???

SUCCESS!!

I CAN SEE!!!

...

What...

The...

Fuck...

Is...

That...

Oh!!! Shit!!! Who Cares!!!

As I realized that I had caught a Female Looking Angel did I notice that we were falling due to how her hair in my hand was dancing wildly.

Seeing her frantically flap her wings as they kept hitting me with a lot of force that pounded the energy she gave off into me at a faster pace, I pulled her up and closer to me as possible.

I know I can take a bit from this high... not so sure about her small body tho...

Finally able to bring her closer, I tried to shift so I was between her and the way we were falling.

Now being able to look up at where I was in the past... however long I was imprisoned did I see what was under the Ground that caused our failure...

How were we supposed to Fight THAT??

The entire Bottom of the Encased Land mass that we were on as a Battlefield... Was in fact the Mutated Beast Lord! A mass of tentacles with multiple large mouths filled with teeth and odd looking tongues in all of them with small puss like pockets rocks that had shadows of people inside with swollen middle sections.

As we dropped further at a faster rate because of the stone I was covered in, did it finally notice it and tried to reach us with multiple tendrils like whips that were too slow. As if there was a barrier that we had passed through... but it could not! Made me feel relieved...

Until we hit something that shattered all the stone off of my body and made us bounce.

Trying to gasp for breath that I haven't had in so long did my body remember all the buffs I had previously casted so long ago finally kick in at Max Power,

[Shield Domain]

[Reflection]

[Healing Aura]

[Regeneration]

[Domain Fortress]

As they each went into effect right after the other, we were encased in a Shield that covered a decent amount of space after we bounced once.

Reflection had reversed the damage that I would've felt, back to whatever we hit, making a decent size Crater a few meters deep and a kilometer wide.

Healing Aura, covered us in a soft golden green glow as the Angelic Female was also physically healed... but her skin felt extremely soft and she smelled so... Intoxicating...

Regeneration, rapidly healed all my wounds I had sustained during the Raid and completely eradicated the Petrifaction from my body... But my body felt weird as my sense of touch and smell fully came back as I breathed in the Angel and my mind slowly leaned more towards Instincts I didn't know I had.

Domain Fortress, Summoned a Fortress out of nowhere that spawned half the Depths of the Crater and barely towered over the height of the Crater as where they landed was an extremely large bedroom ment for a half-giant.

Now in a familiar location did I get up onto my feet as I laid her down so I could stretch after so long. My back was still as muscular as before and in working order with no pain! As I stretched my arms and back to test my movement for any strain or pain.

Checking my large hands, I noticed my gloves were completely gone... looking down did I notice I had absolutely no armor left... Doing quick stretches did her sent reach my nose again as my mind slowly went blank as another part of me started to rise to a... full mast salute.

As I lost control, so did my grip on my humanoidish form... Growing a few feet taller, a muzzle appeared on my face as my hair turned into a full main, as light blue fur covered my body.

My feet grew claws and deformed just a bit to where I was standing on the "balls of my feet" but with ease as muscles could be shown through the short fur as another claw appeared behind the heel of my feet.

I grew a lion's tail the length of half my height and was thick yet agile as it swung back and forth.

Growing claws with thick hardened nails were actually retractable, as I made sure I wouldn't bring harm to the female who lay before me with the intoxicated scent, as my shaft was still soft and hairless yet slightly larger to accommodate my original form.

I strode gently towards her as my padded feet didn't make a sound, as her wings were outstretched to either side of her. Her pale skin glistened in the dark as my eyes had adjusted, as her long golden blond hair laid around her with a few strands stuck to her rose colored lips.

Brushing her hair aside, I felt her soft skin and she made a sound that was so pleasing to my ears that I couldn't help it...

I gave in to my instincts!