A remote village, covertly placed and cradled amidst the towering peaks of a mountain range was jointly holding its breath as it awaited the arrival of its guardian. The glowing evening light departed early as the sharp mountain peaks blocked out the view of the setting sun. Thatched homes were tightly shut, and all externally seen lights were extinguished. Soon, only the dimly glowing coals of a nearby fire pit would barely illuminate this month’s offering.
Concerned teenage eyes who were friends to those left outside, occasionally peaked out from various shuttered windows and curtains. It wasn’t long before they were dragged back by mentally scarred and reticent adults.
As the last of the rays of light disappeared amidst the encompassing darkness and the fire coals grew cold, only those with specially trained eyes could see the smaller details of tears streaking down the faces of those despairing sacrifices. Yet many could hear the whimpering cries as they were forced to bear the price for ‘their sins.’
Three young teenage girls, donned only in the thinnest of coverings to cover their nudity, had arms tightly bound to the sacrificial pole in the midst of the village. Having barely stepped out of their childhood phase, they were now being exposed to one of the dangers of adulthood in this nameless place.
No one dared to speak of what it was which led to these monthly sacrifices. Only the aged village leader who also welded the role of the spiritual guide led the proceedings and chose those to be sacrificed. He spoke of how an evil spirit had taken root within these poor mislead victims and that his gentle ministrations had not been enough to root it out.
Each month, at the appointed time he would fervently declare that a portion of the newest batch of adults needed to be tested and punished in order to appease the evil within the region.
If they survived the experience, then their sins were forgiven. If they did not, then it no longer mattered anyways. Those rare few who had survived the sacrificial experience in the past only to grow up into adults, still carried the scars, both physical and mental from that tragic night. A kind of deadness would fill their eyes that one time a month when another suffered as they did.
Even now, they did not know what their wrongdoing had been.
Too many years and generations of monthly sacrifices had passed, and the populous of the city had long since come to accept this necessary evil in order to retain the protection of their guardian spirit. The brief sparks of rebellion in those who had promise to become strong minded and resistant to the status quo, were swiftly quenched by those monthly visitations of said guardian and the daily preachings of their village leader.
There was an evil within the land, however, it was not of supernatural or magical origin as the residents had been trained to believe. . .
Every month, prior to the given sacrifice, there would be a coming-of-age ceremony. It was a minor celebration for the young boys who turned into men and a too often uncomfortable transition for the girls who were “guided” into becoming women.
It was the ‘sacred’ duty of the village head to guide these women in their transition. However, there was nothing sacred about what went on behind the closed doors of the village shrine. Not every girl was treated the same, as not all of them caught the decrepit eye of the aged man. For those who did, it was said that they had a mark of evil within them which required the earnest attentions of their spiritual leader to expunge.
The sacrifices tended to be those young women who refused or proved overly resistant to the ministrations of the leader. It was a rare occurrence that the old man had to resort to drawing a sacrifice from among those who did not catch his interest.
The terror which would be inflicted upon those unwilling girls, both in the bed chambers of the shrine and at the behest of the local spirit guardian, was enough to stamp out most spirits of rebellion. Anything else that might have slipped through the cracks of desperation was more fully suppressed by the unhelpful passivity of parents and neighbors.
No one with any semblance of power was willing to step out from the crowd and challenge the established order. The overwhelming presence and threat which their guardian exuded with its monthly nocturnal visits, was more than enough to purge any would-be heroics. This was done even as it ‘purged the sins’ of the preordained sacrifice.
Rarely would any of the older villagers chance a peek at the arriving spirit guardian of their village. To them, this was simply an immutable part of their way of life. Were there to be an outsider’s perspective and opinion given, they would have decried any proclamation of this creature and its behavior being spiritual. Unfortunately, due to the distant isolation of this village, the inhabitants had received no visitors for many generations, and so such a clarifying perspective was never voiced.
Ancient it was, standing taller than even the mightiest of men that called this place home. This creature of darkness was what held the nameless village together in fearful solitude, while also providing it safety from the many hordes of roaming monsters barring it from outside contact.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
This monster of the deep night sky was adorned with large, thin, and leathery wings. It had a grotesquely flattened bat-like face which would turn away even the most twisted of sexual deviants. It’s red eyes glowed with both thermal sight and a raging libido which demanded to be fulfilled once every month.
It's fumbling and desperate touch cared little for the tender young skin or innocence of its intended victims. Frequently, in its primitive attempts to pierce its targeted prey with its engorged member, it would mortally wound them with its sharp claws which were more attuned to eviscerating its prey than gently embracing it in a loving touch. This grisly scene broke even the bravest of would-be child heroes as they had no recourse amidst the travesty. The only saving grace for the surviving victims, if such could even be said, was that each copulation with the beast proved its continued sterility with cross species intercourse.
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This small village’s plight had not gone unwitnessed by the heavens. Unfortunately, in the eyes of the deities, the faith which might be gained from saving them, was a pittance in comparison to the expected work it would take to shift them away from their current path.
A young deity however, foreign to this world yet adopted into its ways, had also witnessed their plight for years and desperately sought to rectify this wrong regardless of the cost. Unfortunately, such direct interaction as she had in mind for the natives of this world was banned by the tragically enforced laws of the Pantheon. Gritting her teeth at her magically bound inactivity, she was unable to end this tragic cycle of death and abuse to the innocent and young catalysts of would-be change in that small village.
It wasn’t until several decades of watching this discovered travesty among many others, that a potential solution to her troubled heart arrived. Surprisingly it came from her precious brother Naathan, who had requested her aid in dealing out suitable punishment to a group of four travelers. Inaaya’s eyes lit up with thoughts which teetered on the edge of questionable morality. As she heard more of what these young men were guilty of, both in this alternate reality and on their origin Earth, the last of the doubts she may have held faded into obscurity as vicious delight took the reins.
Due to her origin being the same as the Travelers, she was given more flexibility in how she interacted with them. Although she was still bound to silence regarding certain heavenly secrets, her other actions were not as restricted when it came to dealing or interacting with those who shared the same origin. . .
For what she had in mind, all she needed to do was to tweak the flow of time a little and adjust the spacial destination point of four returning travelers. Her brother could handle the rest. The new coordinates just so happened to be a certain exotic location: Somewhere deep within a cave among an obscure range of mountains.
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A group of four Travelers waited in anticipation as a flash of white crossed their vision signifying the successful logging into the virtual reality. Dwelling alone within the white transitional space, each of them was lost in their own thoughts. Three of them were basking in the recollection of the events from six days ago while the fourth was disgruntled at being taken down before the real fun could begin.
The four of them had actually never met in real-life prior to their escapades in this game. Having joined the military recruitment at the city of the Falls, they found a kindred spirit within each other going through training. Once passing muster, they teamed up on the battlefield as they ravaged across it with total abandon. Upon each subsequent resurrection they would have a night out on the town and party until they were recalled back to the warfront.
This was truly the life! They each felt immortal and untouchable in this virtual world as their commanding officers loved having such a reckless group to take on kamikaze missions with such energy. Many times, in which they had to be bailed out of trouble, they were given a slap on the wrist for bad behavior and shipped off to the front lines again to fight to the “death” as restitution for their crimes.
To them who were battle junkies, this was not punishment but rather a continuation of the fun to be had.
That young fairy-like Traveler girl, who had been traveling with her cousin was simply a cherry on top to expend their energies on.
Their thoughts jointly darkened at the recollection of the apothecary’s apprentice who was sticking his nose into things that weren’t any of his business.
Damn him! If he hadn’t held them back for so long, then they would have been able to taste that sweet little thing for a bit longer. *Sigh* Having their way with the NPC’s just wasn’t the same, even if they did react in very similar ways to the women they had done such things to in real life. There was just something more exciting and enlivening at overpowering someone real, hearing their cries of rejection and denial, despoiling, and forcefully taking something precious from them!
Their eyes narrowed in fury again as they recalled how it ended far too early for their taste. That apprentice was probably even the one who signaled for help from the patrol. Were it not for that, they might have been able to go the whole way with her!
It was honestly a surprise that the girl hadn’t logged out by that point. Hah! Maybe she was even enjoying their superior attentions, or possibly there was a glitch in the system? They certainly wouldn’t complain about such.
Until now, none of the four men realized that they had been spending an inordinate amount of time in the blank white space which signified their transfer. Their minds had been too caught up in recalling their past depravities.
Finally, they arrived! It was time to wreak havoc and have some more fun!
Except. . .
Where were they?
“Um guys?” Appearing in utter darkness, one of them called out to the others.
“Yeah, we’re here.” Another replied. “Wherever here is. . .”
A third jovially spoke up. “Hah! Do you suppose that they finally got fed up with us enough to actually put us in jail? Maaaan! That apprentice must really have some clout to get the military to do that! Haha!!”
His voice then turned sharp. “We’ll just have to return the favor when we can.”
None of them were truly concerned as they knew they were but a five second wait from logging back out into the real world. And so, the fear that a normal person would have had given the circumstances didn’t even phase them. This new incident was just another offshoot of their ever-fun time together.
“Hey! Let’s go explore wherever this is. Maybe there is some really cool treasure hidden here that we can find!”
*Snicker* “The only exciting thing you’ll likely find is a rat given the surroundings.” One of them teased back.
“Oh yeah?!” He countered back. “Who’s the one who only got some intimacy with the damned apprentice’s weapon? I mean, we were all stuck waiting for you for six whole days of boredom to let things cool down and for you to resurrect.”
A disgruntled grunt was the only reply for a few moments. . .
“Hey, let’s get some light going here. Who’s the best at the candlelight spell?”
No one responded for a moment, but soon three balls of gentle white light began glowing from their hands. One of them had yet to fully perfect the spell.
Gazing about, they took in the sights of their immediate surroundings. Several stalagmites rose from the floor like a pit of thick spikes. One could easily impale themselves on them were they to fall from a great enough height. The light was unable to reveal the depths of the cave which they were now in, causing a slight shiver to pass over them. Casting their eyes up, they spotted the occasional tip of a stalactite which was barely illuminated by their weak light spells.
The unseen but hint of vaulted ceilings high over their heads made them question the reducing likelihood of this being a prison.
Another realization suddenly struck them which one shakily voiced out. “Um guys? Why are we all naked?”