Chapter 4: The Dreams that Blind

Once feared as the Shadow Knight and Melvin’s crimson blade, here in the netherworld Oswald could claim no glory. He did not dare look at the further proceedings of Gwendolyn and Onyx’s nuptials. He would look at the tortured spirits of the Pooka and think they were lucky compared to him. Being imprisoned within the netherworld was bad enough.

But the queen of the dead had an eye for him just as much as Onyx had for Gwendolyn. Seeing him in despair, she knew there was so much more he had to give. She would take that anger and sadness and turn it into something else. And then he would belong to her forevermore.

He was sitting in a corner of the queen’s chamber. Or what passed for a queen’s chamber anyway, Endelphia was no true nation and Odette no normal sovereign either. Crumpled up in himself, wearing that dark armor with the sword Belderiver, he very much looked like a knight of this place. She intended to make him fulfill his oath of supplication to his queen.

And there was no shortage of forbidden knowledge she would use to have him. Just as Onyx had acquired the knowledge of that aphrodisiac from the three wise men, so too was Odette able to extract knowledge from their withered skulls. Onyx had broken Odin’s daughter with a spell of lust. But there was no shortage of that blooming inside of Onyx now. She would have snare him with a totally new kind of power.

She approached him. At first he did not respond, huddling his knees together with his head slumped down. But then she cupped his cheek with her skeletal hand. That bony touch on his skin, he looked up. His red eyes were awash in misery.

“You have seen Gwendolyn in the arms of the Inferno King. She is very apt on performing her duty. All your life you have acted according to that same principle. And now that she no longer your woman, you have a new duty.”

“Duty to what?”

Leaning closer she said, “To your new queen.”

Her face was inches apart from his. He could feel her hot breath on his skin again. After losing Gwendolyn, seeing her in the throes of that act with Oynx, the idea of embracing this other captor very much like the Inferno King in any way only felt more wrong, a greater insult to dig harder into his wounds. But wallowing in that state of misery, it was a miracle to feel any fire at all.

And right now he wanted to immolate himself in it. Abandoning all self-respect he kissed her first, pushing his tongue deep into her mouth. She was more than happy to return it, chuckling in their toxic kiss as he embraced his self-loathing to fulfill this cursed duty. She felt his anger and his agony and she loved it.

As they continued going at it, her skeletal hands began undoing his armor. He was aware of it, he knew exactly what it would entail and what would happen if he didn’t fight back. His body was already under her curse, and he knew that if he tried to resist that he would only recognize his lack of strength. But the worst thing that weighed him down was the defeat carved into his spirit. Even with Leventhan dead, were a new Armageddon to happen with different actors and events, he would not even feel the iron will to fight anymore.

When she had unfastened his breastplate, it fell to the ground. The reality of what he was doing hit him and he paused in that sick kiss. But the queen of the dead only continued with it, she had no intention of ever giving him his freedom back, but the joy of tasting this level of depravity was an exquisite feast she would not pass up. He felt so weak and unprotected.

The instant she broke the kiss, he looked down and away from her. Her taste burned in his mouth, and as much as he hated it, there was another heat burning downstairs. He wished he could make it go away. It would not and she counted on that. For all his suffering, the reason she adored his soul above all else was it’s sheer strength. Melvin indoctrinated him and promised him to her, and still he was made of stronger stuff than the other wretches here in her thrall. The horrible darkness that would have broken other men only made him burn hotter.

But the queen of the dead had a heat of her own and she was intent on having it served. “Your queen demands so much more from you, shadow knight.”

Moving herself back, she bared open her skirt. Oswald turned away, expecting to see the spider demon lying underneath. But his peripheral vision told him it was nothing of the sort. Looking directly, instead he saw a pair of perfectly sculpted pale human legs, nothing vicious and cruel. The sort of beauty that most women would give up anything to have.

In his current situation, he could only stare at them. Even his lost lady love didn’t have gams like these, Odette’s new legs shone like the moon, so white they were. A captive in the netherworld and having lost everything, there was nothing wonderful here. And yet to have this beauty displayed before him, he was filled up with a hardness. It was a perverse notion and he knew it.

“Did you think I wanted your soul simply to fulfill that oath made my Melvin?” She laughed a dark husky sound that echoed through her throne chamber. It spoke of nefarious intentions and he knew exactly what it meant. Much as he might have wished otherwise, his heart beat in his chest at what she planned for him.

“No,” she said. “It is because in giving you that power, I gave up part of myself. And just as you have grown stronger, so has that part of me.” She held up her skeletal hand. It was just another sign that she was the queen of the dead. But then he watched as red veins pulsing with blood wrapped around the bone, saw flesh coat around it that muscle like a sheath. Then she breathed a sensual sigh, the sound of a whore beckoning a customer in the alleyways. Even in the shadowy vales of Ringford he would see such women.

He never expected to see one here in the abyss.

She giggled as her other arm underwent the same regeneration. Indeed, looking upon her face now there was even something like a blush, a tinge of genuine life. Robbed of his lady love by Onyx, to have another offer herself to him, his body tempted him to take it up. Watching that almost alchemic transformation happen right before his eyes, he knew it was no natural thing, dark magic even too profane for the three wise men. And yet the taste of this queen of the dead was still fresh on his tongue and those smoldering embers of submission that flickered inside him were ready to embrace this new role.

No matter how much his heart ached at the idea.

“Your queen demands more of your essence good knight,” said Odette. Spreading her legs wider, she patted her very human looking vagina, beckoning him to taste another mouth of hers. Just like the rest of her, her new hands looked as beautiful as they did evil, long slender fingers with perfectly craved and pointed nails at the end. “And no one will speak of this save the dead themselves.”

Something was happening inside of him. A burning need to fulfill her command, to sate the sexual hunger that was scorching within him. It was more than the appetites of his flesh that stirred inside his body from seeing Gwendolyn being taken and having this woman lord herself over him, it was instead something much like the weight of his curse that burdened him while he still dwelled in the mortal realm. He did not want to give in.

But as with each passing second he tried to ignore it, so too did with each passing second did that same fire grow ever hotter. It was more than a desire that needed to be fulfilled, his willing denial became agony, and deep down no matter how much he rationalized otherwise, he wanted it. To service such a beautiful woman seemed like a welcome reward after his long and harsh journey. And to be enthralled by her an even more welcome fate.

Oswald found the strength to move return to him surprisingly easy. His body still didn’t cooperate with him like he wanted, but it crawling on hands and knees was well within his body’s limits. His pride broken and fueled by his desire, he made the trek under her skirt until he was face to face with her naked twat.

That close, he could smell the scent of her snatch. Nothing like the cold and sterile atmosphere of this realm of the dead, but instead the smell of a woman, fresh and exciting. The pale skin of her moist box was full like a rabid in animal in heat, twitching, awaiting him. His desire grew ever greater.

And then he gave into it.

Plunging his face into her crotch, he tasted her pleasure. Nothing so disgusting as what one would expect of the queen of the dead, instead she tasted as sweet as she smelled. Her juices smeared all over his face as he got into it, Oswald’s situation was humiliating but even then he felt pride in being able to bring pleasure to a woman. After seeing Gwendolyn in Onyx’s arms, this was exactly what he needed.

And there was so much more fun to be had. While Oswald was eating her out, Odette lay back and moaned, the erotic sounds driving him to service her even more. Needless to say at the same time that the monster stewing in his pants was burning hotter than ever, he wanted to mount her and ravish her as a man would, or at the very least service himself while he serviced her. But just as it felt wrong to lie to someone you loved, so too did the idea of pleasuring himself in doing this knightly deed also offend his sense of honor.

In the back of his mind, he had an idea of why that was the case. It was just another side effect of her spell over him, slithering into his psyche as much as it had shackled his body. Still, whatever concern that held over him was nothing compared to the heavenly ambrosia on his tongue, that wondrous smell and her tight folds clinging to his tongue. He was in no position to think about Gwendolyn being ravished by Onyx.

Not with the woman before him. She was squirming from the force of his cunnilingus, her perfect thighs wrapped around his face. They were warm and soft on his cheeks, with his face lodged under her skirt he could not see her face, her cruel features twisted in exquisite rapture with her tongue hanging out as he brought her to a satisfaction she hadn’t felt in ages. In that position he could hear her wild moans of deep pleasure, at first they were deep and dark lined as usual with the dulcet tones of her inherent cruelty. But soon they became increasingly loud and high-pitched, her siren song both made the meat in his pants throb even harder and fill with an incredible sense of loss, that he only wished that he was eating out Gwendolyn and hearing her cries of ecstasy instead of this domineering harridan. Her face hidden from his face and his heart shattered, Oswald tried to pretend it was his true lady love he was eating out.

Her gasps became more frequent. So different from Odette’s usual laughter, there was nothing to betray that this woman was the queen of the dead. Even with that spell placed upon him, his mind still had it’s ways and as her wails became more high pitched and depraved, he fully convinced himself that he was eating out Gwendolyn. A dream away from this nightmare.

He would wake up from it soon enough. His lover suddenly let out a hoarse grunt followed by wicked cackling, cruel sounds nothing like the noble woman he was forced to leave behind but the domineering echo of the one and only queen of the dead. Just as fast as that blissful illusion he fashioned for himself had vanished, so too did he feel Odette’s vagina convulse violently in her orgasmic release.

Oswald jerked away. His fantasy shattered, it dawned on him on what he had allowed himself to do. He wiped away her juices off his face, eager to regain any measure of pride.

Odette was not so silent. Pinching her nipples, she breathed hard, reveling in her orgasm. Looking directly at Oswald shying away, she called upon his contract to her, he felt his body wracked with a weight, felt the heat in his pants grow ever stronger. Seeing his defiance, she increased the intensity of it to the point of agony.

But she would not succeed. That shame he felt was too strong for any gias to control him with. Turning away from her he merely rested against the wall, holding his arms around himself.

She scowled at him. “I see. You are still loyal, aren’t you knight?”

He did not answer.

But Odette was satisfied. She had her fun with him, and she felt stronger than ever. Turning away, she left him.

For once, Oswald’s body felt light. He still felt the despair of his situation. But the pain of his contract was gone and that rancid lust that coursed through him vanished in an instant. Content to have this moment to himself, he curled up and rested.

Oswald woke up. A warrior by trade since he was small and accursed to bear a debt to the queen of the dead, he was not granted the mercy of sweet dreams. In that phantasmal realm he was back in his castle with Gwendolyn, sleeping at his side, as if everything hadn’t been real. The both of them naked, he was at once glad to have everything fade. His deal with Onyx, being returned to Odette, it was all a nightmare.

The exiled princess was sleeping on her side, her silver hair and perfect back facing him. Her skin looked just as smooth as silk, proof of her royal upbringing, and underneath every bit of her perfectly sculpted back muscles from her warrior’s training. A beautiful princess with that hard sinewy beauty. He touched her shoulders, her flesh was so soft it was unreal and her muscles tensed up in response to his touch. Felt her perfect hair shining like gemstones in the rosy light of dawn. A treasure only a foolish man would be loathe to not crave.

She wriggled and stretched out, waking up a bit. That simple feminine motion, the sound of her voice, it made his heart beat with excitement. Here he was safe. Here he was home.

Gwendolyn turned around to look at him, her long silver hair undone, staring at him lovingly. Her eyes shone like gemstones more radiant and piercing than the luster of the jewels mined by the dwarves. Just as beautiful as ever, that same glint in her eyes was more fierce than any Psypher too. Her massive naked breasts were bared before his eyes but when she cupped his face, he wasn’t looking at her chest anymore. In the distance the rising sun over the horizon was growing brighter. Like all gorgeous women, her natural beauty was always a thing to marvel to fear, as if she was some otherworldly creature that could condemn and exalt a soul in equal measure. Far more terrifying than the battlefield he had spent so many years upon.

“Gwendolyn...”

Her smile had not diminished. She did not say a word, only closed her eyes and puckering her lips shining in the morning, leaned in to kiss him. After the nightmare his life had become, he was more than happy to receive it. Just their lips touching was more gentle than the softness of the bed they shared.