The Fantasy Trove

Mandy, Sonia, and Lysa prepare to rescue Shelly. What will they find as they head into King Aeacus’s lair, and why is he keeping her alive? Shelly will learn the true meaning of despair.

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Chapter 20

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Aeacus

Mandy waved as her lover flew out of sight. His eyes swept past her, unaware of her false smile, or the tears she fought hard to keep inside.

“They can’t see us,” Lysa’s disembodied voice said. “I’m forcing the air around us to bend the light to hide us from the ants that are watching.”

“Then how are we able to see?” Sonia asked. “If the light is bent around us, none should be able to reach our eyes to see them leaving.”

Mandy didn’t care about physics dictating what should be, or shouldn’t be, possible. Her boyfriend was leaving with her girlfriend to face the Pillar of Darkness and a vampire. Oh, she understood that he couldn’t be hurt, at least not permanently, but that didn’t mean he was invulnerable to all things. He could be tortured, or locked away, or any number of other equally terrible outcomes. She imagined she could still hear his gurgled scream as the Myrmidon roasted his head. He was tormented, and nothing she could do harmed the wicked creature. Even Megan’s bullets did nothing to the creature made up of ants. Shlee had changed forms, but her teeth and claws did nothing to stop Eldon from being hurt, either. His agony tore at her heart, made all the worse for her inability to help.

And now he was going to meet with the Father of Lies. The one person who her talent would help the most against, but she was being left behind. Mandy closed her eyes for a second, and stuffed her emotions down. She didn’t know why Lysa wanted her in the group to rescue Shelly, but had to trust that the Pillar of Air had a plan.

“I didn’t say that I was blocking the light from reaching us, but rather that I’m stopping it from reflecting more than three feet from us,” Lysa explained in calm tones. “Light can get in so we can see, but the light bouncing off of us is redirected.”

“That’s ingenious,” Sonia said with wonder. “But how do you stop the buildup of light within from hurting us?”

Mandy turned to chew them out for not focusing on their mission, and realized that Lysa’s voice wasn’t so disembodied after all. Her light blonde hair flowed in a slight breeze, as she looked at the android with her sky blue eyes. Mandy had rarely seen Lysa, and had always assumed it was because she was the Pillar of Air, and making herself incorporeal. Now she understood that she chose to remain invisible. Lysa was a beautiful woman by any accounts—all of Lyden’s children were—so she didn’t understand why she would choose to hide herself.

“I filter it out beneath our feet directly into the ground,” she said. “If you were to step on someone and they were still able to see, they would get a confused impression of all the light immediately around us, jumbled and mixed. That is, if it didn’t cause them to go blind.”

“You could turn that into a weapon,” Sonia said, rubbing her chin. “A focused beam, becoming a laser.”

“A bright light, maybe, but not a laser that could kill or even harm,” Lysa shook her head. “I’m not strong enough to focus light like that. Remember, I’m the Pillar of Air. I have to manipulate the air to bend the light.”

Sonia was quiet for a moment, so Mandy decided to speak up. “Is that how you’re planning on getting us into the Myrmidon’s lair?”

“I’ll also have to cover our scents, adjust our sounds, and a few other things,” Lysa turned to talk to her. “There is a vacuum just inside where I’m bending the light so no sound can escape.”

“You would make the ultimate spy,” Sonia stated, sounding more wary than complimentary.

“I am,” Lysa replied. Without another word, she turned and floated towards their destination. Mandy followed after, not caring to be touched by the vacuumed bubble surrounding them, and certain it was anchored to the Pillar of Air.

They travelled in silence, both internally and externally, for a bit, following the drag marks left by Shelly and her attacker, until they came across Lyden Snow’s greatest triumph, and his downfall. The sideways cone shaped hill was perhaps twenty feet from tip to darkened opening, and still thrummed with the power and energy of the icons Lyden used to create it. Earth, and Fire, formed its walls. Air fed the Fire inside, and the outside shimmered with Light that had nothing to do with the eternal daylight of the Shadow World. The power of Water was already used to create the nearby lake where he’d defeated the Outsider controlled forces. She couldn’t remember what Dark was used for, but was fairly sure it hadn’t been used in the construction of the Outsider’s destruction.

“I’m still surprised this is where King Aeacus has been hiding all these years,” Mandy stated, breaking the silence as they faced the flame lit opening. Bars of molten fire lined the walls, and the heat baked the ground before them. “This place still stands as a monument to Ambassador Snow’s fight for everyone’s freedoms.”

“And the heat keeps anything but those most closely tied to fire away from entering,” Lysa replied in an even tone.

“There is a twisted sense of pride some evil people have in taking something important to their foes, and making it their own,” Sonia added. “It’s a psychological effect.”

“Okay, fine. I understand,” Mandy said, trying not to sound annoyed at the way Sonia talked down to her. Just because her brain was quantum, or whatever, didn’t mean she had to act all high and mighty. Shlee was fascinated by the android, her dominant geek side coming out whenever they discussed what Sonia was capable of, but Mandy didn’t understand her. She was a mass of wires and electricity, that’d somehow gained a portion Shelly’s soul. That made her living in Mandy’s book, and that was all that mattered to her, for now. But it didn’t mean she had to like the synthetic being. “How are we going to get past that heat?”

Sonia looked at Lysa for a moment, and then gave her own answer. “Heat traverses areas of space one of three ways: conduction, convection, and radiation. It can’t do the first two while the Pillar of Air maintains the vacuum. Radiation, which is merely light, will still work, but much slower.”

Mandy nodded, understanding what the woman said, but still not liking her tone. How did Shelly put up with the woman?

“So we stick together and move through it fast,” Mandy nodded and rolled her shoulders in preparation to make the dash.

“Running in there would be a mistake,” Lysa said. “We’d likely end up bumping into one of the guards at the entrance to the lair they created at the far end. I’ll merely reduce the amount of light that penetrates my filter, and move through. We’ll remain silent and unseen, and most importantly, you two will remain unharmed.”

She tried hard not to sigh. Why was she a part of this mission anyway, instead of being with Eldon and Shlee? Sure, she could fight, but not against Myrmidons. And trying to get one to sit still long enough to speak was all but impossible, so her curse of forcing everyone around her to be honest was also pointless. The other two women knew far more than she did.

She pictured them walking through that glowing opening, and shuddered. The ground was baked glass due to the heat, but the flames didn’t lick across the open space, instead gliding along the inner walls, as though the Earth and flame were lovers, one gently caressing the other. No fear of their bubble being seen as a void in the fire as they progressed.

“Shelly’s not getting any free-er with us standing out here,” Sonia griped.

“Just remember,” Lysa informed them, “they can’t see, hear, or smell us. Don’t get close enough for them to touch you, much less taste you and, and they’ll never know we were here, until it’s too late.”

“What about our footprints?” Mandy asked, then blinked as she looked behind them. There was no trail.

“I’ve blown the grown to cover our tracks,” Lysa replied. “And the ground in there is too hard in most spot to leave a trail.”

“Shouldn’t we be taking in some water, or something?” Mandy asked next, feeling her heart rise into her throat. There were literally thousands of very dangerous creatures in this world, but most of them left you alone, unless you bothered them or encroached on their territory. She was about to do both with creatures whose only weakness was water. And while she wasn’t about to piss her pants, she didn’t think she could come up with enough spit to do more than annoy the fiery ant-like creatures.

“We shouldn’t have any reason to harm them, if we’re careful,” Lysa replied. “I know they’re our enemies, but they serve a purpose in the balance of our ecology. I intend to get us in, and back out without anyone the wiser, until they discover my sister missing.”

While Mandy couldn’t find it in herself to agree with sparing any Myrmidons, the steely anger in Lysa’s voice as she stated that last part sent a shiver through her. There were few laws in the Shadow World, and even fewer after Lyden’s triumph over the Outsiders, but one that was simple common sense was that you didn’t anger one of the six Pillars that held enough power to support the very existence of the Shadow World.

* * * *

Shelly forced herself not to groan as she tumbled through the air and stuck point first in the solid rock wall. The Myrmidon that’d captured her had left her in the hands of these smaller ones, and they enjoyed their game of seeing who could get her to stick in the wall, and who couldn’t. Dizzying as it might be to flip through the air, her Murasame form wasn’t balanced for throwing, and she ended up banging her hilt, or the side of her blade against the wall more often than not. As much as that hurt, she refused to change forms. She was safer as metal, than soft flesh and bone. Less likely to burn also.

She knew she was lucky to be alive. The Myrmidon that’d found her hadn’t recognized who she was, and she’d had time to transform before it could. The monster had laughed as it swung her around, moving through various practice swings, though it was obvious the beast didn’t know anything about swordsmanship. Sheldon knew how to move and dodge, and handle a blade like a pro. All the Myrmidon knew was hack and slash. Then it had the gall to drag her against the ground as it carried her back to its lair.

One of the creepy, claw tipped hands of the Myrmidon children gripped her hilt, and pulled her free of the wall. It chittered to its friends, the mandibles protruding from its almost human like head clacking as it spoke in its native tongue. She hoped they would tire of this game soon, and toss her into a corner where there was some small chance she might escape.

Her chances were slim, but it was all she had. She cursed herself for being so stupid. Hadn’t she been the one to get angry about splitting up and the consequences of that? And then she went and did it herself, like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The creature that had her handed her to another, and that one took aim before sending her flipping end over end, this time to clatter against the wall and fall to the floor. She was going to be seriously bruised when she changed back.

Before she could be picked up again, an adult walked in and chittered at the kids in what Shelly thought was a disapproving, high-pitched tone. That, or her head was ringing from too many blows against the wall.

The adult watched as the kids left the tunnel, before bending over and picking Shelly up from the floor. Its clawed fingers caressed Shelly’s blade, its other hand gripped her hilt hard enough to crush bone.

“Oh, I recognize you, pretty one,” its voice spoke English, though it was a bit rough, and slurred by its mandibles.

Fear coursed through Shelly, making her shiver despite her best efforts to hold still. The creature felt it, though, and cackled.

“Yes… My queen will appreciate you as a gift.”

If Shelly were in her human form, she knew she would have been sweating. This wasn’t good. Either the Myrmidon knew who she was and was handing her over to some queen she didn’t even know about, or this creature recognized her form as the sword, Murasame. Either way, she was in worse trouble now than she was a few moments ago.

If she could somehow twist in its hands and cut it, Shelly might be able to escape. Her magic in this form was deadly, even at a scratch, though it was also dangerous for her. She still recalled all too well the effect it’d had on Jessica, and the aftermath of that situation. She didn’t think that being overwhelmed with lust while in these tunnels would end well for her.

If only there were some way she could get free. She needed to be left alone long enough to touch something else, and then change into that. Something less conspicuous. But she had to be in her normal form before she could to that. If only there were some way to get this monster to leave her somewhere, or….

A terrible idea occurred to her. Before she had a chance to think of how bad it was, she spoke.

“Why give me to your queen, when you could take her out?” Shelly caused her surface to vibrate, creating her voice. “With me in your hands, you could rule. You could be all powerful.”

Startled, the thing dropped her to the floor. Hitting the ground wasn’t as bad as being flung against the wall, but it still hurt.

“No…” it hissed at her. “I will not. You will strengthen the queen. You will help her defeat her enemies.”

Without another word, it picked her up and walked faster.

“I could make you stronger,” Shelly tried again.

“No,” it replied, and banged her blade against the rock floor, leaving a deep gouge. There was almost nothing she couldn’t cut in this form.

“Why be a slave, when you could be a master?” she pressed.

“No,” it repeated itself with another harsh slash against the floor.

Shelly realized that her plan was a failure, and kept quiet. She didn’t know what she expected. Myrmidons were made from ants, and ants were loyal to their queen. They followed their queen without question.

Then why did King Aeacus rule them?

She was missing something, but couldn’t figure out what it was. Did their king have some kind of hold or control over their queen?

She remained silent, even as she thought furiously on how to escape. The Myrmidon wound its way through the labyrinthine tunnels, until even if she was free, Shelly never would have found her way out. There were no guards outside the first set of doors that she’d seen since being captured, and her captor walked right into a spacious chamber.

The first thing Shelly noted was the massive size of the room. Torches and globes of magic light lit a pathway through the interior, but she couldn’t make out the ceiling, much less the walls. The Myrmidon’s footfalls didn’t even echo.

“What have you brought me, my daughter?” a voice boomed from before them.

If Shelly could have jumped, she would have. Daughter? Shelly had no way of making out the sex of the creature that held her. By its belligerent attitude, she’d assumed it was a male. The voice that spoke was silky smooth, but she couldn’t identify its gender either.

“I have brought you a trinket of power, my queen,” the Myrmidon intoned as she dropped to one knee and held Shelly’s sword form up in the air on outstretched palms.

“Intriguing,” the queen stated and sounded closer. Shelly couldn’t see her yet, as the speaker was outside the view of the lights. “You may approach.”

Shelly rose in the air as her handler regained her feet and walked forward. She was kept out in front as the Myrmidon acted in supplication towards its ruler.

“I know that blade…” the queen hissed with something that sounded too much to Shelly like glee. “Quickly daughter, bring it here.”

The ant creature rushed forward at the same time Shelly heard movement before them. The queen finally stepped into the light and Shelly wanted to scream.

The queen was completely bald, not even having eyebrows. She stood an easy six feet tall, and had pitch black eyes. She was mostly humanoid in form, except her skin was a mottled black, red, orange, and white. And an enormous metasoma, or abdomen, protruding from where her tailbone should have ended. Some slimy clear fluid seeped from its end. She was entirely nude, her massive breasts big enough to give Jennifer a run for her money, though the queen’s sagged a fair bit more, and dripped a milky white substance that Shelly didn’t want to think about. What frightened her the most was the massive phallus swinging between her legs.

Not even her brother’s cock was as long as the queen’s throbbing member. Sheldon had her on girth, but that was it. It glistened wetly as the creature drew closer and closer to her.

Pieces fell into place, and before she intended to, she spoke. “You’re a hermaphrodite!” This was King Aeacus, ruler of the Myrmidons, and also their queen.

Aeacus stopped in the process of reaching to take her from the Myrmidon. A grin split her lips as she rubbed her sharp chin. “It speaks… I thought I would have to work hard to make you talk. How disappointing.”

“Forgive me, my queen!” the Myrmidon cried in fear as her hands shook.

The queen didn’t look away from Shelly’s blade, but the creature holding her laid her on the floor before falling apart into her ant components and fleeing the chamber.

“Now then,” Aeacus ginned as she spoke, “you’re going to tell me all of your secrets.” Shelly preferred to think of Aeacus as a female, despite that dangling cattle prod. Her mottled face and breasts spoke too much of femininity, as did her gentle movements.

Shelly remained silent. She cursed herself for her outburst, but there was nothing she could do about it now. The best she could hope for was that the Myrmidon ruler didn’t use her to kill one of its subjects.

“Silence won’t help you, Shelly Lance,” the queen laughed. If Shelly had a heart right then, it would have plummeted. How did Aeacus know who she was? “Hmm, I can’t smell your emotions, but I’m guessing you’re wondering how I knew what and who you are. Am I right? Still no answer? That’s okay. I don’t mind talking for now.” Her voice remained silky smooth, her laughter light and almost friendly. In fact, she sounded like she was talking to an old friend, rather than the daughter of her most hated enemy.

“I know who you are because my spies are everywhere, and they’ve described this form in great detail,” the queen waved her arm, as though to encompass the entire world. That hand dropped down and lifted Shelly up, bringing her close to her black eyes. “I see and know what Gaia misses. I inform her on all I know. Did you think she was really powerful enough to see everything that touched her surface? No, my new little pet.” Aeacus’s free hand stroked the flat of Shelly’s blade in a gentle caress. “That is why she never gave away my position to your father, though he asked many times. Oh, that’s not all I do for the Pillar of Earth, of course. My children are an important part of every ecosystem. In both worlds. I’m too important.”

As she spoke the last word, Aeacus brandished her with a well-practiced flourish. Again and again, she slashed the open air, her movements growing faster and faster by the moment, until the lights in the chamber became nothing more than a blur. She knew how to handle a blade, and did so with expert maneuvers.

When she spoke again, her voice still held the silk, but now there was an iron hard hatred beneath it. “And now I hold the precious daughter of Lyden Snow in my very hands. Now I can take vengeance on the man that killed my lover, TanaVesta. I will make him pay for his actions. I will make him suffer… but first, I think I’ll play a bit with you.”

Shelly couldn’t help but shiver at the sound of cold malice in the other’s voice. Here was a being that sought her and her families’ entire demise, and because Shelly was foolish enough to Leave Angela’s volcano on her own, she might end up being the instrument of their fall.

“Still nothing to say? I think I can change that.” Aeacus strode back through the path of lights to the entrance of the cavernous room. “Come my pet. I think we’ll play in my chambers. I do so enjoy breaking in new toys.”

For a brief moment, Shelly entertained the idea of changing forms and running away. Sanity set in before she had the opportunity. She would never escape. Not in this underground warren of tunnels, and from all of the Myrmidons between her and the exit. She was truly caught, with no chance of escape. Jessica and Becky weren’t here to help her this time. She was alone, with no chance of escape or rescue. No one could make it in here, against all those Myrmidon’s, even if they somehow managed to find where she was taken.

The walk to the queen’s chambers was a short one. Shelly didn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t an opulent bed, with draperies hanging around it, suspended from the ceiling. A lush brown couch adorned one wall with two plush matching chairs sitting opposite it. A mirror took up all of another wall, making the chamber seem twice as large as it was. She was able to see the bald queen, holding her Murasame form in hand, gray blade and pear tipped hilt held almost lovingly. It made her sick.

“You’ve met and killed some of my children, but you don’t know them all,” Aeacus chuckled. “All my children can spit fire, but only the warriors and gatherers venture outside. My children have many talents, depending on who their father is. For instance….” She trailed off as she laid Shelly on a bare patch of floor.

Shelly felt fear course through her as she wondered where Aeacus was going with her speech. She didn’t have to wait long, as tiny green ants appeared, and started to swarm over her. She wasn’t too worried about them, though. None of them could bite her in this form. They couldn’t actually hurt her, unless they managed to melt her down, which was unlikely, given that these ants weren’t forming into a full-fledged Myrmidon.

Of course, the last thing she expected was for the ants to start vomiting across her dull blade. A split second later, she understood.

“Yes, my little ones,” Aeacus crowed. “Let her feel the sting of your acid. Let it eat away at her until she screams in agony. She didn’t want to speak to me before, so we’ll make her sing for me now.”

Shelly tried her best to remain silent, but pain wracked every bit of her. She could feel herself dissolving under their bile. The acid didn’t cover her completely, but rather here and there. That almost made it worse. One spot would stop burning as the acid finished dissolving, only for the ant to choose a different one, and the pain would start anew.

The first sound to escape her was a whimper that she clamped down on as soon as she heard it. Aeacus’s grin broadened at that sign of weakness, but the attack didn’t intensify. If anything, it remained steady, always hurting, always burning, but in random spots. She would have writhed if she were capable of it, but her form was entirely rigid. One ant found a particularly sensitive spot between her hilt and her blade, and she screamed in torment. If she were in her natural form, it would have been right on her clit.

“Would you like it to stop?” Aeacus purred to her. “I can make it stop. I can even make you feel all better. You just have to do one thing.”

“I won’t… do… any—oh sh—anything for… ah… you,” Shelly struggled to get out.

“Oh, I think this won’t bother you too much,” the queen’s voice remained soft and seductive. “All I ask is that you change to your natural state. Do that, and I will have them stop.”

It sounded so simple, but Shelly knew the queen had something else in mind. She didn’t know what, but she knew it wasn’t for her own good.

“N-never,” Shelly gasped as another sensitive spot was found, this one corresponding to her right nipple. Another scream was ripped from her, causing her surface to vibrate, and therefore startling the ants attacking her and making them vomit even more acid across her surface.

It hurt. She hurt. Everything hurt. The entire world was nothing but pain and torment, until she passed out.

She didn’t know how long she was out, but she no longer felt herself dissolving in caustic fluids when she woke. She hadn’t met Shemhazau, so she must not have been near death. Opening her eyes… She had eyes! She must have reverted back to her natural state when she lost consciousness. A strong, musky scent filled her nose, neither terrible, nor pleasant.

“There, there,” Aeacus’s voice reached her. She tried to scramble away, but found her arms and legs were bound to the bed. A gag was tied tight enough that it cut into her cheeks and ran between her teeth. To make it all worse, she was completely nude. “I’m glad to see you awake. I was surprised at how long you held out. A lesser woman would have capitulated within seconds, but you lasted almost five minutes. I’m impressed, and I don’t impress easy.”

“Mmfh mm mffh hmfn nmfh,” she tried to ask what the queen was going to do to her, but couldn’t get it out around the gag. She sounded more like the Swedish Chef, than anything else.

“Hush now, my pet,” Aeacus purred. Shelly got the distinct impression that this woman was mad. One moment she gleefully tortured Shelly, the next she acted like a concerned mother. Her voice was calm and soothing, though there was a glint behind her dark eyes. “There is no reason for you to speak. Speech is wasted on the youth. They have nothing intelligent to say, anyway. Don’t you worry, though. I won’t kill you. Not yet. Not when I can have some fun with you first.”

Shelly’s eyes opened wider in fear. She didn’t want to feel the ant’s acid on her bare skin. She didn’t want to suffer that kind of agony again. She’d rather die, than go through that all over again. She wondered why she didn’t hurt now. She should still feel pain from where she’d dissolved, or from having been thrown against that wall so many times, but other than being tied up and gagged, she felt fine.

“You see, my little spies have told me so much about your family,” the queen went on, oblivious to Shelly’s fear. “I know about all of your siblings. I know about all of your mothers.… A strange concept that… having more than one mother. I am the only mother my trillions and trillions of children will ever need, or know. But you see, the one thing my spies couldn’t tell me of was your appearances. Oh, they described you, but they have no concept of aesthetics.”

Shelly didn’t know where the queen was going with her ramblings, but she didn’t really care either, as long as it postponed the torture. She struggled against her bonds, already knowing it was futile, but not willing to give up just yet.

“They told me of your brown hair and gray eyes, but said nothing of your beauty. They told me you were skinny, but not like a toothpick. They didn’t mention how smooth your stomach was, or how your breasts were just the right size, neither too large, nor too small. They described you, but they couldn’t portray the essence of you.” The queen trailed the back of her fingers along Shelly’s side, and she shuddered as it tickled a little bit. Aeacus didn’t have talons, or claws, but she did have long fingernails, about three inches long. That hand slid across her stomach to the other side, and Shelly watched in horror, wondering what kind of torture the queen had in mind next. She couldn’t take her eyes off that multicolored hand as it moved with deliberate slowness. She was certain it was going to stop at any moment and pinch, or twist her flesh. She wanted to be prepared.

But the hand merely tickled across her abdomen, randomly changing directions. Aeacus’s fingernails traveled along both sides, and from just below her navel to the underside of her breasts. The touch remained light, gentle, and never fast. If it weren’t for the fact that it was coming from a woman that Shelly knew wanted her dead, it would have felt nice.

“Such a beautiful body,” Aeacus murmured after a few moments of silence. “Not quite as nice as TanaVesta’s was, but still quite delectable. I wonder how it tastes?”

She moved fast then, as she leaned forward and took Shelly’s left nipple in her mouth. Shelly felt teeth lightly graze the sensitive nub, and she cried out in fear, more than pain. She knew that at any second Aeacus would bite down. The queen was just tormenting her, delaying the inevitable. Even as a tongue swept across the areola, even as she felt her breast get sucked and played with, she knew she was going to be feeling pain at any moment.

She was shocked when she felt the hand that had been caressing her abdomen drop to her kitten, and rub against her clit. Her body arched in surprise, the action causing confusion, rather than pleasure. Shelly waited for that long fingernail to slip inside her, and start cutting up her insides. Even as the queen’s fingertip pressed against her hooded clitoris, she could feel that fingernail spanning the channel of her slit and tickling the spot just below her entrance. She tried hard to ignore the pleasant sensations come from her breast and crotch as she steeled herself for what must surely come next.

The Myrmidon ruler sucked hard one last time, and released her breast with a loud pop. She then surprised Shelly by leaning over her and attacking the other breast, not with pain or torture, but with kisses, licks, and gentle nibbling.

Shelly was growing confused. While she didn’t mind postponing the future she knew was coming, and while what was being done to her felt good, she was not interested in the queen in a sexual manor. She feared her. She didn’t want to be here, having this done to her against her will. Feeling good or not, she was being molested by a woman that she was now certain was utterly insane.

And Shelly was completely at her mercy.

Aeacus moved to put her body over Shelly’s, without releasing the nipple. She changed the rhythm, speed, and pressure against Shelly’s twat, bombarding the tied up woman with sensations she didn’t want to feel. She cursed her body for betraying her. She could feel herself growing wet between the thighs, though she wished to be anywhere other than here right then.

After a few more seconds of Aeacus’s ministrations, the woman backed away from Shelly, kneeling between her splayed legs, and looked at her critically. Aeacus’s long penis poked up, hard and throbbing, precum making the bulbous head shiny. “Did my children fail to heal you properly? I would expect you to enjoy this more. You’re wet, but I’m sure you could grow wetter. I know my skill is good….” She trailed her long fingernails up and down the insides of Shelly’s thighs with a thoughtful smile. “Perhaps you don’t like being tied up? Unfortunately, I know you’ll run as soon as I let you go, and there is so much fun we can have together first….”

Shelly tried to talk again, to lie and say she wouldn’t run, but the gag still made her unintelligible.

“I didn’t wish to do things this way, but I will have you, and have you willingly.” Aeacus giggled like a little girl, reinforcing the impression of her madness. “Even if I have to force you into being willing.”

Shelly caught the scent of something foreign, and couldn’t identify it. The musky smell increased. Something tickled her left arm, and she turned to see a pink ant. Not light red, but bright pink. It crawled from her elbow to her armpit. Another one soon followed. She felt more coming up her legs and across her abdomen.

She tried to shake them off. Writhed to dislodge them, but they clung to her bare flesh. She didn’t know what fresh pain these new ants would cause, but she was terrified of them. Her only solace was that they weren’t green, so hopefully didn’t have the acid vomit. It tickled as they crawled along her armpit, up her inner thighs, across her neck, stomach, and even in her hair. It didn’t take long until she was swarming with tiny pink ants.

The scent in the air changed the tiniest bit, though Shelly couldn’t say exactly how. That was when they started to bite her. Each tiny ant, and there had to be hundreds if not thousands all smaller than a single centimeter, used its mandibles to break her skin. They couldn’t bite deep, but it was enough to hurt because of their numbers. No two ants were farther than a couple centimeters apart, and the only parts of her free of them were where her back made contact with the plush bed. While it hurt, it in no way compared to the pain of when she was in her Murasame form and being dissolved in acid.

It didn’t take her long until she started to feel the venom of their bites. Her heartrate sped up. Her skin grew flushed from more than all the miniscule bites. The room grew brighter. She became acutely aware of how soft and smooth the coverlet beneath her was. She imagined she could feel each ant as they crawled their teeny little legs across her flesh. They travelled in unity and with a purpose, making her flesh tingle with the movement as they left their prey.

She felt good, and she knew that was bad.

The smell of the room became more pungent, and she found herself breathing it in deeply. She couldn’t get enough of it. Every breath she took made her want more. Her mouth started to water, soaking the gag.

She felt the bed shift, causing new waves of bliss to course through sensitized skin. The ant’s venom had poisoned her, and she knew it, but was powerless to fight against it. It finally dawned on her drugged mind to shift forms into something that could slip her bonds, but grew distracted when the touch of the queen’s nails trailed once again up her side. She found herself moving to press against that hand, to feel the touch more.

Tears slipped from her eyes, unbidden and undeniable. She was losing the battle between her mind and her body. She wanted to be touched. She wanted to feel good. She wanted whatever it was that smelled so divine.

A small corner of her mind remained lucid and untouched by the insidious poison coursing just under her skin. It understood what was happening, but was unable to fight it. Even as the hermaphrodite queen knelt next to Shelly’s head, her large prick only inches away, that portion of her brain that screamed to fight, to find some way to escape, was all but ignored.

She identified the source of the strong odor that made her drool soak the gag. It was coming from that cock. The question of what it would taste like crossed her mind, and she couldn’t push it out.

The queen smiled at her. Had Shelly really thought she wasn’t attractive at all? Her bald head and mottled skin made her look exotic, not scary or frightening. Aeacus ran her fingers through Shelly’s hair, bringing forth an involuntary moan. She felt something loosen, and then the wet gag was pulled away from her mouth. Shelly reveled in the way her jaw was able to move freely again.

“There you go,” Aeacus said. “Doesn’t that feel so much better?”

Shelly wanted to tell the queen to go away and leave her alone, but when she drew in breath to speak, she actually tasted the scent in the air. It was indescribable. It went well beyond taste, as it filled her with joy, while also making her long for more. Warmth suffused her, and her senses went into overload.

“Here you go,” Aeacus said as she offered the tip of her penis to Shelly. “I think this is what you want.”

The last shred of her sanity rallied itself, forcing her head to turn away. Her stomach churned even while her burgeoning desire begged her to turn back and accept the queen’s gift.

“Your willpower is impressive, indeed,” Aeacus crooned. She wasn’t angry at all, and Shelly cursed herself for her relief in that fact.

The penis tapped the side of her head, right behind the ear. The scent was overwhelming. She could feel some of the slick precum coating the spot where she’d been touched. The spot tingled and felt warm. Her mouth watered as she wondered again at what it would taste like. Would it warm her tongue, and fill her mouth with the sweet feeling that was spreading along her ear now? And what would it feel like, plunging into her pussy?

She started to shake as she felt her mind slipping. Her nipples grew hard with the desire to be sucked and licked again. Her cunt leaked her fluids in preparation for what she couldn’t deny she wanted… what she needed. She fought for as long as she could, her body crying for the release and pleasure she would get, while her mind tried to warn her of the dangers.

What dangers? she mentally asked herself. She was finding it harder and harder to think clearly. Especially as that long rod slid slowly across her cheek, leaving a slimy, but wonderful trail in its wake. She just wants to have sex. It’s better than torture, and will be fun. If she’s like most men, she’ll be done in five minutes. What danger is there?

She held out for another two and a half seconds. When she received no answer to her internal questions, and just as the head reached the corner of her mouth, she capitulated.

With a hungry growl, she turned her head and sucked in the delectable offering. It tasted even better than she’d hoped, and her whole body lit up with fire and desire for this being. This wonderful woman. Her new queen and ruler.

Without a shred of doubt remaining and abandoning all dignity, Shelly used her tongue to lick across the tip, savoring the sweet liquid that flowed from it. The queen moaned in appreciation for her devotion, and a new warmth filled Shelly. This one was tied to knowing that she’d pleased her new ruler. She would do anything for her queen. All Aeacus had to do was ask.

“That’s right, my pet,” Aeacus purred. “Drink it up. Please me, and I will show you the highest points of pleasure. Please me well enough, and I’ll show you to your father. I’ll introduce my new slut to him, and show him your devotion to me. Displease me… And I’ll chop you to bits before him, and laugh as you beg me to cut off more.”

Shelly shuddered as her words sunk into her lust filled brain. She never liked the term of slut before, but if it pleased her queen, should would revel in the term. She knew that she wanted to please Aeacus, because if she were chopped to bits, she wouldn’t be able to suck on this wonderful meat-stick again.

She employed every skill she knew to please her new master. At least, every skill she had while trussed up and tied to the bed.

She released the head and licked along the bottom, until she reached the scrotum and pussy. The inner and outer labia sat in the middle of the ball sack, between the balls. Shelly realized that the penis was actually a really, really, long clitoris. Aeacus’s vagina was seeping copious fluids, and Shelly couldn’t stop herself from lapping at them. They tasted almost the same as those coming from the prick, only a little less sweet, and a bit tarter. She wished she could use her hands as she sucked the inner labia. She could use her fingers to explore that wonderful hole, while her other hand gripped that powerful cock.

She strained against her restraints. Groaning as she wanted nothing more than to please, but unable to do what she wanted in her current state.

For now she had to be content with her mouth. Her body wanted to be touched, to be sucked, and to be pleased, but those needs were secondary to those of her queen’s.

She found herself moaning as she licked her way back up along the shaft, and swallowed the bulbous bead between her lips again. Her head was limited in how much she could move, but she did her best to swallow as much as she could. The angle was wrong to get it down her throat, so she sucked, and bobbed, employing her teeth only the slightest bit with all the enthusiasm in her soul.

“Enough, my pet,” Aeacus said as she pulled herself from between Shelly’s devouring lips. Shelly groaned like a dog that’d had its favorite toy taken away. “Are you sure you don’t have any succubus in you? You have some good skill at that. In another hundred years, you might almost be as good as TanaVesta was.”

“Anything for you, my queen,” Shelly promised, meaning every bit of it.

“Yes, I know, my pet,” Aeacus patted Shelly’s cheek as she smiled. Pride at a job well accomplished, and for pleasing her mistress suffused her to the core.

“Why don’t we see how well you do without these restraints?” Aeacus asked. With four lightning quick movements, the ropes tying Shelly to the bed were severed, and the queen brandished a knife Shelly hadn’t even known was close by. A knife, she was certain, that was meant for her throat if she’d failed her queen. She wouldn’t fail.

Shelly moved to her knees and prostrated herself, ignoring the aches and pains of joints that went too long without proper movement. “Command me, my queen. Allow me to please you.”

The grin that split Aeacus’s face was one of the most beautiful things Shelly had ever seen.

“I think you’ve had enough lying down,” her queen murmured and stretched out in the spot Shelly had just vacated. “Continue using your mouth for now.” Her protruding, bulbous abdomen was twisted to the side, and Shelly found that even that part of her mistress was beautiful.

Shelly leapt into action, diving between the other woman’s beautiful and colorful legs. She could now angle her throat to swallow the whole rod in, and she did just that, feeling it slip past her tonsils. It felt as though it almost went to her stomach, but it wasn’t that long, she knew. Her right hand slipped two fingers into the pussy, and didn’t pump, so much as rub all the right spots inside. Her left hand roamed up the body to the queen’s large breasts, slickened with their own milk, and rolled the fat nipple between her fingers. More milk coated her digits, and Shelly couldn’t resist getting a taste. She released to penis from her throat long enough to catch her breath, and to lick her left hand fingers clean. The milk was warm, and sweet, and filled her head with wonderful visions of serving her mistress forever.

She wanted to latch onto the breast and suck them dry, but knew that Aeacus’s pleasures came first, so contended herself with a moan of unfulfilled desire, and went back to sucking and slurping on the awesome cock before her.

She must have been doing something right, because her queen was soon moaning and groaning, bucking her hips in time with Shelly’s ministrations of both her fingers and her mouth.

Her hard work was rewarded within seconds as her right hand was soaked at the same time as the queen’s seed flooded her mouth. If Shelly had thought the taste of the Myrmidon ruler’s milk, or pussy were good, it didn’t compare to the feeling to completeness that she received from her sperm. She made sure to swallow every precious drop, then sucked hard on the end, in case some were still inside.

After a couple minutes of cleaning the cock, Shelly was happy to see that the queen was still hard. She moaned in delight to know that her opportunities to please her mistress weren’t over.

“I’m more like a woman in that respect, than a man,” Aeacus grinned, correctly interpreting Shelly’s glee. “Climb up here my pet, and I’ll see how tight your pussy is.”

Shelly was overcome with such joy, that she came hard from the mere thought of having this divine piece of manhood impaling her.

Shelly clambered onto the bed, her limbs shaking with anticipation. Her heart felt like it was beating in her throat as the import of the honor that was being presented to her sunk in. Not only was she being allowed to pleasure her mistress, but she was going to gain her attentions as well.

Her slick fluids were already running down her firm thighs as she straddled the bald ruler. Reaching between them, she gripped the saliva soaked rod and aimed it for her entrance.

“Just the tip for now, my pet,” Aeacus commanded.

Shelly hesitated for only the slightest of seconds. Just the tip? She wanted the whole thing! She wanted to feel her owner in the deepest, most intimate parts of her soul. The tip wouldn’t do much for her, but it was her queen’s desire, so she would comply.

She couldn’t resist rubbing the head from the back of her slit, to her clit and down a few times, relishing the way it teased her. She felt the ache within her, just behind and below her navel, of wanting to be stretched and filled. It was an effort of will to deny herself that feeling, knowing that she didn’t want to disappoint Aeacus.

She held off long enough to feel her own juices dripping down the shaft before she finally accepted the head into her canal. It stretched her inner labia a bit, though not as much as she’d at first thought it would. Regardless, it still sent her over the edge again. She had to close her eyes tight, just in order to keep from passing out. It took every bit of her willpower not to plunge herself down onto that spear as her body shook. She couldn’t—wouldn’t!—disobey the creature below her.

Aeacus was her king, her queen, her everything!

Her hips rocked, almost of their own volition. She had to keep herself high on her knees in order to keep that long penis from going any deeper into her sopping twat. She scrunched her eyes closed, sending non-stop commands to her body not to go further than Aeacus wanted.

“Look me in the eyes, my pet,” the queen ordered. “I want to see the pleasure I’m giving you reflected in them, as you please me.”

Shelly opened her eyes, and looked deep into the other woman’s black orbs. Aeacus lay below her, smiling, with her hands behind her head. Her giant breasts jiggled slightly from Shelly’s movements, her nipples standing tall and proud. Shelly’s breathing picked up as she saw her lust reflected back at her. She adjusted her balance, and reached for those wondrous breasts, pinching the nipples between her thumb and hand. She kept her eyes locked on the queen’s, though, delighting in the intimacy she felt, and the pure erotic power behind those dark orbs.

“What do you want?” Aeacus asked, her voice calm, but husky.

“T-to please y-you, m-my, ah, queen!” Shelly had to gasp to get the words out, surprised and pleased that she would even be asked such a question.

“You are pleasing me,” came the glorious reply. “But after that, what do you want?”

“To p-please… please… oh my, to please and, uh, serve you,” Shelly struggled hard to respond as Aeacus started moving her hips in counterpoint to Shelly’s increasingly erratic movements.

“That does please me,” Aeacus purred. Shelly’s eyes began to burn, as she refused to even blink, but hearing those words from her master’s lips sent a lightning bolt to her very essence. The feeling transcended emotion, or desire, or even physical sensations. When Aeacus suddenly thrust her hips up, impaling Shelly without any kind of warning on Aeacus’s tremendous sword, it was too much. Bliss, and joy, and lightning that felt like waves crashing into the walls of a castle on a cool evening, and so many things that made no sense swept her up and carried her away.

She woke up, a turgid milk-filled nipple being suckled between her lips, and Aeacus holding and crooning to her. Warm, sweet milk flowed freely down her throat as she drank from her queen. Shame filled her as she realized she’d passed out, and was no longer looking her mistress in the eye. The jolt of that dishonor, made her jerk, and she felt her new owner still deeply ensconced within her. The queen’s one-eyed monster was bumping against her uterus as she slowly pumped herself in time with her soft song.

Tears streamed from her eyes, even as the fulfilling milk filled her mouth. She swallowed, and tried to plead for forgiveness. “Forgive me, my queen! I failed to keep looking you in the eyes. I promise never to fail you again!”

“You are forgiven, my pet.” Shelly felt those long fingernails slide through her hair, comforting her. “But I admit I thought your pussy would be tighter. Who have you lain with that has stretched you out?” She picked up the pace of her hips, making Shelly moan, despite being made to feel inadequate.

“I-I don’t know,” she cried as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks onto Aeacus’s chest. She couldn’t imagine who it could be. The only person who was larger than her mistress that Shelly knew of was her brother, but she was certain she’d never screwed him.

Had she? She had no problem picturing her brother pounding into her from behind, making her cum again and again on his twisted prick. She knew that thought should disgust her, but with her mistress thrusting ever harder into her, she couldn’t find enough thought in her to care. She was confused, even as she was made to feel good, and that only served to confuse her more.

Aeacus’s hands dropped to Shelly’s hips, holding her in place as she thrust hard and fast up into her willing slave. Just as Shelly felt herself getting close, the queen stopped, making Shelly scream in unfulfilled desire before she could close her throat. Her body demanded satisfaction. She couldn’t move her hips due to the death lock the Myrmidon ruler had on her, so she rippled her inner muscles around the intruding member.

“Who was it,” Aeacus hissed, demanding. “Who stretched you out?”

“I don’t know!” Shelly cried harder, wanting nothing more than to give an answer and please her mistress. She felt full as Aeacus’s cock filled her up, so why did she think Shelly was loose?

“Who?” Aeacus all but screamed at Shelly.

Shelly felt those long fingernails start to dig into her tender flesh, ripping another sob from her. Why wouldn’t she believe that Shelly didn’t know? Did she think anyone could please her as well as her owner could? There was no one in the world as important as Queen Aeacus.

“Who?” Her voice dropped into tones that told Shelly her death would soon follow if she didn’t answer. The master of all of Shelly’s hopes, dreams, and fears pulled her down harder onto her throbbing cock, making the gesture painful.

“I—I…” Shelly’s mind raced as she tried to find an answer that would appease Aeacus. She’d had a few boyfriends, but none that packed heat as large as the one currently inside her. None as wonderful. None that she could ever remember wanting to please. None that….

Why did she keep picturing her brother? Was it because he was the only person she knew who was bigger? But then why could she easily picture him ploughing into her? Even cumming in her?

No, she wasn’t picturing it…. She was remembering it! Something broke free in her mind, and everything came crashing back. She remembered everything. She remembered the way he’d stretched her insides almost to bursting, and how good it’d felt. Had it felt good because it was the silver-haired woman making them do it, or was it because it’d been her brother? She pictured Brooke taking her own son’s rod into her sopping wet pussy, and everything else that’d happened in the Orange Bubble. Why had she forgotten until now?

Her mind’s eye showed her Jessica commanding Gloria to make them all forget, and Gloria obediently complying. The realization that Gloria and Jessica were in league together flashed through her fractured mind, but it was short lived as Aeacus gripped her throat.

“Tell me WHO!” Her dark eyes were bright with fury and anger as Shelly tried to pull in enough breath to answer.

“Sheldon,” she gasped as soon as she could. The grip on her throat loosened, but didn’t let go. “It was my own brother, mistress. Forgive me, but the memory was blocked from my mind.”

“Your… own….” Aeacus trailed off, not completing that sentence. The hand that held Shelly’s throat let go, but trailed down her chest to Shelly’s right breast. One long fingernail circled an already aching-for-attention nipple, making Shelly groan in anticipation. “Does your father know? I suppose not, if even you couldn’t remember. Did he blow his seed inside this hot pussy of yours? Did he make you scream in ecstasy as I have?” Instead of caressing or playing with the nipple under her fingers, the queen pinched and twisted hard, demanding an immediate answer.

“Ah! Yes… No… He made me cum, mistress, but none have pleased me as well as you have! I have never been happier to please, or been filled with such joy as you have given me mistress,” Shelly pleaded with Aeacus, hoping she would believe her. She remembered the way her brother made her feel, but knew how Aeacus would respond to those words.

“Did he get you with child?” Aeacus asked, releasing the nipple and leaning up to kiss it. The feeling of her lips on Shelly’s nipple was electric, running straight to her pussy. Shelly wanted to roll her hips against the rod deep inside her, but knew that that would displease her mistress, who was still holding her hips motionless with her other hand.

“No, mistress,” Shelly moaned as she felt a slight sucking at her chest. “I didn’t want to carry his child.”

“Would you carry mine?” she released the nipple and whispered the question.

Shelly shuddered at the mere thought of being honored in such a way. The idea of carrying a Myrmidon child within her womb almost made her faint again with happiness.

Fresh tears poured from Shelly’s gray eyes, this time in delight and relief. If she were allowed to carry Aeacus’s child, then she would be allowed to live. If she were allowed to live, then she could serve. If she could serve, she had more opportunities to have and please this wondrous cock.

“Yes! Oh, please, yes!”

“Then get up,” Aeacus ordered her.

Shelly was confused for a moment, but didn’t waste any time in complying. She leapt off her owner and awaited further commands.

“Get on all fours, and face the door.” Aeacus pointed and Shelly moved. The queen got behind her and slipped her awe inspiring meat into Shelly’s hungry twat. “You are my pet, now and always. You will be my faithful hound. Bark for me, hound.”

Shelly barked, though she found it hard to do as Aeacus was thrusting at a powerful rate. She could feel the heat of her sex building up from both desire and friction. She couldn’t wait for it to explode inside her. Between the teasing, and then the pain earlier, she knew this orgasm was going to be massive.

“Or perhaps I could have you sit in my lap, like a playful little kitten. Would you like that, my pet?”

“Me-oh-wow!” Shelly crowed, so, so close.

“Then get ready.” The queen’s grunt was her only warning. Shelly felt the hot seed filling up her insides. It burned but in a good way, and she lost all control. Shelly thrashed, and writhed, and moaned as she came hard as the hermaphrodite filled her to overflowing. She could feel their mixed juices dripping down her thighs, and all she could think about was how good it felt. How wonderful it would be to carry the queen’s child, or if she was lucky, children. Twins ran in her family, after all.

The queen didn’t stop fucking her, even as she filled shelly to overflowing. She grabbed a handful of Shelly’s hair, and hauled back. Shelly lifted upright, and though the queen’s long schlong didn’t go as deep, it changed the angle, rubbing against a most sensitive spot.

“What the HELL!” a different voice screamed. Shelly knew she should know who it was, but her mind was so fogged, she couldn’t place it. “Release her right now, and I’ll let you live!”

Release her? She didn’t want to be released. She wanted to remain just as she was, getting screwed into oblivion.

“I don’t think so,” Queen Aeacus cackled. “My pet likes it right where she is. Don’t you, my sweet little kitten?”

“Oh, yes, mistress. Meow… More, more. Meow!” Shelly felt drool falling from her lips, landing on her bare, shaking breasts as her master continued to froth their juices up inside her.

“Shelly, what’s wrong with you?” the woman spoke to her. She tried to focus on them, and thought she recognized the woman…. “Get away from her!”

“Sonia? Meow?” she asked, her voice sounding distant as she felt another climax coming on.

“Protect me with your life, my pet,” she was ordered.

With her life? But what about the baby she would soon be carrying? That wasn’t as important as her latest command.

“Yes, Meow-stress. Anything for you!”

Shelly noticed two other people with Sonia; her half-sister Lysa and one of her brother’s girlfriends, Mandy. Part of her mind wished her brother was there. She’d love to get his twisted meat rod between her lips right then. What kind of joy could she find with both of them plowing into her?

I think that’s just about enough, a male voice broke into her thoughts, and Shelly’s world tumbled. Something in her mind churned and twisted. She started to see herself from a third perspective. A perspective that remembered who she was, and what she was supposed to be about. This portion of her mind remembered Shemhazau cutting away at her psyche and hiding her, even as the rest of her mind was swallowed by Aeacus’s pink ants.

He released that part of her that was still her, and Shelly was almost back to normal. Almost, because while she was disgusted at her recent behavior, she was still enjoying the queen plunging her long spear into her quivering quim.

“Shelly, what’s wrong with you?” Sonia pleaded, unaware of the changes within Shelly. “I thought you cared about me?” There was genuine pain in the android’s voice.

I think now would be a great time to become Murasame, Shemhazau said.

Shelly didn’t even question the advice. Her body shimmered, and within less than a second, she was in her magical sword form. The queen screamed in rage and agony as she tried to cover the remains of her crotch. Blood spurted from between her fingers, where her long cock had once been.

That cock was still inside Shelly, but no longer a part of the queen. Power, and ecstasy flowed into Shelly, after causing the wound in this form, but it was different from when Jessica had wielded her. She wasn’t filled with lust and desire, but instead a clarity of mind. Was that because she wasn’t being wielded, or some other effect?

She didn’t have time to consider it as Sonia stepped forward, gripped her hilt and swung her for Aeacus’s neck.

“No!” Shelly screamed at the same time she heard Shemhazau yell “Stop!” She changed her form back in time to collide with her previous master. Their heads smacked hard against each other, making stars blossom in Shelly’s vision. The Myrmidon ruler went slack, still bleeding from her ruined crotch as Shelly staggered to move over the unconscious body.

“What are you doing?” Sonia demanded. “Does she still have control over you? I’m sensing extremely high levels of pheromones in the air, but they should only affect ants.”

“No… I—” Her head swam from the impact of the blow, but she tried to think. She didn’t think she was still under Aeacus’s influence, though she still felt the aftereffects of the aphrodisiacs that the pink ants had pumped her with. She also had an uncanny desire to meow like a cat, but fought it down. Once again she was cognizant of the musky scents in the chamber, and understood that it was Aeacus using her pheromones to control her subjects. Even as she looked down at the queen, part of her felt sympathy. She was truly happy while under the queen’s control.

That last thought infuriated her. Yes, she had been happy, but it hadn’t been her choice. She’d had no say in anything, and her righteous anger burned away the last vestiges of any control or sympathy she held for Aeacus.

“I am my own person,” she said, her voice surprising even her with its vehemence.

“Then we can kill her?” Sonia pressed.

“No,” Shelly and Lysa said at the same time.

“She was.… She was….” Sonia’s anger and disgust were palpable as she spluttered and pointed to the creature. It dawned on Shelly that Sonia was jealous. She couldn’t bring herself to comfort the android, too filled with shame, and anger, and an emotional wreck after what she’d just been through.

“You can talk to us, Shelly,” Mandy spoke up. “It raped you. It wasn’t your fault. You have every right to want to kill that thing.”

Before Shelly could organize her thoughts, Gaia appeared, forming up out of the ground.

“You can’t kill King Aeacus for the same reason I never gave Lyden Snow the location of this place,” she said. Her dark skin almost blended into the rock wall behind her as she faced off against Mandy. “She rules every queen ant in both worlds. Kill her, and there will be terrible consequences—”

The sound of thunder blasted in the now cramped room. Everyone spun to face Sonia. The woman calmly put away her pistol and faced the others. Where had she been hiding that weapon? Aeacus no longer thrashed on the bed, though she had a new hole in her head.

“She hurt Shelly,” Sonia stated in dead tones. “That thing didn’t deserve to live. To hell with the consequences.”

“What have you done?” Gaia screamed. “Ants are an important part of the ecosystem. They help move seeds, and aerate the soil. Without them, the world could die! Both worlds!”

“Shelly, you’re bleeding,” Sonia stated and came to her side, ignoring the Pillar of Earth.

She looked down and saw blood running from between her thighs. She wasn’t in pain, so where was the blood coming from? With a start, she realized she still had Aeacus’s severed penis inside her.

The rape of her mind, body, and soul struck her then, recalling all that she’d been through, and all that she would have done. The way she’d felt, before losing control, and then during the ordeal swamped over her beleaguered mind. If not for Shemhazau saving part of her psyche, she would have been lost completely.

The world turned black around her, darkness swallowing her vision.

* * * *

“It’s the only way,” Gaia’s pleading voice woke her. Her body felt heavy, as though tight bands were wrapped around her. “She must—”

“Do you have any idea what you’re asking for?” Sonia demanded, her voice sounding just above Shelly’s head. Without opening her eyes, she came to the conclusion that the android must be holding her. “To… To do that...? I’ve got the mental profiles of tons of women that’ve been raped downloaded into my memory, and have been raped myself. You can’t ask her to do that.”

“It’s the only way,” Gaia repeated. “Otherwise both worlds will die.”

“Forgive me, Gaia,” Mandy interrupted, “but as the Pillar of Earth, can’t you help make another creature, or assign one to do what the ants do?”

Gaia’s sigh was loud and tired. “If I had a thousand years, and weren’t picking up the slack of three other Pillars, then yes, I could. Don’t look at me like that, Lysa. You’re strong, and you’ve come a long way in the last twenty something years, but you’re no Fujin. You wear his mantle, but that wasn’t all that he did. If it was just one Pillar, it would be easy, but it’s three. Just in the time we’ve been talking, while my concentration has been split, two ecological disasters, besides the ant queens of the world going mad, have taken place. I don’t have time to argue. She has to do it!”

“Do what?” Shelly finally spoke up. Her lips were slow to form the words, and she had to repeat herself to be understood. “Do what?”

“Shelly, you’re awake!” Sonia squeezed her tighter in a hug. Shelly was almost afraid her ribs were going to break before she was finally released. “I was going to join you in your Mens Mundi as soon as it was safe.”

“Do what?” Shelly croaked for the third time. She opened her eyes and saw that Sonia had been crying. Lysa and Mandy were watching the entrance to the chamber, while Gaia gave her a critical look.

“You’re pregnant,” Gaia stated without any formality. Sonia hissed, but Shelly remained focused on the Pillar of Earth. “I can ensure that the child you carry will become a new queen, and save both worlds.”

Shelly wanted to turn away, and bury herself in the deepest, darkest hole. Looking around, she realized she was already there, deep in the late King Aeacus’s realm.

Carry the child? Of the creature that’d raped her? Of the thing that had tried to strip her of her identity, and make her nothing more than a plaything? A personal slut? Aeacus was mad, switching from one extreme to another. What would this child be like? Would it be a hermaphrodite like its father? Would it create hate and discord? Could she live with herself, knowing that she carried the spawn of such evil within her?

A small part of her—a very small part—wanted to carry it because it had been Aeacus’s will. That realization alone made her want to rip out her lady parts with a spoon.

To carry the thing, would mean to save both worlds. That bore consideration. As its mother, could she keep it from becoming evil? Would she be able to even look at it, without hating it and how it came to be?

Gaia looked at her, likely knowing every thought that went through her head. Just as Jessica had known all the thoughts she thought were safe and personal. Had Gloria known what Jessica truly was? At this point, did it matter?

Jessica wanted to destroy this world. Part of Shelly still loved her, made easier knowing that they weren’t related by blood. What Jessica wanted would cost thousands of lives, if not more. If Shelly chose to get rid of the thing forming inside her, it would kill billions.

“Can you keep it from becoming hateful? Evil?” Shelly asked, her voice dull.

“That will depend on how you raise her,” Gaia stated, a sad smile touching her thick lips. “I can adjust her genetics to ensure she will become the next queen, but it will be you that shapes how she’ll rule.”

A weight that defied any known scale settled upon her shoulders as she nodded. She would keep the child, and do her best. She was going to have a girl, then? So be it. She couldn’t promise to love her, but she would do everything in her power to make sure the child never knew.

“Are you sure?” Sonia asked.

In answer, all Shelly could do was turn and cry into her lover’s shoulder as she felt Gaia’s gentle touch on her stomach. Choosing to keep the child seemed easy, compared to trying to figure out how she was going to tell her own brother all that she now remembered.