The moonlight was shining in from the entrance of the cave, outlining his lean silhouette. He is now shed completely from his serpent form with a pair of long and strong legs instead of his usual tail. Looking at him from this angle, he looked like a perfect sculpture of graceful masculinity, with his long, bi colored hair. His tall and slender frame yet you could see the delicate outline of his muscles.
His sharp green eyes were filled with hunger and lust. He was looking at the incarnation of beauty that was standing in front of him right now. With the eyes of a predator with the intention of playing with his prey before devouring her.
She should be scared, but she wasn't. Because her eyes glowed with the same hunger and lust as his. She didn't have the eyes of a prey, he noted, she had the eyes of a predator. One that, he could feel, could go claw to tail with him if needed. And that turned him on even more.
He touched her waist and massaged it gently and firmly while getting closer to her, never once breaking eye contact. His left hand ventured downward to her bossom and he gently gripped the soft buns in his hand. His mouth was on her neck while he kept inhaling her scent with the intention of imprinting it in his senses completely.
She let out a satisfied sigh while touching his chest and waist. He shivered at the contact but his hunger deepened. He wanted more. And so did she.
She felt something hard and hot press against her belly. She looked down and stopped breathing, she even stopped his hands.
He let out a distressed hiss.
"Why?" He asked, almost pleadingly. That's when he noticed where she was looking. At his crotch. He was confused as he didn't know why she would stop now. Was it a problem with his size? He heard some females didn't like their spouses too big or too small.
She was simply confused at what she was seeing. Double? He really had double d*cks? Her eyes shined with curiosity and excitement.
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The next day.
The birds outside were singing and the sun was already high in the sky. The smaller sun was also up, watching over the land along with the bigger sun.
Rhaëlya was in a deep sleep from last night. With slightly red scratch marks on her lower back from when she was on top of Crypt. He was holding onto her like he was holding on for his life.
And Crypt was watching her silently in his serpent form. Most of his body coiled around and under her as she slept. His other form was too sensitive right now, so he chose to stay in his beast form instead.
Last night was a discovery and also overwhelming. The memories he inherited from his father were not at all enough, apparently.
What he knew from his transmitted memories was that he was supposed to stay on top and please his female with his body until she was satisfied, taking complete control over her senses.
But that wasn't what happened. He ended up below her, and with only her in his eyes, head and mouth.
Her flesh down below was so hot and sweet on his tongue that he thought his tongue would melt. She had made him do a lot of things he's never heard of before. The same way she had done things to him that he'll never be able to forget. And he loved every second of it.
That's when he noticed. A mark didn't appear on her body. But he himself felt a slight tug on his neck during their mating last night. So he turned back into his bipedal form. He struggled to walk a bit* but he still reached the small pond at the entrance of the cave.
He dug this pond because the cave was too dry for his liking, the small thing gave some humidity to this otherwise dry cave.
Still, what he saw in his reflection stunned him. There it was, a mark with the color of sunlight.
What he didn't know was that there was a small jellyfish looking at his mark as well. And the jellyfish was surprised. She hadn't expected her host to be of the Empress caliber. No, she wasn't of the Empress caliber. She is the Empress.
And the mark on this snake shows exactly that.
The mark begins just below the nape of the neck and spans the width of the upper back in a coiling, golden design, at once ancient and intimate. At its center lies a serpent, long and sleek, inked in delicate gold lines that glimmer like sunlit chains.
The snake is not striking, nor wild—it is coiled in a resting pose, its body curved into an elegant spiral, its head bowed slightly in submission.
What makes the image powerful is its stillness, the snake is calm, tamed, its golden eyes closed as if in quiet reverence.
A delicate crown shaped brand sits just behind its head, not worn by the snake, but pressed into its flesh, a mark of ownership. Above the snake, subtle etched lines form the unmistakable shape of a woman's hand, palm down, fingers curved possessively over the coil, like she's pressing him into place.
The serpent's body loops outward into fine filigree that spreads across the shoulder blades and spine like frost lace, tapering down toward the lower back. Thin, graceful lines run along the sides of the ribs, just enough to suggest binding threads, almost like golden veins, connecting the mark to his core.
It doesn't glow with warmth, but with a cold, commanding shimmer, especially under moonlight or when she's near. The closer she is, the more the mark subtly pulses, as if responding to her presence.
To those attuned to power, the mark radiates a quiet threat: not from the snake, but from the one who owns it. Remarked the jellyfish. Shivers running down her spine.
There's no mistaking what it says:
"He is hers. By bond, by choice, by claim. And what the Empress owns, not even the forces of nature dare touch."
Ariel, the one sitting behind the screen, sighed. He should've seen it coming, those above and those below had asked and warned him to treat his current host with the greatest care.
He didn't know why at the time. But now he knows. His current host is of the highest caliber, right below the gods, she was an Empress. A child loved by all. Both by Heavens and by Hell. Mother Nature and the wandering gods are no exception. Even those who had been banished from all realms must be in her favor.
Her will and desire can bend the laws of time and space.
So why was she here? Bound by him as a system? If she's so loved, why won't they let her return? She didn't want to be here.
But unfortunately his questions won't be answered anytime soon. For the gods were cruel and bored.
They decided that they had to put their most beloved child to the test.
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At the time, they had no idea of the storm coming their way because of their so called boredom.