by Tyler Wild
“I’m always up for a challenge,” I said.
“As you can see I provided a luxurious spread for you,” she said, motioning to the table. There was a slightly lewd tone in her voice. “You must eat from my offering. Though I will warn you, most of it is poisoned. If you choose wisely, I will let you proceed. If not, you will perish—in which case you may find yourself back here. So it’s kind of like a win-win, isn’t it?”
A diabolical grin curled on her plump lips.
“Right. Win-win,” I said in a sardonic tone.
“Pick anything from the table,” Setia said.
My eyes gazed from her to the banquet. I surveyed the items carefully, knowing my senses were deceiving me. I picked up a pear and blinked my eyes several times, hoping to catch a glimpse of its true nature. It smelled fine. But I couldn’t trust the obvious.
I continued to peruse the offerings. Bananas, grapes, oranges, kiwis, cherries, and raspberries. The desserts were mouthwatering. Apple pie, cherry cobbler, chocolate mousse.
It was impossible to make a decision.
I grabbed a peach and surveyed it. I closed my eyes and prodded it with my fingers. It felt ripe, not rotten.
I brought it to my lips, preparing to sink my teeth into it.
Setia’s eyes glimmered with anticipation.
I tried to gauge my choice based on her reactions. I figured she would be enthusiastic about watching me die before her. I wondered how good of a poker player she was.
Probably the best.
She was the ultimate deceiver.
51
Kron
I was about to bite into the succulent peach when I had second thoughts. I set it back on the table.
Setia arched a curious eyebrow, seemingly amused by my decision.
I continued to peruse the items.
A nasty roach scampered across the table. Its long antennas waggled, and its hairy legs pattered across the tablecloth.
It made the girls groan, and they shivered.
I swiped my dagger from my belt and stabbed the point into the back of the grotesque insect, pinning it to the table. Its exoskeleton crunched, and yellow guts bulged from its abdomen. I lifted the gnarly insect with my blade and surveyed it for a moment. The creature writhed and its legs flailed, not dead yet.
My eyes flicked from the roach to Setia. Her face betrayed nothing.
I brought the roach to my lips and stuck it in my mouth.
Its hard exoskeleton popped and crackled, and its legs tickled the roof of my mouth. I felt like I was going to throw up. My stomach rumbled, and the sour acidic taste of bile roiled in the back of my throat.
I kept chewing the crunchy thing, trying not to spew my insides out. I finally swallowed it down, and it felt like it was going to stick in my throat. I swear, I felt the thing wiggle in my stomach. I was going to have nightmares for days.
The girls were completely mortified. Their faces were pale, almost green. They looked like they were going to heave—their cheeks puffing out like chipmunks.
I glanced to Setia, and a devious grin curled on her lips. “Impressive. You chose well. The roach was the only thing on the table not poisoned.”
Suddenly, a glass of red wine appeared in her hand. She handed it to me. “Something to wash the taste out of your mouth.”
I took the glass from her and regarded it with caution.
“Don’t worry. It’s safe.” Setia smiled. “You can trust me.”
Her tone was hard to read. She was the devil after all. How could I trust anything she said?
I brought the wineglass to my lips and took a sip. It was probably a stupid thing to do. The wine was smooth and sweet and not too dry or tart—which is the way I liked it.
Setia saw that I enjoyed the wine. “See, not everything here is painful. There are many pleasures to be had in the underworld,” she said, invitingly. “After all, what’s the point of eternal damnation if you can’t have a little fun?”
I grinned. My eyes couldn’t help but fall over her luscious body. Carnal desires flooded my brain.
“I suppose I should let you resume your journey. I don’t want to distract you.” She bit her lip like a naughty schoolgirl.
I was transfixed by her beauty.
Cassandra pulled me out of my trance. “Yes, I think it’s time we move along.”
“I don’t suppose you’d mind telling us where we could find the Dagger of Onyx?”
She paused for a moment, contemplating how much she should reveal. Another diabolical glimmer flickered in her eyes. “You will find it in the Palace of Lost Souls. But beware. You will certainly meet your doom there.”
“How do we find the Palace?”
“The Palace will find you. Follow these catacombs, and you will surely find it. It is your destiny. But be careful what you wish for.”
I gave a wary glance to Cassandra. By the time I looked back to Setia, she was gone—vanished into thin air.
“That woman gives me the creeps,” Sophia said.
I shrugged. “She wasn’t so bad”
“She’s the devil. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“She was helpful.”
The girls scowled at me.
“I’m just saying… all things considered, she wasn’t so bad. I was expecting a lot worse.”
“Just wait,” Cassandra said. “I’m sure she’s got plenty of tricks up her sleeve.”
I thought to myself that I’d like to see a few of Setia’s tricks. She had to be amazing in the sack. No question about it. She’d be willing to do any dirty depraved thing you could imagine.
Hell, she probably invented it all.
We left the banquet hall behind and continued down the hallway. The next room we stumbled upon was beyond anything I could have imagined. And I’m not easily shocked.
52
Kron
Moans of ecstasy filtered from the chamber. The lighting was dim, and the room was warm and inviting. A sea of naked bodies lined the floor, undulating with orgasmic waves. Beautiful breasts bounced and giggled. Pert asses rocked back and forth. Hips ground together. Sweaty bodies intertwined and became one.
Demons of every sort pounded beautiful nymphets. I watched a Minotaur with long horns and bullish facial features plow a petite fairy. It was quite the juxtaposition. She looked angelic. He was powerful and domineering. And his size… well, let’s just say it made the girls' eyes widen.
A succubus with dragon wings and a pointed tail had her face buried between the legs of a nubile elf. She used the end of her tail to pleasure herself—until a demonic figure took her from behind and plunged his evil inside of her. He grabbed her hips and slammed her ass mercilessly. Her lips and slick tongue continued pleasuring the elf until she quivered with orgasmic pulses. Her slick body bucked and writhed as the succubus drained her energy.
The elf withered and shriveled. The once young and vibrant girl was nothing more than a wrinkled sack of bones.
After a few moments, she regenerated, and returned to her youthful self. This was her fate. Forced to exist in a perpetual state of ecstasy and death.
I wonder what her crime must have been?
My eyes flicked from vignette to vignette, taking it all in. I was no stranger to carnal delights, but an orgy of this magnitude made me feel like a virgin all over again.
I had never seen anything like it.
Lustful bodies crowded around, pawing at us, trying to draw us into the action, willing to satiate our every desire. Wandering hands groped every part of our bodies.
A beautiful brunette grabbed my package and stroked me sensually. I was already a little hot and bothered from my encounter with Setia. It was impossible to be in this room and not be aroused. It was an unholy paradise. A hedonistic playground where nothing was off-limits.
The fun never ended.
I had a sneaking suspicion that one could get lost in this room for eternity, consumed by pleasure and carnal desires.
Another brunet
te with lavender eyes and pale skin weaved through the crowd and found me. She pawed my chest and whispered naughty things in my ear. Her steamy breath sent lustful pulses through my body.
I had to have the duo. It was as if some primal force came over me. The logical part of my brain shut down. I was almost drawn in, then I realized what was happening.
They both had black wings, and black horns. They were succubi. The demons grabbed my hands and started to pull me away. As delightful as the experience might have been, I had no intention of letting them turn me into a shriveled raisin.
Lily grabbed my arm and held me back as the delicious vixens tugged me toward the shadows.
“Look at me,” Lily said.
She grabbed my jaw and turn my head away from the demons. She planted her sweet fairy lips on mine and probed my mouth with her tongue. Her hand reached down and stroked my goods.
“You’re staying right here, Mister,” the fairy said.
“Maybe some other time?” the succubus said.
“Maybe,” I replied. “In the next life, perhaps.”
The girls pulled me out of the room as quickly as possible. It was clear to them my willpower was not going to be able to withstand the advances from multiple sex pots hell-bent on devouring my soul.
As we left the den of iniquity, I gazed over my shoulder for one last look at the debauchery. I figured I was probably never going to see anything as depraved as that again. I tried to burn the images into my retina and store them away in my spank-bank for future reference.
We advanced down the corridor and came to a fork in the road. There was a passage to my right and to my left.
“Which way do we go?” Sophia asked.
I shrugged. “Setia said the Palace would find us. Perhaps there is no wrong way to go?”
Cassandra rolled her eyes, frustrated by my cavalier attitude. “The palace may find us, but your evil friend didn’t say how long it would take. We could be stumbling around these catacombs for eternity.”
“Not eternity,” I said. “We won’t live that long.” I smiled.
“She’s also a deceiver,” Lily added.
“Trust nothing she says,” Asgoth interjected. “She’s a demon.”
“So are you,” I muttered.
“Yes, but in the scheme of things, I’m a saint in comparison.”
“Do I detect a hint of jealousy?” I asked.
“Me? Jealous? Of her?” Asgoth scoffed, mockingly. “Of course. She’s the Lord of Darkness. The Queen of the Underworld. The most Diabolical Diva in existence.”
“You tried to fuck her, didn’t you?”
“No. Not really,” he said in a guilty tone.
I was beginning to surmise why he got kicked out of the underworld.
I pondered the options and decided to take the left-hand path.
It soon turned out to be a mistake.
53
Kron
The walls shifted and sealed behind us. We’d made our choice, and we’d have to live with it.
Or at least, try to live with it.
We soon found ourselves in a shifting maze of passageways. We twisted and turned, trying to make our way through. Maintaining a sense of direction was futile. We tended to take whatever passageway was available.
There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason why the walls shifted. The changes didn’t happen at regular intervals, making it hard to judge when the next movement would occur.
With swords drawn, we marched cautiously through the dungeon-esque catacombs. Unfortunately, I led my team into a dead end.
As I rounded the corner, a wall shifted behind us. Seeing that we’d be sealed off, I spun around and sprinted toward it as the heavy slab ground to a close. It slammed shut, trapping us in a small section of the maze.
I smacked the wall with my palms in frustration. The slap echoed throughout the chamber.
“That’s great,” Sophia said, flatly.
“Don’t worry,” Lily said. “I’m sure if we stay here long enough, something will open up?”
“I love your optimism,” Sophia said. “I wish I shared it.”
I walked around the chamber, surveying the walls, pushing on the stone tiles, looking for a secret passage or a way to activate the changing walls.
I had no luck.
Grunts and snorts filtered through the wall from the next chamber. Heavy footsteps rumbled the ground as a creature paced back and forth. I could only imagine the beast that was waiting on the other side of the wall.
Maybe it was a lucky break that we ran into a dead-end? Whatever was on the other side of the wall ahead of us was angry.
The muffled shuffle of the maze filtered through the walls as the dungeon continued to evolve around us. It gave me hope that we might eventually get out of here. But I dreaded our next encounter.
I took a seat, leaning against a wall. The only thing I could do was wait it out and hope we’d be released during my lifetime.
“What exactly did you do to get kicked out of here?” Cassandra asked Asgoth.
“Why would you assume I did something?”
“Because you’re a troublemaker.”
“I am not a troublemaker,” Asgoth protested. “I’m just a freethinker and an independent spirit.”
“What does that mean?”
“I didn’t do anything like Zatyral or Vutrax did, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“What did they do?” Cassandra asked.
“Duh, they tried to usurp Setia’s power. Now they hide formless in the aether, trying to get others to do their bidding, hoping to one day overthrow Setia.”
Cassandra wasn’t going to get a direct answer out of the sword. He was cagey like that, and in all the time that I had known him, he had never divulged the full story.
An hour passed, which seemed like an eternity.
Then another.
And another.
I dozed off, trying to grab a little sleep. But my dreams were filled with nightmares of catacombs and demonic creatures and roaches.
There was no rest in hell.
I’m not sure how long I was asleep for, but the movement of the wall woke me. I peeled my eyes open to see the passageway was clear. But we had a bigger problem.
I sprang to my feet and drew my sword.
An angry minotaur blocked the passage ahead. It was his footsteps I heard clacking through the wall.
This beast was larger than the one I had seen back in the orgy room. It stood 10 feet tall on its hind legs. With red skin and black horns, the beast looked devilish. It roared and flexed its muscles like a bodybuilder doing crab pose. Its massive pectorals were striated with muscle. Veins wiggled around bulging biceps. The creature’s broad shoulders tapered into a narrow V at its waistline. It had mostly human looking thighs, but the calves transitioned into that of a bull.
The creature snarled and stomped toward us. It wielded a massive hammer that could crush a man with a single blow.
We squared off against the beast, having nowhere to run. The passageway behind us was still blocked. The only way forward was through this bullish thug.
The minotaur reared its hammer back and swung it toward me. I stepped aside as the hammer smashed the floor, cracking the stone, sending chips of debris scattering in all directions.
The entire dungeon rumbled.
The beast hefted the massive hammer from ground, reared back, and swung crossways.
I arched back as the weapon whooshed in front of me. The rush of air rustled my hair as it swished by. It slammed into the wall, and like a wrecking ball, broke through the stone, revealing another chamber.
The hammer got caught in the narrow opening. The beast made several futile attempts to yank it through.
I took this opportunity to skewer him in the belly with my sword. Asgoth plunged through the minotaur’s abdomen, exiting the other side.
Seemingly unfazed, the beast batted me away with a backhanded strike.
Asgoth remained
in his abdomen.
The impact flung me aside and slammed me into the wall. I crumbled to the ground, the wind knocked from my lungs. My back and my hips hurt. It took a moment before I could force myself to stand.
The girls charged the minotaur. They buried their blades deep into the bullish creature.
The thing refused to die.
It roared in agony and balled its fists. It swung at Cassandra, punching her in the face. Its meaty hand was like a brick. The creature’s knuckles struck her pristine jaw, wrenching her head aside, sending her flying through the air.
She crashed to the floor and didn’t move.
The minotaur grabbed Sophia by the throat, lifting her from the ground and threw her into the wall.
Her body flopped to the ground with a smack.
I sprang to my feet and charged the beast. He had three swords sticking from his abdomen and wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
I screamed as I plowed toward the creature.
He put his head down, snorted like a bull, and ran toward me, aiming to skewer me with his horns.
54
Kron
I didn’t know what I was going to do. This was the bullfight of all bullfights. Something I had no experience with.
Rage and adrenaline drove my legs forward. I didn’t stand a chance against the mammoth creature. My ego had written a check my ass certainly couldn’t cash.
Just before the moment of impact, I dove underneath his horns and tumbled under his legs, springing to my feet behind him.
The beast was big and heavy and slow. He wasn’t as nimble or agile. It took him a few moments to spin around in the corridor to face me again.
An ear-splitting screech billowed from the creature’s lips as he pulled Sophia’s sword from his abdomen. Blood coated the blade and oozed from the wound.
