"This is ridiculous," she said aloud. "I shouldn't be looking through the magic books!"
For some days now, the princess of Zeal had felt a disturbance whenever she operated the Mammon Machine. It was a low rumbling, weak at first, then getting stronger each day. She and the Gurus had worried over it, but the Queen had taken no notice. Even the queen's trusted advisor, Magus, had felt the discord deep beneath the earth. Finally, when all of them refused to work the Machine, the queen relented -- grudgingly.
"Find the cause of this disturbance quickly," she had snapped. The queen turned to her daughter. "Three days, Schala. I expect you to solve the problem within that time, since you were the one who felt it most strongly."
But try as she might, Schala could not fathom the cause. She tried to explore with her mind, but she found the path confused and blocked by something.
It hit a peak late on the second night of her three-day limit, when, using the Dreamstone, she somehow caused a major quake that made the entire kingdom shake violently, rousing the citizens from their slumber and making them fear the palace was falling from the sky.
The queen was furious, but it brought to her attention the gravity of the problem, and so she had finally agreed to stop all proceedings with the Mammon Machine indefinitely until Schala could figure out what was wrong.
"But," Zeal had said sternly, "I want you to devote all your time to it so that our operations are not put too much behind schedule."
Fearful of using the Dreamstone again, Schala resorted to researching in the royal library. She'd been at it for two days when she finally decided books were not going to help.
The princess closed her eyes briefly. Why is Mother taking up so much time with this machine? she wondered. It was all her mother cared about now. Power...harnessing this strange power called Lavos that responded most to Schala but which no one completely understood. And all for what? she thought bitterly. For her mother's own glory? It certainly wasn't for the benefit of the people!
But then, why was she herself party to this? Her love for her mother had slowly dissolved into mistrust and wariness. It was only the fact that Zeal was so power-hungry that caused her to obey her mother's commands. But it wasn't for the queen's sake. It was for the sake of the people that she, Schala, had to learn more about this power, learn how to control it...
And, perhaps, learn how to seal it away.
Schala stood up resolutely and walked to the room containing the machine. It always came down to this infernal Machine...that and the red Dreamstone pendant she always wore around her neck. Zeal had one as well, but the power seemed to flow only through Schala's.
The Machine was humming, a soft purring that sounded almost content. At first, the rumbling had began when she used the Dreamstone to amplify the energy of the machine. But now....Schala was startled. Was it her imagination? As she walked slowly closer to the machine, the rumbling increased. But the Dreamstone seemed to not be affected.
Was it, then, Schala herself?
She closed her eyes and concentrated...
The creature lay deep below, neither asleep nor awake. It had been there since life began, collecting the power that resulted from the most primal instincts -- especially that which was needed for a species to survive. This power centered in itself and flowed out in a gentle radius. And there the creature stayed.
Until the Dreamstone came.
It was a tickling sensation, touching a part that the creature hadn't realized existed within itself. Annoyed at the disturbance, it ignored the feeling at first, but it built to the bursting point. Unable to resist, the creature was called to the surface, answering the beckoning of the powerful stone.
However, no one knew how powerful the creature was, and once at the surface, no one had been able to control it. The creature remembered the time vividly. It had burst forth, screaming its unholy scream...and had looked straight into the eyes of a young maiden.
It remembered the terror in the girl's eyes, and felt a possessive lust that mirrored the powers it had collected for eons. It was fueled by the girl's splendidly *naked* presence. And so it had leaped on her without a second thought, taking her, quenching that desire that had built and exploded within itself in a matter of seconds.
But the girl had been weak. So the creature went on a rampage, wreaking utter destruction on the land as it searched for one strong enough to fulfill it. The people in their terror called it Lavos. Finally it was subdued and returned to the center of the earth.
But once it had tasted its own power, it craved more. Not only that, the girl had awakened it to the power that it had inadvertently been collecting since the beginning.
And when it was sent back into the bowels of the earth, it developed a sensitivity for that power. The creature stretched itself out, listened for it, and slowly came to understand it. It hungered for that power.
So the creature gained consciousness. It waited until it would be summoned again.
And it was. Twice more was it called, and twice more did it ravish the land. Each time the creature found itself facing a woman. Each time the creature took what was its due. But none survived the incredible sacrifice it demanded before it would relinquish control.
And now, now...it could feel the tug of the Dreamstone again. And mixed with the stone's call was a semblance of the power he had come to comprehend and desire.
The creature knew what to do. Resisting the call, it sent its consciousness along the path of the Dreamstone. And in this way it discovered who possessed the stone now.
The creature saw yet another girl, with light blue, flowing hair, wearing purple robes. It sensed a kindly soul, a pure and gentle heart. It also sensed great strength, a powerful aura...much more powerful than the others who had tried to control it...
The creature smiled to itself as it took all this in. The girl was young, and she couldn't handle the Dreamstone well. It was easy to fend off her summons. The creature wanted to study her more. And so it slipped into her mind, learning about her.
It watched the girl grow into a beautiful young woman. The years affected the creature as well. There were times it didn't want to avoid the Dreamstone's call. There were times it wanted to explode into the girl and posses her body. The creature ached to feel her attempts to summon him, for they were gentle caresses that both soothed and incensed it. It rumbled with desire when it sensed the woman trying to control him. It wanted that pure, innocent body to ravish as it had ravished the land in centuries past.
The girl's magic increased, and it became difficult to ignore the call. The creature's rumblings grew stronger and stronger as the time drew nearer and nearer for it to claim what it had sought for so long.
Finally, the creature took its chance. The woman was alone. It responded to the Dreamstone with a call of its own, beckoning the woman into its realm. At last...it would join with the greatest force on the planet next to itself.
And, the creature was certain, it would have a fine time doing so...
Schala stood there, her eyes closed. She felt something creeping into her body and taking control. It was a hot consciousness invading her, living yet unliving, working for its own purpose. And she was powerless to defend against it.
*Come,* said a voice in her mind. It was gentle at first, then it echoed throughout her brain until it was a roar. *Come...*
She struggled against the force, but it quickly overwhelmed her. Schala was sucked into an oblivion and traveled through burning passageways. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Her vision was obscured.
She reached the end and fell, but so slowly it was as though she floated on air. Finally, she landed on her hands and knees. Quickly she got up and looked around. The place was completely enclosed, the walls made of a pulsing, red-orange stickiness. They seemed to breathe, seemed to have a heartbeat.
And with a gasp, Schala knew. She was...*inside* Lavos...
"What..." she began aloud, but the voice answered in her mind.
*I have become aware of you over the years,* it said.
**Why...how?....** she replied silently.
*That is of no importance to you!* it screamed. *All you need know is that you, foolish mortal, have tried to control me. We will see if you are truly strong enough to do so!*
Schala stepped back, but there was nowhere to go. A wormlike apparition shot out and grabbed her around the waist. She screamed and struggled as she was slammed back against the living wall.
The wall was soft and sticky like mush. She felt it pulsing all around her and against her back. The tentacle, holding her, began rubbing her slowly up and down the wall, a horrifying yet sensual massage.
"What...is this?" Schala cried out. In response, more tentacles grew from the walls and clutched at her robes. With quick tugs, her clothing lay in pieces, ripped clean off her body, and she was hanging there naked.
*Ahhhh...* The words were mental, sounding like wet moans, but to Schala it gave the impression of a million eyes staring intently at her body, raping her with just their looks.
She struggled again. "Let...go...of...me!!" she screamed, kicking backwards. But two more apparitions grew and wrapped themselves around her ankles. They pulled her legs apart, splaying them wide, and tightened so she couldn't move them. Two others grabbed her wrists and held her arms down.
Several more grew at once. Several snaked around her legs and slowly made their way up her thighs, massaging and caressing. Schala gasped, the sensation sending shocks through her body.
*Ahhh...yes...yesss...*
Schala shook her head rapidly, trying to dislodge the high-pitched, excited voice from her mind. Two more tentacles came crawling up the mounds of her breasts, their smooth tips touching her nipples. The ends clamped on her nipples like tiny mouths, and she gasped again as she felt the tentacles tugging and sucking. They grew dull teeth that bit and nipped her breasts. She moaned, her body writhing in response.
Several tentacles ran down her abdomen, tickling her belly. One wrapped around her stomach and extended down lower, its slimy tip exploring her soft skin. It dug into her sensitive navel, making Schala writhe and the wetness start to flow from her.
A new tip sprouted and snaked its way lower, lower. Finally it reached Schala's soft womanhood, the hard tip stroking her clitoris. She moaned and struggled, trying to close her legs, but they were firmly spread wide. Her muscles twitched, and the tentacle entered her, slowly exploring, as the wetness poured.
Another tentacle joined the first one, sprouting from between her legs and looming threateningly over her wet pussy. More daring than the first, the tentacle plunged in, sticky and deep. Schala screamed.
Even more tentacles grew and joined the first two. Soon Schala had five of them inside her, stretching her womanhood to its max, filling her and making her body shudder as she felt them crawling in the depths of her womb. Two thrust rapidly in and out while another moved up and down inside her. The others pulsed slowly so that she could feel their every move.
A tentacle sprouted and caressed her neck, the slimy surface tickling her in an almost thrilling way. A tip grew up from it and snaked up to her face, exploring across her cheeks before plunging into her mouth. Schala gagged in surprise, then the tentacle stiffened and its tip played with her tongue, raked across her palate, and rubbed itself all over the inside of her mouth.
All this time, the wall never stopped pulsing in its uneven, throbbing beat. Then Schala felt the wall purposefully squeezing her butt. First both cheeks together, then one at a time. The wall muscles kneaded them like dough. Then the muscles spread her butt apart, and her eyes widened in horror. Was it...? She found out terrifyingly soon as a tentacle snaked up and plunged inside her butt. Her head thrashed back, and she moaned in pain.
The tentacles moved her so that she was bent over at the waist, her upper half at right angles with her lower half. Schala squeezed her eyes shut as though it would block out what she knew was coming next. The wormlike limbs moved her away from the wall, then smashed her back against it, shoving the tentacle back into her ass. She moaned painfully as Lavos continued to butt-fuck her, her breath coming in gasps and the sweat rolling down her forehead.
A tentacle snaked its way up her cleavage and rubbed all the skin that was still exposed. A tingling sensation made its way down her head to her chest, and Schala knew instinctively she was reaching her peak. The creature sensed it as well, because immediately it stepped up its caresses. The tentacles thrust faster, the tips nipped harder. The one in her mouth pressed and dragged itself against her tongue, leaving a hot, salty taste.
The tingling reached her thighs, and she knew she couldn't hold herself back any longer. Schala's breath came in quick gasps, her feet and arms struggled, and she groaned loudly. Suddenly she burst out, the flood of her cum running down her legs in sticky streams. More tentacles sprouted and immediately lapped up the liquid, running their pulsing lengths up her legs.
But it wasn't the end. Schala felt the tentacles both outside and inside her growing. Her eyes widened. No, she thought, horrified. It couldn't be...!
But it was. Rapidly the tentacles rubbed and caressed and fucked her. They stiffened, their tips swelled. And with a bone-shattering scream in her mind, they all exploded simultaneously, shooting burning cum all over her breasts, running down her stomach, into her mouth, her ass, her pussy, filling all her crevices to overflowing. She felt as though she would burst, so full she was of Lavos' cum, which dripped freely from her pussy and mouth even as she involuntarily swallowed a mouthful.
The tentacles slowly grew limp. Losing their strength, they released Schala and let her drop to the floor. The tips pulled out of her, the tentacles let go of her arms and legs. After being filled for so long, Schala felt almost empty inside. Weakly, she sat up, and she heard the voice in her mind again.
*Ahhhhhh...* it rumbled contentedly. *The power...I have at last felt it as I longed to feel it...I have joined with you, and shared it with you...*
Schala clutched her stomach as she stood up. Lavos' cum still dripped down her thighs. "What...what have you...done to me?" she croaked out weakly, stumbling a bit before gaining firmer footing.
*I felt a great power inside you. You are strong...much stronger than those who have tried to control me in the past...You alone have withstood the sacrifice I require...*
"Sacrifice?" she whispered. She swayed, still weak and not quite understanding. "Why must you demand one?"
*It matters not whether you understand my reasons,* Lavos said. *Just know...that whenever you wish to control me, you must once again offer up your own body to me as a sacrifice...*
"No....no!" Schala screamed. "I don't want to...I don't want to go through this every time!"
The creature laughed. *You cannot control it....Princess of Zeal...*
The laughter increased and filled the room. The color faded, leaving a blinding white. She stumbled around, trying to get her bearings. The ground dropped away suddenly, and she was falling....falling....falling endlessly....
Schala fainted.
Melchior found her the next day, fainted near the Mammon Machine. He quickly brought her to her room. She lapsed in and out of a semi-conscious state. She was in a delirium, murmuring incoherently. From time to time she moaned painfully and flung her arms out, as if trying to chase something away.
Hours later Melchior emerged. The other two Gurus and Magus crowded around him. "What's wrong with her?" Magus asked.
Melchior could only shake his head. "I wish I knew," he said softly. "All I know is that she keeps talking about making a sacrifice..."
This union...it is something I have never experienced...I wondered what it was. Now I know...and you will share it with the rest of the world...*
"You...needed me for this?"
*Call it...a maiden sacrifice.*
**
*I felt the power inside you...Now we are one, by the union of our...bodies...* Schala heard a slight chuckle as it said the last word. *Just know, dear mortal, that when you try again to exercise this control...I shall be awaiting the sacrifice of your body once again.*