To Hell & Back
Chapter Fourteen

I awoke to a feeling of cotton mouth and pain. I licked my lips, but my tongue was dry as could be. My throat ached, my eyes burned, and it felt like I had been crying or laughing for days.

Or I’ve been having really good sex, I mused. Ugh, a Sasha joke, gross… Dammit Sasha, perverting my virgin humor… I miss Sasha…

“You are perhaps the luckiest, unlucky person I have ever heard of,” a quiet, feminine voice said, taking me out of my thoughts.

I opened my eyes, wincing at the light as I looked around for the voice. “Holy fuck, an elf?” I would have said, had my mouth not been dry as the desert I had recently escaped from. Instead of talking, I coughed and spat repeatedly, my lungs and throat spasming violently for a moment before I could get control of myself. Once I could, I stared at what looked like a female elf while she helped me drink water from a bowl. When the water dribbled down my chin, I realized I should focus more on drinking than on the fact that an elf was helping me drink water from a bowl.

“The poison is not meant for your kind, I think, but you are severely damaged, nonetheless. All things considering, one wonders how you still function, poison or not,” she remarked. “You have not been kind to yourself of late, have you?”

I nodded tiredly. Too tired to talk, I continued to stare. She was beautiful. Her eyes were larger than a human’s, but her nose and mouth were a little smaller. Large, slim, pointed ears on either side of her head poked through gorgeous, dark red hair. Her entire build was lithe, and she was also tall. Very tall, I noted, as she stood up.

Very tall and very naked, I noted quietly to myself.

Her legs seemed slightly disproportioned to her torso. I imagined her body was built to run. Her legs were long, thin, hairless, and bare. She didn’t seem concerned about being naked, and with a body like hers, I could see why.

Okay, time to look somewhere else, I decided as blood continued to flow unnecessarily to particular parts of my body. Except… she is turning around and… that… that is how an ass is supposed to— Stas! You’re being a perv! Okay, I’m looking at the ground now…

The elf retrieved a small bowl from a nearby rock and brought it over to me. She held my face in one hand and the bowl in the other as she slowly tipped the liquid contents into my mouth. I closed my eyes and let her do her thing, hoping she was trustworthy.

How could someone so beautiful not be trustworthy— That is terrible logic, Stas. Crotch logic, as Sasha would say, I thought with a frown. I watched her set the now empty bowl aside as I continued to berate myself.

“You are not an elf,” she said, her voice sounding like a mixture of wind chimes and a soft flowing river. It took me a moment to realize she wasn’t speaking English, but somehow I understood her. “Are you?”

“No,” I replied, opening my eyes to look at her. She sat across from me, inspecting me. Her eyes glowed with a soft, golden hue.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, sitting forward and peering at me with a quizzical look on her face.

“I… No,” I replied, looking away.

“Why do you look away?” she questioned, sounding puzzled, but also amused.

“You’re beautiful,” I replied.

“You have your own beauty,” she said without missing a beat. “What of it?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but I stopped when I noticed her eyes weren’t on my face. I looked down and saw I was naked except for a bit of bloodied cloth under my breast. The cloth was a bandage for my wound, I guessed. My face went bright red. I started looking around for my clothes.

“Are you always so… anxious?” she asked.

“I don’t like being naked,” I told her, folding my arms over my chest.

“You would do well to get over that, unless you intend to wear the rags I found you in…” she said, trailing off. “This is not a realm for the modest.”

“Is everyone going to be naked?” I asked, causing her to laugh.

“No,” she said, smiling at me, “Not everyone. Warmth is needed, at times, but the beasts that hunt you care not of your bared breasts. They are more interested in your life, I think, and your rags would do naught to stop them.”

“True, but I’d rather have my rags so said bared breasts are covered, just the same,” I told her.

“And you may… once they are dry,” she replied. “You’ll catch a cold death if you wear them now.”

She stood up and brushed off what little dirt clung to her. It was as if it didn’t dare mar her beauty, or maybe that was me projecting.

I am crushing so hard right now, I thought, closing my eyes. Stop it, Stas, you look and sound like a complete idiot.

“What is your name?” I asked once I had worked up the ability to make my mouth move again.

“I am… Sarah,” she replied. “And yours?”

“Staysa. Staysa Fear,” I replied.

“Staysa Fear…” she murmured, trailing off.

“What’s your last name? Do… do elves have last names?” I asked, biting my lip, hoping I wasn’t being offensive or pushy.

“We do, but…” she laughed, shaking her head. “I am Sarah, Emissary of Faerie.”

“Faerie… So you’re…” I trailed off, trying to work out what that meant. When my brain refused to comply, I said, “It is nice to meet you and stuff.”

“Yes, it is, isn’t it?” she told me. “It is good for me, certainly. You said your name is… Staysa… Fear?”

“Yeah, Staysa Fear,” I replied. I frowned at her words, trying to figure out what seemed strange about them. She walked over to me, and I couldn’t think past the sight of her standing a few feet from me. I tried to avoid staring at her crotch, but it seemed almost rude.

You know you want to look at another woman’s vagina, just admit it, Sasha’s laughing voice said, drifting through my head. Just do it, silly!

What took me a moment to notice was that she was completely hairless, other than the hair on her head. From the neck down, she didn’t seem to have a hair on her body, and I had the view to replace out. I closed my eyes and shook my head, shutting away the memory of Sasha begging me to describe the sight of a naked woman to her. We had been thirteen or fourteen, I think. She had been effectively blind, but she was also desperately interested. She had gotten me to look at pictures on the internet of body parts she had never gotten a good look at.

I opened my eyes when I heard a twig snap. The elf knelt down, a knee going to either side of me, and she abruptly kissed me. I froze when her lips met mine. The kiss ended a second later. She pulled back, smiling.

“I am so very glad to have met you, Fear. I want you to know that,” she told me. “You have saved me a great deal of time.”

“W-what do you mean?” I asked, fear clouding my senses.

I licked my lips and froze, because the taste was awful. A part of me realized something was wrong with that. I tried to pull away, but the elf held my wrist firmly. Her pleasant smile widened into a toothy grin. Her teeth had been human before, but they weren’t now: now they were sharp.

The last and only thing I knew with teeth like that was demonic.

“What do you want?” I whispered, trembling.

“What do I want? My freedom, of courssse,” she whispered, her voice turning into a hiss. “And you will provide!”

I tried to jerk away again, but her grip was like a vice. She yanked me to her, then held me roughly against her body. I finally got to feel that perfect looking skin. Instead of soft, pleasant skin, it was scales like a snake. I looked up and screamed, her beautiful elven face was a mask of horror, her bones stretching and writhing as her face changed shape. Revulsion took hold of me. I shrieked, bucked, and jerked frantically. I had to get away from her. She held both of my wrists, twisted me around, and then shoved me onto the ground. As her body transformed, her weight grew, and she put her massive weight onto my back to hold me still. I groaned as the weight grew until it felt as though my spine was going to break.

“Husssh now, little child!” she said with a laugh. Hands grabbed my head by the hair, both wrists, and my sides at the same time as the monster hissed out in surprise, “What! How— No!”

I felt anger surge around me as the weight above me shifted and jerked. I heard harsh shrieks come from above me, followed by audible snaps and screams of pain, before the weight was torn from me abruptly. I turned to see a large, scaled, reptilian, six-armed monster wrapped up in tree branches. The tree branches slithered around the monster’s limbs, squeezing and snapping limbs.

Several of the monster’s limbs hung limp, the bones and scales snapped in many places. Blood spurted out from the breaks while the monster screamed in panic and pain. As one, the branches pulled, going taut. Movement stopped for just a moment before the monster was ripped apart.

“What in the flying fuck, man?” I screamed as the bloody bits of the monster dropped to the ground.

I stared at the sight for several minutes as I tried to calm myself. My heartbeat wouldn’t slow down; it just seemed to go faster and faster. I became increasingly aware of a strange buzzing noise. My senses were ablaze with weird, foreign feelings. Wanting to shut it all out, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then immediately wished I hadn’t. The smell of the dead body just a few feet from me filled my nostrils. I opened my mouth to scream in both revulsion and confusion, but nothing came out. Instead of screaming, I doubled over and retched. My throat felt like it was on fire, as I spat the last of what little I had eaten recently out onto the ground. Once I had recovered some, I stood up on shaky legs, watching as the world spun around me.

Voices around me screamed and shouted, but I couldn’t concentrate enough to understand them. I felt fear, rejection, anger, and strongest of all, I felt hunger. I turned to walk away, wanting to escape from it all, but instead I just tripped and fell. I would have hit the ground were it not for the pair of pale, lithe arms that wrapped around my waist from the side.

“Easy now, little one, easy… I’ve got you now,” a voice whispered into my ear. “Water, quickly, the— It has her!”

The arms that held me up slowly lowered me to the ground. I had a few moments to stare up at three pale, somewhat frantic looking, elven goddesses that were huddled around me before I briefly passed out. I awoke intermittently, catching a few sounds and feelings before I passed out again. Someone was carrying me in their arms. They were silent, only occasionally speaking a strangely beautiful language every now and then. Combined with the safe feeling of the arms that held me, the voices lulled me to back to unconsciousness.

I awoke again when I was shifted around and transferred, a new set of arms ready to carry my limp form. I moaned in pain when my senses became sharp enough for me to feel. The wound on my side ached. My entire body burned. Pain caused my limbs to spasm, creating new waves of pains that rendered me unconscious again soon thereafter.

I briefly woke again to replace we were moving at a fast pace. The person that was carrying me held me to her chest, with mine to hers. I felt one arm underneath my bare backside and the other in my hair. She cooed to me in her language, trying to reassure me. I couldn’t understand her, I was just too hazy, but it helped me not panic, I think. All around us was anger. It was a thick and brutal feeling. The trees, the wind, the whole area was just so angry. I clung to the one carrying me, my arms around her neck and my legs around her middle, as she sprinted.

The next time I woke up, I was on my back. I came to slowly, the sounds of voices growing more distinct around me as I did.

“Are they all so…” a soft voice whispered, trailing off.

“I think so,” another voice whispered.

“And the hair, it is so—” the first voice began.

“Make no judgements of her,” a stern, feminine voice warned, interrupting. “Do you want the— Oh! She awakens.”

I opened my eyes and stared at three beautiful faces, who stared right back. My senses were coming alive, but I wished they wouldn’t. After a few moments, the stern voice, coming from a dark red-haired elf, said, “Little one, can you speak?”

“Burns,” I whispered, groaning. “Why… burn…”

“Water, she needs water,” one of them said, I couldn’t tell which. “Quickly, she fades!”

“God’s above, they’re moving once more, quickly!” a frantic voice from afar cried.

One of the elves in front of me, a blonde, said, “Already? Have we no respite from this?”

“Never again, I fear,” another voice whispered.

I opened my mouth to speak, but my eyes rolled back into my head and darkness returned to me. The next time I woke, I heard the sound of rain and felt a warmth on my back. I opened my eyes, but could see nothing.

“Stay still,” a soft voice whispered. The voice was breathy, barely audible. “Move not, no matter the pain nor discomfort. Squeeze my hand, should you hear me.”

Hearing her words, I just barely stopped myself from nodding. When I felt her hand go to mine, I gently squeezed it.

“You’ve two poisons, we think: one of the serpent, the other be of the forest. Your body fights both… You shall feel very sore, but life shall continue. You are lucky to live,” the soft voice said. “Were I found you sooner, the pain would be less.”

“Is… okay,” I whispered. “I forgive you… What’s… your name?”

“Sarah,” she whispered. “I need to move you a bit… This will hurt, I fear.”

Pain erupted in my veins when she did as she said. I clenched my teeth, trying not to scream, while she turned me onto my back. Sore didn’t come close to covering how I felt.

“Easy now, little one, almost done… almost done,” she murmured as she shifted me around. “It will be better, I promise.”

After what felt like an eternity of slow movements, she stopped moving me around and just held me. Her skin was hot against mine. We ended up facing each other, my face level with her chest. One of my arms was draped over her side, while the other was underneath her, between her and the ground. She was much taller than me, but she was also extremely light, or maybe I just couldn’t feel my body well enough to feel her weight on my arm. It occurred to me that both might be true.

Despite the pain, I did feel more comfortable than before. My chest was against her stomach, our legs intertwined, and her arms held my face to her chest. I tried to stop myself from blushing when I turned my face and felt what I knew to be a nipple brush my nose, but I couldn’t. She gently pressed my face inward, between her breasts, and I felt the heat pick up. My eyes widened in wonderment when I realized where the heat was coming from. It wasn’t me blushing, it was from her. She was exuding energy, pouring it into me directly through skin contact.

She’s healing me, I realized tiredly. Elven magic… I’m being healed by an elf… That’s awesome… and…

I drifted off, my body’s aches and pains fading away, taking my consciousness with it.