Going Feet First Ch. 02

"So you passed the trials of the Tree Elves. Congratulations, Galen. Not many do," she said, her attention returning to the soldier as the Neko bore an astonished look.

With each passing moment in her goddess' presence, Petra could feel her mental clarity return to her just as the pains in her head and body faded from her senses. The babbling that had gone on in her mind connected into a coherent, steady stream of thought. Each of the agonized nerves in her fingers began to settle as singed hairs on her body fell away and were replaced with fresh ones. It was almost as if the goddess was healing her simply by sitting beside her.

The goddess of life, restoring her life.

Petra awed at her figure of worship for just a moment more before her curiosity drew her to the fourth presence among them. She had known that there was another body on the bed but she was unable to see who or what it was exactly. If it was indeed a Tree Elf, and if "Galen" truly did pass their trials, then she had certainly misevaluated the situation she was in.

Especially with Necela now appearing here to speak with him. No common mortal ever received the honor so that had to mean he was far beyond normal. That would also mean that her king was very wrong in his decision to have her kill him in the first place. Their goddess had plans and the interaction that was sure to be coming would give her insight into the man she would come to call "master."

"T-t-thank you, ma'am," Galen stuttered after taking a moment to gather himself after the praise he received.

"Please, call me Necela. I wish for no formalities here."

The Private rubbed the back of his neck with his trembling left hand. "Yes... Necela. I don' wanna be rude or nothin,' but what did I do to earn your attention?"

The goddess crossed her legs over while her wings gave a sudden beat, sprinkling off a bit of silver dust onto the Elf behind her. Celia sneezed as it showered her head but ultimately stayed locked in her slumber as Necela clasped her hands together on her thighs. Even with her lack of clothes she puffed out her chest and raised her chin to take a business-like pose.

"To be plain, I need an instrument, one I can trust to do what must be done. While there are many who may be able to do the task, you are... uniquely equipped. Your tools would give you a needed advantage to quell threats that would otherwise prove fatal to any warrior Atzla has to offer. Will you help me?"

First thing to come to Galen's mind after being asked for a favor by an immortal, and a goddess at that, was the good that could come from what she would owe him in return. Images of home filled his mind, of his small town and his mother waiting for him at their house. This could be his chance to see her again.

Without more than a moments delay, he answered, "Of course."

Necela smiled, "Good. It is well that you spared Petra, because you may need her... lethal abilities."

Those last words rubbed him the wrong way and triggered several alarms within his head. "Wait, I'm going to be... You want me to kill? Aren't you a goddess of life?"

That soft, cheery look about her quickly changed into a deep-set frown that could almost be called a sneer. Fear had both the soldier and the watching assassin shrinking away from her with the dark cloud that seemed to loom over her head. Both her feet planted firmly on the floor as she leaned forward with her starry-night eyes burning up into a red dawn.

The cheer in her voice turned to rage, and with a tone that could chill souls, she growled, "Galen. I am the goddess of life on Raska. Do not think I lack a reason when I ask of you a task that will bring about the end of several men. The crimes committed by these monsters have destroyed many lives over many years and, as of late, they have grown bold."

Left hand shaking bad enough to rattle his boots, Galen swallowed and made the mental note not to question her again. Or insinuate that she wasn't one of a kind.

Softening her angered look and letting her eyes return to their night-sky image, Necela calmed her tone of voice before she continued, "Since the start of last winter, two Atzla villages have been destroyed. A third settlement has been targeted for the morning after tomorrow. I have sought the aggressors out, I have warned them to stop. They have shunned me and slandered my name. Now, I need you."

"Why not end their lives yourself, ka goltrai?" Petra asked.

A sigh escaped the deity as she dismissively waved her hand in the Neko's direction. The assassin bowed her head in respect only to blink in surprise as the ropes around her wrists and feet suddenly came undone. There was a hint of worry in the look Galen cast her as she held her hands up to her face to inspect the damage done to them. She sucked in her lower lip at the sight of her empty finger tips, fighting the urge to break down again as she quickly shoved them under her thighs to keep them out of sight.

"I do not end their lives because I want them to undergo judgement," Necela explained. "They believe themselves above my rule, that they can never be cast to the Nether no matter how terrible their sins. Galen, and you, Petra Dihyor, will show them otherwise."

Without warning, the goddess rose to her feet and waved her hand above her head to shower herself in silver dust. Her skin turned to a tarnished, metallic color as her flesh dried out and turned to ash within. From this shell emerged a spectral being that spread its incorporeal, fairy wings as the corpse behind it eroded into dust that slipped beneath the floorboards.

All logic and half of Galen's trust in physics were thrown from his mind as he witnessed this transformation. Had his eyes gone any wider, they would have popped out of his head trying to comprehend what he saw.

"Yariid has them slated for twenty millennia in the hands of Olair, master of suffering," Necela continued, speaking as if nothing unusual had happened. "If I was to sweep these monsters from this world, they would not go through an afterlife. My powers do not allow me to destroy a mortal body without destroying its ethereal self as well. Their minds, their bodies, their spirits, all would be purged from existence. And for the suffering they have caused, I would not grant them such a courtesy until after they have served their time in the Nether."

The Private was fighting to keep himself from shaking in the presence of an increasingly irritated goddess. How prone she was to such vengeful acts, he did not know with his scant knowledge of this world. One thing he could deduce was that whoever these people were, they had probably done something terrible to earn her wrath. Something he did not want to incur himself.

"I'll do it," he said, puffing his chest a bit and clenching his fist to calm his shaking hand. "I'll take care of them. But Celia doesn't-"

"Celia will know what these men have done!" Necela snapped while waving her hand to cut him off. "She WILL understand. There was a reason the Tree Elves were four numbers short!"

Galen opened his mouth to speak, but the goddess quickly raised her hand again to silence him as she began to give her instructions. "You will go west. You will reach a river and follow it downstream. After the river comes to a fall, there will be ruins of a village once made of stone. You will find the men there. Save who you can, spare none of the guilty. Are we understood?"

Necela beamed her eyes at Galen in a way that sent an uneasy feeling into the back of his mind. His brain tingled and his train of thought went completely off track before she blinked. The moment that eye contact broke, that tingle in his skull vanished. However, the deity was still able to take him off-guard as she asked, "Hooah?"

The random bit of army slang made the soldier cock a surprised eyebrow and give a confused look. She just smiled innocently in return. After a few seconds of silence, he grinned and amusedly answered, "Hooah."

With the his confirmation, Necela turned to the Neko still sitting on the floor by her feet. "Petra?"

"Ka goltrai?" the Shadow Stalker answered.

The Raskan deity lifted her spectral hand above the Ra'zorlich's head and closed her eyes. Through no will of her own, Petra's hands pulled out from under her legs and lifted into the air as high as she could reach. A sudden, shrill cry erupted from her as blood dripped down from her fingers and fresh claws burst from her digits with a sickening crackle.

When these new claws set in place and the blood began to vanish from her healing flesh, a black, felt collar encompassed her neck and tightened up until it was comfortably snug against her skin. Words written in Nekonian script then burned into the cloth to cause the assassin a slight discomfort until it finished. Her body fully restored and the collar in place, the unseen force then released her.

The assassin immediately drew her hands in to inspect the extent of what the goddess had done. All while Galen stared with an understandable mix of wonder and terror on his face.

"As I have before with all others in your situation," Necela started, pulling Petra's attention back to her. "I would normally dispatch a Nightwatcher to bring you your collar. But I am already present, so I see no reason to not do it myself."

Despite being incorporeal, the goddess cleared her throat. "Petra Dihyor, the collar around your neck signifies your sentence. So long as you wear it, you are bound to this man Galen Martin. If he chooses to set you free, the collar will come off and your transgression shall be forgiven and your honor restored. Act against his will and your collar shall act against you. End him, and the collar shall end you. Your sentence has been given, serve it with dignity and reclaim your honor."

Both assassin and soldier glanced at each other, trading critical stares before the Neko bowed her head and said, "Vye, ka goltrai. Are my new claws part of this?..."

To her relief, Necela shook her head. "No, they are wholly yours. I cannot send an instrument forth without her full strength. Serve Galen well, Petra, and know that all is not lost."

The Neko blinked and looked down to her hands, awing at her newly formed claws and ignoring the new accessory that was fitted to her neck. Pain still throbbed in her finger tips from what the goddess had done but... she had them. They were real, they were sharp, and they were hers.

"Necela," she murmured. "May I ask one thing?"

She looked up from her hands for a moment to lock stares with the goddess. In that momentary exchange, her conscious mind was shuffled around like a puzzle, with her thoughts serving as the pieces to be rapidly sorted out within her head. When her last mental strand clicked back into place, the goddess smiled and gave her a single nod.

"Yes, Petra. Teirie will go to the Serene. Farewell, my warriors, and good luck."

A sigh of relief escaped the Ra'zorlich as Necela's ghost exploded into a cloud of glittery, silver dust. Galen wasn't even surprised by this final trick that the deity performed, he only shook his head with amusement as he spotted her blue Nightwatcher form fluttering away outside a moment later. Movement in his periphery made him turn to see Celia rolling over in the bed, pulling the covers up as she continued to snooze as if nothing happened.

With the assassin still sitting on the floor dangerously close to his Elf, he walked over and took a seat on the bed. It came as a bit of a relief when Petra shifted closer to the fire so she could further inspect her claws in the light. A wide smile creeping up on her teary face as she retracted and extended her recovered anatomy over and over again.

"You're not going to try and kill me with those, are you?" he asked, hand firm on his Colt as she drug a claw across the floor to carve a thin line in the wooden board.

To his relief, she shook her head and pulled them all in. "No. Even if I did, and survived this thing on my neck, returning to my life in Litmeer would be a harrowed existence knowing I have an eternity of damnation awaiting me in the afterlife. And after what just happened, I have no doubt Necela would unleash her full anger upon me."

She sighed and glanced back at him, her face still showing her defeat. "You have given me my sentence, I am bound to it. Besides, our goddess personally asked us both a task. I will not see another be failed."

"Fair 'nough," he muttered, glancing at his Elf and then back to Petra. "I'm Private First Class Galen Martin, of the 502^nd Parachute Infantry, 101^st Airborne Division."

The assassin gave him a narrow look but then quickly nodded at his formal introduction. "Petra Dihyor, First Claw of the Ra'zorlich Shadow Stalkers."

"Nice to erhm... good t' formally get your name, Petra. I'll introduce ya to Celia come mornin', maybe get ta know you better myself. But come sun-up, I have people to meet, an' after that we'll be heading out. Do you have an idea where Necela wanted us to go?"

The Neko nodded. "Yes. 'Terik burr,' as it is called in my tongue."

"Rock Falls, alright. I speak Nekonian, Petra, and Celia does, too. No need to struggle with a language you don't exercise," the Private explained as he started stripping off his web gear, failing to notice the guilty look from his new companion's face as she turned back toward the fire.

When his boots hit the floor beside his helmet, Galen slid under the covers beside Celia, still watching out the corner of his eye as Petra curled up on the floor beside the hearth. Ever so faintly, he could hear her claws sliding in and out of her fingers, and her thankful prayers for getting them back.

..............................

"Please *ahhh* stop this, errrr, teasing..." Mila panted, her claws sinking into the parachute upon which she sat.

Her thighs squeezed together as Michael's fingers danced between them, massaging her tender warmth as his other hand grasped onto one of her breasts, squeezing her nipple in between his middle and ring fingers. She had her back pressed against his chest with her tail flicking erratically, batting his belly as his cock prodded its base. Soft, sensual kisses touched the base of her neck with his cheek nuzzling the fur on her nape.

"Why stop?" he whispered, kissing his way up the side of her neck to just below where the ears would be on a Human. A devilish grin curled up the sides of his mouth as Mila took in another sharp inhale from the circle his middle finger rubbed about her clit. "You enjoy it, don't you?"

Muscles in her belly going taught, she squealed, "Yes... yes! I do... but I want it... I don't want a tease, I want-" she stopped mid-sentence, grasping her mouth to muffle her cry as her whole body seized up with a mini-climax.

"What was that? You want..." he trailed off as he pulled his dripping hand from her crotch and held it up to see the result.

Panting heavily, Mila relaxed and leaned back against him with her legs parting a bit to air out the hot nectar dampening the fur around her sex. However, there was little relief to be found with night air lingering in her tent. What she hoped to be a soothing draft only served to send chilling tingles up through her body that did little to calm her arousal.

The man at her back must have felt her prickling skin because those talented fingers of his reclaimed their place between her folds. They stroked her lower lips to make her gasp as he returned to toying with her chest. Hoping to find one way to distract him and at least delay this tormenting tease, she craned her neck back and turned her head to the side to meet his lips with hers.

To both her relief and dismay, his hands stopped and let that hunger in her loins fester once again. With their tongues dancing with one another's she couldn't voice this growing frustration, only return the favor. Which she did with the dexterity of her tail, curling around his shaft and giving a rather clumsy stroke to make him squirm against her. His only retaliation was to pull her in closer to squish it between their bodies.

The Neko inwardly chuckled at this. This whole experience was nothing like anything she had imagined before. Nothing she had seen or heard from other mated women prepared her for his kisses and caresses or what she felt boiling between her thighs. From her belly to her heart, she felt as though she were on fire that immolated her core with a kind of heat she had never known. Every second his tongue twirled with hers was another moment she wished would never end, that she could just freeze in time.

"I want you inside me," she whispered as she broke away. "No more teasing. No hands, no tails. I want you to make love to me."

"Until the morning light," he answered.

Smiling wide, she pressed a hand to his chest and he shimmied backward to give her the space to turn around and lie on her back. When she was comfortable, he leaned in and supported himself above her with one hand braced on the ground by her shoulder and the other coasting up her thigh.

Those wonderful fingers of his rubbed against the fur along her hip, then glided over her belly and up to her breasts to palm her brown areola. She shivered as he squeezed and massaged the mound with delicate care before sweeping some loosed strands of hair from her face. As nice as it felt, she was almost ready to berate him for delaying yet again, but he must have got the message as his hand finally returned to his crotch.

Keeping their eyes locked together, Michael leaned in until his nose just about touched hers. Mila carefully held onto his torso as she felt him lining up his manhood with the dripping petals of her untouched flower. Then he came in so their lips could meet as he pushed into her barrier. Her hips shifted at the unfamiliar intrusion, the foreign sensation causing her to squirm away until he planted his free hand on her shoulder to hold her in place.

Lips still locked together, he thrust in.

Mila's eyes widened, her tail went stiff against the parachute bed with her claws sinking into his back. Had he not been pressing his lips so firmly against hers, they likely both would have surely yelped from the pain. She then felt that hand come off her shoulder and situate itself under her tailbone as he lowered himself again. This time to press his chest against hers and move his head into the crook of her neck. With this closeness, she could pull her claws from his flesh and hug onto him instead as she shed a tear from the pain of a torn hymen.

She was thankful that he didn't begin to reap his own pleasure right away, instead holding with just a bit more than half his manhood inside her. But she knew this wouldn't be enough. Not nearly. Using one clawed hand she took hold of his firm bottom and pulled him into her. With her sharp points threatening to break skin, he shifted his body again to venture deeper into her hot sheathe. Eyes closed, she gave a hushed hiss as her belly drew tense with her finally taking in his full length.

His cock bottomed out in her pussy, Michael held his position without moving for a few minutes. That furnace inside his new mate kept him throbbing inside her as he held her close to give her the chance to adjust. At first he didn't know what to wait for, but then her claws finally began to retreat back into her fingers. Cringing a bit, he raised his head and locked his eyes with hers. As just a bit of movement on his part made her flinch, he softly asked, "Are you okay?"

She took in a deep breath, inhaling his musk more than anything before her smile returned at last. "Yes, I'm okay. This is wonderful..."

Smirking at her sultry tone, he whispered his response, "As are you..."

He slowly drew back and felt the tips of her claws threaten to come out again. After just a short pause, they retreated once more and she anxiously nodded. With this he pushed into her again. Again, he felt those feline weapons poke through the ends of her fingers despite her obvious effort to retain them.