Keyholder Demoness Bk. 02 Ch. 09

When they arrived at the cage, the guards let her turn to the crowd and she waved and smiled. She said a few words, wiping tears from her eyes as she did... but still, she was smiling. The crowd cheered as the guards helped her step backwards into the cage. There was enough room for her to stand comfortably with her hands at her sides. The guards swung the door closed which did not seem to lock.

Charity could see the woman's chest rise and fall quickly and deeply. She pursed her lips together as she exhaled. Every once in a while she tried to look over her shoulder to look into the sarcophagus behind her.

Suddenly, a wave of arousal washed over Charity like heat from a freshly fueled bonfire. It hit Charity with such force that she actually grunted. She moved her lips to say "What the fuck?" but all that came out was incoherent mumbling. Charity looked up to the rise where Killdoll was stationed. A handler was kneeling before Killdoll, occasionally gently stroking a groove in the center of the faceplate of her metal bikini. Charity could feel a surge of arousal with every stroke that the handler made.

Empusa stood up from her throne. She raised one hand toward Killdoll and another toward the woman in the cage. There was a popping sound of metal on metal followed by creaking. The woman in the cage let out a sudden squeal. Her face was twisted in fear now.

The cage! It was shrinking! It was slowly closing around the woman's body! The woman was saying something - a plea to the goddess, perhaps. Still, the cage continued to shrink around her. The metal bars shortened and tightened. The hinges for the door popped off and fell to the stage. The crowd began chanting a phrase over and over as one.

Finally, the cage stopped shrinking, but it left the painted woman inside without an inch of motion in any direction. Her legs were held together. Her arms were pinned to her sides. The bars even seemed to be pressing against her face.

Empusa shouted something and the two guards pushed the cage with the painted woman inside backwards. The cage tipped over backwards and fell into the sarcophagus behind it. Apparently, the sarcophagus was filled with some kind of extremely dense liquid or gel. The cage landed with a messy splat, half-submerged.

The woman in the cage was screaming pleas for mercy, tears were streaming from her eyes. The cage was heavy, though and it was slowly sinking into the gel.

"Oh, fuck!" Charity thought. "She a fucking sacrifice!" She looked towards Faith who remained still in her chair, though with a tense look on her face. She wanted to shout to Faith to help her get out of this place. She pulled at Hazel and Garnet, but they stood steady equally enraptured by the scene before them. Charity couldn't form any words.

The cage had sunken far enough that the gel rose over the woman's ears. Her entire body was shaking and the gel was beginning to wash over her stomach. The woman screamed again and some of the gel spilled into her mouth. She coughed a few times before her head submerged and the amphitheater became quiet. Charity watched in horror as the last edges of the cage disappeared below the surface of the gel.

A number of guards appeared on the stage and lifted the heavy lid from the ground and placed it back on the sarcophagus. The guards used heavy wooden mallets to hammer in spikes around the edges. Once they were done, Empusa stood and spoke to the crowd for a moment. Then she turned to the back of the stage and shouted out toward the ocean. A section of the back of the stage had been lowered forming a ramp. The guards pushed the sealed sarcophagus towards the ramp, letting go as gravity took over. The sarcophagus rolled down the ramp and fell over the side of the cliff into the waters below.

Charity was beside herself with fear and anger. She finally found her voice, but she couldn't form any words. "Argghhh!" She began pulling as hard as she could on Hazel and Garnet. She had to get out of this place. "Arrgghhh!"

Two of the guards who had been positioned around Charity grabbed her arms to keep her steady. They led the ponygirls with Charity in tow out of the amphitheater, across the field and back into the menagerie. They pushed Charity into her cell and slammed the door behind her, making sure it was locked.

Charity jumped up and ran to the door, grabbing the bars and rattling the metal. She screamed as loud as she could. She wanted to call for Faith, but she couldn't say her name. The six guards had to work hard to drag Hazel and Garnet, stomping and snorting, away from Charity's cell. Eventually they were locked in a stall far away.

Charity continued to scream. The ugly, hybrid cat girl with the nasty rat tail was starting to hiss and growl two cells down. "Fuck them all!" Charity thought and she screamed some more.

After a half hour, Charity could finally form the word, Faith. It was still another hour before Faith and Empusa arrived in the menagerie and Charity's voice had long gone hoarse.

"Get me out of here, Faith!" Charity rasped and she rattled the door to her cell.

"Calm down, babe. What is wrong with you?" Faith asked.

"What is wrong with me!? Bitch queen, here," Charity said, pointing at Empusa, "just drowned a woman... and tossed her body in the ocean. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Perhaps I should have explained the ritual before," Empusa said, frowning.

"Explain human sac... sacrifice?!"

"The woman is fine, Charity," Faith said. "She's fine!"

"She didn't look so fine as she slowly drowned," Charity screamed.

"She did not drown," Faith said. "She is fine. She is in suspended animation."

"What!?" Charity said.

Empusa tried to explain. "Her calling-"

"Fuck you!" Charity said. "You tell me, Faith!"

Faith and Empusa looked at each other for a moment.

"The woman tonight wants to be part of a special group of women who... um... host? Yes, host simulations," Faith explained. "She has been placed in suspended animation and she is currently being transferred across the ocean to Paradise. Calm down, Charity. Empusa will need to explain to you about what a simulation host is. Listen to what she has to say."

Charity growled, but looked at Empusa.

"In your universe, your scientists spent a lot of time trying to recreate the human brain using silicon chips. The human brain has 80 billion neurons connected by 100 trillion synapses. It's utterly foolish to attempt to recreate the human brain with silicon. There is also the question of 'Why?' Why not just use a human brain as the computer rather than build it from sand?

"In your universe, your scientists wanted to use these powerful silicon chips to simulate the universe. Here, we have learned how to simulate a universe using a human brain. The ritual that you saw tonight was one to prepare the woman to host an entire universe in her brain. She, in fact, will be like a Goddess in the simulated universe - all powerful. Her task will be to create a universe with certain parameters so we can learn... that is, Goddess Dammasch can learn how to always direct our universe in such a way to make it more and more perfect.

"So, we placed the woman in a medium which will quickly harden and will perfectly preserve her body. The cage allows us to interface with her brain. She is being transported across the ocean to Paradise by the Women of the Water. There, our scientists will use her as a new simulated universe, perhaps, or maybe she will become a portion of one of the bigger projects and combine with other universe simulators. It is a very prestigious calling! Of course all callings are perfect and prestigious."

Charity glanced over at the ugly hybrid cat girl, who apparently had settled down. She was distinctly not perfect. Charity felt like she understood most of what Empusa said. She wasn't sure that she trusted her. She glanced at Faith who seemed satisfied with the answer. Faith had worked in the high tech industry for years. Charity had to trust Faith's instincts on whatever Empusa was talking about.

"She's alive?" Charity asked. That was her main concern.

"Yes!" Empusa said, smiling. "And soon she will be even more alive than you or I could imagine. She will be a goddess of her own universe!"

Charity looked around her cell for a moment. "I'm feeling very trapped right now. Can I get out of here for a little while?"

"Not tonight," Empusa said. "There are a lot of visiting women on the property tonight after all the rituals. And you are a celebrity, Charity. Everyone knows what you are becoming and what you are wearing. Most are probably afraid of you. Some may want to take you from me. From us! We have to keep you safe."

Charity let out a heavy sigh.

"I'll have the handlers release Hazel and Garnet from their stall. They are very upset. They love you very much. I think that it would be good if the three of you spent some time together. Everyone would feel better."

"Can I sleep with them?" Charity asked.

"That's a wonderful idea. I'll have a cell setup for a woman and two ponygirls immediately!"