She Wants My Heart?

With haste, I made my way due north to the Soul Keeper’s Forest under unnerving daylight. I wanted no random events or meetings to happen upon. The risks were tremendous when I was on my own.

Just how unnatural can this place get?

I was coming to terms with how there was no day-night cycle in this realm. There would always be light in your immediate vicinity on the surface, with a void in the peripherals dispelled as you moved closer. It tarnished my sense of reality and my sleeping schedule.

I groaned in the expanse of nothingness. It was easy to lose track of time, and walking by yourself was a drag.

I figured I was lost. Some amount of hours had passed, and my scarce consultations with Asa telepathically were inadequate. I couldn’t show her my vision, so I had a very lackluster GPS compared to the perfect GPS established twenty years ago.

My journey was reliant on monuments. The outdated, confusing way. Asa kept emphasizing that I should have passed a ruin with pillars. After, I was on the lookout for emerging trees. I slowly navigated around those ruins three hours ago! I had no recognition of whether this was the right way since then.

Although what I saw there in the white degraded marble was telling. Examining the structure and grounds, I assumed the blocks were dropped and stacked in place with magic as opposed to complex contraptions. There was no evidence of cement or sealings between the blocks or trail marks across the ground.

The marble had relatively crude, deep etchings, yet there were recognizable figures and symbols. If they had anything to do with this place, they would be gods.

One figure was feminine with beasts, reeds, and humans sprouting and moving away like an animated scene. The male figure was the largest proportionally and had tiny humanlike figures dancing inside his white head and tripping over his beard into the void.

The last god was nongendered and had excess black pigment used in coloring it in. It seemed to be performing magic on a blank white sphere and cube. I wasn’t certain if these three gods were still present and if they held significance. The scene gave me ample questions.

Who was the artist? What was the purpose of building this monument?

I was proud to have noticed a small floor stone that had decayed out of place. I excavated the molded grey keeping box inside. I couldn’t crack the seal until I threw the whole contraption against the ground. That was the culmination of my experimentation.

A cloud of ash and dust erupted, which I waved away before I could sneeze. I peeked at the construct and lifted a black, sparkled-brown, ornamental hairpiece. It’s multiple prongs curving inward, and it gave me a cute impression.

Even in this realm, physical possessions eluded me. I dropped it into a jacket pocket to fill the vacancy of things I never had. Who knew it could be invaluable as currency or some unstated magic?

***

Across the horizon, I glimpsed the first purple, brown-stripped leafless tree at last. I inhaled in relief.

The forest was apparently claimed by Ydunn, the aforementioned goddess of love. It was a peculiarity. I had to know what this god could offer. Every goddess of love I remembered learning about was a paragon of beauty. To be honest, my mind was running rampant. Humans were drawn to beautiful things.

I swore on my dignity and life that my loyalty rested with Asa. I was not one to tarnish my word. Everyone could get curious, however, and Asa said herself that Ydunn was a better choice if I wanted to get magic to fight.

I balanced my footing through the developed roots and branches, not really sure what I was looking for. A building or a gathering?

There, atop the branches of that tree!

A tan, lofty woman was resting. I didn’t get the chance to “accidentally” see her white undergarments or anything cliche, for she had not a single covering to start. She had a twine slung, abstracted talisman that rested just above her…naked bosom; one wouldn’t call that choice of jewelry an article of clothing.

The youthful woman sprang and coasted like an acrobat off the surface of the branch, landing soundly on the ground with a flip.

Ack! My knees pitifully crumbled, and I plopped down on my bottom. I stared in bewilderment at the approaching, graceful figure. I obviously should have turned away, yet something within made it impossible. And no, it was not hormones, it was something else for once! There was some innate magnetism.

She exuded a mixture of confidence and complete disregard. It could be because she displayed no genitalia across her top or bottom, only a shapely form. I still had the unshakable urge that it would be perfectly suitable to die for this woman of mid-length black and red, scruffy and jagged hair.

I realized she had the makings of a tomboy as I was preoccupied with her indomitable midsection, god-given waist, developed shoulder blades, and vigorous arms. You really had to see her eight smooth, divisive stabilizer muscles, a tidy set of abs. I was sure modern plastic surgery and dieting had nothing on this.

She gave me a quick lookover and then mounted me at the navel like one would a sturdy, tamed steed. She had weight and was abrasive, not caring about the impact. I collapsed entirely onto my back at this point.

“What’s your heart size?” She demanded.

“What!” I yelped. Ask my name first, or anything else that made sense! And how does that matter?

She promptly leaned her ear into the vortex of my chest before I could protest. She likely heard the overt beating as she lay on my chest.

Her bare skin felt galvanizing. Oh, if my past self could have seen me now. I imagined he would have choice words. That would form a spirited ballad.

“Hmm. Quite small. Lucky for you, I don’t care about size,” She said, poking the bridge of my chest with an icy finger.

I winced my eyes. That was. So suggestive.

“Let me eat it all. Every piece and chamber of your beating heart.” Her mouth and enthralling voice appealed sensually into my ear.

I felt like I was under some type of spell, like a critter trapped in a silk web, but I still had the presence to dispel its nature in time. I did not want to die today.

“I won’t let you eat me, Ydunn, if I understand you correctly. Why do you want to eat my heart?” I replied to the likely flesh-eater.

She obsessively glared over me until her eyes dove into mine. She converted into an intoxicated, blushing expression as she laced her hands and fingers around and over her lower face. That fiery smile wanted me, or just my heart. She took no liberty or urgency in responding.

“I like young men. They are delicious.” She finally said.

Where have I heard that before? I groaned internally. Beautiful woman or not, those were doom-inspiring words if last time set any precedent.

“How else can you prove your devotion and love for me, if not with your full heart?” She finished.

“I don’t love you.” I managed.

“Yeah. Right.” She shrugged off, regrading me tenderly. She definitely thinks I'm in love with her. “But you want my emblem, no?”

“You can’t give one of those to someone who is very dead,” I answered.

“What a pity,” she replied. “That didn’t stop some of your peers.”

That… Confirms she has eaten humans. Why was she like this? Who was falling for this? Why was everyone a fanatic murderer?

“Gift me with your name, human. You already know mine.” She remarked.

“I’m Astrid,” I said.

“Ok, Astrid, my beloved, how about this? Let me bite and suck you to cure my hunger.” To pair with her words, she bared wide her ravishing, cute mouth, and I was baffled by the sight of two voracious canines that dwelled among her top teeth.

I guess that was less sure to kill me. It would be hard to die from losing blood in normal circumstances. This wasn’t exactly my kink, although it may well be someone else’s. Hmm, I could make it mine for her. Maybe.

I really need to stop joking to myself, or I’m going to do some of this bullshit by accident.

I opened my mouth to refute her and felt a finger seal my lips.

“Blah, Blah, Blah, just say yes. Don’t stay a prude, beloved.” She said.

Tsk. I was done with taking her provocation and forced name-calling.

I forced my mouth free, and her finger slid clean inside. I closed around and gnawed on it delicately. It was soft and bony, yet it didn’t taste like much other than prickly sweat. Her fingernail was pristine and smooth like glass.

She giggled and then flicked a second finger up and into my mouth. I stopped and watched her keenly.

“Delight in me,” she beckoned. “Hurry or I’ll take your blood by the gallon!”

I reluctantly conceded and started. This woman had the makings of a vampire and a cannibal, and I was still having fun. Maybe I was now one of the crazies.