Parasite Slime Short 2

“Chief God bless you, Paladin!” cried the elderly man.

Aven smiled as the feeble old man clasped her gauntleted hands in his own and shook.

“Always happy to serve. Chief God preserve you.” Said Aven.

Aven’s leather armor rustled softly as she trudged back down the dirt path leading to the farm house. The old man’s family began butchering the wolves she had slain for their pelts and meat, no doubt the vermin would be the best meal that they had eaten in days.
Sun filtering though the trees glinted off the polished steel that had protected her wrists. Running her hand over her bracer, she traced a few of the scratches the wolves had left on her. Hardly anything. In the months she had spent defending Aerifor, a few dents and scrapes had been the only wounds she had incurred.

Aven sighed as the town rolled into view as she crested the ridge. No doubt it would be another long night herding drunks out of the local tavern. This place was hell. The only business was in the bustling apple orchards that Aerifor was known for. The only pastime was drinking away all profits and product from the orchards in the bar as the already impoverished peasants guzzled down cider they couldn’t afford.

Aven gently pushed open the door to the tavern, lest the rickety slab of wood fall off its hinges. The drunkards inside paid her no mind as she seated herself in a corner and waited for the inevitable chaos to begin.

Was this all there was to life? She was a paladin, for fuck’s sake! Blessed by the Chief God Herself to smite evil and protect the innocent! But the obstinate theocrats in the Order insisted that a woman who could best men in combat was an affront to the natural order the Chief God demanded. And so they sent the finest warrior in her class here, to waste away fighting wolves and inebriates until she fulfilled her purpose of marrying and raising the next generation of warriors.

“Anything for ye, miss?” asked the barkeep.

Miss. Not ma’am, not milady, miss. It didn’t matter how much Aven had accomplished. To these irreverent fops, she was just a beautiful woman playing hard to get. She had suffered more gropes than wounds since her posting here.

“Water.” Aven said curtly.

The man scowled. “No cider? No ale? You’re just going to come into my tavern and sip water all night for free?”

“I am.”

The barkeep growled and lurched away to get her a tankard.

“What am I doing with my life…” muttered Aven. Fuck this. Fuck everything! Fuck this town, fuck the order, and fuck the Chie-

Aven squirmed as the blasphemous thought wormed its way into her brain. Muttering a quick prayer, she perished the thought and quickly begged for forgiveness. But why? Why had the Lady seen fit to bestow her with skills and power beyond other men only to forbid Aven from ever using it?

The barkeep returned with her mug, making sure to slosh some water out onto the musty wooden table as he set it down. Aven watched the bits of dirt swirl around the mug. Two men began to bellow at each other, accusing the other of stealing ‘the good ladder.’
“There must be more…” said Aven plaintively.

~~~~~~~~

“Paladin!”

Aven’s hand reflexively clenched upon hearing that phrase. The town priest hurried over to her, stumbling over his own frock as he panted and bumbled towards her.

“Paladin! There’s been a monster sighting!” squeaked the furtive man, beady eyes awash with fear.

“A monster?! Where!?” said Aven. She had to clasp a hand over her mouth to hide the smile on her face and correct her tone, lest the priest think her mad.

“In the western woods! The villagers can tell you, they saw it, not me.” Said the priest.

“Right.” Aven hurried off through the ramshackle buildings that formed the town center towards the cottages at the edge of town.
“I’ll keep the village safe!” called the priest after her.

Coward. Aven shuddered with excitement. A monster! The first real action in months! More importantly, a chance to prove herself and get out of this dump! The Order was already stretched thin; there was no way that they could refuse her service on the front lines once she showed them what the Chief God’s chosen was really capable of!

“I’m here! Where is it?!” cried Aven, startling a group of farmers.

“I-it was over there…” said a farmer, pointing into the forest.

“What was it? Was it big? How many legs did it walk on?” demanded Aven. Her training was all coming back to her. The most important part of any monster hunt was finding out what you were dealing with. Too many meatheads thought that they could muscle through everything, only to be snared in an arachne web and eaten.

“It looked like a woman. But she was small. And green. She tried to talk to me, asking me if I’d like to do… things…” said a young man.

“Was she flying?” asked Aven.

“Yeah… How did you know?” asked the man.

Aven smirked. “I’ve done plenty of research on monsters.”

“So, can you kill whatever that demon was?” asked a woman.

Aven’s pride faltered. “Ahh… Well, I can try. I think it’s a sylph, a wind spirit. The hardest part will be catching the thing since it can fly.”

“Will it come back?” asked the young man.

Aven frowned. He blushed and looked at the ground. That wasn’t good. It looks like even a chance encounter had been enough to sway this poor sod’s heart.

“You should all go to the church and pray for protection. Which way did the sylph go?” asked Aven, drawing her sword.

“That way, into the forest.” Said the young man.

“Don’t worry, I’ll have it dealt with in no time.” Boasted Aven. Following the young man’s wistful gaze, she tore off into the underbrush.

~~~~~~

Fucking sylphs. They were wind-spirits! Invisible wind-spirits! How the hell was she supposed to catch one?

Just as the man had claimed, the elemental had shown herself just once to mock Aven before flitting off into the forest. Aven had given chase for hours, following the warbling giggles through the trees in pursuit of her quarry. Not without marking a path home, though. She had to be sure that she could find her way back.

Whether the sylph had grown tired of their game of chase and left, or Aven had just went the wrong way, it was clear by now that the trail was lost. Aven surveyed her surroundings. Nothing but the soft hum of a bustling woodland as far as the eye could see. Putting her hands on her knees, she caught her breath and looked up at the sky. It would be nightfall soon. She should have brought a tent, but in her haste had forgone any proper preparations to chase the wind itself.

Not that it would be a death sentence. These woods were replete with all the materials she needed to make a shelter for the night and enough edible plants to fill her stomach. All she needed now was a good source of water.

Humming a hymn to herself, Aven set to work collecting good timber and some herbs for the night. The act of wilderness survival filled her with nostalgia; it took her back to a time when she was pitted against the hardest trials the Order bootcamp had to offer, and passed every one with flying colors.

Not that she ever received recognition for her deeds. To the drill sergeants, she was always more of an oddity at best, and at worse, an anathema. The men grumbled curses behind her back, and the more senior officers had insisted that she should be honing her skills with a needle and thread rather than a sword. The branch she was grabbing snapped as she clenched her fist, remembering the smug grin on the fat bishop’s face as he had given Aven her posting. They were corrupt; the lot of them. A brood of parasitic, nepotistic leeches that gave the Order a bad name.

A sudden change in the light turned Aven’s attentions back to more immediate concerns. She gasped as she saw the ruins of a low cobblestone wall, encrusted with vines and lichen jutting out of the ground at a tenuous angle.

Just beyond, the ruins of some ancient fort sat derelict, shaded by a copse of young trees. Whomever had inhabited this place had done a fine job of removing the surrounding trees judging by the age of some of the saplings.

“Chief God be praised.” Muttered Aven, as she spied a well in the center of the buildings. None of them were more than a few meters tall, but it was everything she could ask for while spending the night in the forest. Perhaps there was even some cooking implements she could scavenge.

The smell of decay wafted up from the rotting wooden timbers that supported the flimsy roof of the first building. It was scarcely tall enough for Aven to stand up. How settlers could have lived like this for any extended period of time was beyond her. Stuffing the wood she had found into the rudimentary fireplace, she lit it with a few pieced of flint she had found and coaxed the blaze to life with a few breaths.

In the flickering light of the nascent fire, Aven noticed an all too familiar symbol amidst the detritus coating the floor. Sifting through the leaves and dust, she pulled out a decayed tome with the Order insignia on it.

“I’m not sure if this is divine providence or a bad omen…” said Aven, thumbing through the yellowed pages. The paper disintegrated under her touch.

A metallic clatter rang out from one of the other buildings. Aven drew her sword and faced the entrance, listening intently. Crickets chirped in the early night, but no further sound emanated from the abandoned outpost. Probably just a critter fleeing its home now that Aven had moved in. Or, perhaps a morsel…

Hustling out of the building she had settled in, Aven scurried out into the center of the outpost to cut off the escape route of any small animal that could serve as her main course. Nothing. Moving room to room, she peered in to see if anything else inhabited these ruins.

The last building she inspected was more robust than the others; clearly more effort had been made to insulate this edifice from the elements. Aven’s face lit up when she saw the glint of metal.

“The armory!” she squealed.

Dashing inside, she pulled off a moth eaten blanket from a rack of swords. They were as beautiful as they were ancient. Even in their rusted state, it was clear that the craftsman who had forged these blades was no amateur. Every one of the implements was of uniform size and weight. Aven hefted one. Running her finger along the edge, she wiped the streak of bronze rust onto her leather chest piece.
“I wonder if things were different for people like me back in your day…” she said, holding the sword out in front of her.
Looking back to the entrance, Aven shrieked as she saw a figure lurking in the shadows. Staggering back, she knocked the swords to the floor in a cacophony of screams and clattering metal. Slumping against the wall, Aven quickly realized that it was only a suit of armor, resting on its stand that haunted the abandoned building.

“Oohhh… Thank the Lady no one saw that.” Said Aven.

Armor. REAL armor. Not like the mongrelized collection of random animal pelts stitched together Aven wore. This was REAL, honest-to-Chief God, metal plate armor made for a REAL soldier. Not some backwater constable. Aven rapped her knuckle against the breastplate. A soft bong resonated through the empty armor. She compared her wrist to the size of the bracer on the armor. It looked like it would be a good fit…

Why not? This might be something she could haul back to Aerifor to refurbish. That way, she could have some protection if something other than wolves attacked the town.

Removing the armor piece by piece from the rack, Aven began putting the suit of armor on. While it was clearly made for a man a bit bigger than herself, it fit comfortably if she left her armor on. The cool night wind and frigid metal chilled her at first, but the exertion of trying to fasten the ancient rusty buckles and slide herself into he armor quickly worked her to a fine sheen of sweat.
At last, she donned the grieves, breastplate, and gauntlets. The gloves surprised her; despite their age, the joints in the armor only gave a faint grating protest as she opened and closed her hands.

“Now the boots…” she hummed to herself, pleased with her find.

The left boot slid on without incident, though it felt comically large. It shifted around wildly as she teetered to position her leg over the right boot. Sliding her foot inside, her toe connected with something warm and slimy.

Aven winced and retracted her foot, thinking that an animal had ‘used’ the boot prior to her finding it, but the sensation followed her foot upward. Looking down, Aven’s eyes widened in horror as she spied a gleaming pink tendril latched onto her foot.

Aven screamed as the blob shot out of the boot and into her legging. Try as she may to tear the armor off, the ancient leather straps held fast as the slime slithered up her body. Aven’s voice hitched as the warm liquid found it’s way into her nethers, unceremoniously penetrating her while another gob traced its way up her spine. Her thrashing changed into a bucking motion as she flung her hips back and forth in discomfort as the goo wriggled inside her. At last, her cries were silenced as a membrane of slime stretched across her mouth, relegating all breathing to her nose.

“Easy there, darling. This won’t take long~”

Aven struggled with renewed vigor as an alien voice whispered in her ear. The slime worked its way farther into her, a second tendril sliding into her bowels. Her screams became punctuated by moans of pleasure and grunts of discomfort as the ooze began to move at a rhythmic pace. Aven’s flailing stifled and began to abate as pleasure wracked her body. The slime formed a sort of corset around its mollified victim, gently squeezing her torso in time with its thrusts. Multi-stemmed tentacles reached up to tickle her stiffening nipples as it continued to violate Aven.

After a few torturous minutes, Aven could bear it no longer. Shivering with pleasure, she came and went limp in the afterglow. The slime inside her orifices calmed down as well, now merely an uncomfortable fullness instead of a writhing mass.

“Shh… That’s it… Just relax…” cooed the voice.

Aven whimpered into her slimy gag.

“I know, you’re scared. But I think that you’re going to learn to LOVE our little partnership. That’s the good news.” Said the disembodied voice. “The bad news is that I still have a liiiittle more work to do before you’re… ready~”

Aven felt the slime tickle the entrance to her womb as the slime resumed breaking her in. Tears of shame and humiliation rolled down her face.

“Aww, there there. I’ll take good care of you. I promise, when this is all over I won’t let anything hurt you again.”

A pair of lips kissed Aven’s cheek. The affectionate gesture was enough to give the paladin pause before she resumed her dismayed blubbering. The churning in her guts intensified and she felt another orgasm coming on, this one even stronger than the last. It was going to be a long night…

~~~~~~~~

By the time the parasite slime had finished settling in to Aven’s body, it was nearly dawn. Aven was too exhausted to cry, opting to lay prone on the dirt floor with a puddle of her fluids seeping out from the crotch joints of her armor. The slime had pooled nearby, coagulating near the small of her back.

“Poor girl, I’m sorry about that. It’s just the way things have to be, I’m afraid. How are you feeling?”

Aven let out a husky sigh.

“Hmm… Let’s try something else…”

Aven’s eyes rolled back in her head as something tickled her mind.

“Can you hear me? Good. I can hear you now too~ Oh my, what an interesting life you’ve led! What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this, I wonder?” echoed the voice in Aven’s head. She shuddered at the sensation of a voice other than her own in her mind. What the hell had this thing done to her?

“You’ll find out soon enough. For now, let’s get you some water and a nap. Up we go…”

Aven yelped as her body lifted itself up off the ground without her command. Lurching forward, the parasite took its first unsteady steps towards the door of the hut.

“Ooh, I don’t think I like this. How the hell do humans do this all the time?! These limbs are too stiff!” said the voice in Aven’s head.

“Then let go of my body you scum.” thought Aven.

“Oh! Finally acknowledging me, hmm? Anyways, how about I let you take over from here. Just get us to the well and I can take care of the rest.” Said the voice in Aven’s head.

Aven was too thirsty to complain. Staggering to the well, she collapsed against the edge.

“Could you stick your arm over the edge?” asked the voice.

Aven complied, knowing that the slime was only trying to help her. How she knew that frightened her; nothing should be this intimately bound to a person.

A tendril of slime slithered out from the main gob, down her arm and into the well. Another extended to Aven’s mouth, working its way between her parched lips.

“Ok, get ready. Here it comes.” Said the slime.

The slime began to pump water from the well into Aven’s mouth. Aven cooed in relief as the cool water rushed over her dry, bloated tongue. It was a bit earthy, but she didn’t mind the taste. No worse than the water in Aerifor.

“Lucky for you, we don’t have to go back.” Said the voice.

“What do you mean?” asked Aven aloud.

“Forget it. I’ll tell you soon enough. Why don’t we get you to sleep, okay?”

Aven nodded. Her thirst slaked, she meandered into the first hut where she had made the fire the night before. Embers smoldered on the hearth, but there was no need for warmth now that the sun was rising. The slime, despite being some sort of liquid, had stayed pleasantly warm even in the cool of the night.

Slumping against a wall, Aven settled in to get some rest.

“Here, allow me.”

A cushion of slime welled up around Aven’s collar, giving her a cushy pillow to rest her head on. She accepted the gesture without a fight, closing her eyes and quickly falling asleep.

“Rest well, love.”

~~~~~~~~

Aven woke with damp crotch. Never before had she experienced dreams so… licentious. Dreams of things she hadn’t even conceived of before today. Things that would get her excommunicated from the Order just for thinking. Excommunicated…

“Yes, I’m sorry to say that I don’t think we’ll be going back to those people…”

“Not going back…?” echoed Aven. But… that was her whole life! Everything she had ever done had been in service of them and the Chief God! She couldn’t turn her back on that!

“Why not? Where has that gotten you in life?” said the voice.

Gritting her teeth, Aven began to tear at the armor. It had been difficult to remove before, but with the slime reinforcing the clasps and gluing the armor segments together it was impossible. The slime greased the armor wherever her fingers touched, causing them to slide off ineffectually with every crazed swipe Aven took.

“Tell me, Aven. All that work, all that effort and for WHAT?! To be banished to some backwater farming village? A glorified herding dog to protect these yokels from wolves? You were the best!”

“Shut up!” roared Aven.

“And they betrayed you! They would NEVER let a woman like you go far in their man’s world. You know they’re corrupt! You ALWAYS knew. But time and time again, you came crawling back to serve them. Even when they saw you as nothing but a glorified baby-maker.”

Aven slammed into the wall as she fought to remove the armor. The goo constricted around her torso, making it harder for her to draw breath.

“I’ve seen your mind. You heard their whispers. What they REALLY thought of you. The envy. The vitriol. And you KNOW what they did to other women. What they tried to do to you. And yet, they had the audacity to call themselves holy men. You don’t have to serve them. You could serve yourself. Be happy, and fight for what YOU believe in. Life is far too short to spend in service to heretical tyrants.”
Aven collapsed, exhausted and confused. She began to sob. It was true. There was nothing for her back there. Even without a demon possessing her, she was doomed to a life of scorn and dereliction at the hands of her superiors. Simonists who were less pious than the common gutter thug, who had earned their power through treachery and fear-mongering.

“I can make you strong. Strong enough to fight for what you believe in. I love you, Aven; sudden as it may seem. I want you to be happy. That’s why I won’t let you go back.”

Aven found the slime’s words oddly comforting. She could sense that the goo was telling the truth, even though it was merely an echo in her mind.

“I-I… I don’t know what to do. Where will I go? What will I do?” wept Aven, slumping down against the wall and drawing her legs to her chest.

“I can teach you. I can show you how to live. To live for more than hollow ideals and those who hold them. And more importantly, I can show you how to live with others.”

“With?” sniffed Aven.

“Aven, you’re lonely.”

Aven winced. It was something she dreaded to contemplate, but something she couldn’t help herself from thinking about nonetheless. The men in the Order had shunned her, treated her as a threat for besting them in combat and training. All the women she had tried to make friends with would laugh and mock her behind her back, deeming her unweddable because of her masculine proclivities. A pariah amongst the very people she had sworn to serve, the only attention she received seemed to come from the people from whom she wanted it the least. Rapists, irate clerics looking for an outlet for their rage, or ingrates demanding that she take care of another menial task that they couldn’t be bothered with.

“Aven, what do YOU want?”

“Recognition.” Said Aven.

“Is that all? Why do you want recognition?” asked the slime.

“I… I don’t know.” Said Aven, disturbed by the fact she couldn’t put into words why she craved the approval of those she protected so much.

“You want to fit in. You need people who love you for who you are. And what better place to start than with a man?”

Aven gulped. “I’ve never really been good with guys…”

The slime jiggled as the parasite laughed. “Yes, I’ve seen the memories of your ‘flirting.’ You should thank your Chief God for sending me to you, lest you repeat those mistakes again.”

Aven’s face flushed with humiliation as she recalled the few fumbling attempts to show her interest in some of the other male paladins. Not one of them interpreted her advances as anything other than camaraderie. A small part of her was grateful that she never had to take it any further than that.

“I won’t take just any man you know.” Said Aven.

“So I’ve seen. You’ve got some high standards, you know that? I’ve read fairytales with more modest protagonists.” Said the slime.
Aven squirmed. The more she thought about finding a man, the more aroused she became. All her life she had fought to repress any lustful urges. Now that they were flowing through her unabated, she wasn’t sure how to feel.

“Embrace it. It will give you power. I will teach you to harness that lust and make it your own. Now then, we should get to training…”

~~~~~~~~

Aven swung from tree to tree on her slime tendrils. True to the slime’s word, whom she had affectionately dubbed ‘Goo,’ she was now stronger than ever. Her mind and body were quicker, and she now had strength beyond any normal human thanks to Goo augmenting her strength.

A sylph flew through the trees.

“He’s coming!” she giggled, before darting away.

Aven clambered into a tree and waited. Sure enough, the loud cracking of branches and labored breath heralded the arrival of another Order soldier. Goo’s tentacles trembled with anticipation.

“Him?” asked Goo’s voice inside Aven’s head.

Aven squinted, trying to get a better look at him. The man took off his helmet and wiped his brow. Pretty cute! Far better than the dithering militia that the Order had sent after her before. But there was more to a person than looks…

Quietly dropping out of the tree, Aven used her slime to cushion the soles of her feet as she landed to muffle the sound. Ditching her sword (which was more of a formality at this point) in some bushes, she let out an exaggerated cry of pain.

The response was immediate. Armor clanked and scraped as the man tore through the woods to reach her.

“You there! Miss! Are you alright?” he asked.

Aven clutched her ankle. “Thank the Chief God you came! I was foraging in the woods, when a monster flew past! I think I sprained my ankle…”

The paladin nodded. “I’ll get you back to Aerifor, it’s not safe in these woods. Can you stand?”

Aven was taken aback by his decisiveness. Usually paladins had to decide whether or not they wanted to continue chasing their prey, or save the civilian. Some had already chosen to keep chasing that sylph; she had dealt with them accordingly. No doubt there were a few other monsters waiting nearby to pounce on this poor fool if she passed him up. The monster community had grown to be quite tightly knit under Aven’s natural leadership. She had even conducted a few successful ‘marriages’ in Aerifor.

Wrapping her arm around his neck, Aven allowed the paladin to lift her to one unsteady foot.

“Now, Goo.” Thought Aven.

Tentacles burst forth from Aven’s armor, snaring the man’s wrists. With strength bestowed by a god, he shoved her away into the tree. Aven’s offensive was interrupted as Goo created a pillow to prevent her from being concussed on the wood, allowing the paladin to draw his weapon.

“You! You won’t get away with such treachery, demon.” He said.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I had to use that tactic. But I think you’ll forgive me shortly~” sneered Aven.

Aven pressed forward, jabbing at him with her slime. The paladin, to his credit, held off every blow with his sword. Sprays of goo soaked the surrounding plants as he cleaved to and fro, severing her liquid limbs. He charged at her with a roar of frustration. Aven dipped to the side, using a slime shield to deflect the blow away from her into a tree.

“Too slow~” she mocked.

The paladin raised a hand in a vain attempt to stave off the tide of sludge heading towards him as he tried to free his weapon from the tree. In seconds, Goo had infiltrated his armor and covered his nose and mouth. Aven tingled with excitement as she felt his package through Goo’s shared senses. He was already stiffening under her slippery caress.

Aven began to shed her armor, sensually letting each piece drop to the ground as she strode towards him. “Let’s have a little chat about your allegiances, shall we?~”

~~~~~~~~

The tavern in Aerifor was unusually quiet that night. After the most recent paladin’s disappearance, it was clear that there was something seriously wrong with the town.

“I don’t think he’s coming back.” Muttered a barfly.

“Of course he isn’t! I told you, The Flayer is out there!” said another.

“You and your Flayer…” grumbled an orchard worker.

“I told you, I’ve seen her!” insisted the man.

The table erupted in a chorus of groans or chuckles.

“Ahh yes, The Flayer. A beautiful woman with tentacles sprouting out her back. Flays the skin right off her victims and hangs it from the trees.”

“It’s true! I saw her rip a paladin to shreds with my own eyes. And when she was done with him, she looked at me. She had this sinister grin, like I was a piece of meat…”

“We need to get the Order to send us a new paladin. One that’ll stay put in town where he belongs.”

The table grunted in agreement. The young man sipped his cider. Surely the Order wouldn’t let anything bad happen to the town, right? Already travelers had started to forsake the town, citing the danger that the legendary “Flayer of Aerifor” posed. And every correspondence from the Order had taken longer than the last. Worst of all, men kept disappearing. No one wanted to acknowledge it, but it was true. Over the past two months, four people had gone missing. Of course, it was insisted upon in Aerifor that they were just leaving town in search of work during the slow seasons in the orchards. But they always disappeared without telling anyone, leaving all their possessions behind. No one dared talk about what was really happening in Aerifor.

In the distance, a bloodcurdling howl rose out of the forest. The young man sipped his cider.