Page 23 of Up from the Earth

Pride warmed my heart, but a gnawing hunger grew in my belly. I was not weak, though. I’d mended myself; the after-effects of birth helped along by my natural ability to progress life along through their innate course. The pain was gone; any lingering effects of a pregnancy or birth vanished, all except for the ravenous hunger that roared louder and louder with each second.

“I must eat—now.”

Food sprouted to life in moments after I spoke, fruit and grain and caught meat. I recognized the banquet I’d seen laid out before me during that second test, and unlike previously, I rushed for it like I might go mad without a bite to eat.

Primal, carnal, I tore into the spread with my bare hands, going for the succulent pomegranates and pears. Juice dribbled down my chin, and I didn’t bother to wipe it. I only reached for more, tasting my fill of the bread and cheese, the shank of wild turkey.

I could taste its death, see in my mind’s eye how it lowered itself before The Great Wolf and sacrificed its essence to feed the roiling hunger of the Queen of Cosmic Equilibrium, to feedme. The plants, too, the images of their reaping seared into my mind as I devoured them, swallowing down the elements of life contained within their cells.

Death could give life as such, but it could notmakelife.

The feast was refilled as I ate, clawing through the table of wonders to sate my inconceivable appetite. Not a single part of me cared for the way I feasted or how it might look or affect me. I was hungry, so I ate. I was tired? I would rest. Iwanted? Then, by all that was holy in this unending universe, I would take what would satisfy me and revel in the ecstasy it brought.

“Come. Come to me, Beast King.”

My words rang through the forest with potency, drawing about the shifting possibilities of this realm to draw my desire to me.

As he apparated into existence, leaning back against the altar with his arms crossed, The King chuckled from beneath his endless robes. I could just make out a smirk in the shadows created by his hood.

“Little Beast…you called.”

I dropped my chin, staring at him from beneath my brows. Flicking a hand to the side, I forced the trees and vines surrounding the stone circle to lace together, creating a cage of sorts. I wouldn’t have him getting away.

His laugh swelled, and The Beast King shoved off of the altar. As he walked toward me, he shucked his robe from his shoulders, revealing the glistening white flesh of his torso. Black fabric still covered his legs and hips, but the tattered edges drifted off into nothing like smoke. His black locks stretched out behind him into eternity, reflecting his feminine form. Even more intriguing, his fingers were tipped in black, and when he grinned—his white eyes glowing like moonlight—fangs decorated his smile, and a forked tongue licked out like a snake.

When he reached me, The King towered over me, forcing me to look up into his stare with a claw-tipped finger.

“So, then, my Queen…” His lips hovered over mine, his breathing ghosting over my skin with an icy chill. “...are there any other hungers you must satisfy?”

Twelve

When A Path Is Presented Before You, Why Not Make Your Own?

Thestingofpainpinched right where The King's claw touched my skin. I vaguely sensed the warmth and wetness of blood creeping down my chin, but if anything, it only made me more ravenous for everything this ancient being could do.

My ancient being. My King. My other half, made of infinite forms in the swirling chaos of light and dark.

Meeting his eyes, I stood proudly, unwavering and wild. Wind surged, called by my spirit, and a smirk spread across my face as blazing as wildfire.

“Feed me life's ambrosia. Show me…depravity.”

Being claimed by The Wolf had been ecstasy and wonder. I would not back away from it. In fact, I yearned for more. I demanded every experience my body could fathom. I wanted it all—pain, lust, taste, unbearable need.

It was as if I stood at the edge of a rocky cliff, the face shorn by centuries of the vicious battering of waves. It was beautiful because of what it had endured, monumental because of the testament of strength.

And so was I.

The King chuckled, that dark melody ringing through my veins. Time worked differently here. Lost to my thoughts, it could have been several moments on the mortal plane. But here, it was only the blink of an eye.

Because you are not mortal anymore, Cerri. It is as it was destined to be. Unending and expansive.

I squinted slightly as I peered up into the glowing eyes of The King. Our stares met, and quicker than a thought, he lashed out his hand, tangling his fingers in my long, pale locks.

“And if it is depravity you seek,” he leaned in, dragging his forked tongue across my neck and eliciting goosebumps, “I will fill you with it until your screams pierce the realms.”

He struck like a cobra, fangs hitting the same mark his other form had left. Electricity sparked through my veins, a swirling rush of pierced flesh and surging adrenaline. A euphoria all its own spread over me, a pulse of sensual release as The King gulped me down.

Stranger still, it did not tire me. I didn't feel my life force slipping away.

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