66:05, Day 578, Year 58133

  Pilgrim’s Cavern, Shashvat Ananda (?????? ?????), the Realm of Eternal Bliss

  Consciousness seeped into Xin, dragging him from the void's embrace. Groggily, his eyes fluttered open, lids sticky with a tangible dread. The world was a haze of violet and sepia, a sickly sweet scent ensnaring his senses, as he lay face down on something soft yet repulsive — an organic creep whose color defied nature.

  Xin pushed himself up, his palms sinking slightly into the spongy surface, recoiling at its touch. He scanned the cave, its gray stone walls swathed in the same grotesque matter, dimly lit by bioluminescent growths that pulsed ominously above. They surrounded an opening through which a muted light trickled. A cruel reminder: they had fallen.

  Silence did little to soothe Xin's racing heart. He staggered to his feet, each breath an effort in the cloying miasma. Then he saw them — Lorna and Emmanuel, sprawled on their backs, faces serene against the creeping violet. Panic lanced through him; he lurched toward Lorna, her blonde hair fanning out like a golden halo tainted by the creep.

  "Lorna," Xin whispered, his voice cracking as he knelt beside her. "Wake up." He trailed a hesitant finger above her jawline.

  Her eyelids fluttered, revealing icy orbs that held a universe of indifference.

  "Let's go home," he implored, the words catching in his throat. "There has to be a way from — whatever this is."

  Lorna's lips curled into a languid smile, yet her body remained still. "It feels... so nice here, Xin," she murmured, her voice a ghostly thread as the bioluminescent light shone on contours of her rosewood visage. "Let me sleep."

  "Please, Lorna, let’s go home. It’s not safe here. Lorna?" he tried again, softer this time, but her eyes had already closed, surrendering once more.

  His gaze shifted to Emmanuel, lying motionless but for the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

  "Emmanuel? You still there?" Xin ran towards the Maridian and hissed, urgency lacing his voice.

  Before him, Emmanuel stirred. His eyes fluttered open, and within seconds, his battle-hardened instincts kicked in. He bolted upright, shoulders squared, legs braced. His hands instinctively went to the Kinetic SMG slung across his back.

  "Right. We fell through that gravity well thingy, and now this," With a practiced motion, Emmanuel brought the gun into his grip, the weapon humming to life with an almost imperceptible vibration. Its sleek, white-blue chassis gleamed faintly in the eerie light of the cave, the transparent chamber on the side glowing with quantum blue energy. Emmanuel's fingers traced the curve of the trigger as he adjusted his stance, the gun’s stock pressing snugly against his shoulder. "Any idea where we are? Somewhere close to the Moondust Crystal?"

  "Truth be told, I’d leave the Crystal behind for a way out of here," Xin's heart hammered in his chest as he quipped.

  The air thickened with tension as dark shapes crawled from the shadows. Hoverbike-sized monstrosities with slick, glistening skin like wet slate circled them, their limbs moving with a sickening grace. Segmented bodies, like armored beetles stretched unnaturally long, slithered forward, each creature's exoskeleton glinting under the cavern's dim bioluminescence. Razor-sharp legs clicked against the spongy ground, their tips resembling obsidian spikes ready to impale anything in their path.

  Their insectoid heads, crowned with a pulsing violet carapace, held rows upon rows of needle-like teeth, dripping with a viscous, luminous slime. As they drew closer, the low, rumbling growls emanating from their throats reverberated through the cave, sending a primal shiver down Xin's spine. Two sets of glowing, violet eyes blinked in eerie synchronization atop their malformed heads.

  "They’ve got some unique Radi-Mons down here," Emmanuel commented, his baritone voice steady despite the encroaching creatures. "Ready to deal with these fuckers the SIMU way?"

  “Let’s do it.” Xin nodded, his fingers itching for his 10mm Magnum as he reached inside his puffer jacket.

  He drew the gun from its holster, the weapon’s polished green alloy frame gleaming along its barrel. He pressed his thumb to the activation button near the trigger guard, and the gun made a soft vibration that coursed through his palm.

  But as Xin took aim at one of the Radi-Mons, something slithered behind the pillars, Something long.

  And as Xin turned around, that's when it emerged — a giant, eyeless worm with violet skin and a long mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth.

  "Cease your struggles, Sol people," the worm spoke in a low feminine voice, her rough tone crawling across Xin's skin like a caress wrapped in barbed wire. "My Jalraks will escort you to our nearest nest."

  "You can speak our language?" Xin’s muscles tensed.

  "I am Tanha, a Sūk?muc gardening this realm for our great Primarch," Tanha's voice resonated through the cavern, the timbre low yet seductive despite her terrifying form.

  "Primarch? You mean Skarn?" Xin's breath hitched, an instinctive part of him refusing the undercurrent of her demand.

  "No," the worm replied as she slithered closer, towering over both Xin and Emmanuel before tilting her head down. "If you seek to enter our Realm, you must undergo Parīksha?a – the Tasting– to determine if you’re friend or foe."

  "Tasting, huh?" Emmanuel echoed, the edge in his voice laced with apprehension. "And if we refuse?"

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Refusal is unwise, and frankly, unnecessary," Tanha replied, her tone laced with an unexpected casualness. "Unlike the brutish Fenris, the Rakshasa Horde has ways to make your assimilation comfortable and painless."

  The monsters — Jalraks, she had called them — closed in, their dripping maws painting the violet creep with saliva.

  “Right. Assimilation. Not exactly tempting,” Xin knew they were likely outmatched, outnumbered. But he straightened his form. Surrender was not an option when Lorna’s life was on the line.

  "But it is curious," Tanha mused, her voice a sibilant hiss. "The Miasma weaves more potently on Valorans. Your Imperial and Maridian flesh seems... resistant."

  "I don’t believe you can see who - what we are," Xin said incredulously.

  "I cannot see well in my worm form, but your scent gives it away," Tanha slithered closer to him. "It reveals where you were born, what you've been eating, even who you've been intimate with."

  Xin's eyes swept over Lorna, fear knotting in his stomach as he saw the violet creep spreading across her body. It had engulfed her hands, tangled in her golden hair, and wrapped around her legs in a possessive embrace. Her eyes remained shut as the creep crept up the wings of her trench coat.

  "Let her go!" Xin demanded as his attention returned to Tanha, the 10mm Magnum unflinching in his steady grip. His heart hammered against his ribs.

  Emmanuel mirrored Xin's defiance, his Kinetic SMG leveled at the looming worm-creature, muscles taut beneath his armor. "Release Lorna, or face the consequences," he intoned.

  "What consequences? Do you see how many Jalraks I have under my command?" Tanha tilted her serpentine head.

  "Emmanuel, I’d fight. Are you with me?" he said, holding his 10mm Magnum, eyes never leaving the monstrous visage of Tanha.

  "To the last!" Emmanuel echoed as he held his own gun, his white combat armor dented but his posture unwavering.

  Xin’s Omni-drone, Pawan, whirred to life and zipped from his pocket, appendages whirling with readiness. The green glow of its core pulsated with urgency as it positioned itself for combat.

  They formed a protective ring around the unconscious Lorna, backs to her, facing outward.

  "Then let it be so," Tanha declared, as though she relished the challenge.

  The Jalraks circled, salivating for violence as they converged, a cacophony of hisses and clicks echoing off the walls.

  Xin growled under his breath, each pull of the trigger sending rounds tearing into chitinous hides. The air was thick with the iron tang of blood and the sickly sweet miasma that permeated the cave. He trusted the familiar heft of his 10mm Magnum, its AI-assisted targeting system synched to his neural rhythms, guiding his shots.

  "Ah-dee-kahn-foh Baw-lah-eh!" Beside him, Emmanuel stood unyielding, locs lashing like whips as he cast Lunar psionic spells with one hand and sprayed SMG fire with the other. Blue-tinged energy arced from his fingertips, scorching the air and leaving Jalraks convulsing in their wake.

  Above them, Pawan hovered amidst the fray. Its healing beam — a stream of Medi-Vap’s cerulean mist — descended upon Xin, knitting together flesh and spirit.

  The Omni-drone then interposed itself between a slavering Jalrak and Lorna's vulnerable form.

  Sweat beaded on Xin's forehead as he continued the fight, his heart thudding with a singular focus: protect Lorna at all costs, while he could still draw breath and fire. But then, the pistol clicked empty, its grip feeling lighter than usual.

  As Xin reloaded with swift motions, a monstrous shape barreled towards Emmanuel. Tanha in her worm-like form, her maw gaping, lunged.

  But Emmanuel was even faster, his body bending to the rhythm of his leap. He sidestepped the behemoth, his Kinetic SMG sliding through three Jalraks accompanying their mistress before firing on Tanha's flesh. Black ichor oozed to the ground, and Tanha recoiled with a guttural snarl that shook the very air.

  "Is that all you've got?" Emmanuel taunted with a smirk on his ebony face.

  Bodies of the Jalraks lay strewn across the cavern floor, their violet eyes dimming like dying stars. Amidst the carnage, Tanha stood, her colossal worm-form casting an ominous shadow over Xin and Emmanuel. Xin's chest heaved as he stood between Lorna and the worm.

  "Take one more step, and it'll be your last," Xin growled, resolution in his voice.

  "There really is no need. Let me show you," Tanha’s worm form began to shudder, segments of her sinuous body folding inward. A metamorphosis unfolded before their eyes, flesh melting and reshaping with an unsettling fluidity. The towering monstrosity gave way to an ethereal figure — the naked outline of a woman, her curvaceous body lilac-hued.

  "Emmanuel...you see this too?" Xin murmured, a warning laced with awe.

  Her transformation complete, Tanha stepped forward, human in shape yet alien in essence. Her sizable breasts swayed hypnotically, untethered by gravity or modesty. Dark purple hair cascaded over her shoulders, framing her face and the violet glow of her eyes that pierced the gloom. "Do you smell it? The Miasma emanating from me?"

  "Oh God," Emmanuel whispered, his voice betraying an edge of fascination.

  Xin's heart raced against his ribcage, his primal instincts in sync with the drumbeat of his pulse. He found himself unable to look away, enchanted by the seductive sway of their opponent’s ample curves and the raw femininity radiating from her pastel light purple skin.

  "No, no, no, we must focus," he muttered to himself, but the words had lost their meaning in the haze of her presence. "Buddha, keep me grounded!"

  The Miasma clung to her, sweet aroma emanating from her sweating skin. As Xin's gaze trailed lower, he saw the vine-like appendages emerging from the folds of her womanhood, slithering with purpose. They coiled around her hips, forming a semblance of undergarments, a botanical facade of modesty.

  "Beautiful, isn't she?" Tanha's voice slid through the air, a sultry timbre that resonated with the cave's whispers. A sly smile curled the corners of her mouth as she advanced.

  "This is a trick," Xin managed, the taste of her scent clouding his thoughts, his resolve waning as he met Tanha’s gaze. But his grip on the Magnum loosened. "This has to be a trick…"

  Tanha’s dark full lips parted. Her forked tongue, black as the void between stars, slithered out and caressed his cheek with an unsettling tenderness. A shudder rippled through Xin, an involuntary response as her saliva traced a wet path down his skin.

  "Just let it happen," Tanha purred, her tone velvet laced with venom, her breath a heady mix. "Let go."

  Xin’s intuition screamed for action, his heart clamoring for Lorna's safety, yet his limbs felt distant, disconnected.

  Then, the world shattered in an instant of feral delight reflected in Tanha's violet eyes. Her grin was a flash of white teeth before her slender arm, deceptive in its lithe grace, smashed into Xin's face with an impact that resonated through his skull.

  Pain exploded behind his eyes, a starburst of agony as his vision tunneled into darkness.

  The last sensation was the sickly purple creep covering the ground rushing up to meet him, a nauseating embrace colder than Tanha's touch that followed the thud of his body.

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