Wishes for Darkness - By TeraS

The following story is part of the Collective Succubi universe as created by TeraS, HLS, and the rest of the members of the Hypnopics Collective...

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Wishes for Darkness
By TeraS
For Darkwalker on this, his birthday...

In the past, the far distant past, there was a mountain overlooking a lush green valley. Within that was a small town of a few hundred people. A small agricultural community that worked the land, lived their lives and made the best of what that time gave them.

Few ever bothered to explore the mountain that loomed over them, and if they did, they returned with tales of strange sounds, the lands above being unkind to them, and the thought that there was something there that didn't want to be found.

Some spoke of dragons and that served to keep them from the mountain and its secrets...

This remained as the status quo for generations until one day a lone figure walked into their midst. It was a woman, that much they were certain of, but little else, as she wore a long black cape over her shoulders that masked her form within. She passed from home to home asking questions of the mountain and the legends surrounding it as if looking for something.

In her second week of being among them, she had found a place in the town's tavern. Some approached her with tales of the mountain that were obviously fueled by spirits and ale, hoping to impress her. None of them did.

But one did.

It was mid-day when a old wrinkled man approached her table and asked if he might speak with her. She agreed and, after being settled, he told her of a tale that had been passed down in his family for generations. She listened with something very close to rapture as he spoke of a dragon of black and silver that was finished with the world, had decided to take his leave of it and fallen into the trap of losing himself for the dark that surrounded him.

In the middle of the story, she reached out a slim hand and touched the old man gently on the arm to ask, "What is his name?"

The answer was, "Darkness."

That seemed to get her attention. After asking several other questions and getting answers she approved of, she put to him the most important one she had, "Do you know how to find him?"

At this point, lesser men of character would demand things of her, promises, gold, something to extract a pound of flesh in return for the knowledge.

He didn't. His answer was instead a question, "Will you help or harm?"

Her answer was simple, "We will help each other."

Soon after they left the village towards the forests at the base of the mountain, riding a single grey horse to speed their passage along. The old man guided the horse into the forest at a good pace, knowing from the tales of his forbearers where the dragon's land started and where he would defend them if they were crossed.

After a day's ride, they emerged from the forests onto the base of the mountain. She was about to ask a question when it happened...

The roar, when it came through the skies above was deep, long and terrifying...

But she didn't flinch at it. Instead she just thanked her now cowering guide for bringing her this far, sent him back to the town with her thanks, a good sized bag of gold and a wish for him to have a long life. The old man smiled slightly before telling her to be well and do well for the dragon.

After he was safely away, she then pushed on into the lands that turned darker with each step she took.

The next setting of the sun, she found herself in a clearing halfway up the mountain, far from anyone else and paused there for a moment.

Then he revealed himself...

From the mountain's peak a dark form rose into the air and began to spiral downwards towards her. As it came closer she recognized it as a dragon. As he approached, the obsidian form of it was plain to see. Large, powerful, containing within the eons of it's life, it's world, and so much more. The wings flashed through the air as he sped towards this creature upon his land that was not welcome. Not wanted.

He turned and heeled over her before a long tongue of dragon-fire erupted from him, the white hot mass of fire blasting into the earth and causing all that it touches to burst into flame and becoming ash. The fires torn across the clearing, soon moving to, and then over the lone figure that had come into this dragon's domain...

The fires seemed to consume her, the fires bright and terrible around where she had stood...

Did continue to stand.

The fire had burned away her cloak and all that she had with her, but what it left behind was something that the villagers would not have understood had they seen her.

Long raven hair framed a lovely face, a pair of small red horns in her hair. A long red tail rose from her shapely rear, twitching from side to side. With her clothing burned away by the fire, she had taken some of it and made it into a corset of flames around her waist and chest, long sheets of it forming a wrap around skirt of orange-red fire that flickered and shimmered around her legs leading to her of high heels of fire...

Most would expect that a being of what looked to be obvious evil, would attack the dragon then, looking to bring it to an end or worse. But she didn't. Her eyes reflected the concern within them for the dragon that roared in, what was to her, obvious pain and loneliness and need.

She waited for the dragon, now paused in midair, to make a choice. This was the part she had no control over. She trusted in him to make the choice to approach her and not force them into a battle she did not desire to see. What she desired in this moment as something that only came fleetingly...

He circled her once, as if examining her from every angle before landing just in front of her, the last beat of his wings making the flames she now wore thrash around in the winds he created. His head came close by and after a moment, the ground rumbled as he growled, "Why do you not run?"

She tilted her head to the side, "Because..."

That resulted in a gruff snort, "You are foolish little one. You are not invincible."

A nod, "I know. I am not the Queen. Just her Daughter. But I know pain when I see it, feel it, and know of it... I..." She rubbed her hands together, "I have been looking for you Darkness..."

That statement made the dragon's eyes widen, "For me? No one does. I am alone now."

Her tail waved behind her, "You aren't. I'm here."

He shifted around to look at her again, "You are... different... You look as one of evil and yet you do not have that in you. Why?"

That realization made her smile, "Because I learned that there are better ways and better deeds to do."

The tension in the air lessened a bit as he settled to rest on the ground. Taking a chance, she moved to stand alongside his flank, her hand hesitant above his obsidian scales before touching them softly. The dragon responded with a small, for a dragon, shiver of surprise. She continued to move around him, talking about how beautiful he was, how she had been searching for him for centuries now, and the joy she felt in being able to touch him and talk to him.

He interrupted her with a question, "Why do you search for me?"

She had moved back to stand in front of him, placing herself close to his face, "I have been looking for Darkness... My Darkness... The one that I trust, the one that I believe in, the one that I have and will forever love..." Her fingers passed gently over his snout as she gave the answer that they both knew was the only one, "For I am your light and you have need of me..."

For a moment, the dragon seemed to consider her words carefully. His features seemed to soften a little bit and then, to her surprise, wisps of silver began to appear within the obsidian, slowly spreading over his form, making the black mix with the silver until in place of the being of dark, was a dragon of silver and black stretched out above her.

He turned his head to look at his form and then said, "How are you doing this?"

"Me? All I have is trust and belief in you Darkness."

For the first time since they had met, the dragon smiled. Really smiled. Then a silver mist enshrouded his form masking his shape before it began to shrink and reform into another form. As Tera watched, the mists cleared and she found herself in the presence of a dark haired man in silver armor. His eyes held the wisdom of ages, the knowledge of time, and the strength of one that had found that he was wanted.

She moved to him, her right hand touched his cheek as he spoke, "I never believed what I had seen in time. A hint of a beacon of light coming to me in my dark, the light to draw me to live again."

She blushed, "I hoped that the story was true... That you could see the future... That perhaps you had seen me in a dream, that you would somehow know me somehow..."

He took her hand and then raised it to his lips, placing a kiss upon it. Then still holding it he spoke, "I haven't seen any light in my world for ages. Why would you be that to a being like me?"

Tera placed her hand over his, "Because the light needs her darkness... She has been without him for far too long..."

Darkness placed one arm protectively around her waist, "Then Darkness shall never leave his Light."

And neither of them ever did...