The Next Erased Title for Security Reasons

Part 4- Chapter 15: The Adoration of Cruelty

A/N: Usually I don't leave messages before the chapter, but I want to warn you. This chapter contains violence, and any faint-hearted readers are advised to skip the first and last part of this chapter.

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[Fast forward]

Azari, Meltinzer

Shadow sat beside the beautiful stranger he had met a few weeks ago, running his hands through the thick, silky black strands that covered his lap. The Behemoth slept in deep unease, his low temperature creating patterns of frost in his former lover's bed.

Something was so familiar about the fragile, snow-white naked body pressed against him. Shadow had taken the beautiful creature in bed, something he hadn't done in more than a year. And loved every moment of it. He kissed the frozen petal lips, warming them to a cherry red. A stinging, sweet sensation flowed through him; he kissed again. The ice angel stirred. Shadow pulled himself back.

"You're waking? More sedative, then." He whispered, dipping a cotton handkerchief into the bowl of herbal essence he had made. He squeezed the liquid into the sleeping man's mouth. A bead of sweat rolled down Shadow's forehead.

The beautiful creature had visited him a week ago; and knocking him out had been a herculean task. The man was clever; sedated apples, sedated wine, sedated atmosphere... Shadow had tried them all. He didn't know how he had got past the other's defences, to slip in the first dose of the Essence of Paralysis. Well, his last try, an oral feeding had worked. Shadow had taken the antidote beforehand, grabbed the other, and forcefully kissed him. It worked, and the gorgeous demon had been paralysed. But in doing so, Shadow had tasted the cavern, and had become addicted to the honey-comb of his mouth.

Shadow had used the Essences of Slumber and Paralysis mixed in minimal amounts, to render his captive submissive, to plunge into his sweet entrails. It had truly been addictive. From that moment on, the captive creature had been submerged, during day, in a basin filled with the two essences, and ravished at night, to Shadow's convenience.

[Fast forward]

Shadow was drowsy; the vapours of the Essence of Slumber were working their magic against the antidote. But he couldn't fall asleep. Looking into that creature's ethereal eyes, for the last three weeks had given him clearer memories on the past year. But remembering each memory brought him immense physical agony. He remembered the war, the side he had chosen... but that was it. The rest of the memories felt distant, as if they were locked deeper in.

He threw his head back and laughed. He no longer ravished 'it'. He ravaged 'it'. He tried to make 'it' answer his questions. 'It' didn't, but his memories were returning, slowly, but surely. He was going to torture the creature till every single memory was back. Then he looked up up at the figure tied to his bed. 'Its' pale, porcelain body looked as if it would break any moment.

He glazed 'it' with the Essence of Paralysis and the herbal paste called Sleep of Death, and left the creature in a deathlike stupor.

"Good Night, my Sweet."

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[Fast forward]

Saphniel had officially shifted the capital from Merdane to Azari. There had been some riots in the forest borders, but nothing of much significance. The new set of ministers and courtiers had been personally chosen by him, all young men and women, the best apprentices of the best scholars and generals of the Old Kingdom. He was radical, he needed radical assistance. And the ministers were only too happy to support him. They came from various social statuses and backgrounds, but not a single one was an uneducated country bumpkin. They had studied governance, warfare and administration under the finest masters from the reign of Naffsetar's predecessor. The sort of people who believed that, and to quote, 'words have more effect than weapons, but when the time comes and words are rendered incomprehensible; nothing is as efficacious as a weapon of mass destruction'.