The Last Demon Lord

The Demon's lair was within a days travel from Cubano. During that time Ana-Maria was mostly quiet and shy, but a few times Aron attempted to strike up a conversation. He told her where he was from, what his father and grandfather did for a living and what had brought him out in the direction of the town, hoping to draw out her own story from the sheltered girl.

In squeaks and muffled speech, she revealed that she had been at the temple of Liru since she was a child. Her mother had died in childbirth, and her father drank himself to a similar fate a few years later, leaving her an orphan. All orphans were raised by the temple. Boys were usually sent to apprentice with local artisans when they became teens, but girls were initiated into the temple. So the temple and Liru were all she'd ever known, and this trip was the first time she'd been alone with a man for any length of time.

She blushed after she divulged that last part. But even in her silence, her eyes kept wandering to his strong, muscled frame and broad shoulders. Strange thoughts of how toned his body might be under his tunic kept flashing across her mind. She tried instead to focus on his face. He had a kind face, she thought, and handsome, with short, spiky dark hair and intense grey eyes. But as he talked her own eyes drifted to his lips, watching them purse and stretch with every word that came from his tongue. She remembered that she'd never even been kissed.

Again and again, she tried to cast out the thoughts, but she couldn't free herself of the innate, natural attraction she felt for this man. But she focused on the mission before them, and led him safely to the entrance of the cave where she felt the strongest darkness emanating from. Aron offered to go alone, but she wanted to see this mission through, and told him that her blessings would protect him.

So in they wen, deep into the cave. At first they came to a dead end, but Ana-Maria felt power coming through the walls. Her hands traced the rock and found a hidden glyph. By reciting a prayer, she dispelled the glyph and the fake wall dissolved, revealing a new passage. The new path took them even deeper into the cave, until they arrived at another dead end. Ana-Maria found another glyph on this wall too, but this time it was a trap. Rather than the wall opening, the floor beneath them gave way and they both fell down the hole.

They slid against the rock and Aron was first to land. Ana-Maria was close behind him though, and her fleshy frame fell heavily onto him, making him groan out loud as he was squeezed between her warm body and the rocky floor. She apologized immediately and got up. As Aron rose to his feet too, he noticed that he was covered in cuts and his clothing was torn in places. He looked to Ana to check if she was alright, and saw that her habit, which had mostly protected her skin underneath was badly cut up in many places, allowing him a subtle look at her fine body. An entire back part of her attire had been peeled away, from her neck to her lower back, and finally he could be certain that the habit was indeed close fitting, and she really did have a beautiful figure.

To preserve her modesty and keep him from staring, Ana-Maria made Aron lead again. A short walk from the drop, they came across a couple of orcs lazily guarding a door. Aron caught them off guard and struck one dead before they knew he was there. The other panicked and charged him with his hatchet. Aron dodged the ill-timed attack and sliced at the orc's arm, wounding him and causing him to drop his weapon. Aron decapitated him.

Through the door they found a hall way, and a spiral staircase, descending deeper into the cave. It seemed to go on forever, but eventually they came out upon a balcony, looking down on a great dining hall. There the Demon Lord sat at the head of the table, dining with his four orc generals, discussing how they would soon conquer all of Soros.