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The sun crept higher into the sky, as the girl trudged on, hopelessly ever forward. Its light was growing more and more intense, its heat blanketing the desert. She wasn’t sure how many more hours she could take like this. Or how many minutes, even.She wasn’t sure how she had been separated from the others. The sight of a passing beast caught in the corner of her eye, perhaps. Something had caused her to stumble down the dunes of sand, with man and lacooda alike passing over her, continuing on without a second thought. Leaving her lying in the sand, dazed and motionless. By the time she attempted to gather herself up and called out to them, screaming into the empty desert, they were already long gone. Disappeared, off into the sands and early morning light.It had nearly reached noon by now. The girl continued walking on aimlessly. At first after the others, but in time she no longer knew what direction that might be. But she walked on anyway. Choosing not to would mean nothing more than lying down to die. She had no food, no water. Nothing but the tattered clothes on her back.Not for the first time today, she pleaded for Lord Zerato’s guidance. Silently, not to waste even a breath, speaking aloud. But she pleaded all the same. Desperate for anything but the featureless expanse of desert before her, just the same as behind her.The girl started to make out a looming white structure, far off in the distance, rising above the horizon. Her eyes widened, stopping in her tracks. She had seen it once before, she realized, on a tapestry in the city. The stair steps rising into bold, marble pillars, entering into some grand plaza. Resting atop a mass of stone suspended in midair. It was the home of angels. A sanctuary for the weary.It wasn’t real.The desert made her see things, the same as anyone else. Though she was growing desperate and exhausted, the girl could still not delude herself with false hope. There were no angels here, only the endless sands, stretching out ever onward.The girl kept walking. The stone structures melted back into sand and sky. But not entirely… there was something still out there. Far off into the distance, but growing closer with every step. Perhaps this too was nothing more than the desert heat, but the girl headed for it nonetheless. If it was nothing, this direction was still no worse than any other. And if there was anything out there…She didn’t know how long she kept walking after that, but her destination never faded. Indistinct shapes grew more colorful, a thick, green patch within the featureless desert. Trees. Water. The girl never quite believed it. Not until she had closed the entire distance, and could almost touch it with her hands.An oasis. A sanctuary made not by men or angels, but by a simple pool of water. Providing life to the trees and smaller grasses growing around it. And to any desert traveler who managed to reach it.The girl collapsed under the shade of the desert palms. If she had to pick a spot to lie down and die, this felt much more palatable. In the hot desert sands, no one would ever find her. But here, she could convince herself someone might come. It made it easier to accept giving up, to appease that faint hope she couldn’t quite manage to squash completely.She let out a breath, and sucked in the cool air beneath the shelter of trees. Perhaps Lord Zerato had led her here after all. Perhaps no one would come, and she would starve to death, or some scorpion or viper would find her first, for a quicker end. It was out of her hands now. There was nowhere left to go, only to accept whatever would come of her.After far too short a rest, the girl’s thirst won out over her exhaustion, and she crept towards the edge of the pool, kneeling alongside it, in between sparse patches of grasses. She cupped her hands to drink several times. The cool water ran through her, filling the emptiness inside her. At least in part. Maybe she would grow brave enough to find an animal to kill and eat, or see if there was anything edible among the meager plantlife. But for now, her hunger was a numb, distant thing. Much easier to ignore, with the water and the shade.Over the calm waters of the oasis, the air began to shimmer. The girl ignored it, as she retreated back into the palms. She leaned up against a trunk of one of the trees. The heat of the desert could still play tricks, even when it wasn’t melting the mind itself. She closed her eyes, shutting herself off from such nonsense. From the reality of her situation. She could just relax, until she grew too weak to do anything else.A cool breeze ran past her face. It was quite chilling, compared to the hot desert air she had suffered through for so many hours. And for so many days before that, even before she had been separated from the others. But she was at peace now. Maybe she didn’t even want them to find her again. The girl hadn’t been happy there, either. Here, she could at least disappear on her own terms, without all the shouting and the threats and the—The girl let out a sigh. There was no point in dwelling on all that. She was out here alone. Free. Free to live, for this short while. Free to die, sometime after that. But right now, she could lie here as she pleased, let the minutes and hours drift by. Enjoy the cool winds and sands against her skin…
“You could take your clothes off, even…”
The girl smiled lazily. She didn’t know where the thought had come from, but it amused her. Her clothing had protected her from the desert sun, but now perhaps that was unnecessary, with the broad, green leaves above her covering her body far better than the frayed rags could ever hope to. Even when she had first been given them, they had only been barely adequate.It was still a silly thought, though. On the remote chance another set of travelers did find her, she would much rather greet them as fully dressed as she could manage. One way or another, a stranger coming across her in the nude would not end well. Whether they were entirely pious, or decidedly less so…
“No one is coming, though… Wouldn’t the cool sand feel good against your skin?”
It was true. The girl didn’t want to believe it, but if nothing else the desert had amazing visibility. No one else was around for miles. Even beyond where she could see, she expected no one was coming. If the group she had… traveled with had passed this oasis by entirely, so likely would any other group following in their footsteps.It might feel nice, too. Her clothes clung to her, stained in drying sweat. There was no one here but her. There would never be anyone here, but her.
“Isn’t that dress nothing but a bother, now? Take it off… you are free to do as you please…”
The girl felt an odd annoyance building. She hated the way her dress rubbed up against her skin. It was getting in the way, and it didn’t even have any purpose, now that the girl had found shade cover from the desert sun.She grabbed the hem of her dress, only coming down to her thighs to begin with. It was hardly practical in any case. Her outer cloak had been lost immediately, blowing away when she first fell, taken by the desert winds. She might as well have been completely naked, for how much exposed skin she had offered unprotected to the sun’s scorching light, as she walked. She hadn’t quite been burned, before she reached the shade, but there was an unmistakable line along her thighs, separating light and dark, as she lifted her dress.The girl pulled her tattered clothing over her head, arms and neck easily sliding free of the loose material. She discarded the dress, tossing it at a nearby tree. She wouldn’t really need it again, would she? It felt so much nicer like this, lying with her bare skin pressed into the cool sand.
“It’s nice like this, right? Nothing between you and the elements… The breeze playing along every inch of your body…”
The girl allowed herself a small smile. Whatever happened from here, she was content for now. She splayed out her legs, having no need to care for appearances. Lying on her back, feeling the sand beneath her, the air above her. Sheltered from the heat of the day. Indeed, it was almost cold, her nipples starting to stiffen, now uncovered and protesting lightly against their exposed state. The girl didn’t mind, though.
“You like it, don’t you? The way the wind licks at your sensitive skin. Above and below.”
She couldn’t immediately deny the idea. It did feel nice. There was a creeping feeling that this was all wrong, somehow, but the girl couldn’t pin down what it was. She was all alone here, there was no one she needed to hide her body from. There was nothing improper in enjoying how the cool winds ran over her skin.
“There’s no one watching you. No one to judge you. The wind alone feels nice… but wouldn’t your hands feel better?”
The girl felt her arms rise up to reach for her stomach, moving almost unconsciously. Her skin was so smooth and tender. She ran her hands up higher, sliding along until she found her chest… The girl wasn’t quite sure exactly what she was doing. Why had she started to cup her breasts in her hands? Why didn’t it feel like she could stop?The beginning of a moan escaped the girl’s lips—and she froze in horror. Something wasn’t right, but it was so hard to think. To spit out the answer trapped on the tip of her tongue.“Don’t be shy… It’s alright to touch yourself. You crave it… don’t—”“S-Stop it! Right now!” the girl shrieked, sitting up and crawling back to lean up against the same palm tree she had rested at earlier, “W-What are you doing?”She looked left and right, but there was no sign of the voice she had heard. It sounded so much like her, she could almost swear to it. She had nearly mistaken it for her own thoughts… but she would never harbor such crude ideas! It had to be some manner of devil, intruding upon her in a moment of weakness. Testing her resolve, when it had been so brutally battered by the desert.“Aww… You noticed me?”The girl’s head snapped straight up. There was something coming out of the trunk of the palm tree. Indistinct, a pale blue figure that didn’t quite seem to stay in one place. But as she stared, the shape grew more apparent.A woman. A spirit, floating above her. She didn’t recognize the spirit’s grab, running top to bottom, fine white cloth hugging her every contour. The spirit drifted down to meet the girl at eye level. It was impossible to meet her gaze, to not flinch away at the otherworldly presence as the spirit drew close.The girl tried to make herself as small as possible, but she was already naked—she had already caught the spirit’s attention, already been pulled into its designs.“Why couldn’t you just have a little fun?” the spirit asked, as she approached, floating just above the girl now, “This would be a lot easier if you had just played along, you know~”The spirit’s voice was cheerful, but only with the thinnest veneer of good will. Just beneath the surface, the girl could hear the malice dripping off her every word. She had wanted the girl to debase herself, to condemn herself so vulgarly, even on death’s door. It was the sort of evil she had always been warned about…“D-Don’t get any closer!” the girl warned, though her voice was weak, her body weaker, “I… L-Lord Zerato protects me… you can’t—”The girl yelped, as something cold ran through one of her nipples. The spirit had dipped her head down, licking at her chest. She squirmed uncomfortably at the sensation, of wet, immaterial flesh passing inside her own. She tried to raise up her arms, pushing the spirit’s head away, but her hands went right through.The spirit looked up at her.“Oh~? Lord Zerato, was it?” she mocked the girl, “I’ve not heard that one… you must be pretty far from home, dear. But your gods can’t reach you here. There’s no one in this oasis but you and me… and I don’t tolerate uninvited guests who so rudely reject my greetings.”The spirit placed a ghostly hand over each of the girl’s breasts, palms sinking into the skin, ever so slightly. The girl’s nipples were hardening under the added chill, the nonexistent pressure bearing down on her. She silently prayed for a rescue, but knew the hope was too foolish to voice out loud. Instead, she let out only a small whimper. Lord Zerato hadn’t saved her, when she was taken from her home. Why would he come now, in this strange, distant land?“I-I won’t do it!” the girl said, voice wavering. All she had left was this last refusal. The spirit couldn’t really touch her, just give a compelling illusion. The girl wouldn’t be tricked into this… if she was to die, she would at least stay pure. Until her soul could be accepted by that beckoning light.“You… you…” the spirit was growing more agitated, “You think you have a choice? You think you have the right to intrude on my oasis, to refuse me?”The girl tried to back away from the spirit, but there was no more room left to retreat. Her face drew closer, staring the girl down, daring her to try to fight back. Her face filled the girl’s entire vision, though a hint of the flowering cacti behind her could still be seen, the spirit’s translucent blue form not quite solid.The spirit’s lips pressed against hers. The girl tried to scream, tried to pull away, but she found it so very hard to move. The spirit’s tongue went straight through her lips, tickling the roof of her mouth. Moving upwards, pressing her lips against her forehead, the girl felt something wet and rough running along the inside of her skull. Making it so hard to think. So hard to muster the will to try to run away.
“Just let it happen, dear.”
The voice was in her head again. The spirit talking to her, without needing to speak. Digging into her mind, sinking deeper into her. All over her body, the girl could feel the spirit pressing into her. She was trying to get in, and the girl had no idea how she could stop her.
“It’s too late for that… You had your chance to choose my mercy. Now, you will get none. No mercy… No choice…”
The spirit could hear her every thought now, the girl suspected. She was getting closer and closer, every stroke of the spirit’s tongue prying at her mind, numbing the girl’s thoughts. Every passing moment made her limbs grow heavier, less responsive.One of the girl’s hands clenched into a fist, without warning. The girl had given up on trying to move, though. She could hardly even feel her arms.“Ah~, that’s better, isn’t it?”The girl felt her arms stretch out wide, her back curving back. That voice… it had been the spirit. But she had said the words herself!She tried to shut her mouth. Clamp a hand over it to silence herself. She couldn’t move at all.“I know you’re still in there, somewhere. Just lie back and enjoy, okay?”The spirit ran the girl’s hands up and down her body. She could still feel everything, even though she couldn’t control her movements—as if this were all some terrible dream.“You shouldn’t have been so difficult, don’t you see how nice this can be?”The spirit groped at her breast with one hand. The girl couldn’t even wince, despite how horrible it all felt. The spirit controlled even her expression, a cruel grin forming instead. She wouldn’t be satisfied with just this much, not when the girl could do nothing to stop her anyway.“Have you ever touched yourself before? I could almost forgive you, if you had no idea how amazing it is. Almost…”The girl’s other hand drifted down lower, down between her thighs. She tried in vain to tug it away, to stall the spirit from her inevitable goal. Fingertips brushed up against untouched skin. It burned, the girl thought. Her senses were lighting up, as the spirit began to slowly rub along her lower lips. She knew she should never touch herself there… but Lord Zerato would forgive her for something like this, so far out of her control. Right?…If he hadn’t already abandoned her.The girl didn’t know what she had done wrong, to end up like this. Abandoned by the world, left in the hands of this evil spirit, dragging her away from the light. Taking her purity. The last thing that the girl had left, the spirit already tricking her out of even the clothes on her back.Had it really been a trick? The spirit hadn’t started taking her then, she had stripped naked all on her own. Was that all it took for Lord Zerato to turn away from her? She hadn’t even thought of it… not nearly enough. The girl had bared herself off nothing but a mere suggestion. It was only natural that Lord Zerato would not look in the direction of a girl who would do something so disgraceful. Had she let the spirit in herself, throwing away her most sacred protector?“It’s a comforting thought, isn’t it?” the spirit mocked her, as finger teased at sensitive skin. Her words made no sense, though. It was a terrible thought, a terrible twist of fate.“Is it, though?” the spirit pressed, totally aware of the girl’s every last thought now, “You prefer it this way. You refuse to even consider the alternatives. That your precious Lord might be watching even now, as you debase yourself, witnessing your shame in full. Or… that he was never watching to begin with!”The spirit twisted her nipple, as she gave that last possibility. It wasn’t possible, though. The girl couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe any of what the spirit said. But… that was exactly the spirit’s point. As horrible as being abandoned was, the girl couldn’t bear to think of anything else. It was all—“Yes, yes. It’s all your fault, you dirty little sinner,” the spirit cut off her very thoughts, finishing them in such crude fashion, “It leaves you no better off, of course. But at least you can pretend the world is still fair and just. As long as you stay pure, that is…”The spirit spread her open with two fingers. Not going any further, but threatening what was to come. An unmarried woman’s purity was her life. Even the men who had taken her had respected that much, at least as far as they had dragged the girl along before getting separated. The spirit had no such principles. Rather, she wanted to break everything she could, violate the girl until there was nothing left. And then… the girl didn’t even want to think about what might happen after that.The spirit ran the girl’s thumb lazily above her entrance, letting the girl stew in her own fear and agony. The worst part was how good it really did feel, though. It would be so much easier to believe she had kept her body sacrosanct, that she had not yet fallen out of the light, if she didn’t like it so much. If she wasn’t so weak…“Is it really all that important? Staying untouched, staying intact?”Fingers rubbed against her outer lips, distracting the girl from her thoughts. She didn’t want to be doing all this… the spirit was lying again. Trying to convince her to give up that last precious inch, when the spirit could already tear it away all too easily herself.“Your precious lord has already forsaken you… isn’t that right? There’s no harm in going a bit further now, then. You might as well enjoy it~”Her treacherous fingers kept moving. Pinching down hard on her nipple above, poking just the slightest inch inside her below. Pressing up so close to that final barrier, the one the girl couldn’t let break. Even now… it was too horrible to imagine. No matter how the spirit’s touch might feel against her skin, she couldn’t let her resolve waver.The girl tried again, with all her will, to do anything at all. To kick and scream. To tear her hand away. All she felt was a single finger, twitching inside her.Her hands had gone still, she realized. The spirit wasn’t moving them… she could actually feel them again. And not just those phantom sensations, only feeling them move of their own accord. They were responding to her again, under her own will, though she still couldn’t move her arms or legs, or any other part of her body. With just this pitiful amount of control, the only thing she could do with her hands was exactly what the spirit wanted.It had felt good. The girl couldn’t deny that much. When she moved her finger—right at the opening of her dirty lips below—it had been an accident. But she had still felt it all the same. She could feel the weight of the spirit’s temptations, promising how much better it could be. How easy it would be to give in and throw away her last worth and dignity.She wiggled her finger inside herself, ever so slightly, her body acting so confused about why she wouldn’t continue. But she couldn’t possibly let it happen. Working muscles the girl could scarcely remember now, she tore her hand away, letting out an audible shriek of pure frustration.The spirit clamped down on her body almost instantly. Her arm hung in mid-air, halfway through its arc. She wasn’t permitted to move any further, unless the spirit allowed it.“You just insist on being useless to the end, don’t you?” the girl heard her own voice, mixed with otherworldly tones, seething with disgust, “I’m still going to deflower you anyway, you know? All you’ve done is forced me to do it myself. Made me want to make it hurt. If you reject my loving attention… all that’s left will be hate~”The girl wanted to whimper, but even such small reactions were beyond her now. Instead, the spirit spit into her hand, bringing it back down and rubbing it into her lower lips in such a crude manner. The saliva drying against her skin made it feel extra sensitive, but the spirit didn’t stop there. She brought her hand up again, this time sticking each finger in her mouth, one by one. The girl wasn’t sure what the point of this all was, but it felt disgusting. And so the spirit continued to play with her body, caring not for the girl’s silenced protests all the while.“Exceptionally loose whores can take an entire hand inside them, you know,” the spirit said indifferently, as if speaking of livestock or crop yields, “It’s a hard to acquire taste… but a nice way to break in pleasure slaves.”The girl’s fingers trailed back down, nestling in between her legs. She wasn’t like those dirtied women, she hadn’t let herself be used day after day. The spirit had to curl her fingers in together, just to make an attempt at fitting all at once. There was simply no room for something as ridiculous as her entire hand.The spirit would try, though. The girl knew that much. Fingertips brushed up against her physical purity, the small patch of skin standing in the spirit’s way. It would serve as no protection. The spirit said it would hurt, and the girl knew it had no need to lie. She had been told before that the first time always hurt, as a way to punish immoral women. And the spirit wouldn’t be nearly as gentle as most lovers.“Who knows?” the spirit sighed, spreading her fingers further apart, opening the girl’s tight lips as wide as they could stretch, “Maybe you’ll like it… I hope not, though.”The girl felt a tearing pain bloom inside her, as the spirit shoved her hand inward. She was broken, defiled, and had to feel every moment of it. Her fingers pressing up against the thin barrier with far too much force. The skin ripping apart in one terrible instant. The unmistakable touch of blood covering her fingers.The spirit continued on as if she hadn’t even noticed. The girl’s inner walls protested against the large and sudden intrusion, but were pushed back all the same. Made to open so very wide, the spirit’s hand dug around inside of her, ensuring that nowhere was left untainted by her touch.It was too much for the girl. Despite the spirit’s best efforts to shut her out entirely, tears began streaming down her face. It didn’t make her feel any better. Every movement of her hand, pounding against her most sacred place, felt as if she was the one doing it. The spirit controlled her body so completely that the girl nearly felt she was doing it all on her own. Defiling herself at the spirit’s sick pleasure.She had to endure though. To fight through all the pain. To deny any hint of pleasure. Whether or not Lord Zerato would accept the girl now, she couldn’t imagine trying to face him if she gave in here. There was little the spirit couldn’t take, but the girl would defend that last tiny shred to the bitter end.“W-What do you think you are crying about?” the spirit asked, her voice trembling until she managed to push the girl even deeper locked away inside herself, “You wanted this, remember? I gave you the chance, if you wanted it to be gentler… but you insisted I do it myself. That you preferred it this way!”The spirit was twisting her words, as her fingers twisted around inside her. There was nothing the girl preferred about this! She just wanted the spirit to stop. To leave her and never touch her again.“Oh, so holy and brave, are you?” the spirit mocked, “As wretched as you might think those girls are, who chose to pleasure themselves, none of them would be so depraved as to ask to be abused like this. But you wouldn’t settle for anything less than complete violation by another. How many other girls have ever been so thoroughly used as this?”She was taking her entire hand, up to the wrist at this point. The girl wouldn’t have even believed it possible, but the spirit still insisted on trying to press her way in deeper. There couldn’t be anywhere more for her to go, stretching the girl out so far in every direction. But that didn’t make the spirit give up, it only made the attempts hurt more.“Quit your complaining,” the spirit spat, suddenly grabbing harshly at her breast, bringing one of the girl’s nipples right up to her lips. She bit down hard. The girl could feel her teeth sinking deep into the skin, in so many different ways at once. Her jaw fighting through any resistance, the sharp pain from her sensitive flesh, the repulsive taste of iron against her tongue. The girl couldn’t cry anymore, but she desperately needed to.The spirit wrapped her lips tight around the puncture wounds, sucking greedily at the trickles of blood seeping out. Each time stung a bit more faintly than the last, until the spirit finally let the girl’s abused nipple rest, giving it a single parting lick before it fell away. The blood came out as only a faint trickle now, but her body still pulsed angrily where the spirit had bitten her. Reminding the girl of the pain with every heartbeat.“I could do the other one, too, if you’d like,” the spirit offered, “There are some slave girls out there, too broken in by their masters to know better, who prefer that sort of pain. They’d rather be beaten, maimed, if they are touched at all. That’s what gets them off, more than anything else.”There was no point in listening to the spirit. Every word she spoke had no purpose but to make the girl feel even more miserable. But the girl couldn’t just ignore the things that she herself was saying. Even if the spirit had thought of them, it was still her own lips moving, still her own voice ringing in her ears. Telling the girl how worthless and unseemly she was.The spirit hardly needed to lie, even. There was no purpose left to take away, no indignity she could put the girl through to make her lower than she already was. The spirit was playing with her, knowing the girl wouldn’t fight back. That all her hope had long since been torn up and tossed aside.“It’s not too late to beg for forgiveness,” the spirit whispered, as if sharing some intimate secret, “Not to your precious Lord, of course. He would want nothing to do with you now. But I might still forgive you, if you admit you were misguided and ignorant.”She pulled out the girl’s hand in a single rough motion, moaning as her palm stretched the girl’s abused entrance to its limits. She began licking the fingers one by one, covered in strange juices and a trace of blood.“All you have to do is say you want me to touch you. That you might like the feeling. I won’t even make you do anything yourself. You can just lay back and let me take care of your impure desires…”The spirit played with the girl’s unmarred nipple. Reminding her of the treacherous pleasure her body could feel. And the terrible pain the spirit was ready to bring, if the girl refused.The girl felt an odd pressure start to lift. Her fingers stopped moving, stopped teasing at her naked body. She stopped licking so lewdly at her dirtied hand. The spirit’s crushing weight was gone. Her movements were her own once more, for this small moment.The invitation had already been presented. If the girl chose to become the whore the spirit wanted her to be, she might finally be left in peace… but not immediately. The spirit would extract her price, all the more so if the girl claimed she wanted it.She definitely didn’t. Not matter how much the spirit pressed, she wouldn’t make her fold on this. So much had already been taken from her, but the girl wouldn’t let herself want in the same, awful way the spirit wished her to. With such utter disregard for all that should be held sacred.The girl wouldn’t dirty herself with her own hands, no matter how thoroughly the spirit had already done so for her. She wouldn’t dirty herself even in her own thoughts. Wouldn’t reduce herself to asking the spirit for this, conceding this final inch. Whether she would actually mean the words was entirely beside the point. If the spirit wanted to hurt her, it would need to go back to its brute violence. None of these games would sway her.“It’s so easy to think such lofty thoughts…” the spirit said, poking its head out of the girl for the first time, appearing straight out of her chest, “But can you say the words out loud? Ask me to do all the terrible things you know I want to do to you? You’re imagining them right now, I can tell~”The girl shut her eyes. She couldn’t take it. No matter how she responded, the spirit would still hurt her, one way or another.“W-Why?” the girl asked at last, tears streaming freely down her cheeks, “Why are you doing this? How could anyone—even a spirit—be so deeply cruel? To be so filled with hate…”The girl didn’t expect any sympathy from the spirit. No sudden act of mercy. But she couldn’t bear to give an answer, so perhaps this question would annoy the spirit enough to start hurting her again. The girl didn’t want that either, but at least once the spirit took over again she wouldn’t be faced with the terrible choice of it all.“Cruel?” the spirit asked, as if offended by the accusation, “Is that how you see me? I’ve given you every opportunity to see my better half, and you’ve pushed me away at every turn!”“Your ‘better half’?” the girl screamed, surprised she could even still muster such outrage, “All you can do is hurt and corrupt and take!”She hated the way the spirit twisted pretty words around. Trying to make the girl believe she was the one being unreasonable. That she should just give in…“I can be plenty nice,” the spirit said back, “to travelers more cooperative than you, at least. The men hardly ever complain…”The girl suppressed a shudder. She had never experienced a man’s unbridled lusts firsthand, but she knew it too well, all the same. Especially these foreigners, the ones who had taken her. They wouldn’t have had nearly the moral fortitude to resist. To hold back on their base urges here. Images of the spirit playing with these men hit her, even with her eyes closed. She wanted to believe it was another trick by the spirit… but she couldn’t be sure it was anything other than her own imaginings.The girl felt herself stand up. Her eyes opened, despite herself. The spirit had retreated back into her once more.“I can tell you don’t believe me,” the spirit spoke with not-quite the girl’s voice once more, “But I can be a helpful spirit too! And not just in ways… certain people might frown upon.”The spirit lifted each foot in front of the other, stepping out of the shade of the palm trees. The desert heat hit her like such a distant memory now. The girl had forgotten the oppressive sunlight. The hot sand beneath her feet. The way her body was eating at itself, even now.She had been suffering long before the spirit found her, but the girl almost welcomed the familiar feeling. Dying in to the raw, unfiltered elements… the girl felt there was horrible dignity to be found there. A dignity the spirit had worked so hard to strip away from her.“There are many dangers in the desert, aren’t there?” the spirit’s mocking tone came from the girl’s lips, “I know them all too well. Many a lost soul has met their end under my gaze. Far fewer by my hand.”The girl could believe that. The spirit could let the desert do her work for her. What purpose was there in killing a dying man?“Many died, but not all,” the spirit continued lazily, leaning down by the water’s edge, “Occasionally, I would deem someone worth giving a warning. Occasionally, that warning would even be helpful enough to save them. Would a being of pure evil do that?”The girl stayed silent. She couldn’t speak anyway, but she had nothing to say. She could only wait for the spirit to tire of these speeches, dreading her next intentions.“You doubt me to the end,” the spirit sighed sadly, reaching out into the grasses growing by the side of the calm pool.The girl’s hand burst into hot pain, each leaf brushing against her skin feeling like fire. She couldn’t tear her hand away. The spirit dug around in the brush, but the girl couldn’t spare a single thought at what she was looking for. The spirit searched deeper still, the pain spreading further up the girl’s arm. Through the burning sensation, the girl felt her hand wrap around something, smooth and round.“Oh my… some of the plants and animals around here are dangerous, you know,” the spirit commented, ignoring the girl’s silent protests to make the pain end, “Their poison lasts for days, but aside from the pain it’s not going to do any lasting damage. Not like this little guy…”The spirit brought out her other hand to cradle whatever she had found in both hands. It was some sort of viper, its scales angry and black. It squirmed in the spirit’s grip, as she drew it in closer. Then the spirit squeezed down hard with both hands.A second bloom of pain hit the girl, as the viper’s head lashed out at her. This time, the pain was accented by a pair of sharp intrusions, piercing deep into her shoulder. She wanted to cry out, but the spirit let her do nothing of the sort. She carelessly dropped the serpent, as it slithered back into the grass.The girl felt her heart sink. It had been hard to listen to the spirit’s ramblings, as her hand screamed at her with such angry, maddening sensation. But there was one word she couldn’t possibly miss.Poison. She could feel it, as the blood started to seep from her latest wound. Or at least, she could imagine it. Somehow, she knew. The spirit had killed her. Not all poisons were so deadly, as the spirit herself explained. Still some could be treated with proper medical care. But from the spirit’s tone alone, the girl knew it was over. She also knew it wouldn’t end nearly as quick as she would wish.“Hehe, how careless of me,” the spirit apologized lazily, though her voice was filled with twisted glee, “But something like this was bound to happen. The desert isn’t the sort of place you should travel unprepared. And refusing help from another… that’s just asking for something terrible to happen to you.”The spirit reached back into the brush once more. The girl braced herself, as best she could without any control of her body. Even if she didn’t know what the spirit was planning now, it couldn’t be good. And the leaves alone were already enough to force tears to leak from her eyes, even with the spirit holding her soul so tightly in place.Her hand screamed out in pain, louder this time. The sensation was so much more distinct. Her hand had found something solid, but not before countless sharp needles met her skin, and sunk deep into it, despite all resistance. The spirit grabbed on firmly, a new burst of pain shooting through the girl’s hand as she started to tug, eventually managing to pull something away.“A careless traveler could so easily miss the cacti growing in here, for instance” the spirit said, still keeping the same conversational tone as before, holding out the chunk of green plant-flesh she had torn away, “One misstep, and they aren’t likely to recover.”The spirit squeezed down harder, tugging at the bulbous shape, covered in countless stinging points of agony. Tears began flowing from the girl’s eyes, but not a single scream left her lips. She just wanted it all to end. The spirit had already killed her, why couldn’t she just let the girl die?“Ah~, now that’s better,” the spirit sighed in contentment, bringing the girl’s hand tight up to her chest, in a mockery of prayer. The spines dug into her breasts, the stray gesture clearly no accident. “Your fear tastes so delicious, your agony as well. But your acceptance is so much sweeter, dear. Are you happy now? Now that the end is in sight? But it’s not quite over, I’m afraid. Even if I pierced this cactus all over your body, it wouldn’t be enough to kill you. And the serpent’s venom won’t finish you off for hours yet…”The girl could feel the spirit gleefully drinking in her suffering. The pain was climbing slowly up her arm, now sinking into her chest as well. If the spirit could feel the spines at all, she hid it well. She could just keep hurting the girl, without any need to hold back. The girl couldn’t imagine feeling worse than she did now, but the spirit was nothing if not inventive. If her arm and chest were already screaming out so terribly… she didn’t want to think about the spirit going further.“Shh… shh… relax, dear,” the spirit hushed her, wiping back tears with her free hand, the one not pressing the torn off piece of cactus deep into her flesh, “Don’t worry, okay now? I won’t do something like that. I think I’ve made my point… so try to consider my words for the next life.”The spirit’s words didn’t reassure the girl. If she wasn’t going to use the cactus, it would be something else. She had already admitted to knowing all sorts of horrible things the desert held. Terrible ways to die. To not die, and suffer on.“I told you already, I’m not so needlessly cruel as you think,” the spirit said, but the girl didn’t believe her for a second.It was hard to even listen to what she was saying, with the serpent’s venom digging its way into her, the cactus’ spines protesting every slight movement of the spirit’s hand. And every less slight movement, that the girl knew couldn’t be mistakes.“You’ve gone through enough now, maybe,” the spirit continued, as if it was capable of feeling pity, “So I thought I’d do something to take your mind off things. Something to focus on, other than how agonizing every moment is, like this. Does that sound nice?”The spirit took the girl’s left hand, the one still unmarred from all these tortures, but twitching in pain nonetheless. The spirit had been avoiding it specifically, the girl realized. Had planned for this moment, when the pain became too great to muster a last, vain protest.The girl wished she could hate it, when the spirit’s fingers crept down between her legs once more. But there were too many other terrible sensations, she could hardly pay it any mind at all. Even the blood oozing from her shoulder burned against her skin. It felt so strange, but the girl couldn’t bear to take a look, even if the spirit allowed her such freedom.The spirit’s fingers began to dance. Taking things so much more gently than before. Standing in such stark contrast to the angry bundle of needles and pain rooted into her chest, hopelessly locked in the grip of her other hand. Through all that agony though, the girl started to feel something down below. Not enough to distract her, but too much to ignore. And she couldn’t lie to herself, to say she didn’t prefer it to the rest.“I can’t make the pain stop,” the spirit told her, the gentle tone in her voice providing a sincerity the girl knew was entirely empty, “But I can make you feel a little better, as you wait for the end. My fingers aren’t so bad now, are they? We didn’t need all this other nastiness, if you had just admitted that from the start.”If the spirit wanted to provoke some reaction from the girl, she had made the mistake of pushing much too hard. The words slid out of the girl’s thoughts, only able to feel each sharp spine, interlocking with its brethren as they held her in torment. That, and the spirit’s fingers, rubbing at some place the girl could hardly describe. The pain was growing worse, but only slowly, while the pleasure in the girl’s body loomed larger and larger.She couldn’t remember why the pleasure was bad. She struggled to remember why even the pain was bad. But she knew something terrible was happening to her, with every fiber of her being. The girl’s thoughts were nothing but a desperate plea, wishing for it all to be over. But only the spirit could hear her, and the spirit cared little for what she wanted. Only seeking to extract this last toll upon her, for some imagined slight.“Don’t fret, dear, the end is coming soon…” the spirit’s words prodded at the girl’s mind, but there was nothing left for a coherent response. The spirit didn’t mind. “Even when so tormented and abused, your body is still capable of what it was always meant for… you have to help me though. It isn’t easy to cum like this, under so much stress. I need you to focus on my fingers, to shut everything else out.”The spirit urged the girl on, but despite her words, nothing was happening. Her fingers rubbed uselessly between the girl’s legs, the pain too much to be overwhelmed by any other sensation. To the bitter end, the girl refused her, even when too far gone to understand what she was doing.Letting out a last sigh, the spirit rose up and out of the girl’s body. There wasn’t an immediate reaction, but the girl fell back at the unexpected return of control. The hand against her chest jostled wildly, but the cactus’ spines kept the two firmly locked in place. The screams from the girl were loud and agonizing.The spirit smiled, as she looked down at the girl, lying on the hot desert sand, her free hand still positioned loosely against her womanhood. Her fingers weren’t moving though. The girl had stopped. She could do nothing but express the full, passionate misery she had been feeling all this time. Though, the spirit had saved the worst of it for the very end. All the more so now, when the spirit’s measured control wasn’t keeping everything so tightly locked in place. The girl couldn’t manage to still her hand against her chest, as she thrashed along the ground, no matter how desperately she tried.The screams went on for several minutes, until the spirit’s patience finally wore thin. Having grown bored of the girl’s suffering, she turned to leave.The girl didn’t notice immediately, too ravaged by the pain, but when she did the screaming and crying came to a short, unsteady halt. She called after the spirit, voice wavering, sputtering.“Y-You’re… leaving?”She couldn’t even sit up to look properly at the spirit. Could only produce these two words—perhaps her very last—amidst terrible moans of pain, trying to keep her breathing even.The spirit floated up beside her, to let the girl catch one last glimpse before leaving her for good. She gave the girl a warm smile.“Trust me, dear,” the spirit said, “You’re happier this way, if I leave now. You wouldn’t like it if I kept going.”The girl could only let out a whimper of acceptance, as the spirit drifted away again. Retreating back into the calm waters of the oasis, and leaving the girl to face the end of her suffering alone, under the hot desert sun.If night didn’t come first, of course.