Promises upon a Lost Shore F/F feet

[ElFewja]

Promises upon a Lost Shore

A swath of dark obsidian splashed across the night sky like a canvas punctured by hundreds of drops of dew, the gem-like stars twinkling in and out like the laughter of fair maidens while they giggled at a quiet, secretive joke told in hushed tones. Pushing her arms out from side to side, she let herself fall backward, splatting against the ferociously dry boards while her wrists landed onto the edges of her boat, allowing her hands to dangle precariously over the bitter, wave-less ocean. The vessel lay deathly still, and the thin canvas that rose up the short mast slept quietly, dangling a few feet above her legs. Clamping her teeth down, she let a growl grumble in her throat as she stared towards the painstakingly clear moon and the cloudless skies. Turning on her side, she threw her hands beneath her head, tugging her knees upward and snorting loudly.

As she pressed her knees into her stomach, she felt the weathered touch of parchment as it scraped beneath her belly button. Groaning, she reached down and batted at the paper perched inside of her belt. Out of spite, the paper spit back, slapping against her stomach. With a deep inhale she closed her eyes while the muscles around her shoulders grew terse. The paper slipped downward, striking across her stomach before flapping against the board. In a quick motion she rose upward, slapping at the parchment before huffing and wrapping her arms around her torso, folding her hands beneath her underarms.

Ahead, she watched a star puff out of existence and into shadow. Blinking, she tilted her head and squinted, catching a whiff of murk that obscured part of the horizon. The scent of salt trickled across her nose and the illusory sound of water beating upon rocks hailed her before vanishing like a candle snuffed from existence. Pressing her tongue over her upper lip, she dropped her hand, slicing through the air and snatching at the scratched and torn parchment resting between the lining of her pants. The paper cried out in agony as she tightened her grip around it, tugging it from its abode before drawing it in front of her. As she unfurled it, the ends slashed at one another, filling the air with its rebellious tones.

With a huff, she glanced at the dark scrawlings on the paper, then tapped a finger at the outline of a shore. Tracing her finger up, then curving it around, she fended off make believe waves and imaginary, empty oceans before stopping and tapping at a red X on the western end of the continent depicted before her. Scraping her finger back and weaving it around, she examined the empty pathway she traced then glanced up, her eyes darting back and forth between the mysterious lines the stars formed between one another. Furling her lips together, she glanced back at the paper and bit the inside of her lip before facing ahead, towards the outline of oblivion that stole the stars.

A thin, wide smile crept up her lips, curving into her cheeks. Drawing her left hand away from the parchment, she pressed her thumb and forefinger on either side of her face before dragging them down and stroking her chin. With a chuckle, she thought upon one of the many tales spun when the boats gathered and formed their small, makeshift town: a lost, flooded castle as some refer to it, or others as a ghostly fort that appears in the middle of the ocean late at night, vanishing at morning. Tilting her head down, she pressed the tip of her tongue over the edge of her upper lip, chuckling as she quickly rolled the map back into a cylinder. Quickly returning it to her hip, she silently touched the curved hilt of her dagger before reaching for the nearby oar as the scent of treasure tickled her nose. In a quick motion she dunked it into the depths then pushed before dragging it upwards and slapping at the water on the ocean side of her boat. The boat began to bob forward, and an icy mist prodded at her face while the sail let out a ragged cough as air stroked the canvas.

A jaunty sea-breeze tucked at her bronze hair, knocking the strands off of her shoulders and letting them flutter behind her as she sailed through the crisp night air. Water slurped at her vessel as she paved a wave across the nearly flat surface, and soon she heard the crash of waves slapping against rocks ahead of her. The small ship began to twist and turn suddenly. With a sniff, she held the oar in place as she watched the sky above slowly tilt and spin. Looking around, she chuckled loudly before leaning over the edge and watching near invisible currents of water push her away from her destination.

With renewed vigor she leaned forward, eagerly bashing at the water with her oar as her small vessel fought with her in a vain attempt to spin off course. Ahead, she caught the glimmer of water rising and crashing against stones. Squinting, she caught the silver glimmer of moonlight bouncing merrily off of damp, jagged stones. As she dashed the oar into the water, she could feel choppy waves bobbing up to greet it, and her small ship began to point upward then crash down just as the black shore became visible.

The sail grew taut, and she could feel her hair floating behind her. Holding the oar above the water, she watched as she slowly encroached upon a tight knit cliff of stones from which a structure blacker than the night rose. Shifting about, she spun the flat end of the oar towards the emptiness before her. Within moments a great weight pushed against her. Letting it slowly push the oar back into her, she spread her elbows and let the vessel slow to a still while turning perpendicular to the rocks. The stones banged calmly against the edge of her ship, and she felt her heart leap in her chest as thoughts of what mysterious and otherworldly treasures might be hidden in this nestled away little trove.

Throwing the oar down, she reached ahead toward the iron anchor, gripping into the edges and picking it up. Her torso collapsed towards it, and she felt her muscles tearing while her trembling arms lifted it to the edge of the shift. Releasing her fingers, it fell with a mighty clunk into the sea, the rope hastening into the depths after it. Jumping up, she steadied herself on the bobbing vessel before planting a boot on the stones, her sole slipping forward as she thrust her weight onto it as water sloshed against stone beneath her.

Shadows hopped and played while the sound of water surfing along the edges of the rocks played about around her. Leaping up onto the slick surface, she spun around and scooped up a length of rope, fastening it to a metal ring on the vessel. Standing straight, she raised her arms to her shoulders and stepped back, tugging hard before glancing around. Spotting a jagged spearhead of a rock, she nodded then looped the rope around it before whisking it into a tight bow of a knot. With a step to her side, she brushed her hands together and began striding forward as a hiss of water rose up, splattering up to her ankles and covering the narrow pathway she crossed.

Setting her hand on the smooth cliff that rose several feet above her head, she wound up the slowly inclining pathway. After twenty or so paces she began to round a circular corner, where the path rose sharply. Within a few steps her head began to rise above the flat sheet of obsidian, revealing a black, hulking structure that rose high above her. Whistling, she felt her lower eyelids rise up as a giddy feeling swelled within her. Clenching her hands together, she raised her shoulders and shivered as an icy mist nuzzled the back of her neck. Continuing onward, her eyes remained glued on the cone shaped building before her, its walls rising without so much as a break between them as though the structure were carved out of one massive stone. Suddenly her boot slid backwards, flying up beneath her, and she stumbled forward. Catching herself on the wall of stone, she felt her weight press into it as her knees trembled and buckled beneath her while she glanced at the voracious icy waters that gnawed at the rocks far below her. Sighing, she quickly brushed a hand down her midriff and pressed onward.

The angle of the incline grew wildly as she wrapped ahead, so much so that her boots continually slid back down the damp stones. Digging her hands into the wall, she clawed her way upward as the pathway narrowed so much that she could barely fit her boots side by side, the hungry waves smashing into the wall beneath her, their talons eagerly reaching for her. Staring into those black waters, she watched them reel back, exposing a plethora of long, halberd like rocks. Gulping, she turned ahead and pulled herself up along the pathway as it whisped away into flat land.

Letting out a sigh of relief as she crossed onto steady ground, she hunched forward, gripping her fingers around her knees. Around her, she felt the world grow deathly quiet. Perking her ears, she brought her face up from the stonework and looked around. Stilling her breath, she peered through the dark veil of abyss, watching a lance of silver moonlight rise then sparkle out of existence. Glancing above, she gazed into those forbidden gems that sparked like flint across the inky trail of sky. With a shake of her head, she cast aside the foreboding sense of eeriness that sloped around her like a cloak.

Behind her, she suddenly heard a distant whistle of a cry. Turning, she glanced at the vacant seas as the noise rushed ahead, growing louder by the second. A sudden, maddening gust of wind slammed into her, knocking her forward a few steps while wind roared around her, scattering the ends of her vest while her loose leggings caught the air like a sail. Bending her knees and spreading her legs, she hunched forward, wrapping her arms around herself and tucking her hands at the ends of her vest. Through the wild zephyr an ear piercing cry scrawled down her backside like the vicious fangs of a predator. Though otherworldly, she felt a sense of familiarity rise through her as the screeching tore into her.

Funneling her brows downward, she let her eyes glaze over and she focused on the sound, picking it apart through the storm that rolled around her. It sparked upward, then disappeared in a brash heave before rising and falling again and again, ringing like a bell while cutting through her like the wind. It rose sharply like a wonderful song then fell flat like a punch to the gut. Narrowing her eyes, she thought for a moment that it sounded like laughter, except wild and crazed, as though the funniest joke in the world were being laid bare like an unrelenting whip cracking at one's backside. The wind vanished suddenly, and with it the banshee's screams. Huddling still for a moment, she shivered then rose, her face rolling up the side of the structure before her.

Shrugging and shaking off the dark winds, she recalled the myths of her tribesmen and strode forward gallantly, taking long, mighty strides while her arms flung back then hurled her forward. Her boots cackled against the stonework as she approached the wide archway, its length approximately three men across and reaching two high. As she crossed the threshold, she saw clear signs of discoloration reaching at eye level. Sniffing, she nodded, facing the light-less void before her. Squinting, she stepped forward, brushing aside the darkness and grazing good, stout wood in front of her chest. As she rained her fingers downward, she felt the strong boards, then near her stomach the singe of cool metal. Her fingers fluttered around the sleek steel, her finger tips dancing along the edge, curving with it then brushing up the bottom. A ring. Wrapping her fingers around it, she lifted the handle and tugged.

The wood refused to budge, instead pulling at her arm. With a sniff, she hunkered down and took a step backward before pulling again, this time throwing her weight backward. Her boots slipped ahead, and she fell at a sharp angle with the door, the soles of her boots posing up the side of the wood as she reared back, pulling with all of her might. Groaning, she relinquished her grip, stepping backward and letting the handle fall loudly against the wood. As though a incantation had been cast, the doorway began to creak forward, a noxious emptiness blacker than the night sky inviting her within. Chuckling, she fell forward, pushing her left shoulder and right hand into the wood so that it fell faster. As she pushed, her boots slid and slipped beneath her while the maw ahead gazed through her, seemingly sucking her into it. The door suddenly flew wide open and her unsupported weight crashed over the threshold into the abyss. A rush of wind ran through her, and she felt the sound of the door slamming shut ripple through her.

 

[ElFewja]

The stuffy darkness oozed across her skin, slithering around her like a vat of morose snails. It hung in gooey goblets and dripped down her spine, clinging to her backside and dripping downward but never breaking away. Shivering, she spun on her heel and turned, the depths around her refusing to so much as offer even the slightest hint of movement. Pawing at the vacant air, she felt her arm sink downwards and trail off as she stammered forward. Twisting her head and faced around, huffing as she sought any indication of her location. Sliding her right foot backward, she clipped her heel over the raised edge of a stone and stumbled backward several steps, the oppressive air forcing her to the cold stones that lined the ground.

Landing with a thump, she spread her hands out, feeling out the chipped stones and the smoothed edges of the tiles. Shifting her right hand around in a circle, she felt the center of the stone wash away, then fade back upwards before running up into a hill in a corner. Musty air clouded her sense of smell, and she felt dust cling to her hands. Pushing downward, she rose shakily then fanned her arms out, swaying them back and forth as she sought out anything in the room.

The tips of her fingers touched a wall, and she stomped forward heavily, groping for the wall with her palms before falling into it with her left shoulder. Sliding down slightly, she edged her back onto it then nodded, standing straight and pushing herself away. Slowly hedging a boot forward, she moved it ahead until her leg stretched to the end of its vigilant watch before seeping her other boot forward to meet it, running the tip of her middle finger along the smooth wall as she did so. With a shaky inhale, she took another step forward when a sudden needle of silver pierced through her eye.

Wincing and turning from the tiny, brilliant beam of light, she blinked several times then slowly twisted back towards it, holding her breath. A thread of moonlight sparkled through the air, vanishing in and out of sight like a strand of a spider's web capturing the jeweled light of night briefly before it escaped. Turning her head at an angle, she reached out towards the light and briefly saw the nail of her finger wink into existence before smoldering out again.

Somewhere above her the sound of a hinge creaking in agony howled, and a golden light rolled down like a carpet in front of her. A wash of dawn-light simpered down a rolling wall of stairs ahead of her that spun around the room, and before long the room was aglow with a dandelion colored aura. Raising a hand in front of her eyes, she turned away and blinked while taking in her empty and nondescript surroundings. Several paces ahead of her a narrow set of stone planks rose out from the wall and sped upward, nearly unsupported as they flew ahead. Glancing upward, she saw a hole form in the low ceiling, and the shy outline of a door barring the light. A long shadow stretched across the light, bathing a streak of the empty room back into abyss.

A bumpy figure shrouded in night stepped serenely through the archway. Placing her hand over her brow, she hunched forward, spying upward while a white, ethereal light danced around the figure, rinsing it in murky shades of transcendent haze. The figure shifted, and a voice as pure and cutthroat as a sheet of snow in the middle of a moonlight night rinsed over her. "Ah." A light click resounded as the figure fell down a single step of the stairwell. "A visitor at this hour," rang out as pure as silver, followed by another click like metal clinking against stone. The shape slowly wafted outward from side to side, long swaths of dimly light shadow spreading from the sides of the shape. "Welcome."

Edging her left boot backward, she turned her shoulder towards the figure and flicked her hand from the wall, dashing it down to her side and dipping her middle finger past the others, running its tip around the hilt of her dagger. A slow, smoky laugh regaled her, its sound rising upward like a wave before crashing down heavily. The figure shuddered briefly, and the strips of shadow-bound light at her sides vanished before the brilliance behind her again. A pendulum of darkness wavered through, masquerading before the light before swinging back like a great pendulum. "Please, I mean you no harm." The light whimpered before the darkness as a dark appendage wafted through it. "Come, friend. It has been so long since I've had a proper visitor."

The center of her being flickered like a harp string, yet she stood straight, letting her hand fall away from the dagger. Raising her chin and holding it straight, she nodded then carefully stepped forward, letting her legs feel the air as they they slowly crashed downward, her boots dabbing at the stone before her torso would shift its weight forward. Within several steps she crossed out from the threshold of darkness and into the light. Setting her hand against the wall, she quickly stepped between the shadows and onto the light-lit stones that seemed to practically lift her upward. Ahead, she watched as the figure twirled about before clicking upward and vanishing into the golden passageway.

As though in a trance she glided forward, towards the stairway. The steps propelled her upward and the world below whizzed and spun away, plunged to the hissing depths of her mind by the virtuous radiance that leaked from the doorway. As she neared, she finally caught sight of her benefactor. She stood, a hand pressed onto the wall and her form hunched over, her shoulders quivering sporadically, shaking the long length of crimson cloth that ran down her backside. She felt her boot crash beneath her, falling through a phantom stair and slamming into the heavy boards beneath her with a thud. As she turned downward, clenching the fingertips of the hand that gripped the wall and spraying her nails into the stone, she grimaced. The other woman shot upward, straight and true like an arrow before sniffing sharply.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the form of the red-clad woman turn, lifting a hand and wagging her fingers towards her. A wiry, crackled smile zigzagged up her lips, deep into her exceedingly pale cheeks. A faint amber light appeared to glow from her eyes, their color be-speckled by royal shades of ruby. Long black hair weaved down her backside like layered sheets of silk. She trembled slightly, lifting her shoulders and tucking her elbows into her torso as though a shock ricketed up her backside. Spinning away, she thrust her head down and pressed her hand into the wall, spreading her fingers wide before gripping them into a fist, tapping the wall with her knuckles before grinding them downward.

Lowering her head and turning it at a slight angle, she bent her knees slightly, spreading her fingertips against the wall as though she drafted them across a flat pond. Her benefactor let out a whimsical, lilting sigh that shifted and shook before raising her head and straightening her shoulders. Stepping ahead, she rounded a corner and vanished, her voice slapping at the air like a lost wave. "Are you lost?"

Standing straight, she twisted her arms together above her breasts, the loose buttons of her vest nipping at her arms. Letting out a smoky, "Ah," she stepped ahead, turning towards a hollowed out crevice that cut away through the smooth stone. Outside, she watched moonlight shimmer and dance along the waves, blessing them with a stolen radiance. Inhaling, she shook her head and moved forward through the tight hall, passing beneath several crackling torches as she spoke. "No, I don't believe so." The paper in her waist crinkled, and she rolled her right shoulder backward. "This island just wasn't on my map."

"I see," the voice wafted through the air like disinterested smoke. A mist like silence seeped through the room, curling around her boots like a stream before trickling down the stairwell, audibly plinking against the stone floor far behind her. Pressing her tongue between her lips, a light gust of wind blustered through another crevice in front of her, screaming at her like a monster and spraying across the torches, flaying the hallway with streaks of shade. The woman spoke again, and the wind suddenly died off, whimpering back out the window. "The currents shouldn't allow a vessel anywhere near this place."

"Mm," she chuckled, tilting her head downward as she smirked and flicked her wrist upward, striking away a strand of hair with her index finger, "Well, they certainly tried." Raising her head, she lowered her hand and pressed her thumb against her jawline, swiping her hand in front of her as she smiled broadly. "I'm just better than that."

A light chuckle came from the doorway, raining into the hallway. Her laughter rose sharply, then was cut off by a shaky gasp. Even from here, she could hear the woman drinking in air deeply as though stilling herself. Stepping forward, she glanced away from her shivering benefactor as she raised her arms and knit her hands behind her neck, prodding her elbows at angles into the air. Her footfalls echoed down the rounded hall ahead, and as she neared the doorway she could see another set of stairs rising away. "It's well that you could navigate the waters," her benefactor call. The tone of her voice dipped away as though scaling a chasm as she continued, "It's been far too long since I've entertained a guest."

Her belly growled and her eyelids tightened as she spun around the doorway. As she crossed past the empty stone doorway, she brought her left hand to her lower lip, brushing her thumb over top of it as she stared into an empty hallway. Close to her and in the immediate center of the hallway, two more entryways stood vigilant guard over the path leading ahead towards another hallway. Glancing at the masonry, she began to step ahead, the heels of her boots pattering against the boards as she swept into the narrow corridor, her shoulders nearly brushing the walls on either side of her. On either side of each entry way, bright golden braziers stood lit, guarding their dwindling flames from the terrors of the night.

Ahead, she saw the shadow of the woman spread across the far room. Her raspy breath rose and heaved through the still air, chattering like a squirrel as it unraveled an acorn. Taking modest steps forward, she felt the raised ends of her boots sag heavily against her, exhausted from their journey. As she neared the doorways, a gilded ray twinkled from the room on her left. Tilting her chin downward, she placed a hand on the doorway and peeked in, her heart popping within her chest as she gasped with delight.

Great mounds of gold coins littered the room, basking in the radiance of the torches and gifting the world with many glinting lights. The room absolutely shone with a buzzing wealth of light brighter than the sun, blinding her as she eagerly skipped forward. Licking her lips, she lightly clapped her hands together, smiling broadly as her eyes sailed over the hills of gold and the many colored gems that sparkled like red and blue flowers seeped in dew. Absolutely giddy, she she lightly clapped her hands together several times as she stared at the unbelievable riches that rested before her.

"Ah," the woman's voice crashed into her from behind. Gasping wildly, she hopped forward and spun about, her left boot sliding upon a pile of coins and kicking her leg out beneath her, so that she tumbled backwards into the pile of fortune with a boisterous clink. Shaking her head, she raised her hands in front of her face and turned away, closing her eyes as she began to bluster out an apology. The woman laughed lightly, her merriment trailing on for several long seconds, long enough that she opened her eyes and saw the woman place a hand onto the wall, leaning into it as she let her jaw hang open while gilded laughter poured from her. The long cloth that trailed from her arm dangled against the doorway, folding into a crumpled pile beneath her dress as she spun her forearm into the wall and pressed her face into her elbow, gritting her jaw shut into a toothy smile. A monstrous shadow rolled from her as she stepped between the lights from the hallway, consuming her and the mound of gold she rested on. Sucking air through her teeth, she peeked a voracious eye open, its iris spinning towards her while the edge of her eye winced. "Do these trinkets interest you?" she scrawled out, her words creaking through her wolf like fangs.

Her fingers curled slightly then froze, and she felt a fire blaze in her light. The ends of her lips curved, and she turned away, chuckling as a devious light glinted off a coin above her head. Dropping her hands into the pool of money, she pushed herself up as the treasures shifted and sunk around her, filling the hole she had created. As she rose, she felt her thumb and forefinger pinch around a coin, her nail scraping over some etchings. Lifting her torso, she stood straight before dropping her hands to her hips and spreading her legs apart, bending backwards slightly and stretching. Drawing her hand back in front of her, she glanced down at the oval coin between her fingers, letting it roll down into her palm with its heavy weight. An image of a sword stabbed downward across it, wearing a crown that fell over the right hand guard at an angle. Drawing her left hand to it, she flipped over the curious medallion as her eyelids sank over her eyes, darkening the world around her as she turned it back and forth.

Dragging her arm away, the other woman pulled herself back, leaving her hand on the wall. At first she spread her fingers wide from her palm, then slowly drew them back in, scraping her nails on the bricks as she inhaled deeply. Nodding towards her, the woman shifted about, striking an unseen boot at the boards beneath her like flint. "Treasures from the other side of the world," she said simply before closing her eyes and slowly shaking her head. Raising the arm that dangled at her side, she rolled her palm upward and fanned her fingers out towards the room, waving it past the treasures. "I have no use for these trinkets."

Her eyebrows furled downward, and she looked up while rubbing the coin between her thumb and index finger. All around her she felt light sparkle against the coins, piercing her with a hundred needles of brilliance. With a nod, the woman let her eyes open into crescents, her upper eyelids carefully covering the upper halves of her eyes. "You may take what you can leave with," she said simply turning away and fading into the hallway. Her shadow shimmied back down towards the stairs while her words continued to crawl through the air, "Though, I should first ask a favor of you."

"Anything!" her voice harped out eagerly, loud enough that it echoed within the room and banged against her ears repeatedly. Curling her toes within her boots, she felt her heart begin to flutter within her chest. Turning back towards the pile of treasure, the coin in her hand fell away haphazardly clattering against the ground and rolling into the corner as her eyes drank in the immense wealth before her. Giddy syrup coursed through her as she envisioned herself a few days from now, trading away the vast treasures on the makeshift docks of their moving city. Raising a hand to her beaming lips, she tilted her head downwards and chuckled quietly, imagining the look on the faces of the fisher-women that so often nagged her for hunting lost treasures. Oh, the looks of shock and malice fringed with jealousy they would spray over her!

"Good, good," her hostess called, the words swaying across the sea like a swath of foam. Far in the distance, past the swaying ships and the rising and falling docks, she heard her benefactor let out a wispy, too long cackle that crested into a short serenade of giggles that spiked upward before dropping like lead to the bottom of the ocean. An easterly wind blew, spraying leaves and grass onto the shore and through the ocean air while carrying the words "Come with me." Spreading her eyelids, she cast away the images before her and quickly strode across the room and into the hall, her short steps hammering away at the boards. With a quick glance to her right, she snuck into the hall and spun to her left, her head high and her shoulders straight as she gallantly glided ahead.

 

[ElFewja]

As she drifted down the hall a rolling wave of low, black smoke spilled out from the room on either side. The wave cascaded ahead, tumbling over itself. Without hesitation she stepped through the mists, scattering and squashing them with her eager boots as she pressed onward. Upon entering, the sight of the unimpressive room fanned into existence, its nearby wall curving into corners at either end. Torches lined the walls, barely two feet apart, casting a great bubble of heat and yellow light into the room. To her right and on the floor she spied a small brazier of sorts, housing carefully culled embers that spewed the foggy smoke that lilted across the room. Touches of lavender prickled against her nose, and she felt the tightness that gripped into her chest relax.

Crossing her arms, she turned on her heel, lifting her left boot then tapping it down as she turned to face her new found friend. She stood hunched over a table, her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach while a greased overabundance of merriment chiseled across her lips. Tilting her head, she felt her own lips crest into her cheeks while the outer edges of her eyes tilted downward. No matter how peculiar this woman was, she had no intention of turning down her generous offer.

Stretching upright, the woman closed her eyes and let her arms sway to her sides as she let out a stilted breath of air before inhaling deeply. Drawing her right hand upward, she pressed her palm over her nose and gripped into her face with her fingers, her smile piercing upward. A length of rope dangled from her left hand, swinging back and forth like a pendulum as she turned to face her, her head held high and her chin tilted towards her eyes. From her tightly wound grin her voice dripped, clawing forward and smothering around her as she dropped her right hand, waving it towards the table. "Take a seat."

A feverish grin overtook her face, and she happily galloped ahead, squeezing between the table and the curving wall it rested next to before dropping into the chair. A cloud of dust fluttered from the seat, sinking to the floor in a circle around her as she placed her hands onto the roughly cut table. Sitting back, she felt her backside sink into the chair, drawn into it as though it were made of the puffiest silk cushions. Laying her palms against the table, she glanced down, looking at the thing. The edges almost resembled bark, as though the top board were sliced straight from the trunk of a tree. Tilting her head, her eyes fell upon two pairs of narrow holes drilled into the very center of the board.

The woman next to her inhaled heavily before suddenly freezing her breath, her upper body twitching wildly before catching itself. Her smile cracked open briefly and she looked away, a light hissing of a chuckle searing her nostrils. Raising her hand, she curled her fingers into a wave that rolled into her palm. Ahead, the smoke seemed to burble into the air as though spilling from a cauldron. "Lift your legs," she said, her warm wards cascading over her like a waterfall and sticking to her skin, "and place your feet onto the table." A wisp of smoke curled up towards the ceiling before crashing downward.

Raising an eyebrow, she turned her head up and locked her eyes into the eyes of her benefactor. The red flecks in her amber eyes seemed to swirl, and the edges of her lips curved ever upward. For a moment she sat, staring into her eyes, feeling herself sucked into them and the light of the world fading around her. Her vision was suddenly filled with the room of gold coins, and she watched as the multicolored gems ran like a river down the gold. The colors of the jewels shifted many times as they trickled forward and she felt that giddy warmth grip into her once again. Even one of those gems might fetch a king's ransom, she thought to herself as the room began to buzz and spin around her.

With a shake of her nose, she sniffed suddenly and felt her eyelids widen as the crisp stonewalls came into focus. Shifting to the side of the chair, she pushed her legs out from under the table and lifted her right leg, clamping it down on the table and propping her weight against it while she let her left leg fly upward. The woman's lips trembled as a drunken glaze seeped over her eyes, their gaze focused squarely on her boots as she dug her heels in and drug her torso so that it faced the table again. Setting her hands in her lap, she sat back and raised her chin.

"Now," her comrades voice came, shaking like branches in the wind, her lips curling back into a hungry snarl, "remove your boots." Feeling her eyelids grow taut, she glanced back towards the woman, and just as her eyebrows left a shadow of decline upon her brow, the woman swept in front of the table, dropping her hands onto it and leaning onto them. With a quick lick of her lips, she glanced away, her chest rising heavily then falling away beneath her bright crimson dress as she glanced away, her eyelids narrowing. Drawing in another heavy breath, she looked dead into her eyes as she drew her fingernails in, scrawling her nails against the board before carefully brushing out several words smoother than sand. "I would like you to ask me to tickle your feet."

A light, surprised chirp pinched at the tip of her nose, and she felt the ends of her lips curve upward ever so slowly. Grappling a scoff of a laugh within her throat, she felt the light of the torches twinkle within her eyes as she curled her toes within her boots, gently pointing their tips towards the other woman. Such a small price, she thought to herself as her thoughts fell upon the vast treasures in the other room. Opening her mouth to speak, she bit off those words and raised her chin towards her feet while lightly rapping the table with her heels. "Go ahead."

With a wince, the other woman quickly balled her fingers into her fists and leaned forward, hissing out at her, "No! You must ask me!" The flurry of red sparkled in her eyes like a crimson snowstorm. Turning her face, she felt herself edge away within her chair as body compressed together.

As she lowered her chin into her chest, hiding her neck away, a mischievous smile crawled onto her lips. Biting into her lower lip, she ruffled her backside and sat up. Sitting upright, she smoothed her shirt over her stomach while letting her words sift through the air like smoke. "Would you," she said, filling her words with as much desire as she could muster while teeming with giddiness at the wealth that awaited her. Pushing her left leg forward, she tapped at the woman's dress with the toe of her boot, knocking it away while letting out a stately, "Please." Lowering her forehead, she looked at the woman through the upper recesses of her eyes while batting her eyelashes, "tickle my feet." The ends of her lips curved and she felt like a painted jester in some foreign court despite her best efforts to act in a way that might please her benefactor.

Spreading her fingers, she tapped her palms into the table and closed her eyes, inhaling a serene breath. Nodding, she opened her eyes then crossed her arms before turning on her heel and walking to the other side of the room. "Remove those," she said, the latter word dripping like despicable poison that sizzled against the floor. Letting out a quiet snort, she chuckled to herself as she lifted her right foot, pressing the bottom of her boot against the upper flaps before pushing it away. The bit of leather cobbled ahead, bouncing off the edge of the table and rattling against the floor as she wiggled her bare toes in the warm, moist air. Edging her bare foot backward, she cycled her right foot forward and plucked her toes into the leather. Wrinkles formed along her arch, then shifted away as she extended her foot, discarding the other boot. It clattered against the floor like a remorseful spirit shuttering out daylight.

As her boots buckled against the floor, pleading with her, she watched the woman bend over the brazier on the floor, wafting the puffy smoke up towards her. A clink of glass spiked through the air, and she bent up before spinning around and hastening back towards her. The lengths of cloth at her arms fluttered in a slow circle then flapped behind her like a prideful flag, and in her hand a twinkling light burnished before vanishing into her sleeve. Her boots clicked against the boards like the sands in an hourglass, and she felt her toes curl while her soles turned away from their future tormentor.

Stopping just in front of the table, the other woman weaved her hands above her ankles, her chest rising and falling very quickly as she slipped the ends of the rope into the holes, draping the frayed noose over her pant-leg. Waggling her fingers, she dashed a hand under the table, and the rope ends quickly reappeared. In a fast, heated series of motions the rope wound against her ankle. Raising her hand, she touched her very warm hand against her foot bottom, pushing it back slightly so that her heel rested just before the holes in the table. A blur of movement spun around her, and then the rope bit into her, binding her to the table.

Looking away, she scrunched back into the chair, pressing her shoulders firmly against the wood while she felt a gentle sensation rain over her other pant-leg. The whir of rope spun through the table as she watched light flicker over the glossy stones in the wall, and she felt other other foot pushed back, joining her bound comrade. Tightness nipped into her and she nodded, turning back towards the woman's handiwork. Pointing her toes, she quickly batted her feet back then alternated tugs, the table pulling at her and the rope refusing to allow her to budge. With a sniff, she felt a bit of admiration for the craftsmanship of the bow knots that rested on the center of her ankles, giving her feet the look of delicately wrapped gifts eagerly waiting to be opened.

The tall woman drifted around the table, falling next to her chair and plucking at her wrist. Flapping her feet, she tugged the toes of one foot backward while pointing the others so tightly she felt a whiz of calming pain curve above her heel and through the center of her foot before pulling that foot back and admonishing the ceiling with the bottom of her toes while tilting her other toes towards the smoking brazier. As the woman stepped to her side and gently pinched at her wrist, the bound pirate counted her breathes as she felt her sleeve tighten against her wrist before being tugged to the end of her chair. While the woman clicked away, she quickly spread her fingers, then balled them into a fist before spreading them again, tugging with her shoulder and feeling the weight of the world pull back at her wrist.

Glancing down at the short length of rope that fixed her arm to the chair, she heard the slink of metal click at her side. Light sparked upward as her dagger fluttered upward while the woman spun it in her hand, smiling as she looked at it, her left shoulder pointed towards the table. The muscles in her shoulders tensed as she tapped the dagger in her palm before running her thumb over the characters engraved into the hilt. “Shaylon? What a brutish name.” Huffing a sniff, the ends of the witch-like woman's lips wrapped upward as her iris spun to the corner of her eye, towards the bound woman. Fidgeting with her wrists, she licked her lips as she shifted about in her chair, the earthy scent of fearful regret stroking at the tip of her nose.

The woman continued to stride towards the center of the table, her torso shaking as her lips crested apart, revealing her sharp teeth. Casting the dagger towards the far side of the room, she watched as it clattered helplessly against the brazier before spinning on its hilt, the tip pointed directly at her. At once the crackling voice of the woman washed over her and her eyes spun towards her. "I believe," she began, her faltering breath shaking between her teeth, "your kind refer to beings cursed like me as vampires." Feeling her eyelids widen, she pulled with her shoulders, grunting as she tried to wiggle her wrists through the rope. The frayed ends only pulled tighter against her as she struggled. Shifting from side to side, she felt the rope bite into her ankles as the woman turned to face her, her eyes swirling with a blood red color. "Don't fret so," she said, a crooked smile trekking across her lips, "I no longer..."

Her smile curved upward, and her breath grew ragged. Dropping her hands against the table, she seemed to melt forward, her knees giving out before her. Closing her eyes, her lips curved upwards pleasantly as she inhaled a cool breath of air. "I no longer feed on blood," she spilled out in a single, heated breath, grimacing another wicked a smile as her shoulders twitched. Choking on a grunt, she froze in place and pressed her lips together, pulling her upper lip inward and tucking her tongue over it. Her chest flew at a rapid pace, rising and falling as she quickly spilled another series of words. "No, that curse was overwritten years ago." Peeling her eyes open, she gave a somber, glassy look to her bound, motionless prey as she uttered out, "The blood lust..." she panted out, closing her eyes and squealing as she thrust forward and clenched her hands around the table.

"The blood lust was mutated to a tickle lust," she breathed out quickly before clamping her teeth together and throwing her head back. Immediately she felt the skin on soles crawl and she curled her toes, her feet feeling more naked than ever before as she turned her defenseless feet away from her adversary. The woman began to breath in a hailstorm of breaths which slowly, quietly, began to crackle with laughter. Thrashing her head back and forth, she collapsed upon the table, the muscles in her arms loosening as she writhed about, wild, golden laughter fleeing from her. Her hair sprayed over her like a pile of dried leaves, and she lay there, her hair falling into her mouth and clinging to her cheeks as she cackled maniacally. Inhaling loudly, her teeth sparkled beneath her black hair as she choke out words between the crazed merriment that trounced her throat, "It—it," she began before gulping and throwing her head back like a bucking horse before slamming back downward, her arms curling over her head as she cowered together like a ball of yarn. Expelling a great, hot breath that spilled over her soles, pummeling her with a reminder of what awaited her. Still the gold coins danced before her, and she felt herself calm down. Perhaps she would remain true to her word. Spreading out upon the table, the woman let her right arm dangle off the edge as she coughed out, "It gets worse the more I think about it."

Pained streaks of chuckles poured from her, and she slowly reeled backward, drawing her arm like a bucket of water through a river before planting her hands in front of her, steadying herself as she bowed her head. "The longer I go without tickling someone, the worse it gets," she said simply, exhaling through nose, the ends of her hair dangling over her face and puffing upward. Licking her lips, she fidgeted with her fingers, tracing them along the edges of her knife as she sought to turn the blade ever so slightly and nick it along the rope. Her fingernail tinked against the metal and the woman stiffened, before rising and quickly spinning around the edge of the table. Plucking the knife away, she set the blade in her palm and glanced down at it before shaking her head and sending it flying through the air, clattering into the far, curved corner.

Slowly running her hands down her dress, her benefactor smoothed the fabric while the lengths of cloth that ran from her arms flit across the floor. Her fingers twitched and shook, and she slowly increased the pace, until she was very quickly patting her hands down her abdomen. Glancing at her out of the corner of her eye, she let a snowy bout of air carry her words, "You see, the tickle lust..." she snickered, sharply turning her head away. Exhaling, she nodded, then inhaled deeply before speaking, "The stronger it gets, the strong...er..." Bowing her head, she raised her left hand to her face, chuckling a smile into her knuckle. With a smoldering light in her eye, she looked back upon the bound pirate. "That wicked witch bound a curse of tickling onto my feet, and the longer I go without tickling another, the worse it gets."

Her eyes rolled down, and she stared at the bare feet curling together and cowering on the table before her. The flames of the torches around her flickered in the woman's eyes as they descended into a rabid, maddened look. Panting heavily, she stared for several long moments while tongues of warm air lapped around her soles, stroking them with an ill-fitting sense of peace that those eyes seemed to tear at. "If its any condolence," she panted out, her chest heaving as though dredging the words from the bottom of the ocean, "The other part of this curse is that I will feel everything you feel." Dropping her hands, she crossed her arms and reached into her sleeve, withdrawing a small vial that curved outward just below the neck. Swirling it, a misty white liquid frothed and bubble within it. With a clink she set it down onto the table.

Her iris' flickered wildly with sparkling gold and crimson as she raised her hands, cupping an invisible bubble of air around her feet while saliva glittered upon her lips. Gritting her teeth into a crazed grin, she closed her eyes and her lips moved in a whisper as though she were reciting an oath. "Ah," she said, "And I needed you to ask me to tickle you, or else I would get no relief." Opening her eyes, she smacked her lips before they reeled backwards into a devilish grin that chipped into her cheeks, "And with that, the final condition of explaining the curse has been met."

 

[ElFewja]

Without reservation she descended upon the pirate wench. The split second where her hands flew over top of her toes and into the centers of her arches seemed to last an eternity. Over and over again, she watched herself brace for the attack, pressing her elbows into her sides and her shoulders into her neck. Lowering her face, she turned away, gritting her teeth into a per-emptive smile while smacking her eyes shut. As the light faded, she watched her toenails vanish as her toes curled forward while her heels jutted ahead, curving her soles into long wrinkled covered sickles. A thousand thoughts fluttered through her mind. For a brief moment she saw herself walking barefoot on the beach, the damp sand clinging to her soles. She saw herself standing on her ship, desperately swinging back and forth as she reeled in the sail during a wild storm while giant waves rose above her then splashed over her, sucking at her naked toes. Another image of a bound woman sitting in a stockade rolled before her, a delirious smile plastered on her face as her boots were removed and pulsing characters glowed along her soles in the night, and she saw herself turn a corner and walk down the street, hawking her wares as a shrill shriek resounded across the many stalls of creaking wood and colored cloths that bowed in an out against the buildings. Through it all, her thoughts fell again and again on the tremendous piles of gold in that room, of the gems that peeked through like lily-pads on a clear pond sprayed with silver moonlight. With a deep inhale, she reared back, feeling the wind around her feet as the hands approached, and she saw a tilted crown resting on the pile, near the top. She saw herself grope up the pile, slipping down it over and over again as she reached for the crown. Just as her hand neared, the coins shifted and it tumbled away past her.

Like an icy black wind crossing the dead seas in the middle of the night, she suddenly felt herself whisked away, her thoughts robbed of her and the images of gold vanishing into black smoke. A soft warmth wrapped around her feet, pressing into her and grating against her like the welcoming, sun soaked sands of a familiar shore. She felt her feet sink into the depths while the coarse grains flitted around her, simultaneously draining her of weariness while embedding their own sinister desires against her. Unable to fend off the pleasant touch, she felt herself drift further and further away, charmed by the siren song that rang up and down her feet. Letting her jaw drop, she let out a wild caw of screeching laughter.

The woman's fingers rampaged up and down her flesh, spreading apart and striking as many units rather than a contingent force. They ducked ahead, flaying her, then disappeared in the shadows while another finger struck, eliciting delicious suffering upon her. With her thumbs she stroked the centers of one heel while striking around the edge of her other heel with the other thumb. Her pinkies flailed wildly just above her arch, poking and prodding with their serpent-fang like nails at the nearly untouched flesh that dropped away from her heels. No matter how she gyrated her feet, the rope held her still enough that she could not pull away from the fingers, and instead her own struggles increased the rate at which they stung into her, plucking ticklish agony from her. The other three fingers sprayed across the upper portions of her feet, the ring fingers calmly stroking the outer edges of her feet while the middle fingers streaked down from just beneath her pinky toe and across towards her arch, meeting up with the index fingers that panned over the balls of her feet. Flicking her toes and flapping her feet back and forth, she waylaid several of these attacks, though the woman merely twisted her hands and found new routes with which to pry further laughter from her.

She felt her laughter roar through her, blasting through the room, basking it in golden dawn light. Within moments she felt the other woman begin to cackle, her voice like the stolen silver of the moon. They began to sing and harmonize, bouncing off of and playing against one another, the music strummed along her feet echoing through her while the other woman synchronized with her. Reeling forward then stepping backward, she withdrew her hands, gasping for breath. "Goodness, you are ticklish," she panted out, an eerie light blistering within her eyes.

Gulping down air, she edged her right foot behind her left before burrowing her toes into her foot. With a wicked smile, the woman pounced ahead again, spreading her arms out and above her shoulders before diving at her feet. The single foot that stood, defenselessly protecting its comrade, took on the brunt of both hands as the woman's fingers criss-crossed against them, one hand pawing horizontally across the middle of her foot while the other clawed straight down from her toes to her heels. She moved like a madman carelessly excavating her foot as though it were a deserted island scantily covered in rumors of treasure in a vain hope to expose the secrets of her ticklishness. Meanwhile, her other foot cowered behind it, flexing back and forth, sending wrinkles cascading at the thought of forcing her other foot to stand firm and become a martyr for it.

Dropping her forehead, she pressed her chin into her chest, closed her eyes and focused on regaling the world with her painfully sincere melodies. Squirming back and forth, she thrashed with her arms and hopped in place, lifting the front legs of her chair off of the ground slightly. They balked and scraped across the floor beneath her, but for every movement away she made, her heavy ankles weighed her back in, reprimanding her for her folly. Despite the table reigning her in, she continued to dance about, shimmying back and forth, casting one shoulder ahead and turning the opposite direction before thrusting the other shoulder forward and spinning the other way, scattering her hair into a wild storm around her. The hands grew into a frenzied blur, igniting her sole into a twitching, smoldering mess of sensations while she continued to leap about as though hopping along a tightrope on a single foot.

Her laughter grew into a single, long note as she continued to cry and shriek on a single breath. All the while, the other woman howled and guffawed but pressed on, leaning into the storm she created. Without remorse, the vampire rapidly flayed her foot, dragging both of her hands down her sole at once, her fingertips peppering her with light, squeamish sensations while her fingernails dragged closely behind, instilling the deep terrors of the night in their wake. The moment one hand reached her heel, it quickly flew up then away, striking again just beneath her toes while the other hand quickly swiped down her arch before meeting her heel and beginning the process again. She could feel the hot pathways carved into her, the same patterns rarely trounced twice, leaving the memories to stew against her untouched flesh while the woman's fingers carefully worked over skin that had not been touched recently. Just as her voice began to crackle, the fingers vanished and the woman dropped her hands against the table, huffing in heavy breaths.

"This..." she heaved out as she collapsed towards the table, "This will... not do..." As the other woman inhaled deeply, the pirate lifted her head, her chin sagged back downward, pulling her forehead with it. Through the haze of hair in front of her, she watched as the other woman rose, crossing her arms and running her hands into her sleeves. In a moment she withdrew them, brandishing a thin string between her fingers. Rubbing her thumb and forefinger together, the string snipped and snarled, and within her chest she felt her heart sink while fluffy wonder brewed within her mind. Snapping her wrist back, she flicked it ahead, casting the string out like a whip towards her toes.

With a quick motion, she cast her other hand ahead and caught the end of the string, pulling it taut while forcing it between the big toe of her exposed foot. Sucking in air as the strands rubbed against her, she turned away while rapidly inhaling the lavender flavored air. Around her, she noticed that the smoke filled the room almost to the woman's knees while wispy, chain like tendrils reached towards the ceiling. Warmth soaked into her back foot, and she felt it pried away from her while the string screamed through the air, wrapping around her other toe. Her eyebrows shot upward as she felt the string tighten. Tugging her right foot backward, she attempted to pull her left foot forward before the string could be knotted, but instead her feet moved as one, tilting her pinky toes in the directions she wished to turn them. Grunting, she rolled her fingers up to her wrists, nipping her nails at the edges of the ropes while she alternated with her feet, watching them instead twist and turn as a single unit. A malevolent smile wrapped around the other woman's lips as her feet batted their toes and pulled at the newly knotted string.

As the hands split the smoke apart and sped towards her, she turned her head, wincing and gritting her teeth while curling her toes and tugging the upper portions of her feet backward, propelling the lower portions of her arches forward. For a moment she focused upon the mounds of gold, letting a jaunty grin conquer her face as the smoke slithered around her soles. Almost immediately she felt the fingers nettle in the exposed lower sections of her arches, mocking her embattled position before discarding any lingering thoughts of the gold and drawing her attention solely onto her feet. Just as she snorted out a snicker, the other woman let out a breathy guffaw before spreading her fingers up and down both of her feet, gusting across them like a brazen sea breeze. Clenching her teeth, she fidgeted about, snickering, while the other woman writhed about, spraying her hands madly across her feet.

Her strokes flew wildly up and down, her fingers spreading apart before falling into a rhythmic line as they curved around the upper or lower edges of her feet, the ranks reforming and spreading as they dashed the opposite way. Alternating one foot forward and the other backward, the cord at her toes pulled them together, forcing them to stand firm before their proper punishment. The woman's touches flicked back and forth like the despicable brush of a indecisive painter, flashing momentarily up her arch then down before dusting back up again, painting over the previous colors invoked against her. The repeated, light strokes carved a familiarity into her such that the state of prickling sensation against her waggling feet grew to the norm, outpacing what little silence her skin could savor.

Winding her shoulders back and forth in opposing directions, she felt her torso continue to spin downward, tightening further and further until she felt as though she were a tightly compressed coiled spring. Her blood grew thick, oozing through her like syrup, bubbling against her skin as she swayed back and forth in a vain attempt to shake off the feelings that boiled and bubbled within her. Through her teeth, she sucked in and expelled short breaths that mimicked the other woman's wild laughter, her own breath paling before her captor's. With each strike of the other woman's chilled voice against the stones she felt herself grow smaller, drowned out by the woman. Shadowy hands crawl up her shoulder blades and into the backs of her shoulders, their icy fingers biting into her as they honed her thoughts. A single spark of static rippled deep within her, and she felt the abyssal hands close around her heart as a thought formed in her mind: this other woman had no right to laugh harder than her.

The edges of her lips curved upward as the thought burrowed into her. Casting it off, it bounced through the air and spun backward, digging deeper into her. She leaned forward, tilting her forehead towards the edge of the table as laughter pooled within her throat, spilling in light giggles from her mouth. It's not fair, she thought to herself before letting out a piercing, golden shriek that fell short of the woman's. The muscles in her stomach tensed, and she felt the world sink beneath the depths as the smoke weaved in front of her eyes. Squealing as the woman sauntered across her arches, favoring them for several long seconds while the smoke washed above her head, she forced her jaw to drop and let out a forced, archaic laugh thinner than a needle. It rocketed through the room, dwarfed before the notes that the other woman sung, and she felt heat rush into her cheeks.

All along her feet she felt the woman's fingers clank and clatter like iron keys as they fidgeted around the outside of a lock, seeking the keyhole. She stroked and brushed, bashing at the outer edges, slipping up her arches and around the edges of the keyhole before dipping away inadvertently. The air within her chest rose each time the woman swept near the centers of her feet, and she held her breath, feeling the teeth of the keys click against the keyhole before skipping away. Nearing again, she inhaled another breath, holding it tightly even after the fingers scattered away towards the outer edges of her feet, harassing the defenseless space beneath her toes before diving down again. Taking in a third breath and placing it on top of the first two, she felt her stomach swell with the great amount of stolen air that waited eagerly, slipping through the seams of her being as she desperately pressed it downward.

Suddenly she felt warmth spread across and beneath her toes and the air that she held onto so dearly split away. She could hear the keys clicking with the gears in her mind as she let her jaw fly open and a scream wilder than a hurricane tore through the room, gobbling up the paltry tropical storm of her own voice. Flicking her toes wildly, she shimmied her feet from side to side, then rolled them together, pressing her large toes and the balls of her feet into each other while her pinky toes pleaded with her ankles to let them convene. A hiss like snicker roared through the room, and she suddenly felt sensation all over her toes and the bottoms of her feet. Each movement of the other woman's fingers landed against her tenfold, their tips whittling at her while her nails carved into her slightly above that. The sides of her fingers rolled and weaved between her tightly clenched toes, striking three or four ways with each subtle movement, and then the backs of her fingers swiped and brushed at the opposing foot while her thumbs wheedled into her arches. Howling, she found herself unwilling to spread her feet apart and instead pushed them more tightly together.

The stifling smoke burbled ever upward, swirling around her and pressing into her, smothering her like a blanket of peppered starlight. Within moments the thin threads of whispering void snarled around her, robbing her of her sight. Pushing herself down tightly, she felt the wood of the chair and table push back against her. Twisting within her seat, she clattered her heels against the table, fidgeting with her feet and flexing her toes while sensations soared across them. The world around her began to spin at an upward angle, and she felt her weight begin to sink backward into the abyss. All around her, she felt the smoke grope and fondle her, soothing her as she drifted further into the depths while what little light that remained in her world slowly faded backward as though it were running down the end of a long tunnel. Despite the feeling of being submerged beneath the ocean, her bare soles managed to remain above the waves, wafting listlessly, naked and exposed to the elements that prodded her.

Though she could no longer see them, her feet felt like a guiding beacon, anchoring her to the world. A yearning ached through her heart and she tilted her head downward, letting her jaw slam into her chest as she let out a long, crazed cackle that drowned out the faraway cries that sifted through the smoke. Her cheeks burned and her ribs gripped tightly into her chest while streaks of heat stung at her eyes. The image of herself in the room of gold flashed before her, and she saw the awe in her eyes as she stared ahead, fingering the coin she had borrowed from the pile. A roar of heat bellowed within her, and she saw the bottoms of her feet resting on top of that golden pile, her toes flicking wildly and wrinkles appearing across her arches before vanishing as though the image, too, was haunted by a pair of ethereal hands. Beyond the dream forced upon her she felt the devil's table pull at her, pressing into her heels and ankles and she turned, glancing into the hallway, feeling the table call her back to reality. A pulsing heat slithered through her heart and she shook her head, turning back towards the visage of her golden soles, a great dawn-light echoing from behind them as though they barred sight of the setting sun. The coin rolled between her fingers, slipping through them before falling to the floor with a clink and rolling away to join its brethren.

Fretting back and forth, she tugged wildly at her bonds while shifting back and forth, sending the chair sailing across the floor. Despite it all the table refused to yield her soles to her, instead offering them to the witch before her that scattered her crazed fingers across them. They laughed in tune, their voices merging and melding as they cried in agony, and for a moment fear swept across her heart as she felt at peace, truer and purer than ever before. Though she screamed with a frenzied storm of wild laughter and though every one of her muscles ached and burned from her struggles, in the center of her being she sat, quietly smiling in a calm meadow, feeling more like herself than ever before as she wrapped a cloak of blazing radiance across her shoulders. Beaming with life, she inhaled deeply as an awareness of her true/pure form lay revealed before her while the other woman continued to peel away layer after layer of falsehood from her feet. She smirked as she recalled the boots that had pretended to protect her for all of those years before quietly snickering at their defeat. In a flash she saw them fall from her feet, and watched what felt like a hundred times as she took them off, casting them aside and binding her largest weakness before her tormentor.

Huffing, she felt her body inhale quickly and then let out shrill, ringing shriek. At the end of that tunnel of swirling mist she saw the light growing bolder by the second while the smoke sizzling away from her. Her soles felt devoid of touch and fell listlessly, yet despite the lack of pressure against them her skin still tingled with the sensations that had tampered with them, goading her to continue to writhe and shriek. Without the wind at her back she felt her flails grow less animated and her breaths between laughs longer, until she limped forward, hanging over the table, held aloft by the bindings at her wrists. Her toes continued to wiggle as a slow surf of sensations washed over them before sinking back and she continued to chirp and giggle as though prodded at by some unsightly ghost.

With a whoosh the smoke spiraled through the air, sucking into the center of the room. Looking up through the sweat soaked strands of hair that clung to her forehead and cheeks, she saw the woman holding the glass vial between cupped hands while the smoke siphoned into it, a vortex of light and shadow flickering before vanishing entirely. The glass vial trembled within her hands as sinister black lines spiraled through the pearlescent liquids. Her lips curved into a wicked spiral as she looked at the glass, stroking it with her left hand and letting out a soft, sinister chuckle. Glancing upward, her eyes narrowed into slits, their piercing crimson hues boxed in by a strong outline of amber while flecks of gold sparkled within them.

 

[ElFewja]

The woman took a single step towards her, the boot hidden beneath her dress clicking quietly yet sending tremors through the room. Shivering wildly, she felt her head twitch and flicker as the woman stared down her nose while a malevolent, silver light sparked across her eyes. Extending her right arm, she gripped the vial between her fingers while dashing her left hand into her sleeve. A cold gust of air blew through the window, and with a loud puff the torches snuffed out, spilling breathy smoke into the moonlit air. The serene silver light throbbed alongside her heartbeat, brandishing the room in a feverish, heavenly glow. The light flickered up her face, casting moonlight across her neck and up her chin while drawing long shadows over her forehead while swirls of silver glinted off of her compatriot's glossy eyes. Time seemed to slow as she withdrew her hand from her sleeve, the light bobbing as she plucked a thin paintbrush with a pinpoint brushed. Twirling the brush within her fingers, she lowered her hand and stepped ahead, her footfalls laden with purpose as though she were an executioner.

Shivering with each quiet thud, she felt her eyes follow the vial as the woman carefully set it against the table once more, casting its pallor across her feet. A familiar warmth washed over her soles, and she let her toes flick back as she bathed in the light. Gripping her hand around the vial, she flicked the lid off and a thin vapor of white smoke spiraled upward before fanning out and dissipating into the nearly pitch black room. She felt her arms quake as the woman dashed her brush downward, swirling the thin strands of the head just beneath the surface of the murky liquid while tinking the brush against the vial's ends rapidly.

Pressing her tongue against her upper lip, she tucked it in and bit down as she watched the brush pull away from the liquid, a great globbule sticking to the head as she drew it upward. A long strand like sap followed the brush upward, towards the woman's chest as she drew it higher and higher before it grew thin and snapped, plinking back down into the vial in a single, gooey ripple. The hairs of the brush scattered light around the woman's face, illuminating her teeth as she smiled wickedly.

Her skin began to crawl as the woman pointed the tip of the brush towards her. Digging her nails into her palms, she felt the muscles in her biceps and forearms grow tense, and she felt her shoulders pull back against her. Tugging with her arms, she felt her eyes drawn to the silvery liquid as a drop began to drift away, beading towards the bottom as the brush fell further and further. Curling her toes, she felt her feet wiggle within their bonds, the string between her toes yanking them together. Bowing them back, she splayed them outward, attempting to pull her feet apart, watching them flounder upon the table like a dehydrating fish. As it neared, the brush waxed her feet into a steel color, and she felt the heat of the liquid pulsate in tune with the blood that throbbed within her veins.

As though gripped by a spell, she felt a warm, silver hand nuzzle against her heart. At once she felt her muscles relax and watched as her toes laid backward, exposing themselves to the encroaching tool. The light embraced her, and she felt strangely at ease as the liquid dashed down her pinky toe, searing into her like a river of magma. With a gasp, she fell backward into the chair as sensations paraded across her. Inhaling deeply, she felt the cool night air cascade across her lips and begin to fill her lungs as she slammed backward into the chair while minuscule yet powerful sensations seared into her toe.

A wallowing darkness claimed her eyes and in a heartbeat the room was alight again. Cold beadlets of sweat clung to her, and her hair clamped into her face as she exhaled the pent up air that she held within her. Glancing with bewilderment at the cackling flames, she heard the clink of glass set against the table. A shiver claimed the back of her neck, spiraling down her backside as she quickly spun her head forward just in time to see the woman grit her teeth into a crazed grin, her iris' flickering wildly with sparkling gold and crimson as she raised her hands, cupping an invisible bubble of air around her feet. Clamping her teeth together, she felt her fingers curl into fists while her feet bowed humbly before her captor. Simultaneously she felt herself standing apart from her body, placing her hands onto her shoulders, her nails biting through her vest as words rattled in her mind, their images clawing into her back. "Ah," she heard in her mind, then felt it reverberate against her ears half a second later. The words dug into her and she pressed her lips together, turning away as they howled against her like a wind storm, "And I needed you to ask me to tickle you," the woman spoke, her voice echoing through the chamber and down the hall.

For a lingering moment she waited while recounting the sensations that would rain upon her. Somehow, she knew how the fingers would strike and her feet began to burn with a flaming itch where the touches would land. Pressing her shoulders into herself tightly, she shook her head and waggled her toes, hoping to fend off the searing sensations. Without reservation, the fingers fell upon her, gliding down her soles. An abundance of awareness flipped through her mind, and she sat there, feeling every single stroke to its fullest one at a time. It was as though each finger scraped down her one by one, clicking over her wrinkles and imprinting its presence into her before the next followed suit. Cobbled pathways seemed to line her soles, the bricks landing against her mere moments before the light, gilded sensations paved over-top of them, burning laughter into her feet. One by one, the fingers crawled downward, slowly dragging their nails behind them and upending the paths that lay before them.

With each finger successfully scratching its way downward, she felt the memories of the touches ingrained within her mind. For a brief moment the hands fell away, though she sat, reeling back and forth, shrieking with laughter as the memories blazed across her soles, the touches seeming to land against her ten or a hundred times at once. Then, in a blur, she felt great red lines weave up and down her soles. Her eyes grew wide and she wiggled and flicked her toes while dread wrapped around her heart. Instantaneously the woman's fingers reaped up and down her soles, laying into her a foundation of laughter.

Screaming wildly, she felt all of the tickling land against her at once while her mind focused heavily on memorizing every single touch, every single graze. Thrashing her head, she cried and laughed all at once as her feet soaked in the assault, letting it seep deeply into her skin before taking root and becoming an emblem across her. As the woman stood back, she sat, tugging with her arms and slamming her heels into the table, desperate to cast off the sensations that burrowed into her feet, plaguing them. Even as her feet moved of their own accord, one cowering behind the other, she continued to feel the sensations a thousand times, over and over, and over again as though they were continuing to happen.

It felt as though she stood upon flames in the shape of short cut blades of grass, their sinister tails flicking against her, subduing her with their radiating heat. As she attempted to lean forward and fall against her knees, she felt the arms of her other self wrap around her, pulling her back and forcing her to watch as the vampire struggled to contain her own merriment before descending upon her exposed foot. Her touch was slow, feeling as though she brushed a sickly molasses against her that at first dabbled and bubbled against her skin, then pushed the other sensations deeper into her. They reached straight up her legs, inducing in them all the suffering that her soles were exposed to.

Shrieking and cackling, she thrashed about, limply tugging at the table with her ankles. Each stroke came so painstakingly slowly, and she felt the skin on her foot tighten in anticipation before the whirlwind of emotion landed, deriding her. The sensations flourished against her, overtaking her like the undergrowth of a forest, clinging to her and sapping her of feelings that she desperately sought with every inch of her strength to express. Closing her eyes, she let her jaw drop and howled out a loud laugh that scrawled its nails along the walls around her.

A tightness formed around her toes and she felt her eyes pop back open. Though the cold, ghostly flames continued to lash against her, saturating her sensitive flesh with an overabundance of life she paused for a moment, gasping for air as the woman laughed maniacally before dropping her fingers downward. Letting out a crazed "Noo!" she watched helplessly as the woman bounded at her, her fingers flying wildly all over her unprotected soles. She felt them limply wiggle as they soaked in the tickling like sunlight, blossoming into a great throbbing heat that pulsed along her body, surging up her with each heart beat.

Her fingers clattered up and down, her nails clinking like keys that only half halfheartedly sought the simple, rusted locks that barely contained her. Each time one neared the lock, she pounced forward, shrieking as she felt her innards well up, ready to explode away, yet each time the woman's fingers teased around the edge without flinching. She could feel herself seeping at the seams while her fingers continued to trickle and clatter upward. Her toes burned suddenly, and her eyes went wide just before her fingers shot into them.

The brush lifted away, and she felt the cool liquid burn into her. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she thrashed back and forth, shrieking out sobs and laughing harder than she ever imagined possible. Her chest felt so tight around her lungs that she wasn't sure she could contain herself, that she might burst into a thousand threads and crumple into a lifeless lump of cloth. The single brushstroke throbbed and pulsed, sending shocks along both of her feet, carrying with it every single touch, compressed into that single spot along her pinky toe yet radiating across her foot. Glass clinked, and she looked over, seeing the woman swirl the brush within the glass vial.

Panting, she cried out, "No!" Slowly drawing the brush free and raising it near her face, the gooey liquid stretched like glue before breaking away and snapping back. “No more!" she howled as the sensations continued to ripple across her feet, biting into her with sharp fangs as the brush flew through the air, lighting the darkness. As it drifted away behind her feet, it scattered resplendent light between her toes. Curling them tightly, she thrashed with all of her might, lifting the chair from the ground and moving the table ever so slightly. "Please don't! Please don't! Please!" she continued to cry. The brush landed against her arch and she let out a shrill scream of "Yaiiiiieeeahahahaha" that shook the entire tower as the brush dabbed downward, implanting into her everything she had ever possibly experienced a thousand times over.

The room spun into an orange haze and she became blisteringly aware of the crackle of fire above her. Warm air caressed her cheeks while a cool breeze licked at her backside from the window. Silver rays of light shot through the hollow before being speared to the floor and smothered out by the yellow torchlight. She stood, her shoulders flat and straight and her boots planted firmly against the ground, staring at herself as she sat in the chair. On the table her boots rested as though prepared on a gourmet platter while awaiting removal.

With a s******, the woman bowed in front of her and whisked her boots away. For a moment she stood, awestruck at how painfully beautiful the soles of her feet were, glistening in the yellow light like great mounds of gold. In a blur of movement she saw her arms pinned to the sides of the chair and her ankles looped with rope, fastened to the table and in that short moment she felt her eyes begin to water. As she watched herself writhe on the table and curl her toes, she became awestruck, enfeebled by the magnificence of her bound form. It was as though a heavenly light shone through her as she struggled, giving her form the presence of a celestial body.

With a gleeful eagerness she hefted up her left arm, propping a heavy leather-bound tome on it as she strummed the cover open to the blank first page. Snickering, she spun her nose downward and spied ahead as the woman basked in her presence, then cast her hands onto her bare soles. The world froze around her, and she began sketching a replica of her soles while hastily striking notes, noting where exactly the woman stroked and how she responded. Scrawling many words, she flipped the page and continued to etch ink into it while time slowly moved ahead inch by inch. The woman's third finger struck down the middle of her left foot, close to the edge but not quite reaching it, and she saw how her pinky toe spread out then curled downward. She savored how the sensation felt against her and noted that if her defenseless toes had been struck at just that moment, the utter shock and surprise would dwarf her. A thumb down her arch sent shivers through her spine and she watched her toes curl. Nodding, she thought to herself that should the toes then be forced back, exposing that exquisite and weak area beneath them, she might--

The voice of her old self, the one that had braved the black waters and then climbed the slippery rocks, cackled within her, crying out "What are you doing!?" Snickering, she continued to unabashedly catalog every weakness of her feet, every single possible way to titillate herself. Inside of her boots she felt the memories flare up, stronger and faster than before, overwhelming her, dragging her down. Shaking them off, she continued to write her epic.

In a whisk of smoke she felt herself standing before her bound form, her hands moving up and down her soles of their own accord. She knew where she would strike long before her hands fell, and she felt the fingers lay into her soles a lifetime before they even approached. The feeling ran up her backside, filling her with a glorious light. Smiling broadly, she soaked in the epiphany of pleasure that claimed her as she raked her hands up and down her feet, distilling the woman before her into pure ticklish agony. She chuckled, then she laughed hard and loud, shaking her head and screaming uncontrollably as the sensations overtook her. Closing her eyes, she began convulsing and whipping around wildly.

Opening her eyes, she continued to howl as the brush lifted away from the center of her arch, forever imprinting it with a lifetime of suffering. The strikes continued even as the brush lifted away, and she sat, pulling at her wrists so hard she felt the meager wood that held her rope begin to crack. Inhaling rapidly, she felt water cascade down her cheeks before desperately clinging to her hair, matting it to her face. She could barely see through the clumps of hair and her sense of smell was overwhelmed by the smoke that clung to her. The rapids that sprinkled down her face looped around the edges of her lips, occasionally leaving a taste of seawater against the tip of her tongue that she was only distantly aware of as her feet drowned out the world. Truly, she could sense nothing else save the sensations that prickled along them.

Dunking the brush into the vial again, she tinked the stick of wood against the edges before withdrawing the substance and casting the room alight with its sparkling pearl radiance. The center of the woman's face lit up briefly before being consumed from the outside by shadow, and the brush delved downward again. "No!" she cried out as the brush neared her feet a third time, "I cahn't," she breathed out before gasping for air.

Frost began to crackle through the air, freezing her in place as the words "I know," retaliated against her before the brush began to cycle a smooth glyph beneath her toes. Her jaw flew open and her throat, red as a slice of bloody meat, eschewed another earth shattering scream. Again she stood in the room, watching herself as the tickling began again. The scene played out entirely and began anew, then played out a hundred more times. Years seemed to pass by as she felt and watched herself lowered further into the depths of madness as those crazed fingers worked over her skin, blessing her with an insatiable lust for still more despite it all.

The hands of darkness wrapped around her and she gasped, desperate for air. She felt herself crying uncontrollably, wild sobs replacing her distilled laughter. Lifting her sagging head, she caught the brush just in time as it dabbed down towards her, ready to make a mockery of her. Pinching the brush between her fingers, the woman pointed it towards her toes while weaving it in an arc like the wide swinging blade slowly falling towards her. Her jaw chattered and she shook her head, flailing her hair around her as exasperated words failed to form. Her calves quaked, and her feet trembled upon the table.

As it drew ever nearer, she briefly recalled the time she stood upon a single plank teetering off the edge of a ship, her torso wrapped in rope. Pacing towards the end, she felt the grains within the wood dig into her bare soles. With a sniff, she shook her head, distinctly remembering that she had in fact worn boots that day, yet no matter how much she willed the memory to obey her and present the correct image, she continued to walk barefoot along the board. Glancing over the edge, she looked at the restless, black waters that reached up towards the plank, spitting a mist across her toes before being pulled back towards a valley in the water. Unable to see even an inch beneath the choppy waters, she gulped, feeling the unsupported board begin to shake beneath her weight. Though she knew she had been called back onto the ship by the captain, serving far more use as a living prisoner than a drowned one, she watched as the plank gave way and she dropped into the icy waters, the waves wrapping around her like chains, greedily tugging her feet into their depths for themselves.

The brush wafted down, then passed upward again as the woman drew it closer to the mischievous grin that slipped across her lips. The dread that grasped her heart waned, and she felt relief seep through her until the brush dashed downward again, the icy claws of terror closing around her once again. Chuckling, she lifted the brush away, flicking her wrist and pointing it off towards the hallway. With a gasp of relief, she sagged downward in her chair, her tense soles relaxing and allowing her toes to drift apart. Panting heavily, she began to unfurl and lean forward, turning her head away so that she could rest her cheek on her knees. Just as she did, her eyes went wide as the brush vanished into a whirlwind of movement. She felt her backside tense up as she reeled forward, her eyes going wide as she spun to face the foe that sped towards her toes.

 

[ElFewja]

Clenching her toes, she grit her teeth and began to close her eyes as the brush sped past them, vanishing beneath her sole. Inhaling a shaky breath, she sat up and peered around her feet, trying to catch sight of the invisible brush, the skin on her soles crawling like a thousand ants as they began to anticipate where the strike might occur. Gritting her teeth, she wiggled her toes, chuckling as the air tortured the lines along her feet. Her chuckles gained a steamy quality, and she began to laugh manically as the small runes ingrained into her feet began to whittle away at her, her soles blazing with the phantom every touch that she had thus far experienced.

All across her feet it felt as though a hundred ghostly hands struck at her in the exact spots and ways that she had been tortured for all those hours. At the few small silver cracks that she knew all too well lined her feet she could feel all of those sensations, a hundred fold in number and a thousand fold in strength as they gently kneaded all along the tiny lines, burrowing through her sanity. Through her pained laughter she sat back, rolling her chin forward and raising her brows as she considered how long she had been sitting there. Out the slit in the wall, she caught sight of the moon, resting at exactly the angle she remembered it sitting when she had first entered the tower. Clicking her teeth together, she felt her eyelids depart her eyes as the heavenly fires of hell lambasted her with the realization that she had not been here an hour, or even a quarter of one.

A warm scrape of flesh dogged down the center of her left foot and she squealed, cackling and batting her toes as the woman's nail chipped into her. Panic circled through her as she pushed her left foot back, spinning it at an angle while her right foot flopped forward, tugged into the same angle by the thread that bound her toes together. As her foot spun ahead, she felt the cold liquid slip across her right heel, dousing it in a blissful light. With a scream of laughter she fell into the shadows, dissipating among them.

Waking as though from a deep slumber, she saw herself sitting in the chair, her legs propped up on the table as they were yesterday, her boots readily guarding her feet from what awaited them. With eager gusto, she cast the vile things aside, exposing her soles to the world. Birthed from the shadows beneath the cackling flames, the woman appeared, her hands crashing into her feet. Letting out a roar of laughter, she sat there, her mouth wide open as she let out a torrent of laughter. Raising her hand, she swiped away a happy tear that welled up outside of her closed eye and she felt herself falling into the chair, into the darkness.

Again she awoke, her legs propped up on the table as they were the day before and the day before that, her greedy boots deigning to protect her from her true purpose. Immediately she cast them aside, baring herself to the world and embracing her true self, and as her boots flew through the air the woman appeared again, though now her hair was cropped shorter and its colors matched her own oaken hair. She let out a vivid laugh as her feet were clouded by the woman's hands, her soles unable to wiggle away as her fingers scraped up and down, scratching away at her as she felt her form wither away.

Opening her eyes, she felt the night dawn on her, the silvery moon bathing across her. Slowly blinking, she scowled at her boots and kicked them away, thrusting them across the room and into the brazier, watching them burst into flame and slowly smolder away into blackened husks never to haunt her again. Touching her index finger to her chin, she mused for a moment, wondering how many months, no, how many years she sat here, reliving the same night. Her mind reached out, calling to her past life. She recalled the ocean, and that at one time she had sailed across it but beyond that nothing came to her. Perhaps the waves had been a dream, she thought to herself, a dream to entertain her, of another life that she could have lived, far beyond these circular walls. As the woman stalked from the hallway and approached her, an evil grin on her face, she reached back and ran a finger through her long black hair, letting it fall against the chair behind her as she let out a smoky smile, eagerly awaiting the fate that her feet were doomed to repeat.

Cawing, she rent out as much air as she could muster as her heel glowed with a ticklish brilliance. The woman beat at the sides of the glass vial as she twirled the brush within it, allowing the venom to soak into the hairs. Sitting limply within the chair, she watched as the brush rose through the air, then swooped downward, towards her. Twitching wildly, she drew in a deep breath, preparing herself for the wet assault to lick at her anew. Her thoughts pawed through her mind as though it were sand, the grains flying away through the air only to have the hole cave in from the sides by new sand. She felt the words stop, please stop blaze through her mind, then felt startled amazement shiver through her as her voice echoed around the room. The words imprinted in her throat, she felt the words within them carve against her soul. "Don't stop!"

The brush landed against her and she crumpled backward, facing the ceiling and howling like a starved wolf feasting for the first time in weeks. Over agonizing seconds she felt the hairs of the brush lean onto her, spreading apart ever so subtly and spreading the creamy fluid against her. It grew as cold and solid as lead within moments, binding against her flesh, then merging into it as she squealed out a long "Yeeeh!" towards the ceiling, her cries falling around her as though she were a fountain of laughter.

Each second agonized onward while her foot lay there, subdued into suffering by the runes that burned against her. Blinking so rapidly that the pearlescent light strobed before her, she imagined that day and night flickered in front of her eyes as the excruciating sensations tingled away against her. A rapid clink clink clink anchored her to this world, and she clenched her toes into her flesh, bracing herself.

Biting into her lip, she heard a squeal rumble through her throat as the brush laid another throbbing rune into her foot. Twisting in her chair, she pressed her left shoulder into the back side and thrust her head onto the headrest of the chair, pushing her right shoulder towards the ceiling. Pulling her right foot back, she felt her left foot bumble backwards after it. Though her feet knew full well that there was no escape, and though they long since embraced their fate and no longer desired to flee, her ankles continued to writhe upon the table in vain, the rope burning against her flesh.

Her whole body felt like liquid, and she could feel herself seeping through her clothes and splattering against the floor save for her feet which remained determined to retain their form as the brush spun about over them. She could plainly feel the artwork that spun against her sole now, her mind unable to shake the vision of what it now looked like. The lines spun around her, wrapping around and binding her like a great circle while also shooting off in jagged edges. Archaic characters that she had no knowledge of lined her foot, imprinting into her a great passion that she wrapped her being around, desperate to guard the newfound emotion. Sucking in her lower lip, she tucked her head downward and pressed her temple against the head rest. Although she did not understand the words, she could feel their meaning blending into her soul as she cried out "Please don't stop!"

As though trumpets resounded from the heavens she suddenly felt whole and complete, her right foot feeling garbed in a great white light as the brush lifted away. Her eyes fluttered and her lower lip extended outward, trembling as pleasure racked her entire body. Spreading her toes apart, she shuddered and let out a soft, trembling moan as her foot ached with agony while fangs of tickling rippled across her, their touch so pure that they induced within her an earth shattering bliss. With a searing "Ohh," she drowned out the tinkling of the brush within the vial as she stretched her legs outward, pointing her toes together. Eager to please her, the brush dabbled against her left arch and she frantically began spinning within the chair as she was thrust back towards the beginning of the night, reliving it a thousand times over once again, though this time she recounted each stroke of the brush and the incredible levels of rapture that they forced against her.

Falling limp, she sagged to her left, bucking at her knees as her torso wilted and she hung off the chair. Every ounce of strength departed her and she sat, motionless, enduring the brush as it sped across her left foot, filling in the terrible darkness with the resplendent light that began to permanently drain away from the vial. Her jaw hung loosely, and she shook lightly as the brush claimed more and more of her sole but she found herself unable to expend another breath of laughter. It felt as though a great wall of air ran in front of her mouth, gagging her and robbing her of her voice despite the sensations that tingled against her stronger than ever.

She rattled back and forth in her chair, her stomach kicking forward so that she would buck half an inch, then freeze again. Tears and sweat practically rained to the floor, forming a small puddle beneath her, yet she was unaware of them. The only thing she could think of was her feet, and the word tickle. Everything else eclipsed her.

Before long her foot pulsed with a forbidden light and she reeled back as a shock-wave of unbridled pleasure racked through her, shaking her as though she were a sapling in a tsunami. Feeling her roots leaving the soil, she let out a breathy, whimsical sigh as she sailed through a tornado of warm, pleasant light that rubbed at her, massaging her and welcoming her into a blissful, heavenly realm. The winds abated, and she wafted to and fro through the air like a feather while a turbulent radiance quaked through her. Silvery starlight began to blast through the core of her body, and she let her head fall back as she gasped and let a secretive smile steal her lips. The light grew so potent that it outshone the sun, blinding even that great ball of fire as she heard a watery voice in the distance call to her, beckoning her return to the lower, earthly realms. "The ritual is complete."

Panting, her eyelids fluttered and she lifted her back from the chair, groaning at the ache that grasped along her backside like the legs of a spider. Her whole body felt heavy as though it were weighed down to the floor by several chains of iron. Curling her toes slightly, she felt winds tear at her soles and the sensation of an entire army's worth of fingers sped all around her as the pearly imprints along her feet pulsed, spilling spiraling light and shadows around the dark room.

Freezing her feet in place, she howled at the sudden, ethereal attack that dogged at her, the fingers lingering for several long, agonizing seconds after she had stopped moving. Lilting downwards, she let her chest fall against her raised knees, then rolled her head onto its cheek as she clawed for air. Opening her mouth, she forced out a breath, her throat seizing as she attempted to form words. "Wh...wh..." she wheezed, before sputtering out a cough.

A steamy hiss resounded from the other side of the room, followed by the smoldering crackle of wood. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a yellow light fan up from the distant brazier. Long shadows scowled across the room as the woman rose, her robes wafting back and forth, disgracing the light. Her form spun around and a long claw of darkness fell over the pirate, narrowing as the woman stepped ahead, her boots resounding against the floor in triumph. "A realm beyond imagination, isn't it?" she called out before raising her hand and swiping at the air. Moments passed, and then she felt the light touch of wind tickle along her toes. The silver along her toes began to vibrate, casting the woman with moonlight just as her toes began to tingle. An intense, burning itch scrawled against her, and then the ghostly fingers fell upon her again.

Unprepared for the sudden assault, she let her toes twitch ever so slightly, allowing wrinkles to spill and cascade down her sole before she could pull her toes back. As though waiting their entire lives for this moment, the army of fingers landed against her again, briefly brushing up and down her soles, fanning her with sensations so pure they seemed forbidden from this world. Letting out a shrieking "yieeee!", she flopped against her legs as a sweet, sappy sensation oozed through her, draining her of her desire to resist.

The woman clicked around the room and eventually the feelings subsided. Extending her lower lip, she let a sigh of relief roll out of her as she closed her eyes, focusing what little energy remained within her. Her arms hung limply at her sides and she balanced her torso on her knees, held up only by the rope that bound her wrists to the chair. The sound of skin scraping against stone splashed towards her, and she tilted her head, peering through her eyelids as the woman ran her hand down the wall. "Now that the time has come, I do think I'll miss this place." she said, her eyes twinkling as she stared at the wall.

Patting it, she turned on her heels suddenly and tilted her head, a smile beaming along her lips. "I fibbed just a little," she said, bouncing up and down on her toes, her hair skipping along her shoulders. Drawing a hand upward, she curved her fingers and touched a knuckle to her the center of her lower lip as she looked away, a well-chilled smile on her lips. “I didn't just bestow the Mark onto you; I mixed a little of my own magic into it”. Chuckling, she slowly raised her free hand, swiping at her lower lip with the back of her finger as sly words spilled from her, “I just couldn't stand the thought of being the only vampire that subsisted on tickling. You''ll find the tickle-lust is... quite unbearable when it sets in.” Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath and let out a guttural "Oh... this clarity is wonderful." Her hand dropped from the wall into the fingers of her other hand and she clasped them together in front of chest, bobbing them upward and touching the mass of flesh against her dress. Rhythmic wrinkles poured across the fabric as she opened her eyes and tilted her head towards the pirate, "Thank you so much for letting me tickle you," she said before dropping her hands to her sides and turning, stepping into the doorway.

Gripping her fingers around the door frame, she stopped herself from continuing and dropped her head, chuckling quietly as she shook it. "Well, I should say I'm sorry, but I suppose I'm really not." Lifting her head, she looked towards the ceiling as a puddle of smoke formed around the brazier on the other end of the room. "There's another curse, placed on this building." Turning, she tilted her forehead at an angle towards the pirate, her left eye barely visible between a veil of hair that spilled down her face. "You see, anyone can exit or enter, but one must remain in this light house. Then... well." She sniffed, facing the hall again. "It is a prison, after all."

The words foamed around her mind, and she felt her eyelids spread apart. Shaking her hands back and forth, she tugged with all of her might, feeling the chair refused to budge. Glancing towards her dagger in the corner, nearly hidden behind the cloud of smoke, she felt a curse nip at the tip of her tongue. As she lifted her chin, counting the distance between her and the weapon, she saw a brief flash of her golden eyes flecked with red marring the silver blade. Biting her lower lip, she began quickly shaking her hands back and forth, listening to the rope fray as she sawed through it. A light tingle rippled across her soles, and she inhaled sharply. The other woman chuckled, and shook her head. "I suppose your lust is beginning to kick in," she let out.

In a swift movement the woman vanished into the hall, her boot heels clicking as she continued onward. "As we agreed, you may keep the gold," she let out triumphantly, "But I'll be taking your vessel." Hastening her movements, she felt the sound of rope tearing away rise around her while a bundle of heat nipped into her wrists. As though her feet stood, facing the sun, a great heat began to wash over them, and she felt the memories of the night drifting above her feet, taunting her but not yet touching her. Taking in a heavy breath, she felt her stomach tense up and she bit her lower lip. The woman's voice came quietly, echoing from the stairs, "Well, you too are immortal now. I'm sure another will appear." The scent of smoke tingled against her nose. Looking down, she saw the threads of smoke billowing from the brazier, covering the floor in a mist. "Ah, and I left something to distract you from your newfound lack of freedom," she called out before cackling.

A strand of the smoke wafted upwards, drifting between her toes. The heat took on the form of a wicked feather, dashing down her arch. The black smoke flickered with silver lightning as the glyphs on her feet pulsed, gripping into her flesh with a million minuscule fingers. A scream of laughter spilled through her as her feet were overcome with a sea of tickling, slowly painted up and down her soles by the smoke. Her arms grew limp, and she fell into her legs, her lips glittering with saliva as she writhed in place, cackling manically. "Best escape quick and put those boots of yours back on. Not that they'll protect you much against the spell I cast."

Curling her feet into half crescents, she felt the air around her turn into spikes, driving into her. Squealing loudly, she thrashed back and forth, flicking her toes and flexing her bound feet from side to side, forcing the world to tickle her against its will. Letting her jaw drop, she howled loudly, recalling the crazed winds that had slammed into her backside as she climbed the mountain. She heard her voice echoing across the waters outside, sending the ocean into a furious ripple of crashing waves. She could hear the great doors creaking open. Opening her left hand, she feebly reached out, stretching her fingers towards the floor, pawing towards the entrance. "Of course," the woman called out, almost inaudible through the storm of laughter that spiraled around her, "even should you get those boots back on and protect your little feet from the treat I left you, that blessing will grow more and more intense until you tickle another." An image of the woman collapsing against the wall laughing when she arrived fanned against her, and she felt the ancient characters press into her feet, licking her soles with an otherworldly itch. Coughing out a laugh, she spun her eyes towards her boots, gritting her teeth as she began sawing at the rope again while the walls around her shuddered from the weight of the closing door.