Conquest Of The Fallen: Dark Dominions

He quickly discovered he was on the open floor area of a penthouse in a glittery city. The scape was distinctly whimsical, there was no skyline whatsoever, under water. Blue ocean hues casted on everything within sight. As he shifted on the bouncy recliner—the kind of comfy air mattresses used by the beachside inns—he woke up on, Rafel looked out into a very enchanting panorama.

He appeared to be on the tallest building in this dreamy world, and everywhere he turned he was met with more surreal shimmery structures. Advanced prototypes of submarines, floating castles, and glitters of sea anemones.

Which part of Eldoria was this?

He stood on the loggia and gazed out from the wide roof into the magnificent city. This was top of the reef. There was something peculiar about the place. Land—real earth and dirt was nowhere to be found.

Just as Rafel was having these thoughts, a great shadow fell over the tall building he stood on. Rafel was shocked when he looked up.

It was a whale.

A blue fricking whale!

Larger than life; so sizeable its umbra covered half the city, with its flippers escorted by a colorful school of rainbow fish. The aquatic mammals was the size of the gigantic Dragons they got in Hel, and if it breathed fire, Rafel suspected it would be feared just as much. But alas, whales had no craving for innocent little lambs or the occasional cattle.

The whale moved over and the same burning light in the distance beamed out again. It was the sun, but so far up. The rays of light fell in translucence.

"You seem out of it," came a warm voice.

Rafel swept around in his position, finding himself at the edge of the rooftop. The voice belonged to the woman who stood across from him. She had the most unnatural set of eyes. Her pupils were not round. They were crescent shaped and the blue-green of the ocean at high noon.

For the brief moment when she blinked, she would seem human. But then her eyes opened again, and she was not.

As she stood at the other end of the rooftop, Rafel recognized immediately the four women and man that had kidnapped him. Fresh fire blazed into his eyes. Right, the mermaids!

He was underwater.

"Motherfuckers!" Realization hit him cold as a pail of rain water.

No wonder the city was all pearls and corals and fucking Sandcastles. Merfolk were glittery as fuck. They threaded every part of their watery existence with some form of shiny stone. It was evident even now as Rafel watched the woman leading his group of captors; from her ears to swan neck were jeweled in coral beads.

She stared at him with something of worship.

And Rafel wondered if his exploits had reached the sea.

The woman was starkly young to hold a position of power, but he knew more than anyone looks were forever deceiving amongst magical factions. Her blue hair was was braided into three fat locks that slithered in the air. They danced and whispered some unknown tongue into each other. They looked alive.

Her catchy looks aside, the woman looked very familiar. Rafel thought fast.

Did I fuck her?

Or her mother? Sister—maybe? Hmm.

He didn\'t have to keep at it for long because the young woman drew near and began to explain in length every confusing detail of the last three hours.

"Sorry about the. . .kidnap, and everything, Your Grace. I truly apologize on behalf of my harem. I see in your eyes that you recognize but don\'t remember me. If you would recall: precisely a month ago, you were on these very waters in passage upon a vessel I distinctly remember named The Nepolita.

I am the mermaid you rescued that stormy night from the Gulper—the monstrous abomination!"

She paused a moment with Rafel thinking back. His death frown eased—somewhat. Now he remembered where he\'d seen her. So he didn\'t fuck her. Shame!

Her blue hair had been loose back then, and her eyes too full of fright to notice the crescents. The woman continued, taking another few steps closer to him.

"I am Yemaya, Queen of the Seas, Bringer of seasons, and Empress of the Atlantean Colonies!"

Rafel looked her over again. That name was ancient. Yet it was borne on the body of a twenty-one year old Babe, who frankly looked like she just stepped out a cold lake in her sapphire swimsuit. She was still speaking, so Rafel focused.

". . .while I sincerely apologize again for your abrupt and constricted travel, I must speak to you quickly about its reason. But first I would not be found worthy of your presence to speak my favor if my harem doesn\'t take blame for their actions. I did instruct them to approach you in due courtesy. You are my savior."

She turned back to the group of five. "I believe you have something to say to His Grace?"

"We\'re sorry!" The four mermaids and merman offered in unison.

Their apology was true, Rafel noticed. He waved it off. In truth, if they had approached him to go anywhere under water like their Queen suggested, he would\'ve said NO on the spot and probably thrown their beautiful prized arses into his dungeon.

"Walk with me, Your Grace, please." Yemaya held out her lovely brown-skinned hand. "I\'ll explain everything."

Rafel cracked his neck, but followed.

And when the merfolk queen stepped right off the edge of the tide-scraper, he stepped off too. They were prevented from falling to deep ocean pressure by a wide, cutting-edge hoverboard which suddenly appeared under their feet.

Behind, Yemaya\'s harem transformed into their half-fish forms and glided through the water as escorts to their floating boards. That was when it hit Rafel;

He was breathing underwater!

Yemaya read his thoughts easily.

"We injected you with our aquabots. A syringe full of the tiniest microscopic machines. They are actively in your nasal passages and lungs, synthesizing for your body the oxygen from our home. Think of it as an artificial gill. And don\'t worry, it won\'t inhibit your normal breathing habits.

Unlike us, your body cannot synthesize oxygen from water on its own."

A group of golden turtles floated past and Yemaya lifted a hand to pet one. She smiled at Rafel, twinkling her eerie marine eyes.

"You are still like I remember you?"

"How?" Rafel questioned. He finally brought himself to speak.

"Reticent. Broody," replied the water queen. "You don\'t talk much, even then, on that stormy night. To be quite frank, I like it, Your Grace. You have become something of a deity to me. I would now be fertilizing planktons on the sea floor if you hadn\'t shown up when you did.

For that, Yemaya is grateful. And though I know I shouldn\'t ask, I need a favor of thee."

The hoverboard halted suddenly beside a streamlined submarine with glinting neon lights.

"—Marry me," the sea queen finished dramatically.

Rafel didn\'t blink for a few long seconds. He nearly laughed in her face.

Marriage?

He looked from Yemaya\'s patient stare, to her soft fingers flashing the biggest ruby diamond he had ever seen, to the men with oxygen helmets—humans—inside the submarine passing in slow motion, to the halted figured of mermaids behind them, their tails flapping in the water. He was quiet a long time.

People like him didn\'t marry. People like him were rare. His Aunt, Lilith. His Uncles, Lucifer and Asmodeus. Gods knew how many times those three had tried. It didn\'t work!

The only Hellions who got hitched were the ones cursed by The Fallen.

To Rafel, marriage was a laughable mortal tradition. He fucked! He took lovers! He cared for them! But marriage? Naw, he was good.

Rafel finally blinked. There was no need to sugarcoat his reply.

"I\'m sorry, no."

Water entered Yemaya\'s eyes, and not seawater. Rafel\'s guts twisted just in looking at her.

What was it about pretty women and doe eyes?

He tried to keep her back from having a full blown sob. "Didn\'t you mention you have a harem? The motherfuckers who kidnapped me? Surely four bikini Broads and one strapping merman should be enough—even for a Queen of the seas. No?"

Yemaya didn\'t lower her offered ring.

"It\'s not about my lovers, Your Grace. It is about you."

"Me?"

"Yes. I should have started with this but. . .I wasn\'t entirely open with you about the truth of my situation when you released me in that tempest. You see, every realm has its horrors. You may not have noticed but a chasm exists under and above us, this entire city really, to keep out the untamed sharks.

But mostly, the true nightmares like the abominations of the trenches.

Gorgoliths. Titan Crocs. Megatopuses. The Kraken. And others like the Gulper you destroyed. The only thing these beasts really fear is the union of the Atlantean Crown, for then our magic is at its peak.

Our wards can never be broken.

Our city is so far out into the sea ships rarely happen upon it. But yours did by providence of that storm. You, Your Grace have witnessed firsthand the maleficent terror the sea can wreak if it\'s not kept in check.

Maybe I\'m being selfish for asking because I also know you\'re not just an Earl, but the Apollyon of Hel: the Burning One, Israfel BlüdThïrste. But what kind of Queen would I be if I put my sexual desires before my duty to my people.

I have ruled the sea for many centuries, Hell Lord, and I intend to keep Atlantis alive."

Rafel licked at his lips when Yemaya stopped speaking. He just had to ask.

"What happened to your last husband?"

Yemaya didn\'t even blink when she said, "I beheaded him. He was fucking my pet dolphin."

Rafel showed no shock. It wasn\'t the first time he\'d heard of an Atlantean King loving to fuck his fish more than his female.

Yemaya leaned in closer to him, brushing his feet with hers on the hoverboard. All around her the futuristic beauty of the water world glowed and ebbed with interstellar mixes of advanced science and pure magic. Merfolk were the most glorious in technology among all magical factions in Eldoria\'s vast empire.

Yemaya pushed the treasured ring up the more.

[ Holding Out for a Hero – Bonnie Tyler.]

"So, will you Lord Israfel BlüdThïrste let me become your Bride of the sea?"

She managed to coax a smile out of Rafel with her unnatural puppy eyes. He let it shine through. The water queen was sexy. He\'d give her that! Her idea to merge with a Hell Lord was also brilliant. Not even the Kraken would fuck with the union of a Sea Goddess and an Infernal Prince.

Besides, the leveling up would be astronomical. This was the part where he ascended sporadically into the next [Celestial Circle] with just one move.

Marriage.

Rafel heard the sound of a large, loudly approaching submarine. He presumed it was one of the vessels that conveyed the human scientists who worked at the Atlantean Research Institute here underwater, and he ignored the persistent honking. The horns grew louder and the submarine stopped right in front of their hoverboard.

Yemaya ignored it too.

He faced her. She faced him.

"Please be my hero one more time, Rafel," she said. "Take my ring."

Rafel\'s mouth opened, the YES on his lips when a feminine roar from the halted vessel interrupted, replying for him.

"LIKE HELL HE WILL!"

Another feminine scream.

"FUCK YOU, FISH BITCH!"

And then a final erotic screech, this one louder.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU CRAZY OCTO-CUNT!"

Rafel and Yemaya both turned in unison from their hoverboard, to the submarine at the same time. The beam of the frontlights flashed in their eyes.

Silhouettes of three women stood on the roof of the gray vessel. Rafel squinted to see through the lights.

Wait?!

Is that Cora?

Aya?

Little Raven?

In the exact order of their voices.

The arrow, the spear, and the dagger in their respective hands were pointed straight and sharp at the water queen\'s head.

Rafel was just as shocked as Yemaya.