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Abdirak hung from the ceiling, arms secured high over his head, his naked body caressed by the softest of spider’s silk. It clung to his arms, around his legs, his ankles, over his chest and his waist. More of an embrace than a constriction, a lover’s touch rather than a prison. A hot lance of pain sprung through his back and drawing downward, followed by the warm tickle of trickling blood. He screamed his bliss to the Maiden, writhing against his bonds as he did so, eyes closed to dedicate himself wholly to the ministrations of the sharp fingers that sliced his flesh.
The room was made of stone, warmly lit by dozens of candles. The implements of Abdirak’s work occupied the walls, with an altar at one side of the room and a table at the other. The wooden beams overhead were perfect for suspending penitents – including himself.
His current student was so tentative. It was adorable really, especially considering his origins. A creature made from madness and pain, to be so concerned with inflicting it where once he would have torn flesh asunder with glee. Something hot and wet pressed to Abdirak’s back—a tongue—and drew its way up one of the larger tears, pulling fresh delicious agony from his wound as it lapped up his blood.
A voice hummed with satisfaction behind him, and for a moment Abdirak imagined his student losing his control, of his wickedly sharp teeth sinking deep into Abdirak’s meat, tearing the life from him in a hail of anguish and agony, and his cock twitched against the silk that held it.
“You are holding back, dear one,” Abdirak said, his voice a contented drawl.
“We are keeping you alive,” came back the lightly erratic voice of Kar’niss.
“There is no ‘we’ anymore, dear Kar’niss,” Abdirak said gently. “Remember that. And there is so much distance between where you are now and where you fear to end up. I will show you. Though not until you are finished here.”
Kar’niss grunted quietly, still behind the priest’s dangling form, and he resumed taking his chitinous fingers to the priest’s back and painting agony like an artist upon a canvas. Abdirak continued to scream and writhe and moan, until his back was a ruin and the ground beneath him a spattered red mess. Every now and then Kar’niss would pause to lick the blood from his fingers before continuing, and each time Abdirak felt his impatience grow as the heat in his back and belly became insatiable.
Finally, regretfully, his head became a little too light, the chill in his veins a little too acute, and he knew this lesson must come to a close. It was always so tempting to push the boundaries, but that was a pleasure to be shared with his fellow experienced Loviatans. The last thing dear Kar’niss needed was an accident.
“Excellent, dear one,” Abdirak rasped, as he basked in that final wave of sensation ripping through his back. “You have done very well.”
Kar’niss made a little sound—appreciation, perhaps?—and took Abdirak’s meaning. The drider’s strong pedipalps wrapped around Abdirak’s waist and took his weight, hands reaching up to sever the silk that suspended him. The priest was pulled into Kar’niss’ clutches, his blood smearing over Kar’niss’ pale flesh and dark chitin. He carried Abdirak like some delicate little creature, his strange, gliding gait taking them both to the side of the room, where the table had been set up with fresh water, towels, and healing potions.
Kar’niss set Abdirak upon it upright, and with great delicacy sliced the remaining silk from his body. The loosening of the pressure was a relief and a disappointment, like the slipping away of a tight embrace. Abdirak breathed deeply, letting his chest expand and fall several times. When he opened his eyes again, Kar’niss watched him, holding a healing potion. The man was a ridiculous juxtaposition, this enormous, eight-legged creature of nightmare, stood before him like a nervous maiden.
“That was exquisite,” Abdirak hummed, smiling up at Kar’niss. “I think I shall take a potion that is a little less potent. I would like to be reminded of your touch, as you receive mine.” He looked to the collection of vials to his side and selected a small one, uncorking it and drinking its contents in one swift tilt back of his head.
“You wish to hurt me,” Kar’niss said, though it was unclear if it was meant as a question or a statement.
“Only if you desire,” Abdirak replied, setting the empty vial to his side and reaching out to take the one from Kar’niss. “My methods, the touch of my Maiden, are most healing. I fear that of all of us, you require more healing than most.”
“If such were true, we would already well be healed,” Kar’niss said with a touch of reproach, as he handed the potion to Abdirak, only to be set to the side unused. “Our- my body is only pain. My life. It is all I know. Yet I am not healed.”
“This pain you feel,” Abdirak said, icy grey eyes boring into the drider, “the remnants of the transformation you had thrust upon you. This is not what I do. In order for pain to heal, it must be given with a measured, loving hand. It must come from care and from trust. Would you be willing for me to show you?”
Kar’niss seemed to sneer for a moment, before shrugging, a movement that bobbed his whole body. “You may try. Pain is all I know. I do not see how this will be different.”
Abdirak smiled at him, a mischievous little quirk to his mouth. “Then let us see if you prove me wrong.”
“Very well,” Kar’niss said, narrowing his suspicious gaze.
Abdirak’s grin deepened, his teeth bared to the drider as he felt the wounds on his back lightly knitting closed. He stretched his arms up high, pulling each cut on his back with deliciously acute pain. He stood, already feeling his light-headedness passing, and swiftly put his robes back on. Not strictly necessary for what came next, but the straps and claws of his harness did so wonderfully dig into his fresh wounds. He sighed with satisfaction as he smoothed down his skirts, his aching member now barely hidden beneath the leather and fabrics. The lack of an ending, the denial, was its own form of bliss. Such torment, such longing, such distraction in the face of his important task. It was enough to make the heat of his arousal burn ever brighter without even the faintest touch.
“Now then, dear one,” Abdirak said with a satisfied hum. He gestured to the open floor behind Kar’niss, a clear space to the side of Abdirak’s pooling blood. “Take your place.”
Kar’niss did as he was commanded, his long gangly legs curling just slightly beneath him as he settled upon the ground. Abdirak turned to his supplies and found what he was looking for, plucking a cushion from among the whips and knives and flogs. He stepped to Kar’niss, his back wounds screaming most delightfully as he moved, and handed the cushion to him.
“For your face, dear one.” Abdirak gestured to the ground. “Lie down.”
Kar’niss looked uncertain a moment but then laid his torso out on the floor, placing down the cushion to rest the side of this face on, tucking his hands between the soft plush and the stone. Abdirak had been careful to choose the cushion which was not full of nails. The priest took a moment to appreciate the drider’s strange form, the way his spine, hidden beneath chitin, disappeared into his bulbous and impressive abdomen. Kar’niss was a most wonderful specimen.
“Tell me, dear Kar’niss,” Abdirak said. “How do you experience pleasure?”
The drider took a moment to answer, a confused little sound coming from him. “What does this one mean?” His voice sounded irritated. “A drider’s existence is pain. There is no pleasure. I am punished. I know only the suffering of the Spider Bitch’s curse.”
Abdirak hummed, clicking his tongue against the top of his mouth. “I see. Do you not believe that pleasure and pain can walk the same edge? That one can take the body to the other?”
“If this is true, I have never experienced it.”
Abdirak tapped his fingertips to his lips, brows furrowed ponderously. “I understand that you are not equipped to experience pleasure in the traditional sense,” he began, nose scrunching as though he smelled something bad. There was a little curtness to his tone as he said traditional, as though he held great contempt for the very concept. “However, there are so many other ways to draw out bliss from the body. From the soul. Do you believe that you deserve to experience this?”
There was a long silence. “No.”
Abdirak made a little noise in this throat. “And therein lies part of the problem. Quite simply, you are wrong,” he said matter-of-factly. “Would you allow me to show you?”
Again, Kar’niss took his time to answer, before a small voice stated: “Yes.”
“Excellent.”
Abdirak moved back to his things and selected some items, a knife, a candle, before returning to Kar’niss and kneeling by his back. He set the candle and knife down before inspecting the drider’s bared back. He placed his hand over Kar’niss’ spine, and drew his fingers down the length of his back.
“You are incredible,” Abdirak breathed, watching the rise and fall of Kar’niss’ breaths, appreciating every bump and texture of his chitin, marvelling at the way it glinted in the light.
“We are an abomination.”
“If that were true, would you not be some mindless creature, serving your former queen without question?” Abdirak asked, not removing his hand from the small of his back, letting his flesh warm the spot. “Could an abomination break free of the will of not one but two gods? Or have you become something more than what they tried to make of you?”
When Kar’niss was quiet, Abdirak wondered if he were simply carefully choosing his words, but no words came at all.
“Interesting,” Abdirak said, as he took up the knife and held the blade over the candle, rocking it side to side so that the flame danced around it. “I wonder if you would call another in your position an abomination, as you do yourself.”
Again, Kar’niss did not answer.
“Are you ready to begin, dear one?”
“I am.”
Abdirak took the blade from the candle, and took it to the top of Kar’niss’ spine, resting it against the black chitin. It took a moment for the heat to penetrate, but when it did Kar’niss gasped and gripped the pillow with his long, clawed fingers and his legs curled a little tighter into his body.
Abdirak removed the blade and returned it to the candle, tilting it idly. That was just the warmup.
“How did that feel?”
“Odd.”
“Unpleasant?”
Kar’niss released a tiny sound. “No.”
“Good. There shall be more this time.”
Abdirak took the blade and returned it to the same already-heated spot, this time drawing a little sound from the drider. With a touch of concentration, Abdirak channelled a subtle stream of magic into the blade, just enough to keep the temperature devilishly hot. Very slowly he began to draw the flat of the blade all down the length of Kar’niss’ back, slow enough to let the heat penetrate through the chitin and heat the flesh to a delicious and languid agony before moving on. Heat was such a loving element, accompanying the most intimate of moments. It increased the blood flow, the passage of life, heightening feeling and soothing muscle even as it burned.
As the blade inched down his back, Kar’niss’ breaths became heavier, his eyes half lidding over as he subtly twisted as though under a lover’s touch. The drider’s pointed teeth escaped his mouth enough to gnaw at his lower lip as the sensation of the heat moved through him.
It was slow, meticulous work. It could not be rushed, and Abdirak’s patience bore fruit, as Kar’niss’ eyes closed fully now, and sweet little sounds came from his throat.
“And how does that feel, dear drider?”
“It hurts,” Kar’niss hissed at him.
“And?” Abdirak said, a hint of teasing in his voice as the searing hot blade reached the small of Kar’niss’ back. “Anything else?”
Kar’niss made a tiny noise, his legs curling tighter again, his face turning into the pillow as his pale face flushed. Abdirak sucked in a breath through his nose, a little thill running through him at how the drider squirmed beneath his touch.
“It is… unusual. Perhaps… pleasant.”
“Perhaps,” Abdirak mimicked, as the blade finally reached the end of Kar’niss’ spine, causing his back to arch and his large abdomen to twitch. He removed the blade at last and ran his fingers slowly down Kar’niss’ back, feeling the lingering heat. “On your back.”
Kar’niss glanced at him, uncertainty flickering across his seven eyes, but he did as he was told and shuffled his large body into the awkward and uncomfortable looking position. As he lay on his back, pale flesh almost luminescent in the firelight, he looked to Abdirak uncertainly. His legs wheeled strangely in the air before curling in, leaving him looking almost like a dead spider. It seemed a most unnatural state for the poor creature, but Abdirak would make it worth his while.
Kar’niss’ fingers and also his pedipalps clutched together in front of him, like two sets of worried hands seeking comfort. The priest took a moment to appreciate his stunning form, and the intense trust which had been placed upon him. He would not squander it.
Moving slowly and ensuring that Kar’niss could see, Abdirak moved his hand to Kar’niss’ closest pedipalp, gently touching the tip before gliding his hand down its length in a languid, sensuous movement. It did not feel like flesh but seemed to have sensation, as Abdirak’s touch elicited a gasp. Kar’niss tensed as Abdirak’s hand moved further and further down, closer to where the centre of Kar’niss’ pleasure once would have been, to where now only hard chitin graced him. And still, the drider’s eyes watched him, his breath hitching as Abdirak’s hand slid lower and lower. What did he feel, the priest wondered? Did fire still light in his groin, or was it all the power of memory?
Whatever it was, Kar’niss’ whole body shuddered as Abdirak’s hand slid from his pedipalp to his carapace, gliding up towards his stomach. As his hand moved from the dark chitin onto soft, vulnerable flesh, Abdirak swung his leg over to straddle Kar’niss’ waist, causing his eyes to widen as he watched the priest with increasingly shaking breaths. The action flared pain brightly in Abdirak’s back, and he let out a quiet moan. He looked back to Kar’niss, the firmness of the drider’s body against his constrained member delightful.
For a creature seen by many as a horror, Kar’niss had such an ethereal beauty to him, and in his position a timid vulnerability. Abdirak watched him with wonder in his piercing grey eyes as his hands slowly travelled up Kar’niss pale skin, dancing across the intricate details where flesh became chitin.
“Look how magnificent you are,” Abdirak breathed, reverence in his voice. He leaned over Kar’niss, taking one hand to cup his sharp face and stroke a thumb along his cheekbone. “You are not the monster you think you are. You are exquisite.”
Kar’niss watched him for a long moment, his two biggest eyes like flames in darkness, their gazes locked until a shaky breath left him. His long, clawed fingers moved to Abdirak’s thighs, gently brushing past his skirts to glide over flesh. Kar’niss looked down at them, the fingers of one hand tracing the outline of some of Abdirak’s scars.
“You have done these?”
“Many of them, yes,” Abdirak replied, voice becoming a whispered husk as electricity danced through his legs, drawing all the more attention to his ignored member. “They each have a story behind them. An importance. A significance.”
“They are beautiful,” Kar’niss said, eyes lingering on Abdirak’s thighs as he continued to caress them, and the priest shuddered, the pain in his back spiking.
“Is your body not the same?” Abdirak replied. “A roadmap of your journey? A testament of your strength? You exist as you are because you have persisted. Because you are strong. The beauty of your body reflects the beauty of your soul.”
Kar’niss eyes remained on Abdirak’s for a long moment, before slowly drifting to his straining crotch, and back again. “This one talks too much,” he said, pressing his thumbs deeply into the flesh of Abdirak’s inner thighs, sliding them slowly up towards his groin with bruising pressure.
The surprise caused Abdirak to tilt his head back and groan with glee, his cock twitching with impatience. “Dear Kar’niss,” he breathed, chest rising and falling heavily as Kar’niss thumbs ventured dangerously close to his undergarments. “How am I to continue your lesson like this?”
Kar’niss grunted, a faint glimmer of satisfaction dancing over his eyes. “You have taken too long. Now I act.”
Kar’niss’ pedipalps reached forward from behind Abdirak, hooking into his arms and pulling them behind the priest’s back. Abdirak cried out as the wounds on his back were distorted by the move, only intensifying his arousal. Through instinct alone, he tried to squirm his arms free, but the drider held him tight and helpless, and a rush went to Abdirak’s head.
“Is that so, impatient one?” Abdirak purred, pulling gently against the restriction, enjoying being bound again. “And what act shall-”
One of Kar’niss’ hands moved abruptly to Abdirak’s crotch, grabbing his length firmly through his undergarments, causing his back to arch as he moaned. Fresh waves of pain mingled with the sudden bliss of the drider’s indelicate touch.
“Say the words,” Kar’niss said, a hint of shyness creeping into his voice as he used the full length of his thumb to massage Abdirak’s length. “Describe me.”
“Oh?” Abdirak uttered, as his hips unconsciously ground against the drider’s hand, his eyes fluttering, barely open. “You wish to hear how your strength is reflected in your body? How every inch of you is love letter to the tenacity and dedication of your soul?” With great effort, Abdirak rolled his head forward to lock eyes with the drider as he continued his massaging, the priest gasping deeply. “You are incredible, Kar’niss. You deserve to be worshipped and cherished.”
A little sound of desperation and delight came from Kar’niss, and he writhed subtly beneath Abdirak, only adding to the intensity of the drider’s touches. Both of their breaths quickened, and Kar’niss’ hand pulled back just enough to dislodge Abdirak’s underwear, freeing his throbbing cock and working it properly with his whole enormous hand. Abdirak cried out once more, the barrier gone between his flesh and Kar’niss’ delicious touch, his claws lightly nipping at the soft skin peppering little bursts of exquisite pain through the ecstasy.
“Maiden!” Abdirak called out, body twisting and writhing as hips rocked, and the drider moved in kind. “Kar’niss!”
The drider’s back arched, a reedy cry spilling from this throat, each leg twitching wildly as his pedipalps yanked Abdirak’s arms back harder, sending screaming agony through his wounds in an intense flush, his hand working Abdirak’s cock so hard and fast it bloodied. A deep moan tore from Abdirak as the pleasure crescendoed in a blinding flash, not obliterating the pain but absorbing it instead, entwining the two into something greater, something that breached the wall between the physical and the spiritual, sending him soaring through pure sensation.
When the overwhelming feeling eased, and Abdirak slowly came back to reality, he was a sweating, gasping mess, leaning limply forward and held aloft only by Kar’niss’ pedipalps keeping his arms secure. Kar’niss seemed to be in a similar state, breathing heavily and glistening in the candlelight, and not just from the priest’s cum splattered across his stomach.
Abdirak peered at him through half lidded eyes and gasped between breaths: “You are incredible.”
Kar’niss all but squeaked, body twisting.
“This was not how I intended for this session to go,” Abdirak said with amusement. Though then a seriousness overcame him, that simmering intensity burning into Kar’niss. “Did you feel it, dear one? The pain. The pleasure.”
Kar’niss’ fingers squeezed Abdirak’s overly sensitive cock, drawing a whine from the priest. “I felt you. Felt your touch. Felt your words. I did not ever think I would feel such again.”
“It was an honour to bring you this gift.” Another whine escaped him as Kar’niss continued to gently massage his softening and tender cock, blood smearing. Finally, Kar’niss released it, moving both of his hands to the priest’s hips. Abdirak looked to him with a wry smirk. “Just imagine how it would have felt had you let me do my work.”
“Will I ever see you again?”
Abdirak smiled, finally starting to catch his breath, mind beginning to clear a little after being full of that rapturous fog. “Whenever you desire, dear one. My door shall always be open to you. You deserve to feel as you did today, and you shall, whenever you wish.”
Kar’niss eyes glistened with water, and he held Abdirak’s gaze for a long moment. “You are kind,” he said, as he slowly and carefully released Abdirak’s arms.
Abdirak sat up, stretching his shoulders back as he took his own weight, working out a little of the tension that had built in them so that he might move more freely. “No more than you deserve, my dear,” he said, voice once again strong and commanding, as though he had not been a helpless, writhing mess at the hands of the drider mere moments ago. “Now, let us get you some water and a blanket. Such an experience can be quite intense. It is important to take care of oneself.”
“I feel very safe here.”
Abdirak smiled, leaning forward and cupping his hand to Kar’niss’ chin. “Good. I’m glad to hear it. And now to prove that I have earned such, I must insist I be allowed to care for you.”