I was standing in pitch darkness, I looked around to see where I was but to no avail...just me and an empty void.
The last thing I remembered was passing out due to loss of blood. The immediate conclusion I came up with was maybe I was dead. Was this heaven....or maybe hell, a purgatory of sorts.
I was so confused, I looked down at my body and it was completely fine, no wounds anywhere and definitely not a huge chunk of flesh from my thighs missing. Suddenly the 'ground' I was standing on collapsed and I fell.
I flailed my body as I was trying to grab onto something, but there was nothing to grab onto. I kept flailing my arms as everything seemed to go much slower and in the darkness, I saw a hand reach out to me. I tried to grab hold of it but just as I thought I was close enough to do so, my fingertips brushed past it. A wave of terror washed over me as I felt myself falling but the very next instant, the hand reached deeper and grabbed onto my wrist.
The very next instant, I woke up with a loud gasp.
I was breathing heavily and my vision took a few seconds to adjust, but as I calmed down and looked around I realised I was not in the godforsaken forest anymore. I was in a huge room, as big as my entire house back home. With a very victorian era style with huge carpets and paintings with decorative ceilings and chandeliers.
I looked down at my body, I was completely naked except for my underwear and most of the wounds on my body were gone. Except for the one on my leg which was still bandaged but something was wrong, it looked like all that had happened was a cut and the chunks of flesh that were missing had reappeared magically. I was about to touch it when I heard a voice from beside me.
"Don't do that, you shouldn't move, you are still not completely healthy. Even with my healing factor" I heard a beautiful voice say.
Startled I looked to my left and my eyes widened.
luscious silver hair that went down to her waist and skin as white as snow, almost transparent. With charming cherry-red lips. Her gentle smile showed two sharp canines which only enhanced her bewitching beauty. Two jet-black horns which looked like an obsidian crown swept in the same direction as her hair only to complement it, her body as perfect as you can imagine, with proportions that only exist in a fantasy without a single blemish. The casual nightwear she was wearing only served to enhance it.
The most attractive of all however was her eyes, madder red pupils sucking you in and not letting you go, drawing you in the more you looked at it. The darkness within the iris, inviting you in....a dark void which provided comfort and warmth but one that will bind you forever and never let go, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.
Those eyes were ones that I could recognize anywhere, the ones that I had seen in the forest just before I was attacked. I had known the creature's eyes and hers were different.
"You..you were there...." I said while stammering.
She placed one of her hands on mine and said in a calm voice "Yes, I didn't think you noticed".
"Were you the one who saved me..." I continued, looking down at her hand on mine, the warmth of it feeding me a sense of comfort and safety.
"I am, and I am also sorry I couldn't help you earlier, I had to make sure of something" She replied, with regret in her eyes.
"Sure of what?" I asked.
"It doesn't matter right now, you are still weak and my healing factor has healed most of your wounds, you still need another dose to get back to full health" she replied hastily.
"You said that again, 'Healing factor', what does that mean?" I asked out of curiosity.
"It means that my composition, hmmm, you may better know it as my 'cells' I think. They have regenerative properties and can heal almost any physical wound" she replied excitedly.
"What?! Like magic or something?" I replied with a surprised tone.
"I guess you could say that, the sources for both magic and my healing come from the same place I suppose. But they are not exactly the same thing" she said, amused.
"Wait...so magic ALSO exists here!" I said excitedly.
"It doesn't just exist, this whole world depends on it" she said, her amused grin getting wider, like she was explaining something to a child.
I got a bit embarrassed and composed myself.
"So...how did your healing factor help me, was it a spell??" I asked.
"Well.....yours was an emergency case and healing factors cannot be transferred by spells anyway so I.." she said as she held up her hand. There was a small scar on her palm, the most surprising thing was that it was healing and disappearing in real time.
"So your blood I am guessing, you gave it to me as I passed out. I am sorry you had to hurt yourself" I said apologetically.
She chuckled and replied, "It's fine, see. It's almost healed but as I said you need another dose to completely heal, you may have not noticed but you have many internal injuries as well that are still far from cured".
"But I don't want you to hurt yourself again, you have already done so much...." I said as I looked down.
"I should be dead and it's only because of you that I am still talking, that's more than enough" I said as I looked at her again.
"I heard it you know...when you shouted. You said it didn't you, you want to be happy right, you want to live....so why are you looking so sad" she said as she came closer. "How can you be happy again if you are not healthy" she put her hand on my chin, facing me towards her. Her eyes held me still, not allowing me to look away.
"And as for hurting myself....my blood is not the only thing that can transfer my healing to you" she said as she brought my face closer and intertwined my lips with hers.
My body tensed up and my eyes widened but as time went on for what felt like an eternity, her tongue intertwined with mine and her hands wrapped around my head, my body went slack and I closed my eyes.
The moment we separated I gasped for air, not even realising that I was out of breath, a small trail of saliva still linking our lips. She grabbed my blanket and covered my lower half again.
I looked back at her and she was grinning from ear to ear as she got up and headed to the door without another word.
I wanted to speak out but my mouth wouldn't move, my whole face felt hot and warm. I knew my face was red and I shot my hand out to make her stop but a sharp pain made me flinch back.
"fufu...you should rest for now, we have a lot to talk about later when the rest of your wounds have healed" she said slyly.
"W-wait, who exactly are you?" I asked just before she stepped out, this question digging at me from the start.
She turned and smiled "My name is Lucille Tempest Mephistopheles, Daughter of the current demon lord, Beelzebub Tempest Mephistopheles, Princess of the Tempest Empire and...future Demon lord. Though I will allow you to call me Lucy, nice to meet you Haruto Hideyoshi".
Winking as she left