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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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The cozy space became confining,
The thrilling pleasure transformed into agonizing corruption.
I could barely remember why I was here. Only a desperate will to survive remained.
“Mmm…”
Alraune constantly stroked my head, except when she was pleasuring me.
She mumbled to herself, worried about my [abnormal] resistance.
She couldn’t understand my way of thinking. Becoming nourishment for the future generation was simply the natural order of things.
Honestly,
If Alraune had truly wanted me dead, I would have been helpless to resist.
I was still alive only because of,
Her gentle nature, her maternal instincts.
“It’s okay. It won’t hurt.”
Alraune tried her best to soothe me.
She offered comfort and reassurance, trying to persuade me, as if I were a male preparing to become fruit with her.
Based on my experiences, persuasion wasn’t necessary on this planet.
In a world where survival was paramount, the law of the jungle prevailed.
Even Aria, who had shown me a degree of kindness, hadn’t been an exception. She had simply offered a strong individual’s “mercy,” knowing she held the power.
“Why are you so afraid? Come here.”
But Alraune, genuinely,
Deeply,
Tried to reason with me.
“Only when we willingly offer ourselves as nourishment can a truly beautiful fruit be born.”
Her compassion,
Her maternal instincts,
And perhaps even some superstition inherent to her species…
“We… become stars.”
Alraune whispered, holding me close.
“We don’t die. This is a new beginning.”
Her voice, sweet as honey, echoed in my ears. She had a knack for calming me, like a skilled therapist.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of. Don’t cry.”
We couldn’t understand each other.
Caught between two irreconcilable worldviews, Alraune spoke of sacrifice and the greater good.
“When you’re ready, we’ll try again. We’ll become a beautiful fruit-”
“N-no…”
I trembled, whispering my refusal, despite her boundless generosity.
“No… I don’t want to…”
“Sigh- honestly.”
We couldn’t reach an agreement.
She fought for the survival and prosperity of her species,
And I, for my own life, my future, my revenge.
It wasn’t a fight, but a long, drawn-out debate.
Alraune didn’t resort to violence, didn’t torture or torment me.
She treated me with kindness and compassion. And that suffocating care was what kept me alive.
Before, a sharp axe had been poised at my throat,
But now, a blunt stone knife slowly sawed away at it.
Relentlessly,
Until it severed my head.
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The petals opened for the first time in a while.
Alraune exhaled the warm air within and drew in the fresh air from outside.
“Gasp- Ahh…!”
“No.”
I pushed my head and one arm through the opening, but I couldn’t escape Alraune’s grasp. Her hands and vines held me back.
She was actively preventing my escape now.
The seduction phase was over.
Having shared intimacy with me,
She wouldn’t let me leave.
The soft inner petals seemed almost wasted on me.
A product of evolution that hadn’t accounted for a male’s resistance.
Designed to provide males with ultimate pleasure and bliss, she likely found my continued struggle, my yearning for the outside world, incredibly frustrating.
“Drink more. Quickly.”
“Gasp… cough-! Stop… pant…”
The longer the standoff continued, the more anxious Alraune became.
She forced my mouth open, pouring her honey down my throat.
The sweet nectar, still laced with the narcotic, flowed between our lips.
Gulp-
I swallowed involuntarily, the honey sliding down my throat.
It filled my stomach, bringing another wave of overwhelming pleasure.
My body convulsed.
I felt like I was losing consciousness.
Alraune held me tighter, her embrace preventing my struggles. She massaged my limbs, promoting blood circulation, ensuring the drug’s effectiveness.
Half-submerged in honey,
Filled with it, inside and out, I lost myself.
Somewhere between consciousness and oblivion…
My eyes rolled back, and my body trembled.
With escape seeming impossible,
I finally gave up.
But something strange happened.
My mind, pushed beyond its limits, experienced something unreal.
I saw without seeing.
I heard without hearing.
A distortion of my inner world, something some might call a paranormal experience.
As a scholar, I felt compelled to categorize this phenomenon.
The official term was drug overdose.
My body temperature dropped rapidly,
Breathing became difficult…
Based on these symptoms alone, I should have been dead.
But I still clung to my thoughts, my consciousness,
Because within my hazy perception, another being was trying to communicate.
“айнынъ къуванчы (The moon watches over you).”
An unfamiliar language.
Different from the language I had learned from Aria and Arachne. Different sentence structure, different pronunciation, different intonation.
Yet, somehow, I understood.
It was unsettling. As if my very being was being scrutinized.
Or rather,
Like my soul was being licked by a giant tongue.
“3.”
I saw fingers.
Slender and elongated, something no human should ever witness.
As if,
Modeled after my own fingers,
A strange mixture of kindness and revulsion.
Screeeeeeeeeech-
An unearthly scream tore from my throat.
A sound I had never heard before, filled with agony and terror.
“Aaaaagh! Agh…! Heeek! Sob!”
Alraune’s eyes snapped open, her calm demeanor shattered.
Her beautiful eyes were wide with fear. I didn’t know what she saw in me.
“Ah…”
But her behavior changed drastically.
She knelt before me, her hands clasped together, her body trembling.
“Ah…”
She was praying. I thrashed and convulsed, clawing at my skin, but she remained calm, her movements measured and deliberate.
The petals opened.
My body, unable to stay still, rolled out, falling onto the ground.
“Uggggh…! Aaaaagh!”
As if I had experienced something forbidden, all desire, all earthly cravings, vanished.
Only an unbearable itching and a burning sensation remained.
Moonlight streamed down upon us.
The night sky was unusually bright.
And there, just like in the mural, was a grotesque, writhing shape.
As I stared at it,
It stared back.
The vast distance between us collapsed.
I saw the moon, up close,
Its bright light washing over me.
For a brief moment,
We acknowledged each other’s existence.
And we both knew, instinctively,
That I,
And it,
Were enemies.
I had to avoid it.
“Come here.”
Alraune extended a vine, covering my eyes, pulling me back into her petals.
My breathing returned, ragged and uneven. Even though my lungs filled with air, I felt like I was drowning.
“Gasp… cough-”
“Breathe. Breathe.”
Alraune’s voice was filled with urgency.
Her eyes, open for the first time in a while, stared at me intently,
And she gently wiped the sweat from my brow.
“Don’t die. You mustn’t die.”
Her demeanor had completely changed. She treated me with reverence, as if I were a sacred being.
“Oh no.”
But my body was too weak,
And I, too human, too fragile.
“…”
Alraune made a decision.
A decision that prioritized a new purpose over the survival of her species.
“Blessings upon your journey.”
A strange phrase.
I clung to her words, even as consciousness faded.
And then,
Alraune pierced my skin.
…We wouldn’t become fruit together,
But we would become one, in a different way.
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