Board Thread:What Would You Do?/@comment-39745555-20191004034230/@comment-33398500-20191005175306

Are you KIDDING ME!?

As I looked down at what appeared to be a novelty treasure chest, I felt as if my intelligence and skills as a thief had been insulted at the same time by this commission: I was here to steal a TOY BOX!?

“What are you doing with my toy box?” A small voice asked me as I started to carry the box toward the door.

Looking down, I now saw a small lilim in front of me, looking up at me as if I were trying to kill her best friend. This was unsurprising: I was stealing a child’s toy box, after all.

I was lucky that the small lilim’s passive power hadn’t fully developed yet, since I had no desire to throw myself at a loli.

“You know, I don’t really know, kid.” I admitted, shaking my head a little. The look on the little girl’s face enough that I felt absolutely terrible for trying to steal the box, as it reminded me of the look my little sister used to get when something bad would happen when we were kids.

“Are you desperately short of toys?” she asked innocently, now looking at me with curiosity until I couldn’t bring myself to do it anymore, setting the box back down where I had found it.

“No. Somebody told me to come in here and find a box, but even I wouldn’t steal from a child, even a child of the demon lord.” I responded, as the little girl stepped over the box, opening it and drawing out a miniature chest.

“How about this one? Would it work? It’s part of my ‘Echidna Dungeon’ set.” She told me with a soft little smile that absolutely melted my heart. I would never have expected a child of the demon lord to be such an innocent being.

“It’s okay, kid.” I responded to her, stepping over to the box and looking inside: there was literally nothing but a plethora of various toys that looked as if suited to the sorts of things one might encounter in a demon realm. “Certainly a lot in there. Didn’t feel that heavy when I picked it up though.”

“Mommy enchanted it so I could move it around myself!” she told me with a smile, clearly proud of her mother’s skills, though doubtless only being aware of the tip of the iceberg of her abilities. “Would you… play with me?” she asked, now starting to pull some stuff out of the box. “I don’t really get visitors, and I only get to play with the maids, the guards are boring and don’t like to play games. Someone new would be fun!”

My heart long since melted by the innocent lilim in front of me, I had only one possible answer to this question “Of course, dear girl.”

I spent the next few hours playing various imagination games with the small lilim and her assortment of toys, sympathizing with her loneliness, even with so many sisters, as she told me that a lot of them treated her like a bother when she wanted to play with them. I couldn’t bring myself to even try to leave right now.

“Oh, made a new friend, have we?” a sultry voice called from the door, as I now suddenly remembered where exactly I was, having been engrossed in the tale the small girl and I were weaving with the little characters in front of us.

Turning, I now saw the most intimidating being in all of existence: the demon lord herself, who was now faced with a strange man playing games with her youngest daughter. “I thought I felt a new presence in the castle, but would not have expected this. I thought one of my older daughters would have had you by now.”

“Mommy!” the small lilim cheered, running over and hugging her knees.

“And how are you, dearest Athena?” she asked the little girl with the doting smile of a proud mother.

“Great!” she responded happily. “The funny-dressed man and I have been playing with my toys for forever! He’s really nice!”

“Is he, now?” she asked with a smirk, though a pressure had built in the room that felt as if gluing me to the spot. “That could work.” She concluded, before asking “How would you like to be my daughter’s husband? She’s clearly taken a liking to you.”

“H-h-husband?” I stammered, unable to form a coherent thought right now with the strange sense in the room I was getting from the demon lord. No wonder only the strongest of heroes could even stand in her presence, let alone fight her. “But she’s still-“

Knowing fully what I was starting to say, she shook her head “Not yet, obviously, but once she’s ready. You’ve already been captivated by her, so there’s no answer besides yes for you~” she then told me, as I felt myself stand, stepping toward the back wall. “Ummm, what are you doing?” I asked, as my body moved without my volition.

“Oh, this won’t take long, I am just ensuring my daughter’s husband will be the same as she remembers now, when the time is right~” she informed me, as I started to feel something freezing me to the spot.

“But mommy, we weren’t done playing yet!” Athena protested, starting to tear up. I felt horrible for her, even in the situation I found myself in.

“Sorry, dear.” She reassured her daughter “But he will be exactly who you remember once you are truly ready to play~”

I was, by the point, encased in some kind of pink crystal, now frozen in Athena’s room as if some kind of decoration.

The last thing I heard before my mind went into stasis was “How about I play with you instead?”

-Ten Years Later-

What felt as if a few minutes later, I finally snapped back to reality, the crystal falling from me and freeing me from my stasis.

The room that met me, however, looked nothing like the one I started in: the stone room of the castle replaced by what appeared the master bedroom of a manor house, light streaming in from the massive windows on the wall, illuminating the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.

“HUBBY!” the lilim declared, charging me into a wall and crushing me in an enthusiastic hug. “Finally!” she declared happily. “I was afraid mother’s curse would never wear off!”

Once she had separated herself from me a moment, I got a chance to look her over: she was certainly older, yes, matured into the goddess-tier proportions that lilim were known for, but her wings, her hair and that small black mark on the tip of her left wing told me that the lilim in front of me was indeed Athena.

“A-athena?” I still couldn’t help but ask, as the little girl I remembered from that room was now someone else entirely, part of me needing to confirm “How long was I in there?”

“Yes!” she reassured me “It’s been so long! Forever! Ten years of wondering if you’d ever come out of there! At first I thought mother was punishing me, but after a year or two and talking to my sisters, I understood why: it didn’t make it easier, though.”

“I wouldn’t think so.” I responded, before looking out from the window, curious where I had ended up. The house this room was located in seemed to be at the center of an endless expanse of beautiful flower fields, cloudless blue sky clearly illuminating the entire thing. It seemed we were in some manner of idyllic dream house. “Where are we?” I then asked her, turning back to her.

“Oh, do you like my world!?” she asked, clearly excited to finally be able to speak to me. “I made a pocket dimension for us to have our home in! It’s based on-“

“-the story of the Lilim of the Flower Fields…” I finished for her with a nod, remembering one of the stories we had gone over. It would have been ten years for her, but to me it was less than an hour ago. “…and yes, I do like it.”

Despite the short time for me, however, it clearly impressed her, as if she forgot that part. “You remember the old stories then! Yay!” she cheered, now directing me over to a writing desk, what looked like a large tome placed on top of it. “I wrote down what I still remembered, and gave it a little more detail, more meaning, you know? I also wrote anything else that I thought of since you were put in stasis. I’d love for you to read them.”

However, as I moved toward the book, I felt her hand grab mine “But, first things first…” pulling me back to her and locking me into a kiss, I could feel my head spinning as her demonic energy began taking effect on me “…I’ve been waiting for ten years for you, and I’ve been waiting seven to do that…” Now beginning to pull me toward the bed, she continued “…and I’ve been waiting five to do this…” now jumping onto the bed with me, I could do nothing but help her indulge her pent-up longing, my eye catching a tiny treasure chest sitting on her nightstand before I was unable to focus on anything but her.

I guess there’s more than one way to find love.