I removed my robe and stepped naked through the narrow opening. I could feel the adrenalin pumping through my veins. I had thought about this moment for so long. I had thought about it until the fear turned into a longing, a desire that had become a bitter sweet taste invading my soul.

I had been led through a meanly-lit, blackened cave by two acolytes. They stopped, unwilling or unable to go further. It did not matter. I had volunteered for this. The stories and history of this moment we're steeped into our culture. Someone had to make the sacrifice. It was something I would do alone.

There was no light, only deep, deep shadow. Anyone stepping through that opening, entered complete darkness. The blackness enveloped me. For a moment I stood frozen, overwhelmed by fear, but I assured myself that it had to be this way; I needed to do this more than I have needed anything in my life.

I stepped warily forward. Three tentative paces, carefully feeling for the floor ahead of me. I had no means of judging where I stood or how big the space was. I could see and hear nothing. No voice or sound of breathing, just an innate sense that I was not alone.

I waited. Nobody told me the protocol for this situation, nobody had given guidance. Far too many had never returned from the ordeal, and the few that did, would not speak of what happened. I sensed that further movement would be clumsy and it was clear from the oppressive silence that words were not welcome, so I waited. Patient.

I was being watched. Studied. It felt like a prickle running up my spine. I knew there was a possibility that I would simply be killed, but I was of age, I was slim, and most important, I was a virgin. The odds of my survival had to be good, but that no longer mattered; for the sake of my people, I had to face whatever outcome fate chose.

It became stiflingly hot. I had stood on that one spot for what seemed like hours and became scared I would faint. Somehow I didn't that the sacrifice while unconscious would count and would be destroyed like so many others before me.

Something soft and cool slithered across my foot. I gasped. My instincts were to scream and run, but I held still. I had to hold still. Whatever the ordeal was to be, it was starting.

This thing coiled around my ankle. I wanted to say that it was a human hand; it had the feel of soft gentle flesh, and while it felt cool against my hot skin, it was not cold like the snakes and reptiles of the forest. Yet it was not a hand in any human sense; there were no fingers, no bony structure.

It continued to coil. I could feel it winding its way up my leg, its grip on me becoming firmer. As it reached my thigh and seemed to halt, similar tendrils, for that is what they seemed to be, touched my other ankle and both wrists. I immediately sensed the pattern. I was to be hog-tied. My chance for escape was clearly past, but then, running had not been an option.

With both arms and both legs firmly bound, I was hoisted from the floor. The movement was sudden and fast, like a fairground ride, and had the similar effect of making me nauseous. I felt acid rise to my throat, and again thought I might black out, but a sudden layer of cool air revived me.

Eyes. It was still pitch black, but I could see the glow of eyes, as though they were illuminated from inside. It was like seeing pinpricks of light as the entrance to a tunnel might appear, but these were no distance, they were just inches from my face. Intense eyes, that seemed to be searching my soul. And as the eyes interrogated me, a voice spoke. A deep gravelly voice, full of menace.

"You have come to give yourself?"

I froze as fear overwhelmed my senses.

"You are here, and I intend to have you. I trust that you have not lied to be here. You know that it would not be good to have lied."

I remained silent. I knew the truth.

"You know that many before you have lied."

None within my living memory had returned, that much I knew for certain. I also knew they had all claimed to be pure.

The eyes continued to stare. "Do you wish to continue?"

I was unaware there was a choice, but I had come here for this purpose, and was not backing out. "Yes." It was all I could manage.

The eyes came ever closer until I could feel breath against my face. It was stale and smelt unnatural, but it was not unpleasant. I started to feel light headed, strange and suddenly became aware of the bindings on my arms and legs, as if I could sense every individual nerve end where the tendrils touched me. I could feel how soft and tender they were. I could feel how they gripped me. I could feel the blood vessels in my limbs pumping past the tightness.

Lips kissed mine. They were cool, but soft and tender. The kiss had a gentleness and a passion; just as I might have imagined a lover. I responded. Having thought about this for so long, it was easy to be lured by what I imagined. There was a certain sexual frisson to it, and I became aroused. I responded. Eager. Lustily, though at that time I had no concept of what the term meant. The lips kissed, then sucked.

The mouth moved, first kissing my neck, then my breasts. What started as soft and gentle became fierce, and as it reached my nipples, ferocious. I could feel the areola being sucked hard, the bud brushing against rough teeth. Suddenly I was bitten. Incisors penetrated me. I screamed, and felt the warmth of blood on my skin. I could not deny that it hurt, but I would have endured more.

The mouth continued to travel down my body. At least, the lips continued to kiss and devour me, but it was my body that moved, continually lifted and tilted, unable to resist any position this creature chose. Unable and perhaps unwilling.

As the creature reached my stomach, I felt my legs being eased apart and my body tip backwards. I hung almost upside down and feared I would fall, the ordeal finishing with my skull crushed on the stone floor. Blood rushed to my head.

The position made me feel vulnerable. I was naked, bound by arms and legs, and at the mercy of a creature that was going to take my virginity, but suddenly having my femininity exposed at close quarters, even in the dark, embarrassed me. I sensed the creature studying me. I could feel it's breath on my skin. I was mortified.

Lips kissed me. There. Where no mouth had been and where I had never imagined a mouth would go.. It kissed me, then proceeded to lick, in wide arcs from the crease of my buttocks to my pubic bone, it's tongue rough like broken glass making my flesh burn. And when it was not satisfied with licking, it bit me. It bit my clitoris. It bit the lips of my vagina, and it bit the inside of my thighs.

I have confessed to you my virginity. With that comes a lack of sexual experience. I have masturbated and made myself orgasm. I have, on one occasion only, as a result of a stupid high school dare, let another girl put her hand down my panties, but I have never experienced sexual arousal as I did at that moment. Sexual arousal to the point that set every fiber of my being on fire.

I thought that with one more lick or bite, I would explode, but it wasn't to be. The creature stopped, lowered me, and before I considered what might happen, deflowered me with what I assumed it's penis. One powerful thrust and it was deep inside me. I screamed. Pain tore through my body. I passed out.

I regained consciousness crouched on the cold stone floor with my head between my legs. The tendrils that had bound my arms and legs were gone. I still sensed the creature in close proximity.

'You have a task to perform.'

I had no words, so just sat and waited. I sensed the creature move closer until the heat from its body assured me that it was no more than inches from where I sat.

'You will taste your blood on me.'

It took a moment to sink in. I had conjured many images in my head since volunteering to sacrifice myself, but at no time did this occur to me. I obeyed. Of course I obeyed. I clumsily reached forward to locate the creatures penis. Compared to my admittedly small hands, it felt huge. It also felt hot, wet, and sticky.

I guided it into my open mouth. The metallic taste of blood overwhelmed my senses. I started to gag. I stopped, swallowed, and managed to continue. The initial revulsion soon faded into something quite pleasant. I thought I could understand the apparent popularity of oral sex, especially when I started to feel the creatures penis swell and harden.

The creature started to withdraw, but as it did I closed my lips around the girth and tried to suck. The sensation it created seemed to be the right one. The creature stopped as the head reached my lips, and slid back to push deep into my throat. I struggled to breathe but continued to grip what I could of the shaft with one hand, gently squeezing and rubbing, and moved the other in an attempt to cradle the leathery sack that contained it's balls.

Suddenly something hit me in the chest, violently. I was thrust backwards, the rough stone floor taking the skin off my back as I slid several feet. I had no sooner stopped moving than struck by what felt like a whip. It had clearly been aimed at my sex and hit with military precision. I was unaware of the raised welt that would permanently scar my upper thighs, just the pain centered on my sexuality that surged like electricity through my body. I screamed.

I felt the creatures face close to mine, the hot fetid breath pulsing against my cheeks. I could see it's fiery eyes burning through my tears. I could sense anger, but did not understand why.

For a long while nothing happened. The pain started to subside, replaced by just a fierce heat. I feared that I had in some way been permanently mutilated, but had not the courage to find out, so just lay there, silent and still.

I contemplated escape. Of course I contemplated escape; no human facing fear can not consider running, but I had no concept of where the entrance was, and suspected this creature had the means and the will to kill me if I moved. I had to stay, and I had to submit to whatever degradation was afforded me.

I felt a tendril touch. I anticipated the repeat of being bound, but this just slid between my legs until the tip brushed against the bruised lips of my vagina. I didn't know if I were meant to part my thighs; if such a gesture would be seen as disobedience, or whether non movement seen as hindrance. I remained still, hoping.

The tip of the tendril slid between the lips and slowly entered me. It felt as if it were exploring me, but in a way that was more surgical than sexual. I started to experience sensations deep inside that I hardly know how to describe. It was not pain, but a discomfort. This thing was doing things inside me that were far from natural, and more than a little unpleasant. But my resolve held. I would submit.

What followed became more distasteful and painful by the second. It started with a dull ache very low in my stomach, which quickly became a sharp cramp. I involuntarily doubled over and vomited, and as I threw up, I felt a warmth between my legs that I recognized immediately. Blood. I was having a period.

Tendrils slid beneath my buttocks and back, lifted me from the floor. I lay, horizontal, with my legs hanging. I instinctively knew what was about to happen and what I needed to do. The humiliation would be total, precisely as required. I lifted and spread my legs as wide as I could. The offer of my sexuality in complete supplication.

The creatures penis entered me. Not as brutal as the first time, but with no gentleness or finesse. I could feel it stretching and tearing my insides, filling me deeper with each thrust. Tears streamed down my cheeks, but I refused to be heard crying.

I soon felt the end pushing into and distorting my womb. I felt full. I could hardly imagine having more inside me, but that did not stop the creature pushing ever deeper. The rhythm, already fierce, started to speed, and with the pace, the girth of it's penis seemed to grow.

Finally the creature seemed to shudder. I felt burning hot semen flood my insides as it started to orgasm. Started and continued for what seemed like several minutes, each subsequent thrust forcing our bodily fluids from my vagina, soaking my thighs and running between the cheeks of my buttocks.

The creature withdrew and lay me on the floor. I sensed it moving. Closer.

"I have hurt you, and I have humiliated you. If you had known all that might be, would you have come?"

"Yes," I said, without hesitation. As I spoke I looked into the creatures eyes. I needed it to understand. Whilst the detail was beyond anything that I could have imagined, I had to face this ordeal.

I felt tendrils lift and move me some considerable distance, then set me gently on my feet.

"There is an opening immediately in front of you. It leads to a chamber where you may refresh yourself."

My mind reeled. I was being released? No, of course I was not being released. The creature knew I would return. The creature knew as well as I did that the future of my people depended on this sacrifice being made. I had volunteered. I had asked to come here. I would not leave until the ordeal was complete. I would survive or I would die, but I would not run.

The opportunity of respite was welcome. I stepped forward into another blackened cave. The air was hot, as if the walls radiated fire. I tentatively walked towards a faint distant glow and growing sound; running water.

A small cavern, more akin to the grottoes depicted in the stories my mother had read to me. Sadly this was no fairy tale. A high fissure in the rock allowed a trickle of light to filter down. Water emerged from a ledge about twenty feet above my head, and emptied as a million diamonds into a pool.

The ice cold water burnt into my flesh and paralyzed my lungs, but was welcome. I dived under, drinking hungrily, happy to wash away the taste of degradation and vomit, and relishing the numbing of my broken body. I knew I could do little more than cleanse my wounds so paid no attention to them. Perhaps I did not want to be reminded. When I could no longer take the rawness, I returned to the cave and lay on the floor. There was no physical comfort, but I felt clean and secure. It was enough.

I had no concept of how long I lay there.

I know that I slept. I woke, disoriented and stiff, yet thankfully warm. It did not take long for the reality to sink in. I knew where I was and what I had to face. That is, I knew I had to return and give my body to this creature, but just what acts or depravity it required, I could not imagine. I sensed that what I had already experienced was some sort of test, and would not be repeated, but that was hardly a comfort; the next stage could be infinitely worse.

I returned to the opening and took a few tentative steps inside. Again I was enveloped in blackness. Again I felt lost as to what was expected. I waited, silently, hoping that my presence was sufficient. A tendril touched my wrist and wrapped itself into my hand. It gently pulled. I was being led deeper into the space in a way that almost seemed delicate, as might a friend, or a parent with a child. That made it seem all the more sinister.

When it halted, tendrils touched the inside of my ankles and teased me to stand, legs apart. More pressure and I bent forward, hands flat to the floor. I was being prepared.

The first blow took me by surprise. It felt like some sort of paddle. It struck the top of both thighs, and because of the pose I now held, whispered against the delicate outer lips of my vagina. The blow was not hard, just enough to make me gasp and my skin tingle.

The second blow was very different. I screamed, my skin burnt and my eyes filled with tears. The third and fourth had me sobbing loudly. There had never been a point in my life that I had to experience pain, so I have no idea whether the threshold I had was high or low. I just knew I could take no more.

I waited for the next blow, knowing that I would collapse and beg for mercy, knowing that I would move, knowing that I would fail this test and my people, but it never came. I waited, maintaining the position I was put in, but nothing happened.

The tendrils returned. Two made to lift my upper body until it became horizontal, and seemed to intertwine, forming a platform to carry my weight. The other two slid across the back of my thighs. They felt cold against my burning flesh, cold and greasy. They were applying some sort of balm.

The pain on my thighs, and the more intimate areas as a tendril gently caressed there too, began to ease. I was acutely aware of being touched, and of being bruised and bloody, but as the fierce heat faded, the sensation became almost pleasant.

All the while I held still. I was unrestrained and free to move, free to recapture control, albeit briefly, but I held still. I understood what was expected; complete obedience, and I was determined to comply.

A tendril slid between the cheeks of my buttocks, still cold, still greasy, and started to tease my most private of holes. It entered me. I gasped and involuntarily clenched my muscles. I felt this thing stiffen and resist my body's intention to expel it. It pushed further in. I could feel my hole being stretched. I could even feel the flesh tearing as it's elasticity failed, but the pain was little more than having a sharp nail scratch your flesh.

As the tendril withdrew, I sensed the creature standing behind me; that now familiar feeling of being scrutinized . Closely. I instinctively knew what was about to happen. Fear overwhelmed me and I started to cry.

The creatures penis entered me. Entered my anus. I felt my hole stretch until the giant head was inside me, and then the movement as it continued to slide, ever deeper. I could feel the whole of my insides being distorted. I felt full; the sort of full you experience when you urgently need to evacuate your bowel.

The creature started to fuck me, each thrust seemingly finding new depths, each thrust making the penis inside me swell. Each thrust making my anus contract and squeeze.

As the creature fucked me, the tendrils supporting my body started to move, circling then squeezing on my drooping young breasts. With each thrust the tendrils tightened, until I felt the glands they contain might burst through the skin. It felt as though my nipples were being cut open. I screamed. Amid the sobs and tears, I screamed.

As I screamed, I felt the creature orgasm. The first spurts of semen were deep inside my bowel, but it withdrew and continued to spray it's hot seed over my buttocks, my thighs and across my lower back.

The creature remained still. I could hear it panting and groaning, a deep soulful groan that echoed in the darkness. I could feel it's penis laying hot and sticky against my flesh. I could feel my rectum trying to return to normality, squeezing semen and possibly my own excrement from inside me, making farting noises. Noises which even now, embarrassed me.

The tendrils released their grip and lowered me to the floor. I instinctively curled into a fetal ball and continued to cry. Tears, and a feeling of desolation were all that remained.

I have no idea how long I lay like that. It may have been five minutes or five hours. Time no longer had meaning. I don't think I slept; I think my brain just shut down, unable to process the reality of what was happening.

While the room remained stiflingly hot, I started to shiver and it somehow brought me to my senses. I waited, trying to anticipate my disobedience. I eased myself up.

"I am done with you." The creatures voice was distant. "You may return to the cavern, or you may leave. Decide and I will guide you."

Now was my chance. This was the whole reason for my presence, the whole reason for suffering this ordeal, and I froze. Fear again overwhelmed me. I knew that I might provoke another assault, and doubted I would survive, but ...

"No." It was hardly a logical reply, or even an intelligent comment, but it was the best I could manage.

I sensed the creature suddenly close. I could not see it's eyes, but I knew it was intensely studying me from the hair standing on my neck."

"No, you will not decide?"

"No, I do not wish to leave."

This time the creatures face was immediately in front of mine. I could see it's eyes. Burning. Intense. I could feel the breath from it's flaring nostrils scouring my skin in angry repeated bursts. My heart pumped hard in my chest and ears.

"Child, you do not have the strength to take more of what I might do."

I swallowed hard, and tried to control my breathing. I had rehearsed this moment too many times. I had to get it right. "I do not crave the humiliation and punishment," I said hesitantly, "but if that is the price of my understanding why it has to be this way, then I will pay. Willingly."

The creature growled; a deep angry roar full of hatred and frustration. It vanished from my view. I could sense it's presence and imagined it's movement; pacing, as my father would, delivering an all too frequent admonishment.

"I thought I recognized something different in you, I didn't realize it was stupidity."

Despite my fear and vulnerability, I bristled. "Why is it stupid to care about my people getting hurt?"

" Your people !" Anger raised the creatures voice to a deafening snarl. "Invest your care in your own safety and wellbeing. Your people are not worthy."

"I don't understand what that even means."

"Then read your history books."

The words were hurled back at me and struck as if they were rocks. I felt my emotions overwhelming me once more and tears filling my eyes. "I have read the history books." I spoke as calmly as I could. "They are written by the people you say are unworthy. If that is so, how can I believe they reveal the truth."

There was a long silence. I sensed the creature had withdrawn to some corner. I contemplated leaving, though without guidance, I doubted that were possible. So I waited. Patient. Trying to hold on to calm.

"There were several of my kind when your people first came to the valley." The creatures voice was clam and soft. "We lived off what we could find. We never had to hunt and had no predators, so we had no fear of these strangers. We welcomed them, and offered to share our knowledge.

"For a few years we lived in peace, but your people are greedy. As their numbers grew, they wanted more. More food and more land. When we told them it was not sustainable, they drove my kind away.

"We tried to protest and to reason, but your people turned against us. We were strong, but no match for your weapons. The tortured, mutilated, raped and defiled us. They forced my people to endure things I can hardly bring myself to recall. They castrated my brothers and cut the breasts from my sisters. They were cruel, ugly and meaningless acts."

The creature paused. I could hear harsh erratic breathing echo in the darkness. I waited. Silent.

"Those of us that could, retreated back here to the mountains. These are our ancestral home. We have long been able to live in the dark among these caverns, and they are too vast and complex for your people to hunt us. We were safe, but for most, it was just an escape from battle. We brought disease and infection from what your people inflicted on us, things for which our bodies knew no defense. Death came slowly and painfully.

"I am the last. My kinsmen are all gone. There has been many times when I wished to have gone too, but for some reason I survived, but I could neither forgive nor forget what had been done.

"I knew I was no match to fight your people on my own. My only strength was stealth and darkness, so I started to go to the valley at night, to wait, to see what opportunity might arise.

"I found a young woman. Hers was some secret tryst, but the man had not the valor to escort her to safety. As he left, I took her and did the things that had been done to my sisters. It seemed apt. At first your people looked among their own for someone to blame, but when I took a second, they knew and came, hunting, seeking vengeance.

"This is my home, my territory, they could not find me. They hunted for days, but soon tired. In the valley, people stayed indoors at night, but soon became complacent, and as their vigilance waned, I returned. It continued for many moons. I took many women, perhaps hundreds.

"One night, your people gathered at the entrance to this cavern. They wanted to talk. I sat and watched from the high ridge, amused as they called to the emptiness. But I heard their words; a maiden sacrificed at each solstice, if the attacks ceased. Your people were defeated. I no longer had to go to the valley for revenge, it would be brought to me. I just had to wait, but that, for me, was easy.

"Young women were brought to me, and though my word was never given, I honored the agreement. There were no more attacks. But your people took me for a fool; many that were sacrificed were neither a virgin nor young, and some came expecting pleasure.

"I am no fool, and I would not dishonor the memory of my sisters; they suffered pain and untold humiliation, so those that come here must be treated the same way."

I sobbed loudly as tears streamed down my face. "I am sorry" I said.

A tendril slithered up my body and came to rest on my chest. It was feeling my heart. I gently lay my hand over it, praying the gesture be seen as compliant.

"I know words are inadequate after all that you and your kind have suffered, but I am sorry."

The end of the tendril coiled around my hand in a gesture that felt almost tender, and remained against my heart as I cried. I have no concept of how long I sat there and cried, just that the tears did stop, leaving an empty, raw feeling. Every nerve, every emotion had been exposed. I had been drained.

Eventually I found the strength to stand. The tendril in my hand tightened it's grip, but not menacingly, it was supporting and helping.

"I will stay." I sensed the creature move slowly closer.

"Why? I am done with you. Have you no care for your self?"

"I care about my people and what is happening to them, but now that I know the truth, I care more about making right the wrong that has been done to you and your kind. I have said that I am sorry, but words alone cannot undo the past, so I will stay. I will remain here to atone."

Silence. I sensed the creature pacing.

"If you stay, it will destroy you."

I caught hold of the word. 'It. Not I.'

"I could not live with my conscience if I did not do what I believe to be right, so destruction of my physical body hardly matters."

The creature growled. The tendril gripped my hand and forcibly pulled me. When I stumbled a second reached around my upper arm. I was being led towards the opening. Given no choice. I knew the creature had the strength and will to physically eject me. It seemed pointless trying to resist. I hardly had the strength.

I saw a distant light. I was back where I started. The tendril on my arm released it's grip, the other held firm. It lifted my hand onto my chest, over my heart, and remained for several seconds. Emotion overwhelmed me once more and tears flooded my eyes. When it eventually released it's grip it gently nudged me in the direction of the light. I walked slowly, alone and suddenly very lonely.

I reached daylight to find my mother waiting. She may have been there several days for all I knew. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to cry. I wanted to reach out and embrace her, but I did none of that. I blacked out.

I woke, in the comfort of my own bed, sunlight itching to find a way round the edge of the blinds. As I looked round taking in the totems of my childhood, Bruno, my terrier watched soulfully from his basket, bewildered. He had been barred from the bed.

Bruno's scampering, as I welcomed him under the covers, alerted my mother to my side. It had been three days since I returned. We spoke, on that and subsequent days, a little of what had happened. I focused on the knowledge I had gained and spared her the detail of the brutality. She had ministered to my wounds and injuries and needed no explanation of how they were acquired; she too had been a sacrifice.

It was several days before I was able to get out of bed, and several weeks before my wounds healed and faded. It took three months before my periods returned, and four before I knew that they were again regular.

In the fifth month, I returned to the mountain.