Thunderous roars high above, rain was running down like the wooden barricades and buildings like mighty rivers from a mountain, the sky running alight every few moments form the lightning stored in the ever dark clouds. 2 guardsmen on the main entrance are looking out into the dark outside, the roaring river to the side and one of the only paved passages left, the two guards on top of the large wooden had to somewhat hide behind some compartments or shield their eyes with their arms, not even their tarps nor natural resistance to such weather was helping them that much..

Tower Guard 1:”hmmmm, the weather is unusually wild today”

Tower Guard 2:”yeah, i don’t know whats up today”

Tower Guard 1:”maybe its some giants or something behind the mountains…”

It was only a few hours before they had changed posts but they already wished their shift should be over so they can get back into the warmth and comfort of their wooden fortress. They continued some small-talk of what they have done the previous few days for a while, one of the guards on the ground and in front of the doors looked around constantly, while the other was somehow managing to yawn and doze off ever now and again, despite the harsh weather constantly hitting them in the face. One of the two squabblers started staring off into the distance, further than the two at t he bottom could, not expecting to see anything a tiny glitter on the other see-able end, not thinking much of it they wanted to continue their squabble, only for the silvery light to flicker once again only this time, a little closer.

Tower Guard 2:”you see that?”

Tower Guard 1:”see what?”

Tower Guard 2:”hm…idk..”

Now that both of them where ware of something being in the distance, their attention focused the flickers where starting to draw near, on the direct and only path towards them, nobody of the 4 but one seems to quickly recognize what these glitters meant.

Floor Guard 1:”sound the bells!”, immediately!”

The two above where hurdling over themselves, almost tripping on the wet wood they stood on to run towards the bell only a few meters away on the other side of the walkway, with two others right next to them in varying sizes, they tolled the middle bell together while the glitters soon started to get into view. Two towering figures, standing easily two times as tall as the guards, clad from head to toe in shining silver armor, full of ornaments none of them could properly understand, but they finally understood who had came to their wooden fortress. Every footstep a stomp, every movements a graceful perfection that intimidates any and all who dare be in their presence. Having these silver would be giants come ever closer the gate guards where sweating bullets, their presence can only mean bad things. While they knew their wooden fortress was fortunate enough to not have them come here, until now, they knew very well that ones misfortune would usually follow. Not even daring to seek shelter the two guards on the front gate could only watch as the giant armor clad..men? Woman? beasts? where loudly trotting their way forward with every step.

Floor Guard 2:”H..how may we be of service?”

???:”Open the gate”

Floor Guard 2:”yes, immediately!!!”

Flailing his arms up to signal the tower guards they scrambled a second time to signal the other set of gatekeepers manning the gate mechanism itself. The large brown door slowly opened against the force of the weather that pushed against it, yet these two massive armored presences didn’t seem to falter against the weather for a moment. Inside one of the two silver giants stomped up to the nearest amphibian reptile inhabitant and demanded their help, like it was all but already spoken so.

???:”bring us your leader, reptile, now”

Without saying more, the intimidated amphibian woman clad in only a tarp was speed-walking towards the wooden fortress and into its many hallways, the silver giants followed inside due to the weather.Barley able to fit their full height into the structure. It took less than a few minutes for the amphibian woman to reach the large conference room of their leader.

Woman:”Chief Darnius..ha..ha…THEY are here…”

Eyes shooting open the old wrinkled man in his seat shot up faster than he had in years to confront the silver giants post haste. With the help of the messenger the old man made it down to the bottom floor, but unlike most others nearby, he didn’t falter as much as everybody else did as he was one of the only people who had been in their presence once before.

Darnius:”What may we assist you with?”

???:”have had any unusual sighting recently?”

Darnius:”not anything out of the ordinary id say, what may we be looking out for if i may ask?”

Even with full clad armor darnius could feel the glares beyond the thick silver vail that protects them.

???:”Dot not think of us as fools, your reptilian domain houses what your kind most commonly knows as “tempestas arbor”, sentient trees. We know of such a presence that was here merely a day ago. Now tell us, where did they go to reptile. Or my holy axe will make you a head shorter”

Darnius:”…..”

That was about what darnius had expected, not unlike what he had witnesses many years ago, his eyes where narrowing a little before sighing out, a light cough followed.

Darnius:”my scouts have told me they might have went along the river, to the north, we did not follow or we would have risked loosing precious lives”

???:”anything else?”

There was a small moment of silence, but not enough to rise too much suspicion upon the fortress.

Darnius:”no, nothing that i know of, the tempestas arbor went along the river alone after our scouts have left.

???:”consider your life spared reptile…for now”

No thanks, no appreciation, no words for departure, the two silver giants left without saying another word as but a dismissing grunt.. When the door of the fortress closed behind them Darnius was relieved more than most, for he knew what they COULD have done. Outside the guards had waited patiently with an open door to let the two leave with a slight bow. When the huge wooden entrance was too, close, all 4 of them slumped their shoulders.

Tower Guard 1:”first time?”

Tower Guard 2:”yeah, they are way scarier in person than rumors make them out to be”

Tower Guard 1:”no kidding, i wonder what they wanted…..”

The trail in the woods was all but gone, Congues crawled steps long washed away, the only thing that had remained was the broken branches, loosely hanging from trees with some of them starting to topple over from something that pushed them aside. It was an easy path to follow that not even this harsh weather could wash away easily without intervention. The two where following the broken branches quite easily, while the weather was still barely affecting them at all.

The trail ended when the broken branches rendered the end of the woods and the roaring river reared its ugly head, yet on the other side, deep round uneven holes, signalling where it went right away. Going to the other side again may have taken a lot longer due to the rivers deepness but on the other side they followed along, no moment of rest, no second of respite, not until a proper clue or direction was at play. A small patch of trees along the way had the huge holes come in and out from opposite sides, only to lead in a wide circle around a small village nearby.

Entering the village was just as murmur inducing as the last visit, from afar the moment the two silver veiled giants where witnessed a great part of the people on the small buzzing market where running into their houses, shutting their doors and windows, praying to the gods that they are no unfortunate enough to witness their wrath, The braves one, including the sellers would be steadfast and continue their work, internally screaming and hoping nothing is gonna happen. Every-time they would approach a reptile or a market vendor the person they talked to was either scared to bits, or shaking in their boots, it would only get worse when only a few would yield proper information, most of them included huge large wails of something from outside that was able to overpower the loud storming weather of this land. It was only when they reached a vendor who sold bread and simple clothing on the side that they bore proper fruit.

Vendor:”I heard it too, big huge voice and all. There was this girl, pretty small if you ask me. Had no money, bought some clothes and i got her some extra bread, felt sorry for her you know? Anyway, when the voice started to shout, the girl was awfully in a hurry. I looked outside to see what she was doing, and i saw a..well..you know, one of them walking trees, thought the girl was a goner!”

Having yet to have heard of this girl, this new information had the two giants quite intrigued, yet the vendor couldn’t tell them much more as they went right back to work afterwards. At least knowing a little more about what this walking tree was doing the two giant silver warrior approached the nearby Inn, entering it with a slam of the door the alerted all alcohol drinking residents inside, before they quickly drowned themselves in fluids again. Approaching the front desk little had to be said for the owner to quickly bring a key onto the reception table with a shaky hand, as if it would fall off any second.

While one of the giant silver warriors made their way up the stairs the other one decided to get a few drinks, on their tab of course. Stomping towards the bar area all tables nearby that have been seated where giving the towering figure glares, some of them that could kill, but all of them would quickly looking away if it seemed like they would look their way, none of them would actually dare pick a fight with this warrior.

Aiming at the nearby table, the single small woman that sat there was scurrying away faster than a rat in front of a cat, with a clanking loud thud the tower of silver sat down on the table, lazily waving a finger over to the barmaid who’d promptly make her way around and towards them. she likely was shaking in her boots more than anybody else, even while standing fully straight the woman was still smaller than this beast of a person sitting down. Asking for 4 if the biggest jugs of beer they had the poor barmaid needed to go back and forth two times de to the weight of the jugs that where as big as her own head.

The armor of the silver veiled warrior had some leathery cloth on the inside of the their hands, making it a little easier bring their hands up and remove a small piece of armor around the mouth and cheeks, which would reveal…nothing for the people to see, as much as some people may have looked, it was like staring into a dark endless abyss without a bottom, it was either the lighting of the candles around the area, or partly the fault of the worryingly thick armor to prevent light coming in. Lifting up the huge jug with ease parts of the rim “vanished” in the dark abyss, big heavy gulps until the jug was all but empty in a single go. the second jug didnt fare any better, by the time the 3 third jug was left empty the atmosphere around this warrior had calmed down a bit, people began talking again, yet still very wary just in case something may happen any second now. Only the last jug was drank slowly, their stomach finally slowing them down, the moment the big jug clanked harshly against the wooden table it previously stood on the warrior stood up as fast as they came, not giving the barmaid a second thought, putting their mouthpiece back on the barmaid could only stand there and watch them stomp outside of the building. They wanted to ask for the tab they left, but she also knew that might cost her her head when she would do so. The barmaid turned around with slumped shoulders, only to hear a clank of metal against metal, turning around quickly they saw only the door of the inn closing again and a small pile of coins sitting on the table.

The not so drunk warrior made a few more rounds with people still outside, making sure not a single piece of valuable information was left out, especially from the one vendor who actually saw something.

Vendor:”Look mister..erhm..maam? i apologize severely but i have not seen anymore than i already told you. I would not dare approach a young girl, even less a walking tree, I swear on the gods above they may strike me down as i stand if i have lied to you”

The walking suit of armor stood there and looked at the smaller amphibian man for a good while longer, not saying anything but clearly thinking over something..sighing out annoyingly they turned around and made their way back into the Inn and finally stomped up the stairs to the second floor to rest for the night. When the “morning” came the outside looked exactly as dastardly dark and stormy as any other time of day. The two suited giants who had not once removed their armor came back up while one of them looked out of the window the other inspected their two axes, making sure they are in flawless conditions to strike down at a moments notice, the warriors standing at the window couldn’t stay silent for to long when they where alone.

??? 1:”What do you think about this one”

??? 2:”i don’t know and i don’t care, this isn’t my first time with these walking firewood’s. Just kill on sight and lets get back”

??? 1:”As you say master”

Waiting for the other to finish inspecting their axes they didn’t stop looking outside the window towards the hills the big prints roughly went towards. Managing to look over most of the mountainside in their directions they where mighty curious when a tiny portion of the trees started to wiggle and part far further than the harsh winds would be able to do.

??? 2:”say, are there any other things as big as the tempestas arbor around these parts?”

??? 1:”there shouldn’t be anything even close to their size, why?”

??? 2:”take a look yourself”

Feeling a little annoyed that a newcomer was already making trouble so early in the day the other one put the axes back on the holster on their back and stood up, putting one arm lazily around the frame of the window before staring towards the mountain.

??? 1:”right there”

With a armored finger they pointed slowly up as the little misalignment of trees was moving up, they where able to see it happening but their eyesight was not as good to exactly see what was making the trees part like this.

??? 2:”could be, probably not, we should not have a problem trailing that walking firewood’s path, if it is one that is”

Not making a a hurrying effort yet due to no certain evidence they looked a few moments longer just until whatever was moving halted right before reaching the top. A huge lighting struck down on the mountain, not surprising the warriors, as it was not uncommon here, opening their eyes further was when another lighting lit the mountain up, however it was not coming from above, but from among the trees and snaked down the length of many trees, followed a few seconds later with the crackle of the erupted energy, followed by the faintest of husky voices screaming in anger, going so far only those who have exceptional hearing could hear that faint voice, the lighting surprised many people in this small quaint village, some looking outside to see what the ruckus was all about. The warriors where mighty fast out of their room, stomping down the stairs they threw the key roughly towards the inns entrance table, almost hitting the owner with the force of the throw, not even a glance towards them while they moved past with brisk pace.

As they did so the two towering silver warriors speed-walked outside, making some villagers hide back in their houses, going outside the village they not only had the huge footsteps to follow, but a clear sign of what direction the “big firewood” has been going towards, with some glee and schadenfreude in their voice the older warrior sprung forward with a dangerous skip in their step.

??? 2:”hurry up, we got some firewood to burn~”

??? 1:”………yes master”

Chapter 7: Silver Trail, End

My previous survey of these dry lands have not expected nor seen how far it would stretch, it was flat enough that i was able to see the jungle beyond, my actual goal to go towards, my water supplies where running low and i was taking hours longer to reach the other side, little to no other creature bigger than my fist managed or dared to get any closer to an adventurer. But alas who would i be if heat would be my end, venturing forth without a moments of rest when the sun had started to settle when i finally had the jungle a simple walk away. Lightly fumbling over a stone i stung the side of my leg as a result, but i didnt care, where there is a jungle there is water and plenty of wild animals to hunt for food.

Entering the jungle it was from a dry wasteland right back into humid vicinity, a stark but welcome contrast, feeling a surge of energy return i quickly searched for the nearest body of water, which turned out to be a small little patch between some larger trees. filling up my pouch to the brim and quickly dousing my face and upper body to get rid of some of the grime. But the surge of energy i felt has not vanished, it dawned on me soon later that the rock i had stumble against was not a rock, but a sting from a creature, quickly removing my leather boot i looked at the location and i saw two little red holes, an indication for a Lamicorp, a dastardly amalgamation of a beast that sneaks in aphrodisiac into tis stinger, assault adventures and steal their very life essence.

Slightly enraged i attempted to ready my weapon, for whenever one is stung by such a lowlife creature, they stalk their prey until the moment is right, the moment i tried to reach for my weapon a massive amount of weight was hitting my torso and wrapping around it faster than i could have reacted. the huge constricting tail of the lamicorp. i was just about able to reach my weapon, but it would mean little when i could turn my body around, my legs had been removed from the ground and soon i was pressed against the height of a tree. I felt little to no pain and it was a partial fault of the poison.

I looked at this adult beast, almost twice as tall as myself, with the hips and below the massive tail that had wrapped around me, a hard chitin skin above,one stump that almost could be mistaken for a human hand while the other was the dark purple, thin but long stinger that cause this inflammation inside of me. the beast was bending down and ripped apart my gear on my hips, removing the cloth and watching my member. Thinking to myself i attempted to meditate and prevent my loins to do this beasts bidding, it would only work for a moment before i felt the surge of warmth cover not just my legs but rest itself in my large member. No amount of meditation or preparation could stop the force of such potent poison, i felt blood rushing to my rod, faster than ever before and with the force of a pumping heart.

My member started to swell and erect so fast it felt like slapping the tail that was holding me in place, the two rings around my shaft became tighter than ever before, the poison continued to make my member so hard the rings who adorned my victory where now a cage, a constraints that painfully aches where they stood, yet my member felt it only became bigger, wider, veins where starting to jut out both form how hard i was getting but also the rings that where supposed to feel painful. If i didnt have this substance in me it certainly would, the beasts doing only made it feel like a pleasant swelling to further bolster its hard state. My member was throbbing so hard it was now constantly slapping the beasts tail. i could feel the blood rushing past the rings trying to desperately keep up the momentum.

The beast was barely visible under the tail but i could feel it glaring at the state my member had become, a moment later two thin tongues where wrapping around my head, slathering it like it was the most delicious treat to exist, of course thanks to the poison i felt a surge of pleasure never felt before, making the member only throbb and pulsate harder. UP until now i didn’t allow for a single noise to come form me, i would not dare give this vile beast what it wanted and even after some minutes of licking, it tried even harder, and harder, but no matter how hard it tried to lick me, it wasn’t getting what it wanted. Partially thanks to the two rings around my shaft, they where so tight around the member there was little space for anything else to come out, another part to me trying my absolute hardest to mentally force myself to not give this beast what it wanted.

Air would leave my lungs when the thing speared its mouth on my member, biting my own lip i was not giving a single moan of pleasure to it. it tried, oh it tried, it felt like a vacuum was trying to milk me dry, no escaping this grasp even if my body where to be free. little More than a trickle of precum was to taste. The beast likely couldn’t understand the intricate of my rings and my mental fortitude, i felt it furiously try to milk the seed from me, it was at a point the knot in my groin had my member heavily pulsate and throbb in a way as if i really had an orgasm.

It tried a few more times but another dry “orgasm” later and it moved away. the tail was getting a little more loose only for another sting to hit my member directly. letting out the smallest of pleasured groans the slightly loosened tail allowed me to finally wiggle out one of my hands slowly and before this dastardly thing could gobble me up or actually eat me. i delivered a blow with my spiked bat directly at its back, leaving the tail to slump away, just as i was dropping down another blow at the things head to make sure it can never bother another adventurer again.

The initial poison was the cause for the second dose to hit almost instantly after use, my head was lightly spinning, sitting down against the tree i began to sweat with all of this heat gathering within my groin. i watched as my member started to actually hurt from tip to sack. the pleasure inducing effects couldn’t keep up with its own poison. my member looked bloated, enraged, slightly discolored even. the veins jutted out, about to pop like a bubble on a watery surface. i could see my member pulsate, the rings around my base felt on a breaking point.

I tried, for almost a minute to just sit there and wait the poison out, i know that if id actually ejaculate id be sitting here for a day or two ti pleasure myself with little progress. It would have taken the patience and fortitude of a god to abstain with two doses of poison within me, i consider myself stalwart, yet not THAT stalwart.

My hands wrapped around the middle of the member, almost that is, it was so bloated and enraged both hands put together could barely encircle it now, my hands started to mvoe up and down furiously, less for the painfully pleasure and more to just get it over with. my balls felt extraordinary heavy, my hips where lightly shaking when another dry orgasm would hit me, my rings where likely saving me days of worthless actions, i tried to cum two more times, twice as furiously at the last, but no, i was denied such pleasure. my hands started to ache so i just let them slump while i watched my reddened member constantly pulsate and throb to its heart content.

I was sitting there for what felt like another set of hours, only when it was the dark of the night i finally felt the cold set in, my member over the span of many minutes started to calm down. yet when it was fully flaccid i still felt a bit of aching around around the base, two doses of poison seemed to have caused my member to increase a little in size. i slowly pulled the two rings away and put them away for now. i can still feel how achingly full my balls where.

I now need to find a new pair of clothes, the beast had ripped it all apart, as much as i needed to release myself, id rather not have my seed wasted like this, the mere thought of my next target had caused my enlarged member to become half hard, lightly swinging to and fro, which would of course, slowly make it become hard again, without my favorite rings it was now free reign to become as hard and as bloated as it wanted, which was so rigid that it was hugging my abs and even touching the underside of my leather breast plate. I couldn’t get it out of my mind, feeling horny and enraged i was not gonna let my member win over my mind. but surely, this jungle would have not but a suitable target for insemination but one that will have to endure my poison induced horny rage.

As much as my member screamed at me for some action i couldn’t just use any low beast humanoid or otherwise, the jungle is home to many and i know exactly who shall be my next suitable target. I searched the jungle for any trace of them, a long arduous journey but eventually i found some humanoid tracks that where badly masked, some stumpy little holes as well..perfect. Following these tracks as careful as i could i found some smoke lights in the distant..there there are..finally. my hard rigid member can finally find some suitable release, i see the tops of some ponytails in the distance, almost as big as the beast i encountered earlier today.

Strong, beautiful, lets see if they have someone i could call worthy..i cant wait to get my hands on you…amazons.

After being handed the meager coin a red goblin bounty had brought i decided to travel alone after all, extra weight to travel with for little gain, leaving her to the village to deal with i made my way past the mountains, having seen all manners

After being handed the meagre coin a red goblin bounty had brought i decided to travel alone after all, extra weight to travel with for little gain, leaving her to the village to deal with i made my way past the mountains, having seen all maners of land in my travels i had no problem going over the perilous rocks. For past them, beyond the reaches of the average adventurer lay the red stalagmites of demonic origins, it is said only the most proficient and stalwart adventurers can trek these hot territories.

Loosing some of my least important equipment to gain speed and mover-ability, other than the stalagmites the heat was beating down, little a bush or shrub in sight, grass must have died long ago, besides the mountains behind me i can only see some more lively land up in the distance, that however is not yet my concern, i am here for the demons that call these places their home.

Known to be nothing but evil conniving entities demons are feared by many who do not arm themselves, some adventurers even do not dare approach them, potions are useless against something adept in trickery, my own mind is my strongest asset against one of them. Being as powerful as they are, it surely stands to reason they could harbor a child that i may call worthy, at least they would finally find a use for themselves other than destruction.

A little over an hour walking into this barren terrain the sound of wilderness and animals has all but ceased, the few little critters that can survive make next to no noise, which made the subsequent noise of what seemed to be an approaching beast quite a surprise, unshackling my maces i turn my head towards the noise, only to see nothing in return, a sign that i was getting closer to a demonic presence. As steeled as my mind may be, these demons can still play tricks any anybody they want.

Situations like this is what my training can shine truly shine in, keeping one mace ready in case something tangible attacks i strutted forward with confidence and a hint of caution. No animal, big or small would be willing to come this deep into barren land, whatever trickery of my ears this demon may lay on me, it ceased to work as intended. This was my first encounter with a demon directly, my research told me they do leave minuscule trails of where they are on the ground and the spiky rocks around us, seeing nothing of the sort other than the trails some resilient animals left behind i could only move into the general direction where these noises WEREN’T coming from. If they do like their trickery, surely this is where i can find some clues.

Noises increased in volume and numbers, it became increasingly difficult to discern if my direction where correct, trying to close my eyes for a second to concentrate on my hearing, i see a sudden flash of purple gracing my eyes, vanishing behind one of the dirty stalagmites a second after, its as if light itself was trying to hide from me, this is it, this demon was masking its presence but was unable to do the same for their surroundings.

Likely a young fletch-ling considering the story’s told of them, i continued onward as if i hadn’t noticed the short flash of light, past the rock, only to turn with my chained mace extended to hit where i would guess the presence went, this must have been a very isolated patch of open land, i felt my mace hit something not as hard as the rock, “hanging in midair” as i heard a high pitched “oof” than expected. Likely hitting arms or torso i moved between the rock and the invisible demon*

??:”hey whats the big idea dum…?!?”

i couldn’t give this creature a second to think i couldn’t afford something that could likely have me end with serious injuries if no careful, as young as this thing may be. knowing where the voice now came from it was easy to guess where their neck would be, with my free hand i grabbed the smaller neck and held the thing in place, most danger of trickery is now removed as i held the source of it all. shutting up them as a result.

Alsirol:”i did not give you permission to speak demon”

Demon:”….”

Smart at least, listening to those superior in strength, my hand was lower than anticipated, but i didnt care how “small” this demon supposedly is when their strength in body is what truly mattered, their presence is still hidden, i couldnt see a single patch fo skin, only feel what is supposed to be there. They could be scared, or they just might be stronger than i thought. My weapon-ed hand brought the mace back onto its holster to start exploring the things body to assess the situation.

……

…Slender, almost athletic, they started to squirm weakly during this assessment, the air where its cheeks would be had two patches of light purple floating in the air. their hips, not as wide as id hoped to bare children, but wider than a slender probably should have, a lot of their skin had rugged patches yet also portions so smooth it felt my hand could slip right off of them. their face, soft, round and lips so plush it felt like freshly made dough. Small horns, just big enough to be firmly grabbed. on their back was a short tail, barely as long as two stretched out palms.

Alsirol:”lets see if you are worth enough to mother a powerful child demon”

Demon:”now wait a secon..!?!”

Alsirol:”I said, i did not give you permission to speak”

Looming closer to the demons face, my hand gripped their throat a little tighter, to show there was much more left where that came from. Of course, with lips softer than many things i had the pleasure of connecting with, i took a hold of her small horns and forced the demon on its knees. Pushing my loincloth to the side i let my soft members head rest against the plush lips, only to have the demon do not do as the situation clearly required, i had to be more forceful, more commanding to get where i want.

Alsirol:”open, now”

Not a moment later the plump soft lips parted and let me push my soft member inside, with that feeling also came the things throat, which when i entered was hot, way hotter than i thought, it warmed my member and was easily making it grow inside of the demon, as it gained width, length and hardness the warmth embraced my member even more and only accelerated my growth, slowly bending to the demons inside and letting her choke on my “Power”, a few moments more, and more until i felt hot dripping saliva drip from my member, only than did i pull back halfway to allow for better breathing.

A few coughs and an attempt to talk later i pulled on both horns and made sure to pull the demon so close her lush lips where connecting with my base. and again, and again, i didnt give this demon a second of respite and as i did push my large member into her over and over the heat form outside would start to pale compared to what the inside of this demon felt like. I certainly did not falter, but i had to concentrate so this heat was not overpowering my member. When i felt the demon had enough and my rod started to feel too constricted i pulled out and let my saliva covered member smear across the demons face, giving it a translucent rough outline.

The demon did not speak again, only caught its way to a cleared throat, with a grip still on the horns i pulled them up and turned their front against the rock behind them, the heat of their body was now radiating off of them, it seems their body was a little stronger than their mind. Disappointing to say the least, with a simple act like overpowering this creature they have fallen to my whims, but with a body like this do at least deserve a small reward. my hand was now moving around their neck, in a light choke-hold i lined my member up with their rear and let my head gently poke their backside.

Demon:”w.wait thats not..uur!!”

Alsirol:”silence, beast, consider yourself lucky”

My choke-hold became tighter, holding her in place, pushing my weight against her and the rock, leaving just enough air to breath and prepare herself for her reward. i pushed forward with all of my might, putting every bit of meat i had into her backside with unexpected ease, just as hot, of not hotter than her throat, yet insanely tighter as well. If it weren’t for my experience in sexual encounters, and the two tight rings around the base it would have been so much more troublesome to deal with this.

With the speed of an attacking snake and the power of a raging bull i thrust into the demons backdoor relentlessly, moulding her backside to my superior member, letting my choke-holding arm push down to make sure not a micrometer of skin would be left to the air. Breathing became harder for the demon, but they gained pleasure judging by the wag of their small tail, a tail which i grabbed firmly with my other and, janking it harshly and keeping it stretched to its limit, which only made this demons insides contract that much harder. If this demon was so keen on being abused so quickly, i have no problem obliging when i started to feel my member lightly expand, throbbing inside of them i tightened my choke-hold further, they could barely breath, their insides where like vice-grip daring me to pull out. i could hear the gurgle of their saliva just when i pushed into them one last time, with all the power i could manage, holding them against the rock with my entire weight.

Their entrance had such a vice-grip on me that i did not see any of my semen leave, pulling out was a struggle, even when i started letting go of their neck, slipping against the rock they slid down on the gorund, slacking and lightly twitching form the overload of emotions, them slipping was finally making my member free back into the air. Their grip, it was such a tight vice that it made sure i was still hard, ready to go for another round if so desired, but that would play into the demons wants.

With a hard-on i rarely felt as spry as this i looked over the demon, well, i tried to at least, they where still invisible, so their mind mut not be as weak as i initially thought but they where still too young, i left a note next to them explaining how they could potentially find me if they gain some more experience, but for now, i readied my weapons, i straightening out my gear and i left this tundra to hunt for another potential subject to be the brood-mothers i desire to have.

of land in my travels i had no problem going over the perilous rocks. For past them, beyond the reaches of the average adventurer lay the red stalagmites of demonic origins, it is said only the most proficient and stalwart adventurers can trek these hot territories.

Loosing some of my least important equipment to gain speed and mover-ability, other than the stalagmites the heat was beating down, little a bush or shrub in sight, grass must have died long ago, besides the mountains behind me i can only see some more lively land up in the distance, that however is not yet my concern, i am here for the demons that call these places their home.

Known to be nothing but evil conniving entities demons are feared by many who do not arm themselves, some adventurers even do not dare approach them, potions are useless against something adept in trickery, my own mind is my strongest asset against one of them. Being as powerful as they are, it surely stands to reason they could harbor a child that i may call worthy, at least they would finally find a use for themselves other than destruction.

A little over an hour walking into this barren terrain the sound of wilderness and animals has all but ceased, the few little critters that can survive make next to no noise, which made the subsequent noise of what seemed to be an approaching beast quite a surprise, unshackling my maces i turn my head towards the noise, only to see nothing in return, a sign that i was getting closer to a demonic presence. As steeled as my mind may be, these demons can still play tricks any anybody they want.

Situations like this is what my training can shine truly shine in, keeping one mace ready in case something tangible attacks i strutted forward with confidence and a hint of caution. No animal, big or small would be willing to come this deep into barren land, whatever trickery of my ears this demon may lay on me, it ceased to work as intended. This was my first encounter with a demon directly, my research told me they do leave minuscule trails of where they are on the ground and the spiky rocks around us, seeing nothing of the sort other than the trails some resilient animals left behind i could only move into the general direction where these noises WEREN’T coming from. If they do like their trickery, surely this is where i can find some clues.

Noises increased in volume and numbers, it became increasingly difficult to discern if my direction where correct, trying to close my eyes for a second to concentrate on my hearing, i see a sudden flash of purple gracing my eyes, vanishing behind one of the dirty stalagmites a second after, its as if light itself was trying to hide from me, this is it, this demon was masking its presence but was unable to do the same for their surroundings.

Likely a young fletch-ling considering the story’s told of them, i continued onward as if i hadn’t noticed the short flash of light, past the rock, only to turn with my chained mace extended to hit where i would guess the presence went, this must have been a very isolated patch of open land, i felt my mace hit something not as hard as the rock, “hanging in midair” as i heard a high pitched “oof” than expected. Likely hitting arms or torso i moved between the rock and the invisible demon*

??:”hey whats the big idea dum…?!?”

i couldn’t give this creature a second to think i couldn’t afford something that could likely have me end with serious injuries if no careful, as young as this thing may be. knowing where the voice now came from it was easy to guess where their neck would be, with my free hand i grabbed the smaller neck and held the thing in place, most danger of trickery is now removed as i held the source of it all. shutting up them as a result.

Alsirol:”i did not give you permission to speak demon”

Demon:”….”

Smart at least, listening to those superior in strength, my hand was lower than anticipated, but i didnt care how “small” this demon supposedly is when their strength in body is what truly mattered, their presence is still hidden, i couldnt see a single patch fo skin, only feel what is supposed to be there. They could be scared, or they just might be stronger than i thought. My weapon-ed hand brought the mace back onto its holster to start exploring the things body to assess the situation.

……

…Slender, almost athletic, they started to squirm weakly during this assessment, the air where its cheeks would be had two patches of light purple floating in the air. their hips, not as wide as id hoped to bare children, but wider than a slender probably should have, a lot of their skin had rugged patches yet also portions so smooth it felt my hand could slip right off of them. their face, soft, round and lips so plush it felt like freshly made dough. Small horns, just big enough to be firmly grabbed. on their back was a short tail, barely as long as two stretched out palms.

Alsirol:”lets see if you are worth enough to mother a powerful child demon”

Demon:”now wait a secon..!?!”

Alsirol:”I said, i did not give you permission to speak”

Looming closer to the demons face, my hand gripped their throat a little tighter, to show there was much more left where that came from. Of course, with lips softer than many things i had the pleasure of connecting with, i took a hold of her small horns and forced the demon on its knees. Pushing my loincloth to the side i let my soft members head rest against the plush lips, only to have the demon do not do as the situation clearly required, i had to be more forceful, more commanding to get where i want.

Alsirol:”open, now”

Not a moment later the plump soft lips parted and let me push my soft member inside, with that feeling also came the things throat, which when i entered was hot, way hotter than i thought, it warmed my member and was easily making it grow inside of the demon, as it gained width, length and hardness the warmth embraced my member even more and only accelerated my growth, slowly bending to the demons inside and letting her choke on my “Power”, a few moments more, and more until i felt hot dripping saliva drip from my member, only than did i pull back halfway to allow for better breathing.

A few coughs and an attempt to talk later i pulled on both horns and made sure to pull the demon so close her lush lips where connecting with my base. and again, and again, i didnt give this demon a second of respite and as i did push my large member into her over and over the heat form outside would start to pale compared to what the inside of this demon felt like. I certainly did not falter, but i had to concentrate so this heat was not overpowering my member. When i felt the demon had enough and my rod started to feel too constricted i pulled out and let my saliva covered member smear across the demons face, giving it a translucent rough outline.

The demon did not speak again, only caught its way to a cleared throat, with a grip still on the horns i pulled them up and turned their front against the rock behind them, the heat of their body was now radiating off of them, it seems their body was a little stronger than their mind. Disappointing to say the least, with a simple act like overpowering this creature they have fallen to my whims, but with a body like this do at least deserve a small reward. my hand was now moving around their neck, in a light choke-hold i lined my member up with their rear and let my head gently poke their backside.

Demon:”w.wait thats not..uur!!”

Alsirol:”silence, beast, consider yourself lucky”

My choke-hold became tighter, holding her in place, pushing my weight against her and the rock, leaving just enough air to breath and prepare herself for her reward. i pushed forward with all of my might, putting every bit of meat i had into her backside with unexpected ease, just as hot, of not hotter than her throat, yet insanely tighter as well. If it weren’t for my experience in sexual encounters, and the two tight rings around the base it would have been so much more troublesome to deal with this.

With the speed of an attacking snake and the power of a raging bull i thrust into the demons backdoor relentlessly, moulding her backside to my superior member, letting my choke-holding arm push down to make sure not a micrometer of skin would be left to the air. Breathing became harder for the demon, but they gained pleasure judging by the wag of their small tail, a tail which i grabbed firmly with my other and, janking it harshly and keeping it stretched to its limit, which only made this demons insides contract that much harder. If this demon was so keen on being abused so quickly, i have no problem obliging when i started to feel my member lightly expand, throbbing inside of them i tightened my choke-hold further, they could barely breath, their insides where like vice-grip daring me to pull out. i could hear the gurgle of their saliva just when i pushed into them one last time, with all the power i could manage, holding them against the rock with my entire weight.

Their entrance had such a vice-grip on me that i did not see any of my semen leave, pulling out was a struggle, even when i started letting go of their neck, slipping against the rock they slid down on the gorund, slacking and lightly twitching form the overload of emotions, them slipping was finally making my member free back into the air. Their grip, it was such a tight vice that it made sure i was still hard, ready to go for another round if so desired, but that would play into the demons wants.

With a hard-on i rarely felt as spry as this i looked over the demon, well, i tried to at least, they where still invisible, so their mind mut not be as weak as i initially thought but they where still too young, i left a note next to them explaining how they could potentially find me if they gain some more experience, but for now, i readied my weapons, i straightening out my gear and i left this tundra to hunt for another potential subject to be the brood-mothers i desire to have.

Earlier today in the aristocrat districts:

???:”have you heard? the playwright us rumored to work on another production”

??:”oh dear, i have missed the last performance i hope i can make it in time this week!”

???:”i was able to procure some invites for use two”

??:”what a wondrous turn of events, thank you for this opportunity, i shall await the very day!, how was the journey last time?”

???:”the nearby forest is a little treacherous but we had a few hundred guards guiding us to the auditorium”

??:”oh dear, that sounds quite..exhilarating”

Later that day:

deep in the woods at the cusp of the wilderness lies the unmistakably strange building of the auditorium, every part covered with large roofs, as no part is untouched, a mixtures of stone and mostly rare wood the building houses a huge open stage smack in the middle, with only the observatory seats without any roofs. from one of the many backrooms string instruments can be heard and the tipper tapper of a handful of feet scampering around in rhythm

Dalia:”whats happening? i cant raise my voice, i cant move my limbs on my own. no matter how much i will my body to move where i want it to, it doesn’t listen! my feet are hurting, i cant stand on them and yet, i move them to the rhythm of those dastardly instruments around us. i can barely move my eyes to see my fellow beasts all with a grimace of a smile, like my own. their body’s move just like mine. my arms, they turn over my head, the hooks i cannot not see nor do they puncture my furry skin, yet i can feel them clearly, forcing my hands to contort into a perfect round shape, as do my legs, both are cracking, but are not broken, i want to scream in pain. yet my voice is silent, all i was able to muster was a light shake in my legs. a grimace and frown on this monster who makes us move.

Dalia:”his pale grey skin if furrowing, his purple out fit and cape flattering in the room as he stood up and moved towards my trembling body. his cold dead eyes are scanning my body, which was still trembling, not just from pain but the fear of what he might do to me. some of the eyes of my fellow beasts have moved towards me, they tell tales, they know what is coming, but i do not”

The playwright:”hmmm..not perfect, not yet, you must be in form for the next performance, it is only 3 days!”

Dalia:”the man was raising his hands, his fingers moving like he was holding the strings of a puppet, my limbs contorted further to perfect the shape he envisioned, my body was at a breaking point, a little more and my arms would break, a little more and my feet would crumble into a million pieces. yet as i stood, i couldn’t even tremble, the invisible strings he commanded firmly held my in place, making sure i was not wavering, nor display even a single sign of discomfort. both of his hands came up, as he applauded this “performance, a few claps over his head as he bellowed out”

The playwright:”YES!, this is it my dear beasts!, perfect…DIVINE!!!, yes indeed, you are all ready for the big performance”

Dalia:”the man was leaving the room with a chilling laugh, flaunting about with every step as if he was the master of the universe. our body’s were not becoming slack, yet we began to move, walk towards tiny rooms where we are held. we all knew our body’s where in pain, we knew wed want to get away, but as long as these strings are holding us, we cannot escape. while we forcibly walked to the rooms, our body’s laid down, i see some empty beds, some have succumbed to this torture performances. even as we lay we couldn’t move, we where just barely able to move our head and lightly move our facial muscles, we where all in the same boat, some where even worse off as they clearly wished for their demise before enduring this any longer”

3 days later, the day of the performance:

the playwright was standing at the entrance of the massive auditorium, lavish in style, statues and other commodities adorning the outside as carriages began bringing in hundreds of guests. beasts in seemingly perfect condition, forced gently smiles where bowing to the oncoming aristocrats, some where surprised at them, some clearly disgusted and the occasional look of suspicion among them, but they all ventured forth to take their seats in the middle of the massive buildings stage. the playwright was eventually coming on stage, with a few beasts of various races standing beside him, murmurs where mixing in with the people, wondering how these..diseases where not only working with him, alongside him and with a smile on their faces. the playwright was bowing himself as his hands swung with his boisterous voice

The playwright:”ladys and gentleman, i hear your voices of confusion, it is surely a surprise for those new to my auditorium, these…beasts as they call themselves, they are no disease!”

the murmurs where growing louder before the mans presence silences them

The playwright:”do not mistake my wording for sympathy of their kind, they are not a disease, but they do indeed have contracted one. a disease needs a cure and i shall proof that i can heal them and give their life true meaning! Please watch and understand my newest play for what it is. a chance for these beasts to get rid of their disease, their tumors and show, they can bring forth joy in others!”

murmurs where starting to mix in with claps and cheers for the bowing man, who was walking across the stage onto a gaudy purple seat separate from everybody else

Meanwhile behind the curtain:

Dalia:”i can hear the mans voice introducing this play we where forced to train for weeks for, i want to run away, WE want to run away, but the invisible strings where ever present. my legs are sore, my hands couldn’t move if they where my own, yet here they are, firmly against my waist and one over my head. my 3 toyed feet forced into tiny shoes and on their tiptoes. the curtain started to rise and the light was blinding our eyes for a few seconds. the audience was there, silent and watching, the dastardly music began to play and our body’s pranced forward, once again contorting in ways they shouldn’t.

Dalia:”Our mouths are not our own and we must scream“

“it was a cold winters night on my planet, a night like any other that threatens to leave you dead if you dont find a place to keep yourself warm soon and there i stood, cold, alone a mere child in one of thousand imperium worlds, i was about to die until a family had took me in…”
a blinding light arose all around me, my vision going blind as i awoke from a dream that has been my daily occurrence for decades, i took upon my formfitting black quilted uniform, my large rimmed hat, as i put on the rest of my uniform and weapons i contemplated the dream, if only for a moment before i opened the door of my large cabin, giving my guards a knowing nod so they can leave and trade position. the ship i command has been handcrafted by only chosen adeptus machanicus acolytes, specified with my designs, my comrades and entourage are buzzing about on the bridge of my ship, having kept things in order while i was asleep

Emeline:”how long until we arrive”

Navigator:”around two hours inquisitor Gaudaal”

my navigator is one of the newest recruits i have, i have told them numerous times to just call me Emeline when on my ship but they have yet to do so, i dont blame them, for my position is a powerful one and i could have them executed on a whim. but unlike the others, i trust my people, otherwise they would not wander my ship

After 2 hours of interstellar travel:

Navi1gator:”we have arrived on the planet Borukan Inquisitor Gaudaal”

i didnt say a word, i knew all too well where we are, i have been commanded by a high lord of terra to investigate this planets standings to the imperium, “rumors have it they have xenos in their ranks and have heralded against the emperor. But i am no fool, i am well aware of the fact that i am not here to question their loyalty, i am here for them to ascertain mine

Emeline:”prepare the landing vessels, we make landfall”

taking with me a few dozen of my most powerful allies in combat we made landfall in but a few minutes, the constant cold of this planet was familiar a sight. like the dead looking buildings, yet each of them surely housed a family or two to shield from the cold. i had all but two days to find any evidence of the planets misdeeds, it was an arduous and long winding search, over two days we questioned hundreds of individuals, we searched all their houses, we had not rested, on the second day we finally arrived at a house, i fell silent for a moment but i moved forward steadfast before my brothers in arms could question me
when we knocked at the door a very old woman opened the door, my heart felt at ease, it was warming at her sight, but i could not falter a single second and proceed, the woman clearly wanted to offer a welcome hug, as much as i wanted to comply, i couldn’t do so, i was being watched on this planet. that much was clear. one of my loyal subjects was questioning the woman,i couldn’t do it myself, instead i chose to investigate the house instead. i knew that this woman was clear from the beginning, but as i entered her bedroom and rummaged through her belongings. some of the secret compartments on her nightstand i found something i couldn’t believe. a warp ritual, a small demon artifact and assortments of jewels to someone a demon.

planet for sure by the very people who are questioning my resolve. while i would love to do nothing but question them in return, i cant loose my standing or my mission would fail. i took the items with my gloved hands and laid them out on the table in front of the woman, with a stern gaze and a louder than intentional voice i questioned her. she was adamant to not know what these where or where they come from, i would have loved so hard to believe her, but an inquisitors job is to snuff out any suspected demon sightings.

denial of a crime was only making it worse for the old woman, even if i knew this might have all been planted, i couldn’t stall any further, i took out my one of a kind lazpistol, manufactured by my own people and pointed it at the woman’s head. the woman was starting to cry as she looked me directly in the eyes, i was faltering at her gaze for a moment, a loud bang audible from the outside, some of my subordinates must have realized what was going on, since i could feel them flinch when i pulled the trigger. i put the pistol down and couldn’t even look at the deed i had committed, with a cold dead voice i commanded one of my people

Emeline:”burn the evidence and seal the ground”

they didn’t say anything but “yes ma’am”, the way my voice rang was so cold and dead unlike they had ever heard before. i was walking away while i heard the house burn to a crisp, i again couldn’t look my deeds in the eye, i just couldn’t do so, many of her neighbors looked at what was done and they could easily ascertain what happened, by my mere presence alone in fact
i continued to be silent the whole way back to the ship, my people didn’t dare talk to me for several hours, i stood at the edge of the lookout and down at the icy planet, meanwhile they send a message to the high lord of terra that my “threat” has been eliminated. yet, they came back with the message i feared the most. despite my successful elimination, it was demanded to eradicate the planet to make sure no other threat may ever rise again. my balled up fist threw itself against the railing, with anger i had never displayed before, but i didnt show much further than that, my subjects..no..my people where intimidated to talk to me, who could blame them, i was about to combust*

Emeline:”….proceed with exterminatus protocol 2DH5″

if my voice could have spit venom, it would have done so right now, i chose the least painful method, the fastest method to kill a planet so they would not suffer for long, this planet was not in fear of being taken over, this planet had no significance to the imperium and yet, i had to get rid of it so they can ascertain i would not threaten mankind.

my people tried to bring me away from the outlook before we displaced the Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedo’s, but i refused, i stood there and watched as the planetary surface turned to ash, i burned the sight of the planet into my brain as to not forget what im truly fighting for. even as the fire had engulfed the planet and destroyed every single organism on it, i stood there looking at it for another full hour until i turned away, with sorrow and seething anger written all over my face*

Emeline:”……continue….”

my true mission was now back on the menu, our course changed towards mars while i sat down on my commanding seat. i rummaged through my pocket and took out the one item i snuck out of the old woman’s house. a locket, opening it up was a picture of her, younger, in her middle ages, with a big smile as her head sat upon mine. looking at it and having to repress feelings i refuse to indulge i hung it around my neck, next to the inquisitorial insignia. my anger and sorrow was brooding for hours and the silence was deafening and it was only thanks to my crews constant vigilance of my emotional and physical state, they only strengthened our resolve to burn the inquisition form the inside and find out how it came into being in the first place, i am Inquisitor Emeline au Gaudaal, and i will revolutionize the inquisition and weed out the corrupt, even if it costs me my life

“it has been drilled into our heads, it has been told for years, for millennia even that joining the Imperial Guard is one of the greatest honors a person, man or woman, can receive. Fighting for the honor of the emperor and your very being. The first and last line of defense for holy terra itself…I humble Nihleri Dread always thought this was true…”

“..when the day began, i was full of hope, full of courage to meet the emperors enemies head-on and show them our might. Yet right now, i am kneeling on the dead bodies of my comrades, holding the upper body of a dear friend of mine, or what was left of it after a tyranid bit their body apart. thousands upon thousands of lazguns are shooting over my head, the roars of tyranids on one side, the battle-cries and tanks of the imperial guard on the other. i am one of millions, noon cares about my friends, myself, what i have lost, or if i die. The truth about the imperial guard is a stark one. I have seen rampant corruption, i saw our commander execute dozens for the mere thought of not wanting to charge to their deaths.”

“several tyranids where about to charge at me and kill what was left of me, but the power of the imperial guard was killing them every time, it looked like a stalemate that has been going on for hour. endless hordes of these purple monsters continue to charge the planet and our supposed might. yet the imperial guard hasn’t stopped dropping their tanks, their walkers, the individuals who likely had the same dream as me. we where told Sisters of battle where on their way, but they have yet to arrive”

“i was only a simple woman who was indoctrinated like everybody else into this madness. but just as i was about to fully give into despair the battlefields random noises of battle where becoming mere back-noise to the out-drowning hymns of the battleships of the adepta sororitas, their battle hymns where music to my ears, as if the emperor himself was about to charge. as i looked up at the source of the music, as many others did, several battleships in orbit began to drop hundreds upon hundreds of differently sized pods, right in front of the line between me..no..us and the tyranids. several pods where exploding open into the holy fire that always follows them.”

“the battle hardened voices of the sisters of battle are joined with the renewed moral and fighting energy of the imperial guard, they finally had a chance of winning. In the midst of this chaotic battle for this planet, one of the sisters, likely a new recruit judging by her age had approached me upfront. Her visage was a kind smile unlike i have ever seen before, Sisters of battle are known to ba ruthless warriors against the unholy forces of chaos. But here the silver haired woman stood. Looking at me and the dead body in my hands with compassion.”

“Her Cherub was the only one who spoke, rudimentary as if it projected the womans thoughts forward. in one hand she held the fire spewing machine of death their chapter is known for, while in the other she held the butt of a lazgun at me. her chebus continuously spoke “no bad death, fight for you”, I didnt need the cherub to speak how a sister would, i perfectly understood what it, no, she wanted. to fight so my comrades death was not meaningless, so my battle was not meaningless. i took the lazgun back into my hands, carefully laid my battle sisters body onto the ground, hoping i could find it again when all was over”

“when i stood up, my wet face stricken with the fire and fury of a thousand deaths the sisters of battles own face turned from a kind smile to that of a raging exploding heat just as she turned around with a loud battle-cry to join her sister and the guards. only a moment later i charged forward with them, with newfound hope for myself and the comrades i still had left. the deaths of the tyranids where quickly outpacing our own, their numbers where diminishing. The hatred i had gathered for not only them but the upper echelons for the imperial guard where charging my assault”

“i dont know how much time has passed, was it minutes? hours? days? however long the battle had raged, we had come out victorious, we where able to defend the strategic planet with heavy losses, which would be quickly replaced by the next week. My disgust for the imperial guards higher ups, was not wavering, i couldnt continue like this. I survived a battle noone ever should have needed to wage. The sisters of battle where starting to discharge the planet with their transporter ships. I was looking at them solemnly and hoping the kind sister who was the reason i am still alive, made it through.”

“But as i looked over the dead bodies of the sisters, that had been gathered for their garrison, i see a familiar face, removed from the body, likely by a tyranids razor-sharp claws. my heart had sank into depths i didnt think i had. I was staring at her intently, which caught the eyes of a nearby sister, The sister ushered me away as my garrison had to start packing for their next mission. If there is one thing today taught me, this world is cruel, there is only war.”

Congue loved all the different foreign animal sounds forcing their way through the thunder and into her head, the big loaf on the other hand was feeling a little more vary, as if she was recognizing some of these animals as more dangerous as they sound in the distance. Many trees where adorning the side of the mountain but not as thick as near her old home, much more spaced out to allow both of them easier movements, rustles from several places in the distance the pair started to hike up the massive mountain.

Armed with the knowledge of the swamp and the literal power exuding from the big loaf there was little actually bothering Congue, despite the increasing number of foreign animals, roars and other possible dangers, as long as she was with Coal all was well in the world. Traversing this mountain was far easier than the swamp as there was no fog obscuring their view, all they had to wad through was the wider open area (albeit no path) and the usual stormy weather everywhere.

They where getting only a little further before the swamp adventure was taking its toll on Congue, barely walking up the mountain for an hour and Congue plopped herself against a nearby tree with closed eyes, slowly followed by the big loaf coming down next to her friend to share the warmth of the lightly glowing core, the sleepy amphibian girl was soon starting to lean against the core instead, which made Coal internally quite happy while letting out a soft gentle wail, falling into the dreamland Coal was looking out for any dangers that might come their way.

Coal was getting a little worried about her little friend, she was sleeping for a very very long time, as if they have been in the swamp for days, if not a week. Congue was sleeping an entire days worth of time away before she finally started to wake up groggily, stretching against the warm core, giving it a small hug before she finally stood up with a smile, ready to continue their adventure.

Looks can often be deceiving, from afar, from close up, from anywhere. Congue didn’t think the mountain was that much higher than it actually looked, it almost looked like the clouds where touching the very top, but Congue wasn’t gonna give up anytime soon, she wanted to see the top and all of the world around it, days? Hours? Weeks? Congue didn’t care right now and she will reach the top no matter how long it may take.

Unlike the deadliness of the swamp the mountain was lively, especially so at the bottom, from birds to critters, insects and many bigger ones pretty much everywhere, it wasn’t a challenge even to really stock up on different shrooms and other plants to eat for their journey up, during her gathering Congue wasn’t straying too far from her big loafed companion, knowing that Coal was the reason she was as safe as she is at the moment.

Looking up at the mountain after a jack packed bag of food Congue would lie if she weren’t at least a little intimidated by the size of this thing, the path up was steeper than it really looked, even if the amphibious girl would have wanted to eat meat or just get closer to smaller animals, it was a little difficult thanks to coal, every stomping lasting step coal did was squishy, not only leaving a mark but with rain noticeably thicker than before it made an even bigger sound than usual.

The next batch of sleeping came when the mountains steepness was really taking a toll on the girls clawed feet, while they are staying mostly stead throughout all of this it did take a lot of her energy to keep it so, coal was coming down, making sure that her core was as close to Congue as possible to share its warmth again.

What was supposed be a warm night against a source of a friend was soon starting to become quite restless, as warm as the giant woods core may be, the heightened cold and wind of elevated altitude was stronger. Holding herself more tightly to the other, while they where trying to shield Congue with massive wooden hands, both of which was not doing as much as they hoped, luckily Congue was not awakening form her slumber again.

It was only once the ever constant thunder was becoming increasingly loud that the she was awoken forcefully, another loud bang later and Congue have gotten the widest wake she had in a long while. No rubbing of eyes or face, Coal was looking down at the rattled friend, even without a face that can move Congue could easily tell the other was a little worried about their happenings, but the goal was still in sight, a goal that needed to satiate the girls curiosity or she might never have a sound sleep ever again.

The journey was becoming increasingly slower, for the higher they went up the mountain the worse the thunderous weather became, as if nature itself wants to prevent them of reaching the highest point shed ever seen in her life. What was once a tarp is a little more than a cape of a superhero flying in the wind, little protection against the weather, just barely hanging onto Congue at all. Coal began stomping upwards hunched over, with both wooden hands sprawled out in front of Congue to try and keep some of the wind away as little as it may actually help it provided some piece of mind to the smaller companion of hers.

The cold and rain was less of a problem for Congue, her amphibious nature provided some natural protection against these matters it was the force of the wind and the bangs of thunder from above that where the worst of the worst here. Both drowning out the little wildlife that remained in the mountains.

“ouch!, dang it!”

Congues clawed feet can usually grab the ground fairly consistently, but when the forces of nature have it out for her, muddy grounds, sticks and stones all poking her feet, some pointer than others. Coal couldn’t even hear the complaints from the sounds around them, but she was occasionally looking down, as if she felt something was happening to the little one. To make matters worse for the duo, there was little in the way of mushrooms, or other things growing up here, Congue had to rely on the things she was able to get more down at the bottom.

“GIVE ME A SECOND COAL”

The wind was such a bother to go against, it constantly pushed down on her, Congue just had to quickly lean against a nearby tree and catch her breath for a moment, after a few minutes of rest she turned her head and poked it out of the small safety cavity to try and ascertain how far up they where.

“hmm..about a third to go…i wanna see the top….”

Steeling nerves and resolve, gritting teeth Congue turned back around, hand over her forehead and trotting up, since the weather was so tumultuous neither where still able to hear much wildlife around them, not until it was right in earshot of them, only the strongest and resilient of creatures can have a life up high.

Coal and Congue where hearing a sudden foreign sound to the right of them, something larger than Congue, cloaked in pure black fur was coming dangerously close, neither could see clearly what it was, whatever it is the thing looked…. white rather thin tusks, small claws on each appendage, it became fairly clear to Congue that this thing, was at least mightily hungry, enough to hastily approach something that looked like meat, protected by a big walking tree.

A gaping open mouth was lunging directly at Congue, who was throwing up her hands instinctively but since Coal had her huge hands forward already she had brought her right arm to the side in a fast motion, catching the teeth and tusks on her forearm, burying themselves in the hard bark coal let out a loud hurting scream, echoing over the nearby vicinity, sending a cold chill down coal spine, it was a horrible noise to her, a noise shed rather never hear again.

It was difficult to shake teeth buried so deep off but after flinging her other free hand towards the body of this skinny thing it finally had to let go and be flung against a nearby tree. The thing was seemingly fleeing into the darkness, causing the pair to start hurrying up the mountain much more briskly in case the thing wanted to come back.

The loud bangs, the wind and now, coal had to shield her eyes, a blinding light illuminating the mountain was striking close to the top, followed by some smaller lightning strikes in the sky itself, Congue was only a little bit shook by this, certainly not jumping as it happened.

Of course, while she may be shook and everything worked against her, they where getting so close to the top, looking like the top was only a hands-reach away only for a now familiar sound of a starving creature to return, one growl..two growls…5 growls alternating in total, each of which was as equally starved looking as the other.

Coal was on extremely high alert, bellowing a huge cry of domination, announcing that if they dare come closer, they are no longer. Starvation however does a lot of things to body and mind, breeding desperation to fill their empty stomachs, this time coal thought herself ready, tho the desperate speed of these starving creatures was something else entirely, two of the tusked bodies where jumping forward from the right , coal attempted to fling them like the one before, only for them to use coal huge hand to jump forward with, their little claws making sure they don’t slip of the wet wooden arm.

Coal swung her head to the left, downward and full force to the right to catch these creatures before they where reaching Congue. The pointy nature of the burn marked bark on the head was aiding into making the head into a makeshift mace.

Congue was not standing still this time, for she was aware enough now that she stayed close to her friends feet in an attempt to find safety, without a moment of respite two more creatures attacked from behind, going low to get straight to the hiding amphibian, coal had just thrown two creatures afar, only to turn in a half-step with another loud bellowing scream, two hands joined in a fist flying down and scraping over the muddy ground and taking one of the starving beasts with it, while the other had jumped over. Occasional lightning would illuminate the encounter for a second here and there, but that helped little when these things moved as fast as they did.

In the moment of the jump coal used her free massive foot to kick forward and destroy the beasts advance in that instant, flying past trees into the darkness. One creature looked on from afar, the one coal first caught while the others where still keeping the pressure on in desperate attempts for meat.

Coal and Congue didn’t stand still, Congue started to run up the moment as fast as she could, while coal only needed to make it a brisk walk to easily catch up top her companion, coal at one point attempted to hold Congue up high so the creatures couldn’t get to her, but congue refused to get up, pointing towards the lightning strikes around them, Coal was bigger than most trees here, the moment lightning would strike, Congue would be fried meat for the picking.

Now starving AND hurt the tusked creatures weren’t AS fast as before, their pursuit hadn’t stopped, if anything, it sounded like other howling creatures joined the pack in hunting them down.

“THERE IT IS; ALMOST COAL, ALMOST!!!!”

The chance of finally seeing what the top may hold briefly outweighed the danger of a pack of starving animals? Getting closer by the second, coal was meters in front of her little buddy, distance getting between them, while the creatures have gotten closer to Congue, coal removed herself as a shield to reach the tipsy top, with her head now the tallest point on the small plateau.

Congue looked forward on what coal was doing, she looked up as the thunder, the rain and the lightning, head held high. Quickly turning her head she saw the creatures now so close they could be jumping her.

“BANG!”

The loudest bang of thunder erupted from the sky, the mountain, if not most of it suddenly had been struck alight in the brisk light of a huge fork of lightning coming down on what Congue thought was herself, turning back to coal a moment later her eyes would widen, looking coal up and down she could hear small crackles around her, tiny forks of lightning sparking from head to toe, reconnecting back to coals body. A light glow of white and yellow from where one connected and another dissipated.

Turning towards the pack of beasts and Congue, coal was a beacon of highly static energy, one of the highest points in the province, visible far and wide, the unmoving face of coal spoke of pure unbridled anger, of DARING to even try attacking her little friend and companion in any way shape or form.

The lightest of movements could be discerned from coals mouth, opening to expel a bellowing husked scream so loud that Congue had to hold her ears shut, the pack of animals have stopped moving from it, putting both huge treed hands forward, fingers sprawled out the scream started to spike back up, the blinding light that had struck the walking tree was now erupting with the same intensity as it struck it towards the pack of beast, who quickly started to turn tail, with only 1 of them who was in hiding, reaching safety.

Once again, it had lit up the mountain like a searching beacon, discharging coal from all the energy she had stored up and leaving Congue to open her eyes and stare in awe that her big loaf of a friend did what she had only heard from far off legends. Walking trees that are able to bend the nature to their very wills, channeling the lightning into their body and using it to their gain.

Congue could not see what happened to the pack in the faraway darkness, thinking they’d just been scared off coal started to move aside to her friend can finally step up to the top, coming to the top as fast as possible the heaving Congue was a little disappointing at first, the trees and bushes where thick enough that she could barely see through them.

Coal felt how disappointing her friend was, bending down and ripping a tree from its roots coal held it over her head in an attempt to shield her from the danger the other showed her, the act alone had Congue smile brightly at the other, stepping onto the extended hand to slowly being brought up.

The bushes where first to go, yet the leafs of the trees where still too thick, slowly brought further up, the moment the trees vanished beneath her Congue eyes would widen to the size of saucers, she saw farther than she ever had before, while it all looked pretty dark, dreary and..well..like her homeland really, the sheer size of ti all struck the girl like nothing has ever before.

Scanning the landscape even further she had to ask the other to bring her forward a little…a little higher…a bit to the right, surely Congue was mistaken, eyes squinting, almost to a closing Congue almost flew off the hand holding her from surprise, there was a tiny speck of what looked like actual sunlight at the edge of her vision. The ground? Or whatever there was was bright, as bright as the flame of a torch looking up to the sky Congue could only see the rainy clouds, wherever this light was coming from it must have been even further away from them than she could see.

“LOOK COAL! SUNLIGHT ACTUAL SUN!”

It was unclear if coal could see it or not, for even they had to bend forward to try and see what it was, a soft ruffling of the few leafs coal still had only confirmed that she to might be seeing the same thing. There was no doubt in her mind, she knew what she had to do now, coming farther away from her tribe than ever before she was gonna stretch the limits and beyond. She wanted to, she NEEDED to see what this light shined so brightly on, certainly, she wanted to see the sun for the first time.

“we gotta see it coal…we gotta see the sun!!!”

Chapter 6 The End

Kneeling down next to the hot street near the endless plains of grass the girls skirt was touching the ground, head looking down on a bird laying on the pavement, exhausted, it was so hot the bird wasnt able to continue flying. Reaching into her bag the girl took out a half-empty water bottle and pouring some of its content on the bird carefully.

“Aw poor little birdie, hope you are alright little buddy”

The bird was revelling in the little bits of water trickling over its feathers, flapping it wings as it covered so did the girl find herself overjoyed at seeing the birb finally take flight once again, raising a hand she was waving at the vanishing bird in the sky.

“bye bye little buddy!”

Getting up from the floor again the heat was still beating down on her, the streets and the few houses on the outskirts of the village, having just gotten off the bus back to her home she trotted down the path alongside a small rive, each side adorned with the small traditional housing, not many people where outside in the middle of the day when the sun was this strong, minus some errand runners and farm workers. Seeing these people drenched in sweat and heat Itami started feeling the same overbearing dryness they likely did.

Holding the top of her frilled shirt Itami was moving it back and forth to create a mild relieving draft as she entered the smaller side-street with her home right on the corner, walking into her families abode felt like a huge relieve, the heat from outside felt like it was vanishing right at the door, shoes flopping right at the efilade the girl was trotting up the stairs and into her room with a big goofy smile she fell onto her bed, knowing that summer vacation was just beginning.

Itami was taking a snooze right than and there, easily for an hour or so before the voice of her mothers rang up from downstairs to call her down for dinner, stretching her body on her bed Itami groggily got up and waddled down into the living room where her mother, father and sister where already beginning their meal, seeing her family already “hard at work” it didn’t take long for Itami to dig in just as happily.

“welcome back, Got your homework ready Itami?”

“yes dad”

“stay on top of your studies even during vacation”

“as always”

Her father was very strict about keeping up with studies, while her mother was incredibly kind and supportive with whatever she was doing. But Itami really felt the pressure of her dad wanting her to do good, thus after the meal was finished and her plates where taken care of Itami was going right back up into her room to really get down to it so the rest of her summer vacation was nothing but joyful mindless fun.

Itami doesn’t like studying as much as she woud like, but the words of her father and the possible subject of a reward from her mother where really pulling her through the subsequent days, every day she woke up, ate breakfast, getting asked by her father how she was doing, back to her room and cramming down hard, it was taking almost an entire week to get all the homework and assignments done, but she eventually did so, the moment the last word was written down Itami was letting out a very loud audible sigh of exhaustion.

After the euphoria of finishing this momentous task was done Itami was rewarding herself, it took weeks but Itami managed to convince her parents to get a small Laptop with internet access, technology in this remote rural village was fairly uncommon, internet was very slow here most of the time, but Itami was proud of her little pink potato, even more proud that she was able to learn to use it all by herself….in the span of several weeks again.

Opening the little potato on her desk Itami liked to live “dangerously” by watching some exciting videos, scrolling through YXXXXbe for several minutes Itami eventually landed on something quite exhilarating, a daring athlete in her eyes Itami watched several videos back to back until the person was hurting their elbow, at which Itami was making an audible wince and closing her eyes, she hated to see danger actually affect people.

Closing her laptop Itami was going down to get one last meal in before ending the day, finally she was ready to get out and have fun, both of her parents could see her happily humming away at the table, her father giving her a knowing smile while her mother was beaming like the sun that had set earlier today.

“thanks for the meal!”

“be careful from tomorrow on”

“of course, night dad!, night mom!”

Itami didn’t know how much she was gonna hit the hay today, all the work was done, the adrenaline was dissipating and she flopped onto her bed harder than a stone thrown into a lake, it took barely a few minutes for the girl to wander off into dreamland, Itami was not often dreaming so whenever it was happening she was remembering them quite vividly, this rare dream was having her in place of the girl reenacting the dangerous stunts that where happening in the videos, including the dangerous fall onto an elbow, at which point Itami woke up, shook awake by dangers in her dream.

“ouch….?”

Trying to get up from her bed Itami did notice that her elbow was kinda sore, turning her arm to check it out there was a small hint of a healed scratch, roughly a day or so old, Itami chalked this up to her having doubled down, sometimes literally on her desk this week, wiggling her arm around for a few moments she forced herself to push the ouchies aside and finally get this vacation started!

The first week of freedom was quite boring in what most people would consider, most of what Itami did was relaxing and lazing about outside, laying under trees, which was very relaxing for her, in the sun which she liked to do alone since she felt like she was melting if she did with others, near the river to dip her toes into the calming cool of the flowing water, ending the week off with watching another row of videos from the same girl she saw days ago.

She found those exhilarating every time, somewhere in between those video was another fall, whoever this girl is she got hurt an awful lot of times. With the next week starting up the next day Itami woke up and noticed yet another little scratch.

“Jeez I really need to watch out when im outside…”

Itami doesn’t spend time alone too often unless it is vacation, calling up some of her friends they planned out this week like it was the most important thing in the world, taking hikes to a nearby village to meet friends they rarely see, going to the local lake for some bathing in this hot weather and ending it with another planning phase for the next week, which was mostly consisting of getting ready for a single shopping trip to the big city, which was almost 2 hours away via speed bullet-trains that occasionally pass this village.

Another planning phase done Itami was opening her laptop again, only to find none of the videos she previously watched..the site didn’t turn up anything, not by video name or unloader, it had the girl a little saddened since she liked them, but she was soon moving into less dangerous pastures with cute dog videos.

Looking really seriously forward to a shopping trip she never ever does normally the week was going by awfully slow, every day felt like a month, the closer it got to friday the slower the days have become. Until it was finally time.

Itami was excited like a child in a toy-store, putting on her favourite lofty summer-dress, taking her cute pink handbag she gave both her mother and father a big ol hug before waddling outside and towards the train station, which was only 30 minutes away from her home, the heat has yet to die down form the start of summer, beating down on everybody who dared going outside, it wasnt really affecting Itami until she met up with her friends at the station, they where slightly sweating and eventually Itami was starting to as well.

Getting onto the bullet-train the 2 hour ride was passed with a lot of idle chitchat and some card games, when it entered the big cities station the group of 4 friends where all breathing in the concrete jungle smell like it was the freshest thing in the world. The sung of the summer was not letting up in this city either, it was only relieved by the occasional shadow of skyscrapers.

It all started with some simple window shopping, looking all of the cool and way to expensive stuff this city can offer. Itami during this really started to feel the heat beat down on her, so many people sweating and heated up, it was a bit of a stuffy atmosphere.

The long they where window-shopping the more Itami was getting affected by all this stuffiness, all the heated up people, the sun, it was overbearing just as the girl wanted to pay for some sticker and a key-chain for her laptop Itamis vision was getting blurry, the notes where falling out of her hand and two of her friends where quickly grabbing the girls shoulders to keep her upright.

Taking the notes her friends where paying for her instead and quickly bringing her to a seated ice cream vendor to cool off, with a chocolate-shake and a bowl of ice, one of her friends was waving some air into her face while Itami was getting a spoonful of ice.

“you alright there Iti?”

“I..dont know…why is it so hot outside…..”

“Its summer and all, but you never where THIS bad with heat”

“Probably some heat intolerance thing or something”

“Maybe..i just…need a moment to….”

Neither the wind blows nor the ice was really working that well, Itami was sweating like no tomorrow, her cheeks where red hot and her vision wasnt helping her at all. To the point their friend was getting less responsive.

“Quick, lets call 119!”

One of her friends took out their old phone and quickly dialled up the number, it was a very very long wait for minutes for an ambulance to arrive when their best friend was basically frying out here. When the vehicle arrived it took all but a few moments of checking the girl out to notice this to be quite a strong heatstroke, her friends where given the address to the hospital while Itami was brought into the vehicle.

Things where getting blurry for Itami, everything was moving, her head felt like it was exploding like a volcano, her body was moving, the sun was blinding her blurry vision for a moment before she was feeling quite light, coldness was starting to seep into her, things where floaty and as vision started to slowly return she noticed she was in a cold water bath.

“ugh….”

“Please stay still”

“hm?”

A nurse was watching over her, making sure nothing was going wrong and Itami followed all orders, Tami was staying in the cold water bath for a while longer before she was helped out of it and wrapped into cooling blankets and lifted onto a bed.

“You are gonna stay with us for a few days to make sure everything’s okay Miss Itami”

“Alright….”

Itami was a little sad still she “ruined” their one super expensive trip into the city, when her friends arrived and visited her room Itami was even moping a little, at herself for being so weak.

“Look, its fine, see, we even got you a “get well” present!”

Itami was perking up a little, while also trying to still mope about, seeing them hand her the stickers and keychain she wanted to buy it was impossible to hide her happiness any further. Her friends stayed as long as they could, talking and chitchatting, but visiting hour had to end eventually, with a lot of hugs and warm words her friends where travelling back to the rural village.

This night was unlike any other before, the rare dreams she had where never really nightmares, but this night was making her so restless she was waking up multiple times in the middle of the night, full of sweat, a racing heart and a growing headache.

What should have been a few days of checking vitals and letting Itami go soon after slowly turned into a confounding mystery on all sides, the headache was getting worse by the day, pain medications started to have no effect, Itami told she was still feeling the heat and the headache was killing her, yet no checkup was yielding any provable result.

Of course when the few days passed they weren’t letting her go with what they perceived as some kind of psychological problem. Things where only getting worse from here, Itami had to change rooms every now and again when the others in her room where getting out, making space for others.

Every new room was making Itamis situation worse, from supposed feeling of cuts, burns, internal problems, every room was increasing the girls psychological problems, problems that seem to be similar to very other person she was sharing rooms with.

Days where turning to weeks and Itamis family and friends where endlessly worried about the worsening conditions of her, every visit was worse than the last, Itami was looking more tattered, disgruntled and sometimes even angry, it really was a gamble what was gonna happen with her.

Yet, no doctor nurse of specialist brought it could perceive what was really wrong with her, Itamis family was getting desperate to find a solution that they where calling in a Séance in attempt to find the invisible problem.

Both of her parents and her friends havent seen Itami in many days by now, Itami got a room on her own in an attempt to relieve whatever was wrong with her, Her parent had gotten a notice that itami was being transferred to a specialized psychiatric institution since they couldn’t do much for this, causing the meeting to be relocated, the institution was on the outskirts of the same city near a forest.

Travelling there was taking over and hour longer than before, but everyone, including the Séance where going to visit her. The group arrived at the building and it was looking clean, a huge building in soft pink colors, the inside was feeling depressing, many people where locked in specialized room to safeguard them and others around.

The moment they stepped into this entrance the Séance was getting distressed to the point they refused to go any further, even refusing the pay they would have gotten. Family and friends venture forward through halls and op some stairs, lead by a guard and what looked to be a nurse.

“This way, we tried giving her the furthest room away from others as we could, based on the Hospital records we received..but it didn’t help, no therapy or treatment had any affect yet…”

On the highest floor most rooms where empty or just being built, at the end of the hallway lay the only lit room with a heavy duty door, halfway through the hall everyone could hear laughter, cries, painful screams, as if multiple people where in the room, yet the voice was clearly only their beloved Itami.

“Do be aware, we cannot alow direct contact, especially with family, we cant assure your safety, or hers. If you do not wish to continue you may wait here”

Such warnings where very worrying for Itamis friend, one of them couldn’t continue, they where scared, but everyone else persevered but instead of being brought in front of the windowed room they where lead around to the side where a one way wall lay, to look inside but not out.

Her mother held her mouth shut and quickly looked away into the shoulder of her husband, he was staring directly at the room with disbelieve and Itamis friends couldn’t hold back their tears.

Itami was unrecognizable, her hair was a short dirty mess, her face was almost shifting between emotions in nanoseconds, happy laughter with a massive grimace, to crying her heart out, to angry shouts. Padded walls, no door handles, no edges, nothing that could potentially make the girl hurt herself.

Itami was sitting still, jumping around, running back and forth, nothing she did was making sense, they where watching they malnourished pale daughter for minutes on end, trying to make sense of the situation. Unintelligble words and sentences where strung together between crying and laughter breaks, until the girl was staying still, head turning to the one way wall, bloodshot eyes staring almost through it to the group.

“I can feel ya!, Dont hide from me!, Give them to me!!”

Itami looked like she was about to charge right against the wall, the supposed nurse was quickly pressing a button, Itami was shivering and her hand had a slight spasm to it, halting her in her tracks.

“As you can see we cant allow any direct visitors, please follow me back outside”

The family was devastated, her friends couldn’t stop the tears flowing, her happy go lucky friend was no more, all that was left is this insane husk fo emotions halfway back in the hall the mixed emotions where quickly returning, one friend even holding their ears shut.

Visits continued for several months afterwards, itami was not getting a lick better, but also not getting worse, staying in this limbo of insanity, her friends will never forget the time they had together, her family leaving their daughters room untouched. Everyone hopes to get that fateful call that itami was getting better, but it never came.

“Come on Aki!, Jump!”

“but…..”

“Its just a small gap!, come on!”

Looking down the young girl saw nothing but a pitch-black hole, a bottomless crater of death, a huge rock was stuck in her throat seeing this small 1 meter gap between two houses, standing on top of the roof was already bad but seeing the dare right in front of her like this almost had her turn heel. Head turning up, 3 other people who already jumped the gap where spurring the worried girl on.

One step back, followed by a second one to get a running start the girl lunged forwards, the one meter gap felt unending, impossible to cross, what should have been an easy jump for most people without any problem was turning ire quickly. The 3 friends heads where getting higher, the gap was vanishing over the girls head, indiscernible screams from above. A nanosecond before impact, as the world started to turn black, a somewhat blinding light of the sun above stung Akis eyes.

Head shook lightly left to right, raising one gloved hand over her forehead to look further up, the short haired woman shook her head a second time, as if to literally throw away her thoughts and worries long past, in front of her was a large 2 meter gap, two buildings high up with a flat roof in the concrete jungle it has become easy for her to get things moving and further her uploading speed. Reaching into her small bag she took out a head-strap with a small camera on it, putting it over her black short hair and turning it on with a click, the young womans somewhat husky voice quickly rang up.

“Im here at the top of Residential building in the middle of Okibetsu, last challenge was pretty fire so today im gonna go all the way over the Police station and to the Olu metro station, same amount of time, not touching the ground and here…we…go!”

Her heart was sinking into her chest upon the moment her legs started to spring up, her mind was forcing her worries and dangerous thoughts aside for the jump of one roof to another. Legs and hands forward before landing in a roll to prevent any injuries. The roll was going right back up into a run, short shorts, a short sleeved shirt with her own logo on it, a small tight bag to prevent spillage. Aki was sporty and athletic and used that to really get into parkour after a …….certain point.

Every roof jumped, every movements was making Akis heart explode on the inside, no matter how hard she tries the worries can never be truly shook off. It didn’t make a difference to her if she ran over the roof of the police station or any other supposedly important building. The fact buildings where all so close to another it wasnt that difficult for her to not touch the ground until she sprinted up one last time before hanging on the side of the bridge leading over the metro station.

“ha…ha..not so bad id say, put some challenges in the comments and the most interesting one will be done the next time see ya”

With a single click the camera was turned off again before Aki was slowly climbing down onto the safety of the ground, when both feet connected her walk home was calm, almost serene, filled with the safety of not fearing to fall down or get hurt. Walking home and entering her tiny apartment there was a bit of a mess all the time, some loose clothing here, some empty takeout boxes over there.

Letting her gloves and bag fall to the ground in one small thud she sighed out aloud before she too was thudding onto the ground and the mattress. Laying there for a few minutes she eventually turned over to look at an assortment of pictures hung on the wall and there was Aki herself with 2 girls and a boy, she was starring distantly at the other people for a long while until her eyelids fell to gravity, falling asleep without even bothering to clean herself up.

Her sleep is always fairly restless and so it was here, her nightmares where long and plenty, unending, yet it is the very same nightmare every time 3 shadowy figures in the distance, a massive gap between, unable to be jumped or get across, Aki would be falling down every time she tries and reach the other side, waking up forcefully just before the impact, dripping in sweat and almost panicking until the reality set in that she was in her bed.

Unlike any other previous nightmare she soon noticed a difference, her elbow was feeling funny, bringing it up a little to look at it she saw a pretty bed bruise of an impact, Aki was quickly patching herself up after having taken a quick rinsing shower. Yet the thought of this nightmare still lingers, maybe more so than usual.

Putting on her gear yet again Aki was going through the comments of her latest uploads to find a particularly interesting challenge. After choosing one and finding the designated location Aki was filming another video, another routine. Worry, skipping heart, shaking worry, running a routine she got accustomed to, she never knew WHY she was so worried, she didn’t think she had anything happen to her in the past? The nightmare didn’t make sense to her either, she never remembered something like this happening.

Todays video challenge was done as quickly as it started and the routine ended just in the same way, waddling into her kind of rundown apartment, with the slow increase of a mess, falling onto her mattress and “passing out” mere moments later. Of course her nightmare was returning, it was always so lucid that she could try and find another way over this impossible gap, but it always ended in the same way, falling down into darkness and forcefully waking up afterwards.

“ouch….”

Moving up again in the middle of the night she noticed another bad bruise, this time on her knees, it was slightly bloody and she likely should have gone to the hospital to check it out, if she wouldnt have such massive fear of said doctors in them. Using her little first aid kid she disinfected the wound and put a bandage on it.

The next week was slowly making her routine turn to the worse, every challenge in her comments was getting increasingly dangerous, higher places, more gaps and other dangers, every night the same nightmare ending with a forced wakeup and a new bruise, it was getting to the point Aki was getting more scared every time a new video had to be shot, this is her way of income, there is no other way for her to pay for her worsening life.

Patches on her arms, legs and now even forehead she was looking though comments again, Aki was getting frustrated, the money she got was getting less every few uploads, the cost of living was increasing exponentially, and none of these comments felt like they where going to get her the views that she needed, For the first time in weeks, if not months there was no upload of comment from Aki in 2 days, both of which she usually does daily.

What Aki was doing was taking all of her time away, sleep and eating was secondary to wanting to find a very special place to make a video in, this gap she never manages to jump in her nightmares, these felt so real, she knew there must be a way to find this place, she was sure it was real.

Aki hadn’t eaten much in these two days, sleeping for barely a few hours at most, she needed to do this, something was riving her to find this seemingly dangerous spot. Almost by the end of the second day o extensive searching with no proper result in this city Aki was about to throw in the towel in her search.

Heavy bags under her eyes, not even all bruises covered up anymore, she groggily got up from her small stool, taking nothing but her mounted camera with her. Going up the stairs just outside the rundown building she was going onto the roof of the building. On top of the roof she turned on the camera while standing over so many other newer and shiner buildings.

“……..”

Aki didn’t say a word, a greeting or otherwise, just letting the camera roll, minutes? Hours? Days? Just standing there time has lost all meaning in this moment, the blinding lights of the city below, the “blinding light” of the moon above Aki had to rub her eyes to get some sleepiness away. Once she had put her hands down from it Aki blinked twice, she was sure there was no building close to this side of her home, but here it was, same height as hers, a meter away.

Thinking she was hallucinating Aki was turning around and started to waddle back to the stairs, but after just a few steps Akie jerked her body around when three distant voices pierced her ears.

“c..e .n A..”
“..s j..t . ..a.. g..!, .o.. o.!”

She couldn’t hear what they where saying but they sounded strangely familiar, getting only a step away from the edge of her own building she saw it a bit more clearer, 3 shadowy heads on the other side, 3 young children where calling out to Aki.

“come on!”

“Its just a small gap!, Come on!”

Aki was looking down at the ground below, it looked dark, a bottomless hole of nothing. Her throat was stuck, her heart was sinking into her chest. 3 People already jumped the gap and spurred the worried sleep deprived woman on. There was a sombre smile on Akis face as she stepped back to get the proper distance to jump this gap.

“here I come! wait for me!”

Nobody but these 3 figures where able to hear Akis voice, the shadows where starting to clear with every faster running step Aki was taking, worry was fading away, fear was pushed aside, sleep was all but forgotten as the gap was jumped, successfully, the moment her feet connected to the other side her vision filled with a blinding light.

Aki and the 3 friends where gone as quickly as they appeared, The side of the roof she jumped from was pointing towards the streets, the only other building there was dozen of meters away Akis own building was rundown, ready to be broken down to rubble.

When the night started to clear the road was shut of for several at least an hour already, a newsvan was already on the scene, turning on their camera the reported held the mic close to their mouth while the camera showed the shutdown building in the background.

“we are life on the scene at 7.13 am, A young woman roughly the age of 22 has been reported to jump from this building last night, Reports indicate this building has been vacant 4 years and was due to be demolished next month, which is now delayed until next year.”

Both the cameraman and the reported where getting closer during their report, police where trying to stop onlookers and reporters to get closer and deny them any view of what was happening, but with how many people seem to gawk several cameraman where able to capture parts of the scene before everything was shut down forcefully.

“… Okibetsu news, 8:00, this morning the body of Aki Kyou, a 22 year old girl has been found 4 years after her disappearance next to her old home. Aki was the last residence of the building which has been scheduled for demolition for a few months. Footage captured from our reporters are withheld form the public after request form the Chief of Police. But it shows a heavily decomposed supposedly mummified body Aki Kyou, Some say A girl jumped from the building the day before but There is no evidence in the building to indicate someone has been using it for the last 4 years, investigations are ongoing. This was Okibetsu news life”

Congue looked back at the village slowly getting higher and out of her window of view, it was a weirdly comforting sight, showing her that she was getting somewhere, even she herself didn’t know where the end of it would be. The slope after the village was slow and steady making its decline usually fairly easy, if it weren’t for the rain and thunder making the grass all mushy ans slippery, Coal had no problem, her size and weight made traversing most terrain very easy, albeit a little slow. Congue herself couldn’t properly dig her claws into the ground, making her own steps slower than she would like them to be.

The small village was soon gone entirely from her vision not long after, the bottom looked…much lower than it should be, it looked like they where descending a massive mountain already while the clouds where below them, grey almost unmoving clouds, occasional “Hilltops” of unknown black tipped objects, occasionally lined with a decaying green tree. It looked almost endless, at least it was stretching almost to the mountain in the distance.

The slope was starting to even out and they could finally see just what was awaiting them before reaching even close to the mountain, it looked unending, without an exit, half grown trees, many of them rotten, black of dead, a web of roots and fog spilling from every crevice available. Congue has never seen a swamp in person only ever read about them, let alone seen one of such size.

Looking back at her companion Congue couldn’t go around it, it would take god know how much longer to get the mountain she wanted to see. Not only that but swamps as she read about them supposedly have opportunities to get some food, supposedly. Stepping into the huge swamp problems and curiosity quickly arose. The fog made seeing far quite difficult, the water, mud and amalgamation of resources in the ground had Congues clawed toes vanish into dirt with every step. Coals own huge steps made a large splatting sound while even with how big they are, they are barely visible in the ground, an unfortunate soul stepping into them surely gets a wet surprise.

Despite how intimidating it looked for the pair the swamp was also feeling pretty dead, there was rarely a fully grown tree, let alone a blooming one reaching above the fog, Most where either half-dead, full of moss and no leaves, or even broken down halfway. Waddling through these wasnt too difficult if it weren’t for how deep the mud was going, deep enough that almost every step a vine or root was in the way, making Congue have to step over it awkwardly. After walking as straight as one can be here for longer than either of them could guess Congue was getting faster, unbeknownst to her.

It was a natural progression for Congue, she started her foggy journey waddling between vines and roots and stomping through the muddy deep ends, Congue slowly started to no just step between vines but actively step on them for higher ground. This was soon followed by her claws holding onto these roots for better grip, making her movement even slicker, it took Congue hearing her friends stomp getting faster to notice she herself started to go faster, once she did her subconscious forced into her conscious mind, causing her to splat into the muddy bellows, her front was painted brown as she was getting up, but she did so with a smile, she strangely enough had fun, more fun she thinks she ever had before.

Getting right back up Congue was quickly getting back to just…moving forward, slowly getting faster as she was now doing it purposely, moving onto the vines and roots and holding onto them to further launch herself forward, there was the occasional wobble and smack into the mud which was barely slowing her down.

The dead looking swamp was as silent as ever, there was no roaring, no chirping, as if no animal big or small has ever lived in here. Congue was breathing a little heavily, running a little too fast for a little too long she was taking a break against a particularly large dead tree stump. With Coal stomping up next to her the big loaf was slowly and creekingly moving down to kneel, just to make sure her small friend was okay.

If Coal could smile she would do so, Congue however could easily feel what her friend was and was smiling back at the unmoving face before catching a glimpse of Coals “feet, which seemed to have started growing moss on them, Congue didn’t think much of it especially once her body distracted her.

All of this running, all of this adrenaline filled hopping around quickly exhausted the girls little food reserves she had in herself. Stomach growling angrily, followed by a much more softer growl from its owner. If that wasnt already plenty of annoyance the growl was followed by a yawn, it was likely getting later or this just exhausted her a lot.

“*yawn*, ill get some food tomorrow…..”

Laying right where she sat down it was considerably fast, so fast that even Coal was looking down with a puzzling aura to her. But there was not much Coal could do right now other than ease her friend journey into dreamland, similar to last time she got down even more, hands above the girls head to shield some of the constant rain, and the warmth fo her core to provide further aid.

Congues sleep was strangely well and scarily uneventful, usually dreaming quite a lot this night was pretty..dead. By the time she woke up Coal was not right next to her as she expected, it made Congue jerk up like a mole coming out of the ground, quickly turning her head only for the familiar creaking to be nearby, getting closer Congue had barely a minute alone before her companion returned.

There was some clear purpose to Coal and Congue quickly caught onto that feeling, the big loaf wanted something from her friend. Little more convincing needed to follow Congue hopped right up and got behind Coal, which lead the other barely away from the current direction towards a small patch of moss with a small handful of mushrooms growing on it.

“Whoa!”

Coal was bending down, using her giant pointy finger she pointed out the mushrooms, clearly to eat and most importantly where they where growing, despite how childish Coal is emotionally she as extensive knowledge of the nature she was coming from. There was no words spoken during this show and tell from Congue, who absorbed this interesting and new information like a sponge, once it was over The girl snatched the mushrooms from their growing place and stuffed one into her mouth. There was no grilling or warming up needed due to her physiology.

Congue was letting out an audible satisfied groan before she popped all but one mushroom into her filling stomach, it was not enough to truly make it rest, but enough to settle her stomach for a while again. Coal earned herself (and her core) a big soft hug from the little girl which in turn earned a small satisfying indiscernible sound from the big loaf.

After sharing such pleasantries the two where going back to their journey towards the huge massive goal of the mountain, which has yet to get any bit closer in their eyes. While moving forward Congue was now looking out for the signs she was just shown, moss and certain rocks that could grow mushrooms. Occasionally eating them on the way while letting some be taken with.

Yet no matter how far they where going, barely any notice as they where in the middle of this dead swamp, the only real noises where coming from Congue and the big loaf, neither was there any other fruits, to be found other than this wide brown mushrooms congue had been eating for a while now. Occasionally looking back at her companion Congue took more and more notice of how the moss on Coals legs was getting thicker, growing taller, both fo which was far far faster than it really should be.

The day had barely begun for them and yet Congue felt…tired, she neither ran nor did much excessive work, other than travelling and picking mushrooms, yet she felt like she hadn’t slept for so long. Coal noticed that as well and whenever Congue looked like she was about to take a rest Coal urged her mentally and physically to keep going, whatever is happening Coal had some kind of idea that it wasn’t good to rest anymore, least of all so soon.

While more difficult to move when feeling to sleepy Congue was pushing forward, walking along the same trees, the same fog, the same rocks and the mountain wasn’t moving any closer still, something was wrong, even Congue could feel it now, they reached the middle of this swamp and it didn’t feel like they where going anywhere.

Congue was looking around, slowly more carefully now, looking for rocks and mushrooms had her spacial awareness skyrocket in a short amount of time. Almost all dead trees looked similar..almost, there was two in particular that stood out to her, one was halfway covered in moss and another had a single leaf on it. If Coal didn’t teach her about mushrooms and moss before Congue might have chosen otherwise, deciding to go the direction of the mossy tree she could see in the distance another mossy tree, only one, like a light of a wayward towards somewhere.

Following these trees finally showed they where getting somewhere, the trees started to change in appearance, rocks where getting fewer and far between and even coals moss seemed to stop growing as fast as it was before, which now raised all the way up to her “Knees”. After travelling for awhile again the mountain was finally getting closer, Coal dreaded what would have happened in this weird swamp if she hadn’t had coal with her.

Most of this dreaded day was spent trying to get out of this forest, fighting the sleepy urge to just lay down, following the single line of trees, finding mushrooms and occasionally Coal being spurred on by the big loaf behind her when she looked like she was about to take a break, Coal didn’t like to push her friend like this but both feared something could happen if it where to happen.

Finally the fog was starting to dissipate, less thick than before, dead trees where slowly filling with leafs and greens, moss was vanishing rocks where getting smaller, the edge was visible and the mountains shadow was looming over them. It was imposing and intimidating, but compared to the Swamp it was quite inviting, especially when Coal really wanted to see…everything the mountaintop had to offer to a curious girl like her.

The mountain and the swamp had a clear empty line of muddled grass between them, one side greyish and had while the mountainside was green and full of life. As if nature itself was fighting this dead line in an eternal struggle. Birds where chirping, other animals can be heard again and yet not a single flying or grounded animal dared to breach this invisible battlefield of nature into the swamps.

Luckily Coal and Congue where smack in the middle of it eagerly going over to the other side, getting up only a few meters on the increasing height of the bottom of the mountain Congue looked back at the swamp and it was…small, it looked very small compared to when she was on the other-side, the mountain was feeling like it was days, weeks away yet from here she could even make out the village she came from.

With this weird swamp behind them and some survival skills the big loaf taught her Congue was back to full curious vigour to climb this mountain and find herself at the top.