Slay the Dragon! Side Stories

[DarkPinkie]

The winged one wasn't moving, easy prey. Leaning down over it one of it's head noticed another two legged one. It could feel the aura of danger around the two legs, but even so what could a simple two leg do to it? Deciding to only monitor the two legs carrying the shiny thing for now it decided to finish it's meal. With a quick toss the unresponsive winged two legs was sliding down it's neck and into it's waiting stomach. This action angered the other two legs. Good, now the twoleg get to feel it's pain when it's kin was taken from it.

However it didn't expect the twoleg to react quite like it did. Two late did it sense the immidate danger, hidden behind the otherwise foreboding aura of the two leg. This slow reaction costed it as it lost three of it's heads. Blood oozing out of the stumps that used to be necks. The six remaining heads all focused entirely on the one hurting it. With a roar it began to attack.

- - - - -

The feeling of movement roused the dragoness from her unconsciousness. The moment Zerechia realized she was awake she wished she wasn't. Her head was killing her and she felt all warm and wet all over. The moment she opened her eyes she saw why. Her body was in the mouth of some creature. That would explain the movement, heat, and wetness... Wait mouth? As soon as she realized that she screeched. Her panicked shout only lasted a couple of seconds before she was silenced by the creature's throat. As she teaveled down the long slippery neck her muffled screaming could still be slightly heard. To the dragoness, her own screaming had been a mistake as it only amplified her headache and made her slightly nauscious.

It didn't take long in the tight tube before she was splashed down into a small fleshy sack. It was already filled with liquid that smelled horrible. Sitting up and wiping some bile of her face she sighed. "Eaten alive... Great." For once she was was glad her sister was no longer around, for if she was she would never let this down. No matter, she could just teleport out... Bringing the magic to bear she tried to concentrate but binding the magic and trying to unleash it only yielded a splitting headache as a result. "Eaten alive and unable to focus on magic... Now I am actually worried." The acids wasn't particularly strong but it was already starting to cause her clothing to fray and rip as she moved. Too bad she wasn't a black dragon. They are practically immune to all forms of acid.

All she could do at that point was squirm. That is until she felt the entire creature lurch around her. Seconds later a lot of blood seemed to be flowing into the stomach from the throat. "Looks like they are at least working on it. Now if they could only work a bit faster!" She shouted and kicked the side flesh of the stomach. Even with her incredible strenght it only bulged the side a bit. The motion caused what little clothes she had left to rip and get sucked back into the bracelet. Curling into a ball in the corner of the space she whimpered a bit. There wasn't a whole lot she could do in uere without magic. So for now she held her arms around her knees and her wings around her arms, hoping that her splitting headache and mental fuzzyness would end so she could escape, or that someone would save her.

[nicktaken]

The world was slightly blurry in front of his eyes. It took him a second to process what has happened, at which point he just barely managed to roll out of the way of one of the hydra's remaining six heads as it slammed into the ground from above. They were bulky creatures with comparatively short legs and skewed center of mass due to their many necks and heads. If not for that, they could have attacked their prey with claw and tail, but their irregular shape made those kinds of actions risky in terms of losing their balance. Thus most hydras were only known to attack with their heads. Unfortunately, when a creature had upward of six it those, it wasn't as limiting as one might hope.

Kilian wasn't sure why he was remembering academy lessons on monster lore at this particular point in time. While full of peculiar trivia, it didn't exactly teach people how to fight said monsters. That wasn't the idea. Of course, sometimes it spoke of some glaring weaknesses such creatures had for one reason or another. He tried to recall one as he attempted to put more distance between himself and the beast; even a clumsy one of that size could trample him quite well. Moderate magic resistance, tough scales, two hearts and varying number of heads despite only needing one of each to survive, the ability to heal most injuries given enough time, including said heads and hearts... Unfortunately, their limited mobility was the only thing he could recall, and it wasn't exactly a weakness when it had several highly flexible necks longer than the rest of its body to do the movement for it. The brain inside each head was redundant to some extent, but with six pairs of eyes and noses, it didn't have any blind spots.

Jumping out of the way of another attack, he glanced at the broken weapon he was still clutching. He couldn't be sure of the specifics, but he suspected his Gift had something to do with it. He must have overcharged the magic item into that highly destructive form somehow. Unfortunately, the encrusted gilded hilt - the only non-magical part of this thing - couldn't take the load and shattered. There were a few red shards sticking out of his upper arm; pieces of the ruby soul stone. There was no way anyone could fix that, ever. That sudden burst of power managed to do some serious damage to the monster, but now he was left without a weapon.

Not even a minute passed when the creature caught him, and being slightly dazed by the magic backlash wasn't the deciding factor. Even if the hydra was comparatively clumsy, it was still huge and needed to only take a single step for each small dash and dodge he made. Its six heads moved with terrifying speed, though. He managed to avoid two more close calls until the creature finally acted smarter and just intercepted his attempt to evade it. He reacted, but its teeth snapped around his arm. He heard the nasty cracking of bone and its cry of pain: its own jaws shattered the teeth around the comparatively small arm. Unfortunately, it didn't reel back. Even if he was unharmed by the bite, his arm was stuck, and he was flung together with the head.

Kilian suddenly found himself tumbling through the air and straight toward an open mouth with two rows of large teeth. He wasn't sure if it was instinct or pure luck that let him jam his arm under the bone blades, ending up with but a few small cuts as the creature caught him. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to stop there and instead tossed him again, much like it did with Zerechia just a minute ago. This time his legs were caught. Instead of tossing him up again, the hydra only reared its head and worked its disgusting tongue against him. His torn trousers gave way in a second and he found himself being swallowed whole into that waiting gullet. He growled as he struggled desperately not to get eaten, clawing at the flesh around him. Unfortunately, he was only human; he didn't have anything he could hook into the slippery flesh around him.

His clothes, having been mistreated for a long time and torn apart in several places by the hydra during their struggle, were basically gone by the time his slide down the smelly neck ended. He slid into a mildly elastic chamber filled with foul liquid, his face bumping up against something warm and much less unpleasant than the surroundings before he came to a complete stop. It was his newfound lover's thigh, he realized while struggling to rise above the bile in the slippery darkness. There was also just about enough room for the two of them here, but not much else, and both seemed to have lost most of their clothing at some point. It might have been rather exciting had it not been for their present circumstances. "Zerechia, I... I'm sorry." He exhaled heavily. He wasn't sure why she decided to climb the outside of the tower, but if he hadn't suggested it, she wouldn't have fallen and ended up in this situation. And then he proceeded to fail in saving her, instead joining her in being eaten alive. Things did not look good for them.

***

The creature grunted in satisfaction as it felt its stomach fill up with prey. And not just any prey. The winged one was absolutely delicious, and the magic aura it was giving off was already starting to affect the hydra positively, aiding its natural regeneration. While any meal would do, there was a reason its kind were known to stalk areas known for their abundance of mystical beings: eating those aided their own development more than just a random deer. The two-leg that harmed it wasn't anywhere near as good and eating it proved troublesome, but it also had an interesting taste. And besides, food was food. No reason to pass on it.

That aside, it was pretty badly hurt. It had never expected these puny things to be capable of such, and now it felt fear for its safety. Either it had underestimated these small beings or it was something about this specific place, but it felt the need to retreat. The scent of its kin was drowned out by the scent of death, and in light of its injuries, the hydra was scared. Perhaps that was the precise reason this place smelled of death. It wouldn't give up its search so easily, but it needed to recuperate and rediscover the tracks. Having eaten well was going to help with that.

Having come to that conclusion, the creature turned around and started walking back practically the same way it arrived into town. This was all alien territory, but taking a familiar path would reduce the risk of running into another of these dangerous two-legs.

[DarkPinkie]

Having been bumped around as the fight had progressed Zerechia had no idea whst was going on outside. All she had was the dark smelly chamber and ths distant sound of a pair of heartbeats. Feeling the tingling from the acids the dragon did what she could. A much easier spell than teleportation would protect her from being digested, for a while at least. Her magic felt weak, even weaker than just before. With a bit of effort she did manage to get the protection spell off but not much else. As she sat there she tried to pay attention to what she was feeling, despite her headache. She did in fact feel a sort of drain on herself, her magic being siphoned off of her. That was indeed worrying. No wonder she couldn't teleport. Her reserves were simply too drained.

It didn't take long stewing in there until she saw something. The opening for the throats opened up and dumped a very familiar person down. Gasping when she noticed just who it was she shifted herself slightly. She knew she could see in the absolute dark of the stomach, but he couldn't. "Don't be sorry. I'm sorry for being such a clutz getting us in this situation." The dragon shifted one of her wings so that it folded around the young man. As she did she touched her hand at Kilian's chest to extend her protective magic to him as well. "I can protect us from the acids for a while, but even now I feel it draining my magic. I couldn't get myself out before, so there is really nothing I can do to get us both out." She sighed. At least they wouldn't have to die alone. Unlike her sister.

The stomafh gurgled loudly around them as they were pressed up against each other in a forced cuddle, not that she minded the cuddle. But the circumstances could be a whole lot better. "So any Ideas?" She asked sounding hopeful that maybe Kilian got an idea to get out. Also his power worked in strange ways, maybe it could help? Otherwise they might just have to get used to the idea of simply being stuck here for a few hours until her spell fails. After which an obvious fate awaits them.

[nicktaken]

He flinched a bit when her wing touched him. It was a very unfamiliar sensation. In fact, he barely had time to register that she had two white wings on her back when the hydra devoured her; probably her unsuccessful attempt to break the fall. Feeling her hand on his chest, he leaned up close against her and put him arms around her. "If only I hadn't asked you to scout around..." He said quietly, feeling like this was his fault. It definitely was. Had he stayed with her instead of trying to play hero they would have just escaped into the alleys together. Or, if all three of them went together, then they wouldn't have encountered this creature under the same circumstances, and possibly at all. Naturally, if he hadn't lost his head and accidentally broken his only weapon as a result, he might have been able to kill this thing and rescue her. But he didn't do any of those things, and now...

"I'm so sorry." Kilian spoke under his breath. The reality of their situation was pretty terrifying. Having Zerechia here with him was comforting to an extent, but it also made him feel even worse: he'd rather she was safe than eaten alongside him. Even if their relationship was still in question after that night they spent together, there was no doubt in his mind how he felt about her. Perhaps he was being clingy, but what was wrong with that? He would be sort of repeating her, but she was the only person who showed him any kindness in a long time. Between that and everything else that happened to them within the past week, he had managed to fall in love. Of course, the universe just had to mock him by taking said love away.

When she asked for ideas, he said nothing, just squirming in the darkness and trying to feel at the exits from the stomach. An alternative route was beyond his abilities; he'd hardly be able to harm this thing with his bare hands even if he had freedom of movement. The way up was probably not an option. Even if they could somehow get out the creature's mouth, it certainly wasn't just going to let them go. It would just eat them again. It certainly had more than enough heads to do that. The way down would certainly be gross, that is to say, even more so than their current predicament. But what other choice did they have?

"I was kind of hoping you'd be able to kill this thing from the inside." He admitted. "But if that's not an option... think you could force open the sphincter at the bottom?" He knew he wouldn't be able to. It was a general rule of thumb that if you were strong enough to escape the stomach in such a way, you wouldn't have been eaten whole in the first place. But Zerechia was a lot stronger than a normal human, and perhaps that would be enough. Of course, even if they could escape that way, there was another problem: the hydra was very much alive. He wasn't certain about eating them again after they'd escape through its butt, but he very much doubted it would let them off freely. And they'd be even more tired at that point than when they got eaten in teh first place. Still, it was worth a shot. The alternative didn't seem very appealing.

[DarkPinkie]

The dragoness just shook her head at him mentioning Killing it. "Sorry I already tried. If I had a proper weapon maybe, or just anything sharp." Of course now she realized that she had a couple such things in her golden bag, but she didn't see her bag here anywhere. She must have dropped it at the fall. "I can try." She said as she looked for the sphincter. Not seeing it she sighed. It must be underneath the bile. Carefully feeling her way instead she took a few minutes but eventually found it. "I am not sure about this." She said as she used both hands to prod at rhe opening. She was able to squeeze first a few fingers through then her arm. But the pressure was immense and it was hurting her. Using her extreme strenght she pulled her hand back and fell onto Kilian. "No can do. The sphincter will crush us if we try that way." She said with a sigh. Of course a creature that preyed mainly on magical creatures would be able to handle a bit supernatural strenght.

Leaning into Kilian she was out of ideas and options. "So what are we going to do now?" We will be safe for a few hours, if we are not rescued before then..." She got quiet. So this is how the most magically powerful dragon ever ends. As a meal to a common hydra. At least she have him to keep her company. Embracing Killian she looked at him, he wouldn't be able too look back but she was just happy she could see him, it was comforting to her. "Say Kilian, if you do not have any other brilliant ideas for escape..." She leaned forward and locked her lips to him. Once the Kiss broke she smiled an unseen smile at him. "We could at least spend the last time we have in each other's embrace." Except the whole dying thing, this fleshy sack wasn't that bad. It was a bit stuffy and smelled quite badly, but at least it was comfortable and warm, granted she didn't quite like the warmth, but she could get past that.

[nicktaken]

If he had a proper weapon, he might have been able to rescue her himself. Unfortunately, he stupidly broke his as a result of... something or other. This wasn't the time to ponder 'how's and 'why's. Glancing down at this hand - a pointless gesture as he couldn't see anything in this darkness - he realized he was no longer holding the hilt of that sword. Even broken, it was a metal object with a few sharp edges; it could have been helpful. He must have dropped it at some point while desperately struggling not be to be chewed to pieces. Granted, like most animals, hydras didn't chew quite the same way as people, but having his arms or legs bitten off would have been pretty bad. Not to mention it seemed to try and bite him in half most of the time, only failing because of his desperate struggle for survival. Not that it did much good in the end since it just swallowed him whole instead.

Kilian did his best to stay out of Zerechia's way as she moved around and followed his one suggestion. It wasn't particularly inspiring to hear she had already tried to kill it from the inside and failed. He couldn't believe she failed, if he were honest. The episode with Casandra notwithstanding, he sort of started seeing her as all-powerful when she wanted to be. Even if she had yet to fully recover, she had already displayed more power than any mortal mage could dream of while merely showing off. But she wouldn't say that if she didn't know what she was talking about. If that were the case, then their odds of escaping weren't looking good. He felt his heart chill even before she had reported the lack of success in getting out the mostly natural way. He wasn't expecting much for himself, but he really hoped she would have been able to get through, at least.

"I don't know." The words were barely audible, but there was no mistaking the fear in them. They were going to die here, in some random beast's stomach. Who was going to rescue them? The remaining townsfolk, who were entirely incapable of defending themselves from much lesser threats? Evelyn, who tried to kill him before, would likely have enough on her hands as it was, and whose main means of offense he took and ruined? He couldn't even come up with a third option. Some random wandering hero? What were the odds of that? And it would take a pretty damn powerful one to take down a hydra of this size, even if he did manage to hurt it some.

Zerechia's kiss came very unexpectedly. Not unwelcome, of course, but her next words didn't sound good at all. Was she seriously resigning herself to this? "You cannot be serious..." He mumbled, ashamed to admit that her suggestion caused some stirring within him. Their clothes were gone by this point, and they did say fear was a strong aphrodisiac. And considering he didn't have any more ideas for escaping... He put his arms around her and kissed her again. She said her spell would last a few hours. They had time to figure it out. With any luck, working off a bit of stress through intimacy would let them think clearer and come up with something.

[DarkPinkie]

Seeing and hearing Kilian so afraid it stirred her own fear. She didn't want to die. She was too big of a coward to die. After all if she was too afraid of killing herself when she had nothing to live for for two hundred years then she was absolutely terrified now that she had found something live for. She needed something, anything to distract herself from the thoughts of death. The stomafh wall squeezing in on her pushing her just a bit closer to Kilian gave her just the idea of something to distract them. After all, the mating from yesterday had been great. If she was going to die she rather do so in bliss than in fear.

"But I am serious." She whined a little. Leave it to a human to not concede defeat even when defeat was obvious. "I am sorry to darken your hopes, but there is nothing we can do. We are stuck in here and either we get rescued or we perish. If we do not get rescued I rather die feeling happy than to feel terrified about something we can not change." Using her strength she pushed against the flesh to shift her position on top of Kilian. Like this she was being squeezed into him hard but at least they would be able to do what she wanted like this, though with a bit of effort. Looking into his eyes in the darkness she leaned her head the last inch forward and locked their lips again. Her chest was being squeezed into his hard and she would hate the feeling they were going to have later if she didn't know she woldn't have breasts to be aching at all later.

As she was squeezed into him she could feel his member push up against her stomach. With a bit of a giggle she whispered to him. "I think you want this as much as I do." She then leaned in and kissed him again before shifting her body side to side causing her stomach to rub against His member. It took a lot or work due to the very tight confines but eventually she managed to shift it so that his erect shaft was inbetween her legs rubbing against her own sex and squeezed between her thighs. "If you want me to stop all you have to do is say so." She teased before she kissed him softly. She was already growing reallt excited from all the skin contact. Her folds was dripping fluids which flowed down to meet the acids the two was stewing in.

[nicktaken]

Her words did nothing to help his attempts at fighting off fear. On the contrary, she destroyed his hope for finding whatever way out that might present itself later. If there was someone who could get them out of this, it was Zerechia. She was the powerful dragon among the two of them. He was pretty strong himself, but only for a human, and his best skill was survival. In this case it required the murder of a huge hydra. There was simply no way he could do that with his bare hands, especially from inside its stomach. Why did she keep saying there was nothing they could do? She had enough magic to mess with the weather, surely she could obliterate something like this beast easily. Of course, with both of them being trapped inside, many methods might take them out, as well. But wouldn't that be preferable to just getting digested?

"But there's nobody to rescue us." Kilian whispered, stifling a whimper. Even if Evelyn were to risk it and actually succeed without her sword, there was no guarantee she would be done saving the remaining townsfolk in time, and they took priority. And that is assuming she could beat the one who raised all those undead on her own. So it fell to the pair to take care of their own rescue, and the far more capable one was just giving up. Was this simply a convenient coincidence for her? She spoke of considering suicide for the longest time and never going through with it. She told him she got better with him around, but he didn't have much faith in his ability to make her life more meaningful. Perhaps she still saw dying as a viable solution to her problems. It sort of sounded that way.

But there was little he could do, against the hybdra and Zerechia both. As the stomach seemed to get tighter, she leaned all too eagerly against him. It seemed like she was really set on this. He probably blushed when she teased him about his body reacting to her; he couldn't really tell the heat of his own cheeks behind that of the stomach. Well, she had a point. He would have loved to do this again under better circumstances, but at the moment, it was the only thing actively fighting the numbing fear that threatened to overtake him. Perhaps this wasn't a bad idea, if only to hold that off.

He moaned quietly when she rubbed up against him, not entirely sure if she meant to play with him like that or if this was just her trying to readjust their position. Even as his mind struggled, his body had already given in to her, his arms wandering her skin as much as their tight confines allowed to. "This is insane." He managed to mumble just before she had kissed him again. If he weren't excited already, then feeling her move to be slightly above him like that would certainly do the trick. He greedily placed his hands on her thighs and pushed into her, keeping her close. Not that there was much room for her to move away.

[DarkPinkie]

Hearing him say that there was no rescue coming did darken whatever hope she was holding out with. With no rescue coming and her magic being actively drained as it was they were going to die in here for sure. Just before she was about to break down she was brought back to the reality that was their tight and warm temporary home by the feeling of his skin against hers. Nothing to do but enjoy the few hours they had left.

Hearing him moan was adorable. She herself had stiffled several as she had shifted her body. His comment only made her giggle once the kiss broke. "Well, that is not a no." She kissed him on the cheeks bsfore continuing, constantly shifting her lower body to rub al over Kilian. "Besides, are we sane people?" She asked a Rhetoric question and before he had a chance to answer she locked lips with him in a deep passionate kiss. One which devolved into a long sensual moan as Kilian pushed inside her. This was feeling just as good as yesterday.

[nicktaken]

If he had any doubts that she was trying to get him worked up, they were quickly blown away by her continued unnecessary movement. He supposed she was right. He did want this. He started having impure thoughts about her before she even awkwardly suggested taking care of his 'needs' as a gesture of good will. Looking back, that was a fun conversation that he wasn't entirely comfortable having. Of course, things ended up progressing in a way neither of them suspected at the time. And then... they ended up getting eaten alive by a hydra. This was also a very unexpected development. They should have just gone around the damn town; gates being locked at inappropriate times always spelled trouble.

Yeah, they probably were completely insane. To be engaging in such behavior inside a stomach instead of trying to find a way out. Those thoughts were quickly drowned out by the sensation of being inside her, however. She felt amazing, and being pressed closely against him only added to it. Her moan almost made him forget about their circumstances even, and he certainly didn't care at the moment. Anything worth doing was worth doing well. There was no reason to hold back now that they actually started. Kilian was glad she was not human. It meant he didn't have to measure his strength in handling her, and he might not have been able to be gentle in these circumstances, tight confines that made it somewhat difficult for them to move apart. Not that he had any intention of trying.

He was being more forceful and demanding with her than ever before. Not that Zerechia would know, seeing how they only made love once before. What a waste it was, and this was the only opportunity they would have to make up for it. He had every intention of doing his best with it. Holding her tightly, he moved her up and down and moved his hips against hers as much as the tight confines allowed him to, and tried to hold her lips captive the whole time. If this was to be their last time together, then he had better make it worth it.

[DarkPinkie]

She was a bir surprised with how forceful Kilian had got. She suspected him to be as gentle as yesterday. Yet here he is putting every fiber of his being into the act with heedless abandon. Not that she minded, especially not with how every inch of her body was being runbed either by him or by the fleshy walls of the hydra stomach. With her wings having nowhere to go they sort of just folded in behind Kilian forming almost something comparable to a bed as every feather gently tickled aginst his backside. As for his parts inside of her, the pleasure was insane. She would be moaning very loudly if he didn't hold her lips captive, instead just about every moan got muffled by their kissing. This all made her slightly envious of her sister. She got to eo things like this for years before her passing. Zerechia only got to do it twice.

But at least Chia could with confidence say that she had the more desirable death. To die in the arms of her lover would definitely beat out being drowned. Even if digested alive was not a particularly pleasant way to die. At least she got to have sex until that happened, something which she was sure her sister would be incredibly envious off in the afterlife. During a moment were Kilian's lips failed their prison duty as he once more pushed his lenght fully inside her she moaned out loud. "I love you." She said before she allowed her lips to once more get recaptured. The sensation of being rubbed everywhere as well as his pounding was quickly starting to overwhelm her senses.

It wasn't much longer until the pleasure reached a climax, the first of many if she had anything to say about it. As she was being lost to the pleasure she moaned out loud enough that their fleshy prison that had moved just previously stopped for a few moments. Halfway into her peak she could feel Something else as Kilian too reached his top. Her body greedily squeezing his member in order to try to milk it. Which it was succeding with as she felt the warmth of his load fill up her insides.

Once their peaks passed she collapsed down on top of him panting loudly. "I love you. It is a shame I did not get to spend thousands of years with you." She said sorrowfully. "At least we still have a few more hours to fill with even more pleasure." She said teasingly. She knew there was no escape for them. Once her magic got drained to the point were she could no longer maintin the acid resistance they were going to start getting digested. She briefly wondered how many times the two of them would be able to get off before then. Hopefully loads and loads of times to make up for future times they would never get to spend in each other's arms.

[nicktaken]

Their love-making was quite intense. Probably for the first time ever, Kilian let himself go and let instinct take over completely. Consideration, gentleness, reservations - none of those things had any place here. Unfortunate as it was, they weren't going to be able to rescue themselves. They were going to die. She told him as much. He wanted to prove her wrong, but he was only human. Which meant this wasn't just a moment of passion. This was their entire devotion to each other. And their goodbye. There would be no 'other time' for anything. Which was why he wanted to put his everything into this.

Of course, whatever the circumstances, they wouldn't be able to last the whole time. The first release came before long. When she slumped down against him, he just held her tight. Zerechia was heavy. A lot heavier than a human woman of her stature, and he'd dare say heavier than himself. It wasn't exactly that comfortable, but he was enjoying it in this moment. He wanted to impress anything and everything about her into his mind, even if he wasn't going to be around to do any remembering, either. When she spoke it took a lot out of him to bite his tongue and not start sobbing.

"I love you, too." Kilian responded with a delay. Forget thousands of years, he would have been happy to just spend the rest of his comparatively short life with her. Or even just a few years. Or one. Or at least another full day. But that just wasn't meant to be. Though he managed to keep himself from trembling, he couldn't stop the silent tears that dripped inaudibly against her skin and hair. Placing his hands on her cheeks, he lifted her head and gave her a long kiss. It helped. "If I knew things would end in a stomach, I'd much prefer yours." He whispered and even forced a smile.

***

Although she had managed to hold back the wave of undead attempting to reach the inn, Evelyn realized it was no solution at all. She only bought time, and next time she might not be able to. She wouldn't be able to resolve this situation on her own, not when her main means of offense had been taken. But she found no trace of the pair from earlier when she returned to the town square. There was only a vaguely familiar older man with two kids by the tower and what appeared to be the remains of her weapon lying among some cobble. That wasn't a good sign and meant she couldn't afford to worry about them. Rescuing the citizens took priority, and that alone was going to prove troublesome.

***

The hydra was worried by its prey's continuous movement after it had left the town behind. That wasn't normal, which meant it was potentially dangerous. The thought that, perhaps, it might be best to cough these two-legs up had come to its simple mind more than once. However, it was very unwilling to let go of the delicious winged one. It couldn't understand the reason, but it could easily tell this was the best meal it had in its entire life, and possibly the best it ever would have. Even if the beast experienced ever increasing discomfort due to the indigestion, it just wasn't willing to let this treat go. Not unless it absolutely had to.

Such concerns were the precise reason the creature remained alert even after returning to its lair despite needing rest. This was an unusual situation, so it had to be. But even as its stomach gurgled and groaned in futility, failing to break down the food, the hydra was enjoying itself. It had never had such nutritious critters before. Not physically - yet - but magically. Already the wounds on its neck had closed up completely, much faster than ever before, though the process of regenerating the lost heads was going to take time regardless.

The magic just kept coming, seemingly inexhaustible. It was strange that such a tiny thing could hold such power within it, but the hydra certainly had no complaints as it lied down in dietary ecstasy. This was easily more energy than it had accrued in its life up to this point, and who knew how much more was still to come? Between the unprecedented feeling of satisfaction and remaining unharmed despite the constant squirming in its stomach, the creature finally started to relax and really enjoy its meal. That was one primary need sated for a long time; too bad there was no potential mate around to help with the other.

The sky was already dark by the time the delicious source of magic in its stomach started to thin out. It didn't notice right away, drunk on the sensation, and felt greatly disappointed when it did. Of course, there was no such thing as infinite food you only had to catch once. As the flow gradually decreased, so too did the amount of movement from the two-legs, and soon enough it could no longer distinctly feel them in its stomach. Finally, though it also regretted that the meal was done. It absorbed another heap of magic while its bodily functions worked as normal, but not nearly as much as before then. With the high passing, the hydra laid its many heads down for a long-desired rest.

Come morning, the hydra found its lair a bit cozier than it remembered. There was also a multitude of small lumps on the front of its torso, where new heads would eventually grow. It didn't even step out of the earthy cavern to take care of its business, leaving a large brown pile right where it normally slept. As soon as it was done with that, it was off, crossing the bog and trees back toward that town. But it wasn't looking for its lost kin any more. In fact, that fact was entirely gone from its head. It just wanted to find more of such delicious two-legs. It needed to feel the intense pleasure of digesting such magic again. It just had to.

[nicktaken]

Spoiler: show

The hunt, page 16
Point of deviation: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=45364&start=300#p2460333

"Do rabbits even do that?" It was a rhetorical question. As mostly defenseless creatures with a lot of natural predators, rabbits procreated a lot and matured quickly. This meant their "childhood" did not last long, and their reliance on a parent even less. But very few creatures were born capable of fending for themselves in any regard, probably not even dragons. He wasn't sure if he really felt the same way as Zerechia about it, but he could understand her reasoning. There was no point in condemning baby rabbits to death. They wouldn't make any sort of meal, and they wouldn't survive on their own. So he just followed her as she looked for something else.

Kilian held the improvised net as instructed, unsure if it would even help. If catching animals was as easy as throwing something on them, nobody would need professional hunters. "So did you make all these outfits with magic, as well, or?" He left the question unfinished as he remembered that taking off and putting on the bracelet again caused her clothes to refresh, return to some "zero state", prior to getting dirty or damaged. Which probably meant that, even if they were once made by a person like normal, their nature was fundamentally changed when they became part of her magical wardrobe.

He continued to watch as she hunted in her own way, breathing out a strange mist into the hole. Seeing the poor animal leave its home in such a miserable state caused a pang in his heart. He let go of the now unnecessary wide hat and walked closer to the fox. It was quite pretty. He wasn't much of a dog person, but this creature didn't look much like one. A lot more slender and elegant, with nicer fur and, as far as he was concerned, a much more intelligent look to its eyes. Poor thing, he thought. It kind of reminded him of himself, driven from its home, cornered and hopelessly outmatched. Except he got lucky in meeting a dragon, and the fox got the short stick. Well, such was the way of nature.

"So what now?" He asked. They'd probably have to skin it and cook it over a fire - after ending it mercifully, of course - but he didn't exactly know how. He was an okay cook, but that was when he had raw meat at hand, not an animal that was still breathing. Not to mention he never considered eating a fox.

[DarkPinkie]

Smirking to herself as Zerschia looked down at the poor creature paralized before her. Well too bad for the fox she was hungry and the fox had been the first creature of sufficient size besides that rabbit family. Leaning down and stroking the little thing she was surprised how silky smooth and clean ths fur was. She wouldn't even need to clean it. Such a lucky catch. "Did you not say orange was your favorite colour?" She asked with a bit of a smirk as she carefully picked the little creature to inspect it further.

"What now?" She repeated when Kilian asked. Blinking at him a couple of times she just shrugged. "Well I eat it obviously. This silky smooth fur will make it go down easily." She liked her lips a bit. "But first." She paused as she let just a tiny amount of magic flow through her as she cast a spell on the fox, instantly it's breathing became calm and relaxed as it's eyes twitched closed. "I just put it to sleep so that it won't have to feel anything." With the fox now asleep she lifted it over her head, with another lick of her lips she started lowering the freature tail and feet first into her waiting maw. It was a tight fit, but even if it was bigger she had magic to compensate. Slowly the fox was being gulped down, her body starting to form a large bulge on her throat. It wasn't more than a couple moments later that she could let go of the fox and then looked at Kilian with the sleeping fox's head and forelegs sticking out of her mouth. With a smile she leaned her head back and swallowed hard, sending the rest of the animal down into the depths of her body.

Patting her slightly bulging stomach she looked at him with a smile. "Shall we continue our journey?" She asked him calmly, while motioning back towards the road.

[nicktaken]

"Yeah, it is." The young man said absentmindedly as she picked up the small animal. Was she making fun of him in some manner of way? Well, whatever. He wasn't in any mood to exchange quips with her. He had never hunted animals during his years on the run. It was merely out of his incompetence and the lack of proper tools; he knew better than to try and waste his strength uselessly. Getting carried away at any point could have ended quite poorly for him. And it wasn't like he was some kind of great animal lover or refused to eat meat of any kind. But even knowing this was more or less natural, he felt bad for the fox.

"What do you mean, the fur...?" He trailed off. Did she intend to cook the fox whole, without skinning? That would certainly save them some meat, but... Well, she probably knew what she was talking about, he decided. Partly expecting an explanation and partly hesitating to reach for the knife, as he would then have to slit its throat, he just watched Zerechia do her thing. Perhaps she was would be willing to take care of it, seeing how she didn't appear at all upset?

Before he could ask, however, she raised the fox above her head and he just started staring at her, wide-eyed. She was swallowing the fox whole! He wasn't sure which part was weirder: that she meant to do this sort of thing or that she was actually succeeding without any visible signs of discomfort. He wanted to look away, but his eyes were practically glued to the surreal visage of this slender woman swallowing a fox whole. Kilian felt a shiver run down his spine when she suddenly turned her face toward him before taking a final gulp and sending the animal fully to her stomach. He couldn't help but watch it bulge out her belly, which she proceeded to pat in satisfaction.

"I was not expecting that." He commented. What a colorful reminder of her true nature that was. It wasn't like he forgot completely, but with her appearance so similar to human - less so since the addition of those pretty white wings - he couldn't exactly think of her as a dragon at all times. He was pretty sure a normal person would choke if they attempted something like that, and if they managed to get past that hurdle, their stomach would likely burst. Zerechia, on the other hand, did not appear discomforted by the bulge in her abdomen. Without really noticing what he was doing, he took a step toward her and placed a hand on her round midriff. Yep, no mistaking it, the fox was definitely inside.

He took his hand away a bit hastily and cleared his throat. "You might want to cover up." He advised. "We attract enough attention as it is." Having said that, perhaps there was a bigger concern to address. "Are you even fine walking like that?"

[DarkPinkie]

The dragoness just scoffed at him. "Pff. I have had bigger things inside, even in this form. A fox was filling and certainly appreciated, but I could have easily eaten several foxes and still both move and not feel uncomfortable." She commented before feeling his hand on her now pregnant looking abdomen. This caused her to blush slightly. She havn't had anyone rub her belly after a big meal since she was five hundred years old. Which incidentally was more than a millenia ago. But instead of moving around the hand left her belly again, leaving her almost disappointed. "Heh, I bet I could even fit you in there if I tried." She smirked at him a bit.

Zerechia jist rolled her eyes at the sugestion of covering up. "Yeah yeah. If anyone asks it is yours and you are going to take responsibility." She decided to counter his awkward statement with some teasing. Not that she would mind baring his young. Just not growing inside of her kind. The fact most mortals carried their young inside them facinated her. Though the thought of carrying live welps inside of her horrified her. Young dragon's claws are insanely sharp able to cut through anything. Like digging through solid rock or cutting a plate of iron in two.

It wasn't until a several mintues later while ealking down the road when she suddenly stopped. "Huh?" The dragoness say as she looks thoughtful. "Nah nothing. Must have just been an errant muscle." Zerechia shrugged as she continued her walking. Not much later she stopped again. "Okay now I know I felt something." Preparing to recast her sleeping spell on her stomach occupant which definitely should not be concious and in fact should be starting to properly digest any second now. But before she had a chance to cast anything suddenly her stomach juts forward as the hulge on her midseftion grows surprisingly large. "What the?" The dragon say as she stumbles and falls on her ass from the slight shift in balance but mostly from the shock.

Sitting there with her big bloated gut she could definitely feel movement. Which was weird, not only should the fox she ate not be concious, it definitely should still be paralized. "Kilian... I don't think that was a normal fox I ate." She say looking up at him with a concerned look, almost begging for his oppinion.

[nicktaken]

Kilian tried not to think about it too much, but he kept stealing glances at his companion and, effectively, lover, even if they had yet to reach a formal agreement on the matter. Something about this appearance of hers, with a moderately bulging out belly and that shining smile, was oddly enticing to him. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. Perhaps it was just how sincere she was around him, completely unapologetic for who she is. Not that she did anything she had to apologize for, in his opinion, it was just her attitude about it. She was confident in her own self and that was attractive.

But he already knew that. There was something else about this specific situation that he found interesting and, dare he say, a little exciting. The answer was obvious. She looked probably a couple of months pregnant after eating that fox, even if it wasn't a particularly big one. She even joked about it, which made him blush. But he also knew the truth, that rather than a baby in her womb there was a meal in her stomach. The very same stomach where a few - or possibly many - adventurers found their end. One that he rather narrowly avoided by letting his fear get the better of him for just a moment, even if it turned out for the better.

Kilian suddenly turned around, placed one arm around her, his other hand on her full belly and caught her lips in a deep and demanding kiss. He only just now realized why he liked her this much, and the answer was because she was a dragon. This form was human, and he said some pretty cheesy things about being human before, but the fact of the matter remained: he wouldn't find her nearly as attractive, in any way, if he didn't know she wasn't human. Even if he could only barely remember her dragon form. Breaking the long kiss, he couldn't help but immediately follow it with another smaller one. "You can try whenever..." He spoke and sighed wistfully. "Just promise to let me out." He added with a smile. His fingers softly rubbed her stomach for a few more seconds before he reluctantly pulled away. "We should probably keep moving." He rubbed his temple awkwardly.

While he was deliberating whether to actually stay on the road or pull her aside and 'relax' a bit, something else happened. Zerechia seemed concerned. "What is it?" He asked, and a mostly dismissive answer came. Well, that was just as fine. Except then whatever it was happened again. He looked over just in time to see her stomach suddenly explode outward... no, thankfully, that didn't happen literally. However, instead of a few months pregnant, she now looked about ready to pop out twins at the least. "Are you alright?" He sounded concerned, but by the time the words came out, he could already see she didn't appear particularly discomforted by what happened.

Still, while he suggested covering her belly up before, that wouldn't even do any good now. And they were still trying to avoid unnecessary attention. Luckily, they happened to be alone on the road at the moment, but for how long? Straining a bit, he lifted the dragon off the ground and quickly carried her off to hide behind some shrub. She was probably even heavier than before - what with the wings and whatever was inside her stomach - but he wasn't injured. "Yeah, but what else would it be?" He shrugged a bit. She was certainly correct, but he just had no idea. He pondered the situation as he set her down on some soft grass, his gaze captivated by her slightly squirming stomach.

"Um... does it really matter?" He spoke slowly. She had told him she ate people before and she didn't seem to feel horrible about it. In that case, he couldn't see her being upset at anything short of eating another dragon, and he didn't know if cannibalism was frowned upon among them. He definitely knew some species were okay with it, depending on circumstances. "Normal or not, it's your dinner. It's okay as long as you can keep it down, right?" He wasn't even sure what he was saying. What was he supposed to say? "I mean... what else could you do?" He wasn't exactly an expert on eating things whole. Could she even bring the fox back up? Especially now that it seemed to grow larger?

[DarkPinkie]

Zerechia was just staring at her stomach in shock at how big it was. At least until she got something else to be shocked about. All of a sudden she found herself being lifted off the ground by Kilian. "Hey, I can move on my own you know." She said pouting as he carried her away from the road. But she couldn't really be angry at him for paying her this attention. Allowing herself to be carried aside from the road and into the treeline she simply sighed as she was sat down.

Rubbing her now extremely bloated gut she was unsure about the situation. "I do not know. But whatever it is I do not want it moving around in there. This body is a lot less sturdy than my full dragon form." Rubbing her gut she could feel it, at first it was like a twitching, but it kept groing in strenght. Whatever it was inside her it was starting to throw off the paralizis. At first their was just a bit of squirming but she suspected it would get worse. "It matters because it would be cruel to digest them without at least take their pain away." She rubbed her squirming gut which gurgled loudly. She also appreciated him rubbing it too.

But he brought out a good point. As long as whatever it was inside of her didn't actually hurt her she could just cast a pain removal spell and it should be fine. "With the help of magic I could get it out. I am a bit tempted to do just that as I am curious for just what I ate. Worst case I just paralize it and swallow it again." She chuckled a bit, her stomach agreeing in her mirth with another loud gurgle brought on by the squirming.

With a short bit of focus she made her body all that much more rubbery, it was easily visible on her stomach as the struggles of her prey went from barely visible squirms to actually bulging out of the round midsection. Rolling over to stand on all four she started coughing a bit as she tried to force whatever was in her stomach out. after a bit of effort her throat bulged out as something long moved up them. Before long a couple of human-like feet was sticking out of her mouth. Their skin red and irritated. This was soon followed by a pair legs leading to hips. Once past the hips her efforts was granted much more speed as only a pair of moments later she spit out what appeared to be almost a human. Taking a couple of deep breaths she recovered before looking down at what she had just spit out.

In front of her in a pool of her juices laid a little girl softly panting. Her skin red and soft from being nearly digested. Long strands of orange hair floated around in the juices she was coated in. She looked human except for two very noticable details. On her head there was no ears on the side of her head, instead sitting on top was a pair of triangular ones. Just above the girl's rump was a long hairless tail. The dragoness got a feeling that the ears, head, and the tail isn't supposed to be hairless. The girl made a motion to raise herself out of the puddle just a little before her arms gave out and she passed out.

"Um Kilian... Did I not just swallow a fox... Why did I spit out a little girl?" She asks clearly confused about this all.

[nicktaken]

"I'd say it's sturdy enough." He smirked when she complained about this form. She took a sword through the leg practically without blinking, then fell from a clock tower and broke every other bone in her body, not to mention her wings, and just walked it off. Almost literally. Of course, she was still recovering, but she certainly didn't seem that badly hurt anymore. Besides, if she was fine with a stomach almost half as big as the rest of her, then her complaints were likely unfounded anyway. An ordinary person would literally have burst at this point, but she just seemed confused.

Kilian didn't even notice at which point one of his hands joined hers in rubbing her gut. It oddly fascinated him, and he'd be lying if he didn't enjoy this small degree of skinship. That and perhaps he was acting 'au contraire', showing her that he was perfectly fine with the clearly less human parts of her nature. Which he was, at least to the extent he had seen so far. He was perfectly fine with her eating animals whole, or even people. Like one of those pesky bounty hunters or something, and he could give her a belly rub while she 'took care' of him...

"It would, but can't you do that anytime?" He just shrugged indecisively. He didn't want to speak strongly for or against just relaxing with her large meal; he doubted coughing it up would be pleasant, but what if it hurt her from the inside? "Well, I guess there's no harm in doing that." He agreed when she seemed to more or less set her mind on checking out whatever it was she ate. He wasn't sure it was a good idea, but worst case scenario, she'd just have to go hungry for a bit. That is if whatever she ate just didn't look appetizing anymore, which he was having a little trouble judging since the fox didn't look tasty to him in the first place.

He was quite surprised when the distortions in her abdomen suddenly shifted from slight bumps to significant stretching, but as Zerechia herself didn't appear alarmed in the least, he decided it was her own doing. As proof, she began the less than pleasant process of trying to force stuff out of one's stomach. He wanted to assist her in some way, but as he was worried about just getting in the way, he simply sat on his knees beside her and watched, only holding her hair back just in case.

He wasn't really sure what to expect, but the result was still quite shocking. He couldn't see straight away, but the legs coming back out of her mouth definitely did not belong to an animal. Well, neither was this a human or any kind of person he's ever heard of. The little girl she spit up had ears and tail akin to an animal. She was also pretty badly burned, with barely any hair sticking to the skin still. How long ago did she swallow that fox anyway? Ten minutes? The dragon's stomach sure worked fast.

"You did. I guess she was the fox." Kilian voiced the only logical explanation, even if he had no idea it could be a thing until just a few seconds ago. What were they supposed to do now? He had no answer. Between the surprise, the confusion and feeling slightly disgusted at himself for not finding this scene horrible, he had not a single clue. So instead he just said something to try and shake himself awake. "So... you gonna finish that?"

[DarkPinkie]

"Well yes. This is about as sturdy as I can make it while having it still look human enough to just seem eccentric but not wrong. It is far from as sturdy as I would like it." She said with a roll of her eyes. "A well placed arrow or sword strike would still end me you know." She hated speaking about her own mortality, especially in her human-like form. It tended to bring up bad memories.

Thanfully for Zerechia he followed along on her shift of topic. "Well yes, but... I mean. You are not wrong. I could take it away with a spell." She paused with a light hmm. In the end she quickly casted a spell removing the pain from the thing in her belly hoping it would settle down when it didn't feel any pain thus not feeling the danger. But when the squirming didn't stop it suggested something else. That whatever it was at least had a vague idea what was going on and was at above an animal. That or that thrashing was perfectly normal for them.

She was unsure what to make of the girl laying in the pool of her digeetive juices. Except she had to come to a conclusion soon as the powerful acids coating the little one was still eating away at her skin. Zerechia was slowly regaining her wits about the whole situation. If she wanted to not leave any permanent damage to the girl she would need to have her cleaned up as fast as possible. But if she was going to eat her again then it would save the dragoness a lot of effort. She was about to reach a conclusion that eating the girl at this point may be a mercy when Kilian's little quip came. She knew humor was just a natural response to deal with topics that make us uncomfortable but that was uncalled for. Taking a deep breath she looked back up at him as she rose to her feet. Slowly raising a fist up between them, she scowled at him. "If I did not like you so much Kilian, then your body would now be on a course to leave an imprint in the icy surface of Pelador. All achived from the force of me trying to knock some sense into you." Of course punching him hard enough for his body to impact Pelador, also known as the midnight moon due to the fact it's rarely ever seen any other time than midnight, was an impossibility. In fact if she tried then he would explode from the force alone. Also she may be strong, but not that strong.

Taking a deep breath she let it go in a deep sigh as her fist dropped. "As much as you humanoids are delicious, it's wrong to just eat innocents." She would be hard pressed to say that she didn't entertain the idea of just gobbling this cute young and delicious looking girl up. But she didn't want to be the evil dragon with no compassion nor remorse from the stories or mortals. "I am letting you off this time. Now hand me your waterskin, we got to clean her up before the acids leave any permanent injuries." Nothing that she couldn't fix with a littld bit of transformation, but if this girl was able to transform on her own then she didn't know how her transformation magic would mix with the girl's transformation magic. Such interactions could potentially prove lethal. As she reached for her own waterskin her stomach grumbled from it's robbed meal. But she was filled with a sense of pride in herself that she managed to resist the temptation to end an innocent young girl's life. She could always find a new animal to snack on later... Hopefully one that does not turn into people.