Given his luck so far, John had no reservations that today was going to be terrible. That said, he didn't count on being underneath a giant girl's sole for an entire hour. Pressed firmly against the underside of Thayna's feet, John thrashed about as the first hot blankets of skin enveloped him. The maddening sensation of rough, grooved walls churning against his body was enough to make him want to scream, but when he opened his mouth, he was met with the sour, salty taste of skin and perspiration. Unable to make himself heard, Thayna continued to adjust her foot into a comfortable position on top of John.

"I'm not too sure how it goes," Thayna said as she happily tested her foot against John, "But there's supposedly an art to drawing a human's magical energy out effectively. Tharsia's found that causing pain helps her the best, and Thalana seems to think fear gets her the most energy at once. I haven't found my sweetspot yet, so I'll be taking this opportunity to find out more!"

With that, Thayna tried a variety of positions. Her toes gripped John's head firmly, leaving him completely engulfed in her smell and darkness. The mustiness was choking him, but with his arms pinned under the rest of her sole, there wasn't much he could do. Just as he was ready to wretch, a sudden tingle shook his body, and an invisible energy left his body like a very faint sigh. Thayna let go of John at that point, withdrawing her foot back to her sandal, and stared down at the gasping John like a detective inspecting a crime scene.

"Hrm... that wasn't a lot," Thayna remarked, "I guess we'll just have to keep trying."

"No, wait-" John protested, but Thayna whipped her foot back onto John, stomping him with the width of her foot. John let out a pained 'oof', cursing with what breath he had left as he saw Thayna wrap her toes around his body. That was when another small jolt went up his spine, and another sliver of energy escaped him.

"I guess pain and surprise are out of the picture," Thayna continued, patting John's body with her foot, "I suppose its all about technique then; we'll try as many positions as we can!"

And thus did Thayna's hour foot experimentation began. By the end of it, John lay crumpled in the footprint he was left in, wanting to cry but with no tears falling down. Thayna nonchalantly slipped back into her sandal and sighed.

"Even after all that," Thayna said with a pout, "I was only able to extract enough magical energy to replace the spell I used."

John's heart sank. After all he's been through, Thayna had only restored a single spell. He thought that his tribulations were worth at least Tharsia's plethora of magics.

"Oh well," Thayna said with a shrug, "It's not like I use it much anyway."

Violated, used and discarded. That was all John felt right now. So when Thayna tapped on his limp body, he ignored her and rolled himself tighter into a ball.

"Oh, don't be like that," Thayna chided, "I don't claim to know how you feel, but I do know for a fact that you're better off with me than my sisters."

John felt fingers pulling at his collar's back, and in an instant he was lifted into the air, hanging in front of Thayna's face.

Thayna looked at the pitiful state John was in; limp limbs, tired eyes and covered in dirt everywhere. He wasn't even looking at her, just staring blankly into space. She sighed and began dusting John off with her other hand.

"Look," Thayna said with a little annoyance and reassurance, "I was careful not to crush you when I was stepping you, and I'm only doing this so whoever I have to draw magic from doesn't have to go through this as long as you have. When I first started, it took me an entire day just to get enough energy. You're lucky I only took so long.”

John didn't react for a while, but when he came back to his senses, the first thing that popped into his head was, “Matilda...”

Thayna raised an eyebrow, curious as to who he meant. “Who's that?” Thayna asked.

John shook his head, snapping himself back to reality. Of all the things he forgot, it had to be his one companion.

“Put me down!” John shouted angrily at Thayna, shaking his fists up at her, “I have to go back!”

“Hey!” Thayna shouted back in surprise, “Stop that! Do you want me to drop you down- GAH! You know what, fine!”

Thayna lowered John down, but dropped him ten feet in the air out of spite. John landed on his buttocks with a 'whump!', and Thayna pointed a finger at the burnt down village. “Look, there's nothing left here! One way or another, you're coming back to the city, either with me, or with Tharsia when she wakes up!”

John looked in the direction of where his horse last was. Matilda was still lying flat against the ground, eyes dull and body unmoving. The rise and fall of breathing was absent from her chest, and more blood was pooled outside her than mortally possible. It's hard not to be convinced that she was dead.

In a small voice, John said to nobody, “...I can't leave my friend.”

Frustrated, Thayna scratched the back of her head in annoyance, biting her lower lip and pulling at her robe. Why won't this guy just listen for once?

“Fine,” Thayna finally said angrily, “FINE! But don't count on me coming back, because I've already made my offer to take you back myself, but you rejected it yourself!”

Thayna spun around and stomped angrily away from John, looking back only to add one more thing, “So don't come crying to me when you become my sister's chew toy for the rest of your life!”

As Thayna faded into the distance, John picked himself up to his feet, and dragged himself over to where Matilda was. Still as a corpse, and literally one too, his dear companion lay dead before him. John brushed his hand through her fur; her body was already too cold to be living. John allowed himself a tear, and just sat there in front of his friend in mourning.

Perhaps he was too beside himself with grief, but John did not notice the rumble of footsteps that drew ever closer to him.

John was suddenly aware of the shadow over him, and turned around to see a pair of giant feet behind him. Looking up, the angry face of Tharsia stared back at him menacingly.

“Well, well, well,” Tharsia snarled, “The one man who thought he could run away was the only one who decided to stay, eh?”

John felt Tharsia grab his body, turning him so that he was face to face with the giantess one more. “I'll commend you for your bravery, human,” Tharsia said, her face white with rage, “But know that the crimes of your people rest on you, now!”

John just gawked for a while. He was still surprised that Tharsia had already woken up, but a quick recounting of what had happened reminded himself that tears were still on his face. Wiping them quickly, John tried to hide his reddened eyes before the furious mage before him noticed. She was staring at him all this time, though, so there was no way she couldn't notice.

“I...” John began, but was lost for words, unable to come up with even a paltry comeback to whatever Tharsia had said. Too tired to think any more, John gave up and let his arms hang loosely from Tharsia's grip.

Tharsia, her anger somewhat diminished by John's pitiful display, sighed and said, “Look, I know my sister Thayna probably set you up for this, but you should know the laws of our domain. Anybody who leaves it unlawfully are fair game to be recaptured. Just accept your fate quietly, and I'll make sure you return to the Farum in one piece.”

John looked back down to Matilda, and said in a quiet voice, “...I don't want to leave my horse.”

Tharsia sighed again, and crouched down beside the corpse of the horse she recently kicked. Letting John back down beside her, Tharsia rested a hand on Matilda and turned back to John. “I can cremate her for you,” she offered.

John nodded, and watched as Tharsia began weaving her staff in the air in circular motions, using her magic to ignite a large fire which engulfed Matilda within it. The two watched in solemn silence as the corpse of John's horse began to slowly disintegrate, until only ash remain.

John turned to Tharsia, who looked back with her arms crossed haughtily across her chest. She wore a stern expression on her face, but what hostility she had before had already left her.

“Thank you, um, Miss Tharsia?” John said uneasily.

“Hmph,” Tharsia said, taking a step in John's direction. The foot landed just beside John, close enough to be afraid of being stepped on, “Don't think I'm doing this for free, human.”

With a quick scoop, Tharsia held John back in her hand, the same one which her mage mark was embedded in. “Every spell we cast costs us your magical energy,” Tharsia said in a serious voice, “I am only extracting what you already owe to me.”

Tharsia's grip began to tighten around John, until the pain was sharp enough to force him to scream. His bones clicked against each other, with ribs fighting the crushing force of a giantess's strength, and his organs squeezed together like putty in an agonizing squelch. The raw power of the giantesses were overwhelming even without their magic, and John thought for a terrifying moment that he would be crushed to death in Tharsia's tyrannical fist.

Without warning, a feeling like water escaping through his every pore overcame John, and he felt a large stream of invisible energy leave his body. Tharsia's trigger to harvesting magical energy was pain, and she was an expert at inflicting it upon her tiny subjects. It was nothing like Thayna's feeble attempts of extracting magical energy from him; it was like comparing a raindrop to a river.

And then, the feeling stopped. The pain persisted, but Tharsia had loosened her hold of John to a non-murderous degree. Panting at the effort of screaming for so long, John let his head roll back, drawing labored breaths as he tried to regain his composure.

Tharsia, still holding onto John, was surprised. She was sure she took as much magical energy as five humans would normally provide, but she felt that John contained even more than that. It was a curious find, but ultimately, nothing more than that.

“You're to return to the city,” Tharsia said, “And your punishment for deserting Farum will be meted out then.”

Tharsia placed John back down on the ground, and John eased himself back to his feet. But a swift kick from behind launched him forward, and Tharsia's voice boomed down from above, “Now march. If you have any intention of reaching the city by today, then you will go now.”

“Can't you just take me with you-” John began, but that only earned him another kick from Tharsia, spurning him forward again.

“You are nothing more than a race we mages feed on for power,” Tharsia said, her demeanor changing in an instant, “You think we are a mules to carry you? You will walk with your own two feet, weighed down by your crimes and your feebleness before us. We will prosecute you for your hubris against us, and you will face our justice within the halls of our city.”

With another kick, Tharsia shouted at a stumbling John, “Now march!”

It was a long and grueling trek, with Tharsia there to send her foot into John's back whenever he slowed down. She never afforded John a single break, and by the time they returned to the city limits, John was ready to buckle down and drop to the floor. A small fireball hurled toward his feet ensured that no such idea manifested further than from thought.

Their destination was soon in sight. Marble walls and rows of houses lined the outermost region of the city, and the bustle of the city was evident even from this distance, with workers carrying goods around and merchants traveling along the roads into the city. The moment Tharsia approached, all of them scattered and made way for their giant mistress, clearing a straight path for her into the city. The citizens hid behind whatever cover they could find, cowering as her footsteps resounded across the district.

This was Farum, the home of the Tha Fire Sisters and their mother and regent, Thelina of Azure Flame. Home, too, to more than a hundred thousand humans, all beholden to the mages for their protection, but were also captives as they saw them as nothing more than fuel for their magics. Most citizens would not even get the chance to meet their mistresses, but the mages would demand for the occasional tribute to replenish their magic. Those chosen would stay within the mage's terrace, where they lived no better than servants or slaves, attending only to their mistress's needs.

John was paraded through the streets, with Tharsia walking closely behind him, the other citizens watching intently at the alleged felon. It was customary for criminals found escaping Farum to be flaunted like this, a reminder that a citizen's fate for escaping was indefinite servitude to their giantess overlords. People looked on in fear and relief, that one of them was going to be left to this fate, but relieved that they would not soon be paying another tribute any time soon.

Just ahead of them was the ivory terrace, a white structure rising higher than any other building in the city, like a castle from a fairytale. Inside was the four mage's home, a sprawling mansion-like interior scaled to the giantess's own sizes, with occasional access for human-sized servants between rooms and stairs. The duo walked inside.

“As promised,” Tharsia said, once they were inside the ivory terrace, “Your punishment is to serve Thalana. I'll have you know that she goes through her humans much more quickly than others.”

John gulped. He was going to fed to the maneater.

Leading John into a brass chamber, Tharsia swept John into the room. It was a room with a giant altar, with a human-sized flight of steps leading up to a large basin wide enough to fit an entire house, perched on top of the altar. Fiery lights illuminating the whole room on either side, their glow reflecting the sprawling murals of brass etchings across the entirety of the walls and ceiling of the room, depicting magical circles and sculptures of many headed hydras swallowing men whole. Thoroughly foreboding.

“I have found another for you, sister!” Tharsia shouted further into the room. John turned back to her just in time to see that she was about to close the doors behind him, “I'll leave him to you.”

With a thud, John was left to his own devices.

“Come to up to my altar, little one,” a voice called out from inside.

John looked around nervously, but saw no sign of who spoke. Just as he contemplated running, torches along either side of the long steps began lighting themselves one by one, from the bottom up until a clear path to the altar was illuminated. This was no doubt the Fire Sister Thalana's magic, and John saw little recourse than to obey.

The steps were a good three or four storeys tall to John. Already tired from his journey back to the city, it took him a great deal of effort just to reach the top. Huffing and panting, John leaned against a bit of stone slab jutting out of the altar, and saw that the basin before him was filled with a golden, oily looking liquid.

“Now cleanse yourself in the basin,” the voice commanded once again. John still couldn't pinpoint where the voice came from, but he knew it was closer, and he knew it was watching. Obediently, John lowered himself gingerly into the basin, and the golden liquid lapped gently at John's tired, dirty feet. It felt strangely slick on top, but the bottom was pure viscous water. A nice fragrance emanated it, and John had a sudden morbid thought that he might have just stumbled into a giant cooking pot.

“Submerge yourself in the basin,” the voice sounded out once more, “And take of your clothes if you wish.”

John wasn't keen on facing his potential end naked, so he kept his clothes. He did as he was told otherwise, and he dunked his head face-first into the basin, drenching his entire body in the oily mix of water.

When John came back up for a breath of air, in front of him was the smiling face of the last Tha Fire Sister.

Thalana was, like her sisters, massive. Her face was just next to the Basin, and was large enough to blot out everything from John's peripheral vision. She had long dark red hair which fell perfectly straight down, her bangs cut straight across to form a near perfect curtain of hair which sat just above her eyebrows, and her eyes were circled with dark liner to form snake-like slants which contained dark amber irises just like Thayna's. Her skin was only slightly darker than her sisters, giving her a tanned look, but in the firelight of this chamber, the difference was hard to tell. She wore an assortment of jewelry, twin pairs of golden earrings pierced on either side of her ears and adorned with rubies the size of fists, and a golden headband was strapped around her head, little tear-shaped pearls dangling off from it, jingling whenever she moved about. But what struck John the most was her lips, plump and pink, it contrasted the rest of her face perfectly. They had a wet look to them, like she's licked them beforehand already.

Thalana crossed her arms on the edge of the basin and laid her head down upon them. She gave John a pleased look, and said, “You know why you're hear, do you not?”

“Y-yes...” John said uncertainly. Thelena widened her grin, and freed an arm to take John into her hand. She didn't lift him just yet, just felt him as she ran her fingers across his body. John felt a great unease at her gentleness, like a cat playing with its food before finally devouring her prey. Prey; that was what John was to her.

“Exquisite,” Thalana said with a craving tone, “I could feel your little muscles even through my fingers. You should do nicely...”

All of a sudden, the caressing had changed to a full on grip, with John being lifted from the basin. Without a chance to react, Thalana's face lunged forward, and a long tongue slithered out from her mouth, running itself against the length of John's body. Her tongue was embedded with her mage mark, a black circle with runes containing a snake motif in them. John only managed to catch a glimpse of it before the tongue ran down him a second time. He had underestimated its strength, and his attempts to wrangle it away from him were easily brushed aside. Thalana lapped at him for several more times, and by then, John was covered in a thick layer of her strangely sweet saliva.

“You taste as good as I thought you would,” Thalana cooed, tracing a finger down John's chest and sucking on it with her lips, “The oils do make such wonderful ingredients.”

“You,” John yelled in horror, “You're going to eat me!”

Thalana's eyes shown with malice, and an evil grin spread across her lips. “But of course.”

And as John began screaming, Thalana snapped her fingers, extinguishing the fires and plunging the room into darkness. For a terrifying moment, John felt Thalana lift him up and tilt him down, knowing instantly that she was going to swallow him like a grape bunch. When the feeling of vertigo reversed, he knew he was being sent down to her massive lips, to be consumed inside the confines of her cavernous mouth. Flailing about, John found her lips and pushed against them as hard as he could, but Thalana's tongue lashed out once more and pulled his head in.

It was hot. It was dark. It was wet. John continued flailing helplessly as Thalana pushed more of his body through her lips. Hot breath blew against his face. Fear raced through him when he realized the hard, solid objects holding him in place were teeth, and the notion of being bitten in half only sought to fuel his desperate struggles further.

When almost half of John's body was in, Thalana began sucking on him. Huge vacuums pushed the air deeper into her throat, and John, robbed of his vision in the darkness, only felt himself draw further into her mouth. He screamed and screamed, unable to resist his gruesome fate. It only got worse as Thalana began a chewing motion, grinding John's body against rows and rows of sharp teeth. As the rest of his body was sucked in, Thalana's tongue beat him relentlessly against the roof of her mouth, passing him around and repeating the chewing, licking and sucking motions.

When John was about ready to go crazy, a huge surge of something raced through him, and a vortex of invisible energy began stripping away at his magical energy, tearing it out like a tornado in a wheat field. He felt a rush as if he stood in the center of a cyclone, raging winds sucking out his energy with terrible but great ease. Of all the Tha Fire Sisters, Thalana had to have the most violent mage mark of them all.

And then, John was spat out. He landed in the basin, completely soaked in saliva now, with tears in his clothes evident from the incessant chewing, yet he was strangely unharmed.

With another snap of her fingers, Thalana relit the fires in the room, and patted her lips with a large cloth, wiping away any excess saliva which may still be on her face.

“Curious,” Thalana said to herself, “Most little ones would be completely drained when I feed on them.”

“You...” John began, trying to find the words to say, “Y-you didn't eat me?”

“Fear is a catalyst for my mark,” Thalana said, tossing the cloth aside, “And if I could make you believe I was going to eat you, your fear would be all the greater.”

“Of course,” Thalana said with a wink, “It only works once on each of you.”

“I...” John tried to say, perplexed at the situation he was in, “What...what will happen to me now?”

“Hmm, you've satisfied my hunger, for now,” Thalana said with a content sigh, “Normally, our domain's law would dictate that you continue to serve me, but I'm helping my sister Thayna break out you littles ones from the ivory terrace. She should come collect you when she hears of you.”

John's ears perked up at this. I didn't think I'd be this happy to be meeting Thayna again. “Thayna's coming here?”

“Indeed,” Thalana said happily, “We both agree our sister Tharsia can be a real prude sometimes, so I help Thayna out in my own way. I scarcely need so many of you if you know my trick already, anyway.”

It was John's turn to sigh out of relief, and he let himself float in the basin for a moment longer. His moment of respite was interrupted, however, when Thalana picked him up again.

“In the meantime,” Thalana said, “Well, it's not like you could refuse, but I'd like to ask you for a small favor.”

“Er, what is it?” John said uncertainly.

“Since I was so nice to 'spare' you,” Theaana said with a fickle smile, “I don't suppose I could ask you to let me play with you a little longer? Until Thayna arrives. I won't actually draw any more energy from you, I just want you in my mouth.”

“What?” John said, exasperated, “No, no no no no-”

“Well, I tried to ask,” Thalana said with a shrug, “But you little folk are such irresistible things. How could I refuse a morsel before me?”

Plunging his head back into her mouth, John became Thalana's chew toy for another evening of his life. Today was truly a terrible day.