The crumbling halls of the sandstone temple echoed with
footsteps as a harsh sun beamed in through the broken ceiling, revealing their
source: a well-built elven woman, clad in plate armour. Her sandy hair clinging
to her tanned skin from sweat as the adventurer entered a larger chamber filled
with glimmering riches. Lia had travelled days to get here, enduring the
oppressive heat of the desert and the skeleton-infested chambers of the temple
proper. But looking at the shimmer of gold, silver, and all manner of exotic
gems, she felt it was worth it. Big time.
Lia wasn’t new to adventuring and had overcome her fair
share of obstacles, though she’d be lying if she said that the desert hadn’t
almost bested her. Not only was it an unfamiliar and hostile environment, but
she really screwed up thinking she could get away with full plate in the
burning heat that seemed to radiate from even the sand itself. Lia wiped the
sweat from her brow as she ventured further into the chamber, gold coins
tinkling under her feet as she walked. That said, she was feeling more assured
with her success the further she wandered into the piles of gold. Besides, who
could resist the allure of an abandoned temple dedicated to a water spirit?
Places like that were always full of loot ripe for the plundering. Plus, given
water’s extreme value out this far in the desert, the temple must have been
loaded already, given it was dedicated to some water spirit. Far? Freen? The
spirit’s name was inscribed in a few places around the temple, but Lia had
forgotten it by now. She felt her cheeks redden in embarrassment. She was
somewhat ashamedly prone to forgetting minor things like that.
Shaking the thought away, Lia took a moment to take in the
sights, admiring the gleam of the chamber’s riches in the fractured sunlight.
She was thirsty, and really could use a break, but first things came first. She
pulled out a folded black cloth from her sack of belongings, unfolded it, and
placed it on the ground after clearing a few errant coins. The circular cloth
immediately deepened into a large pit, already containing a few chests of
previous hauls. Satisfied, Lia began the long process of pushing the piled
riches into the pit, being careful to preserve anything delicate to put on the
top later.
About halfway through the process, Lia had to take a break.
Overcome by the heat, she sat down onto the gold pile she was going to tackle
next and pulled out a waterskin. It was one of four she had brought with her.
Out of all the decisions she had made on this adventure, the idea to bring
extra water was easily her best and had saved her life more than a few times.
Parched, she brought its nozzle to her lips and…
Nothing.
Groaning with exhaustion and thirst, she put the thing back
on her belt. Just her luck. As she reached for another, she noticed something
out of the corner of her eye she hadn’t seen before. A statue- no, inactive
fountain depicting a fair maiden making a pouring gesture with her hands. The
water spirit! Lia had completely forgotten. She approached eagerly; fingers
crossed that there would be…
Water!
The stone fountain was inactive but there was still water
filling its base. Thanking her lucky stars, Lia dropped down and scooped her
hands into the cool liquid, not about to pass up this chance for free water.
She lifted her hands with as much water as she could hold, but as she moved to
take it into her mouth, it quickly and unnaturally flowed up out of her hands
and back into the oddly still pool. As confused as she was disappointed, Lia
tried again, forming a perfect seal with her hands before plunging them back
into the water. When her hands came free though, the water once again escaped
her grasp, plunging back into the basin. Lia stopped, utterly perplexed and
slightly dejected, continuing to blankly stare as the water began drawing into
itself. She watched as the water took itself and formed into the shape of a
tiny woman, no taller than Lia’s shin. Putting two and two together, the
adventurer pulled back slightly, matching the woman’s form to that of the
statue. She blushed hard, embarrassed, and cleared her throat.
“Y-you must be the water spirit…” Lia said, trying to
remember the name she had seen. Her amber eyes darted around the chamber trying
to jog her memory before landing on an inscribing at the base of the fountain.
“Faen…?” She half-mumbled, hoping she said it right. The tiny spirit fidgeted
hesitantly, covering herself before giving a small nod. Seeing her hesitation,
Lia relaxed somewhat, getting over the initial shock of the experience. She
studied the small girl, noting her modest features and short ‘hair’. The
spirit, ‘Faen’ was petite and had a delicate look about her, though more
specific features were harder to make out through the shimmering of the water
she was made from.
A million questions coming to mind, Lia asked the biggest
one on her mind: “Um… why are you so small?” Faen looked down a moment,
somewhat crestfallen, gesturing around the chamber. Lia followed with her gaze,
noting the dry environment, sand particles falling from the cracked ceiling,
and harsh sun continuing to beam in. “Your water has been… drying up?” she
inquired. The tiny spirit quickly nodded, her form flowing with the movement.
Lia leaned in further, putting her face closer to the tiny woman. She questioned
further: “can you speak?” Faen shook her head anxiously, clearly somewhat
intimidated by the comparatively massive elf in front of her. Noticing, Lia
leaned back again, thinking to herself. The spirit was clearly stuck here, and
had been for a while by the looks of it. If she’s already this small she
probably wouldn’t last much longer either. Lia frowned, feeling a pang of
empathy for the small woman, who had probably been here alone for years by the
look of the place. She leaned back down to face the tiny spirit, who had been
carefully watching her movements.
“Hey,” Lia said, eyes warm with compassion. “Would you like
to leave this place with me? I passed a few Oases on my way, I’m sure you’d be
happier there. I-if you’d like to of course.” She added hesitantly, blushing
slightly. The tiny spirit hung on every word, her hesitance quickly shifting to
eagerness. She nodded vigorously as Lia finished her proposal. Lia’s blush
deepened before she leaned back to hide it. “O-ok!” She stammered. She knew
that Faen was a proper spirit, and probably deserved a lot of respect no matter
what size, but she couldn’t help but find the whole display overwhelmingly
cute. Her mind was quickly taken off that thought however, and replaced by a
new one: “Uh… how should I move you though…” Lia put a finger to her lips and
looked around her for something to store the water spirit in. There are a few
large goblets laying around. No, that wouldn’t work, she thought. The spirit
might spill out like that. She needed something that could hold a lot of water
without spilling. It was then that her eye was once again caught by the spirit,
who was waving her arms to get Lia’s attention. She brought her attention down
to the little spirit again, who quickly pointed toward her waist. Following
with her gaze once more, she saw that Faen was pointing toward her empty
waterskin.
Her waterskin! Lia had completely blanked about it.
Understanding, she took it off her belt and held it toward the tiny woman.
“This?” She asked. The spirit nodded eagerly. Lia was a little embarrassed she
hadn’t thought of it as she screwed the lid off before presenting the opening
to Faen. “Can you fit in here?” She asked again, curious to see if the little
woman could. Faen nodded again, raising a leg into the throat of the waterskin,
as her form began to slowly pour into the empty bladder. Lia watched on enrapt,
until the tiny spirit stopped with only her head and shoulders poking out of
the neck. The little spirit beamed up at Lia, making her blush warmly. Lia
stood up waterskin in hand, bringing the spirit up to her face once more.
“I, uh, I hope it’s not too bad in there” she said, laughing
nervously as she wondered when the last time she cleaned it was. “I’ll make
sure to check up on you every day, and I’ll let you know when we get close to
somewhere with more water, ok?”
The tiny woman smiled and nodded at her again, before
quickly surging upward and planting a kiss on Lia’s lips. Lia blushed hard as
the spirit vanished into the waterskin, bulging it out as it filled while Lia
stood, stunned. She felt at the small wet patch on her lip and stood in silence
for a moment, before quickly breaking herself out. “Well, I guess that counts
as saving a princess. Cross that of my bucket list!” She said loudly, giving a forced
chuckle. Somehow more embarrassed, she got back to work at moving the rest of
the gold into her hole.
Faen couldn’t believe how lucky she was. After everyone had
abandoned her at the temple she had been barely holding on to her existence in that
lonely fountain. She was about to give up when this kind stranger had offered
to take her away. She realised she didn’t get the elf’s name. Resolving to
learn it later, the diminished spirit accustomed herself to her new vessel, the
first new location she had been in years. The inside of the waterskin was
surprisingly soft and warmed by its proximity to the kind woman’s body. Soft
light filtered through the outside, and it held a faintly breathy scent. Almost
as if the air remaining inside the bladder was the warm breath of her giant
saviour. Faen felt her face warm at this thought, realising the intimacy of her
location. She had already taken a risk with the kiss, and now realised she was
inside a place that had touched those lips perhaps hundreds of times. Now
slightly embarrassed, Faen shook the thoughts away, but couldn’t quite shake
the warm feeling they gave her. She settled into her new home, rocked by the
elf’s movements and warmed by her sides, Faen felt herself finally relaxing
after so long, and allowed herself to be lulled off to a deep sleep.
Lia stepped out onto the steps on the temple’s exit, the
treasure of the chamber now all collected inside the now folded portable hole
within her rucksack. Looking out into the waiting expanse of sandy dunes and
oppressive heat, she felt the thirst coming back into her body. Moving all that
gold was hard work, and she was about to set back off into the desert. She
deserved a drink, surely. Reaching down to her waist where her waterskins were
located, she picked off the closest one and lifted it up to her mouth before
pausing. Her cheeks flushed again as she hastily put the bladder containing her
new passenger back onto her belt, away from the others. Making a mental note to
NOT drink from that skin, she took another from her belt and drank. Satisfied
and a little embarrassed, Lia quickly set off into the desert, starting the
long trek back home.
The sun hung low in the sky as evening approached, casting
long shadows across the orange dunes that dwarfed the lone elf making her way
toward a lone large outcrop of stone. Lia was exhausted, the heat of the desert
had been especially cruel to her today. Her plate armour heavy on her form, she
stumbled toward the familiar rock outcropping she had slept under on her trip
toward the temple. After what felt like an eternity, she finally collapsed
inside the shade of the outcrop, soaked with sweat and breathing heavily.
Pushing long, sandy hair out of her face, she quickly began dropping all her
equipment and taking off her armour. Once free, Lia took a moment to simply
stand in her undergarments, dripping with sweat, letting the gentle breeze cool
her off. She desperately wished she could simply stop there and sleep, but she
still had to get set up for the much colder night to come. After savouring the
moment, she began pulling out her small tent and pitching it into the more
packed sand under the shelter. Once that was done, she put her things inside
and started assembling a campfire for the night. After some trial and error
(she always forgot the exact order of things when it came to fires) Lia got the
fire alight and finally, totally relaxed.
Laying down in front of the growing campfire, Lia felt she
could almost fall asleep right there, but alas, her bodily functions made
themselves loudly and painfully clear. She was starving, not to mention
dehydrated. She had been ignoring it since she left the temple, focussed solely
on putting one foot in front of the other, but now that she could finally
relax, she was overwhelmed by thirst. Rolling over onto her front and standing,
she moved back toward her tent and started looking for her skins. The more she
thought about how thirsty she was, the worse the feeling became, until she was
basically scrambling for water. She had gone through so much due to the heat
and tossed aside empty waterskin after empty waterskin. Just as she was
starting to get worried, she picked up the last one, and felt it sloshing with
the now heavenly sound of water. The sound was like music to her ears, and she
took it eagerly back to her spot in front of the fire. Lia sat down, eager to
savour the experience as the sun set over the desert.
Hastily screwing the top off, Lia put the nozzle of the full
waterskin to her lips, feeling the cool sensation coming from inside, and began
to drink greedily. She drank with little regard to saving water, her primal
hunger and thirst driving her to down the whole thing in one go. She felt the
heavenly sensation of fresh, cool water flowing past her lips, splashing over
her tongue, and collecting in her mouth before she swallowed it down gulp after
gulp into her waiting belly. It was like nothing she had ever tasted before,
crisp, cool, and an almost sweet taste. She felt it slosh down her throat and
begin slightly bulging her belly outward, filling it with the skin’s contents.
Finally, she squeezed the last of the water from the bladder, feeling it
sitting at the entrance to her throat, and sent it down to her stomach with one
final gulp with a moan of appreciation. Lia panted out a contented sigh, and
lay back, putting the skin to one side. She pat at the light bulge that had
formed in her belly, before letting out a loud belch. Sighing once more, the
forgetful elf lay down, enjoying as her full tummy sloshed with its contents.
Faen awoke to a sudden jostling of her container, the
bladder being flopped around and her form sloshing about. She formed herself
into a tiny girl once again to balance herself against the sudden movement.
After some turmoil, she felt something grasp the waterskin she was inside and
take it elsewhere. Faen could tell from the gait she had gotten so used to that
it was her kind escort and so relaxed somewhat. After a moment of light
shuffling, she heard the cap of the skin being unscrewed. Remembering how the
giant lady had promised to check up on her, Faen blushed lightly and prepared
herself, tidying up her form somewhat before proceeding toward the exit. As she
flowed through the tight neck of the skin, she felt a warm breeze flowing over
her form. It was oddly familiar, and she pressed onward to uncover its source.
Faen continued onwards before emerging into a deep darkness. How long had she
slept? Was it night already? What was that odd warmth that surrounded her
still? She slowly continued in confusion, her torso flowing free of the
waterskin, before she suddenly felt a sharp tilt, and gravity pulling her
downwards. She fell in utter confusion until she felt herself impact with a
large, smooth, and wet surface. Quickly her surroundings came to life, more of
herself being pushed out of the waterskin as the surface beneath her began
moving. More of herself began pouring into the small space, and just as Faen
began to realise where she was, she felt a powerful
GULP
as Lia swallowed part of Faen’s form down her waiting throat
and into the stomach below. Faen could feel it now, the writhing tongue tasting
at her, the smooth cheeks she was pressed against, and the pulsing throat about
to draw more of her down into the hungry giantess who saved her. She began pulling
away, keeping her humanoid form above the tide, avoiding falling down the rippling
gullet. She tried to escape back into the waterskin, but Lia’s desperate
suckling created a tide to powerful to overcome. Faen felt the first parts of
her filling up the belly of her unaware friend, and panic began to set in. Had
she forgotten she was in here!? She had to get the attention of her giant
friend. She began to thrash about, trying in vain to climb the torrent,
anything to avoid the greedy throat. Her thrashing did very little however, as
the giant tongue was making its own rapid movements, sliding through and around
her, making more waves than she could. As more of her was guzzled down into the
hungry gullet of the giant woman, all manner of thoughts flitted through Faen’s
mind, but were utterly clouded by two: the immediate sensation of the warm,
rippling insides of her friend, and the intimacy of the situation.
She was in her giant friend’s mouth.
The thought wouldn’t leave her mind as she was sloshed around
Lia’s maw. She was wrapped around the tongue of her giant friend. Being
swallowed whole by this giant woman. She felt herself growing warm at the
thought once again, before the movements around her stopped. Faen realised that
the skin was emptied, and she was sitting on the back of Lia’s tongue. The last
of her, about to be swallowed. In the brief instance of calm, she was pulled
back into the moment. She could feel the rest of her form sloshing about in the
stomach below, the hot breath of her captor, and the strings of saliva that
stuck to her form, as a loud moan reverberated around her. Lia’s head began
tilting back, Faen experiencing all this as if in slow-motion. She felt the
throat at her feet open, the tongue she was seated upon rising and pushing her
back, before…
GULP
With one final, powerful swallow, Faen was sent completely
down the throat of her giant elven friend. The muscles rippled around her,
pushing her ever downwards and closer to the gurgling stomach below. She could
hear Lia’s powerful heartbeat pulsing all around her as she descended. Before
long, Faen felt her feet spilling out into the stomach, joining with the rest
of her before she fell into the stomach proper, the throat closing the way
behind her. Faen was now sealed entirely inside of her thirsty friend’s
stomach, the walls pulsing around her, kneading her form back into the water it
was before. She felt that familiar warmth creeping back into her senses but
pushed it away. She began crashing her form into the sides of the tight space,
trying to get Lia’s attention. Faen felt a pang of hope as her forgetful captor
pat her belly idly, but it was quickly dashed as a large belch forced a lot of
the air out of the slick pulsing chamber, squeezing Faen tighter. In response,
she changed her form again, turning back into a tiny woman in the stomach of
the adventurer. Fighting off the warmth, Faen began beating against the wet
walls of the giantess, trying to get her attention. Though she couldn’t help
coming back to the feeling of intimacy.
She was inside her friend’s stomach.
The thought returned, along with the odd warmth. She began
to calm and noticed that the belly of her friend was not entirely dissimilar to
the bladder she had spent time in before this. Not only did she venture inside
the mouth of the person she kissed hours ago, but had descended fully into her
stomach, sealed inside of her. Now that she settled into the warmth of her
friend’s gut, she couldn’t help but feel comforted. She was surrounded by the
person who saved her, given wholly to her stomach. Faen probed at the warm, soft
walls, feeling them give under her touch. Perhaps it wasn’t so bad to be inside
here, she thought as she lay back and allowed herself to relax into the gently
rolling walls of Lia’s stomach.
Lia lay down on her side, enjoying the pleasant feeling of
her belly gurgling and sloshing around its contents, completely unaware of her
tiny friend sealed inside. It had been a long journey, but she felt fully
content both in her haul and current fullness. She briefly felt as if she was
forgetting something, but dismissed the feeling, opting to deal with it in the
morning. Meanwhile, Faen leaned into the warm, slick walls of her giant
friend’s stomach, being rocked by the gurgling, kneading motions. She still had
reservations, but given she was sealed inside her forgetful friend, she simply
let it take her, resigning to spending the night inside of her giant friend. Warmed
by each other, the two of them began to drift off to sleep.