Emperor Gustav’s sigil, a gold crown on a blue background, fluttered in the wind as Tyrael walked past the long row of camp banners. The ground was muddy, and the march back to the human capital had become a slog, an unpleasant affair with the promise of at least one more battle at the end of it.

Though Tyrael was technically a prisoner of war, she had freedom of movement throughout the camp on Gustav’s own orders. An Elven archmage like herself was a fine prize for the emperor’s resurgent campaign to restore his throne, and many of Gustav’s soldiers were men he’d liberated from the elven realms themselves. In a way Tyrael’s continued “imprisonment” was a way for the emperor to show his newest subjects his power over the people that had so easily conquered their own kingdoms.

Tyrael stopped at the emperor’s tent, “Emperor Gustav sent for me?” she asked, looking up at them each in turn. The guards nodded, parting and letting her enter the tent. Inside a large table adorned with a map of the Empire waited, and Gustav himself sipped from a chalice of wine as he regarded the positions of armies.

Gustav himself was a mighty man, over six feet tall and with a thick waist and arms like tree trunks, but he always seemed tired, as though the wind had gone out of his sails long ago. He smirked as he saw her come in, setting his cup down and walking around the map to her.

“Mage of Starlight,” he greeted.

“Emperor of Man,” she nodded, “how may I be of service today?”

“I’m in need of your wise counsel,” he muttered, glancing at the carved pieces of wood across the table, each symbolizing an army.

Tyrael fought a chuckle, “surely you have someone who could advise you on matters better than a captured enemy mage?”

Gustav snorted, “my supporters are those who felt they had no other options, mixed with the usual opportunists and thieves that you’ll find in any civil war.” He pointed to the map, “It seems my cousin Hugo, who styles himself Emperor in my stead, has camped his army in an open field between the mountains and the river here… if I fell upon him his army would have no room to maneuver and could be routed easily.”

“Then do so,” Tyrael said with a frown, “I don’t know what I can-“

“There’s a large column of slavers who have raided the dwarven foothills,” he said, pointing to a mountain range nearby, “rough men out of Baldania… a few thousand of them. The scouts report they’re marching thousands of dwarves and plenty of my own people to the mountain passes, once they’re out of the country they’re lost for good, doomed to sale at the markets of the plains cities.”

“A tragedy,” Tyrael said slowly, “but not of strategic importance… if I understand things?”

“I can hardly turn my entire army around to go save those people,” he muttered.

“You have an army now because you dropped everything you were doing to come stop my people’s invasion,” Tyrael said, “Perhaps you should follow your instincts?”

Gustav glared at the map a moment, then growled angrily, “I’m going to lead my cavalry in pursuit of the slavers… You’re coming too.”

Tyrael smiled, “of course, as your prisoner I am at your disposal.”

Gustav smirked, “Another battle then… with you at my side I’m almost starting to enjoy this war.”

…

Tyrael started awake, the memory of the late emperor vanishing as she blinked the sleep out of her eyes. The smell of sizzling breakfast sausage hit her nostrils, and her stomach growled eagerly as she sat up, seeing that Arthur had already begun preparing a breakfast for the group.

They were several days out of the hills now, making good progress towards the Imperial coast where their destination waited. The forested flatlands would soon give way to the rolling green fields of the Imperial heartlands, and then on to the rocky northern coasts where long ago the first Lich had built his grand temple.

“Where are Elwyn, Mina, and Naz?” She asked, reaching for a plate as Arthur offered it to her.

“Your apprentices dragged Colin off to a field near here to practice spells on him,” Arthur said with a wry grin.

“Ah, so the former criminal is taking your old position,” Tyrael chuckled, “I almost pity him…”

“He swears up and down he agreed to be their… whatever he is to them,” Arthur shrugged, “maybe he’s just another man who finds himself drawn to you elves. I don’t particularly trust him, but I doubt he’ll try anything with three elven mages and an orc.”

“And a brave human hero,” Tyrael smiled.

“I’m a candlemaker and now I’m a manservant,” Arthur said with a shrug, “not very heroic.”

“You’ve been heroic when it mattered,” Tyrael said, sidling up to him. She felt a flutter in her stomach she couldn’t quite place as he put his arm around her, and they sat there quietly a moment.

“You were saying something in your sleep,” Arthur said quietly, “Gustav? Was that the emperor? The dead one I mean?”

“Yes,” Tyrael said with a sigh, “the dead one.” She thought for a moment on how to explain her relationship with the late monarch, “He was a fascinating man,” she said wistfully, “I was his prisoner but… we became close friends over the course of the war.” She sighed, “I’d have liked to spend more time with him, but the wars ended and I went home, he went on to wear the crown he’d won, and time got away from me.”

“Sometimes I forget what a life you’ve had,” Arthur said, a little awed, “you were friends with an emperor for gods sake!”

Tyrael smirked, “Given enough time, you might find time to do some interesting things too Arthur.”

“If I lived a thousand years I doubt I’d do half the things you’ve done,” Arthur said, sighting and leaning forward to poke the cooking fire, “time gets away from humans too.”

It’s not getting away from me again, Tyrael thought bitterly, looking up at the human who increasingly filled her with that odd feeling she was sure she knew but couldn’t bring herself to name. Not until it’s done, she decided, then I can tell him how I feel… and there won’t be anything between us, not even death.

…

Colin grunted as a house sized elven foot slammed into him, a big toe the size of his torso playfully twisting him into a spot of mud. Overhead the towering mountain of the elf herself giggled, playfully batting him around through the dirt and filth like a stray beetle while she looked on imperiously.

“I know most people like their humans around a few inches,” Tina said, flicking her pink hair behind her ear, “but there is something really fun about going lower than that…”

“It’s wasteful,” Elwyn said with a huff, “it takes three times as much magic to make them that small, and if there’s an entire column of them charging at you you’re going to want to conserve your energy. Lady Tyrael says when she was on battlefields facing humans she rarely made them smaller than five inches!”

“Well I’m not on a battlefield,” Tina muttered, pinching Colin between her toes and causing him to grunt as she casually lifted him up.

Elwyn flicked her wrist dismissively, dispelling the shrinking spell and causing Colin to regrow to full size so quickly that Tina fell over with a squeak of surprise. Rolling her eyes the blonde elf lifted her fellow apprentice up right, squaring off against Naz and Colin, who hesitantly went to the orc woman’s side.

“Right, so we’re just trying to knock you down?” Naz asked, grinning as she slapped her palm against her fist, flexing her muscles slightly.

“Er… yes, this is a contact magic drill,” Elwyn said nervously, “C-Colin and Naz, you’ll simply try to push me over, and I’ll try to use my spells to stop you!”

“Perfect,” Naz grinned.

Colin gulped, “If you’re sure…” He readied himself, joining the orc woman about a dozen feet away. Letting elves practice spells on you, he thought, fighting a laugh, a far cry from the bandit lord you’d imagined yourself when you set out… He licked his lips as Elwyn smiled, giggling nervously. Still, having the attention of a trio of fair women isn’t the worst thing in the world, even if they have some… unusual desires. He let his eyes linger on the elf’s bust a moment, squeezed together in a pleasant way that was revealed by the low cut of her tunic.

“Like what you see human?” Tina mocked, bending over and allowing him to stare down the top of her own outfit.

“W-What are you doing?” Elwyn snapped, red faced.

“He was looking down your shirt,” Tina said with a shrug, “Humans are completely powerless before elven beauty, he’s probably just barely holding himself together!”

Colin growled, “You elves are so arrogant, you all think that every human spends all day fantasizing about you-“

“You kissed my feet for an hour last night, and you were rock hard the whole time,” Tina said, sticking her tongue out playfully, “save your last defiant speech for someone else.”

“She’s got you there humie,” Naz said with a smirk, “and you seemed really excited when Tyrael had me tie you up the first few nights you were with us. I think you humies make a big deal about how powerful and independent you are, but you all secretly want to be pushed around or something…”

“I’ll show you,” He growled, “Fine Elwyn,” he called, “let’s make it interesting! If I knock you over I…” he thought a moment, then grinned wickedly, “You will let me touch your…” he gulped, if this backfires you could be in deep shit… still, you already came this far, “Your breasts!” he grinned, savoring the way Elwyn covered her mouth with her hands, “that’s right, my dirty lowborn human hands all over your perfect elven-“

“My breasts?” Elwyn giggled, and suddenly Colin realized she hadn’t been stifling a gasp of shock or horror, but a giggle of amusement.

“I like this human,” Tina said, sitting up a little straighter on the fallen log she’d chosen for a perch, “Arthur’s always so nice, this one’s a little fighty, and I appreciate that!” She clapped her hands, “Okay, on the count of three you two rush Elwyn here, knock her in the mud and you’re on your way to grope city Colin!”

“Don’t worry humie,” Naz chuckled, “I’ll do my best to earn you that squeeze.”

Colin blinked and shook his head, “Right, thanks…” 

“One,” Tina counted excitedly, “two…” Colin locked eyes with Elwyn, who let sparks dance along her fingers, “THREE!”

Naz let out a roar and rushed out ahead of Colin, who shouted his best battle cry as he followed her. Elwyn to her credit didn’t flinch a bit, muttering spells under her breath and letting her fingers dance as she wove the first spell.

Naz raised her arms up, “I’ll rip your spell apart with my bear hands!” There was a shimmer as the spell slammed into the orc woman, and for a split second it looked like she’d managed to hold the silvery threads of magic that suddenly appeared in mid-air, but then Naz’s eyes went wide and she screamed as an explosion knocked her backwards.

Colin didn’t have time to check on her, he was within arms reach of Elwyn. Up close it was hard to believe the tiny elven woman was a magical powerhouse, she was so dainty that he found himself hesitating even as he prepared to shove her down.

It was a mistake, and with a delighted look in her eyes she blasted him with the shrinking spell. This time she’d loaded so much of her magical ability into it that it felt like a bucket of warm water being splashed over Colin as the world raced away, stretching and contorting as his body became smaller. He blinked, groaning as he stared up and tried to get his bearings.

“And you said I overdid it with the half inch,” Tina’s voice boomed, “I don’t even see him!”

An eye the size of a town square hovered into being over Colin, Elwyn’s immaculate elven face blocking out the sun as she searched for the human she’d reduced to speck-size. A moment later he heard a giggle, and then a pair of fingers as big around as castle towers lowered down to pinch him. He shouted in fright, shielding his face at the moment of impact, but her fingers were soft, molding around his body rather than pulping him as the elf lifted the squirming man up.

“Now what was all that nonsense about human pride?” Elwyn teased, leaning in close and letting her massive ear hang over him like the world’s largest cave, “I can’t hear anything, so you must be ready to submit to elven guidance and caretaking!”

“Is that what you call it?” Naz asked, getting up and dusting herself off from the ground where the spell had knocked her during the training drill.

“The goddess Turis said that with our magical gifts and eternal lifespans we would walk among the other peoples of the world as giants,” Tina explained, “and we were to nuzzle them safely against our bosom and guide them! It’s why we are so driven to use our spells to reduce humans to a more manageable size, so we can walk among them as the giants our goddess wanted us to be!”

“If you think about it, I’m just following her divine instruction,” Elwyn giggled, bringing the speck to her lips in an enormous pillowy kiss that covered Colin’s entire squirming body.

Naz chewed her lip a moment, “You elves ever think that maybe there was some metaphor in that divine command?”

“Our priestesses have studied Turis’s holy commands for thousands of years, they know what our goddess wants,” Tina said dismissively, “and besides, your god just wants you to pick up heavy things all day!”

Naz snorted dismissively, “Your elven god just gave you all magical abilities, Zyzzrac is a god that makes you work for strength, so you appreciate it more!”

“I’ll take up the theology discussion another time,” Elwyn said, grinning at Colin mischieviously, “for now, I feel that since Colin did manage to lay his hands on me, he’s earned the opportunity to touch the breasts he longed for so much.”

Colin blinked, Maybe elves aren’t so bad after all? He thought excitedly, readying himself for the regrowth spell.

It never came, instead he was brought above the massive canyon of the elf’s cleavage, and he screamed, flailing through the air as the enormous fingers released him. Colin grunted as he made contact with the soft surface of the elf’s breasts, rolling downward into the crack where they met on her open cut top while she looked on, giggling at the ticklish sensation of his tiny body moving over her skin.

“Goodbye,” Elwyn said sweetly, bringing her finger down to press upon him like a column from the heavens. Colin was helpless as he was pressed into the warm pillowy darkness of her bosom, her steady heartbeat echoing around him as the finger withdrew, letting the twin walls of titflesh crash into him like an ocean, molding against his body and holding him suspended in place. He fought feebly for a few moments, trying to climb upwards in some semblance of escape, but it was useless. The soft smell of lilac filled his nostrils as the light sheen of the elf’s oily sweat began to permeate his clothes.

She’s walking, Colin realized as his world shifted slightly, bobbing up and down as if he were a ship on the sea. Each step sent him lower into his prison, and while he climbed feebly upwards all of his strength amounted to nothing as he was battered from side to side by the twin mountains of immaculate elven skin.

“Can you even feel him in there?” Naz asked curiously, looking down at the elf’s cleavage as they walked back to camp.

“Not at all,” Elwyn said with a smile, “though if he does manage to surface… I think I’ll make him even smaller and push him back in, I’ll keep doing that until he stays in there.” She rolled her eyes at the orc’s look, “I’ll regrow him when we make camp tonight!”

“And here you said you didn’t want to take him with us at first,” Tina laughed.

“I can’t help it,” Elwyn muttered, “having our own human is really waking something up in me… Playing with Arthur is all well and good, but he’s Mistress Tyrael’s at the end of the day.”

“Colin’s not really “ours” either,” Tina giggled, “he’s just sort of… with us, for now, I mean we’ll probably have to let him go at some point.”

Elwyn stopped, grinning as she slowly pressed her breasts together, no doubt increasing the pressure on her tiny passenger. Slowly she eased off, making a mental note to question and tease the human about the experience later.

“I’m sure he could be convinced to come back to the Elven Realms with us,” Elwyn said, resuming her walk.

…

The group was soon upon the Imperial heartlands, those old and well settled kingdoms which had first been conquered, bullied, or convinced to join the fledgling Human Empire with its coastal seat in Camford.

So much has already changed, Tyrael marveled, looking at the cobblestone roads which had replaced the mud and straw which she’d seen in this part of the Human nation only a mere sixty years prior. The lands themselves seemed more alive with activity too, towns she could swear she remembered as having one horse for the lot now had wagon trains moving through with such regularity that her own party was forced to hug the side streets.

And then there was how people reacted, in the more provincial lands bordering the Elven realms an elf moving through human territory was almost always cause for interest, if nothing else. Here it seemed that the humans didn’t even care that an orc, three elves, and two men were moving through as a group, and Tyrael found herself gawking as a towering Amazon woman walked by, a pair of cat eared demihumans in tow as she loudly joked that she needed an inn with a bed big enough for her and her “boys.”

“Are all the human towns like this Mistress?” Tina asked, bringing her horse up next to Tyrael’s, “Arthur, why didn’t you tell us the Empire was so busy!”

“I’d never been more than a few dozen miles from Gustavsburg before I met Tyrael,” he laughed, “though I’d certainly heard stories.”

“This isn’t even that big of a town,” Colin said dismissively, “you rubes would faint if you saw Camford.”

Tyrael felt a mix of nostalgia and loss thinking about that for a moment, the last time she’d been in Camford had been for the late Emperor’s coronation, and shortly after they’d said their goodbyes.

If these small towns are so different now, I wonder what the capital is like?

“Do we have enough coin to stay in town?” Elwyn asked eagerly, “I’d love to feel a real bed for a change!”

“I want an inn with strong drinks,” Naz bellowed, “and meat.”

“That’s our place then,” Colin said, pointing to a large tavern with a number of wagons arrayed behind it, “Gustav’s Rest, anything named after that man is bound to have large portions and drinks that’ll knock an Amazon out.”

“His reputation lives on,” Tyrael mused, smiling as the group approached the inn.

…

Booking rooms was easy enough, and soon the group was settled in at a table in the boisterous inn common room as the sun began to set. The crowd itself was mostly human, but around a quarter were various other races along with a smattering of animal eared demi-humans, mostly dressed in the same clothes as their human counterparts and mingling freely as the drink began to flow and the seared plates of meat were brought out.

“There are a lot more non humans than I thought,” Elwyn said curiously, “I’d worried we’d stick out as elves… but we look more human than half the people in here!”

“It’s a tavern named after Gustav, what did you expect?” Colin laughed, taking a sip from a mug that a goblin waitress had brought him with a wink.

“What’s the significance exactly?” Tina asked with a frown, “Elwyn and I were too young to see fighting against him, and all the Elves say is that Gustav Elf-Killer was the most powerful and intelligent human to ever live.”

Tyrael snorted into her own drink a moment, causing Arthur to raise an eyebrow before he spoke, “He was one of the major claimants when the Imperial civil war started, while it began as a simple matter of succession it quickly became about rights for human peasants, demi-humans, and a whole load of other issues.”

“Plenty of people still aren’t happy that Gustav gave the demis full legal rights,” Colin muttered, “Our current emperor, Sarmatian, extended it to everyone, saying if they can keep imperial law they can have imperial rights…”

“It’s why we moved the temple of Zyzzrac into humie lands,” Naz said, eagerly cutting into a steak, “Grandfather wanted a place where anyone could come hear his teachings.”

“Over in the provinces near elven country we call Gustav the liberator,” Arthur said with a smile, “he ended the Elven invasion in a single battle.”

“He just caught us by surprise,” Tina said defensively, “if we’d known then what we know now-“

“It was arrogance that led to our mages being defeated at the Field of Thunder,” Tyrael said, a little firmer than she’d intended. “Our scouts had fully informed our leaders of what human cannons and guns were capable of, they simply chose not to listen.” She drained her cup, fighting the urge to cough as she realized that the human spirit “brandy” was quite a bit stronger than the wine she was used to.

Arthur squinted a moment, “Tyrael, look up there.” He pointed to a large portrait of the late Emperor Gustav’s coronation, where dozens of royal dignitaries looked one while a priest of Typhon crowned the new monarch, who had a stolid and grim expression. A few rows behind him, there was an unmistakable face, her pointed ears standing out amongst the humans in the audience.

“Oh gods,” Tina laughed, “Mistress Tyrael, you’re-“

“Yes, I was there,” she groaned, looking up at her own awed expression captured forever in canvas, “I was told this painting was going to hang in the palace…”

“It’s a copy,” Colin said casually, “I’ve seen at least three other taverns that have this same one, there’s probably a painter somewhere in Camford that just spends all day making them.”

“Indeed,” Tyrael sighed, holding up her cup, “Waiter, a refill?”

…

Arthur hefted Tyrael over his back, letting the giggling elf hook her arms together as they climbed the stairs. Judging from her red face this was the elven archmage’s first experience with the more potent human spirits

“Oh Arthur,” she giggled, “You’re the best human… I should shrink a castle for you, did you see one you liked on the way here? I’ll just put it in my bag and we’ll sneak it back…”

“I don’t think you should steal any of the castle’s around here,” Arthur chuckled, “besides, the dollhouse is fine.”

“I really did shrink a castle once!” Tyrael bragged as she steadied herself in front of the door to their room. “It was so cute, watching them shoot their little catapults at me, it didn’t even scratch my cheek…”

I’ll have to follow up on that story tomorrow morning, Arthur thought with a chuckle, walking towards the bed with her.

Suddenly her arms wrapped around his neck, and he cried out in surprise as she pulled him down to the bed with her, and she gave a bubbly laugh as she hugged him close against herself. With a growl she rolled on top of him, a drunken and lustful look crossing her features as she licked her lips playfully.

“I really don’t want to lose you,” she whispered, her brandy tinted breath stinging his nostrils slightly.

“I’m not going anywhere!” he insisted.

She gave him an odd look, laughing a little, “I’ll trade the world to see that you don’t, I’ve always cared more for the stars anyway.”

Blue sparks danced across her fingers, and before Arthur knew it he was dwindling before her, slowly shrinking as his clothes seemed to balloon up around him. This gradual size reduction was something that the other two elves never seemed to manage, and Arthur couldn’t help but look on in awe as Tyrael’s smirking visage grew from a merely beautiful woman to a mountainous feature bearing down on him like an excitable goddess.

Her fingers laced around him, scooping him out and bringing his entire body up to her face, where she began giving him wet sloppy kisses that quickly soaked him with her saliva. He coughed, both from the gooey spit that quickly flooded his face, and from the strong vapor of the brandy still on her breath.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, giggling as her tongue came out, licking away the excess as she reached down, fumbling with her pants.

“It’s okay,” he laughed, wiping the rest of out of his eyes. He was well used to Tyrael using him to pleasure herself, but tonight she was wild, silly even, and he found himself enjoying it.

“Smaller,” she muttered, letting magic flow along her hand and shrinking him further.

“You’re going to make this harder!” he warned, his voice fading as she reduced his size from that of a doll, to a bug that could be pinched between her fingers, and finally a mere grain of sand.

“I have faith in you,” Tyrael growled, fighting a wave of arousal as she saw how he stuck pathetically to her finger at his new size.

Without another word she pointed down, bringing her fingertip into her panties, and finally up against the wetness of her womanhood. From Arthur’s point of view it was as if the world had suddenly become a swamp, a hot muggy place with the air thick with the smell and taste of the elf’s arousal. Tyrael was as wet as he’d ever seen her, and at his size he was easily peeled off and stuck in the mire of her juices, plastered against her pearl as the immense finger withdrew and the lustful giggling sigh of the archmage shook the world around him.

With a happy sigh Tyrael slowly began to finger herself, each motion twirling and swirling Arthur’s world. The only light he had was the low lamplight of the inn room, a thin strand of it illuminating the smooth perfection of the soft skin surrounding the pink opening he was stuck in, each movement of Tyrael’s fingertip seemingly pushing him further into the much.

What does she think I can do for her at this size? He wondered, gritting his teeth and grunting as he fought to move through the gunk, I can’t even be the size of a grain of sand! He looked down and realized as Tyrael groaned loudly that he was plastered to the soft globe of her clitoris, and he grinned as he realized that, small as he was, he was making some progress.

“There!” Tyrael bellowed as he started to crawl across the soft pink surface again. The elf writhed in excitement, her massive finger invading his musky prison again as she drove herself closer to orgasm.

Down below in her panties Arthur’s world was flooding, at his size the sticky sweet juices of the elf’s womanhood were like thick swamp mud, fragrant and choking as it bogged down his movements with each wave. With the last of his strength, he dragged his entire body across Tyrael’s most intimate place, collapsing as he was rewarded with a scream of pleasure that rocked the heavens.

Arthur couldn’t help but grin in triumph as her finger, now sticky with cum, withdrew, leaving him alone in her underwear as the drying juices cemented him to the top of her womanhood. He heard her pant, and for a moment he wondered when the massive digit would return to retrieve him.

“Hmm… Arthur,” Tyrael murmured, turning onto her side and letting inebriated sleep take her.

As he heard the thunderous snoring overhead, Arthur realized that, by intent or by accident, Tyrael had left him trapped, stuck to her and within the darkness of her panties at a size almost too small to see.

At least it’s warm, he thought wryly yawning as he felt his own weariness catching up with him. Soon he was asleep, his final thoughts turning to dreams of spending forever with Tyrael as she’d promised.