Jerik tossed and turned in his sleep. Only a week had passed since Charlotte had nearly given him a heart attack, and now his brain was finally trying to sort out those feelings through some very creepy dreams.

  Charlotte sealed her mouth again, trapping Jerik inside. But this time, his fears mounted, and came true. She tilted her head back, and used her tongue to manhandle him toward her throat. Powerless to resist, Jerik screamed for mercy as his supposed friend devoured him alive, grappling his legs with her throat. One final swallow, and...

  "Ahh!" Jerik woke with a cold sweat, in the middle of the night.

  He noticed Charlotte was already awake, and her thumb was lightly stroking his head. Her face may have now been that of an adult, but right now she looked almost like an extraordinary concerned mother, or wife.

  "S-sorry, just a nightmare," Jerik explained, before offering an attempt at a grin. "Thank you for petting my head. It feels nice... Sorry if I worried you."

  Charlotte kept petting his head, but made a plucking motion with her free hand, a silent sign she usually used to ask Jerik if she was allowed to pick him up.

  "Yes ma'am," Jerik agreed.

  Jerik found himself lifted into the air once more, cradled in Charlotte's palms as she seemed to massage his entire body with a single thumb. It was always a peaceful experience, the same as a loving mother rocking her baby back to sleep, almost. Jerik soaked in the attention, letting peace wash over him.

  "Thank you," he whispered.

  Charlotte smiled in response.

  "It might be a bit before I can fall asleep though," Jerik noted.

  "..." Charlotte replied, as usual. Being mute and all.

  "Hey, uh, something's been on my mind for awhile now," Jerik asked.

  "...?" --Charlotte. A quizzical look on her face.

  "Well, I was wondering if you know if you have any magic? I'd read a book once that said Nagas had magic that corresponded with the color of their scales, but you seem to be rather unique and it didn't specify. Do you have any idea?" Jerik asked.

  Charlotte, suprisingly, nodded her head. This took Jerik by a slight surprise.

  "O-oh! Well, maybe I will see it in action sometime? I'm really curious, to be honest," Jerik admitted.

  Charlotte upkept her grin, and gave a quick wink.

  "She's already a force to be reckoned with at her size already. Do Nagas really need magic on top of that?" Jerik wondered to himself.

  The duo slowly went silent, and eventually drifted back off to sleep for the night. Little did Jerik know, he would soon be getting an answer to his question the very next day.

   ***

  Fenin huddled over his torch, attempting to soak in as much warmth as possible from it to combat the winter chill. His animal fur armor helped, but was not a complete solution. His band of outlaws had dwindled in number since a year ago, and they were down to just four in total, including himself. Things were beginning to look bleak, to say the least.

  Footsteps approached from behind, causing Fenin to snap to attention.

  "Boss, a've found a cave," Jupe reported. "Might 'ave somethin' inside? Or shelta from tha cold?"

  "Aye, well done. We'll check it out. Let's move out, then," Fenin ordered the party.

  Four bandit archers roaming one of the most dangerous forests in the world. Nearly eight casualties since a year ago, and three of them had ended up as Naga food. Life was rough. Fenin, Jupe, Kindra, and Otho were the survivors. Each one knew and trusted each other, and realized that alone they would be powerless. Fenin was only in charge because the previous leader had recently been offed and placed his trust in him the most, so the others just naturally followed his lead. Plus, he was the best with a bow.

  "Funny how all the warriors, shamans, and healers all died, just leaving us archers alive," Fenin often wondered to himself. It was far from an ideal party, but they were typically able to scare any travellers into handing over their gold and supplies, or land an arrow in the eyes of whatever bears or spooks tried to get the better of them. Perhaps one day they would rejoin society and try to use their gold to secure a foothold, maybe buy a house, and get actual jobs. The wilderness had taught them a harsh lesson, and banditry just wasn't worth it without a crew to run with.

  Fenin and the others arrived at the entrance to the cavern.

  "I'll lead. I need the rest of you to get your weapons readied in case we run into something. If it looks immediately too dangerous, we make a break for it and run, got it?" Fenin ordered, speaking a wise strategy while holding his torch up and peering into the cave.

  "Aye." "Ayup...!" "Got it, boss."

  ***

  Charlotte had a very keen sense of hearing, and quickly woke from her slumber. Footsteps were making their way into the entrance of the cave. She looked down to Jerik, who had fallen asleep between her breasts earlier, and tapped on his back urgently, but softly, to rouse him.

  "Uh... huh?" Jerik asked, slowly rising and rubbing his eyes.

  Charlotte put a finger to her mouth in the dim light, to indicate they needed to be quiet, and used her other hand to place Jerik on the cave floor... further from the entrance.

  Jerik stayed quiet, and began to listen.

  "Footsteps... We're about to have guests..." Jerik reasoned.

  To date, neither Jerik nor Charlotte have ever run into friendly humans in Twill forest. Travellers typically tried to hurry through on the way to other countries, and the only ones who would be entering a cave would be outlaws looking to hole up. There was also the very low chance it was a troupe of the King's army, but they also wouldn't take kindly to a Naga or an escaped slave.

  Eventually, the light of a torch began to illuminate the stone walls of the section of the cave Jerik and Charlotte usually slept in, the 'bedroom.' Recently, only in the winter months, the cave began to grow some slightly luminescent mushrooms on the walls, providing near minimal light for Jerik to see with. But the torch was almost blinding once it rounded the corner.

  Charlotte also seemed to tense up, and turned to face Jerik one more time.

  Her eyes had that glint in them once more. She was...

  "Predator mode..." Jerik noticed, and took a step back, reflexively. He knew not what poor souls were intruding on Charlotte's territory, but he already felt bad for them. He also steeled himself for the fact that he might witness Charlotte finally feed on her first human victims, and swallowed a lump in his throat.

  Soon enough, shoddily dressed men rounded the corner, holding up bows with death in their eyes. Their bravado nearly shattered the second they realized they were face to face with a Naga.

  "N-N-NAGA!!" Fenin was the first to recognize the giant snake woman staring straight at him, and he realized something. She was the one he had shot in the tail in the past, and she did not look happy to see him.

  Fenin's crew yelled war cries, or cries of terror. It was difficult for Jerik to differentiate. A lot happened at once soon after.

  Fenin had dropped his torch and had already drawn his bow, firing an arrow quickly. Jupe and Otho also shot their arrows at the same time, while Kindra made a break for the entrance of the cave, scared out of her mind, realizing this would be a hopeless fight.

  Charlotte held out a hand, and... time seemed to distort.

  What happened next stunned Jerik.

  Kindra was standing back where she was before she ran away. Otho and Jupe's arrows teleported midflight, piercing both of their ankles, flying from the sides with greater force than they were intially fired with, effectively immobilizing both men. And Fenin's own arrow was displaced behind him, and flew directly into his ass. A sort of... payback.

  Jerik had to place his hands on his ears, because the sheer volume of three men screaming in agony in such a sound amplifying area was too much to handle. Kindra also screamed once she turned around and noticed her escape was fruitless.

  "The fucking Naga knows teleporting magic!" Kindra screeched in terror. "We're all fucking fucked--"

  Charlotte made a grimace at Kindra, and teleported her a short distance above her head, only for Kindra to briefly scream before falling into her mouth, shutting her up for good.

  Jerik, and the bandits, watched in terror as Charlotte unceremoniously swallowed Kindra alive. Everyone was silent enough to hear Charlotte's throat do its magic, and Kindra's muffled screaming slowly disappeared after passing through the neck.

  "Just... like that....? That woman was beaten... so.. so fast.. she didn't even have a way to fight back.." Jerik noted. It was quite terrifying how quickly a life could end, or be sentenced to doom. Even though these were bandits, he was beginning to feel... sorry for them.

  Otho and Jupe didn't last very long, either. Charlotte went prone, and lashed out at them faster than anyone could seem to comprehend. Almost like the strike of a cobra, both men were scooped up into her mouth and disposed of within a matter of seconds, leaving Jerik and Fenin as the only ones left.

  Charlotte most certainly recognized Fenin as the one who had shot her, the arrow in his ass was no accident. She took a finger, and knocked him to the floor, before pressing the arrow in harder with her thumb.

  "ARRRGGGGGGGHHH!" Fenin screamed as loud as his lungs would possibly allow.

  Jerik took a step back and fell on his ass, watching the torture session begin. Fenin was screaming, crying, sweating. The works.

  "I'm s-sorry! Just let me go, I swear I won't--" Fenin began.

  Charlotte snapped the arrow in half, and tossed the shaft away. The arrow head would be difficult to remove, now.

  Charlotte roughly pressed Fenin's head into the stone cave floor, before lifting the pressure off for a second. She seemed... pissed off. Fenin was then teleported one foot off the ground, only to fall onto the floor. Over, and over, and over... and over. Nearly a full three minutes later, Fenin didn't have the energy to scream in pain any longer. Charlotte roughly lifted the man's battered body, and held his head closer to her stomach, allowing him to hear the screams of his final remaining allies desperately trying to escape their fate, or curse it, deep in her belly.

  "... Fuck you," Fenin spat blood at her face, although it didn't have enough force to actually reach it.

  Charlotte's eyes were squinted, as if she were looking at a pest. She began to raise Fenin slowly, as if mocking him, towards her mouth. Charlotte allowed drool to fall on Fenin's face, causing him to spit and sputter trying to get a breath of air.

  "She's... toying with him..." Jerik realized, scared beyond his wits' end. He knew he had nothing to fear from Charlotte, but witnessing this level of cruelty still wasn't easy. Even the punishments he and other slaves had gone through didn't seem to compare.

  Fenin was almost at Charlotte's lips, before his head slunk to the side and he made eye contact with Jerik. This, was perhaps, the last time Fenin looked actually alive and surprised. How the fuck was a human here, much less alive? It was a question he would never get the answer to, as Charlotte placed his head inside and slurped him up.

  Charlotte had Fenin halfway dangling from her mouth, before facing Jerik and winking. To her, she was just eating a meal at this point. Nothing for him to be afraid of; the threats in the cave were gone, after all. She did not seem to realize what implications it would have on Jerik to watch other humans like himself be devoured alive, and the wink was merely intended for having proven what kind of magic powers she had-- answering his question from earlier.

  Jerik found it exceedingly difficult to watch, so he averted his gaze.

  However, he was not able to turn off his ability to hear. Soon, a wet slosh happened, and the sound of Charlotte swallowing another man briefly filled the otherwise silent cave.

  Charlotte tail-slammed the torch, casting the cave back into a relative darkness for Jerik.

  Jerik had shut his eyes, but he could still hear.

  Charlotte was most certainly sliding her way over to his location now.

  "I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay..." Jerik continually repeated to himself in his head.

  Soon, the familiar caress of Charlotte's thumb ran over his back.

  Jerik looked up to Charlotte's face, but she was just smiling as if nothing was wrong in the world... Like nothing she just did should've fazed him.

  Charlotte placed her hands together and put them to the side of her tilted head, and raised an eyebrow. She was asking if Jerik was still sleepy.

  "Uh... uh... y-yes ma'am I think I need a second to re-relax..." Jerik stuttered.

  "Relax?" Charlotte seemed to be confused when he said that word, and then tapped her forehead. Of course! She thought to herself. Jerik always loved to lounge between her breasts on occasions!

  Charlotte laid on her back, and placed her hand near Jerik, gesturing for him to climb aboard.

  Jerik obliged, knowing full well the direction this was heading. Scary or not, she was just protecting him and herself. "Y-yeah! She also needed to eat people anyway! I d-don't want her to starve... It was about that time, after all. She's a full grown Naga. Yeah. This is all just... natural selection."

  Jerik found himself plopped between Charlotte's very generous sized breasts, and made himself at home, trying to relax after seeing that spectacle. Fortunately, her skin was warm and soft. He would try to unwind.

  Moments passed, and Charlotte seemed to pass out before Jerik did. She had a full stomach, after all.

  Slowly, carefully, Jerik's curiosity got the better of him, and he stood up and crept past Charlotte's breasts, and went prone a little bit underneath her left boob, and pressed his ear to her flesh... right above the stomach.

  It was... very audible. Jerik could very much hear muffled screaming and stomach groans coming from underneath Charlotte's supple skin. He quite literally was able to listen to her digesting them, and hear them wailing for their lives.

  It was at that moment, something woke deep inside Jerik. He slightly recoiled away, and looked back to Charlotte's face as best as he could, focusing on her plush lips. Asleep, and completely unconcerned with the people trapped in her stomach.

  Jerik grinned, and whispered under his breath, "Fuck 'em... they're right where they belong. You're the superior being here."

  Jerik knelt on both knees, and placed his arms and elbows on Charlotte's stomach, with his head down. His mind was finally broken, and he began to worship Charlotte as some type of deity for the better part of an hour.

  "My... Goddess..." Jerik whispered, and began to stroke her skin, before placing his ear back to her gut again. The bandits were still writhing in agony, and probably would not shut up for another half day.

  "We... will need more prey eventually..." Jerik began to wonder to himself.

  Jerik had always felt grateful for Charlotte's company, but the trauma was beginning to warp his viewpoint on her. 

  "We humans are lesser than you, and you still choose to spare me and keep me company. I do not deserve your kindness..." Jerik mused.

  But such musings could wait for later, and Jerik eventually passed out, letting the groaning of Charlotte's digestive system lull him to a peaceful slumber once again.