The Power of a Kiss - Part 6

A lot had changed in just a few short hours. The world was nearly unrecognizable. There’d been heartache but more confusion than anything else. The dark elves and paladins were both scattered, lost amongst a perpetual forest that gave no answers.

Alicia and Maeve relayed to Hima what had happened back at Hilltop Castle. They didn’t understand a lot of it, but did know that Adelheid had sacrificed herself to save her friends and her kingdom. On the ground at their feet, a bound Gwynevere. Standing over her, the two ‘good’ dark elves, Renalla and Tayte, also splintered from their group.

“I’ve seen strange things,” said Hima, taking it all in. “Things that do not belong in this world.”

Alicia nodded. “They belong in Scott’s world.” When everyone considered her strangely, she added, “In the Earthrealm.”

“Peacock Hill is that way,” said Hima. “Do you know it?”

All four elves shook their heads.

Hima said, “Most don’t. But it is twelve miles from Hilltop. I’d know those colorful rocks anywhere. My mother took me there when I was but a girl.”

“Why are you telling us this?” said Maeve, rolling her foot across the dark elf. Gwynevere was struggling to flip onto her back.

Hima said, “Because my mother felled the largest tree at the apex of the hill. An ancient, towering pine. We carted it all the way back to Hilltop and decorated it in honor of the solstice. That tree is standing atop the hill right now, but it is a sapling.”

“What are you saying?” asked Tayte.

Hima said, “Whatever Adelheid did to protect our kingdom—it threw us into a different time. It . . . shattered the timeline. And now we seem to be merging with the Earthrealm.”

Gwynevere started laughing from the ground. She was on her stomach now, hands tethered by magical bindings. The sound coming from her was so odd, so disconcerting, that they didn’t at first realize it was the dark elf.

Maeve put pressure on her back until Gwynevere winced and quieted. “What do you find so funny?”
 She said, “You silly high elves. You don’t see it, do you? Your leader wasn’t saving you! She was saving her ancestral home. She sent you all back in time just to be rid of you.”

“And she died for it,” Alicia growled. Renalla and Tayte back away, certain the high elf was about to run the prone girl through.

The dark elf on the ground laughed. “Aye, she did. Give us a bit more time and we’ll be knocking on your doorstep again.”

“If we even have a doorstep now,” Alicia muttered.

Hima pointed to Gwynevere and said, “Get her up. We need to head south. Peacock Hill is to the north of us, so if we put it to our backs, we’ll come across Hilltop by morning.”

“If it’s there,” said Gwynevere, once she was on her feet.

Alicia came closer. The dark elf was a few inches taller, leaner, and showed no sign of fear. The high elf pulled the blade from her boot and stuck the tip right beneath Gwynevere’s chin. The dark elf looked up, jaw set. She wasn’t about to show any emotion to what she considered inferior creatures.

“You know, we don’t really need a prisoner,” said Alicia. “There’s no reason why I shouldn’t just slit your throat ear to ear.” To illustrate this, she danced the blade on the girl’s smooth neck, running it left to right. Despite Gwynevere’s stoicism, she still swallowed a heavy lump in her throat.

She said, “But you won’t do it. You’re a high elf. High elves are good souls, right?” This last part came out full of cynicism. But she was correct.

“If you try to run off again, I’ll gut you like a fish.”
 She sheathed the blade, grabbed the dark elf by the arm, and shoved her forward.

Alicia was prepared to walk all night. She was worried about Scott. Something told her that he was still alive. It was unclear how she knew this, but assumed there were still remnants of their connection, a residual power that lingered. Whether he was alone or with a group, he would most certainly try to find Hilltop Castle.

They walked in silence for most of the night but after a while, they began to voice their concerns. It was only natural with so much uncertainty. Tayte said she missed Audra, despite their bickering. The high elves were concerned about the rest of their troupe—Nym and Shizare, and of course, Scott. Gwynevere said nothing, nor did Alicia care to ask, but the dark elf probably wondered the fate of her comrades, as well.

“Stop,” said Hima, and the group pulled up behind her. They were at the edge of a forest, a wide clearing just ahead. “The Mayweather Bridge is supposed to be here, but it’s not.”

Alicia moved to the edge of the treeline and looked at the edge of the clearing. A wide ravine stretched below them. It did seem like a good place for a bridge, and apparently one day, someone else would think so, as well. Even in her own time, she rarely ventured this far north of Hilltop, so she had no clue the identity of the city on the other side of the ravine.

“Oh, Dinnin!” said Hima, putting her hands to her face and looking across. They couldn’t see much—just towering, stark-white walls and a collection of high towers beyond.

“What is this place?” Renalla asked.

Hima said, “In our time, it’s nothing but ruins. Not even the walls have survived. It’s called Ivorella. And it was once the greatest city in the Cloud Dominion.”

“Full of high elves, I assume?” said Tayte. She and Renalla shifted uncomfortably and Gwynevere, while giving nothing away, seemed to tremble against Alicia.

Hima nodded. “Plenty of them. I’d draw your hood, if I were you.”

***

This was a lot to take in, thought Scott.

The strangest being that Carina was miraculously alive. He didn’t have an explanation for that but it was easy to see the changes in the world around him. Timelines—those of this world and Earth—were skewed. It wasn’t the craziest thing to see someone back from the dead. However, the moment her eyes fell across Scott, she gave no reaction. Sure, it was probably novel to see a shrunken man, but there was no recognition there.

Before him stood a collection of elves, Nym and Shizare being the only high elves in the group. The rest were varied creatures and their allegiances were vastly different. Audra and Carina were assassins that Scott had come to know well through their chasing of a group of bandits.

He didn’t know the creatures of the dark elves well—Kiva or Eir or Kamari. But he had spent time in the company of Maza and knew through reputation Empress Noire. Kiva, the wolf girl, looked badly injured. This was an odd bunch in which to be interred.

Nym, Audra, and Carina were bound by ropes and were being dragged through the forest. Noire and her ilk had them outnumbered. They seemed to want nothing to do with the Cloud Dominion, at least not right now. Adelheid’s sacrifice and subsequent reshuffling of the world took precedence.

“So you’ve found the Echo Auger,” Empress Noire said, inspecting the half-sized man. “I wish an audience with him later.”

“Yes, Empress,” said Maza, but since he was so small and clinging to her leg, he could feel the muscles twitch in her thigh. She didn’t like this idea at all.

For the time being, they walked through the forest as a somber, silent troupe. Empress Noire took second only to the bound Carina and Shizare, both who seemed to pretend they knew where to go. Scott tried to walk beside Maza so he could get close to Carina but she insisted on picking him up and carrying him.

For now, Empress Noire forgot he existed. She seemed determined—her jaw set, her eyes forward. Scott had never seen anyone look so vicious, and every time Maza stealthily planted a kiss on his lips and stole some of his size, she looked even more intimidating.

He was thankful he didn’t have to walk. The forest started to climb uphill and he could see from their faces they were winded, all except the magic user, Eir. She floated along with her toes a few inches from the forest floor.

At the top of the hill, Empress Noire was about to announce they would rest. Kiva, back in wolf form, took two lumbering steps toward her, raised a shaky paw, then collapsed onto her side.

“Kiva!” Maza said, and she placed a two-foot-tall Scott in the grass. The Noirites rushed her, with Empress Noire using her own cloak to cushion the wolf—now back in girl form—from the rocky ground. Eir and Kamari kept their eyes trained on the captives.

While they were busy tending the wolf-girl’s wounds, Scott moved toward the formerly dead elf girl who’d taken a seat against a thick oak tree. He stepped by Kamari and she leveled her blade toward his face—the tip could’ve split his head open like an apple.

“I’ve got my eye on you, little man.”

He nodded, then stepped away, keeping his eye on her, too. When he reached Carina, she blew a tussle of white hair out of her eyes. A fine sheen of sweat covered her face. She looked down at him and smiled pleasantly—there was no familiarity at all in her eyes.

“What are you?” she asked. “You look human. But all humans are dead. Also humans are usually a lot bigger.”

“Do you not know me?” he asked, a slight twang of hurt.

She pursed her lips and shook her head.

“So you don’t . . .” But that was as far as he got, for over Carina’s shoulder, Audra shot him a wide-eyed, chastising look. And in that moment, he knew that she had no idea—she was clueless that she’d died.

“Don’t what?”

“You don’t know where you are,” he said, feeling as if this feign was silly.

She shook her head. “It looks familiar. But if we’re lost, that means the bandits are lost, too.”

“Bandits?” he said, feeling a sickness rise in his belly.

She hooked a finger back to Audra. “Soon as she and I find our companions, we’re off to right a few wrongs.” And she left it at that.

Poor girl, thought Scott. She had effectively been reset. She’d been brought back to life and placed, at least in her mind, halfway through her mission. She didn’t know that she’d been killed, but had also killed the bandits she thought she was currently hunting.

He wasn’t sure what else to say, and thankfully was spared having to speak because Maza announced that they needed to make camp.

“Here?” Empress Noire said, voice haughty.

“No, not here,” Maza said. “But we need to find someplace where we can watch in all directions.”

They didn’t have to go far to find it.

Just a half mile down the other side of the mountain was an abandoned town—only Scott knew to call it that. The rest of the group stared at it with a mixture of curiosity and fear.

“What are these things?” asked Noire.

He didn’t want to tell her they were buildings from his world.

A long stretch of highway had been ripped away and deposited in the middle of the forest. If there were trees beneath it, they were crushed by concrete and rebar. At the sides were at least a dozen structures—small shops and even a two-story apartment. There were no people, only their abandoned cars.

Scott had grown back nearly half his size because Maza had thrown Kiva over here shoulder and carried her. The others seemed oblivious to the small man, or perhaps they just didn’t see him as a threat. For some reason, he stayed close to Maza. As odd as it sounded, he’d managed a small link with the girl, despite his best efforts to get away.

“We can stay in there,” said Kamari, pointing just ahead. “It looks defensible, plus there’s a second floor where we can rotate watch.”

“I believe you’re right,” said Noire.

It was a motor lodge. Rows of red doors lined the left side and a parking lot full of vehicles to the right. Scott wasn’t sure where this chunk of Earth had come from, but it was either a part of suburbia he’d never seen or it was from a different time period altogether. Given the state of things, it was likely to be either.

Scott was worried there would be people inside, cowering because their street had ripped away and landed in another world. But it was just as abandoned as everything else. He found it rather funny to see someone like Noire—dark elf royalty—staying at a seedy motel.

The group divided up with Eir placing wards around the motel while Kamari offered to take first watch. The prisoners were locked in their own room and the door barred. Just as Scott was about to wonder where he’d be staying, Maza looked outside the door and found him.

She made a come-hither motion with her finger and he didn’t delay. This was the largest he’d been in two days. He was certain she was about to fix that.

***

The group had to take the long way across the ravine. They backtracked to the east, finally coming across a massive landslide that created a path down to the valley. It was full of strange objects that Alicia had never seen—Scott would’ve known, as they were likely from his world.

Thinking about him made her sad. After this much time, it was silly to continuing worrying. Sure, she wanted to know that he was safe, but by now, she had no claim to him. He’d formed a bond with others. And as she’d seen with Maeve, that bond could be quite powerful.

“I’m sorry about it,” she said, as if reading Alicia’s thoughts—or perhaps just her cross look. “It was stupid and I’ll never be able to make up for it.”

“No,” said Alicia. “You won’t. But I forgive you.”

“You do?”

“Yes. You didn’t lose yourself so far that you couldn’t come back.”

She smiled, unsure of what else to say.

“You paleskins are so weak,” said Gwynevere once on the other side of the ravine. As Alicia and Maeve sat down on a rather large, chunky piece of green metal, the dark elf laughed. “My hands are bound and I’m still navigating this forest better than any of you.”

Maeve approached the dark elf and stared her down, a look Gwynevere returned just as vehemently. The paladin placed her leg between the dark elf’s boots, then pushed her down. Gwynevere had no time to protest, for Maeve had inadvertently saved her life.

Where Gwynevere had been standing a moment before, an arrow sailed through the air and struck a knotty tree at the edge of the ravine. At once, the elves drew steel. Gwynevere rolled onto her stomach and looked back—there were riders approaching, and lots of them.

Hima and Renalla wasted no time in changing flank, putting their friends—and foe—to their backs. Hima conjured up a swirling blue flame that repelled further projectiles while Renalla’s shield took on a more natural appearance, yet magical all the same. Arrows sank into her conjured protection and turned to dust.

Hill Steeds, so many that they couldn’t see the horizon behind them, swarmed the girls at the ravine. On their backs, high elves but unlike any high elves Alicia had ever seen.

These were regal, far more impressive than the common folk who made up the inner courts of Hilltop. She’d never seen such finely crafted armor, such intricately woven hair. Every piece of them was exquisite—from their headpieces down to the diamond spurs on their boots.

They formed a tight ring around the group, leaving them with no other options besides falling over the edge of the ravine. Alicia, having lost her blade during the reshuffling of the world, pulled her knife out and held it in front of her.

The Hill Steeds parted so another could pass through them, this one gilded in golden armor and a face mask that resembled a jaguar. Atop it, the rider, a lithe woman who wore a towering headdress, stepped off her mount and waited for the paladins to dispel their shields. Alicia finally recognized her as a light elf—a race many considered superior to high elves. They were few in Alicia’s time—probably few in this time, as well.

Finally, she said, “A wielder of the blue flame of the south and a channeler. Now what are the odds of that?”

“They travel with dark elves, Kynina,” said one of the high elves flanking them.

“So they do,” said the one called Kynina, appraising first a bound Gwenyvere and then Renalla and Tayte. She approached Renalla. “And yet this one fights alongside high elves. Who are you?”

“Who are you?” Renalla countered.

“You are in the kingdom of Ivorella,” she said. “And we will ask the questions.”

“You wouldn’t believe us if we told you,” said Alicia.

“We’re trying to get to Hilltop Castle,” said Renalla. “We don’t want any trouble.”

Kynina scrunched her face in confusion. “We don’t know this . . . Hilltop Castle.”

“Dinnin’s Peak,” said Alicia, remembering the ancestral name of the city, long before the common name of Hilltop came to be.

At this, Kynina frowned. “It’s to the south of Ivorella. We will escort you but your dark elves must be bound.” She faced Tayte and Renalla. “All three of them.”

Tayte was about to argue the point but Maeve threw up a hand. “Let’s just do as they say.” Then, a little softer: “For appearances sake.”

Reluctantly, they agreed. Once Alicia had secured them together with a hemp rope, Tayte grinned mischievously, out of sight from Kynina and the others. Alicia figured that such assassins could easily find their way out of simple ropes.

Before the legion of Hill Steeds turned to escort them into Ivorella, Hima asked, “Does the name Adelheid mean anything to you?”

At this, the high elves seemed to shift uncomfortably. Kynina, who’d just turned her mount away, looked back and asked, “What business do you have with the queen’s daughter?”

***

It surprised him that the hotel could be so quiet. There were prisoners, a possibly dying wolf-girl, and creatures from afar who didn’t easily trust. But once doors were closed, the world became strangely silent.

Inside the room, Scott watched as Maza placed Kiva on one of the two beds and then shove it against the wall.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She didn’t answer. After moving the bed over, she positioned the girl until she was flat on her back, then removed her clothes. Scott had been out of everyone’s mind for most of the day, so he was tall enough to see the jagged wound across the girl’s belly.

Someone—either Maza or Noire—had made a crude attempt to stem the bleeding. It probably needed stitches but he wasn’t sure who could do such a thing.

Maza took a step back and appraised the girl—Kiva was sleeping but her breath was choppy. Scott wasn’t a doctor but figured that probably wasn’t a good sign. Her eyelids fluttered and she seemed to want to roll over but lacked the strength.

Maza took a seat at the foot of the bed and watched.

“So now what?” he asked.

“Now we wait.”

He didn’t know what this meant. Rather than play a game of cryptic guesses, he looked toward the bathroom and said, “I’m gonna see if the shower works.”

“Shower?”

“Water,” he said. “This place . . . you know what? Nevermind.”

As he started to walk off, she said, “Wait.”

He turned back to find her standing in front of him—she’d glided across the room as silent as could be. But before he could question her, she snatched his cheeks in her hands and planted a kiss right on his lips.

The exchange of power was almost immediate. As her skin warmed, he felt himself pulling away—only he wasn’t moving, but shrinking. She kept her lips on his and her tongue in his mouth long enough for him to reach half his size.

“No running off now,” she said, eyes glowing with power.

“Now I probably can’t reach the showerhead.”

“What?”

“Nevermind,” he said, and went into the bathroom and shut the door.

The room was massive and he had to jump to hit the light switch. Of course, there was no power. He imagined the electricity beneath this place had been mangled during its deposit into the Cloud Dominion.

For a moment, he just leaned against the wall and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. There were clean towels but almost out of his reach. He had to jump to snag them off the shelf above the toilet.

The water was cold but he figured it would be. Like the electrical cables, the water heater beneath the hotel was probably still back on Earth. But he didn’t care. He wanted to be clean, not warm. Lucky for him, there was enough water still trapped in the pipes to offer him a five-minute shower.

After drying off, he stepped back into the main room just in time to see Maza rise from the chair. A bright light shone through the curtains that made Scott reconsider the notion of no power, but he quickly realized with the angle and the silvery tint, it was just the moon.

Maza had stripped down to her underclothes and stepped, barefoot, onto the bed. She flanked Kiva’s body and ripped open the curtains, letting the moon’s light spill in. Then, she quickly hopped off and sat on the opposite bed and stared at her friend.

Scott couldn’t see her because the bed was so high, so Maza scooped him up. She placed the shrunken man on her lap and wrapped her arms around him—it felt nice to be embraced by such a large person but he figured this was only to keep him from running off.

The moonlight fell on Kiva’s face and she stirred. Her breathing stopped, then started again with far more rhythm than before. As the light hit the wound on her stomach, Scott watched as it miraculously began to knit together. The dried blood crumbled away and left nothing behind but smooth, unblemished skin.

“That’s incredible.”

Maza whispered, “She has an affinity to moonlight. None of us really understand it. Not even her.”

The light took care of all her little bumps and bruises. It brought back color in places and took away dark spots in others. By the time the moon was passing behind the clouds, she looked like a new person. And then, the transformation began—he’d seen it before and apparently Kiva could control how it happened each time.

Her long, slender toes knitted together, then sprouted nails. Fur ran up the top of her feet before venturing beneath the silk garments that kept her modest. She arched her back and opened her mouth as if the sensation was erotic—perhaps it was. Her face elongated into a snout, then her ears thickened and tapered.

When she woke, she flipped over and sat on the bed, then took in the strange room. Her eyes lingered on the weird hotel art—paintings of fruit and trees.

She howled, vibrating the windows. Scott expected the others to come running but apparently that’s not what this particular sound projected. After her long tongue lagged out of her mouth, she quickly reverted back into a girl—her fur rolling down her soft skin before disappearing completely.

“Where are we?” she asked. “Why have we stopped?”

She stood and headed for the door but Maza placed Scott on the floor and moved to block her path. “We’re fine. I assure you. Come, you need to rest.”

“I don’t want to rest. I want to kill that paleskin who stabbed me. Oh, it hurt!”

“I’m sure it did,” Maza said, gently coaxing the girl back to the bed. Scott stepped aside as two pairs of giant feet came toward him. “But you need to calm down.”

As soon as Kiva was on the bed, she gave a pitiful little growl and said, “I don’t know how to calm down.”

“I think I can help with that,” said Maza, and she snatched Scott from the floor. “This little man has proven to be quite . . . beneficial. Would you like to give him a try?”

She placed the half-size man between her legs and spun him around to face the wolf-girl. Kiva looked him up and down, but she didn’t hold the same lustful gaze as most every other female he’d encountered this side of the universe.

She said, “You first.”

Maza gently massaged his chest. “Alright.”

Still facing Kiva, he felt the giantess’s hands move down. One of them gently held his leg while the other one stroked his cock. She used her palm first, then her thumb and finger to jack him. Kiva revealed little in her face, but she kept watching, nonetheless . . .

Maza turned him around, then leaned in and scooped his cock into her mouth with her tongue. For a moment, he forgot all about Kiva and decided to enjoy the pleasure. He crashed against Maza’s hair and was reminded of their time by the stream.

“Oh, now that’s interesting,” Kiva said from behind him. He didn’t realize at first what she meant, but as soon as Maza lifted him so he could stand on her thighs, he understood. The cat-girl was taking his size with every flick of her tongue and purse of her lips.

She was careful to keep him from getting off. Each time his grunts changed or his stomach muscles clenched, she moved up his body and kissed his face instead. By the time he was roughly twelve inches tall, she grabbed him around the waist and then lay back on the bed.

“Care to try him yet?” Maza asked, holding him over her head as if he were an airplane. With her free hand, she began pulling at her clothes.

“I’m still watching,” Kiva purred.

“Then watch this.”

Scott collapsed to her stomach, just long enough to enjoy her heat and the scent of her skin, but was then quickly dragged down. Maza released his ankle the moment his body was flush against her labia. She put a hand on his back and gently pushed, grinding him into her.

“Oh, that’s nice,” she moaned. Then, to Kiva: “You’re missing out.”

“No, I’m not,” she said playfully, and at first Scott figured she was simply being standoffish, but then caught a glimpse of her and realized she’d moved to the wall beneath the window, legs up and bent, and fingers between them. Already her face was turning red.

Sensing his lack of attention, Maza gave him a gentle shake until he was back on task. She moved him down a little more and now his face was against her clit. Using just two fingers, she pushed his head forward until his face was pressing into it. Each time she shoved him, she moaned in response.

Now that she was wet, Scott began to slide. He went to his knees right between her legs and started to kiss her gently. Using one hand, he pushed it into her and Maza did all in her power to remain still, to keep her bottom on the bed so she wouldn’t snap his arm.

Her hand returned to his back because she didn’t like his speed, so he simply kept his arm rigid and allowed her to work him in and out.

“I think he wants to go in,” said Kiva, leaning forward. “But he’s a bit too big”

She slithered into the floor and moved over to the bed. This was the first time he’d been so close to her, and at such a small size. Kiva lifted him away, Maza’s juices clinging to his body. The wolf-girl gave him a kiss and licked her lips—as much to taste him as the cat-girl on the bed. He felt himself tingling as he grew smaller.

“Oh, that feels so nice,” she said, and held up her arms. He could see the definition in her muscles changing, rippling from her wrist up to her bicep. “I feel so light!”

She kissed him again, taking more power and in return, dwindling him smaller. When he was the perfect size for Maza’s fun, Kiva backed off, then wrapped her hand around him. She gently shoved him into her friend, headfirst.

He held his breath, thinking Kiva had too strong a grip on him but once he was inside, it became easier to breathe. Using his elbows, he pulled himself deeper but Kiva’s fingers followed him in, as if he didn’t know the way.

Once he was situated correctly, he flipped over and gave Maza the experience she was expecting. Just like last time, she quivered, grew tight, then relaxed. Finally, she ejected him but when he exited, it wasn’t on the bed, it was across Kiva’s labia.

He looked up and realized the women were seated facing one another, with their legs around the other’s waist. The wolf-girl stared at him with a mixture of lust and power. Then, she raised her hand and waved goodbye to him.

After that, she relaxed and shoved him deep.

He’d been in so many women that he’d started to pick up on similarities and differences. The differences made them more fun—their hesitance to try a tiny man, when to choose to relax and clench. Kiva seemed like she wanted to fight him, her muscles angrily coming in and holding him so tight that he couldn’t even wiggle.

In the moments she relaxed, he made sure to move around. That’s when he could hear them talking, although their words were garbled through such thick walls of flesh. He felt a shift in gravity and something that may have been bedsprings groaning.

And then, light appeared beneath his feet as Maza’s tongue entered. With Kiva open, he could hear the moaning without any distortion and it turned him on. He grabbed his cock and started to stroke. His movements, coupled with Maza’s work, was making the environment hot and wet.

And the walls were closing in . . .

Scott balled himself as small as he could go, then flipped around so that he was facing the exit. Maza’s tongue returned, this time licking across his face and over his head. She must have detected it because she laughed, her breath a blast of cool air in an otherwise sweltering oven.

Finally, Kiva could take no more of his pleasuring and he slipped out on a torrent of juices. Maza was there, her giant mouth waiting to accept him. She pulled him right out and swished him in her mouth until only his bottom half was inside her. With his stomach muscles burning, he leaned across her nose and held on. It was difficult because she was trying to stifle a laugh.

“Here,” she said, and pulled him out. “I want you to do . . . the thing.”

“What thing?” Kiva asked, curious. She lay back on the other end of the bed and watched.

“This,” said Maza, and she placed the tiny man on top of her head, between her hidden, pointy ears.

Scott grinned as he rolled around atop her head so he could face Kiva. The wolf-girl stared at him with great interest. He dug in his hands, massaging the spot between Maza’s ears. The girl’s body relaxed and he could tell at once how much she enjoyed this. Her tail swished the air approvingly.

Maza leaned down until her head crashed against the pillows. He would’ve assumed she was asleep if not for the moans. Down her smooth back, he could see goosebumps breaking out. One hand was gripping the bedsheets and the other was hidden—but he figured he knew where.

“I want a little bit of that,” said Kiva.

“Wait your turn,” Maza said, voice giving no emotion. She backed off a bit while Scott finished his rubbing until finally the cat-girl seemed to go to sleep. Her breaths were coming out slow and ragged—almost like a purr.

“Now me,” Kiva whispered, and she leaned in until her head was nearly touching Maza’s. Scott tried to be as gentle as possible. He crawled forward, then stepped across until he was perched atop Kiva’s head. When he was secure, the wolf-girl sat up straight so he could get into position.

Just like on Maza’s head, he began pushing his hands into her thick mane. It was a mixture of scratches and rubs and he was unsure which was more effective. Kiva seemed to simply enjoy his touch and after a few minutes, she reclined back against the wall and started to doze.

Both girls were sleeping and it was the first time in a while he felt truly alone. But this also provided him with an opportunity—he could escape if only he had time to grow back. Once he could reach the doorknob, he’d run off into the night.

But no, not really.

He wanted to see Carina. He wanted to help the captives escape. There was so much uncertainty out there but anything had to be better than being captive by Noire and her cronies.

Scott hopped from Kiva’s head to the mattress between the girls. As soon as he touched down, he held his breath and looked around, sure that both of them would wake. Maza’s nose twitched but he was certain she was having a dream and not detecting the movements of a six-inch man.

He sat down and waited, figuring that in another hour, he’d be tall enough to reach the doorknob. Then what? He’d heard Noire barking orders earlier and figured Eir and Kamari were just outside the door, patrolling and making sure none of the captives escaped. He decided he’d worry about that when the time came. For now, it was a waiting game.

He drifted off to sleep with them. As he slowly grew back, his legs went over the edge of the bed. His feet had gone numb.

Quickly, he appraised his body and realized he was roughly half the size of the women, but this presented a new problem: He was wedged between them.

Maza was against his lower body on the left side while Kiva’s face was next to his, snoring softly. His arm had fallen between her breasts. It was going to be nearly impossible to slither out between them without waking them.

Or would it?

The doorknob was three feet off the ground. If standing next to it right now, it would most likely be eye level. He could stand to be a little smaller and still reach up to turn it. This was risky, but he didn’t have much choice.

Scott leaned into Kiva and gently pecked her on the lips. He didn’t feel anything, no exchange of power, so he tried again, this time a little firmer.

And this time, he knew right away he’d made a tiny transfer. Kiva smiled as her skin took on a slightly glowing luster. At the same time, he felt his sticky skin separate from Maza’s body. His arm slipped out of Kiva’s breasts.

By now, Scott had become a master of understanding his body’s changes. He could tell that the shrinking was winding down, so he lifted himself on his elbows and gave Kiva one more kiss. This time she grinned and licked her lips, then rolled over. Even without shrinking, he could now slide off the bed.

Scott hit the floor, now standing at a mere eighteen inches tall. It was going to be close, but he figured he could jump and grab on. As soon as he started toward the door, it opened.

On the bed behind him, the girls woke and sprang to attention because their leader had just walked into the room. At first, he didn’t even recognize Empress Noire. She was relaxed, wearing nothing but a silk gown that stopped at her knees. She had such pretty, shapely feet and he found it odd that someone with such power would take the time to paint her nails.

“Ah, there you are,” she said, looking down at the shrunken man. “I’ve come to . . . experiment.”

“He’s all yours,” said Maza, and when Scott turned around, he saw that her grin was hiding something else—irritation? Jealousy? Kiva just stared at the pillows. He knew that neither girl on the bed wanted him to go.

“Let’s see what all the fuss is about,” said Noire, and when she reached for Scott, he started to backtrack. Someone’s foot pressed on his back—the toes near his neck, the heel at his thighs. Noire reached down and grabbed him by the arm, then she pulled him back out of the room.

***

Upon entering the ivory-walled city, Alicia realized it was everything she’d wanted Hilltop to be. But more importantly, it was everything Adelheid had wanted it to be, and had failed. Ivorella was one of the most beautiful places she had ever seen.

Inside the towering white walls Alicia figured she’d find a sprawling military complex but it was anything but this. While there were barracks scattered throughout, most of it was comprised of commerce and dwellings. There seemed to be little poverty and she wagered there’d be even less crime. Buildings were large and ornate, landscaping thick and well-tended.

While being escorted, Alicia fell in step next to Maeve. She whispered, “I don’t understand why Adelheid would be here. Wasn’t her family’s seat of power at Hilltop?”

Maeve shook her head. “Here family’s ancestral home is there, but Adelheid’s people ruled from the ocean to the mountains.”

“I can’t believe how much it’s deteriorated in our time. If Adelheid is alive right now, it makes no sense that it’s in such ruin.”

Again, Maeve shook her head. “You’re forgetting Adelheid’s half-golem lineage. They’re a long-lived race. The fact that she’s a hybrid slowed her aging even more. Adelheid was several centuries old.”

Alicia nodded. She’d always heard that rumor but wasn’t sure. Adelheid had simply been one of those good people who had no beginning. She just always ‘was.’

Until now.

Kynina escorted them through the city while eyes stayed trained on the dark elves. Even Gwynevere seemed afraid, for her race had probably never encountered a light elf before.

Unlike Hilltop Castle which, as the name suggested, stood on a hill, Ivorella’s keep was in the center. Alicia had heard of this pinwheel design when she was younger but had never seen it laid out in reality.

Once they passed through the castle gates, Alicia saw more gardens, as well as towering fountains in the sprawling courtyard. She could hear children laughing and caught sight of a group of them to the left, entering what appeared to be a hedge maze.

Just in front, a woman rode out on a Hill Steed that rivaled the massive beast under Kynina. She hopped off and approached the group, hand resting on a massive broadsword at her hip.

“Found them at the ravine,” said Kynina. “And they mentioned little Adelheid by name. What do we do, Vannya?”

The light elf, Vannya, said nothing. She parted around the whinnying Hill Steeds and approached Alicia, who’d positioned herself in front of her friends, as well as the real captive and the faux captives.

“A high elf,” said Vannya, as if uttering Alicia’s race was all that needed to be known.

“I am.”

“Are you part of our dark elf problem?” asked Vannya.

She looked back at the bound girls before answering. “Dark elf problem?”

“That’s right. They’ve been scattered all throughout the land this morning. I’ve run three of them through myself.” She looked around Alicia to Tayte and Renalla. “And there’s plenty more in the dungeons to play with.”

If dark elves were an anomaly on the surface in this time, then it could mean only one thing. The splintered forces of Empress Noire had been caught up in the same event as the rest of them.

“Have you found any high elves?” asked Maeve.

“A few,” Vannya said. “Something’s wrong with them. They all claim they’re from somewhere called Hilltop so until we can figure out what’s happening, we threw them into the dungeons, as well.”

“You will release them at once,” said Maeve. “Those are our people.”

“Your people are on Queen Trita’s land,” said Vannya, stepping forward. She rung the hilt of her blade, armor creaking in the silence. Then, to Kynina: “Take the dark elves to the dungeon. Bring the rest with me.”

“No!” said Alicia, and she was about to move forward when the Hill Steeds circled and their riders aimed swords at her head.

“It’s not worth it,” whispered Tayte. “Just do as she says. We’ll get out of there and come find you.”

Before she could say anything, the hedge maze at the side burst with laughter and the group of children came running out. They were screaming with joy, the only joy that can be found of children who haven’t experienced the horrors of the world.

And chasing them was a rather beautiful girl that Alicia at first thought was much older—but then realized she was simply much taller.

Because she was half golem.

The children stopped short of the contingent of soldiers. The half-golem girl looked up at Alicia and in that moment she knew. She’d looked at this face so many times before.

“Hello, Adelheid,” she said.

“You won’t speak to the queen’s daughter without permission,” said Vannya, stepping between them.

“It’s alright,” said Adelheid, stepping around the light elf. “I want to talk to her.”

Knowing she couldn’t refuse the request of the queen’s own daughter, Vannya glowered and stepped aside. The mounted elves stayed close, their bodies tensed to go to war the moment Alicia put a hand on the girl.

She knelt in the grass which meant Adelheid had to look down to meet her eyes.

“I . . . don’t really know how to say this. But you and I will be friends one day.”

“We will?”
 “That’s right. And I don’t expect you to understand any of that. But maybe—”

“Adel, go play,” said a voice from behind the Hill Steeds. The group of mounts scattered and in their place was a woman who could only be the queen, for she stood at a commanding twelve feet tall.

Adelheid looked to Alicia and said, “What’s your name?”

“Alicia,” she said. “You’d better go before you get in trouble.”

At this, she made an awkward curtsy and then raced off toward the hedge maze again.

“You must be Trita,” said Alicia.

“QueenTrita,” Vannya corrected.

The queen held up her hand to say it was okay. She turned her attention back to Alicia.

“I have a feeling you know a lot about me. Or more precisely, my daughter.”

“We do,” said Alicia. “But it’s going to be a story you might not believe.”

She smirked and came closer, which was quite off-putting since Alicia was level with her belt. She said, “We have seen many strange things in the past few days. Odd objects strewn about. Dark elves wandering in places they don’t belong. I know what’s caused all of this.”

“The Rebirth Stone,” said Hima.

Trita nodded. “So I assume you know all about it.”

“We do,” Alicia said.

“And it’s my daughter who used it?” she said, and stiffened at once. Alicia knew where this was going.

“She did,” Maeve said.

“I see.” Trita lowered her head and nodded, then said, “Come. Let’s talk inside.”

“My friends,” Alicia said.

“Dark elves are certainly not welcome in my home. To the dungeons.”

Alicia gave Tayte a wistful, sorrowful gaze but the dark elf just nodded and let the riders escort them to the opposite side of the courtyard from the hedge maze.

As Alicia, Maeve, and Hima turned to follow the queen, Vannya, and a contingent of light elves, she turned back toward the maze. At the edge stood Adelheid watching them leave. She threw her hand up to wave.

Alicia returned it.

***

She dragged Scott down the street, past Eir and Kamari, and entered a two-story house. In the bedroom, she’d already settled in—he could see the rumpled sheets and covers, and could smell food. He wasn’t sure where she got it, but it made his stomach rumble.

At the bedroom door, she lifted him around the waist, then threw him onto the bed. He yelped and bounced twice before coming to rest. Then he scrambled up to the headboard and threw his back against the pillows. She was standing in the doorway, only her outline visible.

“Let’s see what you can do . . . for me,” she said from the shadows, then stepped forward. Normally, her hair was up and in some elaborate, twisting pattern that he didn’t think possible without magic. But now, it hung halfway down her back and was the oddest shade of light purple he’d ever seen. It wasn’t natural on Earth, but it could’ve been here.

She waved her hands and the curtains pulled back on the windows, filling the room with soft, silvery light. Now that she was no longer in shadows, she held her arms out as if wanting him to inspect her form. The way his dick hardened told her all she needed to know.

Noire pulled the gown over her head and tossed it into the corner. Her body was exquisite—not a single lump of fat, not a blemish on her skin. She had larger breasts than he would’ve guessed and each time she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, the muscles in her stomach rippled.

She bent at the foot of the bed and climbed up on her hands and knees as if she were some kind of jungle cat. It was rather scary considering this was already a known enemy. Now that Scott barely came higher than her knee, it made her all the more terrifying.

But Empress Noire was gentle as she took his legs and pulled him down from the pillows until he was flat. She licked up his leg, then batted his cock with her tongue. Something about her eyes were mesmerizing as she took him in her mouth and looked at him. This only lasted for a moment, for he could already feel himself pulling away—he would be further down her cheek in just a moment.

“Mmm,” she said, vibrating his whole body with her sticky, warm breath.

His eyes were rolling back in his head the smaller he became. He put his hands on her cheeks and felt the skin beneath them spreading out. It was getting to be too difficult for her to reach his tiny cock. But then, it stopped when she separated.

She lifted herself up on her elbows, eyes glowing purple with power. A thin light limned her skin. Scott felt a warm tingle in his body, and then, somehow, he started to grow.

It was slow, but much faster than it normally happened once the ladies took their lips off him. The empress lifted herself on her palms and watched as he grew larger and larger until finally reaching almost his normal size.

“So you can control size,” he said, more to himself than to her.

“Seems that way,” she said playfully, then went back to work on a much larger dick.

Eventually, this changed again. She kept sucking his shrinking dick, taking his power and adding it to her own. The ladies didn’t usually wait around for him to get off, but Empress Noire allowed it. Perhaps she thought this added bonus would give her a surge of power. He wasn’t sure if it worked that way or not.

But when he did cum, now from a dick that probably wasn’t as long as half a digit on her finger, she sucked him clean and then slid off the bed.

She held her arms out and then began to grow. He could hear her body stretching, the bones and muscles groaning as if being pulled like putty. When her head nearly bumped the ceiling, she dropped to the floor. As her feet crashed into the bed, she pulled them against her and wrapped her arms around them. Still, she grew.

Once again, her head touched the ceiling. Just as the wood began to groan in protest, she stopped growing. The bed was the only safe place, as her legs had already flattened the furniture along the walls. She looked so enormous, yet so compacted by the way she was trying to keep the room from exploding.

She looked at the bed—and the little man atop it—and both began to shrink. It felt so odd, like nothing he’d ever experienced. The girls had shrunk him down quite a bit, but this was a different method—this wasn’t a transfer of power. This was a direct result of the power she’d gained. As long as it was ‘active,’ she would control size at will.

When Scott and the bed were no longer than her fingernail, she gingerly slid them onto her hand. The world went dark when she closed her fingers around him.

He jumped when he heard a crash, followed by the lingering smell of dust. A cool air rushed into her hand and he knew at one that she’d stood up and brought the whole house down. Scott thought he was shrinking again—but it was just her willing herself to become even bigger.

She opened her hand and he felt so small and so vulnerable. If a rogue wind blew across the forest, it would take him right off into the night.

He heard shouting below and figured it was the rest of her troupe, alerted by the sudden growth and wreckage of the giantess. They were asking her questions that he couldn’t hear—only Empress Noire’s answer.

“I can see fires burning far to the south of us. It’s a city, I’m sure of it. Let’s go say hello.”

And then, she willed herself to shrink back down.

For now.

***

Queen Trita held court in her throne room, a lavish and spacious room that made Hilltop’s counterpart look like squalor by comparison. The throne itself was large and imposing, and bedecked in hundreds of jewels, some Alicia had never seen before. They all sparkled in the overhead chandelier.

The queen knew a lot about the Rebirth Stone, and had thus pieced together much of what was happening to her kingdom.

“There are places of power in our world where dimensions can overlap,” she said.

Alicia nodded. “We’re aware. We went into the Earthrealm and pulled Sc—a man, from it.”

“A man?” Trita’s eyebrows raised in interest.

Hima said, “That’s right. And he wasn’t just any man.”

Maeve stepped between Hima and Alicia and said, “Yes. No ordinary man. Scott was special to us.”

“I see,” said Trita, and Alicia—and Hima—caught the phantom blade’s misdirection. There was no point in telling Trita about him. The elves of the old world loved their Echo Augers. By now, they’d all vanished from the Cloud Dominion.

“So you come from a time not yet happened,” said Trita.

Alicia said, “We do. We figure it is far into future.”

“How old is Adelheid?” Hima asked.

Trita said, “She’s seventy-two. How old was she when she died?”

At this, none of the elves could answer. Adelheid didn’t talk about such things.

Alicia said, “She never spoke of her personal life. But she was our queen in my time, and she was a good queen. She wanted to save us, and her ancestral home.”

“Dinnin’s Peak,” Trita said. “We plan to build on it one day.”

“And you will,” Maeve said.

Trita nodded, a thin smile creeping across her face. She shook from her reverie and said, “What is it you need of me?”

Besides letting our friends in the dungeon go? Alicia thought, but did not say.

Maeve said, “Any idea how to get us back to our time?”

“I’m afraid that isn’t so easily done,” said Trita. “You see, the world has been tainted.”

“Tainted?” said Alicia. “How so?”

For a moment, Trita said nothing. Then she smirked and said, “That human of yours. He’s rather special. Isn’t he?”

Alicia felt her face going red and she nodded. “You know what he is.” It was a statement more than a question.

“An Echo Auger? Of course he is. That’s why the Rebirth Stone failed so spectacularly. It was meant to reset everything but keep the world intact.”

Maeve looked to Alicia and nodded. “But Scott somehow tainted our world with his.”

“Correct,” Trita said. “And a few pieces of his world ended up here and a few pieces of ours ended up there. There’s only one way to fix things.”

“And that is?” asked Alicia.

“Your human has to go back to the Earthrealm.”

Alicia said, “We don’t even know if he’s still alive.”

Trita shrugged. “Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. But if I had to guess, the human is keeping our worlds tethered. If he were dead, our worlds would start drifting apart.”

That made Alicia smile but before she could enjoy it, the doors to the throne room burst open and in came a knight, decked head to toe in ornate armor. But when she spoke, Alicia realized it was just Vannya, now wearing her utilitarian armor.

“My queen,” she said. “We have a problem. We have to get you to safety right away.”

“What’s going on?” she asked, and stood.

“We have a rather unusual threat coming from the south.”

“Fetch my sword, then,” said the queen. “I’ll meet anyone on the battlefield.”

Vannya swallowed nervously. “But my queen. You . . . will not be the biggest adversary on the battlefield.”

***

The power of the Echo Auger turned out to be whatever she wanted. Empress Noire had her theories—he graced women with a combination of what they already excelled at and what they desired most. Noire excelled at many things, and she desired nothing more than power.

With the stark white walls in sight, she raised her arms and the ground began to rumble. A battle was fought here many years ago—probably more distant for anyone living today to remember. But the bodies were here. Elves, some sort of dragonkin, and golems. Their skeletons burst through the ground at her command. After only a few minutes of calling upon the power of the Echo Auger, she had amassed an army greater than anything in her own time.

And that’s when she decided she’d never go back. She’d rule this place and by the time history reached the time she left, she’d already be a goddess. There’d be statues everywhere, and not just below the surface.

The shrunken man was trapped in a locket around her neck. She’d bent the metal so that his body was inside but his head was exposed, allowing him a view of the battlefield. But that wasn’t really the intention—she merely wanted an easy way to kiss him should she feel her power waning.

The others were at her feet. She insisted they leave the prisoners to rot, for what purpose did she have for them now? In truth, Noire didn’t need anyone but the Echo Auger. And in time, she wouldn’t even need him.

Ahead, the castle gates opened and riders spilled out. Their mounts were probably terrifying to most, but not to someone who could will herself larger.

She imagined herself growing and it happened. The little man was able to experience life at a large size, for she commanded the locket—and him—to scale alongside her. At one-hundred feet tall, she joined her army, already in progress.

Tonight was going to be a massacre. Tomorrow, she’d sit on whatever throne she found on the other side of those white walls.

***

Since she’d lost her sword, Vannya had someone from the armory provide her with a blade. It wasn’t nearly as balanced as her usual weapon, but it would do.

They rushed out the gate and at once, she realized the dark elves in the dungeon were in the safest place of all. The rest were fighting an adversary they’d never seen before, and the least of their worries was the giant woman still two-hundred yards back.

A lumbering, skeletal golem approached but just as Alicia raised her blade, Hima stepped in front and launched a cone of ice right at it. The creature’s movements slowed until finally Alicia slammed its legs and knocked it over. The already brittle creature burst into a thousand shards.

The giantess lumbered closer.

Maeve called up her phantom blades and rushed forward, mowing down anything that got in her way. Bones exploded in all directions, some of the dangerously sharp as they sank into the ground.

Alicia’s spirit was renewed, for if Empress Noire was calling up on the power of size, then it meant Scott was still alive. It also meant he was in her captivity, which would certainly be a challenge.

The mounted riders raced ahead of the high elves. Vannya’s sword swept left and right as she tore down the skeletal minions. On the other side, Kynina’s thick weapon turned them into clumps.

In only a few minutes, the entire army of undead had been brought under by the might of the paladins and the light elves. But Alicia had an uneasy feeling as Noire came closer. She didn’t seem deterred by this loss.

“This is over!” said Queen Trita as she rode out to meet the coming Empress. “Turn around and leave my lands at once!”

But Empress Noire laughed. She held out her hands and said, “These are your lands no longer!”

At first, they didn’t understand what was happening. But then the queen seemed to sink into herself. Her helmet rolled off as if she’d lost her head. This was followed by the armor. The boots dropped straight to the ground. Alicia heard a tiny, muted yelp just as the Hill Steed whinnied and ran off, leaving the pile of armor on the battlefield.

Empress Noire had shrunk her.

“Back to the castle,” said Alicia. “Now!”

The giantess raised her hands and said, “You will all bow to me or you’ll die here beneath my feet!”

She raised her hands across the battlefield and that’s when Alicia felt a strange knot in her stomach. She lost the grip on her sword because her gauntlet could no longer bend. Her fingers slipped out of them and they crashed to the ground.

Alicia had started shrinking.

As her armor fell off her dwindling body, she looked across to Maeve, whose blades had stopped twirling. She sank into her armor and it collapsed on top of her.

On the other side, Hima was already half naked, struggling to keep up her own flowing robes and leather. But it became too heavy and she fell into it.

Alicia stared up at the giantess and noted the trinket around her neck. There was a reason she chose to enlarge it with her body. Scott was there. She didn’t know how, but she was going to rescue him.

But currently she was small enough to be trapped inside her own boot.