The Goddess' Retreat

[CKent45]

The spring festival was set to begin in two days following Maceo’s formal proposal to Astravia and both were stunned to discover that the festival was a weeklong. Even more frustrating was Usha’s insistence on holding off before conducting Maceo and Astravia’s wedding ceremony until the fifth day of the festival.

The couple did protest of course. Neither had planned to spend bordering on two weeks away from the temple and this certainly put a damper on their desires to see the progress of their new, mortal sized home. Unfortunately, there was little they could argue given the fact that they couldn’t just tell the townspeople that their home was being constructed by automatons with superhuman strength that required no rest and could work twenty four hours a day.

The silver lining to their detour was that Astravia was able to use their down time to practice her natural abilities and better master her ability to remain anchored properly in time to interact with her surroundings. She did slip a few times during the lead up to the beginning of the festival either accelerating or decelerating in time, but thankfully she had only had one such slip in front of the mortals and was simply able to explain her staring blankly in a frozen state as daydreaming and not paying attention. Still, though, she found herself constantly needing to concentrate in order to keep from getting pulled to and fro by time’s tide.

The greatest accomplishment she had in those couple days was attaining enough skill to consistently slip in and out of time as she pleased, though she could no longer do it with a mere thought any longer and doing so left her heavily winded as if she’d just swam a turbulent river through treacherous rapids.

Astravia also continued to insist on remaining immediately next to Maceo at all times and continued to struggle with anxiety from the little mortals surrounding her constantly and now towering over her. This dependence on Maceo had become a favorite topic around town and the subject of a great many rumors and gossip. Astravia was of course irritated by the blatant gossiping around her, though she was thankful for how definitively Maceo defended his bride.

Both were put up in the inn at the cost to the town and at first Maceo helped with manual labor in preparation for the festival as well as assisted Gaeten at his shop and Rhona at her clinic. Astravia obviously chose to follow Maceo wherever he went and generally worked as his assistant, though Maceo frequently insisted on her sitting back and relaxing and letting him see to matters on his own.

Perception is an interesting thing. From the point of view of the locals here, Maceo was showing himself to be a commanding husband who tended toward pampering his bride and allowing her to relax and watch the commoners around her work while she lazed about. The reality was that Maceo was still a novice in virtually all skills compared to Astravia and largely insisted on doing this work on his own for the sole reason that he was still learning and mastering these many skills on his own. Allowing her to assist too much hampered his attempts to train his mind and body.

Rhona was the first to discover the truth one afternoon when Maceo mixed a few ingredients incorrectly for a special balm for one of Rhona’s patients. When this happened, Rhona overheard and peaked in to investigate as Astravia corrected him and watched with confusion as he thanked her with genuine gratitude and humility before correcting his error. When she confronted him about it, he was quite forthright about the matter.

“She learned all of this much earlier than I did,” he answered honestly, though the depth to his honesty was hardly apparent to Rhona. “But, I’ll never get as good as her if I let her do everything for me.”

“So which of you is actually in charge in this relationship?” Rhona asked, utterly confounded by the strangeness of this dynamic.

“Maceo is,” Astravia answered immediately. “Ceremony or no, he is my husband and I value his decisions and direction.”

“So which of you is more…” she began to ask, but Astravia cut her off immediately.

“I do not wish to compare ourselves. I treasure Maceo; that is really all there is to it,” she answered.

Rhona shrugged, but ultimately agreed, though she did find it strange and even went so far as to suggest at one point when Astravia had interjected her thoughts on another matter that she almost sounded like a mentor to him.

“I’ve always believed that a husband’s most important job is to value his wife enough that he’ll honestly listen to her whenever she has something to say,” Maceo told her in response.

“I don’t remember you listening to me like that when I was working with you,” Rhona challenged him.

“That is because I take my role seriously in choosing carefully when I speak,” Astravia answered Rhona sarcastically.

“If you’re that smart and skilled, then maybe he should listen more and talk less.”

“He only has two hands and there are only twenty four hours in a day,” Astravia answered back while wagging her finger at the little redhead. “Even if he were a god, I can speak faster than he can act. And besides, I have learned a thing or two watching him rather than spouting off unnecessarily.” Interestingly enough, Rhona was more than prepared to continue to challenge Maceo right up until the moment that Astravia spoke up on his behalf and then suddenly she fell silent as though all of the fight had been drained from her.

Elaheh was the second to notice the interesting dynamics between Maceo and Astravia that lurked just beneath the surface, however instead of challenging them, she seemed intensely curious and chose to observe rather than speak about it in detail, though she did acknowledge many of the same characteristics that Rhona did.

The most interesting case of the interesting dynamics between Astravia and Maceo were the council of elders for the town. Given the fact that Maceo was being housed as their guest rather than for a specific project, they decided to use the opportunity to meet frequently and bring Maceo in to consult with, despite reminding them that he had limited experience in the matters they were discussing.

All was going normally, with the elders really looking more for Maceo’s advice given his track record so far until the elders asked his advice on creating an aqueduct, which was a fixture that the elders had heard of from the days of their ancestors who had lived in Astravia’s temple.

“I don’t really have any experience building an aqueduct,” Maceo admitted humbly.

“Yes, but you’ve got experience with masonry, and we’ve heard that the aqueducts in the temple were all stone structures.”

Maceo laughed a little, and then turned to Astravia, who was right there at his side as always. “What do you think?” he asked her softly.

“This town lacks the population to warrant a full fledged aqueduct,” Astravia answered plainly, stunning the elders as soon as she spoke and eliciting a number of cold stares given the fact that she was treading on a pet dream project of theirs.

“But if we had one, wouldn’t that help convince people to move up here?” one elder suggested.

“Aqueducts are man made fixtures and as such not a natural feature of the landscape. The kind you are eluding to would likely need to be at least twenty feet high running through the middle of town at a slight decline. I would recommend not more than two degrees because of the rate of water consumption, however, if you did grow in population, you would be forced to rebuild the aqueduct regardless because a higher rate of water flow would be needed to supply the residents. Moreover, the only suitable location to begin the aqueduct would be at least a mile and a half to the north east of here to divert water at a suitable elevation so as to take advantage of gravity rather than artificial means. Because of this, there is no suitable road through town whereby you can easily run the aqueduct from that direction, meaning this structure would need to either run directly over or through the homes of a number of residents. The alternative would be to build the aqueduct to follow the course of the river for a little less than a mile before altering the direction back toward town. Regardless, the only suitable location for the reservoir would be in the town square, which it would naturally replace. Another issue is that you could build an aqueduct that would last millennia, however in order for it to work properly, it will require daily maintenance.”

Literally every jaw in the room aside from Maceo’s dropped so hard it nearly hit the floor as Astravia explained her reasoning, which none of them obviously had any hope of rebutting for various reasons.

“Well, they’ve got their hearts set on an aqueduct.”

“I keep telling you Maceo not to coddle their dreams so much. This particular feature is not pragmatic here. They have the water running directly through town, there is no need to get greedy.”

“But we still have everyone going to the same location to gather water. It gets very crowded there, especially when we have visitors,” the lead elder argued. “Like for the spring festival, people are already starting to arrive hoping to catch the first magician show.”

“Maybe a simpler solution?” Maceo suggested to Astravia, who nodded. “How about rills on the North and South sides of town and one in the center?”

“Yes, that would work quite well,” Astravia answered. “Also, given the high availability of gravel and sand to the east of here, they would do well to start each of the rills with those so that they can filter unsavory elements from the river before it is diverted into the reservoirs they will need.”

Again, the elders were bowled over not only by Astravia’s extraordinary knowledge, but also how candid and convincing she was.

“What the hell is a rill?” one elder asked Astravia, as the attention suddenly shifted away from Maceo and toward Astravia as the expert in the room.

The discussion was very fruitful, and also illuminating as to Astravia’s value beyond just an extremely pretty face. In the end, the town decided to take her up on all of her advice and planned accordingly, looking to get the local craftsmen in for further discussions on how to achieve their new goals. Once the elders had discovered how knowledgeable and insightful Astravia was, word began to spread around town about her and people increasingly approached her seeking her advice.

Of course, not all was perfect. The largest downside came in the form of a very old problem for Astravia. The silver lining for this was the fact that her fears of her appeal diminishing with the rest of her body proved to be completely unfounded. Quite to the contrary, actually, as she began drawing intense unsolicited attention at a much faster rate than even she was accustomed to. She began to accumulate lustful gazes much more quickly than anticipated and it was exactly as Maceo had suggested: it seemed more likely that this particular attribute hadn’t been diminished in the least. It was instead concentrated and within a couple days, a large portion of the men in town were beginning to behave much like feral dogs responding to a bitch in heat. Also interestingly, women began to respond to Maceo in much the same way, though to a much lesser extent than with Astravia.

As a result, Maceo insisted they take an entire day to themselves away from town. Unfortunately for them, Rhona invited herself along in order to search for new medicinal herbs, which she had run low on over the course of the winter. On the whole, the day was actually a rather pleasant one, though Astravia was quite perturbed to find herself needing to physically remove Rhona’s hands from his body twice when Rhona found herself unwittingly pawing him up lustfully.

That evening, they discussed in depth in bed before going to sleep and examined their options. In the end, Astravia decided that the best option was to use a mortal sized amulet she had brought with in case of emergency that dampened her scent to the opposite sex and that she had used in past engagements when she’d traveled amongst mortals for more than a few days at a time incognito.

Interestingly, the amulet only partially worked and they found themselves struggling to decide exactly how to proceed. Astravia’s preference was actually to step herself out of time and return to the temple to fashion a new, more potent version, however in her shrunken state even transformed into her hawk form the trip was a much more taxing one than it had been before especially given the fact that simply slipping out of time was now a full workout for her. On top of all of that, she really would prefer Maceo’s assistance in performing this task, however she was no longer strong enough to pull another outside of time along with her anymore.

In the end, Astravia was able to teach Maceo a new spell that he was able to use with the combination of his new innate abilities as well as what they had on hand in ingredients to temporarily magnify the effects of her amulet. So long as Astravia was careful, she would be able to milk the amulet’s power for the duration of their stay, however Maceo was on his own in regards to his similar problem.

Aside from these minor issues, Astravia found herself enjoying more and more of her side trip among the mortals and actually loosening up compared to her normally regally aloof self. The main ingredients to this success were actually Rhona and Elaheh, who latched onto her and took her to literally every place they could imagine in town in a near sprint. Their exuberance was such that Astravia actually found herself tittering and playing so much that the three of them behaved much more like young girls, rather than the women they were. In fact, Elaheh’s mother did make it a point to scold them on this exact issue, but Elaheh blew her off and only encouraged her friends even more in this regard.

Not that Maceo minded, even though as Astravia’s sworn guardian he was literally being dragged to and fro constantly by the diminutive goddess who now stood less than collarbone high to him.

On the third evening of the festival, Elaheh invited Maceo and Astravia to dinner with her entire family (which now included Rhona as an unofficial adoptee to their family) and they pulled out all the stops to create the best meal they could make in celebration.

By this point, Astravia was nearly completely lost in the rush of sensations and emotions that had practically run amok given the side effects of her shrinking as well as Elaheh’s infectious exuberance. Over dinner, they laughed and bantered and completely forgot all of the serious issues, which Astravia was quickly gaining a reputation for being able to solve with little thought. Maceo watched quietly with satisfaction as finally, albeit briefly, all of the eons of despair and melancholy heaped on her by her previous marriage finally dissipated and in that brief evening, Astravia was absolutely indistinguishable from any mortal teenage girl.

At one point, she was so lost in the experience of it all that in the middle of dinner, she tried a dumpling that Elaheh’s mother had made and she nearly fell out of her seat, staring unbelievingly at it and letting slip an ecstatic, but also incredibly undignified noise. “I have never had anything that tasted this GOOD before!” she squealed, which was technically true given the fact that the intensity of her sense of taste was off the charts compared to how it normally was.

Elaheh’s mother and grandmother both looked at each other skeptically. Maceo looked over to Elaheh’s husband only to receive a cold glare, which Maceo rolled his eyes at while Astravia and the two younger women immediately forgot the outburst and moved on to ever increasingly immature banter and games.

That evening after several rounds of after dinner games among the ladies, Astravia was unbelievably excited and affectionate despite the fact that Maceo, being still at least partially mortal, was increasingly fatigued from running around constantly the last several days in every possible direction. She climbed on top of him the moment they laid down together and she began kissing him passionately and fervently, practically forcing him to make out with her up until the point where it was obvious that he was slipping in terms of his ability to stay awake.

She grinned mischievously at him, then pulled her blouse down, exposing her D-cup breasts and placed his hands on them while wagging her torso to alternately press each breast into his hands. Then after playing like this and Astravia moaning nearly uncontrollably from the sensation of his hands kneading her breasts, his eyes went wide as both breasts suddenly began expanding slowly and steadily, overfilling in his hands and beyond. As they passed a full F-cup and her nipple swelled thicker than his thumb, she grinned and grabbed his face in both hands and kissed him until they finally swelled out to their normal proportions, both of which were proudly larger than his head.

“Did you miss them, beloved?” Astravia asked him when she finally pulled back from their kiss.

“You have no idea,” Maceo answered slyly.

“Show me,” she whispered, then guided a nipple up to his lips. “I hope you do not mind, but I am so aroused right now, there is no way I can withhold my milk from your lips.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Very,” she growled at him, and then pressed her nipple into his mouth, then closed her eyes while crawling on top of him. She was quite pleased with herself until the instant his tongue first flicked her nipple and he began sucking and then she let out a barely contained, stuttering moan and her arms gave out, falling down on top of him and smothering him in her breasts.

“S-s-soo-oo g-goood,” she gasped as her body twitched from the overwhelming sensations of her shrunken body being sexually excited for the first time since arriving at her current height of 4’10”. The feeling was so intense that as the milk flowed freely out and into his mouth, she squeezed her thighs together and found herself involuntarily bucking her hips against him.

Her arousal continued to spike until she could hardly take it any longer and she pulled her breast from his mouth only to discover the last remnants of his consciousness were already fading rapidly. She whined ever so softly, but smiled at him and petted his hair.

“Well, I was fully aware that my milk makes him sleepy and he was already worn out,” she consoled herself. “And his need for sleep has already decreased. There will be other opportunities,” she reasoned. She then pulled his arm around her and curled up against his body, allowing herself to fall asleep as well.

At mid day of the fourth day of the festival, Astravia and Maceo were sitting by the river enjoying lunch when a crowd of familiar faces approached and as they drew near separated out into two separate groups, one being the men, and the other the women.

“Oh,” Maceo muttered. “Uh…” he stalled, apparently understanding exactly what their intention was. Astravia, however was for once a little slower on the uptake.

“It’s time,” Elaheh cheerfully announced.

“Time for what?” Astravia asked innocently enough.

“Time for bachelor and bachelorette to separate,” Elaheh answered with a smile. Astravia’s eyes widened to an extraordinary degree and her face lost its color as she was suddenly face to face with the loss of her lover and protector.

“What?” she asked in a panicked voice.

“Now we know how attached you are to Maceo, but we’ll take perfect care of you,”

“This really isn’t necessary,” Maceo interjected, only to have Gaeten and his elder friend step in and pull on him.

“Yes it is,” the elder informed him. “You know how important it is for the ladies to prepare the bride.”

“What?” Astravia asked again, even more panicked than before. “Oh, yes… your customs. No, that is perfectly alright. I am from another region than yours originally. Our customs are much different,” she insisted nervously.

“You’re not in that region. You’re in ours and in this one, we need an entire day to prepare you,” Elaheh’s mother informed her.

“No really, I would prefer…”

“Avia, there’s no need to worry so much. We’re all friends here,” Elaheh assured Astravia, taking both of her hands. “This is important. It’s more important for us than it would be for you, even if you were originally from here.”

“No, you do not understand, I… that is, Maceo…”

“I understand you recently went through something traumatic, and I know about some of the things from the past that seriously hurt you, but you’re in good hands. Now come on. We’re starting off with a bath for you.”

“No, I am perfectly clean,” Astravia insisted, pulling back and seeking the shelter of her lover once more, but Elaheh refused to let go of her. “I bathed just this morning.”

“Avia,” Elaheh’s grandmother added, kneeling down to the shrunken goddess, “we’ve all been talking and you are the most lovely woman we’ve ever seen pass through here, but we’re all in agreement, this dependence on Maceo isn’t healthy. You haven’t been more than a couple feet from him since you got here and… well, when you agreed to let us marry you, you must have known that this was part of the ceremony.”

“I… that is…”

“Did you know about our customs in advance, or didn’t you?” Usha pressed.

“I did, but…”

“No buts,” Usha ordered. “Say your goodbyes because it’s time to go. You’ll see him tomorrow at the alter.

“Maceo, do not simply sit there while they attempt to abscond me,” Astravia begged Maceo. Maceo seemed quite conflicted, but after a moment of thought he pushed Gaeten and the elder aside with almost no effort despite how hard they pushed, surprising them both and then pried Elaheh’s hands free of Astravia.

“You know you shouldn’t have sprung this on her,” Maceo lectured them gently.

“It’s hardly a surprise,” Usha fired back. “Even down on the coast where you were born you know this is normal.”

“You knew this wasn’t where her mind was at and you’re trying to make a point. You want me to trust you with her safety for an entire day, but you come rolling in here like this demanding she just up and follow you instantly? Hide behind customs all you want, but you think you’re teaching her a lesson. If you never believe another word out of my mouth, believe me when I say you have no business thinking you hold any kind of moral ground over her.”

Maceo was quite forceful as he spoke to them and Usha even went so far as to attempt to shove Maceo out of the way but was stunned when she realized that pushing him was like trying to push a stone wall.

“Maceo, you know how important this is,” she said, now bordering on whining.

“Yeah I do,” he admitted. “I never really thought much about getting married, though so it’s not something I was really thinking about. Look, I will talk to her, but you are not ever taking her against her will anywhere, is that clear? And I don’t ever want to hear you try to pressure her again. She’s not dependant on me, there are just some personal things going on that we don’t want to go into. Let me talk to her and I’ll let you know what she decides,” Maceo said, instantly offering Astravia the relief she so desperately needed.

The crowd, not expecting such an impenetrable resistance, quietly stepped back and allowed Maceo to turn to Astravia and take her arm, leading her away from them to speak in private just upstream from them.

“I was so terrified you would not stand up for me,” Astravia said with immeasurable gratitude, leaning up to kiss him, though much to her disappointment, the kiss was brief. “Please tell me you are not actually entertaining their request,” she whispered up at him.

“I said I would, so now I have to,” Maceo answered firmly.

“But you swore to me Maceo!” she pleaded to him.

“I swore to protect you. Do you honestly think these women are a threat to you? Only one of them has any magic and she’s captivated by you.”

“But Maceo!”

“Astravia,” Maceo interrupted her softly, but still firmly. “You know how important this is to my people.”

“They are not your people any longer!” she whined. “You have moved beyond them!”

“They’ll always be my people,” Maceo answered her. “Just like you’ll always be the light of my life and the greatest love I could ever imagine.”

“You are buttering me up,” she pouted. “That does not change the fact that you swore you would protect me!”

“Enough,” Maceo ordered her. She opened her mouth to fight further, but just before she uttered her first syllable, she stopped, thinking back on her own promises to him. “I’m not going to force you,” he told her, which offered her immense relief once again. “And I’m not going to order it. But what I do expect is that you honestly consider their request. Half of them are followers of you who’ve been lying in wait for your return and they would do anything for you and have kept that faith clandestine so that their religion didn’t completely die out. They may not realize who you really are, but doesn’t that count for something?”

“Of course it does, but Maceo, that only increases the risk! They do not know my true identity, which means they could turn on me in an instant!”

“We’ve been watching and helping these people for a year. Do you honestly think they would do that to either of us?”

“I understand, but Maceo… they are so… so…” she struggled.

“So what?”

“So huge,” she admitted in a whisper while staring down at her shaking hands. “A few weeks ago, they would have all been at best knee high to me and now almost all of them tower above me. Even the women! Do you have any idea how it feels to be looked down on by your own creations?”

“Do you feel like I look down on you?”

“That is different!” she hissed.

“I came from the same mold they all did.”

“But you are different!”

“Astravia, they don’t know who you are, they have no idea of your true power, even at the size you’re at right now and yet they still adore you. Be reasonable. If you’re going to tell them no, then I want another answer other than your current size.”

“What other answer could there be?” she asked. “I should be able to pick up any one of them with a single hand as though they were my dolls, but instead, I could not lift a single one with my entire body thrown in to it! Maceo, I barely weigh more than one hundred pounds now!”

“And you’re still the most powerful magic user this world has ever known,” Maceo countered. “Breathe,” he commanded. She scowled, but did as asked, relaxing, albeit only slightly. “Relax and consider a few things,” he told her. She nodded, closed her eyes and continued to breath slowly and deeply. “I haven’t really tested this new strength, but I honestly feel like I’m living in a box made of parchment. Answer me honestly, if I wanted to, even if I was several houses away, could I tear through the walls to go directly to you?”

“Quite easily,” she answered dutifully.

“And I know you’ve been quiet about this, but you have access to my mind whenever you want, don’t you?” She grimaced, but nodded her head, confirming his suspicions. “How fast could I be there if you called to me?”

“Seconds,” she admitted. “But in seconds…”

“You are not helpless, Astravia, shrunken or not. Not in this world. Now, consider what happens if you turn them down. You know they’ll probably cancel the ceremony. You also know they’ll take it as a personal insult.” Astravia lifted her head and looked up into his eyes, then over to the waiting crowd.

“I do not like this tradition of yours, separating the bride and groom for an entire day before a wedding. Especially not a make believe wedding!”

“I’m not making believe. I see it as an official wedding.”

“Oh Maceo…”

“When will we ever get a chance like this? With your race? With others on this world?” Astravia growled, but didn’t otherwise argue. “No one is qualified to oversee your wedding, but so what? Is all that matters rank and hierarchy?”

“All that matters is that I love you and I commit my heart to you,” she answered him. “How far do you honestly wish to take this game of theirs?”

“You’re not a game Astravia,” Maceo answered her. “And I will take it as far as I am able until I draw my last breath.” Astravia couldn’t help but smile despite her anxiety, and then looked at the crowd again.

“Maceo… they wish to see me naked. They wish to see me shrunken and naked,” she said in a timid voice while her skin turned a bright red again.

“They don’t know you’re shrunken. You do know there are other women your height in this world, right? The bath is a part of the custom to prepare you to be as beautiful as you can be for the wedding. And you won’t be the only one naked there.”

“I cannot,” she said, staring up to him again. “I am sorry, but I cannot. The stress is simply too much.”

“Alright,” Maceo agreed with a smile and then leaned down to kiss her. “I’ll tell them.” Astravia leaned back as if she were surprised.

“That is all?” she asked him.

“Why? Did you have something else to add?”

“No…”

“Then that’s it. I told you, I’m not going to force you. If this is what you want, then that’s it.” Astravia gulped and smiled both with relief as well as confusion, then watched as he turned to walk away from her and deliver the bad news. She clutched her hands together and stared, but before his third step away from her, she reached out to him.

“Wait,” she called out in just above a whisper.

He stopped and turned back, looking at her, still smiling. She continued to stare at him reaching out to him, so he turned back and took her hand.

“I very much do wish an actual wedding with you,” she confided. “A chance to stand at an alter and exchange vows to each other in the presence of loved ones. And these are the closest we have to that.”

“You said it’s too stressful. I’m not going to push you into it. It’s fine. Fate will give us opportunities for other things,” he assured her.

Astravia continued to stare up at him with a grateful smile and eyes. Her mouth hung partially open as though an entire tome was waiting within her to be released describing something essential that needed to be shared, but she continued to hesitate. “They will cancel the wedding if I refuse,” she said, pondering her decision much more heavily now.

“You made your decision, and I respect it. Let’s not dwell on it,” he told her firmly. Her smile grew and then she looked around him at the waiting crowd, some of whom were interested in the outcome of this little drama session, others becoming impatient and irritated.

“I want this,” she finally told him in a hushed voice. “I have always wanted this. More than you can know.” He opened his mouth to interrupt her again, but this time she took her hand and lifted it well above her head to his lips, bidding them to remain silent. “I will find the courage and I will do it,” she committed.

Maceo looked down at the petite little goddess and ran his fingers through her hair. “You’re sure?” he asked her softly, to which she nodded, much more calmly now. His smile widened now too and he considered the situation anew again. Astravia then took his hand and led him back to the crowd herself where she presented herself to Elaheh’s grandmother and took the elderly woman’s hand. Finally, she looked up at Maceo with trembling eyes.

“I will see you tomorrow?” she asked him.

“See you tomorrow.”

“You will not leave me at the alter standing there, will you?”

“I’ll be there. Have fun,” he said, and then bent down to kiss her. As the group of women began to depart with Astravia, Maceo reached out and grabbed Elaheh, stopping her. “I know the drama here is unbelievably high, but please trust me on this. Where she comes from, they don’t do anything like this. She’s way outside of her comfort zone here and she’s already dealing with a lot more than you can imagine.”

“We’ll take good care of her,” Elaheh promised him.

“A tip?”

“Sure, anything!”

“This will sound ridiculous, but treat her like a queen. I’m not exaggerating here, and it’s not any kind of metaphor. I know how conceited that sounds but…”

“Alright,” Elaheh laughed, “we’ll be the best servants to her highness she’s ever had,” Elaheh tittered, and then they were off.

[CKent45]

The customs of this region on this primitive little world were hardly equal. Maceo was free to do whatever he pleased while he was separated from Astravia, while Astravia would be subject to a number of elaborate activities to prepare her for her big day. Maceo would be expected to provide food and drink for the men closest to him in a final bachelor party that evening, but the location would be up to Gaeten in this case to arrange, though it was a forgone conclusion that they would be booking out the tavern.

In short, Maceo had an incredible amount of free time on his hands, which was not something he was particularly looking forward to. He chose to take a seat for the first part of the afternoon under a tree not far from Elaheh’s childhood home where Astravia was being tended to where he could respond quickly if need be.

Of course, Astravia didn’t wait long to take him up on his offer and reached out telepathically sharing the images of the goings on around her at Elaheh’s childhood home and also asking him nervously where he was. Astravia seemed genuinely happy to hear that he’d chosen to relax only a few dozen yards from the front door of where she had been absconded to, though she felt a bit guilty that he was skipping lunch on her behalf to remain close by.

A short while later, some of the younger teenagers spotted him and approached, asking questions about his blacksmithing work and where he had learned his skills. Maceo didn’t tell them much more than he’d told the other locals, but it proved to be more than enough to wet their appetites and not long into the conversation, they asked him for a lesson in metalworking. Maceo was obviously hesitant, and it didn’t help that one teen directly addressed the fact that they had heard about the commotion down at the river bank and that he was obviously resting at the spot he’d chosen because he was staying close by to Astravia.

They pressed him on the reasoning why she was so dependant on him, refusing to accept his soft deflections to the tune of “she’s going through a lot right now.”

Ultimately, Astravia, who had kept an open eye through his mind realized the trouble her insistence on him being near at all times was causing, as well as what further escalation it might lead to. Because of this, she asked him to humor the teenagers’ request, but also requested that he keep his mind open to her so that they could converse mentally the entire time he was away.

Meanwhile, Astravia was stalling the beginnings of the first step of her ritual- a ceremonial bath.

This was hardly the first time Astravia had engaged in such a thing, though she normally engaged in much more extravagant settings. The main differentiating factor in this case was that Astravia was stripping naked in front of mortals, which only until very recently would have never been considered under any circumstances.

Normally, the issue of a mortal wanting to see her nude was a problem limited to male mortals attempting to sneak a peak at something they had no right to pine after. Rarely, she’d encountered women who had peeped on her for lustful reasons, and she’d treated them the same as any man who’d infringed upon her privacy similarly. Her body was not to be coveted lustfully by mortals; this was an absolute. Normally, she turned such interlopers into stone, but she was also known to use various curses as well.

In regards to run of the mill mortal women who wouldn’t receive the same gratification from her nudity? It was not nearly as punishable an offense, but they too were forbidden from seeing Astravia’s body in full. There were numerous reasons for this, but one of the most irritating purposes for this restriction was exactly what she was faced with now. She’d stalled as long as she was able and now Elaheh and a pair of maidens close to her had come to retrieve her, only to be disappointed that she had not disrobed yet.

A moment later, she was in the main room surrounded by mortal women, most of whom towered above her, and Elaheh’s grandmother was struggling with her irritation over the fact that Astravia was continuing to resist their traditions. However, after a talk with her granddaughter, she was taking Maceo’s advice to heart and resisting the temptation to scold the miniaturized goddess.

In the end, it was this elderly woman who stepped forward, took both of Astravia’s hands in hers and sighed heavily. “I don’t know why you’re so shy,” Usha told her as patiently as she could, “but if someone has to start this off, it might as well be me. After all, who has more to be ashamed of than me with my old, wrinkled skin?”

The elderly woman then let go of Astravia’s hands and pulled her own dress off, then folded it neatly and set it aside, standing before Astravia fully nude.

Having started things off, the other women now began to strip until Astravia was the only one still clothed in the direct center of a room filled with naked mortal women. “Come,” Usha insisted. “We only have so much time.”

Astravia’s brow crinkled, but finally she decided to go along with their game and she nodded, pulling the straps of her dress over her shoulders. She then began pulling and shimmying the dress down her body, bending as she went until she could step out of her clothing with ease.

Rhona took the dress from her and then Astravia stood up, struggling to keep her hands from covering her and gulping repeatedly. The response was unfortunately predictable.

Every eye in the room went wide, staring at skin that was so soft it practically defied belief and curves to match. Her hips were full and round, even more so than was implied by the dresses she wore, her legs supple and perfectly shaped, her breasts full and massive for her tiny frame, despite her intentionally shrinking them to appear more realistic to mortal standards and they were more firm and more pert than even the younger women with smaller breasts in attendance. Despite her full, round figure, her skin was perfectly smooth without even a hint of a divet that normally accompanied such figures. Several jaws dropped and one woman, only recently eighteen herself shook her head in disbelief at the beauty presented. Astravia didn’t even have a single stretch mark, despite how full her figure was and how full her breasts were on her petite form.

“That is not fair,” the young woman complained.

“You’ve got that right,” Usha uttered in agreement, staring slack jawed at the shrunken Astravia.

Astravia grimaced and gulped, then took a deep breath, looking around the room and seeing nothing but envy in every eye locked on her. Envy and in most eyes also a certain level of rising bitterness. It was all too predictable a response.

Then most of the women, even the younger and most beautiful among them began covering their own bodies with their hands, now suddenly ashamed given the differences. In reality, even with her physical attributes muted in the mortal form, her current appearance was nearly unattainable for mere mortals, and for the extremely select few who did attain it, that achievement was fleeting and exceedingly temporary in nature.

“Even in my prime, I never looked that good,” Elaheh’s mother complained to several murmurs in agreement.

“Alright, alright!” Usha yelled, demanding the immediate attention of the crowd as Astravia merely stood straight with her hands in fists and turning a brighter and brighter red. “You know what? I did meet a woman once when I was young who had a body almost as beautiful as hers, only the difference was she knew it and she held it over everyone’s heads. At least Avia has the humility to not lord her amazing luck over us.”

“Each of you is beautiful in your own way,” Astravia told them all. “Even the elderly.” This wasn’t the first time she’d told mortal women these exact same words, but it was the first under these circumstances. “Do your husbands still not rise when they view you like this?” A few looked around the room, nodding to each other, though most were still struck with jealous eyes that were threatening to turn greener than Astravia’s.

“You heard her. No one has anything to be ashamed of here,” Usha ordered the crowd. “Some of us less than others,” she muttered glancing down at Astravia again before shaking herself back to her mission once more.

“I doubt Astravia herself could have a body that good,” Elaheh’s older sister muttered, completely missing the irony of her statement.

“Enough!” Elaheh burst out, grabbing everyone’s attention immediately. “Why don’t we just be happy for her? I’m sure if she could, she’d share what she was given with us, but the world just doesn’t work that way. Instead of making her feel self conscious, maybe use it as a reminder that we all have to look after our appearances a little better.”

There were a few scowls given her comment but for the most part, the group agreed and they finally settled down. Astravia turned and looked up at Elaheh, who was now standing head and shoulders above her with a hand on Astravia’s shoulder and she reached back, squeezing Elaheh’s hand as thanks for her encouragement.

The women then distributed towels amongst each other and walked together out behind the house where there was a path that lead down to a hot spring where all the ladies could wade in and relax. While they were there, Maceo was over at an old run down forge showing the boys he’d met how to get it running again when he saw another group of boys walking as if they were sneaking somewhere. Maceo stood up and looked at them and watched as they suspiciously looked around themselves, then ducked between two houses.

“I’ll be right back,” Maceo told his students, then strode off quickly in pursuit. He caught up to them as they reached a wall outside of the hot spring where the women had gathered and then stood with his arms folded as they picked at a loose stone in the wall. Finally, he shook his head and walked out into the open.

“If you do this,” he warned loudly, “I guarantee you will regret it.” His warning was loud enough that the boisterous conversation of the ladies on the other side suddenly disappeared and the boys all turned and looked at Maceo with red faces, though their reaction was more of anger than embarrassment.

“Go away,” one hissed at Maceo.

“You first,” Maceo bellowed back. Now the noise on the other side of the wall was more nervous murmuring than idle chit chatting. “You’ve got no business here.”

“You don’t even live here,” another hissed at Maceo. “It’s none of your business!”

“You peeping on my bride is absolutely my business,” Maceo threatened, now forgoing any attempt to allow them to leave without bruising their egos. Suddenly, the noise on the other side of the wall was commotion and bustling as the women ran out of the spring to cover themselves up.

“Fuck off old man!” One brazen teen yelled at Maceo, puffing his chest to cover his damaged ego.

“Old man?” Maceo asked back shaking his head. “Alright, who are your parents?” Maceo asked. The teens now approached and surrounded Maceo, determined to show him who was boss. “Well? Are you gonna waste my whole day or are you going to take a swing?” he asked them boldly. On the other side of the wall, the murmuring returned and the women hid from view. That is all the women but Astravia.

Astravia relaxed and smiled, not simply for the fact that she was currently watching the scene unfold outside their refuge through Maceo’s eyes, but also assured in the knowledge that her lover was more than capable of defending her honor.

The boys all looked at each other, uncertain given Maceo’s unwavering confidence despite being so heavily outnumbered, but one decided to take the lead and drew back, then swung at Maceo with all his strength only to have his fist caught in Maceo’s palm well before it struck him. The boys nearly fell over themselves as Maceo stared at the brazen youth, holding him in place by simply squeezing the boy’s fist in his hand. The boy attempted to pull free, but found himself stuck and unable to pry himself out of Maceo’s grip no matter how hard he tried.

Once Maceo had made his point, he decided it was time to make another and then squeezed the boy’s fist until his knees completely buckled from the pain and he cried out for mercy, though Maceo continued his lesson until he was certain it had been received by all present.

Back near the hot springs, Astravia finally stood from the springs and allowed the water to run off of her body, then calmly walked out toward her towel. She wrapped it around her body and then proceeded toward a nearby gate when Elaheh’s mother and grandmother realized what she had in mind and rushed to stop her, followed closely by Rhona and Elaheh.

“No, you can’t see him until tomorrow,” Elaheh warned her.

“That was before rapscallions attempted to steal glances upon me,” Astravia dismissed coldly.

“I’ll deal with it,” Elaheh promised and the other women dashed in to keep Astravia behind. Elaheh wrapped an extra towel around herself and then went to the gate. She cracked it open and peeked through to see Maceo standing in the open with a group of boys on their knees in front of him. “What’s going on?” she asked Maceo.

“These boys just wanted to get a peak at you all in the hot spring,” Maceo informed her, and finally embarrassment reached them and they lowered their heads in shame. “There’s a loose set of stones in the wall over there,” Maceo added, pointing toward the spot the boys had been messing with, “which tells me they’ve done this before.”

Elaheh leaned her head out the gate and looked where Maceo was pointing and then rolled her eyes.

“Let me see them,” she ordered Maceo, who then ordered the boys to their feet so that Elaheh could get a decent look at them. When they approached, she sighed and shook her head. “I know all of them. In fact, that one’s mother is here with us,” she informed Maceo. “Pina, come here!” Elaheh called out.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” came a scream from a woman behind the wall. A moment later, another face peered through the gate with Elaheh and her eyes immediately filled with rage as she screamed and berated her son, ordering him to report back to his father immediately.

“Well, let’s go then,” Maceo ordered the scoundrels, then shoved on two backs to prod them forward.

“I’m surprised you didn’t want to sneak a peak yourself,” Elaheh teased Maceo in an obvious test.

“Of course I wanted to,” Maceo openly admitted, shocking Elaheh and all the women listening curiously behind the wall. “But I want my bride’s respect more,” he concluded and then herded the children off. “Make sure you cover the other side of the wall where that hole is,” he warned over his shoulder as he walked away. “You brats have no idea how easy you’re getting off,” he growled finally as they departed. Elaheh raised an eyebrow at this last comment, but didn’t seem to know what to make of it.

Once the potential hole in the wall was covered, the ladies then went back to their more pressing business of bathing and soothing their nerves in hot water.

For Astravia, the treatment she received was pleasant, but hardly extraordinary for one such as her. She was soaked in the hot spring waters for nearly an hour, which the other ladies were amazed she could take so easily while they were getting dizzy after merely twenty minutes. This bath was technically for Astravia, being she was the bride to be, but the entire group of women (around twenty of them) also partook, relaxing, lounging, chatting, sipping on cool drinks and soothing their stresses and problems away.

While they were there, one young woman asked Astravia about her previous marriage, which she’d heard of from Elaheh. Astravia was leaning back in the hot spring, practically floating in the steaming hot water and opened her eyes to stare at the young lady.

“Furaha I told you to not bother her about it,” Elaheh scolded her.

“It’s a legitimate question,” the young lady argued. “I mean look at her! She’s so young and yet she’s already been married before.”

“I am not as young as you may think I look,” Astravia answered her, and then winced slightly, realizing the jar of worms she’d just opened.

“How old are you, then?” Elaheh’s mother asked her.

“It is rude for one to ask a lady her age,” Astravia attempted to recover, but Elaheh’s mother was having none of it.

“It’s rude for a man to ask that. You’re among ladies here. There’s no harm in telling us something so basic about yourself.”

“So you can gossip it amongst your entire town?” Astravia laughed back nervously.

“Well that’s a rude come back,” Elaheh’s mother told her sharply, but still maintained her jovial edge.

“Yeah, Avia. How old are you?” another middle-aged lady asked. Astravia’s brow crinkled. This was exactly why she didn’t mingle amongst mortals while in disguise for long.

“Shy about your body, shy about your age,” Elaheh’s grandmother joked and waded nearer to the shrunken goddess. “Well, like I said before: at least someone as beautiful as you can understand humility.”

“I cherish humility,” Astravia answered her. “Even when it may appear that I do not, I do strive to maintain it.”

“I still want to know,” the middle aged woman pressed on, despite a nasty glare from Elaheh. Rhona, however, seemed to be in on the overwhelming curiosity.

“Come on Avia. Why don’t you just tell us? I can keep a secret at least.” Astravia turned to Rhona and smiled. It was appearing that Astravia was going to need to lie, which she fervently preferred not to do.

“I assure you, I am fully adult,” Astravia answered them in a final bid to keep from openly lying to them.

“Obviously,” one young woman said sarcastically. “I’ve never even heard of a fifteen year old as developed as you, but that doesn’t answer our question.” Astravia took a deep breath, stalling for time to decide just what number they could believe that was less than 87 million years old.

“She’s at least eighteen,” another woman chimed in, “but I’ll be a horses uncle if she’s a day over nineteen.

“I am certainly older than nineteen,” Astravia answered her honestly, choosing to see if she could milk their guessing game a little further.

“Twenty then,” another woman asked her. Astravia decided to think on it for just a second before deciding that she would see if they could settle on an age they could believe themselves. She lifted her hand up to the surface and pointed a finger skyward. “REALLY?” the woman asked, stunned.

“Give us a clue at least!” Rhona asked her.

“Older than twenty by more than you would guess,” Astravia teased them, though her heart was pounding quite nervously surrounded by these towering, giant mortals who were interrogating her most private details.

“Twenty two,” another woman suggested. Astravia looked at her and wavered, pondering whether she could push it any further. Normally, the youthful appearance of being a goddess was a blessing, but right now it was feeling more like a curse. “Twenty three?” she asked in shock, her jaw dropping. This was obviously older than this young woman was at this moment in time. Astravia smiled nervously and blushed, which interestingly seemed to be enough to cement the age in the minds of her interrogators.

“NO WAY!” one middle aged woman screamed.

“What’s your secret?” another young woman asked who was twenty-five.

“I normally have a list of certain things I do for my appearance,” Astravia answered nervously.

“I’m only two years older than you and I look like a hag!” the same woman complained.

“You are beautiful and in your prime,” Astravia laughed.

“Are you going to teach us how to not look so ragged or not?” a middle aged woman asked her in frustration, only to earn a nasty scowl from Elaheh’s grandmother.

“Well, we do have nearly an entire day,” Astravia decided. “If it will sooth your anger somewhat, I could tell you a few things that would help.” All eyes in the pool went wide and suddenly every woman in attendance suddenly rushed in around her, starved for her knowledge, startling her and very nearly giving her a full fledged panic attack until Elaheh lunged in between Astravia and the nearest woman to her angrily waving them away.

“What did I tell you all?” she asked angrily. There were some looks of mild guilt, but still mostly their greed on how to appear more youthful overrode those feelings. “Avia, I know it’s a hard subject, but would you be willing to tell them at least something about your previous marriage to help them understand?”

“You have not told them?” Astravia asked, sitting up in the water, barely managing to contain her anxiety.

“Of course not. It’s too personal. I just told them that you were married once before.”

“Oh,” Astravia said thoughtfully, then floated over to a rock she could sit on and think before sharing. “Well, he was the son of our king,” Astravia answered. “He was extremely charming and quite attractive. There was not a single lady among my people that would not have wanted him. He was intelligent and had a natural ability to anticipate all of my desires. He pursued me, and though I knew he had a reputation, I believed him when he said I was the only one for him. We were barely married for any time at all before I knew for certain he was cheating on me,” she explained to them. All of the ladies there suddenly became awash with sympathy and lowered themselves in the water, drawing around her to listen to her story.

“At first, I told myself that… I will only say that I did not always value humility as I do now. At the time, I told myself that the women he gallivanted about with were beneath us and because of that they were little more than toys. I told myself that it meant nothing because I did not value women in their station. It was not until he sired a child with one of his flings and treated that child with nearly the same regard as his legitimate ones that I began to question that belief.”

“Oh Avia,” one young woman cooed with sympathy and reached forward, placing a hand on her bare thigh with sad and compassionate eyes. This was another first for Astravia and she stared at the hand that rested on her with a confused expression. Not only was she sitting here naked in the presence of mortals, one had deemed herself fitting to actually touch her intentionally and to allow that touch to linger.

Obviously it was meant as a gesture to comfort her, but it was strange nonetheless. Not only because of the fact that she was merely a mortal, but also because in all honesty, goddesses did not behave similarly amongst each other in any manner.

She was still in the midst of contemplating this unusual gesture when she felt another hand come to rest on her arm and turned to see Elaheh’s mother sitting by her side with an almost identical expression. Then another hand from another middle aged woman on her left and then Elaheh’s arms wrapped gently around her from behind as her young mortal friend hugged her. Then the unthinkable happened and Astravia’s eyes began filling with tears as more hands gently began resting on her naked body, each one attempting to sooth her damaged heart and those tears overwhelmed her and she was suddenly crying openly in front of them all.

“You don’t let yourself feel it, do you?” Usha asked Astravia from nearby. Astravia attempted to smile only to fail and then wiped the tears from her eyes.

“It has become normal,” Astravia answered, shaking her head. “It is part of my existence now.”

“This isn’t good,” Usha told her in a hushed tone and petted the side of Astravia’s head. Strangely, these were only mortals, temporary and limited beings that could never have any real comprehension of the millions of years of infidelity and abuse she’d experienced, even if she were fully open with them. And yet, here they were, pouring their own hearts out in a way that she’d never received from her own kind. The best she’d received from any other goddess was silence in the face of her humiliation. She’d always been thankful for that small offer of respect, to not lord over her shame to her face, but she’d never received more than that, and often times that small offer was merely out of fear because of Astravia’s power and station.

Of course, this was exactly the reason that Astravia had chosen this backwards little world to begin with. It was rare that she came across a species as innocent or caring as this one. Typically, the races her kind had seeded quickly developed many of the less kind qualities of their creators, but for some reason this one had clung to these traits longer than normal.

This was exactly what she had come here for. The only difference was she hadn’t planned on receiving it so closely and intimately.

“You’re starting a new marriage still scarred by the old one,” Usha continued, shaking her head at Astravia, though her eyes were filled with sympathy. “I’m wondering if it was a good idea to coerce you into this.”

“You did not coerce me,” Astravia assured her.

“I can only imagine what you’re going through right now that’s so much worse than that that has you so skittish,” Usha said, then petted Astravia’s mane again.

“So what do we do?” Elaheh’s mother asked.

“Your daughter certainly has a way of finding beaten up strays,” Elaheh’s grandmother chuckled. Astravia could do little else other than sit and give them a confused look while she attempted to hide her displeasure at being referred to as a stray.

“Well what did you think I meant when I said she’d been married before?” Elaheh confronted.

“That he had died like your betrothed had?” Elaheh’s mother asked back.

“Well either way, you don’t think that maybe it’s a good idea to tread carefully on her old wounds?”

“I understand dear,” her grandmother assured her knowingly. “But a little bit of a heads up would have been nice.”

“Really, I am fine,” Astravia assured them.

“No you’re not,” Elaheh’s mother denied. “And that’s okay. We’re not going to push you any further on your personal demons, though. Not so close to your wedding.”

With the drama behind them the women focused on getting back to the business at hand- preparing Astravia for her wedding. Now that Astravia’s past relationship and the damage that came with it had been revealed, the women were much more empathetic to Astravia and caring toward her needs.

That is not to say that Astravia’s fears of giant mortal women swarming her and overwhelming her disappeared. Of course, she was growing more comfortable with trusting both Rhona and Elaheh. Elaheh because of her trusting and caring nature and Rhona because of her strange pull to behave loyally toward Astravia for reasons she could not articulate and also in a manner not typically consistent with her normal actions. With others (even Elaheh) Rhona continued to be a bit awkward and struggled to connect. As a result, she continued to struggle with issues of trust herself, but for some unexplainable reason she trusted Astravia implicitly and it showed in her every interaction with the shrunken goddess.

Now that Astravia was sufficiently warmed and soaked, they moved her to a bath of special salts that were supposed to help her release toxins in her body along with further relaxing her and softening her skin. Obviously the mortal women would have no idea that none of these things would have any effect on Astravia, but it did feel nice nonetheless and she was better off playing along if she wanted her real identity kept secret.

While Astravia relaxed in this second bath, several of the women traded places taking time to enjoy it’s benefits as well, just not as much as Astravia was allowed. The water wasn’t nearly as hot here, so Astravia was allowed to lounge and spend time with each lady as they rotated in and out and she chose to use that time to listen to her caretakers and ask their stories, which she remembered with a perfect memory. When that was all over, they moved her to a series of flat stone surfaces that had been heated using fires while Astravia soaked and she was laid face down where she was massaged for well over an hour by a similar rotation as before so that no single woman there became tired or fatigued and they also traded spaces on the remaining surfaces to massage each other as well.

Astravia did enjoy this, however she did have quite a bit of trouble relaxing under the hands of the giant mortals. In fact, she had enough trouble that most of the women working on massaging her little body made repeated comments regarding how tense she was. She did do her utmost to relax as much as possible, though, given this was the first massage she’d received in a decade and she was having difficulty remembering when the last time was that she’d allowed herself to go that long.

Following the massage, the ladies all toweled off and sat in a circle where they engaged in various means of beauty care for their faces and bodies. This was also the perfect time for Astravia to share some of her vast wisdom on such matters and the women there were more than a little excited to try everything Astravia offered, which included instructions on various concoctions that would help them all.

After hours of this, a pair of ladies left to collect a feast that had been prepared and delivered for them and the women sat generally wrapped in towels and talking, bantering and gossiping amongst themselves and in a way, Astravia almost felt as if she were partaking in a bath at the celestial palace amongst the goddesses.

Once they were all dressed again, they ate and celebrated and then they moved on to a ceremony that was common and quite similar to the one she’d known of centuries before when the temple was still active, asking for blessing and sanctity in the upcoming marriage.

Finally, following that, there was wine, and a great deal of it.

[CKent45]

All was going quite well, all things considered, until late in the evening it was readily apparent that most of the women were becoming rather drunk. Even the eldest women of the group let loose and didn’t bother to hold back in terms of alcohol. Before long, their hidden getaway from the rest of the world was filled with squealing, laughter and yelling and screaming, nearly all of it happy, though Astravia found herself increasingly uncomfortable with the staggering gigantic mortals swooning and stumbling all around her.

Even more concerning was watching as their inhibitions seemed to be collapsing left and right and suddenly the gentle, sympathetic touches of earlier were replaced with raucous, sloppy grabbing and poking.

Obviously none of it was meant in any kind of threatening manner, but this did little to alleviate Astravia’s growing fears and anxiety, though thankfully the women seemed drunk enough by this point that they hardly even noticed that Astravia was now so nervous around these craven giant mortals that she couldn’t stop her hands from trembling no matter how hard she tried.

The crescendo came near midnight when a pair of the younger women staggered over to Astravia who was standing near the edge of the group wearing an expression that suggested she wanted to be anywhere but there. She smiled up at them nervously but also politely, and the two women, roughly eight to nine inches taller than her, stumbled and helped each other while they grinned sloppily at the miniature goddess.

“Hey Avia,” one greeted in a heavy slur. Astravia smiled politely and awaited whatever it was they were there for to be revealed. “I just wanted to tell you how beautiful you are. Maceo is sooo lucky!”

“Well thank you,” Astravia replied sweetly and respectfully. “That is very sweet of you to say.”

“I wish I was as beautiful as you,” the other slurred. “My husband hardly even looks at me anymore.”

Astravia’s hands were shaking terribly now as the giant mortal women loomed over her uncomfortably close. “Oh, believe me, it will not be difficult for you to arouse his interest again quickly,” she assured her.

“Nawww,” she slurred back. “He likes boobies and I’m so flat. He’s bored with me. I wish I had boobies like yours.

“They’re so big! Especially for a lady as little as you,” the other attempted to compliment. Astravia smiled and tried to back up, but found herself pressed against the wall. “How did you get so lucky?”

Astravia shivered and looked to the right where Rhona and Elaheh were for backup, but found they too were good and drunk and hardly paying any attention. To make matters worse, the crowd was so loud and boisterous, she was going to have a difficult time signaling them with her voice even if she was willing to speak up. She was in the middle of assessing her limited options for retreat when the taller of the two simply reached at Astravia and yanked her blouse down before cupping her breasts.

Astravia’s eyes nearly fell out of their sockets and she squeaked pathetically and fearfully, though the two drunk women didn’t seem to notice in the slightest as they both now began fondling her boobs and admiring them.

“They’re so firm,” one complimented excitedly. “Mine are so saggy!” By now Astravia was overwhelmed with fear and panic and all of her concentration now was going into stopping herself from bursting into her alternative mode where her powers escalated exponentially. Astravia feebly tried to push the two ladies off until one middle aged woman stumbled over and fell over the two women attempting to push them away from the little goddess.

“Come on now, don’t to that!” she scolded the two women. “That’s rude!”

“Oh… yeah… sorry Avia,” they both slurred then let the middle aged woman lead them away. Astravia caught her breath and covered her chest again before she wiped the sweat off of her brow and then tiptoed off to find a better place where she could hide.

She found a corner where she could tuck herself into, then reached out to Maceo, sharing the story with him in a panic. Thankfully, Maceo was supportive and headed in their direction immediately with a promise to gather some help to try to calm the situation down. “Unless you want me there this instant,” he added.

“No, no. It would be unwise to ruin our cover just yet. But please hurry.”

“Be right there,” Maceo promised and picked up his pace.

Astravia breathed a sigh of relief until she saw Elaheh stagger over to her with a sloppy smile on her face. “Hey, Avia, you don’t look like you’re having fun,” she slurred.

“This is not how I normally celebrate.”

“Have you even had any wine?” Elaheh asked her, swaying back and forth chaotically.

“I have. I simply do not overindulge,” she answered.

“Oooooooh…” she slurred. Avia smiled as pleasantly as she could and then noticed Rhona slowly staggering over as well. “Oh, I am SO sorry! I’ll stop drinking and then we can have some fun!” she promised, grabbing onto Astravia’s shoulders to help stabilize herself and managing to stand upright again.

“No, no, that is perfectly…” Astravia assured her then stopped dead in the middle of her statement. Her eyes widened and her face went gaunt as she realized that she was nearly looking directly into Elaheh’s eyes and the tall mortal was now at best only a couple inches taller than the miniature goddess. “Alright,” she finished after a pause and a heavy gulp. She looked over to Rhona who had arrived alongside Elaheh now and gasped as she realized that poor little Rhona only stood chin height to Astravia now.

Thoroughly frightened by this point, she had to fight the urge to cover her mouth. Sure enough, the other signs were right there as soon as she chose to look for them. Both of them were wearing dresses that were several sizes too large for either of them and approaching unwieldy for the women. As she assessed the situation a violent shiver ran up Astravia’s spine as Elaheh sank down another inch right in front of her eyes and her feet slipped in her sandals.

She looked around the party and gasped again, realizing that the same could be said for all of the mortal women there. Astravia was no longer the smallest in the room. In fact, the tallest among them were dangerously close to Astravia switching roles with them as she spotted them each shrinking slightly randomly around her.

“You okay?” Elaheh asked. She was looking the little goddess up and down, attempting to understand just what it was that was so stressful for her.

“I am fine, I am fine,” Astravia assured her, then intentionally slouched in an attempt to hide their equalizing height from her two friends. The tactic was helpful for Elaheh, though Rhona seemed to be confused and having difficulty placing what was out of place suddenly.

“You seem different,” Rhona pointed out and struggled to determine just what it was that had changed about her.

“Oh, I am simply tense,” Astravia blurted. “I am not used to such large crowds.”

“Oh this is NOTHING!” Elaheh exclaimed, nearly falling over as she flung her hands out exuberantly. Another massive shiver ran up Astravia’s spine as Elaheh sunk down a little further in height, erasing what remained of her height advantage. “You should see what the last day of the festival is like!”

“You should sit down,” Astravia urged frantically and then ushered both women ahead to a place where they could sit. As she led them, she could feel Rhona’s hips narrow as she wrapped her arm around her.

“You look… different,” Rhona slurred. “like… normal,” she added. Astravia gulped, realizing that Rhona’s subconscious was poking out through her drunken stupor, adding another threat to her anonymity. Frustrated and nearly falling apart from fright, she reached out mentally to Maceo again.

“MACEO, THEY ARE SHRINKING!”

“What are?”

“The mortals! All of them!

“What? But why?”

“WHY DO YOU THINK?!?!?”

“But why would you do that?”

“DO YOU HONESTLY THINK I WOULD DO THIS INTENTIONALLY?”

“You accidentally shrunk all of the women there?”

“Not shrunk! They are still shrinking!”

“How bad is it?”

“I am the tallest one here now!!! Elaheh is at best four feet nine inches tall now! Oh no!! Four foot eight! Maceo, what am I going to do???” she asked.

“How much are you shrinking them?”

“I do not know!!!” Astravia was absolutely frantic now. Beside her, Rhona was shrinking too small for her top to stay on without revealing her womanly assets on their own now.

“What happened, Astravia? Oh crap! I can’t bring anyone in there with them like this!”

“NO, YOU CERTAINLY CAN NOT!” she answered back as one of the drunk women near her swooned an tripped over her oversized sandal and fell into Astravia, falling face first into Astravia’s shoulder. This was especially troubling given the fact that this particular woman was supposed to be thirteen inches taller than Astravia.

“Alright, alright, stop and breathe,” he ordered her. A moment later, Astravia jerked her head to the left as she realized looking through Maceo’s eyes that he was directly on the other side of the wall from her now.

“How did you?” she asked but before she could finish her sentence, she gulped hard and found herself in Maceo’s arms and staring up at him. She shook her head and was thoroughly discombobulated until she realized that her fingers were wrapped around one of the stones she’d taught Maceo to make that allowed him to alter the flow of time around the holder of the object. Around her, the scene was completely frozen, but Astravia was practically in tears over the mishap.

“Wow,” Maceo muttered, looking around at the damage caused. Not a single woman there was over four and a half feet tall, and the couple that were near that height were easily larger than the rest.

Every woman there was noticeably smaller than Astravia and their clothes were hanging off of them, practically falling off and leaving these moderately shrunken women in states of partial undress. Off in the distance were the two women that had been molesting Astravia standing and they each stood smaller than all the rest at roughly three and a half feet tall, shrunken noticeably more than all the others. Only one of the two was even partially dressed with the other standing in the middle of the pool of her fallen dress that had easily slipped over her shoulders and off her diminished frame. Both were cupping each other’s breasts and frozen in a state of comparing each other’s mammary glands.

“Don’t you DARE laugh!” Astravia commanded him fiercely while pointing up at him.

“No time for that,” Maceo warned her. “I need your help to super charge the stone you’re holding. We need to freeze time around the whole village.”

“This stone cannot maintain a charge like that.”

“It doesn’t have to,” Maceo told her forcefully. “With the godly attributes you gave me, can my body handle speeding up through time now?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“Alright, we supercharge this stone and then I use another to speed us both up. Come on, no arguing,” he ordered her.

“It is still not healthy for you to do this,” Astravia cautioned.

“We only need a couple moments.”

“You have a plan?” she asked in a panic.

“Yes, now hurry up before the rest of the town wonders why this place has suddenly gone so quiet,” Maceo warned her. Astravia nodded and wrapped her hands around his, then pressed them into the stone she had been holding while closing her eyes. She then walked Maceo through the steps he needed in order to do as he’d asked and looked up at him as a wave pulsed around them and out, enveloping the entire town. Once that was complete, Maceo pulled another stone from his pocket and Astravia could feel the effects of herself accelerating through time while all other time around them for a few miles came to a near complete stop.

“We will only have a few moments,” Astravia informed him worriedly.

“You won’t even need that much. Now tell me what happened quickly.”

“I do not know! I was simply standing here when suddenly everyone around me began shrinking!”

“It didn’t just happen, Astravia. Obviously no one would have enough power to do something like this other than you, so tell me. Come on, let’s not waste what time we have,” he urged. She raised an eyebrow at him given the irony of the subject. “Astravia, I need you to focus.”

Astravia looked down and then around the patio where they were congregating, looking carefully at the women who she was now finally towering over, though not nearly as much as she was accustomed to. Around her were women in various states of undress, many of them tangled up in their oversized clothes. The average height at this moment in time seemed to have settled at a little more than four feet tall and it was obvious that the greatest impact had been to the two young women that had molested Astravia. Most of the women were drunkenly unaware, though several were looking around them with looks of utter bewilderment, obviously slowly coming to the realization of just what had happened to them.

“It started after those two grabbed me and were fondling my breasts,” she said, pointing to the two women. She took Maceo’s hand and led him over to them. Both were in high spirits and in the middle of loud laughter, despite their low stature, and both were red from the abundance of alcohol in their systems. They were having trouble standing up on their own, but one was on the verge of falling over, despite their miniaturized helper who’d come to Astravia’s rescue there attempting to hold her up.

That woman stood roughly chin height to Astravia and was tangled in her own dress in the midst of attempting to sort that problem out while also using one arm to hold the tipsy and falling other woman up. Both of Astravia’s shrunken abusers were barely breast height to her now and Astravia frowned as she realized one of the two, the one who’d shrunk completely out of her dress altogether was now facing Maceo and looking directly toward his crotch, which was roughly eye level to her now.

“What were you thinking when it started?”

“That…” she began, then became overwhelmed with guilt, “that I wished they weren’t all so gigantic.”

“So then there you go,” Maceo pointed out matter-of-factly.

“No, Maceo, it is not that simple at all! This has never happened to me! I have never had a… spontaneous ejaculation of my powers before!”

“It’s alright, Astravia…”

“No it is not! My powers are malfunctioning! Tell me, how would you feel if we were making love and you suddenly and unexpectedly came before we’d even hardly begun?”

“Are you serious?” Maceo asked her with a dumbfounded look. “One of your favorite games is making me cum in under three seconds.”

“Wha.. I… That is beside the point!” Astravia countered defensively. “I am not a mortal man! I am a goddess who.. who…”

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” Maceo assured her, then bent down and wrapped his arms around her. “You’re looking at this in the wrong way. Up until now, you’ve been worried about not having enough power. Instead, we just found out you have enough that you’re able to cast a spell like this without even trying. You’ve underestimated yourself. Now think about this: you’ve been terrified of all of them being so much larger than you. Are you sure it’s just the women here that are shrinking?”

Astravia’s eyes flitted left and right as she reflected on his question, then her eyes shifted to her more powerful state and suddenly she gasped loudly. “Most of the town is shrinking!” she exclaimed while covering her face. “They simply have not noticed because nearly all of them are asleep!”

“How many?”

“One thousand, four hundred and sixteen,” she reported.

“Wow. You shrank well over a thousand people with just an accidental thought?”

“This is not funny Maceo! Having this kind of.. premature ejaculation of my powers is humiliating!”

“Now, WHY did it happen?”

“I have no idea!” she screamed in frustration.

“Yeah you do,” Maceo told her.

“Well then why do you not enlighten me since I am having so much trouble with it?” she barked.

“Astravia, you panicked. Your powers aren’t malfunctioning; you simply lost control of them. And you did it effortlessly.”

“That is hardly any better. What you are accusing me of is quite undignified!”

“It is, but it’s also an interesting surprise. Like I said, you’ve underestimated yourself. Are you even tired?”

“No,” she admitted. “But I do not know why. I would think I would have felt a good deal of fatigue from this.”

“We’ll explore that later. Right now we have other things we have to worry about.”

“Yes, like unshrinking an entire town of mortals! If I do not even know how I did this to begin with, how are we supposed to undo it before the time stone fractures?”

“Not we, you,” Maceo answered her. “We don’t need time, because you can slip out of time and take whatever you need to sort this out.”

“But I am not strong enough to take you with me!”

“You don’t need to be,” Maceo told her. “You can do this on your own, and you know I’m right here if you need me.” Astravia gulped hard.

“But I do not wish to do this alone,” she whimpered.

“I know, and I wish I could go with you, but we’re just not able to do that. Yet. If you have this much-untapped power though, then I guarantee you have the power to pull me out of time with you. Now go, before we run out of time.” Astravia nodded and then lifted up onto her tiptoes to kiss him, then she appeared to vibrate and slowly fade while Maceo took a deep breath and awaited her return. Obviously, he didn’t have to wait long before he felt her hanging on his right arm panting and drenched in sweat from the exertion of her journey.

“How was it?” Maceo asked her. “And… how long were you gone?” he asked her.

“Several months worth in your terms,” Astravia answered him. “I have missed you so much. I was only supposed to be separated from you for a single day.”

“I was right here the whole time,” Maceo answered.

“You might as well have been on the other side of the universe,” she whined, closing her eyes as Maceo grabbed a nearby towel and patted her dry.

“So how did it go?”

“You were right. There is an untapped pool of power within me that I have never bothered looking for. I accidentally tapped into it in my panic. I did not only shrink the people, I shrank the animals as well. Even the trees are shrinking. They will stop at one tenth their normal size.”

“So can you tap into that power again?”

“Only partially if I am to attempt it consciously. However, I can reverse it.”

“But you didn’t do it already?”

“I do not have the power any longer to affect this many organisms in the midst of multiple active spells while still outside of time. I will need to restore the natural flow of time around us,” she answered him.

“They’re going to notice,” Maceo warned her.

“I will place a shroud over their perceptions and then I will get to work reversing the spell. I will need a few moments, as it will be akin to stopping a rolling boulder that is careening down a hill. Your stone will not last long enough to correct the issue regardless.” Maceo nodded and turned to leave, but Astravia grabbed his arm and led him back to the corner where she had been chatting with the shrinking Elaheh and Rhona. There, she rendered him invisible with a wave of her hand. “You are more than capable of doing this on your own, however it is on a list of things I still must teach you. Please stay with me while I correct my error.”

“Alright. I’ll be right here.”

Astravia then took the stones Maceo had been using and returned to where she’d been assisting the shrinking Elaheh and Rhona then allowed both of them as well as the town around them to resume moving through time normally. As soon as all was moving normally again, she waved her hand and those among the shrinking party of women who had been drunkenly coming to the realization they were in fact shrinking slowly drifted back to whatever interested them as the specter of their body changes faded from their perceptions.

As soon as the danger had been averted, Astravia breathed a sigh of relief and then she assisted Elaheh down to a seat while Rhona stared up at the towering 4’10” Astravia, even more confused now than before. Now that the most immediate issues had been dealt with, Astravia took a deep breath and after a moment, Maceo looked out past the wall blocking the view of the outside world and noticed that several small trees slowly began stretching upwards as Astravia began reversing the spell. He nodded to himself, then looked back at the party, a little perplexed as a young woman stumbled past him, losing her oversized sandal as she walked and the strap of her dress slipped off of her shoulder revealing her left breast as she dwindled down another inch from the petite size she already had been at.

Around him, Maceo could sense the presence of waves of magic emanating from Astravia as she worked to reverse the effects of her accidental spell, working her way from the outskirts of the range of the spell inward.

She worked for several minutes like this until she breathed another sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from her brow and sat beside Elaheh, who was now roughly half Astravia’s height. “Are you okay?” Elaheh slurred. “You’re sweating.”

“Perhaps I merely stayed in the hot springs for too long,” Astravia suggested with a smile, then turned to look at Rhona who was having so much difficulty keeping the collar of her dress from falling off of her dwindling shoulders that she had to reach inside her sleeves to hold the dress up. “Let me help you,” Astravia offered, then adjusted her dress so that it would tentatively remain on tiny Rhona’s body, though she continued to recede in a growing tent of fabric around her.

Astravia smiled and surveilled the scene surrounding her, nodding as though she were satisfied until she heard a sound of rustling behind her where Maceo hid. “Something troubles you beloved?” she asked through his mind.

“They’re still all shrinking.”

“They will need to become extremely small before the shroud over their minds is pierced,” she assured Maceo.

“Aren’t you going to reverse it?” he asked, noting that most of the women had now shrunk so small that their clothes were no longer useful to them and they simply let the fabric pool around them, revealing more than a dozen women that were completely naked and slowly shrinking down toward two feet tall.

“In a moment,” she answered casually.

“Astravia…”

“They have harassed me all day long and now they believe they are fit to molest me. I think the least I can ask is a few moments of normalcy.”

“How is a room full of two foot tall shrinking women normal?”

“Normal to me,” she answered. “Normal in the respect that they are as small to me as they are meant to be.”

“You’re shrinking them down a lot smaller than you’ve been shrunk so far.”

“It is the eve of my wedding, my dearest Maceo. Can you not allow me to enjoy it? Besides, are you not enjoying the gift of a party of naked women surrounding you? I thought you would appreciate my allowing this much.”

“I suppose I can’t complain about that part,” Maceo agreed as a woman in her late twenties stumbled by and drunkenly fell out of her dress at around two and a half feet tall before laying at his feet laughing to herself over her clumsiness.

A few feet away, several women were approaching a third their height and sitting in the center of their fallen clothes struggling to handle their chalices of wine despite using both hands atop chairs whose seats now stood nearly as tall as they were. Gradually, the women all giggled and stumbled around, falling out of their chairs and then struggling to understand just why it was that they couldn’t seem to climb back up into them again. As they approached a foot and a half tall, the group of women were now all on the floor and positively giddy as they all strode around fully nude. Astravia took it upon herself to slide off of her own chair as a trio of women stumbled over to her. Two of them plopped down in front of her and the other decided it was more convenient to sit on Astravia’s knee to chat with her, staring far up at the towering 4’10” tall giantess.

“So, what’s Maceo like?” the one on her knee asked eagerly. “You know,” she added suggestively. Astravia laughed and blushed looking over towards Maceo who was blushing himself, thankfully invisible to all in attendance other than Astravia. “Is he good?”

“He is quite amazing,” Astravia answered them bashfully.

“Don’t leave us hanging!” The eleven-inch tall woman sitting in front of Astravia’s left shin squeaked in a tiny voice. “I bet he’s a wild man in bed.”

“Not particularly, no,” Astravia answered. Several other women now staggered over to listen in on Astravia’s bedroom exploits. Maceo, of course could only stand wide eyed and embarrassed to be listening in on such an intimate discussion as one eleven inch tall woman stumbled past him and then receded another inch as she rushed over to Astravia tripping over her own feet as she went.

“I suppose I have let them shrink far enough,” Astravia admitted mentally to Maceo, who couldn’t have agreed more. She closed her eyes and concentrated and Maceo breathed a sigh of relief to see all of the women’s reduction in size slow to a halt, leaving the tallest among them just a little more than ten inches tall now. Maceo shook his head and looked over to Elaheh and Rhona, who were lounging happily together with Rhona still perplexed by her circus tent sized dress as a roughly nine an a half inch tall sorceress who was now trying to understand why the magical implements she had with her were so difficult to wield now that most of them were so large and heavy for her that she needed to wrap both arms around them just to try to lift them up.

The scene was strange now to Maceo’s eyes. There in front of him were 20 doll-sized women ranging in age from young to old who were all completely naked and perfectly comfortable with it walking around the area surrounding the hot springs and giggling as though everything they were experiencing was completely normal. They crowded around Astravia and were quite interested in her sexual exploits, with some of them choosing to climb up and sit on her legs while she spoke to them.

“Well, he is an extremely attentive lover,” Astravia shared with them, smirking as she sensed Maceo blushing heavily. “Very eager to please. At first.. well, I was his first. He was about as skilled at that point as you would expect, however, he learned extremely quickly. I am proud to say that I have had all of my most intense orgasms in his hands.”

“How big is he?” a woman who was probably the youngest in attendance asked.

“Nearly nine inches,” Astravia answered to several gasps and giggles filled with blushes. She was forced to hold back a snicker of her own when she could hear Maceo reach out mentally asking if it was really necessary to share such intimate details.

“Wow, that is huge, especially for someone as little as you,” a middle aged woman giggled. It didn’t even seem to register in her mind that even standing in front of Astravia as she sat on the floor with them that she had to crane her neck up just to look at the miniature goddess.

“I will admit, I do feel somewhat intimidated when I think about it,” she answered back jovially.

“My husband’s can’t be more than four inches,” another complained.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Rhona squeaked, popping her head out from underneath her dress and dropping the wand that was now as tall as she was. “It’s just tissue that fills with blood when he gets aroused. I can make you a potion that’ll help him start growing that tissue again.”

“Rhona, is that appropriate?” Astravia asked her strictly.

“Isn’t it?” Rhona asked back drunkenly and obliviously.

“That is not exactly healing magic,” Astravia said sternly.

“Well… I mean… but it’s also not the cosmetic magic I used to do. I don’t think there are any side effects. The trick is that you just have to find a way to get him to produce more testosterone.”

“Rhona,” Astravia insisted.

“But I want her to make it for him!” the doll sized woman squeaked only to be joined by a chorus of tiny women.

“Not me. I’ve got more than I can handle,” one complained. As with the woman who’d just called Astravia “little,” the truth of her comment currently didn’t seem to register with her.

“So what does he do that’s so good?” one tiny lady of ten inches in height asked Astravia, dragging her back to the topic at hand again. “Has he… ever… you know… licked you? Down there?” she asked bashfully.

“Oh, cunnilingus. Yes, of course,” Astravia answered her. “In fact that was how he gave me an orgasm for the first time. He was quite exhausted after trying to figure it all out, though. He is quite open to performing that act.” Half of the tiny ladies moaned with disappointment, apparently due to the fact that their husbands were not as willing to please as Maceo.

“But they always expect us to do it for them,” one older woman complained bitterly. By now, Maceo’s face was in his hands.

“They’re not even a foot tall. Do you really need me here for this?” he asked mentally to her. Astravia snickered despite her best efforts to stifle it.

“The key,” Astravia explained to them all, “is to make giving to them your highest priority when intimate. When you give, it almost always creates a sense of guilt. Eventually, he will wish to repay that debt.”

“Really. And how do I do that?” a middle aged woman asked, though Usha stepped in and poked Astravia’s kneecap with her finger forcefully.

“How do you know so much about this? How many men have you been with?”

“Only my ex husband and my husband to be,” Astravia answered her. “However, in the service of my old marriage, I went to extreme lengths to try to win him back to me. There was a time when it almost worked.”

“And how long ago did you marry him?”

“I was betrothed to him as soon as I was of the age for such a thing,” Astravia answered her. “The issue was that there was no fulfilling all of his desires, no matter how hard I tried. He wasn’t even particularly adventurous. Just… rough. But, with the proper training as I just described to you, even he was taught how to properly perform cunnilingus.”

“Oh really,” a few ten inch tall women said thoughtfully.

“And how did you train Maceo?” A middle aged, ten-inch tall woman asked.

“I did not need to,” Astravia answered. “Because I was up front with him about my lack of climaxes with him he was all the more eager to learn on his own through study. He actually surprised me with his abilities when I suddenly found myself… well…” Astravia explained as she began to blush a little. A few tiny jealous whines erupted and Maceo buried his face in his hand again.

“Studied how?” Usha asked suspiciously.

“In the library back home,” Astravia answered back honestly.

“We don’t have a library here!” a ten and a half inch tall woman squeaked.

“Then you will need to teach him,” Astravia informed her gently. “Most men can be quite giving when properly motivated. It will take some patience on your part, however. Maceo actually was the first to even offer it, though he did not offer until he was certain he could please me. He felt so good, however, that I almost thought I might hurt him pulling on his head. I very nearly lost control of myself” she added then perked up curiously at a soft, unknown noise from the distance. She turned her head and her eyes went as wide as saucer plates when she was greeted with the site of a ten and a half inch tall naked Elaheh masturbating fervently and quickly approaching peak pleasure.

“Still not complaining,” Maceo teased in his mind, causing Astravia to frown.

She immediately took the women sitting on her right leg and set them on the ground, then stood, carrying the doll sized woman in her left with her in her hand and knelt down beside Elaheh who in her drunkenness didn’t even seem to realize that she was in the presence of others any longer.

“Elaheh,” Astravia bid urgently while using her finger to poke the tiny woman. Elaheh’s entire upper body was jarred and she shook herself partially back to reality and looked up at Astravia, only slowing the ministrations between her legs and not stopping them altogether. “Elaheh, stop!” Astravia urged, picking her arm up between her thumb and forefinger and prying it away from her thirsting womanhood.

“Huh?” Elaheh asked absentmindedly while nine and a half inch tall Rhona continued trying to figure out why she was having so much trouble wielding a stone she’d enchanted.

“I do not know how these gatherings normally go for your town, however, if it is not too presumptuous, I would prefer that the gathering for my wedding not be THAT kind of gathering,” Astravia suggested.

“Huh?” Elaheh asked again, then looked up and turned her wrist, which was still being held between Astravia’s thumb and forefinger and looked at her fingers that had been thoroughly moistened by her juices. “Oh.. I’m sorry… I was just… thinking… about…” she slurred slowly, attempting to explain while also not explaining in too great of detail.

“Yeah, we know who you were thinking about,” a nine and a half inch tall woman snickered in a tiny voice followed by a chorus of high-pitched snickers.

“I’m so sorry,” Elaheh blushed heavily.

Astravia sighed and shook her head, and then with a wave of her hand, the women in the room suddenly began expanding again slowly. “Perhaps it is time we called it an evening,” Astravia suggested.

“Oh, the only one who’s allowed to get sleep to night is you,” Elaheh’s mother informed her. “And that’s only because you are the one that needs to be fresh for the wedding tomorrow.”

“Ah,” Astravia answered, but it was clear she was dismissing the counsel. Immediately, several eleven-inch tall women began yawning. “Well, I will admit I am ready to call it a night.”

The score of tiny, but slowly growing women mobilized and the one in Astravia’s hand jumped down to the ground and they surrounded her and began pulling on the hem of her dress as if to lead her. Astravia couldn’t help but laugh a little at a score of women who were only now beginning to approach a foot in height and attempting to lead her as though they were the ones in charge of the situation. By the time they’d led Astravia over to the soft bed they’d prepared for her in advance, they still weren’t even fourteen inches tall, but they still carried themselves as if they were still all head and shoulders taller than her. Still though, they seemed rather confused that it took nearly all of them to pull the blanket over the 4’10” giantess and tuck her in. Once she was settled and laughing slightly to herself, the women began to go back to their previous chatting and gossiping until Astravia gently called out to them.

“Perhaps it would be a wise idea for everyone to get dressed again,” she suggested. Everyone nodded and seemed to be in agreement almost as if the suggestion was novel and one they’d wished they’d come up with on their own. They all split up and set out for their discarded dresses lying randomly about the patio. Even the tallest of them hadn’t reached a foot and a half in height when they reached their abandoned clothing and as such, each of them was forced to crawl inside of the tent like fabric and by the time they’d found themselves inside, that crawling position proved a tempting one for the increasingly yawning little ladies to simply lie down and curl up to sleep.

Maceo stepped out of his corner, still invisible and surveyed as all of the foot and a half tall women gradually continued expanding in size, slowly filling their clothes out again so that by the time morning came they would all be properly sized again.

Astravia smirked, then waved Maceo over to her and when he knelt beside her, she leaned up and kissed him. “They will sleep until morning. I feel safe for now. You may go.”

“Alright. I’ll be waiting in case you need me again,” Maceo told her.

“Thank you beloved,” she whispered after he then kissed her again goodnight and let go of her, then headed toward the gate.

[Knightstable]

That was a fun unexpected chapter! Really loving this series

[CKent45]

That was a fun unexpected chapter! Really loving this series

Hmmm…. That’s interesting that this was unexpected for you. I was thinking about a bachelorette party and thinking that there are a few circumstances where shrinking would be an absolute requirement and women all gathered for a bachelorette party would have to be one of them. Especially when drinking is involved.

You didn’t think that Astravia was going to be the only shrunken women in this story going forward, did you?

[Knightstable]

Haha yeah it caught me off-guard to see her shrink that many people. It was a welcome surprise though

[CKent45]

The fifth day of the festival was easily the most exciting yet, with multiple magician shows, though Rhona only participated in half the number she would have otherwise because she was helping to see to Astravia’s wedding preparations.

All manner of person had arrived in town by now and the entire settlement was abuzz with constant activity. There were performers of all types, including singers and minstrels, and it was widely speculated that this was the largest spring festival they’d ever had, thanks primarily to the fame that the magicians of the town had brought them. Crowds had traveled from all of the nearby towns that had joined in the building of their militia, though some travelers came from much farther. The drinking and merriment was that of a low roar over the entirety of the town, even in the enclave that Astravia had found refuge in to prepare.

Much of the score of women that had been there the previous night were gone, but not permanently. They were simply rotating in and out as they helped with other duties elsewhere. Thankfully, all of them had woken that morning fully restored to their normal size, though Elaheh did make a comment about a strange dream where she’d spent a night partying in a shrunken state.

Other than that, none were the wiser in regards to their unintentional adventure, though they did all express guilt at having drunken so much that they had all fallen asleep and fallen behind on their duties.

Astravia was hardly the only bride that day, as it was a special part of the celebration to convince couples to either hold their weddings early or hold off until the spring festival to celebrate with the rest of the town. To be asked to participate in this way was somewhat of an honor.

Aside from Astravia, three other women were participating in this celebration, and their weddings would be spaced evenly throughout the day. Originally, Astravia’s was to be the second of the four, but due to her helpers having accidentally slept through the entire night, Elaheh had managed to convince the last bride to switch places with Astravia. One bride was from the town itself and marrying to a man that was also a lifelong resident. A second was from afar but marrying a man who was a local while the last was from a neighboring town near the foot of the mountain that the elders had approached as a gesture of goodwill.

For all of the fun and pampering that Astravia had shared the prior evening, this day truly was all about her and her alone. The first order once they were all up and fed was to give Astravia a full body massage and then a bath to clean herself for the day. The local tailor made a visit to check the final adjustments to Astravia’s gown and then Astravia’s helpers saw to doing her hair in an elaborate braid that was surprisingly elegant as well as sensible looking.

In private with just her and Rhona, Elaheh said a series of prayers, asking for guidance for Astravia in her life and her marriage, which was exceedingly awkward for Astravia, who was stuck in the strange position as she who was being petitioned by the prayers as well as she who was being prayed for. Decorations were finished by Astravia’s helpers, though Astravia did help and when they weren’t looking she surreptitiously doubled her contributions to this area of tasks to be completed using her magic.

She also was tutored on her part in the ceremony, though most of the work rested on the shoulders of her helpers. Not that she needed tutoring. The ceremony itself was nearly identical to the ceremonies that had been performed with her blessings in her temple back when it had been active, aside from the fact that Astravia’s name was intentionally not used explicitly. This was another clever way for people like Elaheh’s family to keep the religion alive while also staying underground.

Astravia’s only breaks were to go to the other weddings held that day to participate in those ceremonies as well by bringing a gift to the alter and presenting it to the bride. The grooms also participated, though grooms and brides were brought in separately due to the fact that neither was allowed to see each other until the actual wedding.

Each bride was assigned separate gifts that were provided by the town, and in Astravia’s case it was a set of silverware for each bride enough to cover a large family wrapped in a laurel wreath.

Astravia was in a particularly good mood, though, and had actually slipped out of time while it was still night out and returned back to her temple to retrieve items to add to the gift, each unique for the three other brides. Each of the three received four gold coins, while one bride received a jar of her favorite nectar, the second a bottle of a vintage wine that had aged much of Astravia’s absence from this world and the last was mead made with fruits not found on this continent.

Suffice it to say that all three brides were shocked and giddy with their gifts from the miniaturized goddess. All three were exceedingly grateful, as well as guilt laden knowing that they hadn’t given anything themselves to any of the other brides other than what had been provided.

Each gift was given quietly as an aside from the one that had been provided for Astravia to offer, though doing so in each case only served to accentuate Astravia’s addition rather than diminish it. Both bride and groom in each wedding were dumbfounded to be given enough coin to thoroughly establish them in their new lives together.

When the time came finally for Astravia’s wedding, she entered to find Maceo waiting for her at the alter smiling and teetering on being overwhelmed with joy. The setting for her wedding interestingly was far more modest and simple than the previous three weddings. It was an interesting contrast compared to the extravagance that Astravia offered the others and she was perfectly content, though she did notice the other brides who’d congregated and peaked in prematurely to see what the wealthy and worldly bride had chosen for her own wedding.

Whereas in the previous weddings the space had been adorned with ornate floral arrangements, every shiny object the other couples could muster and white linens that were draped everywhere, Astravia had chosen simple bouquets of wildflowers surrounding the pavilion and a single long runner to the alter of satin. Along the aisles leading up to the alter were strategically placed bronze basins that were again simple in nature. The only thing truly elegant about her on this day was her white gown, though even that was less ostentatious than the other brides.

The sparseness of the setting forced the packed pavilion to settle their eyes on one thing and one thing only: Astravia, who looked every bit as beautiful here on this day as she did in her normal goddess form.

It was all very simple, and yet highly effective in drawing a sea of eyes that were fixated on her. It also created an interesting dichotomy where the other brides, each peeking in to see how their weddings compared, were both relieved to see that Astravia had done nothing to upstage them while also more than a little bitter that she was gathering significantly more attention by merely relying on little more than herself.

Maceo, always seen in his normal, everyday working man’s clothes that were more appropriate for the manual labor he was normally engaged in was dressed more formally than Astravia had ever seen him and looking quite dapper indeed.

Of course it was Maceo’s name that had initially drawn the crowds they’d attracted, but in the few short days since her appearance in this little town, Astravia was quickly making a name for herself due not only to her beauty, but also her intelligence and vast knowledge. In short everyone who knew Maceo was there in thanks for all that he’d done for their collective communities and everyone else was there to watch in awe of the stunning newcomer. As such, the entire pavilion was filled to the brink with spectators, many of whom were disappointed that the final wedding was so plain instead of a dramatic finale to the day’s festivities.

Astravia marched along the center aisle holding on to the arm of Elaheh’s father who’d been chosen to give her away and unable to hide her bashful grin. Maceo, normally given to a rather stoic nature, was also smiling as he watched her with eyes that appeared as though his life’s dreams had been fulfilled.

When she finally reached the steps to the alter, Elaheh stepped out in ritualistic robes with her hands raised wide and stood in front of Maceo, looking down directly at her father and asking formally to present the bride to her groom. He led Astravia up the stairs and gripped Maceo’s hand tightly, informing that he was presenting a woman to be his bride and demanding that Maceo always treat her honorably and cherish her because all that is given can also be taken away. Maceo bowed courteously as was the custom and then Elaheh’s father took the delicate hand wrapped around his arm and placed it in Maceo’s. He then walked behind Astravia and took her other hand and placed that in Maceo’s remaining hand and finally stood behind her, towering over the tiny goddess with his hands on her shoulders.

To conclude, Elaheh’s father recited a list of duties a husband is required to fulfill, including supporting her, acting as her voice and protecting her to the end of his days while always remaining faithful in his heart, mind and soul. Once Maceo agreed, Elaheh’s father released her to his care and stepped backwards to a row of people assembled as formal witnesses, which included Gaeten.

Now together and holding each others’ hands, Elaheh stepped forward and placed her own hands over both of theirs.

“Only two hearts can freely choose to be wed to each other, and no magic or power of this world can bind those hearts. The groom knows his duties and has agreed to them. I now ask Maceo’s bride, do you understand your duties to him?”

“I do,” Astravia answered back confidently, gulping as she found herself actually tearing up.

“Then Avia, share them with all and explain them to your groom.”

“As you are my own voice, I will listen to all that you say and honor it, as it is my own,” she promised Maceo. “As you are my guardian, I will always be your home and hearth as well as your warmth when you are cold. As you are my hands sent out into the world to conquer what I need, I will be your foundation on which you will stand firmly. As your heart belongs to me, I will never seek another unless this vow is betrayed so long as we both shall live.”

“Maceo, Avia,” Elaheh proclaimed solemnly, “stories are as old as time of these vows having been violated. Each time this happens, it darkens our world and it cuts each and every one of us. I ask that you both protect all of us, the witnesses to your marriage, from the pain and suffering that lays before us should you violate our sacred trust. We stand here in love of both of you, hoping that you instead choose to share that love with each other, grow and nurture it so that it can be returned to us, stronger than when it was lent to you. As a further gesture of our love for both of you, we ask that you turn and accept these tokens with open hearts.”

Now Maceo and Astravia both turned to face the crowd, hand in hand with Elaheh standing behind them as the groom and bride from the first wedding (given that all the previous weddings were now complete) marched forward. Astravia smirked as they both jumped passing the first bronze basins, which suddenly lit with a blue flame as they walked by. Each basin they passed the same occurred, surrounded by oohs and awes from the crowd and when they finally arrived at Maceo and Astravia, the groom held out a wooden chest and set it at Maceo’s feet. He opened it and presented a set of tools and insisted that Maceo use them to build the life that Astravia needed. His bride offered Astravia an oil lamp and candles with bronze candlesticks, which Astravia could use to light their life with.

Next, the second couple walked up and as they passed, each basin added a bright red flame, which now swirled with the blue one and doubled in size. The groom now presented Maceo cutlery, which Maceo recognized as being the best, but still simplest pieces from Gaeten’s inventory when Maceo had first met him. Astravia was presented the same gift she’d given at each of the weddings she’d participated in of dinnerware enough to encompass a large family.

The final couple approached and were stunned to see the flames double in size again, now reaching above most heads in attendance, adding green to the swirls of flame. As they made their way forward, the flames seemed to reach out, dancing in the air above the crowd and connecting with the other flames and producing and infinite rainbow of colors all in fire. By the time the final couple reached Astravia and Maceo, a golden dust was snowing around the entire pavilion, eliciting gasps of awe and reverence. This groom offered Maceo matching woolen cloaks to Maceo for their winters together, each one dyed with ornate green patterns. Astravia was offered thick blankets dyed with violet patterns, each of them large enough to cover both of them at once.

With all of the ceremonial gifts presented, Elaheh turned them both to face each other again, holding each other’s hands and looking at each other, Astravia far up at her mortal lover’s eyes, and Maceo far down into her emerald eyes, which actually seemed to be sparkling.

“Maceo, Astravia,” Elaheh continued. “I ask that you both take a moment and consider the representations now given of your loved ones hopes and dreams for your shared life together. Each of these was forged and woven together by hands of those who wish to live on in your love and memories. I ask that you never forget them, as they will never be able to forget you.” There was silence on the pavilion for a long moment before she continued. “Do either of you have any vows you wish to share with each other?” she asked loudly enough for all to hear. Astravia’s smile widened and she nodded while still staring up at Maceo. “Speak them Avia,” she instructed the miniature goddess.

Astravia’s eyes were definitely sparkling like pure emeralds in the sun and it took her a moment to gather herself to speak. When she did, she surprised everyone by speaking in her native tongue, in a language no one present could understand aside from Maceo, though Rhona immediately perked up, recognizing the syntax enough to know which language she was speaking in.

In her own native language, Astravia told Maceo, “my dearest Maceo: I arrived here broken and lost, ready for my existence to end with bitter sweetness. And then I found you, lost and contemplating your own end, just as I was and I felt for the first time in ages too not be so alone. I feel like a fool for taking so long to recognize what you stirred in me, and I regret my arrogance and my negligence of you. You have shown this tattered heart hope again and I believe you when you say this is not my end. I vow to answer the riddle of my future and I will live on forever, loving you and cherishing you and always, forever faithful.”

While no one could understand her words, though Rhona was able to pick out a couple here or there, everyone was touched to see Astravia brought to tears and her voice struggling. Whatever she was saying, it was obviously from the heart and filled with emotion. Maceo, being the only one present who was fluent in her language could only smile and absorb her message, also overwhelmed with joy.

Elaheh, like everyone else in attendance, stood with surprise, not expecting such a strange vow that no one else could even understand, but once she had collected herself again, she turned and looked to Maceo. “Maceo, having heard your bride’s vow, do you have words to share?”

Maceo also smiled and nodded, never taking his eyes off of Astravia’s. He too spoke in Astravia’s tongue, surprising everyone even more as a soft murmur began to spread. “Long ago, I was just a boy lost on the side of a hill, staring out into eternity until the most beautiful woman I could ever imagine was suddenly smiling down at me, and blocking my sun,” he teased, which caused Astravia to burst into tear filled laughter. “In that moment, I realized something I had never dreamed of before. I knew that I was created for you and nothing else. I would have been content to serve you for all my life. After everything you have done for me, I do not deserve to stand here with you right now. I belong to you in heart, body and soul. I have always belonged to you. I will always belong to you.”

When he was finished, it was now Astravia’s turn to grin at him with nothing to add, squeezing his hands.

“Well, at least you understand each other,” Elaheh declared jovially, and causing loud laughter to sweep through the crowd. When the noise had finally settled, Elaheh presented a gold ring to Astravia, wrapped in felt. “Avia, this man has offered to stand as your husband through suffering as well as in joy, and through weakness as well as in strength. Do you accept him?”

“I do,” she answered back. “As my husband, I will follow where he leads, support where he needs and be his peace in the world that is his tempest.”

“Maceo, your bride has accepted you as her husband. Do you take her as your wife and do you honor the sacrifices she makes for you?”

“I do. I will place her life above my own and cherish no council above hers.”

Astravia then lifted her arms and put the ring she’d been offered on his finger. Once this was complete, she took his hands again and again there was a moment of silence. Once Elaheh was satisfied, she reached over their hands and put them all together so that Astravia and Maceo were standing there, hand over hand over hand over hand and lifted those hands until both of them were standing against each other with their hands against their chests, though Astravia was forced to stand on her tiptoes and Maceo to stoop slightly. “There is no power of this world aside from your own hearts that can bind you as you have said you will be bound. I ask you both to invoke that power for all to see,” Elaheh ordered boldly.

“I stand for all my life as your husband,” Maceo told Astravia powerfully.

“I stand for all my life as your wife,” Astravia answered equally as boldly.

“Seal your pact,” Elaheh ordered them and Maceo then bent down and kissed Astravia’s lips while she stretched even higher, struggling to squeak another fraction of an inch of height to meet him.

As soon as their lips touched, Astravia dropped a vial she had brought with her and Maceo dropped a similar one that she’d slipped him when they met at the alter. Both vials shattered open when they hit the ground and a swirl of fire, water and wind wrapped around them both, startling Elaheh and causing her to jump back as the new magic met with the flames still undulating above them and erupted into a bright electrical storm that mimicked the two lovers as they kissed. When they finally ended the kiss, the storm of electricity subsided, leaving a bright, multicolored daylight aurora.

To say this was a crowd pleaser would be an understatement by orders of magnitude. The entire crowd in attendance erupted into screams and cheers, though to be fair it was not entirely clear which cheers were for the touching ceremony and which were for the light spectacle above and around them. Nonetheless, the wedding was one that would be talked about for the foreseeable future. Even Cajsa seemed genuinely happy for the two of them, though that was more likely due to the fact that she was enjoying the company of the suitor she’d chosen to attend the ceremony with more than she would have wanted to admit.

While this day was an important one in the course of the spring festival with the string of marriages to be celebrated, it was never meant to be the climax of the festival. They still had two more days to go, but thanks to Astravia’s minor interventions, the town was now struggling to figure out how exactly they were going to top this day with the final two.

That was the bad news. The good news was that the party after the four weddings was non-stop and filled with constant laughter, drinking and merriment. Of course, it helped that Astravia was completely immune to the effects of simple alcohol and Maceo was now mostly immune.

There were several dances that the newly married couples led, as was also the custom, and Astravia even promised the other three brides she would provide them with similar items as she’d used in her own wedding so that they could have a boisterous fanfare of light when they chose to.

This latest magical display by Astravia was the most extravagant yet, and the magicians found themselves pulling out all the stops in order to compete, which again left the conundrum of what exactly to do the next day when the actual peak of the festival was scheduled to occur. The elders did approach Maceo and Astravia about this issue in the midst of all of the celebrating, but the mood of the crowd around them wouldn’t allow much in terms of serious topics. As soon as Astravia had been pulled out of the crowd, people flocked and borderline mobbed her begging for more of her magic, and she was understandably quite frightened and intimidated given the fact that even most of the children who approached her stood taller than her.

Maceo brazenly ushered them away as a bold protector (much to her relief), but in the end she was rescued by the other three brides who insisted on dragging Maceo and Astravia back in for their drinking games.

From that point on, so long as Maceo was at her side and warding any potential threats off as quickly as they came, Astravia was in a constant state of laughter and enjoyment until half the town was passed out drunk, from exhaustion or both. Maceo and Astravia escorted Rhona home, which is to say that Maceo carried her, placed her in her bed and then returned to the inn, still laughing and Astravia dancing around him.

“You had a good day,” Maceo observed as he shut their door for their first time alone since Astravia had been abducted by her many aids. Astravia merely grinned and ran to him leaping up and into his arms and kissed him while he held her well above the floor.

“I had the most wonderful of days,” she eventually answered him, though Maceo was curious for more of an explanation than that. “My other wedding,” she continued, “was nothing like this. There was no ceremony, no officiation.”

“Well, you are queen of the gods, after all,” Maceo mused.

“I should be offended that a mortal would dare insist THEY oversee MY wedding. Instead, I feel touched. Especially after feeling how different this was compared to my first.”

“I’m still waiting to hear the differences.”

Astravia laughed and shook her head at him. “It was more of a declaration of victory,” Astravia informed him. “Of course we had been courting before and he had promised to make me his queen once we overthrew Chronstrus. And he did deliver on that one promise. He did not kneel before me to propose. Gods do not kneel. Not to anyone, not even a god to the goddess he is proposing to. I have had so many kneel before me in my existence, but seeing you that day, offering me that bracelet I felt dizzy and nauseous and lighter than air all at once. On the day of that wedding, we had just defeated Chronstrus’ armies and sealed him away for all time. There on a heap of the bodies of our slain enemies, he declared us both king and queen and therefore married. No one could oppose us, so no one was qualified to dictate anything resembling a ceremony for us.”

“Sounds romantic,” Maceo teased.

“Romance at that moment was not of particular interest to me. I had just spent an eon overseeing and conducting a war. I had no complaints at the time. It was only many millennia later after I had watched countless ceremonies not unlike the one we shared today that I began to feel something, though until very recently I would have never admitted that feeling to be jealousy.”

“Another first?” Maceo teased her, gaining a laughing kiss.

“Yes,” she answered back. “You do not need to gloat or lord my lack of foresight over my head, my dearest Maceo. I have already admitted my hubris to you before you shrank me to this size.”

“Well, at least I have the honor of being the first to properly marry you,” he joked.

“My only,” she answered back. “Two is enough for me. There are some things, my dearest Maceo that do not need to be experienced countless times to understand them fully. This is my last marriage.”

“I think you deserve to not be alone for all eternity,” Maceo offered. Astravia smiled sympathetically and kissed him while shaking her head.

“I think you should focus less on eternity and more on consummating our nuptials,” she said suggestively.

“But what about…”

“I believe I can keep from climaxing. And even if I do, the inches I lose this evening will be worth it,” she decided.

Maceo obviously wasn’t in a mood to argue, so he walked toward the bed and began to push in order to throw her down on the bed, but Astravia pulled back, fighting against him. “May I do something different first?” she asked him politely. Maceo shrugged, but agreed, then set the petite goddess on the floor. Astravia then began undoing his pants and asked him to remove his shirt as well so that he was completely naked in front of her and quickly becoming hard as she petted his swelling member.

It didn’t take long for him to be fully prepared for her and her eyes widened as it continued to stiffen and swell in her hand until that single hand was no longer enough. By the time he was fully hard, it was angling upward obscenely and pointing at her.

“Oh my,” she gasped. “It is getting quite large,” she reported with a nervous laugh, demonstrating how even one fist on top of the other, it still easily poked through with plenty of access for her to suck the tip if she so chose. It was also now thick enough that she had to grip with all of her strength and squeeze down in order to barely touch her thumb and middle finger together. “I did not expect it to get so large so quickly. That is… compared to my small size.”

“Is it… too big?” Maceo asked, obviously afraid of the answer. Astravia looked up at him and smirked devilishly.

“I am the queen of the gods,” she informed him formally. “There is no cock so large that I cannot master it. Shrunken or not.” She then turned her attention back to his penis, examining it tactilely with fascination and intimidation, petting it, massaging it and squeezing it and unconsciously shaking her head ever so slightly at the fact that this once quaint little mortal organ was quickly growing into a fearsome monster.

“You still have quite a ways to go before the spell reaches its limit.”

“Its length will be easily more than half my height when I finish shrinking,” she admitted openly, never once taking her eye off of his rod as she explored it with both of her hands with room to spare. She smirked as she sensed how self-conscious Maceo was becoming above her and stifled a mild laugh. “It has merely been a very long time since I have had one this large,” she comforted him. “Do not trouble yourself. I am very much looking forward to acquainting myself with your very LARGE friend.”

“And when you’re only fifteen inches tall?”

“Your wife will still happily please you,” she promised him. “And herself,” she added in a mutter then blushed as she realized she’d admitted that out loud. “I am merely surprised at how large it has gotten and how quickly it has gotten to be like this. Now do please relax, and try to enjoy this as much as I am.”

Maceo chuckled a little then gasped as she began stroking him in earnest, wrapping her hands around his penis and twisting it to the best of her ability all the while continuing to shake her head regarding the drastic transformation of this lustful beast before her eyes. She worked him until her hands were sticky with precum and couldn’t help but grin, then she finally stopped and squeezed it to grab his attention and stared straight up at him.

“Would you sit down?” she asked very politely. Of course Maceo agreed and sat in a chair, smiling as Astravia straddled him. It took a good deal of adjusting to keep her dress from covering his member, but once she found a position that worked, she pulled his head down and planted his face in her cleavage then grabbed his dick with both hands again and began stroking all while sighing happily as he kissed her mostly covered breasts. A moment later, Maceo noticed that he was having a bit of difficulty breathing and was forced to pull back to see that Astravia’s breasts were expanding back to their normal proportions and already straining the fabric of her wedding gown.

They continued to grow, overfilling their cloth prison and pressing upward, desperate to escape. It was clear that Astravia was uncomfortable, but she grinned and beared it, all the while stroking his dick harder and faster. Meanwhile, Maceo was fixated on her expanding breasts, which were beginning to strain her clothing to the point that he could hear the fabric stretching and slowly breaking apart the fibers within it.

He gently petted the growing breasts with his hands but was careful to keep from disturbing the scene too much for fear that he might upset the increasingly delicate balance between tits and dress.

“Are you sure about this? Most women prefer to keep their wedding dresses,” he warned, though his eyes were glued to the tits as they continued to swell immediately before his eyes.

“We will repair it in the morning,” she grunted and as she did so the first rip appeared in the fabric, slightly to the left of center between her boobs. Still they expanded in size, exponentially increasing in volume and Astravia winced and groaned with discomfort all the while continuing to stroke her husband until they finally expanded back to their normal proportions. Astravia rolled her eyes and was apparently disappointed at having miscalculated the effects of a full restoration of her breasts while dressed in clothing too small. She shook her head and took a deep breath then grinned with satisfaction as Maceo’s eyes widened greedily and her dress finally gave up the fight and ripped open loudly. As it did so, her enormous breasts spilled out and her delicious, swollen and puffy nipples poured out into sight.

“That’s impressive,” Maceo complimented with a laugh and peeled the remnants of her dress away to fully expose his long lost loves.

“Less talk, more suckling,” she demanded and then gasped as he uncerimonially lifted a breast in his hand and wrapped his lips around a nipple and began sucking. She shivered heavily and a stuttering moan slipped past her lips. It was at this point that she was forced to stop stroking his dick between her legs and merely gripped it as though it were holding her on his lap.

A moment later, he paused and let go of her breast and looked up at her.

“You’re leaking,” he informed her mirthfully, eyeing the milk that was dribbling out of her nipple.

“I am sorry. I really am trying to keep my milk from flowing. Does it not taste good?” Maceo laughed at her and squeezed her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, causing a little more milk to leak out and Astravia to moan loudly.

“It’s so good it’s addictive,” he laughed. “But it also puts me to sleep.”

“Oh, I am most certainly keeping you awake until I am finished,” she declared, then pulled his face down to her nipple again, practically forcing him to suck.

They kept going like this until Astravia was teetering on the edge of an orgasm and she needed to stop to catch her breath and wipe the sweat off of her face. Once she had settled, she stood and pulled her dress down past her hips and stood naked before her enormous mortal lover and she grabbed his still hard dick with one hand and tugged, leading him back toward the bed.

“I need to be on top,” she informed him. “You are too careless and I am certain you will make me climax in no time unless I can slow down when I need to.” Maceo of course didn’t bother to argue and laid down and watched as the stacked little lady climbed on him and straddled him, then rubbed his dick with the palms of her hands against her pelvis and stomach in order to bring it back to full attention again.

She then was forced to lift herself up so that she was crouching on the balls of her feet in order to lift herself high enough to hover above his cock. She again was taken aback by the ever accelerating changes in his size compared to her but still soldiered on and grabbed his dick, slowly stroking it and lowered herself down to meet him.

A moment later, she was dropping nearly her entire weight (as slight as it had become) on the head of his cock and he was still straining to penetrate. “Oh my,” she gasped as she bucked her hips and leaned a palm on his stomach while she attempted to coax him beyond her womanly precipice.

“You’re really tight,” Maceo groaned, aching to enter her.

“You are really big,” she answered back with a nervous laugh. That laughter grew as a realization hit. “Do you remember when you were concerned you were not big enough?” she laughed.

“You were three times bigger at the time.”

“And you were still big enough,” she countered with a playful slap on his stomach. She ground her hips against the head of his cock and finally as she settled downward again he finally began to press into her, instantly making her scream slightly. She paused and gritted her teeth, laughing nervously again and pressed downward once more, accepting more of him inside of her, but still needing to pause after a few more inches and pant. “I have not… felt…” she breathed while closing her eyes as she reminisced, “in so long,” she panted out.

She continued to rock back and forth as she attempted to make more room inside of her then her eyes shot wide open as he grabbed her hips and she gasped just in time for him to pull down on her forcefully, pushing him up deep inside of her and making her scream quite loudly this time.

“So… much,” she gasped. Maceo of course could not have been prouder, nor could he have shown it more in his grin.

Now that they were fully connected, she needed a moment to collect herself. She wiped the sweat from her brow again and took a deep breath, then placed both hands on his chest and began bouncing up and down on him slowly.

This time it was Maceo’s turn to gasp and moan as she bounced on top of him, her massive breasts jiggling and swaying hypnotically. “Oh my goddess,” he moaned as he felt her warm womanhood squeeze his cock even harder.

Astravia forced herself to laugh then leaned forward and stared down into his eyes. “Oh my GOD!” she answered back, making it clear both in her expression as well as her tone that she wasn’t calling out to some unseen deity; she was addressing him.

She continued for several minutes, needing to pause and catch her breath multiple times as well and pull herself back from the sexual brink. Ultimately, the pressure from her reduced pussy was enough to make him cum forcefully inside of her while she moaned with satisfaction as she felt him erupt. Then she collapsed on top of him and panted for several minutes. “I keep getting more sensitive each time I shrink. Holding back for long enough to master this size is going to be difficult.”

“I’m definitely not going to be able to hold back,” Maceo teased.

“I would offer my milk to help you sleep, however I am nearly certain that would push me over the edge. Oh, my wonderful god,” she complimented him.

Sleep came easily for both Astravia and Maceo, but at the cusp of dawn, they were both awake again and snuggling together having thoroughly enjoyed the fruits of Astravia at her true mortal size for the first time. They kissed and grinned and giggled at each other and Astravia frequently compared and admired the bracelet she wore with the ring she had put on his finger signaling their marital connection.

“So I’m wondering how you’re doing with mastering your powers at this size.”

“It is more a question of mastering my natural attributes,” Astravia replied.

“You know what I mean,” Maceo pressed.

“Slowly,” she answered. “I still find myself slipping sometimes as time’s tide pushes and pulls against me. I did not realize for half the evening that I had slowed to a crawl in time. I only realized when I notice a single breath for you took several minutes.”

“You sound worried.”

“No. I am getting a handle on it slowly.”

“Any idea how long it’ll take you?”

“Years,” she admitted. “Any further shrinking until then may prove to be troublesome at best, dangerous at worst.”

“Well, that brings up another question then.”

“Which is?”

“You look like a mortal and you’re mortal sized. Why don’t we take that time and live as mortals? You know they want us to stay here. The elders approached me while you were at your bachelorette gathering. They offered to build us a house. What do you think about staying here and living with them? We don’t have to live here all the time. Is having two homes so bad?”

“I do love these people here,” she shared with Maceo. “The love that Elaheh’s family has imbued into this place has spread and flourished so well over the centuries. I do wish we could spend at least an entire lifetime among them.”

Astravia smiled and snuggled up in his arms, though Maceo took another moment to contemplate, then tipped Astravia’s chin up so she would look at him before Elaheh came within hearing distance.

“We can’t spend a lifetime in this town, but we can at least spend real time here. Let’s do it. You can actually live among mortals for a while and we can be a part of this community. I know we can’t stay for too many years, but let’s at least stay for a few. How is that for new? Have you ever actually lived amongst mortals instead of just visiting when you wanted?”

“On occasion, I have actually created new forms to do just that,” she admitted. “But certainly never like this. Is this truly what you wish?”

“Let’s do it. They’re welcoming and kind and why should you need to spend the next three centuries in isolation? Spend some time among the people you created. Enjoy the fruits of your labors for a while.”

“Getting attached like that is quite difficult when it finally comes to an end,” she warned him. “You will see. It will happen quite quickly. They will likely notice before you do. They will all age around us and you will hardly change at all. In that time, however, you will become attached to them and saying goodbye will only become more and more difficult. We cannot live as them for too long. Our friends will ascend well into middle age before you even begin to look as though you had passed beyond your teen years again.”

“So what? We live in fear of what we’ll lose and never allow ourselves to have it to begin with? You’ve spent a decade in seclusion. I know it’s just a brief flash of time for you, but let’s do it. Let’s at least have that flash. Let’s do it together.”

She smiled and placed her head back into his chest again. “Lead, my dearest Maceo, and I will follow.”

[CKent45]

The next morning, Maceo and Astravia went to the tavern and sat together for a light breakfast with Astravia not even bothering to hide her amorous affection toward her husband. They were flirting together nearly finished eating when Maceo’s friend on the council of elders entered with a colleague by his side and approached the couple asking to join them. It didn’t really matter that Maceo and Astravia were nearly finished there. All these two elderly men were really interested in was a few minutes of their time.

The mere openness to setting up a residence in town was enough to excite the two men into exuberance. Of course, Astravia had mentioned prior to this point Maceo’s new found wealth to Elaheh (while neglecting that it was her who had bestowed it upon him) and that word had spread. As such, adding Maceo and Astravia officially to the citizenry of their community would make them the wealthiest people to have ever resided there by a long shot, including Elaheh’s husband.

It was at this point that Maceo’s mood turned firm and serious as he leaned across the table.

“We’re talking about part time residence here at best,” Maceo informed them and cutting off all the premature planning they were already conducting in the couple’s presence. “And not only that, we’re not even talking permanent. We have another home we’re trying to finish and that is actually our dream home. But on top of all of that, we are making other plans for our future. I don’t know how long I want to continue working as a merchant.”

“But Avia is just as…” one asserted, but this time Astravia barged in.

“I have had my fill of that kind of responsibility for the time being, thank you,” she told them. “I have overseen a number of businesses and projects and I am ready for a break.” This was all of course understated, but to a degree that neither man would have believed without revealing Astravia’s true identity. “I would like to try something new for a change that is not so demanding, so I will be quite content cooking and cleaning for the foreseeable future.”

“You’re sure? You have so much potential, Avia!”

“Potential for whom? I have accomplished much more than I care to boast about and I am ready for a break. That is the potential I am interested in.”

“I wouldn’t push her,” Maceo cautioned them with a smirk. “Don’t let her small size fool you. She’s packing much more than you want to risk dealing with.”

After that both men were much more conciliatory and gentle about their many proposals. After some much needed apologies, they asked for a more formal time to discuss Astravia and Maceo’s plans and instead ask what they could offer instead of letting their own ambitions for the newlyweds control their appetites.

The next hurdle to be overcome was the committee overseeing the festival who were extremely frustrated with the unprecedented display Astravia had put on in her wedding celebration. This issue was not going away and it was all Astravia could do to keep from openly laughing as they screamed their plight and frustrations to her. Ultimately, Astravia agreed to share a few secrets of her own to help bring the festival to the crescendo necessary to outdo the prior day. She and Maceo then escorted them to the building where the magicians were preparing for the day and they set about showing the magicians exactly what they needed to create in order to attain the desired results. It was an eye opening experience for the Magicians, even Rhona, but even more so for the committee members. Once it was all completed, however, Astravia and Maceo bid them farewell for the moment and went on about their way.

Not long after that, they were in the market enjoying the festivities when Elaheh approached them absolutely beaming and grinning ear to ear. It was obvious that she was coming to share something she was very happy about, but Maceo couldn’t help but notice that she also seemed to have a kind of glow to her this morning.

Of course, the reason that Elaheh was so cheerful proved to be mundanely predictable. Word had already spread that Maceo and Astravia were finally agreeable to putting down roots in their fair little town. Astravia could only shake her head and put her face in her hand.

Elaheh insisted on walking with them and chatting with Astravia, but thankfully she was far more interested in listening than speaking, which was a welcome change for Astravia.

Astravia was happy to share her hopes and dreams, but she didn’t share too much before she diverted to Maceo, whom she had placed the power of deciding on what they would be doing and when.

“I’m working on something,” Maceo told Elaheh. “It’s simple, but also hard to explain to someone who isn’t familiar with what it is.”

“Can you at least try to explain it to me?” Elaheh pried.

“I’ll build a demonstration for you,” Maceo promised her. “Sooner or later, though, I think this is where my dreams are.”

She shrugged it off and continued with them, asking about the choice of locations for their new home. Ultimately, they were going to need to build outside of the main area of town because of lack of space within (and consequently outside of the protective barrier around the town). Elaheh had a different conundrum. Part of her was very interested in building a new home near Astravia’s, but there was also the issue of to who her childhood home would be bequeathed. That home had been in their family for generations, as modest as it was, and though she wasn’t the oldest, she had a unique claim to it in that she was by far the clearest continuation of the legacy of the matriarchs in her family who continued to uphold Astravia’s religion.

Elaheh even went so far as to walk the perimeter of town with them to consider possible places to begin construction.

The remainder of the festival was without drama or incident, but it was one that was memorable, even for one with such a long and storied memory as Astravia. She of course had seen festivals much more grandiose with far greater displays and attractions on many, many occasions. What made this festival unique was the warmth and acceptance she received as well as the love and attention. The same could be said for nearly all who attended. Spirits were very high and goodwill was exemplified as the small town and its large group of visitors celebrated. Elaheh’s family had been completely taken by Astravia and just as with Rhona they wanted her to be as close to family with them as possible. Maceo not as much, but that was mostly due to the coldness that Elaheh’s husband continued to feel toward him.

The final day was more recovery from the high of the previous night. The market was still abuzz with activity, there were still attractions and performances, but the pace was much slower as people slowly came down from the lofty emotions from the previous couple days. The yelling and screaming gradually gave way to fond reminiscing and the heavy drinking was replaced with comfort foods that helped some of the participants who had partaken of drink a bit too much recover.

It was also a day where Rhona found her work as a healer pick up again and wasn’t able to visit with Astravia and Elaheh as much as she had the previous days.

Maceo and Astravia again toured the perimeter of town with Elaheh along with Gaeten and a couple of elders discussing some of their hopes and future plans and ultimately decided on a building site where Maceo could begin construction on what promised to become the single largest home the town had ever seen, though still much smaller than Astravia’s normal accommodations, even accounting for her shrinkage.

Finally, the morning after the festival, Maceo and Astravia set off again for home the same as nearly all the other visitors, though they did set out with the promise of returning again soon to begin work.

When they finally arrived back, Astravia insisted immediately on soaking in the baths, though she found herself somewhat uncomfortable when she discovered that her quaint baths were now more akin to swimming pools filled with steaming hot water. She was of course able to easily float around and soak in the soothing warm waters, but there was no where shallow enough for her petite little body that she could sit and relax.

When this proved to be unfulfilling, she set out to find Maceo, who she was finally comfortable enough to allow to be more than arms’ length from her. As expected, he was at the site of their new house, which was well over half complete. They toured the grounds, discussed how it was going and debated adjustments before setting the golems back to their task again and then Astravia pulled Maceo along and over to her swimming pool, which she now was forced to accept as a massive lake. She took a little time marveling over the massive increase in its size compared to her and she stripped naked and leapt in, immediately converting to her mermaid form, and also sighing with frustration as she was confronted with the fact that this form as with her others had shrunk along with the rest of her. Still though, she insisted that Maceo join her, and after several minutes of struggling to convert his lungs again, they were off toward the bottom with Maceo using his new abilities to propel him and her more than her leading as she had always done in the past.

There was really only one place that she wanted to go: the sunken treasure ship. Before she had begun shrinking Astravia had always thought it beneath her to take more compact forms unless it was necessary, and as such this wreck was one she’d never bothered to explore as a mortal sized woman.

It was no longer merely a toy that she’d plunked into the bottom of her pool. Now it held a special allure to her as she could swim it’s rooms and corridors free of her disdain for appearing smaller than she ought to be. They spent most of the day there, exploring every nook and cranny and allowing Astravia to experience this artifact of her pride with truly new eyes. She also seemed to enjoy her large lover’s ability to propel himself through the water faster than she could naturally swim now and actually preferred when he was the one pulling her along, leading the way.

That evening was spent on the patio by the pool side as they frequently had done together, though this time with furniture Maceo had assembled that more properly fit her in her newer, much more compact form. There was dinner and conversation and laughing and stargazing and as much sex as Astravia could handle without tipping over the edge into a climax.

As they stared at the night sky in each other’s arms, Maceo decided to satiate his curiosity over something he’d noticed before leaving town.

“Astravia, was it just me, or did Elaheh seem younger when we left town?”

“Oh, she is not any younger,” Astravia assured him.

“But?”

“No, it was not just you,” she confirmed. “I decided to test my powers a little while we were there and also give something back for a better wedding than I could have asked for.”

“And that is?”

“All of the women who aided me in the preparation for my wedding have had their appearances partially refreshed.”

“Refreshed meaning?”

“They are not any younger. I simply reinvigorated each of their bodies slightly. I added a bit of elasticity to their skin and strengthened their hair. Some of their wrinkles will fade, some of the color will return to the older womens’ hair, and some of the sagging parts will perk a little. Elaheh herself I gave her enough of a boost to bring her back to the level she was when she was eighteen. Her grandmother will look closer to how she had say six years ago, and her mother’s changes are in between the two of them.”

“Rhona seemed a little different too.”

“I took the liberty to give Rhona a little more of a boost than the others. She will be approaching thirty before long and I know she will still wish to have a family of her own at some point, so I tried to give her a little more than the others in order to give her an advantage. She is in her late twenties but will have the appearance of a woman of her very early twenties.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t make her taller like she’s always complaining about.”

“After that comment about me being a midget she should consider herself lucky that I did not shrink her to half her height on the spot,” Astravia answered back with a sudden level of bitterness in her voice. “At any other point in my history I certainly would have.”

“Why stop there? She could have kept you company when you reach your end size,” Maceo teased her. Astravia looked up and scowled at him.

“It is not funny.”

“Yes it is. Lighten up, Astravia.”

“I have lost over three thousand pounds since we embarked on this fetish of yours. I am rather predisposed to think that I have lightened quite enough, thank you.”

“You know what I mean,” Maceo laughed. “Have you stopped enjoying it?”

“No,” Astravia admitted tentatively. “It is only that this is so disorienting and if I am to be honest, sometimes frustrating. Everything and everyone is so large. I can only imagine what my own kind would be like to me now. On top of all of that, I feel so powerless. Yes I shrunk half of a town but at my full size I could have done that to the entire mountain effortlessly. That and when one of them places their hands on me, they all seem so inhumanly strong. I realize that physical strength has never been even remotely something I have ever really had when you account for my size, but even so. I am so incredibly weak.”

“Well you inspire me to be strong,” Maceo told her. She suddenly smiled a little and looked up at him.

“That is actually reassuring for some reason.”

Maceo and Astravia stayed a week at the temple producing more goods to bring back to town and seeing to the construction of their new house, which was largely done by the time they were ready to leave. It was decided that they would give final orders to the golems before leaving and then Astravia would slip out of time at some point after leaving and fly back to the temple to inspect the final results. Then when Maceo and Astravia decided to return they would have a completed home that was also furnished with unused mortal effects that were lying about the mortal districts. The only thing they would need to do upon returning would be to arrange everything.

When they arrived at town, they brought with them the heaviest, most filled cart that Maceo had ever transported. They brought foods to share, clothes to wear, useful tools and household items to use in their new home, a healthy bank of gold, silver and bronze and finally the merchandise that Maceo planned to sell in the market. Because of the bulk of goods they brought with them, though, the trip was longer and slower than normal.

There was no fanfare when they arrived, but as soon as they were identified approaching word was sent and an elder met them at the gate. A short lunch with this elder and Gaeten later and the couple were off to the site of where their next new house would be built and they reviewed the final plans together before Maceo began work.

By evening, several locals arrived to provide some extra materials as well as Elaheh who wished to invite them both to dinner and everyone was shocked to see that Maceo had already dug out and established most of the foundation. Granted he’d worked up a sweat while accomplishing this feat, but he was still largely fresh and quite at home getting himself dirty and grimy toiling away while Astravia sat underneath an awning sipping on water from the river and reviewing their designs to provide a second set of eyes to aid Maceo’s craftsmanship.

After dinner, Maceo provided the demonstration he’d promised to Elaheh with Astravia immediately at his side and Elaheh’s husband staring coldly at him from a distance. Maceo assembled a frame made of carved balsa wood and then wrapped it in a water sealed canvas he’d brought with. It was tedious work, but he had Elaheh and Rhona assist him and finally when they were finished they had a four foot long model in front of them resting on a wooden block that was attached to the bottom. The final step was a canister that Maceo had brought with them which he attached to the back of his model and he began to transfer the contents from one vessel to the other.

“You can call it helium,” Astravia told them. “It is an inert gas that exists in the air in trace amounts, but it is much lighter than other parts of our air. There are different means of producing it.”

“And what do you need it for?” Rhona asked, dropping to her hands and knees and looking underneath the strange model.

“For this,” Maceo answered, then removed the weights he’d placed on top of the model to keep it in place and suddenly the entire thing lifted effortlessly into the air and only stopped at around five feet of altitude because of the twine that had been attached to it.

Even Elaheh’s husband was stunned and impressed, though it was hardly that amazing to both Astravia and Maceo.

“How?” Elaheh asked in a dumbfounded voice.

“By containing the helium inside of the canvas, it lightens the entire model. The helium is lighter than other particles in the air, so it naturally is lifted, similar to how a boat displaces the water around it and floats,” Astravia explained.

“So what exactly do you plan to do with this thing?” Elaheh’s husband asked Maceo suspiciously. “Make an army of them and put them up as decorations?”

“This is just a model,” Maceo answered him.

“A model of what?” Elaheh asked, though Rhona seemed to already understand where this was going and was growing increasingly excited.

“An airship,” Maceo answered her. “One large enough to not just lift a block of wood, but people too. I’ve already been working on the frame for a really large one, but since it’s my first attempt and we’re going to be spending a good deal of time here anyways, I thought maybe we could build a prototype here.”

“How big will this thing be? How high will it go?” Rhona asked with fascination.

“Two hundred and fifty feet should be more than enough for this one. The altitude will be comparative to the level of the sea,” Astravia answered. “Because we are on a rather large mountain, not particularly high, but high enough to be able to look down on most birds.”

All three of the spectators of Maceo’s presentation were stunned and shaken. None had any idea what to say for several minutes, but sure enough, it was Elaheh’s husband who finally managed to find some negativity to shower on Maceo’s dreams.

“And what are you going to do with an airship that big? Charge people gold to go on rides?”

“Explore the world,” Maceo answered him.

“What do you mean?” Elaheh asked, shaken even more now.

“This world is very large,” Astravia informed her. “You know of the massive ocean far to the West of here. Have you ever wondered what lies beyond it? Or what lies beyond the dangerous mountain range to the north of here?”

Rhona nodded, but Elaheh and her husband both shook their heads regarding Astravia’s inquiry.

“Well, we’re going to find out,” Maceo told them all. “Together.”

“But… I thought you were moving here,” Elaheh wined to Astravia.

“We are,” Astravia answered her. “But this is merely a stop along our journey together. We will live here with you, for a time.”

“But Avia…” Elaheh wined further. “That ocean you mentioned takes months to travel to and I’ve never heard of a map that shows what’s beyond it. How much more is there out there to explore if it takes you months to just start exploring?”

“A lifetime’s worth,” Astravia answered her. “To do so in the manner we intend, it will take a lifetime.”

“It’s a beautiful dream,” Rhona told them encouragingly, though Elaheh seemed irritated that Rhona hadn’t chosen to support her.

“And what about you?” Astravia asked the petite sorceress. “I am certain you have dreams yourself.”

“For the most part, I want to stay here,” Rhona answered. “I’ve seen most of the known world already as a sorceress, but this is the first place I feel like I can belong. I want to teach healing, though I think I’ll have to venture out every once in a while to do that.”

“An admirable dream,” Astravia complimented, though she was well aware of the answer before Rhona spoke it due to her frequent visits to her dreams.

“But there’s so much here,” Elaheh insisted. “You could be rich! You could be royalty!”

“We’re already rich,” Maceo answered her. “I’ve been dirt poor, and I’ve been ridiculously rich, and both are kind of boring. We want to explore everything we can together and enjoy it. Honestly, Elaheh, your feelings for Avia aside, you only want us to stay for the same reason that everyone else here does.”

“And what is that?” Elaheh’s husband asked suspiciously.

“You’re looking for leaders,” Maceo answered. “Things started to change when I arrived mostly because I brought new business and new ideas and because I was willing to invest in your community. That doesn’t make me a leader, though. Besides, you shouldn’t want to import leadership. What happens someday when I’m gone? Do you just import someone else? By the time of your grandchildren, I’d almost guarantee that attitude would end up with this town being sold out to the highest bidder. You need to look to yourselves for leadership.”

“Like to who?” Elaheh asked them both.

“To you,” Astravia answered Elaheh.

“What about me?” Elaheh’s husband asked.

“You’re an asshole. You should stick to supporting your wife,” Maceo snapped unexpectedly and then his rival was all too ready for a fight and was only held back by Elaheh standing between them.

“Maceo! Do not provoke him!” Astravia scolded.

“You’re right, you’re right,” Maceo agreed, throwing his hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry, that was out of line.”

“You’re damn right it was,” he barked back.

“You’re one to talk!” Elaheh snapped at her husband. “Maybe stop pushing his buttons if you don’t want him going off at you again.”

Construction of Maceo’s second home went surprisingly quickly. Members of the town frequently offered to pitch in, but because of the temporary nature of their residence there, Maceo was hesitant to accept much outside help. What help he did accept was paid handsomely and the miniature goddess only traveled back with Maceo to the temple once during its construction where they enjoyed the fruits of their labors there.

After that, the couple did travel back and forth, but not nearly as frequently as they had originally anticipated. Their second home wasn’t nearly as large or as luxurious as the one at the temple, but what it did have was guests.

Maceo set up a forge and began teaching youth in the area to blacksmith, but his main business became financial services, thanks to the wealth they had brought with them. It only took a few months after beginning construction that travel to the town increased exponentially to the point where the single inn and tavern were no longer nearly enough to keep pace with traffic coming and going. True to her word, Astravia largely dismissed herself from such entrepreneurship, though she and Maceo often discussed these matters and he almost never discarded her advice.

The real change in their living habits came nearly a year after beginning construction on their house when Elaheh gave birth to her first child- a daughter. Astravia was on hand for the birth and she even solicited her powers when there was a mishap that threatened Elaheh’s wellbeing. That child, though, marked a change in Astravia’s demeanor. She became nearly as attached to her as Elaheh was and the infant quickly learned that Astravia might as well have been family.

Astravia was extremely adept at working with infants, and before long she found herself surrounded by a cadre of women who’d recently given birth and was constantly seen smiling and laughing and playing with the young children. She enjoyed herself so much that she found herself craving the safety of her temple less and less, especially after completing a second, expanded magical barrier around the newly enlargened boundaries of the town. Though she had little interest in leading, governing or business, she found herself a cornerstone of the town in a new way due to her affinity for Elaheh’s child.

Shortly after Elaheh’s daughter was born, Rhona was married during the spring festival as Maceo and Elaheh had been to a traveler that had taken to her and put down roots in order to court her.

Of course well before this, Maceo had finished his airship and by the time Elaheh’s daughter was old enough to begin weaning from Elaheh’s milk, the airship was being used frequently for excursions, though Astravia and Maceo insisted on not taking it to densely populated areas because of the risks involved in leaving it there. These trips were often for days or even weeks at a time, and were equally leisure and business in their nature. Elaheh and Rhona were eternally grateful for the opportunities to join Maceo and Astravia on their travels as they worked out the kinks of airships and developed the craft further and further.

[CKent45]

In what seemed to be a blink of an eye, Astravia’s prediction had come true and more than eight years had passed from the day of their wedding and despite their honesty regarding their future plans, the couple had become central to the town, which continued to grow and prosper. In that time, Maceo’s friend on the council of elders passed on and Elaheh’s grandmother’s condition deteriorated to the point where she was forced to step down from her duties. Gaeten was chosen to fill one of the two positions, becoming the youngest man to be given such an honor in anyone’s memory.

In that time, Elaheh had six more children, and all of them came to know Astravia as a close and dear aunt. Maceo and Astravia were frequently brought in by the elders as advisers, but Astravia always insisted on doing so as a couple, and never alone.

Rhona also had a couple of children in that time and was developing quite a renown as a healer. Unsurprisingly, Cajsa didn’t last long past her eighteenth birthday before she was married off. Despite her frail and small body as well as the noticeable remnants of her youthful illnesses, she made a name for herself, and she became sought after heavily as a wife. True to her word, Astravia approached her shortly after her eighteenth birthday and reminded her of her promise to welcome her as one of Maceo’s wives if Cajsa still found herself drawn to him. Also predictably, her crush waned over time, and in the end, she chose a man closer to her own age to marry, though they were cautious about having their first child.

As far as the town was concerned, it was a golden age, and it didn’t take long before far off economic centers were looking for partnerships up on top of the mountain to boost their own sagging economies in the wake of the chaos following the sudden disappearance of the Guild of Sorcery. Whereas the rest of the known world was struggling in the midst of the power vacuum, the entire mountain was bristling with activity and prosperity.

Astravia also discovered something she’d never encountered in her exceedingly long history. Now that she had taken an extended pause from continuing her shrinking, she was finding that her powers were actually growing in strength now that she was forced to actually put some effort into her magic for the first time. In this time, she also mastered her abilities enough that she could almost effortlessly slip in and out of time again and with some effort, she was even able to bring Maceo along with her as well. Meanwhile, Maceo had grown into a powerful wizard the likes of which this world had never known, though he was quite reserved about using those powers, let alone displaying them.

By this point, most of the women who had originally attempted to gain his attention were either approaching or had crossed into their thirties and it was becoming apparent that while they were all looking quite mature, Maceo still looked nearly boyish while Astravia was completely unphased by the passage of time.

While it wasn’t beyond believable, townspeople had begun to question the two lovers that seemed to be bucking time, and Astravia received near constant questions on how she maintained her youthful appearance. Elaheh was especially keen to this and frequently mimicked the routines that Astravia faked her way through in order to keep up appearances.

Finally one night after a particularly enjoyable party at their home, Astravia was lying naked in their bed with her husband, sighing with relief at having allowed her breasts to expand back to their normal proportions and tracing his chest with her finger.

“Beloved,” she began tentatively. “You know we are running out of time,” she warned him. This was the first time she had brought the subject up since before they began work on their new house and while she had intended to give the impression she was scolding her husband, there was an entire galaxy of weight in her voice as she spoke about the inevitable.

“I know,” Maceo answered solemnly.

“You know what?” Astravia asked as though she regretted even bringing it up.

“Everyone is growing old around us,” Maceo answered her.

“You were wise to create an excuse for moving on before we’d even moved here,” she praised him numbly. At this point in time they hadn’t even visited her temple in more than a year.

“You don’t want to go, do you?” Maceo asked her.

“No,” she answered in barely above a whisper. Just by the sound of her voice it was evident she was fighting back tears. “I love them so much.” Maceo could only wrap his arms around her and squeeze her tightly while kissing the top of her head. “Immortality has a terrible price,” she admitted while clinging to him.

“I understand why you’ve kept mortals at a distance for so long,” Maceo comforted her, but Astravia could only shake her head while burying it into his chest.

“Not yet,” she warned him. “You do not know it yet. At least when I am not hiding my identity I can see them through their days and say goodbye properly. In this shrunken state, I cannot even walk with them as they make their journey when they pass to the afterlife.”

“We can use magic to conceal our appearance,” Maceo suggested. Astravia pressed herself against him more tightly, weighing their options but not responding.

“I came to this world because of the love and acceptance your people offer,” she confessed. “I thought it so quaint how they revered me but not like how other civilizations do. And despite all that reverence, they still have this odd sense in which they almost treated me as if they were equal to me. It was a mere couple decades ago that I only tolerated it out of congeniality. I never once considered I would blanket myself in it and how different its warmth would feel when I did so.”

Maceo placed a finger underneath her chin and lifted it up so he could look her in her eyes while she explained.

“Even my own children do not cherish me to the level that these people do. I will tell you a secret that gods never speak of, even amongst themselves: we would never trade places with a mortal. We covet our own attributes too much. However, secretly we still envy your races. We do not fully understand it, but we can sense there is something special about your short, transient lives. There is an aura surrounding each of you that we do not have and when we come into contact with it, it pours through us the same way a drink of warm cider on a cold night does with you. Your worship does not empower us, it does not increase our abilities, that is not why we crave it. It is a way to still feel a little of that aura pulse within us and it softens the coldness of our existence. When we allow mortals as close as I have done and the inevitable occurs and we are separated, the pain is palpable. In my shrunken state, literally everything I experience is magnified a thousand fold. I do not know that I have ever experienced the kind of pain that I will when the loved ones around us are finally separated, be it in a lifetime or a day from now. Gods find meaning in their existence through what we create, as do mortals, however, mortals for some reason have meaning simply from existence and when it connects with one of us… the feeling is indescribable. Even when I am at my full size.”

“You warned me about getting too close before we built a home here. I wish you had told me this then. This was a mistake, wasn’t it?”

“No,” she assured him. “It was not. I warned you because I knew you would take my counsel seriously. In truth, however, I very much hoped you would discard my advice. I wanted to experience this, even knowing how torturous its end would be for me.”

“If it’s easier for you to deal with at your full size, then lets reverse the spell now. We can always start again later if you enjoy it that much.”

“No. We should proceed as I already agreed,” she insisted.

That night they both spent the majority of it awake silently pondering the end of this brief but extremely happy phase in their new lives together. In terms for Astravia’s purposes, however, the eight years spent living among these mortals wouldn’t have even qualified as a honeymoon for her, though it was certainly better than what had met her at the beginning of her previous marriage.

In the morning, Maceo made up his mind and proceeded down to the kitchen where a servant was preparing food for them both already. He sat down and had a hot cup of tea and watched the sunrise in continued silence, though the servant noticed that something was weighing on his mind and repeatedly approached trying to offer one thing or another to try to lighten his mood.

When Astravia arrived in her robes, Maceo asked the servant to join them both for breakfast (which was hardly uncommon for the couple) and he asked her about her family and the goings on in her life without really saying much of anything other than what was necessary to ensure her he was listening and engaged in her stories. When they were finished eating, Maceo smiled to her and patted her hand.

“Why don’t you go relax for the morning,” he suggested. “We have some things we need to discuss in private. We’ll clean up.” She agreed and excused herself, leaving the miniature goddess with her husband.

“I have honored your wishes and only entered your mind when I knew for certain it was welcome,” she said after a moment of silence.

“That’s good,” Maceo smiled, reaching across the table and taking her hands in his. “Because I needed some time to find the words.”

“We are leaving,” she intuited, then awaited his answer.

“Another few decades here wouldn’t be so bad,” Maceo admitted. “I love these people too. There’s just that issue of them all aging around us.”

“You do not think I am being greedy? Wishing to milk more time from them?”

“No,” Maceo answered kindly. “You were right. The longer we stayed, the harder it would be. So, rather than just make a decision one way or the other right here and now, we’re going to give them something special and see where we are after that.”

“And what is that special thing?” Astravia asked him with a playful smile.

“The airship was finished the last time we visited the temple. I think it’s time we take it on its maiden voyage. I also think we should take our friends with. There’s more than enough room for a good sized party.”

“And where will we go?” she asked him, grinning now.

“You’re going to choose that,” Maceo informed her. “You know this world better than any one else who’s ever lived. Where do you think the trip of a lifetime is? Somewhere special. Somewhere they’ll never forget.”

Astravia bit her lip and stared at him, slowly pondering his question. “We will go far. Farther than any of them have ever been before,” she decided. “Far south of here beyond the southern continent’s Eastern coast is a large tropical island in the middle of the ocean there. The scenery is lush with all manner of species neither you nor any other of your kind has seen before with dense forests, striking volcanic mountains and water of a marvelous green and blue you have never laid eyes upon.”

“That’s a long distance,” Maceo said, surprised by the suggestion, but before Astravia could retract it, he stood and nodded to her. “Alright. We’ll need a lot of provisions,” Maceo agreed.

That day over lunch with both Rhona and Elaheh Astravia remained quiet and reflective. Rhona was perfectly at peace with Astravia’s demeanor, but it weighed heavily on Elaheh’s mind. “You have something horrible to tell us, don’t you?” Elaheh asked. Ever since moving to their community, Elaheh had hidden from the specter of Astravia’s impending departure, especially given how close she’d become with her entire family.

“No,” Astravia smiled back, though there was obviously sadness in her eyes. Elaheh frowned and looked at the table in search of a way to avoid the conversation she’d instigated.

“My oldest son is working on his lessons like you asked. I was wondering if you could take some time the next few days to help him with some subjects he’s having trouble with,” Elaheh said, diverting away from the subject at hand. Rhona only smiled and shook her head at her friend.

“Maceo and I will be departing for home tomorrow,” Astravia answered serenely.

“This is your home!” Elaheh wined, already nearly in tears. “You hardly even go to that other place anymore!”

“Don’t be a child, Elaheh,” Rhona scolded her. Despite her severe emotional stunting at the hands of the guild, she had grown substantially since the early days of their friendship. “We all knew this day would come sooner or later. In fact, I’m betting they’ve been putting it off.”

“My sweet Elaheh,” Astravia practically sang and placed her hand on the much taller woman’s cheek. “Do you trust me?”

“Always,” Elaheh answered tearfully.

“We will need time to accomplish what we are traveling for, but when we return I ask that you be prepared. We have something special for both of you, but we will require a good deal of time from you.”

“Whatever you need, Avia. Anything,” she agreed immediately and without question. “Just tell me.”

“It will be a surprise,” Astravia told her. “But you will know it when you see it.”

The next morning at daybreak, Astravia and Maceo were off and traveling a road that seemed to almost be a distant memory to them. As they rode along they reminisced about how small and run down the community was when they had first traveled there and Astravia laughed at herself for her folly of actually sending him there in order to find himself a bride.

When they arrived at the temple and the gates opened of their own accord, she sighed heavily. “Elaheh is right. It does not feel as much as home as that quaint little cottage does,” she remarked, staring numbly at a shining city made exclusively according to her own desires and plans. “What if we decide we should not stay with them?” she asked him.

“I’m not worried about it,” Maceo answered her stoically. “I’d spend more time deciding how we would fool them if we did stay with them. Keep in mind, we’ve both been getting increasingly harassed over why we haven’t had children yet.”

“This is true,” she agreed, wrapping herself around his arm as they entered the magnificent silent city and all its splendors.

Once there, Maceo went to work preparing the airship while Astravia decided to walk the streets of her temple, staring in wonder at the marvelously large structures that once had seemed small and quaint to her. Eventually, she found herself at her own quarters and wandered in the front door past the lobby where she’d first arrived a couple decades before, literally able to see herself more than three times her current height emerging from her portal still sullied by the sexual fluids her ex husband deposited all over her in their last fight together.

A retrospective ascent up the stairs to her study later, she struggled and slipped climbing up onto the chair set before her globe, which she’d never bothered to relocate to her new house she shared with Maceo. She was so small now that she was actually forced to climb onto it’s ridge to touch it and activate it so that she could look in on her friends several hours ride from there.

She then proceeded back to her bedchamber where the bed literally required a ladder for her to climb atop any longer and a walk in closet that was the size of her bedchamber in her new house, which she barely even used. She stared up at dresses so large that they would make better tents than apparel and shoes that when she tipped them on their heels were nearly as long as her legs.

“Nothing fits anymore,” she whispered to herself while shaking her head and departing her personal room once again.

Near her quarters, she found a horse that was simply lounging, so she used it to ride over to the hangar where Maceo was working with half of his golems to finalize work on the airship and the other half were loading it for their departure.

“Do you intend to control the craft the entire flight?” she asked him. “It is easily three days of constant travel at this vessel’s cruising speed.”

“I think when we get back we should show Rhona how to make a golem, don’t you? I’m guessing that it’s something she could use in her practice.”

“I agree with that,” Astravia agreed and began walking the length of the behemoth craft. Several minutes later she finished walking around it and returned to Maceo, who was overseeing the food stores being brought in for storage.

“I removed the food storage units,” Maceo informed her. “I didn’t think we would want to explain a compartment that keeps food from ever spoiling.”

“Another wise choice,” she agreed, still lost in her thoughts.

“Astravia?” he asked calling for her attention. She turned and lifted her head, perking at his call. “When was the last time you did a getaway like this? Accounting for how gods perceive time and all of that.”

She smiled and shook her head, searching her memories. “Before… that other individual,” she answered. “I and several of my friends decided we would sneak away for merely a couple centuries and find the most beautiful place we could and simply relax there for a quick break. We chose a world that had yet to develop any life and was so magnetically charged it was surrounded by a constant aurora brighter than you have ever seen.”

“Sounds fun,” Maceo complimented, making her laugh.

“You have such a penchant for understatement. Goddesses never stop at mere fun.”

“So why not ever go do anything like that with them again?”

“Three of them were destroyed in the war with Chronstrus. One was disintegrated by Zantharan for attempting to sneak one of his father’s subordinates away from his punishment following the war.”

“So none of them are left?”

“One. She became my most trusted attendant. Her name is Elphinsis.”

“Do you miss her?”

Astravia couldn’t help but laugh loudly at this question. Still, she entertained him and considered it. “I suppose. She and I have been nearly inseparable for so long that I hardly have even noticed her absence. After all, it has only been a couple of decades since we last spoke.”

“Do you ever talk about those old times you used to have with her and your friends?”

“No,” she admitted softly again. “My life before you now seems even heavier than it once did. Why do you ask these things?”

“I’ve noticed that you are very focused on goals and plans. You’re extremely good at it. I can’t imagine that even on metrics the gods use that you’re anything but the best.”

“Very kind, but your point?”

“Do you know when the sadness in your eyes finally, really disappeared?” Maceo asked her. Astravia stepped closer and shook her head at him. “I saw it. The last remnants of the weight you carry vanished the moment you saw Elaheh’s first daughter for the first time. It didn’t come back until now.” Astravia’s brow furrowed and she thought his observation over carefully. “These relationships are where you’re happy, not ruling or administering or creating or any of that. I’m wondering if you were that happy when you were prancing the cosmos like carefree children.”

Astravia raised an eyebrow at him. “We were. But that is the distant past.”

“So you treat us the same way? Like the distant past?”

“If you had existed as long as I have, you would…”

“Your body may not be affected by time, but your heart and mind definitely are. We have weeks of fun and happiness to look forward to. I know it’s not even a blink of an eye for you, but you have the power to make the time and the memories we’re about to experience live forever. We never actually have to leave you, because even though time has a powerful meaning to us, it has none for you. And if that’s not enough, there’s an infinite future for you to make new memories and get new experiences. If you can get this much enjoyment out of just shrinking yourself, what can you do when you unlock your imagination? I think that’s the secret that Kytiscia unlocked when she discovered this spell and why she became such an odd duck in your eyes. I think that’s why after eons of existence, she was known as a goddess of mischief.”

“When did you become so wise?” she asked as she closed the distance between them and hung from his neck demanding a kiss.

“When you taught me,” Maceo answered back matter-of-factly.

The couple took a second day in order to check and double check everything before settling in for sleep late that evening in their bed following an extravagant meal made with the food of the gods for the first time in more than a year. Still, despite the extravagance and luxury, both admitted that it was lonelier than they remembered.

Near lunch time back in town, Elaheh was sitting with Rhona watching their children play together following their morning lessons when they noticed a shadow form in the distance and spread toward them.

Both were taken aback and after looking around in confusion, their eyes moved skyward toward an immense object larger than any single thing they’d ever seen before aside from natural occurrences in the landscape like a mountain or the sea. Rhona covered her mouth and gasped while Elaheh literally fell over onto her back.

“In Astravia’s name,” she breathed out, earning a nod in agreement from Rhona.

“Unbelievable,” Rhona remarked as the massive object filled the sky over their tiny, primitive town silently and with mindboggling grace.

The entire town was all out by this time streets and gawking skyward as this single craft, which rivaled the town itself in size simply floated overhead and began to descend toward the south side of them. The spectacle was so amazing that nearly everyone dropped whatever they were doing in order to rush out and clamor to an open rocky ridge and slow to a stop. Then one after another, lines of rope were shot down into the ground, gradually tethering it and lowering it to a mere ten or so feet from the ground.

While they all continued to gawk, Rhona couldn’t help but jab Elaheh with her elbow and smirk. “She did say we’d know her surprise when we saw it,” she laughed.

“There is no way two people like us could create something like this,” Elaheh said in disbelief.

“Believe it or not, I saw things even more amazing than this in the guild. It’s them, I’m sure of it.”

Sure enough, shortly after the craft seemed secure, a hatch dropped open and a platform held by four cables lowered containing Maceo and Astravia smiling and happy to see their friends again.

Of course everyone there was familiar with the airship that had been used to ferry the couple and their friends about. In fact, most of the town had been aboard at one point or another for an afternoon tour above the clouds. The construction of the craft had also occurred in view of everyone, so seeing a dirigible was hardly unheard of for the locals here. What was mindboggling about this one was the sheer scale of it. The one that had seen somewhat regular use before now around the mountain seemed almost to be a child’s toy compared to this one and it took some time for the commotion to die down enough for Maceo and Astravia to be able to navigate the sea of people.

A number of explanations later, they were finally able to stand and talk with Gaeten who could barely take his eyes off of the beastly craft. “So this is what you were talking about all those years ago when you said you had bigger plans than being a merchant,” he remarked to Maceo.

“So you are leaving us,” Elaheh accused, pushing her way through and staring at Astravia with tear filled eyes.

“Believe it or not,” Maceo said, stepping forward, “you’ve all meant so much to us these last several years, we’re not even sure if this is what we want anymore.”

“Are you serious? I can’t even imagine how much work this took to complete!” Rhona interjected.

“Living here has been that influential to us,” Astravia confirmed to her. “Maceo began work on this well before we built a home here. It is finally finished.”

“This is certainly a way to explore the world,” Gaeten laughed, still shaking his head and struggling to absorb the sight of it.

“We’re still deciding whether we’re going to explore or not, but we have decided that we can’t just let this thing go to waste,” Maceo said, drawing Elaheh, Gaeten and Rhona together with them. “So, at the very least we’re going to take it on a proper maiden voyage.”

“And you are invited,” Astravia sang to them.

“To where?” Gaeten inquired.

“There is word of an island, far, far, far south of here,” Astravia told him. “It is said to be far more beautiful than anything in this region. We intend to find it. It will likely take a few days to travel there and we wish to stay a few weeks, perhaps more.”

“So what do you say?” Maceo asked with a playful lift of his brow.

[MrWitness]

This story offers so many possibilities! Before the journey, Astravia could shrink again and reach the new world smaller, so her new height would be normal for the natives.

[CKent45]

This story offers so many possibilities! Before the journey, Astravia could shrink again and reach the new world smaller, so her new height would be normal for the natives.

Well she could, but it was already a stretch to get her to change her appearance to look like a mortal. How do you think she'll feel about running around the world at doll size? Also, a 4'10" tall woman may be small, but it's also still within normal ranges for an adult human being. How will that work for a fifteen inch tall woman? Believe me, if I knew any fifteen inch tall women I'd make it a point to introduce myself every chance I got. As it stands, I have yet to meet or even hear about such a lady.

[CKent45]

There was some mild hemming and hawing from both Elaheh’s husband and Gaeten’s wife, but in the end they all agreed to join the party after a tour of the inside by all parties being offered to join.

There were technically speaking four floors inside the airship that were usable. The lowest of them belonged to the control room, which offered nearly perfect views in all directions, even straight below depending on where you were in the room. There was room for at least ten people to operate in there, though Maceo insisted that those not operating the ship should only visit this room sparingly. It offered control mechanisms to operate the airship as well as room to sit for long durations with minimal surfaces on which to read, write or place food or drink. There were also four turrets in each of the corners that were designed to fire harpoons to tether the ship to the ground once it had reached a destination where they wished to set down.

At the rear of the control room was a half staircase that climbed up and to the rear to the first full level, which contained a single bathroom complete with shower and running water and two sizeable bedrooms on either side toward the rear. On the starboard side near the bow was a navigational room complete with charts and maps as well as instruments used to take atmospheric and meteorological measurements. The remaining third of this floor was used for storing supplies. On either side of each floor were angled walls to provide a view out windows on the side of the airship. At the very front of this floor was access to dual staircases that led up to the next floor.

The third floor contained an impressive kitchen, though much more compact than Astravia was used to at the temple or even there at their residence in town at the aft area of the floor. Immediately in front of that was a dining room more than large enough to comfortably seat everyone invited all at once. On either side fore and aft were a total of four bedrooms on this floor. On the outside of the floor was a promenade on the starboard side and on the port side an activity room and study respectively, all with even more spectacular access to windows than on the second floor. At the bow end of the floor was another bathroom similar to the one below.

The fourth and final floor was up yet another pair or staircases and led to an open plan that had railings overlooking the dining area below. Fore and aft was open space to be used as desired, though currently there was furniture placed sparsely for relaxing and four more bedrooms. Port and starboard on the outer sides of the bedroom were decks with railings that overlooked the spaces below as well as also providing a view outside.

Finally, on the main floor were access hatches for and aft. Both hatches gave access to gangways that traveled up the length of the interior of the ship, which provided access to areas necessary for maintenance as well as working with the various gas cells that kept the ship aloft. Near the bow of the entire airship along this gangway was additional storage as well as access to the propeller pods there. Aft were access to four more propeller pods, additional storage and finally near the tail end of the airship a crude hangar where another aircraft resided- a less complex version of the aircraft Maceo had originally built under Astravia’s tutelage that sported two pairs of wings and a simpler, more rugged appearance. Maceo explained what the craft was and that it was there to provide access to the ground in cases of emergency as well as when conditions were too hostile for the entire airship. This biplane, as he called it, was also built to carry modest amounts of cargo, meaning that in theory the airship could stay aloft for months at a time without setting down. The craft was launched by a trapeze that would lower beneath the airship and would release the craft and returns were handled by flying into the opened hangar where the plane would be caught by a series of straps that would catch the wings and slow it to the same speed as the airship. The biplane configuration was chosen because it could operate more easily at the slower speeds the airship moved at when compared to Maceo’s first aircraft.

That evening a more elaborate tour was provided when they invited their intended guests for the excursion as well as the elders and family to join them for a cruise around the mountain at sunset.

Over the course of their meal, it was Rhona who asked if they intended to train their passengers on the operation of the airship given that there was quite a bit to do on this craft for just two people. It was then that Maceo informed Rhona that they actually had held off on manning the ship with crew until they had the opportunity to teach her how to create a golem. Anyone aboard was welcome to learn about operating the airship if they wished, however while en route.

Unfortunately, training Rhona on this skill took more effort than when Maceo had been taught the skill. On the bright side, however, this gave their guests longer to see to their affairs and prepare for being away from their homes for long enough to make the trip. It also gave Maceo and Astravia the opportunity as they created a minimal number of golem crew to operate the ship to demonstrate launching and recovering the biplane above their town. Unspoken by the miniature goddess and her lover was the fact that this was also practice to ensure that they could actually safely conduct such maneuvers.

As luck would have it, Maceo could. Astravia’s piloting skills were never in question.

Four days later, the party was forced to set off because of a weather front developing from the east and they set course south by southeast toward the southern continent. Their course took them across the landscapes of their homeland and in a few short hours they were passing above the town of Longsgallow, looking down on it from several thousand feet up. They passed over the sea and continued south passing over a very large unexpected island as they went.

The golems, instructed with Astravia’s vast knowledge, proved to be quite useful in operating the ship, though for most of the first day, Maceo made sure to spend most of his time in the control room observing and checking course and heading. The first evening aboard was magical for their passengers with magically lit lanterns providing a soft light and near perfect views to the east and west of the night sky as they floated above the clouds.

It took about a day to reach the next shore across the sea and the passengers were amazed to discover that not long after they reached that milestone, they encountered another sea, whose shoreline they followed until they reached nothing but desert. At this point, they turned directly south until they were once again greeted with a coastline of an ocean none of the passengers had ever heard of. They followed this coastline until it began curving westward and finally they turned East by Southeast on their final leg of their journey.

Again, the passengers were amazed as they brought the airship lower near sea level and they watched with amazement as they caught glimpses of sea life they’d never encountered before. Maceo also took the opportunity to take some of the children on joy rides in the biplane until they reached the coast of another land they’d never heard of before.

Unfortunately, they were only over this land for a short time before they were headed out into an unending sea again in search of the foretold of island destination. After nearly four days of non stop flight and the most amazing experience that any aboard had ever dreamed of, land was spotted in the control room, where Maceo was steering and Astravia was entertaining Elaheh’s two youngest children.

Upon spotting land, the two children scampered off to the upper levels to spread the word and before long there was a constant rotation of people in and out to see the island, which was every bit as beautiful and miraculous as Astravia had promised.

Because of careful planning, the only things that they were on short supply of was water when they finally set down in a harbor that faced northwest.

The trip was supposed to last a few weeks, but instead the passengers that Maceo and Astravia had brought along with them were so amazed and fascinated by all that there was to discover and explore there, they insisted on staying for nearly two months, which was mostly made possible by hunting and fishing conducted on the island to feed themselves as well as gathering of water from rivers near their base camp.

There were unique and exotic forms of birds and reptiles as well as tropical terrains and nearly countless excursions to explore the island in parties as well as a few flights made by the biplane with passengers chosen by Maceo to gain reconnaissance over the land.

They even stayed long enough that they chose to build huts along the beaches they had set camp on, though there was a rotation to make sure that there was always someone on the airship at all times should the need arise for a person to oversee any issue that might occur.

The trip was unbelievably relaxing for Astravia and filled with joy. For Maceo, not only did he see the disappearance of the sadness in her eyes, but she even began to behave in a manner that was indistinguishable from the mortals around her. She spent most of each day playing with the children and telling them stories or singing songs with them as well as exploring and watching the world through truly fresh and new eyes.

They had been there for three weeks and Rhona and Elaheh were sitting beside a fire together barely within reach of Maceo’s hearing watching Astravia twirl and dance with their children while also teaching them to cook a fish over a nearby open flame.

“See?” Elaheh mentioned to Rhona as Maceo listened in discreetly. “She’s happy with us. She’d never want to leave us,” she boasted to Rhona, who could only sigh and turn to look at her friend in all seriousness.

“You realize we’re only holding her back, right?” came Rhona’s reply in monotone.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that look at her. Look at them both. They created a massive ship capable of carrying a palace with it through the air based on a model they built with us only a few years ago. They have a flying machine inside of it that is fueled by magic and they took us on a voyage in a matter of days that would have taken us months even if we knew exactly where we were headed. Look at all they can do and all they’re capable of and listen to their dreams for once and realize that keeping them with us is borderline cruel. It’s like forcing a cat to live permanently inside of a box that you can carry to market with just because you would miss it. We’re holding them back.”

“You’re not holding us back,” Maceo assured them softly without bothering to look their way. Both ladies turned in surprise to discover that he had overheard their conversation and neither knew what to say. “This is a hard decision for us. For me at least, it’s a dream of mine to go out into the world and explore and discover everything it has to offer. But on the other hand, we love you all and your community more than anything. We can’t have both, though. It’s hard to decide which we want more.”

Elaheh swallowed hard and stared down at the sand she was sitting on. “Would you ever come back?” she asked him numbly.

“It’s hard to say,” Maceo answered honestly. It was at this point that Gaeten and his wife wandered in and sat with them, listening in on the serious discussion. “There are other people out there too. I don’t think we’d ever grow to love them as much as we do you all, but the people out there for us to discover are as new and exciting as all of these creatures we’ve found here. I’m sure we’d make new friends, but I’m also sure they’d never replace you.”

“I know you mean well, Elaheh,” Gaeten’s wife told her, “but it’s important to remember how blessed we are to have had people like this in our lives at all. You know they’d never leave us because they didn’t care, but look at what they’ve done so far. Do you realize what they’ve just shown us is only the very beginning of what they hope to discover out there?”

“You could come with us,” Maceo offered. “You’ve seen we have room.”

Until this specific moment, Elaheh hadn’t stopped smiling since they first stepped on board the airship. Even her husband was happier than normal so long as he wasn’t confined to the same space that Maceo was in. For the briefest of moments, there was a spark in Elaheh’s eyes at the prospect, but it faded as quickly as it appeared and she was now sulking and staring at the ground. Rhona, however, had her answer immediately.

“I can’t,” Rhona answered him. “Maybe I would have before I was married, but I can’t anymore. Besides, I’ve found where I’m happy.” Hearing these words seemed to drag Elaheh down even more.

“We shouldn’t push them any further,” Gaeten’s wife suggested in the absence of an answer from Elaheh. “They’ll always be welcome with us, but we shouldn’t try to sway their decision to stay or to go.”

Aside from this little bump in the road, the entire trip went without a hitch or any drama. The next few weeks were filled with games and hikes and swims while Rhona and Elaheh’s children were imprinted with memories they would never be able to forget or replicate in their entire lifetimes.

Seven weeks in, Astravia and Maceo were in bed together in their bedroom on the airship and Astravia was riding atop him as they made love when she leaned down and pressed her nipple into his mouth while she rocked up and down on his cock. She was thoroughly enjoying herself and basking in the sensations as she danced with a reasonable distance from climaxing as she’d regularly done for the last eight years in order to avoid further shrinking spurts. Of course, Maceo was never one to deny one of her delectable tits, so he happily accepted it and began licking and suckling on it until suddenly Astravia’s milk began to flow freely into his mouth.

Astravia’s entire body shivered with pleasure and she let loose a stuttering moan before she stopped moving altogether and clenched her fist. “Okay… I am sorry, but I need to stop,” she informed him.

“That’s fine,” Maceo answered while remaining perfectly still so as to not risk any movements that might endanger her remaining size. Astravia breathed heavily and petted his cheek with a smile, then began to lift herself up from him but before she was even halfway up the length of his hard cock, she gasped, trembled violently and fell back down on him once more. She clenched her fists and attempted to calm herself, leaning forward after a tense, shaky moment and rested on her palms against his chest, then suddenly her eyes shot wide open in a panic.

Astravia looked down at her hands and sure enough, exactly as she’d feared, she could see her fingers dragging slowly against his skin as her hands contracted. “Maceo, I am shrinking!” she whispered harshly. Maceo looked up at her also in shock and realized that she was right. Slowly, gradually, her shoulders were becoming narrower, her arms thinner and her head sinking lower as he could feel her hands contracting against his chest and her thighs dragging across his hips as she shrank.

To make matters worse, her pussy was becoming tighter too, constricting around his cock as he continued to press up deeper within her with a paradoxical decrease in her strength while increasing in tightness. She was most of the way through her shrinking spurt when he couldn’t hold it any longer and he came inside of her, which was also a pleasurable experience for her, though she was fighting desperately to fend off another unplanned orgasm.

She clenched her eyes shut in shame and frustration and when she was certain she could contain it again, she rolled off of him and collapsed in a heap on the mattress beside him, curling up and whimpering, “oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!”

Maceo rolled over and attempted to wrap his arms around her to comfort her, however, she frantically slapped his arms away until she could come to terms with this grievous error in her judgment.

Nearly an hour passed before she was finally ready to accept diving into his arms for comfort and she whimpered pathetically as he held her for another hour longer. When she was finally ready to accept the consequences of what had just occurred, she sat up in bed and shifted to the edge to sit, frowning heavily as she realized how much further her toes were now from the floor. “Oh no,” she gasped.

She physically needed a hand in order to stand up and fully assess the damage. All in one misguided moment of passion, she’d gone from being tall enough to just being level with his collarbone to now not even being tall enough to be level with his nipple. She covered her mouth with both hands as she looked at the titan of a lover standing before her.

Astravia paced in circles in front of him mumbling in her native language and cursing herself then with a wave of her hand conjured markings on the wall to properly measure her height. “Four feet, six inches,” Maceo reported dutifully but remorsefully to her.

“I cannot hide this!” she hissed at him and throwing her arms out in frustration. “Four inches? Four inches? How do I hide that I have shrunk FOUR INCHES! I was already tiny before and now I am a freak, even by mortal standards. Even Cajsa is taller than me now!”

“Not by much…” Maceo attempted to reassure her, but there was no confidence behind his voice.

“Do not minimize this, Maceo!” she reprimanded him, then grimaced at her choice for words. “Ignore the irony of that statement,” she demanded, and then paced in several small circles again. “What am I going to do? What am I going to do?” she asked herself repeatedly.

“It’s going to be alright,” Maceo insisted, only to have the increasingly tiny goddess turn and stomp her feet to demonstrate her displeasure with him.

“I WAS the height of a ten your old! I am now the height of an eight year old child mortal!” she hissed, stomping her feet again. Astravia then covered her mouth and stared ahead with abject fear. “My voice has gone up in pitch again!”

“It’s going to be alright, Astravia,” Maceo said, kneeling before her to appear less intimidating, which at first seemed to help, but when he settled at knee height, she found she was no longer able to see over his head from this position and they were nearly equal in height.

“We cannot hide this!” Astravia warned him. “Elaheh’s oldest is my height now! She was already making comments on how short I was!”

“Astravia,” Maceo said in a firm and low voice while grabbing both of her arms. “I want you to relax and breath for a minute,” he ordered her. She nodded and closed her eyes and then chirped when he suddenly scooped her up in his arms with no effort whatsoever and carried her back to the bed to hold her.

“What am I going to do?” she asked him in a pathetic, begging voice.

“Well, I think it’s time to use that power you’ve been keeping in reserve,” Maceo informed her.

“You cannot be serious.”

“We don’t have another option. You can grow or shrink yourself, right?”

“Yes, in appearance, but the fact of the matter is I am a four feet, six inch tall dwarf! I can fake some of the weight and strength I had when I was taller, but in the end that does not change the fact that I weigh less than eighty five pounds now.”

“Just do it,” Maceo told her. “We only need a few inches. That won’t be difficult for you.”

Astravia sighed heavily and shook her head and climbed off of his lap. She then held her hand outward and concentrated, but suddenly gave him a confused look when nothing happened. She tried a second time, and then closed her eyes and focused even harder for a third time and this time she finally expanded quickly several inches. She opened her eyes and smiled at her success, but she couldn’t help but tip her head to the side as she realized something didn’t quite seem right.

“I think you overshot the mark,” Maceo told her and led her to the wall where the height markings were. Sure enough, exactly as promised, Astravia was confirmed to be standing at five feet, three inches now.

“How did…” she began in utter disbelief, then focused again and began dwindling down, down to 4’8”. She groaned with frustration following this attempt and expanded up to 5’8” only to immediately notice the difference and quickly shrink down to 4’7”. She continued to shrink and grow over and over again until she finally found the 4’10” size she required. “My powers are definitely malfunctioning.”

“I think it’s just your perspective is a bit warped,” Maceo told her.

“I lost a lot more power this time than in previous shrinks,” she complained.

“That’s alright. We’ve got the right size, so all you have to do is hold that until we get back to the temple and we can work on a more permanent solution.”

“Oh Maceo,” she lamented while covering her face with her hands and shaking her head. “This is a precarious position. I can hold it yes, but it is like you holding a piece of paper with your arm outstretched in your palm for an hour. Even though the load is light, your muscles will ache infinitely and your strength will waver the longer you attempt to do so.”

“Well then make a new form like you did before.”

“What do you think I have been trying to do for the last couple of hours?” she asked him, thoroughly frustrated. “All of my powers are noticeably more difficult to use now. I have lost my precision with them and I cannot seem to activate that ability of mine.”

“So for the time being, this is all we get.”

“Correct,” Astravia confirmed and grimaced again as she realized her size was reducing slightly again,

“Well, fine. We could shrink the rest of us until we can get home.”

“It will be a cold day in the afterworld before I ever shrink you,” Astravia warned him. “I would rather reveal my identity first.”

“Oh, so you do like me with a bigger dick,” he teased, but she only slapped him.

“This is not a time to joke,” she warned him then her eyes went wide as she realized she was growing slightly and then receded to about 4’9” in an attempt to overcompensate.

“I have power, don’t I? Natural magic?”

“Of course, ever since you drank my milk.”

“Can you take mine to bolster your strength?”

She considered his question carefully and tapped her chin, then asked for both of his hands. She held them, astonished by how tiny hers were compared to his now despite the illusion of size she’d created and closed her eyes, concentrating again. A moment later, Maceo could feel his power flowing between them.

In the end, Astravia was able to access enough strength to create a slightly larger copy of the mortal form she had made prior that gave her a much more stable platform to hide in. The drawback was that this new form was not as stable as the forms she’d already created and as such needed concentration to remain in it. The end result was a form identical in appearance to the one she’d been using since reaching 4’10” tall, but one that she also easily slid out of. When she did, it gave the illusion that she was shrinking down to 4’6” in height when the reality was that she was in actuality 4’6” in height. It was, thankfully, good enough to limp by with until they could return home. The simplest way of monitoring whether she was slipping in and out of her new form was to make sure she was wearing her marriage bracelet at all times. When she was at the proper size for public appearances, the metal accessory fit perfectly and any time she began to let this form slip she would notice by her bracelet becoming loose.

Their ruse worked well enough that Astravia was still able to enjoy her island getaway, though she required time away from the group to retreat back into her newer, smaller size at least once a day besides evening time when they were in bed together. The other caveat was that in order to stabilize the power Astravia needed to maintain that slightly larger form, Maceo needed to be nearby at all times, and never more than a few dozen feet away.

There were a few unfortunate circumstances where she did slip, though no one caught her when this did happen aside from Elaheh’s oldest who also wasn’t quite sure what she’d seen when it happened.

That mishap aside, the remainder of the trip went without a hitch as well and they were able to maintain appearances well enough that they honored the request to stay even longer.

The entire trip lasted a total of two months, one week and four days; return travel not included. The return trip was less direct than the trip to the island. This time, when they reached the southern continent, they continued inland until they reached a massive lake that was even larger than the huge island they’d just spend most of a season at.

They did stop for a day to enjoy its shores and take the children for a nature walk as well as a little fishing, but this was quite a brief stay compared to the one they’d just had on the tropical island. From there, they followed the general path of an incredibly long river, cruising at a lower altitude than they’d used while over the sea and giving the passengers a extremely enjoyable view the entire way that left little need for entertainment. When they did finally reach town, they were forced to circle above the clouds for another day because of bad weather spent drinking ale and joking the hours away before finally descending down to their destination as the clouds parted and gave way to their long missed home.

There was a huge celebration to welcome the travelers home and a feast as well, but the next day after checking in on his business interests to ensure there were no major problems, Maceo insisted that they set course to bring the airship back to storage before returning back to town, though he did warn that they would need time to see to business there before coming back.

When they finally ascended away from town waving goodbye to their friends, Astravia breathed a massive sigh of relief and relaxed, slowly shrinking again as Maceo rested his hands on her shoulders down from 4’10” to 4’6”.

[MrWitness]

Well she could, but it was already a stretch to get her to change her appearance to look like a mortal. How do you think she'll feel about running around the world at doll size? Also, a 4'10" tall woman may be small, but it's also still within normal ranges for an adult human being. How will that work for a fifteen inch tall woman? Believe me, if I knew any fifteen inch tall women I'd make it a point to introduce myself every chance I got. As it stands, I have yet to meet or even hear about such a lady.

You mistakenly assumed that I mean doll size... Meanwhile, I meant to slightly shrink her to lets say 4ft6 (like you did) and meet new people on her way, for whom Astravia has always been so little.

Have you ever met or heard of a woman who is 4ft6 tall? I do!

And of course a great update!

[CKent45]

You mistakenly assumed that I mean doll size... Meanwhile, I meant to slightly shrink her to lets say 4ft6 (like you did) and meet new people on her way, for whom Astravia has always been so little.

Have you ever met or heard of a woman who is 4ft6 tall? I do!

And of course a great update!

You're right, but only because we've already laid out that Astravia is on her way down to doll size. I guess you want more stops along the way before she reaches her destination? However, remember, she's got seven decades or so of being shrunken before it wears off, so there's lots of room for a myriad of adventures.

I will say this: there will definitely be new characters entering into the mix.

I haven't met a woman that small before, but I did meet one who was about 4'8" and good lord did I have a crush on her. She was married and a close friend to the girl I was seeing, though, so I never tried anything, though I've always regretted it. Not sure when I'll get lucky enough to come across a woman like that again...

As always, I'm so happy you are reading and enjoying!

[CKent45]

I managed to find the pics I once had seen of a shrinking giantess that I mentioned in an earlier post in here. I felt like there was more to the sequence, but here's what I've found so far. I figured I should put it in here before Astravia gets too small in the story.

[CKent45]

When the airship was finally docked and secured back in its hangar at the temple, Maceo found Astravia sitting on the main floor in the dining hall atop a chair with her toes dangling above the floor and too small to even come close to reaching the back of the chair. Her dress was baggy and loose and mildly slipping from one shoulder.

“Any ideas on what we do now?” Maceo asked her, yanking her back to reality. She perked up immediately and lifted her eyes far above to her towering lover.

“Well yes,” she said positively. “You are going to shrink me,” she answered and hopped down from her chair, walked forward pulling the hem of her dress up from dragging on the ground with one hand and pulling forward on his hand with the other.

“I… but… are you sure?”

“There is no point waiting any longer,” she determined. “What is done, is done. I have already shrunk this much, we might as well finish the job.”

“But what about our friends back in town?”

“I have a more permanent solution you can create when I have reached my final size. Until then, I am sick and tired of denying myself orgasms. Shrink me,” she ordered him sternly.

“Astravia,” he said loudly and confidently now that for the first time in more than a year he could speak her name freely without fear of being overheard. “There’s also the concern that you could suffer side effects like the ones you had that made us take this break to begin with.”

“I have more than mastered life at this size, and I was shrunk to a third my height when it first became unmanageable. I have waited long enough. Eight years without finishing is too much. Now stop waylaying and SHRINK ME!” she ordered. “Do you have any idea how wet I am for you and have been these last several weeks?”

“I’m just worried about you, Astravia.”

Astravia growled fiercely and stopped, craning her neck far up at the muscular mortal. “Every time you so much as touch me since this last spurt it is as though electricity is passed into me and my entire tiny body tingles from head to toe. If you do not shrink me yourself soon, I am not going to be able to contain it any longer and I’m going to cum spontaneously. So quit whining and SHRINK ME!” she demanded.

“Who am I to argue?” Maceo laughed and allowed the miniaturized goddess to storm forward.

Maceo was surprised to discover that instead of leading him back to their new home at the temple, she directed him to Astravia’s old quarters. “Why here?” he asked as they walked in through the front door with Astravia clearly on a mission.

“I already feel small, and I want to get a clear understanding of the scale at which I have diminished,” she answered him. “Perhaps it is strange, but I wish to continue shrinking in my normal bed.”

They proceeded to the main stairwell and up it with Astravia tripping over the mortal steps on the outer edge given the fact that she still hadn’t adjusted to life at only 4’6” tall. Once they were inside of her bedchamber, she marched hurriedly to her bedside and looked up at the enormous structure that was once her bed. She looked to the left and to the right for a way up and then squeaked as Maceo swept her off of her feet and into his arms, then he leapt with ease up onto the top of the mattress and set her down onto her feet again.

“I suppose that is one way of doing it,” she chuckled, then squeaked again when Maceo leaned down to her and stole a steamy kiss. She moaned with satisfaction and lifted up onto her tiptoes in an attempt to meet him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, which allowed him to stand upright, pulling her with so that her feet left her soft, plushy ground and the hem of her dress fell past her feet, which disappeared inside.

Maceo reached behind her and squeezed her little ass, which also pleased and excited her enough to get her to press her hips against him. They kissed and swirled tongues together for several minutes then Maceo pulled her away and lifted the back of her dress before turning her around and dropping his pants, freeing his erection.

Astravia swallowed hard and wrapped her arms around the arm that she was now bent over and she clenched her jaw and squeezed his arm as she felt his cock press up against her crotch and slid it between her dripping wet labia. A second later, she gasped as she felt an immense pressure against her vagina and she arched her back to allow him a slightly better angle. As soon as he began to enter her, she moaned loudly and gutturally. “Go slow, go slow,” she urged, feeling him press up inside of her with much more volume than she’d anticipated. “I only shrank four inches… how is it so big?” she asked.

Maceo was careful as asked and gently pushed deeper inside of her in phases, giving her opportunities to catch her breath as he filled her more than expected. When he’d finally entered her to the hilt, she intentionally ground her hips up and down against his crotch to enjoy the sensation all the more.

“I will not last long,” she predicted while panting. Maceo then began thrusting in and out of her, slowly at first, but increasing in tempo methodically to a rapid thump as Astravia slipped into one long, continuous and loud moan. Astravia slowly began kicking her feet in the air feebly until Maceo slowed down and then pulled an arm back, reaching under her dress from behind and settling his hand between her legs and his middle finger pressing down on her clitoris. From this position he wasn’t able to thrust nearly as fast, but his stimulation of her clitoris drove Astravia through the roof in a wild scream while her feet continued to kick impotently out into the air.

A few minutes later, the loose blouse of Astravia’s dress was soaked in the milk she was leaking and her feminine fluids seeping out so much that they were running down her legs. It only took a chance stroke against her clitoris from the right angle to send her over the edge and the tiny goddess tensed and screamed and suddenly she began shrinking in his arms again. Maceo attempted to slow to give her a chance to catch her breath, but she only thrust her hips back against him until he began pounding her pussy again and quickly sent her into another orgasm.

Astravia’s dwindling body began bucking spastically as she reached out into the air for anything to grab hold of. Through it all, her body continued to recede, sinking back into the ever more baggy dress that was really only staying on because it was laying across her dwindling body, which was nearly perfectly horizontal as she looked forward and Maceo fucked her from behind while with each passing second she became more like his personal sex toy.

She’d shrunk another several inches when she felt the back of her dress flop over her head due to the stiffness of the fabric. She only briefly turned to notice herself shrinking into her dress, then screamed again with pleasure. A couple of seconds later, her ever-tightening pussy squeezed Maceo so tightly that he burst inside of her, though there was far more seed than her tiny womb could contain. His knees buckled and he dropped to the bed where he barely managed to allow Astravia to fall off of his dick before collapsing on his side. He took a long moment to recover before he looked to his left to see Astravia’s dress and the little lump inside of it that was barely moving.

“That definitely couldn’t have been just one,” he remarked. As he did so, the little lump inside the dress began to stir and Astravia popped her head out, her face covered in sweat and laying inside of her dress as though it were a tarp.

“That was three,” she informed him proudly while crawling out of her now useless clothing and swooning a bit as she did. She fell over onto him and curled up in his arms and once she was comfortable, melted in his embrace.

“Are you alright?” he asked after her breathing came under control again.

“I am fine. I have never been worn out by sex before, however.”

“So it was good?”

“Amazing,” she complimented him. “How are you?”

“Spent,” Maceo chuckled. Astravia growled and placed her tiny palm on his broad chest but she was forced to frown when the typical glow of her healing magic was dim.

“I cannot even refresh you?”

“You’re still used to everything being easy for you. First of all, you’re tired, which is definitely a first for you. Why don’t you just take some time to relax before we try again.” Astravia grumbled something unintelligible, but ultimately agreed and curled up in his arms again.

Luckily, she didn’t have to wait long before she felt his cock beginning to stir against her leg. She grinned and pushed up against him and stood, looking around the giant, dimly lit bedroom. Off in the distance, it was obvious that her writing table’s surface was now easily more than twice the height off the ground than she was tall now. Even the seat of the chair beside it would be well over her head. Out of curiosity, she waved her hand and produced a faded image of herself standing beside the bed and approached the edge of the mattress and could only stare at her former self in shock. Even standing on top of her own mattress when confronted with her true size, she still had to look up in order to see her navel.

Normal Astravia could hold this version of Astravia in the palm of her hand and she would sit comfortably as though she were in an oversized chair. Maceo sat up and watched her from a distance, letting her drink in the reality of her stature.

“Any idea where you are in terms of size?” he asked her cautiously.

She took a moment before and then she smiled to herself. “It seems I can still swim time’s river,” she reported. “It is much more difficult again, however. But, to answer your question, I am now three feet, ten inches tall. In your terms, if I were a mortal woman and normally four feet ten inches tall, I have shrunk the equivalent as if I were slightly less than fifteen inches in height.”

“And you’re feeling alright?”

“I feel quite good. I feel invigorated and full of life,” she answered. “But also incredibly depowered. Activating my abilities even is becoming difficult.”

“Maybe we should take some time to let you adapt before we go any further.”

“I have another idea,” she grinned and beckoned him forth with her finger. When he reached her, her smile lessened as she realized his erect penis was now at the level of her collarbone and she needed to look upward to see his bellybutton. “My estimation was slightly off,” she complained as she lifted her breasts in her hands, barely making contact with the underside of his shaft, which was becoming practically unmanageable for her tiny hands, even if she used both.

“Estimation of what?” he asked her, staring down at the diminutive goddess whose face was quickly approaching level with his dick now.

“For this,” she answered, lifting up onto her tiptoes and wrapping her tits around his cock. Small as she was, her breasts were still more than a handful for the gargantuan mortal, and he was both surprised and thrilled to see her rubbing the length of his cock with her tits. He groaned with pleasure and his knees buckled slightly, making her smile with pride and now that she’d found as comfortable a position as she was going to find like this, she lowered her mouth and wrapped her lips around the head of his cock and began sucking on it as if it were a piece of candy at the market.

She stroked his shaft with her tits and sucked on the tip for several minutes before her tongue seemed to wrap around it inexplicably and he came in her mouth, though the amount was so much that she had to pull back coughing after the first burst and received another two blasts of cum in her face because of it.

She laughed, much to Maceo’s surprise, then he looked down at her to see her concentrating especially hard and gripping his softening dick with all her might when suddenly that glow he’d seen so many times began washing over his member and spreading. When he was rock hard again, she grinned and wrapped her breasts around it and began rubbing his dick with her tits and sucking on the end of his cock, quickly setting him off again and while she was a little better prepared this time, she still found herself overwhelmed and receiving a face full of cum. When she recharged his libido this time, she was sweating and panting a little from the exertion, but she soldiered on, determined to build her powers up through practice. In total, Maceo came six times like this before Astravia decided she needed to take a break and wipe her sticky, cum covered face off.

“That was amazing,” Maceo complimented, letting himself fall to a sitting position.

“I had to try it at least once while I was still big enough,” she reported to him. Maceo then swept her up into his arms and leapt down to the floor to carry her to the bathroom to clean up. Even with objects placed in this room to assist Maceo with the god-sized furnishings, Astravia was no longer tall enough to climb onto the counter for the sink. He was forced to lift her up and set her on the counter, where she stood and then walked down into the basin and groaned from the strain of attempting to open the faucet. She was now just small enough that she could use the sink as a shower, which she did, carefully rinsing all of the cum off of her face and out of her hair.

When she was finally satisfied, she had Maceo provide her a goddess sized washcloth to use as a towel and carry her back to the bed, constantly shaking her head at the immense scale of everything.

“You’re getting really light,” he commented as they traveled back to bed.

“I weigh just over fifty pounds now,” she answered him. “It is hard to imagine that I used to weigh more than three thousand, one hundred.”

“You definitely wore it well. I would have never believed you were an ounce over three thousand,” he teased, which made her snicker.

Once back on the bed, Astravia swallowed hard and crawled backward as he laid down, carefully straddling his hips and his daunting member that was quickly growing hard again in her tiny, delicate hands. “You’re sure?” he asked her out of concern, but rather than answer, she only stroked him harder and faster, drawing every inch she could from his penis. Once she was satisfied, she crouched over his hips and lowered herself and guided him into her, wincing and pausing randomly as she absorbed his manhood slowly and with determination.

“You are officially the largest I have ever had,” she complimented him, gasping as she slid another inch inside of her.

“I’m sure it sounds pathetic that you’re the only I’ve ever had,” he answered her, also gasping with each inch of him taken within her.

“I already… to-old you… I am honored th-that you sa-a-aved yourself fo-or me,” she moaned as he filled her completely. “OooooooOOOOOHH! I will not last long,” she cried out in a tiny, high-pitched voice. She then grabbed his hands and placed them on her hips. “Go fa-aaast,” she begged and then screamed as loudly as she was able as he began thrusting her up and down on him aggressively.

Just as predicted, she only lasted a couple of minutes before her scream became primal and he realized that she was shrinking again around his cock. She barely managed to open one eye to look at him. “Finish w-with me,” she whimpered. Maceo tensed and thruster her harder and faster until he too managed to cum again and as soon as she felt his fluids coursing up into her, her scream intensified again and all of the muscles in her torso gave out and she flopped forward.

“S-s-sto-op,” she gasped, drenched in sweat and obviously maxed out. He let go of her hips and she collapsed face first on him, his dick still inside of her and her body slowly dwindling around it. Maceo could only lay and watch due to the fact that any time he so much as touched her, she reacted with a powerful scream. Slowly, her legs thinned and shortened until her knees lifted away from any contact with the mattress and her head receded down his chest until she didn’t even reach his nipples anymore. When she finally settled in at a size that was just small enough for him to pick up with one hand around her waist, she feebly kicked her legs one after another until she could crawl up and slide him out of her.

A moment later, she felt his hands wrap around her, covering nearly all of her back and she curled up slightly and promptly passed out from exhaustion.

[CKent45]

Late the next morning, Astravia finally awakened atop a truly giant lover whose hands and arms utterly enveloped her. “Whoa,” she gasped, taking in the sheer scale of this once tiny mortal. As soon as she did so, he opened his eyes and looked down at her.

“That last orgasm was pretty intense.”

“It was FOUR,” she relayed in disbelief. “One after another. I have NEVER experienced anything that intense before. Look at you! You are massive!” she exclaimed, and then pushed up on his chest, only to collapse again. “I am… tired?” she asked, thoroughly confused. “But I am a goddess.”

“I think you might have overdone it a bit,” Maceo joked, though Astravia didn’t seem particularly amused.

“I am a goddess! I am not supposed to be exhausted! This has never happened before!” Maceo began to smirk, but she shoved a tiny finger directly into his face preemptively. “Do not make jokes at my expense!”

“Feeling vulnerable?” Maceo asked her sympathetically.

“I… actually…” she considered and pulled his hands around her again. She immediately relaxed and sighed, then her body seemed to melt in his hands as his massive fingers began to probe her miniature body and back, soothing her troubles away with ease. “Oooooh,” she moaned. “I feel wonderful,” she informed him and stopped moving altogether. “This is indescribable.”

“So then don’t stop?”

“Oh Maceo, my god, please do not stop,” she moaned and actually drooled slightly when he continued massaging her like this. “So amazing,” she sighed, falling into a complete state of bliss. It was quite some time later before he broke the silence again.

“It’s that good?” he asked her while he continued to massage her tiny, naked body with his fingers.

“Not good… so much, much more than that. I have never felt anything so good in all my existence. Oh my dearest Maceo, why could I not have been created at this size?” Maceo smiled and laughed quietly at her response. “I was so very wrong with all my creations. I should have made all women this size,” she moaned as her face melted into his chest.

“And what size is this exactly?”

“Purrrfect,” she answered in a purring voice that matched her statement. “Remind me when I return to normal to gift all the women of this world with this size.”

“Are you sure you want to shrink every woman on this world to half her height?”

“Why? Do you feel there is a subset of them that are not deserving of such a gift?”

“I think that some might not see being shrunk down to half their height as a gift.”

“Only until they feel how astounding a man’s hands feel on her body like this. It is as though you could snap me with a mere thought, and yet I feel completely and utterly safe. I cannot remember feeling this safe. Honestly, how much better can this even get?”

“Pardon me for not believing you, but that’s kind of hard to swallow given how you reacted when you first realized you were shrinking. When you realized how much of your power was gone, you were absolutely livid.”

“To bloody hell with the power,” she responded, melting even more dramatically into his massaging fingers. “I want this.”

“Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear before,” he chuckled.

“It is THAT GOOD,” she answered, sighing again as he increased his focus on kneading her soft shoulders. She then moaned and relaxed so much that she began drooling on him, completely unaware that she had slipped into such an undignified behavior.

Most of the morning had slipped away before she finally pushed herself up to her hands and knees, though there was nothing steady about her positioning and her arms and legs remained wobbly while her beautiful face showed the practically inebriated state she’d found herself in. Maceo was of course thoroughly amused by her acceptance of her shrunken state. Up until this point, Astravia had been palpably fearful with each inch that she lost in height. The loss of power and influence was terrifying for her, but she soldiered on mostly out of a sense of duty to her promise to Maceo, even though Maceo could have taken or left the arrangement. All he wanted was Astravia and her love. He didn’t need to reverse the power discrepancy between them and by now, the emotional scars from her abusive treatment of him were all but gone.

Something about this stage in her shrinking was different, though. When he helped her to her feet, she had difficulty even activating any of her powers or abilities. They were still there and once they were active they weren’t difficult to use (though at a predictably reduced scale), it was just that now there was a barrier that she’d never noticed before that had to be pushed through.

She was as close now to being completely powerless as she’d ever been, but something about this current state in her diminishment had flipped a switch within her and she was perfectly comfortable, especially when held in Maceo’s hands.

When they reached the floor, they approached the wall and Astravia stood with her back to it, asking Maceo to measure her this time. He agreed and knelt, still towering over her even in this position, and carefully examined her.

“About thirty five inches,” he informed her tentatively.

“About?”

“Yeah, about that.”

“Well, at this size, a fraction of an inch is much more meaningful than it has ever been. What am I, exactly?”

“Umm… thirty five and… about five sixteenths. Just a hair under.”

“Hmm,” she considered, apparently pleased with the answer and then she held her hands up to signal him to pick her up again. “So about thirty five and a third of an inch.”

Interestingly, Astravia was fascinated with this size and completely enamored with it. She only once tried to slip in and out of time and that was only because Maceo had insisted they get an inventory of her abilities and where they stood. Astravia herself, however, had somehow reached a point where the one thing that had always defined her (her power) was suddenly of no interest to her.

At her current height, Astravia was the equivalent of just under eleven and a half inches tall from a god’s perspective, and easily doll sized, standing only shin height to her former self. In mortal terms, she was the size of a toddler now, and only destined to continue to get smaller. Despite being nearly completely unable to function any longer in her old home, she insisted on frequent trips there so that she could experience walking on tables and counters so large that she could use them now for games and sports. She also was enamored with interacting with everyday objects around her old home such as forks and spoons that were now two thirds her height and glasses that were as large as barrels to her now.

Maceo got next to no work done as she insisted on exploring every nook and cranny of her old quarters as well as the sanctuary hall where she giggled to herself while sitting in her old throne that was so large to her now that it was larger than her bed had been at her full size.

She wanted to rediscover the entire world like this and became increasingly playful and spritely in her demeanor as she realized her world had shifted from oversized to ridiculously gargantuan. Her decreased size made moving around extremely difficult, though, especially in the areas designed to host gods, so Maceo was recruited to ferry her around literally everywhere.

Of course, half of this was only an excuse to remain in Maceo’s arms as much as humanly possible. Every time she was there, she found herself in a peaceful, relaxed state and as exciting as exploring this world that was now five times too large for her was, she still found a great deal of anxiety when she was parted from him. As clingy as she’d been at 4’10”, she was now completely dependant on him, though she did manage to help Maceo in a few chores, such as cooking.

Also interesting was the fact that Astravia quickly became attached to being at this size and insisted on staying this way for as long as possible, which proved to be difficult given her now constant state of intense sexual arousal and hypersensitivity that caused even simple displays of affection such as a kiss at the base of her neck to cause waves of pleasure to pulse through her diminutive body.

The result was an even more giving attitude from Astravia, who was constantly pawing Maceo up and doing everything in her power to sexually excite him as well as shower his now gargantuan cock with lavishing attention. It was now far too large for her to even wrap her hands around it fully. Sucking on it, even just the tip, was becoming quite the challenge for her tiny mouth, but that only seemed to make it all the more appealing for the diminutive goddess.

Getting him off now was much easier by using her body to stroke him almost as much as her hands, but fascinatingly enough, she quickly showed herself to be better at pleasing him in that manner than when she was bigger.

She of course did attempt actual sex, and despite the fact that his dick was now bigger than her forearm, his raw bulk wasn’t the problem. What she found was that now she’d become so sensitive that mere contact with her vagina caused her to scream in pleasure. Each time she did try to have actual sex with him at this size, she found herself on the verge of orgasm before he’d even penetrated her. She was so unbelievably horny, though, that she didn’t even consider letting this stop her and was constantly using it as an opportunity to get him off as much as possible.

As happy as she’d learned to be at 4’10” tall, she was absolutely exuberant at this size and all hints of her tormented past had completely disappeared. In fact, the only sadness she showed at all anymore was that of the separation from her friends and loved ones in town. Whenever she wasn’t trying to literally climb inside of Maceo’s pants, she was talking about missing them and asking whether they should continue on with their deceit regarding Maceo’s exceedingly long and Astravia’s infinite lives.

She desperately missed Elaheh and Rhona’s children, though she wasn’t even going to contemplate having another of her own until the spell had run its course some six decades later. It was also a perfect opportunity for her to take every possible opportunity to snuggle in the massive arms of her lover, be it in front of a fire in their new home, by the pool side at either the patio there or at her old quarters, overlooking the mountain scene at her chapel, down in the observatory she’d created deep underground or anywhere else that she fancied.

She lasted an impressive four and a half days at this size in pure, half mortal sized bliss before she finally gave in to the inevitable when she was sitting on his lap enjoying the sensation of being petted and massaged by his powerful hands and fingers. She was almost literally purring from his affection when he noticed a visible dampness in the front of the new half sized dress she’d fashioned for herself. He didn’t say anything; though he couldn’t help but look at how wet her dress was already directly in front of her pelvis and how much more it was slowly spreading. When she noticed a change in the pace of his attention toward her, she looked up at him and then traced his line of vision back down to her crotch and squealed with embarrassment while attempting to cover herself.

“I cannot help it!” she whined to him in a little voice while turning a bright pink.

“I might be able to help it,” he told her with a seductive smirk and for a prolonged moment, she stared up at him seriously considering his offer.

“But I love being this size!” she complained even more childishly after she felt the heat within her surge again.

“What makes you think that the other sizes won’t be just as good.”

“Because you feel perfect like this. Besides, at the rate I am going, I will be so sensitive when I reach my final size I will climax continuously from the arousal.”

“You know you can’t stay this way forever,” he warned her with a laugh, but she only shook her head vociferously in denial.

That evening, after a fine dinner together by the pool, they were in bed together in their mortal sized home with Astravia in a little nightgown she’d made for herself and Maceo in only a pair of shorts. They were both soundly asleep when her foot brushed up against his crotch and she felt it stir. Without realizing it, she shifted and sighed in her sleep and began rubbing its length with her foot and leg, gradually bringing it to full attention. When it was there and poking obscenely up and out of his shorts, the blissfully dreaming goddess, shifted again and rubbed the side of her calf against the freed head and then cooed in her sleep.

She was enjoying her lustful dream so much, that she actually sleepily pushed herself back to him and began grinding her soaking wet pussy against the now huge and swollen head of his cock. Her skin became hot and she sighed, then her hand wandered down between her legs and pulled her panties aside, giving free access to her womanhood, which was dripping wet and blissfully lubricating his tip as it covered her pussy, which struggled to envelop it.

Astravia moaned softly and pushed herself back further, also dragging the waist of his shorts down, exposing his shaft as well. Her passions rose and her breathing changed, indicating that she was slowly becoming partially awake. She pressed her cheek into his ribs and lifted her hips and grabbed his cock, pulling it up and pressing it between her diminutive labia to the precipice of her womanhood and began grinding lustfully and instinctually against it.

Maceo was also slowly coming to now and at the sensation of his dick entering her pint-sized pussy, his eyes slowly opened and he looked down at her as she took advantage of him.

“Are you sure about this?” he barely managed to mutter, not particularly pleased with the prospect of turning a gift like this away, but Astravia didn’t appear to be listening. The only thing that seemed to exist for her in this lust filled daze was the lustful determination to feel her increasingly large lover inside of her and she worked her hips up and down against his cock until her womanhood gave way and he began slowly but surely to penetrate her, which made her moan louder and louder.

Amazingly, she still didn’t seem to fully awaken and enjoyed the experience as though it were some enrapturing dream. She fell down the length of his dick much more quickly than Maceo had grown accustomed to as she dwindled down below average mortal size and she screamed loudly and primally, finally opening her eyes to the sensation and as she ground her hips against his and twitching from the overload of sensation. Suddenly, her eyes widened with realization and she gasped somehow while continuing to moan, but unfortunately it was too late.

Already, both could feel her feminine cavern gradually constricting around him as he pressed up deeper into her. “Wait! No!” she screamed and tried to pull herself up his length only for her arms and legs to give out only a few inches up and her to collapse down onto him again, screaming and obviously sliding down into another orgasm before the effects of the first one were even finished. Astravia squirmed in a desperate bid to free herself of his ever-expanding cock, but each and every movement elicited ever more intense sensations while Maceo continued to stare at his goddess as she shrank before his eyes further and further from his lips. Astravia attempted again to pull herself off of him, this time dragging herself forward along his body, but the extra pressure on her mons pubis resulted in an even more intense response and she screamed at the top of her lungs, another orgasm washing over her like the evening tide. Though she couldn’t move any longer and finally decided it was best to remain as she was until it was all over, her feet and curled toes slowly dragged up along this thighs, drawing inward and up across his body.

Astravia quickly resigned herself to her fate and simply remained perfectly still, moaning consistently until he pressed deeply enough up inside of her to trigger another wave through her ever dwindling body and she tensed again and her voice increased both in volume and pitch as a fourth orgasm was triggered, ensuring she would shrink even more.

It was only by sheer force of will that Astravia managed to hold strong and avoid another climax given her exceedingly sensitive state, especially as she felt him swell larger and larger within her, growing more deeply inside of her and causing her to gasp spastically.

“S-s-so-o-o-o b-b-bi-i-ig!” she cried out as her body continued to recede within herself. Maceo reached out to try to help her, but she closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. “N-nooo! Do-o-on’t!” she exclaimed.

When her shrinking finally came to a stop, she was sweating profusely, lying in a heap with her face planted on his torso and still twitching atop him. She was now so small that even if she’d wanted too, straddling him was no longer practical. Instead, she lay atop him, her legs parted enough to allow a penis that was nearly as thick as her thigh access to her womanhood. Even though her feet were pointed (though her toes were still curled), her feet no longer even reached his kneecaps and her head rested at the bottom of his rib cage. Astravia heaved a large amount of air into her minuscule lungs and shuddered. Further below, Maceo could feel her pussy pulsating and spasming.

It took her a good, long moment to gather her wits, but eventually, she managed to crawl forward laboriously until he finally fell out of her and she collapsed on his chest, thoroughly exhausted and covered in sweat. Meanwhile, Maceo winced slightly in fear of the possibility of getting reprimanded for not stopping her before it was too late.

“Are you alright?” he asked her.

“I loved that size,” she answered back while still out of breath and mournfully.

“I know. I didn’t mean to…”

“It is my fault,” she preempted. “I was so horny that I simply was not thinking straight.”

“And now?”

“It is even worse! However, I am simply too exhausted. Four of the most intense orgasms I have ever experienced back to back with each more powerful than the last,” she admitted, shaking her head in disbelief.

“The way you kept shrinking, I thought I was going to break you, or at least tear something,” Maceo informed her while running his fingers through her sweat soaked hair. Astravia glanced up at him and chuckled.

“That is sweet of you, however, you have nothing to worry about,” she answered dismissing his concerns.

“Not to brag, but my dick is bigger than your thigh now.”

“By all means, brag,” she grinned up at him with an exhausted grin. “Do not concern yourself, however. I can handle it.”

“I honestly thought we’d have to stop having sex well before this point.”

“Oh no. Absolutely not. I would not forego seven decades of sex with you. If that was an issue, I would have never agreed to shrinking myself for you,” she assured him, though that didn’t seem to alleviate his concerns or his confusion. “I am not a mortal woman, Maceo,” she reminded him. “If I so choose, I will still be able to take you inside of me even when I am only fifteen inches tall. Did you think I was exaggerating when I told you there is no cock so large that I cannot master it, shrunken or not?”

“Are you sure? What about stretching it?”

“You mean stretching me,” she said to confirm his question. “No. My body is far more elastic than a mortal’s when it needs to be. When we are finished making love, my vagina will return immediately to its normal circumference. You do not have to worry about hurting me. In fact, I think I will enjoy you being more rough with me when I am only your little doll.”

“I think you’re already doll sized,” Maceo informed her. She smirked and then held a hand out to him to request his assistance moving to a kneeling position. When he did, she marveled at the size of his hand and stared in disbelief. He simply pinched her tiny hand between his thumb and forefinger and pulled her up as if she weighed nothing at all. When the naked, tiny goddess was settled again, she pulled on his forefinger and examined it. Her hand was just slightly too small now to grip all the way around his finger. She pulled it toward her again and set her palm inside of his, breathing out in disbelief that holding her entire hand to him was now easier than holding a coin. “Are you alright?” he asked as she inspected this new giant with both of her hands visually as well as tactilely.

“Simply disoriented,” she explained. “Shrinking to this size, everything seems to be distorted now to me. Will you measure me?”

Maceo nodded and scooped her up with one hand so that she was sitting in the palm of his hand. Astravia squeaked in surprise and grabbed his thumb with one hand and his pinky with another, despite his fingers easily wrapping around her hips and holding her solidly. He then took her to the wall where she’d made markings before and set her down gently while steadying the wobbly little goddess.

“I have never been dizzy before following sex,” she complimented him nervously. “You should be proud.”

Maceo smiled and positioned her carefully, then assessed her new size. “Two feet, 2 inches,” he reported. Astravia leaned back against the wall and shook her head.

“Only eleven inches to go,” she reminded herself.

“Yeah, but that eleven inches is almost half of what you are now. That last eleven inches will be the biggest change for you yet.”

“The biggest change, my dearest Maceo, is that enormous cock that is practically singing to me,” she teased with a suggestive smirk.

Maceo shook his head at her and then scooped her up into his hand so that she was sitting in his palm like a chair again, though this time she screamed with fright and surprise. Once she’d caught her racing heart again, she pointed up fiercely at him.

“Would you PLEASE ask me before doing that?” she screamed at him.

“You never asked me when you did that to me,” Maceo pointed out. “In fact, you said I’d get used to it.” Astravia sat back with a stunned expression. “Well?”

“I… was… that is… I just…” she stammered. Truthfully, there were still retorts in her repertoire, however none that fit within the limitations she’d set for herself as his willing, subservient wife. “That was different! You were only twelve!”

“And helpless in the hands of a goddess. And not just because she was fifteen feet tall, but because she is so beautiful I was putty in her hands,” he answered her with a grin while leaning closer to her and lifting her up so that her lips were mere millimeters from his. Astravia blushed heavily, still at a loss for words.

“I am sorry that I picked you up without permission, Maceo, but you were just a boy! I am your wife!” she pleaded.

“Are you saying you don’t enjoy being in the palm of my hand?” he teased her.

“Maceo!” She was exasperated now and threw her hands down while balling her fists, causing her still nearly palm sized breasts to jiggle tantalizingly as she did so.

“What’s wrong Astravia?” Maceo asked with a chuckle and she grunted while slapping his middle finger as it pressed into her hip.

“Enough! Shrunken or not, I am still your wife! I demand you give me the respect I am due!” she screamed in a tiny voice.

“Oh come on, Astravia. You’re enjoying this,” he taunted her mirthfully.

“It is NOT funny! Just because our roles have been reversed does not mean you are due some kind of twisted payback when all I have ever done was take care of you to the best of my ability!”

“You treated me like a child,” Maceo reminded her, still enjoying her tiny temper far too much.

“You were a child!” she reminded him.

“I was man enough to take care of myself and make my own way.”

“You were starving when I found you! You were a little boy!”

“And now you are a little goddess,” he teased while gently poking her left breast with his index finger and intentionally jiggling it.

“Do not belittle me!” she screamed as fiercely as she could muster, then screamed even louder when this made him chuckle. “You heard me! Shrinking me does not justify treating me like a child!”

“Oh, you’re definitely not a child. Honestly, the smaller you get, the sexier you become.”

“You are not charming your way out of this! Apologize to me or… or…”

“Or what?” Maceo found himself completely unable to contain his smirk even a little now.

“Or I will put you in your place, mortal!” she threatened.

“Mortal?” he asked back, though he didn’t seem particularly hurt.

“I have had enough of this! I have spent most of a decade behaving as your devoted wife, I have given you all of my assets on this world and I have shrunk myself to less than a fifth my size just so that I could prove my love for you! ME! I AM THE QUEEN OF THE GODS! I DEMAND YOU OFFER ME THE RESPECT I DESERVE, OR SO HELP ME, I WILL SHOW YOU HOW MUCH POWER I STILL RETAIN!”

“Really? Threats?” Maceo asked, finally taking her somewhat seriously. Astravia found it to be not enough, however and opened her palm, blasting his face with a tremendous amount of energy, stunning him.

“You heard me,” she threatened again while pointing up at the gigantic mortal.

“One of us is acting like a child and it’s certainly not me,” Maceo answered back sternly.

“Put me down this instant!” she commanded with as much ferocity as she could muster.

“Oh, I’ll put you down alright,” he declared, then immediately sat at a nearby chair and pushed her down face down over his knee.

“What are you doing? What are you doing?!?!? Maceo, you had better not be.. OW!” she screamed as she felt his palm slap her backside. “Don’t you dare!!” she screamed and then yelped again in pain as she was spanked again.

“If you want to act like a little girl, then I’ll treat you like one,” he told her sternly, continuing to spank her. Astravia screamed and squirmed as he continued to paddle her bottom, quickly turning it red, though he was still careful not to apply any damaging level of force against the miniaturized goddess.

“STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME! I AM THE QUEEN OF THE GODS!” she hollered at him, yelping at each smack of her posterior.

“Why would I stop this?” he asked her. “You know you’re enjoying it.”

“NO I AM NOT! UNHAND ME!”

“If you don’t like it, then why are you so wet?” Maceo asked her, pausing long enough to cease spanking her and present his right hand to her, demonstrating the glistening feminine juices that had found their way onto his fingers while he punished her. Astravia stared blankly ahead and her cheeks began to burn with a hot pink. “Seems a certain goddess likes being spanked,” he teased her, yanking her out of her stupor.

With a mighty, tiny roar, Astravia threw his fingers off of her and rolled off of his knee and down to the ground onto her feet again, where she stood just taller than his knee.

“You have definitely gotten too big for your britches, little mortal! It is time I show you who is truly the big one in this relationship!” she screamed as her eyes shifted to their inverted form and suddenly Astravia began to glow intensely. “Let us see how YOU enjoy being put over MY knee!” she screamed and suddenly began rapidly increasing in size.

Maceo lifted an eyebrow and stood as he watched the rapidly growing goddess transform. Her skin took on a shining gold appearance, her golden hair began pouring with a white light while streaks of blue electricity began streaming around her naked body and she shot up and up and up with a primal scream.

When she had finally finished growing she looked downward for the little mortal, only to spot his already hard again and still exceptionally large cock pointing up and right between her breasts.

Astravia then gasped and looked ahead to see that despite pouring all of her power into this transformation, she still was only nipple height to her lover and then she panned upward with a look of pure fear into Maceo’s smirking face.

“Oh SHIT!” she exclaimed in a moment of pure panic.

“Do you want to wrestle?” he asked her with a chuckle.

Astravia gasped and then screamed, pouring more of her power in and expanding, but despite her best efforts, she was only able to gain another couple of inches, still not reaching a height to meet his collarbone, and even more frustratingly, this maximum size proved to be unstable and she soon began contracting again back down to even shorter than when she’d first transformed.

“No, no, no, no, no, no!” she denied vociferously as she attempted over and over again to squeeze more size out of herself, but never once even making it to chin height to him before receding back down to a slightly smaller size than before the previous attempt.

Finally, Astravia surrendered to her smaller size at slightly more than rib height to him and began to stumble backward away from him, ever more intimidated as he stepped forward following her until she was standing with her back against the wall. He leaned down and stared into her eyes, confident and barely managing to stifle a laugh at her expense.

“Do you want me to apologize to you, my love?” he asked her softly. Astravia gulped hard, but nodded slowly and with trepidation. “Alright, but first you need to admit that being spanked turns you on,” he offered.

“I am the queen of the gods! I am not your tawdry whore!” she screamed up at him.

“And yet, you were sopping wet just from me spanking that tiny little ass of yours,” he derided her. “Go on, just between you and me,” he added.

Astravia’s body shivered and she turned away from him, but he took her chin in his thumb and forefinger and pulled her vision back up to him. She continued to waver, even as his lips drifted down, mere fractions of an inch from hers, tempting her and teasing her with a forbidden kiss.

“ALRIGHT FINE! I ONLY WANTED YOU TO STOP SPANKING ME BECAUSE IT WAS TURNING ME ON SO GREATLY THAT I COULD NOT STAND IT!” she admitted with a frantic scream as the embarrassing pink even began to shine through the shimmering gold of her skin in this transformed state.

“I am sorry for embarrassing you, my most treasured goddess,” Maceo answered her in a soft voice right into her left ear. Astravia’s jaw dropped slightly and she breathed out, hanging on his every word and leaned up onto her toes to try to feel his skin against hers. “I was just trying to have fun. I didn’t mean to have it at your expense.”

“That is… perfectly alright,” she barely breathed out, shivering as she felt his breath tickle the nape of her neck.

“I love you, Astravia,” he reminded her. “Please don’t be angry with me,” he asked her.

Astravia swallowed hard and closed her eyes, attempting to rally her will against him, then opened her eyes again and winced as she realized in her moment of attempting to regain her concentration, she’d reached forward and gripped his erect penis with her hand.

“I… forgive you,” she stuttered, she shivered again as she felt his lips caress her neck.

“I’ve never seen this form before,” Maceo whispered into her ear.

“It is… rare that I take it.”

“What kind of species is this that looks like this?”

“Myself,” she answered breathily, lifting higher up onto her tiptoes as he kissed her neck and shoulder sensually while delicately tracing her luscious curves with his fingertips. “It is a transformed state of the gods.”

“It is unbelievably beautiful,” he complimented.

“I have not used it since the war,” she informed him, pulling down on him. “We refrain from this form because the power exuded while in it is overwhelming for lesser beings.”

“So even though you’re still really little, do you think you could beat me in a wrestling match?” he teased her, pressing his hips forward as she squeezed his shaft.

“No,” she admitted freely. “I have never known a limit to how large I could grow in this form… until now. My power is… so diminished.”

“So you feel vulnerable.”

“Yes,” she breathed.

“Astravia,” he breathed into her ear, and then sucked playfully on her earlobe.

“Yes?” she asked back, wrapping an arm around his back.

“When was the last time you made love in this form?” he asked her softly. Her entire body trembled and she rested her lips against the back of his neck as the enormous mortal kissed and nuzzled her neck.

“So very, very, very, very, very long ago,” she answered back in a voice that was whining and dripping with yearning.

“Would you like to try it like this?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she breathed out, spreading her fingers outward and digging her fingertips into his back while pulling with surprising force on his cock.

“So you’re not mad at me?” he asked her with a slightly brighter tone to his voice. Astravia grimaced and pulled even harder on his cock.

“Would you fuck me already?” she asked with immense impatience.

“Well, when you ask like that,” he chuckled, then reached behind her, squeezed her ass and lifted her up so that she could press her hips forward and rub his cock with her soaking wet labia.

The contact was electric to both of them, causing both of them to moan loudly. Astravia craned her neck upward to kiss him, only to find that despite doubling her height, she was still too small to reach. He did contort himself downward to meet her lips and she moaned even more forcefully when his tongue penetrated her mouth and dominated hers, but before long the discomfort of this position was enough that they both let go of the kiss and she found herself content to bury her face in his chest, devouring it with tender kiss after tender kiss.

When he lifted her up and then slid himself inside of her, she screamed and had to focus intensely enough to relax so that he could enter her and then he pushed her up against the wall and began thrusting in and out of her to ever more fevered moans and screams of “Harder! HARDER!”

Thankfully, this form gave Astravia a triple bonus of offering her just enough size to screw him properly, control over her body to forestall the instant orgasms she was becoming accustomed to as well as an intensified sense of pleasure due to the literal electricity she was generating that flowed readily between them both. He continued to bow to her impassioned pleas and fucked her more and more forcefully until the wall behind her actually began to crack.

“To the bed,” she whispered up to him in a husky tone.

He grabbed her ass with both hands and carried her back to their bed, though Astravia reached up, grasping her hands together behind his neck and squeezing his hips between her knees while thrusting her hips up and down his length as he walked, barely managing to remain upright. When he reached the bed, he turned around and rolled onto the bed with Astravia riding him all the way down and bouncing atop him with her tits swinging wildly and leaking her godly milk in a nearly steady stream that splattered on his chest and stomach.

To her credit, part of Astravia’s sexual stamina was returned to her in this form, which also seemed to give her boundless energy. She rode him as hard and as fast as she could for several minutes until Maceo gripped her hips and began to assist her, ramming her up and down with nearly double the speed and force that Astravia had managed on her own.

Then Astravia’s glow began to intensify, the light emitted from her hair brightened, the golden sheen of her skin became a near mirror. Her screams increased in volume right up until Maceo came deep inside of her with a loud scream of his own, arching his back and pushing his hips far up into the air. Satisfied, Astravia let her own inhibitions loose as he reached his peak, then she squeezed her thighs around his hips and ground her pussy against him hard and fast as he went back down again. By the time he was lying flat on the bed again and spent, Astravia was already shrinking, with the electrical bolts racing around her flickering and her luminescent glow pulsing between dimming and brighter than ever.

Astravia fell flat on her face while pulling her off of his spent dick and her transformed form faded, quickly resulting in her rapidly shrinking down slightly smaller than she’d been before beside a spent penis that was now longer than her thigh.

“Fffffuck!” she gasped out in one final burst before pausing to catch her breath.

“So you’re swearing now?”

“No,” Astravia answered, declining to complain as he slipped his hands under her armpits and pulled her up to lay across his chest. “You are simply that good, my dearest Maceo.”

“Thanks?”

“No, thank you,” she answered back and took another deep breath before releasing it.

Interestingly, Maceo was the more exhausted of the two and needed more rest than her, while she rolled on her side across the width of his chest and stared at him with a prideful smile. After some time, part of which Maceo spent passed out, she picked up the conversation from earlier with a little more calm and politeness.

“I do not feel as respected as I get smaller,” she informed him.

“Well, I definitely don’t think any less of you,” Maceo informed her. “I was just trying to have some fun. I thought you would feel the same.”

“I am not a doll, Maceo. I am still a goddess.”

“And one hell of a woman,” Maceo added, which earned him a brief smile. “We’ll work on when it’s okay for me to pick you up,” he promised her.

She seemed satisfied and rested her head on his chest, smiling to herself.

“You were right,” she admitted, having won the day. “I do enjoy when you pick me up the way you do now. It is merely that it is also terrifying.”

“If I ever hurt so much as a single hair on your head, I’d end myself.”

“Do not say that!” she exclaimed, fully alert again.

“It’s how I feel.”

“I would prefer that you seek my forgiveness instead.”

“Even if I don’t deserve it?”

“Especially if you do not deserve it.”

“What about that form? Does it wear you down?”

“Oh no. I can sustain it infinitely, even shrunk. I simply lost it momentarily while shrinking. This form is my true natural form, while that form is a form where my power that is held in reserve is unleashed.”

“Well, maybe that explains why you couldn’t grow as much as you should have been able to in that form. You said your power is shrinking far faster than the rest of you.”

“True. It was merely humbling to see such tangible evidence as to how true that statement is.”

“We do have a new problem.”

“That being?”

“Astravia, you’re getting even harder to resist the smaller you get. I am actually seeing stars from that orgasm and I’m still exhausted, but I’m already ready again.” She turned and looked down at his already stiff member and laughed to herself.

“Unfortunately, I am disoriented after that spurt. I may not be particularly tired, but it obviously took a lot out of me. I can feel time pulling me back and forth. I will need to adapt again.”

“How long?”

“Not long,” she promised. “I should be ready again soon. Perhaps tomorrow.”

“And the fact that I can feel my heart throbbing even more than ever? And not by a little bit, either.”

“I am reminded of something I have told mortal women before: as a woman, our physical power may not be that of our male counterparts, but we have a special power all our own.”

“That you do,” Maceo agreed.

“For once, I feel more woman than goddess. I feel as if I perhaps have neglected this power. I wish to master it better while I have the opportunity.”

“And your concentrated pheromones?”

“Yes, well, I am so close to my final size that I suppose we should begin work on our next project.”

“That being?”

“I should still be strong enough to help you. I think technically my magic still surpasses you, but if so, only barely. From this point forward, I will be less a partner in these enterprises and more an observer.”

“We’ll see. By the time the spell wears off, I have a feeling you will be a much stronger goddess than you ever thought possible. Now, what’s this new project?”

“Take me to the magic shop,” she told him. “No need to dress me. I do not see the point in wasting my efforts on that again until I finish shrinking.”

Maceo put on a pair of pants and then scooped her up into his hand and carried her around the pool to the magic shop where Astravia had him set her on a table. Once there, she ordered him to gather a number of items and ingredients and as he was near the end of the list, she explained her plan.

“It is strange to me to be in this position. When at my full strength, I could easily grow myself larger than this mountain in an instant. Any slower was simply for dramatic effect. I could maintain that size for years, perhaps even longer. Now even doubling my size is immediately exhausting. While you rested, I swam myself outside of time and tested, and even my ability to shrink down is more limited than it was before. I never enjoyed doing so, but making my form microscopic was child’s play, but now I can barely reduce down to an inch tall. Even I did not expect shrinking to have this great of an effect on me.”

Maceo sat on a chair opposite her and listened as he set the final item on his list on the table.

“From here out, I will require implements. You wish to explore this world for the next six decades, yes?” Maceo nodded and she folded her arms and crossed her legs, sitting as primly as she could for him. “We will begin with a single amulet. When I wear it, it will allow me to return to the form and size that I have used these last several years. For now, I will be able to continue to mingle with them, but our time with them is now coming to a close. This amulet will give me that mortal size effortlessly, however I will not be able to use it constantly. At first, it will give me as long as twenty hours at that size. This will not last, however. Over the course of the next few months it’s duration will wane and it will need to be replaced. By the time it can only last a half a day, it will become unreliable.”

“Then what?”

“Well, the second amulet will take about that amount of time to complete. We can begin it here and then over the next few months complete it.”

“So why can’t we just switch to that one, then?”

“These are both temporary measures, my dearest Maceo. The second amulet will allow me more versatility and stability. I will be able to spend longer periods of time without using my power to retain a size, however it too will be drained after a period of time and need to gather a charge again. But this second amulet will also allow me to incorporate other forms as well. We will use it to create a new form- that of a fairy. That form will be far more efficient and I will be able to maintain it for much longer periods of time than the mortal sized one. In any event, while this second amulet will not wane or falter over time like the first, it will still require me to revert back to my fully shrunken state frequently. It will simply be a matter of time before some mortal sees me as a doll sized woman in our home, or worse: some scoundrel will either intentionally or unintentionally take it off of me, leaving me to quickly reduce in stature down to less than mere shin height to your people. Moreover, my powers to place a shroud over the perceptions of others is also quickly shrinking. I will not have the ability to shroud our timelessness for much longer. We will need to move on and let our loved ones lead their lives as they are meant to.”

Maceo lowered his head and processed her assessment. “There are no other options?”

“The third option is an amulet that I actually own already. Unfortunately, I left it at the celestial palace and I only have the one because I have never had any need for such a thing before now.”

“And that one does what?”

“These two amulets will be cheap facsimiles of that amulet. It will not merely create a form, it will produce a living shell of whatever I need it to be. I could actually use it to create not merely the form of a mortal woman, but one that will contain my powers fully and allow me to truly live as one of them. I would appear to live and grow old as any normal mortal would. I could also use it to create countless other forms and stay in them for as long as I wish, day and night. It is the perfect disguise that no mortal would ever see through, and it does not even need to be around my neck constantly. So long as it is not shattered or taken more than the diameter of a solar system away or so, I can retain the form it grants me long enough to retrieve it, though over the course of several weeks, that form will fade.”

“So why can’t we make one of those?”

“Time, beloved. To recreate it will require it to solidify, which will take at least half a century. By the time it is ready, most of my time under this spell will have already been spent and most of our loved ones will have already died of old age. Even those who are the same age as you. I was actually prepared to obscure our natures for the duration of my shrinking until I accidentally allowed myself to shrink again. Such as it is, we will need to move on. You too could create such an artifact, however, it will still take decades to solidify.”

“So it’s really over,” he confirmed.

“Soon,” she answered him. “I am sorry. I did not mean to slip into another shrinking spurt again.”

“It’s fine,” Maceo assured her.

“If I was still full sized, of course I could do this easily, but I am no longer the goddess I once was.”

“Yes you are,” he assured her.

“You are fully aware of what I meant,” she laughed at him while shaking her head. “In any event, before you assume any strange ideas- I am asking you, my husband: please allow me to fully experience this spell. Do not ask that I end it prematurely.”

Maceo took a deep breath and stared at his lap, but after a moment to think long and hard, he nodded to her and leaned forward, giving her tiny lips the softest little peck he could offer.

They spent the remainder of the day working on this new amulet while laying the foundations for the second. At Maceo’s insistence, they also began work on two of the third type that Astravia had alluded to with Maceo reasoning that in a half century’s time other unexpected circumstances might arise where they could come in useful. Regardless, their work was somewhat somber as they both came to terms with the fact that the idyllic life they’d created among this primitive people was nearing its end. Despite less than a decade passing since taking up residence in town, they’d both grown exceptionally attached to their adoptive families, but Astravia especially.

Still, though, Maceo was first to point out that the risks involved in revealing that she was in fact Astravia nearly shrunken down to one-twelfth her size were too high. They would create this new disguise for her and set about the task of bidding their dear friends adieu.

It only took three days to finish the first amulet, and after a single short use to test it, Astravia sat down on the table in the magic shop and set it aside, holding her hands as she quickly dwindled down to the nearly exact two feet size she’d found herself at.

“My dearest Maceo,” she told him formally with each of her palms resting comfortably on top of the pads of his index fingers. “Will you shrink me?”

[CKent45]

Maceo smirked at Astravia, who blushed and tucked her shoulders forward bashfully, almost as though she were shrinking before his eyes already. He held his hands out to her and waited for her to place her hands on the pads of this index fingers, then taking her hands between his thumb and forefinger, he lifted them up until he was lifting her and set her on the table in front of him. When he stood, she was still only shoulder height to him despite standing on the table and she stared up at him, waiting for a real response to her query.

After a long moment of standing there, only two feet tall and completely naked, she opened her mouth to reiterate her request, but she chirped when he reached forward and placed his finger to her lips, stopping her from speaking.

“Can’t you let me enjoy the view for a minute?” he asked her.

She smiled at him and nodded, waiting a little more patiently, while also noticing the leg sized bulge growing in his pants.

“I could play with that while you are enjoying your scenery,” she suggested while biting her lower lip.

“We’re not doing this in a dirty workshop,” Maceo informed her, then placed his hand palm up behind her, providing a comfy place to sit. She accepted his offer and grinned up at him nervously, her eyes never leaving his as he lifted her from the tabletop and up so that he could comfortably carry the sitting goddess out to a more suitable location for lovemaking.

Astravia expected him to take her back to their mansion, but instead she was surprised to see him head for the main gate to the temple. Once there, he ascended the steps to the light tower offering them a beautiful view of the mountain as the sun set.

He then set her carefully on the ground and removed his shirt, laying it on the floor to give her a more comfortable place to rest and laid her face down.

“But Maceo, you promised,” she complained as he began to massage her diminutive body with his fingertips.

“Astravia,” he said to her patiently, but also firmly.

“Yes, beloved?”

“I will shrink you when I am good and ready,” he informed her. “Now relax,” he told her. She grunted with impatience, but obeyed and before long, she was sighing happily as he offered her attention she’d rarely experienced in her long and storied existence, and never so easily by a single hand of a mere mortal.

She relaxed like this, face down and losing track of time as the sun went down that the sky turned pink and just as she seemed so relaxed she might just take a nap, he slid his middle finger down between her legs ad rubbed her tiny crotch.

Astravia immediately gasped in surprise, then bit her lip and clenched her tiny fists. Her toes curled and she attempted to roll over, but a single finger pressed down between her shoulders, pinning her down.

“But I want to feel you,” she complained.

“When I say,” he informed her gently, but firmly. She whined, but that only lasted a moment until she felt him rubbing her womanhood vigorously. She moaned and lifted her hips up off the ground and back, exposing her ass and pussy as he fingered her, then she screamed as the giant finally managed to find the minuscule button that was her swollen clitoris.

Astravia tensed and lifted her ass higher, opening her legs wider and then she screamed and convulsed. As soon as she did he wrapped his hands around her and lifted her up to his face, just in time for her to see his face slowly expand before her eyes and his massive fingers swell around her, constantly reassessing her dwindling form and adjusting to offer her a snug fit in his ever expanding hands. When she finished shrinking, she sighed with release and looked up at him, now larger than ever.

She smiled warmly up at him, and then rolled over into the crook of his arm while hugging his thumb and kissing it affectionately.

“Oh, I love you so much,” she said to him, relaxing to watch the remainder of the sun disappear and leave them bathed in starlight.

They sat like this until it was completely dark out and then Maceo leaned back and lay down, setting the diminutive goddess on his chest while staring up at the night sky through the glass ceiling. This lasted for some time until Astravia decided she’d spent enough time like this and climbed to her hands and knees, eyeing Maceo’s hips hungrily. Maceo watched her for a moment and then reached out and grabbed her with his hand, picked her up and brought her backward toward his face.

Astravia screamed and kicked, though she couldn’t help but laugh a little. Despite this, she turned and half scowled at him. “We talked about you picking me up without my permission!” she complained, but Maceo only smirked.

“I’m very hungry, my goddess,” he teased, and then lowered her down so she was straddling his massive lips. Astravia opened her mouth to protest, but she was unable to do so before she felt his lips part beneath her own lower lips and his tongue extend up, lapping her womanhood with unbelievable force and uncanny precision.

It only took a moment before Astravia was screaming and twitching with pleasure, bucking her hips against his mouth with what little remained of her weight. She settled into a powerful undulation that rocked with her entire body while gripping his nose with both hands and suddenly she exploded with another primal scream and realized that his lips were swelling considerably beneath her and her shrinking legs were dragging up the sides of his cheeks.

Maceo smirked and immediately began lapping her again, instantly overwhelming his already orgasming goddess, but somehow Astravia managed to muster enough wherewithal to scream, “WAIT!” to the giant beneath her.

Maceo immediately did as asked and halted his attentions and as soon as he did, she collapsed over his face with her full, round breasts falling nearly directly over his eyes. With a mouth full of her pussy and hips and breasts as big as his eye sockets, Maceo didn’t really know what to do and wasn’t particularly able to speak clearly, so he chose to wait rather than tempt her ire further by picking her up again without permission.

Astravia took a moment to collect herself again, though by the way that she was intentionally jiggling her breasts immediately before his eyeballs it was apparent that she was also using this as an opportunity to temp her giant lover.

When she finally did sit up, she allowed herself to fall back over his chin onto his neck, with her head resting between his pectoral muscles.

“Are you okay?” he asked her, twisting his neck in order to catch a glimpse of her without disturbing her.

“Beloved, would you deny a goddess her wish?” she asked him while fanning herself.

“No, of course not.”

“Then would you please take me home?” she asked him politely. Maceo shrugged and sat up, allowing her to slide down his chest and into his hand. As he stood fully and she watched the floor fall away from her at a disturbing rate and distance, she looked to her right to see his middle finger now not only pressing against her hip to hold her in place firmly, but also now extending over her hip bone. To her left, she noticed the same of his thumb and realized she was only an orgasm or two away from his fingers easily being able to wrap fully around her hips. She shook her head at the uncanny realization and settled in for the ride as he strolled calmly back to their mortal sized home together.

“So what is this wish?” he asked her part way back, but Astravia merely smiled coyly up at him from the upturned palm of his hand.

“Soon,” she promised him, taking her time to calmly lean back slightly and open her legs, offering him an unfettered view of her tiny vagina before crossing her legs again.

When they reached their home, she had Maceo take them to their bedchambers and light a fire in the fireplace. Then she had him take her to a writing desk and set her down so that she could get a clear measurement of her current height, temporary as it might be.

“Twenty one and one eighth inches,” Maceo informed her, again astonishing the tiny goddess. She shook her head yet again and then walked to the edge of the table and knelt down, grabbing his belt and using both hands to strain and pry it undone. Once she’d accomplished this feat (with a great deal of effort), she pulled and tugged until his pants loosened and dropped down, freeing his cock.

Maceo then shimmied them down his muscular legs and stepped out of them, revealing a fully naked, monstrously giant mortal. With a wave of her finger, he stepped forward and she sat on the edge of the table while wrapping her arms around his still mostly flaccid dick and began rubbing it with her torso, grunting from the exertion as his penis inflated in her arms.

“You realize I am merely five pounds now,” she shared.

“I had noticed,” he admitted, sighing with pleasure as she used her body to stroke him to full attention.

“I merely wish to remind you, my dearest Maceo, there is no cock so large that I cannot master it,” she boasted and pulled with her full body, finishing the job of erecting him. Once her mission was accomplished, she slid off of the table and rotated to face the opposite direction, now straddling his erect cock the same way one would a horse. Astravia gripped the head of his cock and petted it with her palms, giving him more cause to sigh and groan with pleasure.

“My wish,” she recalled, staring down at a cock whose excess beyond the front of her hips as she rode it that when she bent over it now reached her navel. “Take me to that chair and sit, and I will reveal it.”

Maceo obeyed, of course and walked over to the chair in question and sat with her riding and stroking his cock with her body as he stumbled forward. Once they’d both settled down, Astravia’s eyes shifted to their more powerful form and Maceo watched as her muscles swelled and bulged.

“I apologize, beloved,” she said, staring up at him from his lap, now a powerfully muscular, but still impressively feminine 21-inch tall woman. “I know you prefer softer women, but I will make this up to you.”

“I’m definitely not complaining,” he responded, staring in awe at this much more athletic and muscular version of his tiny wife. She smirked and gripped his cock, showcasing her considerable increase in strength. “So this wish?”

“My wish, my dearest Maceo, is that we conclude the process of my shrinking and you allow me to showcase to you exactly how true my boast of mastering this magnificent beast is,” she answered. Maceo’s eyes widened and he gulped, watching her bend over and hug his cock with surprising force for a 21-inch tall woman.

Maceo found himself speechless but also staring eagerly down at her as she looked back and up at him. She then swung around his pole and hugged it, her tits swelling out as she squeezed him and her muscles also growing just before her eyes shifted back to their alluring emerald green.

“Will you grant my wish, beloved?” she asked him seductively in her tiny voice.

“Yeah,” he muttered back as her tits passed double their previous size and began to encompass the head of his cock. Astravia grinned and giggled up at him while beginning to grind her womanhood against his shaft. As her tempo and lustful intensity increased, Maceo could merely stare as his penis suddenly began to glow.

“You will be finished, when I say you are finished,” she determined.

“Are you sure you want to use this much power? I thought you were keeping it in reserve,” he finally managed to ask, but Astravia merely smirked playfully.

“What do you think I was reserving it for?” she asked him, indulging with pride as her nipples stiffened and swelled out as well, demonstrating exactly how aroused she was. “I hope you are prepared, beloved, because we are going to make quite the mess together.”

Astravia spared no effort and began grinding her hips against his shaft forcefully, not even attempting any longer to forestall her own pleasure. She hugged the head of his dick against her lower ribs while petting it with her hands vigorously and she grinned as she felt him stiffen further inside her grasp as she curled her muscular legs around his shaft.

“Put your hand behind me,” she asked more than commanded. Maceo did exactly as asked and cupped her entire ass with his hand. “Lean back,” she encouraged, and Maceo again did as asked, sliding his hips forward on the chair while leaning back, allowing more of his cock to poke free into the air and Astravia to slide further down its length so that the head of his cock was now firmly squeezed squarely in the center between her swollen tits which were bouncing enthusiastically around his girth.

A moment later, she was contracting around him, and the head of his cock began edging further up her chest until it began to protrude up past the top of her expanded bosom and she screamed with pleasure throughout the entire process.

“Another inch gone,” she teased him while rubbing her torso around his cock as his length began to settle along her sternum. As soon as she said this, a massive burst of ejaculate exploded up past her tits and all over her face, then another gush and a third while Maceo groaned with satisfaction and gasped as he realized that he was still fully locked and loaded for more.

Astravia didn’t even bother to wipe her face, which was covered in his semen and dripping from the thick coat of gooey ooze. She laughed and hugged him harder, grinding faster and another moment later she was screaming again as she reached another climax and Maceo moaned so loud it echoed in their empty home as he watched her begin to recede again around his dick. His jaw dropped as he watched her already tiny head sink lower and his dick creep even higher along her chest. For a brief moment, Astravia appeared to need to catch her breath, but she gritted her teeth and hugged his cock even more forcefully while pressing and rubbing her hips against his shaft so hard that Maceo could actually feel the heat from the friction and suddenly she screamed explosively and her body began receding yet again.

This time she seemed to be overloaded in terms of the sensations, though she did continue to rub her ever dwindling body up and down his dick as she looked down to see the head of his penis was now just below her collarbone.

“Assist me,” she gasped to him while wiggling her butt against his palm. Maceo wrapped his fingers around her and now began rubbing her up and down his length slowly, giving her a short reprieve.

She only needed a moment and despite a healthy sheen of sweat gathering on her shrinking body, she gathered steam again and began writhing up and down his cock again with her breasts expanding yet again so that they could once more encompass his girth that was now as thick as her torso. Suddenly Maceo groaned and came again, even harder than before. Astravia screamed as the thick fluid gushed up over her shoulders and head, soaking her hair in his cum, but even still, she didn’t stop.

She began humping his shaft with reckless abandon and clamped so hard that her highly defined muscles began trembling and she drove the glowing cock to a another orgasm, dousing her nearly fully in his fluids, which this time spurted up well beyond her tiny face.

A second later, the spastic motions and the volume of her moans increased to a level indicating she was slipping into another orgasm herself and then she screamed gutturally before she began shrinking yet again and the head of his cock began swelling between her massive tits and extending further up her chest inexorably.

“Do you enjoy this, my beloved?” she asked between sensual gasps. “Do you like seeing my tiny body dwindle around your massive, powerful cock?” she asked as the head of his penis began to extend up to the same height as her shoulders. “I only have two inches to go before I am your tiny little fuck doll. Does this please you?” she asked in a continuous moan, then laughed as he came yet again all over her face and well beyond.

Astravia then bent her head down and began licking the head of the cock which was now larger than her own head, lapping it desperately and grinding her tiny pussy against his shaft. She held out for several minutes like this and then she buried her lips in his foreskin, kissing and licking it.

“Cum for me,” she begged in a whimpering tone. “Cum all over your shrinking goddess!”

As if by her command, Maceo moaned again loudly and another massive gush of semen erupted forcefully up all over her chest, shoulders, face and hair again, nearly knocking her back. “More,” she begged him again. “Please more,” she implored while humping his dick with every square millimeter of her diminutive body.

Maceo tensed and swallowed hard as Astravia’s pace increased yet again. Both of them became increasingly excited, though of the two of them, Maceo was easily the most excited of the couple. Her entire tiny body wriggled and writhed around his cock, which was glowing even brighter than before as she magically cajoled his member into a constant state of arousal. Still, though, Astravia’s exceedingly high sensitivity as she approached the end of her shrinking process was leaving her constantly on the edge of another orgasm, and consequently another shrinking spurt. She licked and kissed the gooey head of his cock and even sometimes bit it, causing him to yelp with surprise, but not of any particular pain and a few more minutes into this stage of their love making, he came again, even more forcefully than before, knocking her head back and nearly her entire body too and ejaculating forcefully several feet beyond her.

Even now, though, his penis continued to glow as it throbbed in desperate need of a final satisfaction, though Astravia was in no mood for mercy. Maceo, now four and a half times Astravia’s size, was fully under her control and he was a slave to her will and that will hungered for his cum and nothing else.

She groaned and strained, then her muscles magically increased again in an attempt to overcome her dwindling strength.

“More my mortal god! Please give me more!” she screamed, her entire body now dripping with his seed. Maceo of course obeyed again and this time he came so hard that she was nearly knocked completely free by the flood of seminal fluids gushing out of him, which splattered an even greater distance away, actually hitting the face of their fireplace.

“OH MY GODDESS!” Maceo screamed. His entire body was beginning to twitch and overload, having never experienced such an intense experience in his life.

“I need your cum!” Astravia screamed up at him and a moment later, he produced, once again cumming so hard that it hit the distant face of the fireplace, though this time higher up than the last load and with more force than before. “Cum for me!” she screamed, suddenly slipping into another orgasm of her own and grunting with frustration as the massive cock swelled again in her arms, pressing higher and higher up along her chest. Her legs continued to thin and shorten around the shaft and she found herself readjusting constantly in order to try to stay on while Maceo gasped and tensed, screaming as his glowing rod refused to quit even for a millisecond.

As she continued to dwindle, the head of his cock edged up her chest, pushing her head back as she continued to try to pleasure the massive, ever swelling head with her continually shrinking lips until it was neck height, then expanding upward to chin height and only slowing to a stop at nose height to her, forcing her to attempt to push herself up in order to continue to remain on top of its tip.

The sheer volume of cum drenching both it and her made this a deceptively difficult task, but she battled on, determined to never succumb in her war against the growing beast. When she was finally firmly in place again, wrapped around his dick with her entire body, she pressed her entire face against the head, her nose slipping inside the opening as she continued to lick, suck, kiss and bite his foreskin. “So close! So close!” she screamed.

Maceo was beyond any language at this point. Nothing in the entire universe existed any longer other than his achingly hard cock and the doll sized goddess clinging to it, determined to demonstrate who was the better of whom.

“Please, Maceo! I need you!” she screamed, writhing and wriggling her body up and down it’s length, which now easily eclipsed her torso. Maceo came yet once more, again more forcefully than the last time, blasting her off of his cock entirely save for one hand that clung desperately, even now refusing to surrender to the dragon she’d nurtured into existence via her continual shrinking. He came so hard this time and with such volume that it very nearly hit the ceiling at the wall above the fireplace, providing literally more than a gallon of cum, and enough for the tiny goddess now to actually swim in.

She swung herself up and wrapped her body against it once more, grinding her pussy as hard and as fast as she could and producing an incredible heat from the friction, despite the excess of lubricant between them.

“One more time,” she whimpered up to him. “Just once more!”

Maceo groaned and his entire body bucked, threatening to throw the tiny rider off, but Astravia fought on, rapidly approaching her own finish line, and grinning as she prepared herself for the long desired finale.

“PLEASE MY LOVE! PLEASE! SHRINK ME!!!” she screamed as she arrived at the precipice of her final orgasm, and once again, as if on command, he came with a mighty roar that she was fully prepared for.

His blast did knock her head back, but she hung desperately as gallon after gallon of semen ejaculated up and out of him in massive, gushing blasts, one after another, each of them easily hitting the ceiling before even approaching the fireplace wall and as his cock produced endless rivers of ejaculate, she reached her final orgasm as well, screaming so loudly that her tiny vocal chords actually blew out.

Slowly, she shrank around the magnificent dragon that was her lover’s cock, the head pushing up past her face and despite her best efforts, she began to slide down it’s length until she came to a rest at his base, which continued to gradually swell upward until she had to look up to see it’s end, though raw height wise she still had a fraction of an inch more in length in her torso than the powerful beast that had just sullied their entire bedchamber.

Finally satisfied, Astravia loosened her grip and allowed herself to fall free of it down between his legs, gasping for air and covered from head to toe in layers of gooey semen.

“That was amazing,” she praised him as she lay there between his legs, slathered in his seed leaving not so much as a micrometer uncovered in his essence.

“Isn’t that my line?” Maceo asked, struggling to sit up enough to look down at his tiny wife.

“Perhaps you can have it another day,” she suggested, attempting to wipe the layers of cum off of her face with equally gooey hands and fingers. Suffice it to say that her efforts were largely in vain. She sighed and resigned herself to her soiled state and looked up past his still erect cock at the giant’s face beyond.

“How the hell am I still hard?” he asked her.

“I told you, my dearest Maceo. You will be done when I say you are,” she answered with a giggle.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. How much more can I do after all that?”

“You shall see,” she smirked, then pushed herself up to her elbows. “It appears I am quite a mess,” she laughed.

“You didn’t seem to be complaining a few minutes ago,” he chuckled back to her and reached between his legs to scoop her up into his hand. Astravia put up no fight. In fact, she seemed relieved to receive the assistance. She looked around the room and assessed it. As large as it was before, it was remarkably more so now. She also looked down at her perch and drank that in as well. As small as she’d been before, she now comfortably sat in his palm with plenty of room to spare. Should he have chosen to do so, his fingers could now easily wrap around the circumference of her tiny body. Even when she was full sized, he hadn’t been nearly this small compared to her.

She sighed and looked at his pinkie as she rested the entirety of her hand on its end. “The goddess Astravia is no more. All that remains is this magical doll.”

Maceo looked down upon the doll sized woman with sympathy and used the cleaner of his hands to wipe away some of the excess ejaculate from her face. “Let’s go get the counter spell,” he told her. Astravia instantly perked up so much that she nearly fell off of his palm.

“NO!” she squeaked in her tiny voice. “Do not read so much into that statement! Please do not return me to normal! At least not yet!”

“That was a pretty dark statement just now. Astravia, are you sure?”

“I feel… utterly powerless. I know my power isn’t entirely gone, but it has finally stabilized and it is so small now compared to what it once was, it might as well have disappeared. However, that being said, I have never felt so… so… alive! Everything around me is so vivid! I do not wish to give it up!”

“What are you saying? You want to stay like this forever?”

“I… Well that would not be pragmatic, would it?” she asked herself. Maceo couldn’t help but be bowled over by the ramifications of her statement.

“You do want to stay like this, don’t you?”

“As I said, that would not be pragmatic, would it? After all, it is merely a matter of time before other gods are sent out in search of me. I think the last thing we would want is for them to discover me in this state.”

Maceo couldn’t help but smile at her as he wiped a little more of himself off of her cheek with his fingertip.

“Would you take me to the shower?” she asked him politely.

In the shower together, Astravia leaned back in his hand and smiled as she was rinsed clean by the torrent of hot water pouring over her diminutive form. Occasionally she would open her eyes slightly to peek at her giant lover and smirk, and then adjust her position to model her nude form for him in another angle, which he seemed to greatly appreciate. After a good, long, thorough and relaxing rinse, he took the liberty of lathering them both up and washing them both clean.

Through it all, Maceo continued to remain achingly hard, as if his cock hadn’t spent the last couple hours ejaculating all over their entire bedroom. Once they were both fully cleaned, Astravia asked that he set her on the counter beside the sink and gather her final measurements. When he confirmed her to be an exact height of fifteen inches tall, she stared ahead into blank space, processing the reality of her complete shrinking.

“Precisely one-twelfth my original height,” she remarked as if she were astounded. He continued to wait on her and she only was shaken from her daydream when he petted her luscious golden locks with his fingertip. Her eyes jutted skyward toward his and she smiled, and then stepped forward toward the edge of the counter. “Are you up for one more round?” she asked with a suggestive smirk.

“Well thanks to a naughty little goddess, it just so happens I am,” he reported, pointing down to his still fully erect penis.

“I would very much enjoy providing you with some relief,” she declared formally. “Would you be so kind as to carry me back to the shower?” Maceo scooped her up into his hand again and back to the running water, which Astravia leaned into and basked in before turning around and grinned up at him knowingly. “Are you prepared to be amazed?”

“Astravia, you’ve never been anything BUT amazing.”

“Oh, but you will see,” she tempted. With her instructions, he lowered his hand down to the head of his cock and he looked at her with surprise as she lay back in his hand, bringing her womanhood to the tip of his cock. She then looked far up at him and grinned slyly.

“You’re not serious. It’s bigger than you are,” he declared incredulously.

“Only a little more than half as tall as me.”

“But bigger around. We are way past the point where I’d fit.”

“I told you- there is not a cock in existence I cannot master. Come now: I need to feel you inside of me.”

“But Astravia,” Maceo complained out of concern, only to raise an eyebrow as she placed both of her hands on either side of the head of his penis.

“Have faith, beloved,” she lectured playfully with a seductive wink.

Maceo remained tentative, but did as asked and pulled her back until the doll sized goddess’ womanhood was pressed directly against him. She spread her legs wide and swallowed, then took a deep breath, focused and relaxed, then nodded, while pulling him down toward her miniscule vagina.

Maceo pressed her against him and at first, the results were exactly as he’d expected. He was simply far too large for her, and her pussy was even smaller than the opening at the head of his cock. Still, though, Astravia encouraged him on, and he shrugged and pulled on her with more and more force as she spread her legs fully out and ground her hips against him, groaning and moaning with pleasure from the stimulation.

Then the unimaginable happened. Maceo’s eyes widened as he watched with amazement as her lower lips gradually parted and sure enough, her hips stretched to accept him as he gradually began to penetrate her.

“You did not think I would agree to seven decades of no sex, did you?” she laughed up at him, and then moaned as impossibly the head of his cock, easily thicker around than her waist disappeared inside of her.

On Maceo’s part, the experience was practically indescribable. She squeezed him in a way that he’d never felt before and his giant body wobbled and his knees buckled as her tight, tiny pussy stretched impossibly to accept him. Deeper and deeper inside of her he went, the evidence of his ridiculous girth squeezing her outward as he entered her until the majority of his cock had found its way inside of her and she asked he stop when her lungs were pressed up past her collarbone.

Astravia squirmed and wriggled, her face filled with sexual lust and ecstasy and then she looked up at him. “You know what to do,” she said, and grinned while baring her teeth as he began fucking her.

Truthfully, with Astravia at this size, it was more accurate to say that he was masturbating with her body. At first he remained slow and tentative, nearly dropping to his knees over and over again as her tiny, tight little body wrapped around his manhood and squeezed down on it from every angle.

“Faster,” she bid him, though he was experiencing such an overload of pleasure.

Eventually he did manage to obey her command and hastened the pace of jerking her up and down his rod only to have the tiny goddess offer the same command again, then again and again. After a few moments of this, his knees did fully buckle and he dropped down to his knees and leaned against the tile wall, fapping with his beloved shrunken goddess until he came forcefully, then again and again before letting her go and falling to a heap against the wall. His fluids surged again up inside of her, this time with enough force to pop her free of his enormous cock and she fell in a heap, heaving desperately for air on his thigh.

There they sat for a solid twenty minutes before either had even the slightest will to move again, and it so happened that the first to stir was the tiny Astravia who rolled over onto her back and grinned up at her giant lover, his seminal fluids still leaking out between her legs.

After washing up again, they proceeded back to the bedroom, where Maceo determined they needed a troop of golems to clean before it would be of any use and then retired to the study to sit in front of a fireplace with Maceo draped in a blanket and Astravia wrapped in a hand towel that was easily more of a thick, comfy blanket to her. They sat and enjoyed the fire for some time while the golems refreshed their bedchambers and after a good while resting on his chest staring at the flickering flames, she rolled over and slid back and down to his lap, looking up at him.

“Are we going back to town soon?” she asked him.

“I thought maybe day after tomorrow.”

“Maybe we should just go tomorrow,” Astravia suggested. “I miss Elaheh, Rhona and their children.”

“If you’re sure. I wanted to make sure you had time to adapt before we headed back.”

“I will be ready,” she assured him. Maceo nodded and relaxed again, still staring with love and appreciation of the doll sized goddess on his lap, lying there and staring back up at him. “I have something I wish to discuss with you,” she shared.

“You know you don’t need to ask.”

“I do this time,” she answered. Her tone of voice was calm, but also serious. “Do you recall the evening we first met and I said I could not read your path in life because it was in flux?” Maceo reached back in his memories, then nodded down to her. “Just before we began this journey together of reducing me to this state, I looked again and despite more than a decade, that path remained as I’d described it and unable to read.”

“What do you think that means?”

“I am not finished,” she informed him, and then waited for his approval to continue. “The last time I looked was not long after you fed on my milk. The path forward ceased moving. It was and is now as solid as I have ever seen, however, I still cannot see where it goes. The uncertainty of your future is entirely gone, however I cannot see more than vague outlines that I have largely been unable to interpret.” Maceo sat up slightly, intrigued by her description.

“Moreover,” she continued, “I have lost insight into my own future. All I can say is that what I once was able to foresee has been erased.”

“Is that a good thing?” Maceo asked her.

“I do not know,” she admitted freely. “However, as I looked upon you while we sat here enjoying this evening together, I looked again. There is something else I foresaw back then that is about to come to pass.”

“That being?”

“It is nearly time for you to seek out your lost siblings again, Maceo. I was hoping that you might see fit to introduce me to them when you find them.”

Maceo’s grin spread wide and he reached behind her back and used his fingertips to pet the back of her head. “Nothing would make me happier,” he told her.

“There is more,” she added.

“Go on.”

“The convergence of these events- the end of my shrinking and developing a suitable disguise for the remainder of my time reduced, the drawing of a close to our time with our loved ones before we embark on new journeys, and the arrival of the moment when you would set out to find your lost family, especially given the location where I believe them to be currently. I do not believe it is a coincidence, especially not when I consider the changes in your path as we have progressed.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I am saying… that this arrangement as it stands will not do any longer. I wish to ask you to embark on another journey with me as well.” Maceo lifted his head and listened carefully. “Maceo… the means to sever time’s grasp on you altogether exists within this world. There are a number of materials we would need to find, but with them, I could make you truly immortal, even in my shrunken state.”

Maceo’s jaw dropped and he stared at her in disbelief. The ramifications of her statement were obvious, but he still needed time to absorb everything she’d just said to him. When she felt he’d had enough time, she sat up, holding the hand towel to her chest.

“Maceo, what I am offering you is exceedingly rare. True immortality is much more of a curse than a blessing. More times than you can count, you will grow close to ones whom you will develop an honest love for only to see them wither and be carried away by the winds. This is why I have only very rarely allowed this gift to be offered to a mortal. You were created to exist in this world for a time and then journey to another. Remaining here in this existence into eternity is akin to a prison sentence. If I were to be honest with you, I would prefer to discard my godliness and make that journey with you. However, I know for certain that Zantharan would eventually find and follow us to the afterlife and destroy us both, especially given the fact that such a sacrifice would most certainly actually leave me powerless.”

“I see,” Maceo acknowledged.

“So I am asking you, my dearest Maceo; would you consider staying with me for eternity, even knowing that you are willingly sentencing yourself to a fate similar to incarceration?”

“Yes,” Maceo answered immediately and without even the slightest hint of hesitation.

“This is not a matter to be taken lightly,” she warned, but Maceo interrupted her.

“The answer is yes,” Maceo told her boldly. “If there is a way to be with you for your entire existence, then that’s what I want. I don’t know a lot of things. I don’t understand even a fraction of what this universe has to offer, but ever since the moment I first saw you, I knew one thing for certain.”

“And what is that?”

“I exist for you,” he told her with absolute certainty and an assuredness that seemed irrefutable. “You said my name means God’s gift. I believe that. I’ve always believed that. So long as you’ll have me, then I will always be a gift to you. This is what I mean when I say that I love you.”

Astravia wasn’t stunned per se, however she was speechless nonetheless and also moved to tears. It was now her turn to need time to absorb what had been shared with her.

“Maceo… what would you do with ultimate power?”

“I’m not looking for ultimate power. I’m not interested in it.”

“But what would you do with it?”

“The same thing I’ve always said: protect,” he answered her. “Why?” She smiled and sat up, then crawled up his chest and rested there, staring up at his eyes.

“Merely a passing thought I wished answered. However, granting you true immortality will not be an easy task.”

“When can we start?”

“After my second disguise is complete. You do understand that in this state, I can only assist now, correct? As we stand now, you are currently far more powerful than I am. Our roles have fully reversed.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Astravia, but I never really cared about your power.”

“Then it was my breasts that weighed more than you do?” she asked back with a giggle.

“They helped,” he teased, earning him a playful slap.

“If it was not my power that drew you to me, then what was it?” she asked with genuine curiosity.

“I’m not sure,” he answered back, digging into his thoughts. “It’s just that the first time I looked into your eyes I knew that I couldn’t exist for anyone else.” Astravia smiled up at him, then leaned her head down to rest on his chest and lay there contentedly.

[CKent45]

Maceo and Astravia took one day to make preparations to return to their residence in town. Astravia refused to try the amulet even once now that she was fully shrunken, but just the same, Maceo insisted that she participate in preparations. Obviously, given her size the only option for her to help with most of the packing and setup was her magic, which was frustratingly weak.

She found herself struggling with otherwise normal tasks for her, even taking into account her size, but at the very least the issues she’d had with her powers slipping or even failing as she’d shrunk were now gone.

Astravia spent much of her time perched on Maceo’s shoulder, but she did help with common chores such as moving items into the cart for transport or cooking as well. Around mid day, Maceo chose to take Astravia swimming, which had become a rare activity for them ever since taking up residence in town. Astravia easily transformed into her mermaid form, but adjusting his lungs for breathing underwater was another story. It took considerably longer and exponentially more effort to the point where it was a moderate strain to do now what was once done with a mere tap of her finger. Thankfully, Maceo no longer had the same need to breath as he once did and had an easy time holding his breath long enough to allow her to complete the change.

Also interesting was Maceo’s development in terms of his own abilities in the wake of gaining godly attributes bestowed upon him by Astravia through the consumption of her milk. He didn’t have the same transformative abilities as Astravia, however he was already showing that he could partially transform. Since Astravia was now far too small and weak to pull Maceo around beneath these waves, Maceo was able to change his own legs into a much more scaly form with webbed finned feet that allowed him to travel the depths not quite as well as a mermaid, but impressively nonetheless.

The opportunity for Astravia to explore the depths of her pool at this size proved to be an amazing and exciting adventure to her, though even she had to admit that even she could now feel the pressure within the depths of their subterranean cavern.

For more than two thirds of the journey back to town, Astravia remained in her shrunken state wrapped in a piece of silk just in case some random traveler passed them by and saw Astravia naked. Despite her diminishment, she remained confident in her ability to curse a mortal and she had no interest in ruining her good mood by turning someone into stone.

It wasn’t until they entered the final leg of their journey where she agreed to make a short stop and step into the trees with Maceo along with a mortal sized dress. Maceo set her on the ground and then knelt over her, lowering the tiny pendant over her head. Astravia looked at the golden gem at the end of it and sighed, then dropped her piece of silk and stood naked before closing her eyes and holding it against her chest.

Even through her hand one could see the glow of the gem and then Astravia appeared to expand and sprout upward until she reached her former 4’10” height that their friends had grown accustomed to. Finally, she dressed in her dress and climbed back up onto the cart, holding her husband’s arm and resting against him as they completed their journey.

“At least I still feel tiny,” she remarked with a soft laugh as they rode along.

When they arrived at their house, the servants were excited and couldn’t help but rush out to see their returning masters, eager to report on goings on while they had been away. Astravia smiled and listened but by this point she’d resigned herself to being nearly entirely submissive to Maceo, given the fact that appearances aside, she was a mere fifteen inch tall woman now.

Once they’d unpacked everything, Maceo decided to take a tour of their facilities, starting with the forge he’d recommissioned where several of his students were hard at work. Astravia followed him there, never letting go of his arm once until around half way there they heard a squeal and turned to see Rhona running full sprint to see her friend and actually tackled the tiny goddess in her zest.

“Well I am happy to see you as well,” Astravia laughed while laying on the ground with Rhona on top of her and hugging her back.

That night, Maceo and Astravia held a private party for their closest friends where they celebrated coming together again, but also where Maceo explained to them their plans going forward. He didn’t tell them the purpose behind their upcoming journey, but he did explain that aside from making good on their dream to explore their world in its entirety, they were in search of minerals that would improve Maceo’s magic.

Later in the evening after most of the guests had left already, Elaheh and Rhona approached Astravia to speak privately, though Astravia refused to let go of her husband even for a second.

“Will you even ever come back, Avia?” Elaheh asked Astravia with heartbroken eyes.

“It is unlikely,” Astravia admitted with immense sympathy. “We are going very far and to very many places.” This was true, however she failed to inform them that the materials they were gathering would take no more than a couple years to obtain.

“But why?” Elaheh whined. “Look, I know you haven’t started a family of your own, but you’re part of our family. You can’t just leave us!”

“I am never leaving you, my dear Elaheh,” she assured her while petting her cheek.

“Leave her alone, Elaheh,” Rhona warned her. She too was in tears over the news that two of her dearest friends were leaving for good, but she also wore a genuine smile. “You know they’re destined for greater things than tending to shops here.”

“But my children love you so much, Avia!” she contended to Astravia.

“And I love them. However, the true tethers to my heart are the two of you.”

“But you could come back!”

“Our lives are taking us elsewhere. There are other signs I do not wish to discuss, but we are answering a call. We would not part ways unless we felt it was necessary.” Elaheh broke down fully into tears and curled over, requiring Astravia to lean in and wrap her petite arms around her taller friend and comfort her. “Hush,” she soothed her. “I have been working on a gift for you.”

Elaheh sniffled and lifted her eyes to look up at Astravia again. “I don’t want presents,” she whimpered.

“It is a gift for both of you,” she promised. “It is a conduit that Rhona will be able to utilize and we will christen it with a drop of blood from each of us. Through it, we will be able to speak to each other whenever we wish. We may be parted by space, but we will remain with each other in mind and spirit. I will even be able to show you images of our journeys.”

“It’s not the same!” Elaheh complained, crying openly again.

“Oh for crying out loud,” Rhona muttered while also joining to try to console Elaheh. “You didn’t even cry this much when your sister was married and left to go live in Longsgallow.”

“Rhona, could you please have some sympathy? She is such a tender creature,” Astravia scolded her, though she laughed while she did it. “Believe me, Elaheh, where we are going is very far, however no matter how far away I am, I will always be with you.”

Through some shared tears, Elaheh finally agreed and began to settle down again. When she was finally stable, Astravia shared another piece to the future with them. “The first materials we are in search of are in a region to the northwest of here. It is somewhat uncivilized there, so we will be traveling by horse rather than risk the airship to bandits. We wish you to come with us if you are able. We will use it as an opportunity to conduct a trade caravan as I am certain you will find goods there that would do well in the markets here. We will likely travel there in a few months’ time.”

Obviously, Elaheh was more than willing to embark on a final adventure with her friend, though convincing her husband was more than a simple matter. Rhona also immediately agreed and went about making plans with her own family.

And so it happened that three and a half months passed and their caravan was assembled and ready to go. In that time, Astravia had indeed completed her second magic pendant, and none too soon. Less than a week before completing it, Astravia’s temporary disguise had degenerated enough that it could only keep her in a 4’10” form for a little less than twelve hours and exactly as Astravia had warned, this meant that the pendant had become unstable.

Despite this, she continued to utilize it even as it approached this critical state, insisting to Maceo that she wanted to spend as much time with Rhona, Elaheh and their families as possible until two days before the pendant was ready, she found herself suddenly reducing in size gradually over tea with Rhona. What was worse was that Rhona’s youngest was playing at the foot of the table and lifted her head to see Astravia’s feet lifting off of the ground as she dwindled.

Thankfully, the child was more confused than anything and didn’t seem to understand what exactly she had seen while Astravia caught herself and then poured her own powers into the pendant in an attempt to temporarily stabilize it long enough to make an inconspicuous retreat back home. Of course this didn’t happen before she had another slight slip in size and stumbled out of one of her sandals, much to Rhona’s befuddlement.

Once again, Astravia adjusted to the situation and forced a slight growth in her form while blushing heavily at her petite friend and writing off the incident to being clumsy.

When she finally arrived home, she sealed herself in her bedchambers while breathing a sigh of relief and then proceeded to walk to the bed to relax, shrinking down to two and a half feet tall and losing her entire dress in the process before ascending back up again to a still inadequate four feet tall before she reached her destination and climbed up on top of the mattress.

“This only lasted a little more than seven hours before it malfunctioned,” she complained while looking the faded stone over.

She sighed and removed it, quickly receding down to her currently normal fifteen inches, then walked the pendant to a nightstand and set it down carefully.

Suffice it to say that for the remainder of the time until she could put the final touches on her second magical disguise, Astravia remained hidden away except for brief appearances for guests when absolutely necessary and never for more than a couple hours at a time.

Also, with her façade having been broken, Astravia found herself desperately in need of Maceo’s company to reassure her. As a result, he was on hand at all times to support her, but also to carry her around, generally as she sat on his bent forearm, wrapped in a piece of silk.

Of course over the time that it took to finalize Astravia’s more permanent disguise they had been up to considerably more than waiting for a magical stone to solidify for every day use. Arrangements were made for the transfer of their estate when they left for good. Originally, they offered it to Rhona, but she turned it down in favor of the home she’d made for herself closer to the clinic where she healed the injured and the ill. Elaheh was the second choice, but in those few months Elaheh’s now ailing grandmother decided that Elaheh should receive the home that had been passed from mother to daughter for generations, making that her permanent home. In the end, they promised to sell it to Gaeten, who had become quite the figure in the town and who also had saved up enough to purchase Maceo’s business interests from him for a fair, but still discounted price.

Maceo chose two students to succeed him as masters of the forge and left it to them free of charge. Meanwhile, sensing the end of their fruitful relationship with the divine couple, the elders of the town made it a point to have a celebratory dinner each night leading up to the departure of the caravan.

Astravia also honed her skills as a goddess in an attempt to adapt to her tiny size, and unsurprisingly now that she was forced to really put effort into her magic for the first time, she did find her powers improving noticeably again, though not nearly as much as she would have liked.

The night before leaving for distant lands to trade, Astravia found herself sitting in her shrunken state atop the railing on the balcony outside their bedchamber in a tiny peplos she’d made for herself, looking out over the town that had become their home. She was lost in thought when Maceo walked up from behind and leaned on the railing to stand beside his shrunken bride, still more than head and shoulder above her despite her lofty perch.

“I overheard someone at the market today,” he informed her. “I don’t think they realized I heard them, but it was a traveler who mentioned that I couldn’t be more than twenty years old. She was talking to Fusun, the Baker’s wife. She had this strange look on her face, and then she admitted that despite the fact that she knew we were much older than that, she agreed.”

“My spell to cast a shroud over their perceptions has its limits the same as I do now in this state,” Astravia answered him. “Outsiders who enter who haven’t been exposed to the spell have a tendency to crack its veneer.”

“We’re out of time, then,” Maceo answered.

“I am afraid so,” she agreed. “What a wonderful time it was, however. Do you not agree?”

“The best. It’s just so sad to see it come to an end.”

“Now is the time when I would remind you that all things come to an end, however, given the enterprise we are about to embark on, that is not true any longer, is it?” she asked him with a knowing smile as she placed her hand on top of his finger. “Are you certain you wish to spend eternity with me?”

“Without a doubt,” Maceo informed her without any hint of hesitation.

On the morning they were finally set to depart, Maceo was standing at the gate outside their home looking at it from enough distance to take it all in. He was lost in his thoughts when Gaeten approached him and stood beside him, also looking over what would soon become his new home.

“Regrets?” he asked his friend. Maceo turned and looked over to him, noting the heavy gray in his beard and what remained of his hair.

“None,” Maceo answered. “It’s just bittersweet is all.”

“You did warn us that this arrangement was temporary,” Gaeten commented. “Thoughts?”

“I’ve had a number of homes in my life. The hut where I was born, the shack we moved to to be closer to the shore, the sands underneath different docks, and of course the immaculate home where I met Astravia.”

“But?”

“But I’ve never been as attached to any of them more than this home.”

“I’m sure this is the fanciest of them all.”

“Oh, you haven’t seen Astravia’s place. This one is pretty droll in comparison.”

“Must be pretty impressive,” Maceo commented after taking a deep breath. “Too bad we never got around to you taking us out there.”

“Well, this is the one I’ll miss,” Maceo said back. “The other one may be where I met Astravia, but this is the one where we made memories as husband and wife. This is the one where we forged friendships.”

“It’s a beautiful home,” Gaeten agreed, and then turned to face the opposite direction. “But to be honest, I’ve never looked at this house with the same eyes you have. This is the view I’ve always been astonished with when I came here.”

Maceo turned and faced the same direction as Gaeten looking at the bustling town, which now was bordering on being called a city. A number of the roads within view were now paved with stones and there were a myriad of new structures ranging from simple homes to impressive businesses. Not far from them were hundreds of people busily going about their day and socializing with each other, nearly all of them smiling happily as they did so. To their left was an amphitheater designed by Astravia herself.

“When you first arrived here, this spot right here was a failed field we’d cleared to grow crops,” Gaeten told him. “Nearly all of our homes were so tattered they were on the verge of falling in on themselves and we prayed for days for the rain came and turned our dusty streets into mud. Amazing what a few years can do.”

“Well, you all did an amazing job rebuilding,” Maceo complimented happily.

“We wouldn’t have if you hadn’t chanced upon us. You mind if I ask you what brought you to that little dump of a town in the first place?” Maceo laughed and looked at his feet before deciding to answer.

“Just between us?”

“Yeah,” Gaeten agreed easily.

“Avia. At the time she knew full well how I felt about her, though I had no idea she was harboring any similar feelings. Either way, we were still working under the assumption that she and I could never be together. She sent me here to start my own future because she didn’t want me wasting my life hanging on hopes that would never come true. She sent me here to start a life, and honestly to find a wife.”

“So what changed?”

“She couldn’t handle the jealousy of other women courting me,” he chuckled. “In the end she just said screw it.” Gaeten laughed and shook his head.

“Well, her family’s loss is our gain,” Gaeten added. “They were fools to drive her away from them. Half of what this place is now was literally designed by her. And the other half was you.”

“You’re giving me too much credit,” Maceo insisted, but Gaeten only shook his head and placed his hand on Maceo’s shoulder and pulled it back and forth while squeezing it.

“You’ve changed my life, lad.”

“Same,” Maceo complimented.

“And here we are. Our friendship began with a trade caravan, and here it is, ending with one as well.”

“You know our friendship will never end, right?”

“Don’t play semantics games with me, lad,” Gaeten laughed, ending the argument. “Three wagons. That was all it took to catapult us to greater prosperity than this place has ever known. And now, we’re about to leave with more than ten times that.”

“And hopefully come back with more,” Maceo added.

“You know, no one ever mentions the proper name for this place. Most don’t even know what it is except for some of the oldest here.”

“I’ve always wondered if it was a secret or something. Don’t you think that it might be holding the town’s growth back if people have trouble even naming where they’re headed?”

“Most just call it Summitville.”

“And the real name?”

“Brought too much attention to us. Usha’s family actually has chronicles going back to the town’s founding of sorcerers attacking and harassing us frequently until we stopped advertising it.” Maceo turned and looked at him again, cueing him to share the closely held secret. “The town was originally christened Astraviantium.”

“After the goddess,” Maceo responded, playing it cool.

“Yeah,” Gaeten confirmed. “Like I said, for the first half of it being here, it got us a lot of unwanted attention. Publically, we dropped the name, but unofficially it’s stayed with us. Right now, there’s talk about renaming it.”

“You’d better not be hinting what I think you are,” Maceo objected.

“And why not? You’ve certainly done more for this town than some vanishing goddess.”

“So you do believe in her.”

“I know she existed. And I think she probably was ridiculously powerful too. I’ve been as far as the gates of her temple and now I’ve seen her chapel at the peak, and no one else I’ve ever heard of was capable of building anything even close to those places. But, she’s been gone a long time.”

“If she’s really immortal, then five hundred years would be hardly any time at all for her, don’t you think?”

“But it’s painfully long for us,” he answered back glumly as Astravia strolled up to them, listening in on their conversation. “Look, I don’t harbor any ill will toward her. I’m not even angry, but this town has held the line on her behalf for centuries now only to sit here and languish.”

“You’re not languishing any longer,” Maceo pointed out.

“So you are in favor of renaming your town?” Astravia asked him as she took her husband’s arm.

“No. But, for the first time since its founding, there isn’t a single elder who is a devout follower of Astravia.”

“Keep something in mind,” Maceo said boldly, garnering Gaeten’s attention. “I may not talk about it a lot but there is nothing in this world that I believe more strongly in than Astravia.”

Astravia laughed and shook her head, realizing how he’d overplayed his hand. “And what about your wife?” she asked him, poking his arm and causing Gaeten to laugh vigorously.

“Fair point,” Maceo admitted. “I suppose I got ahead of myself.”

“Well I would appreciate it if you would pace yourself more accordingly in the future,” she joked. The couple smiled at each other with Gaeten laughing at them, completely misinterpreting the inside joke between the two lovers.

“I suppose my point is that it was my belief in Astravia that got me where I am today,” Maceo informed his older friend. “And consider how much that faith in her ended up benefitting you.”

“You would have no magicians’ drawing in spectators from all around if he didn’t have his faith,” Astravia pointed out.

“Or access to that chapel.”

“No arguments here,” Gaeten agreed.

“Gaeten, if you’re discussing things with the elders about the name of the town, you should acknowledge its real name,” Maceo encouraged. “The main reason you had to hide it was the guild of sorcery, but when was the last time you heard so much as a hint about them?”

“Years now,” he admitted. “And the main center of town is protected from them now, so maybe you’re right.”

“I think it’s time to stop being afraid of the guild of sorcery, then. Especially since you’ve got a defector living here with you who has been safe this entire time,” Maceo suggested.

“I can give it another go when we get back,” Gaeten agreed.

Shortly after that, they were off in a long caravan that extended back more than thirty horse drawn wagons with Gaeten leading the pack and Maceo bringing up the rear just as he had the first time they’d set out in search of trade. Unlike the first time they’d headed out, however, the road was serene and safe thanks to years of squads of militia patrolling them. Astravia sat beside Maceo, wrapped lovingly around his arm while the original band of magicians were scattered throughout the convoy, though Cajsa was joining both Elaheh and Rhona in the trailing cart where she could share in one last adventure with her once romantic crush. Their final passenger was a young man who’d come to manhood during Maceo’s tenure there at the village, learning swordsmanship from none other than Astravia herself, who had surprised everyone with her uncanny skill with a blade, despite her lack of physical power with it. He sat sentry at the back the entire day until evening when they found a place on the side of the road and circled their wagons before setting up tents and settling in for the night.

Unlike with the first caravan, discipline was quite high, especially with the magicians, who’d learned a few other tricks in their time, such as warning flares that would be triggered if anyone ventured too close to their convoy in the night.

For Astravia’s part, she was happy to settle into a private tent with Maceo and deactivate her pendant, allowing her to dwindle down into her mortal dress and curl up on his chest for some much desired rest and relaxation against his warm skin. She only was forced to reactivate it again when he took post a few hours later guarding the perimeter of their camp.

The trip went on for nearly three weeks like this, though they did make stops along the way to engage in some minor trade with settlements they passed by as well as treating those they visited with luminescent displays by the magicians, further spreading the good name of their town.

Then one day they entered into a region where the temperature seemed to be more mild than where they’d come from and was covered with rugged mountains. Eventually as they continued up a somewhat rough and unkempt trade route, Astravia lifted her head and looked across Maceo to the southeast. She poked him and nodded in that direction.

“We should find what we are looking for near the coast in that direction,” she whispered to him. Maceo nodded and when they stopped at midday for some lunch, Maceo conveyed Astravia’s insights to Gaeten, who accepted it without question and then they traveled on for most of the afternoon as they had until they met a fork in the road that offered a path in the direction they were searching for.

Another day’s ride and they passed a massive lake and a town there where much of the tradesmen of the caravan wanted to stop, but at Gaeten’s insistence, they rode on until by midday the next day, they were standing on a ridge overlooking the sea and a sizeable settlement, one that they estimated to contain at least 10,000 people.

[CKent45]

When the caravan rolled into town late that day, the locals there looked up with confusion at the weary travelers, surprised to see unfamiliar faces wearing clothes that were slightly different than their own. Maceo offered Rhona the reigns and then dismounted along with Astravia and jogged to the front of the caravan where Gaeten was discussing their intentions with a squad of local military assigned to the protection of their borders. There, the captain of their guard was questioning Gaeten about where they were from, what they wanted and what exactly they’d brought with them.

“Do you not receive trade normally?” Astravia asked him as they approached, only to receive a nasty scowl from the burly man.

“I don’t know where you’re from, but around here we don’t tolerate women speaking out of turn,” he declared, bearing down on Astravia menacingly. As soon as he did so, however, Maceo stepped in between them and grabbed the man’s wrist tightly, stopping him cold in his tracks.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but no one speaks to my wife like that,” he answered equally as menacingly. The burly soldier pulled and strained, but much to his surprise he found trying to pull away from Maceo to be more like having his arm encased in stone.

“No need to get bent out of shape, lad,” Gaeten cautioned Maceo, but Maceo remained firm.

“I’m patient with a lot of things, but never with how my wife is treated. You will speak to her with respect,” Maceo ordered the man while his compatriots had already drawn their swords, though they were all more than a little nervous to rush in to meet someone who already seemed to have uncanny strength.

“It is alright, my dearest Maceo,” Astravia assured him gently. “My honor is in tact.” Maceo nodded and the instant she’d ordered the man released, Maceo let go, and the soldier nearly fell to the ground stumbling back after being released.

“Don’t tell me this punk goon is so pussy whipped he takes his orders from a woman,” one soldier taunted, though he was frustrated to see that Maceo was completely unphazed by his insult.

“Especially one so puny,” another added. Now Maceo turned toward that soldier and glared in such a way it sent a shiver up the man’s spine.

“Oh no,” Astravia intervened. “I certainly follow my husband’s lead. However, I would not have married him if it were not for the fact that he respects my words as he does.”

There was some murmuring among the soldiers as Gaeten helped their sergeant to his feet and then spoke to him more privately while attempting to broker a peace. Ultimately, the sergeant was about to deny them entry when Gaeten disclosed that weapons were among the goods they carried with them until Gaeten offered a demonstration of Maceo’s steel as well as one sword for himself in order to allow bygones to remain bygones.

Suffice it to say, Maceo’s craftsmanship with the Damascus blades he’d brought along left more than one jaw on the ground as Maceo demonstrated his handy work and then selected a blade he felt would fit the man well.

“It’s yours, but only on the condition that you apologize to my wife and you give me your word you’ll treat her with the respect she deserves.”

Thankfully, the bribe proved too tempting for the sergeant to pass up and after inspecting the remainder of the convoy, he agreed to escort them into town to the magistrate’s office where he personally vouched for the caravan as they asked for permission to set up shop there. Once all was said and done, the sergeant stood watching Maceo as he ushered Astravia back up into their cart, also noting that the majority of the passengers in this wagon were women. Finally, he approached Maceo, still with a stern look, but also politely asking for a word.

He explained that they almost never received trade via land route and it almost always came by ship where they could be denied port whenever the town felt that their visitors were more trouble than they might be worth.

The town hadn’t always been so cautious, but in recent years, a number of kingdoms had inexplicably collapsed leading to a surge in chaos within the region, as well as an increase in economic instability. A number of their more wealthy citizens had lost everything in recent years and their culture was becoming rather protectionist.

More to the point of Maceo’s specific encounter, however, was the fact that their normal trading partners were of similar attitude to them in that women were barred from engaging in trade or in holding positions of authority. The only times they ever saw new women enter the area was either because she’d married someone from that region and was traveling to join her husband, or they were brought in as slaves to be sold.

Astravia sat frowning at the burly sergeant, but continued to listen without any feedback, despite her obvious disapproval. Maceo on the other hand was more concerned with how the women in their caravan, and more specifically Astravia would be treated while staying there.

“They’ll be treated extremely well, provided they keep their mouths shut in public,” the man answered bluntly. Maceo clenched his jaw and his fists and took a deep breath rather than engage in some rash behavior, much to Gaeten’s relief.

“Well allow this mere woman to pose a query, then,” Astravia finally interjected. The sergeant glared at her only to catch the rage filled stare from Maceo and backed off. “Perhaps we should be patient, my dearest Maceo. After all, he has been trained to be like this his entire life.”

“I can untrain him pretty fast,” Maceo declared. The sergeant actually quaked with fear given the uncanny strength Maceo had shown, especially given that it was likely that Maceo was only showcasing a small portion of it still.

“Go ahead and ask your questions,” the sergeant answered her surprisingly politely, but still with none of the respect he’d shown Maceo.

“The women in this company are here for a specific purpose. If we are expected to not conduct matters of trade directly, we still have a secondary function, that being to provide something pleasant to the eye to attract potential customers.”

“That’s one of the reasons women don’t work in trade here,” he answered handily. “You’re obviously an extremely beautiful woman, and the men here are taught to be wary of the wiles of someone like you.”

“We are not going to sit here idly while the men of our company do all of the work,” Astravia insisted.

“I’ll introduce you to my wife,” he suggested. “She can train you on what is and isn’t acceptable here. For a price.”

“And that price being?” Astravia asked him.

“Another one of those amazing swords,” he declared. Maceo laughed slightly and shook his head.

“If she works with us the entire time while we’re here, I’ll give you a shield and one of my best knives of the same steel,” Maceo offered. “The swords take an incredible amount of work. I gave away the only one I plan to on this trip.”

The burly sergeant considered his counterproposal, and after a moment nodded in agreement. “Just make sure she’s able to be home so she can prepare dinner,” he insisted.

“Treat us well,” Astravia suggested, “and perhaps she will not need to every day and you and your family can also be treated to new delicacies.” The man wagged his head, but again nodded in agreement. He was about to leave when Astravia called out one more time to him, making him wince at being summoned by a woman, but Astravia paid him no mind. “Beloved, perhaps he knows something regarding our other purposes for coming here,” she suggested.

“And what is that?” he asked, turning to Maceo again.

“The first is we’re looking for evidence of a material here. A shiny, lustrous white metal that’s also soft.”

“Silver. Yes. We have mines to the northeast of here where we dig it up. It’s also used for currency, but the coins and bars aren’t pure.” Astravia and Maceo both smiled at each other knowingly.

“Wonderful,” Astravia glowed to the man. “It occurs in such small quantities where we hail from, we would not be able to harvest enough for our uses.”

“How much gold would it cost us to get some?” Maceo asked him.

“Oh, if you have gold, that’s a lot more valuable than silver. You won’t have any trouble buying some.”

“And how valuable is it compared to gold here?”

“I’m not good with numbers,” he answered back honestly. “A few ounces of gold will get you many times that amount in silver, though. You’ll need to talk to an alchemist to get it if you’re looking for it to be pure.”

“Can you point us in the direction of a good one?” Maceo asked him. He nodded, signaling another deal struck between them.

“And our final task, beloved?” Astravia asked him. Maceo stood upright and nodded, gathering strength and piquing the interest of the soldier.

“I’m looking for a woman,” Maceo informed him. The sergeant’s eyebrow lifted and he leaned a little more closely. “She’s from our region originally. Specifically she was born in a town on the coast called Myndyras, but she would have moved to other places in the area before making her way up here. By now, she’d be in her thirties, brown hair, blue eyes.”

“I don’t mean any disrespect, but any woman who’s made her way up here from that region is claimed by a man in one way or another. He either owns her, or he’s wed her. Most of our trade has always come from a land across the sea to the west of here. We have less than a handful of captains that venture down where you come from. In any event, whoever’s laid claims to her is likely not going to take kindly to someone from her past seeking her out. Who was she to you?”

“My sister,” Maceo informed him. “I had three, actually, but I’ve heard that one might have settled up here.”

The man took a deep breath and stared at Maceo, carefully considering his options. “We don’t want anyone causing trouble here.”

“I’m not looking to cause any. If she’s a slave, we’ll pay handsomely to free her.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“When I was about seven.”

“A long time to be searching. And a long distance.”

“Can you help us?” Maceo asked earnestly. The man continued to stare at Maceo sternly, but seemingly on the edge of a decision.

“No,” he answered decisively, “but talk to the old stock keeper on the wharf before he leaves for home for the day. Tell him I sent you and he might be able to get you started. But tread carefully. However she arrived here, she’s got a man who’s going to be very possessive of her.”

The sergeant then parted ways for the time being leaving Maceo standing there looking his cart over. “What are you waiting on?” Gaeten asked him, snapping him out of his daydream. “We can handle the grunt work, go find your kin!” he insisted. Maceo looked over to him and then around at the gathered crowd from their caravan who all seemed to be nodding in agreement. With that, Maceo set off with Astravia on his arm for the wharfs.

The old man that they’d been sent to was even more wary than the sergeant had been. In fact, the only reason he was even entertaining Maceo was because a friend had sent him.

“We’ve had more than one foreigner show up here ready to slay an army to free kin from slavery. The custom here is once they arrive, their past is no more,” he cautioned Maceo. “And quite frankly, there’s something about you that tells me you’re a man to be feared.”

“I’m not looking to cause any problems. I just would like to know that my sister made her way in life and is alright. If she’s here as a slave, I can pay her weight in gold to free her.”

“That’s pretty tempting,” the old man said as Maceo handed him a gold coin to loosen his lips. “Any idea when she arrived here?”

“Could have been ten years ago, or it could have been twenty.”

“Hmm.. well, I know only one captain who made that route over that time frame,” he shared. “Luckily, his ship was damaged in a gale and they’ve had trouble making her seaworthy again. Try calling on him at that tavern over there tonight,” he said, pointing to a ragged building up the hill to the south of them.

They returned to the caravan and finished setting up for the night, then the couple made their way down to the tavern they’d been pointed to that evening as instructed. As they walked in, no one seemed to notice at all at first until absolutely everyone suddenly seemed to notice and turned to stare slack jawed at Astravia who was stealing all attention despite her extremely petite size.

The tavern fell silent and Astravia blushed slightly as the hall went soundless. Astravia reacted by wrapping her hands around Maceo’s arm and standing even more closely than before, clearly marking them as together. After a moment, they made their way to the bar where they asked about the captain of the vessel they were looking for. They were then pointed in the direction towards a table of sailors all staring hungrily at Astravia near the far end of the hall.

As the pair approached the table, one man stood unevenly from his chair while slamming his mug of ale down.

“Bless my heart, you came all this way to deliver this beauty just for us?” he yelled, garnering an eruption of laughter all around them. Astravia blushed, but also lost all of the joy in her face at the rude comment. In response, she lifted her arm to display the wedding bracelet she was wearing. “Little trinkets like those don’t plug holes darlin’,” he exclaimed, gaining more laughter.

“How would you feel if I spoke to your wife like that?” Maceo asked, stepping in front of Astravia, who was becoming more and more displeased by the second.

“I don’t think it matters because you need somethin’,” the man quipped back only half soberly with a shit eating grin while he wobbled slightly.

“Actually, given I know about the situation your ship is in, I think you need me more than I need you. I have other ways of getting what I need,” Maceo answered him back. The man staggered for a moment reappraising Maceo, but wobbled and thought better.

“Bah! I’d rather have a moment with that woman,” he declared.

“I’d rather not ruin this man’s tavern,” Maceo muttered unhappily at the man, who leaned back, surprised by the bold assertion. “Why don’t you sit your fat, drunk ass down?”

With that, most of the rest of the table also began to stand, and while Maceo stood ready, Astravia tugged on his arm while the tavern owner ran in to try to break the altercation up before it got out of hand.

“Perhaps a demonstration, beloved?” Astravia suggested to him politely. Maceo nodded and stepped forward, asking one of the men to allow him a chance to sit in his seat for a moment. He then sat and placed his elbow on the table with his hand out and open to accept the braggart opposite him.

“Are you serious, pretty boy?” he asked. Maceo nodded and then the drunken sailor leaned forward and grasped his hand, ready to arm wrestle.

“If I win, I get an hour with that gorgeous siren of yours,” he declared.

“When I win, you keep that fowl mouth of yours shut,” Maceo demanded. The drunk sailor laughed and squeezed down, but Maceo informed him to wait. “You and you,” he said, pointing with his free hand. “Help him out,” Maceo said, stunning everyone around them with the bold challenge. The drunken sailor was aghast, but Maceo insisted and then there were three hands on his, ready to pull. “Go,” Maceo directed calmly, and with that, all three men pulled with all their might, managing to move the table across the floor with all their mighty efforts, but not budging Maceo one inch. The men around the table all stared in astonishment and even a fourth jumped in to try to help, but found himself no better than the others. Finally, Maceo pulled, dragging them all back and down onto the table, ending the match.

“I realize that women do not speak publically much in this part of the world,” Astravia shared with them all, “but perhaps you have underestimated with whom you are dealing.”

Needless to say, the sailors and those around them found Astravia’s warning to have merit, and they quickly backed off with the tavern keeper staring nervously at Maceo, who simply stood and stepped back, offering the chair back to it’s original occupant politely.

“Is your name Ablerus?” Maceo asked the bested sailor, who just stared slack jawed at Maceo and shook his head in the negative. “Then I’d appreciate if you pay up on our wager,” Maceo informed him.

“That would be me,” replied another man, an old seadog who had spent most of their time just watching the fun unfold in front of him and enjoying the show.

“Could I have a few minutes of your time?” Maceo asked him. The captain took a good moment to ponder his question, but after some thought, he nodded and waved Maceo over to a booth that was currently unused.

“So what exactly is it you need from me?” the old sea dog asked once the three of them were seated and facing each other.

“I’m looking for someone,” Maceo answered him.

“Ah,” came the response. “You realize I could lose my license to trade here if I share that kind of information, don’t you?”

“No, I didn’t,” Maceo answered back.

“So then that’s it?”

“Well, hopefully not,” Maceo answered him. “I can be discreet,” he promised, “and I can pay well.”

“Can you pay to match my inventory for the next ten years?” the man asked him.

“Well, I doubt I brought that much with me,” Maceo answered, shaking the man, who was stunned more by the implications of Maceo’s statement than anything else.

“What do you mean, brought with you?”

“Well that much gold is extremely heavy. You don’t just load it into a wagon and travel with it.” Again the old sea dog was shaken by Maceo’s straightforward demeanor.

“No, I suppose not,” the captain agreed, his eyes never leaving Maceo’s even for a second. “I’ve never met anyone who even had the balls to claim he had that kind of money to pay me off.”

“I’m not promising it to you,” Maceo replied.

“We have a few other means at our disposal to obtain leads,” Astravia informed him. The captain looked at her, then Maceo, his eyebrow cocking upward.

“So it’s really up to you. We’re not here for trouble, but we’re not leaving here until we find her,” Maceo informed him.

“Who are you looking for?” the man asked, leaning forward a little in his seat.

“My older sister.”

“And where’s she from?”

“Originally? A town named Myndyras.”

“Oh, I know that town. Unfortunately, I very well might be your guy. How long’s she been missing?”

“Somewhere between ten and twenty years. We were separated when I was about seven.”

“Twenty years is well before your time, son.”

“I’m older than I look.”

“Really.”

“Yes. Is there any way we can do business?”

“As I said, if I give out word that I gave out details on some woman I ferried up here and they traced it back to me, I’m likely to lose my license to trade in this port. If you caused any trouble, they’d certainly be looking around for where they got their information.”

“I’m really not looking for trouble. We have a caravan of our own we don’t want to endanger.”

“A caravan? From Myndyras?”

“No. A place called Astraviantium. Otherwise it might be known as Summitville.”

“The magician’s dwelling?”

“Yes, and they’re here with us if you’re interested.”

“I was there that week when they made themselves known. They put up one hell of a show. The leader was amazing.”

“You are actually looking at that man,” Astravia informed the captain proudly.

“You are not,” he declared in disbelief. Maceo shrugged and with a wave of his hand the candle near them burst forward and out to the captain in the form of an eagle, tickling his beard before evaporating. Several people suddenly turned and stared at them, befuddled by the sudden burst of light. “Son of a bitch,” he blurted out. “I made a fortune that trip. I had to cancel my entire route because the holds of my ship were all but empty.”

“Perhaps that speaks something to his goodwill?” Astravia suggested. The sea dog nodded, but still looked a little wary.

“Perhaps…”

“Tell me about your route down to that region.”

“I go about once a year,” he answered. “Have for most of my time helming a ship. Most of the time it’s just for goods, but on occasion I’ve had passengers looking to go to or from there.”

“How many women do you suppose you’ve brought up from down there?”

“Not many. Most weren’t slaves, because that region didn’t have the kinds of wealth to maintain them. Well, at least not until your little show there. It became a lot more popular after that. But even so, I haven’t carried many up from there. Your kin didn’t have the kind of coin to be welcome in a place like this and after things went to shit I had to be sure to arrange in advance for them to be allowed into this port. You’re a very powerful man, especially if you’ve got sorcery in your wheelhouse. How do I know you’re not here intending to take her back by force?”

“I’ve heard that she was taken well care of after we were separated. But she’s my sister. I really just want to see her and be sure she’s made it alright.”

“And if she hasn’t?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we reach it, but I’ve got a few more options than just beating it out of people.”

“I suppose you do,” he commented. “Does the magistrate know what he’s let into this town?”

“We thought we’d surprise them,” Maceo answered with a sly grin.

“What are you offering?”

“We’ve brought a few things with us that might help get your vessel back to sea. I can procure them for you if it helps. I was also told that the unexpected repairs have exhausted most of your reserves.”

“I got money, it’s just that it’s back at our home port to the west. They don’t want me leaving with a promise to come back later with it. Three decades of credit here doesn’t buy what it once did.”

“I’ll get you up and running again. If you can help me find her.”

The captain stared at Maceo and Astravia, carefully considering their offer. “Well, if I don’t I suppose I might not be doing any trade regardless,” he reasoned. “The trouble, my friend, is that I really only know where about a handful of the ladies you’d be interested in ended up. The others were more quiet about where they were headed. I just know they disembarked here.”

“I think that’s fair,” Maceo answered while Astravia nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, you’re definitely him. That bastard in Longsgallow was one generous son of a bitch. Alright. But I expect that discretion you promised, but only because that trip all those years ago pushed me up so that I could run a small fleet of ships.”

The captain led the pair back to his vessel, which was docked and leaning to one side with a broken mast. When they climbed aboard, he brought them to his quarters, where a number of scrolls were sitting in a rack and he pulled one out, rolling it out and rolling far up the list until he reached a point where he felt he could find something useful.

“This gal married a merchant who’d traveled for years to make his fortune. I believe his bride was from your neck of the woods,” he said, pointing to a pair of names. “No idea what he’s doing now. He had a number of ventures, but this is his name. Last I heard he was into gems,” he explained.

He then walked them through the list, pointing out each and what little he knew about them, and as he’d cautioned them, it was only a handful of women that might fit the description; two of them marrying men from up in the area and the other four being slaves. Of the slaves, he felt that there was a good chance they would have been bought locally, so there were good odds that they’d still be in the area.

Finally, he described generally what he knew about the others he’d ferried over the years. Of them, he was almost certain most of them were slaves and though he didn’t have any proof, the way their owners behaved in regards to protecting his privacy suggested that they’d been obtain by other than legal means. A few others among them either seemed to be along as handmaids, hired while abroad and finally one stuck out in his mind that had boarded with the man she was with insisting they travel without papers. That man was a wealthy merchant, but since the captain didn’t get his name, he wasn’t sure where to point Maceo.

With that out of the way, Maceo and Astravia were offered a short tour to assess the damages, which were heavier than expected while the captain explained the things they’d already done to repair his vessel.

“We barely made it in to port,” he explained. “In fact, we had to drag her up onto shore to keep her from going down at first.”

Maceo nodded and considered the many items that would be necessary to make the vessel seaworthy again based on the captain’s descriptions as well as what limited knowledge he had from having a father who was a fisherman. Maceo then gave instructions on several broken pieces in the ship to be brought to him the next day where he could use the forge he’d brought with him to fabricate replacements. A few other things could be jerry rigged from items that others in the caravan had brought along and Maceo could easily acquire and the remainder Maceo would assist with throughout their stay there when there was time.

[CKent45]

After a full night’s rest, Maceo was up bright and early to the sound of someone knocking on their tent and obviously about to enter without permission. Astravia was forced to scramble and retrieve her pendant and only barely finished growing back into her disguised form a fraction of a second before the captain from the night before poked through to see Maceo sitting up and staring at him and Astravia covering her nude body with her blanket.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Maceo warned the sea dog and stepping between him and his wife to block the view.

“Are ya gonna beat me up for gaining a peak at your lovely lady?” he teased.

“No,” Maceo told him seriously, “but believe me when I say she can handle these kinds of situations on her own and you won’t like the results.”

“And what’s a pretty lass like you gonna do?” he asked her with a sleazy smirk. Astravia’s eyes narrowed and an angry scowl grew.

“As impressed as you were with my magic, believe me when I tell you my knowledge pales in comparison to hers,” Maceo warned ominously. The captain leaned back and looked at her now with a little more fear and respect.

“You wouldn’t…”

“Oh yes I would,” Astravia answered back fiercely. “My body is not for your eyes,” she added with spite. The old captain gulped, now stunned and put in his place just as Maceo shoved him out of their tent to see to their business while Astravia dressed herself.

The old sea dog was there with the broken pieces of equipment Maceo said he’d recreate as well as the first portion of whatever he could obtain from his fellow caravan members. Maceo threw on some clothes and immediately fired up the small forge he’d brought with along with a couple of his students who’d come along to begin work.

For Astravia’s part, she quickly freshened up and dressed before hurrying out to be at her husband’s side while he worked given how vulnerable she felt given the fact that she was a mere fifteen inch tall woman hidden within a 4’10” tall shell. While he worked, Astravia remained close on hand watching him intently, all the while conversing with him telepathically.

“I’m glad you didn’t turn him to stone. That would have been tough to explain,” Maceo thanked her.

“Oh, given how crass he is, I would have done worse to him.”

“That being?”

“Stone is still a difficult transmutation for me at this size. Turning him to stone would have been a slower process than it normally is as well as causing me to exert myself so much that I would break the spell concealing my true size. However, I would have happily sent him on his way while watching with immense pleasure as that old codger gradually transformed into a voluptuous woman throughout the day,” she answered.

“That would have been… interesting.”

“The most gratifying part is always watching their reaction as their penises slowly shrink away,” she added with more than a touch of sadism.

The first couple pieces of equipment were easy enough to put together rather quickly and only required time to sit and cool off. By the time the rest of the caravan was ready to open up shop for the day, Maceo was forced to set his work aside and see to his own tent, leaving his students to continue on in his stead with the captain of the transport vessel sitting and watching them work.

The sergeant who’d assisted them the day before did send his wife as promised and she sat behind Maceo’s tent with all of the women, save Astravia who was quite frankly going to do as she pleased regardless, and they went over what public behaviors would be tolerated and which would not, though as Astravia listened in through the canvas at the back of their tent, she couldn’t help but frown as the sergeant’s wife described the limitations placed on women in this region.

The sergeant had been honest at least. Women here were treated exceptionally well and with immense regard, so long as they kept their mouths shut in public. Any man so much as leering too lustfully would be met with a fearsome wall of other men who would quickly put him in his place in the most volatile way possible, but always out of sight from the maiden in question. Men here were extremely protective of their women and abuse was not tolerated at all, especially out in public. Instances of possible physical abuse resulted in the husband in question brought to face public questioning where he was forced to describe why his wife had been seen to have marks on her and defend himself with the majority of the burden being on him.

This was the up side to this particular culture. The down side was that women were very much seen as property, and not just any property. They were seen as the most valuable property their community had. Suitors would come from all around and even across the sea for a chance to court a lady from this region and this town in particular. Though they were not technically seen as property, in actuality they were very much just that.

Women had a say in who they chose to marry, but it was expected that they would marry and do their community proud in that role. Women were denied any position of authority and in most forms of business they were barred. Women were expected to always be completely subservient to their husbands, and it was rare that a wife’s words were taken particularly seriously. There was also a clear distinction between the lives of men and women here. The women typically worked together to perform their work in large groups while the men went off separately to wherever they needed to in order to provide for their families. Men were generally barred from child care in the earlier years of a child’s development, but as both children grew older, the mother’s role was slowly phased out as the father began to treat his children much like apprentices, teaching the son how to provide and treat a lady, and a daughter the proper way she should expect to be treated.

It was also a very rigid culture, one that Astravia predicted would burn itself out within a few centuries. Nonetheless, she was quite displeased at the warped derivation they had chosen in comparison to the teachings she’d left behind.

There was a seed of truth to what she had laid down as expectations, but that seed had grown into a twisted tree that she quite frankly would have preferred to burn to the ground, were she in a position to do so.

At midday, Maceo and Astravia set out for a jaunt to follow up on some of the leads they’d been given while the old captain took what equipment was ready for him back to his ship and conduct repairs. For the better part of two hours, they traversed the wealthier areas where the few that were said to have married into wealthier homes here might be thought to reside, but to no avail. Following lunch, they made a quick pass to one of the slave trade markets in town and perused the options there, noting how the slaves here were in less than ideal condition.

Maceo and Astravia found no evidence that any of his sisters had passed through this area, though they did come across one young woman who hadn’t adapted well to the different conditions here and was looking extremely sickly. This young woman had in fact originally been from a town adjacent to Maceo’s hometown and after some coaxing from Astravia disclosed that she’d been captured as a slave as a young girl and had been traded down the coast, then to across the sea and finally back to her current position after multiple owners had disapproved of her and her performance. She was slightly above average height, but also somewhat gaunt, obviously deprived of food for some time.

While Astravia drew her story out of her, she was shocked to discover that Maceo hadn’t even listened to her entire story and had proceeded to buy her, hardly haggling at all for her. Once they were on their way back to the caravan, the girl stared at him in shock while Astravia used a wet rag to wipe her face while they walked.

“Do you have family back home?” Maceo asked her.

“My mom, maybe. I don’t know. It’s been so long.”

“Well, we’ll be passing by there on the way back and see if we can’t reunite you,” he promised. “From there, you’ll be free again, as long as you don’t cause us any trouble in the mean time.”

“Can’t you just free me now if that’s what you plan?”

“I am afraid not, my dear,” Astravia answered her. “From what we understand, the laws of servitude are very strict and we would need to show concrete proof that the original debt was paid in full.”

“There was no debt,” she complained. “I was out with some friends and we were kidnapped.”

“Thus why we cannot simply free you here and now,” Astravia answered her. “We do not wish to cause a scene here so far from home. Please simply behave yourself, regain your strength and help where you are able and we will do what we can to finally see you home.”

“But why?”

“Sentimentality, I suppose,” Maceo said honestly. “We’re here searching for my sister, and we’re not sure if she came here willingly or like you did. I saw you and thought why should I treat you differently from her?”

That afternoon, Maceo was back to work blacksmithing behind his tent while a young man from another wagon assisted in the tent by tending to customers, which were many. Behind him, Astravia sat with the young woman, still wiping her clean and seeing to her medically using many of the same treatments Astravia had taught Rhona over the years. Eventually, Rhona and Elaheh showed up and helped her out, talking to her in depth about her story and helping to nurse her.

“The name we were given, that’s not a name from where we’re from,” Maceo informed her. She looked up at him with sad and nearly broken eyes, but shook her head. “So what’s your actual name?”

“Jimena.”

“Alright. It’s time to reclaim it,” Maceo determined. The woman looked over to him somewhat shaken, especially by how resolute Maceo seemed to be regarding the topic. “How long’s it been?” He asked her. “Since anyone called you by that name, Jimena?”

“Not since my friends and I were separated,” she shared.

“Beloved, perhaps she wishes a different name?” Astravia suggested with a slight smirk, instantly causing Jimena to react viscerally.

“No!” she blurted.

“Well, it’s your choice,” Maceo agreed. “I’m sure it’ll take some getting used to again. We’ll do our best to treat you the way you deserve to be treated, but don’t forget we need to keep up appearances until we can leave this region.”

“And my mark?” she asked, pointing to a scar that was the brand that marked her as property.

“I will remove it when we are free of the laws here,” Astravia promised.

“Remove it? It’s a scar. A deep scar,” she denied.

“My dear, perhaps you should acquaint yourself with the company you keep now. You are among magic users,” Astravia informed her formally. Again, Jimena was stunned and looked between her, Maceo, Rhona and finally Elaheh.

“Oh, not me,” Elaheh laughed. “But they are. Probably the most powerful magic users you’ll ever find.”

“No need for bragging,” Maceo smirked. “But healing that scar won’t be difficult.”

“You’re sorcerers?” she asked them all.

“No,” Astravia laughed. “We are definitely not sorcerers, but we are users of magic.”

“But I haven’t seen you use any magic,” she reasoned.

“We’re holding off on that,” Rhona answered while applying a salve to her shoulder, which had a lesion there. “But tonight you’re going to see more magic then you’ve seen in your entire life.”

“Why? What’s tonight?”

“Well, we’re going to put on a little show,” Maceo informed her.

“Do you always have to understate things?” Rhona laughed at him.

A short while later, the old captain returned and collected more fixtures to repair and then as they were concluding that portion of their business, the young man covering for Maceo in tending shop up front came back with a few customers in tow who insisted on seeing the blacksmith who’d left so many high quality tools and weapons on display and asked about some projects of their own they wanted to commission.

It was an interesting discussion, even for the old captain, though he was more focused on Jimena as though he were trying to place her from some memory. Once Maceo had tended to the needs of these customers, he began washing his hands up in order to go forward and see to his own business for a while, again with Astravia close at his side and a curious Jimena also trying to follow along, but held back by Rhona and Elaheh, who were still seeing to her injuries and ailments.

That night, Jimena was shocked and awed as Maceo kicked off a display of magic very much like the one that had started the magician’s order years ago with bursts of shapely flames filling the sky. Crowds quickly began to assemble with the sergeant who’d assisted them up to this point caught between laughter at the reaction of his neighbors as well as awe himself having never before seen a display such as this.

The main difference between this and the first one Maceo had put on was that this time he was not by himself. His old students joined in after a few moments and orchestrated a symphony of light while Astravia stood just out of sight with Elaheh and Jimena. “Why aren’t you helping them?” Jimena asked Astravia as their display began to pick up in tempo, building toward the climax.

“Oh, I have never been a part of this particular ritual. Even Maceo rarely engages in it anymore.”

“What’s so special about tonight?”

“We are approaching a new phase in our lives,” Astravia answered with a distant smile while Elaheh lowered her head with sad eyes. “We have several things we wish to accomplish with this journey and then when we return we will begin the process of moving.”

“To where?”

Astravia explained their hopes to travel and explore and some of the things they hoped to accomplish as they went with a few of them being new to even Elaheh. Jimena was fascinated and hung on Astravia’s every word. “Can I come with?” she asked with awe. Astravia smiled, her eyes never leaving her lover as he projected powerful visions of flames over an ever-growing crowd.

“I would set your eyes on being reunited with your own family,” Astravia encouraged. “Following that we can talk if you still wish to.”

The next morning, Maceo and Astravia were off shortly after opening shop again to track down leads regarding the whereabouts of his long lost sister, allowing Jimena to tag along. Each lead proved to be a dead end, with one man who’d married a woman from Maceo’s region being quite angry that Maceo had even attempted such an unwelcome reunion and promised to bring the matter up with the magistrate. With all their initial leads exhausted, Astravia and Maceo stood near a fountain with Jimena watching them as they discussed their options. After some discussion, Jimena gave an awkward look as her stomach growled audibly, gaining the attention of both of them.

“You should have stayed behind to get some breakfast,” Astravia said to her with a warm smile. “No matter. Take us to your favorite place to get food.”

Jimena was flustered with the offer, but after some more coaxing, she agreed and led them down to another market to procure some food for themselves. They ordered from a stand that had some rather pedestrian but still flavorful food and enjoyed it together while continuing to coax more of Jimena’s past from her and then set off back toward the caravan. They hadn’t walked more than twenty feet before Astravia suddenly perked up.

“Beloved,” she whispered with a nudge to his ribs. Maceo looked down to her and gave her a questioning gaze until he too noticed what she was referring to and perked up as well. He suddenly stopped and looked around with Jimena staring at them in bewilderment, not comprehending why the sudden change in demeanor. Maceo then turned to his right and looked at a few small groups of people going to and fro and finally settled in on his target, a woman walking alone dressed in a plain brown robe walking with a basket in hand. They walked in her direction, intercepting her with the unknown woman oblivious until they were within a dozen or so feet and Maceo stopped and stared blankly.

“Sekai?” Maceo called out tentatively. The woman suddenly stopped and looked around her in search of the alien voice until she found the trio intercepting her and turned.

“Do I know you?” she asked with confusion. With that confirmation, Maceo’s expression turned into a massive and relieved grin, nearly moved to tears.

“Yes,” he answered her, even trembling somewhat. “But it’s been a really, really long time,” he informed her, swallowing.

“Who are you?” she asked, approaching them slowly and shaking her head as she did so while she racked her brain for whatever puzzle pieces she was missing. Maceo remained silent, not revealing the answer while Jimena stared with complete fascination. As the woman reached them she continued to stare at him in bewilderment. “Really, who are you?” she asked again.

Maceo chuckled, then fished into his pocket and then reached out with the contents he’d retrieved in his fist and held it out to her. She lifted her palm and looked as he carefully placed a single copper coin in her palm with both hands as if reliving some long lost moment from his past. She stared at it, her brow furrowed.

“I hope you didn’t worry too much,” he told her with a smile. “It was enough.” She cocked her head, looking at the coin, then up at his face again and finally her jaw dropped.

“Maceo?” she gasped, covering her mouth and dropping her basket.

“Hi Sekai,” he answered, moved almost beyond words. She too was suddenly moved to tears and then lunged in, embracing her long lost brother for a near eternity.

“But how?” she asked when she was finally able to look up at him. “You can’t be Maceo. You look so young.”

“”Life’s been good to me,” he informed her.

“I wish the years had been as kind to me,” she complained. “Maceo, how did you even find me?”

“A little bit of information here, a little there, then I heard a rumor that one of you had made it all the way up here.”

She laughed and stifled another tear while covering her mouth. “Oh Maceo, we’re all here,” she told him, shaking now that she couldn’t contain her joy. “Dilys found us around the time that Thyra was old enough to marry. She had her husband arrange to bring some of his cousins down and to meet us and we were married.”

“Her husband was from here?”

“Originally,” she confirmed, nearly laughing hysterically. “He was talking about coming back up here and she said she’d agree only as long as he promised he wouldn’t follow that asinine custom of forcing us to throw our family away after marriage. She insisted he track down the rest of us and bring us back with them. We searched EVERYWHERE for you!! We thought you were dead! Where did you go? It was like you completely disappeared!”

“I suppose I sort of did for a while. It’s a long story.”

“But where did you go? We even hired a bounty hunter to find you. The last evidence we heard anything of was someone said they might have seen you in a village to the north of Edypes. Dilys was convinced you were fool enough to go up the mountain and were done in by bandits.”

“Oh I did go up the mountain,” he informed her. “You were at least on the right track,” he laughed.

“Maceo is actually directly responsible for those roaming bands of bandits finally being run out permanently,” Astravia informed her with a pleasant smile. “Though a number of years passed before that happened.”

“Who is this?” Sekai asked, nearly floored by Astravia and her appearance.

“This is my wife,” Maceo informed her proudly.

“No!” she gasped with disbelief.

“You may call me Avia,” Astravia shared, curtsying to the mortal woman cordially.

“Oh, Maceo!” she squealed, her knees nearly giving out and requiring Maceo to swoop in to catch her.

“So you’re all alright? I’d heard you’d found a home that took you in, but information has been so sparse for so long.”

“We’re so well, Maceo!” she answered, now crying openly. “I can’t believe it! We’re finally together again!” Sekai was now so giddy she was hopping frantically on the balls of her feet. “Dilys and Thyra are going to do backflips when they see you! We totally gave up hope!”

“I didn’t,” Maceo told her, embracing her again.

“You came all this way just to try to find one of us?”

“Well, we had to concoct some other business in order to make it happen,” Maceo shrugged. “And good thing too. They almost didn’t let us through the border.”

“And what business did you make up?” she laughed, still bouncing on her feet.

“We traveled here with a caravan,” Astravia said, now approaching with Jimena in tow to speak up close.

“Oh my, you’re such a petite little thing,” she cooed, staring far down at Astravia, who blushed. “And I don’t know if I’ve ever met someone as beautiful as you!”

“Thank you,” Astravia said, curtsying cordially and demonstrating humility for the compliment, despite her eons of hearing it from countless mortals.

“Wait… caravan?” Sekai asked, her mind clicking and now beginning to connect events. “The one with the sorcerers?” she asked, befuddled yet again.

“Oh, we’re not sorcerers,” Maceo informed her matter-of-factly. Sekai dropped her jaw and nearly fell over. “Just call us magic users.”

“Us?” she asked, still wobbling until Astravia and Maceo each offered a hand to help steady her. Maceo nodded and her eyes bugged out. “You know magic?”

“Maceo actually taught the other magicians in our company how to perform. The display last night was his design,” Astravia reported. Sekai’s legs now completely gave out and Maceo was forced to almost literally carry her to a place where she could sit down.

“You’re the man from last night? The one that was in the middle of that whole display?” she asked breathlessly.

“Yeah,” Jimena intervened, also still a little shell shocked by the company she’d found herself amongst.

“And who are you?”

“She’s originally from the same region as us. She was in the slave market and we paid to be able to take her with us,” Maceo told her.

“You’re a slave?” she asked, shaken.

“Keep your voice down, please,” Maceo encouraged gently. “I don’t want to get into the semantics of it, but she’s with us until we can get her home to her family.”

“You bought a slave just to free her?” she whispered. “Why?”

“Because I was thinking of you. We didn’t know how you’d made your way up here. We didn’t know if you came on your own or if you came with a husband or if you were a slave.” Sekai smiled and placed her hand on his cheek.

“You were always so soft,” she recalled with an emotional smile. “That was why we believed you couldn’t have survived. I’ve never been so happy to be wrong.”

They caught up for a few more minutes before Maceo turned his attention to more important matters, specifically that of arranging time to reunite with his other two lost sisters. Sekai was in no mood to wait, however. She asked them to accompany her home and when they informed her that they needed to get back to their duties with the caravan, she insisted on joining them after paying a messenger to ferry a message back to her home of where she was so that her family wouldn’t worry.

[CKent45]

When the foursome arrived at the caravan, Gaeten immediately ran out to greet them, grabbing Maceo firmly by both shoulders. “You found her!” he exclaimed exuberantly, making the assumption that the new woman among them was his long lost sister.

“Apparently I didn’t just find one,” Maceo reported back happily.

“Our other two sisters are here as well,” Sekai informed him. “Well, Dilys is here in town. Thyra lives just north of here along the coast. Her husband is a fisherman, like dad,” she shared with Maceo.

“You found your entire family?” Gaeten exclaimed as those from the caravan began crowding around to share in the good news.

“Those of us that are left,” she reported. “Our mother died when we were young, our dad died out at sea and our other brother was lost when Maceo and I were still children.”

“That just makes finding each other all the more important,” Gaeten proclaimed.

“I’m Sekai,” she said back, formally introducing herself to Maceo’s compatriots, including Rhona and Elaheh who were absolutely fascinated to meet another of Maceo’s family.

“So where do you go from here?” Elaheh asked after introductions were concluded.

“Well, one of two ways, I suppose,” Maceo considered. “I could either go with Sekai up to meet my sisters, or we can send for them.”

“Send for them!” Elaheh insisted, hopping on the balls of her feet. “I want to meet them too!” she squealed. Sekai laughed at her reaction and squeezed her brother’s hand.

“I’ll send for them,” she said. “I want it to be a surprise and also is it really okay for our baby brother to be ordering us all to gather together?” she teased.

“They’ll be our special guests for the display tonight,” Maceo determined. “Send for everyone. I want to meet them all. Husbands, fathers and mothers in law, children, send for them all.”

“We are going to have a feast,” Gaeten nodded with a proud smile.

“Oh, but…” Sekai began nervously, but Maceo wasn’t having any of it.

“Baby brother or not, I’m not the little boy you knew anymore. I’ve got this covered. We brought a fortune with us in case we needed to buy you out of slavery, so I’m more than happy to spend some of it entertaining a family I haven’t seen in so long.”

Sekai blushed and smiled up at her brother, basking in the moment. “I’ll need to send a carrier pigeon if we have any hope of getting Thyra down here in time. What do I say in the messages?”

“That while you were in the market you had a run in and that you are all the special guests of a company of magicians. Tell them that you’re going to be our guests for dinner and a display the likes of which no one has ever seen before.”

“The one I saw last night was already greater than any I’ve seen before,” Sekai scoffed with a laugh.

“Maceo,” Cajsa intervened. “We’re still here for a while. Are you sure you want to build up to a climax so quickly?”

Maceo considered and nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right. But that means we have to keep them with us for more than one night,” Maceo decided, causing Sekai to blush and grin all the more.

“You’ll need more space than the magistrate offered you then,” the wife of the sergeant interjected from the outskirts of the crowd. “After the show you gave last night, my husband might be able to convince him to give you some space at the heights where the wealthiest live.”

“No,” Maceo determined quickly and easily. “We come from pretty common blood. We’re going to stay true to our past. If we’re moving, keep that in mind. If we’re celebrating, we want to do it in the midst of people who came from places like us.”

Word was sent immediately, giving part of the morning, the entire afternoon and a good part of the evening to allow Maceo’s sisters and their families to gather with the promise of VIP treatment by the visiting quasi celebrities. From there, Sekai led Cajsa, Elaheh and Rhona along with a few others including some men to provide muscle to move everything they were collecting while Maceo went back to work on trying to fulfill his promise to the old captain of providing equipment for the repair of his vessel.

On the way to the nearest market to procure food, Sekai turned to Elaheh with a somber expression. “I understand why Maceo had to stay back, but I was really hoping to spend more time with his wife and get to know her,” she complained.

“Avia’s always been like that,” Rhona explained apathetically. “She is almost always by his side. She gets extremely nervous when she isn’t.”

“But why?”

“A very petite woman that’s that beautiful maybe?” Elaheh suggested. “Maceo makes her feel safe. When he’s not around she seems to feel like she’s constantly in danger. I’m not really sure why. She trusts us to stay with us during the day most of the time to spend time with us and our children but she really panics when he’s not around for an extended period of time. You should have seen her during her bridal shower.”

“Oh, she was a wreck for about half the night,” Rhona confirmed. “But, you know, men do tend to become obsessed with her really fast. They both cut some kind of deal with a sea captain the other day for leads to find you and he was there first thing this morning and he actually had the gall to step into their tent before she was dressed. He’s lucky Maceo didn’t rip him apart.”

“I couldn’t see that. Maceo is the kindest, gentlest little thing. He lost so many fights when he was little just because he was too afraid to hurt anyone.”

“Well, I think times change,” Elaheh laughed.

“Oh?”

“Well, the first time he showed up in town, a trio of bandits jumped him and beat him to a pulp because of the money he brought into town,” Elaheh recalled. “Everyone thought he was dead until a couple weeks later he showed up battered and bruised but still going, but no one ever heard from or saw those bandits again. The one was an absolute monster too. He terrorized the town for years and then suddenly he tangled with Maceo and he was gone.”

Sekai stared at her in disbelief and then Rhona pitched in as well. “I met him and I… well, honestly, I had a bit of a past and I was sent to use magic to attack him. I’m lucky he decided I wasn’t a threat because he knows how to battle with magic in a way that no one has seen before.”

“And that first trade caravan we did was something too. He was key to everyone getting there and back safely and then he also organized and trained the mountain’s militia,” Elaheh continued.

“And that doesn’t even speak to how much stronger he’s gotten in recent years. He doesn’t show it off, but every once in a while if you’re paying attention he’ll do something that shows how ridiculously strong he is,” Rhona added.

“Avia tends to see him as her personal protector, which is good. I just wish she wasn’t so dependant on him,” Elaheh finished.

“Wow,” Sekai remarked, struggling for words. “Where did he learn all of that?”

“He came across some extremely wealthy woman when he was wandering around the mountain after he was separated from you. She took him in and offered him an apprenticeship in their home some distance from our town and they taught him history, magic, alchemy, potions, healing, how to fight, tactics, engineering, you name it. They even gave him some money to get started with when he set out on his own. That’s also where he met Avia. They don’t like to talk about it, though. Avia comes from some family that really, really didn’t approve of their relationship so she had to give it all up and run away to be with him,” Elaheh described.

“Oh, I see,” Sekai remarked. “Do you suppose that’s why she’s so skittish? She’s afraid her family will send someone after them?”

“That’s been my theory,” Elaheh agreed. “But I met her once on the road before she and Maceo got together as a couple. Even then she was skittish. I can only imagine how scared she was traveling alone like that.”

“It’s kind of weird, though,” Rhona continued. “Avia may not look like it, but she easily knows more about magic than even Maceo does. I have no idea how powerful her magic is but just based off of everything she’s taught me, I would never want to make her angry. And she’s incredibly good at swordsmanship, as long as she’s using a blade that’s light enough for her. It’s not like she’s defenseless.”

“So how powerful are they both, exactly?” Sekai asked, still floored to hear the many changes that Maceo had undergone in the years they’d been apart.

“No one knows,” Elaheh answered.

“But everyone agrees it’s obvious that he could have removed all of the bands of thieves and bandits patrolling the mountain on his own. The magic they use is very old. Older than the magic I was originally taught.”

By the time they returned with enough food to feed an army, the caravan was already packed and ready to move to another location, this one in a more open place near the sea on the edge of one of the poorer areas of town. They then proceeded to move and set up and Sekai happily helped out alongside her brother, though due to time constraints, Maceo put an extra effort into putting their tent and everything else together as well as pitching in to assist for whoever else he could. Sekai was shaken to say the least to see the evidence that Rhona and Elaheh had eluded to as he lifted things with ease on his own that realistically should have taken multiple people to move. It took hardly any time at all for them to be back up and running and spread out more openly than they originally had been, allowing Sekai the time to spend with her new sister in law while Maceo went back to work tending to his shop.

Maceo’s eldest sister arrived with her children, most of them adults now themselves, late afternoon. Sekai greeted her as soon as she received word they’d arrived and then kept her busy by explaining she’d met a wonderful couple while at the market who insisted they join them for a front seat at the dazzling light show scheduled for that evening which promised to be every bit as good as the one the night before, which both of them had only caught from a distance.

She showed their eldest sister the food that was being prepared for them, and despite living a life of relative wealth for many years now, she was struck by how lavish the preparations were for them. She was also suspicious of why someone would offer such grand accommodations simply for being from the same hometown as them, but Sekai only insisted she not look a gift horse in the mouth.

Next to arrive was Dilys’ husband, who brought with him his mother and father as well as the mother and father of Sekai’s husband and her children. Early in the evening, just before dinner, Sekai’s husband arrived, having assisted in retrieving Thyra and her entire immediate family and get them to the caravan’s location in time.

With all finally assembled, Sekai could no longer contain herself and took her sisters by the hand, too eager to finally introduce them to their hosts. Their husbands each looked at each other suspiciously, but followed with minimal complaints to the large tent that Maceo was using as his shop. When they arrived, Jimena was tending shop along with the same young man who had helped before and informed her that they were all together now. Jimena nodded and then went to the back of the tent, promising to bring their hosts forward momentarily.

Of obvious note was Sekai and her uncontrollable excitement. She shook and bounced and clasped her hands and even hugged her husband repeatedly to try to contain herself while her sisters and their husbands looked at her with peculiarity, not understanding her odd behavior.

Finally, Maceo and Astravia emerged, dressed well and cleaned freshly for their guests, smiling widely and Astravia actually blushing as she approached to meet Maceo’s family formally for the first time. Neither of the other two sisters seemed to understand what all the hubbub was about, other than the fact that the man they faced was extremely handsome and his wife being of incomparable beauty.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” Dilys asked after a long silence where Maceo could only stand and grin at them both, nearly lost for words.

“She doesn’t need to, Dilys,” Maceo finally answered. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you all.”

“Do we know you?” Thyra asked, though she was staring at him as though she recognized him but couldn’t quite place his face.

“Oh yes,” Maceo told her stepping close. “You’re still so beautiful,” he complimented the eldest sister, who tipped her head at him. He then turned his head and smiled to Dilys’ husband, nodding and reaching out to shake his hand. “It’s good to see you again, Halvor. I never thought you would deliver so much on the promise you made when you married Dilys,” he said with gratitude.

“I have met you before,” he replied, leaning closely, also trying to place the face.

“Well, I was only what, three when you married her?” Maceo asked him. “I’d like to think I’ve changed at least a bit since then.”

“Maceo?” Thyra blurted out, her knees giving way and requiring her husband’s as well as Sekai’s hands to catch her. Maceo turned back to her and smiled, placing his hand on her cheek.

“No!” Dilys screamed exuberantly as if in denial. “But… but.. you’re so young!”

“I’m definitely not as young as I look,” Maceo assured her. “You know, I’ve never forgotten how you would sing me to sleep when I was little. You said it was the same song mom would sing.” Maceo then hummed a few bars until Dilys began singing the words along with him, her eyes filling with tears until she could sing no more and she dove into her brother’s arms, squeezing him as tightly as she could.

“Oh, Maceo!” she cried and was soon joined by Thyra.

“Seems the little brat’s done well for himself,” Dilys’ husband remarked, shaking his head and looking around the tent at the many high quality items there for sale.

“Quite,” Astravia agreed to him with a pleasant smile.

It took quite a bit of time, but eventually all three sisters collected themselves and were able to speak clearly to him beyond the incomprehensible attempts at questions to where he’d been all this time and what he had been up to. When they were finally able, they released each other and introductions were made to all with Maceo taking great care to learn each and every name before moving to the next. Once Maceo was fully acquainted with all of his extended family, he took his turn, introducing them to all of his closest friends, starting with his beloved wife.

The dinner was every bit the feast that Gaeten had promised, filled with regional foods that the three sisters had barely touched in years having moved to a completely different region. The members of the caravan showered their guests with attention and entertainment from jokes and banter to magic tricks and so on.

Needless to say, Maceo’s extended family were more than happy to indulge in all of it, giving Maceo plenty of opportunity to catch up with his sisters and reconnect after decades apart. When evening set in, Maceo and the magicians’ all rose from their seats and proceeded to their positions, Astravia following close behind with Elaheh and Jimena, though just before they reached the stage where Maceo would stand, Maceo’s sisters ran up behind Astravia and pulled on her arm, insisting she sit with them and promising to be right there in front of Maceo the entire time. Astravia hesitated at first, but Elaheh was in complete agreement with them and soon Astravia was seated in the sands of the beach directly below Maceo, who was standing, gathering his thoughts and waiting for the right moment to begin.

Around the beach, some locals had already gathered, hoping that the travelers would engage in another show, while others began to filter in, sensing something had changed in the air. Torches were lit around the makeshift theater one by one, providing minimal light as the last remnants of sunlight disappeared and then Maceo looked down at Astravia, smirking.

“Think they’d be upset with me if I started out with a little more energy than normal?” he asked her.

“Get their attention,” Astravia encouraged. Maceo laughed briefly, then closed his eyes. In the distance, there was the rhythmic beating of drums to a savage beat, cueing him to begin. Then with a wave of his hand, a magnificent dragon more than five times the size of the one he’d created the first time he’d wooed crowds with this illusory magic made of flames erupted from the nearest fire and surged out toward Astravia and then turned straight up hundreds of feet up into the air before it reached their faces and then wrapped and danced around in circles, filling the skies above the coastline, lighting the beginning of the show for tens of miles away.

The crowd screamed with joy and then as fast as the monstrous beast of flames had appeared, it dissipated to thunderous applause. As the crowd calmed, a distant voice from Cajsa could be heard complaining loudly, “MACEO!!” though Maceo could hear a few others, including Gaeten laughing.

The performance was a massive success, even more than the night before, and Maceo’s newly discovered extended family couldn’t believe their eyes as they watched the entire saga unfold. It wasn’t until past midnight when the massive crowd that had assembled finally began to slowly disburse, well over an hour past the end of their performance, leaving few others than the members of the caravan and Maceo’s extended family laughing and dancing while they cleaned up.

“We haven’t had a reaction like that since your first shows,” Gaeten complimented, though tiny Cajsa was staring at him with a sour face.

“We agreed we were going to hold off!” she scolded him.

“I got carried away,” Maceo half apologized.

“Yes, you did,” Cajsa lectured, pointing far up at him.

“There is no need for concern,” Astravia laughed, patting Cajsa on the back. “Maceo is more than capable of well surpassing that little introduction.”

“But we’re not!” Cajsa complained with an exasperated voice.

“Perhaps we should teach a few other tricks before we part ways,” Astravia suggested to her, though this didn’t really do much to massage her frustrations.

Sekai, her sisters and family bid Maceo and Astravia goodnight as soon as the grounds were cleaned and then retreated to Sekai and Dilys’ homes to rest with promises to return the next day to make the most of their time with Maceo while he was there.

When they were finally alone in their tent and ready to call it an evening, Astravia stood looking up at him with her arms wrapped around his neck, grinning. “I know you have worried about them all this time,” she comforted him.

“So what changed? How am I not interfering with their lives now that it was the right time?” Maceo asked her.

“Their children,” Astravia answered. “There were several paths available to them when you were young. I did do my best to gently steer them as I promised you, but it was all their choice in the end. I was interested to see which paths they chose and I am very pleased to see that your eldest sister chose the path that would reunite them all together again. Regardless, though, once your aura was affected by me, you needed time to adapt. Having the kind of connection that you have had with a goddess is a life-altering thing in more than one way. A mortal’s energy changes and they then become agents of change when they venture out into their world. Until you had managed to master that energy, you were likely to disrupt your sisters and their hopes for happiness. As it was, I could sense they were each likely to be the sparks for something special themselves, and the shift in your energy risked disrupting that.”

“And now?”

“You have more than mastered this new energy. In fact, you have moved well beyond that and much like a god, you are causing changes in those around you in a similar manner to how I have in my existence. Now you have several of the same attributes I have and you can impact their lives in more meaningful ways and you seem to have a natural sense as to how to do that, which is interesting in and of itself. In any event, your sisters have birthed something new in their quest to remain together. Right now, they are entering a phase in their lives where their offspring are developing their own lives and beginning to venture out. Several of them are destined for great things. By coming here when you have, you have cemented the importance of family within their hearts and magnified their destinies. With the enhancement of the bonds you have forged here, something new is likely to be given birth. With a little luck, in only a few generations your sisters will be the uncredited mothers of an evolutionary step forward for your people. However, I doubt that anyone will ever truly understand the influence those three women have had in what is to come. They are merely the seeds of a tree that has the potential to grow tall and vast. I foresee good fortune coming to their descendants for many generations.”

“And that happened just by us passing through for a short time?”

“Such is the power you now have. My dearest Maceo, understand the responsibility you now have with what I have given you with my milk. You have spent your time learning powers and abilities, but beyond that is something else, something passive. Mortals are all creatures who play and wade about in the pool of life, creating ripples and sometimes a small wave. You now naturally cleanly cut through those ripples and waves, creating a wake of your own. It is a difficult power to contend with as it can not only spark change in a manner you wish, but also destroy change in progress that is good and healthy. Thankfully, as I said, you seem to have a natural aptitude. Our time with them may be exceptionally brief, but it will have a lasting impression on them. If you had come to them sooner, there was a significant risk that you might have cancelled the changes already unfolding amongst them.”

“Well that’s deep,” Maceo mused.

“Are you tired?” she asked him with a soft and glowing smile.

“I feel pretty fresh, actually.”

“Then perhaps you might perform a favor for me?” she asked.

“Anything.”

She grinned up at him, then grasped the chain of her pendant and lifted it over her head, then placed it into the palm of his hand. As soon as she did so, she began to dwindle before his eyes and she lifted onto her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck again.

She held on tightly and a moment later, she shrank enough that her feet lifted off the ground; steadily ascending upward as her ever larger dress began sagging and falling away from her dwindling form. When she was roughly three feet tall, Maceo placed his hands underneath her armpits and Astravia let go of his neck and lowered her arms to her sides. As soon as she did so, her immense, nearly tent sized dress collapsed and fell to the ground, leaving the ever-smaller goddess continuing to shrink and revert to her normal, supernatural appearance.

She continued to shrink in his hands until she was small enough that she could hoist herself up and sit comfortably in his two palms, and then she dwindled further, her tiny hips receding inward as his palms spread away from her and she found herself sitting across his fingers.

She shifted over to his right hand, dwindling more and more until she was a mere fifteen inch tall woman, comfortably seated in his right palm and staring up him with expectant eyes.

“You’re goddess is so terribly aroused right now,” she whispered up at him as she wrapped her arms around his thumb and forefingers while leaning back and opening her legs for him.

[CKent45]

The caravan was such a success that it lasted nearly three weeks there despite running out of goods to sell less than a week after arriving. The daily shows of magic brought in more than enough money to make a healthy profit and those who were not magic users amongst them had more than enough to do to assist in the overwhelmingly massive crowds that were gathering and coming from everywhere to see the famed Magicians of Astraviantium, as Gaeten had come to announce themselves.

There was also another huge advantage of having one of the town elders along with them for this venture. Gaeten had the authority to negotiate contracts and trade, though the local authorities were stunned to discover that the famously impoverished mountain this caravan had originated from were now well and beyond more wealthy than this town had been even at its peak.

Nonetheless, they were grateful to find that these visitors were more than happy to share their wealth in the hopes of growing more of it together.

The old sea captain who’d helped them was soon ready to sail again, however he was more interested in continuing to enjoy being in the company of his newfound friends. He was even welcomed with open arms, once he finally learned humility after leering too long and hard at Astravia one evening and discovering that she’d finally lost her patience with him and his beard suddenly simply fell off. After that, he stumbled upon a previously unknown respect for women, and Astravia in particular.

Maceo spent much of his time learning about and getting to know his long lost family, but especially enjoying the company of his sisters, who were relieved beyond words to have finally found him again, but also sad to discover his pending plans for his future, realizing that this was likely their last chance to spend time with him.

As such, they took every last advantage of it, taking him on tours of their new homes and everything surrounding them and entertaining Maceo while he and Astravia split their time between the caravan where Maceo was taking on blacksmithing projects locals were commissioning him for and a part time residence at Sekai’s home in a guest room that had been cleared just for him and his wife. Maceo’s brother in law even managed to find them the pure silver they were looking for and offered it as a gift.

Elaheh and Rhona were along for the majority of it all, hardly ever leaving Astravia’s side except in the evening to allow the couple to retire to their bed together and Astravia again found herself smitten with children as those that were still young amongst Maceo’s sisters gravitated to her as if she were a second mother to them.

Jimena quickly developed into an extremely willing servant as her malnourishment subsided and her lesions and wounds healed, and quite a good one at that. This change wasn’t even because it was asked of her. Jimena was so impressed by the company she now kept that she openly sought ways to thank them for everything they had done for her, even though Maceo and Astravia were adamant that she only needed to do the bare minimum in order to keep up appearances of her role as a slave due to the laws where they were located currently.

As they approached their third week there, Gaeten informed Maceo they were running out of business that would keep them there, and would need to be on their way soon. The caravan members were in the process of procuring new goods to trade for the next leg of their journey and due to the limited time they would have with their brother, each of his sisters had convinced their husbands to allow them to travel along with the caravan, with two of Maceo’s brothers in law accompanying them as well. Ultimately, it was Dilys’ husband who’d convinced them to make the trip when they discovered that Maceo and Astravia were in search of a liquid metal that he was aware of being the owner of a mine inland to the north where the strange metal had been reported to have been found.

Finally on a cool morning after weeks of wooing massive crowds with displays of magic and illusions, the caravan set out once again, this time inland.

Along the way, Maceo’s sisters spent most of their days trading time to ride in Maceo’s cart ostensibly to spend time with their brother, but in all honesty the real bonding they were engaged in was with Astravia as they’d become absolutely enthralled with their new sister, despite her need to be in constant contact with her husband at nearly all times. As they traveled, Astravia taught them on a number of subjects they were interested in as well as helped with tutoring the young children these ladies had brought along with them.

Maceo of course got his time to talk and continue to bond with each of his sisters, though Maceo had little opportunity to spend additional time on the road north due to his brothers in law driving their own wagons. When they finally arrived at their destination, they were greeted much more warmly than at their first destination and when it became known what the caravan could do, they quickly became honored guests.

As they settled in to a much more typical trading session with this much smaller mountain town, Maceo’s sisters and their husbands began to discuss with him the possibility of sending children to learn magic themselves, which Maceo and Astravia were not opposed to, however given they were at the end of their time living amongst their mortal friends, this was a topic that they felt the need to discuss with Gaeten.

Gaeten joined them for dinner one evening and listened to the request, then turned to Cajsa, who he’d asked to accompany him that evening and they looked at each other. “What do you think?” he asked Cajsa.

“Are we even capable of teaching this to others?”

“With Elaheh and Rhona’s assistance, yes,” Astravia answered her knowingly. “She will be able to form the compacts necessary.

After some more discussion, Gaeten and Cajsa both decided that they wanted to keep the magic displays something unique to their hometown, though they agreed in concept to teaching outsiders how to perform like them as well. Ultimately, Elaheh insisted they keep the practice tied as much to her faith in the goddess Astravia as possible and therefore not get in the practice of training the world so that they could take their teachings and branch out on their own.

Both Cajsa and Gaeten agreed with her assessment and then returned the conversation to Maceo’s siblings and in laws, informing them that they wouldn’t be opposed to taking in some of their children to learn these skills, but only on the condition that their use of those skills be limited to what was ordained by the head of their troop under the guidance of the elders.

Maceo’s family were disappointed to hear their answer, but also understood completely and replied that they would take time to discuss given that Gaeten and Cajsa both agreed to an open ended invitation for them to send their children for training as they saw fit.

Upon settling in at this small, run down town, Astravia and Maceo took a guided tour of the mine and observed carefully as they went to the very deepest portion where indeed, both found the evidence they were looking for, though accumulating the amount they required was going to take some time. In the meantime, Maceo and Astravia listened to his brother in law describe the decreased productivity of the mine in recent years and then broke off to discuss among themselves.

“It seems like you’re reaching the end of this mine’s capacity,” Maceo informed Dilys’ husband, who was struck by their comment, given that he was under the assumption that his workers were becoming lax in their performance.

They then proceeded to describe what they’d seen in their tour that led them to this conclusion as well as provide feedback on how to increase production again, which thankfully was well within the realm of possibilities for him.

“In the end,” Astravia cautioned, “What is here in this mine is approaching fully depleted. There is more here, however, I am afraid this mine will stop producing for you by the time your children are old enough to inherit it from you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“The geology of the mine,” Maceo answered. “But that’s not all bad news.”

“How so?” he asked skeptically.

“I see other fragments of minerals in your mine that would be of use, though they are in small quantity here. If you have other land in the immediate area, I am certain that another mine would produce higher amounts of these minerals. I would be happy to write down what you are looking for, what it will look like and the conditions you can expect to find them in. We can also provide you a list of what they can be used for, however, you will want to partner with our friends from the South before you produce in any quantity. They have access to a library that can further educate you in their uses.”

“For what kind of price?” he asked them.

“That will be between you,” Maceo answered him. “When we get back, we have a lot of ground to cover, so we’ll be departing not long after returning.”

“You know that your sisters are heartbroken to lose you almost as soon as they found you again,” he mentioned glumly.

“I couldn’t go without knowing whether they were in good hands or not. Now I know they couldn’t be in better hands,” Maceo complimented him, and moving him in doing so. “My part in their lives really ended a log time ago. I’m happy to have found them again and given them a proper goodbye this time. I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for my family.”

As with most places that Maceo and Astravia visited, this one was left better off when they left it than when they arrived. This small town was really struggling compared to the previous one and some much needed generosity from Maceo as well as some useful guidance on how to improve their situation through better technologies or practices was a godsend. Maceo also used some of his trademark metal working skills to fashion some better tools to use.

The celebrations continued each night, though at a much more relaxed pace than they’d exhibited in their previous stop and finally after a little less than two weeks there, Maceo and Astravia had their item in a glass container and were ready to depart.

They first headed south in order to escort Maceo’s family home and made a stop over there for a couple of days to simply relax while Maceo had some rather lengthy and heartfelt goodbyes with his sisters. That evening in bed, Maceo lay there with Astravia lying across his chest naked at fifteen inches tall and basking in his warmth as well as the steady thump of his heartbeat.

“It weighs heavily on you,” she confronted. “Especially with Sekai. Of the three, she has the strongest ties to you.”

“It can’t be helped,” Maceo answered stoically.

“Sadly, I agree. However, I would still appreciate discussing the issue.”

“We can’t tell them why we’re really leaving,” Maceo answered numbly. “It’s too dangerous for anyone to know that Astravia has returned but has been shrunk down to only a twelfth her height.”

“Is it not painful? Knowing that this is the last time you will see what remains of your family?”

“Yes,” he admitted. “But it’s like you said. Something’s changing inside of me. Even with Gaeten and Elaheh and Rhona, something’s different. My relationship doesn’t feel the same as it once did. It’s strange, but even though I’m closer to them all now more than ever, I feel more and more detached, like I’m watching them from a distance through glass.”

“I recall the first mortal I ever loved. She was the same as a dear sister to me,” Astravia shared. “She was kind and sweet, and dare say someone I looked up to. In fact, I even make it a point to visit her still when I travel to the afterlife. I was so very young back then, and it was before the war. She traveled everywhere with me and I was even going to sustain her life and youth until Chronstrus discovered my intent and forbid it. Watching her pass from this life to the afterlife was every bit as painful as any of the loved ones I lost in the war. As she died an old woman nearly one hundred years old, she begged me to treasure the gift of my eternal life and always look forward to the new souls I would encounter and love in the future. I did attempt to honor her wishes, however, I found that with time the same feeling you described became less and less subtle, though the pain of losing each successive loved one to time remained just as painful as ever.”

“So it doesn’t get better?”

“What makes the life of an immortal bearable is a deep connection with ones you love. Long ago I had extremely dear friends that made existence a joy, and in the early days of my first marriage, I believed myself to have found that with my ex husband. But, as a queen I must maintain a station according to my role and that is extremely isolating in and of itself. Even with Elphinsis, we have become distant, though I know she still cares for me every bit as much as I do for her. These last many millions of years have been extremely lonely, especially as I watched my marriage disintegrate slowly over time.”

“What happened between you and Elphinsis? Was it a fight?” Maceo asked her, sitting up slightly to watch her as she shared her story.

“No,” Astravia answered back with a bittersweet smile. “As conditions continued to deteriorate within the royal court, she stood by me as only a true friend could. Ultimately, she made a sacrifice and took on the duties as my lead attendant, which is also an extremely isolating role. We could not spend time together as we once had and we could not confide as we had in eons gone by. Decorum required that she display a certain level of professionalism, as it were. She knew what the role required, but she insisted on volunteering herself when my last attendant was slain by Zantharan for circumventing his will over a very petty matter. There are times that I wonder to myself whether he did these things simply because he derived some manner of perverse pleasure in tormenting me.”

“He deserves to get his ass kicked.”

“Deserve is a useless term in this matter. In any event, back to my original tale; I do remember experiencing what you are beginning to feel. It is difficult. Your slowed aging is already creating a gulf between your loved ones and you and as you embrace the deeper attributes of godhood, they will seem farther and farther away. Your longing and love for them will never end, however. This is part of the price of which I mentioned to becoming immortal. It is not too late to change your mind. Perhaps you will live for several centuries, however you can still join your loved ones in the next world.”

“No,” Maceo decided immediately. “I want to be with you.”

“I am concerned that you will regret your decision. Especially when it comes time to face Zantharan.” There was a weight and a sadness in her eyes as she spoke to him.

“I’m not,” Maceo answered again with no need to consider any further. “Astravia, I am yours for all time. I certainly hope you’re not planning on taking that for granted.”

“No!” she squeaked in a panic, then covered her mouth with both hands, her bountiful little bosom jiggling abruptly as she moved emphatically. “Maceo, please allow me to explain,” she said, climbing up to a kneeling position to look up at him across his chest as she rested upon it. “First, allow me to frame this properly. The race of the gods is much, much smaller than any mortal sapient race and it always has been. There also has never been a significant need to have children because we live eternally, and any children we do have will also compete for power in our small society. Of course, there was a time when we were many times the number we are now.”

“Before the war with Chronstrus?”

“Yes,” she affirmed with a nod of her head. “Were we any other race, this would have been devastating for our culture. However in our case, such a decrease in our population was actually advantageous. But personally, that war was especially painful for many of us who survived it. But there was also another war, one that was actually even before my existence.”

“What kind of war?”

“One that we do not openly discuss. One with another race we called Destroyers whose race was of even smaller numbers and that was exterminated. In the space before that war, there were enough gods to fill several of your cities. In the time leading to the war with Chronstrus, our race actually had the intention of rebuilding our population, and thus why I was conceived. All of the gods in existence now are from that generation. We killed our fore bearers. And they slaughtered their own children. That is not to say the dividing lines were entirely clean between the generations. Some of the titans did side with us. Many of our generation sided with the titans. In the end, however, we oversaw the end of the age of the titan.”

“Was it just because Chronstrus was a tyrant?”

“Chronstrus was… is a complicated being. He indeed was a tyrant, though not without reason or purpose. Ultimately, this was merely a catalyst to spark the war. My generation was different from our predecessors. The golden form I demonstrated just before concluding the process of my shrinking? That form is the natural form of the titans and a chief difference between the gods and the titan gods. We are able to enter that state freely and at will, and sustain it, but that more powerful state is not our natural state. The titans were more primal and raw than we are. That was actually by design. We were intended to be a generation that would be subservient to the original generation. However, while we are not as brimming with raw power, save Zantharan and his brother, we are significantly more refined. Eventually we were able to cultivate those traits to utilize as strengths in and of themselves.” Astravia then sat back and watched as Maceo absorbed her story for a few moments before she decided to continue.

“Returning to my original point; when you step back and look at time from the larger perspective of one who is immortal, our culture is one that has been defined by war and death. The titan gods were especially competitive in their quest for power and influence, thus why our generation was different from them. The universe was a much more violent plane than it is now. They would battle and slaughter, then replace their numbers until the major war that I alluded to before, which decimated our race. I am not unique in that most of those I loved going back to the beginning of my existence were ripped from us. When a god dies, it is an extremely destructive event and nothing remains. We do not have an afterlife as your people do. In the second great war, I lost nearly everyone that was dear to me. All I had left following it were Zantharan and Elphinsis. Now, finally to answer your question: I have spent eons yearning for the love and connection I have not had ever since ascending to the throne. I have had millions of years to reflect on those lost relationships. If I ever were to gain such a thing again, I will never treat it with anything less than the entirety of the regard it is due. I will always love you for all time. However, if you were to make the sacrifice necessary to be with me eternally, I will give you far, far more than even that.”

“Because I’m sacrificing the relationships that I treasure.”

“In a way, yes,” she answered quite seriously. “We are leaving them with tools to soften our absence. They will move on and live happy lives without us. We, however, will always carry the weight of being separated from them.”

“This is why the gods are so arrogant and aloof, isn’t it? It’s all just a cover to hide exactly what you’re talking about.”

“To a large degree, yes. There are those amongst my race that believe with all their hearts their inherent superiority and if they don’t have a prejudiced disdain for the lower races, they exhibit a general indifference. But many among my kind are simply scarred from countless generations of mortals that were precious to us and even entire civilizations we nurtured lost to the winds of time.”

“And the ones we’re about to leave behind?” Maceo asked, sitting up and cupping Astravia to hold her in the palm of his hand.

“It has been some time since I have allowed mortals to be so close to me,” she shared. “And never have I allowed myself to feel as strongly for any mortal as I do toward you.”

“All the more reason to take the plunge and make this for forever,” he joked. She blushed and fidgeted while sitting in his palm. “But, you’re sure you won’t get bored spending eternity with someone who’s only a third your normal height?”

“I cannot believe I am saying this, but Kytiscia was unquestionably correct. This will not be the last time I shrink myself, I can assure you of that. Not the last time by a long shot.”

“So you really like being shrunk?”

“I adore it! I feel as though I simply might explode at any instant because of how exhilarating this all feels! I have half a mind to perfect Kytiscia’s spell and make it permanent.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No. But only half a mind. Reality does play at least some role in my decision-making,” she answered with a smirk. “Why? Are you afraid of carrying around a pocket sized goddess for the rest of eternity?”

“No,” Maceo answered her with a soft smile. “But what happened to how much you liked being at just under three feet tall?”

“Oh, I would absolutely adjust the spell to stop my shrinking at that size. That much has not changed, despite how much more intense everything is at this size.” Maceo smiled at her then wrapped his thumb and forefinger around her waist and lifted her up, smirking as she chirped in surprised and then laid her across his forearm and began massaging her, grinning as she relaxed further and further, melting over his arm. When she was practically comatose laying their like that, he slipped his pinky between her thighs and began stroking her womanhood, slowly and sensually, then picking up his tempo as she tensed and hugged the thick limb of his forearm, twitching and moaning while attempting to bury her mouth in his skin to muffle her noise until suddenly less than a minute in, she exploded in an impressively powerful orgasm and collapsed on his arm again.

“Remember when it was you that was getting me off in just a few seconds?” Maceo asked her.

“Mmmm,” Astravia sort of mumbled back, laughing despite her best efforts. She needed a few minutes to recover before rolling over to face him again while laying over his arm.

“Something on your mind?”

“Regret,” she answered simply.

“Over what?” he asked, showing concern over her statement.

“That I was not nearly as beneficent toward you when our roles were reversed,” she admitted. “I cannot believe what I did to you.”

“If you hadn’t would we even be where we are right now?” he asked back. “Astravia, I forgave you years ago.”

“Exactly! Only a few years. A mere pittance given how long you will continue to exist.”

“Enough,” Maceo told her abruptly, shocking her back into obedience again. “Astravia, you’ve got much more important things to worry about right now. The past is the past. It’s time to focus on how we’re going to deal with the future.”

“You mean how to deal with my democidal former husband?”

“I mean changing this poor me attitude of eternal life being boring. We need to find ways to spice things up again. I think the key is to stop searching for the most jaw dropping and spine tingling experiences all the time.”

“Spoken like a man with wisdom behind his words,” she nodded with approval. “So then how do you propose we do that?”

“I’m still working on ideas, but I wouldn’t mind a bit of help there.”

She grinned up at him, then reached up and wrapped her arms around his thumb, kissing it tenderly. “Only six or seven decades reduced like this. How sad,” she remarked, curling around his thumb and snuggling it.

“Then let’s not waste it!” Maceo urged her.

[CKent45]

At sunrise of the morning that they were finally set to depart for home, Dilys arrived with her husband at their wagon insisting on speaking with Gaeten. As it turned out, Dilys had convinced him over the couple of days they’d spent there resting to travel home with them along with a delegation to establish a more formal trade agreement with the distant mountain. Of course, the real reason was so that his sisters could spend even more time with their brother and sister in law before they departed for far away lands. This time only Dilys’ husband would accompany them, though all three sisters and most of their children would join them on this trip, allowing the children to experience the magicians in their hometown where rumor was that their performances were even more spectacular.

Along with them would be several other parties that would travel as well, following along to establish better relations with a region that seemed to be benefitting from the sudden and inexplicable chaos and poor fortune that had afflicted the rest of the known world in recent years.

The ride back was even slower than the ride to find Maceo’s family, partially due to the increased length of their caravan, but also in part because profits had been good enough that the returning merchants were coming home with more than they had left with. When they finally did reenter the region that Maceo was originally from, they traveled for one additional day before one evening after dinner, Maceo, Astravia, Rhona and Elaheh escorted Jimena away from the larger group to Maceo’s tent and sat her down.

“Who wants to do the honors?” he asked his wife and her two friends.

“She is your slave,” Astravia answered with a smirk, though Maceo frowned at the accusation. “Perhaps you should. Unless your healing skills have become so atrophied as to leave you unable.”

“She’s not my slave,” he answered back fiercely, clearly unhappy with the title. Jimena sat up alerted now that she knew exactly what the purpose of being led away was and fidgeted in the seat she’d been placed in.

“You paid for her, and you agreed to responsibility for her. What else should we call her?” Astravia asked, still smirking at him.

“Fine, I’ll do it,” Maceo said, kneeling down beside Jimena and set Jimena’s arm on a surface with her palm up, showing her slave branding for everyone to see. Maceo applied a balm to her wrist and then a powder from Rhona’s satchel that he sprinkled over and around the deep scar tissue.

Maceo then worked his magic, with a warmth and a gentle glow emanating from Jimena’s arm for several minutes until suddenly the deep scar began to recede and finally fade away until no sign remained at all. For added assurance, Maceo continued for another couple of minutes before he finally ended his healing spell and withdrew his hands, allowing Jimena to stare at her repaired flesh in astonishment. She stared, her jaw hanging for what seemed like an eternity while all the others in attendance smiled down at her, allowing her the time she needed to come to grips with the now sudden change in her status in life. When she finally looked up at them with tear filled eyes, Maceo handed her a leather pouch and a candle. “I think you should take care of this,” Maceo informed her. Jimena stared at it, then opened it to discover the parchment that declared her Maceo’s property.

“They’ll still have records where my owners have lived,” she pointed out.

“Stashed away in some archive that is unmaintained,” Astravia answered her. “These are the documents that have traveled with you wherever you have gone. These are the ones that are most important.”

“Time for them to be destroyed,” Maceo informed her.

She smiled and looked at them, holding the candle in her other hand and staring in disbelief, but also in trepidation at the thought of destroying the only documents that marked her entire existence, which was an existence that had been defined by servitude up to this point.

“I’d be fine staying your slave and going with you when you leave. I’d love to see your airship and take care of it.”

“I do not keep slaves,” Astravia informed her regally.

“But I’d still…”

“No, Jimena,” Astravia interrupted. “The only case where slavery is permitted is in a case of indebtedness. The fact that no one has any record whatsoever of the debt on your head tells us that you have no place in this life.”

“You’re free,” Maceo informed her. “It’s time you got used to that.”

Jimena still hesitated until Elaheh grabbed her wrist and guided Jimena’s hand to the parchment. Jimena struggled to hold back her tears and allowed the flames to tickle the parchment then her smile widened as it quickly and easily lit up and a moment later she was forced to let it go as the flames licked her fingers, threatening to burn them. Maceo then stepped back and watched with satisfaction as the ladies embraced her.

It wasn’t until three days later when one of the member’s of the joining party noticed that the slave girl with Maceo and Astravia no longer wore the mark of a slave while she was bussing dishes after dinner. He was irate and grabbed her by the wrist and immediately dragged Jimena to Maceo and Astravia who were outside of the circled horses and carts enjoying a beautiful evening looking at the stars.

“I don’t know how you did it, but you can’t just erase a slave mark and pretend she isn’t what she is,” he confronted. “As soon as I return home, the magistrate will put a bounty on your head and you will be brought to justice.”

“If she’s my property, then I can do what I want with her, right?” Maceo asked apathetically.

“You cannot just…” he barked in a threatening voice, but as soon as he did, Maceo spun on his heels, gripped the man’s shirt in his fist and lifted him effortlessly into the air, instantly stealing all of the man’s thunder.

“If you think I’m worried about a petty bounty, you’re out of your mind,” Maceo declared to the trembling man dangling above him.

“As for her,” Astravia declared regally to the suspended man, “should anyone attempt to recapture her or cause any kind of harm to her in any way, shape or form, we will know, I can assure you of that. And thanks to your boldness, we have the benefit of a target for our ire,” she informed him. “Should any harm befall her, I guarantee you that you will bear the full force of our wrath. And let me also inform you that you have no idea how much more we are capable of beyond mere tricks with light and flame.”

“She’s going exactly where I want her to be,” Maceo told the man, shaking him once for emphasis. “I suggest you honor my wishes.”

Then suddenly, Maceo, Astravia and Jimena were gone and he fell from the air to the ground, collapsing in a heap and twisting his arm in the collision with the ground. He gasped for air, hardly noticing as he soiled himself and looked around him for any sign of the trio. After a brief moment of searching, he finally spotted them off to his right, almost one hundred yards away walking together chatting pleasantly and smiling to each other.

With that example out of the way, Astravia strongly encouraged Jimena to cover her arms more to avoid further conflict. Those who had noticed the disappearance of her brand mark learned quickly from the aggressive man’s example and avoided any conflict that might see them going toe to toe with powerful magic users and even Jimena was convinced by Maceo’s shocking display of power and was beginning to believe that she was finally truly free after so long.

Eventually, they arrived as close as the caravan was going to get to Jimena’s home town and Maceo asked that they make camp and take a few days to earn some coin with their magic while they set out on a separate journey with Elaheh, Rhona and Sekai up the road to Jimena’s home town which was several hours ride from the fork in the road where they temporarily parted ways.

Once there, Astravia was saddened to see an ancient town that had once been thriving in centuries past now on the brink of collapse due to ongoing current events. Most of the men in the town were gone having been conscripted to fight in wars, and most of the women were also past their primes with few children given the fact that this particular town had been subjected to a number of kidnappings such as had happened with Jimena. As they rode into town, Maceo did most of the talking, given how seedy the town seemed to be at this point. There was surprise when he asked for Jimena’s mother by name, and after some haggling, one elderly woman finally pointed them on their way to the far side of the town.

There they found a number of homes that were clustered together and almost all of them bordering on falling apart. A few more questions and a couple more pieces of bronze finally led them to a particularly run down home, whose roof was on the verge of collapsing. Maceo climbed down from his mount and insisted the others remain behind while he went ahead and knocked on the door. There was a pause, then the door opened with a young man who had a terribly mangled left leg and a sickly appearance answering.

“Good afternoon. I’m looking for Ceren,” Maceo informed the young man politely.

“That’s Alypius,” Jimena whispered as she looked on at them from underneath a hood. “It has to be. What happened to him?”

“Do not trouble yourself my dear,” Astravia comforted her. “We have taken you this far, have we not?”

Up at the door to Jimena’s childhood home, Maceo was waiting for a response from the young crippled man. “Why? What do you want?”

“To speak with Ceren,” Maceo reiterated. “We have some business with her.”

“What kind of business?” he asked quite suspiciously.

“Nothing malicious,” Maceo smiled. “I’d rather not spoil the surprise.”

“We’re not interested in surprises here.”

“Do I honestly have to bribe you to see your mother?” Maceo asked with an off kilter chuckle.

“Bribe me with what?”

“Money,” Maceo answered forthrightly. “But that was more of a joke. I’m not going to bribe you. I’ll just say that we’re here to settle a debt.”

“I don’t know you and I don’t owe you anything.”

“We owe you something,” Maceo answered him, striking him. He leaned back and looked at the cart with the women watching silently from a distance, hardly even paying any attention to the one who’d hooded herself. He scrutinized them carefully then turned his attention back to Maceo.

“And what exactly do you owe my mom?”

“Probably one of the most important things she’s ever had,” Maceo replied. “Please invite us in. We won’t be any trouble to you, I swear.”

“My mother isn’t up for visitors,” he finally admitted.

“I have a healer with me. I’m sure she can be of some help.” Now suddenly the young man was shaken and looked at Maceo both with immense worry but also a hungry greed in his eyes. Ultimately, he decided he couldn’t risk passing up the opportunity, so he hobbled backward and held the door open for Maceo, who waved his companions up to join him.

They all entered together with Jimena walking in on Maceo’s left side into a rather unkempt home that like the town was only held together by a hope and a prayer. As they walked in, he looked each of the women up and down suspiciously, but waved them along and into a room where an extremely ill middle-aged woman was lying in a bed, gasping for air. As they walked in, she looked over to the group and squinted, trying to focus on them until Maceo stepped forward to speak to her. As he did, Jimena stepped up beside her younger brother and swallowed hard with an uneven smile and on the verge of tears. The young man noticed her struggling underneath her hood and when he did, she reached out her hand and grabbed his, squeezing it.

The young man was now more confused than ever and leaned forward to peek underneath her hood and stared closely at her face now. At first, she seemed to be nothing more than an average young woman, but as he continued to stare, there seemed to be something familiar about her, though it was something he couldn’t quite place.

Then, after a great deal of struggle, the roadblock in his mind seemed to collapse and he gasped, finally recognizing his sister’s face.

“Shh,” she encouraged softly, placing a finger on his lips as Maceo addressed their mother.

“Ma’am, are you Ceren?” Maceo asked her. She wheezed slightly, but nodded. “My name is Maceo. Behind me is my wife Avia, my sister Sekai and our two good friends Elaheh and Rhona,” he introduced cordially. “And we have something very precious to you. We’re here to return it.”

“And what is that?” she asked in a voice horse from coughing.

Maceo finally lifted his hand and waved Jimena forward, took her hand and held it as she knelt down and removed her hood. Ceren stared at her, struggling to sit up and squinted, gaining a closer look at the visitor much like her son did, though she had much less trouble recalling the woman before her.

“Jimena,” she gasped, covering her mouth and nearly falling back, were it not for Maceo and Jimena catching her. “But… how?”

“We came across her at a slave market,” Maceo answered her. “We bought her not long ago and now we’re returning her home, and we’re ending her servitude.”

If the woman could cry, she certainly would be at this moment, but her body was so wracked with illness and injury after years of spiralling into despair that she couldn’t even muster that. Rhona and Astravia now stepped forward while Maceo pulled Jimena back far enough to allow them to work and in just a few short moments, Jimena’s mother’s pain seemed to subside and her breathing normalized slightly.

“What’s wrong with her?” Jimena asked as she knelt with so much worry that Maceo was required to comfort her.

“A number of things,” Astravia answered her. “She has pneumonia as well as a number of other afflictions due to sustained stress on her body.”

“She’ll be fine in a minute,” Rhona assured her.

“Full recovery will take some time, however,” Astravia warned.

“How long?” Jimena asked her, wracked with guilt.

“A couple months,” Rhona answered her. “Don’t worry; I’ve worked with much worse. She’ll be on her feet before long.”

“How about I take care of her brother?” Maceo suggested. Astravia nodded and Maceo stood with Jimena, taking her brother by his arm and led him to the next room to a space where he could lay down and Maceo began work on him immediately while Jimena fetched another satchel for Maceo so that he could have what he needed to heal the young man. As they were healed, Alypius gave an overview of what had occurred in Jimena’s extended absence.

It didn’t take long after Jimena and her friends disappeared for the locals to realize that these young girls must have been kidnapped. Unfortunately, before they could do much about it, outsiders arrived and conscripted a number of men for war leaving the town shorthanded. From there, even more children, especially young girls began disappearing. At first the best solution seemed to be to keep children at home at all times and never allow them to venture out anywhere unescorted. For a short time this was effective, however not long after that, the invading slave traders began absconding children in the dead of night, slipping in to homes with the skill of expert burglars and disappearing into the dark.

As matters continued to worsen, the townspeople began to band together and grouped together in homes taking shifts of guard duty, which also proved only to be temporarily effective. The slave traders that had decided this little refuge was prime for plundering grew tired of playing games and simply began kicking doors in to take what they wanted, shrouded in black hoods.

For Alypius’ part, he was hardly spared from the consequences of this town being mined for manpower. Nor was this town the only one that had suffered such a fate in the immediate area. A number of towns and villages had been targeted and were suffering just as this one had. Alypius only escaped death as a soldier by a hare’s breath. In battle, he was knocked down and into a gulf where his leg was shattered and mangled and managed to crawl his way up again and then to a field hospital where he could receive treatment for his injuries. However, upon discovering that he would never be able to fight again, he was discharged and sent packing without even fully tending to his injuries. Eventually he returned home, the only of her children to return to Ceren until Jimena.

“Are they still coming here? Are they still stealing your life and blood from you?” Astravia asked from the next room after listening to the entire sordid affair. Alypius confirmed that indeed they were, but since pickings were slim now, many had begun to mere thuggery. “Beloved,” she called out to Maceo while he continued to attempt to mend his mangled leg, “I understand your desire to conceal the extent of your power, however I believe now is the time you made a demonstration of your full capabilities.”

Maceo turned and looked at her, staring into her emerald eyes and deep in thought.

“The trouble with using power is once you do, it’s only a matter of time before you abuse it,” Maceo answered her.

“Do you wish to remain here and protect these people for the remainder of your days, my dearest Maceo?” she asked.

“I can’t wipe them out in a single night,” he answered back.

“You can deal them a crippling blow,” Astravia argued. “And I can create something that will allow our new friend to carry on in your absence. Do they congregate together, these thugs?” she then asked Alypius.

“We’re not sure,” Alypius answered her, still laid out on his back. “They seem to sort of coordinate, though. They’re working together at least some, but I don’t know that they’re all in the same group.”

Astravia nodded and turned her attention back to Maceo. “I understand your concerns, beloved, however you are the one who has always said that power exists to protect. These people will not last long as they are. Their blood and treasure has been strip mined to the limits of what they are able to bear. And hearts so sour will not simply be content to accept the fruits of their labors. They will move on to other, greener pastures. Your own home town is not far from here.”

Again Maceo stared at her, deep in thought while Alypius looked up at him, astonished to see how casually they seemed to regard the plague that had vexed them for so long.

“Alright,” Maceo agreed, watching as Ceren finally sat up, the color in her ashen face returning and nearly trembling from the emotional shock of her sudden treatment. Astravia and Rhona assisted her to the same room as her son and sat her down. She was still frail and unsteady, but she was at least stable.

“There is a price to this assistance,” Astravia informed them both. “We are about to embark on matters of our own, so you must not entertain any delusions that we will be here to sort your matters out beyond this brief visit. Your town will need to band together following this and seek alliances with other nearby communities. They will need new leadership to do this.”

“Where are we going to find that?” Alypius asked her.

“You will be that leadership,” Astravia informed him point blank. “You must expand your role to take the entire community in the same regard you held your mother until now and care for them accordingly. From there, they will seek you out as a leader, but you must always lead from your actions first and foremost.”

“I can’t do that.”

“You can and you will,” Astravia answered him. “My beloved will strike your foes a crippling blow while we are here, then you must use what was taught to you on the battlefield to organize what you have left and claw your way back from the brink. It will be a life of great sacrifice, however it could potentially also be a life of great reward. That is as much up to you as it is up to chance. This is the price of our help.”

“We didn’t come all this way to dump Jimena back in a place where she’s just going to end up enslaved again,” Maceo told him. “It’s up to you.”

Alypius lay there and pondered their proposition until Maceo finally announced he was finished. When he did, he helped Alypius to his feet again to find his leg completely healed, though still thoroughly atrophied from years of disuse. This small miracle seemed to be enough to convince him and he agreed to their terms.

That evening, Maceo sat there in the kitchen of this run down home after spending several hours with Alypius making basic repairs and gathering supplies. Across from him was Astravia, whose skin was pale as if in the midst of terror.

“It’s been some time now since you’ve been comfortable with me being so far away. You’re sure about this?” Maceo asked her.

“Go,” she told him. “I have Rhona and Elaheh with me. End this nightmare.”

“I’ll be back soon then,” Maceo answered her. “Don’t take any unnecessary chances, alright?”

“If it is alright with you, I will remain in your thoughts,” she whispered. “I promise to not be a distraction.” Maceo nodded in agreement, then stood and went back to his cart with Alypius and Jimena and strapped on his sword. He then handed Alypius another sword, still of marvelous Damascus, but not nearly as beautiful as his own and handed Jimena a knife.

“Don’t let a single hair of Avia’s head be harmed while I’m gone. Are we clear?” he asked sternly while pointing a finger at Alypius. He nodded in agreement with a solid gulp.

“What are you going to do?” Jimena asked Maceo as he shouldered a shield and set out.

“I’m going to crush every one of them I can find,” he answered with determination as he walked toward the setting sun.

[CKent45]

When night came, Maceo was already crouched behind a bush outside of a camp of men sitting around a fire with several ragged looking young women and one severely beaten boy. Maceo’s body was shrouded, nearly perfectly camouflaging him from their eyes in the dark and he was listening to them talk amongst themselves while listening in on the conversation while trying to gain some useful information. Once he overheard them make mention of some “others” camped to the north of there, he decided it was time to make his move and used one of his time runes to accelerate himself in time, circling around them and dashing up behind them. He drew his sword and stabbed the largest of the men from behind as he stared at the fire while his companions were looking toward the tree line where Maceo had been hiding an instant earlier as if they were looking for the source of some sound.

As soon as the man was pierced, he slowed to match their passage through time and he withdrew his sword from the man and slashed the throat of the man immediately next to him before a single one of them had even realized what had happened.

Both of these men fell to their knees, partially from the shock of having been caught so unaware and partially because of the brutal lethality of Maceo’s blows. The remainder of the slave traders jumped to their feet, some lunging for nearby weapons while a couple frantically grabbed what they had on hand to draw them, but once again Maceo had sliced through one entirely, severing his torso from his legs and jabbed his sword through the other one as soon as he completed his swing.

A few men ran out from tents in a mad dash to confront the intruder, but Maceo popped open a flask and waved it by them, spraying them with a liquid that burst into intense blue flames mid air and quickly consumed the slave traders that the liquid hit upon contact.

The fear and panic caused by the sudden destruction of so many men so quickly left those that remained practically unable to function and Maceo made quick work of them, cutting them down one by one until they were all on the ground and finally he ran his sword through each of them for good measure before approaching those that had been captured and cut them free.

All of the abductees were shocked beyond words at the sudden appearance of a man that almost appeared to be a force of nature, but Maceo took no time to console them.

“I’m in a rush,” Maceo explained curtly to them as he cut the last one free. “Do you have any idea how many more there are? Is the other camp they mentioned all of them?” Unfortunately, none of them had any useful information for him, so he stood and surveyed his surroundings quickly before issuing instructions.

“Head back to the town southeast of here but make sure you stay off the road. Go as quickly and quietly as you can and don’t make a sound until I come back there to find you. Find some place to hide and keep out of sight no matter what,” he warned them, then one young woman fell over as Maceo suddenly vanished again as suddenly as he had appeared.

Maceo only maintained his acceleration through time for a few hundred yards at a sprint before he relinquished it, opting to try to continue to use this power sparingly in case he had a greater need for it later. From there he ran as quickly and lightly as he could in the direction they had mentioned until he noticed the faint glow of flames ahead. He slowed and shrouded himself using magic that didn’t even require implements and sneaked to the enemy camp, careful not to alert anyone to his presence.

This camp proved to be much more active than the last and also held far more prisoners, most of whom were not just bound, but in cages. There were a good number of men there, enough to give Maceo pause, but he also couldn’t help but notice that the camp seemed larger than was required for who was present.

Maceo sneaked around the perimeter until he found a tent where several men were leaving and was now empty. Once the coast was clear, he slipped inside and began searching for any clues that might help him, but as with the prior location there wasn’t much there that would be of any help. He then sneaked out of this tent and back to the perimeter, avoiding any lookouts or guards patrolling the area.

One thing was absolutely certain: the slave trade in this area had grown quite large and bold. It was no wonder why they were so brazen in breaking into homes to steal people away in the night. This particular area was a near perfect box with the only pleasant path out down towards Maceo’s hometown on the coast. In all other directions were barren foothills, swamps or forests that were teaming with poisonous creatures. Any escape from the area was dangerous unless they were headed down to the coast, and even then the two camps that Maceo had discovered were positioned well to cut any escape down that route off. In fact, based on what was present, it seemed obvious that this particular group had made a habit of ambushing travelers to supplement the weakened populations here. Most unnerving of all was the presence of a number of weapons with symbols on them that Maceo recognized from his original journey up the mountain and in their dealings with bandits on their initial convoy to bolster the economy of his adopted town. For all the good they’d done, what remained of the bands of thieves and bandits had indeed gone on to greener pastures to drain them dry of their value.

Maceo sighed and knelt behind a tree, carefully weighing his options.

“A frontal attack would be a lot more satisfying,” he whispered to himself, only to have Astravia answer back within his mind.

“Please use caution,” she urged him. “You are still a mortal, despite the changes you have experienced. I am begging you, do not take any unnecessary risks. I cannot bear to lose you.”

“Are you saying you wouldn’t heal me if I was taken down?” he teased her.

“I am saying I no longer have the power to pull you back from the brink of death if you are slain. I am begging you, my dearest Maceo.”

Maceo sighed and agreed, then stood and shed his shroud while drawing his sword. He was about to make his move when he heard a couple of men walk by and he slipped behind the tree again to conceal himself while they discussed another camp that had claimed to have found the best prospects they’d seen in years for plundering and express frustration that they were unwilling to share where those prospects were located for fear of competition. At first Maceo assumed they were discussing the camp that he’d already destroyed, but as they stopped to urinate nearby, it became clear that they were discussing an entirely other location altogether and it was immediately obvious that the prospects that they had mentioned were almost certainly Astravia and the others Maceo had brought along with them.

As soon as the coast was clear, he pivoted and turned for him, but Astravia again intervened in his mind.

“No beloved; finish there first. If we already know they are searching for us, they need to be dealt with immediately.”

“I wish I had just brought you with me,” Maceo complained.

“And what, beloved? Shrink Elaheh, Rhona, Sekai and Jimena small enough so that they could huddle with me in your satchel? It is quiet here. Finish what you set out to do,” she insisted.

“I’m going to make this fast,” Maceo promised her, then activated a rune that would slow time around it and through it out toward the middle of the camp before activating the other that allowed him to accelerate himself.

In the camp, several men noticed the stone sail in and come to a rest near a bonfire at the center of camp. They looked around in confusion and walked up to examine the glowing stone curiously. Meanwhile, a blurred figure raced at superhuman speeds around the perimeter of their camp, slicing men open left and right as it skirted around the camp that seemed to have suddenly gone quiet in the center as the denizens there slowed to a near stop.

In one pass around the entire encampment, Maceo had slain a couple dozen men before relinquishing the acceleration of his body through time and then rushing in to slaughter the remnants that were hardly a challenge.

Once the outskirts of the encampment were dealt with, again to the shock and horror of those that had been captured and were just outside of the field he’d created to slow time to a halt they stared at him in awe and fear and he whipped his blade to shake the pools of blood that had accumulated from it, then walked into the field he’d created unaffected. From there they watched as Maceo quickly and efficiently sprinted from one man to the next, cutting them open, stabbing them with his blade or even beheading them while they stood frozen, unaware of the deadly blows they’d just been dealt.

He had taken down almost another twenty when the field began to fail and suddenly those that remained were shocked as they watched their compatriots burst with blood and literally fall apart around them as a blurry figure began to take form before their eyes revealed to be an extremely angry Maceo.

“WHAT THE FUCK?” one man screamed, nearly pissing himself as those that remained charged in to meet their supernatural attacker head on.

The first man to meet him lost all of the power to his swing when Maceo’s blade stabbed through the man’s throat, severing his spine. He quickly fell to the ground while another man lunged with a heavier sword that Maceo dodged and deflected with his shield and then swung upward with uncanny force, severing the man’s arm and causing screams of agony.

Another man swung a morning star at Maceo, which he blocked with his shield, but which also stuck to his shield stubbornly as another man swung in with a sword breaker, attempting to capture Maceo’s blade inside it’s teeth. Maceo quickly yanked his blade back before his enemy could catch it, though there was a spine tingling screech of metal on metal when he did so. A third man lunged in with an ax, and Maceo pulled his arms inward, fortified his shield with his sword hand and lunged in toward the man wielding the morning star who was using the spiked ball anchored in Maceo’s shield as a tether to try to pull him off to a more vulnerable position. That man then coughed up blood as his own weapon was jammed into his chest, piercing it as well as cracking his ribs and sternum open.

Maceo swept the man over, knocking the man with the sword breaker to the ground, leaving him faced now with the man with an ax as well as several others who were surrounding Maceo in an attempt to pin him.

Back at Jimena’s family home, Elaheh and Rhona were continuing to tend to Jimena’s mother while Astravia paced around in circles nervously and fidgeting with her anxiety-laden fingers with Sekai looking on at her. “I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Sekai assured Astravia, who attempted to smile in response, but struggled.

Sekai finally stood up to hug Astravia and attempt to cover her when there was a sound at the door, attempting to kick it in. Alypius immediately jumped to his feet and drew the sword he’d been given and Astravia’s knees buckled as she dropped to them, gasping for air and covering her mouth.

“They are here,” she proclaimed breathlessly in a voice overflowing with terror. “They found us!” she called out. Suddenly everyone else in the little torn apart home was on their feet with Alypius motioning and herding all of the women in the house together around Astravia.

As soon as Astravia called out, Maceo heard it in his mind and froze. “No,” he pronounced to his enemies, who were more than a little confused by his sudden change in demeanor and apparent drop of aggression.

Back at Jimena’s family home, a mace and ax began pounding on the door, chopping it apart to allow access to a small crowd of men outside eager to gain entry. Alypius thrust his sword through the broken slivers of the door, slowing their progress down, but otherwise proving to be ineffective.

“Hurry Maceo,” Astravia begged while Elaheh, Sekai and Ceren huddled around her and Rhona stood in front of them, wielding a dagger as well as a pouch filled with magically infused items and a vial that was ready to be deployed in an instant.

Maceo stood, trembling and shaking, which his enemies took as a good omen for their odds and began advancing again from all sides until suddenly they noticed that steam was beginning to inexplicably rise from him. They slowed and were taken aback as Maceo tightened the grip on his sword.

“I don’t have time to play with you filth any longer,” he growled in a threateningly low voice. His enemies then dropped their jaws as Maceo’s eyes began to change in front of them. His sclera began to darken like evening setting over a valley and his pupils lit with a small but fierce orange ember.

“What the fuck are you?” one man gasped, but his only answer was Maceo’s blade slicing through is left shoulder, cleaving through his chest and exiting out the right side of his stomach. The cut was hardly clean and was anything but pristine. Instead of a well defined separation, the slash was jagged and minced, defined by pulled and torn organs that had been ripped out of place as Maceo’s blade dragged through his torso.

The other slavers stared in shock and terror as their ally fell in two, kicked instantly by Maceo’s blow and then turned to look at Maceo, quaking with fear now as hints of tiny strings of lightning began to surround his body.

They were all so struck with fear that they didn’t even put up a fight any longer when Maceo sliced through them effortlessly and ruthlessly, severing each of their heads from their bodies in a few seconds. In the distance, a number of slaves stared in stunned silence and then Maceo took his rune from his pocket again and activated it, vanishing in a blur that disappeared into the night as Maceo rushed back toward Astravia’s side at a full sprint.

Meanwhile, the last remnants of the door separating Astravia and her cadre from their attackers gave way and several men kicked their way in, battling Alypius backward and overwhelming him with numbers and raw force. Before long, they were slicing small cuts into his legs and arms where he wasn’t able to provide a shield to protect himself while seven more stormed in toward the ladies with especially greed filled eyes on Astravia, who was shaking with fear at the prospect of being violated by mere mortals. Rhona immediately fell back on her old training within the guild of sorcery, astonishing and giving her attackers a great deal of pause upon realizing exactly what they were dealing with, but her current magic had only a fraction of the ferocity and peril it had once had.

More worryingly, Rhona’s size and strength were both greatly reduced compared to the last time she’d found herself in a similar situation and it showed as she struck out, landing well placed blows on her attackers, but they hardly phased them. Rhona was able to conjure all kinds of flame, acid and electricity that kept them at bay, but their determination was not about to be bested and they forged ahead regardless of the pain she inflicted.

Rhona battled on, holding them back to the best of her ability and scarring each of them deeply, until suddenly one managed to lay hands on her, yank her up into the air and then slam her down face first into the ground, pinning her.

“Don’t worry, bitch, we’ll break that spirit of yours,” he threatened into her ears as one man yanked Sekai away and another took Elaheh kicking and screaming.

Astravia could only sit and stare, trembling far up at a behemoth of a mortal when he grabbed her arm and looked at her lustfully. She remained unable to move until the brute reached down and grabbed her breast and squeezed it.

“Oh, these are amazing,” he shared with a sinister laugh to the others, who looked over with incredible interest. In the corner of the room, Alypius was on the floor, disarmed and covered in blood and cuts while his bloodied and battered mother attempted to crawl over to her son.

“Save some for me,” one man laughed. Astravia’s attacker laughed back then looked down at Astravia when her hand gripped the wrist that was molesting her.

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, then laughed loudly, “such cold hands! Well don’t worry, I’ll warm you up! From the inside!” he chortled much to the amusement of his compatriots.

His laughter wouldn’t last, however, as suddenly his face went from sadistic joy to stunned fear as ice began forming around the wrist that Astravia was gripping and then began quickly spreading down his hand and fingers and then up his arm, freezing it solid.

“My body is not for your hands,” she hissed with rage filled eyes that she was struggling to not allow to shift into her tell tale more powerful state. Though subtle, the fear stricken attacker couldn’t help but notice her face, which had a thin crack developing across her cheek as though it were porcelain and had been cracked.

The ice around his arm continued to spread much to the shock and horror of the other attackers, who dropped their captives and stared as the frigid ice encapsulated his entire arm, then his shoulder, onto his chest and spread covering his neck and down his torso.

Another attacker attempted to grab her by her arms and pull her free, but Astravia grabbed that man’s wrist with her other hand and he also began freezing solid exactly as the first one, but at a much faster rate.

Before either could fully freeze from head to toe, one shattered and fell to pieces as his legs gave way, given they no longer had any signals coming from the now fully frozen solid head and then the other man fell backward, no longer able to hold on to Astravia and shattered into pieces as his body hit the ground, leaving only little more than their hips and legs as they remained unfrozen.

Astravia finally climbed to her feet and brushed herself off, still trembling with rage, but slowly gathering herself as her faced repaired itself as she lowered the amount of magic she was drawing upon.

“I don’t care how powerful a sorceress you are,” one man growled, storming forward with an ax drawn. “You can’t take us all.”

“I do not have to,” Astravia answered him with a dispassionate voice and a cold stare. “You are out of time.”

The man sneered at her and began to lunge forward, but stopped suddenly as a long blade emerged from his chest, as though he were a shish kabob. All eyes then turned to see Maceo standing behind the impaled man, gripping his sword with both hands and lifting him from the ground.

Maceo continued to glare with his altered eyes, a small, but bright orange glow emanating within his pupils and a faint electrical field emanating from his body while he shook and glared with a supernatural rage.

“He laid hands on me,” Astravia informed her lover coldly.

“I know,” Maceo growled back, then with a single swing, swept the impaled man over him and head first into the floor, tearing his upper torso in two.

“Oh my god,” one man remarked in terror while stumbling backwards.

“Not today,” Astravia replied callously, then stood as Maceo launched at the man nearest him, beheading him in a single stroke.

Maceo moved like an uncaged beast, his razor sharp blade cleaving his opponents open and apart almost as if they’d been ripped asunder by beams of steel instead of a sharpened edge. Two decided it was better to run, but Maceo bolted after them, chasing them down quickly and with ease in the night and sliced off a leg of each one, dropping them to the ground. They continued to try to escape out of pure desperation, which only resulted in Maceo dismembering them before finishing them off as Astravia calmly strolled out into the evening air to observe his handiwork.

Back in the torn up little home, the ladies were all trying to catch their breath as well as wrap their minds around the brutal battle they’d just witnessed, though Rhona was quick to run to Alypius’s side and attempt to stabilize him and deal with his wounds.

Outside, Astravia walked up beside Maceo and placed her hands on his arm. “Calm yourself beloved,” she whispered. “You may not realize it but you have performed a similar transformation to what I do when my magic is fully activated.” Maceo turned and looked down at the petite little goddess then his face went awash with panic as he realized the meaning of what she was sharing with him. “It is fine,” she whispered. “It is not as pronounced with you as it is with me. However, we must calm you before you return to the others. I will help,” she said, reaching up to place her hands on either side of his head and then assisted in deactivating the now active god powers he’d apparently unleashed.

When they returned to the battered home, Ceren and Jimena were cradling Alypius while Rhona did her utmost to stabilize him. “Would you assist them, beloved?” Astravia asked, pointing down to the wounded young man and as Maceo did so, she looked at the two remaining intruders who were barely alive still and approached the first one.

He looked up at her, coughing and gagging on his own blood as Astravia knelt beside him, glaring at him icily.

“We have not encountered each other before now,” she informed him very softly and coldly. “In fact, I have not encountered any of you before this evening. Tell me who sent you.”

“Or what?” he asked defiantly, wincing and shaking with pain.

“Or you will suffer for your final moments,” Astravia answered him. “Either way, I will gain the information I seek. However, if you cooperate with me, I will grant you and your colleague the mercy of removing the pain and allowing you to pass from this world in peace. The fate that lies for you in the next is your own doing, however.”

The man stared into her eyes, gulping hard, then screaming in pain as Astravia twisted one of his broken arms. “Okay, okay,” he gasped, relenting. She leaned closer and listened to everything he had to say, his pain quickly fading exactly as promised as he spoke to her until both he and the other man were still and calm and laid out on the floor over the other dead bodies.

“Very well,” she said aloud once she was satisfied with his answers and stood up. “Would you like to be near your compatriot for your final moments?” she asked him unemotionally. The man nodded and Astravia turned back to Maceo again. “Beloved, would you be so kind as to assist?” she asked.

Maceo immediately went to her side and then on her request moved the two slave traders next to each other. Once they were comfortable, she knelt down between them and lowered her head between their ears and whispered, “I will sustain your lives for long enough to be at peace provided you will willingly surrender any information we ask before you depart this world. I do not suggest you test my ability to differentiate between your lies and truths.” Both men looked to each other and then nodded to Astravia in agreement.

Satisfied, Astravia removed a few items from one of the nearby satchels and pretended to use them to perform magic on the two men, who quickly became quite relaxed. Astravia then stood and left them to quietly remain in each other’s company and discuss any matters they felt important in their final moments.