Nekroz

  The creation of a spell is separated into two parts. There is first intent, or imagination as some call it. But it is a generally agreed upon fact that it is the first shape of a spell. The frame of it, if you will.

  There was something simply amazing about casting a spell. The exhiration that raced through me as Arcane energy took shape as I willed it. The excitement of watching magic take form, cast into being by my hands, whether it was a ball of fire or a bolt of lightning. Every single aspect of it, down to the least part, all of it was breathtaking in exactly the way I had always imagined it to be.

  It was also a great deal more exhausting than I thought it would be as well. After almost every two spells, or just one depending on what it was, I found myself needing a recharge. A moment of silence and concentration to refill my shard with Arcane energy. An arduous process that required my absolute focus and concentration.

  A slow process that only got slower as the days passed, and not because I was making great strides in increasing my shard's holding capacity. No, the reason for the slowing was much more mundane than that.

  It was pin hunger.

  A force of nature that even full bodied and ample chested mages had to deal with. Unfortunately for me, fixing this conundrum had no easy answer. I was in the abyss, a realm wholly separate from my own and filled with monsters. Not to mention that I had no idea what counted as edible here. Or if there even was anything edible.

  But, not knowing didn't make my hunger go away, and I happened to have in my company someone who might just know what was good to eat and what wasn't.

  "Fisher." I called from the other side of our temporary shelter.

  He turned his head toward me. What, written all over his face.

  "I hate to be a bother, but do you, uh, know anywhere I could get some food?" I ughed and scratched the back of my head, an awkward feeling taking root in my chest as Fisher just stared.

  Until he didn't. "Yeah. I do." He said, slowly rising to feet I almost didn't think he had. "But it's not exactly... safe."

  That was better than I hoped. "Where is it?"

  He pointed a finger, or rather a tentacle, at the door. "Not far."

  Then he started to move. Legs that weren't really legs carrying him out the door. Out into the horrifying world outside, and I followed him with only a bit of hesitation. A few moments pulling my dress up, making sure it wasn't torn or damaged, or I wasn't exposed. Which I wasn't. It was just an excuse really, something to burn off the nervous feeling I got when thinking about taking a foot outside.

  Still, I followed. I stepped outside and looked around, watching as Fisher slinked right into the woods. Figure vanishing behind one of the hook shaped trees. I disappeared behind the same one, weaving behind the trees in the same pattern my guide was. Though, with far more gncing around. Bits of panic that I tried to suppress as I hurried after him.

  Which at first was a series of quick footed steps. But that wasn't actually helping me catch up, so little steps turned into a half jog that I already hated. Hated it till I caught up, that is. Then I was free to slow down, and wish my breasts had already stopped jiggling already. Which they did, a few minutes ter, right as Fisher started to slow his own pace.

  His sure footed walk, turning to careful stalking. Like a hunter making sure his pret hadn't spotted him. Or prey approaching territory it knew was dangerous.

  "We're close." He whisper, crouching by a tree and gesturing for me to do the same.

  Except I was about as big as a horse - or at least I felt like it - and hiding behind much of anything was practically impossible. Still, I tried, shoving as much as me could fit behind the nearest other tree.

  It wasn't a lot, and I was pretty sure if anything even gnced my way we'd be spotted.

  But for right now, it was enough. A barely decent veneer of cover that hid Fisher as we stared ahead at our prize.

  A hook tree with bck fruit growing off of it.

  Fruit that looked neither tasty nor even slightly edible. Worse yet, it was surrounded by Abyssals. Not the giant monstrous kind spoke about in hushed whispers and stories. But the smaller kind, like Fisher. And there were about seven of them that somehow hadn't noticed us.

  Well, me really.

  There was no way they were ever going to notice Fisher. Not with the way he hid. Not with how small he was. But me? I didn't know how they hadn't already. I was big, took up more than a little space, and I was also clumsy. What with how many leaves and sticks I had cracked or crushed beneath my breasts. Little inanimate victims that didn't have the decency to be quiet.

  But the Abyssals ahead didn't notice, and I wasn't about to try and change that. Neither was Fisher, it seemed.

  He stayed still as unmoving stone. Watching them. Eyes calcuting something with predatory precision. Waiting for something. An opening, or some little detail that I wouldn't notice. No, all I could manage without definitely blowing our cover was listening. Pcing my ear against wood, closing my eyes, and just hoping they didn't hear me as well as I did them.

  And I heard them loud and clear.

  "Alright kiddos, what do you want?" One of them asked.

  "Food." Came the response, the other six groaning in union.

  The first one, who I realized sounded bigger and stronger than the rest, ughed. "Well come and get some."

  Silence.

  There was a still tension to the air that even I could feel. A challenge that went unanswered. The weight of it pressing down on the assembled abyssals. Even Fisher. His face slightly contorting, features coming together in a scowl, the beginning of rage.

  This was familiar to him.

  "No? Well then, how about a trade?" The big one - I checked - asked.

  And then Fisher's face hardened further, as if he was reliving something and it was making him angry. Bringing up another tide of rage within him, and it was evident even through his alien features.

  Proof that there was a story here. One I didn't know, and didn't have the liberty to ask about. So instead, I returned my attention back to the spectacle unfolding before us. Where the big one was now handing out slivers of a fruit that was bck and looked a lot like an apple left out to rot in the sun.

  But maybe handout was the wrong word. As with each sliver he gave out, tiny and barely enough to count as even that, he forced an Abyssal to shake his hand. And when they did, he took something from them. I wasn't sure what it was. Wasn't even sure if what I was seeing was real. But he did. Some invisible thing traveling from his victim and into him. A process that didn't look pleasant in the slightest.

  At least, not for his victims. No, they were left shrinking in pain. Walking away, looking weaker than they did before. Smaller. And I meant that literally. Each one that shook his hand shrunk before my very eyes. As if they had become - and forgive me for the term - lesser.

  Which was, in a way, horrifying. Both because the implications, and the fact that it further prevented them from rising up against their tormentor. It gave him full control.

  And before I could express some control myself, I stood up in a rage, ready to shout out at the indignity of it. Only to freeze, whatever words on my lips dying right there, as they all turned their eyes on me. At the same time, I saw Fisher face palm out the corner of my eyes.

  I'd mucked it all up it seemed.

  Worse, I didn't know what to do or what to say. But say something I did anyway.

  "Stop that you, err, bully?"

  And I inwardly cringed.

  The assembled Abyssals did not. Instead they all turned towards their tormentor turned leader. And he pointed a finger at me.

  "Light born!" He shouted. And all their eyes lit up in wonder. Then he finished his thought. "Get her and we'll all feast!"

  That, it seemed pushed their wonder into blind fanaticism, and sent them charging forward. Newly indoctrinated soldiers in his little army. Their first order of business, capturing and eating me - possibly alive.

  Which I was none for. And my first instinct in avoiding that fate was to turn around and think about running. An activity I vehemently hated. Both because I was none too good at it, and it was very, very tiring. I probably wouldn't get far anyway. There was also the matter of a newfound question that burrowed into my mind right then, as well.

  Did I even need to run?

  I had magic now. No more was I just the defenseless and helpless daughter of Luis Darkpool, baron of the little town of Freezke. I was a fledgling mage now. Newly begun on the path of magic.

  I could defend myself. And I would.

  So, rather than run and get caught anyway, I turned around and began casting a spell. Arcane energy gathered to my shard as I did. Filled it up and was quite quickly converted into fire. That fire was given the frame of shape by my mind, intent directing it. Then will hammered it into form.

  The st part was releasing. Which I did. Raising a hand up towards the encroaching Abyssals and letting loose a gout of fme. Fire erupting from my palm in a straight line that I quickly raked over the Abyssals. And, thankfully, it was pretty effective. Causing my would be attackers to scream and back up, giving me some much needed space.

  Because just that one spell had used up most of my reserves. And while it was effective, it wasn't kill even one of the abyssals in front of me effective. Something they didn't know. And that ck of information was my shield. One I used, staring at them as I subtly recharged. Drawing in Arcane energy like one would air. Deep inhale, followed by deep inhale.

  Followed by a deep seated growl from my gut. Hunger reminding me of it's presence.

  A problem for future me. Right now me, needed to come up with a solution to the problem in front of me. I.e. the still assembled, and kinda hungry looking Abyssals staring me down.

  And right as I had that thought, their newfound leader took a step forward.

  "What are you lot doing? We've got her outnumbered, surround her!" He shouted.

  And like that, their courage returned. It sent them into a frenzy of movement, with about half of them remaining in front of me while the other half moved to cut off my escape route.

  Which was bad. I wasn't fully recharged, and I wasn't sure I could even take one of them out with what I had. And the idea of physical combat more than just irked me. I was half certain I couldn't even jokingly entertain the idea, not unless I used my massive chest as a bludgeoning tool.

  Something I only considered for a second, before Fisher instead came to my rescue. Jumping at the nearest Abyssal and wrestling him to the ground. A spectacle that momentarily distracted each and every one of them, buying me a few precious seconds to continue recharging.

  They weren't nearly enough.

  Fisher, overwhelmed as quick as he had appeared, was immediately piled upon by another Abyssal. His surprise attack devolving into a ground side brawl. Which left me with four of them to deal with all on my own.

  And as they gred at me, both from in front and behind, I accepted my fate. I accepted the fact that I didn't have enough Arcane energy to deal with them. And that I wasn't recovering it fast enough. Which left me with only two choices. The first was surrender, and the second was the ill conceived idea of trying to fist fight my attackers. Or grab a stick, or something.

  I went with the second. Raising my fists over my chest and eyeing the nearest Abyssal. Who, upon noticing my gre, backed up a few steps. Clearly more afraid of fighting me than I was him.

  A challenge that one of his compatriots from behind answered instead.

  And they did so with a lunge. Jumping onto my back, and sinking two sets of cws into the fabric of my dress. An attack that caught me completely off guard. And more notably, it hurt, a lot. Pain causing me to scream as I thrashed about and tried to reach behind me. Hands searching in vain for my attacker.

  They weren't long enough to reach him. And so I did the next immediate thing that came to mind. I smmed my back against one of the nearby trees. Felt wood, slick and slimy, meet the vaguely humanoid shape of the abyssal attached to me. The force of the collision rattling him and forcing him to loosen his grip.

  He didn't hold on much longer after that.

  And as soon as he let go, another one came at me from the front. Arms spread wide as he ran at me.

  Instinct took over in that moment, and I clubbed him in the head with my breast. A massive wall of softness meeting him head on. A deceptively heavy wall of softness, that quite literally knocked him off his feet. A sight that seemed to ripple through the rest of the Abyssals. Weakening what little resolve they had left.

  One even turned to run. And as he did, his allies turning to watch him go, I cast a wind spell in Fisher's direction. A weak thing that was barely more than a particurly strong gust of wind. But it was enough to knock one of his opponents off of him, and send them tumbling to the ground.

  Which, while it didn't make him less outnumbered, it certainly eased up some of the pressure he was facing.

  The same could not be said for me, though. As shortly after the fleeing Abyssal got away, the big one, their tormentor, stepped down to take his pce. A cocky smile stretching from one half of his face to the other. All teeth with no lip.

  "Alright you cowards, let's do this."

  And then they charged. Well, his little minions charged, while he stayed in the back. Watching with all the friendliness of a feline watching prey. Waiting for it to make that fatal mistake.

  I decided I wasn't going to be prey. And shed out at the first Abyssal to reach me. A punch that went to high. Only for another Abyssal to jump on me from behind. Which is where panic kicked in and I threw a copy of the st spell I used. A simple but strong gust of wind that flung the abyssal on my back off of me.

  And that bought me two seconds to get my bearing before something else bowled into me from the front.

  It was the big guy. His eyes red, his face like a monkeys. If a monkey had daggers for teeth and scales on the side of his head. But how he looked hardly mattered at the moment. No, I was much more focused on direction. And currently, we were going down. With him on top of me as I fell on my back. Soft dirt puffing up in a cloud as I hit the ground.

  That cloud drifted all the way to the monkey faced abyssal, eliciting a cough out of him. And as he did, I rolled. Momentum brought him with me, chest burying him in a avanche of soft embrace. The weight of me keeping him pinned.

  He was trapped. And as soon as his assembled ckeys saw that, the fight slowly left them. It practically drained out of them in a visible spectrum. And once it had, I realized that we had won. A victory that became more real as the two abyssals who had been wrestling Fisher got off of him and joined their fellows. The six of them gathering together to cower in front of me.

  Fear evident in their eyes. Obviously aimed at me. The belief that I was about to do something to them a likely reason.

  It was a look I'd seen on thieves when brought before my father. Or children who'd been caught doing things they knew they shouldn't have. And just like my father, or one of the more lenient townsfolk, I pitied the Abyssals in front of me. And what a concept that was, pity for an Abyssal. The kind of thing reserved only for the most fanciful of tales.

  Ones that probably ended in much more heroic manners, as well. But I put aside the momentary embarrassment that assaulted me as I rose to my feet. The monkey faced Abyssal who had been pinned beneath me out cold, head lying in two shallow craters.

  A sight that sent a shudder through his now ex-ckeys.

  Who I felt the need to address. "So, uh, we're all done with the fighting now, right?" I asked, and internally cringed at my own choice of words.

  Thankfully, they were too fear stricken to actually pay that much attention to how unconfident I sounded, and nodded.

  And then we just stood there for a moment. A moment that was thankfully broken a few seconds after by, Fisher grabbing a few fruits from off the tree. Grabbing all of our attention, and reminding both me and them why we had come here in the first pce.

  Food. I almost drooled at the thought. And absentmindedly began to wander in Fisher's direction. The collection of assorted Abyssals following behind me.

  Together, when we reached the tree, we ate. No words were spoken between us. There was just the sound of fruit, bad tasting fruit at that, being crushed and chewed between teeth. Bck juice spilling from our mouths, with a little bit of it falling right into my cleavage.

  We ate like that till we were full. Well, I was full at least. But either way, when we stopped there was only one st matter to address before we left.

  "What do we do with him?"

  Fisher gnced at me, his face contorting back into a frown. "What do you mean?"

  "We can't leave him here, or he'll just wake back up eventually and continue right where he left off. And if I'm being quite honest, I'm not much a fan of that." I confessed, a hand on my chin and elbow in a breast.

  And for the second time, Fisher looked at me as if I was either insane or stupid. "We take his strength from him."

  I quirked a brow. "I beg your pardon? What does that mean?"

  "We beat him. His strength is rightfully ours now... Well, mostly yours."

  "And, uh, how would we go about 'taking' his strength?" I asked, genuinely confused.

  And Fisher, ignoring my question, walked over to the orange furred tormentor. "We invoke our might, now proven stronger. And... I'll serve as an intermediary for you."

  Then, before I could ask for any more crification, Fisher changed. His form wreathed itself in a bck cloud. A thing that sparked with energy entirely foreign to me. The cloud then crawled from him down to the bigger Abyssal's body. Causing it to shrink from whatever he was doing.

  And after a few seconds of wrapping itself around the defeated Abyssal, the cloud started drifting towards me. Reaching out with thick limb like formations. Formations that I was too slow to get out of the way of. As such, they wrapped themselves around me. Bck clouds covering me from head to toe. Green cracks of lightning arcing between them.

  And that was when I felt it.

  Power, pure and simple. It flooded my body. Some primordial essence running through my bones. Strengthening me. Making the world seem slower for a moment as all of my senses were suddenly rewritten, made better. Eyes seeing with more crity then they had before. I could feel the passage of the air on my finger tips and across my skin. Could hear Fisher breathing on the other side of this cloud.

  Not to mention how it made me feel stronger. As if I could punch straight through a block of wood. How it made my chest seem lighter. The effect causing me to stand up straighter. The strain on my back greatly reduced.

  Only for a part of it to come back a second ter as my chest, already massive, grew. Not by a lot, retively speaking, but I felt myself expand at least a few inches in every direction. Which I wasn't sure how to feel about.

  But it was over almost as quick as it began. And honestly, it felt great. Better than great even. Like how people had always told me your body was supposed to feel after a good run. A mix of subtle pain and exhaustion buried under a rising euphoria. Etion causing me to smile.

  Then it passed and it was Fisher's turn.

  And I watched.