Prelude: The Palace Gardens

Livia was lying on a raised stone platform outside in the gardens of the royal palace. The low sun beamed down on Livia, illuminating her youthful features. The white fabric of her dress clung tightly to her shapely young body. A few personal servants attended to Livia, some oiling her skin, others fanning her. They looked tiny next to her. Had they been standing up, she would be fifteen feet high, and the tallest servant wouldn’t have come up to her thigh. They had been slaves until Livia freed all her servants several years ago. It was a distinction that made a far larger difference in theory than practice, but it helped Livia rest more easily. Livia stared off into the distance. The palace gardens stretched on for miles like a long corridor, flanked by high walls.

The palace was beautiful and immense. Even if it had been built to scale for normal humans, it would have been a sizable mansion, with hundreds of large rooms and seemingly endless gardens. But the palace had been built to scale for Juno, who stood nearly two hundred feet tall. Doorways stood over two hundred feet high, and ceilings could rise well over three hundred. The palace itself, made of red stone and marble, was truly stunning, everywhere gilded and ornamented with the finest gold. It was only one story, by necessity—there’s no way a two story building could support the weight of a giantess like Juno walking around in it, on top of the massive stones and hidden iron support beams. Yet even with just a single story, it dwarfed almost every building in Rome. Only the Great Coliseum put it to shame. 

The gardens were made up of huge courtyards connected by wide corridors, each a thousand feet wide. Instead of potted bushes, the garden had huge trees, oak and maple, planted in enormous stone pots. The Sacred Baths, made of fine marble, were as wide as a small lake. And the courtyards stretched on like huge fields, some well over a mile wide. Lining the sides of the corridors and courtyards were large stone platforms of varying size. The one Livia lied on was only eight feet off the ground and twenty feet long, and some were even smaller than that. But others were far larger. One huge platform a bit down the corridor must have been made personally for Juno—it stood well over fifty feet high.

Even to Livia, it seemed immense. She stood fifteen feet high; not small by any measure, at least for a woman her age who hadn’t yet taken the red spice. She looked up and saw the walls stretching far above her. ‘This place,’ she thought, ‘makes me feel like a dwarf. Not even that. A mouse.’ But then she looked down, and saw her servants, barely as high as her knee. It’s all relative, she thought. Then she realized that her mind was wondering again, and her servant was talking to her. She looked down at her elderly servant. His name was Rava Bardus, or Graybeard. He was a learned servant, and acted as Livia’s teachers and advisor. He had been going on about policy for some time now. Politics and the like usually interested Livia, even if her mind often wondered. She listened to the servant’s words.

“… are all coming to celebrate you and your sisters’ coronation. Envoys are even coming from the Far East. And of course the leaders of Rome’s great houses will all be there, and all of the major regional governesses. I even heard that the Egyptian Governess, Scarlett, and her daughter Cleopatra, will be arriving after all…”

“They’re coming? Cybele invited them? After what Scarlett did at the festival of Kalends last year? She desecrated the high temple of Juno! I don’t even know how many people she killed that day, how many buildings she flattened… It took them months to clean up the mess! Not to mention what they did to my favorite dress, and my pet elephant… Scarlett is a disgusting, perverted, cruel, sadistic, self-indulgent pig, and yet she has the audacity to call herself a goddess! And her stupid, childish, gluttonous idiot of a daughter… You’re sure they’re coming, servant?”

“That’s what I was told, your grace. I know you weren’t on the best terms with them. But look forward to the week’s coming festivities!“

Graybeard was standing on the ground below her. Livia reached down to pick him up. She shifted her weight carefully, making sure she didn’t crush any of her servants. She weighed just over a ton, enough that a little clumsiness could seriously hurt or kill them. And Livia was a little on the clumsy side. “I suppose you’re right, servant. Livia placed her hands around the man. Her hands were long enough that each of them could reach all the way around the old man’s thick waist. She gently picked him up with both hands, and set him in front of her on the platform.

“There’s one thing I need to tell you.”

“You made the arrangements?” she said in a hushed tone. “You’re the only one I trust, graybeard. Tell me where I can find Aur—Tell me where I can find my friend.” 

“I knew you wanted to meet with him tonight, and I arranged a place. There are still slaves performing construction around your bedchambers, I’m afraid, so he couldn’t meet you in the usual place. I arranged to have him meet you in the Sacred Baths, just before sundown…” 

“The baths?! Why would you possibly have him meet me there? The penalty for a man to be caught in the Sacred Baths is death! What if the slaves find him? Gods, what if mother finds him!? What in Inferno are you thinking?” Livia looked at the man with an anger he had never shown him before. She found her hand wrapping tightly around the man’s waist.

“My… ugh.. my… my lady…” Livia’s grip loosened slightly to let the man talk. “I beg forgiveness! My lady, your grace, please let me explain! The priestesses that would normally be in the baths are all elsewhere, preparing for the ceremonies… The baths should be deserted, save for the eunuch slaves that attend to it, and I don’t think we have to worry about them seeing your friend.” Livia let go of the old man. “As for your mother and your sister… I assumed they would be busy with preparations.”

“You assumed? You assumed? I hope you’re right, servant, for your sake. If Aureus is found, let alone hurt, you’ll know how displeased I am when I crush you underfoot. Servants, wait here. Consisto. I need to leave.” She sat up quickly, pushing several of her servants aside and knocking one of them down. Graybeard watched as Livia jumped down off the eight-foot high stone platform, shaking the ground as she landed. He watched her hips sway as she walked hurriedly towards the baths, before remembering how wrong it was for a lowly servant to look upon their master in such a way. She was nearly a goddess, and he had failed her. He looked down in shame and started to walk back towards his quarters, before remembering that he was still on a platform eight feet above the ground. He looked over at the young goddess before sitting down, defeated.

Finding Aureus

Livia ran hurriedly towards the Sacred Baths. The sun was low, and it was almost nightfall. It was only a couple of miles to the baths, but like most well-endowed women, Livia wasn’t much for running. Her ample breasts each weighed nearly eighty pounds, and she wore no brassiere. Whenever she tried to run they heaved and shook with tremendous force. It pained her, but she had to get to the baths as soon as she could. She put her right arm against her breasts, holding on as tight as she could, and hurried on. It was better than nothing. She noticed the ground shaking subtly as her feet hit the ground.

The corridors of the Palace gardens were busy, as they always were. There were over ten thousand slaves working in the palace normally, and now there were more than double that, making the extra preparations for the ceremonies. Each group was watched by a female overseer, harsh-looking women with leather skirts and whips in hand. The overseers watched from the sidelines, making sure that the slaves didn’t stop working at any costs. They were among the lowest castes of women in the city, though even they were considered far higher than male slaves and servants. Most of the overseers stood around seven feet high, some a little less and some a little more. Most of the overseers had a strong, even Amazonian look about them, though few were overtly muscular. Their job, after all, wasn’t to work, but to make the slaves do the work for them. 

It was rare for the slaves to stop working, no matter how tired they may be or how raw their hands may feel. The slaves knew the pain that awaited them if they slacked while on duty. The overseers were not known for their compassion. The overseers whipped the slaves when they slacked off, whipped them if they looked at the overseers wrong, and often whipped them just to remind them that they’re slaves. Their cruelty disgusted Livia, but she had other concerns right now.

The slaves worked dutifully throughout the gardens, doing all varieties of things. They were cleaning things and planting things, moving heavy things, and filling in Cybele’s huge footprints with dirt. The slaves saw Livia running and scrambled out of the way, most of them quickly and deftly. Any palace slave who wanted to live for long got used to running whenever they heard a member of the Royal family coming. After all, Cybele stood over a hundred feet high, weighed nearly 400 tons, and with her long stride she could walk thirty miles an hour at a relaxed pace. The Crimson Goddess wasn’t one to wait. Countless slow-footed slaves had been crushed under Cybele’s feet around the Palace, her immense weight crushing their bodies into the dirt or squishing them against hard stone floors.

Livia ran through the gardens, trying her best to avoid the slaves as they scrambled away. The path in front of her was dotted with her mothers’ footsteps, some of which were nearly a foot deep. The footprint depressions were long and wide enough that Livia could lie inside of it comfortably if she wished. Livia kept running, watching the slaves run out of the way, watching the overseers bow to her. And then she remembered why she was running in the first place: Aureus. He would be waiting there at nightfall, and it was nearly dark. She thought of his handsome face, his gentle smile, his small yet strong body. And she tried not to think what would happen if he was found in the Sacred Baths, in which men were forbidden. If he were found by an overseer, or Goddess forbid, by Cybele… And just when the thought was almost too much to bear, she reached the baths. 

Livia pushed through the two towering gates that separated the baths from the outside world. ‘It’s empty, save for those poor eunuchs. Thank the gods.’ she thought. Livia looked around. At night, the Sacred Baths were a truly incredible sight. Marble columns, thick and high as redwoods, reached upward to the heavens. A perfectly manicured lawn stretched half a mile in each direction, with alternating trees and statures around the edges. The baths, made from thick marble, were as large as a lake, and perfectly still. Ornate lanterns above cast warm yellow light on the pool, which contrasted with the blue light of the moon’s reflection and the deep violet of the sky. At the far side of the pool stood a massive gold statue of the goddess Juno, watching over all who bathed there.

Livia looked around for Aureus, quietly calling his name, but heard no one call back in response. The only other people around were the bath’s eunuch slaves, feeling their way around and silently cleaning the marble. No man could enter the sacred baths or see the Goddess nude and live: but these slaves were not considered men, and they could not see. Livia recalled what her teachers had told her about the eunuchs. The bath slaves were cast blind, so their gaze could not desecrate the goddess or her daughters; gelded, so they may feel no pleasure from their presence; their tongues cut out, so their voices could tell no tales of the baths. Livia had long felt sorry for them. She thought back to a conversation she once had with Cybele. One day several years before, she strode up to her mother once, furiously demanding that they end the cruel practice. What her mother told her, she hadn’t forgotten. 

“No one forces the slaves to do this,” she had said. “Slaves choose this position knowing full well the sacrifices that it requires. Only a few slaves are allowed to achieve the honor. The priestesses prepare them for months. At any point before their induction, they can back out and return to their normal duties. A freedom slaves are rarely given.” Livia asked why they would choose such a life, if it meant losing their voice and eyes and manhood. 

“Why? So they can be near us. So they can honor us and worship us more closely than most men could dream. So they can stand in awe of us, of our power and beauty. They may never see us, but they feel our presence, and they hear our voices. So they can dedicate their lives to us, completely and utterly. What more could a slave hope for? What more could any man hope for?” As she said this, Cybele reached over and cradled a nearby eunuch with her right hand, her immense hand dwarfing the eunuch. 

After the conversation, Livia looked closely at their faces of the eunuchs. What she had once seen as sadness, she realized was something else, perhaps a kind of contentedness. Livia still hated the tradition, but she no longer pitied these eunuchs as she once had.

Her thoughts came back to the moment at hand. Livia called out again. 

“Aureus! Aureus!” “Aureus! Aureus!” 

Livia heard rusting from behind a hedge in the distance. “Livia!” 


Moonlit Rendezvous 

 

Aureus looked carefully from behind the hedge. He thought it was Livia’s voice, but wasn’t yet sure that it hadn’t been her sister’s. He peeked out slowly, cautiously. He made sure that whoever it was, he saw her before she saw him. ‘Why did I agree to do this? He thought, not yet sure who was calling his name. His goddess, or her cruel sister? Then he saw her face, and knew at once. He had never seen her look more beautiful. For that matter, he had never seen anyone look so beautiful. The moonlight gave her light skin a strange, almost ethereal glow. Her dressed looked almost transparent, displaying perfect, shapely body. He could tell that her nipples were hard, though it was a warm night. ‘There’s something about this place,’ he thought. All his life, he had wondered what they were like. The Sacred Baths, the Royal Baths, the Forbidden Baths… One place, many names. He had always wondered what they were like, and at last he knew. 

Aureus called out her name. “Livia! Livia, my goddess!” He ran out from behind the bush. 

“Aureus!” she called back. Livia ran up to Aureus, her breasts bouncing as she ran, and kneeled down in front of him. Aureus looked up at her. Even on her knees, she stood much higher than him. 

Livia embraced him, wrapping her long arms around Aureus’ tiny body and lifted him in the air. Aureus usually thought of himself as being strong, but Livia’s size made him feel small, fragile even. She picked him up carefully, lifting his lips up to hers and kissing him. It was a strange thing, being kissed by a giantess. Livia’s thick lips were almost as wide as his entire head. The first time she had tried to kiss him, Aureus ended up with his face covered in slobber. He burst out in laughter, and she walked off, embarrassed. But they had been together for nearly a year now, and he had grown to love the way she kissed him. He savored the way that the warmth and wetness of her lips felt against his face. Livia set him back onto the ground, placing one of her long hands on his shoulder. 

“You shouldn’t have come here. Please, Aureus, never come here again.” 
“Graybeard said it was the only way I could see you tonight.” 
“And maybe it was. But we could have waited.”
“Maybe you could have.”
“Now that you mention it, I’m not so sure I could. But I’ve been thinking. If this is what it takes to see you… If just seeing you means that you could be caught… What if you were caught by one of the guards? Or a priestess? Or an overseer? Or my mother? I’ve seen what she does to interlopers in the baths. We’ve got to get you out of here.”
“I didn’t sneak in here for nothing. We’re alone now. No one else is coming here. Please… I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

Aureus looked up at her, and she looked back. He knew her too well. 

“This might be the last time I see you in weeks,” Aureus said. “Pretty soon, you’ll be a goddess. You’ll have the red spice. I can’t even imagine how beautiful and tall and powerful you’ll be. Maybe bigger than your mother. Maybe you’ll be the one telling her what to do. All that, happening so soon. They say the red spice changes you. Will you still want me, when you’re a goddess? When you’re so big you could eat me as easily as kiss me?” 
“Don’t talk like that, sweetie. You know I will. ‘Till your golden hair turns gray. And I could never eat anyone… as strong and cute as you.”
“Then let me show you I love you. One last time, before the coronation.”
“Aureus! You charming little devil. Don’t think you’ll take my maidenhood that easily.”

Aureus walked slowly towards her. He tried to place his hand on her thigh, but couldn’t quite reach, so he settled for her knee. 

“Nothing like that, not quite. Just something sweet, and simple. Something I learned about a few years ago.”
She looked at him with mock anger. “Was there another woman? Tell me who this foul harlot is, so I may crush her underfoot!”
“You know I’ve never had another. It’s nothing like that, just… something I heard about. Sit down.” She leaned against a nearby column. Her back slid down against it until her ass came to rest on the base of the column, her knees bending outward. Her thick thighs were at the height of his head now. He bent down as he walked slowly towards her, lifting her dress with his left hand. It was completely dark under her dress, but Aureus didn’t need to see anything. His right hand glided along the soft flesh of her massive thighs, tracing a line further and further up her legs. He reached his hand up between her legs, felt her thick labia pressing against her underwear. 

Livia let out a long moan. “Mmmmm…” Something about the way she moaned told him that she was biting her lip, just so. “So this is what you had in mind. Do keep going.” Now, he thought, there was a faint, playful smile on her lips. He could picture the face she was making, and it was perfect. He felt his hand grab the top of her panties and slowly pull them down. Then he would just slip them off, open up her labia, and lick around her… her… what was is called again? He had never done this before, he realized, but somehow it seemed automatic. He slipped the panties off a bit further, his fingers lightly tickling her thighs. Livia giggled, and Aureus felt the ground shake. 

For a second, Aureus paused to consider how utterly lucky these last couple of years had been. He was born a slave, into a long line of slaves, trained to become a scribe. Yet when he was of age, they had more scribes than they needed, so he spent years performing laborer duties. His status as a trained scribe spared him the worst of his duties, yet he still worked each day until the sun set and his arms tired. Then one day, she spoke to him, a mere slave. She was Livia, daughter of a goddess, the most beautiful woman in Rome and all its colonies. And here he was today, about to please her. About to suck on her clitoris. He remembered the word now. 

He pulled the panties down further, and she giggled once more, and he noticed the ground shaking again. Something gave him pause. For a moment he stopped, and Livia stood still. He felt the ground shake again. And again. And again. And again. Each time it was louder, deeper. Nearer. It was Cybelle, and she was coming closer.