Adnah had walked for a little time into the forest carrying a small brown pouch. The elder had given it to him, and carefully explained its usage. He found the large lightning scarred tree he had previously prepared, a mouse sized cavern had been etched from the bark. The bag fit inside still leaving room. There was a piece of bark marked with a thin x that would perfectly cover the hole.
He looked around once more, only to still be alone. The rite was a serious affair, and several knew of the date. He had first gone into the forest behind his house, then randomly traveled for an hour before carefully making his way here. He left no tracks or traces and had checked carefully for would be pursuers. After a few minutes he began breathing again.
“Here goes,” he said consuming half of the bag’s contents.
The taste was bitter and citrusy, he waited for the concoction and spell to take effect. Within seconds he was diminishing, his clothes rapidly rising around him. The darkness of the night was replaced by pitch black as he fought to escape the fabric. He exited his clothes, cursing his stupidity, he knew his clothes wouldn’t shrink, so why hadn’t he removed them? He grinned, knowing his excitement at being with Lerata had been too great. They had known each other since childhood and he felt fated to her, that alone could make him forget his head.
Once out of his loincloth he took stock and found himself no more than 2 inches tall. Quickly he scampered over his clothing until he found the pocket. Inside were miniature clothes and a small metal spear the elder had given him. He put on the clothes, a toga constructed with his miniature height in mind, and carried the spear and leather pouch to the cave sized indention. He then dragged the bark covering over the entrance securely. Now anyone passing by would not notice his hiding spot. He sat down thinking of the rite as the elder had described it:
“You must trust your companion completely, with your life and future. This pouch has potions and a spell in its preparation. You must take half, your other the rest. Upon her consumption, you will belong to her, for all time. Therefore, you must be certain that only she finds you, prepare a hiding spot large enough for you shrunk and the pouch. Beware other animals when hiding. Once completed, your beloved will be able to restore you to your former size, but beware her fury as she can also shrink you at will. She will own you and the household, choose well for you can only choose once.”
He had questioned why the hiding was of such importance, was it not better to just perform the rite with his companion? The elder had sighed, her long dreadlocks shaking as she vigorously nodded in agreement. She explained it was custom, much like the rite. Even her predecessor had no satisfactory answer, but the senseless complication was defended scrupulously by the matrons of the community. Those even suspected of not performing the rite, male and female, were both made to consume an altered version of the powder, shrinking them permanently to 8 inches. They were then made the playthings of the entire village. No one, not even Adnah, dared risk that fate.
The villagers told legends of the rite maintaining social order, or of appeasing the gods. Lerata had posited that perhaps the majority supported it in the hopes of stumbling upon a young shrunken buck who would be at their mercy.
This brought him back to the moment, contrasting that pettiness with Lerata. He would serve as her companion, not her slave. He smiled and laid, his head against the pouch, in anticipation.
After several hours he heard something over the forest’s din, footsteps. Slow, but steady, definitely bipedal. Human. They stopped at the tree and stood silent. After a time he heard rustling as tremendous hands began searching the bark. Finally they stopped over the entrance’s covering, long nails dug into the crevices and pried the doorway off.
It was darker than before, and much harder to see. There was a huge human shape in front of him that outstretched its hand slightly under his hiding spot. Adnah pushed the pouch onto it. The hand ascended and Adnah heard gulping as it was consumed. The hand came back and Adnah eagerly jumped onto it. As it ascended he cheered, it was done, the rite performed, they were inextricably linked, now and forever. He and his companion, he and his love, he and his equal, he and his…
The giant’s face came into view, it was a face far older and meaner than Lerata’ s. As he got closer, he recognized the face of the woman who had given birth to him. Her dark face was only more magnified, her blemishes and lines the same, just more noticeable due to their mammoth size. As he swallowed in shock there was one difference his mind quickly discerned; in place of her usual frown was a scornful grin.