On most nights, the city’s center is as quiet as most other parts of the city. This night was not like most nights.

Once a year, the citizens of the city of Bulwark gather together for a festival that starts at dawn and runs well past dusk. Every man, woman, and child gather together to join in celebration. In remembrance. So, what kind of occasion would warrant a festival with such abundant food, guests, and events? The festival of New Day.

“Attention! Attention dear citizens!” Came a voice so practiced at announcing he had no problem speaking above all the chatter and noise. “Young and old. Man and woman. Why even the spirits, should they be inclined to join us tonight! May I please have the attention of all?” Agreeably, the people turned their attention to the grand stage. At its center was a man dressed in a manner promising flash and drama. “Yes, yes, please come this way, come this way. Make sure everyone can see! Good? Good. Then, let us begin the ending of the festival, with a story about the beginning of us!” The announcer, and soon to be narrator, moved out of center stage, making room for the actors.

Out came five actors, men and women. They were dressed in shabby clothes and were dirty from head to toe. While the citizens of the city didn’t always dress perfectly, nor were they always spotless, they all looked better than the actors. Or rather, the looked better than the people the actors represented.

“Long ago, over 500 years ago in fact, we did not live where we do today.” The narrator spoke in a grim, ominous voice. Every sentence built upon the despair of the last. “There were no lush forests. There were no vast plains. There were no babbling brooks, refreshing waterfalls, or running rivers. Centuries ago, we lived in the vast desert; the Sea of Death!” Unseen, backstage workers used various means of producing the sounds of howling, uncaring, winds.

“Life was hard for us. Rains were as rare as a moment of happiness, so water was scarce. Almost no plant life grew, save for the most bitter, foul, unpleasant things you could imagine! Even the beasts of the land struggled to survive, so game was hard to find.” Despite having heard the story many times before, during the festival and from their own ancestors, the people were captivated by the performance.

“However, there was a threat worse than that of deathly thirst.” One of the actors began to clutch at their throat, looking to the sky for rainfall. “There was a threat worse than that of deathly hunger.” Another actor hugged their stomach and looked to the ground for food. “There was…the millennium worms!” With his grand announcement, from the back of the audience, came an elaborate costume/puppet.

The audience began to part, gasping as the amazing work of craftsmanship moved through them. A scale model of the aforementioned creature. It had a wooden skeleton to give it shape. It had paper and colored ribbons to act as skin. It used a dozen different actors to move and operate the recreation of the terrible beast. The worm slithered its way on 24 feet toward the stage.

“Millennium worms are terrible, merciless beasts that swim through the desert sands like water. Millennium worms had only one reliable food source: us!” The children in the audience gasped. The worm opened its maw, filled with many glinting fake teeth. The first actor peered up into the mouth and gasped, recoiling back as the worm slammed its head down upon them. The actors inside grabbed the on-stage actor and carried him further into the “stomach,” where he would walk along with the rest of them. As the narrator continued, the worm would gobble up the other actors one by one.

“These terrible creatures would rise up out of the sands without a moment’s notice and consume entire homesteads whole! Somehow, it gets worse. For it was inside the worm’s belly that it got its name. Through a cruel design, the worm was able to feed off a living creature for over 1,000 years! Day after day you would be digested, and healed, digested, and healed. Over and over for what seemed like an eternity!” In truth, a human would likely only live for about 150-200 years inside the worm, though that was still longer than the average lifespan. Still a long time to be digested, all the same. The children in the audience were very scared now, but they had their parents to comfort them. Their parents hugged them and assured that they should keep watching.

“It seemed that all hope was lost…” The worm came to approach the final actor, who was scooting back in fear, allowing the worm to be centered on the stage. “Until she came!” From behind the stage a great fire was lit. It created a huge surge of light, a light which illuminated a woman standing behind the screen behind the stage. The effect was a towering shadow of a proud warrior woman to appear. The worm stopped and looked up at the intimidating shadow.

“Our prayers had been answered! With a swing of her mighty battle axe…” the narrator continued, pausing to give time for the actress to pull out the prop weapon and swing toward the worm, “…she cut the millennium worm in half!” From inside the worm, a few of the actors pulled on some ropes that caused the paper skin to tear and the costume to separate in half. “She did this to every single worm that she could find!”

The crowd cheered enthusiastically, but the story was not over. The narrator reminded them of this by holding up his hand. “With the worms defeated, the towering titan led us out of the desert…” The actors who had be swallowed by the worm crawled their way out and began to follow the woman’s shadow off stage, looking happier than ever. “She led us to our promise land. Our new home. There, in the green fields, she constructed high walls made of stone to protect us!” The audience looked up at those same walls that were shielding them now. “She even constructed a castle inside the mountain we rest at the foot of!” The narrator swung his arm toward the castle, leading everyone to look at the impossibly large castle of their savior.

“And so, we honor that day, the day we were saved. The day we began a new history, a new life. A New Day!” The audience erupted into unanimous cheering. Many had heard the tale before, but none at the festival had grown tired of hearing it. Then, above all their applause, came a rhythmic clapping that drowned it all out.

“Well said. Very well said,” came a powerful, feminine, dominating, alluring voice. The people stopped in their revelry and turned to its source to hear more. “Though, you did forget one little detail.” Over the crowd came the imposing sight of a big, beautiful, blue woman. Her breasts hung perilously overhead, threatening to slip out of her revealing fur top at a moment’s notice. Her stomach stretched above them, showing off the vast expanse of her amazingly muscled stomach. The ever-present ice crystals on her skin caused it to shimmer even in the dim lighting of the evening.

The back half of the worm costume was snatched up. As soon as it was, the actors in the other half scrambled out as soon as they could. The giant woman sat back in her relaxed position. She laid on her side, resting one arm against the roof of a building, testing its construction. Inside the costume, the actors had all fallen toward the back, but the giantess’s cupped hand prevented anyone from tearing through and escaping. All they could do was look up at the pleasing visage of the beautiful, but voracious woman and panic.

“After I defeated the millennium worms, I ate their insides.” The half was turned over toward her face as she tilted her head back. Three of the actors immediately fell out and into her mouth. They were no bigger than her index finger, so it was a tight squeeze, but she managed. The remaining hung onto the wooden beams inside the costume, unable to look away as she manipulated the trio of actors in her mouth. One by one they were savored and swallowed.

Once those three were sent to her belly, she reached in and plucked two more, one at a time, and gently slid them along her tongue. With just one in her mouth at a time, she allowed herself more time to savor them. The smacking and licking of her lips were heard by everyone at the festival. More than anyone, it was heard by the morsels in her mouth. They were even privy to the faintest of moans bouncing through her mouth. Worse yet, they could hear their fellow actors’ screams echoing back up her throat.

She attempted to pull out the last one with her fingers, but the actress was hanging on tightly to a cross section of beams. Smirking, as she loved as much fight as possible in her meals, the blue woman brought the costume toward her mouth. Her light blue tongue slithered into the worm the same way the worm had slithered onto the stage. At first, she was gentle. She was teasing. Flicking playfully at the terrified woman. Tasting her. Unable to wait any longer, she slid her tongue between the woman’s torso and the beams and curled the tip back, prying her loose.

Though she was carried without delay into the giantess’s mouth, she managed to stay outside the lips for a moment. Halfway outside, anyway. Her arms flailed in panic, then began to press against the plush indigo-blue lips to push herself free. It was no use. Already the tongue was dexterously pulling off her pants and feeling around against her bare legs and sex. The actress had no idea the giantess would do something so perverse, but she had heard stories. As nice as it felt, she never forgot what awaited her. Unable to free herself by her own power, she called down to the people watching.

“Help me! Please! Don’t let her do this, you can’t! Someone, anyone, just…just get me out of he-“ Slurp! Mid-plea she was sucked fully into the azure woman’s mouth. A few savoring lip smacks later, and the final actress descended just like all her other actor friends. Just like all the giantess’s food.

Throughout the entire ordeal, everyone watched. What else could they do? It was a morbid sight, but a fascinating one, no matter how common it was for them. To see a human being tossed into the mouth of a being who looked human herself, aside from her skin and hair color, to be savored and enjoyed. They all watched as the distinct bulges slid down her slender, strong, throat. From there, they were sightless as to what happened next, but they could all guess. After disappearing behind the giantess’s generous breasts, they would be squeezed into her cauldron of a belly. They didn’t like to think about any else beyond that.

“Ah…ah yes!” The narrator stumbled, trying to pull everyone’s attention to something less gruesome. Trying to speak over the sounds of her satisfied moans and gurgling stomach. “W-who would have thought that a woman born of…born of ice,” he said, trying to remember the script he memorized and had recited every year for decades, “would deign to visit a land of fire and rescue us? Truly, our salvation was a miracle! And now, our salvation is OUR QUEEN!” The final words were said with rediscovered vigor and passion. The people fell into the wave of excitement he created and began to cheer again. Afterwards, the music and laughter resumed. Good thing too, as it blocked out the sound of the actors, who only moments prior had entertained them, screaming inside, and banging against, her stomach. The ice giantess lovingly stroked her stomach as she watched her citizens enjoy the rest of the night.

It was true, an ice giantess was the ruler of a city of humans. It was also true that she routinely ate her subjects. Casually, and without a second thought. Most said that it would be an honor to serve as food to their queen. To become the fuel for her life. To become the fat on her curves. To become the strength of her muscles. To become the glimmer in her eye. That’s what most said, but few believed that. That was evident by all the screaming her morsels did when chosen.

Nevertheless, everyone agreed that living under a protective, though voracious, ruler was preferable to living elsewhere in the world. A world that was somehow even more dangerous. More voracious.

A world that was still hungry for them.