"Rise and shine, beauty Queen,"
Saffron peeled his eyes open when Foejay's gravelly voice barged into his
ears to end the sweet dream he was having.
Saffron groaned, looking up at his caretaker standing beside his bed in his
gloomy cell with a burning cigarette in his left hand. "Go fuck
yourself," Saffron rolled over to the other side and pulled his warm
blanket tightly over his disheveled mop of a hairdo.
Foejay gave a chuckle. "Nah, I think I rather fuck you," he said.
"What the!" Saffron screeched as Foejay flipped his bed over, making
him roll over the cold and hard stone floor of his prison cell that wore the
pungent smell of urine and was plastered with various stains of dried blood.
Grinding his teeth with seething anger, Saffron leaped up and lunged
towards his caretaker.
"Go on," Foejay eyed him leisurely through a pair of beady pig
eyes as Saffron stood hissing right in front of him like a wild beast ready to
devour his prey. "make my day."
"I thought so." Foejay presented a sly grin, displaying the hole
in the upper row of his crooked teeth where he'd lost a front tooth a few
months ago – knocked away by one of Saffron knuckles. He slapped Saffron in the
face when the latter showed no sign of any further action following his moment
of rage.
SMACK! And another, even harder than the first and aimed at the other
cheek.
"And this is for putting me behind schedule with your insolent
demeanor."
Saffron sank to his knees when Foejay's fist was thrusting hard in his
stomach, making him groan on the floor like a wounded hyena in a fetal
position.
After taking a long puff of his smoke, Foejay threw his still burning
cigarette on Sefron's chest before walking off.
"I'll meet you upfront in about thirty seconds from now, or it's The
Chamber for you."
Saffron flapped his hands like a bird against his chest, trying to get rid
of the smoldering cigarette already underway to burn through his raffled shirt.
Life had not always been like this for Saffron. Things used to be
better for him. Not great, but broadly better than the circumstances he was
forced to live in now.
Rubbing his painful stomach, Saffron stood up and narrowed his eyes
into small stripes while looking after Foejay, who was just walking out of
sight, bending around a corner, whistling some joyful tune. After months of suffering
and denigration, Saffron yearned desperately to get even with Foejay, his
former classmate and best friend. But he knew better, though. He'd learned the
hard way that the wisest thing to do at this moment was to just dance to the
tune of the ones holding the strings in this hellhole. They could inflict more
pain on him than he could on them.
He sighed while looking at the wall above his bed where rows upon rows of
carved lines were imprinted in the wall – reminding him of the painful fact
that this cell was already about two years his home.
Living his life like an average eighteen-year-old – attending school,
goofing around with friends, dreaming of dating some hot dish – felt like a
past life to Saffron now.
The cheery face of Aurora, his kid sister, lit up in his mind. Even
while being just a conjured image in his head, did the light of Aurora's
twinkling eyes penetrate deep into the core of Sefron's soul – just like they
did in real life.
It all started with her. About three years ago, the willful 8th
grader felt some latent sorcery power swelling up inside her body on one day.
Presumably inherited by her great-great-great-great grandmother. From that day
on, Aurora was able to do the impossible. Life took a downturn for poor Saffron
from there. And it all ended up here – where he was shrunken, abducted and
imprisoned by his kid sister, and forced to live life as an enslaved person in
a shrunken city.
It took him a hard time adjusting to this new harsh reality. It still does.
Aurora always had these authoritarian tendencies whereby she tried her
damnedest to make everyone else do her bidding. And now, with a whole shrunken
city full of obedient morsels in her possession, Aurora took this demeanor to
the extreme. She'd made it clear to them all on day one – as her immensely huge
torso and firmly sculptured thighs soared dramatically high above the city's
skyline resting on her nightstand – that she was not some girl that people
could pester anymore. No, she was a Goddess – owner of life and bringer of
calamity to them.
Although her awe-inspiring appearance was enough to whip them all into
submission, examples had to be made.
It did not take long before the entire city was transformed into a
high-functioning sweatshop – plowing day and night – to meet the cruel needs of
the brat ruler. One statue after the other was being crafted and hoisted up –
one more splendidly looking than the other, but all resembling the appearance
of the juvenile Goddess with her velvety and voluminous shoulder-length
strawberry blond coiffure.
Innumerable shrines and temples and various houses of worship followed
after that – all strictly dedicated to keeping the faith in Aurora's kindness
and generosity alive.
When the whole town was functioning as it should be – at least, according
to Aurora's vision – Saffron and his best friend Foejay were dropped in the
middle of it. It took Foejay little trouble adjusting to this new life where
hard labor and veneration of a self-proclaimed deity was a daily reality.
It also helped that Foejay had the hots on Sefron's younger sister, so
bringing himself to actually worshiping Aurora came relatively easy. All to the
annoyance of Saffron, whose feelings of hatred towards his kid sister were
unendingly deep.
It ignited a grudge between the two friends. Foejay got scolded by Saffron
for dropping his dignity so easily by worshiping a mere teenage girl suffering
from ideas of megalomania.
It separated them more and more until Foejay was being rounded up by the
local authorities like a criminal of society and stuffed into a re-education
camp, until he was willing enough to submit to the city's norms and values –
which simply meant dedicating his life to worshiping his kid sister Aurora like
a deity.
As he caressed his chest, Saffron felt his ribs jutting out through his
tight, stretching skin. A low grumble boiled up from his belly as it made
another vain attempt to beg his master for some food.
Saffron scratched his arm and staggered towards Foejay, who stood waiting
for him outside, smoking another cig.
The sound of bellowed commands penetrated his ears when he exited the
building. A truck pulled up right in front of them in the street, packed to the
rafters with a fresh load of unwilling slaves – all shrunken and plucked from
the street by a brat girl with powers she shouldn't have.
They were all being unloaded like cattle as various soldiers pushed and
shouted at them to make haste forming a line.
A high-ranking officer walked up, inspecting them. He sniffed his nose and
spat on the ground.
"Dispose these infidels from their lice before escorting them to their
barrack," the officer instructed the grunts.
Saffron gaped after the sorry lot being guided away by several cruel
soldiers when a hand landed on his shoulder. He flinched hard, which induced a
peal of laughter coming from Foejay.
"Don't worry, I only punch you on the nose while you're
asleep." he clapped Sefron reassuringly on the shoulder. Foejay immensely
enjoyed intimidating his former friend. Especially since the latter was much
burlier built and almost a head taller than him.
"You're lucky, Mr. Crank assigned you to stone duty today, but I
just received an order to escort you to The Chapel instead. You're
summoned."
"By whom?" Saffron asked.
Foejay lowered his eyes and remained silent. It was a gesture of reverence,
but Saffron knew immediately what it meant.
No one was allowed to give words or speak indirectly in some way about The
Goddess while conversing with someone. Only during prayer was a thing like that
allowed.
Saffron nodded and followed Foejay on his heels as he paced off
towards The Chapel. Aurora was calling for him. She probably needed him for
something.
THUMB
THUMB
THUMB
The ground shook heavily. Another tremble followed – heavier than the last,
making every building vibrate on its foundation. Saffron also knew what that
meant.
Saffron swallowed deeply as he craned his neck to watch the instigator of
this fall of nocturnal shadow. A humongous figure, grander than the eye could
perceive, blocked out their artificial sun – which in reality was nothing more
than Aurora's bedroom light. The whole town was cast in a blanket of
shadow.
Beyond the skyline of soaring high rises, he saw a spectacle he had seen
for innumerable times before. It was just a sight that never ceased to impress.
As his eyes crept upwards, Saffron saw a feminine bare thigh, broader than the
whole city, soaring sky-high where it connected with one half of a tush,
bubbling lecherously outwards. It concealed the greater part of a velvety red
thong, firmly buried between two tight as steel ass cheeks.
Saffron aimed his eyes higher and watched in disgust as Aurora stretched
her arms up high while mooning her derriere for the whole town to see. She
flexed them sensually.
It was a show Aurora put up more frequently these days. Nowadays, Aurora is
a 16-year-old girl with a precocious body richly filled with sensual curves.
And her bubble butt was her pride, which she happily flaunted for everyone who
dared look at it.
Too bad it was forbidden to lay eyes on The Goddess. Doing it anyway could
result in the death penalty if an Enforcer caught you in the deed. The
Enforcers were a small elite unit that bore the task of enforcing the laws
dictated by The Goddess.
They were the city's highest authority, which only had to answer to The
Goddess herself. They were also the only ones allowed to look directly at The
Goddess.
Foejay sat whining
like a little girl on all fours at Sefron's feet – sputtering words of prayer
between heavy sobs. Saffron shook his head and followed his example – besides
the whining – when he saw a couple of enforcers on the other side of the
street, beating people on the back with a baton who weren't praying with enough
conviction or were simply sobbing to audible. He made sure that his praying
words were loudly spoken and clearly articulated when the enforcers were
passing them. They left him alone. But Foejay was not so lucky.
"Stand on the fingers of this ungrateful wimp until I can feel his
happiness." One of the enforcers said.
Foejay cried out loud when the other enforcer placed his boot on his hand,
leaning hard. A crack followed when one of Foejay's fingers broke. He cried out
in pain.
"Happiness, wimp! I want to feel it!" the enforcer screamed in
his ear as he started to place his boot on Foejay's other hand.
Even Saffron was feeling sorry now for his former friend, who had made his
life such a misery these last few months.
Smile, for godsakes. Smile! He thought with
frustration.
But in reality, he was even more worried that Foejay would vent his anger
on him after this.
Foejay gathered all of his inner strength to pull out a tiny shred of
happiness hiding in his little toe and made it shine through his quivering
voice. It seemed enough to convince the enforcers. Saffron sighed deep when he
heard them walking off, harassing other citizens. While sitting on all fours,
Saffron lifted his head, and his eyes fell on a car window on the other side of
the street. Through it, he could see the reflection of the city's skyline
behind him. And beyond it, he saw Aurora's gleeful face soaring above it all,
grinning down upon it like a toddler watching a flea circus.
"Rise, my brother. Rise and greet me with respect," Aurora's
godlike voice rolled over the city.