— Chapter1 Rude Awakening

Tom opened his eyes. He was already standing upright. The world was dark save for the pale orange light of the sun that hung low on the tree lined horizon. The image was framed by two large stone pillars and the rest of the space was occupied by a dense void.

I’m in the worldtree? It wasn’t exactly how he remembered but the sheer massive scale was scarcely able to be replicated to begin with. The memories he had of the giant crack in the worldtree left jagged edges that trailed into the heavens, but this visage was strangely uniform. The opening left by the stone made a perfect rectangular frame for the beautiful landscape before him. 

He didn’t have long to enjoy it. He saw the all too familiar sight of Hinba walk into view on the other side of the stone opening. 

She was approximately 90 feet tall, and her skin was a dark red. She wore her standard leather skirt and top that looked more like armor than streetwear. Her two horns hugged the top of her head and pointed forwards. They were a pale purple color that matched her eyes and she had white hair that just barely grazed her shoulders. 

At first Tom wasn’t sure if he should be afraid or relieved. She was the source of so much of his fear but at the same time, he knew she could at least tell him where they were. Tom spent most of his life in the city so magical forests were infinitely foreign. 

He tried to move towards her but found his legs were stuck in the ground up to his knees. He tried to yell to get her attention but could not produce a sound. His arms were sluggish as he tried in vain to wave them up and down. 

She appeared to move in slow motion as her long strides carried her closer to Tom. He watched as she approached, growing nervous that she had yet to notice him. 

There was a sound that came from behind Tom. He turned quickly to stare into two glowing red eyes without a face or body. There was another noise, somewhere between a throaty gurgle and a pained groan. Try as he might, Tom was unable to speak, unable to ask the disembodied specter what was wrong or what it wanted. 

In an instant, the eyes multiplied, illuminating the dark void with an eerie red glow. Tom felt their ghostly roar in his chest. Trying to make sense of the situation, Tom turned to the one thing that was actually familiar. As much as he was afraid of Hinba, she could at least make sense of what he was seeing. 

When he turned back to face her, she still had not noticed him. Her gaze still transfixed on some far off point ahead of her. Tom watched in silent horror as foot centered above him, and came crashing down. 

—

Tom jerked upright and immediately regretted it. His entire body was sore and he felt he had the worst sunburn of his life. He started to cough uncontrollably before he felt a hand on his back. Turning he saw Hinba in her human form. 

“Rough night, huh?” She said with a warm smile. Her skin was a dark olive and if they were both standing side by side, she’d be a full head taller. She still had her white hair but thankfully she did not have her horns when pretending to be human. “Did someone have a nightmare?” 

“Where am I?” Tom said as he looked around. It looked like he was back in his apartment in his bed, but he knew Hinba could make him think he was anywhere she wanted. 

“Oh this?” She gestured to the room. “This is the afterlife. I’ll be your guide.” Her voice was sickly sweet. 

The flood of memories came back from the prior day. She had eaten him. He had been swallowed alive and whole. Worst of all, he asked her to do it. There was still a thin layer of tacky slime that clung to his skin. He needed a shower, and the sheets would probably need a trip through the laundry, or better yet, the garbage. “You brought me back? I thought…” he wasn’t sure what to think. “Why?” 

Her smile broadened. She leaned over and pressed her forehead into Tom’s, pushing him back down on his back. Tom’s whole body tensed up at the motion but he was too weak to really stop it. Her eyes closed. 

“I decided you were too much fun to torture.” Her breath felt warm on his face. 

“Torture?” He gulped. Didn’t I give her what she wanted? Tom’s heart began to beat out of his chest. The fear of making Hinba mad was still alive and well. What could I have possibly done to make her angry? “But-“ he started but one of her fingers came up and pressed against his lips. 

“Shh,” Tom was instantly quiet as she spoke. Her eyes remained shut and her lips mere inches from his. “I want you to think of all the horrible things that I can do to you.” 

Tom’s eyes went wide. He froze with fear of all of the things she had already done to him. How could it get worse?   His mind raced with possible gruesome and humiliating fates she could inflict on him. Some involved her in her human form but most revolved around the size difference at her normal proportions. That didn’t even mention her ability to influence his dreams. She could make them so detailed and so lifelike that they were indistinguishable from reality. They were real. They felt real. He could fully endure all manner of pain and death several times over and be completely unharmed. 

Her smile broke into a toothy grin. “My, what a delicious imagination you have!” she said as she sat upright. 

She’s just messing with me. Tom thought as all the tension disbursed from his body. “Goddammit. I will never get used to that.” 

“You’re the one who wants to be my pet.” she stood up from the bed. Tom’s eyes went wide both from her comment and that he had just now noticed that she was only wearing a black bra and underwear. 

“Look, can I explain what-” 

“Nope.” She cut him off “You can’t change your mind now. Even if you beg me to swallow you back down.” her hands rested on her abdomen and Tom couldn’t help but watch them with dread. “You’re going to be my little toy until I say I’m done with you. Who knows when that will happen. Hell, you might not even see it coming. I might just suck you down when you're asleep only to have you wake up in my stomach.” 

Tom thought about this for a moment. She seemed to find just as much enjoyment from messing with him mentally as she did physically. There’s no way she would enjoy it as much if he were unconscious. “Yeah “ he scoffed, “We both know that’s a lie!” 

The words escaped his lips before he was fully done thinking. It took him a moment to even register what he had even said before he tried in vain to force the words back into mouth. If his skin wasn’t already red, he would have been clearly blushing. 

Hinba made no attempt to hide her amusement at his comment, choosing instead to just let Tom stew in his unintentional outburst. 

There was something else in her facial expression, Tom thought, something hiding right beneath her vindictive smile that he couldn't immediately place. It was something genuine . . . was it affection?

“You’re right,” she said softly. “It was a lie. Now come on,“ she tilted her head towards the door. “I want you to talk me though what you’ve found out.” 

Tom groaned as he swung his sore body up and ouf bed, testing his legs a few times to confirm they could still support his weight. He was still completely naked and debated putting on clothes. He took one look back at the bed and he decided against it. His sheets had a slight greenish hue left behind from where he was just laying. I can always buy more, he thought. The idea of trying to actually wash out the stain and memory was not worth the effort. There was also a small red spot around the center of his back where the skin had already started to crack and blister. It didn’t hurt more than any other part of his body but he needed to clean himself before he risked infection. 

He turned to Hinba who was still waiting patiently by the door. In the end Tom just draped the top sheet over his body rather than actually getting dressed. She led Tom out of the room as if it were his first time in the apartment. The door to the other bedroom was already open. 

“So you know everything now?” His question was intended to sod defensive, but in truth he was just trying to avoid telling her something she already knew. He could not expect to live very long as her “pet” if she found him boring. 

Entering the room and moving straight to the central desk, Hinba started to flip through the dozens of hand drawn maps. “It’s remarkably fuzzy. Between the amber stone and your obsession with vintage automobiles, it’s still really odd to see what all you were up to…” she shot him a look, “behind my back. It’s actually quite impressive.”  

There was a polite way to take a compliment, however, Tom never learned that particular life lesson. His strategy centered around maintaining focus on a set of goals, and maintaining course. Unfortunately, Hinba was the one at the helm of this conversation. Tom was merely a humble passenger. He found a compromise before speaking, “I was just trying to get as much detail as possible. It was difficult since I spent a lot of my time-“ 

“Inside me, I know” she cut him off. 

“I was going to say, ‘unconscious’ but yeah.” If Tom had any strength left, he would have been more unwilling to accept her logic but the emotional stress of yesterday was still fresh in his mind. 

Hinba set the maps down and walked over to a small box in the corner of the room. “Ok, little one, explain this to me.” She held up a metal ring about the width of a tennis ball. 

“That was before I knew you could come to the human word as a... “ he motioned in her direction, “Human.” 

“Get to the point.” She wasn’t angry but wanted Tom to explain quickly. 

“Honestly, I’m not entirely sure,” he said as he raised his hand up beside his head, careful not to drop his makeshift robe that hid his nonexistent decency. “It was really hard to actually plan, or even do, anything without you finding out but I wanted there to be some sort of physical object to prove to you that I wouldn’t run away the first chance I got. The closest thing I could think of was a wedding ring, But that wouldn’t work...“

“You should have got a collar.” she said with a raised eyebrow. 

“The ‘pet’ thing was your idea, not mine.” He tried to avoid sounding annoyed. “I wanted you to find out from me, on my terms, but I couldn’t keep it a secret if it was too big or too obvious.”

“And you used this,” she held up a broken piece of amber, “to do all this,” motioning to the room, “without me having the slightest clue?” 

“I don’t know what you want me to say. It was just survival instincts taking over.” He chose his next words carefully, “plus, I really did want to help you find the missing people. It ... It was easy to empathize with them. They all just disappeared without a trace. I spent a lot of time thinking that would be me one day.” There was more he wanted to say and explain but his eyes drifted to Hinba’s exposed abdomen. 

Hinba caught him staring but passed on the chance to tease him for it, instead just pointed to the large map of her town on the wall. It was covered by a length of red string that snakes around multiple pins in the map. Together they made the shape of a five pointed star. 

“If you keep me waiting, I might get hungry again.” Her message could not have been more clear. 

Tom snapped his attention to the map. “So at first we were looking for someone that could use naga magic, right?” Hinba nodded but let him continue. “We suspected that because of the strange markings on the walls, but there were two things that bothered me about that.” Tom held up a pointer finger. “One; the entire attack, slash, obduction must have occurred almost instantaneously.” 

“You already told me this.” Hinba cut in.

Tom held up a second finger to interject. “Two; the marking seemed to vary in width from house to house.” He sighed waiting for Hinba’s eventual comment telling him how her patience had worn out and he would be lunch again. The moment passed and he pressed on. “So that got me thinking, ‘what if it the marking looked like explosions because they were explosions?’” 

“Alright you’ve solved it.” She made a sarcastic clap. “Now let’s go back to the forest to reunite you with my stomach.” 

There it was, he thought. “I don’t think it was several different amber stones. I think it was one stone that somehow…” he motioned with his arms trying to find the right word, “teleported from house to house. The small variations in size would explain the order that the buildings were tagged for the spell.” He walked closer to the map, trying to get Hinba the widest berth possible in the small space. “I didn’t go into every house and I don’t have a perfect memory, but I figured that there might be some importance to the ordering.” He touched the string. “It took a lot of trial and error, but I think this is the order. I don’t think we are looking for a naga, but someone who can use naga magic AND your magic.” 

There was a long pause and Tom began to wonder if he should accept his fate or try to run. If he was quick he might make the elevator before She caught up to him, but the idea of being chased around the city streets while completely naked when he could barely keep himself standing cautioned him against such an endeavor. 

“So I guess we need to look at the town one more time with a fresh set of eyes.” She said finally. 

“Wait what?” Tom was in disbelief. There was probably a better response he could have made but he had apparently used all of his mental faculties to manage a concise explanation for literal years of work he had done while under a trance-like state. He was doing his best. 

“I was serious about keeping you.” She started to move closer while Tom started to back away. It was another example of a wrong move on Tom’s part. Hinba enjoyed tormenting Tom, and when he tried to flee it only deepened her enjoyment. 

Tom was making his way out towards the door but he never turned away from Hinba. He bumped into the door then into the door frame without taking his eyes off her. Hinba made a playful jump in his direction and he jerked back. The sudden movement caused Tom to lose his footing and fall backward. 

He landed on his back and Hinba placed one foot on either side of his chest. There was a small moment where Tom wanted to continue to inch his way backward, but he knew that all she had to do was drop on top of him to halt any further progress. 

Satisfied that her pet was no longer on the move, she bent her knees and slowly lowered herself down so her crotch was directly above Tom’s exposed chest. She made sure not to put any of her weight on her little human, out of fear of breaking him. “As much as I would love to play rough with you, you’re still a bit . . .” She tapped his chest with her index finger, “squishy.” Her stern expression broke into a warm and playful smile before she rose up and off of Tom. 

“Squishy?” He repeated in a daze. 

“Go take a shower, you still smell like yesterday’s lunch.” 

—-

It was a hard decision to make between getting a hot shower or a cold shower. He needed to clean off all the remnant bile but his skin was still too irritated to actually enjoy a refreshing shower. His decision was to put the temperature somewhere in the middle and slowly move it to cold as he went. As he washed himself, he watched the drain with a morbid curiosity. The colors slowly faded to a clear stream. He actually was starting to feel like he was back to normal. 

He was in the shower alone. Hinba had the decency to give him some solitude while she got up to god-knows-what. Tom was actually starting to feel uneasy about her being left alone to her own devices. A stray demon unattended in his apartment . . . Tom shuddered the thought away. 

His hands traced over the tattoo of a five pointed star on his chest. There was a small red patch near the center. It’s probably another blister, he thought with an internal groan. This one felt odd. It didn’t have the same sharp pain when he applied soap nor did it have the dull throbbing pain when left alone. It didn’t really have any feeling at all. 

He should probably ask Hinba, though he feared that she would give him some fantastical explanation most likely involving magic and sorcery. Or worse, he thought, she might give him the truth. “Hey Hinba, can you-“ 

The curtain flung open in one quick motion. It caught Tom completely by surprise as he fell down into the tub. “Fuck!” He yelled. 

Hinba reached over and shut off the water before turning back to Tom. “Boo.” She said in an even tone. 

Tom rubbed the back of his head as he got back to his feet. “Were you there just waiting the whole time?” 

“No. I was putting on clothes,” came her response. She was wearing the same light purple blouse that matched her eyes and a pair of blue jeans. “I came in when I heard you start thinking about my charm.” 

Her “charm” was how Hinba referred to the star tattoo on Tom’s chest. It allowed her to know what he was thinking with surprising accuracy. 

“Let me see.” She said before giving him time to react. Sure enough, there was a small red circle in the middle of Tom’s chest. Her fingers reached out to feel the marking. With a content smile she spoke, “Looks like I got a little piece of you after all.” 

When Tom noticed she did not withdraw her hand, he replied, “I don’t understand.” He tried to move backward but his back was already pressed against the wet tile. 

“I think you do,” she said, without taking her eyes away from his chest. “Just a small piece though. You should be fine.” Hinba tapped chest a few more times just for good measure. “Get dressed, we’re getting pancakes.” 

Tom sighed. “Let me guess. Your treat?” Hinba only smiled as she ushered him to get out of the bath. They were both well aware the “her treat” meant she was going to pay using Tom’s credit card. It was a relatively small price to pay considering her alternative dietary habits. 

——

One of the benefits of living in a large city was the selection of nearby restaurants. There was a decent breakfast place only a few blocks away from any given spot on the map. Tom considered using a cab despite the relatively short jaunt but Hinba made the decision for the both of them to walk instead. She made a joke about offering to carry Tom but he was too tired to get it. 

The pancakes were... Pancakes. Tom never really cared for breakfast food that needed to be served outside of a mug. He was hoping the relief of living through yesterday’s events would spur his appetite. There was no such luck. He lazily picked away at his plate. 

Hinba was predictably famished. Tom wasn’t sure how much of him she had actually taken the other day, but he knew their time together would be short lived if she didn’t get a proper meal. If only I could feed her other self pancakes. 

She shot him a look that let him know she was listening to his thoughts and didn’t like what she heard. They remained quiet for most of the meal, both contemplating their next move. Thankfully, they were on the same page about not wanting to draw attention to themselves by talking about a magical abduction in a mystical forest openly in a diner. 

As a small means of showing gratitude, Tom decided to pour over all the information he had collected and analyzed but kept hidden from Hinba. He started by reviewing memories of the last time he was there. There were the visual images of walking through all the wreckage along with his mental commentary. He made a considerable effort not to remember the events that occurred after he met back up with Hinba. She didn’t openly react to anything he was thinking about but just continued to eat her second plate food. 

Tom pressed on, unsure if his review was considered helpful or even being “spectated.” All of his time spent in the spare room of his apartment came flooding through his head. The manner in which he worked meant that he had difficulty organizing his memories but, nevertheless, he managed to strip away the haziness of the jumbled mess to make a clear timeline of his thought process. There was no detail too small, he included everything. 

In a strangely surreal way it almost seemed more efficient than actually talking through everything. He had already given Hinba his findings but this felt more like a “show your work” to corroborate and explain the final product.

For a long moment she just continued to eat her food. Tom wasn’t sure how her charm worked. He didn’t know if there was a way for her to ignore his thoughts or if she was just profoundly uninterested in what he had to “say.” He sighed and took another long sip from his coffee. 

“Thank you.” She said softly. Tom choked on his drink and lifted his other hand to cover his mouth as he coughed. He caught most of it but was horrified to see a small spot on Hinba’s shirt that escaped his grasp. Hinba followed his gaze to her shoulder and burst out laughing when she spotted the small droplet of coffee still clinging to the fabric. 

I’m dead, he debated running. “I’ll go get you some more napkins.” Tom shifted towards the edge of the booth. 

“Stop.” Hinba managed to stay while she was still giggling. “You can relax, I promise I'm not going to hurt you.”   

“Yet.” Tom muttered sarcastically as he slumped back in his seat. 

“Yet.” Hinba confirmed. 

They finished eating and Hinba gave the waiter Tom’s credit card. The waiter awkwardly gave the card back to Tom with a strange look. Tom waved him off before placing his signature. Hinba opened her mouth to say something but decided against it. Involving other people would only serve to cheapen her enjoyment. It was all about her messing with Tom and she didn’t really care for embarrassing him socially.

On their walk back to the apartment, they made a quick stop at a small corner store. “Go in and get yourself a bunch of non-perishables. I don’t know how long we will be gone before we can make a trip back.” Hinba told Tom before he hurried into the store. 

He was quick, getting a variety of prepackaged items. There wasn’t too much thought that went into his decisions but he was able to keep his mind off of running away. He knew every time the thought crept into his mind, Hinba would know and would find some way to make him regret it. 

He emerged from the small shop to find Hinba leaning against the side of the building. Tom was about to greet her when he heard the voice of a young man behind him. 

“Oh hey Tom. I thought you were camping or something!” 

Tom spun around to see Charlie. He was a young intern that worked at the same office as Tom. They would often work together on smaller projects that were more straightforward but still help keep the company profitable. Tom tried to look happy to see him. He enjoyed the young kids' company but not today. Not with “her” standing right behind him. “Yeah, there was a slight change of plans.” Tom said, trying not to seem too vague. 

“Did you decide to go to the beach instead? You look like you got some sun.” he said with a grin. “Don’t tell me you’re retiring!” 

“Who’s retiring?” Hinba’s voice came from behind as she stepped into the conversation. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Tom screamed internally, “No one’s retiring. I’ll be back in the office in a few weeks.” 

Charlie extended a hand to Hinba, “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Charlie. I work with Tom.” he turned to Tom but still kept talking to Hinba, “He always said he was going to retire on a beach somewhere but with how much he works, I don’t even know if he OWNS a swimsuit.” 

Hinba laughed at the harmless comment and Charlie joined in. Tom let out a soft chuckle, forcing himself to be pleasant in the encounter. He was still screaming internally. 

Thankfully the conversation was brief. They all exchanged goodbyes and parted ways. 

The rest of the walk back to the apartment was uneventful. Tom set the groceries down on the counter before walking into the living room. He felt awkward in his own home, not sure what to do or what he was allowed to do. 

“I’m going to get a shower” Hinba announced. “Someone spilt coffee all over my shirt so I need to freshen up,” 

“Your sarcasm is unnerving. You realize that, right?” Sarcasm was his thing. 

She didn’t respond to his comment, “Come on, you’re going to sit in there while I get clean.” 

“Why can’t-” he started. 

“Because you have been thinking about running away all morning. As much fun as it would be to chase you while I’m all naked and wet…” she trailed off, giving Tom time to enjoy the mental image before she started to disrobe. 

Tom sat on the closed lid of the toilet that was directly adjacent to the shower listening to the water and trying not to think about Hinba’s naked body. As if on cue, he heard the water shut off and Hinba opened the curtain. There was not a hint of reservation about being naked in front of Tom. 

“Why do humans always seem to prefer this version of me?” She asked as the water still dripped into the tub. 

Tom failed to think of a proper response but managed to avert his eyes to stare at the open door to the rest of the apartment. “Look at me, Tom.” Her voice had a hint of venom but Tom continued to look elsewhere. He wasn’t sure why he was fighting it. Maybe he was still sore from yesterday. Maybe he didn’t want to give Hinba the satisfaction of knowing he found her attractive or maybe he just wanted to convince himself.

“I could just leave you here for one more day while I go back?” Tom knew it was a trick, she was just dangling some prize in front of him so she could prove her point. “That friend of yours was pretty cute. I might take him to the forest.” 

Tom’s blood ran cold as he snapped his neck to Hinba. “No.” He said. 

“It won’t take the full day to snatch him up, but I love to just relax after a big meal.” She started to slowly caress her abdomen. 

“Stop, please! He has nothing to do with this!” Tom sat up right and started to move towards Hinba in a pleading gesture. “Look, I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt-“

“Shhh,” she put a finger on his lips. “You’re making this too easy. I’m not going to hurt anyone, not unless you give me a reason. You’re not going to give me a reason now, are you?” Her face twisted into a fake pout. 

Tom shook his head but didn’t try to speak with her index finger still in the way. 

“Good.” She said and pushed lightly on Tom’s mouth. He stumbled to the floor into a sitting position with his arm propping him up from behind as Hinba stepped out of the bathtub. She was still dripping water and the droplets peppered the front of Tom’s shirt when her leg draped over his chest. “‘Whatever I want?’” 

Tom knew what she was asking. Her crotch was right at eye level. This was practically dejavu, so he started to move his mouth closer to her womanhood. He was stopped when hinba grabbed a handful of his hair. “I love how eager you are, but I’m in the mood for something a little different. I wanted to do this the other day but I didn't want to scare you.” 

“Scare me? You wanted to kill me!” he snapped back. 

“No, I wanted to eat you.” A playful grin appeared on her face. 

It was unnerving how easily she could switch between evil and jubilant. “Which would have killed me!” 

“A happy coincidence.” she said with a pat on her stomach. 

“Not for me, now what-” 

She swung her leg over his head and started to lower herself onto Tom. Before he could react, his face was buried in between her cheeks. Her movement was quick enough to catch him by surprise but slow enough not to slam the back of his head into the hard tile as she sat down completely on his face. 

Tom tried to protest but she was easily able to overpower him. There was a series of muffled cries emanating from her backside. The vibrations they caused were a welcome sensation and she let out a content sigh. She pinned his arms under her legs allowing herself to properly enjoy his struggles. Her hand roamed down to the crotch of his pants to feel the growing erection. “Why do you try so hard to hide how much you love this?” She lifted up slightly to allow Tom to breath and give his response. 

“I don’t-”

She sat back down, “Wrong answer.” Hinba was humming with glee. Her hips started to rock forth, using Tom’s face to stimulate her most intimate areas. “I can’t wait to do this back in the forest, It always feels better when you’re actually inside me.” 

Tom made a panicked muffled noise. Hinba lifted her hips again to allow him to speak. “Please don’t put-” 

She sat back down again. “Oh little one, you’re still not being honest with yourself.” her hips pressed down with force on Tom’s head pressing him deep into her wet folds. “Fortunately your cock doesn’t lie to me. Tell you what. If you agree that you love being dominated by me, I'll wait to take us back to the forest for the rest of the day. We can just relax and don’t have to do anything “noteworthy” until tomorrow,” 

Tom considered her offer and started to nod his head furiously. Hinba lifted her hips for a third time and he spoke quickly. “Alright Hinba. I love being-” 

Her hips crashed down again, cutting him off mid sentence and mid breath. “Oh I'm sorry I didn’t quite catch that.” she said with sarcastic glee as she bounced on Tom’s head. 

He began to scream but was only able to produce a small whimper into Hinba’s taint as he felt his consciousness begin to fade. Tom fought as hard as he could to stay awake, knowing that as soon as the world went black he would wake up in the forest and Hinba would have her way with him. There would be no way to fight back when she could overpower him with a single finger. Fight it, he told himself, FIGHT IT! That was his final thought before fading into the void.