Everyday for the past fortnight, Noelle had snuck out under the cover of darkness. She was seldom allowed outside of the village, especially unsupervised without one of her master’s foremen and with one of the sheep from his herd no less. 

If she was caught in the act, it would be a whipping. Or worse. Fortunately for the generations that the elf had served the village she had earned some modicum of ‘trust’. As much trust as a slave could possibly receive from their owner, but at least she no longer slept with shackles around her neck whenever she bed down for the night. 

At face value it seemed especially foolish for Noelle to take such a risk, but to her these little outings were precious. As an elven slave in human lands, any opportunity to break up the day to day workload was worth it. 

Especially when it was an excuse to see her. 

As always when she arrived at the spot where she had first encountered her strange ‘friend’, Noelle checked the area first to make sure she had not accidentally barged in while her friend was sleeping, then escorted the sheep to the center of the clearing. The docile creature looked quizzically at the ground, and perhaps distressingly realized there were many charred bones and other bits leftover from previous sheep that had been there before. 

To keep it from running off, Noelle tied the rope she had used to lead the sheep this far to a post on the ground which she had installed a few days ago to make this process a little easier. Once that was done she walked away from the clearing back towards the tree line. As always, she could feel a predatory set of eyes following her every move. 

This time she did not even make it all the way back when the trees whooshed around her, and bent at an angle from the sheer force of the wind. A tremendous slamming noise echoed throughout the clearing, followed by the death cries of the sheep. Noelle turned around suddenly, but to her disappointment it was too late to catch sight of her friend. 

Where the rope had been that leashed the sheep to the post, only trace threads remained. The sheep was gone, but the post was miraculously still intact and she would not need to fashion yet another one.

Suddenly another strong wind from directly behind Noelle caused her tea green hair to billow around her delicate features. “You arrived later than usual today.” A smoky voice remarked in a flat, very matter-of-fact tone. 

Noelle arched her brow and turned around. “Oh? So you were worried that I wouldn’t pay you a visit?”

“Do not presume to know my concerns, mortal.” Ember remarked in an equally ambivalent voice nearly devoid of any emotion whatsoever. 

Although it did not take a genius to discern that beneath her cold exterior, she was blushing ever so slightly at that last statement. Whenever she was flustered, the blazing orange scales on her tummy, ridged with muscle, glowed brightly as if she intended to release a plume of fire from her mouth whilst her rosy cheeks turned deep scarlet.

Ember was… otherworldly. In a very literal sense, that is. Her physical appearance was that of an inhumanely beautiful woman crossed with a majestic dragon of legends. Her face, torso, arms and thighs were all human-enough, with blemishless fair skin in stark contrast to the scales of black steel that covered her shoulders, then resumed at her thighs towards her more reptilian claws. It had taken many days and countless sheep to even catch sight of her, and even more time beyond that to actually engage her in a conversation. 

When coupled with her mind-bogglingly humongous size which only seemed to increase exponentially each day, Noelle believed she must be from some other world altogether. Unfortunately she seldom spoke about such things.

With a claw of dark iron the same length as a guardsmen’s longsword, Ember scratched at some of the midnight black scales on her shoulder idly. “I merely thought you had forgotten our deal.”

“Aww, so you were worried you wouldn’t get to see me!”

“T-That’s not…!” Ember began very quickly, before she caught herself and managed to regain her composure. “Thus far you have proven yourself useful, and it would be troublesome to find another who can supply me with food while I continue to regain my strength.” She remarked defensively.

Yeah, as if someone like you really needs to be brought a single sheep every day to survive. Noelle thought, but held her tongue for the time being. She knew Ember likely hunted for her own more substantial meals all the time, and was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. 

As she grew larger every day, the sheep had quickly become less and less impactful. Maybe the first one had been a sizable meal, but soon enough they would become barely bite-sized. Not that it really mattered to Noelle, who just wanted an excuse to come chat with Ember. 

She knew her friend secretly wanted the same thing, but she was way too proud to admit she enjoyed these talks. Noelle figured everybody needed a friend, and Ember was probably pretty lonely. “Well if that’s the case then I’ll just head home then!” 

“W-What?”

“I should probably get some sleep so I can work extra hard tomorrow in the fields. Then I’ll have the energy to make it here on time.” Noelle proclaimed, and masked a devilish smile before she turned around. “I’ll see you tomorrow then~”

“Wait! Hold on a moment I just~!

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“I…” Ember’s cheeks flushed deep scarlet as her tummy also burned brightly, the temperature around the clearing had risen several degrees. Eventually she lamented and let out a deep sigh. “I was just really worried you weren’t going to show up today.” Ember admitted. “Please don’t go?”

When a world was inhabited by intelligent life forms, it was considered ripe and could be harvested. Any sooner and the sustenance it provided would be minuscule at best and only suffice for a mere millenia. That was the way of things.

Ember had traveled very far to find this planet, at great cost to her own vitality. She was exceptionally weak and hungry when she first woke up, but even with such meager strength it would have been no problem at all to incinerate the world one civilization at a time until she had regained ample enough strength to grow back to her true-size and devour the world entirely. 

Instead she had remained unusually close to where she had landed on the planet's surface, and rather than begin her feast of the global population, she had waited patiently for the sun to set every day so she could wait for her ‘minion’ to arrive. 

As if she could really call the emerald haired peon ‘useful’. She was insubordinate, was only able to bring a single tiny animal for her to eat each day and was sometimes late…

“H-Hey! Don’t touch those!” Ember suddenly squealed, and accidentally bellowed a cone of crimson flames into the air which illuminated the dark forest clearing. She gasped loudly as she felt her minion’s hands press into her sensitive ridge scales on her back. 

Instantly Noelle withdrew her offending hands apologetically. “Sorry! I didn’t realize that it hurt you!” She exclaimed. 

Well it hadn’t actually hurt, but those particular scales were a bit more sensitive than the others. The streaks of burning orange that ran through Ember’s dark hair had started to glow brightly whilst she was flustered. 

Slowly she regained her composure. “It’s not that it hurts, it's just that…” Ember trailed off, unable to come up with a way to explain it without making it even more embarrassing than it already was. “Just… Um… Just touch them softly. If you must.”

“G-Got it.” Noelle replied, and slowly placed her soft, delicate hands on a different set of onyx hued scales. 

In all her eons of destruction across the galaxies, Ember had never encountered a mortal quite like this. Although she doubted Noelle could have taken advantage of her earlier weakness while she had just landed and slumbered, Ember had certainly not anticipated the little vixen would return shortly after with ‘gifts’.

Candies, water, rations. It was very far from filling, but Ember felt strangely moved by the gesture. Why would a mere mortal do such a thing for the arbiter of her own demise? Did she hope to curry favor with her? But if that was the case, why hadn’t she tried to talk Ember out of her purpose yet?

Even after Ember had revealed what she was… Noelle had showed up the next day with a sheep and some chocolates without a worry in the world. Why? 

“I’ll have to be on my way soon. It will be the first light before long.” Noelle murmured a few minutes later and began to slide off her big friend. 

Ember cleared her throat. “Very well. You may leave for tonight.” She said authoritatively. “Although I expect you to be here more promptly tomorrow evening.”

“Ha… I promise!”

Noelle did not return the next day. 

Or the next. Or the one after that. At first Ember believed something must have come up that was terribly urgent, so for the next week she decided to be patient and slept for most of the day. Although she was very hungry, Ember did not want to leave and not be there when Noelle returned, so she let some more time pass. 

Then as the days continued to pass, Ember’s concern was replaced with fiery rage. She was not certain why exactly she felt so unbelievably distraught, betrayed even, but whatever the case was she felt furious to realize her heart had been played with. By a mere mortal no less whom she had met only in passing. 

Well it didn't matter. Her flames would burn this world asunder, and once it’s inhabitants looked up into the crimson cracked sky into the depths of her maw before she swallowed their very existence then none of this would have~!

*crunch*

It came as a surprise when Ember heard a twig snap from a nearby bush. Instinctively she recognized it as the same direction that Noelle always came from. To think she had the audacity to dare show her face here!

Ember inhaled deeply and drew forth a mighty flame within her abdomen, then tore across the forest clearing and ripped trees out of her way, intent on incinerating the petulant little thing where she stood. 

Instead the flames simply dribbled from her lips in horror.

Noelle looked up weakly at her friend through a set of puffy dark eyes so swollen it was a miracle she could see at all. The elf’s lip was split open, and her entire body was covered in bruises. Fresh whip marks were all across her back, which had torn through her ragged clothes of sewn together burlap.

Despite her horrific injuries which left her hardly able to move, Noelle still had something in her hand. “I-I’m sorry I’m late... T-They found out I had been stealing livestock…” She explained. “But I brought you some… c-choc…”

“Noelle!” Ember exclaimed and frantically reached out to support her friend as the elf promptly collapsed to the ground, motionless. 

The small towns and parishes on the outskirts of Duskfall were the first to hear it. A deafening roar that crested over the mountains with enough power to topple sturdy oak trees and send the fauna of the woodlands running. Moments later their settlements looked up at the sky in despair.

Dark wings of blackest midnight beat menacingly against the wind through the clouds, miles across in length each. The wingspan of the woman of unfathomable beauty cast an umbral shadow across the entire realm. Her appearance was that of a fair-maiden, with prominent high cheekbones and striking eyes that burned fiery orange. Black scales around her shoulders, thighs and around her perky bosoms revealed her draconic ancestry though she looked more human than dragon. 

That fleeting familiarity to a maiden meant it was very easy to discern the expression on the colossal entity's face; one of absolute fury. 

Horns were sounded and the men-at-arms were summoned from all corners of Duskfall, though half the soldiers ignored them and chose instead to flee. Not that it mattered one bit where they ran off too. Ember intended to devour each and every one of them. 

The winged giantess inhaled and summoned forth a condensed orb of flames within her stomach once she lowered her altitude to be just shy of a mile above a medium-sized village. Even at this altitude the mortals from all across the realm could see her clearly, given that her wingspan alone was almost fifteen miles. 

When Ember opened her plush lips to reveal a row of sharp teeth, the back of her throat was aflame like the center of a volcanic eruption. Flames even darker than the scales of her wings surged forth and washed over the first of many cities. So hot were these flames that most fleeing humans evaporated long before they even slammed into the earth. 

Concrete and wood were disintegrated, incinerated like cotton in an inferno. Metal of even the highest quality melted into a watery goo. All traces of human civilization were annihilated, vaporized without even a symptom of their existence remaining. The mud and sand they had constructed their cities upon were heated to become smooth glass. 

Eventually the plume of fire receded, as Ember completed her first salvo. In mere seconds the kingdom had all been reduced to ash. No signs of it remained. As the untold millions of humans were extinguished, Ember felt her power surge once again. This world was small and pathetic, but densely populated and rich with life to siphon. 

Her previously lithe and slender feminine figure began to expand, as did her wings and draconic features. 

Ember’s small bosom began to swell. The thin blazing orange scales that covered her chiseled midsection and hardened muscular ridges of her abdominals, extended upwards to form narrow ridges beneath her newly enlarged breasts. Her wings unfurled and lengthened several times over, hundreds of times until they cast the world in shadow.

She was now almost back to her full-strength. Human souls it would seem, were more nutritious than the lives of other creatures. Fortunately there was still an entire planet to get through before she departed this world and moved on to the rest of the solar system. 

No longer restricted to the skies of the planet, Ember propelled herself out of the atmosphere and into the stars. The continent she had previously restricted herself to was aflame, barely recognizable as naught but ash. 

Thus far the mortals of this world had existed because she allowed it, now they would end because she demanded it. Ember opened her mouth, the gap between her upper and lower lips was more than twice the distance between the planets north and south poles. At the back of her cavernous maw, a flame like the burning sun glowed brightly before she summoned forth an even greater inferno.

Her fires surged across the world. Through the rivers and valleys, across the great plains of untamed wilderness, boiled the oceans and evaporated them into a fine mist. This was how her kind, the high dragons, fed. When a world was ripe and ready to be harvested, they glazed it in fire until it resembled a glossy gemstone and added it to their collection.

In the eons of her life, Ember’s own horde was a vast galaxy of similar gemstones crafted from the burnt remains of a billion worlds. Her dark fire blazed with a vainglorious purpose, until she was absolutely certain this world would persist only as her finest creation. 

Ember plucked the dead planet from the stars and held it between her fingers. To her it was now indistinguishable from a shiny pearl. With enough care and effort, perhaps she would fashion a necklace from it. 

Although it would probably be far too big for Noelle to enjoy when she finally awoke from her slumber. No matter, she had time before the girl healed and there was still an entire solar system to devour. 

Then she could return home, and present these glassed worlds as gifts to her little minion.