The loud humming drum of the single engine aircraft buzzed through Mika’s body as he glanced out the small craft’s window. The trees below were strange, massive things that slowly became more numerous as the normal jungle of the Amazon rainforest receded, as if afraid to enter this strange bastion of a lost primordial world.

“Impressive, aren’t they?” his pilot, a twenty-something woman named Oklahoma grinned, “I’ll tell you something kid, you’ve got to be careful that jungle doesn’t swallow you up.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said dismissively, looking out the window.

“Yeah, okay He-Man,” she chuckled, bringing the plane into the path of the wide and winding brownish blue river below. She brushed her long brown hair over her shoulder as the plane began to descend, “Last chance to go back, I’ll even refund enough of your money to buy a jetliner home,” she turned back and grinned, “first class, for nice soft boys.”

He blushed, looking away. He wasn’t a large man, having preferred time in the library to the soccer pitch growing up, and he didn’t care for the casual insults the woman seemed so willing to lay on someone who’d paid her so much. Still, Oklahoma was his only choice if he wanted to reach the Lemurian Jungle, no other pilot would take the job, and there were no guides to take him overland.

There was a rough splash, causing birds to take to the sky as monkeys cackled in the distance, watching the small pontooned aircraft come to a slow stop atop the river. From the ground the trees on the far side of the river looked all the more ominous, vast rising things that loomed like skyscrapers, but no man had a hand in these…

“So why do you want to go in there anyway?” Oklahoma asked, unbuckling her seatbelt.

I’ve been dreaming of it for as long as I can remember, he wanted to say, longer than I knew where or what it was. He thought back, when he’d first seen the black and white photos in the library book, his heart pounding and his mind blank as he recognized the lost primordial jungle that he had been so sure only existed in his dreams.

“I-I’m an archeologist,” he stammered finally, blinking. “I’m interested in any potential ruins.”

Oklahoma snorted, “Good fucking luck, there are no natives living in there kid, they’re too smart for it.”

“What do you mean?” Mika asked with a frown.

“They took one look at those trees, and decided to live on that side of the river,” Oklahoma said, pointing to the riverbank where normal Amazon flora and fauna flourished, “the side of the river I’ll be camping on while I wait for you by the way.”

“You’re scared,” Mika said, smirking a little.

Oklahoma glared at him a moment, suddenly going serious, “Listen here Mikey, it doesn’t just stop with natives, there are no criminal groups, rogue guerillas, corporate logging camps, poachers, or any of the other shit you normally want to avoid out in the jungle either, if the most dangerous people in the world think it’s too dangerous for them? I’m not arguing!”

“The name is Mika,” he said, annoyed, “and surely someone comes out here, sometimes?”

Oklahoma chewed her lip a moment, “A few guys I know from back in Sao Paolo say they went in once, smugglers who wanted to see about setting up a depot of sorts.” She looked up at the enormous trees, the tangling vines thick as a man’s arm, and the darkness within. “They must have gotten high on their own supply,” she said quietly, “they came back telling stories of giant snakes.”

“Anacondas are native to the region,” Mika said slowly.

“Not big snakes, giant snakes,” Oklahoma said, “Like, could fight Godzilla giant.” She beamed suddenly, “but hey, that’s just a bunch of bullshit, has to be, right?”

“R-Right,” Mika stammered, watching as she pulled the door of the small airplane open. She leapt down onto the pontoon, leaving him alone with his thoughts as she unbuckled a small canoe which he’d use to cross the river. It bobbed slightly as he climbed into it, and he checked to make sure his pack was secure as the rich musty humidity of the titanic forest reached his nostrils, sweat already beginning to form on his forehead.

“You got a gun?” Oklahoma asked, eyeing his pack a moment.

“I’ve never used one,” he replied, starting to paddle off.

Oklahoma just chuckled, opening her vest for a moment, and letting him get a look at a small shining pistol holstered under her shoulder, “Well if you need one, run like hell back here, because you can’t borrow mine!” She thought a moment, “What about any next of kin? You know, to tell if you don’t come back?”

“I’m an orphan,” he shouted back, raising an eyebrow as she just chuckled at the response.

Strange girl, he thought, not for the first time. As the canoe hit the riverbank he glanced back, seeing Oklahoma setting up her own camp on the far side, the normal side, of the river. With a deep breath, he took his first steps into the impossible forest.

…

Chloe stirred, the distant buzz of the aircraft engine echoing over her jungle as she stretched, yawning and blinking at the rising sun. She brushed a long strand of auburn hair out of her eyes as her snakelike lower half uncoiled, the shining red and yellow scales catching the light as she rose, slithering her way out of the massive stone ruins.

She made her way down among the immense trees, idly reaching up to pull down a large striped fruit, plunging her fingers into it and pulling the outer shell away. The snake-woman lifted it to her mouth, taking a long slow drink, savoring the sweet flavor of the fruit’s milk before letting her teeth sink into the succulent solid flesh.

As she enjoyed her meal, she scanned the sky, thinking. The buzz of an aircraft would mean more of those strange little things which looked half like her, but had two appendages where their long, scaled tails should have been. They scurried about, sometimes in things that flew, like birds, sometimes in little metal boxes, but they always fled when they saw her.

Chloe wasn’t sure what to make of them, she’d only seen them a few times growing up, but lately more and more of them were in her territory. She sniffed the air and smiled, they certainly did have an appealing aroma though, and taste. She slithered quickly through the trees, eager to locate the newest arrivals.

…

The small group of mercenaries loaded the beach ball sized fruit into the back of the large truck, the rubbery spheres bouncing slightly as they were tossed haphazardly in.

Higgins watched from the jeep nearby, his ice-grey eyes unblinking the men worked. Where the rest were rough and tanned from the sun, Higgins somehow kept a pale complexion, even in a place like this. His black suit was always crisp and pressed, as though it had come straight from the dry cleaner’s.

His phone buzzed, and he gave a sigh that was almost a growl as he read the instructions from his superiors, “Listen up,” he called, instantly catching the men’s attentions. “We’ve got a pair of trespassers in the area, coming this direction from the river. Fan out in that direction and eliminate them both.”

One of the men shifted uncertainly, “Sir,” he said, “if they took a plane in… won’t that have woken up the-“

“If you encounter her, you know what might happen,” Higgins replied sternly, “if you disobey me, you know what will happen.” He growled at the nervous looks on the mercenaries faces, “You are all paid exceedingly well, the tradeoff for that is that this company expects you to act without question.”

With a final sullen look the man growled angrily, slamming a magazine into his rifle and marching into the jungle to obey the suited man. He watched them go, then turned to the large crop of Lemurian fruit, still sitting in the truck. The secrets locked within those unassuming spheres were worth billions, more even, but as he climbed into his own personal jeep and started the engine, Higgins reflected that nothing worth having was easy to get.

…

Mika glanced at his compass, frowning as he saw it spinning in all directions, everything about this place defies explanation, he thought with a sigh.

Still, there was an unshakable sense of déjà vu as he looked up at the stretching tree canopies, hundreds of meters high.

I almost expect to see them come out from behind one of these trees, he thought, thinking of the smiling middle-aged man and woman in safari khakis that greeted him warmly in his dreams. They were his parents, he was sure of it, but he couldn’t remember anything about them. Like the Lemurian Jungle itself he’d dismissed them as phantoms, dreams he couldn’t explain, but standing here it was impossible to deny that some part of his childhood phantoms were real.

A burst of gunfire shocked him out of his thoughts, and with a scream he threw himself to the ground, scrambling across the wet earth as clods of mud were kicked up by bullets around him.

“I’m unarmed!” he shouted, throwing his hands over the back of his head.

“Good!” a laughing voice barked as a trio of men stepped into view, “that makes this easier!”

…

Chloe’s snake tail curled around the trees, holding her massive form suspended in the air as she watched the scene below in confusion. She’d camouflaged herself, her skin and scales effortlessly matching the colors of the tree trunks and leaves around her, and while she was the most massive creature in the forest, she could move completely silently when she wanted to. From her perch on the tree, none of the scurrying creatures below would be aware of her presence.

She frowned, trying to determine what they were doing. One of them seemed scared as the other three closed in, their small stinging weapons in hand. Those weapons were no serious danger to Chloe of course, but sometimes if they hit her just right it would itch or tickle slightly, and the loud racket they made always annoyed her.

The smallest of them though, the scared one… what was that feeling? Something about him called to her, something familiar she couldn’t quite place. She had to examine him closer, but how? These things always ran when she showed herself, or worse, tried to hurt her. There was a cry of pain as one of them kicked the one she wanted, and without hesitation, she sprang downward.

…

Mika coughed, clutching his aching ribs as the men laughed at his pain, “Enough of this shit Ray,” one taunted, “finish him off so we can get the fuck out of here.” Mika looked up, eyes wide with horror as the gun barrel leveled with his head.

Suddenly a scream caught his attention, and he looked up, stunned to see the sky changing color in patches. No, not the sky, a monstrous creature, hundreds of meters in length, with a red and yellow scaled tail as long as a train, but more stunning was the enormous torso of a naked woman that was coming into view, a girl with long brown hair that shimmered almost red in the sunlight, hanging down like curtains around a freckled face the size of a house as she loomed over them.

In the blink of an eye her mouth opened, a long tongue darting out, covered in a sticky saliva that glistened briefly in the light. There was a wet *smack* as it made contact with the back of the man who was holding the gun to Mika’s head, then he watched, stunned as the man was yanked upward, as if tied to a bungie cord. Her soft lips closed behind him, trapping him within the gigantic mouth as muffled gunshots rang out from inside. The girl’s head arched back, and a loud and audible *gulp* rang out through the clearing, and her throat bulged ever so slightly for a moment as her morsel traveled downward.

Mika found himself looking up, spellbound, not even hearing the shouts of the other two men as they ran for the brush. The giant girl’s eyes followed them for a moment, but she didn’t pursue, instead drawing those enormous saucers back to him, gazing on his quaking form as she slithered down the tree. The enormity of her size dawned on him as she moved ever closer, the mere proximity to her body warming the air around him as the gigantic mouth, a mouth which had just swallowed a man whole before his very eyes, came within arm’s reach. The hair on his head was ruffled as the enormous nostrils overhead sniffed him.

“C-Chloe-“ he stammered. He frowned, suddenly confused, Who is Chloe? He wondered, but the air around him whooshed as the enormous snake-girl reared back, as if stung. He blinked, “Are you Chloe?” he asked hesitantly, his heart pounding.

She stared at him, shocked. He’d said her name, and why was that her name? Since when did she have a name? Chloe blinked in confusion, a mix of emotions flooding through her. Down below the human stood up, but while she suddenly remembered what exactly he was, the noises he made were still just gibberish to her.

Mika felt his heart pounding as the girl slithered by him, studying him intently. Her scaled tail was like a wall as it circled around him, easily a hundred and fifty meters long. He tried to keep his eyes on her face as he was surrounded by red and black wall, his escape made impossible as the freckled giant stroked her chin.

I’m the size of a mouse, he gulped, remembering how she’d casually slurped the other man to his doom, and she’s definitely got the instincts of a snake…

Finally, it seemed the snake-girl, Chloe, had made her decision. Her hand came down, snatching him up in her warm palm, a wall of flesh that tenderly wrapped around him and caused his stomach to lurch as he was lifted off the ground. For a moment he felt relief, until he realized he was being held over her rapidly opening mouth.

“No!” he shouted in panic, “W-Wait, Chloe please don’t!”

She only understood her own name, but she couldn’t help but giggle a little at the panic in the tiny human’s voice. Part of her wanted to reassure him he would be okay, that he wouldn’t meet the other human’s fate, for now.  

Her fingers snapped open, releasing the flailing, screaming form of Mika to tumble the few meters down into her mouth. Her breath was warm, even more humid than the jungles themselves, and her soft pink tongue lolled out like a trampoline, almost eager to catch him. He landed on it with a wet squishing sound, his hands sliding over the rough surface of her tastebuds as he panicked, looking for purchase, escape.

Chloe simply pulled her tongue back into her mouth, as if he were any other caught prey. Her soft red lips slowly pressed closed, giving a terrified Mika one last look at the outside world before her cavernous mouth sealed him in.

Chloe hummed happily to herself, vibrating the walls of Mika’s prison as she enjoyed the rich luscious taste of a human. Everything in her instincts told her this was right, that there was an adorable morsel of prey trapped in her mouth, that his struggles would only stimulating her tastebuds making his flavor all the more succulent as the soft pink walls around him dripped saliva in anticipation. It would be easy to forget everything, to simply enjoy this surprise meal and go back to her temple to sleep, letting the hapless human digest within in her inescapable belly…

…But that wasn’t what she really wanted, not right now. The human had stirred odd memories, and he knew her name. Something stronger than hunger held her back from swallowing him whole like the other one. She needed to know more, she needed to take him back to her den to examine him further.

The forest shook and rumbled as the massive snake-girl began her slithering journey back towards the immense stone temple, her passenger stowed safely in her mouth.

Mika stumbled around in the dark cavern, his hands feeling slowly around and grimacing as his fingers traced over the hard wall of the girl’s teeth. The saliva dripped around him ceaselessly, soaking through his clothes and plastering his hair to his face. The wet spongy ground of her tongue shifted as she moved, and he gasped in terror as he slid backwards, towards the black void at the back of her mouth.

One flick of her tongue, and I’m lunch! He thought in a panic. He imagined what it would be like, pressed on all sides by the powerful muscles of her throat, helplessly squeezed ever downward until he dropped into her waiting belly.

The thought was oddly compelling, like the perverse edge to leap off when standing at the edge of a tall cliff. Part of him was enticed by it, already imagining the journey downward, how outwardly she’d just be patting that toned bellybutton just above her snake tail… All that would be left of him would be the small belch she’d let out before going to sleep.

He shook his head; I’ve got to get out of here somehow! He gritted his teeth, hitting feebly against the ivory wall of teeth. He was rewarded with another of the rumbling giggles that remind him just how big his captor was as his teeth rattled, and below him her tongue leapt to life.

Chloe decided to put the little snack in his place, and her tongue began to slowly push him against the walls of her cheeks, pressing him along the soft elastic walls of her mouth with just enough force to make him grunt in surprise. Slowly the tip of her tongue worked at the straps of his backpack, and in the dark he fought feebly against the slimy appendage as it easily overpowered him. For Chloe it was like playing with a particularly tough piece of the Lemurian fruit, the sweet taste only encouraging her eager exploration.

“Oh no you don’t!” Mika grunted, trying in vain to hold on to the strap of his backpack. The tongue thrashed itself across his front, body slamming him down to the bottom of her mouth as he lost his grip. His heart skipped a beat as her head tilted slightly, and the wet slick *gulp* rang out again, closer, louder.

Chloe just smirked, keeping her lips locked as she felt the tiny pack tumble down her throat. It didn’t have much of a flavor, and it did less than nothing to sate her hunger, but the message was sent. The tiny human didn’t resist as her tongue flipped him back up, ceasing his struggles as she pressed him against the roof of her mouth. Pinning him there, she simply let her spit absorb the flavor, sucking it off him idly like a piece of hard candy.

Chloe slithered through the massive stone pillars of the stone temple, columns of light from the carved windows illuminating the building even as she traveled deeper inside. Finally, she reached her den, a spot in the very center of the complex where she’d piled dried leaves of a soft sort she’d found, along with an assortment of things she’d found that were interesting.

Mika shouted as he was spat out roughly, ejected like a pilot from a jet fighter as the snake-girl sent him flying into her cupped palms.

“Y-You could have carried me,” he stammered, wiping the muck of her saliva from his eyes.

Chloe just smiled and shrugged, she couldn’t understand the words, but she guessed the meaning.

He wanted to say something else to her, but his breath caught as he looked around the temple. Like everything else he’d found here, it was familiar. The massive columns of carved stone rising up to a darkened ceiling, the crumbled statues standing as high as an office building, he’d seen it all before, and not just in his dreams, he was sure of it.

“I don’t suppose you know what this place is?” he asked, looking up at his captor with a sigh.

She just cocked her head, not comprehending the question.

“It’s very beautiful,” he muttered, glancing around. His gaze lingered over Chloe, and he blushed as he realized she was naked, her pert city-bus sized breasts jutting out from a toned and perfect torso. In the chaos and shock of their first meeting he hadn’t had time to realize just how attractive of a girl she was… on her upper half, anyway.

“W-Well uh…” he cleared his throat, pointing to himself, “I’m Mika, Mika,” he repeated, jabbing his finger into his own chest.

“Mi-Ka,” she slowly stammered. She grinned, pointing to herself, “Chl-oe!” she said slowly, “Chloe!”

He blinked; she talks?

“Nice to meet you,” he said, nodding. He frowned a moment, “But we’ve met before, haven’t we?” He chewed his lip a moment, “Do you know how we know each other?”

Chloe just stared at him blankly.

“Right,” he sighed, “Well there’s no fun in an easy mystery, is there?” He looked at Chloe’s pile of “curiosities.” There were a number of interesting looking items down there, stone carvings, metal, and a few odds and ends that looked more modern. “Can you put me down?” He pointed at the items.

Chloe’s eyes lit up, and she eagerly slithered over to her collection, lowering the human to the stone floor. She’d long picked up interesting things from around the temple and the jungle, and having someone else excited to see it sent an unfamiliar excitement through her.

“I’m an archeologist,” Mika explained, picking up an odd bronze disc, “Or I’d like to be…” he glanced up at the girl, who was watching him eagerly, but with no understanding behind her eyes. “We’ll work on your English,” he muttered, “If you don’t eat me anyway.”

Chloe watched him looking through her items, babbling away in his strange tongue. She was starting to understand that the sounds meant something, and she wanted to learn them herself. She leaned over him curiously, her massive form blocking out the outside light as he eagerly picked up a shimmering metal sculpture, pointing at it excitedly and almost jumping up and down.

“…and if this is a sculpture of Sumerian origin, it would prove transatlantic contact in the bronze age, everything we know about history would have to be re-written! We’d-“ He looked up at the smiling billboard sized face and chuckled, “I’m sorry, I kind of ramble on…” He looked down at the sculpture, whom he was certain was Gilgamesh, and with a shrug tossed it back into her pile. “You know what the funny thing is? You might be a man-eating snake-thing, but I think you’re the only girl who’s shown interest in my profession.”

Chloe just grinned and nodded excitedly, happy that he was happy.

“Let’s see what else you have here,” Mika chuckled. A small leatherbound book caught his eye, and he frowned. That has to be recent, he thought, and his voice caught in his throat as he realized it had English lettering. Without thinking he picked it up, flipping open the cover, dilapidated from years, decades of exposure to the jungle heat and humidity. The faded polaroid tucked into the inside cover had fared better, a man and a woman in safari khakis, standing before the massive temple complex and grinning as each held the hand of a young boy, one Mika recognized from his own childhood photos.

His hand shook as he looked at the photo, then slowly up at Chloe, “W-Where did you find this?” he rasped. Chloe didn’t respond, but she’d sensed the change in his mood, a concerned look coming over her face.

Did you eat them? He wondered. No… probably not, he decided finally. Chloe had felt familiar, but not in a foreboding or dangerous sense, and while he had dreamed of the couple he now knew were his parents, and the temple itself, Chloe wasn’t in any of those memories, not physically anyway. Whatever happened to them, you came later, he decided, but you’re a piece of this puzzle, what happened to us here? He thought back to the men who had attacked him in the jungle, Who were they? Who’s so interested in keeping people out of this jungle that they’d kill someone like me on sight?

He tucked the photo back into the journal, grimacing as he looked around the vast stonework amphitheater at the center of the sprawling temple city. It would take a proper archeological dig years to properly excavate it, countless careers could be made on the secrets in any particular room, he was sure of it… but the secrets he was most interested in were hidden here too.

“Okay Chloe,” he sighed, “let’s try to talk.”

For her part the enormous snake-girl beamed excitedly.

…

Higgins sipped from a plastic water bottle inside the climate controlled mobile command trailer. His hands flew across the keyboard, establishing the satellite link to his benefactor’s headquarters.

The circular sigil of a snake eating its own tail flashed across the screen, “Ouroboros Incorporated,” a woman’s recorded voice greeted, “In the business of forever.”

“Mr. Higgins,” a voice drawled on the other line, “I understand there was a complication during today’s operation?”

“We lost a man to Subject Alpha,” Higgins said, his voice level, “there was an outside intruder and I ordered his elimination per your orders. The first squad encountered the naga and she killed one of the hired security staff, the intruder is presumed dead as well…” He looked down at the tablet in his lap, scrolling through the report, “the second intruder, one Sadie “Oklahoma” Espinoza, eluded capture and escaped in her aircraft, two men have gunshot wounds but are expected to recover.”

“One dead, and one escaped,” the voice growled, “Tell me Mister Higgins, does this sound acceptable?”

Higgins was unphased, “We are already contacting friends in the local government to have Miss Espinoza recovered for us,” he said curtly, “if you wish for us to be able to work more effectively, I am confident the Naga can be eliminated if we are granted access to heavier weapons.”

“No!” the voice said sharply, “Subject Alpha is not to be harmed, nor are your men to approach the temple complex unless ordered.”

Higgins was quiet a moment, “Yes sir,” he growled, “I’ll send a written report to you by tomorrow morning.”

“See that you do.”

There was a click as the line went quiet, and Higgins sighed in frustration. The job was only getting more complicated…