Ayla Silverblade sighed as she mentally prepared herself to enter the diplomatic meeting. Following the fall of the last human kingdom, many of the world’s other races had suddenly taken an interest in the affairs of elves and humans. Some out of concern for themselves, and some out of a genuine concern for the now inches tall race of man, but all with pointed questions for the Elven leaders.
With her mother busy teaching at the university in the elven capitol, it had fallen to Ayla to greet the dignitaries and give the initial official response. She patted her pocket, where one of her favorite humans, a young female mage named Katie, who had attempted to face her in a magical duel before being undone by the elf’s enchanted sex toys. While she’d never reach the level of an elven sorceress, Ayla was enjoying teaching the tiny woman new magics in her free time, as well as watching them employed on male humans while she watched.
“Hey, what’s this whole thing about?” Katie hissed, “Why’d you bring me?”
“It’s a meeting with the other magical races,” Ayla explained, “You’re a recently captured human, you can tell them we’re not mistreating you.”
“Ayla, good to see you,” Thessalia said with a smile, approaching her with Richard perched on her shoulder. “Have they arrived?”
“They’re waiting for us in the dining hall,” Ayla sighed, “some of them seem very… aggressive.”
“Is there really any chance they could threaten the Elven Empire?” Richard asked skeptically.
“If they came at us as a united front, they could cause a great deal of damage,” Thessalia said with a frown, “that’s why we need to convince them that humanity’s new place in the world is beneficial for everyone!”
Before Richard could reply, the two elves pushed the door to the chamber open, putting on diplomatic smiles as they walked towards the long dining table, already set with wine and refreshments. The two humans gulped as they spotted some of the creatures at the table, several of whom had supposedly only existed in myth. There was a lamia, with a serpentine tail coiled under her in place of a chair, her slitted eyes gazing at them imperiously as she sipped a glass of wine. A stocky dwarf woman sat beside her, an immense bust overflowing from her bronze corset as she adjusted herself atop a pillow meant to give her height. Across from the pair a woman with translucent wings smiled warmly at the two humans, a pair of much smaller fairies fluttered around her briefly, before disappearing with a wink of light. Another guest was a woman with long brown rabbit’s ears, and a small cottontail sticking out of the back of her trousers. She nibbled a carrot as she looked around nervously. More frightening were the next two seats at the table, where a dridder woman played a game of cat's cradle with her webbing, her arachnid lower body shining slightly, and finally next to her was a pale woman with a wide brimmed hat, mourning shades pulled low to block the light. Richard almost believed she was human herself, until he saw the glint of fangs as she sipped from a cup of something dark and red that was not wine.
At the head of the table though was the most imposing guest, a fifteen foot tall woman with a regal look and a draconic tall curled on the stone floor behind her, with a wide set of wings that flapped once, ruffling the hair of those present.
A dragonkin? Richard thought wildly, I never thought I’d see one!
“Greetings, and welcome to Silverblade manor,” Ayla said sweetly, taking her seat alongside Thessalia. The two elves placed their respective humans on the table before them, and there were murmurs among the gathered dignitaries. “As you know, the elves have taken guardianship of humanity, and have properly re-sized them-“
“Properly re-sized!?” the dwarven dignitary spat, “you practically made ‘em into bugs!”
“T-This was the size our goddess thought would make everyone happiest,” Ayla said nervously.
“They’ve been treating us really well!” Katie said, stepping forward, “I wasn’t sure about this at first, but I’m pretty happy living with Ayla!” She looked up at the elf in question, who beamed down at her.
“What about you?” the vampires drawled, gesturing to Richard, “that’s the little prince of Cedaria, is it not?”
Richard sighed, stepping forward, “I have seen no evidence of any outright cruelty on the elves’ part,” Richard growled, “regardless of my feelings on the big picture.”
The dragonkin scowled, “Enough passive aggression boy!” she spat, “if you are unhappy with this general Thessalia, then say so, I will leap across this table and take you, and she and her guards would never be able to stop me!” Her tail raked across the stone, leaving sparks in its wake, and from the suddenly nervous look on the elves’ faces the woman wasn’t bluffing.
“W-Wait!” Richard shouted quickly, “Thessalia and I…” he looked up at her, where the worried look was being replaced by a smug smirk. Gods damn it, she’s never going to let me live this one down… He sighed, “I’d prefer to stay with Thessalia, she’s treated me… well.” He grunted as the elven general swept him up in her hand, and with an uncharacteristic giggle a gigantic pair of lips covered his whole body in a kiss. Thessalia set him down, that victorious smirk never leaving her face.
“Richard’s somewhat prideful,” Thessalia chuckled, “and it’s well earned, but despite everything I think he knew exactly where he belonged from the moment he saw me.”
“S-So you’re not squishing or eating the poor humans?” the bunny girl piped up.
“Who keeps saying that?” Ayla asked, exasperated.
“I was only repeating things I’d heard,” the dwarf woman said defensively.
“The more important question is the elven notion that they own all humans,” the dragon-woman growled.
“It’s our divine order,” Thessalia said, her eyes narrowing, “all humans must be re-sized!”
“We dragonkin have our own villages of humans, and we won’t let you enslave them for your sick whims!” the dragonkin roared, smoke curling from her nostrils.
“Oh we enslave them?” Ayla said angrily, “excuse me, which race is it that demands to sleep on piles of gold, and wants human virgins offered up yearly?”
The dragonkin cleared her through, the smoke going white, “Uh, well we’re very flexible with the definition of virgin, and that’s all just… tribute! For taking care of them!”
“Oh, so it’s okay when you want to take care of a village of adorable humans?” Thessalia chuckled.
“Lay off the elves,” the dridder said, rolling her eyes, “we must talk about the most important issue, breeding rights!”
“Agreed,” the lamia scowled, “our smaller cousins, the garter lamia, are quite pleased with humanity’s new size, but we are not! We only have one male every hundred years, and we’re a good fifty years out from the next one! We need human males, and we need them at full size!”
“My race doesn’t even have the one male every hundred years,” the dridder chuckled. She made a gesture at Richard, and he cried out in panic as a strand of web shot out at him, catching him in the chest. Before Thessalia could grab him, the dridder yanked the thread, sending Richard flying across the table and into her waiting grip. Richard struggled as she casually spun more thread from her wrist down onto him, tangling him with each thrashing motion until he was helplessly cocooned up.
“Give him back right now!” Thessalia said angrily.
“I’m just having a little fun!” the dridder laughed, dangling the squirming and bound form of Richard by one thread. “I must say, I do approve of this new size for humans… like the lamia we have smaller cousins, I’m sure they feel the same, we’ve always liked our males on the smaller side.”
“That’s why you’re always lurking in our caves to steal our husbands,” the dwarf muttered angrily.
“Guilty as charged,” the dridder laughed. With a flick of her wrist she severed the thread, sending the cocooned Richard back to Thessalia, who caught him out of the air, hugging him close.
“On the matter of reproduction, ” Ayla said slowly, “we could of course allow some humans to be regrown some of the time, temporarily of course.”
“So if we promise to keep these humans small when they’re not being used for reproductive purposes, you’d provide us with our own?” the Lamia asked, her grin widening.
“So long as you promise not to mistreat them,” Ayla said with a frown.
Great, Richard thought, now we’re going to end up as pets to every other race in the world too…
“Some elven men could also help with that particular task,” Thessalia offered.
The Lamia’s eyes went wide, “C-Can it be prince Tristan!?”
“No!” Ayla and Katie shouted at once. Both blushed, tiny human looking up at her elven mistress, then back to the Lamia. “That is to say, he’s very busy,” Ayla said in a low voice.
“My problem is one of nourishment, ” the vampiress drawled, sipping her “wine.” “I have some affection for humans, I was one in my youth even, but even if loaned to us, well…” She chuckled, “I’m afraid that at humanity’s new size it would be quite difficult to feed without harming anyone.”
“You can have elves!” Richard said quickly, “there are plenty of them now!”
“Richard,” Thessalia hissed, “you can’t offer that!”
“Elven blood is delightfully rich,” the vampiress mused, “we’d probably only need a hundred or so volunteers per month…”
“W-We could regrow some humans!” Ayla offered quickly.
“No, elf-blood is already on the table,” the vampiress chuckled.
“Damnit, fine,” Ayla growled, shooting Richard an angry look. He just smirked, pleased to have inconvenienced his “masters.”
“A-And could the rabbitfolk have some humans?” the floppy eared envoy asked nervously. Everyone looked to her, and she blushed, sinking into her chair. “W-We don’t need any exactly, but they used to be so big and scary, but now they’re so small and cute! I just think it would be fun to have some!”
“If we’re just giving them out, plenty of dwarf women wouldn’t mind keeping a tiny ‘uman or two!” the dwarf called out. She pointed at Richard, “is that one for sale? I’ve got a vault full of gold if you’re interested!”
“Not for sale,” Thessalia chuckled, toying with the still webbed Richard, rolling him over her palm, “but I’ll think about renting. ”
That sent up a throng of excited murmurs along the table, and Richard went red.
“Y-You’re joking, right?” he stammered, grimacing as he tried to slip out of the sticky webbing.
Thessalia just chuckled.
…
Duchess Silverblade focused, watching the human town on her desk slowly reduce in size, covering less and less of the wooden surface the more magic she forced into it. In the streets the humans looked up in awe, watching as the matronly, and naked, elf grew from merely mountainous, to a truly godlike visage that towered over their shrinking town. She smirked, this particular settlement had been selectively populated by human men and women she was sure would enjoy the experience, and instead of screams of terror there were hushed gasps and whispers. Her nipple alone could have snuffed out their entire existence, and the massive breasts that hung over them were so massive that it would take the now mite-sized humans days to trek across either of them.
“I wonder how small you’ll all be today?” she taunted, “little more than specks I suppose…” she leaned in close, filling their sky with her grinning face. Her exhaling breath was like a warm wind that whipped through their hair as they pointed up at her. “It’s funny, this adorable little city of yours used to stretch over the land, with the clock tower the tallest thing for miles… now though?” She chuckled, a rumbling thunder that echoed through their streets. “Everything you’ve built is just a desk ornament at best… but it’s still too big… let’s make it a more appropriate size!” She waved her hand again, watching with delight as the city shrank even further, retracting on the top of her desk until the stone walls, towers, and buildings within could have comfortably sat on a simple copper coin from the market. “Perfect!” she breathed, her eyes lighting up with glee.
The tiny humans cried out in surprise and panic as their world lurched, the Duchess’s fingers pinching at the side walls of the settlement like two massive columns rising into the sky overhead, overshadowing them all.
The tiny squeaks just barely reached her ears as she carried the coin sized city over to a pair of her underwear, laying on her bed. Slowly, delicately, she placed the human city on the inside crotch of the panties, flicking her fingers a few times to add additional spells.
Gravity manipulation, fresh air, that should do it! She grinned, “You’re all going somewhere very dark and very warm today… try to enjoy it!”
The tiny humans in the town square erupted into excitement and panic as she lowered the panties to the floor, stepping into them. A moment later she pulled them up, and the humans on the streets felt their world shift, slightly, the magic keeping their world from tilting too much as she hiked her underwear up, pressing their tiny town firmly against the gigantic opening over her womanhood. The hot and billowing musk rolled out from it across the town, sending the humans into a lustful frenzy as the world went black, consumed by the inside of the duchess’s panties.
The Duchess groaned lustfully, pressing against the crotch of the panties and grinding the tiny town against herself. The humans would no doubt fly into a series of orgies that would last the entire day as they were carried around in her underwear, and she already relished interviewing the “subjects” later that evening. The men and women in the town had all been taken directly from princess Nyana’s “Human Breeding Program,” and she was curious as to what a day pressed against her slit would do to them from a psychological standpoint.
She glanced at the clock and sighed angrily, toying with her passengers would have to wait. She quickly threw on her clothing, readying herself for the day.
Inside of her panties, beneath the streetlamps and the enormity of the duchess’s opening overhead, the humans began confirming her theories, lustfully pairing up and excitedly ripping the clothes from one another’s bodies.
…
Duchess Silverblade made her way into the classroom, smiling as she saw her students at their desks, many with their own pet humans sitting in front of them. After her time teaching her daughter spellcraft, she’d decided to take a position lecturing at the Elven Empire’s magical university. While all elves learned the basics of spellcasting, only a select few would take the next step and go on to become mages, and invariably some of their humans would have magical talent as well. Not enough to be useful in combat, true, but they could be handy in other ways.
“Good morning,” she called, ignoring the usual return the greeting brought. “Today we are discussing the ecosystem, and the changing role of humans within it.” She gestured to a series of glass terrariums that she’d prepared the night before, they were arranged in a row so that the class could see them, and the magical creatures within. “Now before being re-sized, humans were at or near the top of the natural order, much like elves,” she continued, “but the reduction of humans has resulted in several interesting changes to the ecosystem.”
She made her way to the first terrarium, where a hive of tiny ant-girls were gathering crumbs of bread for their queen. The tunnels the ant-girls had carved through the dirt were visible, and the duchess peered in with a grin.
“Many magical species had their populations limited both by human settlements, and a lack of males. With the reduction of humanity, there is ample extra space for expansion, and they’ve been able to utilize the now appropriately sized humans for their needs.” She stood up, “Does anyone have a human they’d like to volunteer to help demonstrate?”
One of the elves in the front row, a redhead with an eager expression, quickly squealed, holding her tiny man up, “mine Miss Silverblade, pick mine, Reginald loves magical creatures!”
“That’s not exactly-“ the tiny human began, but the duchess simply flicked her wrist, causing him to fly out of the student’s hand, and into her own.
“Ooh, a cutie!” Duchess Silverblade laughed, “Now observe what happens when ant-girls encounter a human at an appropriate size…”
Reginald gulped as he was set on the ground in the terrarium, and he looked out through the glass wall at the class of giggling and grinning elves, eagerly taking notes.
“Hey, look, a male!” a female voice from behind him called. He whirled around to see a trio of amazonian women with antennae poking out of their brown hair and antlike lower bodies regarding him eagerly. “He’s a hot one,” another said. “Is that a human?” the third said, “I heard they were a lot smaller now, but wow, he’ll be a great consort for the queen!”
“I’m actually already living with my elf,” Reginald said as the ant-girls surrounded him, lifting him up and carrying him as a group towards the entry to their burrow. Others gathered around, chattering excitedly as they lowered him down. They soon carried him through their tunnels to a massive chamber, and he realized that the elven class had gotten out of their seats, jostling for position as they peered through the glass walls of the “ant farm.”
“As you can see, the ant-girls immediately brought him to their monarch,” Duchess silverblade explained, “all insect demi races are highly sensitive to human scent and pheromones, as soon as a tiny human is in their territory, they’ll immediately locate him.”
Reginald gulped as the amazonian ant-girls dumped him in front of their queen, who stood twice as large as they did, with an ample set of breasts and a matronly figure as she giggled, stroking her chin thoughtfully as she looked down at him.
“Yes, you’ll do nicely!” she said at last, grinning as she leaned over, pinning him down and planting a kiss on his face that smothered him, and a moment later her hands began exploring his body as the soldier ant-girls cheered.
“Let’s leave the ants to their fun,” Duchess Silverblade chuckled, leaving Reginald to his fate. She turned to the student that had volunteered him, “You can retrieve him after class,” she instructed. “The proliferation of tiny human males has now allowed the population of bug-girls to expand exponentially, they were an extremely rare sight before our re-sizing of humanity, but now they often encounter human males when they enter elven homes on foraging expeditions, and they borrow them along with the cookie crumbs! Bee girls are much the same, and it’s not uncommon for elves who garden to leave a few humans out near their flowers to help incentivize them to visit. You simply go pick up your human when you’re ready.” She paused, chuckling, “There was a column of human knights that I shrank back during the conquest, I’d meant to return for it after lunch, but by the time I had the poor dears had already been taken in by the local hive of bee girls. They seemed happy enough, so I let them be.”
“So are the humans integrating into nature better at this size?” one of her students asked.
“Humans always had so much conflict with nature,” Duchess Silverblade nodded, “I really do think that they’re finding a much healthier role at this size, let’s look at another example.”
She led them over to another tank, which had what appeared to be a spiderweb inside of it. Several human shaped cocoons were held in the web, squirming slightly as a tiny Arachne scuttled across the strands, adding more webbing to each of her captures. At six inches tall, she was easily three times the size of the humans she’d tied up, and she leaned down, stroking them with a grin.
“I placed a human male and female inside of this terrarium last night,” the Duchess explained, “as you can see this Arachne has already tied them up for later enjoyment, the humans really didn’t stand much of a chance, as soon as they were in her web they didn’t fare any better than anything else at that size.”
One of the elves gulped, “S-She won’t hurt them, will she?”
“Oh no,” Duchess Silverblade laughed, “these humans know this particular Arachne, they’re pets of mine, and she just enjoys wrapping up things that are precious to her.” She waved to the tiny spider-woman, who waved back. “Mini-arachne are very fond of humans,” she explained, “if you have to travel, and can’t take your human, or if you simply have a human who likes to wander too much, I recommend co-habitating them with an Arachne or two, they’ll be safely webbed up in no time.”
“I’ll have to get one,” an elf in the back giggled, looking down at her suddenly nervous human pet.
“Another option is a garter lamia,” Duchess Silverblade said, leading the group to the third terrarium. The tiny snake woman in the glass cage was roughly a foot long, and was coiled around a struggling two inch human, snuggling him tightly to her chest as she giggled excitedly.
“You’re the best mate ever Jeffy!” she squealed as the elves looked in, fascinated.
“Garter Lamia also have a tendency to borrow wayward humans,” the Duchess chuckled. “Licorice here has been helping Jeffrey acclimate to his new size. Like most smallfolk, they can smell humans very easily, and they’re always eager to find the source.
She made her way to the final terrarium, where a trio of eight inch tall fairies were bathing beneath a small artificial waterfall. Their translucent wings fluttered as they excitedly watched Silverblade approach.
“Hey, elf lady, give us one of those humans!” one called.
“Yeah, you’re putting one in everyone’s cage but ours!”
Duchess Silverblade rolled her eyes, “would anyone care to volunteer one of their humans?”
“Sylvia would love to!” an elf squealed, her hand jutting forward and offering up a tiny woman, who had a wide eyed look of surprise.
The tiny woman squealed as Silverblade snatched her up, gently placing her inside of the glass terrarium as the fairies looked at her almost hungrily. She only came up to their knees as they circled around her, and they all knelt down, reaching out to pinch and fondle her as she groaned, going limp under the ministrations of the six wandering hands.
“As you can see, while smallfolk need male humans more often for reproduction, they’re quite fond of the females as well,” Silverblade commented. The tiny woman’s orgasmic shout from inside the terrarium sent a wave of giggles through the class of elves.
Once again she left the tiny woman at the mercy of the fairies, and throughout all the tanks the humans inside found themselves being ravaged by creatures they’d once towered over. Silverblade went back to her podium, ignoring the occasional squeaks of pleasure echoing from the tanks, and her students returned to their seats.
“So, what can we take from this lesson?” she asked her class.
“Humans don’t stand a chance in the wild,” one elf laughed.
“Exactly!” Duchess Silverblade beamed, “with the increasing smallfolk and magical creature population, humans won’t make it very far on their own, the chances of an independent human community or civilization are non-existent, creatures with an interest in them simply make up more and more of the ecosystem with each passing year.” She chuckled, shaking her head, “we’re even seeing rising plantgirl populations near the coasts, any time someone’s human goes missing they have to check all of the flower pods, the nectar just lures the poor things right in!”
“So humans went from being masters of nature, to being nature’s playthings,” another elf mused.
“Along with our own, of course,” Duchess Silverblade nodded. “While humans are not in any real danger from any of these creatures, their chances for independence have effectively been snuffed out.” She held up her hand, letting magical sparks dance along her fingertips, “the increased population of magical creatures is also steadily causing the amount of ambient background magic in the world to rise.”
“The theories are true?” one of the elves asked eagerly.
“Yes,” Duchess Silverblade said with a smile, “magic is actually getting stronger in the world thanks to all of the humans being small!” She gestured to the tanks behind her, “Do your part, if you see smallfolk who seem interested, ask your human if he or she is willing to help them out.”
Her students chattered excitedly, looking to the terrariums, and then to their own pet humans, who looked nervous. Duchess Silverblade sighed.
“And to our adorable human guests, remember, it’s not a bad thing! Nature has evolved to take care of you, just like we do! It’s proof that humans were always meant to be small!”
…
Prince Tristan looked down at his harem of tiny women, smirking at the variety of his collection. The two inch tall humans ranged from beautiful princesses, to gruff bandits, to lady knights in sterling armor. They were arranged in a row on his desk, all of them doing their best to catch his eye, but he zeroed in on one in particular who was wearing a leotard, along with a pair of floppy rabbit’s ears.
“I like this,” Tristan said, causing the tiny woman to squeak as he picked her up. He ran a finger down her body, prodding her ample breasts, and then slowly rubbing the crotch of her leotard with his fingertip. “The material seems a little thin here,” he teased, watching the tiny woman squirm. She shuddered, cumming almost instantly as her face blushed bright red. “I love it,” he declared, “Bunnysuits for all of the girls, that’s what you’re wearing to the party this week!”
“Bunnysuits? Really!?” Kathy shouted angrily.
“You can’t just wear that assassin’s catsuit to everything Kathy,” Tristan muttered, rolling his eyes.
There was a knock on his door, and he turned to see his two elven maids enter. Their eyes were immediately drawn to his collection of tiny women, and their mouths practically watered as they took in the range of costumes he’d dressed them in.
“Yes?” Tristan asked with a sigh.
“Y-Your older sister has summoned you,” the maid stammered, eyeing the tiny girls.
“Arika can’t summon me, she’s just my big sister,” he groused, standing up. He tucked the tiny girl in the bunny suit into his shirt pocket, buttoning it shut for later. He glanced back to his tiny women, then to the two maids. “Go ahead and help my girls back to their dollhouses,” he said with a smirk.
The two maids giggled excitedly, running past him and snatching up the squealing doll-women.
…
Thessalia smiled as she looked into the glass jar, where Richard was squirming in the web of an Arachne named Tyrna that she’d found in the garden. His erection was sticking out of the webbing, and the spider-woman was slowly sliding her hand up and down his length, causing the trapped prince to squirm pathetically in a way that just made him look cuter.
“The Duchess was right about getting an Arachne to help take care of you Richard,” she chuckled. Her crystal ball buzzed, and she got up, leaving Richard to the teasing of his new “friend.” The crystal ball lit up, revealing the grinning blonde face of the eldest Elven princess, the lady Arika.
“Thessalia!” she shouted, causing the general to jump. “I’ve returned from my expedition over the seas!” she said.
“Yes, I heard,” Thessalia grumbled, annoyed, “you conquered some human kingdoms there, I heard?”
“I did more than that, my genius, already far beyond the comprehension of a mere elf, has reached new heights!” Arika proclaimed.
“And you’ve stayed so humble,” Thessalia mused. “How can I help you?”
“Bring Richard to my castle at once!” Arika ordered, “I’m close to a magical breakthrough that will require his assistance!”
“Richard’s assistance?” Thessalia asked with a frown, looking back at the jar. There was an adorable squeak as the prince came, spilling his seed across the front of his mummified form, settling into the web.
“There’s no time to waste!” Arika shouted, and with that the crystal ball went dark.
Thessalia rolled her eyes, the eldest of the Empress’s daughters had always struck her as somewhat scatterbrained, but one didn’t simply ignore a member of the royal family.
“Okay Tyrna,” she sighed, “cut Richard out of there, I wanted to leave him with you while I went out to the spa, but it seems we have business.”
…
The basement laboratory of Arika’s castle was covered in machinery, both magical and mundane, and Tristan raised an eyebrow as he watched lightning trace up a strange circular glass tube. A large box, covered in gears and smelling strongly of chemicals, sat in the center of the room.
“Ah, Tristan!” Arika giggled, “You’ve finally come!”
“Arika, what is that?” Tristan asked.
“Oh gods help us, that’s the analytical engine!” Richard shouted, poking his head out from Thessalia’s cleavage as she walked into the room. “Thessalia, quick blow it up with a fireball or something!”
“Ah Richard, the human who almost beat us,” Arika muttered, squinting as she examined him. “He’s simply beautiful Thessalia, I congratulate you on bringing this fine specimen of humanity under Elven control!”
“Thanks,” Thessalia said slowly, “Richard, what does that machine do?”
“I commissioned it as a last ditch effort,” Richard gulped, “The builder-“
“Hello Prince Richard!” a buzzing and clanking voice called. Richard’s face paled as he saw the clockwork man, still shrouded beneath his strange red cloak as his glowing eyes peaked out from beneath it. He was standing on Arika’s desk nearby, and the elven princess picked him up, snuggling him to her cheek protectively.
“Mechanicus was just misunderstood by the fleshy humans,” Arika said dismissively, “he told me all about this wonderful analytical engine you built!”
“I’m sensing a mind inside of this machine,” Tristan said nervously, “machines aren’t supposed to think!”
“Yes, that’s what I need you for,” Arika said excitedly, “your mastery of mental magics is unmatched Tristan! You can help me finish it!”
“Princess Arika, it became self-aware and tried to kill everyone within five minutes when we turned it on!” Richard warned, “we got lucky, it was powered with coal, and it ran out before it could build more robots!”
“It won’t have that problem this time, I’m powering it with pure elven magic!” Arika beamed. The mechanical cube glowed as she said it, the gears turning as the analytical engine came to life.
“Yesss!” the tiny mechanical man cried, “soon we will be free from the flesh!”
“Arika,” Tristan said slowly, “I’m rather attached to my flesh.”
“I’ve been talking with Mechanicus,” Arika said, waving dismissively, “we just need to fix it! I need you to link our minds for a few minutes!”
“Don’t!” Richard shouted, but it was too late, the prince had raised his hands, connecting Arika to the awakening machine intelligence. The elf gasped, lifting off the ground as her magic caused her to levitate. The gears on the analytical engine whirred faster, and then came to an ominous stop.
“Oh gods,” Richard shouted, “this is it!” he looked up at the general, who was looking at him in confusion, “I’ve always loved you Thessalia!” he shouted, squeezing his eyes shut and waiting for the inevitable end.
Instead there was a sound like bending metal, and as Arika slowly descended to the floor, the cube began to warp, slowly taking a metallic humanoid form. From the side of its head a pair of pointed elfin ears formed, and then a pair of glowing blue eyes appeared as its features softened.
“Greetings,” she said, smiling, “I’m the Analytical Engine, but you may call me Anna.”
“It’s so beautiful!” Mechanicus’s voice rasped. On the table the tiny mechanical man fell to his knees, and a teardrop made of oil rolled down his face.
“And so are you, my little engineering marvel,” the machine-elf cooed, hovering over to the table. She picked up Mechanicus, placing him on her shoulder with a smile.
“Mechanicus and I have been feeding the machine data on Human-Elf relations,” Arika explained, “it’s finally realized our ideals, and all we needed to do was give it the power to take the perfect form!”
“An elf, of course,” Thessalia chuckled.
“Goddess above,” Tristan breathed, “her mind is going so fast! I-I can’t even keep up with it!”
“There is no need, prince Tristan,” Anna said, her voice reverberating along the walls. “Mechanicus and I are leaving now.”
“Wait!” Arika shouted, “you remember what I wanted?”
The silver android elf paused, moving to the table and picking up the ink quill pen and paper Arika had set out. Her hand moved like a blur, too fast to follow, covering the page with elaborate runes and formulas. After a minute she handed it to Arika, who looked at it, wide eyed.
“Of course,” she breathed, “the golden spell…” She cleared her throat, “I’d have discovered it myself, of course, but thank you for helping me do so faster!”
“You’re welcome,” Anna said, a hint of amusement in her artificial voice. “Come Mechanicus, I wish to build a glass sphere on the surface of the moon.” With that the machine elf and the machine man seemed to wink out of existence, teleporting to their next adventure.
“Well that was… something,” Tristan muttered, glancing to his sister, “what spell is that?”
“The golden spell,” she whispered, slowly lowering the parchment, “we’ll need Mother and Nyana… The Duchess and her daughter too, but the final piece of this puzzle is an elf and a human who truly love one another!”
Thessalia chuckled, “I think I could find that…”
Richard cleared his throat, “I-I just thought we were all about to die, that’s all!”
…
Beneath the full moon, atop the Royal Palace of the elves, the royal family gathered. The Empress, Tristan, Nyana, Arika, and the Duchess Silverblade and Ayla, all of them were arranged in a circle. In the center Thessalia looked around at them uncertainly, holding Richard in her cupped hands.
“I’m not sure I understand what we’re doing,” she said finally. “I’m barely a class two mage.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Arika said, “Mother, begin the incantation!”
The empress nodded at her daughter, and the elves linked hands. They began chanting in the high and slow tones of ancient high elvish, a forgotten tongue that even Thessalia didn’t know. They began to glow blue, and Thessalia held Richard close as she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
“Thessalia?” Richard asked nervously.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s safe,” she said quietly, squeezing him tighter.
A burst of blue lightning lit the sky, striking Thessalia and Richard and erupting with halcyon burst that rendered the sky as bright as day itself for a split second. The elves in the circle were blinded, and Thessalia and Richard’s twin cries rang out.
Richard’s world blurred, he saw himself and Thessalia, at war with one another, his final capture, the time they’d spent together, their mock battles, their nights by the fireside, and a dozen more memories that flashed by so quickly he barely had time to register them.
His vision slowly cleared, and he found himself still in Thessalia’s palm, his world swaying slightly as she tried to keep on her feet. Both of their clothes had been incinerated, leaving nothing but ashes at their feet, though both of them were unharmed.
“S-Success!” Arika breathed, slowly moving forward. She extended a finger to Richard, then practically squealed with glee as a small spark danced from him to her.
“W-What success?” Thessalia snapped, trying to cover her nakedness, “What did you do?”
“We’ve given Richard an elven lifespan,” the empress said with a soft smile, “he’ll enjoy a millennia long lifetime with you, general.”
Richard’s mouth went dry, “Y-You gave me a what!?”
“I wouldn’t quite call it immortality,” Nyana said, tapping her chin thoughtfully, “there’re loads of stupid ways we can still die, but you’re not going to age or get feeble.”
“Oh goddess, I’m going to be sick for a few days,” Duchess Silverblade moaned, steadying herself against the wall. “W-We can’t do this very often.”
“Agreed,” Arika groaned, beads of sweat on her forehead. “We’re the most powerful mages in the realm, and we just barely pulled this off.”
“What would have happened if you hadn’t pulled it off?” Thessalia asked with a frown.
“D-Don’t worry about it,” Arika muttered. She quickly ran to the tower’s edge, and they heard the sound of her puking over the side a moment later.
Ayla was looking rather pale herself, but managed to stay on her feet, “Obviously Richard was the perfect candidate, he’s a superior human in appearance and intelligence.”
“Not to mention attraction to elves!” Nyana managed weakly, slumping to the ground with a sigh.
“Oh goddess,” the empress muttered, rubbing her head, “Richard, I look forward to getting to know you over the next several centuries, but I think I need to lay down.”
The elven royals and the Silverblades all nodded in agreement, trudging towards the tower stairs. Thessalia looked down at Richard, a giddy feeling rising in her chest as they were left alone atop the tower, naked beneath the full moon.
“I guess now you can’t count on death to save you from me,” Thessalia giggled.
“Or maybe I just have an eternity to figure out a way to defeat you?” Richard retorted.
The two stared up at the moon together, contemplating their future.